Dpgsbody55

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

Finally rounding third and heading for home on the engine.
I finished wiring the spark plugs and wires and made the engine baffles from construction paper and tamiya tape. 
It looks rough, but all baffles are like that from the cowlings being taken on and off repeatedly. 
I also scratchbuilt a oil dipstick tube from spare parts and glued a Anyz 1/32 WW2 knob onto a punched disk to make the oil cap.
Just a few more hoses and wires and she'll be done.

The firewall is about done as well. I just have to figure out from actual pics where the hoses go.
That's all for now!
Tim

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

Just a small update, mostly to let everyone know this is still on the workbench.  The issue has been that I've not been at the workbench much .  Firstly, my wife, who has recently had a knee replaced, celebrated her birthday last week, so we decided to go away for a short break.  But the other thing is that I've become a bit frustrated with this build, largely because of the errors in the instructions which have finally caught up with me.  Here's the first one for this update.
 
Attempting to fit the larger coolant pipes to the engine, I fell fowl of the error at step 25 in which parts G1 and G2 are glued to the radiator cores.  The instructions have these transposed on those cores resulting in this mess.
 

 
I've had to scrape away the raised flanges for the pipe mounts and will have to figure a way to recreate these if I can.     This is one area of the kit which is unnecessarily complicated and separate parts are superfluous, I think.  The kit does provide a supplement which corrects this, to be fair, but I misread this and the result is what you see above.  And it has to be said that the supplement covers quite a few such errors, but not all.  So I've decided to put the engine aside for the moment and get on with the rest of the model.
 
There are a number of pipes that go in under the fuselage, I assume for the fuel system from the earlier build up of the fuselage, and these went in next after a bit of painting.  I also split the cover for these (part C4) and thinned out the trailing edge of the forward section.  Also added here is the etch gun shell ejector chutes.
 

 
Here it is again with part C4 fitted.  As you can see, these pipes extend forward of the firewall, hence my desire to build up the nose first to protect them.
 

 
The rest of my time has been taken up with fitting those parts I need to be in place before painting.  These include the sliding canopy which has been masked on both sides and the interior frames painted, gun covers on the leading edges which are glued on temporarily with Micro Krystal klear as are the fuselage gun covers. Also fited is the last of the etch pieces for the trim actuators (not really visible here) and some masking.  I've also fitted the plastic gun sight rather than etch version which is far too thin.
 

 
I've also masked up the areas where the undercarriage will be mounted, as I'll fit these as an assembly later after painting.  Also visible here is the under wing light at left in the picture (part I8), which doesn't crack a mention in the instructions .
 

 
So that's it for now.  A little more masking, then paint.
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

The nose section is now complete and there's been a little more progress on the engine.  First, the engine which now has the outer spark plug wires, carburettor and intakes fitted, along with the first bits of plumbing and rocker covers.  I haven't yet fitted the magnetos which in this kit also comprises the runner for the inner spark plug wires, but not the spark plug wires themselves.  In fairness to GWM, the inlet manifolds are covering the parts of the cylinder heads which would contain the plugs themselves, but I'd like to put them in if possible.  Something to ponder.  OOB, the engine is very complete, so not fitting those inner plug leads may not be all that noticeable.
 

 
The next part will be adding the engine mounts then the radiators and all the plumbing, which in this kit is extensive.
 
On to the nose, another area where I didn't follow the instructions implicitly.  Having assembled the radiator, the instructions say to mount the rear air duct (D9) and lower front nose section (D21) to the radiator, then put this assembly inside the nose and glue the other half on.
 

 
I see alignment issues here, as if not fitted exactly, parts D21 and D9 will cause issues fitting the left and right nose halves.  It's better to have any alignment issues hidden inside the model rather than hack about with external parts.  So my first job was to mask up the exhausts built previously and glue them into each nose half.  Back to the rad mount.  There are tabs and slots molded into the forward radiator duct and nose halves to help, so I glued the radiator into one side of the nose, together with parts G20 and G15, then taped the other side in place without glue to allow it to set in the right place.  It needs a little pressure to set in correct place with both sides on.  If the tabs and slots align, it should all be good.  The rear duct will slide straight in and the lower nose section will go in place perfectly and butt against it's one central mounting tab if the radiator is in the right place.  Similarly, the front lower nose will align with the radiator ducts.  You can also see where I've scraped some paint away to glue the surfaces securely.
 

