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

Hi all,

Fiddly progress on the Do 17. I've been filling sinkholes with superglue.

The first shot shows the tailplanes on the sprue. They've been sanded to show the holes:

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They were blobbed with superglue which was left to harden, two applications' worth, then the pieces were removed from the sprue and the glue adzed with a knife blade, and resanded with 1200 w/d:

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That looks rather better. I filled two on a nacelle, and one under a leading edge. There are others, I guess it's a question of how much patience I have as to how smooth the airframe ends up. Hopefully it'll all look fine under a few coats of paint!

Cheers,

TB379/Mike

Sorry for the double post guy's, computer is running slow tonight. Thanks for the comments. So should I just go ahead and sand it clean. I left a little raised detail just to show panel lines etc.

Steve

Steve, Looking good.  That's one big bird.

Regards,  Rick

Steve -- looking very good, I can't wait to see her go into color. A good-sized model, too! I know what you mean about sanding away rivets, I remember a model mag in the late 1970s refering to them as 'the DAR,' standing for Dreaded Airfix Rivet, and how a light sanding reduced their prominence. But in strict scale terms, they can go -- it would take the finest drills made to produce in-scale flush/recessed rivets even at 1:48, and they're simply not visible at the comparable viewing distance for the scale.

Mike -- I know what you mean... My next job is to sand the lumpy,undetailed tail surfaces and use superglue to fill sinkholes. At this rate I'll have the Do 17 and the Emil finished about the same time, and the Emil hasn't even arrived yet...

Cheers,

TB379

A little progress to report on the fw-200 and the 109. The seams gave me more trouble than I expected and after many sessions they are done, or at least as well as they are going to be. I hope progress will move faster now that all the sub assemblies are done. Have to mask all the canopies next and that should be fun. I put the 109 in also to show scale of the bird, it's from Airfix and it's flying along as there is not much detail to it. As with the 200 I had to sand off all the raised rivets. It's going to be Gallands mount.

Thanks for looking and hope to get some work done over the weekend.

Steve

A little progress to report on the fw-200 and the 109. The seams gave me more trouble than I expected and after many sessions they are done, or at least as well as they are going to be. I hope progress will move faster now that all the sub assemblies are done. Have to mask all the canopies next and that should be fun. I put the 109 in also to show scale of the bird, it's from Airfix and it's flying along as there is not much detail to it. As with the 200 I had to sand off all the raised rivets. It's going to be Gallands mount.

Thanks for looking and hope to get some work done over the weekend.

Steve

Mike- After seeing all that I'm glad I went with the Monogram, I think it may be the least ugly of the step-sisters.

Karl- Looking good!

Very good looking Hurricane you have there Karl. Nice progress so far.

Steve

Good progress on the Hurricane Karl.  Keep on truckin.

Regards,  Rick

SC, I used the Ultracast wheel bay and seat on my last Hurricane, as these were a stunning improvement even over the items supplied in the Hasa kit.

I'm replacing the kit wheels with a set of MDC ones, and the seat harnesses are from the same source.

Karl

Looks like you made some good progress there Karl! I just received my Airfix Hurricane today. I was hopeing there would be no great fit issues but it looks like you have uncovered a couple of the kits shortcomings. At least I will know what to watch for. The kit decals are so thick they look like stickers! The shall be quickly regulated to the spares box and replaced with a set of Aeromasters. The wheel wells look pityfull when compared to the resin ones that come with the Classic Airframes kit. Might have to add some fiddly bits in there to spuce things up a bit. Now of course i have company coming tomorrow so tonight wil be spent tidying up and this weekend entertaining. Looks like I will have to wait agian to finally get to start on this one!

                                                                                       Soulcrusher

Oz Mike, really nice job on the scribing.

I tried that on a Revell Do217 a few years back, never again, ended up in the bin!

Darren, meant to say, the cabinet was an off the shelf Ikea job.

Made some more headway on the Hurricane.

The upper surface of the both wings came up too low compared to the fuselage, so I added a couple of wedges, the white bits in the photo below.

The undercarriage bay isn't too bad considering the age of the kit,I just sprayed it Tamiya Flat Aluminium, and applied a dark brown wash, same as I did for the pit.

As you can see the fit of the fuselage to the wing isn't too bad, though nothing is glued in this photo.

The fuselage is definitely warped though, as I rescibed a panel line from one side to another, using an existingpanel as a datum on each side of the aircraft. The rescribed line ended up going diagonally across the upper fuselage! Lets just say that line has now been erased!

