Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Some excellent looking work fellas!

I would say a bit o' rum do nicely, well said Mac!

And, since you've been a good boy, a little help to do your wash...

Mmmmm...twins...

Daywalker wrote:

Some excellent looking work fellas! I would say a bit o' rum do nicely, well said Mac! And, since you've been a good boy, a little help to do your wash...   Mmmmm...twins...

Well allrighty then!  I was starting to feel a bit dry!

 Decals are all done and drying. I do them at this point so they will be blended and weathered along with the rest of the paint finish.

Bondo I dawned on me that one of the odd things I do before painting is to hit the bare plastic with a quick spray of that dull coat laquer.  The laquer drys quickly but gets a good bite into the plastic. The flatness of the finish then gives a great surface for the real paint? primer and stuff to stick to without having to sand the surface to rough it up.  I don't know why I haven't thought of that before. Must be what makes the paint hold on so well.

Thanks for the tip. I do use that stuff as a finish, so I'll try it. Your workbench shot proves the Bondo "2 foot" rule.

No matter how large the workbench, there will always be exactly two square feet of usable area.

Oh, and somebody sure got cleaned up! I might even do that one day.

Thanks Bondo, Aaron and Frank!!!!!! Really looking forward to finishing!!! Feeling really good about it now!!! Was watching a show on the pbs station here about artists here in Oz and one lady said a profound thing that really sums up developing any kind of skill really! She said something to the effect that, If you don't feel anxious about doing something and are in your comfort zone you really aren't going farther in what you do, being anxious means you are outside your comfort zone and are developing new things for yourself!!! How true is that? Anyway going to get back to it and get this fish hung soon. Tis the weekend!!!!!!

Bondo your rule is quite true!!!!! Just looked over at my bench LOL!!!!

Oh not to much visable progress lately. I originally wanted these done by the end of the 1st month of this GB but I don't want to sacrifice too much quantity for quality.  Working a bit on the details  which takes research and scratching which attacks my most valuable resource of bench time.  Guess in between work and sleep something has to give. 

My apologies to the CAG for my slacking off!  I shall try to do better!

  Kinda put off the painting and masking of the clear parts.  This was due to the extreme efforts in getting the fuse halfs together I expected that may cause issues with the fit of the clear canopies as well.

 I was right of course but prior planning and knowledge of this has allowed me to adapt and overcome.

 Slow shaping and carving has yielded  pretty sound results on the Skua. The handleing and trauma to the parts wold have really wrecked any masking or paint job at this point.  Thinking about the effort to remove the mask also would seem to make for a lot of redoing fitting of said parts.  Most of you know that I have solutions to such issues anyways.

 I made the pics a bit larger to invite your scrutiny and getoe experienced eyes and opinions going.  Hope they aren't too large so I will try to limit the number.

 Looking at the Roc and reworking the turret has proved bizarre.  I think I have imitated the motion and position of the real thing well enough to see some odd characteristics about this bird.

 I like the odd early war markings that actually were pre-war and just used as times were tense in England as BlitzKrieg and the horror of a new world war set in!  The markings are pretty cool looking.  Oddly neither Aircraft have any Royal Navy stencil s. Just seial numbers in this Sept 1939 to July 1940 time frame.  The Roc does have markings on the lower wings but is also monotone sky gray as opposed the the colorful but unmarked bottom of the Skua.

 I have a lot of intrest in the markings for some reason.

 Now look closer at the Rocs body and how the turret fits. Imagine it rotating. Even with the guns elevated upwardly the spine structure on the back and the canopy green house would prevent a 360 degree spin until the barrels are elevated around 70 degrees or so.  Kind of a built in firing interupt safty to prevent any part of the aircraft being shot by itself.  No real way to shoot off your own tail or prop here.

 Safety effective  yes but having experience tracking aircraft from turrets I can tell you this was probably a significant reason for the Rocs lack of sucess.  Close range weapons and no real way to get a good smooth track or lead the target.  Put that into an unstabilized bouncing platform and you'd be lucky to hit a barn door at 10 paces.  Musta been frustrating.

