zaxos345

Very nice work to this beauty too John!!! 

Beauty, as always John!!
 
John

Folks, Thank-you so very much for your postings and I apologize for my lack of response buy I can assure you they're all very much appreciated!
 
I've been bouncing around a bit on my build and made an interesting (to me anyways) observation regarding some details. Tamiya's instructions indicate using certain parts for the -1A build but from references I've found I should be using alternate parts supplied in the kit but not mentioned in the instructions.
 
From my research, based on it's build number and photo evidence, my specific Corsair was an early F4U-1A and wasn't set up to use the Brewster bomb rack. Tamiya's instructions and parts call out are given so the rack can be used. When the bomb rack was installed the centre cooling flap on the underside of the fuselage, part R20, was notched out on the trailing edge to clear the rack. I used part B25 instead without the cut out. It also meant that there was no small arming panel on the right side of the IP coaming. The applicable hole needed to be filled. Instead of using parts R24 and R14 below the centre of the main wing spar, which accommodates the rear mounting for the bomb rack I should have used part B18. Unfortunately, I'm a great gluer, (that's a real word Isn't it?) and I'd already used R24 and R14 so corrective surgery was needed. Then there was the bomb rack's forward mounting point. Tamiya, thankfully, supply part B23 to fill the hole! 
 
Hopefully the photos below will show what I've been yammering about.
 
Cheers,
Wolf
 

 

 

 

Without words!!!!!! 
 
John
 

Thanks Guys!
 
 
Thanks and yes, with the yellow cap.  However, this yellow paint is so translucent I used hardly any.
 
 
March 30/20
 
It’s finally time to apply the decals, which absolutely terrified me for four reasons:
 
1)  The only decals available for my subject are the kit ones and I don’t have back-ups, just in case I ruined one.
2)  The Kitty Hawk decals in my last build of an F-5E were terrible.  Registration was off and they were very thick.
3)  If I do ruin a decal, sometimes you have to sand it off down to the paint.  With my F-5E, this was easy with the gloss black finish.  With this bright yellow bird, however, repainting would be a nightmare.
4)  I could not find painting masks that were the right size and font for my subject.  With insignias and flags, I needed to use some decals anyway.
 
I fixed #1 when I bought a new kit to get canopy replacements, so that was a bit of a relief, but more on that in a bit.  I also think I’m pretty good at decals and I’ve even written an article on the application of same.  I’ve made every decaling mistake possible and found many solutions, for those who might be interested here:
 
 
How To Apply Decals
 
 
The decal sheet that comes with this kit looks a bit weird.  Rather than an outline of film around each decal, there’s an irregularly shaped thick blob of some clear material that almost looks like a plastic cover, as found on HGW wet transfer decals.  It is very hard to photograph, but here’s what they look like in my kit replacement.
 
 

 
 
Now here’s what I received in my first kit.  Again, it’s hard to photograph, but every single colored decal is flawed with a very rough finish.
 
 

 
 
Thankfully the black lettering sheet was fine, but the other issue with all of the decals is that once you place them, you only have seconds to move it around or you’re done, so you better get it right quickly.  I already knew about this, which had been noted in other builds of this kit, like LSP_Kevin’s.  So, getting back to my decaling article above, what kind of decals are these?  They are good and also bad, depending on what set you wind up with in your kit.  The smooth ones in my kit replacement are generally quite thin and good, but the ones in my original kit are rough to begin with and stay rough, which creates new challenges.
 