 
Here it is together, all trussed up like the turkey roast. Left side of the nose on first, tape that tightly top and bottom, then nose section D21 in place and taped.  Lastly the rear ducting can be glued and slid straight in.
 

 
The nose section was removed and re-glued after I took this pic, for a better fit.  The gun blast tubes have also been glued in ready for the upper section of the nose to be fitted.  Here it is again with those parts in place and a little Mr Surfacer applied.  Gaps are quite small, so no need for putty.
 

 
The last part is the radiator flaps to install, together with the operating levers.  This is quite straight forward, but first I attended to the filler which was smoothed off with a rubbing of Mr Color levelling thinner on a cotton bud to remove the excess you see above.  You can also se that the magnet has been attached to the firewall.  The inner sections of the rad flaps have been painted aluminium and masked off.
 

 

 
Fitted up to the fuselage.  It looks like there's a small gap at the top of the gun cover, but this may be fixed with a little fettling.  I've also put the rudder in place, but not glued it, just for photographic purposes.
 

 

 

 
Now it's back to the undersides and all those pipes that might get broken without a nose to protect them.  Plus the small bits not yet added like control surface operating etch and all the other little bits holding up the paint process.  And maybe some more engine.  The instructions say to assemble the undercarriage to the model before painting, but this may also be ignored until later.  Less masking .
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

Work continues on my P-40 as it edges closer to paint.  After the last update, the tail plane and fin went on, followed by the ailerons and flaps.  I found the tail plane needed a small amount of filing to fit straight, as one side was a little high.  Ditto the flaps which needed a small amount of filing on the edges against the fuselage.  Both these and the flaps were glued in only at a few points.  However, the tail plane has a gap which needs filler on the left undersides.  The right undersides only needed a little Mr Surfacer 1000, gently rubbed away once dry and settled with a cotton bud dipped in Mr Color thinner.  The elevators were added after the filler was filed back.  These are a bit of a pfaff.  There is a centre clip for them to attach to the plane, and brass etch pivots for the outer ends which glue into the elevator balance slots in the tailplane.  Since only a small amount of CA can be applied to the outer pivots and they didn't want to hold, I found it beyond difficult to fit the elevators in working order, so the outer ends were glued carefully with Tamiya thin styrene glue instead.  (Fergot to take a photo of that... )
 

 
Next the windscreen and forward top cover over the fuselage guns went on.  I found it easiest to first glue the windscreen to the gun cover, then add the bullet proof glass.  As there's no frame on the windscreen, this was glued on using Micro Klear and left for a day to dry.  Then the bullet proof glass was added after painting the frame using styrene glue to attach to the cover, and MK to glue to the inside of the windscreen.  The last 3D decals were added too.  The kit provides masks for the inside and outside of the clear parts, so the windscreen inside frame was painted first.  Strangely, the manufacturer seems to have forgotten about the bullet proof screen, so I made my own.
 

 

 
Attached to the model, with the windscreen now masked on the outside ready for paint.  Definitely easier to do this before adding the above assembly to the model.
 

 
You can see in this picture that I've also fitted the elevators, but not the rudder as this will be painted seperately to the model because the camo pattern is different.  Also visible is the pilots headrest, which has been "shrunk" with the aid of some files.  The forward area of the wings and the rudder post have been painted ZC yellow.  I'm not sure what will be visible on the front when the nose goes on, but I suspect that this area will be visible when the engine is mounted in place of the nose.  There is a decal to go on the rudder post, so I thought I'd paint this  and see how much of the rudder post and that decal is visible once it's painted.
 
