Stef (#6)

And the last bunch ...

Hum, it seems I'm publishing too many pics in one post, so here's the continuation

Hello gang, I'm a slow builder, with a heavy trend to dipsersion .... Some 10 years ago, on this very forum, I was enquiring about the needed mods to make an UK F-4J. Iain was even so kind as offering me a SUU-23 gun pod .... This project was the in fact the restoration of my first 1/32 build the Tamiya F-4J, with Marines markings, straight from the box. Initial build was in 2000. And then she became one of my most endurent shelve of doom queen. Untill some weeks ago. Being between 2 contracts, I have some time available to me, so I went on again. Here's the whole thingy (click images to enlarge). Best, Stef (#6)

Hi Mister Red baron, Your usual standard of weathering, this is a nice Cat, like it much Best, Stef (#6)

Hello Richard, There were various size of roundels for the period and it changed according to plane. Indeed, for the Seafire XV some Hellcat one might do the trick, but not the Bearcat ones (these were not used by Navy and don't have the anchors on it). One thing to know a bout french Seafire XV is that they had the A frame arrestor hook, not the stinger type. For the Seafire III, some british inspired roundels were used W/ or W/O anchors and/or Yellow outside ring. As soon as you will be fixed on a scheme I can double check with two books I have about french Spitfires and Seafires. Last, on the decals front, Carpena, a french decals maker, did some generic french navy roundels and I think the larger ones could be used on a XV. IIRC, another french brand, namely Berna decals may have something in his range, too. You might want to check the following link, altough in french, they have an illustrated list of available references from Berna. I never ordered from them so can't talk about their service. linky. And to complete, I must have in the decal bank some old Carpena seafire Refs. in 1/48, so it's a rapid calculation to obtain 1/32 size of roundels. I'm in office right now, but can check tonight at home and come back to you with measurements. cheers, Stef (#6)

Hello, Here are a few pics of the Bloch 152, by Azur. A nice kit, indeed, spot on with reference drawings (in the Bloch 152 bible, a book by "Avions"). Resin details for the engione cylinders, engine cowl, exhaust and gunsight, as well as for the seat (which is a miss, it normally has a tubular framing ...). Cockpit is sparse, but can do OOB. Two sets of markings, not very spectacular, for Battle of France machines (no Vichy stripes - will certainly come in a futur boxing). Recessed panel lines, with a few rivets (discreet, not Trumpy like) here are the pics ... HTH Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello Greg, Well, you've been very, very further on that kit than I did on the 205 ... That's really a nice job, both in painting and detailing. Which is proof that with a little (well, not so little ) care, these kits can make eye-catchers, for sure. Lovely work, indeed. Stef (#6)

Hello Brian, Glad you like ! Re the trailing edge, I've been sanding the whole airframe the panel lines, so it gives you a fair idea of the overall thickness .... It certainly could have used more thinning, tough, sure. Cheers S(#6)

Hello, As for the Dora in Sov. markings, I have a problem with doing WWII german markings, it has to do with my family history; I do however Japanese, Italian, Soviet and so on. More I'm not very fond of german AC of the period except for Fw 190/D9/Ta152, Do 335 and Me262. For instance, I don't like the 109 (Now running for cover, to avoid incomings :( ), but I certainly find the camo schemes attracting and enjoyable to realize. Now, thanks again for the kind words. Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello guys, Thanks a lot for the kind words, again; for Spad57 : there must be my Ki-84, 1:32 somewhere else on the forum and a 190 D9 If you don't find it, here are some links : D9 Ki-84 and a small Polikarpov I-16, but for this one, I didn't make a gallery, so you'll have to browse the pics ... I-16 and by browsing the root directory, you'll find some pics of my 1/48 builds, too. And for Allok, Ron and Hacker, well I guess that the painting is what catches the eyes, most, so I'm working hard to try making it look good. The mottling was done twice, as it wasn't convincing at the first take, as I had no reference material at the moment. It looked like that : Next 1:32 will certainly be the Azur Bloch 152, as I just got it last week and my current project is a Kawasaki Ki-45, but 1:48. Thanks again for all the input and comments, that's the force of these forums Stef (#6)

Hello, it sure helps All right then with that option; but in this case the scheme of the 18-1 still retain the 205 spinner. I can't tell for the other options in the kit. It always interesting to dig in the plane history to find the variants. Thanks for the input Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello, Thanks for the good word, Kevin, Well, re the panel lines, these are very trench like and wide, so being used to Hasegawa, Tamiya or Special Hobby fine lines, I wanted to subdue these a bit. Lines in front of cockpit were just sanded, not filled, it gives you an idea of their look. However, keeping that kit in perspective, it is a toy, and indeed can be built with original panel lines, spinner and screw covers. It is not an easy build, tough due to large seams to be treated. But it gives you in the end a 3 feet away kit nice in a collection Cheers Stef (#6)

and the last piccies ...

