Battle of Britain GB 2008 - 21 June to 31 Oct 08

Have not had a chance to get to the bench this week but hope too soon. I the mean time I finally heard from Revell today. Got a form letter to let me know that the kits I need parts for are out of production and they cant help me. They included a flyier of their products and a thank you note. That helps me a lot.

Steve

Sorry Andrew but the facts do'nt lie.  Me 110 vs. Hurricane means a dip in the cold channel waters for you my freind. Sorry I did'nt make the rules.just ask Herman he'll tell you.

                                                                       Soulcrusher

No SC! I know it is unlikely, but my 110 will shoot down all three of your precious hurricanes. or bomb you on take off.

Looks good so far. Better late than never. I can always use more target pratice for my Hurricane,s!

                                                                                        Soulcrusher

Nice work SC

Everyone, I have started on my Bf-110, Sorry for late WIP some got mistakenly deleted. I also have only been building for three days.  I have got the primer coat on seams well filled and  the RLM blue on. All comments welcome.

Thanks for looking.

Update on my final of three Hurricanes. The Airfix kit is a real let down after completing the Classic Airframes kit but I wanted to do all three for the build seeing as the build was a little slanted toward the Axis side. I used the Aeromaster set for the decals The markings are for the 306 Polish Squadron. I am planing on useing alot of the small details from a Hasegawa kit that I have pillaged for the other two builds.

                                                                                     Soulcrusher

Thanks for the comments guys. I have been out of town for a few days for work and will be home for the weekend so I hope to get more done on the FW-200 and maybe finish up the 109.

Steve

Steve- Nice work on Galland's Emil.

Mike- Looking good so far.

Lufty -- most kind! Actually I tape things down so the lil bits don't roll away! And as it's an enamel job I'm painting outside, and even a light breeze will move things around. Gotta control the bits!

I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together, it's a new-techniques-build of an old/simple kit, with mods, so we'll see how she looks when the paint's dry...

Mike

Darren-I'm not sure that there wasn't more than one Haans Hahn.  I'm not sure that this is 'Assi''s plane.  I have a drawing in a reference book that shows the same plane in the correct (not the one that I used) scheme and states that it is a BoB plane.  But there were still no kill marks for the rudder in the sheet.

Guy-thanks.  It's good to be making some progress, at least.  I may have mis-read the instruction sheet-it just states that this plane was flown out of the coast of France in 1940.  I pieced togther the info on Hahn, his record and 'assumed' that this was a BoB camo scheme. I ran into a different situation with a decal sheet on another build-they changed the color reference scheme between the side view and the top view.

Oh well, it could be worse....

Bob, bummer about the paint schemes. Call me naiive, but i thought the guys that did the research for superscale and thier ilk were pretty good? Theyd have to be, to produce a 'Definative' paint scheme, they had to have some refs from somewhere. Good to have you back BTW.

Mike, the Dornier's looking real sweet so far. You guys are far too professional for me LOL. I paint stuff that i hold in my hand. Taping it down? Pfahh

...Guy

Thanks, Raptordriver, I'm starting to have positive feelings about the outcome of this one. The number of fixes required in a kit of this vintage are surprising, and I'm not making all of them by any means, but I think the final product will be attractive enough in the display case.

The Do 17 is a subject I'd certainly build at larger scale if one of the big guys were to decide to exploit the many variations to this airframe with a new high-quality tooling.

Cheers,

Mike

Bob I'm not sure which one of 'Assi' Hahn's E-4s you're doing but from my research "White 14" should be finished in 02/71/65 with a yellow cowl and RLM 70 spinner and "White Chevron-Triangle" should be finished in 02/71/65 with a yellow cowl and spinner.

Hope this helps.

Darren

Thanks soulcrusher.  That's what I was afraid of.  I'm going to sleep on it for a couple of days and decide whether to repaint or withdrawl and complete the 109 'as is'.

Will advise.

Cheers

edit-ok...maybe I didn't sleep on it.  Being the anal retentive modeler that I am, I've just roughed up the surface with some fine sandpaper.  Next step will be to mask off the yellow nose and then prime with Tamiya Fine primer.  Still deciding whether to use some existing Helmut Wick decals-combination of the OOB Tamiya decals and some left over from the last BoB build (Hasegawa kit) or order a new set.  Another strike against the SuperScale set that I have is that there are no kill scores for the rudder.

bobbaily wrote:

Hey all.  Sorry that I've been AWOL for a bit, but work & life have managed to consume most of my time.  A lot of excellent work being displayed here. Made some progress on my 109E-4, however, the Superscale decal sheet shows the plane being painted RLM 74/75/76.  All the research (after the plane has been painted, of course ) shows that most of the 109's in the BoB were 71/02/65.  The plane was that of Haans Hahn.  I'm afraid that a major 'repaint' might be in the works.... Any thoughts/insight/input from the 'resident experts'? Cheers

According to what have read 71/02/65 should be the standard camo for fighters of the time peroid that this group build is suppose to encompass. 74/75/76 camo was the standard right after that and i believe to late for the time frame set for this group build. Could be the markings are also incorrect for that time period.  Some aftermarket sets give you time frames that the decals are supposivly for. if the decals are suppose to be for a plane flying during the summer of 1940 than the color call outs are definetly incorrect. I recently ran into something similar on an Aeromaster Hurricane sheet. The markings were correct but the camo pattern was incorrect. I hade a accurate pattern from a Classic Airframes kit of a reverse camo pattern Hurricane and found it to be much more accurate. Not all of these aftermarket sheets are 100% accurate.

