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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/25/2018 in all areas

  1. Ah, that's a good one my friend..... you wont find any cause it's home made,. I saw an article maybe 6 or 8 years ago in a forum I can't remember where, about a guy who made something similar wasn't happy with the result using Dyno tape on his wing tank. Based on his idea I came up with a simplier version using two Bar Clamp. The part in the middle is the fix part on the left that I tooked from my 2sd clamp and cut the holding harm at the base. Tooked the red rubber pad off, flip it and crew it on his side, cut it large enough but tight to hold my scribber. Made some adaptor from various scrap plastic parts, found my center on each pad and glue them. Put in what ever I want to rescribe, tank, weapon etc. squeeze the clamp not too tight, adjusting the center part with my scribber on the line, lock it With one hand roll my tank counter clock wise while holding my scribber on it. Haven't found one I can't do...... It became a very handy tool and use it with every built. Hope you like it and have fun. Dan.
    7 points
  2. ..now I had bust my cherry, I wanted a fairly simple but nice to work on mini project so I settled on the MN-26 Radio Compass – it’s the grey unit seen here.. ..to make the body of the unit I used a PE blank to score the size I needed from a sheet of Perspex acrylic.. ..I started to make all the knobs, buttons & switches – here I used a Dremel to spin up a bolt and a file to shape that into one of the larger tuning knobs.. ..I had a PE blank of the front panel of the unit and used this to reference where to drill holes in the perspex to take all the knobs.. ..the knobs are an assortment of bits fashioned from old watch parts (I bought a little tub on ebay for £5 ages ago – super useful stuff) – the most challenging was the tuner handle in the middle – this has a shaft, crank & handle – the handle was scored with a fine saw blade to try and give the impression of the tiny ridges that give grip… ..here are the watch bits – lots of tiny metal shapes of infinite precision, brilliant for repurposing.. ..then the handles were all painted black, the Perspex unit grey, and I prepared the face decal that carries the colour & markings.. ..the decal was stuck to the PE face & varnished, some ‘glass’ was sourced from ultra thin sheet and the decal for the dial face prepared.. ..the first stage of assembly saw the face added to the unit as a laminate with some glass and the dial decal.. ..and all the gubbins added.. ..so thats it. Back in the chair and enjoying myself again.. next up I am thinking of the cockpit 'A' frame and the longerons that link all the bulkheads together.. TTFN Peter
    6 points
  3. It’s been a long 2 whole months since I have mangled any styrene with intent...but the dry spell is over. I have spent the last two months packing, moving, and then unpacking. My hobby room/office is not finished yet, and my work benches are still a week away, but a card gamble and some Tamiya glue is all I need to get started. The walls are painted and carpet is installed, this was a long ordeal because nobody stocks carpet in 15 foot widths except for beige. This MY room! I am going to hang airplane and Star Wars **** all over it! Told my wife to let me (asked politely) do as I please in there. I spent the last month buying every P-40 I could get my hands on, and accumulating some AM bits and bobs for them. I have also been trying to chase down the final versions of what I wanted to build, the last one decided this morning. To keep me on track, I’m going to stick with these. I now have all the decals and masks on hand or ordered, with the only exception being the Turkish version, which I have not found any decals to make, so I’m going to have to custom mask them. Here we go, let’s see how confusing it gets with 8 planes on the bench!
    5 points
  4. Lets talk Hasegawa 1/32 P40 kits for a bit, one regular guy here insists they are bad fitting kits with ill fitting panel lines etc, with different tail plugs for different versions ETC making it difficult. (first I'd heard of that) Mine went together with what I can only describe as one of the best easy nice fitting Kits in my life, especially in the important wing fuselage area, the fuselage panel lines ... and I've poured all over my finished one, panels do seem to match up where they should. I really am a mediocre modeller compared to most of you, but I just never saw these glaring errors in my kit build? Nobody wants a snap tite kit, but my word, have any of us tried to build a Pacific Coast Hurricane? I have and though almost complete its near throwing in the bin down to final canopy fit ... argh <---- 2 year protect as well. Haswgawa P40's ... lovely kit, would build them any day of the week.
    4 points
  5. In the spring of 1940, the German Reichsluftfahrtministerium's (RLM) Technical Office asked the Arado company at Brandenburg/Havel to undertake the design of a bomber/photographic reconnaissance aircraft to be powered by the new turbojet engines under development at Junkers and BMW. No performance details were specified, except that the aircraft should be capable of covering Britain as far north as the naval base at Scapa Flow. The design work at Arado resulted in the first design E370 (Erprobung). On basis of this design the first prototype Arado Ar 234 A - V1 (Versuchsobject) was constructed and flown for the first time on July 30. 1943. Later it was considered to use the less powerful BMW 003 turbojet engines in two more prototypes with four engines. On the prototype (V6) Wrk. Nr. 130006 four BMW engines was mounted separately under the wings, using the mounts for the rocket boosters for the outer engines. This was to become the worlds first four engine'd aircraft. Wrk. Nr. 130006 was given the code GK+IW and it's maiden flight was done on the 25. April 1944. The prototype of the Arado Ar 234 A (V6) Wrk. Nr. 130006 GK+IW with the characteristic 'take off dolly'... The base kit for this build is Fly Models Arado Ar 234 B-2. The build required some massive conversion to the kit. Fuselage was narrowed. The fuselage was later widened to accommodate the landing gear in the production models. Engine nacelles have a different form to fit the early BMW 003 engines. Landing skids under each nacelle. Complete 'overhaul' of the cockpit canopy and instruments. The characteristic 'take off dolly' had to be scratch build.
    4 points
  6. Erwin

