US Army Air Corps GB - Deadline extended again to June 30, 2009

Yes you can!  Welcome aboard WarHammer!

I'll add you to the front page list some time over the weekend.

Big Smitty,

Welcome aboard, and Gig 'Em!

Edit - I did the same thing, 20 years or so away from the hobby while I finished high school and five of the best (and most difficult) years of my life in Aggieland, and then started my career.  Class of '89 here.

Aggieman wrote:

Anyone know what color the cockpit area was on between the wars aircraft?  I'm building the P-26 and have the exterior figured out, but the interior color is another story.  The instructions call for bright green (they also called for olive drab on the exterior but that was wrong).  Is it zinc chromate green, interior green, bronze green, or is it green at all?  I have the P-26 Mini In Action, but it's hard to determine color in black and white. I don't know specifically about the Peashooter, but there are photos in my P-40 Detail & Scale vol. 1 book of the P-36 with an all aluminum interior.

Thanks Steven.  A couple of guys over in the Aircraft Forum said the same thing.

Started on my P-47 yesterday. This Tamiya kit is truly amazing. Very good detail for an out of the box kit. Got the cockpit done; painted and assembled. I added some belts made from the common household tinfoil instead of the kit supplied decal. I didn't feel like getting a PE set and messing with all the small pieces. Used Microsol on the instument panel decal for the first time and I must say that that stuff is amazing. It is like no decal is there. I also assembled the wings and propeller. Thinking I would like to paint this like Col. Neel Kearby's Firey Ginger I (fiery is misspelled on the real plane).All in all, it is coming along pretty well now.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. My camera kind of stinks.

Feldmarschal,

Yes, that looks like a USAAC bomber to me.  Welcome aboard!  How far along are you on it?

Decals applied

Next will be perhaps the most challenging part of this build for me: desert weathering.

My experiment with silver enamel underneath the acrylic camo did not pay the dividends I had expected with regards to paint chips.  The enamel was too easily removed, typically exposing primer instead of the desired metallic layer.  For the record, I had better results using MM metallizer on a test piece, so I might try that on my next build. 

So.. paint chips will go on next, followed by exhaust stains and other gunk :)

Looking good, IL. Remember to go slow with the weathering....it's easy to overdo. I'd suggest doing a little at a time, then stepping back and reviewing the model. After that you can decide if you want to add more or not.

Thanks for your advice, mucker

I don't know if it's the decals, or just the glosscoat, or what...  but so far my P-40 looks kinda cartoonish or toy-like to me.  There is too much contrast.  I hope that the weathering layers help to take the edge off.

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys.
Yeah, I put a wash layer on and it looks a whole lot better. 

Next is all of the targetted weathering: paint chips, oil stains, exhaust stains, etc.

Edit: Nevermind, I COMPLETELY didn't even think before I posted this, lol. I'm doing it up in U.S. Navy decals sooooo that wouldn't make sense, lol.

Josh

Here are some progress photos showing my weathering efforts with enamel paints.  I've been trying a number of things that are new for me, such as paint chips and oil streaks.  The model is covered in a liberally-applied acrylic gloss coat.  This has fortunately allowed me to do quite a bit of "erasing" my mistakes with enamel thinner without damaging the undercoat. 

I am nearly finished with the weathering.  Soon I will try airbrush on some exhaust stains (another personal first) before I apply the final flat coat and finish her out.  I've read that some modellers prefer to put the exhaust OVER the final flat coat, but that scares the willies out of me.  I need the option to erase, I think.  Besides, I'm not entirely sure why a flat coat over the exhaust would diminish it's appearance.  Would anybody care to enlighten me?  What about the silver enamel that represents the paint chips.  Anybody think it will loose it's luster under the flat-coat?  I can always touch it up afterwards, I suppose.

Hello Everyone,

May I join the party?  I'd like to build a Revell P-38J painted as "St Louis Blues" from the 433FS/475FG that flew in the Philippines in '44.  Not an Air Corps aircraft, but a USAAF.  I had previously deleted this post after I saw "Air Corps", but then read a few posts down that indicated AAF planes were acceptable in this GB.

