leoasman

Ahoy
Here is another one I just finished this is the old balsa kit of the Guillows PBY Catalina flyingboat, all balsa kit this is a huge beast with a wingspread of 50 inch,s anyone who builds this must have room or you will end up knocking things down. The model is done up in the Atlantic color schedule serving in the French Morroco 1944. Some how I like the all white with dark gull gray better then the blues,I made the wingfloats opperable the kit designed as optional up or down so i have to have both worlds. Here is the mighty Dumbo.
Boats

I've completed the starboard wing now, with the outboard engine being added and various other details added to the nacelles such as the cowling fasteners etc. I've also made some slightly raised details from very thin plastic card such as the fuel filler caps and various removable panels, as well as the three winching holes on the upper wing situated above the bomb-cells on the inner sections of the wing:
 

 

 

 
There's still some work to do on the radiator intakes, I need to add the radiator shutters and I need to make the smaller carburetor intakes for each side of the nacelles, but this work will be done later on in the build when the wings are attached to the fuselage and the risk of damaging them is reduced a little.
 
Both wings are now looking a bit more Halifax-like:
 

 

 

 

 
I've also started some preliminary work on the wing bomb-cells, as I want to detail these whilst the wings are off as it's much easier to handle them before they are added to the fuselage.
 
I'll update you again when the bomb-cells are completed.
 
Tom

Done what a build finally done. Great kit but I'm glad it's done now to do a dio base.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi
just finished the big Stormovik, built mostly out of the box except for the markings which were Montex masks
 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my recently completed HobbyBoss 1/32 P-61B kit built as a P-61A-1.

The P-61 was the only WWII airplane designed from its inception as a nightfighter, and due to the size and weight of the early airborne intercept radars it emerged as a very large two-engined aircraft roughly the size of a medium bomber. Despite its bulk, the aircraft turned out to be very maneuverable, mainly due to its large flap area and unique spoiler/ailerons, and to have excellent single-engine handling characteristics. In many ways it was a very advanced aircraft and very heavily armed, but with its gunner and power operated turret, it was in some respects a throwback to the concept of the Bristol Brisfit and Boulton-Paul Defiant. 

The Black Widow has been one of my favorite WWII aircraft for many years and until recently I never  dreamed that I would see a 1/32 kit in my lifetime. There has been a lot written about the kit being a mixture of A and B features and this is essentially true, but I have to say I think the kit tends to be more B than A.  The main A features are the one-piece main landing gear doors, nose cone shape and aileron trim tabs, while the longer fuselage, cockpit layout and other minor details are clearly B. Whether on purpose or not, HobbyBoss has actually done the modeler a great service by producing a kit that, with some minor work, can be built either as an A or B directly from the box. 

I intend to build both an A and a B, one for each of the color schemes, OD/gray and overall black, that the plane wore in combat, and since I feel a turretless P-61 really lacks something, that means a very early A and a later model B. I decided to build the A-1 first, and the kit was built OOB with these exceptions:
1. Six oxygen tanks and tubing were added in the tail booms behind each main wheel well.
2. Exhaust stubs were fabricated and glued to the (bogus) exhaust/engine mount.  (These are
    just barely visible behind the partially open engine cooling flaps.)
3. Brake lines were added to the main landing gear.
4. Various missing minor cockpit details such as throttle and mixture control levers were added and
    bracing struts were added to the cockpit and radar compartment access hatches.
5. In addition, I also followed the list of modifications for the P- 61A-1 that I compiled and posted in this
    thread:  http://forum.largesc...showtopic=45567 
    The major operation was to shorten the fuselage behind the nose.  (The nose has not yet been
    permanetly attached , which is why there is a bit of a gap.


One of the interesting aspects of the aircraft that I wanted to display are the wing spoilers, but the kit instructions show them deployed together like airbrakes, which is incorrect.  I posed the aircraft in a left banking configuration with the left aileron in the up position and the left spoiler deployed, and the right aileron in the down position with the right spoiler retracted.  I also posed the control yoke in the cockpit turned to the left. The plane would probably never be seen on the ground like this, except perhaps for a maintenance situation, but it is the only way to correctly display a deployed spoiler.

Kit assembly is straight forward and fit is generally good with a few exceptions. One "iffy" area is the front cannon panels (H4, H5, H8 and H9).  It is almost impossible to get them to fit well after the fuselage is assembled.  I would recommend gluing them into the fuselage halves before you glue the fuselage together.  (To do this, you will also have to cut the cannon barrels off and glue them in later, but this will make painting both the fuselage and the cannon barrels much easier.)  Another recommendation I have is that you consider gluing the two pieces of the top of each wing (A2+M4 and C2+M10) together first, mating them  as closely as possible, tightly clamping them and then allowing the glue to dry thoroughly.  Then glue the wing top and bottom halves together.  This will make the joint at the top of the wing much tighter and easier to deal with, mine did not require any filler at all.  The fit of the tail booms to the wings is pretty good and should require a minimum of filler.  I also did not attach the fuselage top (part S82) until after the wings were attached, which allowed access to the inside of the fuselage/wing joint for a liberal application of super glue for strength.

