Hello Folks!
I survived Christmas and can give you a small update.
Assembled and painted the engine of my Bulldog and gave a wash...





... then the same treatment on the exhaust and glued in place...



more (hopefully) soon, Thomas

Nice work on the engine Thomas, looks real good

Okay a small amount of progress with the Pipistrello. Rigged the tail empennage and painted the engine cowls.

Since it's January already I thought I'd better get workingon my model. It is the latest boxing of Airfix's Hawker Fury Mk. I.

Here is a photo of the box and contents (sorry, now i see my camera lens was a little dirty)


Secondly, here is a photo of my old Pyro Fury 1 with some of the decals from the new kit. When I'd built the Pyro model about 6 years ago, I didn't have any decals. I put it aside hoping I'd finds some at little or no cost. Luckily the new Airfix kit has two sets of markings - one for the pre-war Fury in RAF markings and for early WW2 South African aircraft (SA roundels had orange centers, BTW -hence two sets of roundels)It will be done in brown and green camouflage. It will be interesting to compare the two kits, already i know the Airfix fuselage is a touch longer than the Pyro.



With just one month to go, I'd better get building.

I am going to build Hasegawa 1/48 Ju87D-8 'night Attacker' for this campaign.

OK folks, time is running (... what about a fortnight extension on this campaign? Anyone else?)

Got some basic paint on the wings and fuselage of my "Finnish Bristol", done all the struts and add some detailing (clear back light, mountings for the interplane bracings under the top wing). Not sure about the green (should be "slate grey matt"),underside is light blue. For both I used Humbrol acrylics (from those small tins of the Airfix-kits - Note to myself: NOT USE THEM AGAIN!)
Next I try to paint the white roundels for the markings and since I don't have any decals I have to think about how to go on.

Have to bring all the parts together, rigging (?), fixing the gear ( ) weathering etc., this ancient Pyro-kit really shows its age.





Thomas

Hi,

I´m going to begin this campaign with a Tamiya 1/48 Fi-156 Storch,

Pretty good kit the Bulldog is, eh? I built one a few years ago. It turned out well. Only I had to make my own decals. Aluminium and silver. Still, the only 1/48 model kit.

Storch - Kool!

Two weeks to go - next week its full speed on my Hawker Fury.

Into the home stretch gentlemen......

Hi there!
Roundels are basically on as well as the yellow fuselage band. Not 100% happy because the paint didn't bite nice on the basic colour and went also under the mask because of the quite rough surface. Couldn't avoid a light overspray but hope I can blend it with the finish. For my first try on masking roundels it's ok.
The ones on the upper wing should be bigger but for the easy way I chose the same size.
Same as Richard said, I went on to print my own decals. Printed with a InkJet-Printer (had already a plain sheet that I bought once) and sealed with Mr. Metal Primer. Hope this will work as I did it also for the first time.



Thomas

Great job, Chris. The camouflage looks really great. A great inspiration for me as I have this kit unbuilt in my stash. This kit has a soft spot for me since my wife bought it for me on our honeymoon. That confirmed she was the one Still afraid to start the model as I am afraid to ruin it.

Thomas, good progress. Looks to be a great finish.

Here I show you some photos of the advances with the Storch. I began with the cockpit,

Continuing with the Storch,

Alot of great looking builds here guys and gals! Ive had a hard time getting motivated to work on my HS-123 and wont be able to build it to my satisfaction with the other builds I have going.

I had intended to throw the towel in until I recently picked an old Testors 1/72 Ju-87b2, a reboxed heller kit. Its underscale, about 1/75 ive heard and lots of raised detail but I built one as a kid and remember how much I enjoyed it.

My plan is to build it oob with minimal changes, actually I just plan to scrub off the overdone surface detail and call it good. Im not sure which scheme yet, kit decals are for either German or Italian flown in the Balkans, 1941. The german decals are out of register in spots so I may go Italian, where the lack of splinter camo will keep progress moving.

