Dany Boy

Hi Mike, and you're absolutely right.
This lifting hole was plugged on my photo, and this is confirmed by these 2 photos taken on a Yak 9 in a museum:
 

 


I placed some acrylic putty in these 2 holes and "closed" them. 

And finally the research material. Mostly it's background information about Henneberg himself, but there are photos and profiles of his mounts, including this one. The top two profiles show his aircraft as it appeared in France, and in RAF markings after it was flown to Netherton in the UK. 
 

 

Thank you all for your messages.
Today I took care of the two "60s".
If you look at the photos, you can see a thin border around the 6 and the 0 :
 


I decided, in agreement with myself, that this border was red like the star's border.
With this in mind, I placed the masks and painted them white, placed the internal masks and painted them red:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Unfortunately, the "60" on the right-hand side was completely wrong: the "60" was leaning backwards and the "60" was squinting between the white and red parts: I had no choice but to redo it entirely (You can see it clearly in the photo above.).
The right "60" completely redone:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Thanks Max, that's a very nice compliment!     
 
Well, now it's time to complete the camouflage with the AMT12/MRP 20 Dark Grey.
Looking at the photos, I can see that the separation between the AMT 12 and AMT 11 is a little blurred...
...but not too much...
How to proceed?
I've decided once again to use masks, but this time they'll be much more complex to draw and fit on the fuselage.
They'll also need to be a little closer to the fuselage and wings to get the AMT 11/12 edge a little sharper and less blurred.
So the technique I used on my FW 190 isn't really the right one.
I managed to find a 1mm thick double-sided tape that should perfectly meet my expectations.
Using a printer, I enlarged the camouflage patterns for the wings and horizontal stab to the size of my Yak 9.
These are relatively flat parts, so I was able to cut them out of soft cardboard after running them through the printer.
For the fuselage, however, it's a different story!
As I'm a resourceful boy, I used transparent strips of rhodoid on the fuselage.
Using a black felt-tip pen, I traced the contours of the camouflage.
Then I cut out the strips of rhodoid and the cardboard for the wings.
I placed the double-sided tape, and put some low-adhesion frisket on the paint side so as not to damage it when I peel off all these masks.
I'll let you admire the result before painting - I know, it's scary to see!  
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
Well, now it's time to go!
The MRP paint is still diluted to 30%, and we're taking it easy!
The wings and rear of the wooden fuselage are still horizontal, to respect the BB'ing direction.
I've also masked off the front of the fuselage, which can't be seen here.
The 2 delimitations/2 masks for the Dark Grey strip just behind the spinner (at the level of the engine exhaust pipes) took me about 2 hours to trace, cut and place...
These 2 masks were the transition between the wings and the fuselage, so they required extreme precision to make an invisible paint connection...
Here's the result.
Overall, I'm satisfied, even if there are a few minor paint touch-ups to be made here and there.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this camouflage.
 
I still have to do the vertical stab and a blotch on the fuselage (where the number "60" will be), because in these 4 places, the AMT 12 is slightly darker (probably a paint touch-up).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hi all,
here is my interpretation of the CR42 CN visible in a film from the time of the Luce institute, from which I started to create the beautiful ICM kit.
apart from a few implemented/scratchbuilt details, the dedicated Eduard set 32979 and the installation of some nanoleds, it's OOTB, perfect in shape and fit. predominantly MRP colours.
 

The forum build thread is here:
https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/99468-fiat-cr42-cn-132-icm/&do=findComment&comment=1455873
 
cheers, Paolo
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greetings, friends and hobby colleagues. I would like to present my new model in 1:32 scale. Horten Ho-X "Project-X" - a promising Luftwaffe fighter The model was designed and manufactured based on information obtained from an explanatory document describing the concept of the preliminary design, dated March 6, 1945 in Göttingen https://www.ebay.com/itm/116116813350   https://lemkits.com/product/1-32-horten-ho-x-project-x-limited-edition-resin-kit/   .

