Messages

4141

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Bf-109 Group Build-All Variants

« on: September 22, 2011, 07:09:09 AM »

After your post I start to like Otaki kit. By the way- do you have technical drawings?

I've always liked the Otaki kits. They have drawbacks, such as fairly basic cockpits and the landing gear parts on some of them are not very detailed, but the fit of every one I've put together has been very nice. Now that I'm restoring the old builds I find them even nicer than I had remembered. The exterior detail is usually very delicate yet crisp.

I don't really have any of the super-serious technical drawings on the 109, just some references and the internet. It's amazing how heavily researched this particular airplane has been over the years and how much has been written about it from a technical viewpoint.

Oh, I also forgot to mention earlier that the Otaki kit has the umbrella holder fairings molded in for the Tropical variant. They had to come off for the example I'm building.

4142

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Bf-109 Group Build-All Variants

« on: September 21, 2011, 08:38:07 PM »

My comparison idea isn't going to work too well. Two of the models are already built and partially painted so it wouldn't be an honest "contest". Here are the props and gear parts that I tested my idea on:

The cockpit for the Romanian G and the long-unfinished Eduard Fw-190D got painted this morning also:

4143

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Bf-109 Group Build-All Variants

« on: September 21, 2011, 04:01:44 PM »

Not bad for what you started with!

A question--would it be of interest if I did a comparison of some of the various parts of my five different kits? Since they're from five different manufacturers and a 35 year time span it might be fun, it also might be a waste of bandwidth.

4144

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Revell Ju-87D-5

« on: September 21, 2011, 07:57:33 AM »

The violet shaded grey fits perfectly with the "tiger stripe" camouflage on the lower surfaces. I used Grauviolett darkened with a bit of black to do that.

4145

Aircraft Modeling / Re: July Group Build - Fighters of the 4th-4th+ generation

« on: September 21, 2011, 07:00:56 AM »

You are doing a LOT of hard work on this one! Keep on with the updates as you can.

4146

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Bf-109 Group Build-All Variants

« on: September 20, 2011, 08:03:43 AM »

Now that I have the Otaki kit on my bench I have five different manufacturers '109 kits in front of me. The Otaki G is really a pretty product, with some of the most delicate scribing I've seen. Here are three photos of some of the moldmaker's art that went into this kit:'

Bear in mind that I've just taped the fuselage together to fit-check it. Also, the gun bulges on this are optional and you can see where I've used a tiny bit of filler to eliminate the gentle locating marks on the skin. The fit of the kit is very nice and requires almost no filler. There isn't a lot of detail in the cockpit, but for less than $10.00 I can fix that little issue.

4147

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Revell Ju-87D-5

« on: September 20, 2011, 07:56:34 AM »

I like this Nachtschlacht scheme, so different comparing to RLM 70/71...

I thought it was interesting when I started researching this that the "squiggle" camouflage varied a lot between aircraft. I wonder if the individual ground crews painted their assigned airplanes--that would help explain the different artistry from ship to ship. During the research I realized that this unit transitioned from CR.42s to the Ju-87. In one article an aircrew member recollected that his airplane still smelled like new paint inside when it arrived.

A "war story" that pertains to this thread. My dad told me that standard practice in his forward maintenance unit was to dig a slit trench under a truck, tank, or other vehicle and then sleep more-or-less peacefully during the night attacks. One night he was dozing off when the air raid started and a "close one" hit very near dad's trench. When the raid was over and everything was back to normal, dad crawled out to see that the truck he dug his trench under had nine out of ten tires flattened and a bunch of shrapnel holes in it from a fragmentation bomb that a Stuka had dropped. He was VERY glad that the ground at their bivouac area allowed them to dig deep trenches.......

4148

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Revell Ju-87D-5

« on: September 19, 2011, 07:26:50 PM »

Here are some photos of the completed Ju-87.

She was assigned to 1./NSG 9 and based in Tuscania, Italy in the spring of 1944. My dad used to tell stories of the Luftwaffe flying over at night and dropping antipersonnel ordnance and high explosive bombs both while he was in North Africa and Italy. As I did with the Hs.129 restoration, I decided to build this model as a machine that could conceivably have kept Dad awake on those Italian nights.

4149

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Academy's Spitfire Mk. XIVe built as a Mk. XVIII

« on: September 19, 2011, 03:57:39 PM »

Very nice machine, Jon. Welcome to LLL!

Your striping is very nice and now I have to buy some Tamiya tape! I've always used vinyl automotive pinstriping tape to mask with but could never have gotten it to follow the contours of your cowling.

Scott

4150

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Bf-109 Group Build-All Variants

« on: September 19, 2011, 03:47:11 PM »

Are you doing the Bf109Ga-6 with the extended upper cowling bulges?

No, I'm doing an earlier Ga-4 (the third IAR ship) with the standard bulges. I have the decals here and found another unbuilt Otaki kit on the web so I can do a better job than I did on the one I'm restoring.

4151

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Bf-109 Group Build-All Variants

« on: September 19, 2011, 07:19:10 AM »

While I had the primer out I sprayed these two reconstructions to find the remaining flaws. I've finally picked out the paint schemes for both of these. I also bought another Otaki/Arii G for an IAR-built Romanian machine I've wanted to do for some time.

4152

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Fiat CR.42 Group Build

« on: September 19, 2011, 07:14:18 AM »

Congratulations on the Volleyball Championship, Profa, and on the progress you're making with the Falcos. The entire project is beautiful!

I didn't do much to mine today, just added the strut wires and PE aileron cable sets. Then I painted the underside with a mix of neutral grey and RLM 65 that is pretty close to Grigio Mimetico.

4153

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Revell Ju-87D-5

« on: September 19, 2011, 07:07:21 AM »

Lest everyone think I put this project in limbo, here is a small update.

There are too many models on my bench and so this one had to go, one way or the other. Since it was closer to being done than not I went ahead and finished the Ju-87 today. One item I had to deal with was the conical flash supressors on the wing guns. I dug through the spares but found nothing so I used some Eduard parts tree material to build my own. To do this simply stretch a bit of sprue and then use the tapered part to fashion the flash-tube. Just drill the end out and glue it to the cannon barrel.

Here is the model in the bench vise while the left exhaust flame supressor is drying. I'll take some photos of the finished airplane tomorrow.

4154

Warplane Art / Re: Clouds of life

« on: September 18, 2011, 11:46:32 PM »

Excellent work and subject yet again!

I have often wondered how many aircrew were able survive a combat by using the clouds to their advantage. It's been spoken of often and the numbers, on all sides, must be quite substantial. On the other hand, clouds were also a contributing factor of many losses, especially night flying into icing conditions, lack of instrument experience, etc.

Great work, No.1.

4155

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Fiat CR.42 Group Build

« on: September 18, 2011, 02:54:32 PM »

Thanks y'all.

Profa, I believe your Italeri kit has better locating pins and holes than mine does. The CA version doesn't have any holes in the fuselage at all, only two oval scribed markings to show where the cabane struts go. So, hopefully, your initial aligning process should go easier than mine. If you haven't conquered the oil cooler inlet doors yet, here's a hint on how I built mine: I simply stretched some sprue and used the tapered end of the scrap to plug the hole in the wing root. I found the right diameter to fit snugly in the opening and then cut off the excess so that it would sit recessed in the hole. Sorry I didn't mention this earlier.