Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Darren-PM inbound!

Mike- I must admit, I am having a lot of fun with the same kit!  I was a little scared by the Airfix kit from all of the negative comments from others, but this kit really is nice, highly detailed, and fun to build!  I think you should try one!

Very nice work Darren.  Should get a place of honor on your display shelf.

Regards,  Rick

By thunder! What a bloody good idea old chum!

CHEERS!

LOL, glad to help Darren! 

Your '47 is looking awesome!  I really like the colors on those, very striking.  Seeing yours almost done is really sinking that hook to finish mine up.

Right chaps,

Apologies for not dishing out the rum ration over the weekend-but it was one of those weekends when duty called. Ho-hum!

In the meantime, I have a weeks leave and inbetween all my family time, I have managed to snag an evening in the hallowed ground of my secret workshop.

I have started to put the markings on my Seafire and boy am I greateful to Frank for his help with this one! If you are reading this mate-Thanks! I owe you one. 

In short, the kit decals I have are worse than bad........ Luckily for me, I've had some help from the Frank Daniels hospice for mental model builders and this build is really coming together now!

Now, as you will be quick to notice, some things need correcting-but fear not, I am on the case. For now, this is where I'm at with this one.....

Thanks Frank!

Bob-

option 1 looks like the best bet. Let us know how you get on. 

Bob,

I think option #1 is your best bet.  After your wash and weathering, it should really tone down the starkness of the colors.

As for an oil wash over acrylics, I have had mixed results.  Gunze acrylics are no problem, but my past experience with the Tamiya flats is that as long as the undercoats are COMPLETELY cured, and the wash is not poured on, it was usually OK.  If I got a little heavy handed with the washes, it tended to soften up the paint.  Most of the time it settled back down, but sometimes didn't.  Hope that helps!

Bob I have applied an oil wash over Tamiya & Gunze acrylics in the past with no problems.  I personally don't think you need a Future coat with this as you're using the Raw Umber as more of a Filter rather than a wash.

The only reason I use a Future coat before a wash normally is to get the oils to remain in the panel lines if you know what I mean rather than bleeding into the surrounding paint, but in your case that's exactly what you want in this case

Cheers

bobbaily wrote:

Based on the responses, I'm wondering if there would be a cable pay-per-view market for option 4!

Well a YouTube video at the very least

Here are the pics I was talking about earlier, the first one is the base coat and the second is with a thin wash of Raw Umber oil paint straight over the top.

Cheers

Thanks Darren-much appriciated.

Based on the responses, I'm wondering if there would be a cable pay-per-view market for option 4!

Bob I have Brett Green's Modelling the F4U Corsair and he used the technique of an oil wash to change the colors on his Corsair and the results were amazing.  I'll lookup the details when I get home tonight.

Cheers

Bob, go with Option #1, although if you decide on Option #4 I'd love to see the video .

Regards,  Rick

Bob, I vote for #4 simply because I think we all have a similar childhood memory just be sure to take lots of pictures (and don't do it inside the house like I did ) 

Seriously though I think if you did the wash and pastels you should be able to find the right tone.  My spitfire for the sitfire build had similar issues and  found that even after the future went on that the colours appeared darker.  You can always strip it later if it doesn't turn out.

Finally had some time to mask and paint.  And I wish I hadn't...

I lighted the grey a bit too much, at least in my opinion.  And I'm not sure that the green is the correct shade-MM acrylic doesn't have an exact match so I came as close on the FS number as I could and ended up with Euro Dark Green.  Same on the grey-I used Gunship Grey (an exact FS match, but lightened it).  Then I fought with the airbrush (and it won).  After it's all said and done, I'm weighing my options:

1.  Future, oil wash, flat coat and then chalk pastels to darken the grey and maybe lighten the green-heavy weathered look.

2.  Start over but start with green this time and then shoot the grey.

3.  Just give it up, reprime and paint it blue and build it as a U.S. Navy Hellcat-however, if I do this, I won't have a reason to get the upcoming Eduard release....

4.  Fill the thing with a tube of model cement and relive one of my favorite childhood activities involving models & matches....

