null_null981707818191
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Posts posted by null_null981707818191
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I haven't built a ship or a boat since the 'Santa Maria' around sixty years ago (as far as I can remember) but I've recently acquired the Airfix 1/72 Air Sea Rescue launch kit.
I suspect that it's going to be a very steep learning curve! I'm building it as part of a display of 'D-Day in Dorset' (marking the 80th anniversary) - no problem of course with aircraft at Warmwell, but I want to build the ASR launch as part of 40ASRMCU, a flotilla of which was based at Weymouth. I've got a list of the numbers used on the Weymouth boats - ranging from 014 through to 2707 (there appears to have been 13 in all during the war years), but nowhere can I find a record of which boats would actually have been in use on D-Day. So as a novice boat builder, I'd be very grateful if anyone can supply the necessary info (or guide me to where I might find it), and also, can anyone recommend the correct Vallejo colour for the main hull?
Still, it'll make a change from aircraft!
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I note that there is a promise of a Vintage Classic release of the 1/72 HP Hampden. Great news, especially if - like the recent Auster - Airfix has redone the clear parts (so that they actually fit!) - but presumably it's going to be a straight re-mould rather than any significant new tooling. Still, better than nothing, I suppose. But again, no 1/72 Fairey Battle....
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After a long period of precariously balancing works in progress on little Humbrol paint pots, Santa answered my plea for something a little more versatile, grown up and safer! This is the SkookumRC "Model Makers Berth" - almost as fiddly to put together as the actual kit it supports!
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Thanks for the pictures Paul. Some of the paint-jobs were obviously neater than others!
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I suspect that this is a subject that has been aired in the past, but I did a quick search and couldn't find the answer to my question... so here goes: as the instruction to apply the black and white 'invasion stripes' was passed out to the squadrons involved in June 1944, the stripes would presumably have been hand-painted by those at the sharp end, using whatever white and black paint (and brushes!) they had available. I read somewhere that the standard RAF broom was 18" wide which determined the width of the stripes, but this might be mere rumour. Anyway, would it be reasonable to suppose that the stripes would have been fairly roughly applied and that the white might well have been a bit 'patchy' looking and the edges not have been exactly sharp and straight? I'm building some D-Day aircraft (that flew from Warmwell, naturally) and in the absence of decals, I'm hand-painting (as is usual for me anyway). I'd be interested in the views of those more expert on these matters!
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Quality work! Thanks for sharing. I don't "do" ships and boats - although I have got a 'Belfast' and a 'Victory' lurking on the shelf.... Seeing builds like this kind of inspires me to have a go at HMS Belfast sometime soonish.
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Very impressive work on the rigging Ratch - and I thought biplane rigging was complicated! Enjoying the build as always.
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Having built the 1/72 version, it's interesting to watch this build unfold, with all the extra detail that is involved or potentially available. I just might have to bite the larger scale bullet at some stage!
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5 good-looking builds - what an excellent little challenge and project! Thanks for sharing.
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Certainly the release as a Vintage Classic of the SRN-1 seems to have caused a definite frisson in terms of orders. And I guess releasing non-catalogue items could be deemed to be exciting... What I'd be interested in however is somehow working out whether there was any significant correlation between Wish Lists (as posted on this Forum) and new releases - whether out-of-the-blue or in the catalogue. Assuming that the forum members who post are reasonably representative of the Airfix modelling demographic, then one would hope that some of the wish-list items that crop up repeatedly might get to the top of the designer/developer 'pile' - but they don't seem to to do so... or am I missing something?
That notwithstanding, new models are of course to be welcomed!
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I'm guessing that are as many solutions to weighting model aircraft to stop them being tail-sitters as there are modellers thereof. My own preference is to mix a product called Liquid Gravity with PVA adhesive and then cram it into appropriate spaces in the nose or front of the engine nacelles (if they are in front of the main undercarriage, which they usually are). I don't know how toxic Liquid Gravity is - it must be less so than cutting, trimming or squeezing lead weights and sheets!
Some more modern kits actually tell you how much weight is needed - I've got some very accurate digital scales that weigh fractions of a gram, so it's just a matter of measuring the LG into a plastic mixing cup, then adding the PVA and stirring. It worked on my recently completed P-38:
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Many thanks for your kind words Randall and Tim. I have to admit that at times I wondered whether to ditch the P-38 project, but on balance, I'm glad I persevered. Ironically, the additional cost of the air-intake conversion parts, and the yellow stencil decals (two sets required due to multiple 7s being needed) cost almost exactly three times what the original models had cost. Such is the price of pursuing a project!
