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World War II
Discuss WWII and the era directly before and after the war from 1935-1949.
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1/32 Czech FA2-3 Buffalo
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 - 06:23 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel,
It looks great! Your canopy framing looks precise and clean. Glassy and not plastic-like at all. Did you dip it in Future, or some other chemical and process?

Keep it up!

Gary


Gary,
Thank you. As for the glass, this time I elected not to dip it in Pledge, but I just lightly polished it with Scratch X 2.0, a car detail scratch remover and a soft cotton cloth.
Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 - 06:27 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Now that is looking good Joel


Mal,
Thank you for stopping by and appreciating my efforts. This is the 1st time that I've actually tried to model right through weathering a specific aircraft, and on a specific day.
Joel
Redhand
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Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 - 10:02 PM UTC
It DOES look great, but do not forget that little, solid hatch on the bottom left forward side of the after greenhouse. It should be there, on the lower part of the first glass panel, right?
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 - 10:51 PM UTC

Quoted Text

It DOES look great, but do not forget that little, solid hatch on the bottom left forward side of the after greenhouse. It should be there, on the lower part of the first glass panel, right?


Brian,
Thanks for stopping by. I sure do appreciate your input. And yes, that hatch is the access from the outside to the raft container right behind the seat. It's been an issue since day one, and I should have come to terms with it then. But like most things I do, I put it off till now. I could have painted the backside in the glass before I glued it in place, but oh no that would have been the smart move.

At 1st I thought that I'd just make the hatch cover out of .040 sheet. It's easy enough to paint and a drop of glue would hold it in place, but you'd see the back of it through the green house glass. So now I'm thinking that I'll make two hatches out of Tamiya tape, one faded from the outside elements, and one fairly clean, as it will be the inside of the hatch.

Joel
jimmaas
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Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - 04:30 AM UTC
The hatch is the access to the extra fuselage fuel tank unique to the F2A-3, port side only. Here's an idea: cut some clear decal into appropriately sized rectangles. (More than one because decals, well, fold when you do delicate things.) Paint Blue Gray, Then paint interior color. Apply to the inside of the rear canopy. Although the 'outside' of the fuel hatch will be glazey (since it is inside the rear canopy glass) that won't matter since the area is already covered by the sliding canopy.
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - 06:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

The hatch is the access to the extra fuselage fuel tank unique to the F2A-3, port side only. Here's an idea: cut some clear decal into appropriately sized rectangles. (More than one because decals, well, fold when you do delicate things.) Paint Blue Gray, Then paint interior color. Apply to the inside of the rear canopy. Although the 'outside' of the fuel hatch will be glazey (since it is inside the rear canopy glass) that won't matter since the area is already covered by the sliding canopy.


Jim,
Thanks for the information, and idea on how to make it. Sure would have been a whole lot easier if I planned this out earlier in the build.

Your book has been my bible throughout the build, many thanks for your efforts. But now I'm really confused once again. I thought I read that the hatch was to get to the raft container. You wrote under the line drawing that it's to access the emergency rations which I assumed were in the front of the raft container, or attached to it. Is there another hatch I don't know about?

I've just started working on the prop, and I'm already undecided about the prop tips. You sent me a picture with a -3 under camo netting that clearly shows the tri-color tips, but many were also converted to yellow tips. Just about every painting of M-15 has yellow tips, but that doesn't mean anything. I've never seen an actual photograph of the plane before, during, or after the Battle of Midway. At this point I'm inclined to go with the Yellow tips just for the sake of conformity.

Joel
jimmaas
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Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - 07:26 PM UTC
It's a toss-up on the prop tip colors. Marine aircraft on Hawaii in early 1942 were predominantly red-yellow-blue. F2A's used as trainers in 1942 and even 1943 again predominantly show red-yellow-blue. Photos of VMF-211 F2A-3's being retrieved from Palmyra in July 1942 show yellow tips. I'd be inclined to go red-yellow-blue just to emphasize that the Brewster was from an earlier era. But yellow alone is easier to model
Redhand
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Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - 09:24 PM UTC
My two cents is go with the tri-color, "earlier era" tips.
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - 10:22 PM UTC
Wow!!

This is sure one tough crowd. I just shot the prop blades Nato black, and the hub assembly with a flat black base coat, then Tamiya Flat Aluminum to help bring out the shadows in the recesses nooks and crannies.

So due to popular demand, I'll go with the tri-color tips. Looks like I went from one paint session to 4 to do the tri-color tips as I have to prime them with a flat white 1st.

I just made the access hatch out of masking tape, then painted and weathered it. looked a little rough texture wise, and off in color, but once I put on the sliding canopy, and moved back to normal viewing distance as it would be seen in my display case, it looks just fine. Actually you hardly notice it.



Also got around to finishing the landing light under the wing. I painted it chrome, then made the lens out of three applications of Microscale Krystal Klear.