Anyway, any and all thoughts & critics are welcome & encouraged.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

The model is a 1/48 conversion using the Aeroclub conversion kit. The conversion recommends the use of a Spitfire or Seafire kit with a 'C' wing which means either the Airfix Spitfire VB/C cum Seafire II/IIIC, or the Hobbycraft Seafire XV or the Hasegawa Spitfire IXC. I think ICM did a 'C' wing Spit as well. The conv kit contains injection parts for the two fuselage halves, prop blades and spinner, two radiators and an assortment of white metal parts for the cockpit sting hook and undercarriage plus two vacform canopies.

I initially opted to use the Airfix kit because the 'C' Wing is an additional moulding and leaves a complete Spit VB if the 'C' wing is "liberated". That turned out to be a bad move. The VC wing has one radiator (port) and an oil cooler (starboard) so requires a fair bit of effort to get two radiators to fit it. Then I found the fit of the wing to the conversion fuselage was, to say the least, a pretty poor fit that would require lots of extra effort.

So plan 'B': I tried the Hobbycraft Seafire XV wings. Rads are correct so no effort there and the fit was very good. I did need some filler, but the wings matched up to the wing root with only a small gap and required minimal effort to get the right fit. I used a crude jig to get the dihedral set and after that it was plain sailing.

The cockpit interior of the conversion parts is a bit basic with some white metal additions but no instructions on where to locate them other than "refer to the donor kit". I added some wire and PE seat harness from an Airwaves set and left it at that. A nice resin interior would have been ideal but it's not all that easily seen unless the canopy is open - hence I opted to leave it closed!

I had two starboard white metal oleos so had to get a replacement from Aeroclub which was no problem. I used Xtracolor enamels for the finish and the decals came from various Modeldecal sheets.

The model finished up looking the part so I was pleased with it and it now resides in the pilot's study at his home. The total build was about 40-45 hours over 10 weeks.

Richard

Lads I've just received the Sept issue of Military in Scale and aside from being chock full of styrene goodness as usual there is a magnificent buildup article on a FAA Corsair.  I highly recommend picking this issue up if you can as the guy has done a brilliant job.

Cheers 

darson wrote:

Frank mind if I ask what cockpit you are using on the Mk.46 and how are you finding it?  Over on the Spitfire GB I'm using the Aires resin pit that came with the kit and the thing is giving me fits.  I've just spent the whole night doing major surgery on the sidewalls with my Dremel just to get the IP to fit .  Ahhh Aires, looks so good, fits soooo bad. Cheers

Darren- Thanks for the compliment Darren!  I have actually been using the stock cockpit, slightly upgraded with a little wire and some homemade seatbelts from lead foil and wire, and some detail painting.  Just having someone ask what 'pit it is a huge compliment, thinking it's aftermarket when it's stock kit parts!

Darren, Leon,

thanks very much lads, its good to know I'm on the home stretch with this one.

I finally got the gloss coat on today, so hopefully on my next day off things will get moving in the weathering and decaling departments. 

The seafire looks great Darren. I look forward to more.

Leon 

Darren the Seafire looks excellent, I' m really glad that you masking worked out so well.  Now we just need a couple of black stripes to complete the paint job.

Frank mind if I ask what cockpit you are using on the Mk.46 and how are you finding it?  Over on the Spitfire GB I'm using the Aires resin pit that came with the kit and the thing is giving me fits.  I've just spent the whole night doing major surgery on the sidewalls with my Dremel just to get the IP to fit .  Ahhh Aires, looks so good, fits soooo bad.

Cheers 

Dave, Frank-

Thanks Lads!

Frank,

I just caught your pics over on the Spitfire GB-the Mk.46 is looking good! It will be interesting to line up our two birds together when they are done.

Still looks like a Spit so far Frank .

Regards,  Rick

Darren-

Holy cow, that looks AWESOME!  I hope my Mk.46 turns out half as nice as that one.  Seriously, your paint work is top notch!

I worked on the '46 this weekend.  I found that I had quite a step between the wing root and the wing top.  By adding small spacers between the lower front edge of the fuse and the lower wing, it in effect lowered the wing to sit properly with the fuse.  Hard to explain, but here's a couple of pics: