Ok, now that Tubarao, and the F-4 Phantom Jolly Rogers are now completed it's time to start something new. I decided to stay with the 1/144 scale stuff for right now. Here we go.

First up is a Crown B-17G which I plan to build as Little Miss Mischief from the 324th Squadron.

Cover shot



Parts shot



I started by removing the waist gunners windows.



The plastic surgery continues



Not to bad. I'll make up some glass later after its painted



Good lord this window is thicker then the actual B-17 windscreen.









WTF????



Filler time





Much much better





Primer time

Part two of my current build is going to be another B-24 Liberator Assembly ship. This one is another Crown 1/144 like the B-17G above. This one is going (Hopefully) to be The Striped Ape II of the 448th BG

The Cover art



The Parts



Adding nose weight. Since I had come up a bit short with Tubarao I worked this one a bit better. I added a small film of plumbers putty across the inside of each half of the nose. I then added lead pellets to the putty. Then another layer of putty.



Ready to be sealed up





Wings assembled

[/i]

Dirk,
Obviously you have quite an assembly line running there. Keep up the Great work. You make up for those of us with limited building time, especially this time of the year.

So do we have any other builds in progress out there ? Hang in there, Gang......Take care, Bruce......

Project 3: Part three of this build cycle is going to come from the Pacific theater. its going to be the big and beautiful B-29 Superfortress. For this one I don't have a specific aircraft in mind (yet) but it's going to be one of the rarely seen and photoed Olive drab birds. I have three of these beauties in my stash right now of various makes. This One, Atomic Tom and BocksCar.

The Cover Art



The Parts



I decided to start with the wings on this one



The turrets



I painted the interior and added the nose weight. As in my B-24 Lib, I used plummer putty along the fuselage wall and embedded lead pellets into it. I then covered that with more putty



Because of the big huge window in the nose I decided to paint the front edge of the putty black to match the interior.



Closed up the fuselage





Wings added



Flight deck added



There was a huge mistake I made when assembling the fuselage on the B-17. I forgot to install the tail section. You'd think I'd learn from that mistake but I didn't. I forgot it on this bird too. it's to bad because it sealed up so nicely.

Back on track



Thanks for looking

Hi all.
In order to keep the creative juices flowing and for something to show you all here is a copy of a recent build I did.
I will put some pics up here of my conversion from the Senworks Junkers W.34 to the Floatplane Ju.46 as used by Deusches LuftHansa (DLH) in 1932-1934 for their catapult ships 'Europa' and 'Bremen' to deliver mail faster to the USA on the Atlantic crossing.
This is part of my (slowly growing) collection of DLH catapult planes. So far I have completed the Do26 and Ha139, with the Do18 painted but not decaled and the Dornier Wal made but not painted. After the Ju46 it only leaves the Heinkel 12 and 58.

The main external differences are the extended tailplane and enlarged rudder. Of course the addition of floats rather than the wheels as supplied in the kit.

Here is the original W.34 rudder and my modification to it to better represent the Ju.46 version.


Here is the exhaust collecting ring that I made out of solder wire and formed around a suitable diameter round dowl and then CA'ed the individual cylinder exhausts onto it.


I painted the interior light Grey and put seats and control column in as well painting the fuselage Red (Tamiya). I then glued the cockpit wndow on and used 'Micro Kristal Clear' for the side windows. Next I glued the wing on with CA....OOOPS! Guess what the side windows ALL fogged up and the main cockpit window partially fogged too! I had not used Future on the cockpit window and this would have prevented this. So I have removed the side windows (easy done) and retouched up the paint.
This is the stage where this photo is taken.


Here you can see the new cockpit vacform that is crystal clear (no nasty CA frosting) and dipped in Future. Also I have added the framing for the cockpit and the engine cowling.


Here you can see the 'Micro Kristal Klear' used for the side windows prior to drying clear.
I have also added the exhaust ring and it can be seen here fitted.


The floats I had were too short by about 5mm and so I made a mold and cast some duplicates and then cut out a section from the centre of two of them and will graft them into another pair of floats to increase the length.


Here are the two finished floats extended 5mm by the grafted in piece. You can see the join and this will need some sanding to improve it. I also lost some of the detail I had added with 0.2mm wire to represent the raised ribs that the floats had. So I will have to add that back. You can see the two raised lines on the original floats prior to having the grafts added and some sanding done.


Here are the floats attached...finally!
It has taken 22 pieces of brass with one more to finish it, quite a bit of pipe work, thank goodness for the 2.5X eye glasses!






A couple of coats of Future and some Windsor and Newton Matt acrylic to tone it down and finished.






[


Regards
Peter
aussie made 1/144 planes

Peter,
Very Nice ! This is another Great reason I love 1/144th scale. The kits are small enough and inexpensive enough to try some wild conversions for a unique addition to the collection from time to time.

I just started work on a C-130E (I) Blackbird from the Vietnam era. (Essentially a Combat Talon I ) This will use a Minicraft kit for the basis, so we'll see how this project does or does not come out.

How about our other readers out there ? Projects on the table ?

Take it easy...........................Bruce

I finally forced myself to sit down and do some work on my Minnicraft B-29. Here's where we stand.

As some might remember I decided to make this B-29 one of "The Few, The Proud, The Olive Drab." Of course as you can imagine and may have seen from photos of B-17's and B-24's in the theater they were pretty well worn. So here we go.

Starting with some Model Masters Olive Drab I added a few drops of RLM 79 sandgelb. The RLM 79 adds the yellowing effect of a worn olive paint scheme.



