The RCAF Group Build Birthday Party

DaveCS wrote:

P.S. don't get me started on prop kits going the way of the do-do....  and if I see one more company kit another Focke-Wulf 190 or ME 109 or Spit I'm going to scream - there are so many more props that deserve to be kitted... *sigh*

  Dave this is for you, I Have Felt it my Public Resposibility to give many of these Old Forgotten Kits a Safe, Warm, Dry, Loving Home . Here is just one of my Groups in a "Class Photo" No vintage kit will be Turned Away !

Found a second book by Mike Ashley "Model Aircraft Tips and Techniques: An Illustrated Guide".

I imagine there's going to be a fair bit of overlap but I've bought the one book for myself, the one you recommended, and this second book for one of my sons, who is just getting into modelling. We should be able to share.  Please don't hesitate to recommend to me any books that you have found to be helpful and instructional (and that use 'baby-talk) as half the fun for me is in learning new ways of doing things.  For only being two days old, this Group Build has been a blast - we've brought together a truly great bunch of guys. But hey, we're all RCAF affectionatos - what more has to be said.

 Your "Group Photo" made me drool. Why is it that just seeing a photo of a bunch of plastic kits causes a senior citizen's heart to start to pound, his hand to shake, his pocket book to vibrate and sing out "you can buy it, you can buy it".  I'm one of those guys that when he finds a model and builds it and its been fun, he keeps buying them up and building them. As you can see from the attached photo, In the upper right hand corner, there are 7 x 1/48, Hasegawa Spitfire Mk Vb kits, plus one on the go, plus two x 1/48 Tamiya Mk Vb TROP.'s that are out of view on the shelf below, and below that is a  Revell 1/32 Spitfire Mk I/II, and above my workbench is a Airfix 1/24 Spitfire Mk Vb while up on the shelf in the 'main stash' are 4 Airfix 1/72 Spits IX, XII, and completed, and stuck on my toolbox are two Spit 1 X 1/144's. 

 Now, I'm not obsessive, a hoarder (I do build them) I just have a MAJOR love affair with the machines. I won't mention the pictures I have of them (I've lain on my belly on the grass and taken shots of the wheel linkage assembly of the XVI that's up at CWH, pictures of the pit, close-ups of IP dials, rivet assembly's on the wings, cannon mountings, - actually, I think I have enough to do a well documented book, and speaking of books, I have 5 'How to' books on the Spits alone starting from the Osprey.   Yeah, I admit it, I've got a problem, but my goal is to is to "practice" building these planes until I can put together one that I can put on my Dad's grave - it was a Spitfire Vb that got him on Dieppe (friendly fire) and I've grown up with a love/hate relationship with that plane that just drives me batty!!!!!!

I published the Combat Record of 401 Squadron earlier in this thread and I'll come clean:  What my dream is over the next two years is to acquire enough of the Hasegawa Spitfire Mk Vb kits that I can assemble a copy of the squadron and do a good enough job that I could donate them to the Canadian Warplane Heritage.  That's 12 planes and I have 8 and Hasegawa isn't making the JT4:2000 kit anymore. I cleaned out ebay - have to wait awhile to see if they come up again. I need 4 more planes.  Those kits have the markings for 401 Squadron - I have (posted) the plane numbers and the names of the pilots, and have traced the pilots that were killed by the end of the war through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  That will be my tribute to my Dad, and to the guys who flew.  If you think I'm nuts, just say so, buts that's why I want to learn how to detail the planes with scratch built as much as I can.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with the 1/24 - hang it in a barn somewhere, but it will be, I hope, my piece de resistance in which I hope to incorporate everything I learn (and have learned) about the Vb's.  Thanks for listening to me ramble, but for some reason, I'm reallly missing my Old Man today. I had sent to Veterans Affairs for a copy of his Military Medal that he won on the beaches at Dieppe and I got a letter back from them this morning with a note for me to notarize as the eldest surviving son. Really got me thinking. I'm Melancholy as all get out.

razordws wrote:

That's a cool story Poppie and no, I don't think anyone thinks your crazy.  At least I don't.  I think your goal to redo the squadron is ambitious but will be well worth doing.  It would be a real treat to see you pull it together.  You may have to lengthen the GB though.

