OSPREY MASTERCLASS
The essential guide for the serious modeller
AIRCRAFT MODELLING BRETT GREEN
A complete guide to building and finishing Hundreds of colour photos Step-by-step instructions Techniques for the expert Ideas for more creative modelling Create realistic & eye-catching models © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
OSPREY MASTERCLASS
Aircraft Modelling
Brett Green Series editor Marcus Cowper
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First published in 2010 by Osprey Publishing Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford OX2 0PH, UK 44-02 23rd St, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA E-mail:
[email protected]
Editor’s note Unless otherwsie noted, all images are from the author’s collection.
© 2010 Osprey Publishing Limited All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers. ISBN 978 1 84603 932 4 E-book ISBN: 978 1 84603 933 1 Editorial by Ilios Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK (www.iliospublishing.com) Page layout by Myriam Bell Design, France Index by Alison Worthington Originated by PDQ Media, Bungay, UK Printed in China through Worldprint Ltd
Acknowledgements I am delighted to be able to present Roy Sutherland’s beautiful 1/48-scale Spitfire Mk 24 in this new Osprey Masterclass title. Thanks to Mick Evans also, for his very attractive full-sized resin gunsight and control column models in the Messerschmitt Bf 109 chapter. I am very grateful to Eduard, MPM, Tamiya, Tail Boom, Afterburner Decals, Red Roo Models and J.B Wholesalers for the many of the kit, accessory and decal products used between these covers. Dr Charles E. Metz came through again with some useful suggestions about references for this project. Rodger Kelly took the wonderful in-action photos of the Royal Maces F/A-18 Super Hornets aboard Kitty Hawk on her last cruise in 2008. Thanks Rodger. And last but certainly not least, thanks to my wife Debbie and our children, Charlotte and Sebastian, for their continuing indulgence.
10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.© Osprey Publishing. Access to this book is not digitally restricted. In return, we ask you that you use it for personal, noncommercial purposes only. Please don’t upload this pdf to a peerto-peer site, email it to everyone you know, or resell it. Osprey Publishing reserves all rights to its digital content and no part of these products may be copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise (except as permitted here), without the written permission of the publisher. Please support our continuing book publishing programme by using this pdf responsibly.
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CONTENTS Introduction
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Chapter 1
Building a state-of-the-art injectionmoulded kit straight from the box
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Chapter 2
Building a new generation limited-run kit
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Chapter 3
Working with resin conversions
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Chapter 4
Improving a simple snap-together kit
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Chapter 5
Working with large-scale resin kits
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Chapter 6
Building a current generation long-run injectionmoulded kit
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Chapter 7
Upgrading an older kit with resin cockpit and wing fold
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Chapter 8
Converting a model kit the old-fashioned way
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Chapter 9
Kitbashing two mediocre kits for a better result
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Chapter 10 Improving detail on an accurate injection-moulded plastic kit
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Chapter 11 Upgrade and conversion using resin and photo-etch 150 Chapter 12 Adding detail to an older kit
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Chapter 13 Sources and references
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Index
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INTRODUCTION
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I NTRODUCTION uilding scale model aircraft is an absorbing pastime that can encompass a broad range of interests and skills. A proficiently wrought scale model can evoke a period in history, or represent an attractive addition to the mantelpiece. Despite competition from hi-tech leisure pursuits and the spiralling cost of mainstream manufacturing, the hobby of scale aircraft modelling has reached a pinnacle of variety and quality. Thanks to new short-run plastic
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injection-moulding technologies and the superiority of resin details, modellers in the 21st century can build an impressive replica of almost any military aircraft that ever flew. With the emergence of the Internet, we have access to technical and historical resources that earlier generations could only dream of. The Internet also puts us in real-time contact with other modellers and historians across the globe. There has never been a better time to build plastic models. It would appear that there is a new modelling sunrise in the east – both Eastern Europe and Asia. Eastern Europe, and the Czech Republic in particular, has long been a rich source of limited-run kits and aftermarket accessories for desirable, rare and esoteric aircraft subjects. From the years before the fall of the Iron Curtain, companies such as MPM and Eduard
produced kits in vacform, resin and low-pressure injection-moulded plastic. Back in the 20th century, most of these kits were pretty challenging to build and quite basic in their presentation, leaving the addition of detail parts up to the modeller. Today, we are hard pressed to pick out the products of these companies from those of some long-established model companies from the west. This is a genuinely new category of plastic models – no longer the rough representations of past years. What this new generation of limited-run models lacks in terms of locating pins, they more than make up for with the provision of resin and photo-etched detail parts, high-quality markings and previously unavailable subjects. Some proficiency is still required, but these kits are not beyond the skill of the moderately experienced modeller.
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In the last decade, China’s hobby industry has been transformed from a producer of toys to a major modelling force to be reckoned with. Companies such as Trumpeter and Hobby Boss are churning out an unprecedented number of new releases with an emphasis on large-scale and spectacular subjects. This period is not without its growing pains, as the Chinese companies in particular struggle with chronic accuracy problems and inconsistent pricing policy. However, these issues will likely be ironed out in the coming years. Meanwhile, the traditional market leaders such as Tamiya and Hasegawa continue to raise the bar for plastic aircraft models. In particular, Tamiya has recently released a 1/32-scale Spitfire Mk IX with a remarkable level of
detail and engineering innovation. Many commentators claim that this is the best plastic model aircraft ever released. We can be sure that future releases will incorporate many of the innovations found in this new Spitfire. The aftermarket industry moves ahead in leaps and bounds too. While companies such as Eduard and Aires enter a new phase of almost mass-production with ambitious release schedules and remarkable quality, the cottage industry is also thriving at the other end of the scale. The best of both of these categories share a high level of detail and minimum preparation for parts that will greatly enhance or convert your plastic aircraft models. This new Masterclass title will examine all these categories of kits and accessories, and provide
step-by-step illustrated examples for getting the most out of your plastic. We will look at state-of-the-art plastic kits from Japan built straight from the box; and we will take a walk down memory lane to update a venerable Monogram kit using some old-fashioned modelling techniques. We will build a limited-run Czech Spitfire Mk Vc, and also use resin parts to convert Tamiya’s Spitfire to the same variant. What is the easiest approach? We’ll discuss that in Chapters 2 and 3. These projects are supplemented with reference photos of the real thing too, so you can see how your model should look upon completion. In total, we present ten start-to-finish projects to demonstrate both basic and advanced modelling techniques. Brett Green
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CHAPTER 1 • BUILDING
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B UILDING
A STATE - OF - THE - ART INJECTION - MOULDED KIT STRAIGHT FROM THE BOX There has been no shortage of 1/48-scale Zero kits in recent history. Hasegawa released their 1/48-scale A6M family during the 1990s. These were accurate and well-detailed kits, eventually covering virtually all variants from the A6M2 to the A6M8.
rior to Hasegawa, we have seen 1/48-scale Zero kits from Lindberg, Monogram and Arii/Otaki. Tamiya also released an A6M5c Zero back in the early 1980s. This featured a combination of raised and recessed panel lines and a nicely detailed cockpit. Tamiya’s older Zero remains a respectable kit today, and is still widely available. It was therefore quite a surprise in 2008 to hear that Tamiya was planning a brand new A6M5/5a Zero in 1/48 scale.
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To be perfectly honest, I have not always been terribly inspired by Japanese subjects. However, as soon as I opened the box of Tamiya’s new Zero, I knew that I was looking at something special.
TAMIYA’ S 1/48SCALE A6M5/5A Z ERO IN THE BOX Tamiya’s new 1/48-scale A6M5/5a Zero comprises 115 parts in grey plastic; eight parts in clear; four standing pilot figures made up of 21 additional
grey plastic parts; polythene caps; a self-adhesive canopy masking sheet and decals for three marking options. Moulding quality is perfect. Surface detail is mainly by way of very finely recessed panel lines, with some subtly raised fabric strips on control surfaces. Selected rows of subtle rivets are present along some of the panel lines. The detail is extraordinary. The wheel wells are authentically deep and busy. The engine is made up of only six parts, but this engineering simplicity does not compromise detail. Cooling fin detail is crisp, and a separate row of pushrods makes painting a breeze. The cockpit is the best I have seen in a 1/48-scale plastic kit. The seat is realistically thin and lightening holes are all present and correct. Sidewall detail is deep and accurate, with the various quadrants and boxes added from separate parts.
Tamiya’s new 1/48-scale A6M5/5a Zero is a beautifully detailed kit and a pleasure to build.
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The floor features a separate clear viewing window. The instrument panel is a minor masterpiece, mounted on the front of the ammunition bins and with the gun breeches included. The panel features decal instruments, which look fantastic if carefully aligned. Options include the choice of open or closed cowl flaps, open or closed landing flaps and two styles of drop tank. A number of detail differences between the A6M5 and the A6M5a are also accurately portrayed. Polythene caps are used to secure the propeller assembly and the drop tank. The clear parts are thin and completely free of distortion. The canopy is supplied in three parts, and the centre sliding section will fit well in either the closed or open positions. Other clear parts include wing tip navigation lights and the nicely detailed reflector gunsight.
Markings are supplied for three aircraft – two A6M5s and a single A6M5a. All aircraft are finished in IJN Green and IJN Grey. The decals are in register and opaque. In addition to the aircraft markings, the decal sheet includes printed harness straps for the pilot’s seat. Two decal sheets are included. The first contains Hinomaru flags (the national flag of Japan) and individual aircraft markings, while the second includes mostly stencil markings. In addition to the aeroplane and a seated pilot figure, Tamiya supplies four standing Japanese pilot figures, each sporting different flight gear. Two of the pilots are wearing Samurai swords. The figures are very well detailed. A self-adhesive canopy-masking sheet rounds out the package. This is manufactured from material similar to the current Eduard masks and Tamiya masking tape.
Most of the detail parts may be painted before they are removed from the sprues. This is thanks to the thoughtful placement of sprue attachment points on the edges or rear of parts.
The outlines of the canopy frames are marked on the sheet but they are not die cut. You will have to carefully cut the frames out of the sheet with the aid of a sharp hobby knife and a ruler.
A6M Z ERO FIGHTER ‘D ETAIL U P ’ PARTS SET Tamiya has also released separately a small multimedia upgrade for their new 1/48-scale Zero. This comprises a photo-etched fret with harness straps, undercarriage indicators and wheel chocks, three turned-metal parts (20mm cannon barrels and pitot tube) and a coil of copper wire representing rope for the chocks. The Tamiya Zero can certainly be completed with decal harness straps and the plastic cannon barrels and pitot tube, but this Detail Up set adds an appropriate touch of class to an already superlative model.
Literally all of the cockpit, engine and wheel well parts were fully painted and weathered while still on the sprues. This makes handling easier during painting, and minimizes the risk of losing small parts.
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C ONSTRUCTION I was not planning to build this kit straight away, but when I lifted the lid I was inexorably drawn into action. ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘maybe I will just paint some of the parts on the sprue.’ Famous last words – there is no way I could stop once I had started. Tamiya’s helpful planning means that virtually all of the interior components – cockpit, engine and wheel wells – can be entirely painted before a single part is cut from the sprues. This is thanks to the sensible location of sprue connectors on the sides and rear of most parts. Pre-painting the interior components in this way will eliminate the risk of losing parts, and make it much easier to handle the parts during painting. I followed Tamiya’s suggestion and used their new IJN Cockpit Green, colour number XF-71, as the basecoat for the cockpit parts and
the fuselage sidewalls. I also adopted the formula for the Aotake (green bamboo) wheel wells provided in the kit instructions – three parts Tamiya X-13 Metallic Blue and one part X-25 Clear Green. I was a little doubtful about the combination of the clear and metallic acrylic paints, but the colour covered well and looked great on the plastic. The engine cylinders were sprayed using Alclad II Aluminium, and the crankcase was painted grey. With this quilt of different colours on the sprues, the next step was to apply an oil wash. A thin wash of lamp black and raw umber oil paints was mixed and applied selectively along the edges of structural detail on the interior sidewalls, cockpit parts, engine components and wheel wells. The sprues were then set aside to dry overnight. The following day the oil wash had settled into the various crevices and natural shadow areas,
emphasizing depth and leaving the general impression of grime. Now the detail parts were picked out with a fine brush and acrylic paints. The kit instrument panel is a solid plastic part with raised bezels and flat dials. Instrument detail is supplied on the decal sheet. I dipped the painted and weathered instrument panel in Future floor polish in preparation for the decal dials. After a few hours, the main instrument cluster decal was applied in one piece to the panel. At first, the decal seemed stiff and unyielding, but a brushed coat of Solvaset decal setting solution quickly helped the previously recalcitrant markings conform to the raised detail. This process was repeated for the two smaller instrument clusters at the top of the panel and on the side console. When the decals had set, I sprayed the instrument panel
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The engine is made up of only six parts, but detail is not compromised.
Tamiya’s ‘Detail Up’ multimedia set was used to enhance the basic kit. The stainless-steel photo-etched set was annealed over a candle for a few seconds to soften the metal. Note the telltale discolouring of the metal after this treatment.
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with Polly Scale Flat Clear, and then applied a drop of Future floor polish to the lens of each instrument. I was generally very happy with the effect, but I did not line up the decals perfectly with all the dials. Next time, I will punch the instruments from the decal sheet and apply each one individually. Before assembling the painted cockpit parts, I added the photoetched harness from Tamiya’s Detail Up set. These parts appear
to be made of thin stainless steel. I was concerned that this material might not be sufficiently flexible for the harness straps to be bent into natural draping poses, so I annealed the metal before removing the belts from the fret. This is a fast and easy process. I simply held the small photo-etched fret over a household candle for a few seconds, and then dipped it in cool water. You can tell when the metal has been annealed, as
the shiny metal discolours to shades of orange, brown and blue. The treated fret was prepared for painting with a coat of clear Tamiya Metal Primer straight from the spray can. The belts were then painted in Gunze Tan acrylic before being cut from the fret. Once annealed, the harness straps were easy to handle, holding their shapes when bent into place. Inevitably, I dropped one of the lap belts on the floor while folding
Tamiya’s A6M5 cockpit is magnificently detailed. The only extra parts are the photo-etched harness straps from the Detail Up set. I did manage to lose one of the lap harness straps. This was replaced with a strip of lead foil.
Instruments are from the kit decal sheet, applied to the painted instrument panel and finished with a drop of Future floor polish on the lens of each dial. Sidewall detail is equally good. Once again, all the detail seen here is straight from the box.
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It is essential to follow the sequence of assembly for the nose. Part C7 is a brace for the upper nose decking. This image shows the correct positioning for this part.
Once the bracing has been installed, the cockpit tub and instrument panel sub-assembly may be inserted through the bottom of the fuselage. I secured the cockpit with Tamiya liquid cement brushed around the edges of the rear bulkhead.
A number of alternate panels are supplied for the different versions of the Zero. These require inserts in the wings and fuselage. The fit of all these inserts is excellent, but all traces of sprue connectors must be eliminated from the edges of the parts prior to assembly.
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The deep wheel wells are positively located with the assistance of two large pins. The mount for the drop tank polythene cap may be seen in the photo too.
There is some minor flex at the wing root. Two clamps were used to ensure perfect alignment between the wing and the root at the fuselage while the glue set.
The forward fuselage is made up of three separate panels. Take your time to ensure that the parts are properly aligned.
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The upper deck is installed first. Note that this part must sit behind and below the raised tab at the front of the fuselage. If this part is accurately positioned, the side panels will fit perfectly.
There were no steps and only a few tiny gaps on the completed airframe. A smear of Tamiya Surfacer was applied to the rear wing root and the bottom stabilizer joins. The excess was wiped off with a fingertip while the liquid was still wet.
A smudge of Tamiya Surfacer was also applied to the wing roots.
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it, and could not find the small brown painted belt on the dark brown carpet under my desk. I therefore cut a replacement from lead foil and installed that instead. The painted cockpit components were now cut from the sprue and assembled. All the parts fitted precisely. The instrument panel is part of a subassembly that slides on to the front of the cockpit floor. The fit is so solid that glue is probably not strictly necessary. The fit of the sidewall components is equally good. The appearance of the finished cockpit is even more impressive than the engineering of the parts. In my opinion, it even pips Tamiya’s 1/48-scale P-47 cockpits – the previous holder of this honour. The fuselage halves can be joined before installing the cockpit tub. A brace is inserted between the nose halves – part C7. This adds rigidity to the nose, and acts as the mounting position for the upper nose deck, part C3. It is important to get the positioning of this upper deck correct or the side panels will not fit properly. Part C3 must be pushed down onto the brace, part C7. This will result in the front of the deck sitting below the raised tab at the front of the fuselage. Check the photos to see how these parts should look when assembled. A number of alternate panels are supplied for the upper and lower wings. These inserts fit
perfectly providing the waste material from the sprue connectors is completely removed from the edges of the panels. The balance of construction was completely trouble free and almost embarrassingly fast, although a little fiddling was required to properly locate the intake assembly underneath the engine cowling. When fitting the wings to the fuselage, I noticed a bit of flex at the wing root that might have resulted in a step between the parts. I clamped the wings while the glue set, resulting in perfect alignment between the wing and fuselage at the wing root. Very little filler was required – just a smear of Mr. Surfacer on the starboard wing root, underneath the horizontal stabilizers and where the trailing edge of the wing meets the bottom of the fuselage. This is one of the best-fitting kits that I have ever built.
PAINTING
AND MARKINGS There is not a lot of variety in the camouflage options for an operational A6M5 Zero – pretty much any colour you want as long as it is IJN Dark Green and IJN Light Grey. Weathering would therefore be important to add some interest to the standard scheme. I wanted to portray an aircraft that had seen heavy use in the punishing Pacific theatre, but I did not want to ‘chip’ the paintwork excessively. I started with the base colours. Tamiya offers IJN Light Grey and Dark Green in its spray can range. I like the toughness of these spray paints, but they can result in an orange peel texture when applied straight from the can. To avoid this problem, these lacquer paints were Tamiya’s IJN Light Grey and IJN Dark Green were decanted from the spray cans into glass jars.
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The spray lacquer paints worked beautifully in my Aztek A470 airbrush, avoiding the possible orange peel effect sometimes encountered when applied straight from the spray can. Here, the light grey lower surfaces have been masked in preparation for painting the green upper surfaces.
The base colour was mottled with two paler shades of green to deliver an irregular effect. The result looks extreme in this photo, but later coats of gloss, flat and weathering will tone the contrast down considerably.
The entire nose may be assembled and painted separate to the airframe. Here, the cowl and propeller assembly have already been sprayed with two glossy coats of Future floor polish in preparation for decals.
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Tamiya’s self-adhesive canopy masks were carefully cut out and applied to the kit’s clear parts.
The insides of the clear parts were masked with Post-it notes, trimmed to size and stuck to the handle of a paintbrush using Blu-Tack for easier handling during painting.
The model has now been sprayed with two glossy coats of Future floor polish. Tamiya’s kit decals performed very well under an application of Solvaset. Note that the mottled appearance has all but disappeared.
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CHAPTER 1 • BUILDING
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The yellow ID stripes on the wing leading edges are supplied on Tamiya’s decal sheet. They are perfectly opaque, fit well and look great. The top of my port side decal was a bit wonky, so I decided to correct it.
A self-adhesive Post-it note was used as a straight edges mask. Dark green was sprayed along this straight edge to correct the upper line of the ID stripe.
The green upper surface camouflage should wrap around the wing leading edges. Post-it notes were also used for this masking task. A short length of tape was used to mask the edge.
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The result was a nice sharp demarcation between the top and bottom camouflage colours in line with the yellow ID stripes. I hand-painted the curved area of the camouflage wrap-around on the lower wing tips.
The main airframe received two thin coats of Polly Scale Flat acrylic before further weathering.
A 50:50 mix of Tamiya acrylic IJN Green and Japanese Interior Green, heavily thinned with alcohol, was sprayed liberally on the wing roots and control surfaces, and in random patches elsewhere. I did not want to simply shade the insides of panels.
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The addition of selected panel line highlighting with semi-gloss black paint, and subtle chipping with a silver pencil, lends more depth to the effect. The main subassemblies have been weathered and prepared for final construction.
