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SEPTEMBER 2010
THIS MONTH
This month’s magazine comprehensibly covers our build a model event in plenty of detail; I think everybody present was impressed by the quality of models produced in such a short time.
This issue sees the completion of Pat’s impressive Special Hobby Airacobra which despite a slight mishap looks fantastic. Paul continues the story of his RSV250 and Russell reviews Bandai’s 1/48 “Nashorn” self propelled Anti Tank Gun and weighs up the challenge ahead. Paul provides a report on the IPMS Avon show and we have a couple of interesting articles to complete the package.
Tony…
CONTENTS
September 2010 ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
This Month ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Club News ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 Build a Model in a Day Competition by Tony Adams ......................................................................................... 3 IPMS Avon Show 22nd August 2010 by Paul Adams ........................................................................................... 9 The 'Sprit' of the Aviator! Found by Carl Thurston ........................................................................................... 10 Anime Tanks found by Russell Eden ................................................................................................................. 11 Ks Workshop Aprilia 1999 RSV250 Build Part 4 BY Paul Adams ....................................................................... 12 Nashorn (Rhinoceros) – Bandai 1/48 by Russell Eden ...................................................................................... 15 On the Workbench: Bell Airacobra I, Special Hobby 1/32nd scale by Pat Camp. ............................................ 18 Club Diary ......................................................................................................................................................... 29 Contact Info ...................................................................................................................................................... 29
This is the newsletter of Romsey Modellers a group of plastic modellers based in Southern Hampshire. We cater for all modelling genres and skill levels from beginners to well seasoned gurus.
We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 8pm to 10pm in Ampfield, Hampshire, where we often run workshops and club competitions but more importantly have a good chat about our hobby. We also attend most of the local model shows, where we exhibit our member’s completed projects.
We have an open door policy so if you want to sample how we can help you get more out of your hobby or just come and have a friendly discussion (tea and biscuits provided) please feel free to turn up – see the last page for details or visit our web site
www.romseymodellers.co.uk
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10:45 Typhoon: Added cockpit decals which didn’t really fit the instrument panels which I may have been concerned about if I had time, but I didn’t so …
11am Spit Time to close up the Spit fuselage , but realised we had to build and paint the prop first, Caitlin sprayed the blades semi gloss black.
11:15am Typhoon, added the cockpit tub , canards to the wings, I had hoped that this would be the majority of the build work done but was disappointed to find that the wing fit was very poor, leaving huge gaps with the fuselage. To make matters worse , despite “bringing the kitchen sink” I had forgotten filler. Fortunately Martin Hale came to my rescue, lending me some putty to fill the gaps. I was also disappointed that there was no ducting in the air intake allowing a view into the model. Not having any plastic card (or time) I sprayed the intake and as much of the inside black, which did hide the problem.
Blood Pressure: Medium and rising
11:40 Spit , helped Caitlin close the fuselage and assemble the wings, some significant gaps were apparent which needed filler.
12:00 Typhoon, lots of time needed to rub down the filler and get a decent finish, I used a sponge sanding block which allows sanding in highly curved areas without flattening too much.
12:20: Spit : rubbed down the filler ( Caitlin had got bored of the task) , still not brilliant on the engine cowl , but will have to do.
12:30 Typhoon Masked the cockpit, this took a surprisingly long time , and was very fiddly, particularly as I was trying to rush the job, fixed in place with clear cockpit glue. Added all the external parts (weapons pylons)
12:50 Spit More cockpit masking, even more fiddly, right done, now outside for a coat of Tamiya primer from a rattle can, Caitlin managed to spray more on my hands than got on the model!
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13:15 Typhoon , primed this to, it had started to rain and I managed to get a few raindrops on the model which were then sprayed , once noticed , they required a light run down. Eat a sandwich ( no time to stop), I’ve only got 3 hours to go..
Blood Pressure: Medium to High
13:40 Spit , realised I had forgotten to add the two radiator intakes , which I quickly assembled and primed. During priming I managed to get far too much paint on them which had to be removed with a cloth, which needed subsequent rubbing down, grurr. The primer was very close to light aircraft grey which meant I didn’t have to respray the top surfaces, these were masked off and Caitlin sprayed the bottom colour dark aircraft grey
14:30 ; Typhoon, I was tempted to leave the primer again but the paint scheme was bland, so I took a chance and decided to pre shade a subsequent grey topcoat. I used thinned black, spraying all the panel lines and after copious use of the hairdryer sprayed a light coat of light grey that allowed the underlying paint to show through. The nose cone was sprayed what I had intended to be a lighter tone of grey but when dry it looked exactly the same as the fuselage (I suspect I mixed up the paint pots ) so it had to be resrayed. The whole model was then given a coat of clear (plus hairdryer)
14:30 Homer Simpson: Caitlin decided she wanted to paint a small injection moulded key ring of Homer, for the next hour she proceeded to hand paint it with my Tamiya paints ( which are not great for brush work). She managed to get paint everywhere, which I tried my best to ignore!
Blood pressure – Very High – sorry no time to take any more Photos
15:15 Spit ( Ahh an hour to go…..) I had forgotten to fit the air intake under the engine, bugger (close your ears Caitlin), it was stuck together, applied to the model, and sprayed ( cleaning the airbrush following paint changes was becoming a real time consuming problem) .
15:30: Typhoon masked off and sprayed the wheel wells and undercarriage legs white. The engine nozzles were sprayed Alclad Steel. The wheels were hand painted
15: 50 Spit 25 mins to go – roped Richard Stewart in to help Caitlin apply the decals , phew that’s one task off of my list
Blood Pressure : Imminent heart attack
15:50 Typhoon , Added decals ( though I must admit I only added the main ones), I was applying several at a time ( a practice that is not to be recommended) . The undercarrage was added along with the bay doors.
16:10 Typhoon: Keeping my fingers crossed that the Klear coat was firm enough, I covered the model in Pro Modellers wash, dried with the hairdryer, I wiped it off leaving the panel line well defined – phew it hadn’t stuck to the Klear.