I corrected all the small assembly defects on my Yak 9 (micro mesh 800 => 12000) and then repainted with MRP-LPB black/primer.
The metal parts (front of the plane, cockpit area, engine cowl, the central part of the wing underneath, vertical and horizontal fixed tail) are treated in the usual way with white.
For the rear parts of the fuselage, which are canvas-covered, I applied white paint, but only lengthwise, using paint fillets.
For the rest of the wings, I also painted from front to back, using white paint and a brown-green paint to break up the monotony of the BB'ing. 
Will it show once the camouflage shades are applied to my model?
That'll be a surprise for you and me!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, a bit of work on the beast, nothing too impressive but necessary to have something well finished before painting.
I glued the 2 upper wings to each side of the fuselage, to make the joint as nice as possible, then glued the lower surface to the fuselage and to the 2 upper wings.
I also glued to the bottom of the 2 air intakes on the 2 wings, a grid made from a flour sieve (thanks Paolo for the tip).
The 2 horizontal tailplanes are also glued on, but I left out the 2 ailerons + vertical fin + 2 movable horizontal tailplanes.
Some engraving on the engine cowl and also some rivet lines, but not too much as the plane was quite smooth.
Note, but it won't surprise those who know me well, that I forgot to glue the cockpit floor once the wings and fuselage were glued together...
Big moment of solitude...
*sigh of weariness*
I had to unstick the bottom of the pilot seat and patiently managed to get the floor in place and glued... 
A photo of 2 Border pencils for engraving structural lines, ordered from Ali Express.
Micromesh 12000 was applied all over the Yak, followed by a coat of MRP Dark Alu paint only at the panel junctions and on the wing fillet.
Next, an even coat of MRP black to start the BB'ing.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beating the dead horse I know, just love this airplane.

As Promised...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thank you for looking.
 
 

Hi Everyone!  These are the final photos taken of my recent completion from the Aces High group build hosted by LSP.  The kit itself was sold to me by a fellow LSP'er and I'm glad to get it done.  Yet these aren't the pictures I wanted.  These are pictures saved from the recycle bin.  I wanted pics with perfect lighting taken perfectly.  Alas, the perfect lighting didn't present itself, and the model itself suffered a gravity related catastrophe and awaits repair.  There are a lot of pics.   I hope you like them.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
More to come...

Hi,
 
This is my Bf-109F-4 Trop from 363 Squadriglia 150o Gruppo Autonomo at the Sciacca airfield in Sicily in June - July 1943, pilot - tenente Antonio Camaioni. Eduard's seatbelts and HGW wet transfers have been used plus some riveting. Finished with MRP paints.
 

Hi all!
 
 
As this is a Jubilee-build and a long one, even I have a chance to get it over the finish line!
 
What better then building something from my hometown of Linköping, Sweden, where the SAAB J-29 Tunnan (Barrell) was built during the 50´s and 60´s.
 
I´ll use the FLY kit and some aftermarket, even tough there’s not much available.
 
 

 
 
I have the Maestro nose ring as the kit intake is more akin a MiG-15 then a Tunnan.
 
 

 
 
As my main reference I have this book by Mikel Forslund, signed by the author himself!
 
 

 
 
More to come soon!
 
 
Stefan   
 
 

Good morning,
I finnally finished the Tamiya's 1/32 P-51D as the P-51D-5 "Little Eva III", Capt. James "Sully" Varnell, 52nd Fighter Group, 2nd Fighter Squadron, Italy, 1944.
James "Sully" Varnell was the MTO's third-ranking ace with 17 victories and ranked as number 10 among Mustang aces. This little-known ace scored all of his 17 victories within 67 days, making him one of the fastest-scoring aces ever. Tour expired, he's rotated home to train other pilots while Dalebroux & Jones became Lt. Hans Zachmann's men. Killed in a Flying Accident 9 April, 1945, near Pinellas Field, Florida. Varnell is the 10th ranked Mustang Ace of WW2.
In progress here...
 
 
 































 







 
Hope you like it, really appreciate any comments!!!
 
John

Years ago, I was on a road trip with some buddies of mine when we got stuck in an hours-long traffic jam in Chicago.  We crept forward, inch by inch, baking in the hot July sun.  Inevitably, we started bitching and complaining when one guy, the driver, piped up and said something that stuck with me all these years later.  "Hey, as long as we're moving, we're making progress."
 
And so it is.
 
We are moving and, thus, are making progress.  Though, I'll admit, we're not exactly headed the direction I was thinking we were.  I guess I should know better than to say things like "I'm just about done with the figures!" (to paraphrase)
 
As I started to get serious about placing the figures, I realized that I'd originally placed the pilot too far aft when roughing him in.  I think the general consensus here is that these photos were taken just after Lt. Ray returned from a flight, not as he's boarding up to leave.  He taxied up, popped off his chute harness, and - probably to the benefit of the camera men - clambered down left side of the aircraft.  
 