The next RAF Warmwell aircraft will, I think. be the ASR Spitfire VB flown by 275 Squadron during D-Day. Problem with that is the Airfix 1/72 kit has raised panel lines, so might involve some sanding and engraving...
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What started life as the Airfix 1/72 P38F, has, by the addition of the correct air intakes, hopefully come out the other end as a P-38J flown by 1st Lt Roland E Levey as part of the 474th FG, 429th FS, 9th Air Force based at RAF Warmwell between March and August 1944. The aircraft was known as ‘Yellow no. 799’, and according to the information and pictures that I’ve found, the nose code number was stencilled in yellow, as was the serial number on the tail. The white triangle was the 429thFS recognition symbol, and the white ’P’ inboard on the tailplanes was also documented. So hopefully it’s as accurate a representation as it was possible to get with the starting point of the rather old kit. One more aircraft ticked off my RAF Warmwell list!
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Good and sage advice Patrick, but the problem with lozenge decal sheets is that they cost around double what the kit cost in the first place. Hard to justify! And I've seen pictures of hand-painted lozenge camo... Something to occupy those long, dark evenings!
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I must be a glutton for punishment! Here's my latest acquisition - the old Airfix 1/72 scale Hannover. Tricky colour scheme (lozenge camouflage) and of course back to rigging! But it will fit neatly into my WW1 mini-project that I've posted about in the recent past. And for £5.00 at the recent Bovington Model Show, what's not to like?
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If you build with the aircraft "in flight" (i.e. with the undercarriage up) then surely a pilot is rather necessary?
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I was at The Tank Museum today (for the Model Show) - an all-white Ferret is there on display - just like the UN vehicles I remember from when we lived in Cyprus. Were I to be tempted to build one, I think I'd go for the UN version... But yet again Ratch, an interesting and well structured build review - many thanks.
And on the subject of the Model Show, there was a large Airfix 'stall' - inevitably featuring the Sea King, but the only freebies were Airfix Club leaflets...
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Speaking (or typing, anyway...) as a former Land Rover Defender owner, I'd question the realism of the excellent build (and interesting build review) in that the model doesn't include an oil leak to go underneath....
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"These older Airfix clearly are of their time and not really comparable to modern kits, but their assembly almost always provides me with a pleasurable build" - but there is a fine line between an enjoyable challenge and less-than-enjoyable battle... I tend to the view that if I can stick to Airfix, I will, which sometimes means buying and building an old mould model in order to complete a project. I get what you're saying about rivets being 'of their time' - and a bit of sanding can always smooth things out! Additionally, lack of moulded cockpit detail can fairly easily be rectified with my rudimentary scratch building skills, which of course makes it a positive luxury when I have a new mould build on the bench. But I have to say that gaping holes instead of wheel-wells is something I have to counter!
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Thanks for that Randall. i think I'll paint them a different shade of grey to the rest of the underside. Good info as always!
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I've very much enjoyed following this build. Space (and cost) limits me to 1/72 scale, so it's really interesting to see what detail can be achieved in 1/48th scale. Mind you, looking at the number of stencils you had to apply, perhaps it's a good thing it wasn't in a smaller scale! Thanks for sharing your progress and of course the finished aircraft.
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The milliput has hardened successfully, and after sanding and polishing, it looks to me to be at least adequate for my purposes!
Time to start undercoating.
A question for Randall: would the drop tanks have been left as BMF/aluminium finish, or would they be painted to match the underside of the aircraft (in this case USAAF Light Grey)?
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I decided to go with Milliput rather than Plasto, because it's got to stick to plastic as well as resin. No pictures of this stage, because it's just a yellowy-grey blobby lump on each nacelle!
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Unfortunately, there is no QB part made for the Airfix kit! I'm making an attempt to create something that looks more like a 'J' than the 'F', really so that I can use the decals and decorate it as planned. As I said in an earlier post, hereafter I'm going to stick to British/RAF aircraft!
But it's an interesting experiment in terms of conversion surgery, which I haven't attempted before, so even if it doesn't look perfect, I'll have learned something along the way.
Air Sea Rescue Launch 1944
in Ships & Boats
Posted
Thanks for your reply John - much appreciated. I've experimented with mixing a bit of dark blue into the black - it seems to give a better finish, and does not look quite so dark - though obviously it's hard to tell what it will look like on the whole hull rather than just a 'swatch'.
And I agree with your point about the quality of the crew figures - would that Airfix would replicate that sort of design philosophy in some other kits!
One thing that I am trying to get my head around is the totally different build order (relative to the 1/72 aircraft to which I am more accustomed) - but I'm sure it'll make me a better all-round modeller.
But thanks so much for the advice.