 These twins (not really) were meant to serve side by side. And actually did in a few famous battles. The First combat together was providing Aircover for the Dunkirk Evacuation.

 The Roc really has only one probable victory recorded. A JU-88 of all things which was being engaged by Skua's and most likely mistook the Roc for one.  The Ju-88 could have easily outpaced both types.  I believe the Roc had more victories at least one more that has been lost to history. Getting long winded so I will save that for later.

Thanks for reading my rabble!

You be doing a fine job Aaron.  Them be some purty little ugly birds ye got thare!

Brian

The Skua and Roc are coming along well, Aaron.  It seems like an interruptor gear would have been a sounder method than that turtleback, though it most likely did work to reduce drag from the turret some.  You are putting a lot of work into these to but they will add a lot of variety to your collection.  The colors look like mid-war USN.

You have been putting this "Admiral" to some shame in this GB.  So much so that I did in fact work on my Fortress II today, cleaned up four props and painted them and worked on the landing lights.  All on the 1 square foot on my workbench that is clear.  At least I was not working on my lap!

Aaron, the twins are developing there own personalities now with the decals on!!!! Looking great!!!!!!!!! In Aeroplane magazine Dec '07 issue, there is a Database article on the Skua and Roc!!! One pic shows a flight of three Rocs and the lead plane has the rear turtle deck retracted as well as the upper aft part of the canopy retracted down. Which gives a full traverse to the rear and about 60 degree slope over the canopy. I took a pic of the pic in the mag as I don't have a scanner and it came out fine so this should show a lil bit. HTH!!!

Sorry bout there comment showing up prominently accidentally on purpose!!! Anyways hope the pic helps!

Wow three pages to catch up on since I last logged in. I am glad you all liked the picture of the brown bear..

 Bondo - Your "Bear" adventures gave me a good laugh. I watched one years ago peel open a "Garbage Truck" like a can of sardines. I like Aarons idea of us each getting one to Guard our daughters.

Frank -  No Telephoto lens - one of those pocket digital cams that rate with a disposable 35mm .. We heard something rustle in the grass and there it was. 

Richie - Your workmanship is Very Fine and the Progress looks Fantastic.

Aaron - You are a Modeling Machine.. I cant believe how much work you can get done in just a few hrs a day. Oh yeah - "Little Nam" is awesome. How is his modeling skills ? He looks right at home in the "Half Track" Needs a Helmet though...

The work on the twins is outstanding and you most likely will be done shortly. I liked yout gap filling 101 course. I fear using power tools like that as I am not that steady anymore.

Well guys, I hate using this laptop, hope to have a new PC tower before the end of the week.

PS - My bench is like Admiral Jeaton's only one square foot of work space - You guys with two sq ft - what a luxury..

Managed to get some work done on the F4U-2N this weekend.  Started the paint chipping on the forward parts of the wings, and also sprayed the wingwalks.  Someone asked me on the last one I built how I did it, so here's a quick toot.

First, I measured (using the kit decals) how wide the strip needed to be.  Then, I went through my references to see where exactly on the wing it should be, as well as how long it needed to be.  I then cut a long strip of Tamiya tape the width of the anti-skid strip, and placed it on the wing and corresponding flap portion.

I then masked right up to the pieces of tape, like this:

Removing the center piece reveals exactly where the strip should be:

I then mixed up a very dark gray, and thinned it with straight 91% alcohol so it would dry very quickly.  I sprayed it a higher than normal pressure (about 25 psi) and after it was covered, I mixed up a lighter shade and misted it onto the center of the area, simulating the traffic and wear across them.  Removed the tape and voila!  Painted anti-sakid strips in about 20 minutes time.

Hey, thats a pretty neat idea on getting perfect anti-skid strips Daywalker!  Wicked cool!

Brian

 Frank You are burning thru these builds at a most incredible rate!  WOW!  A 109 and right into a nearly complete F4U!  Amazing!

