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

Hi Jay, been wondering what happened to you but sounds like you've been busy with family as I suspected.  Number two eh?  Wonderful news.  You know Nov. 15th is a nice round number (also happens to be my birthday for birthdays.  Best of luck to Mom and the Baby.

As for the BR 20 I'm slowly getting it done.  It's fought me pretty much every step of the way and will be glad to get it on the shelf.

Hi Jay --

"Oh yeah, this one will be a boy again so I'll have two to try and pass on the modelling bug too."

Hmmm, that gets me thinking... It probably wasn't meant this way, but on the face of it, it sounds like if you had a daughter you wouldn't share your skills with her. While it's true that the hobby is mostly male-dominated, over the years we've seen examples in the magazine of brilliant work by female modellers, and their natural dexterity actually does suit them very well to the field.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point. This year I've made the acquaintence of a most delightful lady whom I have every hope will be Mrs T-bolt in the not too distant future. She's coming to stay for a while in the new year and says she's looking forward to watching me work, as it'll take her back to watching her dad work when she was a kid.

He used to build flying models, he was an r/c expert, and every boy in the neighbourhood got to fly his planes. But not my friend -- because she was a girl it was 'look but don't touch.' That wasn't fair, she was left out and it hurts her to this day that her dad barred her from something even strangers were welcome to have fun with.

If my friend should want to try her hand, I'll mentor her in modelling with the greatest pleasure! Who knows, one day she might be posting something herself!

I hope my comments don't offend, it's not my intention to open a can of worms here, just to point out that girls can derive as much pleasure from the hobby as boys and shouldn't be excluded simply because they're girls.

Okay, I'm off the podium -- back to modelling!

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Thats a sad but true story, Tbolt, and a good point. Not piling on here or anything- just reminds me of how someone I know well was given second citizen status by both her dad, and her mom who took the view that the dad could do no wrong. Now she is very very successful, is happily married and in general has a good life, in part because she got that extra motivation to do so. Her older brother is a fine guy too, but her dad nows realizes how much potential both of his kids have and lets his daughter know how proud he is.

It was the times, I think.

Mike, no worries.  I took no offense.  You bring up a good point, I have seen some very good stuff posted by women on this sight.  Someday I would like a daughter and who knows, maybe if I do get a daughter, she could end up being the only one who gets into modelling!  That would be funny wouldn't it.

Anyway still nothing to report on the baby end of things.  Still waiting.  Our first boy was a day early so I guess my wife and I got our hopes up with this one.  Two days late isn't bad but she is very uncomfortable, sore and cranky.  Tonight is a full moon, maybe that'll get things going...

Dave love the camo job on your BR.20, is that all free hand?

Jay-congrats on the pending arrival.  Keep us posted.

Since I'm here, the 109 is still sitting about 90% complete.  I'm planning on burning a vacation day tomorrow and hopefully I can get it completed and pics posted this weekend. 

jboutin wrote:

Anyway still nothing to report on the baby end of things.  Still waiting.  Our first boy was a day early so I guess my wife and I got our hopes up with this one.  Two days late isn't bad but she is very uncomfortable, sore and cranky.  Tonight is a full moon, maybe that'll get things going... Dave love the camo job on your BR.20, is that all free hand?

Like I said Jay, Nov. 15th is a great day for birthdays

Yes the BR 20 is freehanded.  I tried doing the mask thing with a few different cutouts in a peice of cardboard but it was going to take forever so I decided to wing it.

Stick a fork in me.....I'm done.  Finished up the Tamiya bf109E-4 yesterday-this build has been a challenge for the start.  First, I chose the wrong paint colors (with a little help from the decal sheet...), pulled the right side cowl decal off with tape (I really thought I had Futured it....), I'm not happy with the landing gear....Overall, I think I prefer the Hasegawa kit to the Tamiya kit...maybe I have just forgotten the problems I had with that kit a couple of years ago....

Thank you all for building and displaying such great work.  You have been an encouragement & inspiration to me to keep plodding on.  And thank you Darren for organizing & hosting-hopefully we can all get together again for another BoB GB.

Cheers

Dave and BoB!!!!!!! Just spectacular! I bet SC is just thrilled to see your 109 Bob! It looks the part on the money! Too cool!

Happy B-day Dave!

Be'n the birthday and all I had a few moments to play with my toys and got the decals on.  Decals are a combination of the the kit decals and the FCM battle of Britain decal sheet.  Should go pretty quick from here.

Here is the Airfix Control Tower Mostly OOB except for the windows- PE from Flightpath, and I have a whole set of interior stuff I'll do soon.

It's 1/72, helped me sharpen my old model railroad skills. A very basic kit, but fun.

Thanks, Dave! The interior has desks, phones and maps but it didn't come with Sue York in a white shirt- I want my money back!

Hey this GB was fun and I'm a little late, but I always finish what I start and the rest o' ye all had great models.

Bill

Bondo! Was trying to comment last night when I saw this but the system must of went down for some reason. Very glad to see it done and it looks the part very well.

Did you say it is a later version? Something about stone or brickwork? I would think that in my mind at least it was there at some Air Field during the BOB. Perhaps the newer wall style was a repair after the intial heavy attacks on the airfield.

I'll be honest I can't see any diff it looks great!

Whadda ya mean this GB is over!? Not even close yet your done early!

