KiwiZac

I think , its the most beautiful Version  of the F-5.....
 

from below...it can also be build with the fuel tanks.....
 
 

it was shown last weekend on the model show in Germany 
 

Hello all
 
Here is my F-20 Tigershark in scale 1/32 as 3D Print.The model was build and painted by Torben Weckeck- Thanks a lot Torben 
 

Hello,
 
Here is my last build, a very long one with a lot of sanding, test fitting and sometimes the help of boiling water to straighten  parts.
 

 

 

 

 

This is my recently finished 1/32 Great Wall Hobby's P-40B with TuAF markings .
These Tomahawks were Ex-RAF Tomahawks from Mediterannean stocks. 
They were re-painted in Turkey by using RAF fighter paints.
 
Cockpit modified by using Eduard instrument panels and RAF seatbelts. I found the RAF gunsight from an old Hasegawa Spitfire in my spare box and used it.
Main wheels are from Barracudacast
 
Paints are Gunze Sangyo acrylics.
National insignias are painted by masking
Star and Crescent on the rudder is from Turquoise decal
"White 3" decal is from Customhobbydecals.
 
Happy  modelling
 

























 
 

Doing some more experimentation, to determine the best Glossy Sea Blue for an FG-1A.
This experimentation is an outgrowth of preliminary testing done on El Corsair Grande Numero Tres, Electric Boogaloo.
There are a couple of options i want to evaluate for a suitable Glossy Sea Blue.
This is the first. I've mixed a batch of Glossy Sea Blue (which is ANA 623 if i'm not Mistaken), but starting with the formula for ANA 606 Semigloss Sea Blue and making it glossy by dumping a bunch of GX-114 Super Clear UV Cut into the mix.
My lighting is terrible, so i wrote down the formula for those of you that wanna duplicate my tests. It's the whole "Scientific Method" thing, i guess...
As something of a control, i prime the grey Tamiya pieces with my customary mix of decanted white surface primer, tinted with yellow green and thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner. One of the neat things is you can use those clear, gimmicky cowling parts to experiment with colours on.
The paints had zero trouble mixing well with each other, and once i added enough thinner, they sprayed beautifully. The first discovery was dumping in the Super Clear gave the paint a beautiful, semigloss finish that i had trouble attaining by spraying a clear semigloss over flat Tamiya paint. It was as if the Tamiya paint was laughing at me as i applied coat after coat of semigloss on.
i will paint the rest of the cowling with this mix.... maybe the Cowling Flaps. Next, i will run a similar test using decanted Tamiya AS-8. Finally, another mix for ANA 623 has been suggested over on Britmodeller so i will test that one as well.
All in the name of Science!*
*interpretations will vary....
 
-d-

Thanks for looking in Zac, I just couldn't wait and had everything I needed so thought I'd give it a go!
 
When Kotare do release a Vb I have a USAF subject in mind in desert scheme.
 
Regards. Andy 

Here's a pic of the Buchon models replacement Spitfire door. 
 

 
This has greater fidelity than the kit part and feels to be more in scale. 
 
I'll add a comparison pic when it's painted so you folk can judge for yourselves. 
 

 
 
 
Cheers. 
 
Edit*
Here are a couple of bonus images taken outside on a grassy base until I can get some proper ones. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel foolish for saying this, but I had tears in my eyes and am shaking my head looking at the most recent photos. It's just so damned pretty.

I love this so much, what a wonderful, special build!

The Vb is my favourite mark too so, while I'm waiting for Kotare to do it, it's very exciting and interesting to follow your build. Lovely and clever work!

Man, you forget to check in for a month or six and you miss all sorts of cool stuff...!

I feel foolish for saying this, but I had tears in my eyes and am shaking my head looking at the most recent photos. It's just so damned pretty.

I'm so pleased to see progress on this, Derek. Lovely work.

Man, you forget to check in for a month or six and you miss all sorts of cool stuff...!

I can't believe the speed in which this has come together - and the quality is still absolutely amazing. I'm very much looking forward to seeing some paint going on...
 