 Ritchie I have been looking and searching all over for a pic of that Particular aircraft!  Thanks so much as it really shows a lot of stuff I was looking for! 

 Today was a blah day. Thought I was getting home early from work and it ended up being another allnighter. So many of these has left me pretty worn out but I still try to so one or 2 things a day to the kits even if it is small to maintain forward momentum!

 Fixed the intake issue on the engines. Ritchies pic shows them well.  Alo tht is the first rally sharp picture that shows the camo pattern being  bit harder lines and more sharpely rendered on the fuselage at least. You cn really see how these birds got a worn and weathered look!  Up to now these were what I was judgeing the paint look by.

 Pretty faded from what I could tell but not in that last pic.

 Also look at the diff markings and paint standards on the aircraft serving side by side.  The Skua pics are much the same as each aircraft clearly has unique details to see.

 The big spine on the back scared me.  Looking at some pics it had a totally different shape some sloped into the turret at an angle and others looked like my kit.  Turns out this was positionable in order to let the turret spin and track better. So it could be a different shape depending on turret position.   I was really thinking it didn't make sense but it has a combat overide.  Why such an elaborate get up?  I dunno must be for drag like the Admiral said.

  I like the Bloody Useless comment and after some looking found a great link to give a fair shake to these kits.  The Performance of an emergency speed of 223 MPH max for short burst really was the killer I think. The Roc was made by Boulten who basically got forced into making it alongside the Defiant which was 100 MPH faster , The Creation of the Roc seemed to be one of politacal pressure rather than practicality.

Thanks for the comments and such!  I'll get more pics soon as thing progress a bit more! Here are some col links that give history Stats and combat accounts of these FAA fighters. Interesting reading.

http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/blackburn_roc.htm

http://www.rcaf.com/aircraft/fighters/roc/index.php?name=Blackburn%20Roc

Glad I could help Aaron!!!! If you notice in some of the pics, it seems the canopy was an option!!! Some have it, some don't!!! Not that that windscreen added to the aerodynamics!!!! lol PM inbound!!

Frank, as usual, SUPERB workmanship!!!!!!!!!!! Looking good!!!!!! Funny how they would put an anti-skid strip at the lowest point of the wing!!!

THE FISH IS HUNG!!!!! lol sorry am quite happy bout that!!!! Really looks the part now!!! Still a bit to go but I think I'm in the home stretch!!! Here's a few pics and then I'm hittin' the hay!!! Thanks for looking!!!

Enjoy!

Aaron,

Looking forward to seeing the twins done.  Are they basically the same airframe as I see a lot of similarities between the two.

Richie,

Outstanding!  You're building Divine Scale (1/72) aren't you?

This weekend was Scalefest weekend here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  Friday was spent wandering the warehouse at Squadron and then going to work.  Saturday was spent at the contest.  Sunday was spent at work and then recovering from Friday and Saturday.  Did add a few kits for this build to the collection.  Picked up a Special Hobby Hawker Sea Hawk and an Airfix Fairey Fulmar, both in Divine Scale of course.  Was tempted by the Special Hobby Sea Vixen, but the price knocked it out of contention.  Saw a Sea Vixen at the contest Saturday, but it was a High Planes kit and I've sworn off them for a while.  Pics from the contest can be found at http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/scalefest-2009/

Richie, are you sure that torp isn't too heavy?  I tooks like the upper wing is bending from the weight!

The Stringbag is looking the part, though, you have the Admiralty's blessing and all the weight that implies.  Good work.  Look out, Bismark rudders!

The Admiralty is making progress, but I have lately become aware of two trooths.  One, it is just about the same work to build a 1/72 4 engine bomber as it is a 1/48 scale bomber.  Two, these Coastal Command schemes require many rolls of masking tape.  Woof.  More Hair of the Dog needed here, and it's nowhere near time for the extra rations.

