KUROK

Here is one shot with my DSLR.  The moon dust is actually "Mt. St. Helen's ash" that I got as an interesting door prize.  Dem Brudders gave a Space: 1999 building seminar at the 2019 IPMS Nationals.  I won a small jar of ash that they said was ideal for photography of Space 1999 subjects.  You be the judge:
 

Here is one shot with my DSLR.  The moon dust is actually "Mt. St. Helen's ash" that I got as an interesting door prize.  Dem Brudders gave a Space: 1999 building seminar at the 2019 IPMS Nationals.  I won a small jar of ash that they said was ideal for photography of Space 1999 subjects.  You be the judge:
 

evening folks
 
 
Hi Jay - so the blisters are done by first making an acrylic perspex buck - I find this good solid stuff that is easy to work, but takes the punshment of being worked on
 
I use paper templates to get two of the axis right - plan & side and then just sand & shape
 

 
..then a bit of annealed litho is taped on one edge and the metal worked over the buck with a balsa block until it loosely conforms, then any kinks or ripples are worked out with a tiny hammer, and finally the shape fully tightened to the shape, particularly at the bottom with hardwood coffee stirrers from Starbucks..
 
..then it can be untaped and cut out with scissors and the edges worked with sanding sticks... at any time it can go back on the buck to retain shape, and the final action is to fill it with CA so it doesn't crush..
 
..the Template - I have no idea, but places like HLJ do a good range it might have been there
 
 
 
Well, I don't really know - likely my cabinet with the others, but Tangmere is not too far from me and I have been toying with doing a Tangmere bird and maybe they might take it (after I have finished looking at it )
 
so, a weekends work in a few pictures coming up..
 
..the radiator under the fuselage is quite a complex structure and now the PE bits I had made have arrived it was time to start..
 
..complicated nose with cut-outs and gills..
 

 
..rear with some details to capture..
 

 
..I started by translating drawings & pictures into templates to make a buck for a vacform copy..
 
the PE included radiator faces which while they can't be seen here have all the honeycomb detail..
 
..I started skinning the inside here - later I pulled all this off..
 

 
..it was when I cut the rear & front apertures I removed the inner skinning and redid it once all the cutting was done - here the rear first..
 

 
..the front has cutouts and I had made a PE template to get these right - I also left little tangs of litho around these as they wrap around rods each side that can be seen on the front view above
 
..also here I have added a fake central skin as I want to skin the front and back before adding a PE skin with all the rivet detail - the radiator on the real thing is one big unit that is a different colour metal so that works quite well..
 
 

 
..by now the skinning is complete, the rods added and the fake centre panel removed - I made this slightly oversize as there are gaps around the real one..
 

 
..with the centre panel attatched, it's time to start making the 10 cooling gills - the litho in front has been marked & scored on the back and each one was broken off, bent back on itself over a brass pin..
 
there is a mount in the throat with 10 holes to take them..
 

 
..not finished yet, but nearly there - a bit of work needs doing to get this to gel with the fuselage bottom..
 

 

 

 
..until next time
 
TTFN
Peter

Well it's done....finally.       Going to put this group build to bed ,might re-visit it later in the new year..have some other kits screaming at me that we'll have to get to.
        So big thanks for following along guys, and remember to keep it fun.
 

getting there...slowly. Might take a break from this group build after this one and get at the WNW Ninak that's calling to me.Have a good pile of AM for it,figgies,and a Hucks stater to place on the base for s+giggles.
Starting to see yellow paint everywhere..

The Aircraft markings we decided on is the Group Commanders bird....18th PG Hawaii   1933-34................What was I thinking.
  First off the Yellow Wings black 6 numerals were unusable being over-sized,sourced my own.(well...best I could find)..then the Fus. command stripes didn't have the white pin stripe along the upper red strip,and wouldn't fit well..so,did my own again...But The rest of the sheet is really nice,good registry,good color.
 

 

 
Had a fun time getting the gold trim over the forward grill...but we got there..

Bit more progress....just fine tuning items. smoothing things out ready for paint.
 

Just grinding away...little more progress.
About to prime the Fus.then paint and decals. few more details to add to the fuselage yet to go and then we'll be off and running.
Have a pilot in place..his head is missing for obvious reasons.
 