    Beaufighter: FINISHED.

    Started the paint job. I leave the fuselage blank for easier handling. Done with Revell enamels. Matt ochre brown/satin yellow mix. Matt earth/satin brown mix Note that the brush strokes can be seen in the first coat. The right wingtip had a second coat.Note that the brush strokes are gone .
    4 points
  7. I’m about to build six of them at once, 2x P-40E, 2x P-40K, and two P-40N, so if there are any fit issues, I’ll find out, but I honestly don’t think there will be. My experience with other Hasegawa has been really positive.
    4 points
  8. Happy to present a T-28B/D from Kitty Hawk. I would say many pages have been written on the kit itself. It is a well fitting over-engineered kit with much cleanup required and some illogical ejector studs increasing the cleanup time. Once you are past the initial part cleanup the kit fits together exceptionally well, its just the kit is pieced up to sometimes absurd number of sub-assemblies, which seem to be typical for Kitty Hawk. The kit was built as a commission build for a friend of mine that is building a collection of 1/32 aircraft in tribute to his father. I have enjoyed the build and took some artistic license on hanging the training weapons as the paint schemes for most aircraft in the kit are warbirds anyway. Based on the customer requirement the engine is all closed up, otherwise the kit provides opportunity to open the engine up. One word of warning: at least in my kit the balance weights provided were not enough and I ended up with a tailsitter that was solved by attaching the kit to a wooden base but please be aware and check before you get surprised. Cheers, Jarda Hajecek
    3 points
  9. Hi Guys this is my rendition of show time 100 which of corse was a F4-Phantom, below for those that are interested is a bit of the history relating to that aircraft. Fighter Squadron 96, or VF-96Fighting Falconswas an aviation unit of the United States Navyin service from 1962 to 1975. When assigned to Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9) their tailcode was NG, and their radio callsign was Showtime. Originally established as United States Naval Reservesquadron VF-791Fighting Falconson 20 July 1950 it was redesignated VF-142after becoming a regular squadron on 4 February 1953. It was re-designated VF-96on 1 June 1962 and disestablished on 1 December 1975.
    3 points
  10. Major step taken today on this build with everything masked up followed by final assembly of all major sub assemblies. Next up a light coat of primer to check for imperfections and then time for some colour. Happy days!! Regards. Andy
    3 points
  11. Wow - I am honoured to have you and Denzil along for the ride congrats on the win! your CAD is going to be exceptionally useful in the coming weeks... Hi Ray - I toyed with the 190 as it's one of my favourite aircraft, but I am hooked on metal skinning and I have not quite come to terms with painting over it - despite looking i don't think any were ever natural metal! So, an actual update is needed as some actual modelling has occured... As I said before, I was expecting the decals from Ray at Fantasy Printshop and a few days ago these arrived - as you can see I have quite a few... I laid it out with only one of each decal as any duplicates can be taken from another sheet.. ..the quality is up to Ray's usual standard - ie exceptional... lets take a quick tour from right to left... beautiful instruments ..there are a bunch of airframe stencils too - all studiously copied from the original drawings.. As far as selling / making in 1/32 or 1/24 I think that is unlikely before you ask Now my bench is reassembled, the decal's arrival spurred me on to actually get started again after a long hot summer - I thought I would dress up the Throttle quadrant first.. ..simply sprayed it black, added the decals and a quick shot of varnish to seal them in and it was done... more...
    3 points
  12. Here the tail assembly and the adjustments made. The gray stuff is actually old enamel paint, which I use to fill small seams. It works great and it shows well when is sanded down.