More weathering was applied to the bottom wings before completion.
Tamiya’s Detail Up set includes beautiful metal 20mm cannon, with fared barrels and hollow muzzles. These are a lovely finishing touch to this already excellent model.
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The undercarriage legs and gear doors align perfectly. The drop tank is securely held in place with a single polythene cap. The tank may be removed if desired (for refuelling perhaps). Tamiya has perfectly captured the lines of Mitsubishi’s most famous progeny.
The random fading effect, plus pale and dark vertical streaking, has also been applied to the fuselage sides.
The engine cowling has been finished with a coat of Model Master Acryl Semi-Gloss. The different sheen compared to the wings and fuselage adds extra interest to the subject.
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decanted from their spray cans into glass jars. The lower surface was sprayed IJN Light Grey. Demarcation lines were masked off and the upper fuselage and tops of the wings and tail planes were painted IJN Dark Green. The large expanse of IJN Dark Green was broken up with a random mottle of two progressively paler shades. This looked a bit overdone, but experience has shown that gloss and flat coats will considerably subdue the effect later. Sure enough, when I sprayed the model with Future floor polish as a gloss coat in preparation for decals, the mottling virtually disappeared. The engine cowling and propeller assembly were painted separately. Although Tamiya’s decals looked a bit thick on their backing sheet, I decided to give them a go. I was particularly interested to see how the yellow leading edge ID stripes
would look when set. As it turns out, the decals performed very well over the glossy Future coat. Solvaset decal setting solution was brushed over them, eliminating any remaining visible decal film and settling the markings into panel lines and around structural features. The ID stripes looked as if they had been painted on, and with far less time and trouble. However, one of the stripes was not completely straight (my fault), so I set about correcting this obvious problem. A self-adhesive Post-it note was used as a low-tack straight edge. IJN Dark Green was sprayed in several very thin coats along the edge of the straight paper mask, avoiding a build up of paint along the demarcation line. Voila! Problem solved. Post-it notes were also used to paint the Dark Green camouflage that wraps around the leading edges of the wings and tail planes.
After the model had been sprayed with two thin coats of Polly Scale Flat, some of the mottling resurfaced, but the overall effect was still very bland. I mixed a paler version of the upper camouflage colour using equal parts of IJN Dark Green and IJN Cockpit Green, thinned heavily with isopropylene alcohol. My original intention was to just to fade the heavy traffic areas on the wing roots. However, when I had painted these patches with the paler shade of green, I was so happy with the effect that I decided to extend it to random areas on the wings and fuselage. I was careful not to simply shade the insides of panels, as I wanted to avoid a geometric chequerboard. My ‘random’ application was therefore carefully executed using a combination of spots, shapes and mottles, sometimes inside panels and sometimes crossing structural features. Fabric control surfaces received a solid application of the pale green shade. The pale mix was also used to create a series of thin vertical stripes on the rear fuselage. A thin, dark mix of Tamiya Flat Black and Red Brown was now prepared and loaded into the The focus of the fading effect was the wing roots, where the traffic of pilot and crew would have had the greatest impact. A silver pencil has also been used to represent bare metal in the most heavily worn areas.
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The option of dropped flaps breaks up the shape and colour of the finished model.
Tamiya’s 1/48-scale Mitsubishi A6M5/5a kit is an instant classic.
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airbrush. This was used to highlight major structural features such as panel lines on the forward fuselage that would be subject to exhaust fumes and general grime, control surface hinge lines and various spots and streaks on the upper and lower surfaces. Camouflage demarcation lines were softened with this mix too, as was the border between the camouflage colours and the yellow ID stripes on the wings and propeller blades. Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black acrylic paint was thinned with water and applied to control surfaces and major panel lines. A silver artist’s pencil was used to add very selective chipping to the wing root and fuselage sides. Weathering was also applied to the undercarriage parts and drop tank. I wanted to emphasize the different gloss levels between the main airframe and the engine cowling. The cowling was sprayed
with Model Master Acryl SemiGloss for a smooth, satin finish. A few ‘chips’ were also added to the engine coal using Testors’ Metalizer Aluminium applied with the tip of a toothpick. Final assembly was a breeze. The propeller assembly and drop tanks simply pressed into place thanks to the very efficient polythene caps. The canopy, dropped flaps and undercarriage were similarly precise. I used water-based Gator Glue to attach the canopy parts. The metal cannon barrels from Tamiya’s Detail Up set were glued in place. No painting or preparation was required, and they (along with the pitot tube) looked fantastic. Installing the tiny aileron balance horns was left until last, but I still managed to drop one and lose it. This was replaced with the tip of a toothpick glued to two pieces of fine wire.
The antenna wire was cut from smoke-coloured invisible mending thread and secured with two spots of superglue.
C ONCLUSION Although Hasegawa’s A6M family is accurate and quite well detailed, Tamiya’s new kit easily snatches the crown as best 1/48-scale Zero. Tamiya’s A6M5/5a is beautifully detailed, with perhaps the best 1/48-scale cockpit straight from the box seen to date. Options are very useful, and the model is a pleasure to build thanks to the thoughtful planning of Tamiya’s designers. Even if you are not a big fan of Japanese aircraft, you would be doing yourself a favour by sampling the sheer excellence of Tamiya’s new 1/48-scale Mitsubishi A6M5/5a Zero. I do hope that Tamiya will be working through the whole Zero family.
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B UILDING A NEW LIMITED - RUN KIT
GENERATION
The Temora Aviation Museum has not one, but two late-Merlin Spitfires. These are the only two Spitfires in flying condition in Australia.
M ERLIN S PITFIRES CLOSE UP he Museum’s Mk VIII was the last Spitfire taken on charge by the Royal Australian Air Force. It was manufactured in England during 1944, and shipped to Australia where it was delivered to the RAAF in April
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1945. Its RAAF serial number was A58-758. The aircraft was immediately placed in storage and never saw active service. Post-war, this Spitfire was employed by Sydney Technical College as an instructional airframe. Mr Sid Marshall purchased the aircraft in 1982 and
stored it in components Mr Colin Pay of Scone then acquired and restored the Spitfire. After four decades of storage and disassembly, The Spitfire Mk VIII was a later development, but shared many of the characteristics of the Spitfire Mk IXc. This beautifully restored example is displayed at the Temora Aviation Museum.
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Temora’s Spitfire Mk VIII cockpit is mostly original. The configuration is almost identical to that of a Spitfire Mk IXc. Here we can see the instrument panel, slightly overshadowed by a large cover over the modern avionics mounted on the instrument coaming.
The starboard cockpit sidewall is quite bare, as it was on the wartime aircraft.
Black leather cushions are fitted to the Spitfire’s composite seat. We can see the characteristic brown colour of the composite material. Some modern avionics are also visible behind the seat on the starboard sidewall.
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The well of the Spitfire’s floorless cockpit is a jumble of wires, actuators and structural details. The large quadrant and trim wheels may be seen on the port sidewall here too.
Note the slight bulge at the rear of the tail wheel doors to accommodate the tail wheel when retracted. This retractable tail wheel was not fitted to the Spitfire Mk IX.
All Spitfire Mk VIIIs were configured with the universal ‘c’ wing. Most, if not all, Mk VIII Spitfires featured the narrow inboard bulge for the 20mm cannon, plus two .303in. machine guns outboard on each wing.
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Temora is also home to a Spitfire Mk XVIe.
In contrast to the Mk VIII, this Mk XVI is fitted with tubular exhaust stubs.
Main wheels are the later style with four lightening holes.
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Radiator face detail.
This Mk XVIe is fitted with the late-style double-kinked elevators.
A side view of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 70 engine in Temora’s Spitfire Mk VIII. Note the bare copper coolant pipes. The curved oil tank under the engine and the long supercharger intake are obvious from this angle.
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The small bare metal reservoir behind the propeller is the glycol tank. Ethylene glycol was used as the coolant in the Spitfire. Note the circular black filler cap near the top of the tank. Tamiya missed this feature. Also missing from the Tamiya kit is the filler neck for the oil tank. This may be seen in the photo a little more than halfway back on the oil tank, curving upwards.
CHAPTER 2 • BUILDING
The top of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 70.
this marvellous aircraft took to the skies again in 1985. It has been part of the Temora Aviation Museum’s collection since 2002, and regularly takes parts in flying displays. The aircraft is painted in the Ocean Grey and Dark Green camouflage worn by RAAF Spitfires in the South-west Pacific. These markings represent the personal aircraft of Wing Commander R. H. (Bobby) Gibbes AM WG CMR DSO DFC.
The Spitfire Mk XVI was manufactured at Castle Bromwich in late 1944, and undertook its first mission with 453 Sqn RAAF on 24 March 1945 wearing the codes FU-P. After being written off by the Royal Air Force in 1951, this aircraft started a film career, first as a prop in MGM’s 1955 adaptation of the Douglas Bader story, Reach for the Sky, and again 12 years later as a non-flying extra in The Battle of Britain.
Sir Tim Wallis purchased the partially restored airframe in 1987, completing the project and shipping the Spitfire to New Zealand as the centrepiece of the Alpine Fighter Collection. Temora Aviation Museum acquired the aircraft in April 2006. It is currently finished in the colours and markings of its first sorties over the skies of northern Europe with 453 Sqn RAAF.
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S PECIAL H OBBY /C LASSIC A IRFRAMES S PITFIRE M K V C The Spitfire Mk Vc was the first of this famous breed to use the so-called ‘universal’ ‘c’ wing. The ‘c’ wing could be fitted with up to four 20mm cannon or eight machine guns, but the most typical fit was two 20mm cannon and four .303in. machine guns.
The ‘c’ wing armament was also used on the Spitfire Mk VIII, IX, XVI and 18. Although the Spitfire Vc was built in significant numbers, we had not seen this variant produced as a 1/48-scale injection-moulded kit until 2008. Both Classic Airframes and Special Hobby released Spitfire Mk Vc kits in late 2008. The mouldings are identical except
for propeller assemblies and different marking options. In 2009, Eduard from the Czech Republic threw their hat into the ring too, releasing the same plastic sprues supplemented with their own colour photo-etched parts plus a lovely set of resin, hollowed-out flared exhaust stacks. For this project I used the Classic Airframes boxing.
Both Classic Airframes and Special Hobby released this 1/48-scale Spitfire Mk Vc with minor variations in 2008. In 2009, Eduard also released their own boxing of the same plastic sprues with their own colour photo-etched parts.
Limited-run kit parts are usually not labelled on the sprues, and generally require more time and effort to clean up the plastic. I find it helpful to remove and prepare all the parts before commencing construction. Here, the parts have been stored in resealable bags prior to assembly.
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IN
THE BOX Classic Airframes’ 1/48-scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc is a good example of a modern limited-run kit. It comprises 94 parts in grey plastic, nine parts in clear injection-moulded plastic, plus markings for four Spitfires operated by the USAAF. The kit looks fabulous on the sprue, with crisp and consistently recessed panel lines and fasteners, subtle fabric texture on the rudder and elevators, and fine detail parts. There are some spurious raised fasteners moulded prominently just forward of the cockpit on the fuselage sides. These should best be sliced off or sanded back. Moulding quality is very high, with just some fine flash on smaller parts and ejector pin circles on the bottom of the ailerons. The cockpit is well equipped with separate lower sidewalls and structural features moulded in place, The seat mounts and ‘bottomless’ floor are delicately presented. The seat is thin and
looks authentic with its backrest cushion moulded in place. The raised detail on the plastic instrument panel is supplemented with decal dials applied in two layers. These look fantastic and settle onto the panel perfectly after careful placement and a generous coat of Solvaset. I am not entirely sure about the profuse presence of yellow on the dials, but it certainly adds some colour to the area! Cockpit detail is further enhanced by a photo-etched fret. This includes a nice Sutton Harness, rudder toe straps and additional seat detail. The wheel wells are a mixed bag. The leg sections are very well detailed, but the circular main wells are devoid of any structural features. The propeller assembly is the Rotol wooden version with the pointy spinner. Check your references carefully as the Spitfire Vc could be fitted with other styles of de Havilland and Rotol props and spinners. Alternative propellers
are available from several companies including Ultracast and Red Roo Models. Classic Airframes’ Spitfire Vc is packed with options, although many are marked ‘not for use’ in this particular boxing. Even so, with aftermarket decals you might make use of some. These options include: • Three styles of wheel hub (three spoke, four spoke and covered). • Four styles of cannon bulge covers (narrow C, narrow E and two styles of wide C). Different styles of cannon barrels and caps are provided too. • Vokes tropical filter or standard lower cowl. • Separate wing tips. Both standard and clipped are offered. The clipped wing tips are cleverly supplied in clear plastic so the navigation lights may be masked before painting. Ailerons and the rudder are separate, but the elevators are moulded in the neutral position as part of the horizontal stabilizers. Personally, I would have preferred to see the ailerons moulded as part of the wings. Separate elevators would have been nice too. The cockpit entry door is also moulded separately and may be posed open.
Multimedia parts are fairly limited in this release. The cockpit mainly comprises crisply moulded plastic parts, supplemented with a photo-etched Sutton Harness and rudder toe straps.
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The absence of locating aids means that extra care must be taken when aligning and assembling parts. Clamps are very useful to hold parts in place while cement sets. The interior sidewalls are being mated to the inside of the fuselage.
I used an Eduard colour photo-etched instrument panel. The yellow colour of the dials is questionable, but the overall effect is very impressive. Waldron placard decals have also been used to spruce up the front office.
The instrument panel and rear bulkhead are too wide to fit between the cockpit sidewalls. I trimmed the width of these parts after test-fitting to allow the fuselage halves to meet without serious centreline gaps.
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This kit is a joint project between Special Hobby and Classic Airframes, so the bottom of the rear fuselage has a wedge-shaped opening to accommodate the A-Frame tail hook for Special Hobby’s Seafire. On this Spitfire kit, a blank insert is provided to fill the gap. The clear parts are thin and transparent. The decals are beautifully printed and in perfect register.
P REPARATION The Special Hobby/Classic Airframes Spitfire Vc presents some construction challenges, but careful preparation, some minor modifications and the right attitude will minimize the pain and deliver a nice result. Preparation is very important. There is a little more flash (excess plastic) than you might expect to see on a long-run injection-moulded kit from a company like Tamiya or Hasegawa, but this should not be a
serious hurdle. The parts are not numbered on the sprues, so you will need to take some care to keep track of them. For limited-run kits, I generally remove the plastic parts from their sprues and clean them up with a hobby knife and sanding stick before even thinking about construction. This allows me to test-fit the major components – especially the fuselage and wings – and plan for any remedial action well in advance. I then sort the parts into major categories (for example, wing and undercarriage, fuselage and tail planes, cockpit) and pack these into separate plastic bags.
C ONSTRUCTION Not surprisingly, construction commences with the cockpit. Testfitting showed that the instrument panel and rear bulkhead were too wide to fit between the cockpit sidewalls. You can either trim some material from each side of these parts (A8, A26 and, to be safe,
A24), or you might prefer to cut the lower fuselage sidewalls into sections (parts A3 and A29), leaving spaces for the bulkheads to fit in between. I trimmed the sides of the parts for my project. I found that I needed to deviate from the instructions on a number of occasions to ease construction. Here are a few tips for smoothing your modelling travels: • The bottom of the lower fuselage sidewalls may interfere with the fit of the wing. A few millimetres were trimmed off the bottom of parts A3 and A29 to avoid this problem. • The main wheel well parts (C13 and C34) should be glued and clamped onto the bottom wing half before the end caps (parts C24 and C25) are wedged into place. • The cannon bulge inserts fit pretty well, but they will fit even better if you clamp them front and rear while the glue is setting. • Some sanding of the wing roots and general fiddling will improve the fit of the wings to fuselage. I still wound up with a narrow gap on each side, but the dihedral is fine and a little Milliput will fix the situation. A bit of extra time spent checking the fit of limited-run kit parts before committing to glue will save much more time and grief further down the track. The result is quite satisfying when you gaze at the nicely detailed cockpit ensconced between the fuselage halves.
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Wheel wells are supplied as separate parts. These should be clamped firmly to ensure that the top wing parts will fit without gaps.
The wings and fuselage are temporarily secured with clamps and Tamiya masking tape. Tamiya tape has also been stretched from wing tip to wing tip to ensure the correct dihedral and to close the wing root gap.
The Vokes filter under the nose should be modified per this diagram to allow the parts to fit properly. This extra wedge interferes with the fit at the forward lower wing join.
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• More problematic is the relatively large gap (a little more than a millimetre) at the lower trailing edge wing join. I filled this with Milliput White two-part epoxy putty. • The wedge-shaped lower fuselage insert fits very poorly. I positioned mine so there was only a gap to fill on one side. • The Vokes filter (parts G1 and G2) is moulded with a locating aid where the chin meets the wing. I found that the filter fitted
better when this webbing was cut out. A little trimming was also required to improve the fit. I installed one half to the fuselage first, getting it lined up properly before installing the other half. • The horizontal stabilizers fit much better if the locating slots in the fuselage are widened. Once this was done, the fit on mine was perfect. • The ailerons should not be pushed all the way in to the wing hinge. The hinges may also
need some sanding to permit the edges of the ailerons to meet the wing. I used superglue to attach the ailerons to the hinges only. This leaves a noticeable gap between the front of the aileron and the wing, but this is not uncommon on many aircraft. • A little sanding was required to improve the fit of the wing tips, but the result was quite good. • I cut off the mysterious raised fasteners on the fuselage in front of the cockpit. With the surgery performed, the fit is very good. Tamiya Extra Thin Liquid Cement was used. This is a strong and fast drying adhesive that can be applied to closed seam lines. The cement is so thin that capillary action draws it into microscopic gaps.
The horizontal tailplanes will fit much better if the locating slots above the empennage are significantly widened. As moulded, the slot is too short to allow a proper fit.
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One of the vices of limited-run kits is the likelihood of gaps. These two large gaps are on the lower rear fuselage. The lower rear panel is an insert to plug a hole intended for the ‘V’-shaped tail hook on a Seafire Mk II, not used on this version.
Special Hobby has captured the outline of the Spitfire Vc very well.
Minor gaps and steps were dealt with prior to painting. Tamiya Masking Tape was laid down to limit the unwanted spread of putty.
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Milliput White is a two-part epoxy putty that was used to fill these gaps. Milliput may be shaped with a wet finger for up to half an hour after application, does not shrink and sets to the same consistency as the surrounding plastic, so it is easy to sand and polish.
Here are the large gaps on the bottom of the model, filled with Milliput prior to sanding and polishing.
Some of these gaps can be seen after sanding and polishing. The result is a smooth surface returned to the plastic. A slipper tank was borrowed from Tamiya’s Spitfire Vb for the bottom of the fuselage. Plastic strip was added to the wheel wells, representing structural detail.
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The wing root and nose gaps and seam lines have been eliminated here too.
Resin cannon fairings from PD were employed for this project. The flat rear faces of the fairings were drilled out to accept copper locating pins. The corresponding position on the leading edge of the wing was drilled out too.
With the cockpit opening masked, painting got underway with a coat of Alclad Grey Primer applied with the Testor Aztek A470 airbrush. The primer coat revealed a few lingering seam lines at the wing root, so these were sanded, filled with Gunze Mr. Surfacer, sanded again and polished.
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• I added some fine plastic strip on the inside of the main sections of the wheel wells to represent structural detail.
PAINTING With the cockpit opening masked, painting got underway with a coat of Alclad Grey Primer applied with the Testor Aztek A470 airbrush. The primer coat revealed a few lingering seam lines at the wing root, so these were sanded, filled with Gunze Mr. Surfacer,
sanded again and polished. The bottom of the model was painted Mr Color Azure Blue. This is lacquer paint. The base colour for the upper surfaces was Gunze acrylic H72 Dark Earth. The camouflage pattern was drawn onto the upper surface with a 2B pencil. The disruptive camouflage pattern was then applied freehand with the airbrush using Gunze H73 Dark Green. Although the base colours are in place, there is still a long way to go for this paint job.
