Classic Kit GB [Official Thread]

That's interesting ... I thought that MPC reboxed Airfix kits, in which case the early He 11H as depicted on the box art will be a little more difficult to make from the H-22 of the kit :)

Good luck. Maybe you can use the Falcon vacform canopy replacements ... 

Brews wrote:

That's interesting ... I thought that MPC reboxed Airfix kits, in which case the early He 11H as depicted on the box art will be a little more difficult to make from the H-22 of the kit :) Good luck. Maybe you can use the Falcon vacform canopy replacements ...

According to the Box they are Licensed by Airfix, also in the boxes are airmodel  conversion kits to make the HE 111 H-4/6 , and  HE 111 F-4 .

I have started on my FW-190. I am trying to decide between the 20mm version or the 30mm version. I am leaning towards the 30 mm version. Here is the box and contents

After a couple of hours work

It is amazing how well the parts fit for a 1965 circa kit. Updates will be provided.

Hey guys, got some good looking builds and it looks like everyone has been having fun.  And thats the point of the build, have fun.  And in keeping with that, I finally finished my A3D Skywarrior.  Due to some issues with the kit, I was forced to build it with the wings out.  No folding option.  But still not a bad kit.  I'll get pictures up as soon as it comes back out of the club case at the hobby shop.

The Dauntless got some work done on it too.  I finally got all the holes drilled.  I was getting a major hand cramp doing it the old fasshioned way, so I wrapped the drill bit in tape and chucked it into the dremel on low speed and power drilled the holes.  Worked great.  hoping to get some more work done on it soon.  Right now I'm painting up an LAV-C2 for a build review. Nice kit, btw.

I noticed something today I was cruising through this build (Monogram F4U Corsair).  Pieces were breaking - the little pins that would allow the landing gear doors to swing open and closed, the thin plastic along the wing edges in front of the gear bays, the narrow gear doors for the rear wheel, and finally the piece that you affix the outer wing to which allows the wings to fold and unfold.  Right before that last disaster I was thinking that I should just hurtle this kit against the wall and watch it shatter into thousands of pieces, because by this time it was obvious to me that my kit consisted of a lot of brittle plastic.

I resisted that urge, but instead used my fist to crush a major component.  So I need to scratch this kit from this group build.  This is a kit that I've built many times in the past but I never had any problems with it; I think I just purchased a bad example of it. 

Oh well, so I have a possible replacement kit for the GB.  The old Monogram B-52D Stratofortress, 1/72 scale.  It's a  rebox (the Big, Bad and Beautiful edition that was released in the late '80s, but the kit does date to pre-1980).  It doesn't have many working features - I think only the bomb bay doors will swing open, and perhaps the flaps move.

Got started on the B-52 tonight as I was finishing up work on my Spitfire for the Secret Santa group build.  This is a big kit.  I like it even though it is old.

I acquired this kit from a guy on EBay.  It was partially started in that he had attached the bomb bay doors and then inexplicably stopped.  No painting or any other construction.  The only problem with the kit is the main windscreen is broken in half.  Any limitations to replacing this part or somehow making my own?

Finished my AT-6.  At least, I'm declaring it finished.  I have to admit that I ran of gas on this one near the end.  The canopy doesn't fit well and I had my usual hard time masking and painting the frames.  I did use the build to try a few new things - for one, this is the first time I've done a 'serious' NMF.  I used Talon acrylic paint and experimented with a couple of different polishing powder shades.  I'm pleased with the paint though I don't think I've yet hit on exactly the right spray parameters - I occasionally would get runs, but they tended to flatten out pretty well.

I used the kit decals for the national insignia and stencils.   I left off the large wing numbers because I wasn't sure they were appropriate for the plane I was modeling and (more importantly), the first one I put on slivered so badly that I had to sand it off and repaint the wing.  The tail numbers were pieced together from an old Superscale set to match an AT-6 that was assigned to Perrin Field at the time (1944-45).  I painted on the 'buzz numbers' on the sides - these match the plane I was modeling.  They're hard to see in the photos but I added seat belts made from masking tape that do add to the cockpit.  The only deviation from OOB is the pitot tube - I broke off the one molded into the lower wing when I was building and replaced it with a piece of hypodermic tubing.  Here are some pictures.  This was the only 'classic' kit in my stash so I won't be adding another.  I'm looking forward to seeing more from you all, however.  That B-52 looks awesome, for example.

Wow, gorgeous AT-6! 

Now I'm nervous about showing mine.  Of course, first I need to start it.    Always liked the looks of the Texan.  Nice job.

Cruising right along on this big ugly fat fellow ...  I've put all of the major components together and have painted the entire airframe.  I still need to paint some portions of the engines and the underside of the drop tanks, as well as putty some pretty big gaps and re-paint those areas.