That looks absolutely great! Nice to see a FAA scheme.
Having built one of these, I can agree to what a fantastic piece of engineering it is.
Looking forward to the end result

Iain

afternoon
 
 
Hi Richard - no it was fine, fun actually, but it needed a lot of pre-planning. Glad it's done now
 
 
 
Good question - I don't think they do - my Spit is coming on to 4 years old and the panels on that while not as highly polished as these look the same as the day it went in the cabinet
 
just a couple of bits done today..
 
this intake sits each side of the fuselage - I had already built a recess in the fuselage to house them and cut holes in the panel where they go, so next up was making them.
 

 
I started with a perspex buck and spent a few goes trying to skin it - that was an epic fail as it's juts too compound to get right..
 
in the end I used my little proxxon milling machine to mill some Ali rod into a blank I could then mill out the end intake - it cost me three tiny milling bits as I am such a noob, but did the job in the end..
 

 
..then they were simply CA'd in place..
 

 

 
..next were these teardrop blisters on the upper nose..
 

 
..again a perspex buck was skinned and they were applied - I also did the very last nose panel behind the spinner to complete the nose skinning..
 
..all it needs now are the dzus fasteners and a few more rivets
 

 

 

 
..and yes, one of the exhaust stubs broke a bit - that is going to be a difficult repair at some point..
 
TTFN
Peter

Sublime work!
I was wondering, do those metal panels keep their shine or do they oxidize quickly?

Sublime work!
I was wondering, do those metal panels keep their shine or do they oxidize quickly?

thank you so much everyone - I want you to know you are why I got better at modelling - thats what a WIP on here does for you
 
 
Ha - I agree Chuck - foil is soo hard to get right, I have never managed it - I think the sheet metal I use is easier to work with if that makes sense, foil is way too fragile and creases way too easily
 
 
 
That really made me warm inside Richard, thank you, what a kind thing to say
 
well, here is the next chapter..
 
..this is the nose panel I have been secretly dreading...
 
one, it has to fit with other panels on 3 sides, two it is full of raised rivets despite being curved and needing burnishing into shape, and three - last bu not least, look at those perfect little oval apertures for each exhaust pipe...
 
challenging...
 

 
..the first thing to tackle was the ovals - here a suitable brass template was taped over a perfect scale drawing that fits my 3D exhausts and a pin in a pin vise (what else?) used to go round and around until the oval pops out - each row took about 45 mins...
 

 
..with those done, other openings were added and a tape template from the model is applied to get some of the borders, plus the panel was polished before anything else..
 

 
..then all the raised rivets were applied and the panel gently shaped to fit at the edges - once a good fit on all the straight edges was achieved the panel was annealed so I could start to gently burnish it to get the imprint of the lower curved edge..
 
..at this point I have about 4 hours in this one panel..
 

 
..making the other side - I goofed and over heated a panel when annealing it - it's all distrorted around the ovals - this was a write off of many hours work and the language was most anglo saxon..
 

 
..after a good couple of days work they are done..
 
..they still need all the dzus fasteners which are coming in some PE bits i made for the radiator next week and some rivets, but I am vary happy with how they came out..
 
..its just resting on the U/C legs - they are not at all at the right angle, but you get the picture..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
..still more details around the nose and a last panel to go, then it will be moving on to the big under fuselage radiator..
 
TTFN
Peter

I have now rescribed the left boom. I found in my stash Alliance Model Works screw head and I thought I would use them on the engine cowl as they are indeed prominent on the real thing. I got a little carried away and the problem is, I did have only enough for one boom. I tried to order more from AMW but they are out of stock... I will have to wait.


Cheers,
 
David

Looks great!  Following this build!

Just to satisfy my own OCD tendencies... 
 

 

 

 
Thanks again Ryan,
 
Sean

Progress continues .....







 

To: Mywifehatesmodels. Your call sign in Frickin hilarious!
 

Hi Guys,
 
Haven't posted any projects here since my 1/32 Spitfire. Took a break from scale modeling but returned a few months back and decided to build Tamiya's 1/48 P-51B in the livery of Don Gentile's "Shangri-La"  I wanted to build something pretty much of the box since I wanted a relatively quick build (3 months for me is quick) so I just added some resin landing gear wheels from Hussar and I used LifeLike's Decal set for Shangri-La which I think is the best  set on the market. It even comes with a mask to paint the yellow circle under the 4th's Boxing Chicken emblem on the aircraft. The laminar wing seams top and bottom were puttied with Tamiya grey putty to remove them.
 