    3 points
  13. Please allow me to stop things here. It's pretty obvious that Fundekals copied nobody's work so let's not go there. Cheers Ron
    3 points
  14. I started to work on the wiring of the engine... While the glue is drying, I worked on the arrestor hook. Problem is that it is built in the early stage of the fuslage assembly and the hook is so close to the fueslage that it will be difficult then for the paint job. So I followed what Out2gtcha did in his built: I cut it and drilled it. I glued a metallic shaft (0.7mm) for the assembly at the end of the built. That way I am sure I will not clumsily break it.
    3 points
  15. Had a rather busy time of late with family weddings etc but managed a bit of bench time here and there. I have decided to complete the wings as whole sub-assemblies before moving on to the fuselage, so the wheel wells and undercarriage were first. The strengtheners are very poorly shown in the instructions so I made sure that I identified and positioned each piece before committing to glue: then the rest went together in a straightforward way, building each part of the u/c up in situ: Once the top half of the wing was fitted I could move on to the engine nacelles, starting with the oil cooler and its housing onto the lower nacelle: which was then secured to the lower wing half in two stages, left side then right. A smear of filler was required to get a good fit between the oil cooler fairing and the nacelle. The port side's progressing too:
    3 points
  16. So my subject, as noted, will be a late war, carrier deployed Corsair. By that point, the fleet was using the later F4U-1D version (with a few of the hot rod -4's starting to make it in theater as well). The -1D was pretty much the ultimate WW2 version, with just a few modification from the original raised cockpit -1A variant. These included provisions for 8 rocket projectiles, a 2nd pylon for either drop tanks or bombs, a frameless blown canopy and a few detail changes. All were finished in the classic USN Gloss Sea Blue. What really got me sold on this project was when Fundekals released a very nice decal set of late vintage Corsairs. In addition to the great looking decals, they provide a 49 page instruction manual that goes into great detail on various aspects of these aircraft. Worth checking out over a cup of coffee some morning, go here: http://fundekals.com/images/whistlingDeath/F4U_Inst_Final_7_30_18.pdf At this point, I've narrowed my choices down to an FG-1D (Goodyear built version of the standard Corsair) assigned to VF-85 off the Shangri-La, late May, 1945 or an F4U-1D of VMF-511 off of the USS Block Island, circa July, 1945. Both have interesting carrier ID symbols and a few extra markings for a bit of color. I still may change my mind, time will tell. Anyway, the -1D I'm building will be a later version, which means a few changes to the kit. They are: No walkways on the wings cockpit flare gun deleted entirely Delete upper wing ID light Delete lower wing landing light Add left side armor plate (installed to protect the pilots throttle arm) Add under seat armor plate (installed when the Corsair gradually started performing air to ground missions). Add left side windshield hand grip (anyone have a pic of this?) Add a thin metal bracket on top of seat for seatbelts Fill in cockpit vent in fuselage (this mod was only seen on post-war Corsairs, with maybe a few limited exceptions). Fill in wing fuel tank fill ports (these tanks were deemed an explosion hazard and were gradually eliminated from later production runs). On to the kit. I'll be honest. Over the last couple of years, I've kind of lost my modeling mojo. I still completed a couple of projects but had to force myself to hit the work bench and build. I'm writing it off to dealing with crappy products from the manufacturers I mentioned above. I think they kind of sucked the modeling life out of me. This time around, I'm a lot more enthusiastic. If you guys need a jump start, get