I started on the bottom of the model like I always do, to give me a feel for the decals before I apply them to the top, where they can always be seen.  Unfortunately, the only decals on the bottom are also the hardest ones to do, because the “RCAF” lettering is so big and has lots of decal film.  If you tried to apply this decal as one piece you would be doomed, due to the very short amount of time you have to move the decal into place.  The best way to handle this is to cut the decal into the individual letters, removing as much decal film as possible.  I also applied a thin strip of masking tape as a reference point, to keep the letters in alignment.  When I applied each decal, I used lots of plain water and avoided Microset, since I didn’t want any softening of the decal until I had it in place.  Once I was happy with the decal placement and removed excess water, I applied a thin coat of Microsol- and then walked away for at least 10 minutes!  If you fool around with an adjacent decal while one is drying with Microsol, you are asking for big trouble, so I did some household chores for my wife and decaled at the same time.  Everybody was happy!
 
 

 
 
Here is the lettering after everything has dried and I applied a good coat of Tamiya X-22 to seal the decals in.  You would be hard pressed to paint lettering this crisply and yes, it is on the correct wing.  On other Harvards the “RCAF” is sometimes on the right wing instead, but this aircraft had it on the left wing, where the registration lettering “CF-UUU” now resides instead.
 
 

 
 
Now a neat little trick I figured out, that I will use again.  I always like to decal on a horizontal surface, so doing the sides of a model can be a pain with the model on my lap or a desk chair like I used in my article.  Looking around the house, it struck me that a suitcase on wheels, with a bath towel shoved into an opening at the top, provided the perfect platform for this task.  It holds the model securely; the towel protects the paint and I can move it around easily.  Cool!
 
 

 
 
As I did on the bottom, I cut out each individual letter and aligned everything on the side before I applied my first decal.
 
 

 
 
I then applied a number of decals that were not near each other, gave a coat of Microsol and again walked away for 10 minutes.
 
 

 
 
Done!
 
 

 
 

 
 
Now a bit of a walkaround, after the decals had dried overnight and sealed in with X-22.
 
 

 
 

 
 
Two and three piece decals are always tricky and cause the most problems with Microsol.  You want the decal to settle into panel line and rivet detail, but you also don’t want to use too much Microsol, because the surface of the decal shrinks and reacts to it more than the backing underneath it (which is a different color).  Here I have some rivet detail coming through, but the white is also starting to discolor with the blue underneath.  Time to stop!
 
 

 
 
The other side again….
 
 

 
 
And a quick view of the front, where I have now painted the heat shroud where the exhaust will hang with Alclad Steel and Stainless Steel
 
 

 
 
Now some true confessions.  For the most part, the decals from the replacement kit performed very well and I didn’t have many issues, but as usual, I had to replace two of them and repair another with parts of another decal, so it was a bit of a struggle at times.  My strong suggestion is that if you use the kit decals, try to have a back-up set, which can be found from those who did not use them.  I also wished I had placed one or two small decals slightly differently, but this aircraft has been repainted at least 5 times, so references are all over the place anyway.
 
With the decals now done I’m on the backstretch of this build, but I still have many more things to do with the landing gear, antennae, tiny lights, prop, engine/exhaust installation and that damn canopy!
 
 
Cheers,
Chuck

As my P51C is nearly finished, I wanted to start on a new project.
This is the Focke-Wulf Fw190C V18, about which Wikipedia says:
 
"The C model's use of the longer DB 603 engine required more extensive changes to the airframe. As the weight was distributed further forward, the tail of the aircraft had to be lengthened in order to maintain the desired centre of gravity. To test these changes, several examples of otherwise standard 190 As were re-engined with a supercharged DB 603 to experiment with this engine. Prototypes V13 – V16 tested various PS and DB603 engines until the V18 followed, the first to feature the full high-altitude suite of features, including the pressurized cockpit, longer wings, a 603G engine driving a new four-blade propeller, and a Hirth 9-2281 turbocharger. Unlike the experimental B models, V18 had a cleaner turbocharger installation, running the required piping along the wing root, partially buried in the fillet, and installing both the turbocharger air intake and intercooler in a substantially sized teardrop shaped fairing under the cockpit.[36] This "pouch" led to the "Känguruh" (Kangaroo) nickname for these models."
 
