Who could resist that Uhu??

These are some slick looking birds. If only there was time... there's a Bf110 that's just begging to be painted black on my bench...

Raising a child is a real anchor on the hobbies.

OK, going for the Mosquito NF.XIII/XVII:



Guess you can't really read the phone, but I took this today. Honest.

I'm building this one straight out of the box, including kit decals, and Tamiya paint for that matter! The only question is which paint scheme. The one I'm leaning towards is the black undersides but that's from the Fighter Interception Unit and I'm not sure they were actually operational. There's also one from 409 Sqn. which was operational but the standard green/grey scheme. If anyone has further info, it would be much appreciated!

Michael

@Torsten: The AMT offering only has two marking options, one for VMF(N)-312 and the one I decided on VMF(N)-513. Both are all black birds but the one I'm doing is a little different as it has red code letters and numbers on it. The scheme reminded me a little of the red codes used by bomber command during WW2 so I thought it looked pretty darn good. I'm not using any nose weights Torsten instead I'm using the supplied tail stand as I've seen pics of these Cats on airfields during the Korean war with their tails propped so they wouldn't tip onto their tails, which they were prone to do if the fuel tanks were less than half full! The center of gravity was just to far aft on these aircraft! But you couldn't beat then for speed and shear climbing ability! This kit has just fallen together I echo Torsten's comment regarding the fit although I did need filler on a couple of sink marks and on the nose seam. A really nice kit it's a shame that AMT decided to just do cars and trucks etc they had some really nice aircraft!

@Michael: Why not go for a 488 (RNZAF) Squadron MK30 based on the continent late in WW2? LOL not that I'm biased or anything! Actually one that I'm going to build in either 1/32 or 1/24th! Ambitious? Me? Whatever gave you that idea?

Chris,

Didn't the Mk.XXX have two stage Merlins? And the bull nose? Man, that IS ambitious! Are you doing it for this campaign? I'd love to see it!

Michael

Michael, I had the first January week off work and with this ugly winter weather (what winter?) out there, there are only very few options better than spending the time at the bench. But you're right, 19 days is really fast. A few years ago I've build a Tamiya Mossie (1/48) in 3 weeks, so the cat beats it by 2 days .... But this is not my usual speed of building. Normally I need 4-5 weeks for a kit. But the Tigercat is really a smooth kit and the painting is no challenge at all as it is on a He 219 or Bf 110 G-4.

Chris, yes, the speed of a Tigercat is really fanatastic for a propeller aircraft (700 km/h at 6700 meters), the sound of the engines is also awesome. Watching some F7F vids on youtube always makes me drool ....

Okay, now I turn my attention to another great American aircraft, the P-38

Torsten

Progress on the Mosquito NF XVII (I think I've decided on the 409 Sqn. bird).









Typical Tamiya so far, going together great. Except for one thing, the bulkhead aft of the bomb bay. It's forcing the fuselage apart on the bottom. Don't know if this is my fault or the kit's, I started gluing without checking (I know, rookie mistake. Too much confidence in Tamiya I guess). Watch out for this if you're building this kit!

Michael

@Michael: I doubt I could finish it in time! And I plan to build it as carefully as I can so no rushing! (best laid plans etc etc) If you look carefully at the Pic of the mossie the cowls are deeper than the spinner being the secondary air intake for the oil cooler or did they put inter-coolers on the two stage Merlins? LOL I'm not sure

@Torsten: Yes the engine start up watching the wings unfold and the low level pass make you want to own one! LOL along with all the others that I love!

Now I've realised that I haven't posted any progress pics yet and I'm almost done building it! It just went together so easily with such little fuss and I had the time to work on it which helped! I thought I'd post some pics while it's still almost finished! LOL still got weathering and the tail stand to paint so not quite done yet!

















All I can say is that she's starting to look good! Uhmmmm not that I'm biased as such..... really I'm not.

Hi Guys and Girls I've just started on the weathering and from what I've seen it ranges from hardly noticeable to looking like something from a junk yard. But one thing is certain there is plenty of exhaust staining where the exhausts exit so accordingly I've started adding them in. They seem to be quite light almost white to brown close to the exit of the pipes so I've gone for a lightish grey and I'll add a little brown to the area nearest the exhausts. Here's a few pics of the effect so far.

Looking good, Chris. It is always difficult to weather all white or all black aircraft. You have done a great job on it so far.