Hello, long time I didn't post a completed model here, but I've been producing (well, producing, just 2, that is ) 1/48 essentially these past months. Anyway, I did manage too produce that Macchi, and I post it here as an illustration of the answer I just made in the General discussion; Mostly OOB, except the following : - Panel lines filled with surfacer and sanded vigourously and for a loooong time - Prop an spinners molded from the PCM kit - a tad smaller in dia than the kit front's mainframe, had a plasticard disk and putty added to match - On that scheme, upper wings fasces should have been white, while kit provided ones are black. I had interesting times in reducing various seams, and espec, the holes where screws are going. I didn't change the wheels, that are certainly the designer's son baby-carriage ones, moulded in in plastic. Hope you'll like it. Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello, I've recently been completing the 21st Century 205, and tried the PCM kit wheels; but, as this kit had already worn out my patience stock, I didn't made the mod' as it implies remaking a new holding fork, cause PCM wheels are wider in diameter, but also thicker. So I went for the kit's wheel; one more thing, I don't know if it was my kit only, but my kit had a 202 prop and spinner, as well as 202 tailwheel installation. For the prop and spinner, I made a resin copy of the PCM kit ones, while I just ignored the tail wheel installation. HTH Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello Tim, I don't have any specific intel on the warloads, but one thing I know for sure is that no F-100 were actually deployed to Algeria. What is however true is that some F-100 pilots were deployed in Algeria and flew T-6 (and some were killed, too). The system was that metropolitan squadrons were "sponsoring" Algeria units, and send some pilots for combat tours in Algeria. OTH, the F-84 F were deployed on TDY detachments. For weapon load on the french super sabre, mostly the same as US sabre of the period : M117 like bombs, AIm-9 B sidewinders, etc. HTH Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello, I'm varying primers according to what will be sprayed after ... Tamiya, mostly : Grey primer (spray can), very strong, do tense to a very smooth surface, almost undestructible. I, most of the times do polish using Micromesh before painting (I'm arylholic : Gunze, tamiya Xtracrylcs, etc). For Alcald, again tamiya spray san, either AS12 mat aluminium or TS 17; and again, polished with micromesh : has the interest of revealing the smallest boo-boo and to give a metallic hue to seams treated with putty. A side note of interest : Gunze Mister Surfacer exists in Spray can (either grey or white), which much airbrush-friendly !!! hereafter a pic of an A-10 primed with the Tamiya Grey primer ... you can see the difference in texture at the wing root. HTH, Cheers Stef (#6) PS : sorry, this a 1/48 A-10 But I have the Trump, too !!! LOL

Hello Mattlow, yes there were Hunters in the Suez crisis. As far as I know, two squadron were deployed to Cyprus first, to provide fighter cover, but since there was no fighter opposition they flew close support mission after ... If memory did not fail me, these were Hunter Mk V You may want to visit that site : britain small wars, which has lotsa interesting links on the period Atought I don't remember the squadron (1 and 34, Tangmere ? maybe), I have a memory of a color profile for a hunter with black and yellow wings stripes, faded yellow stripes only on rear fuselage and a colorful unit crest under canopy of black/yellow checkers and checkers , with a panther over a moon crescent ... colorful It was in air warfare, IIRW Will dig during the week end if you want. You may want to have a look at Palette, too. lotsa color profiles in there ... HTH Cheers Stef (#6)

hello Iain, SUU gun pod received yesterday, in mint condition ... Thanks a lot, that will be a nice addition to my Phantom !!! If you ever come around to France, just let me know, I'll be glad to offer several pints to you . Cheers Stef (#6)

Thanks a lot for all these inputs guys As Iain was kind enough to provide me with pics of gun equiped birds, i will go for that config, even if not regular ... Why, that SUU-23 is so meeean -looking, it just add to the warrior look of the Phantom, so ... thanks again for you help, boys Stef (#6)

Hello Iain Thanks a lot for the quick reply !!! The book I have is titled "the last of the Phantoms", by Ian Black, Haynes /PSL publisher ... So it's not the same ! I'll be glad with a pic trough private mail ... please use rrmerlin(nosspam)@free.fr (without the no spam thingie in it, of course). I'll post some pics today in the "in the work section", but need to reload the camera battery ... Thanks for your help, Iain.

Hello gang I'm currently repainting an old Tamiya F-4 J in RAF 74th Squadron markings. I have the Verlinden Lockon on this bird as well as the gorgeous Ian Black book. My question is, do the F-4 J use the SUU-23 gun pod in the centerline pylon ? I've been seing lotsa pics of FGR 1 & 2 with the gun, and with aux. tanks underwing, while F-4 J seems to have clean wings (even without inner wing missile pylon) and the large centerline tanks most of the time ... Any help, link, intel, etc about it much appreciated Thanks in advance, Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello Jamie, Good one with the rivetting It's tedious but you'll be seeing that it's woth the effort, espec on the MiG which litterally rivet stuffed ... I used "Rosie the riveteer"on my Ki-84, a little wheel, and that was less tedious than a one by one. (but however if if I set my hand on the Nakajima engeneer who set the rivetting plan on the Ki, I'll have him toasted ! ) Can't wait to see it painted ... Cheers, Stef (#6)

Hello Chris, Well, to be original : "wwwoow!" Really impressive ... And the sound module ... sounds like a good idea, yes ! Thanks for sharing Cheers Stef (#6)

Hello, Cool work and masking on the F-5 .... when will we get a new tooling for the plane ? It is one of the most attrractive schemes for the plane and you did it justice ! For starfighter : to achieve the effect of neat but a tad hazy demarcations between colors, the idea is to lift off the mask from the model. One way of doing it (worked for me on British WW2 camo) : make paper masks for the areas you want to protect, and affix using some tamiya tape folded on itself (to make double sided tape); this will have some kind of "spring effect" and will lift off the mask from model. If you spray at a 90° angle from the mask you'll have a neat straight demarcation with a little haze effect. Works like a charm for 2 color schemes but is rather tricky to achieve matching with more colors Hope my explanations were clear .... cheers Stef (#6)