I normally don't paint with Acrylics for aircraft, preferring lacquers, but I had Vallejo's 70.873 U.S. Olive Drab as it gave me a nice grey/brown OD colour similar to the actual aircraft so I went with it. I also tried to give it a bit of a patchy worn appearance to offset the deep monochrome colour of the OD. For that I used Vallejo USAF Olive Drab directly and mixed with the 70.873 colour sprayed at random points on the aircraft. For the underside I used Gunze Mr. Hobby Color USAAF grey. the decals were great but on the tail code not so much. I applied the decal and some Micro Mark decal setting solution (fairly mild product in my view) and the decals bleached out to almost white colour. Thankfully I had the Tamiya ones on backup so went with them.  Chipping on the wing root near the cockpit was done with the hairspray technique while on the  white ID stripes I used a 00 paint brush. Dental lead foil was used on the gun covers as it is very thin and malleable. It doesn't look like I dirtied up the underside too much but it's there just not in a hugely discernible way. My camera tended to wash it out with the grey.

Cheers!
Dave.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update :
 
I used Humbrol 106 Ocean Grey applied with a sponge and a black spraycan. The grey was sanded to remove the gloss, the black received a matt coat and was then polished to give it a satin look. I was going for a "used" interior, quite happy with the result. The tubes for the radiators are dryfitted :
 

 

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
Last photo shows that I need to touch up the black on the left side. Next step will be the fitting of the tubes that form the frame.
 
Sincerely
 
Pascal

Another "blitz-project". I was very happy when I saw that Solido made this car, for €45 I think it's great value for money.

Foto's from CK-modelcars were I bought the model :
 

 



 







 
The last 2 photos show the wheelcovers that look more like clogwheels from a clock. I used a bolt and nut to hold the wheelcovers and removed the teeth with my lathe, I also made the cover a lot thinner. After a coat of primer and Tamiya X7, the covers were attached to the painted wheels (done with a Tamiya paint marker) :





The cockpit will get most of the work. I removed a big piece of plastic to make room for the drivers feet :



But I ran into these big blocks. They are part of the front suspension and have to be removed to make room for the extended floorboard. Out came the Dremel :





Had to go all the way thru the bottom to clear enough space :



First Idea was to improve this part :



Drilled some holes to remove the part between the tubes :



But then I decided to make everything from scratch, that will allow me to add the missing tubes. The roll cage needs some mods too. The upper tubes in this picture dont look like this on the real car :



This plastic tube is also part of the roll cage on the real car. It will be sanded down and replaced with alu tubing :



The front tubes of the roll cage are supposed to be the same size (like the one on the right). I have no idea why Solido made them like this. Will be fixed with alu tubing :



These tubes on the floorboard will be removed :



This was my first attempt to modify the area behind the seats. Reference photos of this area are hard to find :



Then I found the WIP by Scratchbuilt. He made this car in 1/8 scale from scratch, his build log has some very nice pics :










The big hump is being reshaped :




And slowly the firewall is taking shape :




There's a lot more work then I thought, but I 'm still very happy with this model.
 
Sincerely
 
Pascal





 

Been a while since I've posted an update for the Hellcat but I'm switching between this and a commission build of an old Monogram B-17G Flying Fortress with a clear glass port side. As it's all clear, I'm fitting the full internal works from Eduard and it's fiddly stuff!
But back to the Hellcat. Engine finished it was time for the cockpit. It all goes together very well, a little too well at times as some of the tolerances are very tight. I've used the full cockpit upgrade from Airscale to spruce it up a bit. 
So, the build of the cockpit itself was quite straightforward, HGW Seatbelts and I like to drill a little hole in the seat side and pass a small pinhead through to act as a fixing point.
 