I was drawn to it as I have always loved the 190 series, particularly the ‘Langnase’ D models and in particular, this airframe had about as much natural metal as I could find on any variant which is my penchant for showing.
 
There are a number of period photo’s walking round the airframe so let’s take a look at the challenge ahead..

 

 

 
I also found some very nice shots of a built-up model – no idea whose or what scale, but credit to them..
 
 

 
As for the basis of the model, I found the range of 21st Century Toys 1/18 models online, which feature ‘toylike’ things such as spinning props, retractable U/C, moveable flying surfaces, but at their heart are actually very accurate replica’s of the airframes covered (at least the Fw190D is..)..
 
A quick tour of the model – this was £160 on ebay – probably well overpriced, but when I see what I want, I pay for it..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
So my take is this is a great basis for my next project. I have been busy collecting reference online, have a 1/48 Eduard ProfiPack Fw190D kit as a reference mule, a CD of works drawings on their way from ebay, had Arthur Bentley run me up a fabulous set of 1/18 plans and started some rudimentary artwork for some of the Photo-Etch components that will need to be developed, plus a very healthy dose of excitement and trepidation
 
I am going to need all the help I can get in interpreting Luftwaffe colours etc and I know we have ‘experten’ on hand, so please get involved
 
One thing that is different for this build though is a new thing I am trying called Patreon. This is an online platform where I get to share WIP content to ‘patrons’ who support me. It means nothing in terms of my forum posts here as they will continue with the regularity and scope they always did, but what it does mean is I can bring video to the build and in some ways ‘exclusives’ to those who choose to support me – this is an expensive hobby, I think my P51 netted out at about £1.8k all in and I am simply trying to find ways to offset that via the content I create for people to enjoy.
 
Anyways, no-one has to do it, but there is a welcome video with a walkaround of my P51C that anyone can see, so if you are interested take a look at that at least!
 
In addition, there are already Fw190C videos up
 
Here is the link to my Patreon page
 
I hope you will join me on my next journey and next time I will have this 'toy' broken down into a bunch of expensive parts
 
TTFN
Peter
 

Work continues on the G-6/AS.  The bisected inner flaps were painted using mottled black as a preshading base.  This represents the process that will be used on the overall aircraft.



 
The DF loop antenna base was re-shaped using Milliput.  The loop itself was cut off and replaced with a strip of aluminum from a soda can.

 
The landing gear legs were painted.  A brake line made of lead wire was added.

 
The prop blades were painted RLM70 Black Green over a Tamiya AS-12 Silver base and slightly chipped using hairspray.  The blades were then given a couple of salt fading passes.

 
The prop blades were attached to the spinner with the help of the mounting jig that Barracuda sells separately.  This ensures that the blade position and pitch are uniformly correct.


 
A test fit of the finished prop onto the unpainted fuselage...

March 25/20
 
 
I hope this update finds you well.  Thank goodness we have our hobby to keep us from going nuts while being stuck indoors.  Two more months of this and we might have record for completed models! 
 
I’ve got this bird painted now, but before I show that, I was checking to see if the interior of the engine cowling could be seen from the front with the engine installed.  The answer is “very little”, but that’s also a little problem, because the interior is full of pin marks and 4 large tabs that hold the cowling together.  If you peek inside and hunt around you can find them, so that's good enough for me to eliminate them as much as possible.  Sanding off the tabs and filling the sinkholes is hard to do on the thin plastic without damaging it, so I set out to achieve a “good enough” job which also included the Eduard brass PE detail, just in case you can see it too.
 
 

 
 
After paint.  I found the inside cowling color to be all over the map from Aluminum to Interior Green, so I picked Aluminum to highlight the added detail.  You won't be able to see the slight yellow over spray at the front when the cowling is installed.
 