one of these kits. I started work on the forward cockpit bulkhead and rudder pedal assembly. For a reference, I've been using Dana Bell's Aircraft Pictorial on the Corsair (Vol 2). This is a fantastic, reasonably priced book. Dana goes into great detail on all the modifications done to the Corsair 1A and 1D versions and provides a large number of clear, useful photographs to aid the modeler. It's a critical reference if you are building this model. Looking at the pics in the book, I did note some details I can add to the Tamiya parts. For the rudder pedals, I added what I assume are pedal adjustment levers. I also drilled out a couple of lightening holes in the base of the bulkhead. I'll probably add some more detail to the rudder pedals, just trying to get a few more pics. One note - my philosophy for stuff like this is to scratchbuild only what can be seen. If it won't be visible in the completed model, I just ignore it. If it will barely be visible in the completed model, I just approximate it so the cockpit looks sufficiently "busy". These are a bit rough but from the angle you are viewing them in the completed model, they will look good. Trust me on this.... The hydraulic lines on the forward bulkhead are a good example. The won't be seen easily when the cockpit is assembled. Especially the lines under the instrument panel overhang as shown below. Finally, a couple of pics of the sub-assembly dry fitted together. Seems to look nice and busy. Still have more work to do... Thanks for looking.
    3 points
  17. Some tuning up of the overall paint scheme and national markings added... I will be ordering some masks to be made for the ‘V 083’ code. Stay tuned! Cheers Alan ‘
    3 points
  18. Just a quick head's up for those who seldom venture South to the Vendor's Board, check out these goodies, Typhoon, Polikarpov I-16, Polikarpov I-153.
    2 points
  19. Looked from the top of the old lady..... .......for me the most beautiful shot
    2 points
  20. There's nothing to not like here, a big dirty phantom, great job! The paint, the weathering, the weapons load love it.
    2 points
  21. Two quick and dirty pics to show you the progress of the day: Closing of the fuselage halves. ZM gives movable airbrakes but I decided to glue them in closes position. And the wiring of the engine is progressing. My eyes hurt... I'll do better pics of the engine when it'll be complete.
    2 points
  22. Hi Many thanks for the orders and the kind words Before next pilot, we did another civilian lady, for a change in the green/tan world A+ Norbert
    2 points
  23. The only thing I have heard about the P-40 kits is the fit of the tail inserts. This has been solved by gluing the tail parts to the fuselage halves before gluing the halves together. Doing that, and from what I have read, there really isn't any major problems.
    2 points
  24. I know what picture your taking about. But its an Junkers 88 bomber
    2 points
  25. Major progress (not).... I scratchbuilt the pilot's left arm armor plating! This was an field modification to late-war Corsairs (in addition to this, they also added a plate under the pilot's seat and removed a couple of armor plates protecting the oil tank aft of the engine). I guess Marine pilots were so tough that they only needed one arm to fly their planes home. Only Army Air Corp wimps need armor to protect their right arm I suppose. I also drilled out a couple of holes while I was working on this part. The fit of the seat frame has to be seen to be believed. It's perfect! In retrospect, I'm not sure I'm happy with the way this came out. I might end up replacing this. That's my big update folks. I'm off to the Granite State for the weekend, i'll try to do some building when I return. Thanks for looking!
    2 points
  26. Thanks for the nice feedback guys - she’s just waiting for some custom masks to arrive - then I can finish her up!! Her night fighter sister ship is also approaching the finish line!! Cheers Alan
    2 points
