Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Thanks for the camera tips guys. Luckily I'm in no big hurry so will go visit some shops and try to get my hands on some different ones.

Frank - congrats on the 1000 posts!

Leon 

Hello chaps!

I hope all of you had a good weekend. I managed to get some workshop time, but not enough as I would have liked. In short, my Corsair is still not  finished. I  have had some trouble making the canopy framing look neat, so I had to re-mask and re-paint it all.

Good thing is that I got the final dull coat on and I have almost finsihed the dispaly base. I did find one glaring mistake on my build......the i/d light on top of the fuselage spine! RN Corsair's did not have them so I had to remove mine at the last minute, praying that I would not ruin the paint job! It came out OK, thank heavens. Anyhow, here is how she looks now:

I have also started my Mk.47 Seafire. As mentioned before, the decals in this airfix are not so hot, so I have hit upon a minor brain wave.......I will "borrow" the roundrels from a Seafury sheet that I have and paint all the invasion stripes on myself. Rest of the decals, like Lettering and such I will cut down as small as possible before placing on the model. Hopefully, this one will turn out nicer than the one I built eight years ago! I am also going to enter this Mk.47 in our Spitfire GB too.

So far I have built and painted the inside the fuselage and the cockpit parts, since its all painted matt black in there, I will not be adding any PE-this will be a OOB interior. When things get moving, I'll be sure to share some pics.

That all for now.

Thanks Mike! I know what you mean....I have those kits in my stash too!!

In anyone hasn't seen it, check out this site.....they restored a Seafire Mk.47!! Awesome pics!

http://www.ezellaviation.com/Past%20Pages/seafire.htm.

What I would'nt do for a ride in one of those..................

Darren, that corsair is looking really good and that base really sets it off.  Did you paint the carrier deck or is it something you ordered?

Mike, I can't believe that someone who likes to do all that rigging is afraid of a little masking?

Thanks Dave,

I painted the base, tried to copy it from pictures of HMS Unicorn where my Corsair was based for a little while. 

Guys, if I may suggest... give Eduards mask a try.  Using those will enable anyone to do a perfect canopy job.

Roy

guys your killing me

I look at all thise cool builds you guys are doing and thats all I can do is look.  I so wish this move was over and Iam settled into the new place

yea Darren that base is too cool, you the man

Roy

wyoroy wrote:

Guys, if I may suggest... give Eduards mask a try.  Using those will enable anyone to do a perfect canopy job. Roy

First things first-Roy, I agree, but Eduard doesn't make a mask for the Tamiya 1/48 Zero-a good (ok, it's an old kit) inexpensive kit.  I learned that lesson the hard way!

Darren-stunning job on the Corsair.

Roy-back to you-I feel your pain.  Only I don't have an good reason (i.e.,moving) for not building-I'm just eyeball deep in life stuff.  Keeps getting in the way of my hobbies....

Roy-  Hang in there buddy!  I had to tear down my model set-up (AGAIN!!!) yesterday so the painter could come in today and tomorrow to paint my place.  Really wish they had done it BEFORE I moved in, but alas...

Bob-  I really wish Eduard made a mask set for the Tamiya Zero as well!  I used BMF on mine, and it seemed to take forever to get it all masked.  I think what made it so difficult was the lines on the canopy are not very straight, took a few tries on some panels to get them to look right.

Thanks Mike, those decals really make her look good!

BTW, any surprises show up yet in your mailbox?

Darren, The corsair looks great. I, too, think the base is also really sweet and adds that extra punch to build.

Frank,  I agree with Mike - every time I see the zero I am more and more impressed!

Have you guys tried Parafilm for masking? It's what I use, and I really like it! Here is a helpful article about using it that I usually read before any masking job. 

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/usingparafilmda_1.htm

Hope all is well.
Leon

Nice work on the Corsair Darren.  Looking Sweet.

Regards,  Rick

Nothing yet Frank, but I've been checking every day and will continue to do so until it does. Thanks again buddy! Anything show up your way yet?

Leon, I still have a roll of parafilm left and I use it a lot, especially where I need to mask a surface that has a lot of compound curves. I'll establish the borders if I need to with masking tape and use the parafilm as a filler, like on fuselage bands, cowlings, and engine nacelles.

Thanks for the link!

ruddratt wrote:

Nothing yet Frank, but I've been checking every day and will continue to do so until it does. Thanks again buddy! Anything show up your way yet?

Yep, got it today my friend!  Pm inbound!

gwaihir wrote:

Frank,  I agree with Mike - every time I see the zero I am more and more impressed!

Thanks Leon, I really appreciate that!  Great link on the Parafilm.  I have a roll of it, but wasn't using it properly so I quit.  I think I'm gonna pull it back out and have another go at it!  Thanks for that link!

Dave,

I bought mine at micromark (an amount that at my speed of building will last a life time). I believe there are possibly better deals out there but the micromark one is not bad.

If you would like, I would be happy to send you a foot or so (enough to last quite awhile) so you can try it out and experiment with it. Let me know.

Leon

Micro-mark link for their deal BTW: (Seriously though if you want a little to try before buying the whole roll let me know)

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=80806 

I've never had much luck using Parafilm, but that's me.  I prefer Tamiya Tape & Scotch Magic Tape for masking Canopies.

Regards,  Rick

Hey Leon, thanks for the link mate! I don't know where they sell that stuff over here, But I will look out for it.

BTW, thanks to all of you for the kind words about my Corsair, much appreciated. I maked my canopy with tamiya tape and maskol (a new method for me) We'll see if it worked or not in a few days!

Being stuck at home after my knee operation has finaly borne fruit. The Barracuda has the sky underneath and the slate grey on top done. It's now just waiting for the paint to dry and it will get the EDSG or whatever it is camouflage over the top.

The firefly has also moved forward with the canopies closed up and i'm now just blending in the canopies to look like the original aircraft.

Leon,  Thanks for the offer but if I dedide to try it I'll pick some up next time I place an order.  Right now I'm happy with the 3M scotch tape and maskol.

Dave, looking forward to seeing some pics!  

Looking forward to seeing them Dave.

Regards,  Rick

rjkplasticmod wrote:

Looking forward to seeing them Dave. Regards,  Rick

Get some pics up when you can, Dave. Would love to see 'em!

...and I want to wish you a speedy recovery and that you're back on your feet soon (is that OK to do? Because ya know, you're having so much fun modeling! )

Thanks for the well wishes I'm managing to hobble around without the crutches but unfortunately I have to go up a set of stairs to get to bed at night! Whats even worse is that I will most likely be back at work on monday.

But anyway, here are some images of the work so far:

Barracuda -The paint job is a bit patchy but thats ok as i'm going to be using some darker and lighter paint to highlight the panel lines etc as well as the centre of the panels prior to spraying the DSG camouflage. Then I will do the same to that colour so it gets that well worn patchy look that carrier borne aircraft get(I hope).

Firefly

The canopies are mostly faired in I just have one spot that needs ot be built up and then I can sand away all of the file marks. Once that is done I can mask it and paint it up in the RCN colours. I did stuff up the pilots canopy on one side as the windscreen slipped forward away from the main canopy so there is a slight gap between the two parts.

Nice progress Dave.  Thanks for the pics.

Regards,  Rick