16:14 Typhoon With Richard’s help the spit is finished and hits the judging table..
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Blood Pressure “she canna take it captain”
16:14 Typhoon , Ahhh the engine nozzle has fallen off and is somewhere on the floor!!! Steve Edward saves the day as he finds it, I quick lick of glue and
16:15 Typhoon I’m done…..
And another view…
HOBBY BOSS MUSTANG IN A DAY BY WILL BOOTH
With a day’s pass more‐or‐less secured for the Model‐in‐a‐Day, I needed to choose a suitable candidate. A view through the limited stash eliminated such options as biplanes and Lancasters as way too complex. A PM tropical Spitfire seemed possible, except the dismal wings (no wheel wells moulded) suggested too much carving involved. The minimal decals might have been a good choice though! A lunchtime whizz over to Botley was required.
Upstairs at “Just Add Imagination” panic sets in – too much choice. Some lovely armour kits appealed but I’d set a low budget as I wasn’t sure what sort of mess I could get into in a quick build. Ah here are the 1/72 Planes…oooh, a lovely Trumpeter Tomahawk, but too nice to rush and too many colours. Hand over a very reasonable sum and off back to work. A quick look inside the box shows a well moulded kit with some excellent decals. It certainly looks like a high‐back Mustang (though an Airfix Defiant looks like a Defiant to me – exactly which other inline‐single‐engined‐turret‐fighter confuses other people?).
The day before the competition I rounded up all the likely tools and suitable paint colours. Then I reviewed the instructions and the kit parts again. However I spotted a flaw in my plan to build a Mustang with drop tanks and bazookas – there’s only parts for one large and one small drop‐tank! Such a load‐out seemed unlikely so it’ll have to be the bombs. Finally I (hopefully) thoroughly washed the major parts and sprues and let them dry. I trust this didn’t count as “starting the kit”.
With half an hour to go I knock‐up a packed lunch. “ I thought you were going to the White Horse?” ‐ I explained that I couldn’t believe many people would complete enough to risk the break. On arrival at the hall I find several people already beavering away. As usual I commence with the cockpit, but ignored the other minor elements as they could be got on with whilst waiting for the main colours to dry.
In a sudden outbreak of AMS I added seatbelts from masking tape with painted buckles, then installed the cockpit with the wings. Only a smidgen of filler was required to the wing roots, and the now redundant outer wing store positions. First paint goes on and its decision time on the markings. A crisis arises as I’ve gone for Shangri‐La, which the cover painting of my Osprey P‐51 book shows having an all red spinner whilst the HB instructions show white and red – inside the book there’s a photo confirming the white and red – one‐nil to HobbyBoss.
Uh‐oh, the second coat of the light grey isn’t curing properly (again – I should have chucked it and bought new). Whilst I’m panicking over this and trying to mask the canopy, two fellows have the audacity to go off shopping for lunch – it seems like for a couple of hours! Give up masking the canopy and hand‐brush it, usually I paint some tape and apply that but it’s a long job. Time for some olive drab, luckily it doesn’t mix up with the grey too badly.
Aggh spoke too soon, the second coat of olive drab draws off some the first coat showing lighter patches. Why is this so hard, when I was young a whole day was more than ample to complete an Airfix, even a Series 4 or so, and the paint always worked in one coat! Oh well, olive drab was notorious for weathering badly. Time pressing on now, so I put together some of the odds and sods whilst waiting for the paint to cure sufficiently to gloss varnish for decals. Revell varnish goes on like treacle as usual but dries sufficiently and thinly in time to
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allow an hour for decaling. Decals turn out to be quite good, luckily they dispense with all the stencils etc so you only get the basics, ideal for this job. They go on well, though I broke a couple in haste and a few others drove me bonkers folding back on themselves.
Just about finished decaling as the 15minute warning is announced. I managed to fit all the undercarriage, bombs, canopy and so forth with 2 minutes to spare. Onto the table with the other models and time to relax. A chance now to properly look and appreciate others efforts, all of which are remarkable. Everyone seemed to have been enjoying themselves, though the pressure of time was reminiscent of exams towards the end. People built some excellent models, notwithstanding the time constraints. Congratulations to the prizewinners.
I would certainly contemplate another of the HobbyBoss basic kits, it assembled easily and ended up looking as good as any other makers “fiver” range kits, in fact a lot better than some of the more ancient mouldings. None of the problems above arose from the kit, other than the tank issue. I’ve now touched up the paintwork and decals, and given the Mustang a coat of matt varnish and she can sit alongside my more slowly built models with no apologies necessary.
PHOTOS‐
More photos available on the our Web Site along with all the completed models
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THE RESULT
Entry No
Entrant Model Title 1st’s
(3 pts)
2nd’s
(2 pts)
3rd’s
(1 pts
Total points
Placing
1 Steve Edwards Stephenson’s Rocket I 1 8th
2 Russell Eden Krupp Protze Truck IIIII II 19 1st
3 Malcolm Grant F111 I II 4 6th
4 Natascha Baylor Ork Warbuggy I II IIII 11 3rd
5 Will Booth P51B ‐
6 Dale Koppi US Fletcher Destroyer I II 5 5th
7 Caitlin Adams Spitfire MK19 I I 3 7th
8 Tony Adams Eurofighter Typhoon IIII III 18 2nd
9 Paul Guppy F15A ‐
10 Roger Doswell P51B I I 5 5th
11 Caitlin Adams Homer Simpson ‐
12 Martin Hale ME163A I I I 6 Comm
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IPMS AVON SHOW 22ND AUGUST 2010 BY PAUL ADAMS
This report should have been about my visit to the Donington Park based Automodellismo show, but due to the overnight arrival of my fourth grandchild the drive up was cancel in favour of sleep!!