The “Moonhappy†nose art and serial number decals are from Kits World and went on very well.  Paints used were all  Model Master enamels.  The plane should probably appear more weathered, but I am not very accomplished at that so I left it "clean". I did add some exhaust stains using brushed-on powdered mechanical drafting pencil lead collected from an old-fashioned XXth century lead pointer.

I left the wing leading edge light covers clear, but I believe they should be painted over, as I have yet to see a photo of an A with the clear covers.
 
Steve Sobieralski

Here follows some general detail shots as well as some pictures of the completed model in its entirety:
 

 

 
The guns came from Aeries:
 

 
The nose-art was my own doing:
 

 
The elevators and rudder were scratch-built:
 

 

 
All paints were automotive acrylics straight from a spray can. This picture also shows my scribing efforts to good effect - there was no surface detail whatsoever on the model:
 

 
And to give a sense of scale to this model... this is a 6-seater dining room table!
 

 
Although it threw some challenges my way, this was by far the most enjoyable and fulfilling build I've completed to date.
 
Many thanks to those who helped me out with the engines and main wheels - you know who you are!
 
As always, your feedback is welcome - good or bad
 
Tom Probert, 29th May 2013.

Finally got a chance to take some pictures of my completed build. This is as professional as it gets for me. Thanks for all the help and encouragement along the way!
 
-Leo
 






 

Finally got a chance to take some pictures of my completed build. This is as professional as it gets for me. Thanks for all the help and encouragement along the way!
 
-Leo
 






 

Finally got a chance to take some pictures of my completed build. This is as professional as it gets for me. Thanks for all the help and encouragement along the way!
 
-Leo
 






 

After wrestling with the decals and markings for a couple of nights, I got the strafer guns installed. Just a few more things and this one will be done!
 

After wrestling with the decals and markings for a couple of nights, I got the strafer guns installed. Just a few more things and this one will be done!
 

After wrestling with the decals and markings for a couple of nights, I got the strafer guns installed. Just a few more things and this one will be done!
 

Thanks everyone!
 
Brian, I couldn't wait, so I jumped right in! I just found a picture of the sheet on a reviewers site and used that, along with some pics of the real thing I found online.

Lots of progress this last week! I got the basic OD/NG camo complete including a little weathering and national insignia. I got home from work today and made the giant leap to get the Bat stencil on the nose and paint. The Zotz stencil seemed a little thick at first, but after a little coaxing settled down nicely! I got the paint on and after lifting the mask, it came out perfect!!! My only suggestion for someone else using this mask is to be careful lifting it up. I pulled up some paint on the belly by pulling too hard. I'm pretty sure its my fault and not the masks. Anyway here you go, I hope you enjoy.
 
Leo
 



 
Here is where I pulled up a little paint.

Built this one last fall from the Hasegawa Bf 109G-14 kit (Swiss G-6's were retrofitted with the Erla hood and tall tail), using a combination of the Victory Productions decal sheet and Scale Precision custom masks.
 
 
A very small number of 109G-6s were given to Switzerland in exchange for their destroying of a Bf 110G carrying a top secret radar. The Gustavs were considered buggy and poorly built compared to the Emils still in service. J-704's strange and very non-G-like livery was likely the result of an accident that heavily damaged the aircraft and required a somewhat-rebuild. And the candy cane neutrality stripes were designed to hopefully keep allied fighters from blowing them out of the sky.
 
Paints were more-or-less Gunze throughout.
 
Aftermarket was kinda-extensive. Quickboost guns and exhausts, RB radiator mesh PE, RB harneses. Aires wheels. Eagle Editions supercharger sucker.
 
12_27_12 4 by DoogsModels, on Flickr 12_27_12 8 by DoogsModels, on Flickr 12_27_12 29 by DoogsModels, on Flickr Thanks for looking!

Hello Everyone! I've been very motivated by Brian and the other folks who have finished this giant model. I am still pushing on trying to finish it for the NATs here in Colorado. I was able to start some decal work on the vert stabs this evening. I used the indian heads from the HK sheet and the numbers from the Zotz sheet I shared with Brian. The HK decals are actually behaving quite well considering all the irregularities on the tail. I also got started on the props from AMS.
 


Lastly, I got so frustrated with my compressor spraying water as I tried painting last night (I do have a water trap) that I bought myself a little early birthday present. The regulator comes tomorrow and I'll be in "dry air" heaven!

Update on my B-25. I've got the engines done, and most of the fuselage work. I still haven't figured out how to make the wings slide on easier... I had a bit of a setback today. I had fared in the landing light clear parts with super glue and then sanded them down with progressively finer sand paper. Well today I started using some toothpaste for the final polish. After the first rinse and wipedown, I noticed that there was white gunk UNDER the clear plastic!! Ugh! Apparently, I had sanded all the filler away in one spot, and now toothpaste was getting forced into and under the glass. At first I tried sucking out the toothpaste! I'm sure my wife would love to have a picture of me sucking on the leading edge of the wing with all my might! That didn't work so I had to improvise a solution. I drilled a small hole next to the landing light to access the inside of the clear part. This worked great except now I had plastic bits from drilling all over the inside as well. Well I was able to use a micro brush to wipe most of the toothpaste and gunk away and now I just have a big hole to fill. The picture below is the aftermath!
 
Thanks for looking,
Leo
 

B-26 Marauder
A-20G

Or from Terry Dean...
 
NightieMissions@aol.com
 
Leo