Model Forum / General / Models / March 2006

Recently I moved my workshop from my cold basement to my colder garage,
so active modeling is somewhat put on hold right now.
Currently I am working on a batch of Luft '46 Messerschmitts, P.1106
(Huma), P.1106R (Sharkit), P.1109 (Unicraft) P.1110/I & P.1110/II
(Planet Models), P.1110/III (Unicraft), P.1111 (AirModel), P.1112 (PM)
and the Zerstorer (Planet Models)
I hope to have these finished by May, then the weather will be warmer
(I hope - this ~is~ western New York!) and I'll be starting this year's
"Big Kit" - The Revell 1959 Space Station.
After that, maybe Anubis from StarGate, courtesy of MPC, who knows?

1/48 Planet Models Koolhoven Fk-58

1/32 Revell Tomcat, 1/32 Revell F-16N, 1/48 Hobbycraft Arado 234, 1/48
Italeri F/A-18E, 1/72 Hasegawa F/A-18F, 1/72 Trumpeter Bear J, 1/35
Trumpeter SA-2...

...and a LOT of dust.

Currently I have a bad case of AMS on my workbench - a HobbyCraft T-33
undergoing extensive correction:  KMC intake splitters, extended intakes of
scrap plastic, flattened top of rear fuselage, added speed brakes and wells,
boxed in wheel wells, wheel well hoses and wiring, KMC cockpit, KMC
wingtips, Reheat PE, Monogram F-80 landing gear, upper wing flap ribbing,
and the piece de resistance - removed 1/8" from the fuselage forward of the
cockpit and added 1/8 inch behind the cockpit and also moved the front wheel
well 1/8" to the rear.

I might even finish this kit!

Art

A mess.........14 rolls of negatives to scan and 1500 or copies of
original documents to sort and read......

Academy P47N "Gerry" in medium blue livery ,not the yellow depicted on
the box art.
The upper wing national insignia decal disintergrated on contact with
the water dish,,,, what a total piss off .

Academy P47N "Gerry" in medium blue livery ,not the yellow depicted on
the box art.
The upper wing national insignia decal disintergrated on contact with
the water dish,,,, what a total piss off .

A whole bunch of stuff to be repaired, and lots of inertia.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Just finishing a Fujimi 1/48 French SA-342 Gazelle depecting the first one
my wife flew in at EPNER. Scratch built a test bank for the left seat,
harness reels, and overhead panel.  Also just finished a Heller (Airfix)
1/72 Hawker Typhoon, and I have to admit... it had me rethinking my sole
adherence to God's Scale....

Tamiya 1/35 Universal Carrier and British Infantry on Patrol (to be combined
in a diorama), Tamiya 1/35 JS-3 Stalin, Heller 1/35 Somua S-35, Dragon 1/35
Red Devils, Dragon 1/35 54cm Mörser. All in different stages of completion.

Plus loads of papers, sanding paper, instructions, brushes, plastic
containers of all kinds of sizes, Q-tips, toothpicks, airbrush, minitool,
static grass, paints, oil paints, 7 kinds of glue, latex gloves, dust masks,
nasty chemicals... [It's almost a biohazard area :-)] and under the table my
air compressor and a big bag of plaster...

Got into a bit of an airliner habit of late here's what's on the go right
now :

Airfix 1/144 DC-9-30 being built OOB with kit decals for Iberia Airlines
(Primer coats done, waiting for warmer weather to get final finish painting
done).
Airfix 1/144 DC-9-30 converted to DC-9-14, Microscale decals for Hughes
Airwest (Primed as above)
Airfix 1/144 DC-9-30 converted to DC-9-51, Flightpath decals for Northwest
Airlines (Primed and rubbed down, waiting for repriming).
Got 2 more DC-9's waiting for the fuselages to be cut to make a -15 and
a -41, not decided on a scheme for the -15 yet (probably Eastern Airlines
though) but the -41 will be in Toa Domestic (TDA) colours.
Airfix 1/144 Boeing 737-200, wings painted, final scheme undecided probably
Alaska Airlines or Air New Zealand.
Airfix 1/144 Boeing 737-200 converted into a -100, fuselage cuts done,
waiting assembly will be done in Lufthansa colours.
Airfix 1/144 Boeing 727-200, rescribed panel lines, primed, final scheme
undecided probably Pan-Am, Delta or Emirates.