Tom

thank you chaps, you are all so very kind
 
 
Well Jay, having just done the wings I do have pains from RSI - it will pass, but yes sometimes I just have to push through the pain
 
 
 
Exactly Chuck, it is an adjustable trimming tab, but only on the ground - suits me, as it makes it easier to build
 
So, lots has gone on the last few weeks...
 
..the propeller was made as a 3D print which I found very hard to do as it's a complex shape which has oblong roots and quite a twist.. - the spinner cap is machined from solid aluminium so it can be polished like the original..
 

 
..I started the wings by filling the plastic frame with foam & filler - this was then refined many times and note they are complete with the ailerons in place so they can be cut out later...
 

 
..after a lot of finishing, the ailerons were removed...
 

 
..and so to the skinning... I drew out the plans that copied the layout of all the fastners that cover the entire surface.. by the time I finished I selected all objects in the drawing and for the four wing surfaces there were 8,962 rivets... that is bordering on the ridiculous and likely as many as I have done on entire airframes before..
 
,,nothing to do but get started, so here is a typical panel - the small dots are one rivet depression, the big dots two, which was even more demoralising..
 
..also seen is a template to score out a hatch with a pin in a pin vise..
 

 
..after 3 days and a very sore set of muscles they were done...
 

 

 
..no time to rest though, and the ailerons were completed..
 

 
..the wings were added using JB weld and given a day to set, then I could start the fillets - I have not done the front ones as they need to also cover the forward strut mount..
 

 

 
..with the wings on, I could add the belly oil cooler assembly - as with the fuselage sides this was a 3D printed buck over which the metal sheet was fomed..
 

 
..in two parts, it stretches all along the lower fuselage..
 

 
..with so much skinning going on, I fancied a change and so started on the beaching trolley - well at least the wire wheels of the trolley..
 
I 3D printed a hub, a rim and a jig..
 

 
..and then bent a lot of piano wire spokes and started to populate them
 

 
..and the finished wheels, along with some Pratts petrol cans I have seen in pictures with the airframe..
 

 

 
..and so before the painting starts next week, some final shots in all her nakedness...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
..time to start thinking about the finish...
 
until next time
 
TTFN
Peter
 
 
 
 

When I look at this WiP, I feel like a little mouse in Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, watching the "birth" of the Mona Lisa portrait painting...
All things considered, my dear Peter, I'm speechless before your talent.
 
In French, we say : Chapeau bas !

Hi everyone thank you for your kind comments, really encourages me to do better
 
 
 
Hi both - for skinning I exclusively use Evo Stick contact adhesive, which is diluted with it's own brand cleaner to the consistency of single cream - this is then brushed on both surfaces and left for a minute or two to go off before application. Very occasionally, I use thin CA for an errant edge to hold it down..
 
I finished the floats and detailed the struts, all done with litho - this includes some very long, this one piece multi hundred rivet strips that run the length of each chine..
 

 
the struts were detailed as well..
 

 

 

 

 

 
..next up the tailfeathers... the stabiliser seems to have overlapping panels, with the elevators a joggled but flush panel edge...
 

 
..the card formers I made had tiny brass 'L' sections added to the trailing edge and were filled with P38 - then the skinning started with the outer edges as the panels overlap in this direction..
 

 
..tape and dymo tape guides used to make one piece wrap around panels..
 

 
..the elevators were also done and interstingly have a sheet extension at the trailing edge so this was copied by leaving the brass sheet core exposed..
 

 

 
..the rudder was a sheet brass core with plastic ribs, then covered with scored thin plastic sheet to represent linen - I can't see any evidence of rib tape, but there is a characteristic rib feature i need to add (perhaps this is tape?)
 

 
 

 
..after covering, I added the Flash Gordon style counter weights..
 

 

 
..and while not fitted yet, the tail is virtually complete..
 

 

 
..might do the prop next as it is starting to come together..
 

 

 
TTFN
 
Peter
 

Thank you gents, very kind
 
 
 
Hi OBG - the foam is pretty soft really and can be easily deformed with a fingernail for example, but it is stiff and retains it's form. As far as PPE goes, no I don't wear a mask - only when painting really - I know I should though..
 
 
 
Haha Geedubelyer, thats a challenge to get it done by then, though I do feel I am steaming along - I recon there is a month in the trolley & wire wheels it sits on alone, let alone the airframe
 
 
 
Hey Matt, I have a saw toothed riveting template and just taped it to an edge and cut each 'tooth' one by one... yes I am mad..
 