I've also started work on the nose, engine and radiator.  I started with the radiator, of which there are two sets.  One goes onto the engine, and the other goes into the nose section.  In the next picture is the engine and radiators.  One of the radiators is ready for installation and the other is still in progress.  For the radiators themselves, these were painted in brass before a heavy dry brushing in flat aluminium.  The one on the left has also has the forward ducting added, which is applicable to both the engine and being fitted inside the fuselage.  I painted both fully and will use the best one on the bare engine.  The other will have some paint scraped off and added to the nose.  The engine has been assembled as far as possible before painting and the cylinder heads painted gloss black and masked off. 
 

 
Here's the engine after paint.  Lots more to add to this.
 

 
The next pic is the kit supplied etch grills for the front of the radiator, after adding the front duct.
 

 
Unfortunately, I had problems attaching one of the rear counterparts to the back of the radiator as the CA glue made a mess of one, so I finished up cleaning the lot up then repainting and dry brushing the not well raised radiator surface instead.  Definitely not as good, but not really visible without turning the model upside down and peering inside.
 

 
Truth be told, you'd have to shine a torch down the nose of the model to see the etch grills behind the front duct anyway.  So not something I'm loosing any sleep over.
 
The last bit to show is the exhausts.  These are individual pieces which glue into a mount which is in turn glued inside the nose cowlings.  I painted them in burnt iron then dry brushed steel over the top.  I'm not going for a heavily weathered look, but I want some indication of use rather than factory fresh.
 

 
That's it for now.  Next time, the rest of the nose.  I'm building this bit first, so that I can then go back and fit the pipework that goes under the belly without the fear of breaking it off during construction.  And maybe some more engine.
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

Edging loser to the finish line, the Hawk is now painted.  Well, almost.  Just a couple of touch ups to go before the varnish/decal/varnish stage.
 
Here's the undersides painted and beginning to be masked up before starting on the top sides.  You'll notice that the undercarriage bays are not in place.  The area where they fit is masked off but the parts have been painted.  I figured this was easier than building the under carriage as per the instructions and then trying to mask off that assembly.  At the moment, it's all in bits and being painted, then I'll assemble each side and put them onto the model as a whole.  Digits crossed my method works out OK.  The camera has made the colour look more grey than it actually is, as I mixed up a brew of RAF sky tinged with grey which seems to match the colour chart for this plane.  Curtiss had a knack for painting their planes in colours that only approximated the official colours.
 

 
Here's the first top side colour on, and being masked up for the second colour to go on.  Looks like garbage at this point.  Camo masking took a lot of time as the contours around the nose are hard to mask over the contours of the gun fairings and intake fairing, as well as the need to get the colour demarkation aft of the the cockpit to line up against what I'd previously painted behind the aft windows.
 

 
Here is the camouflage now finished, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  It only needed a couple of touch ups, and none around the gun/intake fairings.
 

 
The rudder was painted separately as the pattern does not match the fin.  One other thing of note is the demarkation between the belly colour and the upper colour at the back of the nose.  This was one of the easier things to mask up as the nose is detachable, so that demarkation peculiar to P-40's at this time is easy to make.
 

 
Next is the red band around the rear of the fuselage.  Of course, it would have been much better if the fool who painted this model had done this first, before any other painting.  It wasn't me, honest  .
 

 

 
Eagle eyed reader will notice that paint has been removed around the edges of the band, which happened when removing the masking.  I used Tamiya 2.0mm flexible tape for this, and it seems to have removed only the green, which is a water based paint, whereas the other colours are oil based paints.  I've never had that happen before, but it should be an easy enough touch up.
 
That's it for now.  Next step is varnish/decal/varnish, which will probably take me another couple of weeks, but hopefully less.  No further progress on the engine yet, either.  I think I'll get back to that during the final assembly stage of this build.
 