You can see his right foot is almost directly behind the forward canopy and his left hand is on the weirdly-painted patch on the fuselage.

 
While my resin figure isn't bent over at quite the angle Lt. Ray was, it still actually fits pretty closely in the more correct position...

... all except for the hands.  The hands will make or break a figure, in my opinion.  So, off they go.  I chopped them off with a fine razor saw and recessed the area inside the cuff with a rotary tool.  This will hopefully allow me to sculpt fairly realistic hands that appear to be coming out of a sleeve, rather than butting up against it.

 
I drilled out a small hole and added some wire.  I'll use this to rough in the angle I need for proper hand placement, then as a base for the putty to grab on to.  I've never tried to sculpt hands before so this could get really interesting.  I'll work on that slowly over the course of the week.  I'm back to work now (boo), so modeling time is catch-as-catch-can.

 
I also got annoyed with the fact that the angle of the feet on the crew chief wouldn't allow for him to stand upright on the wing roughly where the chief was in the photo.  Given the angle of the wing while on the ground, the figure kept falling over and to place him such that he stayed put required me to put him in weird places.  Sure, in the end, I could probably have super glued him to the wing and wiped my hands of it, but he would have likely had a perpetual Michael Jackson-esque forward lean to him and that would have looked bad.
 
So, out came the trusty sword of exact zero and off went the feet.  Same deal here, holes, wire, proper angles aaaand...

 
Ta-da!  He stays nicely in place on his own two feet (no super glue required) and he's more or less where the crew chief was in the reference photo. 

 
What I haven't mentioned yet is that I burned an entire new year's eve day (and a blade on my cutter) building a couple palm trees and prepping the base.  Here's a teaser shot of the work in progress.  I've got more work to do on the pictured tree and whole second tree in the works too.  

 
That's it for now, but stay tuned for all the fun and excitement of the adventures to come.  Join us as we explore:
Irrevocable f-ups in hand sculpting! "Did the Marines really accept pilots with 11 fingers?" Figure painting from your nightmares! "His eye appears to be running down his cheek. " Palm trees that apparently can't support their own weight! "It fell on the plane again." And more!
 

Today I decided to get over a hurdle...   or knock it over clumsily.  The PE canopy.  Here it is...  so far. 

 
It's not perfectly straight. 
 
I've been working on the crew and cast, too...    none of them are finished, yet.
 

 
There will be a couple other figures from other builds that will also join them.
 
PE details like the canopy are just the thing to put my mojo on hold.  Happens every time.  Figures do it too, but to a lesser extent.  So I try to pace myself by doing a bit here and there of each until I can get through them all.
 
Thanks for looking.

I planned on a big modelling weekend, but that didn't happen.  got home from work Friday to observe that my toilet cistern was leaking at a furious rate.  We have two loos, so I fixed it Saturday morning.   Then the missus wanted to assemble some flat pack furniture...   Damn those Swedes!   And it went on and on with laundry, mowing after a week of torrential rains.  Anyway, this afternoon I got the wings on and added the engine assembly.
 

 
The two pieces that cover the engine and MG's will take some finessing, as their profiles are unequal.  And I will have to remove some plastic to get one of them to fit over the MG's.  It is always the way with 109's and interior details.
 
With all the rain, it has been humid as hell.  So, I'm hoping that next week will give me some drier weather time for paint.
 
One of the quirks of this kit is that it was made to have movable control surfaces.  After putzing around with the PE parts for the ailerons and flaps, I decided to do the rudder and elevators without the PE and fill in the open spaces.
 
The empennage went together sweetly with no droop or cock-eyed angles to deal with.

I'm not really an interior detail guy.  So, when it comes to cockpits, my mojo can suffer.  And as I neared the end of this cockpit, I realised I needed a parachute sitting in the pit to give it the 'just-exited' look.  The kit PE seat belts helped in the endeavor, being easily shaped to give the look i wanted.  The parachute body was made of balsa and the strapping by masking tape.  I added some real metal buckles at the ends. 
 