Geez,i dont look in for a couple of days and, WOW. Evedryones been busy.

Bob, glad you persevered with the 109. Well worth the wait. I personally love the Tamiya 109's. I find h fit brilliant on them. But in saying that, te Hasa ones are pretty damn fine too.

Dave, your Italian Interloper is looking fantastic. That camo is just a thing of wonder.

Bill, the Tower is looking great. Im with Aaron, if thats not circa 1940, then im a frenchman.

...Guy

Hi Jay, Razor and Bondo --

Jay, no worries, guy, and happy arrivals real soon for you both! Yeah, you never know what's in store, you might have lads out chasing a football all day and a daughter who gets the styrene bug! :-)

Razor, the BR 20 looks superb, that camo never ceases to amaze! Now the decals are going on she looks even more remarkable. You don't see a scheme like that every day!

Bondo, a venerable control tower from which to direct the outflow of Spitfires and Hurricanes to do battle with the hun! Well done!

Mike

Bondo,

Heard about the tower over in the NAVAIR build, thought I'd drop over and see it.  Nice work sir, in fact nice job to everyone whose finished here.

Dave, the camo on the Br 20 is truly awesome!

So looking forward to seeing that baby finished.

I read a review the other week in another magazine, of the Italeri Marsupiale, and must admit I', tempted!

Bob, the 109 looks stunning from where I'm standing.

Jay, great to see you back, and congrats on the pending new arrival. That's no.2 now isn't it?

They definitely get easier after the first one.

So how long till the next BoB GN starts then?

Karl

Hey guys, I'm heading towards the final stages of my build, the Tamiya 1/48 Bf109E-3 as flown by Ofw. Hans Illner 4./JG51 during the Battle of Britain.  The canopy was masked using Tamiya Masking Tape and a fresh X-acto blade.  I just sprayed the RLM02, the RLM71 is next.  I'll be doing the RLM65 (light blue) last to facilitate masking.  I'm doing the scheme at the top of the decal set scan (AeroMaster set 48-591 Bf109E Battle of Britain Eagle Day).

Hi Scott,

Looking forward to seeing this one take shape! That's the same order in which I applied the colors, for ease of masking, though I mounted the tail surfaces and masked around them. I must do a yellow-nose/tail/whatever one day.

Cheersz,

Mike

Espins, very nice progress on your 109. Never thought of doing the top colours first and then the rlm 65. Guess it just scares me about lighter over dark. Cant wait to see how it turns out.

Steve

Thanks guys.  I always had a tough time with getting the masking even between the upper splinter surfaces and the light blue.  I figured this way would make it much easier to mask for the splinter RLM02/RLM71, then just mask off the camo and spray the blue.  I know the conventional wisdom is lighter colors first, darker last but I think the RLM65 will cover ok.  Besides, once that's done I still have to spray the RLM02/RLM71 mottling on the sides. 

The yellow on Ofw. Hans Illner's aircraft will be easy to do since the spinner and rudder are separate parts.  The thought of masking around the supercharger filter/intake was freakin' me out. 

 Finally, after two hurricanes, etc., I am beginning the Hobby Craft Do-17Z:

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I hate cockpit interiors!

For your information, I got sidetracked when the Lindberg line was re-issued a few weeks ago, and I couldn't resist re-building the JU-87 Stuka.

With darson's permission, I am entering it today.

Tom T

 This is a 1/48th scale Lindberg Stuka I just bought around Memorial Day and finished yesterday:

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Nice simple straightforward build-everthing went together with little or no fuss.

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My type of cockpit interior! Not all cluttered up with fiddley little details to mess up or hide when the fuselage is assembled.

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The "flaperons" went on perfectly.

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Now for the warpaint-as usual all done freehand by bristle brush, no masking whatsoever.

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With crew members like these, who cares about buried interior stuff!

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Then it began, I looked at the box art, instructions, and then the actual decals provided, and none of them added up-So I went to a really neat book I got for Luftwaffe squadrons of WWII for help and inspiration.

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The result was I had to remove and re-install the wing bomb racks after the lower wing insignia decals.

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To apply the yellow to the lower wings and cowling was simple-with acrylics all I had to do was apply a piece of Scotch tape to the area, and the green paint came off perfectly!

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The cockpit framing was a 3:0 AM'er

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The challenge was a yellow-tipped spinner with a black-green prop.

For this I put the prop nose down on a paint bottle lid, and slowly poured flat yellow paint into the lid until it reached the right point, then I blotted the tip with a paper towel for excess paint.

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The repaired and installed bomb racks with the small bombs in place.

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Finished aircraft with guns I made from a spare from a 50 cal Monogram kit.

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The big bomb with trapeze gear

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Close-up of squadron badge.

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I think mine looks better then theirs!

Tom T

Nice work on the 109 Scott. It will be interesting to see how the paint turns out. Im a believer in lighter colours 1st but hey, im always looking out for new ideas.

Tom T, fantastic looking Stuka and yes, it looks far better than the box pic. Top marks fella. Nice job.

...Guy

Here is a shot of the splinter scheme, I'm getting ready to mask and spray the sides and undersides as we speak. 

Very sharp looking splinter camo work Scott. Nicely done. May I ask what colours are you using, they look a brownish colour or is it just the lighting in the photo. Cant wait to see this one done.

Steve