Hope to get photos up soon, photobucket is giving me fits at the moment but for now im off to the bench!

Much better!

... well, less soaking, more caretaking while positioning, better sealing and maybe a sealing coat onto the plain decal sheet before printing - otherwise the colour will disappear ...
Used also Mr.Mark Setter/Softer.
Just tried out on the under wing and then gave the other decals another coat with MicroSol Decalfix. The decals are very thin but the paper is quite thick.
Maybe after some touch ups it´s acceptable.



Thomas

More photos of the cockpit advances,

After having to putty and sand almost every seam got this I-5 painted. All that is left is to do some finishing work and try some weathering.

almost to the finish lines and stumble. I was afraid of this when i saw them and it turned out to be true, the struts for the wings do not fit properly and do not line up with the holes. I think i've got it as goo as its going to get but the back end of the right wings strut does not make contact with the lower wing. going to have to see if i can find a workaround but not happy about it but at this point I just want to be over and done with it

This kit hasn't really endeared me ICM as well

@Casey: I find biplanes to be problematic there are so many variables that can upset the correct alignment of the wings. I've built a few but I've been relatively lucky so far that the struts et al have all lined up for me. I've seen a couple of jigs specially designed for biplanes and I think I should really invest in one but I've never quite been able to justify the expense. I have however on occasion used Lego to build a simple jig that seemed to work. Do you have any plastic rod that would suffice to make a new strut? Or can you stretch some sprue perhaps?


Well after much deliberation I've decided that I'm not going to bury my camo job under weathering and dirt. I'm pleased with the way it turned out so I'm going to leave it factory fresh. Here are the pics of the finished article. I'll post some to put up in the campaign gallery a little later on. It's been an awesome campaign guys my thanks for the company over my build.

I had a little trouble with the rigging where I rested my finger against it inadvertently and stretched it on one side. However the old trick of using a heated screwdriver to heat the synthetic thread and cause it to shrink worked a treat! You couldn't tell that it had been stretched at all fortunately.

So, heading into the last week of the GB, here are some photos of my progress on my Airfix 1/48 hawker Fury Mk.I.

First the cockpit, not much to see when the pilot is installed, which i like to do as often as i can in my models - it adds a sense of scale.



Next, fuselage closed up, tail cleaned up, the engine cowl doesn't fit all that well - a bit of filler and filing required. It never fit right.



Cowl put on - see the gap - I put the top wing on temporarily too - Airfix had the cabane struts all joined and arranged so that top wing assembly would be easy - unfortunately the locating stubs were non-existent and I had trouble actually gluing on the top wing because of it. I set the top wing and tailplanes on just to get a sense of the finished aircraft. Pretty sleek aeroplane.




Next - after priming and putting on coat of brown for the camo, I started masking - (I hate this part)




I glued on the top wing -



Some notes - I liked the way Airfix made an 'assembly' of the cabane struts - it helped to align the top wing for gluing, which is always a difficult part of building a biplane model. Kudos for that. Also, the undercarriage is also an 'assembly' the legs are joined and are slotted into the bottom of the fuselage - the radiator mounts on top of the slot so no filler is needed. Kudos again.

The cockpit almost finished,

Progress update, Ju87D-8 ready to paint.

Despite the angularity and sharpness of the lines, the Ju 87 was (is) a graceful looking aircraft. I am a little biased though - I have a soft spot for Junker's designs.

Well then Richard I have good news for you, more Stuka!



The heller kit is coming along nicely, fit isnt too bad though the tail seems a hair off. The wings glued up nicely and the dihedral looks about right. A dry fit of the canopy pieces also was promising as was fitting of the spats, although they are staying off for now. Once the tail planes and struts are on and dive flap and brakes, it'll be paint time, hopefully tomorrow evening

Chris,

Great Build!
I love Italian camo schemes, well done.

BZ

Jeff