Masks were cut into wide selfadhesive tape using an Olfa circle cutter. These were applied to the upper wings and fuselage. The circle on the fuselage was used as a locating guide to the open mask. Paler versions of dark earth and dark green were mixed up and sprayed inside the circular masks. Care was taken to match the edges of the darker camouflage pattern. These circles represent overpainting of earlier, larger national markings.
The bottom of the model was painted Mr Color Azure Blue. This is a lacquer paint. The base colour for the upper surfaces was Gunze acrylic H72 Dark Earth. The camouflage pattern was drawn onto the upper surface with a 2B pencil.
The disruptive camouflage pattern was applied freehand with the airbrush using Gunze H73 Dark Green. Although the base colours are in place, there is still a long way to go for this paint job.
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Masks were cut into wide self-adhesive tape using an Olfa circle cutter. These were applied to the upper wings and fuselage. The circle on the fuselage was used as a locating guide to the open mask.
Paler versions of dark earth and dark green were mixed up and sprayed inside the circular masks. Care was taken to match the edges of the darker camouflage pattern. These circles represent overpainting of earlier, larger national markings.
Masking tape was generously applied to the wings and forward fuselage before painting the white leading edge stripes. We don’t want to cover our nice camouflage pattern in white overspray, do we?
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M ARKINGS , WEATHERING AND FINISHING TOUCHES The markings for my model represent 54 Sqn RAF based in Darwin during 1943. Although these markings look like RAAF roundels, this is in fact a British squadron based in the Antipodes. Aeromaster Decals’ 1/48-scale sheet no. 48-667 ‘Aussie Mk.V Spits’ offers these markings. The decals were applied over two coats of Future floor polish. After the markings had
been allowed to dry overnight, several thin coats of Polly Scale Flat Clear toned down the finish The clear canopy parts were masked and sprayed Gunze H73 Dark Green. The frames were also sprayed with Polly Scale Flat Clear before the masking tape was removed. Additional weathering included a selective application of black/brown streaks and spots. With the paint job now complete, the finishing touches including the aerial mast, undercarriage, pilot’s mirror were added.
C ONCLUSION I am very pleased to finally see a decent quality 1/48-scale Spitfire Mk Vc. Classic Airframes’ and Special Hobby’s 1/48-scale Spitfire Vc offerings are well detailed and feature plenty of useful options. Bear in mind that this is a limitedrun kit so you will need to spend some extra time preparing parts, checking fit and making adjustments as required. This kit will not fall together – you will be using your modelling skills. Even so, the extra effort will result in an accurate, attractive kit of this important yet previously neglected Spitfire variant.
Aeromaster decals have been applied over a glossy coat of Future floor polish. The PD resin de Havilland propeller assembly may be seen here too.
Several thin coats of Polly Scale Flat Clear tones down the finish and blends the decals. Note that the fin has also been lightened with the pale camouflage colours.
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The clear canopy parts were masked and sprayed Gunze H73 Dark Green. The frames were also sprayed with Polly Scale Flat Clear before the masking tape was removed.
Additional weathering included a selective application of black/brown streaks and spots.
LEFT: All the finishing touches have now been added – aerial mast, undercarriage, pilot’s mirror.
BELOW: The Special Hobby/Classic Airframes Spitfire Mk Vc really looks the part. A bit more effort is required than your typical long-run injection-moulded kit, but if you are willing to put in the time, the results will be worthwhile.
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W ORKING
WITH RESIN CONVERSIONS The Spitfire Vc was an important variant that saw service in most theatres, but Airfix, Hasegawa and Tamiya all produced their 1/48-scale Spitfire Mk V kits with the ‘b’ wing.
he difference between the Mk Vb and Vc is the wing-mounted armament. These differences are more extensive than it might seem at first glance. On the Vc, the access panels for the guns changed, the position of the upper-wing blister moved forward, the blisters themselves altered shape (in fact, there were several shapes depending on the armament fitted to the new universal wing), the shape of the cannon fairings changed and more. Australians have a particular interest in the Spitfire Vc because the early Spitfire squadrons in the Pacific and at home were all equipped with this mark. Prior to the release of the limited-run Special Hobby/Classic Airframes/Eduard Spitfire Mk Vc kits, the only option for modellers wanting this variant was a conversion. Probably the best of these is Red Roo Models 1/48-scale Spitfire Vc resin conversion set. Indeed, some modellers simply do not like limited-run models
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and would prefer to work with a long-run injection-moulded kit and resin conversion parts. Fortunately, this resin set is still available so the choice is entirely up to you. Red Roo Models’ 1/48-scale Spitfire Vc conversion comprises 14 parts in caramel and cream coloured resin. It is designed for the Tamiya kit. In addition to the wings, Red Roo supplies a tropical filter and a replacement propeller and spinner, alternate cannon bulges, barrels and a new oil cooler intake. The casting quality of all the parts is very high. The panel lines and fine details look good compared to the Tamiya kit parts. The conversion addresses most of the differences between the ‘b’ and the ‘c’ wing, but there are still a few accuracy issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, and most noticeably, the inner machine gun on the ‘c’ wing moved one rib further out, so instead of lining up with the inner end of the aileron, the access door should be outboard
of that panel line. This panel should be rescribed for those who want complete accuracy. Also, the gear legs canted further forward on the Vc aircraft. This should be an easy fix – shim the locating pin at the top of the gear legs and adjust the alignment in accordance with reference photos.
TAMIYA’ S 1/48SCALE S PITFIRE MK VB Tamiya signalled their intention to return to 1/48-scale aircraft production with their 1993 release of their Spitfire Mk I. Their Spitfire Mk Vb followed in 1994. Tamiya was clearly focused on creating a model that was simple to build but uncompromising in detail. They succeeded. Tamiya’s 1/48-scale Spitfire Vb comprises 59 medium-grey styrene parts on two sprues and ten clear parts. Decals are provided for two aircraft. The instructions are well presented and very straightforward. Options in this kit include a choice of windscreen and main
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A limited-run model kit is not your only choice for building a Spitfire Mk Vc. In this project, Tamiya’s Spitfire Mk Vb has been converted to the ‘c’ wing variant.
canopy parts, alternate positions for the cockpit door and two styles of wheel hubs. Surface detail is superb. Panel lines are crisply engraved. The width of the panel lines varies, just as on the real aircraft. For instance, the chunky panel lines of the engine cowl are fearlessly depicted. The quick-release fasteners on the cowl are also beautifully rendered. The cockpit is adequate for this scale but the seat is a bit thick and oversimplified. The Spitfire did not
have a cockpit floor. The kit deals with this feature by using a single part with footrests and framing moulded above a false partial floor. This looks fine in the dark recesses of the bottom of the cockpit. The wings feature integrally moulded cannon barrels. If you are building this as a Mk Vb, care is required not to damage these parts during assembly. The wheel bulge is moulded on top of the wing halves creating a realistic wheel well. Some sources suggest that these bulges are not authentic, but I have several wartime photos of Spitfire Vs that clearly show them in place. However, the two
reinforcement strakes on each wing are a museum feature and will have to be removed. There are a few ejector-pin marks on the inside surfaces of some parts. Fortunately these are all out of sight once the kit is assembled.
C ONVERSION Construction is quite straightforward. The lower wing on each side must be cut off outboard of the wheel well. The new resin wing then replaces the plastic upper wing and the outer portion of the lower wing. In fact, this method is similar to a resin
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Red Roo Models released a resin Spitfire Mk Vc conversion comprising 14 resin parts. The main elements were the replacement wings. These were cleverly designed to overlap the bottom wing, ensuring a strong bond.
Surgery to the kit is essential. Here, self-adhesive Dymo tape has been applied as a guide to cut the bottom outer wings from the centre section. A scribing tool is being used to start the cutting line.
The cuts are finished off with a sharp hobby blade. This is a small Olfa knife. It is important to score lightly and repeatedly to remove the excess plastic.
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The top of the resin wing parts overlaps what remains of the bottom of the plastic wing. See the structural detail cast onto the bottom of the upper wing inside the wheel wells.
The resin wings have been clamped to the bottom wing while the superglue thoroughly sets. The fuselage and wing assemblies have only been taped together to check for possible problems later in construction.
Tamiya’s cockpit detail is reasonably good, and the configuration is certainly close enough to the Mk Vc as to make little difference. The only additions were an Ultracast resin seat with cast-on harness and decals for the instrument dials.
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The fuselage halves may be joined with the cockpit floor and bulkheads inserted from underneath afterwards. The decals for the instrument dials are quite effective.
The central cockpit elements have been pressed into place through the large opening in the bottom of the fuselage.
The next stage of construction was crucial. The bottom centre section of the wing was carefully aligned and glued to the assembled fuselage.
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Now the large resin wings were attached to the lower centre section using superglue. The gaps and misalignments will be dealt with shortly.
The bottom centre section protrudes slightly beyond the trailing edge of both resin upper wings.
A number of narrow gaps remained after the resin parts were installed. The most noticeable of these were where the resin and plastic sections of the wings met. This area was first masked then filled with Milliput White.
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The filler has been sanded flat here. A little extra work at this time results in a more professional finish when the model has been painted.
Cannon fairings, the spinner cap and wing bulges are supplied in cream coloured resin. The bulge is actually too tall, but I picked this up after installation – too late to do anything about it.
conversion available years ago (and now long out of production) by Bringuier Aviation Products. The benefits of this method of replacement are that the bond between resin and plastic is very secure, the dihedral is guaranteed, there is only one join to fill and it is quite simple. Details such as the bulges and cannon barrels are simply glued on to the resin wing. Instructions are supplied on a double-sided A4 sheet of paper.
The text and diagram do a good job of outlining the potential problems and solutions associated with this project. In particular, the instructions talk about the need to fill a small gap in the sidewall of the wheel well when the outer wing is removed.
PAINTING Unlike many post-war British and Commonwealth aircraft, this Spitfire
was not painted silver. It was stripped back to bare metal. A bare metal finish has a unique appearance, quite different from painted silver. The reflectivity of the surface may vary on the same airframe from very shiny in some areas to very dull in others. Alloys used on different panels may be distinctly different shades. Oxidization or staining may form on unprotected surfaces. The result might be a patchwork of different
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metallic effects on a single airframe. This may be one of the most demanding and exacting finishes that a modeller will ever attempt. Preparation is the key. The metallic finish will only be as good as the surface over which it is sprayed. If the surface of the plastic is less than completely perfect, the metallic paint job will amplify any blemishes. Alclad II is a recent range of metallic lacquers that does
not require thinning or any protective coating. A very wide selection of metallic shades is available in the Alclad II range. In addition to raw metallics, Alclad also offers various tints and primer coats. Alclad II delivers a very thin coat on the surface of the model. Combined with its metallic sheen, this means that even the tiniest imperfection on the surface of the model will be amplified to
horrifying proportions. Surface preparation is therefore especially important for metallic finishes. The surface of the model should be polished with Micro-Mesh cloths before even a primer coat is applied. After polishing, carefully examine the plastic against the best available light and at different angles. If you can detect any scratches, scuffs or seams, now is the time to eliminate them completely.
A base coat of Alclad Grey Primer exposed a few remaining steps and gaps. These were sanded back prior to the application of the metallic paint. A bare metal finish is the most revealing and least forgiving of all paint jobs!
A new layer of grey primer was sprayed onto the model. The primer was lightly polished to ensure that the surface as perfectly smooth.
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Unlike post-war British and Commonwealth aircraft, this Spitfire was not painted silver. It was stripped back to bare metal. Alclad II Aluminium was used as the base colour. This is a lacquer-based finish with tiny metallic particles, resulting in a very convincing finish.
The rudder on this aircraft was painted foliage green. This was sprayed and the area forward of the empennage masked off in preparation for the white identification markings on the horizontal tail surfaces and the fin.
If you are planning a regular metallic finish, a coat or two of grey primer will be sufficient. If the model is destined to be finished in highly polished chrome, a gloss black primer will be required. Alclad offers both the grey and the gloss black primers in their range. Alclad’s primers and metallic paints seem to produce an especially large and noxious cloud of vapour, so make sure you have adequate ventilation and, ideally, a respirator before you start.
Once the primer coat has been applied, the model should once again be polished and checked for any lingering flaws. After these have been dealt with, we are ready for the first metallic coat. In this case I commenced with Alclad Aluminium Shade A. A fine, misting coat is plenty to start with, and the nozzle of the airbrush should be fairly close to the surface of the plastic – no more than about 10cm away. Alclad dries very quickly when applied properly, so
the model will be ready for the fine second coat almost without pause. Do take care when spraying into the curve of the wing root and other complex shapes, Try to follow the contours with the tip of your airbrush to minimize air turbulence and avoid noticeably grainy finish. When the base shade has achieved complete opaque coverage after two or three coats, set the model aside to completely dry for a few hours. (You really should do this, but I can hardly ever contain my
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The leading edges of the wings were likewise masked for the theatre stripes. The cannon fairings and stubs were painted white too.
Various panels were masked off in advance of spraying a slightly darker shade of Alclad Aluminium. The masking is time consuming, but the spray job is remarkably quick!
The varying metallic shades make a big difference to the finish. The differences are subtle but apparent.
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The last piece of the masking puzzle was a black anti-glare strip on top of the engine cowling.
The metallic finish and the various markings are now complete. One of the advantages of this ultra-smooth metallic finish is that it is usually not necessary to paint a gloss coat before applying decals.
impatience to proceed for more than 15 minutes. Despite my non-compliant behaviour, I have rarely encountered any problems.) Individual panels may now be masked off and sprayed in different shades from Aluminium B through to E. Other metallic shades are available too, including Pale Burnt Metal, White Aluminium, Gold, Copper, Magnesium, Steel and Jet Exhaust. In this case, I only used Aluminium shades B and C for variation. Buffing is not required,
and does not make a huge difference to the sheen of Alclad in any case. In addition to the multi-shade metallic finish, the model was also masked to allow for theatre markings and a few unique attributes. These included a white tail and wing leading edge stripes, and a Foliage Green rudder, probably a replacement from another aircraft. These markings were masked with Tamiya tape, but the tack of the adhesive was reduced by first applying it to my not insubstantial
forehead. As strange as this sounds, it does work! Tamiya acrylic XF-2 Flat White paint was used for the theatre markings. The black antiglare strip above the engine cowling was also masked and sprayed, this time using Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black.
D ECALS Decals were sourced from Red Roo Models too, item no. RRD4831 ‘Spitfire Vc, 85 Sqn RAAF, LateWar’. They performed perfectly right on top of the Alclad finish.
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ABOVE: Decals were from Red Roo Models too, item no. RRD4831 ‘Spitfire Vc, 85 Sqn RAAF, Late-War’. They performed perfectly right on top of the Alclad finish.
RIGHT: The windscreen and canopy were masked with Tamiya tape and temporarily tacked to a paintbrush. The windscreen was painted Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, while the middle and rear canopy sections received a coat of silver.
C ONCLUSION I built both the Classic Airframes limited-run Spitfire Vc and the Tamiya/Red Roo conversion in parallel, and it proved to be a very interesting exercise. On the one hand, it took more time to clean up and align the parts of the limited-run kit from Eastern
Europe. However, on the upside, this was the first time that a Spitfire Mk Vc was available straight from the box, the kit was accurate in outline and detail is very good. For the concurrent conversion project, the base Tamiya kit was less accurate to start with (mainly
the shape of the semi-elliptical wing), but the resin conversion parts corrected this shortcoming. Some surgery to the kit parts was necessary, as was filling and sanding of the almost inevitable gaps. The project did result in an accurate and attractive Spitfire Vc in 1/48 scale.
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So, what is the best way to get an accurate Spitfire Vc in 1/48 scale? I would rate the degree of difficulty and the effort expended for both
projects as essentially identical. The decision will come down to a matter of personal preference. Some modellers can’t stand working with
limited-run kits. Others loathe resin conversions and cutting up a perfectly nice plastic model. The choice is yours! Some light weathering was applied in the form of cordite streaks and subtle highlighting of selected panel lines.
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The undercarriage parts still fitted perfectly. Smaller details such as the antenna mast, propeller blades and pitot tube were attached following weathering.
The combination of the Tamiya kit and the Red Roo resin conversion results in a very satisfactory 1/48-scale Spitfire Mk Vc.
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IMPROVING A SIMPLE SNAP-TOGETHER KIT The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is fortunate to have a Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 in entirely original condition. This aircraft was rebuilt at Ludwig Hansen & Co Flugzeug-Repatur-Werk in Münster in December 1944, and features many interesting configurations and late-war camouflage characteristics. It was captured by British forces soon after the rebuild.
M ESSERSCHMITT B F 109G-6 CLOSE UP he airframe was extensively photographed between 1999 and 2002, before it was
T
reassembled and put on display in the main section of the Australian War Memorial. Here we have access to areas generally not visible on museum (or even operational)
aircraft, including the fuselage interior, radio compartment, empennage, wheel wells and more. Let’s take a closer look at Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6, Werknummer 163824.
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This is Messerchmitt Bf 109G-6, Werknummer 163824, prior to reassembly while it was still in storage at the Mitchell Wing of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The red tint on the engine bearers is the remnants of an anti-corrosion coating applied prior to transport to Australia. It is not a Luftwaffe-applied feature.
The absence of a seal around the rear of the Erla clear vision hood is an indication that the late-style canopy was factory fitted. Note the different shades on the pilot’s stowage door (probably a faded RLM 66 Black Grey), and the surrounding panel, which seems to match the upper surface camouflage colour.
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The unpainted, dimpled panel inside the lower central wing is a rarely glimpsed feature of the Bf 109.
This is a view of the tail wheel strut with the empennage of the airframe removed. The strut and the oleo scissors are painted RLM 02 Grey, but the fuselage station and interior have been left in bare metal.
LEFT: A fuse panel is mounted inside the fuselage opposite the radio hatch cover. Note the wooden base with a thin coat of RLM 99 Yellow Green primer failing to obscure the woodgrain pattern. RIGHT: The FuG 16ZS radio unit is mounted on the fuselage station forward of the hatch. This wooden mount is also finished in RLM 99 Yellow Green primer. All of these internal components are entirely original and in remarkably good condition.
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The piebald camouflage of this example reflects the chaotic state of the Third Reich in 1944. This wing appears to be painted in RLM 81 Brown Violet in a patchy overspray, along with a more solid application of RLM 83 Dark Green. The aileron is RLM 75 Grey Violet.
A close view of the aileron reveals the thin application of the paint and a second, paler shade. The red primer of the fabric strips may also be seen beneath the thin paint.
The starboard wing sports a completely different scheme – jagged, pale RLM 75 Grey Violet and RLM 83 Dark Green.
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The interior of the wheel wells shows the structural detail. The pressed wheel bulge may be seen here too.
This Bf 109G-6 is now on display in the new Aircraft Wing of the Australian War Memorial. Although the room is very dark and the Gustav is mounted high on a pole, a number of otherwise hard to see details are now on display.
Although this is a G-6 variant, the oil cooler housing is the deeper version usually associated with the G-10.
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A different Werknummer, 441039, has been painted on the back on a propeller blade. The red stencil markings are of interest too.
The tail wheel features an unpainted hub and whitewall tyre.
21 ST C ENTURY T OYS ’ 1/32- SCALE M ESSERSCHMITT B F 109F-2 The Messerschmitt Bf 109F was a major transformation of the famous ‘Augsburg Eagle’. The airframe was streamlined with a newly designed engine cowling, large spinner, rounded wing tips, revised flaps and many mechanical modifications compared to the earlier Bf 109E.
The Bf 109F entered service in 1941, at around the same time as the RAF introduced the Spitfire Mk V. RAF Fighter Command also switched to offensive operations over France and Belgium during this period, creating a new challenge for the Luftwaffe. The new Spitfire was superior to the Bf 109F in most respects, and it would not be until early 1942 with the general introduction of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 that a
Luftwaffe fighter aircraft would gain a temporary upper hand. Despite this seesawing combat on the Channel front, the Messerschmitt Bf 109F achieved stunning success over the grassy steppes and frozen tundra of Russia, and the harsh desert of North Africa during 1941 and 1942. 21st Century Toys has been making a name for itself in the collector’s market with their largescale, pre-assembled and painted
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LEFT: 21st Century Toys produce a range of 1/32-scale World War II fighter kits, including this Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2/F-4.
aircraft and military models. Now, 21st Century Toys has expanded into plastic construction kits. This first generation of 1/32scale kits includes a Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2/F-4. We have been waiting for a Friedrich variant of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 in 1/32 scale for a long time. Revell’s 1/32-scale Bf 109F from the 1960s displayed some fatal accuracy issues, and Hasegawa seems to be in no rush to expand their excellent 1/32-scale Bf 109 family.