  27. Hey Guys, almost my tough...... but mixing both petals set would look a bit weird, too much detail on Aires compare to the kit. but maybe I should cut both set and add Aires petal on the kit ring base...... yeah maybe... But that would be for my next Flogger built, cause has you guys and blachbetty remind me about those petals dropping down once stop, I won't do that mod, cause what I had in mind in the first place was my Mig right after his landing, with a pilot, full wing out with tank, flap and speed brake deploy... kind a like that one... NIce hey..? so I'll stick to the kit burner and exhaust, sorry Aires. Did work on my intakes and spliter plate, shorten them a bit... add some styrene to fill the gap between fuselage and intake... and will have to wait for my Quickboost spil doors to put those intake on.... totally forgot.. but that's Ok, still got plenty to work on.... so did some scribbing work on my wing tank. It took me 15 minutes, done. Thanks for watching and all your constructive comment guys, really appreciate, have fun and more soon. Dan.
    2 points
  28. Greetings everyone, Today's update, The GBU’s are complete !! Subtle changes but, they’re more accurate and look better IMO. Now I can change the loadout from time to time on my Big Cat. BFD added to the CCG and it’s arming cable. I even added the Pulse Decoder setting dials ( 3 small black dots) to the CCG. Scratch-built Wing Release Mechanism and latch with arming cable. Both of these arming cables SHOULD be wrapped around the two rear sway braces (one on each side) of the bomb rack but, then I couldn't change the loadout. Close enough to give the illusion. Now I just need my 3 replacement decals to show up and I can press on with this build. Without them, I'm at a standstill. Hopefully they show up sooner than later. Thanks for checking in. Steve "TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY...!"
    2 points
  29. The 'Seemann' marked aircraft was W.Nr. 18107, a G-6 lost on July 3, 1943, about a month before JG 53 first use of the rockets.
    2 points
  30. Well a small update today. I have finished scratchbuilding the 400gal centreline fuel tank. I took the pic before priming as you can see all the weld seams, filler cap and drains etc. I know it isnt much to look at but it was a mission to make and get symettrical, and placing it underneath the wing where it will go looks great. It is quite visibly bigger than the 300gal underwing ones. Thanks for looking Cheers Anthony
    2 points
  31. Test fitting.......maybe I should cast some of these????
    2 points
  32. So after much anticipation my copy of the new AIMS G-4 conversion has arrived and being one of my favourite all time aircraft I decided to make a start immediately! I am using the D-1 boxing from Dragon as the donar kit mainly as this was the easiest and cheapest to get hold of. I will also be using HGW belts and the Eduard exterior etch set which is mainly for the wheel wells. So on to the AIMS set and what a fantastic set John has put together here, so what do we get in the box: Two bags of resin which are brimmed with beautifully cast parts with some excellent detail indeed. A large etched fret as well as a small supplimentary fret for the cockpit armour. Master turned brass dipoles. Vac formed rear canopy ( x 2 pieces) and two decal sheets which are nicely in register. Instructions are supplied in the form of a CD which also includes lots of useful reference material. Very happy with the instructions supplied with this conversion which include very clear precise drawings backed up with photographs and build sequence notes. Time to go and have a read of these now and choose my subject in readyness to cut some plastic/ resin tomorrow. Regards. Andy
    1 point
  33. Thanks for your input guys! I followed Luca’s advice and ordered Wolfpack’s Bombcat set. A bit pricey but very good looking!
    1 point
  34. Fantastic model Kent as always. The Arado was such a sleek looking plane. Carl
    1 point
  35. Your math is correct but unfortunately I've not run across a 1/32 version myself.
    1 point
  36. Pastor John