Looking forward to see more

I've enlisted this campaign thinking about a Gekko i have in my stash for years, but seeing that there is at least one Gekko already underway i'm leaning on another bird... The Ju 88G, coupled with a berlin nose radar dome from Quickboost. I believe i have some decals for this rare bird hidden around somewhere

Hello,

Well as I've already started on two tamiya Mosquitos (FB MK IV/NK MK II and the NFXIII/NFXVII) and several others have already picked that choice I will look at doing a luftwaffe machine,

I have these three in the stash;


However, I have already made a start on the Me262 and He219, so the Ar240 C-2 it is!

Richard,

I don't mean to be a pain, but Steve already proposed an Ar240C-2 and indicated that it was an unbuilt proposal for a prototype aircraft. As such, it seemed to be a "what-if" which the rules don't allow. I'm sorry, but I feel like I need to be consistent.

If the 262 or 219 are only minimally started, I'm more than willing to give one a pass given that we are almost a month in already!

Michael

@Richard: Go with the Me262 Richard I'd love to see what you do with it!
@Jesper: thanks for the kind words Jesper lets see if it goes like I want it too! LOL best laid plans and all that.

Okays guys and Gals here are a few more pics I've finished the weathering all I need to do now is give it a satin coat to tone it down and make it all blend into one.

I just love those big black evil twin-spinner night birds. Looking really nice Chris, great work mate!

Cheers, D

Hiya D! Thanks for the kind words D, yeah there is just something "deadly" about these nocturnal assassins that I just love. I've got a 1/32 scale Beaufighter that I'm going to do as an all black bird I'll be adding all kinds of detail to it as it's Revell's kit and quite devoid of fine detail but it'll allow me to practice my all black paint schemes. LOL and allow me to hone my skills as I've got a Revell/Lodella kit that has conversion parts to turn it into a TFX and I'll be using paint masks for the markings and it will of course be a 489 squadron (RNZAF) Torbeau. Or would you prefer a 455 Squadron (RAAF) Rocket Beau as these two squadrons were in the same Banff strike wing and often flew sorties together?

Looks like we have a lot of Ar240C-2's waiting to be built, as that was my plan as well (same RoG kit as everyone else). I'm building it right now, but my entry will instead be the classic Monogram F-82G in 1/72


Monogram F-82 Twin Mustang 1/72 by mawz_models, on Flickr

The kit is out of my Dad's stash, so it's an original boxing and I'm doing the all-black G version rather than the silver F option. I'll skip adding the bombs (which are actually prototypical, F-82's were used for A2G in Korea, with some G's flying daylight support missions early-on before they were withdrawn).

Hello,

D, Richard, Michael [nice looking Mosquito NF XVII so far], Chris [beautiful looking F7F], Torsten, Jesper, Pedro, Richard [nice collection of nightfighters you have], Adam [nice Flikr photo spread]

Bob

The F-82 just about falls together, rather nice fit in fact.


Monogram F-82G 1/72 by mawz_models, on Flickr

@Bob: Thanks Bob it's a truly nice kit to build and it looks great with a little paint!

@Adam: You're not kidding Adam that's a fast built and it look like you used little or no filler. Looking good fella!

Well folks I'm calling this Cat done! I had a blast it was a very easy kit to build and it all went relatively to plan. So Here she is in all her nocturnal assassins glory, washing machine Charley watch out!

Awesome job on the 'Cat Chris, I love it !

One small thing though, you might want to ding up the crate and barrel a bit mate, try look pristine compared to the Tigercat.

Congrats on a really nice build.

Cheers, D.

Well I finally got a start on the Mosquito. And the cockpit is going together well. The seats are from UltraCast, and I will be using the Eduards Cockpit set.



I cut off the front machine gun barrels to replace them with a set from Master.



For the cannons, I just drilled out the ends.



So next is to add a few wires for the radio, primer, paint, and weather the cockpit.

Good evening,
here is my contribution to the campaign:



I will use this AM parts, maybe I´ll add some resin wheels from eduard:



The kit is some kind of mixed experience. At first it looks impressive in the box, but a closer look reveals lots of flash, some nasty mold lines, sink marks and a strange kind of surface flaws. All in all no big problems, but strange for a brand new kit of a mainstream manufacturer.



Until now I gave the cockpit a basic coat of Model Master RLM 66 and started painting the details.



Next will be the seatbelts and the decals for the instruments.

Greetings
Christian