Now on to the wing tip lights, and then back to the engine.

Joel

magnusf
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Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 01:27 PM UTC
Lovely Joel!

Wheel- and gear detail work is very nicely done and I like the fading you did on the elevators and rudder a lot! I'll keep that for future reference !



Magnus
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 08:48 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Lovely Joel!

Wheel- and gear detail work is very nicely done and I like the fading you did on the elevators and rudder a lot! I'll keep that for future reference !



Magnus


Magnus,
Thanks so much for stopping buy, and appreciating the details of the build, especially the weathering and fading of the paint.
Joel
FlorinM
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Posted: Thursday, July 16, 2015 - 09:48 AM UTC
Everything you've done so far is first class, not that much left to do and it's done!
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, July 16, 2015 - 08:57 PM UTC
Florin,
Thanks so much for stopping by, and liking my efforts to date. And yeah, I'm almost at the finish line, but I still have to detail the engine assembly, and then install it in a somewhat complicated scaled down mounting system.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 01:56 AM UTC
Got a little more work done over the last few days.

I managed to paint and install the motor mount assembly. Unlike most of the other interior assemblies, this one fit nearly perfectly.



Then I started to build the prop. Naturally, I was back to dry fitting till everything fit properly.



I finished painting the engine, added ignition wires, then glued on the engine bulkhead that the cowling will attach to. The prop was painted Nato Black. After looking at several more pictures, the vast majority of F2A-3s have Yellow tips, so I went that way. Ok, it was the easier way out.


Then I test fitted the engine assembly to the fuselage. Needed some adjustments, especially where the MGs go through the cowl. But in the end, it looks pretty good.



Not much left to do other then small details, so I'm so close to the finish line that I dare think about my next build; Eduard's 1/48 scale Scooter.

Joel



mrockhill
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Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 06:17 AM UTC
Wow Joel, its looking sweet I cant wait to see it finished!
GazzaS
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Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 11:08 AM UTC
Looks great, Joel. Love the engine detail!

Gary
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 06:50 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Wow Joel, its looking sweet I cant wait to see it finished!


Mike,
Thanks so much for stopping by and liking what you see. The F2A-3 is actually finished now. I'll be taking a set of completion pictures later today. All I can say is that it's been one heck of a journey for this old man.
Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 06:53 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Looks great, Joel. Love the engine detail!

Gary


Gary,
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my build. Glad that you like what I've accomplished.

In 1/32 scale the molded in engine detail complimented by kit parts and some wiring really makes for a quite well detailed engine. That was one of the things I was looking forward to with this build. And I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 12:11 AM UTC


Well, it's with mixed emotions that I've crossed the finish line and have put to rest my F2A-3 Buffalo build. This build has had several 1sts for me:

Building a 1/32 scale aircraft model: F2A-3 Buffalo
Building a multi media limited run kit: By Czech.
Modeling a aircraft for a specific pilot on a specific day:
Capt. William C. Humberd of VM-221 flying MF-15 on June 7, 1942, during the Battle of Midway.
Weathering my build as closely as possible to reflect how it most likely looked. There are no actual pictures of that aircraft for that day, rather a very famous painting of his shooting down of a A6M2 Zero, for which he awarded the Navy Cross.



As I said at the start of my build, the Buffalo in its final configuration for the Navy and Marines; The F2A-3, was not a well liked combat aircraft. Being slow, and less maneuverable then it's predecessors, was delegated to trainer status right after Midway.

I hope that those of you that followed my build, enjoyed my adventures, and my presentation as I went through this often very challenging model. And here are the final set of pictures for my F2A-3 build.

Joel




























Redhand
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 12:38 AM UTC
Wonderful build. Gotta love that R-1820!
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 12:59 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Wonderful build. Gotta love that R-1820!


Brian,
Thanks so much for appreciating my efforts with this build. The Big R-1820 engine was more like a little kit. Very nicely detailed, so all I really added was the ignition wires and a heavy dose of Matt Varnish.

Joel
Merlin
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 01:36 AM UTC
Hi Joel

Lovely job on a kit we don't see that often! Now let's get it on the Frontpage where it belongs.

All the best

Rowan
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 01:45 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel

Lovely job on a kit we don't see that often! Now let's get it on the Frontpage where it belongs.

All the best

Rowan


Rowan,
Thank you so much for your most positive thoughts. As per my usual efforts of late, I'll be doing a Feature Article this week.

I certainly have to agree that the Czech kit is rather uncommon these days, and it certainly was a real challenge to build. But boy does it look great in it's display right next to my 1/48 Spitfire IXc. This winter I just might build a 1/32 scale A6M2 Zero to go next to the F2A-3.

Joel
thegirl
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 05:15 AM UTC
Super job Joel




Terri
mrockhill
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Posted: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 06:52 AM UTC
Beautiful job Joel! She looks to be worth the wait, the engine really stands out as does you excellent weathering.
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