The whole cockpit assembly went into the port half of the fuselage as sweet as a nut, then came the other side! The radio equipment in the fuselage is a nightmare as it's too broad for the fuselage so has to be trimmed. The metal framework holding the tanks etc is incredibly tight to fit in. Too tight in fact. After about 30 tries, taking a bit off each time, I did something I hate to do. None of it is visible and so because I feared I was going to damage something intrinsic it I kept on fitting and unfitting, I took out the frames and, while still very tight, I finally managed to get a fit and a glue to give me a finished fuselage. 


Some general pics below. Thanks for looking


 
 

..finished the top deck which is where I should have ended yesterdays update
 

 

 

 

New Year, new model. The beloved bought me the Airfix 1:24 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat for Christmas and I started it on Boxing Day. Engine just completed and I've saved all the photos up so here they are all in one build post.
 
The P&W 2800 double wasp 10W is a little model all in itself and I think I spent more time researching this than most other models in their entirety.
So to business. I'm sure most know that the crankcase of the engine is far to large in diameter to allow the various push rod rings and cylinder blocks to pass over it so lots of flexi file work needed as almost 1mm needs to come off across the diameter. I baulked at paying £9 for a resin one cast from a reduced master, after all this is what modelling's all about.

 
While Airfix seem to have reduced the ejector pin marks, they've made up for it in seam lines so quite a bit of scraping and sanding needed.
Once that's done, the cylinders need painting. The bottom halves I did in steel and the top halves in aluminium. I've used Vallejo Metal Colors as I think they're excellent. Quick drying, no mess and no smell and lovely coverage. The push rods were painted gloss black with aluminium ends.

The crankcase colour was a first attempt at a mix but it had far too much blue in it. I read it should be Grumman grey but since the engine is made by Pratt & Whitney, not Grumman, I couldn't see that being the case and went for the engine grey specified. I finally settled on a mix of 4:3:1 of Mr Color Aqueous RLM 75 Dark Grey: Tamiya Flat White: Tamiya Blue. It seemed to be not too far away from some of the reference material.

You can also see on this photo that I've removed the basic plastic links provided on the parts and replaced them, as they were originally, with rubber hose. The jubilee clips are thin strips of tinfoil. The oil flange is flat black suitably chipped and oil stained.
 
Once everything fits onto the crankcase properly, it's time for the ignition wiring. I used 0.6mm braided cord from Hiroboy along with 1:24 sparkplugs in metal. I was a bit mean to spend a small fortune on scale nuts for the ends of the sparkplugs so I used 1mm evergreen hexagonal rod, drilled and painted silver then sliced into thin slivers and slipped over the end of the sparkplug before the ignition wire was attached.

The intake pipes are gunmetal then brushed with copper and duraluminium till I was happy with the effect.
The exhaust pipes go on very easily as long as you mark them up when they come off the sprues, otherwise it's a happy half hour mixing and matching. (me? never )
Paintwise, I followed a plan of painting them Tamiya red/brown then airbrushing with a very dilute solution of black/red brown as well as metallics and a light grey around the pipe ends.

The heavy wear and chipping on the supercharger intakes is seen on many reference photos and was achieved by spraying first with a coat of duraluminium followed by chipping solution then a top coat of zinc chromate green. It's then a simple task to remove the green layer to the desired effect.
Oil effects (which don't show too well on the photos) are sprayed on as a mix of black/redbrown mixed with Alclad Aqua Gloss varnish and diluted with IPA.
The oil tank cap is yellow and my eyes were given a great workout by deciding to put the "US 19 Gal" writing on there in individual wet decals 
Some pics of the engine ready to mount are below, I'll be needing to add a fair bit of non supplied pipework when the time comes but next it's onward and upward to the cockpit.
Thanks for looking.




 
 

Its been about a year since last working on this one but I've decided to pick the Corsair back up again. After a major **** up by myself which caused me to shelve the project I thought it was time to sort the mess I made of the U/C struts. The problem I made for myself was following the kit instructions and fitting the kit supplied hubs not realising the Eduard Brassin wheels had there own different diameter hubs included! I tried to remove the kit hubs but ended up breaking the U/C leg 
 

 
So a new sprue was ordered from the Hobby Company and arrived a couple of days later (Excellent service indeed).
 

 
Fist things first was to split the old assemblies and remove the steel inserts 
 

 
Followed by assembling everything as I should have done in the first place 
 

 
Very happy to get that sorted and now concentrate on the engine details.
 
Regards. Andy