aircare84

Email sent John!

Takom 1/35 AFH-64D Royal Netherlands Air Force.
For a long time, in order to keep the variety, I have been urging to make a helicopter.
For the most part it is an OOB build with the exception of the cockpit, I used Eduard's update set for that.
The FLIR lenses were made from an old DVD.
As paint I used US HELO drab from AK real color.
I have recently started using AK Real color and I really enjoy airbrushing with it.
For the weathering process I mix the main color slightly lighter with the different tones, then I used the wethering sets from AK.
The model is quite detailed. apart from the few challenges it was a pleasure to build and I didn't encounter any major issues
I used LSP and You Tube for inspiration. the last four photos I used for the weathering process
 cheers Otto

Hello, all.  If you've been following the build thread, you know that this project was nearing completion.  Tonight, after taking the afternoon off, I finally crossed the finish line.
 
As has been my modus operandi of late, I wanted to more or less recreate an historical photograph.  For this project, I chose this photo:

It's from a fairly well-circulated set of photos and film that were taken either for training purposes, propaganda, or the news reels.  In some of the other shots from this series, there's a movie camera crew just out of frame to the right.  So, there was something big going on.  Also probably explains why the pilot's exiting the wrong side of the aircraft.
 
Anyway, this photo was taken in July of 1943 on Espiritu Santo.  The pilot here is one Lt. Virgil Ray, great uncle to our own @ARay87.  He did a pretty great write up on Lt. Ray at the WW2 Aircraft forums, so I'll point you there for a great in depth look into the man.  Sadly, Lt. Ray was lost in a storm on 13 October, 1943, just a few months after this photo set was taken.  Rest in peace, Virgil. 
 
I wanted to do this particular aircraft because it had red insignia surrounds (and I've never done those before) some pretty (ahem) unusual weathering.  It wasn't until a few weeks into the build that I really realized what I'd gotten myself into.  A couple highlights:
I sculpted the crew chief from the waist up, using only premade hands and head.  I also had to modify his ankles so he would stand up straight on the wing.  The base figure was the standing pilot figure included with the Corsair kit. I had to resculpt the pilot's lower legs because the Black Dog Resin figure was in ETO heavy gear.  It's still not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was. I also had to resculpt the pilot's hands as the stock figure's hands were nowhere near where they needed to be.  I had to build 2 palm trees from scratch.  I used Luke Towan's method, but also wrapped the trunks in masking tape to give them a little more texture.  Each tree has 38 fronds.  I could fit 12 fronds on a sheet of paper in my cutter.  Each sheet took 65 minutes.  You do the math. I added a ton of wiring detail to the cockpit, engine, and landing gear bay  
So, in all it was a pretty challenging project and a lot of fun (except the palm fronds) that really pushed my limits, especially the sculpting parts.  See the build thread for full details on the sculpting adventures.
 
Aftermarket parts used were:
Barracudacast plain tread wheels Anyz canopy frame Quinta studio cockpit interior and harnesses Black Dog Resin pilot figure  
Though my dio is not a perfect 1:1 recreation of the source image, I feel it captures the essence of the scene.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy.  Tomorrow, I have to build new floating display shelves in the model cave as I have officially run out of display room.
 





 

 

 

 

 



 



































 
Sorry, no under belly shots.  The plane is not attached to the base, but there's no good way to set or hold the a/c upside down with the figures in place.  It looks nice, you'll just have to trust me. 
 

Here is my recently completed Tamiya F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair in the markings of the 2nd Daphne C flown by Capt. James Cupp, BuNo 03829, White 15.
Excellent kit, everything just 'clicks' together & the detail is amazing.
Aftermarket used;
Barracuda cockpit placards, main wheels, early engine upgrade & 'Daphne C' decal.
Eduard Cowling & fabric seat belts.
HGW wet transfer placard decals.
Maketar masks for the national insignia & white 15.
Yahu instrument panel.
True Details US parachute.
Changes/additions made; eliminated the balance tabs on the ailerons, they were not installed on the Birdcage Corsairs. Added extra wiring, ducts, oxygen hose, added detail to the seat mount in the cockpit and added canopy lock handles. Added spark plugs, wiring & oil lines to the engine. Added cowl flaps cable to the Eduard cowling flaps. Added plumbing to the landing gear wells. Added machine gun barrels to the wings, odd that Tamiya doesn't include those. Added antenna, spring & insulators.
Painted using MRP for the lower & Xtracolor for the upper color. Preshaded slightly, used panel line wash & pastels for weathering/post shading.
I don't own a camera, so just have cell phone photos, some with flash & some without. Flash tends to wash out the colors. Haven't seen the sun here in days, so outside photos are not an option.
 