    AIMS Bf 109 PE

    Hi Everyone, I have changed the title on 32PE006 as a friend just confirms the Revell lower wing kit part in there G-6 kit is identical to the G-10 Erla kit. Many thanks to Delmar for this help
    1 point
  37. Pastor John

    AIMS Bf 109 PE

    Hi Troy they attach to the hydraulic return arm for the gear and have lots of different springs attached to them and poke up through one of the holes in the oleo leg housing. At the top there is a catch PE 3 which locks the gear up
    1 point
  38. Thanks Gaz. Yes I do know about that kind of paint. They're color changers. I used that paint on my Camaro build and it was called Mystic Teal Metallic. It changes from Teal to Deep Blue to Purple. Look at the top of the drivers front fender and then look at the side of it. Then look at the edge of the roof just above the drivers window opening and then look at the rear fender. Color changer all the way. This was automotive paint and the General Motors paint code is 79U.
    1 point
  39. Gazzas

    F4D....the Ford

    Fantastic!!
    1 point
  40. Thanks Gaz! Steering column and Grant steering wheel installed. I went ahead and went with a black center on the steering wheel to tie some of the black in the interior together. Interior is...……………….finished! Body work is complete and the paint has been underway for a few days now. Everything behind the front fenders has been painted with Testors Icy Blue decanted and shot through the AB. Will be shooting the pearl white on the fenders this weekend. I trimmed up the decals meant for the much older Revell multi-piece Willys and applied those on the door this morning. Gotta do some graphing with the hood decal onto the door at the front but feelin' pretty good about it so far.
    1 point
  41. One of the good things about sci-fi is that you can wing a few things. I love good detailing and this is just that.
    1 point
  42. Thanks for the interest guys. Don, I'm using jeweller's pliers to bend the brass rod. I reappropriated them from the wife years ago and they've been an invaluable tool ever since
    1 point
  43. Amazing! Really great scratch work.
    1 point
  44. topper71

    Suggestions?

    Hi, A Lagg 3 4 series with a lot of camo Russian, Finnish, Japanese.... More esoteric planes Swedish. FFVS j20 Finnish VL Myrsky Koolhoven FK 58 Regards topper71
    1 point
  45. I'm teaching myself CAD using Fusion360 and love your renderings. are you drawing them yourself or is there some magical place that does those? Eventually I plan on scratch building a 1/20 scale aircraft......doing the AirCorps library blueprints and scaling them to 1/20......its a big project, but it keeps me occupied. how do you get the individual pictures of your drawings? You are an artisan Cheers, Dan
    1 point
  46. Had a really good day at the bench today and finally finished the upper cockpit panel, this has been pretty tricky getting everything built into place including pilots roll hoop, radio racks etc so I can paint this as one sub assembly and drop it onto the completed cockpit for a much tidier finish in the long run! I used a mix of styrene and brass rod, a few archer resin rivets and a revi gunsight from quickboost. I probably spent more time looking at pictures and waiting for glue to dry properly rather than rushing the build than actually building but I think my patience payed of in the end. And dry fitted to the cockpit tub. Very happy to get this sub assembly finished and achieve a good fit with all in alignment. There may be sme better ways of building this area up which I'm sure we will see on some other builds of this conversion but after lots and lots of thought I felt this was the best way to tackle this area and achive a nice clean paint finish. Johns unpainted show model is a great starting point when working on this conversion but you do need to think ahead a little when building certain area's on this one as you have to build a bit of strength into the sub assembly as you go rather than having lots of small painted sub assemblies which could well ping apart under paint!! As ever thanks for checking by. Regards. Andy
    1 point
  47. Not to much modelling time over the last week and what time I have had has been studying pictures and trying to work out the best way to fit the FuG 220 rack, first effort was pretty poor and just didnt look right to me. After a major re-think on this area I have ended up with this. A bit of tidying up to do but much happier now, next up I need to get the pilots roll hoop intergrated with this sub-assembly so I have it all as a sub assembly to fit after painting, pretty tricky but will pay dividends upon final assembly?? Regards. Andy
    1 point
  48. Zero77

    HpH Catalina-beaching gear

    I know it's not the same version and it's a bit useless for your project, but here are a few pictures of this one, with retractable LG. Maybe it can interest someone.
    1 point
  49. Anthony in NZ

    Hasegawa 32nd TA-4K

    Well after a spell away from the desk with family matters to tend to, I have been working on the intakes. These are the Cutting Edge 'Super Fox' intakes with the "M" style bulges that have been carved up. I initially decided to just sand off the bulges but changed my mind as scribing/riveting is easier on plastic than resin. So I used my dremmel and ground off all the exterior down to just the internal trunking. This was then inserted into the modified kit part as per the pic. Now for those building this kit there is a small area that needs addressing now. On plan view the intake pieces dont follow a nice transition from the main fuse. I steadily built it up with super glue until I got a nice profile. The intake was then scribed, primed with white and she is done. All that needs doing now is the engine compressor front fan. Now I had a look at a Tamiya F-16 and the engine front looks perfect (even though it is a different engine) with a little modification would look great . Does anyone have a spare??????? Or a part number? Anyway feel free to ask questions. I am back onto the 400 gal c/l tank again as I found a good shot of all the drains underneath now. Thanks for looking Anthony
    1 point
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