Here it is after a few passes of the airbrush.







The next step I believe will be to add some areas of paint without the RLM 79 to show areas of repair.

Thanks for looking.

Dirk,
Your '29 is looking good, we don't get to see many Olive Drab '29's. It's also Great to see the thread reawaken again !
So what kind of 1/144th projects does everyone have on the bench ?

Sound off Folks.............Take it easy..........Bruce

Bruce,
I have the following in progress aircraft:
- a Lufthansa Do18 that the custom decals have just arrived today and so will post pics soon.
- Conversion of a F-toys Ju88A-4 to Ju88R-2 Nightfighter (in particular 7J+QK).
- Dornier Wal about to be painted in DLH colours and then custom decals.
- Do217N2 converted from F-toys and needing some work on the nose before the radar is mounted.

Peter H

Great looking B-29 Dirk, looking forward to seeing a camouflaged version.
All the best.
tim

Gents,
OK then. We do have a few projects running. I have a Minicraft C-130 on the table that I'm converting to a C-130E (I) Blackbird. This was the fore runner to the MC-130 Combat Talon I. The Blackbird was a Vietnam era conversion. The progress is slow, but I'm getting there.

Pete,
As always, you have a group going at the same time and I really look forward to seeing them.

So join in, Gang. What other projects are running ?

Take it easy, Bruce

Hi guys,

I have recently finished Bell X-1A from Murdoc Models resin kit:



Right now I am finishing couple of Sweet Wildcats next up probably new molding of Revell's Eurofighter.

That Bell X1 looks super cool!!!

Modeling two days in a row. For me that is a milestone. :grin: Tonight I did some more masking to get ready for some more paint.





Applying another cote of paint. This time straight Olive Drab, no RLM 79 added.





Till next time, thanks for looking

After I was done spraying the B-29 I found I had quite a bit more paint left over so rather than waste it i decided to shoot the Crown B-17G.









Some of you might remember that when I started the B-17 the goal was to make it Little Miss Mischief but after a lot of trial and error making the decals I decided to toss the idea. So as of right now this is an plain Jane B-17G. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any.

Till next time thanks for looking

Dusan,
The X-1 is absolutely beautiful, very nice job !

Dirk,
Sir, you have quite an assembly line running there ! The rest of us will have to get going to catch up with you guys.

Thanks for the pics, and keep building !................Bruce

I keep forgetting about this thread... I just finished something different for a civilian planes only campaign. The kit decals were trashed so I cobbled something together from the spares box. Politically correct? Not even, but my friends in my club got a chuckle out of it. Old Airfix kit of the Heracles airliner. For its age, it went together pretty well. Tamiya gloss aluminum over all. Windows filled with Mircro Krystal Klear. Rigged with .012 stainless steel wire which is a bit large, but the smallest I had on hand. Not a contest goer by any means, but it looks good flying the skies of my basement. Thanks,"Q"

Just finished decaling an Owl JB-2 Loon. I also finished decaling the Miniwing A-7A. Both will receive a final treatment of Agama Hypersol tonight, and another coat of Future tomorrow over the decals. When that dries, I'll do some, light panel-line enhancement and then dull coat. Don't want to weather either too much.

Next - after finishing some 1/72 projects - will be to get back to the OzMods T-33.

Redd, that is a sharp looking aircraft. I've never seen anything like it before.

This morning I felt like a kid at Christmas. What I mean is I couldn't wait to get the morning chores done so that I could get down stairs and unveil the masking on the B-29. ;-)

Here's the wrapping paper :lol:









The differences between the paints are subtle and should look even better if and when I blend it with some weathering.



I can't wait to get a clear cote on this as the olive finish is as fragile as the real thing. :mrgreen:

Till next time thanks for looking

Matt,
"Both will receive a final treatment of Agama Hypersol tonight, and another coat of Future tomorrow over the decals."

OK buddy, clue me in. I guess I missed this one, but I have no idea what you are talking about. And being one that needs all the tips and help I can get....I'm always looking ! So what do we have with Agama Hypersol ?

Thanks for any info.....................Bruce

Agama - a paint (and other "stuff") manufacturer - has their own line of decal setting solutions. Adhesol, for under the decal; Tensol for over, once the decal and Adhesol is dry; and Hypersol, for those "stubborn" decals. Like Solva-Set. However, unlike Solva-Set, I have yet to have Hypersol "attack" a decal. Plus I think it's better. I had some decals that Solva-Set didn't effect; but when I put Hypersol on them, it all worked. I like the Agama system more than the Micro-Set/Sol, so will keep using them first and foremost.

Unfortunately I'm still working with small samples Agama sent for review, so will have to buy more soon. Still not sure who carries Agama, though.

Matt,

"Still not sure who carries Agama, though."

Ahhh, therein lies my very next question, any source Stateside ? I've been using the "Red" (Micro-sol ?) for years, fortunately never had a problem. Perhaps I was just lucky. Let us know if you find any more info on this product, please.

Thanks.................Bruce

Miniwing A-7A:



Full Build Article

Owl JB-2 Loon:



Full Build Article

Matt,
Very nice build up on both the A-7, and the loon. Good build article also. Your projects are all coming together at the same time !

Obviously, I'll have to get the Herc moving at a faster rate, I'm falling way behind you guys in builds ! (sigh......just slowing down in my old age ! )

At any rate, nice builds, and thank you for showing them to us. Take care.....Bruce...

Wow, there are a lot of little Gems in here!

I really like the Heracles airliner, great job Mr. Matthew


Cheers Nick