Also have on the backburner an Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer S.2 fuselage built up
and primed, not as bad a build as some would have it, I will return to this
one once Spring arrives and I can get some painting done, it's just too darn
cold to paint outdoors right now.

Happy modelling
Ant

    Hmmm...  I've a WEM rsin Knox frigate (USS Connole - for my brother),
just started (hull parts glued, puttied and sanded) and am preparing the
smaller parts for painting.
    Next up, the Trumpeter CH-47A.  Yes, I need a bigger workbench...

Frabnk Kranick

I had a FW190 Dora in 1:32 going, but after having the exterior in
primer, I lost interest.  In fact, I lost interest in modelling
altogether.  I dreaded going out to the garage and doing the next
assembly, filling, sanding, researching, masking, spraying, etc.

So I hung the unfinshed Dora from the ceiling, and may or may not get
back to finish its paint.  Instead, I cleared the whole bench off, and
have laid out the parts for my big brake upgrade to my 1:1 scale 1995
Audi S6.  And after that, an intercooler upgrade.

Hey, this superdetailing in 1:1 sure is fun.  And it's sorta like
kitbashing - the brakes come from Porsche.  Hmm, but it seems unlikely
that I'll get out to Hobby Lobby and find a 50% off RS2 turbo and
exhaust manifold.

But back to the scale models - it looks like it's time for eBay.  I'll
post a list here of my kits and gear, and take offers.  I'll just have
to spend some time writing it up, I guess.

E.P.

P.S.  BTW, cleaning a 1:1 isn't nearly so fiddly, and the canopies
rarely fog.  :)

A resin Nimrod MRA4, cast either for BAE Systems as a promo model or by
the efforts of a group of modellers/aircraft enthusiasts at Warton.  The
work was done by Grand Manner, who appear to specialise in fantasy
wargame stuff with a sideline in custom resin models.  It has no gear
bays or interior, and pretty much has to be completed as a flyer and
mounted on its stand.  Pretty good detail, aerials, pylons and weapons
provided, but the white metal Harpoons are unusable (easily scratchbuilt
though) and the jetpipes are too thick (I have replaced them with brass
tube).  There are a lot of bubbles on the "high" ends of the surfaces,
which I am filling with Milliput.  Hopefully it will be good enough to
help my local model shop guy sell some Airfix Nimrods (after I've got
mine, of course :-) )

I too have a railway model in progress - an L&Y Baltic (the Millholme
Models kit).  It's for a friend whose particular passion is mainline
tank engines.  To be finished in Midland Red, of course.

Finally a Death Star (yes, its just a basketball, but the painting is a
bitch) for my son's space-themed bedroom.  To be joined by a Babylon 5,
some Starfurys and X-wings.  He's learning to use the airbrush now,
basecoating a Revell Leopard with NATO green, so we will build X-wing
and Starfury side-by-side (I have four of each).

Next for me will be an Airfix TSR.2.  I fancy doing a recce-specialist
version in hemp-and-grey, like the PR9 Canberra's wore for a while.  I
like the idea of PRU Blue, but can't really put together a story that
will allow it, it was more-or-less dropped at the end of WWII.

An MPC P-51 Ridge Runner Mustang from 1982. 1/24
scale.  The kit sucks and is kind of a struggle every step
of the way.  But hey, 4 bucks from local thrift store.  I
consider it 'practice' and something to do.  Should look
pretty decent at least when complete.   The coolest part
was using paper thin real wood venier on the floor boards
of the cockpit.  The grain was even in scale.  :).