      Ritchie! Most excellent work on your Swordfish!  You have inspired me to build a Swordfish now as well!  Very cool! Indeed! I always wonder about the different color Warhead noses on the British fish.  All the Albacore pics show yellow noses and in a few museum pics I have seen red nosed fish like yours and white as well.  Then the Tamiya Swordfish instructions claim the whole thing was semi-gloss black.  I dunno probably a manufacture thing as I know early British Bombs were yellow then later dark green and even black. 

 What ever the case I like the look of yours!

Have done a lot again. Been fixing the computer and working too much as usual. But I do try to do at least a little each day so let me show what I have so far.

 Been working on the turret and replaced the solid bicycle horn looking intakes inside the cowling with some shaped brass tubing as planned.

The Gun barrels look out of scale. About the size of my 1/35 20mm barrels.  So the plan was to replace them with the Quick Boost resin ones which are just too cool. They are getting hard to get and cost about a buck a barrel though so I used my Two part mold putty and Aluminite resin and made a quick copy.  The whole process took only 20 minutes to get this as a first try.

While they are not as crisp as the original they are pretty good and a giant improvement over the ones that look more like hydralic pump levers to me.

Now I need to focus on doing some good painting and weathering. So I ask the XO for some tips.  He was kind enough to sell me the Mark 3 Styro -stick stand for $397.02.  A bit steep so I got the deal 2 for $597.12 Thanks Frank!

 Also played with the cowling color. Seems that these were not copper.  More of a tinish Brassy color. Mixed and mixed somemore until I came up with a color that looked close. Gold , steel, exhaust smoke and some Panzer red brown.

 The new intakes are not so visable as I had hoped so I'll borrow Ritchies great pic again.

 They really show up good here and I think some siver caps will do the trick and be accurate.

Another great thing about this photo is the details!  You can see the crews and uniforms.  The Poor cramped up gunner even.  Great things like the different Uniform colors. Some dark brown and the Pilot in the British blue jacket at least shows up well!  Thanks again Ritchie! These are just some of the details I can add because of your help!

Lewbud you are right on the money about both these being pretty much the same airframe.  They look very alike aside from the Roc's turret.  There are a lot of other less noticeable diffs too.  The Wings are completed different. The Skua had narrow wings with upward slanted tips to control a bad tendancy to spin when maneuvering. The Roc which was designed later has larger eliptical wings of a slightly larger span and redesign.  There were internal diffs I discoverd such as the large twin tanks of the Skua were replaced by a single larger tank ( with less fuel capacity) to give some room for the turret.  Had to fix that as well. The kit had the same set up for both and the result was the turret didn't fit.

 I love learning about these birds as I go along even If it means I have to back track a bit.

On a personal note. We have a new member of the family in the McNeal household. A full breed Datsun that Dee has named Bruno!  Saved from the death chamber at the dog pond I wonder if you could really call him lucky with Master Dee and her cookie fits!

 Yep she has him in an old play pin. What a little fireball!   See Y'all later and good building! 

AWWWW Great dogs they are!!!!!! Aaron i am so glad I could help with just that one pic!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your comments as well!!!! The twins are coming along beautifully and starting to take on their own look!!!! GREAT STUFF!!!!

John, Thank you as well!!!! Have to add a bit of weight to the wheels as well to look really convincing!!! Thanks for looking!!!

Richie and Aaron.....you guys are amazing brothers!  That is some superior work you have going on!

I too have been slowly plugging away.  I have not posted any pictures because I am at the tedious stage of doing little odds and ends.  Not much visually changing, but once the paint starts flying I will let the pictures rip!

Spike190, welcome aboard matey!  Captain Bond shal present ye to our fearless leader, the benevolent CAG of this motley crew!  Ye shall be issued a mug and yer ration o' rum, but be sure not to accept anything from Capt. Bondo lest ye see him pour it with yer own eyes...he be known to mix a bit o' the "cheap stuff" (a.k.a sump pump oil) with the rum rations!