 

 

 

 
Having recently completed the ZM 109G14...   I have to say that the cockpit of this E is superior.  Especially when it came to the IP.  Even though a decal isn't supplied in the kit, I think the relief was good enough to paint by hand. 

 
Another thing I liked is the moulded plastic handles in full 3d shape.  So much nicer than 1d PE parts.  The plastic toffles and levers are just so much better.
 

 
I didn't ignore the cockpit sides either.  But they're pretty meh.
 

 

 
 
 

Here are three of the guys who will star with the pilot in this build.  The guy with the camera is by Black Dog.  The other two are by ICM with heads that I got from some place in Canada.  There will be more, but I couldn't get much else done because I was babysitting the Granddaughter.
 

Galland needs little introduction, so I'll limit this opening to the goodies involved.
 
I got a sweet deal a few years ago from a fellow LSP'er on this Dragon 109e4:

FYI, the wheel well cloth covers are pliable and in great shape.
 
He sweetened the deal by throwing in some great AM:
 
Eagleparts main wheels.
 
RB Productions metal canopy framing...   a little nervous about using that one.  Am I just supposed to glue it over the clear parts?
 
CMK resin control column.
 
I'll be adding the 1/32 Def Models figure whom I hope will look like the pilot and not some Peugot salesman from Marseille.  I may also add some other figures from my stash if I can flesh out the build a bit.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
d
 

This is my 4th 1/32 WW2 fighter build which I just finished this week. The Zoukei-Mura kit has been designed to be built with a complete interior in the fuselage, wings and engines so its not like a typical fuselage that comes in two halves. Rather its a series of panels that are laid over the frame and so comes with its own challenges in trying to line everything up. This kit is not for the feint hearted and needs plenty of patience. I had to use a bit of filler where the engine cowling didn't line up and had some considerable gaps and mismatches. So its not what I call a great kit and my finish has heaps of flaws, but I was happy to just finish it.
I used AK Extreme metal paints with a combination of Steel and Stainless Steel. Interiors were painted with Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green as an approximate of chromate yellow.




 
 
That's it for a while. I won't post my other 1/32 fighter. Its a Spitfire and I'm pretty sure everyone has seen enough Spitfires..:)
 
cheers
BT

Good morning gents,
New project on the bench, this time a large one, tamiya's P-51D!!!
 

 
It is not going to be an OOB build... i bought some aftermarkets before i make my mind on the profile i wanted to depict, so some stuff are not going to be used, for examlpe the excellent barracuda IP, it is not suitable for a D-5 model (that is why I bought the early quinda set), more discuss on that as well as on the details or differences for a D-5 later.
At this point i want to thank Christian Alamy aka ''tourist'' for his valuable help on gathering all the required info regarding my build!!!
 

 

 
The profile I want to depict is "Little Eva III", Capt. James "Sully" Varnell, 52nd Fighter Group, 2nd Fighter Squadron, Italy, 1944. 
James "Sully" Varnell was the MTO's third-ranking ace with 17 victories and ranked as number 10 among Mustang aces. This little-known ace scored all of his 17 victories within 67 days, making him one of the fastest-scoring aces ever. Tour expired, he's rotated home to train other pilots while Dalebroux & Jones became Lt. Hans Zachmann's men. Killed in a Flying Accident 9 April, 1945, near Pinellas Field, Florida. Varnell is the 10th ranked Mustang Ace of WW2.
 

 

 

 

 
Opening the box and reviewing the sprues one thing that really got my attention (i have read a lot on this) was the large number of pin or sink marks especially in the wheel wells and on the inner side of the engine cowlings!! I dont know how tamiya managed to do it!! Anyway I will find a way with the wheel wells and i am not going to leave the engine exposed so i dont mind the cowlings!!!!
Another one were the big screw fasteners on the cowlings which were raised (out of scale in my opinion) and not flush....
 

 

 
So i started the build with this correction. I used...
 

 
....first to mark down the fasteners and later I sanded them flush. Working my way with the fasteners i also corrected some other details not suitable for a D-5!!
- There was no oil radiator drain added until P-51D-10-NA production, so along the bottom of the lower cowling panel, there is no oil drain access door. There was also yet to be a fuel strainer access door added to the lower cowling panel, until late D-model production. So only a single door (on the left) for the ground heater duct, Midway through the bottom cowling...
this....

instead of this..

 
I filled them all with ca glue, sanded them and scribed the the ground heater duct acces door!!
 