 
Cheer,
Michael

A very impressive build.  All that sanding and filing was worth the effort.   
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

Saw this in stock at Metro Hobbies in Melbourne yesterday at $299AUD.  I was expecting it to be more, somehow.
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

I'm staying out of this one.  I just thought I'd say that to keep the topic going. 
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

Good recovery after the fall.  It's looking great. 
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

I'm staying out of this one.  I just thought I'd say that to keep the topic going. 
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

This started life as Eduard's Adlerangriff boxing waaaay back in November 2021; I'd barely got started when life got in the way (I was the victim of a street robbery that left me with a head injury, meaning I was pretty much completely out of play until March 22).  By then, the Hobby2000 kits had landed, and when I finally got back to the bench, I decided to change horses.  Unfortunately, my injury came back to me soon after with a (thankfully, tiny) bleed on the brain and I was unable to do anything complicated for the next few months... damnedest thing is, I no longer had any concept of the number 9 in Russian, which was very odd - English, French, no problem but talking to my Russian ex, anything with 9 in it was gone, so I've been back to school.  Therefore, no build thread for this one apart from the "statement of intent" for the Eduard iteration.
 
My bird is 8/Jg54 black 5, but the camouflage is based on a pic of 7/JG54 white 2 - so please view it as an interpretation, rather than a depiction.
 
A great kit, hampered mainly by me - I've another 4 and a 3 in the stash, I'll definitely be coming back to them.  Mainly oob, with Barracuda wheels, Yahu panel, Uschi antenna line and HGW belts. Paint is Vallejo.  I added the aerial terminator to the fuselage with a squished Albion tube offcut, nav lights are small blobs of CA plus Tamiya clear colours, and it's my first go at what the kind-hearted might call weathering.  I'm happy with the exhaust stains and I can live with the underside dirt, I'm much less happy with the gun staining.  The phone's camera makes the wheel "tracks" look much more orange than they are, for some reason.  Apologies for the really crap photos .
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

1/32 Revell Spitfires (It's a squadron scramble sir, don't be daft we have just come down)
1/32 Revell (squadron scramble)
 
The mega build is finished, 4 x 1/32 spitfires 1 x hobby boss, with the engine exposed, and 3 Revell kits one being the technics kit with lights sound and rotating propeller.
The hobby boss was a dream to build, no fuss, just went together very easily.
The Revell kits are ok, apart from the fit is a bit iffy, and the Technics kit, well you pay your money and take your chance with this, its basically the same kit as the other two, with wires and electrics, but no allowance has been made for all the extra bits, so you must get you're thinking cap on, but we overcome.
 
All the figures are from ICM apart from 2 which are resin from Dave Allen david.allen@wingscockpitfigures.com , I think he’s retired now, I know I have had the pilots for some years.
All were painted with MIG acrylic colours, which I have to say are brilliant, thank you MIG. And the base was from my good friend Mario Catania who worked to my sketch and measurements, this whole diorama is 800mm x 800mm which is in two halves. Any gaps will be eliminated on the final assembly.
This is a dry run set up, which will now be packed up, and I will reassemble and fix everything in place in Mumbi later this year when it will be set in a glass case in an RAF themed bar.
Enjoy
Mike

At long last! 
 
(This thread could be subtitled: The lengths I'll go to to avoid a natural metal finish)
 

 
Here is my rendition of P-38G s/n 43-2239 as it served in the 339th Fighter Squadron on Guadalcanal in early spring of 1943.  According to Michael Claringbould in his book "Pacific Profiles, Volume 9," this aircraft was badly damaged after a forced-landing following an attack against a floatplane base at Faisi.  The 339th ground crews towed it to the scrapyard where engineers from the 44th Fighter Squadron snatched it, brought it back to airworthy condition, and christened it "Old Ironsides."  Apparently there was something of a kerfluffle between the two units as the 339th later tried to reclaim the aircraft - no word as to who came out on top, but the aircraft was used as a hack at least until mid-1944.  From there, it fell off the radar and its final fate is ultimately unknown.  Claringbould's book features a picture of the aircraft after it was named by the 44th FS, but I don't want to post it as I don't want to run afoul of copyright issues.  In all my searches, I never found the second picture online anywhere and I suspect the original is in his personal collection.
 
In any case, if you were following the build thread for this, you know what an adventure it has been.  Most of that was due to my repeated, and uncharacteristic indecision.
 