 

 
 
For the yellow paint I used Tamiya TS-34 Camel Yellow decanted from a rattle can, which is almost the perfect color of most Canadian Harvard Trainers.  Like most yellow paint, coverage over a darker base can be problematic, so I painted a white primer coat as shown earlier.  Even with the white base, however, I needed at least 5-6 coats of paint to cover everything!  Lots of paint fills lots of rivet and panel line detail, so I was quite worried that all this paint would ruin the fine detail that I created earlier.  However, everything turned out pretty darn good in the end, as the paint dried and shrunk into this detail after 2-3 days of drying time.  Whew!
 
I now think this paint is made for mostly car models, where the focus is on a deep and shiny paint job.  I had the same problem with coverage with Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red a few years ago on my P-38L, where I needed a similar number of coats to cover.  Tamiya AS series of spray paints are made for aircraft and cover very well, but colors are limited, while the new line of lacquer paints in a bottle do not include Camel Yellow.  In any case, the TS-34 still worked very well as shown below.
 
 

 
 

 
 
I am also pleased to say that I think I nailed the look of the ribbing on the elevators and rudder, where the rivet detail underneath is still there, but subtle.
 
 

 
 
For the black walkways, I went back to my go-to method of using textured paint out of a spray can, in this case Krylon Fushion “Textured Shimmer”, rather than Rustoleum textured paint.  While effective, the Rustoleum paint comes out of the can a bit too rough for scale, so you need to sand it down later. 
 
The first step is to mask off the walkways and then COVER EVERYTHING with a kitchen garbage bag, to avoid over spray.
 
 

 
 
What do I mean by over spray?  THIS and it’s not for the faint of heart or without lots of practice.  After vigorously shaking the can, you spray in sweeping strokes and never directly at the model, which is why it’s all over the place.  The goals are even coverage and not too thick or thin.
 
 

 
 
A closer look.  Some of this spray is clear, hence the blotchy appearance.  After drying for at least 15 minutes, I then sprayed a cover coat of flat black, then removed all masking tape within an hour of spraying.  If you leave the masking tape on too long, it may become impossible to remove, because the paint is very hard when dry.
 
 

 
 
With such a high color contrast, I also used the kitchen bag method for the gloss black on the top of the front fuselage area, which was airbrushed.  You would think that this should be flat black as well to reduce glare in front of the windscreen, but all my references show that it’s glossy.  Note the subtle but very real over spray, which would be nasty on yellow.
 
 

 
 
The results.  Note that I haven’t added any details like flaps, aileron control arms or antennae yet due to risk of breakage.  The front engine cowling is only dry fit.
 
 

 
 
The walkways turned out just like I hoped with no sanding required. They are slightly rough, but to scale rough, but are also tough to photograph in these high contrast conditions.  I will add some pastels to them later to show minor wear at the end of the build, which will highlight them more.
 
 

 
 
The gloss black turned out pretty good as well, which also helps to hide the crude fit of Part D5 to the front fuselage, which is the same demarcation line.  Note the brass cowling fitting at the top I added earlier.
 
 

 
 
Other side…
 
 

 
 
And top view.  Note that the angled front of the walkways are due to panel lines at the front I added earlier, which is why most walkways are painted this way.
 
 

 
 
Another angle of the ribs on the elevators and rudder.
 
 

 
 
And finally the bottom, where everything is yellow, including the wheel wells and rear flaps.
 
 

 
 
Next up decals and other little bits.  I will be using the kit decals that I understand are quite good, but you don’t have much time to move them around much.  Thankfully with my second kit to replace the canopy parts, I have a second set of decals just in case I screw up one or six.
 
 
Cheers,
Chuck

Just be sure to attach the upper wings to the fuselage before adding the lower wing (ie: don’t follow the instructions).  Otherwise you’ll end up with some nasty gaps to fill.
 
 

evening all
 
I trust I find you all well in these difficult times and if anything it gives you a chance to either do some modelling or if not, enjoy the work of others who do
 
I find myself confined to quarters, not through illness, but through trying to stay safe - I am fortunate I can work from home and just do emails and conference calls for my day job rather than sweat it into London..
 
