Classic Kit GB [Official Thread]

Well, here's another one.  Its being built for another GB, but it qualifies here too.  so this is my second classic kit.

This is the classic Monogram B-25, in 1/72.  Its a crude kit by today's standards, but still fun to build.  The figures arent the best, so they got basic painting.  I did manage to scratchbuild some bulkheads in the ockpit and nose to block off the open fuselage [showing the nose weights].  Speaking of weights, I THOUGHT I was good when I put 4 pine wood derby weights under the cockpit....wrong.  I had to add two to each engine nacelle [front of it] and another 3 to the nose before it would sit right.  And speaking of stance, when on its wheels, should a B-25 have a nose up cant, or should the fuselage be parallel to the ground?  The kit gear gives it a very visible upward cant.  Oh, and masking the canopy was a nightmare.  The molded in frame....is on the inside. The outside is perfectly smooth.

Here's a few pics so far. 

Here's a pair of the old 1/72 Hurricane kit by Revell

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A Hasegawa 1/72 Mitsubishi J2M-3 Raiden air-racer...

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Another Flight Of Fancy Air Racer, a Ki84 in Mitsui OSK Line colors:

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A large photo of some of my 1/700 subjects- air tankers and air racers and target drones and a drone controller. , I'm building some 'straight' USN, USAAF, RN versions, and some out and out airliners too.

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1/700 Airliners in progress:

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Here's some of my Matchbox 1/72 Hurricane, in progress. First, the cockpit, which i built 11 years ago...

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And now the rest of the assembly, in the past several months: 

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A Hasgawa Ki44 in Calico Cat colors, still needs decals:

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Here's that classic old 1936 Ford, 1/32, now issued by Lindberg, in pieces but generally painted. Tamiya "Racing White" rattle-can spray is a nice classic creamy white, and the wasabe green is a Gunze Sangyo color. All bright trim is Polly Scale "Stainless Steel" and the light pumpkin orange on the wheels is a custom mix of my own- Testor's Acryl II yellow and white, to taste.

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And here's the final assembly, except the windshield which I keep misplacing the two parts for. Personally, I think the light gray rubber on the running boards and for the interior mat is Way Kewl. My friend Edhi and I figured a parchmant and wasabi color scheme would look terrific on an NSX or other Japanese sports car, so I thought I'd give it a try in 3 dimensions. This simple old kit builds fast!:

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And the old Airfix M4 (Sherman) Medium Tank turret with Fujimi''s effort for comparison. Both are the same height, the Airfix turret is too small in diameter, the Fujimi too large. So I'm wrapping the Airfix with 0.040" strip styrene and sanding down the Fujimi part until I can see light through it... I've swapped them between the hulls here, so the Fujimi hull at the bottom, with the Airfix turret; the Airfix hull is at the top, with the Fujimi turret. Note the replacement gun barrel I sanded down from a tube... All home made, no "aftermarket".

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I've just put up a bunch of in-progress photos of these and more, at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wbaiv/

Cheers!

Bill

Dave - looks really good from my end! That paint job is pretty sharp...can't tell the paint separation is freehand.

My wildcat is also displayed with the wings folded to cover up that MAAAASIVE gap when the wings are in the "in flight" position.

Dupes, I understand your problems with the wing fold, and mine should have been easier.

Well here it is folks..Pappys Corsair....below you will see the wings down, & the wings up with teh braces in, and that's the way it is now glued that way, the wing gap 'tween the outer & inner wing is hideous.

Even though I pulled my P-40 from this because I screwed up the landing gear, I'm still working on it and will post it, but at least now I can concentrate on me B-25 for the Medium Bomber GB.

Enjoy. , Dave

P.S. The transition from dark to med blue was free hand, not bad, actually I think it's good for a first time crack at it w/o masks/tape.

Thanks Bill!

I got the folding/unfolding bit to work, but the wings don't quiiiiite mesh properly when they're in the "in flight" position. Would have taken a lot of work to get everything to match up the way I wanted. Heh.

Dupes, what a beautiful Wildcat! I like the folded and unfolded versions- I could never get it to work when I was a kid. Time for that TBM in the basement....

Regarding the sticks ("jury struts"?) holding folded Corsair wings- I've always seen them in glossy red, for F4Us, TBMs, etc. The fixtures that close over landing gear hydraulic struts are also glossy red- often seen on museum exhibits, at the Western Aerospace Museum here in my neighborhood, etc.

I've got a bunch of in-progress photos to post soon. I have to put them up on Flickr and then I can link them to here, right?

I can report I got my second (!) original Revell Hawker Hurricane completed. The first one is naked plastic, no paint, no decals, just like the one I built in about 1962. The second one is the 85 Squadron nightfighter version, black plastic, and I painted only those things which shouldn't be black- gear legs, wheels, cockpit interior, pilot, yellow prop tips, red "fabric" over the guns and Chrome Silver over the landing light "lenses", which are simply smooth spots w/o rivets on the wing leading edge. A Classic built the way I built them back in the days of old. I'd tried decaling the first one but the decals wouldn't stick to bare plastic, they all dried and peeled up and fell off (!). So I used Elmer's School Glue to help keep them in place on the 85 Squadron bird, VY-X. It gives them a nice matte finish too.