                                                                                     Soulcrusher

Mike great progress you seem really good with your details.

Thanks, Rick and Steve!

Here's today's progress -- a round of 02 spraying, featuring the wheelwells, gear bay door interiors, engine nacelle interiors, cockpit floor and seats, plus half a dozen landing gear parts that don't show here:

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I also mixed a dark metallic (MM Chrome silver 1:1 with Humbrol 85) as a base for a batch of radials. The two at top left are for theDornier, note the prop mounting holes aren't even centralised! Top right is the Russian copy of the Wright Cyclone in the 1:72 An-2 I'm building for Seaplanes GB, plus there's a two-part 1:48, Hobbycraft's attempt at an R-2800, in case I get over my frustration and actually build that bow-wow for Corsairs...

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I expect to close the fuselage on the Dornier before long, finish the panel lines that cross the joint, then mount the wing. There'll be some more 02 to spray,a few spots here and there, and the canopy masks should be here next week. I need to decide if I'm going to perform plastic surgery and cut away the lower forward fuselage to use the vac lower window that incorporates part of the hull, or go with the kit part for those particular panes.

Advice and feedback craved as always!

Mike

Hey all.  Sorry that I've been AWOL for a bit, but work & life have managed to consume most of my time.  A lot of excellent work being displayed here.

Made some progress on my 109E-4, however, the Superscale decal sheet shows the plane being painted RLM 74/75/76.  All the research (after the plane has been painted, of course ) shows that most of the 109's in the BoB were 71/02/65. 

The plane was that of Haans Hahn.  I'm afraid that a major 'repaint' might be in the works....

Any thoughts/insight/input from the 'resident experts'?

Cheers

T-Rex I agree with Andrew on this one, a few decals will make that kit look extra special for your family friend.  Also, you might want to think about touching up some of that paint where the upper green has leaked under the fuselage and the wing.

Cheers

I have Revell's old Stuka, and is just about done.

However its not going to be for this GB, this is a gift to an old familly friend in BC who was in the german army in 1945, and he was only 16. Also its good practice for hand painted aircraft camo.

I've found Hasegawa BF 109, and it looks supreme, but first there a armor show that I got to go first.

Comments on the stuka  are welcome

Mike, nice work on the Dornier, it can be a difficult kit but it appears that you have a handle on it.

Steve

Looks like good progress Mike.  Well done so far.

Regards,  Rick

Hi Lufty -- yes, I watched he video on the site and it looks great, I can't wait to give it a go!

I did some work on the Dornier tonight, preparing the gear bay covers for painting along with the masked wells (cleaning them up and filing away part numbers and ejector pin marks on the inside surfaces). I need to de-flash the main gear struts and prepare them for painting in the same round.

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Got a prop to deflash, a hub to fill and smooth... I checked the vacform canopy set, it looks good. Hopefully the masks will fit at least some of the panes. I have the cockpit mostly assembled, such as it is, and will spray up that plus the engine cowl interiors all in the 02 round to come.

For my 'fun' experiences with a Hobbycraft FG-1D, see the latest page of the Corsair build. You know, I think I'll be less critical of the Matchbox product...

Mike

Looking good Steve.

Regards,  Rick

Sidure, thats looking way cool. I love the mottling. Not long now.

Thunderbolt, you wont rgret the Promodeller wash, its great stuff. The future of weathering IMO. Check out thier videos on thier website for tips and tricks.

...Guy

Nearly there, Steve, nearly there!

Lucky Model just delivered, I have my clear parts cement and Promodeller weathering wash.

Cheers,

Mike

Another quick update on my builds. The 109 is moving along quite nicely and looks like it will be finished soon. Some gloss coat and decals applied tonight. So it looks like Galland is almost ready to enter the fight soon. I will finish off the 109 and then put the push on to finish the Fw-200.

Stay tuned for more updates. I too want to do a 109 with a Red nose, that would be way too cool.

Steve

Razor  -- Thanks! I'm always interested to compare the scales, I'm really liking the Tamiyas and can see myself building a fleet in future.

Lufty -- Microsol was what I used, it seemed to have no effect at all! I considered filing away the detail so the decals could lie down, but the relief was itself very realistic so I decided to go with paint. It's not too bad a result...

SC -- I know what you mean about long builds sapping your creative energy. Last year I finished an SF scratchbuild (of a 1:72 plane) that took me three years to do, 205 hours work spread over that time, and it's taken me a year to get back in the saddle on the concept of SF scratchbuilding, despite there being a mag in the UK waiting for articles. It can be soul-sucking!

Mike