AEROPOXY

Scale models archaeology, 1/32 scale Rogozarski IK-3 metal kit, produced by Mentor-Modelle company, from Belgrade, Serbia, way down in 1991, not more than 50 produced. Extreme rarity from my friend's Predrag Peggi Stamenkovic's collection (http://aircraft-planet.com/). I was chosen to try to build ( or assemble) this "monster". First , i rendered the box art, how it looks 21 yrs ago. and real look, "Branilac beograda" means Belgrade defender. Contents of the box, some 500 grams of white metal, pewter, Osfet print foil aluminium... Parts layout, Rear fuselage cast parts, UC legs, Prop/spiner/radiator and canopy/cockpit parts, Wing tips, tailplane and ailerons, Fuselage and wing ribs and stringers, Decals and instructions, Will be long winter here...

One Display Team Sabre is allready available, Yugoslav display team from 1960s, F86E-m Sabres, http://lifthereserbia.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/307-lh-big-sabre-north-american-f-86e-in-yugoslav-air-service-in-132/# Just received my Kinetic Sabre and this decal sheet, so, stay tuned for WiP topic, soon.

Thanx chaps, Mystery solved, F 86 E Sabre main wheels were used, to complete this Hurricane MK IV. Photo found here: http://www.grubby-fingers-aircraft-illustration.com/CA-27_Sabre_walkaround.html

Hi, Visiting Yugoslav Aviation Museum this weekend was puzzled with this unusual 6 spoked wheel rim at Hawker Hurricane MK IV. Anyone have idea was this standard or just field improvisation during the war? Also, possible aftermarket source for these wheels in 1/32 scale? RGDS AEROPOXY

For a while i intend to build this unique conversion of Royal Yugoslav Hurricane. This project, started in june 1940. was named L.V.T.-1 or Lovac-Vazduhoplovno Tehnicki-1 , meaning "Fighter-Aviation Technical-1" , from the name of the group of technicians working at Aviation Technical institute , where the conversion was done. Plane was converted during the 1940, first flights were conduced during early 1941 and plane was even used in dogfights during the april 1941, forcing the one BF-110 on april 1st to land at Kraljevo airfield, where this BF 110 was captured. Later, on april 8th, while strafing German units over the southern part of Yugoslavia, due the leak in cooling system, loosing coolant fluid,and with overheated engine, pilot, sgt Pantelija Grandic landed this plane in Kosovo area, leaving it to be captured by German forces. Fate of this captured plane was unknown, possibly some day at EBAY will show up from someones private collection. Royal Yugoslav Air Force, Hawker Hurricane MK I (Early) with WATTS prop and wooden-fabric covered wings, 1939/1940. This plane , first delivered RYAF Hurricane Br.2301 (c/n L1751), was used for engine conversion to DB-601. Due the lack of spare Merlin engines and having some 30 spare DB-601 engines delivered with Me-109E3a-s, Yugoslav AF HQ ordered this conversion as a prototype for series of 24 Rogozarski license built Hurricanes with DB 601 engine. Old, built and disassembled, paint stripped, Revell Hurricane kit, will donate airframe for this LVT-1 build. LVT-1 (DB 601 powered Hawker Hurricane), possible look, reconstruction from written factory documentation.

Thanx, Next will be scratch, probably this one, Fizir FN biplane, first plane of my local aero club, from 1934. Stay tuned! RGDS

Dh Sea Vixen 1/32 Panther Models Constructions, vacuform, may-september 2010 , finished,

Few final touches, white canopy frame, white decal stripes, Vertical tail, Fuselage spine and mix of red lines,

And finished, sealed with coat of PRONTO, Topside view, Underside one, Since this plane is museum sample, will not do lot of weathering, Tangmere aviation museum http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/flash_pa...rcraft&id=6

Next-decalling, first preparing surface with PRONTO ( European substitute for Future) Decals ready for applying, good print, but really thin film, easy to break, First break, underwing serial, Second break, winged fist on the vertical tail, Bunch of red stripes, walkways on the fuselage spine, Looks there is not enough stripes for complete even half of the walkways, Rest of lines i cut from some spare decals, not an easy work, cutting straight 0,5mm wide decal stripe, lot of stripes was not usable,

And now with the easy part, airbrushing, topsides, EDSG/Revell 79(close match for 1/32) Outer wing panels sprayed with one coat of gloss lacquer, Revell 1, giving real shade of EDSG , just for comparation . Masking with masking film, for white undersides, Revell SM 301 semi gloss white, whole can was used for this big bird, And just few touches with brush, to correct some spots on paintwork,