I never originally intended to visit the Yate show, but I’m glad I did. I spent the day with the Les Garagistes crowd, with a display featuring 100 years of Alfa Romeo, and various tributes to Jenson Button, F1, MotoGP and Sportscars. But before we could set up the new stand needed finishing and so stickers were applied to the centre podium with a large Les Garagistes logo emblazoned across the front. It certainly told everyone who we were!
Tense moments as the stickers are applied!! Waving the banner!!
MotoGP and Sportscars display 1/20th F1 display
After setting up, club member Gary put out some kits he was selling and so I was able to grab an early bargain by purchasing two bike kits complete with etch and fork sets and additional decals, about £120 worth….for £30!! The sort of bargain our Tony only seems to get. The luck is spreading!! I resisted several other show bargains, but managed to obtain a Skybow Tiger kit for Russell for just £10.
Strolling around the show was our very own Vic Short and Les Cooper – admiring the models on show and both in search of plastic to buy. There was some lovely work about on the club tables. The IPMS Warrington stand was particularly impressive (see picture below).
I decided not to enter anything in competition but club member Tony collected a gold award for his 1/12th Williams FW14. The quality as ever was very good in other classes too, some of which are featured below.
A great day out and a show worth visiting, if you haven’t already.
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OUR NEXT MODEL SHOW
Romsey Modellers will be exhibiting at the IPMS Farnborough Modelfest Show on Saturday 18th September at their usual location of Kings International College Watchetts Drive, Camberley ,Surrey GU15 2PQ. We will discuss arrangements at our next club meeting.
THE 'SPRIT' OF THE AVIATOR! FOUND BY CARL THURSTON
The result of MacNamara's ordnance shortage in 'Nam..... .we 'gave them everything we had..... EVERYTHING!' A true story from VA‐25. Just as this Skyraider was being shot off, we got a 1MC message from the bridge, 'What the hell was on 572's right wing?'
For those too young to remember, during the Vietnam conflict, carriers were so woefully short of ordinance that missions were often launched with only a half load just to keep the sortie rate up so that the REMF's in DC would not send out blistering messages about failure to support the war effort, etc. Given that the loss rate approached, and sometime exceeded, one aircraft a day, all will understand that there was a degree of reticence to launch with less than a full load ‐‐ Nevertheless, the indomitable spirit of the carrier aviators, and their squadron‐mates, prevailed in some rather perverse way. Yes, this really happened. Once again history is stranger then fiction, and a lot funnier:
THE USS MIDWAY VA‐25'S TOILET BOMB.
In October 1965, CDR Clarence J. Stoddard, Executive Officer of VA‐25 'Fist of the Fleet', flying an A‐1H Skyraider, NE/572 'Paper Tiger II' from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the
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North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6‐millionth pound of ordnance dropped. This bomb was unique because of the type... it was a toilet!
The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA‐25 A‐1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG‐17 on June 20, 1965. Clint Johnson was also a classmate and Company‐mate of mine at the Naval Academy. 572 was flown by CDR C. W. 'Bill' Stoddard. His wingman in 577 was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera (the only one remaining in the fleet from WWII).
The flight was a Dixie Station strike (off South Vietnam) going to the Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was reading the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with 'and one code name Sani‐flush'. The FAC couldn't believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop. When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane.
It made a great ready room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be thrown overboard. One of our plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a rack, tailfins and nose fuse for it. The squadron flight deck checkers maintained a position to block the view of the Captain and Air Boss while the aircraft was taxiing onto the catapult. Just as it was being shot off we got a 1MC message from the bridge, 'What the hell was on 572's right wing?'
ANIME TANKS FOUND BY RUSSELL EDEN
Russell sent me these pictures which considering his liking of armour and anime car subjects is likely to be on his build list soon.
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KS WORKSHOP APRILIA 1999 RSV250 BUILD PART 4 BY PAUL ADAMS
With a little more time to myself this month (mainly Saturday’s) progress has once more began in earnest.
In the July issue of The Romsey Modeller I had completed the basic painting of the fairing and front hugger, repainted the tank, but still had the seat to do. I had previously painted this white and black, the black half forming an undercoat for the carbon decaling job. The rear half would receive red and grey paint. Here’s an early photo with the airbox and swingarm, carbon decaled last month. I applied the decals in the same way that I covered the swingarm, this time using three templates and some small pieces to fill in a few gaps. My CF decaling
process is explained in the August edition of the magazine. The kit comes with decals to replicate the red sections on the seat, but as I had used paint to obtain the red areas on the fairing, I needed to paint the seat too, so all the reds matched. Part of the red decal would have been applied over the CF’d part, so to make painting this easier I used two small pieces of decal to act as an undercoat for the paint. I used the kit decals to form a template for the white decal. A day or so later and this was given 3 coats of 2 part clearcoat and once dry flattened off with 3000 grit micromesh. I did this so that the clear would accept paint, the flattening process providing some bite. Next was to mask off the black area ready for the fluorescent red. I did this with the trusty Tamiya masking tape, being cautious to make the paint line as clean as possible.
CF and decal cleared and flattened off Masked up ready for paint!
Before applying any paint, I sanded down, using 3000 grit Micromesh again, any overspray from the clear coating that had gone onto the white primered part. To further even things out I airbrushed a few coats of Zero Brilliant white before adding the fluorescent red. I then masked off the areas to remain red using photocopied decals as a guide. I didn’t realise at the time but the tolerance was very fine when masking off – fortunately I’d got it just right. Phew!!
The red is on and dry ready for masking Masking done, ready for the Metallic grey paint
I don’t often spray main body colours separately as this leads to inconsistent finishes (see last months instalment…) and so when applying the grey over the red it was vital to get the amount of coats and
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application as close to the fairing and tank as possible. I really didn’t want to have to strip the seat and start again. I applied 6 coats of grey and once it look about right I unmasked and cleared the whole thing using the 2K clear once more. I was pleased with the result to say the least. The red transition onto the carbon black was very good.
Voila!! All of the planning, masking and careful paint application finally pays off!!