So do we finally have a decent 1/32-scale Messerschmitt Bf 109F? 21st Century Toys’ Messerschmitt Bf 109 is nicely detailed; offers useful options including drop tank, bombs, workable undercarriage and slats; fits together well and is simple to build. On the other side of the equation, the clear parts are quite thick, recessed panel lines are wider and softer than we would normally see on a mainstream kit, and there is some ambiguity about
exactly which variant this model represents. Even so, at around US$10.00, it is an indisputable bargain. Straight from the box, the kit actually best depicts a Bf 109G-2, as suggested by the panel arrangement, closed tail wheel well, style of oil cooler fairing, supercharger intake and wide propeller blades. Some extra work will still be required for total accuracy. A full list of these modifications, plus a closer
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inspection of the parts in the box, may be found in my detailed review on the HyperScale website. I decided to finish my kit as a Bf 109F-2. I gathered the various accessories and conversion parts needed for the task.
C OCKPIT With my initial look at the 21st Century Bf 109F, I thought that the cockpit was a bit underdetailed. I quickly changed my mind after I started working on the kit. The
finished cockpit looks very good with only minimal extra work. I decided to simply add harness straps and rudder toe straps. The harness is the flexible resin item from Cutting Edge. The toe straps are strips of lead foil. There was an ejector-pin circle on the armour headrest that I covered with Mr. Surfacer. The only other addition was a length of fuse wire to complete the fuel line on the starboard sidewall (the front part in front of the
inspection tube is not moulded to the sidewall). I spent a couple of hours painting up the cockpit. The results were better than I expected. The sidewall detail looked shallow when unpainted, but was very convincing after painting and weathering. I added a few placard decals from MDC and Reheat before sealing the paint job with Polly Scale Flat. With the cockpit finished, construction of the main components could take place. Construction is straightforward, with the major parts being attached via stout screws. The big holes are covered with plastic caps.
Surface detail is a little heavy, but accurately positioned.
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LEFT: The multi-part, seated pilot figure is beautifully sculpted. RIGHT: A few minor enhancements were made to the cockpit, including flexible resin harness straps from Cutting Edge and rudder toe straps cut from the lead foil covering the top of a wine bottle. A missing section of the fuel line was also added to the starboard sidewall.
Even straight from the box, the cockpit looks great after a careful paint job. Tamiya acrylics were used to finish the cockpit, with RLM 66 being the base colour.
With the cockpit complete, basic construction is a snap – almost literally. The fuselage and wings have been glued together at this stage, with the dihedral being set with masking tape stretched between the wing tips.
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A IRFRAME As I was building my model as a Bf 109F, I cut open the tail wheel well before joining the fuselage halves. This does not affect the fit or functionality of the tail wheel strut, which is secured inside the fuselage. Before assembly, I painted interior components including the wheel well and inside of the rear fuselage plus the landing gear legs
in Gunze RLM 02. While the airbrush was loaded up I also sprayed the inside of the gear doors. Inside the wings, the radiators are blanked off with raised plastic sections. The front of these were painted black to hide the lack of radiator faces. The main undercarriage legs must be installed before the wings are assembled. A plastic plate is screwed over the gear legs which,
The main joins are gap free. Check out the excellent fit of the wing root.
The kit offers working leading edge slats. This is a nice touch, but the slat well is nothing more than an open space.
in theory, allows the gear to be retractable. I am not willing to test this as the legs are held very tightly in place. Perhaps the softer plastic of the pre-assembled kits makes this easier. I can advise that the legs are very secure, and sit at the correct angle, when they are installed. The leading edge slats are moveable, and these must also be installed before the top wings are glued in place.
The empennage is a separate subassembly but fit is also impressive in this area. Even before painting, you can barely discern the difference between the panel lines and the join.
The way the kit is engineered means that the landing gear legs must be glued in place as the wings are assembled. Caution is required to avoid damaging the legs during subsequent assembly, painting and handling.
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Next, the tail sections were added to each fuselage half. I figured that this order of assembly would provide the best alignment along the panel line. I was right. Before gluing the tail sections to the main fuselage halves, however, I first cut off the rudder. I have a spare tail section from a Hasegawa Bf 109 and I decided to adapt this better-shaped item to the 21st Century kit. The tail wheel strut was now mounted on its pin, the cockpit
tub was placed between its locating tabs and the instrument panel installed on one fuselage half. The panel is located securely in slots inside the fuselage resulting in a very positive fit. The fuselage halves almost snapped together. A tiny bit of fiddling was required to align the cockpit and instrument panel, but the locating pins along the fuselage provided a strong and accurate fit for the fuselage halves.
I faithfully followed the instructions and inserted the three screws in their holes on the fuselage sides. However, these made very tight going and I was eventually worried that I would damage the plastic. I gather that this method of construction was designed for the softer plastic of the pre-assembled kits. As it turns out, Tamiya Liquid Cement was perfectly adequate for the plastic seam lines, so next time I will not bother using the screws at all.
Blanking plates for the leading edge slats were cut from plastic card and glued into place.
The screw covers were fitted in place but these left noticeable circles. These recessed circles were slathered with Milliput two-part epoxy putty. Several hatches on the starboard side spine were filled at the same time.
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At this point I smugly ignored the instructions, and glued the full-span lower wing to the fuselage. I should have followed the instructions though, as I wound up with a gap at the wing root on one side when test-fitting the upper wing halves. I cut open the joins at the lower front of the bottom wing, and glued the top halves in place before re-securing the bottom wing to the fuselage. The result was a perfect fit at the wing root, the lower wing at the rear fuselage, and a very good fit at the lower front wing section. You can save yourself this extra step by simply following the instructions and assembling the wing before offering it to the fuselage.
A DDITIONS AND MODIFICATIONS With the basic assembly done, it was time to make a few changes. The moveable leading edge slats are a nice idea, but I thought that they
looked a bit clunky due to the see-through effect behind the slats into the interior of the wing. I decided to blank off the area behind the slats. This would mean that the slats would no longer be workable, but I could live with that. I measured and cut two lengths of plastic strip to fit over the mounts, creating a diagonal blanking plate. I test-fitted the blanking plates in position and then, when satisfied, ran a bead of liquid glue along the upper and lower joins while it was still in place. I think these blanking plates improve the finesse of the model in this area. Now it was time to deal with those pesky plugs covering the screws. There are five of these plugs, and the fit varies from OK to poor. Regardless of the fit, however, they all need to be filled and sanded. I like to use Milliput White for this type of job. Milliput is a two-part epoxy putty
that remains workable for at least half an hour. It also has structural strength. Best of all, the hardness, when dry, is about the same as that of styrene, so you don’t have to be Charles Atlas to sand the putty down to the level of the surrounding plastic. I mixed up a small batch of Milliput by briskly kneading and rolling two equal-sized balls together. The heat generated from this mixing process also makes the putty softer and easier to work with. The putty was selectively pressed into the gaps and recesses and then the excess removed (to make the job of sanding easier). While I had the Milliput mixed, I used the leftovers to fill the unnecessary hatches and redundant locating holes (e.g., for the DF loop and the cannon gondolas). My model was destined to be finished as an ‘F’, so I sliced off the four scoops on the nose and the raised pips under the canopy (these are to mount an umbrella on tropical versions). I filled these small scars with Milliput too. I also added a small amount of filler to the join line on the engine cowl, where the top cowl meets the main fuselage. There was no separate panel here on the real aircraft.
Circles were also filled on the nose, in addition to a few small gaps between the top and the side of the engine cowling.
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The only actual gaps left during construction were at the bottom rear of the engine cowls, and one side of the leading edge of the wing root close to the fuselage. Overall fit was very impressive, especially the traditional trouble spots of the fuselage seam lines and where the bottom of the wing meets the fuselage. There were no gaps whatsoever in these areas. I left the Milliput to set for about three hours. By this time the putty was hard enough to sand without sinking. I started by sanding the bulk of the excess putty off with 400-grit sanding
paper, followed by wet sanding with MasterCasters’ purple then blue sanding sticks. These look like traditional sanding sticks at first glance, but they have a flexible core in the middle. They work well and are very durable. My original plan was simply to cut the rudder off my spare Hasegawa tail and glue it to the 21st Century kit fuselage. It was not quite that straightforward. When test-fitting, I found that the Hasegawa rudder was too tall for the 21st Century fin. Comparison to drawings suggest that the 21st Century fin was around
1mm too short and between 1 and 2mm too narrow. I first cut off the top of the 21st Century fin, as the antenna mast is a bit clunky anyway. Next, I glued plastic strip of the appropriate width on either side of the fin, and a single, wider strip to the top of the fin. These were shaped to conform to the kit part using a sharp hobby knife and a small sanding stick. The Hasegawa rudder, including the top panel of the fin, was then glued on to the 21st Century tail. The resulting fit was quite good. A swipe of Tamiya Surface Primer (similar to thick Mr. Surfacer) was
ABOVE LEFT shape of the kit rudder and fin is less than perfect. The top of the fin was cut off and lined with plastic strip. ABOVE RIGHT: The top of the fin and the rudder from a Hasegawa 1/32-scale Bf 109G-4 were glued in place to improve this area. LEFT: The outline of the 21st Century Bf 109 is quite accurate. All the various circles and hatches have been sanded down.
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A resin oil cooler and supercharger intake from Eagle Editions were used to replace 21st Century’s somewhat clunky parts.
Eagle Editions’ beautiful spinner was also used. Note that the panel line between the top and the side of the engine cowling has been filled and sanded. This was not a panel line on the real aircraft.
Although they were not intended for this kit, fit of the resin parts was good. A little filler was needed at the rear of the bottom cowl though.
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The model is looking very much like a mid-production Bf 109 now.
The only extra work required is scribing the circular fuel filler hatch underneath the canopy on the port side.
all that was required to blank off some tiny see-through gaps at the hinge line. With the surgery to the tail complete, I added the four thin reinforcing strips to the rear fuselage from fine styrene. I brushed a layer of Tamiya Surface Primer over the sanded-down Milliput to make sure that all the tiny imperfections were filled. Last year I built a 1/32-scale Bf 109G-2 using Hasegawa’s kit and a few pieces from the Aires Bf 109F
conversion. This meant that I had the narrow supercharger intake, shallow oil cooler housing and appropriate propeller blades left over. I was delighted to find that the oil cooler housing and narrow supercharger intake fitted almost without modification. The only surgery required was to cut off the rear locating pin from the intake. I drilled a small hole in the leading edge of the oil cooler housing and
installed a fine piece of wire to represent the actuator rod. I also decided to use an Eagle Editions spinner. The entire model was sanded once more with the blue MasterCasters sanding stick. Several rounds of sanding smoothed the very slight orange peel texture of the plastic. Various missing and relocated hatches were scribed onto the fuselage using a thin stainless steel template.
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The propeller blades were drilled at the base and a piece of brass tube inserted to reinforce the join with the spinner.
The Aires propeller blades and the corresponding area on the spinner were drilled out. Brass tube was glued into the ends of the propeller blades to ensure a robust fit. I also used one of the spare vacform canopies from Aires’ 1/32-scale Bf 109F conversion. This is thinner and offers a more ‘in-scale’ appearance than the rather chunky 21 Century canopy. The distinctive side quarter windows in the bottom of the windscreen are much better too. I did use the 21st Century rear canopy section though, as it was a perfect fit with the kit’s fuselage spine. The Aires canopy was quite cloudy, but a bath in Future floor polish made it sparkle. Some extra hardware was added to the clear parts, including grab handles for the top corners of the windscreen and a canopy release handle, all formed from brass rod and strip. With the kit’s surface now
prepared, the cockpit and landing gear was masked and the model given an overall coat of Tamiya’s Grey Fine Surface Primer straight from the can.
PAINT All paint was applied with my Testor Aztek A470 airbrush fitted with the fine tan-coloured tip. My model was destined to wear the striking colours of Leutnant Max-Hellmuth Ostermann, Staffelkapitan of 7./JG 54 in the autumn of 1941. The kit supplies markings for this aircraft. One of its prominent features is a yellow nose and fuselage band. However, I often have trouble getting yellow paint to cover properly. I also find that acrylic yellows take a long time to dry and are very prone to fingerprints and damage even weeks after application. Recently I have managed to avoid these problems. I started with a coat of white primer on the nose, mid
fuselage and lower wing tips. This was lightly sanded and polished before a coat of Tamiya Spray TS-34 Camel Yellow was sprayed on the area. I decanted a quantity of this gloss yellow paint from the can into a disposable container and applied the paint using my Aztek airbrush. This acrylic lacquer still needed two coats over the white primer, but it dried fast and coped well with subsequent handling. Once thoroughly dry, the yellow sections were masked using Tamiya masking tape. I based my painting and markings on a colour photograph on page 13 of Monogram’s old Close-Up 9: Bf 109 F (Monogram Aviation Publications, 1990). This photo is clearly captioned as Ostermann’s Bf 109F, and shows the aircraft with a narrow yellow fuselage band in front of the Balkenkreuz and the number in front of the band.1 However, there are some key differences between
1. The fuselage number is almost completely obscured by the wing in the colour photograph on page 13 of the Monogram Close-Up. However, the bottom righthand side of the number can just be made out. It is white with a narrow black outline, but it is curved. This would suggest that the number is not ‘2’. Digits with a curved bottom right corner might include 3, 5, 6, 8 or 9. So is this the same aircraft repainted, or another of Ostermann’s mounts? I would be interested if anyone has additional information.
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Prior to painting, the model was sprayed with grey primer and polished to highlight any lingering problems.
The entire nose, the fuselage band and the rudder were painted yellow before masking. The base camouflage colour is Polly Scale RLM 76 Light Blue.
this colour photograph and a good quality three-quarter rear view wartime photo of Ostermann’s Bf 109F, which shows the fuselage cross painted directly over a wide yellow fuselage band, and the large number 2 immediately forward of the cross. This conforms to the kit marking guide and decals. Unfortunately, I did not receive this image until after the model was finished (I am grateful to Goran Edkvist for sending this photo).
The first camouflage colour was Polly Scale RLM 76 Light Blue, applied to the lower surfaces and fuselage sides. Next, Polly Scale RLM 75 Grey Violet was applied to the top of the wings, tailplanes and fuselage spine with the Testor Aztek airbrush fitted with the fine tan-coloured tip. A first-pass mottle of RLM 75 was also sprayed onto the fuselage sides and fin. Similar to the treatment of the RLM 76, a paler shade of RLM 75 was mixed.
Small, random streaks were sprayed over the base colour. A disruptive coat of Polly Scale acrylic RLM 74 Grey Green followed this. The camouflage pattern on the wings was masked using paper held off the surface of the plastic with tiny blobs of Blu-Tack. This technique delivers a slightly feathered edge. I painted the irregular fuselage mottle according to the colour photograph in the Monogram
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Polly Scale RLM 75 was applied to the top of the wings, tailplanes and fuselage.
This was followed by a disruptive coat of Polly Scale acrylic RLM 74 Grey Green. The camouflage pattern on the wings was masked using paper held off the surface of the plastic with tiny blobs of Blu-Tack.
Close-Up 9: Bf 109 F. In this photo, the yellow rudder also appears to have been mottled with RLM 75 around the victory marks. I roughly masked the area to receive the panel of victory marks and sprayed a soft mottle around it. I also used the colour photo as a reference for the spinner. The front of the cap appeared to be ‘thirded’ in white, while the rear part of the spinner was a constant dark colour. I chose RLM 70 Black Green and white for the forward section, and
black for the rear. Propeller blades were painted RLM 70 Black Green.
D ECALS The model received a coat of Polly Scale Gloss acrylic before the markings were applied. I find that the Polly Scale clear finish can be more easily controlled than Future when spraying, does not run on horizontal surfaces, and yet still delivers a hard, shiny finish ideal for decals. I used the 21st Century kit decals, which are very thin, perfectly opaque
(even the large white numbers) and settled down beautifully into panel lines. The completed paintwork was sealed with a two thin coats of Polly Scale Flat acrylic. The finishing touches were now applied, including the canopy, pitot tube (from brass tube and rod), wing tip lights (small resin coloured ‘bulbs’ covered with a ‘lens’ of two-part epoxy glue), aerial wire from nylon monofilament and resistors formed using small blobs of Krystal Kleer.
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I painted the irregular fuselage mottle according to the colour photograph in the Monogram Close-Up 9: Bf 109 F. In this photo, the yellow rudder also appears to have been mottled with RLM 75 around the victory marks. I roughly masked the area to receive the panel of victory marks and sprayed a soft mottle around it.
I used the 21st Century kit decals, which are very thin, perfectly opaque and settled down beautifully into panel lines.
C ONCLUSION We often speak of scale aircraft modelling as if it is one hobby. In fact, there are as many different interpretations of the hobby as there are modellers. In my opinion, there is no single ‘correct’ goal, whether accuracy, artistic attractiveness, or something as simple as finishing a model that looks vaguely like the intended subject aircraft. If the individual modeller is satisfied with their result, that is enough. There has been much discussion recently about factors that will
bring about the death of our hobby. The long list of these fatal influences includes Mike Grant’s ‘smoke ring’ decals, Spitfire fuselage lengths, the rise of die-cast collectibles, video games and the emphasis of surface detail on particular kits. Without doubt, 21st Century Toys’ new inexpensive kit line will be added to this Doomsday list. Even so, I believe that this model will be appreciated by an assortment of people for different reasons.
My ten-year-old son loves the recent series of 1/72-scale Hobby Boss aircraft kits. We have sat down and built a few together. I can see a time in the near future when he would be delighted to be able to buy 21st Centurys’ 1/32-scale Bf 109 with his own pocket money, and build it in one afternoon. Thinking back 40 years to myself at ten years old, that scenario sounds kind of familiar. Similarly, for modellers coming back into the hobby after college and family, these kits will represent
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The completed paintwork was sealed with a two thin coats of Polly Scale Flat acrylic.
a way to create a nice model with basic skills, and encourage our new recruit to try something more ambitious next time. Even the more experienced modeller might feel jaded sometimes. This kit could represent
a refreshing sorbet between heavier courses. Or if someone prefers painting to construction, this artist might use 21st Century’s Bf 109 as a plastic palette for their penchant. There is no doubt that, in a side-by-side comparison to Hasegawa’s 1/32-scale Bf 109 family, the Hasegawa kits are clearly superior in terms of surface finesse, detail and finish. Despite this,
there is an important place for the 21st Century kit for less experienced modellers and, with a sticker price of around US$10.00, modellers on a budget. I also enjoyed spending the extra time and effort making the model into a more accurate replica of the Bf 109F. I think that 21st Century Toys has admirably captured the overall look and feel of the Bf 109.
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WORKING
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I never thought that I would build a 1/1-scale kit until Maurizio Di Terlizzi graced us with his line of full-sized model aircraft parts. As soon as I saw both these kits I knew that I had to have them to sit along side some of the aircraft instruments that I have collected over the years.
KG13A S TEUERKNUPPEL L UFTWAFFE C ONTROL S TICK aster modeller and author Maurizio Di Terlizzi launched his own brand of resin kits called ‘Tail Boom’ in 2007. His earliest releases were helicopter related but his latest products have been a radical departure. Tail Boom’s newest release is a 1/1-scale KG13A Steuerknuppel
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Luftwaffe Control Stick for many mid- to late war Luftwaffe fighters including the Messerschmitt Bf 109G, Me 262 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190. The kit comes packed in a white cardboard box. Twenty-five parts are provided in grey-coloured resin, a data plate is provided in thin metal, and another metal part represents the stays for the electrical cabling. The kit is rounded out with a length of electrical cable. The parts have been cast directly from a genuine
wartime control column. There are no casting imperfections on my sample. Instructions are provided on a folded A4 sheet, which includes full colour diagrams of the parts and of the completed gunsight. Helpful notes and a colour guide are also offered. LEFT: Tail Boom’s full-sized KG13A Steuerknuppel Luftwaffe Control Stick by Mick Evans. MIDDLE: Tail Boom Models’ control stick features a working gun button cover. Here it is closed… RIGHT: … and here it is flipped open.