Cockpit sprayed in black and drybrushed , detailed and completed prior the canopy was glued, New canopy epoxied, i use epoxy glue for vacformed canopies, its easy to sand and does not need for additional putty application, And now to tackle with canopy framing, brainstormed by Mr.J.P. "Phill" Smith, God bless him! Complex shape and design, hard to replicate, even in 1/32 scale, Only DeHavilland could produce something like this, extreme metalwork. Use 0,5 and 0,8 mm styrene sheets, and lot of "try and fail" attempts, During the canopy framing work, while waiting for glue to cure, i mannaged to paint and prepare undercarriage for assembly, Takes one whole day of work to complete just the windshield,

And before the paintwork, i need to solve the canopy problem. It could not sat on its place due the high ejection seat and low canopy profile, Saw the seat and shortened it for 3mm Cockpit rear resin part, behind the seat was also "lowered" to fit within canopy, Now all is fitted in cockpit, but canopy is still small, Well, i use this small canopy, filled with car putty, as a master for thermoforming an new one, New canopy on the master plug, and on the place, now, everything is covered, 5mm higher and longer, 1,5mm wider, if Warpaints drawings are OK.

Arester hook glued, Intake details, Nose wheel scratched, original one was badly casted and was unusable, nose wheel is too small, also, replaced with one from spare box. Canopy cuted, looks nice but also, looks too small, according the Warpaint drawings Ready for paintwork,

Panels scribing, 200 gal wing tanks scratchbuild, rolled ( 5-6layers) paper, glued with white glue, after drying, soaked with superglue, Wing pylons for tank and Firestreak rockets borrowed from Trumpeterg EE Lightning kit, scratchbuildes from 1mm styrene sheet . Front and rear tank cone, made of car putty, Sanded and soaked with superglue, again, And sprayed with spray putty( something like Mr.Surfacer) Panels scribed, topsides undersides,

Wing joint test fit,

Wing panels scribing, Wing fences readied, and superglued, 3mm dia steel wire used for wing joint,

Wheel bays opened, Another sanding/polishing session, Priming again, Panel lines engraving started, Clipping the wing halves, on the "wing fold" line,

Surface preparation, putty, sand, polish, and again, And gray primer paint,

Some lead weight epoxied within radome and fuselage assembled, Few depressions on the wings filled with polyester car putty and sprue sticks glued to tailbooms . Now looks like Vixen, Sanded and polished, Tail and fuel tanks, glued.

For a such complex and pricey kit there is unusual lack of instructions included, just A4 plans and nothing more. Internet search for walkarounds and two books, for drawings and details, used for this build . Warpaint Series No. 11 - De Havilland Sea Vixen and Barracuda Studios de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.1 and FAW.2. Flightline Series 1. Cleaned and sorted resin parts, Vac formed parts sanded on flat sandpaper, Initial gluework, wings and tail booms, scaled up Warpaint drawings used as assembly and scribing guide. Cockpit parts assembly Tight fit, looks resin parts are oversized, not fit within vacformed nose area. Nose wheel bay area,

Dh Sea Vixen 1/32 Panther Models Constructions, Vac formed , resin, white metal and four months of work. Was not sure how the end of the story will look , so, photographed whole build story and show it here now.

My stash, not so impressive, but will take some time to build all the kits from this list. 1/32 Revell P-47 D Thunderbolt (started) Mig 29(started) Hawker Typhon Spitfire MkV (x3) Hawker Hurricane MK II (x3) Fi-156 Storch Hs 162 Me-109 G6 Me-109 K4 Piper PA 18 Super Cub (x3) DH Mosquito 1/32 Hasegawa Me 109 G6 F-86 Sabre Boeing P-12E 1/32 Planet Models Resin Bucker BU 131 Jungmann Bucker BU 133 Jungmeister 1/32 Trumpeter Mig 21 F13 1/32 AZUR/Special Hobby Polikarpov I-16 1/32 Hobbycraft Nieuport 17

Thanx for the comments, Troyka was displayed at IKAR (Icare) Cup competition past weekend and won first prize, best of the show, so, i'm satisfied with this model. The next one scratch will be better.

Its 1/32 scale and its FINISHED, ready for saturday model show, here in Novi Sad, Serbia, 13th IPMS NOVI SAD/Vojvodina-"ICARE" trophy click for larger photos