Howdy

I'm starting my entry for this one. I know i'm starting a little late in the build and I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew but I picked up this kit a few months ago and I really would like to build it.

Its the Pro-Modeler Ar 234C-3/4 Blitz in 1/48 scale..



An interesting kit as you can see.. there is a link to a review below.

Link to Reviw of Pro-Modeler AR 234

not much done yet but i've started.

laters
Delbert

I have been remiss in keeping up with what is going on here in my own campaign thread Nice to see so many of you carrying on the torch in my absence. I was able to get my basement aka manland put back together in short order after the flooding damage, then promptly started school. I haven't built a whole lot in the mean time, but I am getting back at it here and there. Thanks again for keeping this thread alive. Still plenty of time to build more bombers in time for the deadline. Keep at it folks, things are looking good. "Q"

I had a little set back on my Ju 86.

For some reason the yellow and red paint lifted the base coat. All the paints are acrylic, so a little surprising that the coloured paints lifts the base coat. Kind of destroys the idea of a base coat
I never experienced this before and the basecoat is still sound and strong outside the sprayed areas. Very strange.....

Well, now I will add the base camouflage and then do the markings afterwards. More to follow as the build progresses.

Time for a 2nd chance with these pics...
A big Thank You Bruce, for making clear as water the "how to post images"

Here's all the goodies necessary to make the Ju 88 in a more accurate form.


Next some images of the resin cockpit already painted & weathered, altough still incomplete, also a shot of the excellent crew seats and ammobox. For what is worth, i've just realized that some details are compleaty shadowed by these final items






Cheers
Pedro

That cockpit looks impressive Pedro.

Well, I've started to make some progress on my JU 88....



...however, Pedro seems to be making nice progress already on his Schnellbomber. I thought this might be a nice opportunity (we still have 90 days left or so) to set my A4 aside for a little while and dig into a kit that I've wanted to build for a while. I don't think anyone else is building one for the campaign so it might add a bit of diversity to the entries (besides I really think it will look neat in the cabinet)

Since this is one kit I don't have any aftermarket bits for, this one will be largely OOB. I give you my new project entry for BBB:


Wish me luck.

Cheers,
Fred

Excellent cockpit, Pedro. A really nice addition to the basic kit.

Great choice, Fred. I am looking forward to see the build up of this Mirage kit. I believe it has been build before somewhere on Aeroscale, so maybe there are some tips on potential pitfalls if there are any in the kit. Good luck

Started test fitting last night and this morning. In many ways this kit is very impressive, however, there will be challenges.

The plastic is a little on the hard side and there are no locating pins. Fit is excellent in some regards and rather indifferent in others. It looks like I'll need to dry fit several assemblies ahead of where I am currently working just to make sure to avoid any traps.

I did say OOB didn't I?! Yeah well...
... I already have started a few mods on the bomb bays and landing gear.

Oh well.

Cheers,
Fred

Well, I am working on my B-29 from Minicraft; I hope to have some pictures up soon. I've got the wings together and the horizontal stabilizers as well. Just painted the interior of the fuselages. When there is more to see I'll post. Russell

That PZL looks cool. I love seeing unusual subjects, looking forward to seeing it.

Pedro - great job on the Ju88 cockpit!




Hey Fred - a bold choice. I built one of these years ago. The big problem on my kit was that the fuselage was too wide for the nose glazing. This was before I learned all the good practices of test fitting...lol...so I didn't figure it out until way too late. Don't be surprised if you have to take a mm or two out of the forward fuselage.

Fantastic tip! Thanks for the heads up. Have been doing a fair amount of online research of builds of this kit and must admit that I haven't run into that one yet.

I guess its time to trim off the glazing(s) and take a look for myself.

Cheers,
Fred

I just can't leave well enough alone. (I had to start fussing with different aspects of the kit. Now there's no telling where it will end!)

Now if I can't find a descent shot of the gear bays I may have to get imaginative with the space. As it stands the boxed in wheel wells (while better than an open hole) are rather boring.

I notice this kit also fails to include the open dorsal gunner's position. (I'm trying to resist the temptation to cut a hole in the fuse and try to make a gunner's bay.)

Let's just see how far down the rabbit hole goes, shall we.

Cheers,
Fred

I'd like to join in but I'd like to stick to a smaller bomber due to the remaining time. I have several early single engine level bombers if something like that would be acceptable Vickers Wellesley, Fairey Battle, DH-4 and a few others.

Aaron, It could be interesting to see some of the builds - especially the Wellesley. However, I cannot approve them as I am not the campaign leader.

Great progress, Fred. Real improvement with nice details. Looking forward to see more. It looks good and you might end up with a real show stopper if you continue with this high level for the real machine.

I have made the camouflage on my JU 86. I am pretty satisfied with the result although the green is a bit too light, but I plan to try to change this during the weathering process. However, I had major problems with the tape pealing of the paint in certain places. I do not understand why, I am using the same Tamiya tape as always combined with a white basecoat and Tamiya colours. Anyway, I will try to touch up the paintwork before the weathering process starts.