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The kit includes a metal data plate.
The curved piece of metal holds electrical cabling in place. This must be bent to shape with the aid of a template drawing supplied with the instructions.
The white markings have been painted carefully with a fine brush.
REVI 16B REFLECTOR GUNSIGHT The Revi 16B was the standard reflector gunsight fitted to Luftwaffe fighters from the mid-war period onward. Aircraft types included the Dornier Do 335, Focke-Wulf Fw 190A and D, Ta 152, Heinkel He 162, Messerschmitt Bf 109F, G and K, Me 163 and Me 262. The Tail Boom full-size Revi 16B kit comes packed in a humble brown cardboard box. The simple sticker states the gunsight name and your individual werknummer. Only 25 of these gunsights will be made, so the numbers will not run too high. Twenty-six parts are
Tail Boom’s full-sized resin Revi 16B Reflector Gunsight by Mick Evans.
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provided in shades of grey and cream coloured resin. The two reflectors are supplied in clear resin, while the gunsight lens is optically ground glass. A number of metal parts are also included – screws, a spring, an etched data plate – making a total of 40 parts. The parts have been cast directly from a genuine wartime Revi 16B gunsight, so any minor nicks and scratches are entirely authentic. There are no casting imperfections on my sample.
The reflector and sun screen are quite remarkable castings. At first, I thought that one of these thick clear parts had air bubbles on two of the corners. However, after consulting Maurizio and re-examining the piece, it turns out that these are perfect castings of chips out of the edges of the glass. The edges of the clear parts feature grinding marks, and the top of both reflectors have raised serial numbers – very impressive indeed. The resin parts require only minimal cleanup before assembly.
The gunsight body has the original data plate cast on the front. An optional separate data plate is supplied if the modeller prefers. Personally, I think it would be a shame not to install this attractive separate metal part.
P REPARATION The castings were so perfect that they required no cleanup, in fact the thread on the screws actually screwed into some of the holes and held without any glue.
The body is a large single resin casting.
Smaller resin parts plus metal screws are also included.
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The metal data plate lends even more authenticity.
More metal parts plus resin screws. All the resin parts are perfectly cast.
BOTTOM LEFT: The reflectors are cast from clear resin, but they look for all the world like antique glass. BOTTOM RIGHT: A polished glass lens is included.
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LEFT: The model was painted in subtly different shades. RIGHT: Some wear and tear of heavily used areas was applied.
G UNSIGHT ASSEMBLY AND PAINTING Assembly is quite simple with the only real work required being reducing and cleaning up the collimator glass retaining ring to tightly fit around the circumference of the glass. The gunsight was painted in various shades of RLM 66 Black Grey as detailed in the instruction sheet, but I made the foldaway sun shade combining glass too dark and it needs to be polished back to a be a bit lighter in shade. As I had spent many hours maintaining the cockpit of an RAAF Mirage IIIO and Macchi
326H weathering the gunsight was quite simple. The paint wears very quickly from constant glove contact and chips easily when knocked with tools and various other objects.
C ONTROL
STICK ASSEMBLY AND PAINTING If anything, assembling the control stick was even easier than the gunsight. Once the resin parts were cleaned up, they were glued together using superglue. The only area that needs extra care is the top of the handle. This includes a separate part that must be glued into place to trap the gun button cover in place. The problem is that
BELOW: Tail Boom’s full- sized Revi 16B gunsight is a very impressive display piece.
operating the flap can break off this separate part. It would be best to secure this part with two-part epoxy adhesive, which delivers a less brittle bond than superglue. A template is provided to assist bending a flat length of metal. Once folded into shape, this will guide the electrical wiring. The bottom of the stick was painted semi-gloss black enamel, with the handle being finished in flat black. The pre-printed data plate is supplied in the kit, but the white markings were carefully brush painted onto the completed model. These are truly excellent kits, and they are impressive display pieces when finished.
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B UILDING A CURRENT GENERATION LONG - RUN INJECTION - MOULDED KIT The Grumman F6F Hellcat was designed as a stopgap upgrade of the lightweight F4F Wildcat, almost as an insurance policy in the event that the F4U Corsair, then under development, did not live up to expectations.
espite the clear family resemblance to the earlier Wildcat, the Hellcat was an all-new aircraft. The resulting naval fighter was stocky in profile, large, powerfully armed and armoured, and heavy. The Hellcat has secured its place in history with a remarkable kill ratio of 19:1. A number of 1/48-scale Hellcat kits have been available for some time now. The old Monogram kit was a typical product of the 1960s with
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gimmicky moving parts, accuracy problems and poor detail. The ARII/Otaki offering from the 1970s was much better, but was let down by a low level of interior detail. Hasegawa’s F6F family dates from the mid-1990s, but it is still a nice model – well detailed with finely recessed panel lines. Perhaps the most frequent criticism levelled at this kit is the slightly squashed and undersized shape of the lower cowl intake – the Hellcat’s distinctive ‘grin’.
E DUARD ’ S 1/48SCALE F6F-3 IN THE BOX Eduard has now entered the fray with a new family of Hellcat kits in 1/48 scale. Eduard’s 1/48-scale Hellcat comprises 108 olive-coloured injection-moulded plastic parts; 17 clear parts; two nickel-plated photo-etched frets; one coloured photo-etched fret; masking sheet for canopy and wheels; and a large decal sheet covering five markings options.
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Surface texture on Eduard’s latest releases has been superb, and this new Hellcat enhances that already impressive reputation. In addition to crisp, finely recessed panel lines and selected rows of rivets, the Hellcat fuselage employs a subtle lapped panel effect. This really works well. The fabric ribs on the control surfaces are also very convincing. Details are equally good. The cockpit is supplemented with the usual complement of colour photo-etched parts, including a layered instrument panel, switch panel and harness straps. For those who prefer to paint their cockpit, an alternative (and very nicely detailed) injection-moulded instrument panel is also supplied. The engine is a simple assembly, with only five plastic parts, but detail is barely compromised. Pushrods are moulded in place, a photo-etched ignition harness is included, plus several colour photoetched parts for the crankcase.
The undercarriage legs and wheel wells are suitably busy. The wheels are supplied with separate hubs and tyres. These appear to be the plain narrow style fitted to the prototypes and the earliest production models, and should be appropriate for marking options A and B. If you are building a later F6F-3, there are aftermarket Hellcat wheels readily available from Ultracast and True Details. The delicate antenna post on the fin is a separate part that may be installed following construction and painting. This is a thoughtful touch that will avoid the almost inevitable damage to a post moulded in place on the top of the fin. The canopy parts are crystal clear and thin. Separate parts are supplied to permit the sliding canopy to be displayed open or closed. Control surfaces are all supplied separately. These are tabbed to assist precise alignment in the neutral position. Ailerons and elevators can easily be repositioned after slicing the tabs off.
The cowl is broken down into three pieces, and three different cowl styles are offered: • The earliest, with exhaust fairings and lower cowl flap on each side. • Next, with the exhaust fairings but with the lower cowl flap deleted from each side. • The later F6F-3 variant with no exhaust fairing. As usual, Eduard has supplied self-adhesive die-cut masks for the canopy and wheels.
C ONSTRUCTION This was one of the most pleasant builds that I can recall. Eduard’s colour photo-etched parts really spruce up the cockpit with a minimum of effort. The ignition harness for the engine is supplied on a second photo-etched fret, and it fits well. There were only two deviations from the instructions. First was the long locating tabs for the elevators, as I wanted to depict these dropped.
Eduard’s Hellcat cockpit is enhanced with colour photo-etched parts, all included in the kit.
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The basic plastic parts have received a coat of Gunze Interior Green and a wash of thinned oil paint to add emphasis to shadow areas.
The photo-etched parts really bring the front office to life.
Don’t forget to install the rear quarter windows and the photo-etched diagonal frame behind them.
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ABOVE LEFT: The long locating tabs were cut off the elevators to permit them to be depicted in the dropped position. ABOVE RIGHT: The engine cylinders and photo-etched ignition harness are really well done, but the crankcase is a little bland. MIDDLE: Basic construction was completely trouble free and almost embarrassingly fast. The fuselage was together in no time at all.
BOTTOM: Fit of the wings was excellent. Just a smear of filler was required at the rear of the wing root.
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A smudge of filler was also needed in the corresponding position under the wing.
The second variation was to shorten the length of the main undercarriage legs. The legs appear to be the equivalent of unsprung length, so the model looks a little stalky. I simply cut away about 2mm above the oleo strut, and then drilled holes into the top and bottom sections of the legs before using superglue and a brass pin to glue the two pieces together. Following assembly of the airframe, the only filler required was a smear at the extreme rear of the wing roots, above and below, where they meet the inboard sections of the flaps.
PAINTING
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MARKINGS Eduard’s Hellcat Mk I/Mk II Dual Combo set was released shortly after I started building their F6F-3 Hellcat. This includes two full models plus markings for six attractive British Fleet Air Arm Hellcats. I could not resist finishing my F6F-3 as an externally
The dropped elevators lend some interest to the rear end. These parts fit well even without the benefit of their locating tabs.
identical Hellcat Mk I in SEAC markings supplied in the Dual Combo package. First, I primed the entire airframe with Tamiya Grey Primer. All paint was applied using the Testor Aztek metal bodied airbrush fitted with the fine tan tip. The lower surfaces were sprayed with Tamiya XF-21 Sky. Next, the upper fuselage and the top of the wings were coated with Tamiya XF-22 RLM Grey. This does not really look much like RLM 02, but it seems to be a reasonable match for faded dark slate grey. I made the shade a little less faded by adding some dark green to the mix. I was quite happy with the colour on the model by itself. A few spots and streaks of a paler shade of my Dark Slate Grey mix were sprayed randomly on the model. The disruptive pattern was applied using paper masks lifted slightly off the surface with small blobs of Blu-Tack to achieve a fairly
hard-edged demarcation. After experimenting with a few colours, I eventually settled on Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey for the ‘mixed grey’ used on the real aircraft. When the masks were removed, I was horrified to see that the contrast between the two colours was almost non-existent. I loaded the airbrush with unmixed Tamiya XF-22 to significantly ‘lighten up’ the dark slate grey sections of the camouflage. With all the major colours applied, it was important to apply a protective topcoat. I find Tamiya paints are almost chalky once applied, and can very easily be scratched or worn off even with careful handling. I therefore immediately applied two light coats of Polly Scale Gloss to seal the paint job. This also created an ideal surface for the decals. Eduard’s kit decals were used. I liked the look of the crisp official markings combined with the scrawled number on the cowl – also
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The paint job was kicked off with a coat of primer.
The lower surfaces were masked with wide Tamiya ‘Kabuki’ tape for sharp upper surface camouflage demarcation.
Paper masks were cut to shape and applied to the surface with small balls of Blu-Tack. This delivers a sightly feathered edge between the two upper surface colours.
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CHAPTER 6 • BUILDING
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My version of extra dark slate grey has been mottled with a paler shade to lend some variety to the scheme.
The unveiling of the masks revealed that the contrast between the colours was very low – much less than I was hoping for.
It is never too late to correct an error. I resprayed the dark slate grey sections with a paler shade to improve the contrast between the two colours. I was happier with this.
Eduard’s markings from their Hellcat Mk I/Mk II boxing were used to transform my US Navy F6F-3 to the British Fleet Air Arm variant. Decals performed perfectly over a gloss coat.
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A flat coat followed by selective weathering with an airbrushed mix of flat black and red brown ties in the markings with the uniquely FAA finish.
The landing gear legs are slightly too long, making the model look a little stalky straight from the box. The fix is very easy – cut a section out of the leg, drill and pin. A couple of millimetres make a world of difference.
Eduard supplies clear landing lights. The post side has been painted clear red.
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The fit of the clear parts is up to the same high standard as the rest of the kit.
The sit of the model looks much better here after the minor surgery to the gear legs.
The whip antenna is made from stretched sprue, while the aerial wire is nylon invisible mending thread.
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A heavier application of weathering has been added behind the exhaust areas on the lower surfaces.
supplied as a decal. The decals, printed by Cartograf of Italy, performed flawlessly in combination with Micro Set and Micro Sol. A coat of Polly Scale Flat Clear was sprayed over the model before the airframe was shaded with a thin mix of flat black and red brown. This was sprayed along control surface hinge lines, selected panels, in a few random spots and streaks and along the demarcation line between the dark slate grey and extra dark sea grey. This slightly reduces the harshness of the masked demarcation. A finishing coat of Polly Scale Flat sealed the weathering.
C ONCLUSION Eduard’s 1/48-scale Hellcat family is beautifully detailed, features excellent surface texture and offers plenty of useful options to the modeller. The more I look at the shape of the Eduard chin intake, the more I like it. If you do not agree, however, you have several options available to you right now in the form of replacement cowls from Cutting Edge, Quickboost and Obscureco. Similarly, if you are building a mid- to late-production Hellcat, you might like to replace the narrow kit wheels with resin offerings from Ultracast or True Details.
Whereas Eduard’s last two new-tool offerings, the Fw 190 and Bf 110 families, have been challenging to build in some respects, this new Hellcat is noticeably more straightforward. Eduard has responded to comments about kit complexity with a model that is quite simply broken down without compromising detail in important areas such as the engine face, cockpit and undercarriage. Building
the Eduard Hellcat should present no hurdles to the average modeller. In a sprue-by-sprue comparison, Eduard’s new 1/48-scale Hellcat is also clearly superior to the ten-year-old Hasegawa F6F kits in terms of detail and surface texture. In my opinion, Eduard has delivered the best F6F Hellcat available to date in any scale. Eduard’s 1/48-scale F6F Hellcat kits are easy to build, well detailed and accurate.
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U PGRADING
AN OLDER KIT WITH RESIN COCKPIT AND WING FOLD
Hasegawa’s 1/48-scale Hellcat family was released in the mid-1990s, but they are still quite respectable kits today. Eduard’s new 1/48-scale Hellcats have improved on Hasegawa’s offerings in terms of surface detail, interior features and the shape of the cowl, but overall accuracy of the Hasegawa kit remains good, and it can still form the basis of an impressive modelling project.
efore Eduard released their own F6F-5N, I decided to build the nightfighter using the Hasegawa kit. For a little variety, I also decided to depict this model with folded wings. There are two main choices for this task. Cutting Edge released a resin wing fold in 2003, but the company closed down in 2008 and the set is hard to find. Dangerboy from the USA produced a wing fold set for Hasegawa’s Hellcats back in 2000. The moulds
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were sold to Lone Star Models a few years ago and the set is still available from them online at www.lonestarmodels.com. For this project I used the Dangerboy wing fold, but more on this later.
C ONSTRUCTION Construction commenced in the cockpit. An Ultracast resin seat replaced the kit part, and Hasegawa supplies an alternative resin instrument panel. This has the radar scope cast in place.
All the cockpit parts were painted and weathered. Although I had my doubts when looking at the basic plastic parts on the sprues, the front office came up very nicely with nothing more than careful detail painting. The cast-on harness straps of Ultracast’s delicate seat helped too though. The engine is also quite simple, although the crankcase is better detailed than Eduard’s. I added a wiring harness using lengths of copper wire cut to size.
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Hasegawa’s 1/48-scale F6F-5N Night Fighter kit includes a radome and replacement instrument panel in butterscotch-coloured resin.
A replacement resin seat from Ultracast was added to the kit cockpit.
Although it looks a bit basic in bare plastic, the kit’s cockpit scrubs up very well after a careful paint job.
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Kit decals have been used to represent the dials on the instrument panel. Other details have been picked out with acrylic paint and a fine brush.
Hasegawa’s crankcase is particularly nice, but I could not ignore the lack of an ignition harness. The harness was added from copper wire.
The wires were painted brown and folded back. The overall effect is quite acceptable.
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Once again, with careful painting and weathering the effect was pretty pleasing. The balance of assembly was fast and trouble free. However, I decided that I could not allow the understated grin of Hasegawa’s cowling chin go uncorrected, so I used the Quickboost resin replacement. This is a very simple accessory with just two parts – the main cowling and an insert at the bottom. An added bonus is that the cowl flaps are
cast in the open position. Once the parts are cleaned up and assembled, the cowl is a drop-fit replacement for the kit part.
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WING FOLD Dangerboy Hobbies’ Hellcat Wing Fold is designed for any of Hasegawa’s F6F-3 or -5 kits in 1/48 scale. Seven resin parts are packed in securely in bubble wrap and a stout cardboard box. There are no casting blocks on the large
parts, and only a few translucent feathers of flash in a few spots. The three main parts combine to completely replace the kit wings. The central section provides upper and lower mid-wing in a single casting, and the outer wing panels are similarly simple single pieces. The simplicity of parts breakdown in no way compromises detail. Clever undercuts reveal structural detail inside the wing fold on the three main parts. This interior
At least two wing fold sets have been released for Hasegawa’s Hellcats. These are from Cutting Edge and Dangerboy.
I chose to use the Dangerboy folded wing, now available from Lone Star Models. This is a very simple but effective conversion.
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For a serious conversion, the fit is commendable. Quickboost’s replacement cowling can be seen assembled here too.
Plastic rocket stubs and wing cannon fairings are attached to the resin parts using superglue.
The outer wing panels are checked for fit. In fact, they fit so well that glue is not required to keep them in place.
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The view from below, prior to any filling or sanding.
The Quickboost engine cowling was almost a snap fit too. Note that a little filler has been applied at the wing root.
Flame dampers and exhausts complete basic construction. Now the painting will begin!
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detail is very crisp, as are the panel lines and subtle fabric effect on the exterior of the wings. There are a few tiny pinhole bubbles visible beneath the surface of the wing centre section. It is likely that sanding will open some of these tiny holes, so a few minutes with a tube of putty and a sanding stick will be a good investment. A slightly raised ridge of resin runs most of the length of the outer wing trailing edges on my sample. Light sanding will make short work of this excess material, but take care not to eliminate the delicate fabric detail of the ailerons. Four additional resin parts represent the wing fold drop panels and outer gear well panels. Construction is as simple as the engineering of the parts breakdown. A pin on the outer wing slides snugly into a keyed slot in the leading edge of each inner wing fold. This method is virtually foolproof and appears quite secure. In fact, it will not be necessary to use glue on this join if you want to
occasionally remove the outer wing panels and admire the interior wing fold detail to the maximum. Dry-fitting the main conversion components with the Hasegawa fuselage suggested excellent fit. Following assembly, there was only a fine gap to fill at the bottom fuselage to rear of centre wing section join, and at the upper wing roots. The radome supplied with Hasegawa’s F6F-5N is resin. This was attached to the starboard outer wing panel with superglue and faired in with putty. The fit of the outer wing panels was so good that I did not need to glue them in place. They were left off until the last thing, making painting and decaling considerably easier than it might have otherwise been!
person, but this time I decided to use Testors’ Model Master enamel from the spray can for the sea blue. I decanted paint from the can into a jar, and then applied the undiluted paint using my Aztek A470 airbrush. The result was a spectacularly smooth high-gloss finish. Hasegawa’s kit markings were used. These were slightly translucent, so the white was not quite as bright as I had hoped. The drop tank and radome were painted Tamiya XF-2 Flat White acrylic. The radome was mottled subtly to represent the irregular fibrous surface. The model was finished in a coat of Polly Scale Flat acrylic to tone down the high level of gloss. In retrospect, however, I wish that I had retained the high sheen.
PAINTING
C ONCLUSION
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MARKINGS You can’t ask for a much simpler colour scheme than overall Gloss Sea Blue! I am not usually an enamel
Hasegawa’s 1/48-scale F6F family might be more than 15 years old, but the kits still scrub up pretty well, even straight from the box. The worst aspect of the Hasegawa is the squashed lower chin, but a number of aftermarket solutions are available to fix this issue. Eduard certainly has the edge in detail and options, but if you have a few Hasegawa Hellcats stashed away, they are still worth building.
The model was prepared for its glossy finish with a coat of Tamiya’s Extra Fine White Primer. This is an ideal surface for a finish that must be perfectly smooth.
