Topics

1

Aircraft Modeling / "Father and Son" P-47s

« on: October 09, 2020, 01:19:40 PM »

Next to the Bf109 and Fw190, I find all the Seversky/Republic fighters so interesting. There has been a spare Tamiya 1/72 Razorback on my shelf and I recently found a 1/48 kit at a reasonable price. The decision was made to do both at the same time, so here we are!

I've built the smaller kit twice and found it to be nearly perfect to assemble. The 1/48 version is just as nice but uses a little different construction with regard to the cowling and a few other small details. I simply started assembly and painting on both at the same time and kept this method throughout.

2

Aircraft Modeling / Bf 110B

« on: May 03, 2020, 10:37:42 PM »

I made up my mind to start on this kit after years and years of thinking about it. I picked up two Fujimi Bf 110 kits many years ago and built one for our LLL group build. The other kit, with a very comprehensive resin cockpit set, went onto the shelf. Always in my mind was to construct it as an early machine with Jumo engines. Digging in the spares box I found a 1/72 engine from an S-3 Viking that didn't survive the years. Looking at the engine halves, I found that the cowlings were perfect for the rounded radiator intakes used on the Jumo power units. The top of the cowling on the left has been reshaped (the Jumo cowl was not as humped up) and the new lower section spliced in. The lower part of the cowling forward of the radiator is from a Jumo powered Bf 109 kit.
 
The wingtips are rounded on the early machines and I found a pair of Otaki Corsair outer panels to provide these.

3

Aircraft Modeling / Bf 109 Two-Seat

« on: April 06, 2020, 02:34:20 AM »

One of the few variants of the 109 I haven't accomplished is a G-12 trainer. Years ago I bought a Falcon Models kit and set it aside for a later time. I pulled it off the shelf this weekend and it is a VERY short-run style kit. It can certainly be built, but for now I'm going to convert this old Hasegawa G-2 into a two-seater using one of the canopies that comes in the Falcon kit.

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Aircraft Modeling / Tamiya P-47 1/72

« on: June 25, 2019, 12:14:48 AM »

Last weekend I finished this Tamiya Thunderbolt that I started long ago. We were living in Texas at the time it was begun and I simply never got around to working on it in all these years. Simply put, this is one of the nicest kits I've ever built in any scale, and it hardly needs glue or filler. The markings on this one are for a training P-47 assigned to Bruning Army Air Field in central Nebraska, about three hours south of my home town. I have an excellent photo from the Base Historical Record showing Y84 sitting on it's nose with a bent prop and cowling. The final photo is of Y84 and Y36, another Bruning trainer that was my first aircraft model completed after joining LLL!

The decals are partly Tamiya kit decals with numerals taken from Microscale sheets I purchased in the 1970s! With a coat of clear they worked just like new!

5

Aircraft Modeling / Accurate Miniatures Avenger II

« on: June 24, 2019, 02:26:27 PM »

Here's another of those old kits that have been sitting on a shelf for far too long--my old Accurate Miniatures TBM. I never really knew what paint scheme to use on this one, there are a fair number of good choices. Finally I went through all my decals and fell on to the best (for me ) scheme, a Fleet Air Arm Avenger II from the Pacific Fleet.

6

Aircraft Modeling / Tamiya Fw 190A3

« on: May 05, 2019, 10:02:38 PM »

Just needed some pure relaxation, so this simple beauty is introduced on my workbench.

7

Aircraft Modeling / Eduard Bf 109F-2 1/48

« on: April 18, 2019, 12:41:03 AM »

Time for me to get a start on this one--first Eduard F I've worked on. It looks like a nice kit, but don't tell anyone that I'm going to build this as a Weekend Edition version and save all the PE bits and decals for a future project.

8

Aircraft Modeling / Zvezda Bf109F 1/48

« on: December 31, 2018, 04:08:25 PM »

Sorry to say my model production was almost nil in 2018. Nevertheless, I did start on this Zvezda Freidrich a little while back, and it will be the closing of the old year and my first build of 2019. It's simply a lovely kit to build, and this one will have an open cowling for a change.

9

Aircraft Modeling / MC. 200 Classic Airframes

« on: May 28, 2018, 12:59:28 AM »

I finally opened the box and fully studied the C.200 that I recently bought. The prior owner did a nice job on the cockpit and I'm leaving it just as he built it. I'm not sure if the color is just right, but I refuse to change his work.


Then I moved on to the exterior seams and decided a little more filler was needed in a few areas. My guess is that the first builder intended to finish the seams before stopping work.

10

Ground Forces / 1/24 Scale Ingrid, the Beetle

« on: May 06, 2018, 05:21:39 PM »

Here's my latest project, an old Gunze Sangyo Beetle. I'm converting it into a Standard to replicate Ingrid, the 1/1 scale '56 Standard sedan we're slowly refurbishing.

11

Aircraft Modeling / Great Wall T-33 1/48

« on: March 02, 2018, 12:56:55 AM »

Here is the new T-33 project I'm building for my buddy. I'll talk about it more later, right now just a couple of pictures and I must cook supper!

12

Aircraft Modeling / Eduard Bf 109G Weekend Edition

« on: February 05, 2018, 01:49:36 AM »

It seems a shame I've waited so long to build one of these Eduard Gustavs so I'm starting this Weekend kit tonight. It's quite a nice offering!

13

Ground Forces / Something New (and Old) VW Sedan

« on: May 02, 2017, 11:56:57 PM »

Here's a project I have had in storage since the early 1990s. Back then we drove mostly air-cooled VWs for daily transportation and I began to research the fascinating early days of the Volkswagen family. With that in mind I bought a couple of 1/16 scale Kafer kits and later on picked up two Kubels from Tamiya to supplement my plans.

Originally I started to back-date the early fifties sedan in the Revell kit to the wartime configuration, and the Tamiya drivetrain parts were later added in to sweeten the brew:

Here are a few of the resin parts I cast twenty years ago and also the upgraded wheelsets that I modified from the Tamiya pieces with my own machined hubs. Also you can see the mostly scratchbuilt front trunk and body interior sections:

And a quick photo of the body after most of the conversion back to a 1942 Typ 82 configuration:

14

Aircraft Modeling / 1/48 Fairey Firefly

« on: January 01, 2017, 04:22:33 AM »

Here is the final start of the old year from my desk, the Special Hobby Firefly Mk.1. Not a bad kit so far, nice detail and the fit is not bad at all!

Happy New Year to all!

15

Aircraft Modeling / Tamiya F-84G 1/48

« on: December 27, 2016, 06:27:41 PM »

Just before Christmas I was looking to finish at least one old project that has been pushed to the back of the queue. My eyes fell on this Tamiya straight-wing F-84 that I started during our old Group Build here: http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/forum/makete-aviona-aircraft-modeling/group-buildgt-f-84/msg27651/#msg27651

Rather than bring the old topic out if slumber I'll just pick up the progress here, three years later....... I pulled the model from the box and finished detail painting the cockpit and nose well. When this was done it was a very simple matter to glue the nose well, cockpit with supplied weight, speedbrake well and exhaust nozzle into the right half and then glue the halves together. This is such a beautifully engineered model that only a tiny amount of filler is required at the seams of the fuselage halves. I'll use no filler at all on the wing and horizontal stabilizer joints--they are perfect! The fuel tanks do require a little more filler, mostly because of my clumsy assembly.