I've decided to take the Hurricane with me on holiday, as the only border I'll be crossing is that into the surreal world of Dorset on England's south coast, so no issues with sharp knives and solvents!

See you all next week.

Karl

Good job TB, Im not brave enough to try one of thoses early suckers. Keep the WIP shots a coming.

...Guy

Hi all,

Here's the promised WIP pic:

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The old Matchbox molds are sure not what you expect from tooling these days. There are sink-marks all over them, not all of which I can be bothered doing anything about. I'll get a few in the next round of filling and sanding, including some big gaps where the lower wing panels meet the upper just outboard of the ailerons. I might also redo some panel lines by filling them with superglue, adzing/sanding back, and rescribing through the cya -- we'll see how ambitious I feel, there's plenty of time before the accessories arrive.

There's only the portside fuselage half left to scribe, and some lines on the engine cowls, plus a few on this asembly to tidy up.

Gotta take stock of my paint situation for the RLM 70/71/65 -- I know I have Schwartzgrun in the Humbrol edition and I might have the underside blue in MM, but the dunkelgrun I'm not too sure about.

No Emil yet ... whimper...

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Frank hang around as much as you'd like and remember there's always a spot waiting for you if you want to join in.

Cheers

 All I gotta say is that the quality of this group build is fantastic!!

 I'm just going to sit on the sidelines & follow all the builds .

 Frank C 

Mike, top notch job on the Emil.

I can't believe you did that all in 2 and a half days, simply amazing.

I still haven't got around to finishing the 111, even though it's about 99.9% complete, and it will probably have to wait until I return from holiday.

The Hurricane is coming along, with the wings together, and cockpit painted.

I'll try and post some pics tomorrow.

Karl

Hey Darren seems to be alot of guys named Mike causing trouble around here!. Thanks for the update!

                                                                              Soulcrusher

Hi Darren,

Um... Who are you talking to?

Many thanks! I should have a progress shot of the Dornier up maybe tomorrow night, with the filler in and sanded around the nacelles.

Cheers,

TB379 (that Mike!)

Mike outstanding looking model, I still can't believe that you turned it out in 2 1/2 days and the fact that it's 72nd scale

Mike the front page has been updated with your Hurricane.

Anybody detect a pattern forming here

Mike the front page has been updated with your Matchbox Dornier.

Cheers

Holy cow Mike. Stop joking with us, please tell me its 1/48. I cant make a 1/48 look that good. Your build inspired me to do an 1/72 Airfix to go along with my FW-200, someone asked for a scale refrence so I am building Gallands bird. I can only hope mine is half as good as yours turned out. Congrats on a great build.

Steve

Pbbbth.... pplnnvbbber...  sorry for the unitintelligible blather.  Just tying to comprehend how Mike built that Me 109 in 2 and half days.    Outofthisfreekinworld Mike!   

Mine is going to take 2 and a half months at my current rate. 

Almost forgot! Darren than you for updating my info on the front page but i need one more favor from you pal. My Classic Airframe fabric wing Hurricane has risen from the dead! She has been stripped cleaned up and repainted now currenty wating on a very late set of new decals. thanks buddy.

                                                                       Soulcrusher

Actual photografic proof!

Hi Mike,

That's a 2.5 day build? I'm absolutely blown away! Your 109s are amongst the best work I've ever seen, and you really give me a standard to aim for! The overall standard of work on this GB is amazing, it's truly publication quality, and I'm very glad to be involved!

Mike/TB379

Well I am still at a standstill! No Airfix Hurricane that I ordered back on the Aug 3 and no decals that I order over two weeks ago from a different supplier! The good new is i made good progress on my  Tamiya Fw190 D for the Fw190 GB. She is already in the paint shop. Stark contrast compared to the Hurricane when airbrushing. On the Hurricane every color separation is masked. On the 190 every color separation is soft edged! Man I better have something in my hands tomorrow afternoon or I'm gonna start kickin' some butts!

                                                                                         Soulcrusher

Luftwoller wrote:

Oh yeah Mike. Shes a doozy for sure. Looks spot on from here anyhow. You say you did it in 2 1/2 days. Frabulungtious for sure buddy. Plenty of time till the end of the GB so hows about another 30 or so? ...Guy

Thanks for the comments guys.

Guy- 30 more, huh?  Only if you know a good divorce lawyer (barrister?)!

Oh yeah Mike. Shes a doozy for sure. Looks spot on from here anyhow. You say you did it in 2 1/2 days. Frabulungtious for sure buddy.

Plenty of time till the end of the GB so hows about another 30 or so?

...Guy