 
 
I think you are right Chuck - I have had a go at better alignment and am now in limits of whats possible so will leave as is now - pics next time
 
So, where were we - elevators...
 
always seem to be the last thing I do, don't know why
 
here is a nice shot of Lopes Hope which shows there is more to them than meets the eye
 
notice the rib tapes, the visible structure underneath, the many eyelet sort of 'polo mint' fixings and the four mounts for the mass balance weights..
 

 
..I started with a brass sheet blank, cut from scaled plans and scribed with all the internal structure (also making most of the cuts for the trim tabs so they can be broken out later) - from there plastic strip was used to bulk it out and coffee stirrer sticks for the ribs. I use these as they are wood and the solartex RC covering sticks well to it..
 

 
..soon both elevators were done top and bottom... there is a double wall where the trim tabs are
 

 
..then the bulk of the structural additions were dremelled off and sanded to final profile - once complete the trim tabs were removed..
 

 
..after covering with solartex and wicking CA on the edges, the eyelet things were added - these are tiny brass washers, the bigger ones punched out of litho..
 

 
..these were then covered with the rib tapes again scaled from plans - the tapes are made from foil plumbers tape (like bare metal foil just cheaper) with a riveter run along a straight edge and a scalpel cut along the holes to get pinked edges..
 
..they cover all the eyelets well - although in this shot there is still a big panel of tape to go over the trim tab area..
 

 
..a shot of primer show the fabric effect I was after..
 

 

 
..trim tabs made from litho with the core from the original structure..
 

 

 
..then the mass balance weights were made from left over resin casting blocks..
 

 
..and shot with MRP super matt black - also added the trim tab actuating rods to elevators & rudder and gave them all a dusting of MIG powders..
 

 

 
..all the tailfeather surfaces were attached with hinge rods and are now complete..
 

 
..and a last shot in the evening sun so you can see the contrasts...
 

 
..thats it for now - more bits and bobs to go including the Drop Tanks that Steve at Model Monkey has kindly enlarged from his 1/32 set and 3D printed in 1/18 for me
 
stay safe everyone and see you next time
 
TTFN

Peter
 
 

Thanks guys!  It's good to be home again.  Like everyone else, still trying to adjust to the new norms.  Picked up my two girls from school yesterday where they'll be doing online classes until further notice.  Did the SD/SF round trip drive in one day.
 
On the modeling front, continuing work on the G-6/AS.  The cleanup work around the cowling has been finished so I've moved forward and glued the wings into place.


 
The joint at the wing roots is good so I won't be having to spend much time here once the glue dries.


 
There will be some work to do on the bottom however.  In addition to the gaps to be filled, there is also a step along the joint between the right and left wings.  A bit of scraping will be required to make it level.  

Just awesome!! Thats what i think Brett!!
 
John

Hello again!  I'm back home after my travels and like everyone else, trying to maintain some sanity in these crazy times.  Since I traveled internationally, my work place asked that I work from home for the next two weeks. Which is fine by me as it allows me some... ahem... "flexibility" to re-adjust to the West Coast time zone.  Gonna pick up my daughters from UC Berkeley and UC Davis as they are going to do the online class thing until further notice.  Berkeley is in lock-down mode so hopefully, we don't run into issues moving and whatnot.  Like I said, crazy times.
 
Despite the coziness of self-quarantine, I've been busy doing this and that.  When I last left the G-6, I had slapped on some Mr Surfacer putty along the main join between the AMUR Reaver engine cowling and the fuselage.  That's been sanded, touched up with more putty and sanded again.  I've worked on all of the joints and have re-scribed and riveted where necessary.  I just shot the joints with Mr Surfacer 1200 through the airbrush to review the work so far.


 
The joint on the starboard side at the cockpit came apart during riveting and will need to re-secured before moving forward.




 
Popped the spinner into place and took a few more pics.  There is some minor clean-up to do still but it looks good enough to move forward on this build.