With all of the parts cleared and polished I could get on with the decaling job. The waterslide decals provided in the Ks Workshop kits are very good, and are released quickly from the backing paper after just 20 seconds in water. I had purchased two sheets so I could double up on the whites, necessary for the front white race number surround and the white ‘V’s on the seat. On the whole it all went without problem, though I’m disappointed that the 46’s aren’t fluorescent yellow, just a bright imitation. Just call me a river counter!!
The right‐side decals complete Doubling up on the white prevents bleed‐through
16 decals complete the look of the tail All done, just awaiting clear‐coat
I allowed a week for the decals to dry fully and gave each part a thorough wash and wipe down with a tack rag to remove decal adhesive and latterly, fluff and hair. After doing that I attached the parts to 12 inch long handles using blutak and place them in a dust free container. I mixed up about 70ml of 2 part clear and airbrushed 4 coats, the first being a light mist coat the ‘seal’ the decals in. The clear dries very fast and two days later each piece was gently sanded back to remove any minor blemishes using 3000 grit micromesh and then re‐polished with Mer and Mr Hobby 600 and 3000 rubbing compounds.
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Clear‐coating the body parts was a milestone on this project as it saw the end to a difficult masking and painting job, one which I was glad to see I’d overcome and the hard work was now safely under the clear so it couldn’t get damaged. Attempting not wallow in too much glory, I got on with the nitty‐gritty tasks!!
The one piece frame in this kit is good and just needs a little cleanup and pin hole filling to be ready for painting. I began
with my trusted Halfords grey primer, and whilst is says it’s for plastic on the tin, nevertheless it covers and adheres to resin without issue. I followed this with 3 coats of Zero Jet black (nothing special it’s just black!) and then 2 heavy coats of 2K clear. While this was drying (about 30 minutes had passed) I airbrushed on two coats of Mr Hobby plate silver. This imparts a very realistic chrome look finish to the frame. The tacky clear‐coat helps the silver to adhere. Notice the two cocktails sticks inserted and used as handles.
The exhausts were tackled in the same manner as the 1998 bike except this time over the Alclad Polished Aluminium finish, I added more weathering in the form of heavier coats of darkened clear orange. I mixed satin black and orange Tamiya acrylics and thinned with Zero basecoats thinners which gave a much improved finish over thinning with Tamiya’s own product. I shaded the masked off weld seams with the mix and followed up with blue and purple clears. Over an unmasked exhaust, I tried a thinned coat of Humbrol steel which leaves a nice natural look and tones down the clear colours.
The wheels were painted with the Zero jet black and cleared over grey primer as usual. The rear brake disc face was airbrushed with Humbrol Steel and buffed with a soft cloth while it was spun on a mini drill. The front discs received a carbon finish using darkened Tamiya gunmetal. In both cases the centres were painted with Humbrol Gunmetal and gently polished and highlighted with a soft paint brush. I assembled the rear wheel, discs, chain and brake calliper and added brake line connectors using Tuner Model Factory parts and wire wrap. I also added Tuner Model factory parts to the swingarm to add detail to the chain‐tensioners. Despite the basic nature of the resin parts the set up looks pretty good. The kit provides some tiny wheel manufacturer stickers and I added machined valves courtesy of Hobby Design. Dunlop shod 250cc racing bikes never ran with the manufacturers logos on the walls – I know not why – a bit odd considering the marketing potential
Etch parts finish off the swingarm which then has the rear wheel, brake and chain fitted
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With things progressing nicely I managed get all of the fiddly parts painted, always time consuming with lots of clean up and masking, but I was pleased with the end result of one bank holiday weekends work!!
I decided to complete the bodywork parts as well and this started with painting the inside of the fairing, a job I never look forward to, no matter what model it is, as it’s a lot of masking up and little to show after the part is fitted to the bike. However, it’s important to get it right as a bad result can spoil an otherwise good model. Very much like painting window rubbers on car bodies, eh Russell!!
I mask off the same way each time using thin strips of Tamiya tape to establish the demarcation line and then cover the areas not to be black with a mix of tape and masking fluid. I sprayed two good coats of……you guess it, Zero Jet black. Chuffed with the result I then knocked over said bottle of Jet black and wasted about 30ml on the floor….bugger!!
I fitted the vac‐formed windscreen with Top Studio 0.7mm rivets, from the inside, which offers a very real look. Some rivets heads will be fitted over the outside holes once the fairing has been mounted.
Zero Jet black was used on the insides Vac‐form screen is fitted using tiny rivets
As I close this month I still have just a few parts to finish painting and then washes and shading can be applied before assembly commences. This project should be complete in time for next months issue.
NASHORN (RHINOCEROS) – BANDAI 1/48 BY RUSSELL EDEN
Ok, I admit it, I was bad….
I was out mooching in Southsea with Malcolm last month when we stumbled into Southsea Models – our local usually overpriced Aladdin’s Cave of models. Whilst browsing I happened to look up and spotted a small hoard of Bandai 1/48 armour. What isn’t currently available by current manufacturers is going for small fortunes on EBay at the moment, and that’s before we get to the US overpriced shipping. I spotted a couple of nice kits and was taken in by the Nashorn tank destroyer – not too badly priced at £25. No one makes one as yet and new
Tamiya kits are nearly £20 a pop these days. ‘Sod it’ I though, for everything else there’s MasterCard.
I fancied a challenge – and boy is this going to be one.
So, with newly acquired model in hand we went back to mine for a cuppa and a close examination of my purchase. First, a little history of the Nashorn;
A multitude of small parts await fitting
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Nashorn (German "rhinoceros"), initially known as Hornisse (German "hornet") was a German tank destroyer of World War II. It was developed as an interim solution in 1942 and was armed with the outstanding PaK 43 anti‐tank gun. Though only lightly armoured and with a high profile, it stayed in service until the end of the war and proved to be a quite successful tank destroyer, mainly on the Eastern and Italian fronts.
