Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Here is a pic of a Mk.46 in a camo paint sheme.

Frank,

going off the ser.no. that you have told me I have pinpointed your Mk.46 to RNAS Anthorn, in Cumbria. These fighters were used as a reserve squadron and they were painted EDS Grey on the top side, sky on the underside. 

I hope this helps,

OK, I checked!  The REAL number is LA546, does that change the scheme?

Lemme see....where did I leave off? Not knowing when to cut my losses & quit, the Hellcat was given a Castrol Super Clean bath to clean off the bad (my fault?) decals & paint.  Figuring that since I had changed plans to go with a one color scheme, primer would not be necessary....wrong.  After spraying on the new primer & paint, the finish was still terrible-very intersting-so I sanded/smoothed down the existing coat of paint and then reapplied-a lot better.  Still not great, but acceptable at this point.  Dunno if the plastic was 'etched' when the primer was first applied the first go-round or during the Castrol bath.  Guess it doesn't really matter at this point....also picked up a new bottle of Future for the final coat....the old Future (maybe 3 yrs old) might have contributed to my decal issue.  I wonder if Solvaset can go bad?  Think I'll try a test decal & setting solution first this time...

Sorry for the quality of the photo, but gloss black just doesn't take a good picture indoors....

Anyway, the plane I'm attempting to build is the Hellcat I of S/Lt. C. Campbell, 885 Squadron, HMS Ruler, June 1945.  While on station off the coast of Japan, he had his normally Slate & Extra Dark Sea Gray Hellcat painted gloss black.  The new paint job increased the speed & performance of the plane.  At least that's what the AeroMaster decal sheet says....

Looks like the recovery is coming out well, Bob.

Regards,  Rick

Well, it's friday and i'm all set...

Now i'm just waiting for Darren with the bottle!

DesertRat wrote:

Well, it's friday and i'm all set... Now i'm just waiting for Darren with the bottle!

Me too!  Me too!

Roger-

I spent about a half hour today watching Blackhawks do touch and goes, and rapid descent and takeoffs too!  It was very cool to see.  I was driving along, and saw them flying around up ahead.  I went around a few curves and lost them, then they suddenly popped up outta nowhere right in front of me!  I thought of you while watching them.

Right on! Sounds like they were doing autorotations. I always hate it when the pilots gotta do that, but it's always a neccessary evil here. Kinda makes you wonder just how good your pilot is....

   As far as my build is going, well sufficed to say, not too well. I have been hung up all this time with the Dauntless just trying to get the flight crew halfway decent! Geometrical shapes i can deal with easily, but when it comes to figures, i'm sucking wind here! Hopefully i'll have a completed cockpit in about a week or two....

Ah, yes... autorotations.  I bet it's kinda nerve-racking in the back seat!  But, cool for a spectator to watch!

I feel your pain on figure modeling, I'm trying to work on one for my FW-190.  TRYING being the key word...

Here ye go lads!

CHEERS!

TANGO 1 wrote:

Here ye go lads! CHEERS!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can finally say there has been an advance with the Barracuda and Firefly Mk1. They have both advanced to the stage of most bits on and matt varnish overall. All that is left to do is a bit of exhaust and then add the small bits. The nasty part is the VERY delicate attachment of the undecarriage to the aircraft. It is a very small contact area that I added some wire to strengthen. This has worked a bit but it still isn't too strong.

 As for the rum, here is the Queenslander's version of rum.

Bob,

looks  like your re-build is progressing nicely.

Dave,

Good to hear you are nearly done with those builds, we are all looking forward to seeing them.

Oh BTW, thanks for the Rum!

Cheers mate!

Great news guys,

As the we were unpacking the moving van I asked the wife what she wanted in the extra bedroom.  Her reply was, "I was going to let you have that room for your model building".  I could not ask for a better wife   Give me a few days and I will be up and running

Roy

Nice one!

Better buy some flowers for your lady Roy-let her know how great she is.

That's AWESOME Roy!  Sounds like a wonderful lady, be sure to follow Darren's advice and buy her dinner and some flowers.

I stayed up VERY late last night masking and painting the camo on the Mk.46.  Here's how she looks today:

Looks good Frank. The late night effort paid off.

Regards,  Rick

Frank,

lookin' good my man! That late night work has paid off for sure.

Frank,

What did you use for the mask?  Alos my boy wants me to build the spit you gave me for him to play with  He already attaches the wings and plays as is.

Roy

Roy,

Glad to hear your son is enjoying the Spit!  Be sure to post pics when you get a chance to work on her.  As for the masking, I used Handi-tak and Tamiya tape.  Here's how she looked at 1:30am this morning right before I started painting:

Handi stuff that Handi-Tak .

Regards,  Rick

Daywalker wrote:

Thanks Darren!  Now, I just have to keep my fingers crossed for the decals to work!

There goes a brave man......................................

Hello Lads,

here's a peek at the B-25. I still have a bit more to do to the base, but I recon you'll get the idea. Landing gear went on today and I did some touching up to the paint. I did want to get the gloss coat on tonight, but did'nt get round to it. Still, not long now till I can get going with this build.

Hope you like it so far. 

SWEET!  I love that one!  The base is truly outstanding.  Thanks for sharing my friend, truly awe-inspiring!