I second that Chuck!! 

And some overall photos with parts dry fitted...I can say that the cockpit is done!!!
 










 
Hope you like it....
 
John

And some overall photos with parts dry fitted...I can say that the cockpit is done!!!
 










 
Hope you like it....
 
John

And some overall photos with parts dry fitted...I can say that the cockpit is done!!!
 










 
Hope you like it....
 
John

The instrument panel....
 

Started from the cockpit...
 














 
The seat....
 

Perfect Chuck!! From cvirus hysteric Greece... 

March 13/20
 
Well I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in Calgary the C-Virus hysteria is at a peak.  Businesses are closed and we are told to stay home and hide under our beds until further notice.     Further, the weather has turned cold again, so what's a guy to do?  How about Model?!  With every sport shut down, I can't think of a better hobby when you're stuck indoors, can you?
 
First Paint, which is my favorite part of modeling.  A first coat of paint will tell you how well you assembled and glued the plastic together, which can sometimes be disappointing.  That's why I go to the effort of using a dark wash during assembly, which reveals flaws before they are painted and are easier to fix.  Luckily, I found only a couple of new ones, which I have already repaired.
 
Before painting, it was time to glue in the extensive Eduard PE brass rear flaps, which I had left off to avoid damaging the delicate detail within.  The fit is excellent, but I still had to sand off some of the brass at the rear to ensure a clean rear edge.
 

 
If you build this kit, I highly recommend the Eduard "BIG Ed" kit, which has lots of detail missing on the kit parts.
 

 
I usually use Tamiya Gloss Black lacquer as a first coat rather than a true primer, but for this yellow bird I'm using Gloss White instead (TS-26 Pure White from a rattle can).  This should make painting the yellow easier and with less paint.  Since it's just an undercoat, I have sprayed it on relatively thin to retain detail, hence the blotchy appearance.  One great thing about this model is that both the wheel wells and flaps are painted the same yellow as the rest of the aircraft, which makes painting so much easier.  That probably wasn't the original paint scheme, but it is now, which is all that matters.
 

 
One of the flaws found after paint are the ridges along the rear of the wing, which are due to sink marks around the flap detail underneath.  These were totally invisible before, but thankfully easy to sand off and remove.
 

 
I will let this paint dry for two full days, then lightly sand off crap and other imperfections, followed by 2 coats of yellow, which will be Tamiya TS-34 Camel Yellow, which is the perfect shade of yellow with an orange tinge found on these trainers.  The "Camel" it turns out, is the same yellow as found on Camel cigarette packages.  Who knew!?
 

 
Cheers- and wash your hands!
Chuck

Chuck, you keep amazing us my friend. Like spyros wrote above, those small details make the difference!!
 
John

Chuck, you keep amazing us my friend. Like spyros wrote above, those small details make the difference!!
 
John

afternoon ladies
 
 
 
Thanks Ben - the end is surprisingly near as will be seen
 
 
 
Hi there - I got them from 4D Modelshop - I provided my own artwork, if you need that too it would be even more expensive 
 
..so with a few days off, it seems like I have powered through a lot of the 'to do' list..
 
...the main job was getting the model on it's undercarriage and getting the gear doors on - I made up the big links the hold them on and spent ages getting it all to line up - hopefully the sit is right..
 

 

 
..also the tailwheel & doors were added with the retraction links and the aerial loop on the rear fuselage..
 

 
..then the prop and flaps..
 

 
..and it's ready for a quick walk around - the canopy parts are not fitted so are just resting (badly..)...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
..any comments on the 'sit' or any of the details if they look off, please don't be shy - say something here. I am aware the P51 is so iconic that it must look bang on to pull it off..
 
..I still have to make the elevators, sort the other aerial and make the wing drop tanks (plus light weathering) so still some to go
 
TTFN

Peter
 
 
 
 

I am with Brian!!!!
 
John