This kit is clearly an old one.  It has gone together relatively well considering its age, but it has the typical Monogram frustrations with molded parts that essentially force one to build the kit a particular way (ie, gear doors that are intended to be open and don't really fit snugly when closed).  Who has room to display one of these beasts with the wheels down?!!!  This is a hanger all the way, and those doors just had to be closed.

I am building this kit as a true classic kit for myself, which means that I'm not doing anything extra (other than some of the painting techniques that I've used).  When I was a kid building I didn't pay much attention to things like seams, interior details, or any of the other minutia that I've developed an attention span for these days.  I'm just slapping this thing together with very little putty (only where there are major gaps).  As a youngster I didn't own an airbrush, but there was little chance I was going to paint this beast with a hand brush!  Plus I used a pre-shading technique on this as well.

Hoping to finish in the next couple of weeks.  I still have to build and paint all of the bombs for the external pylons, attach the engines and drop tanks, and fashion a new windscreen for the broken part that my kit contained.

Cockpit:

Wings:

Fuselage:

The BUFF:

Where are you going to display it?!

The ceiling in my garage work shop is the B-52's ultimate destination.  Who would have space to display such a beast on a table top, say, when there's a 2-year-old in the house, and a wife who likes to put stuff on every horizontal surface in the house?

Aggieman wrote:

Where are you going to display it?! The ceiling in my garage work shop is the B-52's ultimate destination.  Who would have space to display such a beast on a table top, say, when there's a wife who likes to put stuff on every horizontal surface in the house?

 I thought that was my Wifes job..Hmmm I wonder if they are related

Very nice work on the Buff, Man I want to build one of these Giant Birds also. Is the work on the office dry brushed or decal ~ which ever it looks Great along with the rest. Fantastic Paint Job    

Good lord that is COLOSSAL! And it looks GREAT! Just looking at the size of the newspaper it's sitting on...is it 1/48 scale?

I can completely understand why this is going to be hanging from the ceiling.

Jeepers, that's beautiful, and huge! I built the B-36 and had to hanging on my ceiling for some years, before it got trashed in a move. I really like the way you've painted the BUFF. Remiinds me of the 1:1 version at Castle Air Museum, formerly Castle Air Force Base.

I loved working parts kits as a kid- I never could get behind the "I glued all the working parts because I'm a modeler, not a toy maker" comments one used to see in Scale Modeler...  Back in the old days I told people that what I built were 'toy airplanes" because I absolutely intended to make the working features work, it all possible.

 Having said that, is this build limited to airplanes, or are cars, ships, armor, dinosaurs, etc, also allowed?

My favorite classics with moving parts, that I build myself, mostly in the classic era, are:

Revell "TFX" F-111A/B - complex, retracting, landing gear; swing wings; detachable escape capsule; radome removable to show generic Revell radar (same as A-11/YF-12 kit...) Still one of my favorites.

IMC Ford GT/GT Mk II race car- doors and hood and trunk (in front) all pivoted open. Steerable front wheels. Issued in the original GT-40 shape, then the -as--prepared-by-Carol-Shelby version that won Le Mans 1-2-3 in 1966, with significantly different nose and aft bodywork. Re-issued again to commemorate the John Wyer/Gulf Oil light blue and orange cars that won in 1968 and 1969.

 Monogram SBD Dauntless. Five segment airbrakes, retractable main gear, rotating prop, turning wheels, movable flexable mount machine gun, dropping bomb! I got two of these for my 10th birthday, when they were brand new. What a great kit! They came with TWO bombs and with two kits I had four total- so I glued a pin into one of them and would bomb balloons in the family room.

Tamiya  Matra MS-11 V-12 F1 racer. working suspension, small, flexable, springs represented the brake lines, clear plastic tubing for fuel injection, electric motor inside the V-12, gear box inside the gear box, the engine could be installed and removed, along with the axle shafts. Each axle shaft had two Hooke joints, tires were semi-peneumatic (ie hollow, flexable, rubber). 2 AA cells went where the driver's legs should bave been- with the batteries installed, it could crawl aound whiring...

Tamiya 1/25(?) Tiger tank. fFully articulated  suspdsssisons. My pal Bill S. had one, I loved playiug with it.

Hey guys, I finally got around to getting some pics of my Skywarrior.  I've been busy with preparations for my club's upcoming contest [now only 6 days away].  And trying to get a couple models finished for that event.  So, here is my classic Revell A3D Skywarrior.  I wasnt able to keep the wingfolding feature, as the pins in the wing broke.  And I wasnt too pleased to find that the decals in the kit, were not that of the box art.  they ARE for a Skywarrior, but not the right one.  They didnt match the instructions, so I was very puzzled on where they go. 

Rob, looks darn good for an oldie but goodie.   Does the tail come off as well?  I'm assuming that's the reason for that huge joint.

On my end, I'm slowly but steadily working through the GB's to get to this one.  I should be able to start in the next couple of weeks. 

Viper_mp, The Skywarrior looks good. Always wondered why someone has not made a 1/48 version of it. Now to get my FW-190 finished.