I know it is a little late in the game, but better later than never! I have been looking for an excuse to bust out a B-25 model kit, and as it is final exam week for my girlfriend, I will be having plenty of spare time after work! I know it is revell, and I typically dont build their kits, but hey, for 20$ who can complain!

Did anyone else notice that you can tell the Americans quickly from everyone else by the cutting mat in photo backgrounds designated in inches, not centimeters?
Great work everyone, just peeking in this campaign again to see how everyone's coming along.
-cheers,
Sean.

Ummm, one of the jokes in my modeling club is about only having 1 square foot to work in. Does that mean the metric guys get a square meter?

Hi All,

A little more progress on the TBF-1c Avenger, one thing that I added was a small piece of Evergreen strip on the forward pair of hanger brackets for the depth charge type munition load, {as the kit supplied parts were a little short in the mounting point moulded on the weapon}, as yet it's unpainted and can be seen in the bomb bay well.



More to follow later.

Dang, people are stealing my idea about using Atlantic gray schemes instead of the traditional Pacific ones....

Avenger's looking nice Rob lookin forward to seeing end result.
cheers,
Graham

Here is my little bit of progress. It may not look like much but it was time consuming! I read in the newb forum that simply drilling holes in radial engines to run some wire to emulate ignition wires makes them pop... So, I tried it, and I think it really makes the engine stand out. I painted the instrument panel, and dry brushed to make the altimeter, attitude indicator... etc stand out. I read online that this is one tail heavy bird, and many people simply put weight behind the instrument panel, hence the blue tac and sinkers. I will post more progress as it happens!

Hi guys, time for a Campaign Update from your absent leader !

I have updated the Roll Call/Build Status post on page 1, so please take a look to see where everybody is at.

@ Michael, welcome to the Campaign, and you've made a great start on your B-25 interior.

@ Rob, your Avenger looks really good mate. You are putting together a squadron by yourself here !

@ Brian, very nice work on the ordnance, your Kingfisher has teeth !

@ Simon, superb progress on the SBD, the finish on those sub-assemblies looks great.

Keep posting those progress pics as well as your thoughts and impressions on your builds, and don't forget to drop a pic or 2 in the Campaign Gallery HERE when you are done.

Carry on chaps !

Here is a bit more progress, finally got my mr-surfacer in the mail, and made use of it. I started on some pre shading before work, but neglected to check the clock, so I had to put a book mark in it. I will continue to press on when I get home tonight. I was reasonably impressed with the interior detail on this, and a combination of dry brushing and an oil wash made it pop a bit more. My only complaint thus far is the gear bays... or rather the lack of.

It's been a while since I've updated but I have some pictures now including the model perched upon its flying stand. I'm confident I can meet the deadline now.

Between the last update and this one I've had to do a lot of sanding and filling, major areas being the nose, the wings and the large airbrake at the back which just wouldn't fit.



I've been hand painting the Buccaneer with Revell acrylic Greyish Blue which as close to Extra Dark Sea Grey as I could find. It's a close match but perhaps a little faded.



Here's a nice head on shot displaying the prominent and high tail of the Buccaneer, one of its most attractive features.



And finally an interesting shot of the Buccaneer on its flying stand which came from Italeri, two to a box. Using a pin vice I drilled two smalls holes into the bomb bay of the Buccaneer and slowly widened the hole using a round file. I'm very happy with the results.

First, I want to know where everyone keeps getting these stands!!! I want to build a wheels up model kit! As far as the Mitchell is coming, progress is great. I had off yesterday, and one of my biggest model judges could not resist forcing me to take breaks here and there. But, I masked off the bottom, sprayed the top, and clear coated it last night. Before work this morning I threw on all but one of the decals. So, after work tonight I'll throw the last star and bars on and hit it with flat.

Stands

I got them from my local but you should be able to get them from most hobby stores.

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind comments on the Avenger, there is only the 'glasshouse' and rear turret to finish on that bird.

There are some great builds coming along here, I've gone back to the 32 scale Swordfish Mk II and have been doing this on and off as a 3 part assembly.

1/. Being the fuselage.
2/. Port wings.
3/. Starboard wings.

I chose an Atlantic Scheme before taking it out of the box and {looking back} to me that was a big NO NO with the AEAF Bands that adorn this bird. The fuselage AEAF Bands are 10mm and individually painted including the 2mm black boarder bands on the outside.