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.
Larry
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Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

This is my latest project, Tamiya's A6M5 Zero.  The model represents an A6M5 of the 210th Fighter Group based at Meiji, Aichi Prefecture at the end of 1944 and into 1945.  The model represents about 4 months of work, with the odd sanity recovery break, and is the only LSP WW2 Japanese plane on my shelves.  I do hope to add another sometime in the next year, as this one is looking a bit lonely.  It was not always the easiest of builds, mostly relating to the undercarriage issues, but you can read all about it if you are so inclined in my WIP, here.  That said, it is a model I'm glad I've built and I'm happy with the end result.  Whatever the challenges, I think it is a better and more detailed than the even older Hasegawa model, good though that is.  No one has yet built a more detailed and better kit yet, in the twenty or so years since this was released.
 
The model was embellished with the cannon barrels from a Master bars set, and a couple of Eduard etch sets covering interior, engine and instrument panel, though not all the parts in these were used.  Some were just too small and fiddly for my aged eyes, and others, such as the ignition wires on the engine, I made from various diameter wire as I thought they had a better look than flat etch bits.  The fuselage machine guns are the stock kit part, but I did drill out the cooling holes a little more and so a black wash over these for a better than stock look.
 
Once built, the model was finished in Mr Color acrylic paints with a few other types for the details and the final coat were my own mix of Mr Color flat and gloss varnish to produce something of a satin finish, except for the control surfaces which are all fabric so were finished in flat varnish.  Cockpit paint was also Mr Color, suitable for a Nakajima built plane as this was, with rattle can AS12 where appropriate, as well as Tamiya Aotake.  The model was weathered using a mixture of Tamiya XF16 flat aluminium to represent paint scratches, as well as a good dusting with Tamiya weathering sets to improve the worn look.  Here's some photos.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Engine shots.  One of the things I like about this kit is that it has the whole engine, bot just the part forward of the rear cylinders.  It also has removable covers for the rear part so that you can see this.
 

 

 
Cockpit shots.  Again, nicely done by Tamiya, with detail provided behind the pilot's seat that can be seen once the model is finished.
 

 

 
Undersides, here with the drop tank removed.  I've touched this up a little more after looking at the picture I posted at the end of my WIP as I thought it looked a bit odd.  It;s amazing that no matter how hard you look at something as you're building these models, you see a picture you've posted of that and you think .
 

 
Cheers,
Michael

Bonjour à tous, mon dernier projet est terminé.
 Assemblage direct de la boite, rivetage et quelques fils et tubes pour détails
 Modifications également de la structure et des pièces mobiles.
 

 
 
À bientôt

Hello everyone, one of my last projects done this year.
 Some extras for this assembly, resin wheels, a Yahu board, fabric harnesses and stencils for the National emblems.
 I did some riveting and added some wire and tubing.
 

 
See you soon

Hello all guys, a nice kit finished a few weeks ago.
 It's a direct box mount, just extra wires and tubes.
 A pure pleasure to assemble 
 
 
 
Kunming , décembre 1941
 



 
 
Thank you for watching.

Hi All
Been on the forum a while, but haven't really posted much. I normally build 48 Scale, but slowly building a collection of 32nd scale kits.
Thought I would share some photos of my latest build. This is the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire MKXVIe kit.
 
The paint scheme is of TB675 who was flown by Squadron leader Anthony John Reeves of 74 squadron. I decided to do this particular plane, as while I was visiting my father who lives in the Cook Islands, last year, I discovered that A J Reeves was buried at the cemetery next to the Cook Islands RSA. I also found out his wife was still alive and attended the RSA.
I felt it would be a great tribute to build his plane and gift this Spitfire to the RSA which was done about a week ago.
 
Paints used were all Tamiya acrylics, Roundels, codes and serials were made at home and sprayed.
It was my first time trying out paint masks and I must admit, I am sold on them. Going to try and do more masks in the future.
I kind of kept the weathering to a minimum, there is some dirt marks etc on the wings, but you can't really see them in the photos.
 
Anyway hope you all like it.
 
Cheers
 
Mike
 
 

Hi all,
Bristol F.2b, Serial No. A7194 of No.111 Squadron RFC, Deir-el-Belah, Palestine during 1917.
As usual, a fully detailed build log, which includes all materials, modifications, rigging etc for this build can be downloaded from the 'Logs' page on my site.
 
https://mikesww1aircraftmodels.com/
 
Build log is in the Works in Progress forum.
 
Thanks for your comments and support throughout this build,
 
Mike
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone, photos of a very interesting little jet at the end of the conflict.
 I added to this box, Eduard photoetched boards for the interior and exterior, resin wheels and stencils for National emblems and various brands.
 Wires and tubes too.
 
 

 
See you soon
 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Great camo, vey well applied 

Beautiful work!

stunning work. I don't know how people do these digital schemes but they are very cool. love the detail on the landing gear and detail on the Harms.

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.









 
 

Hello,
Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme.
Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo.
Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit.
Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.