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Testors’ Model Master Sea Blue was decanted from the spray can and airbrushed onto the model for a spectacularly smooth and glossy effect. I later regretted flat coating this gorgeous finish.
Kit decals were applied over the gloss blue, with a flat coat following. The white of the kit decals was a little translucent.
Detail parts such as the undercarriage, drop tank and propeller were painted and weathered prior to final assembly.
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With its wings folded and dull dark scheme, the model looks a bit like a sleeping bat!
Underwing codes and the radome adds a little interest to the starboard side.
The wider ‘grin’ of the Quickboost exhaust is a major improvement over the kit cowling.
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C ONVERTING A MODEL OLD - FASHIONED WAY
KIT THE
This 1/48-scale Mitchell is one of the peculiar hybrid B-25Ds used by some Commonwealth, Soviet, Dutch and RAAF units. These unusual aircraft featured the fuselage side and tail gun positions of the B-25J, yet retained the turret position and windows of the B-25D.
have wanted to build one of these odd birds for a long time now. Originally, I was going to modify the old Revell B-25C kit. When the Accurate Miniatures kit was released, I thought that I would sacrifice a Monogram kit by cutting out the side gun positions and installing them in the Accurate Miniatures fuselage.
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However, I decided to take a completely different route that would provide the opportunity to exercise some scratch building and modification techniques. I could relocate the turret position, remove the blast panels from the nose, cut out some fuselage windows and, voila, a hybrid B-25D!
T HE
CONVERSION The basis of the conversion was an original issue 1/48-scale Monogram B-25J in glorious silver plastic (no paint required, especially if you like your natural metal with mould flow channels). Monogram’s 1/48-scale B-25J Mitchell, backdated to an unusual hybrid B-25D.
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I originally did some testing of Micro Krystal Kleer on the old Revell fuselage for making the windows. The results were not bad, but there were some bubbles visible on the slightly wavy surface I wanted to finish all the conversion work before beginning construction. I started with the raised blast panels on each side of the nose. These are very prominent, so I was concerned that even a coarse file would not be practical. I therefore attacked the panels with a grinding disk in my Dremel motor tool. I knew that I would be hacking at the plastic, so my plan was to fill the resulting rough surface with Milliput then sand it smooth again. Next, I marked out the positions of the new fuselage windows and made a start to the tricky process of cutting them out by scribing deep outlines with the aid of a template. I then drilled out several holes in each window,
which permitted me to get the tip of a hobby blade into the opening and nibble out the rest of the plastic. The blast panels of the nose were now smoothed using a coarse sander followed by progressively finer grades. I was surprised that the plastic had not suffered any major blemishes after the harsh treatment with the Dremel. A few spots of Milliput on each side of the nose restored the surface. It was also interesting to see that, even though the panels had been completely eliminated, the plastic retained a prominent ghost (maybe a poltergeist) of the rectangles.
R ELOCATING
THE TURRET One of the most important aspects of this backdate was relocating the turret from the front to the mid upper fuselage. I started by cutting a circle template from a self-adhesive Post-it note using my
Olfa circle cutter. I scribed a line around the template, also using the circle cutter. Next, I fitted my Dremel motor tool with a round cutting wheel and sliced into the circle, stopping each slice just inside the scored circumference of the circle. At this stage I simply nibbled away the remnants of the plastic still inside the circle with sprue cutter and a sharp knife. Test-fitting the turret indicated that the opening was too big on the port side. I therefore lined the semicircle with a sleeve of styrene strip. The raised protrusion was cut off with a sharp hobby blade. Revell’s 1/48-scale B-25C kit supplies an insert to blank off the lower gun turret of that kit. This part was a fairly close fit for the opening of the original Monogram B-25J turret position, so it was superglued in place. With the grinding and some of the fuselage conversion done, I decided to putty any gaps and gouges. My weapon of choice for this type of job is Milliput White. A relatively large amount of putty on the front of the starboard side was required to build up the canopy sill, which I had inadvertently thinned down while grinding the blast plates off. Revell’s old B-25D may be seen in the foreground, with the Monogram kit in the rear. Note the hole for the forward upper turret in the Monogram kit fuselage.
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D ESTAGGERING THE WINDOWS These Aussie Mitchell IIs had their waist windows in line with each other, not staggered like the J model. I finally decided that I could not get away with leaving the port side waist gun position where it was, so I resolved to hack it out the fuselage side and relocate it forward. The first step was to outline the area to be removed in self-adhesive
Dymo tape. This rectangle was scribed deeply as a guide to cut the section out. After a few ineffectual passes with a hobby knife, I fetched my razor saw to do the heavy cutting. Attacking the scribed line at an angle worked well, resulting in a fairly clean and narrow cut line. The excised rectangle was now ready for modification. The left side of the rectangle was carefully cut off and glued next to the right side of the window. This
resulted in the window being moved forward. The modified insert was test fitted in the fuselage. As a result, plastic strip was added to the top and (a narrow wedge) to the right side to shim the slight gaps left after the saw cuts. The join lines were filled with Milliput White and left to set. At this stage, somebody described this project as an example of ‘grittedteeth, bare-knuckle modelling’.
The turret for the B-25D was located on the rear fuselage.
The blast panels were ground off the nose of the Monogram kit using a Dremel motor tool.
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Actually, I did feel as if I spent a fair bit of time with gritted teeth while working on this model. It seemed that every time I found and overcame an unexpected challenge, another one popped up. So it should have been no real surprise that when I finished relocating the port side window, another obstacle was lobbed into the path. It would seem that not only were the side windows in a different position, but the ‘eyebrow’
fairings above the windows was much larger – in fact around the same size as the bottom fairing (thanks to Peter Johnstone for the information). Before I decided how to tackle this little change, I realized that I would have to rescribe at least the mid-rear port side fuselage where the panel lines had been obliterated during the side window surgery. As long as I was doing that, I thought I had better rescribe the whole
fuselage. The raised panel lines were sanded off, leaving ghostly lines as a fairly clear template. I used self-adhesive Dymo tape as a guide for vertical panel lines, and a photo-etched straight edge taped to the model for horizontal lines. I made sure that I carefully applied around three light strokes to each scribed line. In total, scribing both fuselage halves took around 3.5 hours. An added benefit was that I Positions for new windows and future filling were marked onto the kit fuselage.
The outlines of the new small windows were first scribed with the aid of a template.
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The windows were then nibbled out with a drill and sharp knife.
The new position for the rear upper turret was marked with a simple paper template.
The hole was made by first cutting slots to the edge of the circle using the grinding wheel attachment on my Dremel…
… then the excess was cut off with a knife.
Plastic sheet was used to form a raised ridge around the opening. This was later cut down and sanded.
The front turret opening was plugged with a blank left over from the Revell B-25D. This was actually designed to close the lower turret position, but it fitted well here.
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Milliput was the filler of choice. The various scars, gaps and join lines were filled for the first time, but not the last!
Some of the hatches were not appropriate for this variant, so these were filled at the same time.
The port side waist gun position was marked for removal using Dymo tape as a guide.
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A JLC razor saw was used to carefully remove the section of fuselage containing the waist gun position.
The JLC saw is ideal for this task as it is very thin, and not much plastic is lost in the operation.
The excised section was cut into two pieces for later reassembly.
The waist gun position was shifted forward, with the short section glued aft. Two thin pieces of plastic strip were used to fill the narrow gap left by the saw.
Milliput was broken out again to fill the join lines of the new waist gun position.
This surgery brings the previously staggered waist guns in line with each other on opposite sides of the fuselage.
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The port side waist gun station, now sanded smooth. Note that the new rear window is also in place, filled and sanded down. The clear window was cut from the clear cover of a compact disk case.
The new eyebrows for both waist gun positions were kicked off with a template of the upper outline cut from self-adhesive Dymo tape.
Milliput was then used to build up the shape of the ‘eyebrow’. The two-part epoxy putty was smoothed and shaped with a damp fingertip.
The Dymo tape was removed and the putty allowed to set before the eyebrows were sanded to their final shape.
Grey primer was sprayed on the fuselage halves at this stage to check for lingering gaps and other imperfections. A few were found and marked with pencil for later repair.
Monogram provides a decent interior for their bomber kits. The inside of the port waist gun position was covered with plastic strip to hide the unsightly joins.
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applied the D panel arrangement on the starboard side where the circular escape hatch used to be. It also gave me some time to think about how to achieve the new large bulged side window fairings. For the bulges, I first cut a piece of Dymo tape as a template for the shape of the higher upper curve of the new fairing. This was stuck to the fuselage side. Next, I mixed up a batch of Milliput and applied a thin sausage
along the curved upper line. This was followed by a smaller blob in the middle of the new fairing. The putty was then shaped first with a small trowel, then with a damp fingertip, until it was approximately the right size and shape. The Dymo tape was removed while the putty was still pliable. The thickness of the tape left a realistic ridge similar to the ridge on the bottom fairing. A few tiny adjustments were made to fair the
top curve with the fuselage side using a damp toothpick. I also found out just as I finished this modification that the profile of the B-25D rear fuselage was different to that of the J. The D dropped off aft of the turret, resulting in a rear fuselage that was seven inches shallower than the J model at the rear gunner’s position. I had not picked this up (it was not in the drawings of the Aussie Ds, and the Revell
The various minor flaws have now been filled and sanded, and a new coat of primer applied. The new eyebrows smoothly bend into the fuselage sides.
Terry Dean Nose Weights produce a large chunk of lead that is custom-built to fit inside the nose wheel bay of Monogram’s B-25J. This is a welcome cure for tail sitting!
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The nose weight fits into the nose gear bay after some of the plastic structural detail has been carved away.
C/D fuselage is the same depth or even a little deeper than the Monogram J fuselage in this area), but it was really too late for me to do anything about it without undoing a lot of the work that I had already done. If I was going to repeat this project, I would probably backfill the inside of the upper rear fuselage halves with Milliput, lower the mount for the horizontal tail surfaces (by cutting it out and removing a section below it), then sand down the height and profile of the rear fuselage by around 3mm. With the major surgery now complete, I wanted to make sure that all the modified sections were smoothly blended with the surface of the kit. The fuselage was treated to a coat of Tamiya Grey Primer straight from the can. This primer coat highlighted a number of incompletely filled join seams, a few inconsistent panel lines and
some small gouges that had not been eliminated. These were highlighted with a pencil for later attention.
I NTERIOR At this stage I started to fit out the interior. As the fuselage would be buttoned up, I did not add any extra detail to the main interior. The detail provided by Monogram was pretty good anyway. The only modification was to provide some structural detail around the port side waist gun window to hide the scarring of the relocation surgery. Earlier on, I had installed oversized windows in each side of the rear fuselage. These were cut from a cover of a CD case following the suggestion of Tony Bell. The plastic was quite brittle, but it responded very well to the ‘score and snap’ approach. The windows were faired in and the clear sections were masked inside and out with Tamiya tape.
An article by RAAF researcher Steve MacKenzie from IPMS NSW magazine News and Views Vol. 15, No. 3, provided some great information about the modified tail gun position. On the basis of this information, I cut off part of the tail at an angle. The same article provided information about the early style fuselage gun packs, and a ventilation pipe under the nose. Great stuff. The opening for the navigator’s astrodome was cut out of the forward fuselage roof. The fuselage halves were taped together tightly as the opening crossed the fuselage halves and the forward turret plug. A circular template was used to mark out the opening and a small pilot hole was drilled. Next, a round dental burr was fitted to my Dremel motor tool to enlarge the hole. The job was finished with a sharp hobby knife to clean up any jagged residue of plastic.
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My Mitchell would be mostly buttoned up, so only glimpses of the interior would be seen through the nose glazing, canopy, turret and various windows. I therefore decided not to expend too much effort on detailing this large expanse. I painted the model’s interior mostly according to the excellent article on the IPMS Stockholm website http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/ magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_
interior_colours_us_part2.htm. The cockpit was painted dull dark green (using Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green) and the remainder of the interior was coated in zinc chromate yellow (Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green), except for the bomb bay which was masked off and painted silver. The most prominent specific feature would be the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats. I added harness from lead foil cut from the top
of a wine bottle with fine wire buckles. The yellow life preserver cushions were simply pieces of Tamiya masking tape folded to the appropriate size.
W EATHERING
THE INTERIOR Weathering was applied reasonably heavily to permit some effect to be visible inside the dark recesses of the fuselage. First, the structural detail was highlighted with a thin
The only additions to Monogram’s interior parts were harness straps cut from lead foil. Otherwise, all the kit interior needs is a careful paint job.
The fuselage and wing parts are glued together and temporarily secured with Tamiya tape and various clamps.
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spray of a black and red-brown mix. Next, details such as boxes, straps, switches and buttons were picked out with a fine brush. Finally, a wash of thinned raw umber and black oil paint mixed with odourless thinners was selectively applied to the edges of various surfaces. Subsequent to all this painting, I found a source (HyperScale’s Plane Talking forum) that suggested
that the main interior colour was not actually zinc chromate yellow, but a custom mix of zinc chromate and approximately 10 per cent black, resulting in a muddy olive green shade. I decided to take an each-way bet. Rather than repainting the entire interior, I mixed up a batch of the new colour and sprayed it in the bombardier’s and the rear gunner’s compartments.
B RINGING
THE SUBASSEMBLIES TOGETHER The time had come to encase all that painting and weathering between the fuselage halves, but not before ensuring that the nose wheel would stay on the ground when the model was finished. This kit needs a lot of nose weight. Fortunately, Terry Dean Nose Weights offers a customThe join for the fins has been reinforced with brass tube. Corresponding holes have been drilled into the horizontal tail.
A new smaller blast panel cut from sheet styrene plus the gun pack from Revell’s 1/48-scale B-25D has been glued to the forward fuselage.
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designed solution – a solid whitemetal weight designed to fit inside the forward wheel well. The main gear door is closed, so this chunk of metal does not obscure any visible kit detail. Test-fitting of the nose weight suggested that it would be safer to trim the raised ribs off the wheel well ceiling. This offered a millimetre’s more clearance and, more importantly, gave a flatter surface for a strong bond.
The nose weight was glued in place using superglue. I was concerned that I might need more nose weight than standard as I had moved the centre of gravity aft when relocating the turret. I therefore packed a few lead fishing sinkers in front of the instrument panel as insurance. These spherical lead weights were squashed with pliers before installation to permit more to be fitted. Now the fuselage and wing
halves were glued together and taped to set. Monogram’s one-piece engines look pretty ordinary on the sprue, but I did not want to introduce any aftermarket to the project at this late stage so I decided that they would do. They did look better once paint was applied, and they looked better again inside their nacelles. I had a little trouble lining one of the engines up inside the
After all that hard graft, the model is finally starting to look like a Mitchell.
The raised panel lines on the wings were sanded off and scribed to match the newly recessed panel lines on the fuselage.
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nacelle. In fact, I had to break open the nacelle to correct a nasty lean that the engine had developed while setting. The vertical tailplanes are each moulded with a long locating pin, but these had both broken off. I drilled a hole in the positions of the pins and installed brass tube to improve the bond between the tailplane parts. In the interests of consistency, I rescribed the small number of panel lines of the upper surface of the horizontal stabilisers, and both sides of each vertical stab. After I had assembled the wings, I bit the bullet and determined to rescribe the upper surfaces of these large parts too. I took care to leave some raised details (such as small rectangular panels here and there) in place. Once again, self-adhesive Dymo tape was used as a guide but this time the raised panel lines were not sanded off until after the new recessed lines were scribed. Once finished, the panel lines received a
thin brushed coat of Tamiya Extra Thin Liquid Cement. This delivers a more consistent edge to the sharp, fine lines. With the fuselage and wings now ready for final assembly, I added a few more conversion details. These included the nose gun packages from the Revell B-25C kit plus a piece of thin styrene cut to shape as new small blast panels forward of the guns on each side. A piece of plastic rod was also flattened on one side and glued to the bottom of the nose. This represents a fume extractor tube fitted to these hybrid B-25Ds. When the glue had set properly, I scribed a line where the tube crosses the front main undercarriage door. Fit of the main airframe components was generally pretty good. I sanded the second round of Milliput, but the seam line on the upper fuselage join was particularly recalcitrant. I eventually terminated
the seam with extreme prejudice using a coarse MasterCasters sanding stick to attack the entire spine, followed by progressively finer sanders to eliminate the deep sanding gouges. I had to restore the scribed panel line detail after this. The fuselage was primed again after the sanding was complete. The wings received a coat of Tamiya Primer after sanding too. The fit of the wings to the fuselage was pretty good. The port wing was not quite thick enough, resulting in a narrow gap at the upper wing root, but I managed to cram some scrap plastic between the top and bottom join of the wing. This mostly fixed the problem. A swipe of Tamiya Surfacer resulted in a gap-free finish. Main transparencies were now glued in place. The fit was pretty good. I have read some horror stories about the canopy and nose pieces, but the only problems I encountered were a very small gap at the front of the windscreen which was quickly dealt with using Krystal Kleer (white glue), and a gap/step on the port side of the fuselage nose where it (almost) meets the nose cap and the upper nose glazing. A few gaps and steps were present around the nose and windscreen glazings. The clear parts were masked and the flaws filled with Milliput. The putty was smoothed with a damp fingertip, then sanded and polished when set.
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The smaller windows and the astrodome hole were temporarily filled with Krystal Kleer as a masking agent to prevent overspray from entering the model. When the paint job was finished, the Krystal Kleer was pulled out and replaced with a fresh application to create the clear windows. I drilled a second hole under the fixed machine-gun position in the clear nose cap for the additional
fixed gun carried by these hybrid B-25Ds. I glued the machine gun in the flexible position in the centre of the nose, but I cut the barrel off when it was completely set, and glued it back on when painting was complete (it had almost no chance of surviving the extensive handling during painting. The nose and canopy transparencies were masked to avoid putty fingerprints on these
pristine parts, and to reduce the risk of damage from later sanding. Milliput was applied sparingly with a trowel (actually an old-fashioned staple remover). As much excess putty as possible was wiped off the model with a damp fingertip while the putty was still pliable. This minimized the amount of sanding needed later. When the Milliput had dried, I used 1,000-grit Tamiya Abrasive
Eduard Mask set number EX 119 was used to mask the clear parts. In total, masking with these die-cut flexible masks took a little more than an hour.
The other clear parts were masked with the Eduard set too. These masks were real time savers, and permitted razor sharp precision too.
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Paper to sand and polish the filler. Although there seems to be quite a lot of Milliput around the nose and the canopy, the gaps were negligible. Even so, it was worth the extra time to properly fair in the canopy and nose, completely eliminating the small steps between the clear parts and the grey fuselage. Eduard Mask set number EX 119 was used to mask the clear parts. In total, masking with these die-cut flexible masks took a little more than an hour – far less than the time that would have been required if I was cutting masks from tape, and more precise too. The canopy and other masked frames were painted the interior colour. I also bought a rather dangerouslooking Pounce Wheel while I was at an art shop, and decided to try it out on my Mitchell to add selected lines of rivets to the fuselage and the upper wings and tail planes. The spikes are widely spaced, but it works quite well. I used it very lightly for a subtle (i.e., almost invisible) riveting effect. I also modified the rear machine-gun cover by plugging the two holes, drilling one new one, and building up and reshaping the cover using Milliput.
PAINTING I spent a few hours getting the basic colours onto my B-25D. The lower surface was painted Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey before being broken up with a mottle of a
50:50 mix of Neutral Grey and Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey. The base colour for the upper surface was Xrtacrylics’ 1112 Olive Drab. This dark shade was broken up with pale streaks and oversprays on the upper surface. A lighter version of the colour was also sprayed onto the control surfaces, as the fabric faded much faster than the rest of the airframe. Some RAAF Mitchells in 1945 featured overpainted roundels. The new style was smaller, so a dark patch of fresh olive drab or foliage green could be seen under the new roundels. These were masked and sprayed onto the paintwork before decals were applied. These aircraft featured lots of dark stains and massive chalky exhaust streaks, but I did not add these until the decals have been applied. Polly Scale Flat acrylic was applied over the decals and the glossy paint, immediately improving the appearance of the olive drab finish to my eye. I post-shaded the upper wings and part of the fuselage with panel highlighting, chordwise streaks and random spots using a very thin mix of Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown and Flat X-1 Black. The model was finally looking something like I had visualized it. I was getting worried that even my faded version of olive drab would be too dark, but the Polly Scale Flat coat and the first stage of weathering have restored my confidence in the paint job.