The fuselage progress as of last night:





Both the yellow for the prop tips and red band across the prop blade are both painted and not the kit supplied decal.
There are a few touch ups to do before the control cables are fixed in place.

More to follow later.

nice one rob looks really good.
cheers
Graham

After work last night I realized the ol' xbox could wait. Besides, only so many times to get excited by a kill cam. So, I hit it with flat, ate, and removed the mask. My other cat ...aka the destroyer of many kits... couldnt resist the oppertunity to complain about the location of the recent finish. And it will remain there. until the girlfriend comes back home from vacation. lol.

Sorry Damian, I had to de-enlist. I just wasn't pulling it together, and with such an excellent campaign idea, too.
Back at the time, this one and the Zerstorer campaign are the ones I was waiting for. I made the lethal mistake of over campaigning, and had to choose the ones to work on with available time. I'm guarding against that in the future, with the notion that a little less will produce alot more.

There has been outstanding effort put forth by others in this campaign, with beautiful modeling results.

Nice builds, everyone. I like the WIP so far on both Klimmer and KrisMax's SBD's, and Rob's Swordfish (a model well beyond my capability).

I'm still stuck in basic construction on my Trumpy Tu-22M3 Backfire. There's a lot of big parts with "meh" fit and no reinforcement. Take the empty rear fuselage, for example:

Based on what I've read from other builders, that's a recipe for cracked seams. So it's out with my new best friend Mr. Contour Gauge (er...not a Mr.Hobby product):


Making some bulkheads! Let's hope this works!


I also had to sort out the missile bay. I want to mount 1 recessed Kh-22 anti-ship missile, but Trumpy gives the recess fore and aft of the bomb bay doors, but the kit bomb bay doors are flat! So I had to buy a resin insert.

Hopefully I will have a complete airframe to show by the end of the weekend!

Regards-
Tom

Guy-- that happens. Everything on this network is so enticing! We'll see you somewhere else. Good that you remembered to have fun! If you're not enjoying yourself, then what are you doing here, right?
Tom-- nicely done! When I first started reading your post, I was thinking, "Oh, here's a rough kit that's going to frustrate someone", but you're handling it with finesse! -- and I'm not just saying that because you hail from America's Dairyland.
Just peeking in here again,
-Sean.

Hi All,

Some good subjects progressing here, since my last post.

Done a little more on the Mk II Swordfish, but still more to do before it is passed over as finished.





More to follow:

Only a quick update from me as not much has been done in between all the decorating and wallpapering over the last couple of weeks

The bombs have had some etch added


and the machine gun has had the same treatment




I foolishly forgot to add the wing gun barrels from the kit but fortunately they just looked like bits of round over rod so out came the dremmel and I made some new barrels out of 1.1 hypodermic needles
Before...


After...


As always comments, suggestions and critique is welcomed

Hello all-
*Rob & Allen - You look to be well on the home stretch with great details!
*Sean - It's been a bit hard to focus on modeling in Dairyland, since we've finally gotten good weather, haven't we?

I have completed primary assembly of my Tu-22M3 Backfire. A LOT of sanding and filler was required. There are still some seams to tidy up, but overall the bulkheads held up and there was no seam cracking. And man, it is BIIIIG....Hope the hobby store doesn't run out of grey paint...because I'm gonna need a lot of it!

Looking at it, I am thinking that this aircraft has great lines, no?


Note that I still need to correct the wing droop - currently they are just loosely pinned at the hinge, but will fix their position soon.

Regards-
Tom

Thanks Tom, I wish I was on the home straight, I can see the finish line but I just can't get to it we moved into our first house a month or two back and the decorating keeps stopping me from getting to the bench.

When I finally did get there I discovered that the braided hose for my airbrush had split, so I'm now waiting for that to arrive. hopefully I can get some done before the campaign ends at the end of the month

Hi guys. As Allen said the end of this Campaign is drawing near ! I am happy to extend the ribbon awarding ceremony to those who need a little extra time, so please don't rush your builds. I would much rather see you finish your builds to your own satisfaction than try to do things too quickly and potentially make mistakes.

Cheers, D

I'm close to finished, I just need to sort out some aerials and the cockpit. I'll have progress pics in a day or two.

One more Avenger.