Thanks for the encouragement Dave, but I don't think I'll have the project done in this GB. I think I'll probably get bored/tired of doing the same kit over and over and would need some distraction if for no other reason than to learn more and different techniques.  I'll just keep on plugging away at it til its done.  Anyway, I still have to find the remaining 4 kits.

I've read somewhere of a kit you can use on your home computer to design and build your own decals. I'd like to be able to do that too someday, then I wouldn't be stuck with having to get a kit with the proper decals already supplied. 

Anybody know where I can get information on doing my own decals?  Muchly appreciated.  I'm really going slow until I get those two books by Michael Ashley - they sound like they have a lot of exciting stuff in them and I'd like to try out as much as possible. This is exciting.

Poppie, the only kit I know of is Testors decal making kit which comes with some simple software for making the art work, the decal paper and the setting solution that you have to spray on to seal the ink on the paper so that it doesn't desolve in the water.  I have not bought the kit.  I've been told that the software is rather limiting.  You can use just about any graphics program that you are familiar with to do the art work. 

I have used testors decal paper to make my own decals using Photoshop as the the software but I found the testors decal paper a bit thicker than normal decals.  Its usuable but I know there is better decal paper out there.  I just don't know which is the best.  Anyone else out there have a decal paper they recommend? 

Also, for the setting solution you can use just about any clear coat, even future, to seal the ink, you just have to be careful to apply several very light coats so that you don't make the ink run.

EDIT:  On the other hand Poppie, Given that Spitfire code letters are very light coloured you might want to consider picking up an after market decal sheet with RAF code letters on it.  Light colours are hard to do unless you have an Alps printer that can print white.  Or you can print on white decal paper but then you have to cut each letter out exactly so that the white doesn't show.

Guy's, Walthers the train people have a Great Decal Starter set "On Sale Today" for $21.98        www.walthers.com/     part # 768-5070     sorry I can't post a direct link.

Summit wrote:

Guy's, Walthers the train people have a Great Decal Starter set "On Sale Today" for $21.98        www.walthers.com/     part # 768-5070     sorry I can't post a direct link.

That's the 'Vitachrome Kit'.  I've used up this months allowance already (bought those books), and it's what, the 2nd day of the month!  I've bookmarked the site and will see how much it costs at the end of the month. If I get it, I'll let you all know how it turned out, but, the RAF aftermarket decal sheet sounds like a plausable out if I can find a set of numbers that start with 'BS......'  - ain't that typically Canadian....I can hear me now on the RT: "Tower, this is B.S. 101. Wanna hear a good war story eh?"

Summit wrote:

Sorry Poppie, I meant to put the manufacture of the kit down but got side ~tracked,,,,, I ordered my kit this morning for this GB. Looking online for a  Prom Dress for my Daughter, working with PE parts for the first time ever building a corsair office, giving my sons Mountain Bike a spring check over , now what was I doing before I read your post ?

During your spare time.......ha he ha ha ho...... let us know how the kit works out.  If you give a good review, I'll definitely buy one.......there are just too many planes that I want to 'individualize' and I have Corel, Paint Shop Pro, and Painter to play with.  My only concern is that I've heard that the waterslide paper is really quite thin and with my tremor, I'm afraid I'm apt to tear up a lot of work. Let me know how you make out.

Guys,

Thanks for the memories

I've been busy this evening trying to catch up on my conversion of the Airfix Anson Mk I to an Anson Mk V.

I know folks think there's not much difference but there is; and this is one of the things I'm finding (this is my first conversion I've ever done and my first try at scratch building). Lemme tell you, I'm having a blast at it !!

I picked up, from my post office box today, an order I had placed in mid March from Aeroclub. Two nacelles for the c-45 expeditor; white metal. So, why nacelles for the expeditor??? Well, the expeditor used P&W 9 cyl Wasp Jr engines, just like the Anson Mk V.  No need for me to cast my own (yet) resin nacelles for the Anson. A little bit of  using the dremel and I have something coming awfully close to the nacelles on the Anson Mk V. I'm wearing my respirator mask and safety googles... and I've got my fan going in my spray booth (where I'm doing the dremel work).