The saga continues with skinning the floats - these are covered in symetric rivet patterns and rather than do panel by panel, I did pairs of panels for each float. I would say over the course of a few days I did ~5k rivets..
 
..here are two pairs with about 1200..
 

 
..again these were only lightly burnished to retain the oil canning seen on the real one - also any panel overlaps on the real one were copied..
 

 

 

 

 
..once complete, I started the struts - I used a 3D extrusion to sheath the brass rods I set at the beginning, and then used ali foil on the floats and fuselage so I can fill to them and it will all unstick cleanly with a matching mating face..
 
..it can all be seen in a jig I had to make so I can get everything aligned properly & the yellow sponges apply enough upward pressure to hold them in place without distorting the position..
 

 

 

 
..the forward upper strut mounts have these odd tails, maybe to deflect water..
 

 
..these were made by embedding stiff wire into the strut and filling around it..
 
some of the mounting stubs are a bit short for my liking, but they can't intrude into the cockpit or they are as long as they can be before they cross each other
 
hopefully when mounted with JB weld they will be ok..
 

 
..skinning these is going to be problematic as it won't be easy for one thing, and they would need to be a perfect fit when assembled so I haven't quite figured out how I will do it all yet..
 

 

 

 

 

 
TTFN
 
Peter
 

Thank you gents, you are all very kind
 
With the fuselage coming along, it was time to start another major sub assembly in the floats...
 
the former structure was filled with hard foam to give it a basic profile..
 

 
..this was then skim filled with P38 and templates used to get the chines the right shape...
 

 
..I would say there were over 30 filling/sand/prime excercises before they were in their final forms..
 

 
..then the undersides were skinned...
 

 

 

 
..there were a few structural features of interest, one is the lapped panels where on the real aeroplane the panels are joggled into an overlap, and the other are these sort of serrated panels which I assume have something to do with disrupting water suction on the step of the float - these were cut one serration at a time so quite tiresome
 

 

 
..on to the top surfaces now and these are covered in spaced fittings & rivets so are going to be a challenge...
 

 
TTFN
 
Peter

There is a real danger to being a peerless builder such as yourself because we get used to your magic and a little blasé about it.  “Well, of course Peter did this impossible thing,” we think to ourselves.  “Why wouldn’t he - he’s Peter.”  To steer back to the real airplane for a bit:  Something most people would never think about is the unbelievable deluge of noise the pilot had to endure from the short stacks of that massive motor just a couple of feet in front of his face.  It had to be excruciating to fly that thing at full throttle.  Personally, I don’t know how anyone did it.  They must have died deaf.

Out of this world.

thank you all, very kind
 
time to build out the fuselage of this curvy girl..
 
started by black outlining all formers with a sharpie so when I sand I can see when I hit the outline, then it was filled out with hard foam blocks in between all the formers ..
 

 
then those were cut and sanded to the base profile - litho cockpit sides were added to keep shape integrity while filling / sanding..
 

 

 

 
..then the structure was given a thin skim of P38 filler..
 

 
..and sanded to shape.. this is the 'rough cut'..
 

 
..lots of sanding and re-filling & re-priming and the base fuselage is complete for skinning in metal later..
 

 
..the big definitive rocker cover fairings were a challange and I pondered how to do them. Eventually, I made up a basic 3D version which my skills in no way allow me to get all the subtle shapes so these just serve as something to start with - though the exhaust port blocks will be separate as they will ultimately be scale..
 

 
..I started the refinement by getting the position and relationship to the fuselage right. This is done by covering the fuselage with aluminium plumbers tape that pretty much defies anything sticking to it for long and the fairings spot CA'd in place followed by filler so they become a close fit... they can then be easily broken off for final shaping..
 

 
.. then after they were permanently fixed, a definition needed to be made to start to represent the fuselage break where the fuselage and engine fairings meet..
 
..this was done with lining tape and filler added and sanded until the tape can be seen..
 

 
,,and the all important nose profile starts to take shape..
 

 

 

 

 

 
..and thats it for now
 
TTFN
Peter