The panel structure of these weary and weathered Mitchells is so I feel that I have been given licence to go slightly nuts, but only slightly. I thought that I had covered the gap at the wing root but the flat coat revealed a persistent seam line. Rather than putty and sand, I decided to fill this narrow seam with Testors’ Clear Parts Cement. This is a water-soluble white glue that is thinner than Krystal Kleer and can be applied straight from a narrow plastic tube attached to the bottle. I thought that it might be an effective way to fill the gap without the risk of damaging the surrounding plastic. You can see the just-applied Testors’ Clear Parts Cement on the wing root in the photos. Some may think that the weathering looks too stark and architectural, especially the panel and hinge lines, but I have more than a few photos of these Aussie Mitchells in flight over Pacific islands and they did really look like this. If anything, my rendition is subdued. If you happen to have Stewart Wilson’s book, Boston, Mitchell and Liberator in Australian Service, check the photos on pages 71 and 78 to see what I mean. The chalky exhaust stain was also typical of 2 Sqn RAAF B-25s. These were applied first as narrow streaks of Tamiya XF-57 Buff, thinned heavily and sprayed
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The nose and windscreen clear parts were sprayed interior green before the camouflage coats were applied.
A ‘fabric’ cover for the rear machine gun was fashioned from Milliput.
At this very late stage I decided to add some lines of recessed rivets using a Pounce Wheel purchased from a local craft shop. The effect was subtle but a nice enhancement.
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straight behind each exhaust ejector, then gradually built up and flared out to finally join as one large stain at the ends of the top and bottom of the engine nacelles. Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan, an even paler colour, was then used to emphasize the more directed stains directly behind the ejectors. The ubiquitous red-brown/black mix was applied very lightly at the edges of the pale stain and in a couple of streaks. The pale streaks were also extended to subtler applications on the horizontal and vertical tail planes. A fresh batch of unfaded olive drab was used to paint over the repair to the wing root, much in the same way as it might have been on the real aircraft. I left the obvious repair visible, and added a couple of repair ‘patches’ on the wings using the same batch of paint.
F INISHING TOUCHES I sourced an astrodome from Squadron’s B-25C/D vacform canopy set. The astrodome was cut out of the sheet and the base was sanded off with a coarse MasterCasters sander. The vacform part was masked with Tamiya tape and glued on top of the astrodome opening on the forward fuselage before a gap on each side of the clear dome was filled with Krystal Kleer, and the frame/base painted with olive drab. The DF football was also relocated onto the upper forward fuselage, and holes were drilled fore and aft for the two short antenna masts. Detail parts such as the main undercarriage, wheels, propellers, bomb bay doors and entry hatches were painted and weathered in preparation for final assembly. The detail of these parts was
very good. I especially liked the intricate wheel hubs. The Eduard masks were removed from the canopies. The new fuselage windows that I had temporarily blocked off with Krystal Kleer took a bit of effort to open and clean up. The Krystal Kleer having been applied a few months ago, combined with the paint, led to a stubborn masking medium. By contrast, the new rear windows masked with Tamiya tape (the windows were oversized pieces of flat plastic from a CD jewel case, then these were faired in and the actual window size was masked inside and out), worked like a charm. Nearly there now… but it always seems to take longer than you’d expect to completely finish off that last 1 per cent. The control surface hinge lines, scribed panel lines and other structural details were subtly highlighted with Tamiya acrylic X-18 Semi-Gloss Black, thinned heavily with water and used as a pinpoint wash applied with a fine brush. Antenna masts were cut from brass rod, painted and glued into pre-drilled holes on top of the fuselage. The antenna wire is nylon monofilament (invisible mending thread).
These camouflaged Mitchells suffered from extensive exhaust staining. Strips of self-adhesive aluminium foil were used for the turret framing.
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Machine-gun barrels were painted gloss black and installed. Installing the waist guns in the assembled fuselage was a little fiddly, but doable using a hemostat (long, self-closing tweezers). The undercarriage did not present any major hurdles, but I was worried that the main gear legs were not going to fit inside the closed nacelles. They did in the end though.
Next time I will secure the main wheels with superglue, as the plastic cement I used was not rigid enough to prevent the wheels bowing out on their axles under the heavy weight of the model. The turret framing you see here is ‘Plan B’. These turrets seem to often feature clear perspex framing, and I wanted to depict this. The easiest method would have been just to leave the top of the turret
unpainted, but the framing is usually visible in photographs so I wanted to emphasize them somehow. I therefore masked the turret and painted the frames with Polly Scale Flat. This achieved the frosted effect that I was looking for. I thought that if I dipped the canopy in Future, it would look as if these frosted frames were underneath the thin perspex dome.
The remnants of exhaust stains were also applied to the fins. Note the new window in the rear fuselage.
Markings were sourced from Aussie Decals.
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Nice theory, but the Future completely wiped out the effect – the whole turret just looked like clear plastic again! ‘Plan B’ was therefore put into effect. A number of photos of these Aussie B-25Ds show highly reflective turret framing, so I cut thin slices of self-adhesive foil to use as the individual frames. Once the entire model was assembled I was still not happy with the exhaust stain, deciding that my original depiction was underemphasized compared to reference photos. This prominent area was revisited. First, a new outline of a dark exhaust stain was laid down. Next, a 50:50 mix of Tamiya Buff and Deck Tan was thinned with alcohol (around 80 per cent thinner to paint) and sprayed carefully and very
directionally behind the exhaust ejectors. I was happier with this effect. The exhaust stain was also re-emphasized on the vertical tail surfaces. The new rear fuselage window made from a piece of clear CD jewel case can also be seen to good effect in the photos. Silver pencil was used to add some chipping to the upper wing roots and the leading edge of the wings and engine cowlings. I am fairly satisfied with the result of this major conversion project, but I do realize that there are a number of notable inaccuracies, and aspects that I would do differently next time: • Top of canopy framing is incorrect for a D (should be more perspex exposed). • Co-pilot seat is incorrect.
The shape and dimensions of the Monogram B-25 are excellent, resulting in a good representation of this iconic aircraft.
• Shoulder harnesses were not used on wartime aircraft. • Does not have the ‘broken back’ of the B/C/D, and therefore… • Style and size of rear gunner’s blister and .50-cal. mount is wrong. • Not really happy with Krystal Kleer windows. • Should have added some more weathering and detail inside nose – highly visible. • Decal codes slightly too small and not entirely correct style. • Canopy and nose frames need highlighting. Even so, this project was a great test bed for new techniques.
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K ITBASHING
TWO MEDIOCRE KITS FOR A BETTER RESULT It can be argued that the Hawker Sea Fury was the ultimate piston-engine fighter. Too late to see service in World War II, the Sea Fury held its own six years later in the skies over Korea against jet-powered adversaries.
he Fury was a thin-winged development of the wartime Hawker Tempest, but by the time this high-performance fighter took to the air in September 1944, the RAF had already recognized that the age of the jet fighter was dawning. Even so, the Fleet Air Arm still needed a rugged and powerful fighter capable of carrier operations. In the twilight of the piston fighter era, the Sea Fury admirably filled this niche until the introduction of the jet-powered Sea Venom around 1954.
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will not be to everyone’s taste, especially on the Sea Fury’s smooth, flush-riveted airframe. Dimensions of the kit are in agreement with most reference sources, but there are a number of detail accuracy issues. The most prominent is the large cutout in the fuselage spine directly behind the cockpit. This is not present on the real Sea Fury – the spine should continue without any change to contour or depth right up to the rear cockpit bulkhead. The windscreen is not quite right either. The lower sides are
heavily curved on the kit, whereas the real Sea Fury windscreen was almost straight. The exhaust panels appear to be the correct height (Hobbycraft’s are too short), and the hollowed-out exhaust stacks are a nice touch but the ‘eyebrow’ above and the lip below are exaggerated. The forward cowl looks odd – the curve toward the spinner seems to start too early and the fuselage ‘Frankenfury’ – a 1/48-scale Sea Fury with Trumpeter’s wings, Hobbycraft’s fuselage and Cooper Details’ multimedia upgrade set.
T RUMPETER ’ S 1/48- SCALE S EA F URY FB.11 IN THE BOX Trumpeter’s 1/48-scale Sea Fury FB.11 comprises 92 parts in grey plastic and eight clear parts. The kit is cleanly moulded with no obvious ejector-pin marks or other imperfections on exterior surfaces, Surface detail is by way of finely recessed panel lines and rows of crisply recessed rivets. The latter
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opening appears overly sharp, giving the area a slightly pinched look. The spinner itself is too pointy, but Trumpeter did get the offset oval openings for the propeller blade right. The cockpit is shallow. Detail in the front office is basic and bears only a passing resemblance to the real thing. This is especially true of the seat and the control column. The wings are generally very good, with structurally detailed wheel wells. The outer wing panels are separate and may be depicted flat or folded. Wing tip navigation lights and landing lights are supplied as separate clear parts. Ailerons are also separate. This is very useful, as the ailerons were deflected outward when the wings were folded. The openings for the cannon in the wing leading edges are offset ovals as moulded. These should be reshaped to circular openings.
Ordnance includes two big ferry tanks and six rockets moulded to rails. The ferry tanks were rarely fitted – smaller 90-gallon drop tanks were more typical. The rockets are nicely detailed and fit perfectly in their wing locating holes, but they do not include any openings in the rear of the rocket tubes. In fact, the tubes taper off altogether just behind the front of the fins. The main landing gear legs are short by around 3mm. Perhaps this is supposed to represent extreme compression under the weight of full ferry tanks. Detail on the wheel hubs is poor, and the radial tread pattern is not typical for the type.
C ONSTRUCTION As soon as I received Trumpeter’s 1/48-scale Sea Fury, I considered possible solutions to address some of the shortcomings. The first idea
that came to mind was using either Cooper Details’ or Cutting Edge’s multimedia upgrade sets. These were designed for the Hobbycraft Sea Fury, but they address most of the weak points of Trumpeter’s kits too. The Cooper Details set includes an entirely new cockpit, propellers, spinner, wheels and 90-gallon drop tanks in resin; plus a vacform canopy and white-metal undercarriage parts for the main and tail gear. The biggest challenge would be to adapt Cooper Details’ resin spinner to the Trumpeter engine cowling, which is arranged quite differently to Hobbycraft’s engineering. Some surgery would be required. The large scallop behind the cockpit on Trumpeter’s fuselage spine would have to be filled, shaped and sanded too; and the rivets needed filling and smoothing. At this point I wondered if it might be easier to fit the Hobbycraft fuselage to Trumpeter’s very nice wing. Test-fitting showed that only minor trimming and filling would be needed to mate these major subassemblies. The biggest problem with the basic Hobbycraft fuselage is the wide, soft panel lines. I brushed a thick coat of Tamiya
Hobbycraft’s 1/48-scale Sea Fury fuselage was test-fitted against Trumpeter’s mid-wing section. The result was surprisingly encouraging.
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The fit was also close at the front and back underside joins.
Before mating the main parts of the monster, I dealt with the heavily recessed panel lines on the Hobbycraft Sea Fury. These are inappropriate for the smooth finish of this naval thoroughbred. Tamiya Surfacer was brushed onto the panel lines before sanding.
The rivets on Trumpeter’s wings were equally unsuitable. Mr. Surfacer was also applied to the lines of rivets, taking care to avoid the fine panel lines and access hatches.
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Surfacer over the lines on the rear fuselage, and a thinner coat of Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1000 onto the cowl panels and forward fuselage lines, as these were visible on the real aircraft. Once thoroughly dry, the various surfacers were sanded down to deliver a much subtler rendition of panel lines – far more appropriate for the flush riveted Sea Fury. Trumpeter’s outer wing panels received similar treatment. Two
coats of Tamiya Surfacer, with sanding in between coats and afterward, were required to eliminate most of the prominent rivet detail. The structural rivet detail on the inner wing panels was left intact as I thought it looked appropriately busy around the various access hatches and panels. With the large parts prepared, I started building Cooper Details’ beautiful resin cockpit. Although this set was released quite some
time ago, the detail remains state of the art. I did replace the seat with the Cutting Edge Typhoon seat though, as the Cooper seat was not fitted with harness straps. The Cutting Edge seat has the harness straps and quilted backrest cast in place. I had to shave off the harness attachment points on the outside of the seat to squeeze it into the cockpit though. The Cooper Details cockpit is the correct depth, is accurate and Cooper Details’ 1/48-scale multimedia upgrade set addresses most of the remaining shortcomings. This set includes replacement landing gear, spinner, propeller blades, a new cockpit and some smaller details.
Some of the smaller resin parts from Cooper Details’ upgrade set have been grafted to the cockpit sidewalls. Note also the small triangles of scrap plastic that have been used to recontour the line of the forward cockpit opening.
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very busy. It even includes a delicate three-part mount for the master compass in front of the control column. I decided that I might not quite be up to this task, and the compass’s tripod mount would be largely hidden in the dark recesses of the black cockpit, so I simply glued the compass to the top of a length of plastic rod. Some of Cooper Details’ smaller cockpit parts are cast onto a thin wafer of resin. The resin was
carefully sanded, freeing the tiny detail parts, which were then glued to the fuselage sidewalls. I also glued a wedge of scrap plastic to the cockpit sill, smoothing the line from the windscreen to the canopy rails. I painted the cockpit dark grey – representing scale black – and picked out the details with a fine brush and Tamiya acrylic paint. I initially painted the quilted backrest black, but eventually
repainted it in a shade of medium green to add a little colour to the otherwise dark front office. The fuselage halves were joined and the cockpit tub fed up through the wing opening into the assembled fuselage. Fit was perfect. Now it was time to mate the Trumpeter wings to Hobbycraft’s fuselage. The inside upper wing panels were first glued to the lower centre wing section. When this assembly was offered to the
Cooper Details’ cockpit is vastly superior to the shallow Trumpeter front office and the poor Hobbycraft parts.
The dark cockpit was painted ‘scale black’ – actually dark grey – with details picked out by brush using Tamiya paints. I later repainted the seat’s back cushion in medium green to lend some much-needed colour to the dark pit.
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fuselage, a few points interfered with fit along the wing root. These were carefully trimmed with a hobby knife and smoothed with a sanding stick. The process was repeated several times until a good fit was achieved. A few minor gaps remained at the wing root and underneath the fuselage where the wing meets the engine cowling. Also, the bulge where the fuselage meets the centre of the wing needed to be built up.
Milliput was used for both of these jobs. The outline of the bulge was cut from a piece of stout cardboard, which was taped to the bottom of the wing and used as a template. Once the Milliput had set, the wing roots and lower wing joins were thoroughly sanded for a nice, smooth seamless join. Cooper Details supplies a vacform canopy that is better in shape than either Trumpeter’s or Hobbycraft’s. The clear vacform
part was packed with Blu-Tack prior to being cut off its backing sheet. This improves rigidity while cutting, and also makes it easier to see the cutting line. A narrow ridge of .010 x .020in. plastic strip was carefully glued to the front of the windscreen sill. This ridge was helpful as a positive mounting point for the vacform windscreen. I realized that, in my earlier excitement, I had forgotten to Some minor trimming of the Trumpeter wing roots was required to obtain the best fit. Only a couple of narrow gaps remained.
Only minimal filling was needed underneath the model. A cardboard template was cut out to help fair in the bulge where the fuselage meets the centre of the wing.
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Sanding and shaping smoothed the bulge and the joins.
White Milliput was used to fill the gaps at the upper wing roots.
Cooper Details supplies a vacform canopy that is better in shape than either Trumpeter’s or Hobbycraft’s. The clear vacform part was packed with Blu-Tack prior to being cut off its backing sheet. This improves rigidity while cutting, and also makes it easier to see the cutting line.
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install the exhaust stubs from the inside of the fuselage. I decided to adapt Trumpeter’s exhausts, which are much nicer than Hobbycraft’s items and are also drilled out. The backing plastic was sliced off and the top stack cut away to allow the exhausts to fit in the shorter Hobbycraft opening. The balance of construction was fast and trouble free. Hobbycraft’s horizontal tail surfaces were used because they were easier to fit to Hobbycraft’s fuselage.
PAINTING The model first received a coat of Tamiya’s grey primer straight from the spray can. This coat helps identify any persistent gaps, steps and seams before the camouflage paint is applied. The Cooper Details 90-gallon drop tanks were fitted at this stage too. The mounts needed some reshaping to fit the more
contoured Trumpeter lower wing. All remaining paints were applied with my metal-bodied Aztek A470 airbrush. The first colour was Alclad II Magnesium to the bare metal exhaust panels and the base of the spinner. The wheel wells also received a coat of primer yellow. While the airbrush was loaded, the inside of the undercarriage doors were also treated to this colour. Wheel wells and exhaust panels were masked with Tamiya tape. Tamiya acrylic XF-21 Sky was sprayed onto the fuselage sides and all lower surfaces. A fine mottle and streaks of a lighter shade of sky (with around 10–15 per cent white added) were applied to subtly break up the large expanse of colour. The sky sections were masked off with Tamiya tape in preparation for extra dark sea grey on the upper surfaces. Wing walk
areas on both wings were sprayed flat black and masked off before the grey camouflage. Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey was used to represent extra dark sea grey. Once again, a pale mottle was applied over the base colour. The forward fuselage was also masked off and sprayed in a faded variation of the colour (I noticed this feature in a few contemporary photos of Sea Furies). Canopy parts were masked and sprayed while attached to a paintbrush using Blu-Tack. This makes it much easier to handle the parts while painting. Markings were sourced from Aussie Decals’ 1/48-scale sheet number A48-005, although I used Xtradecal’s national markings for the fuselage and upper wings. All decals performed well using Micro Set and Solvaset. Weathering was kept light, with a thin black-brown mix being sprayed mainly around the engine cowl, exhaust panels and control surface hinge lines. Recessed panel lines in these areas also received a thin wash of Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. Two thin coats of Polly Scale Flat finished the paint job with just the hint of a sheen.
A narrow ridge of .010 x .020in. plastic strip was carefully glued to the front of the windscreen sill. This ridge will act as a positive mounting point for the vacform windscreen.
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The entire model received a coat of Tamiya Grey Primer straight from the can. This helps identify any persistent gaps, steps and other imperfections before the camouflage colours are applied.
The resin drop tanks, also in the Cooper Details set, were glued in place before painting. The contours of the mounts were sanded to match the bottom of Trumpeter’s wing. The wheel wells had been earlier painted in a shade of zinc chromate yellow. These were masked off with wide Tamiya tape.
The characteristic exhaust panels were also masked off after two thin coats of Alclad Magnesium.
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Tamiya acrylic XF-21 Sky was sprayed onto the fuselage sides and all lower surfaces. A fine mottle of a lighter shade of sky (with around 10–15 per cent white added) was applied to subtly break up the large expanse of colour.
The sky sections were masked off with Tamiya tape in preparation for extra dark sea grey on the upper surfaces.
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Wing walk areas on both wings were sprayed flat black and masked off.
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Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey was used to represent extra dark sea grey. Once again, a pale mottle was applied over the base colour. The forward fuselage was also masked off and sprayed in a faded variation of the colour.
Canopy parts were masked and sprayed while attached to a paintbrush using Blu-Tack. This makes it much easier to handle the parts while painting.
Masking tape has been removed, revealing crisp camouflage demarcation. Two glossy coats of Future floor polish have been sprayed onto the model in preparation for decals.
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F INISHING
TOUCHES Trumpeter’s undersized main undercarriage legs were replaced with Cooper Details’ white-metal items. The mounting points in the wheel bay were drilled out to accommodate the new gear. Cooper Details’ tail wheel assembly is gorgeously rendered, with a separate white metal leg and wheel. The propeller blades from Cooper Details are also supplied
in white metal. This is just as well, as Sea Fury props have quite a significant twist from base to tip. I carefully twisted the five soft-metal propeller blades in an attempt to reproduce this distinctive feature. Stencil markings on the rockets and propeller blades were cobbled together using 1/72-scale decals, markings from a 1/48-scale Grand Phoenix Seafire, plus painted bands and spots.