This started life as the Trumpeter P-38L kit and it was my intent to build an ETO bird in natural finish.  But, I'd been sitting on the Grey Matter Figures backdate resin set forever and I knew if I didn't use it now, it'd go to waste.  Aaaand, I like the looks of the pre-J models better anyway.  So, with a little encouragement from @BiggTim, I decided to take the plunge and do the necessary surgery.  I've never attempted anything so dramatic before and it was one heck of a project that involved quite
 

 
a bit
 

 
of
 

 
surgery.
 

 
You can check out the build thread for most of the details, but as you can see, this was no easy feat.  While I'm very happy with the final results, I admit it is far from perfect.  Some components, particularly in the cockpit, I just couldn't backdate as I didn't have it in me to scratch build complex parts like instrument panels, gunsights, and other sundries.  That said, I'm quite pleased as this is as close as anyone is going to get to a pre-J model P-38 in 1/32 scale until Tamiya gets off their collective butts and upscales their kits (Dear Tamiya, I would buy several.  Just saying.)
 
Anyway, with this one done, I can now say I've done a heavy conversion (check that off the bucket list), and now I can focus on deep cleaning my model room to prepare for the arrival of the HKM A-20G. 
 
Enjoy the photos!
 







 
















































 
 

Thanks a lot
 
 
The time has come to finish the story about Donata Makijonek. This will be the last historical part before the final presentation of the model, where I will post a summary of Makijonek's activities. I also invite you to one of the last posts about the Nieuport XXI 2453 replica building workshop.
 
The fights with Western Ukraine came to an end, and meanwhile the Ukrainian People's Republic under the command of Semon Petliura, fighting in the east with the Bolsheviks and the army of the white General Denikin, reached the Polish positions. In view of the approaching danger in the form of the Red Army, an agreement is reached between the governments of Poland and the Ukrainian People's Republic to stop fighting. Later, the agreement will turn into a military alliance of close cooperation and joint struggle against Russia's imperial plans.
 

After returning from the last combat flight. In the cockpit of Breuguet XIV 10.41 - sergeant pilot Toluściak and lieutenant observer Ratomski. Standing next to the plane is the squadron commander, captain pilot Makijonek (second from the right) and lieutenant pilot Prauss (third from the right). Barnowicze on October 14, 1920.
 
 
The beginning of the Polish-Bolshevik war is estimated as early as February, or even January 1919, but now it was about to break out in full force. The first year of struggle ended with a number of successes of the Polish army, which gave the commander-in-chief Józef Piłsudski the certainty that the coming year 1920 would be a time of fighting on an unprecedented scale.
 
For Makijonek, a new war began, a new enemy and a period of new struggles. Unfortunately, his health declined sharply. Untreated tuberculosis from the time of the Bolshevik prison was constantly making itself felt. This conflict was supposed to be a period without combat flights for him precisely because of his health condition. At that time, the 3rd Squadron was equipped with the most modern aircraft at the disposal of the Polish Air Force and one of the best in the world - Breugeut XIV. This type of aircraft was too demanding for the ailing pilot, so Makijonek was now in command from the ground.
 
In mid-April 1920, his Squadron began flying on the South-Eastern Front from the airfield in Starokostiantyniv. At that time, the 3rd Squadron was included in the V Aviation Group, which was commanded by the legendary pilot Jerzy Kossowski. This amazing man, to whom I will surely dedicate a workshop and a model in the future, took a liking to Makijonk and was constantly staying in the place where the 3rd Squadron was stationed. Perhaps both pilots were brought closer by kinship of souls, both came from the tsarist air force, both complemented each other perfectly, both were people of extraordinary courage and dedication to the cause of their homeland.
 
I also plan to discuss the details of Makijonek's service during the Polish-Bolshevik War during another workshop, so today I will only mention that as a commander he showed an extraordinary sense of organization. The unit under his command received numerous praises, and Makijonek himself was mentioned in the praise order by the Commander-in-Chief himself for the ingenious and efficient withdrawal of the Squadron from Kiev during the Soviet counteroffensive.
 

Flying personnel and chauffeurs of the 3rd Squadron in Barnowicze in October 1920. The first on the left is the squadron commander, captain pilot Donat Makijonek, the second - lieutenant pilot Tadeusz Prauss.
 