I may also enter a Hasegawa P-40N & an Academy P-47N, but need to see how the Lightning goes, before I commit the Warhawk & Thunderbolt.  Work's been busy & I haven't been able to make it down to the man cave as much as I'd like.

Looking forward to building with you all!

I don't recall Darth Vader ever asking to join the party - he just told everyone he was going to join the party!  Long lost cousin, perhaps?

Welcome aboard Darth!  I'll put you down for the P-38 and include as possibles the P-40 and P-47.

Well...  I procrastinated this step about as far as i possibly could have.  I replaced the plastic 50-cal "stumps" on the kit with surgical needle tubing.  Really makes a difference, and it only took about an hour.  I dunno why I was dreading it so much. 

I also scratch-built a new pitot tube after breaking off the flimsy plastic one for about the 5th time.  The new one is made from a paper-clip and it's anchored pretty well in the plastic.  Now it should be able to take a few brushes without any damage.  I didn't take a photo of it, but it looks just like the other one, so no big deal.

Aggieman,

Thanks for letting me join   Yeah, that cousin of mine...I can't take him anywhere.

I know this is your BBQ, Aggieman, but in my spare time at work, I built on your group build badge to include the USAAF.  Here is a protoype if you are interested:

I've started my P-38, got the 'pit done, wheels & landing gear painted, & just glued the wings & twin booms together.  I'll post some pics later.  This kit will be my first attempt at a NMF.  I will be using alclad.

Happy Friday to all

UPDATE!

Well, sort of.  I finally got my A-20G in the mail today after a "rather" long wait.  Something about the sender being in the hospital, etc...  Anywho, she's here, and I'll be starting her this weekend.  1/48th AMT/Ertl kit, recessed panel lines.  Two markings included, both South Pacific AAC birds.  Should be a hoot.

Aggieman,

Glad you like the badge   I simply built off of what you laid down...you were the man with the plan...the vision.  I'm not a designer or artist.  I do work in the I.T. field & have a little bit of experience with graphics software.  I used Photoshop to make the badge.

No magic was used in making this logo.  I simply downloaded the air corps logo from the wikipedia page on the USAAC, then I did a google image search for the USAAF logo.  Once I had both, I resized them to 100 pixels in photoshop, then typed on top of them.  All I did was cut & paste.

If you approve, may we use it in our sigs?

Hope you get some building time in this weekend.

I am getting very close to completion.  The weathering is completed and the flat coat has been applied.  On the model I've got a couple odds and ends that might an hour to complete.  Then all that is left is to put a few clear coats on the wood base assemble it to the model.

Below is a photo of how I built up the prop assembly.  To prevent binding problems, the prop is "free-rotating" inside the hub assembly, trapped between the rotating back-plate and the end cap.  The spinner is bonded to the back-plate and the three prop slots in the spinner keep the blades in place.  This was all necessary because the resin nose requires you to drill an install your own prop rod (I choose steel).  The wax paper prevents the CA from accidentally bonding the spinner backplate to the fuselage.

Looking awesome IL2.

Edit- Just a quick update. My P-47 is put together now. In other words, fuselage halves joined and wings on. Just waiting for a masking set. Too lazy to just do it myself.

Well, this is a personal first for me!  I've never been the first one to finish in a group build.  In fact, i'm usually lucky if I finish before the deadline! 

Anyways, here she is:

I posted these photos along with a brief summary of my build in the aircraft forum.

Thanks for having me, guys.  I'll be checking in on you all!

EXCELLENT work IL2, superb paint job.  The wash & weathering looks great too...you didn't over do it.  Just enough dirt & chipping   One of the aspects of modeling that challenges me is canopies, your canopy looks great, blends right in.  Lastly, antennas are so cool.

Nice job on the stand too, don't see many of those.  You can display that bird with pride.

What kind of paint did you use?

Here are a few pics of my build.  Airbrushed all of the interior parts interior green & finished off the 'pit.  These pics are a little over a week old, I made alot of progress over the weekend & will post more pics later.

First pics of my Academy Minicraft P-51D using Superscale Decals to do Miss Marilyn II

Excellent work IL2windhawk, Darth_Trader, and TempestJohnny!

Every one be sure to check out the front page for the squadron once you submit your completed builds.