Brian

Spike190 wrote:

Hi everyone, Is there a closing date for entering this build or can I sign up? Ive got the Eduard FAA Hellcat, just need to order a few paints then I can get going on it in a few weeks. Ive not been back in the hobby long but really fancy doing a couple of group builds. Cheers...

Welcome aboard Mike!  This build is the party that never ends, thus making it the best of the bunch.  Like Brian said, watch your mug around Bondo, you're lucky if sump pump oil is the worst you get!  CAG, aka TANGO 1, runs a fair ship here so pull up a stool and start cutting plastic when you get a chance.  Oh and watch your ankles, it seems the ship has a new mascot, didn't know Datsun made dogs-you learn something new every day.  It's supposed to bunk with Mac, but he's usually passed out at his post mumbling something about the Capn's daughter and he/she/it has a knack for slippin its noose.  Have we named the mascot yet Aaron?  Oh and post lots of pics of your builds, it keeps the crew happy.

EDIT: I guess I should've read all of Mac's last post.  It seems the weiner dog is named Bruno, and a good looking hound he is.

Aaron- Nicely done, and I am glad you are enjoying your stands!  BTW, the check you sent for them bounced, so I hope you will send another one!

Richie- Excellent work on the fish!  Looks like you are on the home stretch now.

Mike- to the GB!  I see the lads have been helping you get aclimated.

Aaron, Ritchie, you guys are carrying the group here.  Keep up the good work and keep the pics coming!

Mike Welcome aboard.

As for Bruno, I can see right through the Scalywag Aaron's plan.  Probably has him trained to sniff out the rum rations and to hound the crew when he's slumped over his post.  There will be no rest for the crew I says with that mutt aboard. 

aboard Mike!!!!!!! Your planned build sounds like a treat!!!!!!!

Brian, Frank, Dave, Thank you very much!!! Yes, almost there finally!!!!!!

Hi guys,

Thanks for the warm welcome, I can see its gonna take me a while to figure out who's who about here, bit like a first day at a new school . Anyway I got my paints ordered today so soon be up and running.

Cheers fella's and thanks again.

A bit more progress on the night fighter...

Spent some time today painting lenses, installing the flaps, cowl, etc.  I also installed other fiddly bits like the pitot tube and exhausts.  Here's how she looks!

Daywalker wrote:

A bit more progress on the night fighter... Spent some time today painting lenses, installing the flaps, cowl, etc.  I also installed other fiddly bits like the pitot tube and exhausts.  Here's how she looks!

Richie,

Looking good.

 Frank that Corsair is turning out to be something really special and unique!

 How exactly did you bring out the panel lines with that light color? Just a wash of deck tan or something?  You got mad skills! You know chicks dig guys with skills!

 Unfortunately my workload and long hours have really limited my bench time. I have spent the last few days stealing what moments I can to work on the Roc's turret.

 To me it is what really grabs you about this aircraft so I wanted to put a lot of effort and imagination into it.

Show again the resin copies I made from the Quickboost 1/48 Lancaster barrels. I used the Quickboost barrels as a tip from Ian Lanc on my Halifax and fell in love with them. So the look went from the barrels above to this.

The golden wings were and afterthought. The guns were belt fed so I made ammo belts simply by cutting two like strips from old used decal backing and painted them gold. Whem dry I simply drew lines with a pencil to replicate some detail and a hap hazard blaclk strip to represent links.

I had also modified ( mutiated may be a better word) a crew man to fit in the gunners seat.

 I cut out and remade the gunsight mechanism and added some PE details, This allows you to see his face instead of a solid resin piece with a silver painted window.

The copied barrels turned out well. The muzzle flash suppressors and preforated holes in the barrel are all there. Even the screw/nut to hold on the suppresors. This made a huge diff in the turret detail and appearance to me.

 Kinda reminded me of making a ship in a bottle a few times but I think it turned out much better than the kit parts had represented.  Just needed a little love. Kinda like him.

Dee named him Bruno ! Gotta ask her why she picked that name Dave? I dunno but they have been inseparatable all week. Thing follows her everywhere!