The 3rd Squadron ended its combat activity on August 20, 1920. After the Warsaw battle, she returned to the Mokotów airport to rest. However, the break was short, the war was still going on and it was necessary to return to the front. As one of the best squadrons, it was to work for the Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters this time. At the end of the war, her glorious activity received the highest ratings from the command. Makijonek receives the highest Virtuti Militari award for his service.
 

The car park of the 3rd Squadron in Barnowicze in October 1920. The squadron's commander, pilot captain Donat Makijonek is standing first on the left, pilot lieutenant Tadeusz Prauss is second.
 
After the armistice, Donat Makijonek returns to the health resort. After the treatment, he again takes command of the 3rd Squadron, which at that time was based in Vilnius. He commanded it until March 1925. Unfortunately, aviation was changing, posing new challenges, new qualifications and new skills for the staff. Makijonek, although he was an excellent pilot and commander, was unable to meet the new requirements, most of his time was spent fighting the developing disease. In the face of these facts, the command decided that Makijonek no longer met the requirements and in January 1925 transferred him to the position of the park commander of the Lower School of Pilots in Bydgoszcz.
 

Breuget XIV with the emblem of the 3rd Intelligence Squadron in a hangar in Vilnius in 1921. Standing from the left: Lieutenant Bronisław Wąsowski, the next two gentlemen are unknown, Captain Pilot Donat Makijonek, Captain Pilot Tadeusz Prauss, Lieutenant Observer Stanisław Ratomski, Second Lieutenant Observer Józef Sieczkowski.
 
 
He worked there until December 30, 1928. The next day he was retired with the rank of major. His service to Poland is over. He started a family and in order to provide for it, he had to take a job, a small pension does not allow for a normal life. This is how he started working at the Prodmetal factory in Bydgoszcz, but he was on sick leave more often than at work, so he was finally fired.
 
In 1938 he moved with his family to Puławy. In 1939 came another dark time in his life. Another war broke out. The German invasion of Poland on September 1, and the aggression of the Soviet Union on September 17.
 
In 1940, Donat Makijonek was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in the Lublin fortress. It's still unclear what the cause was. It is possible that Donat Makijonek was involved in the resistance movement in Poland, or the arrest was related to his activities as an outstanding soldier. We know for sure that in May 1941 Donat Makijonek was transported to the German concentration camp in Auschwitz and murdered there. We do not know the date of his death.
 
A man who survived thousands of hours of danger, risked his life in the heat of battle for many years, was murdered by the criminal German system of the Third Reich.
 
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Unfortunately, the fall of the model from the table caused a lot of havoc. Over the last few days, it took me some time to remove the damage and here I must say that luck smiled on me, I managed to restore the state from before the fall. It remained for me to eliminate some defects in painting, which arose as a result of this catastrophe, but I left that for the end.
 
I started to put on the tail rigging, horizontal and vertical rudder control lines. I also installed the tail skid. The last stage of this work was to install the legs of the landing gear and make tensioners in this place. In order to better present the model, I decided to make a wooden base for the tail boom in the meantime. It was mounted the wheels and the propeller with the hubcap and give it a final finish with pigments.
 

 

 

 
Regards
Lukasz

Hello, everyone
 
Workshop update.
 
Rigging and tubes. Tedious work. Anyway, the wings are finished, the lines are mounted and I can already see that the 0.1 rigging, although it holds the scales, is too thin. These tensions disappear when working on the photo. I used screws from Gaspatch, lines from AK. In the end I am happy with the result and most importantly I learned a lot for my upcoming biplane work.
 

 

 

 

 
Regards
Lukasz

And now for something completely different…
 
As I have alluded, I plan this build as an in-flight Corsair. And what is an in flight plane without a real spinning propeller?


 
I bought some micro 3v DC motors (5 for $8 on Amazon), which happen to fit perfectly inside the gear reduction housing, with just a tiny bit of plastic surgery…
 

 

 

 

 
Assembling it in this way gave me a perfectly coaxial motor shaft (I know this isn't coaxial - I adjusted it after reviewing these photos.)
 
but I had to figure how to make sure the propeller spindle was coaxial to the motor shaft. I drilled it out, filled it with Milliput
 

 
Then I assembled everything, allowing the motor shaft to make an impression in the putty. 
 