Right, back to the kit. The kit was first produced in the 1970’s so I wasn’t holding out much hope for the level detail and accuracy. The box contains 3 sprues and the top and bottom hulls. All are molded in panzer grey. The instructions and decals are good but the tracks are a set of hideous rubber tracks. These will be the first to go.
The hulls look ok at first examination and the headlight mounts even have the power wire molded onto the mudguards, which is a level of detail missing off most 1/48 kits. This is a shame as the mudguards are
A very cold looking crew and their Nashorn on the Eastern front in 1944.
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completely wrong – the box on the side is actually where the jacking block is mounted and the surface of the mudguard is wrong too. That’ll have to go. The gun is under detailed – even lacking the gunner’s seat! The kit does contain an engine, although you’ll never see it as it’s positioned under the front of the hull. The crew area has 2 boxes molded in it that never existed and is completely lacking in detail – oops. Unfortunately in the ‘70s either there wasn’t the research material available or they just didn’t do it. I spent a few hours on the net researching the Nashorn and discovered some lovely eastern front pix which are my inspiration for the up
coming project. In Dales’ immortal words – ‘scratch build it’ and so with more research into 1/35 kits for interior details I spent an evening going through my spares collection and found a lot of what I needed, but not everything if anyone has any spare gun wheels (little round wheels with a + in the middel) and maybe an old style bike seat in their spares collection I’ll be interested. Cheers.
The decals look ok though, although I’ll probably make my own up – they made over 500 and I doubt they have photos of every single one. I shall be building a white‐washed eastern front panzer with full crew and maybe a set of passengers as below –
I’m going to go to town in this one to detail it as much as I can and that’ll mean scratch building a lot of it – something I’ve never done so don’t expect this to be built with my usual speed.
I already have a shopping list worked out so I shall wait until Farnborough to see what I can pick up. This includes German etch plate for the mudguards and interior, a metal Jagdpanther barrel, tracks and spare wheels which might come out of the Tamiya Panzer IV kit and crew.
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ON THE WORKBENCH: BELL AIRACOBRA I, SPECIAL HOBBY 1/32ND SCALE BY PAT CAMP.
PART 4 – KIT PAINTING.
In last month’s part, I had completed the main assembly of the kit and masked up ready for painting. I have said previously that I intended this to be a quick build: it has not turned out that way, one reason being the complexity of the paint scheme I had selected.
[41] Photo of 601 Sqn Airacobra taken August 1941 showing the curious dark border to the camouflage.
Bell supplied the Airacobras to Britain in a Dark Earth and Dark Green over Sky camouflage scheme as specified by the British Purchasing Commission [42]. The paints were supplied by the Dupont Company under the brand name of “Camouflageline” and were produced to British D.T.D specifications.
[42] Here are a couple of photographs showing the paint scheme applied to the Airacobra when first delivered to England. Notice the high undersurface demarcation lines and also the tints of colours which are described in the text.
On arrival in the UK the aircraft were repainted in the newly issued camouflage scheme for day fighters of Ocean Grey and Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey. For the Airacobras, this was carried out by the RAF Maintenance Units and a "mixed grey" (7 parts Medium Sea Grey and 1 part Night) was used owing to Ocean Grey being in short supply. This is the finish they were in at the time of a Press visit to 601 squadron at Duxford in August 1941. By September 1941, supplies of Ocean Grey were available and the aircraft were painted in this finish and yellow wing leading edges were added.
There are numerous photos of the Press visit available in reference books and the internet and so I chose to base my model on these. Photographs of 601 Squadron Airacobras taken at this time show a curious dark edging between the upper camouflage colours [41]. Special Hobby, in their painting guide and box art, have
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interpreted the dark band to be (Camouflageline) Dark Earth. However, [42] shows the Sky undersurface runs much higher up the fuselage than on the repainted aircraft and the dark edging is visible in these areas as well ‐ which it could not be if it were Dark Earth ‐ so I think Special Hobby are wrong on this point.
I also found that this topic had been debated on internet modelling sites as well. Mention was made that, to reduce overspray, the outline is painted in first by using a narrow spray nozzle and then filling in is done using a nozzle with a broader spray pattern. This can result in a darker band of the colour at the borders. I think this is the answer and, after studying the photos, I concluded the dark coloured borders were of RAF Dark Green. It seems odd, though, that the Operational Maintenance Units painted over the Camouflageline Dark Green (said to look more like USAAF Medium Green, but not so different as to be worth worrying about in my view), particularly when a new paint job would be carried out later once stocks of Ocean Grey arrived. I guess this was done just to confuse us modellers in the next century!
COLOURING IN.
This can be divided into three stages: pre‐highlight/shade, camouflage and finishing.
PRE‐HIGHLIGHT / SHADE.
Painting commenced with the canopy frames that were sprayed with the internal colour mix of Humbrol 78 interior green + white 34 + touch mauve 107. The model was then given a coat of “Halford’s” grey primer [43], although this was not applied over the canopy frames in case the paint reacted (this is what happened to me with the Canberra kit and it is a real nuisance to correct).
A close study of the 601 Sqn photos show a change in paint tone where the underside colour was originally applied, so I decided to include this within my pre‐shading. The “Sky” colour is called “Sky (Type S) Gray” by Dupont. Photos [42] indicate that the undersurface is a very pale in tone, lighter than you might expect for the British “Sky” colour, although this could be a characteristic of the primitive digital cameras I guess they had in those days. I applied white 34 and light grey 28 to the leading edges of horizontal surfaces and to the top and sides of the fuselage both to represent this original under surface colour and also to act as pre‐highlight for subsequent colours [44], the bulk of the colour still being left in the “Halfords” grey.
The areas of undersurface Sky colour on the fuselage sides were masked off. Grey was sprayed along the sides to represent general shade [45] before the masks were removed to reveal the Sky Type S areas [46].