 
Next correction was on the upper cowling...
- On early P-51D's, the oil filler access door on the rear top left cowling should have the same size as the aftercoolant door just in front of it. The oil access door would not be enlarged until P-51D-20-NA production, when a dip stick was provided, requiring additional room to be accessed.
So before working on the fasteners, I resozed oil filler access door...

 

 
And as i was dealling with the cowling i decided to replace the tamiya's carburettor intakes with the barracuda ones!!
 

 

 
Thank you very much for watching, any extra info is very much welcome!!!
More on her tommorow as i have already made some progress...
 
John

Good morning gents,
I finished weathering the ''lady'', put on her shoes, the external tanks, wrapped up all the details and bits and i am presenting her to you!!
Hope you like it!!
I really loved my journey with her!!!
More here...
 
 

 







 









 
Thanks a lot, 
really appreciate any comment!!
 
John
 

And finally, time to paint the metallic colors....
For the silver dope wings, there were 2 candidates, tamiya's LP-11 or AS-12,I chose the tamiya's LP-11, to my eyes a bit greyer ...
For the bare metal i chose the new A-Stand, High Shine plus aluminium color from Mig. I made a lot of tests and i thing it is one of the best bare metal colors.
I think you should give it a try!!!
I sprayed it over a shiny black primer, not gloss...i also tested it over a shiny plain grey plastic...the outcome was perfect for me!!!!
 







 









 

 
I sprayed the fuselage and tail codes, gloss varnish (i sprayed tamiya x-22, i did not notice any loss on the bare finish, please comment if you have any remarks) placed the decals and wet transfers from HGW...
 





 
I glued the exhausts (they are from Rexx, soft thin metal, already burned). It took me some time as i had to line them up perfectly...and i also whethered them with tamiya and mig pastels. 
 







 
Next a light gloss varnish and pastel wash (i stole the idea from John a.k.a. Thunnus). I was afraid to use oil wash even if i had sprayied the x-22!!!
I was really amazed how the wash picked up all the details!!!!! 


 

 



 
Finally i glued the resin flaps from Amur....really amazing how real they seem but a PITA to glue them!!!
 





 
Next and final step...whethering. I am not for the really abused bird....
Hope you like it so far, feel free to comment 
 
John

Good morning gents, 
Took me some time to update the topic, my work was a bit slow but here I am!!!
First, i had to decide how to deal with the landing gear legs! The fit of the small part covering them was not so good, at least on my case, also the way tamiya deals with it is great in order to keep the right angles (i think it is the case with all the kits).
So i decided to screw them in place, glue the cover on it and sand any imperfections. And of course mask them for painting. It was a little PITA as i had to take care not to break them!!
Also the fit of the guns covers was not perfect!!
After solving all those items i masked everything and started dealling with the rivets and panel lines. Painful work, you should check the putty work always after sanding to prevent any ghost sheams to come up. Ok i know, the panel lines were there and sometimes you could see them, anyway....
The best outcome took it with stretch sprue glued inside the panel line, leave it to cure some days and light sand it repeatedly!
 

 

 

 

 
I left everything to cure and dealt with the propeller....
 





 
I primed her with mrp, ready to spray, grey and black primers (i strongly recommend them, easy work, dry rock hard, sandable), grey where the silver paint will go and black for the bare metal. I lightly sanded them in order to slightly polish them. You see the very thin metal paints show everything every small paint particle, i wanted to avoid it as much as i could!!!
 





 
I had decide to paint my own insignia, as a matter of fact i wanted to paint all the markings except the ones i couldn't (names, kill marks, etx)
I found a real deal, here on Greece, on a lightly used Shillouette Portrait 3 machine (80 euros only) and i ''killed'' it on the move!!!!
I spent some time to do the basics on the software and i finally managed to design my own insignia masks with the recommented proportions!!
Here i must thank Jennings (fundekals) for his help with the fuselage and tail codes!!!
Now regarding the painting order. It was my second time trying to paint the insignia... also usually the metal colors, at least the one i chose for the bare metal, are very fragile. I did not want any surprises, so i decided to do a''reverse'' painting, paint all the insighnia, codes, bars etc, (except the fuselage and tail codes) mask them and paint the metals last!
So....
 


 



 





 





 







 
Antiglare....
 











 
.....