This is turning out to be a lot of fun!!

For refrence sake; Anson Mk I

Anson Mk V
 

I hope to have some "in progress" photos as soon as there's something "cool" to show you

Cheers
Dave

Poppie wrote:

Found a second book by Mike Ashley "Model Aircraft Tips and Techniques: An Illustrated Guide". I imagine there's going to be a fair bit of overlap but I've bought the one book for myself, the one you recommended, and this second book for one of my sons, who is just getting into modelling. We should be able to share.  Please don't hesitate to recommend to me any books that you have found to be helpful and instructional (and that use 'baby-talk) as half the fun for me is in learning new ways of doing things.  For only being two days old, this Group Build has been a blast - we've brought together a truly great bunch of guys. But hey, we're all RCAF affectionatos - what more has to be said.  Your "Group Photo" made me drool. Why is it that just seeing a photo of a bunch of plastic kits causes a senior citizen's heart to start to pound, his hand to shake, his pocket book to vibrate and sing out "you can buy it, you can buy it".  I'm one of those guys that when he finds a model and builds it and its been fun, he keeps buying them up and building them. As you can see from the attached photo, In the upper right hand corner, there are 7 x 1/48, Hasegawa Spitfire Mk Vb kits, plus one on the go, plus two x 1/48 Tamiya Mk Vb TROP.'s that are out of view on the shelf below, and below that is a  Revell 1/32 Spitfire Mk I/II, and above my workbench is a Airfix 1/24 Spitfire Mk Vb while up on the shelf in the 'main stash' are 4 Airfix 1/72 Spits IX, XII, and completed, and stuck on my toolbox are two Spit 1 X 1/144's.   Now, I'm not obsessive, a hoarder (I do build them) I just have a MAJOR love affair with the machines. I won't mention the pictures I have of them (I've lain on my belly on the grass and taken shots of the wheel linkage assembly of the XVI that's up at CWH, pictures of the pit, close-ups of IP dials, rivet assembly's on the wings, cannon mountings, - actually, I think I have enough to do a well documented book, and speaking of books, I have 5 'How to' books on the Spits alone starting from the Osprey.   Yeah, I admit it, I've got a problem, but my goal is to is to "practice" building these planes until I can put together one that I can put on my Dad's grave - it was a Spitfire Vb that got him on Dieppe (friendly fire) and I've grown up with a love/hate relationship with that plane that just drives me batty!!!!!! I published the Combat Record of 401 Squadron earlier in this thread and I'll come clean:  What my dream is over the next two years is to acquire enough of the Hasegawa Spitfire Mk Vb kits that I can assemble a copy of the squadron and do a good enough job that I could donate them to the Canadian Warplane Heritage.  That's 12 planes and I have 8 and Hasegawa isn't making the JT4:2000 kit anymore. I cleaned out ebay - have to wait awhile to see if they come up again. I need 4 more planes.  Those kits have the markings for 401 Squadron - I have (posted) the plane numbers and the names of the pilots, and have traced the pilots that were killed by the end of the war through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  That will be my tribute to my Dad, and to the guys who flew.  If you think I'm nuts, just say so, buts that's why I want to learn how to detail the planes with scratch built as much as I can.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with the 1/24 - hang it in a barn somewhere, but it will be, I hope, my piece de resistance in which I hope to incorporate everything I learn (and have learned) about the Vb's.  Thanks for listening to me ramble, but for some reason, I'm reallly missing my Old Man today. I had sent to Veterans Affairs for a copy of his Military Medal that he won on the beaches at Dieppe and I got a letter back from them this morning with a note for me to notarize as the eldest surviving son. Really got me thinking. I'm Melancholy as all get out.

Poppie,

 I have both of Mike Ashey's books and they have little overlap, actually.  They are excellent reference books and I believe that you will enjoy them and pick up soem good tips as well.  I can also highly recommend Matt Swan's website and especially his DVD's they are excellent!