More stories when I post the photos. Nothing as good as that T-6 and F4F-4 and all the other pretty work here, but I do what I can.

Questions: I've got a Hasegawa F11F-1 Blue Angel, long nose, that needs only decals to be done, built during the period of this GB- does it qualify? When was it first relased? It was one of the molds Minicraft imported and ran in Southern California, the one I built is the Minicraft release. But there's no date on the box or instructions. Anyone know when this kit was released? Is it a Classic? Its got raised lines, too shallow a nose gear well, a tub-seat-stick-instrument panel cockpit with decals for instruments and controls. Better than the 1960s A4E/F or F4J, but not hugely so.

I've also got an F8 in progress and its about the same- four piece cockpit, you can look into the intake from the cockpit, the seat ins't quite a replica of anything real...

 I've got some older magazines from before the 1980s, I'll try to find them and check the Hannant's, Squadron, etc, catalogs. for when these kits appeared.

Bill

dirtball wrote:

In all the info I`ve seen, the "sticks" have been red. Hope that helps..........Harv    Dave, by the way, the email notice I got for your post said it was from the corsair group build. Thats why I couldn`t find the right catigory to answer your question??

Thanks Harv. Red it is.

Oh, yeah....I initially posted this in the Corsair build, then deleted it after I saw that I goofed, ...I'm building a Corsair for the Classic GB too, I have yet to start the bird for that GB though.

   In all the info I`ve seen, the "sticks" have been red. Hope that helps..........Harv

   Dave, by the way, the email notice I got for your post said it was from the corsair group build. Thats why I couldn`t find the right catigory to answer your question??

Okay folks, sorry about no progress pics but I a ALMOST done with Pappys' Corsair....but I need one bit of help here.

When the wings are folded, there are Lock Bars that secure the outer wing to the fuselage when the wings are in the up/folded position. Those bars, what color are they supposed to be?!?

Much Appreciated.

" border="0" width="16" height="16" />, Dave. 

Hey, no problem, Dupes. And great job on the cat!!! I have that same one built in my display case, next to an old 1/48 Bachmann/ Fujimi F6F-F Hellcat [with motor].  Its actually the kit that got me addicted to Wildcats [to which I now have way too many kits- including all of the new Hobby Boss releases].

i'm glad everyone is enjoying the GB.  At the recent Regionals in Omaha, I managed to pick up an old 1/72 Airfix Harvard [in the hanging packaging], and Airfix 1/72 Vigilante, another Monogram T-28, and a few others I cant remember off hand.  Everyone in both o the clubs I belong to think I'm nuts. I went from an eggbeater nut to a vintage nut. lol.  

Thanks guys!

Summit - I really need to shoot you links to some of my other builds...seriously, I do build a lot. Heh. Sadly, no moveable canopy or gear on this one. Hmmm, more "classic" kits, eh? I've got a couple in my stash still (both Revellograms, the P-38 and Me-109), they are fun to roll out every now and then for a bit of nostalgic build-like-you're-a-kid fun, but I think I may have to stick with some newer moldings.

Arki - yeah, that's what I was thinking about the wash, think I'll go back and hit the larger crevasses with some tonight. Interested to see what the "method" is for raised detail - sort of like a localized pin wash over each rivet head or something?

Viper - thanks for the cool GB!

Very nice, dupes!  For an old kit it looks fine.  You can hit whatever recessed areas exist with a wash which will help.  I've read (somewhere) about methods for raised panels lines and rivets, but I always thought it more hassle than it was worth. 

Alrighty, the Wildcat is on the shelf. While this is not up to my usual personal standards, this ancient kit makes a good "3 footer", if you know what I mean. I'm sure that building this will make me go out and buy the Tamiya F4F so that I have something you can lean in a bit closer to!

I'm on the fence about doing a panel wash on this guy, as there really aren't that many panels - all raised detail, and I wasn't sure what happens if you try to hit that with a wash. What have you guys done in the past with that? May go in and hit the elevators, ailerons, the big stuff, not sure.

Here it is!

and with the wings folded, as requested :  

Well, thank you. I'm not used to people saying kind things like that :)

The armoured car IS tiny :) It's 1:76 scale. 

They all look good, That tank looks tiny.

I promise I'll get back onto that Hunter!

Meanwhile, I HAVE been building classic kits: 

Matchbox Humber Mk II

Heller Fi 103 Reichenberg IV:

Matchbox Jaguar (in progress - as is the Humber):

Arki, Thats a Fine looking AT-6 - You really did a Fantastic Job on an old challenging kit. Everything looks Good.   When you going to build another to match ?

On these older kits with the thick decals I have been using a 12 yr old bottle of Solvaset I bought at a Hobby Town store and it has been giving me really good results. Maybe that stuff is like wine it gets better with age.....