More to follow.

That's crazy. Its like your primer didn't bite at all. Are you going to take it down to bare plastic or are you going to attempt to triage the bad spots?

Cheers,
Fred

I sent a PM to Red, and the Wellesley has been approved despite its shortcoming in the engine department.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Wellesley it was a British bomber from the late 1930s. It was designed for long range and held the record for the longest flight by a bomber until it was beaten by a B-29 in 1945, and still holds the record for the longest flight of a single engine aircraft. Obsolete by 1940 it did see limited service in WW2 against the Italians in East Africa.

It is a 1/72 Matchbox kit, so a bit light on details, but should go together well. It offers two options, a bomber and an engine development aircraft with a modified cowling. I'll be building the bomber option.

The kit was a bagged kit I got as part of an ebay lot.



I got a little bit done last night.

Thanks for the comment, Fred.
I think the kit might still have had some releasing agent on it from the casting form. I have used the base coat and paint combination before without problems, so the releasing agent must be to blame. I need to wash old kits like this more carefully in the future.
I will go ahead and try to save it wth some touch ups. It will not be perfect, but it might still be a respectable result.

Very interesting build, Aaron. I have tried to get hold of this kit for some time now without success. It will be interesting to see what you get from an old kit like this.

I don't get much time for modelling as work is never ending so each build takes me months.

I reached the end of the Revell Mosquito B IV. A lovely kit that I enjoyed building and took about three months to build.

The canopy (which I stood on) and nose glass were as clear as crystal which a dip in Klear made even clearer. There was an excellent fit to the parts and some really nice detail. Pity about the rather strange looking spinners (though I did come across a pic on T'internet with similar fat, rounded spinners) and apparently the landing gear is a bit short but hey, for about £15 I didn't care.

So, the detail inside was nice, I just added a few wires:







Und added der bombenthingies:





Tarted up the kit engine:





Got the top paint and decals on and finally... Tadaaaa! A coat of Citadel Matt Satin to top it all off:





Lovely Grim Reaper decal - helluva pity about the canopy!



The instant the Citadel Satin hit the canopy and nose glass it fogged! Totally! Completely unable to see through them at all!

I now know to keep the glass parts fully masked until the very end! It was on another post here.

I got another Mossie so I’ll add the clear parts from it to this model and let my kids build the other.

It took me about a year to track down the Wellesley, but they do show up on Ebay now and then. In typical Ebay fashion there were several at decent prices right after I finally got this one.




That is a shame about the canopy, if they were dipped in Future you should be able to save it with a soak in Windex. I've been able to strip and start over on clear parts even after I've got super glue or paint on them.

My first step after opening the plastic on kits these days is a dip in Future because of that feature (I have a bad habit of getting stuff on my fingers and touching the glass)

Thanks Aaron,

Unfortunately the canopy came off the Mossie in four pieces not one.

It will be fine as a ceiling hanger for my wee, six year old daughter to build. She's not really too bothered how they look.

Yeah, I guess Future won't do much for that.

I got a little more work done, it is starting to look like something. This is a surprisingly large plane, the wingspan is just slightly shorter than a Wellington.

A very large wingspan indeed, Aaron. Looking forward to see it in camouflage.

I have now repaired the terrible damage to the paint job on my JU 86 caused by the masking tape. I am actually very pleased with the result. The damage can still be seen close up, but the overall look is very good. I really love that three colour splinter camouflage.

Also a layer of semigloss varnish has darkened the green colour, so it is almost spot on now. Glad I did not give up and throw it in the spare parts box.

More to follow soon

Howdy,
no update this time from me but a question: does the undercariage in the B-17 model from Academy in 1:72 scale requires strenghening or changing into metal? It is joined to the wing only in two places while one of them doesn't look strong. The model looks a bit heavy when I hold it so I wonder about the u/c strenght. It's high time to make the decision for me but I still can't make up my mind.

After having more or less solved the problems with the paintjob on my JU 86 I have moved on to the decals. Everything seemed to go very well and the decals settled nicely - or so I thought!.

After some minutes the decals started lifting slightly from the surface letting airbubbles in on the other side. Out came the strong decal solvent that can even tackle the old Academy decals. This was of no help. I then tried to gentle make a hole in the decal to let the decal solvent in and the air out. This only made it worse.

In the end I had to let it dry and then carefully paint around the decals. This makes the tiny airbubbles invisible, but the paint does not have exactly the same colour and shine as the paint under the layer of varnish.

THIS BIRD IS FIGHTING ME ALL THE WAY!!! Anyway, I have now added some oil pin washes and when all is dry I hope a final layer of varnish will blend everything together. I am getting stubborn now, so it will be finished no matter what.

I have another of these old kits in the stash. It will be some time before I try and tackle that build.

More to follow....