    I have always thought it would be nice to have a collection of 1
aircraft from each of the R.A.F. Squadrons that fought the Battle of
Britain in 1/48 scale. Now that I have joined the ranks of the retired
the project is started. Hasegawa Hawker Hurricanes from #1, 3, 17 and 46
Squadrons are underway.

                        Bill Shuey

Kopro's  Su-22M4 close to completion in the markings of former East
Germany.
Next are three Me262 - 1xMonogram, 1xTamiya (A-2) and 1xDragon
(B-1a/U1)
Ingo
*time is an enemy*

Tamiya KV-1B (almost done), Hobbycraft Humvee (1/2 there maybe) and AMT
Kazon ship (1/2 done, MAYBE..., takes more work than I thought).  And to
think I said at one time "I build WWII US Navy aircraft".  Hmmm....

At the moment, nothing.  My job absorbs most of my time so I can only model
in bursts at certain times of the year.

Awaiting completion over Easter and, probably, in the summer are the Hawker
Tempest 5, Albatros DII and Ford T that I was working on at Christmas.  A
Roden Fokker DVII in post-war Dutch Navy colours and a Bell UH-1N Twin Huey
in US Navy markings are also overdue for attention.

I seem to have about 30 unfinished projects and I've decided not to start
anything new until they are finished.  How long that decision will last is
anyone's guess.  Somewhere in the loft are about 25 AFVs that have never had
decals applied.  I suppose I should do those as well but I can't find them.
Some have been without markings for 15 or 20 years so I don't suppose they
can be called a high priority.

I realised guiltily some time ago that some of my stash has been with me,
untouched, since the mid-1960's!  I can't relaistically expect to finish all
my kits in my lifetime and I've started earmarking kits for disposal.  The
list is nearing 100 now and I'll sell them as a job lot to my local model
shop owner who does a big trade in second hand kits.  Even if I dispose of
another 100, I'll still have too many kits.

Incidentally, my workbench is a piece of laminated chipboard 20inches by 10
that I put on my desk when I get the chance to do a bit of modelling.  The
rest of the time, it is propped against the end of a shelf unit, out of the
way.

Gordon McLaughlin

serenity

http://public.fotki.com/jackwendt/firefly-1/scratchbuilt/

Piles of assorted crap. Seldom used junk takes refuge on my workbench safe
in the knowledge that it is unlikely to be pushed aside (or, God forbid,
cleaned up!) in an effort to reach  the Accurate Miniatures Yak-1 that sits
in the back. About a month ago, I completely dusted the kit off, glued on
the stabs, sanded a bit at the wing roots and pushed it back exhausted. My
creative juices flow in intermittent squirts, I'm afraid.

Doug Wagner

Well Enzo, I'm workin' on an 1/12 Airfix 1930 Bentley 4.5 supercharged,
an old kit, with a lot of work to do, but a very interesting model to
build.

In fact, I'm creating a lot of parts myself because original parts are
often very simplified...

It's a long way project...

snip

Hughes OH-6A Cayuse 028 Italeri 1/72
Eurocopter SA 341 Westland Gazelle (Sud Aviation)  01059 Airfix 1/72
Hughes AH-6A Night Fox 017 Italeri 1/72
Grumman F8F Bearcat 72006 Sword 1/72

Received a package yesterday from a friend in Scotland. The incredible
national roundels from Zotz (superb quality, five sheets of twenty
African air forces) was the reason for the parcel, but he always
includes other things that he has picked up. Most are models that I may
or may not need. This time one was the Russian G-29 (G-11) assault
glider from a Russian firm, a kit that I already have.

It's a crude kit with lots of flash and poorly fitting parts, but it's
an unusual subject and rather attractive, in a fishy sort of way. It
only took a few minutes to decide to do a quick build and get started
cleaning up parts. I can't think of a better way to deal with AMS than
the occasional quick build. If the kit is difficult to start with, more
the better.

Tom

TSR2, Revell Atlantic, Airfix Typhoon

DC Kits 128, Parkside Fruit D, Parkside VEA