Brian 

DaveCS wrote:

For refrence sake; Anson Mk I Anson Mk V   I hope to have some "in progress" photos as soon as there's something "cool" to show you Cheers Dave

Dave, thanks for posting those photos 'side' by 'side' like that. I never realized just how much of a difference there was between the I and the V.  I really underestimated the amount of work you were going to have to do.........that's a major conversion job for a first try.  I'm impressed. I'm really looking forward to seeing some pics and to hearing how you made those changes. Please, don't just stick a pic up  and say 'Here it is'.  We want to know how you do it.  Share the knowledge buddy, share the know how.  Are those the numbers your doing your bird in?

Poppie wrote:

Now I have to have a mug of tea in my Typhoon mug, and one in my Lancaster mug and now I'm going to be up all night running back and forth to the can.....

Now this had me busting a gut Poppie.........

Nothing like a good spot of tea. I prefer an Earl Grey, when I'm not chugging back coffee.

Brent

Fantastic theme, Poppie! I am a very proud Canadian and have been accumulating quite a pile of kits over the years, and quite a few are of Our stuff. Since watching the program Jetstream on Discovery Channel, I've done some digging and traced the history of that Squadron. I was first thinking of building a Wellington or Lancaster for this GB, but since I just can't get Jetstream off my mind yet I kept digging through "The Stash". You mentioned that you would like to keep A/M stuff down to a minimum so I was quite excited when I found the kit I will commit to this GB. Count me in for a 1/72 De Havilland Mosquito Mk. XIII Night Fighter. I will give it markings for, you guessed it, 410 Squadron-"The Cougars"- based in Colerne, Wiltshire,July 1944 

By the way, I had to put things away 25 yrs ago-family & work, y'all know the drill-but I kept picking up kits in my travels. Well, I've settled in now since the kids are grown & gone and when I took a closer look and started counting I came up with a number somewhere over 500. And in there is several of our AFV's, a small pile of helo's, one lonely ship and 30+ airplanes. Also I have accumulated a few sets of A/M decals in order to make even more kits of our stuff.

Several of you have mentioned going up to a warplane museum in your area, and since I have nothing like that anywhere near me, could I be so bold as to ask if they have a Mosquito there and if so-any chance you could snap a few pics for me? I will try to keep the build OOB as much as possible, but I may have to hunt down some correct decals.

By the way, can anyone tell me how to post pics on here? I can't seem to figure it out.

Thanks in advance, Bullet--out. 

Hey Bullet, that mosquito is a nice choice!

Now, about posting pics.  First thing you have to do is sign up for an image hosting site such as Photobucket (photobucket.com) because you can't actually upload images directly to this site you can only create a link to them.  Photobucket is the site most people here use and its free.  Once you have that taken care of and you've uploaded your pics to your photobucket site then the simplest thing to do is click on the IMG Code located underneath your photo.  Highlight the information in the box and copy it (clicking on it automatically creates a copy) and simply paste it into your message.  This should create the link that will allow your picture to appear in your post.

If you use a site other than photobucket (like your own webpage) then you need to type in the code with the web loction like this,

[IMG ]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y211//B-17%20F/10b-17f.jpg[ /IMG] 

But you need to remove the space between the brackets.  I put those spaces in there to avoid making the actual link.

Give it a try and if you have any problems give us a shout. 

When that happens it is usually because you have either uploaded or linked to a thumbnail rather than the actual picture.  That is pretty much impossible to do with photbucket.  which host site are you using?  are you sure you are uploading the actual picture to the host site and not a thumbnail? 

The only other possibility is the actual image size.  If you are using a camera phone for example they do not usually have a very large image size.

chester101 wrote:

I think I will go with a hobby craft sabre for this group build. I saw one the hobby shop last weekend and if it is still there Saterday I will get it. Alain

Hi Alain,  Just let me know if you succeed in getting the Sabre and I'll update you on the honour role.  Don't forget to grab your Badge.

Bullet21 wrote:

Thanks for the tip there, razordws. It works but the pic comes out really small. Any ideas?

Hi Bullet21,

I've just figured out how to use photobucket. I had a heck of a time figuring out the correct size for our badge.  I had it way too big, then a tiny, itsy little thing you couldn't read, then I had a brainwave = measure someone elses 'badge' and make ours the same size. Well, I finally figured out that it works best if its about 125 pixels wide (gif).  I've figured from there, and by comparing other photos that are posted that if I convert all my jpeg's to gif for standardization, and keep them at 500 pixels wide by whatever ?? (500 x ###) they seem to fit ok without taking up a lot of bandwidth.  I've created a file at photobucket called 'RCAF' and a matching file for my posted pics here on my puter. So far I seem to be able to keep things straight.  Good luck with yours.