[43] Start of painting: the model has been given a coat of primer apart from the canopy areas
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This completed the general pre‐shading, but I then did some pre‐shading around panel lines. You may notice on real aircraft that dirt which gets caught in panel lines gets pushed downstream during flight and this stains the forward edges of the panel. Therefore, when I apply pre‐shade, I prefer to apply paint by brush along the forward facing edges of the panel [47]. I use oil paint for this because it can be made fluid by adding a medium and a mix remains workable for a long time. For these lines I used linseed oil as a medium and it worked fine. However, when I did the same thing for the Dark Green panels later in the build it spread out into blotches and looked awful. The better solution would have been to use Liquin and not Linseed oil as the medium, as the Liquin dries quicker and before the colour would have chance to spread.
For panel lines which are in the direction of flight, I apply the pre‐shade to the lowermost side of the panel (or in other words, above the panel line). This is for “arty” effect, to give some contrast between panels, as if the light catches on the top edge of the panel beneath. This was done along the fuselage, both beneath the air scoop and above the wing root fillet to highlight these features [48].
[44] Mix of grey 28 and white 34 applied to fuselage sides and upward facing surfaces for ‘pre-highlight”.
Notice trailing edges on wings and tail left in primer colour.
[45] Shading applied to (masked off) fuselage sides and other areas.
[46] Masking removed to reveal areas of Sky undersurface
[47, 48] Pre-shading of panel lines applied by paint brush.
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CAMOUFLAGE.
The model was airbrushed all over with Xtracolor Medium Sea Grey with 50% Liquin added to give a transparent colour. This was applied on the undersides until the pre‐shading was just visible. The upper surfaces had less applied and this was used as a highlight colour for the Mixed Grey camouflage applied next.
The undersides were masked off and a “Mixed Grey” of 7 parts Medium Sea Grey to 1 part black (mixed with 50 % Liquin once again) was airbrushed on – mainly along fuselage sides and the rear of the wings. It was applied to obtain an effect of shading and to get the required contrast with the undersurface colour and pre‐shaded panel lines [49]. I used loose masks (see Romsey Modeller’s “Hints and Tips” web page for information on these and other ideas for quick ways of masking) to stop the paint that was shading the trailing edges of the wings from going onto the highlighted areas of the fuselage.
Once thoroughly dry (I allowed a week for my paint cocktail to do this), the grey areas were masked off for painting the RAF Dark Green. Humbrol HI 3 was applied as a dark green pre‐shade down the fuselage sides. A pre‐highlight was done with HI 1 on upwardly facing surfaces. Panel lines were pre‐shaded with a dark green oil mix of chrome green + violet blue (which did not go on well because of the linseed oil used as a medium for the oils made the paint spread out like it was applied by a paint spray)[50].
I experimented with various enamel paints and mixes to get a convincing looking RAF Dark Green. In the end, I selected a mix of Precision Paints M514 Field Green (a really old tin of paint!) and HI 3 (and that is quite old as well!) was used to represent RAF Dark Green. This was mixed with 50% Liquin and applied over the pre‐shading until the correct contrast was achieved [51].
Now the time to do the fuzzy‐edged dark green borders. I don’t have enough skill (or patience) with an airbrush to do it that way. Then I had a eureka moment: if I add linseed oil to my paint mix it will “fuzz‐out”, just like it had done for the pre‐shading. Simple really. So, I edged the green with an oil mix of chrome green + blue violet + violet red + ivory black with the linseed oil. Did it “fuzz‐out” like last time? Like heck it did – it left a strong, sharp edge. Paints are so unpredictable!
[49] MSG applied overall as a transparent coat by airbrush.
[50] Mixed grey masked off and pre-shading of Dark Green areas has been done. The pre-shade went on well, but soon afterwards spread into a blotchy mess as you see here.
[51] RAF Dark Green applied as transparent coat by airbrush. I was pleased with the way the finish came out, but unfortunately some of the mixed grey peeled off when the masking was removed.
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The fuselage band was painted next. First with light grey H 28 as an undercoat, then with H 197 Eggshell + H 120 Light Green to get a mix that was approaching the colour of the squadron codes on the decal sheet [52, 53].
[52, 53] Fuselage band airbrushed in after much fussing about with masking tape, liquid masks and polythene bags. Most modellers would do the band first, then the camouflage. I decided not too, because of all the various pre-shading treatments. But it certainly made life more difficult. Notice the band doesn’t wrap around the undersides.
FINISHING
With the painting done, now came the time for decaling and painting the panel lines. Two coats of 50% Klear + 50% Windex were applied. This was gradually applied to build up the layers (not flooding on – as this gave me a bad result on my previous build). This was Micromeshed before and between coats.
Photographs of 601 Squadron aircraft show some of the original stencilling was masked off for painting such that the stencilling was left on a rectangle of the original Dupont colouring. To do this, I painted over some spare decals, trimmed them to the right size and then applied them to the model. Once dry, they were given a couple of coats of Klear before the stencil decals were put on.
[54, 55] Background colour for stencils: the Sky (Type S) Gray is a pale grey with a green tint. I mixed Japanese A/N 2 grey with Hu 10 grey. The Dark Earth has a sandier and lighter look to it than RAF Dark Earth. I used WEM RN24 Corticene brown plus light grey. The Dark Green was HU 1 Medium Green.
The paint was airbrushed on until the printed decal markings disappeared. When fully dry, the painted decal was cut by scalpel to the required size and applied to the model like a normal decal.
It is clear from comparing the photos of 601 squadron aircraft to the kit stencil placement guide that (a) many stencils were painted over and (b) the aircraft had stencils in places not shown on the guide.
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The decals supplied with the kit are superb: thin, opaque and pull down onto the surface without the need for setting solutions. There was no silvering visible over the micromeshed Klear. They can be tricky to move and I found you needed to use plenty of water to get the decal to lift and reposition. Incidentally, I normally add a drop or two of detergent to the water to reduce its surface tension.
