War in the Desert - African campaign GB - 12/9/07 to 5/13/08

Rick: nice spit Rick, what version is it cause i noticed the clipped wingtips

Arki: nicely done hurricane, that camo looks fine to me.

Steve: Love the black and white pics

Well since i'm late to the game i should give you guys an update of where my sherman is. This Tamyia kit is just falling together. i still haven't decide which one i'm going to build, might just be a U.S. M4 and weather the daylights out of it. so heres some WIP pics

Nice day here today so I took some pics outside of a second dio I just finished this weekend...ever seen the movie "Sahara?"  I call this one "Guns for Water"

Comments appreciated.

Thanks Jmart .

Regards,  Rick

Rick - very nice build!

arki30 - Well, reversed or not, I like the camo :) Nice paint job.

Cheers

Mark, thanks for the kind comments.  Yep, more lighting is definitely needed. 

dupes, thanks for the comments.  As far as RAF camo schemes, I'll dump what I know in a nutshell.  If someone is better versed at this, please correct me as needed or add to it. 

For Spitfires and Hurricanes the RAF had a Scheme A and B.  For each aircraft they are essentially the same scheme, except the colors are reversed.  Now if the schemes between Spitfire and Hurri's are exactly the same I don't know.  And I don't know if the Scheme A & B applied to other RAF aircraft, i.e. Mosquitos, Beaufighters, etc.  I blew it because I bought the wrong mask for the painting sequence.  Oops.

BTW, I built the lightbox using the link you've thrown around in other threads.  Cost me $0.  It works pretty good.

Hey Arki - looks pretty snazzy to me!

I'm not as sharp-eyed as others when it comes to a/c so I wouldn't have noticed your "errors" if you hadn't pointed them out. When you say the camo was reversed, do you mean that Hurricanes were always painted in the same pattern?

Are you in the Hurricane GB as well?

Nice Hurricane, arki30!  Great job on painting it.  The pictures aren't bad, but as you mention just work a little on the lighting.  I don't take the best of pictures myself, since I don't have the best of cameras or lighting.  I try not worry about it.  After all, it's only a model!

Mark

Nicely done arki . Great looking Hurricane.

Refards,  Rick

Calling my second build finished.  This is the 1/48 Hasegawa Hurricane Mk IIB of No. 274 Squadron, North Africa 1942. 

Apologize the pics aren't great, but I'm working on it.  Built a lightbox to diffuse the light, now just need better lighting. 

Anyway, AM accessories are Ultracast seat, Ultracast wheels, Ultracast exhausts, and Ultracast wheel wells.  I cheated and used Eduard camo and canopy masks.  Pollyscale acrylics primarily and Promodeller wash.  And no weathering as is my particular idiom (thank you Concord).

Two mistakes I'll point out, one my fault the other not.  Sharp-eyed members who know this particular aircraft will note I have the camo colors reversed .  The other is Hasegawa buggered the installation locations for the 2 extra machine guns on each wing.  They should be staggered reverse from what I currently have.  True to Murphy's Law, I stumbled across a reference pic after it was too late.

I'm happy with it as I've always wanted a Hurricane in desert colors on my shelf.  Thanks for looking!

Thanks Mark.  Gleed was attacking a flight of German transport aircraft when he was jumped by several Bf-109G's from I./JG 77 flying high level escort & was shot down.  At the time of his death, he had scored 13 confirmed victories & 3 probables.

Regards,  Rick

Rick:  Excellent work as always.  That's one nice Spitfire!  I'm not familiar with Gleed.  How was he KIA; shot down by a fighter, flak,..?

Mark

Yep, that's exactly what I was expecting.  But, due to exhaust stub design, location in reference to the fuselage, even the fuel mixture, exhaust stains can and do take many shapes, forms and hues. 

My goof.

With regards to Spitfire exhaust stains:

• How well is the a/c maintained?
• What is the type of exhaust manifold?

Here is one pic that varies from that shown of the model. It is not to say that Rick's reference pics were censored, but it may be more of what Arkie expected:

Then again, there's this Sov Spitfire .. surely less-well maintained, but with an exhaust stain closer to Rick's!:

I give up

Hi Christopher, no you're not too late to join as long as you can finish your 109 or Spit somewhere around the finish date.  Not having a camera is going to be a bit of a disadvantage as the idea of an on-line group build is that you post pics as your build comes together.  Is there anyone you know who has a digital camera that could help you with the pics?

Rick that's a great looking Spitfire which is well and truly up to your usual high standard.  It's funny isn't it how we as modelers tend to base our builds on the look of other modelers builds and then over time except this as "reality".

Arki I'm not having a go at you mate, I just making an observation and I know I have fallen for this as well.

Cheers

rjkplasticmod wrote:

arki:   The exhaust stains are based on reference pics, although I agree they don't conform to what you see on most models.

Which just goes to show you what the heck I know.    I'll go back in my corner now.

if its not to late I would like to participate 

i've got a spitfire and bf-109 at home i have'nt started

just one question....when youre done, do you have to post a picture of it?

just wondering because i don't have a digital camera(or any cameras come to mention it)at my house, and can't afford one at the moment considering i'm a junior in high school

Thanks Guys. 

arki:   The exhaust stains are based on reference pics, although I agree they don't conform to what you see on most models.

Dupes:  No, it's the Hasegawa kit.

Regards,  Rick

Well done Rick!  The desert schemes just hold something for me, and you executed it well as always.

I will say I'm not convinced the exhausts stains look quite....right?  I'm nitpicking. 

Thanks Dave & Bob,  glad you like her.

Dave, you're right about the codes, but references show it is correct.  I really don't know the story.  Standard was white, so its possible Gleed had the dark blue centers of the codes painted as his personal ID, same as the cartoon cat on the starboard fuselage.  Quite rare on RAF aircraft.  It also seemed to me that the G script was non standard.

Regards,  Rick

The Spitfire is declared complete .

The model represents the mount of British Ace, Wg. Cdr. Ian R. Gleed, North Africa 1943.  Gleed was KIA flying this bird on April 16, 1943.

Regards,  Rick

Cruzr, the first Sherman you have pictured there is the cast hull with direct vision slots, it also uses the very early grant type suspension.  The second diagram is a welded hull but also has the very early grant type suspension. To make either of these kits you are going to have to do some major kit bashing or be prepared to lash on some expensive AM bits.

The other Sherman (in the photo) is a Sherman III I think and this is much easier to build OOB.  Dragon does this kit in 1/35 & 1/72.

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/dragon/dr6313.htm

Dirk the Tamiya LRDG Chevy is currently OOP but you can find them on eBay fairly regularly.  The Tamiya SAS jeep is still available and can be found at most online stores.

Cheers

Dirkpitt289 wrote:

Does anyone know where I can find this Chevy truck that belonged to the Long Range Desert Group?  http://www.lrdg.org/images/LRDG%202.JPG Also this or a similar jeep would be kewl to. http://www.lrdg.org/images/Jesper%20Pedersen%20%20-%20SAS%2031[1].jpg

Tamiya did the truck in 1:35, and Matchbox did the truck and jeep in 1:76