Re: Poppies Tea Mugs.

I found the perfect accessory for all those large tea mugs I bought the other day. Seems to work just fine:   There comes a time in a man's life when ya just can't wait in line any longer, guys.

Bullet21 wrote:

Fantastic theme, Poppie! I am a very proud Canadian and have been accumulating quite a pile of kits over the years, and quite a few are of Our stuff. Since watching the program Jetstream on Discovery Channel, I've done some digging and traced the history of that Squadron. I was first thinking of building a Wellington or Lancaster for this GB, but since I just can't get Jetstream off my mind yet I kept digging through "The Stash". You mentioned that you would like to keep A/M stuff down to a minimum so I was quite excited when I found the kit I will commit to this GB. Count me in for a 1/72 De Havilland Mosquito Mk. XIII Night Fighter. I will give it markings for, you guessed it, 410 Squadron-"The Cougars"- based in Colerne, Wiltshire,July 1944  By the way, I had to put things away 25 yrs ago-family & work, y'all know the drill-but I kept picking up kits in my travels. Well, I've settled in now since the kids are grown & gone and when I took a closer look and started counting I came up with a number somewhere over 500. And in there is several of our AFV's, a small pile of helo's, one lonely ship and 30+ airplanes. Also I have accumulated a few sets of A/M decals in order to make even more kits of our stuff. Several of you have mentioned going up to a warplane museum in your area, and since I have nothing like that anywhere near me, could I be so bold as to ask if they have a Mosquito there and if so-any chance you could snap a few pics for me? I will try to keep the build OOB as much as possible, but I may have to hunt down some correct decals. By the way, can anyone tell me how to post pics on here? I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks in advance, Bullet--out.

Hi, Bullet   There is a Mosquito at the avation musem here in Ottawa, I'll take some pictures for you next time I'm there. Also if you go to their website and do an image search for mosquito it comes up woth over 100 pictures.

heres the link:      http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/image_bank/search.shtml

Alain

The Canadian Aviation Museum: http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/visit/

I'm going up to Ottawa on 9th May and will try and get in to the Canadian Aviation Museum to take any pics that anybody wants.  So far I see a request for pics for a Mosquito.  The CAM just happens to have one in its collection of 190 Cdn aircraft.

Pictures:  The CAM maintains a data bank of over 15,000 pics that are provided as part of the public domain. They have a great Image Bank that you can access here> http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/image_bank/imagebank.shtml

 I've found it to be a great spot for pics of planes in all stages and well worth looking at. No matter what Cdn plane your doing, CAM has some pics for you.  Let me know in advance, and if I possibly can (the weekend is fairly full) I'll make my way up there.  If not then, I'll just make a special trip later on.

Hey Reload, Have you been able to get on the RCAF site yet?  Anybody else having any difficulty getting on to http://www.rcaf.com?

Here is the lastest pic of my KH*R Tomahawk I.  Basic construction is progressing but it is tedious to say the least.  The flaps are in an exaggerated position to show the detail (or lack thereof) prior to weathering.  Still have some filling and sanding to do on the nose section before attaching the gun shrouds.

403 Squadron received the Curtiss fighter in the March of 1941 as a speedier companion to the Lysander as the mission at that time was Army Cooperation.  The Squadron flew recon duties mostly but did get scrambled on several intercepts.  By the end of April 1941 the Squadron duties shifted to Day Fighter and the Tomahawks were replaced by Spitifre I and II aircraft after about two months service.

WHO ARE WE?

I was once on another forum and we all posted a pic of who we are. It was fun to put a face to a name. So, my idea, I go first.  This is absolute, documentary evidence that I do to wash my plastic in mild dishsoap when I first open the kit.  Absolute first 'must do' job.  I once neglected to 'bath' my kit and when I've sprayed it, I got this great big ugly finger print.Aaaagh!!

 The Mrs. says she thinks I should have changed the water from the supper dishes before washing the kit - think there's anything in that?  Poppie