Once fully dried, a final coat of Klear + Windex was applied to seal in the decals. Panel lines were painted in with oil paints, including shades for the decal colours as well. Linseed oil was used to give the paint the required fluidity. Any paint that strayed from the lines can be “pushed back” with a clean brush or wiped with the finger – there should be very little staining of the surrounding area because of the glossy Klear surface. Once the panel line work had thoroughly dried, it was given a light going over with Micromesh 6000 and then airbrushed with Testor’s Dullcote.
Masking tape was removed from the transparencies without problem. I found problems with the Silly Putty I had used to seal around the door surrounds and a lot of re‐work was needed in this area: it had reacted with paint and become firmly stuck in place.
I was now getting towards completion of the kit [56]. All the major hurdles were overcome and it would now be plain sailing the short distance to the finishing line. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the heavens had a different fate in mind. When painting the panel lines outside, in strong sunlight, using a magnifying glass, I had a problem relating to the alignment of the stars. In hind sight, I don’t suppose you had to be clairvoyant to see what would happen: energy from 93 million miles away focussed itself through my 4 inch magnifying glass onto the starboard wing flap of my hapless model, causing it to wilt and distort [57, 58]. It was damaged enough for me to consider chucking it and starting something else – but in the end decided to press on and finish the model. My intention now is to put the model into a diorama depicting the highly interesting activity of dragging a tarpaulin across a wing. I haven’t quite figured out why anyone would want to do such a thing, but I’m working on it.
[57] My modelling area on the patio overlooking the vines and with a view into the long distance of the Provencal countryside. Melissa is hard at work on a jigsaw puzzle whilst I build my Airacobra.
It was under this tranquil and idyllic setting that a most heinous event was to unfold.
[58] “Do not adjust your sets”. This deformed wing was caused by the heat of sunlight. And some idiot not paying sufficient attention with a magnifying glass. Lucky I didn’t set the table (and Melissa’s jigsaw) on fire at the same time!
[56] The model just prior to the helios incident.
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My attention now turned towards the detailed parts of the kit. I had deliberately left these until late in the build just in case something went wrong and I had to scrap the kit (!).
Brake lines were added to the main undercarriage legs using the Airacobra I photos as a guide. Then all undercarriage parts were painted in the interior green mix mentioned earlier. This was followed with a coat of Klear and then shading with oils. This is the first time I have tried applying the oils onto a glossy surface (by which I mean it has had just the one coat of Klear, nothing more), and it worked well [59] – I will do this from now on.
The brakes on the inside wheel hubs were painted Alclad dark aluminium and followed by an oil wash which settled into the nooks, crannies and crevices of the detail.
Tyres can be painted separately from the hubs and assembled later. They do not have any “weighted effect”, so you would need to add this if you want to (I decided not, as my model will be on a grassed diorama and it will not show). I applied a dark grey (Humbrol HM6) over all the tyres and then darkened it with Revell 9 anthracite applied to the tyre walls – leaving the tread area in the lighter colour. After assembly, I ran some black / brown oils around the rim for effect.
The Airacobra I has some curious features on the nose panelling on the starboard side. One item looks like the end of a sanitary fitting and the other a piece of tube. I believe one or the other of them to be undercarriage position indicators [60]. Both of these I made from scratch on a modeller’s lathe. These were superglued into place. On the same panel – both on the port and starboard side – are a pair of small vents. Rather than cutting into the plastic, I represented them by painting on shades of grey oil paint.
[59] Completed work on the undercarriage and wheel wells. The kit parts are well detailed and (after some fiddling) quite strong. The nose doors have photoetched hinges that have a good area of contact for gluing on the door end, but nothing at all on the airframe. I applied a little oil paint as a marker to the hinges and carefully placed them into position against the airframe. I drilled holes where the hinges left their marks and this gave something for the hinges to insert into, making the joint a lot stronger than it would otherwise be.
[60] Here we can see a couple of devices protruding through the nose panel on the starboard side. These are not in the kit and were scratch made. The small pair of vents behind them are not moulded in, so I represented them by painting. None of these features were present on later versions of the Airacobra.
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Machine guns supplied in kit look exactly unlike the real thing, so I replaced them with scratch made items from brass rod turned on the lathe. These were undercoated WEM G5 Extra Dark Grey before gluing into position. They were then given an oil paint coat of ivory black mixed with Paynes grey. The paint along the top was then lightly rubbed away with a finger to leave the undercoat showing through as a highlight. This was then reinforced by painting a thin line of titanium white oil paint where the light would be reflected ‐ to one side along the top, at the ends and to highlight the muzzle. Only very tiny amounts of paint were added and then only to places that reflect the light – it is not the same technique as dry‐brushing. When the paint had dried, some black dashed line decal from the decals box was run along the highlight to represent the perforated jacket, and I was delighted by the way it turned out [61].
[62] The wing tip lights are separate transparencies in the kit. They are fiddly, but the end result looks good.t
[63] There are another pair of navigation lights beneath the wings, and some identification lights which are painted on.
Wing lights are supplied as separate clear parts in the kit. They are very small and need some trimming up once cut from the sprue. I gave mine a coat of Tamiya clear red and green before I cut them. (Red for the left, or port wing. Easy to remember because Port (the drink) is red). I then carefully cleaned up at the end which had been attached to the sprue and stuck the parts upside down onto a blob of Blutack for handling. More Tamiya clear red and green was touched in where needed and then silver was painted over the base surface. These were then superglued in place on the model. The real aircraft has a metal casing over the rear half of the lights so this was undercoated with Lifecolor acrylic white over the Tamiya clear red and green, followed by mixes of grey and green oil paints to match in with the camouflage [62].
There is also an indicator light on each side of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit doors. These are also coloured red and green. The bezels for these are photoetched parts in the kit. They were painted on the fret before being glued into place on the model. The lenses for these ‐ and for three more lights beneath the starboard wing tip ‐ were first blocked in with the acrylic white and then a light (excuse pun) tone of the lens colour, followed by a dark tone of the colour around the periphery. Once this had all dried, a transparent oil mix in a dark colour was applied thinly at the centre and heavier at the border to give the effect of a transparent part [63].