 
After completing this clever little bit of engineering and construction, and feeling quite proud of myself, I was struck by the concern that this tiny little motor wouldn’t make enough torque to spin the prop, and I couldn’t wait for the Milliput to dry, so I rigged up a test of concept. 

When the water has completely dried, the salt crystals now form a random mask pattern. Now it is time to spray a VERY THINNED mixture of a lighter color, in this case Tamiya XF-555 Deck Tan, over the model in random streaks.  I thinned this mixture at 8:1.

 
 
The main challenge of this effect is it's subtlety... you don't want to overdo it or your model will look like it has the measles.  But if you don't apply enough of the lighter color, the effect may not show up at all.  This is the wing after I sprayed the Deck Tan and it is difficult to tell where I'm at.  I just have to trust the pre-spray test of the thinned mixture and hope for the best.

 
 
After the pain has dried, you can remove the salt.  I hold the model over a trash can and gently brush off the salt with my fingers.  It's encrusted and difficult to remove when dry so just get off as much as you can.  I then use spray bottle filled with water and wet the surface liberally, letting the excess water drip into the trash can.  I then use a clean rag to wipe off the water and the remnants of the salt crystals should come off as well.  I repeat this process a couple of times, making sure that any excess water that pools onto other areas of the model get wiped thoroughly.  The salt-impregnated water will eventually dry and may bloom into a white frost.

 
 
A closer look at the wing shows the result.  I think this technique nicely mimics the rain and weather wear that may accumulate on the aircraft's surface.



 
 
It's important to let the model completely dry for a couple of hours after the wiping process as the effect will be muted if the surface is even a little damp.



 
 
I will inspect each of the affected areas carefully.  Adjustments can be made by Micromeshing the area gently to tone down any exaggerated areas.  If severe enough, you can also use thinned mixes of the camo paint to tone down or remove the effect.  In this case, strategic Micromeshing should do the trick.

 
 
Here is the front fuselage after a bit of Micromeshing.

 
Just an FYI... the effect shown in these photos is a little exaggerated due to my photo post-processing.  I'll let the model sit for a while and then look at it again with fresh eyes and make adjustments to any of the post-shading and salt weathering layers laid down so far.

Thanks for the positive comments!  But oh man, you guys are barking up the wrong tree when it comes to Youtube.  I ACTUALLY do have a Youtube channel.  And I ACTUALLY have a couple of model-related videos posted.  But they are just slideshows of photos that I've posted on my WIP threads.  No live video.  And certainly, no narration.  Simply put... I don't feel comfortable talking in front of a camera.  The majority of my Youtube posts are fishing clips and I don't do much talking on those either.  And I've been asked... hey,  you should talk about the fishing equipment that you are using or describe the technique but I'm not going to do it... that's just not me.
 
But I DO appreciate the sentiment behind the comments... very flattered that you'd be interested in watching something like that.  But this is the best I can do for ya...
 
 
 
 
 

I can happily report that the airframe is now together, and we're rapidly moving towards painting. The fit was pretty good, with just a few small problem areas.  Of course, with the raised surface detail, I'm going to need to use the rivet decals I got from Woody to help replace and repair those details, but that'll be right before the primer stage.  
 
For anyone considering this case, you'd probably be smart to assemble the wings as one assembly and then mount it to the fuselage. Much easier to deal with the seams that way than the way I did it, by gluing the center section on before adding the outer wings. Also added some thick plastic tabs to the wing seam to strengthen it, the kit tongue and groove isn't really enough for a sturdy join.
 
Let me know what you all think
 
 

 

 

 

 

Great look at the surface detail. and corrugations on the wings. Hope the decals can stand up to it.
 

 

 
I need to find some sort of solution to mask the headrest when it's time for paint. Maybe Liquid-Mask would work, but I worry if it would pull the paint off. Don't want to have to repair the whole thing.
 
 
Matt