[61] The crude kit parts for the machine guns were replaced with some from brass rod, drilled and turned down at the end to represent the barrel protruding from the jacket. The Browning .303 had a slotted jacket which was easily and convincingly represented with dashed decal line.
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Red coloured circles for the wing fuel caps are provided on the kit decal sheet. However, I preferred to paint the caps instead using an oils mix of Rembrandt permanent red light and violet blue [64].
I used some woven wire mesh (from Little Cars) to represent the back of the various coolers visible up the outlet ducts. These were trimmed to fit using scissors and then painted with Alclad primer. They were then sprayed with Alclad dark aluminium with the outsides dusted up with a light coat of Xtracolor Kuwait Sand (any desert sand colour would do – this was the one that was handy in my paint tray). This was also applied to the ducts, fuselage undersurface and inside of the dampers. The dampers were glued in an open position with plastic rod actuators added [65].
[65] The outlet ducts are quite large and so I thought would benefit from some extra detaining of the radiators. The second photo shows woven wire mesh trimmed to size with scissors. They were then removed and airbrushed with Alcad colours and a sand colour around the peripheries to represent the cooler matrices. They model looks a lot better with them. The dampers are a bit crude in the kit and rather thick in section. I thinned mine down so they looked more like the real article. The actuator rods are from plastic rod.
There are two types of exhaust supplied in the kit. Nearly all of the RAF’s Airacobra I’s had the wider, fish tail, type fitted. The parts are very nicely shaped, but mine were spoiled by having numerous air bubble holes in the castings. I filled these (or, at least tried to – I was not 100% successful!) with superglue and trimmed to shape.
These were given a coat of Alclad primer followed by Alclad dark aluminium mixed with Alclad Jet Exhaust and Humbrol 171 bronze. Once thoroughly dry, gold printers ink mixed with burnt umber oil paint and linseed oil was brushed all over the exhausts, including inside the outlets. This was rubbed off the upward facing areas which catch the light. Some Kuwait Sand was airbrushed on to represent exhaust staining as a final step, and this was also extended down the fuselage sides after some WEM G5 Extra Dark Grey had been applied first [66].
The radio mast was a good, tight fit to the fuselage. I intended to add an aerial, but as I could not see one (or any insulators, which tend to be more visible) in any of the Airacobra I photographs, I did not do so.
Although the RAF Airacobras had only recently been painted in their new camouflage scheme, we know the aircraft had numerous technical problems and so I reckoned there would be some signs of wear and tear. I first used silver pencils to add scuffs to the paint, particularly at corners of panels that I reckoned would see frequent use: engine covers, nose side panels, wing ammunition panels and fuel filler caps. I then followed this with some
[64] The fuel filler cap was painted and then some wear and tear added, including rubbing marks on the wing from the fueling hoses.
[66] Exhaust staining along the fuselage was first airbrushed WEM G5 Extra Dark Grey, followed by “Kuwait Sand”. It pays to look at photos to see how much staining is visible and the direction it takes due to air flow. On the real Airacobras, the exhaust staining drops downwards more than I showed on my model.
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silver Printer’s Ink mixed with a little Iridescent White oil paint and linseed oil that was added to highlight chipped paintwork [67].
The model was given a final coat of Testor’s Dullcote to remove any shine from glues or places where the first coat had rubbed down to Klear due to handling.
Final assembly comprised of adding the vulnerable parts: doors, pitot tube and propeller [68]. I added three door bolts that were visible in one of the Airacobra I photos, painting these dark grey and highlighting first with Citadel Boltgun metal and then silver Printer’s Ink. The cockpit looks good with the doors fixed in place [69]
I am very pleased with the way the model has turned out [70]– despite the wilted wing flap – and enjoyed the build. It took longer than I thought, probably because I am slow at painting, but it was always fun and, at times, challenging. I discovered some new
ways to do things for the future and some things to never do again. This is only my second 1/32nd aircraft and it seems to be a good scale to work in for small fighters. Whether it is a good scale for bigger models, such as Revell’s Ju88 (which is in my stash), I will have to see !
[69] The completed cockpit. There is plenty of access to view the detail inside, which adds greatly to the interest of the finished model.
[68] The 20mm cannon was the kit part drilled out and turned in a lathe. It was finished in the same way as the machine guns, albeit without any decals for a perforated jacket. WEN G5 Extra Dark Grey was spattered over the spinner to represent powder stains, this being done for the wing guns as well. Getting WEM paints to spatter, rather than flow freely through an airbrush is quite easy to do. In fact, I find that’s what normally happens.
[67] Worn edges from boot damage were done first with a silver pencil on one side of the panel line. I scribbled lines at 90 degrees to the edge as I worked along the panel – varying the height of these much as you might see on a seismograph. For some of the longer “scratches”, I would sometimes leave a space and then add another in line with it. I then used Printer’s Ink mixed with oils to run along the very edge of the panel and further in at corners. The paint has a more intense colour than the pencils and is better for bare metal, rather than “scuffs”. You can also see pastels used for the walking areas on the wing. I used two tones of brown, a darker one first and then a lighter one along the middle of the access way.
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[70] The completed model.
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CLUB DIARY
September 15th Club Night September 18th Farnborough Show
October 20th Club Night October 23rd Yeovilton Autumn Show
November 17th Annual Competition
December 15th Xmas Night
January 19th Club Night
February 16th Club Night Yeovilton Spring Show
March 16th Club Night
April 20th Club Night
Next Meeting: Wednesday September 15th (8pm to 10pm)
Ampfield Village Hall Morleys Lane Romsey Hampshire SO51 9BJ
Thank you to this month’s contributors to this publication
Paul Adams Russell Eden Will Booth
Pat Camp Tony Adams Carl Thurston
CONTACT INFO
Web Site wwww.romseymodellers.co.uk
Editor Tony Adams Tel: 01794 519153 email: [email protected] Competitions Paul Adams Tel: 02380 398858 Treasurer Vic Short Tel: 01794 511843