Whip aerials were cut from stretched sprue. These were added to the top of the fin and on the underside of the folded starboard wing. The tail hook is a white-metal item from the Cooper details upgrade set. The Trumpeter pitot tube was replaced with brass tube and rod cut to length. Brass rod was also used for the rod antenna underneath the starboard wing.
Markings were sourced from Aussie Decals, although I used Xtradecals national markings for the fuselage and upper wings. All decals performed well using Micro Set and Solvaset.
Weathering was kept light, with a thin black-brown mix being sprayed mainly around the engine cowl, exhaust panels and control surface hinge lines. Recessed panel lines in these areas also received a thin wash of Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black.
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ABOVE: Trumpeter’s undersized main undercarriage legs were replaced with Cooper Details’ white-metal items. Trumpeter’s mounting points in the wheel bay were drilled out to accommodate the new gear. ABOVE RIGHT: Detail parts were painted, and weathered prior to final assembly. RIGHT: Stencil markings on the rockets and propeller blades were cobbled together using 1/72-scale decals, markings from a 1/48-scale Grand Phoenix Seafire, plus painted bands and spots.
Whip aerials were added to the top of the fin and on the underside of the folded starboard wing. The tail hook is a white-metal item from the Cooper Details upgrade set.
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The Trumpeter pitot tube was replaced with brass tube and rod cut to length. Brass rod was also used for the rod antenna underneath the starboard wing.
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TIME There are a few changes that I would make next time I attempt the Trumpeter Sea Fury: • The fit of the wing tip navigation lights is less than perfect, so I would superglue the lights to the wings before painting, fill and sand the joins, polish the clear plastic then mask the lights before painting. • The landing lights are simple disks with no backing, They look more like clear inspection panels to view the interior of the wings. I suggest replacing these with MV lenses. • I would cut the rockets off the rails and replace them with rockets that have hollow tubes at the rear.
C ONCLUSION Trumpeter’s 1/48-scale Sea Fury is like the proverbial Curate’s Egg – it is good in parts. The wings are the
best aspect of the kit, and they are clearly superior to Hobbycraft’s. Trumpeter’s wing fold option is very welcome, and the positionable ailerons may be deflected outward when the wings are folded just like the real thing. The scooped-out spine behind the cockpit, the poorly shaped spinner and the short landing gear legs are surprising considering the number of surviving Sea Furies (not to mention photos) available for reference. The shallow, caricatured cockpit, poor wheels and the blank-faced rocket tails are disappointing too. Even so, I know that many modellers will be happy with the kit straight from the box. Trumpeter’s Sea Fury fits well and it will be an enjoyable project with or without corrections. The good news is that, if you are keen to address some of the accuracy issues, you do
have a number of options. The cross-kitting of the Hobbycraft fuselage and the Trumpeter wings will take advantage of the strengths of both kits. The Hobbycraft kit may be picked up cheaply (probably even more so now that the Trumpeter Sea Fury is available), so this will be an inexpensive conversion. The addition of the Cooper Details, Flightpath (previously from PP Aeroparts) or Cutting Edge upgrades will deliver an even more accurate result. If you happen to have a Falcon vacform Sea Fury in your stash, you might be able to use this in a similar fashion. The Falcon vacform is probably still the most accurate Sea Fury available in 1/48 scale, and adapting the fuselage to the Trumpeter wings should be straightforward for any modeller with some vacform time under his or her belt. You might also decide to use and improve the Trumpeter fuselage by blanking off the scallop in the spine, reshaping the cowl and spinner, smoothing out the curved windscreen join and buying a replacement Falcon vacform canopy. Whichever route you choose, you’ll have an interesting time!
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I MPROVING DETAIL ON AN ACCURATE INJECTION - MOULDED PLASTIC KIT By Roy Sutherland In the early days of plastic modelling, Airfix was at the forefront of kit manufacturers. Airfix kits were considered to be top quality and they were pioneers of constant scale models. Some time in the 1980s, the Japanese kits began to improve dramatically in quality and detail, and the use of engraved panel lines became standardized. A few of the ‘old guard’ companies resisted this change, feeling that raised panel lines were always good enough in the past. The result was that they lost their status as manufacturers of top-quality kits.
round 1995, Airfix finally responded with four new 1/48-scale kits. The Spitfire 22/24 and the Seafire 47 came first. They were a quantum leap in quality over previous Airfix efforts. Crisp recessed panel lines, nicely moulded detail parts, exhaustive instructions and huge multi-scheme decal sheets greeted the modeller upon opening the box. Even better, they are exhaustively researched kits and are superbly accurate in shape. I bought more than a few Airfix Spitfire 22/24 kits when they were
A
first released. I spent a number of evenings studying the kit to determine how accurate it was. I compared it to published Mk 22 drawings, the best of these being the Robinson drawings published by MAP. The kit compared very favourably. As late-mark Spitfires are just about my favourite aircraft of all time, I embarked on producing resin upgrade parts to make this kit even more stunning. That was back in 1995. All upgrade parts used in this build were mastered and produced by
myself, under the Cooper Details line. My intention with this article is not self-promotion, but rather to show what can be done to make this kit really shine. LEFT: The insides of the fuselage halves were thinned, and moulded-in detail was removed. Upper sidewall detail was added from strip styrene, wire and resin parts. BELOW: The Cooper Details Spit 24 cockpit floor components shown removed from their moulding blocks and painted. The rudder pedals have yet to be added.
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D OWN
TO BUSINESS Work began by first removing the moulded-in cockpit sidewall detail from the inside of the kit fuselage
halves. I thinned the sidewalls by scraping them with a No. 10 X-Acto blade. I taped the fuselage halves together and test-fitted the resin instrument panel and rear
bulkhead. After some minor sanding and scraping, the parts slid into position. This is all that is necessary to get the cockpit to fit properly when assembled. TOP LEFT: The forward firewall, with its dished panels to clear the pilot’s flying boots, and the rear bulkhead, with the seat mounting frame attached, are shown painted in this view. MIDDLE LEFT: The resin lower cockpit sidewalls are assembled and painted, and are now ready to be installed. More wiring will be added once the cockpit is assembled. BOTTOM LEFT: The replacement instrument panel bulkhead, with photoetched and clear film dial elements making up the instrument panel. Careful painting pays dividends, as this area is a focal point for most aircraft models. BOTTOM RIGHT: The resin cockpit partially assembled. The Spitfire’s cockpit remained mostly unchanged from Mk I through 24, with more boxes, wires and systems jammed into the cramped confines with each successive mark.
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LEFT: The cockpit, with both sidewalls attached, awaiting the rear bulkhead to form a complete subassembly. The whole unit slides up into the assembled fuselage halves, to be secured with CA glue. RIGHT: The upper sidewalls have now been painted. Careful work with a 000 Winsor & Newton Series Seven paintbrush yields good results when detail painting.
The inner surface of the lower wings were scraped with a curved No. 10 X-Acto blade to thin the walls, resulting in a more-to-scale thickness to the gear bay openings. Note also the boxed-in shell ejector chutes.
This view of the rear face of the port gear well shows some of the extra detail I added with strip styrene and wire, based on good photos I took of the gear bays of a surviving Spitfire Mk 24.
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Looking forward into the port gear well shows more added detail. While the gear bays are seldom seen on a model of this size, I do not regret the extra time spent detailing them.
The rocker covers in the Airfix kit need some modifications to be accurate. The notch in the leading edge was filled with CA, and the profile was reworked with some aggressive sanding.
The kit tailplanes are accurate, but I wanted to display my model with the elevators dropped. The Cooper Details control surfaces set included the stabs with elevators already separated. I added metal pins to ensure a strong bond.
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TOP LEFT: The resin barrels from the Cooper Details Spitfire 22/24 external upgrade set were drilled and pinned before attaching to the wing. This ensures they will not be easily knocked off. TOP RIGHT: The trailing edge of the wing needed a little help to achieve the correct sweep to the wing fillet. The missing area was built up with medium viscosity CA and sanded to shape.
LEFT: The kit radiator fairings are incorrectly moulded with a trapezoidal cross-section, as shown on the right. The inner corners were repeatedly scribed with a No. 11 X-Acto blade. The sides were then bent to a correct square cross-section. MIDDLE: The resin radiator cores fit the corrected radiator fairings and add detail. The gun heating tube was added from wire. This detail is mirrored on the other wing. RIGHT: The radiator core viewed from the front. The radiator, intake and exit ramps were painted before the fairings were installed, as painting them after installation is not easy.
The resin cockpit parts were all removed from their moulding blocks and cleaned up. The upper sidewalls were detailed according to the instructions using strip styrene, resin parts, and wire. Small parts were attached to the floor, bulkheads and walls in preparation for painting. As no mould releases
were used, it is not necessary to wash the parts, but you might want to anyway to remove any finger oils. The overall cockpit was sprayed with interior grey green custom-mixed from Tamiya paints. A dark grey wash was applied to all parts to simulate the shadows cast by the full-sized components.
Tiny parts can’t cast deep shadows, so they need some help. The raised detail was drybrushed lightly with a lightened interior green colour. The instrument panel is a multi-piece affair comprising photo-etched brass parts and a printed clear film dial sheet. The film dials were cut out, stuck face
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down to the adhesive strip of a Post-it note and painted off-white. The brass parts were primed with metal primer and painted scale black. After dry brushing with medium grey, the clear dials were attached to the back of the panel with Future floor polish. This allows the dials to be positioned exactly where you want them, and also simulates glass dial faces when dry. A lot of time was spent studying colour photos of restored and unrestored Spitfire cockpits before detail painting began. As usual, I painted some of the buttons and switches red and yellow to add visual interest. The seat was painted Model Master 1785 Rust, as the real item was moulded in Tufnol, a terracottacoloured phenolic resin. The back pad was painted very dark brown and the belts buff. A thin black wash highlighted the detail on the belts and gave them some depth.
Once painting was finished, the instrument panel and rear bulkhead were attached to the cockpit floor. The sidewalls were added, glued only along the bottom edge. This will help when fitting the cockpit into the fuselage. The seat, stick and gunsight were left off, to be attached during final assembly. The cockpit was set aside for later installation. The fuselage halves were now mated and left to dry overnight. The cockpit tub was inserted from below. Care was taken to make sure it was seated properly and aligned. The bulkheads were secured with Cyanoacrylate (instant glue, referred to from this point forwards as CA). Next, I applied CA to the back of the sidewalls near the top edge. The walls were pressed against the kit fuselage halves and held until set. After the fuselage seams were filled and sanded flush, the panel lines were restored with a scriber. I corrected the kit rocker covers by
filling the notch in the leading edge with CA and reshaping the profile as shown in the corresponding photo. Corrected resin rocker covers (ex-Cooper Details) are available from BarracudaCast. With work on the fuselage nearly complete, I turned my attention to the wing. The windscreen was test-fitted and I took some time to adjust the fit to reduce any gaps. The area of the upper fuselage inside the windscreen was painted black. I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to do this and had BOTTOM LEFT: The kit carburettor intake has a prominent seam running down the interior that is very hard to remove. The resin Cooper Details carb intake is seamless, and comes with a separate shutter. which is shown here in the closed position. BOTTOM RIGHT: The replacement rudder lacks the prominent holes of the kit rudder, and the split trim tab is moulded separately. Note the kit rudder actuator mechanism and fairing have been removed.
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to try and reach a fine brush in there to paint the bare plastic! The windscreen was now attached with liquid cement. When dry, any gaps were filled with Mr. Surfacer 500 and sanded out. Filling the gaps on canopies really improves the looks of a finished model.
TAKING
WING The Spitfire underwent a radical redesign starting with the Spitfire Mk 21, and a new name was even
considered. Cooler heads prevailed, and the Spitfire lineage remained unbroken. The redesign consisted of a totally new wing, and the beloved elliptical plan form was abandoned. To Supermarine’s credit, the new wing was also quite attractive, and managed to retain the essence of the Spitfire. Airfix have done a very nice job on the wing. It is both accurate and nicely scribed. I decided to detail the gear bays. I don’t normally do
this, but this particular aircraft is one of my favourites. I began by thinning the lower wing in the gear bay area. This results in much thinner edges to the gear bay openings, which adds greatly to the realism. I added structural detail from strip styrene based on detail photos I have taken of surviving Mk 22 Spitfires. Electrical and hydraulic lines were added from carefully bent wire and styrene rod. There is no shortcut for this
A close-up of the starboard side of the rudder, showing the trim tab actuator mechanism added from thin styrene rod.
Extreme close-up of the new rudder control horn, pushrod and fairing added from rod and sheet styrene. Little details like this are easy to make and really add that extra something to your model.
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process. It’s bend, bend, fit… bend, bend, fit, and so on, until you are happy with the result. Time spent detailing gear bays is one of those debatable wastes of time we so often come across in modelling. It’s the builder’s choice. It doesn’t have to make sense. There is one obvious error in this kit: the odd cross-section of the radiator housings. They are trapezoidal. Fortunately it is an easy fix, as described in the accompanying photo (see page 137). The rest of the wing is quite straightforward and assembly went smoothly. If you plan to pose the ailerons, be aware that they are not the Frise type, but instead pivot along a full-span piano hinge on the bottom surface of the wing. I replaced the cannon barrels with the Cooper Details parts, as they are seamless and have more refined barrels that are already drilled out.
Not trusting CA alone to secure them, I drilled and pinned the barrels to the wing using short lengths of metal wire. The wing was mated to the fuselage and the fit was generally good, although I did do some reconstruction on the trailing edge fairing. I backed the lower edge of the fillet with Tamiya tape, spanning the gap that needed to be filled. Cyanoacrylate glue was applied to this area and set with accelerator. I sanded this to shape a few minutes later. The resulting patch is very strong and can be filed to a sharp edge. The Cooper Details carburettor intake was removed from its moulding block with a razor saw and cleaned up. The shutter was attached in the closed position (filtered air for ground running). The interior was painted medium sea grey, given a wash and attached with CA.
A little extra detail was also added to the tail wheel and its doors. The doors have been drilled and pinned. This adds a lot of strength to an area that usually gets easily damaged with casual handling.
B RINGING
UP THE REAR The kit rudder, while accurate, is covered with deep holes that I suppose are meant to represent rivets, but study of the real thing shows no such detail. I replaced the rudder with the Cooper Details resin part and attached the separate split trim tab. The trim tab actuator was fabricated from sheet and rod styrene. I filed off the kit’s moulded-on rudder pushrod and fairing, and replaced it with more rod and strip. These parts are very fragile, and care must be taken not to break them off during the build. I decided to deflect the elevators for this model. The kit parts are fine, but it’s a lot of work to cut them apart and then shim them up to fit properly when reposed. I used the Cooper Details stabilizers, which are already separated. The stabilizers were
The up locks were drilled out and detailed. Mounting lugs for the gear doors were fashioned from styrene rod.
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drilled and metal pins were installed to add strength, and attached with CA. A simple card stock jig was made to assure that both elevators were dropped the same amount. It was held in position against the bottom of the stabilizers with Blu-Tack while each elevator was glued into position. The tail wheel doors were also drilled and pinned as I find these parts are frequently knocked off with casual handling. It has the added benefit of allowing you to
bend the doors to the correct angle when attaching them. The tail wheel leg has a pair of tie rods that close the doors during retraction. There were made from styrene rod and added during final assembly. All seams were sanded and panel lines restored where lost from sanding. Testors’ liquid cement was brushed lightly into the restored panel lines to clean them up. A careful check of all seams was made to ensure no file marks, flat spots, pinholes or scratches remained.
T HE
FUN STUFF The model was wiped down with a paper towel moistened with isopropyl alcohol to remove any grease and finger oils. The cockpit was carefully stuffed with moistened facial tissue to protect it from overspray. The windscreen and sliding canopy were masked off and the painting could now commence. I have always custom-mixed my British colours from Tamiya paints, but they have recently added the
Probably the weakest parts in the excellent Airfix Spit 22/244 are the prop blades. They have too much helical pitch (or twist) to them and are not very accurate in shape. New prop blades were mastered and cast after careful study of drawings and photographs.
The cockpit and canopy have been carefully masked in preparation for painting. Bare-metal foil was used to mask the clear parts, while moistened facial tissue was used to fill the cockpit opening.
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three RAF colours necessary for this build to their line. Thank you, Mr Tamiya! I began by spraying the undersurfaces with medium sea grey. The base colour was darkened with a drop or two of black, and some of the major panel lines were oversprayed to create some shadowing to them. I try to keep this very subtle. It sometimes looks overdone, but once the wash and markings are on, the effect becomes muted,
sometimes becoming imperceptible. Trying to strike a good balance is an ongoing process. The undersurfaces were masked off with Tamiya tape and ocean grey was applied to the upper surfaces. The dark green disruptive pattern was then sprayed freehand using my Paasche H airbrush. The 1–1.5in. demarcation works out to about .030in. in 1/48 scale. This is not hard to do using a good airbrush with some practice.
Some prefer to mask this type of camo pattern and use poster putty to space the masks from the surface, but I would rather spend my time painting. Masking is tedious! The secret is to dial back the volume of paint and get in close, keeping the brush moving and angled in towards the colour area you are spraying. Don’t be afraid to go back with ocean grey and spray some touch ups to tighten up your pattern. The dark green disruptive pattern was applied freehand using a Paasche H airbrush shooting custom-mixed Tamiya paints. A 1in. demarcation between the colours was the standard for RAF upper surface camouflage patterns.
With basic painting finished, the narrow Korean War theatre bands are applied. The white is done, and has been masked off in preparation for the application of the black.
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The ID bands and upper wing walkway lines were also masked and sprayed. After all painting was completed, the whole model was given a gloss coat using Future (Johnson’s Klear) and left to dry overnight. Now the process of decaling could begin. I discovered a number of inaccuracies on the Aeromaster sheet for this particular aircraft. The upper wing roundels were so oversized that when the trailing edge was aligned with the
front of the aileron, the roundel wrapped over the leading edge of the wing a good 6 scale inches! These were binned, and replacements sourced from another sheet. The serial number is unique on VN307. The ground crew painted white numbers over the black stripes and black numbers over the white. Aeromaster replicated this, but the placement did not match the photo of the real aircraft.
I searched my decal archives and found two serial sheets from Carpena, one in black and the other in white. I cut the serials from each sheet and assembled them on the model. A fine point to be sure. The rest of the markings were good and the decals worked flawlessly. After the decals had dried overnight, I washed the decal residue off the model, and then sealed the markings in with a coat
All painting is now complete, and needs only a clear coat to be applied before decaling can commence. Note the subtle post shaded panel lines on the undersurfaces.
Take your time when applying decals to make sure they snuggle down into all panel lines. Stubborn decals can be gently pushed down or cut to force them to settle onto panel lines. Decal solvent is your friend!
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With all the major markings applied, it’s starting to come to life. Still to be applied are the walkway lines and stencils. Once all decaling is finished, decal residue is cleaned up and the decals are sealed under a coat of gloss.
The panel wash has been applied, followed by a clear satin coat. Weathering has been applied, and the model is almost ready for final assembly. The finish line is in sight.
Looking forward into the port gear bay, now painted and washed. While tucked away in a hard to see spot, all that gear bay detail looks pretty cool to my eye.
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A nice unobstructed view of the aft wall of the port gear bay. Soon the main landing gear and outer wheel doors will be added.
The seat, oxygen hose and control column ready for installation. I tend to overdo the shading and highlighting in tiny cockpits. While it may look too stark in close-up photos, it becomes much more subtle when installed and helps add visual interest.
LEFT: A look down into the seat pan, showing the Q-style harness with its prominent quick release box that the other belts plug into. Note the rust brown colour of the phenolic resin the real seat is made from. RIGHT: The painted and washed main gear legs, with scissor links and brake lines installed, ready to be attached. It’s easy to rush through these parts, but the extra detail really adds visual appeal to the finished model.
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VN307 is complete at last, finished as she looked in late 1950. Based at Kai Tak airport, they were tasked with defending Hong Kong during the Chinese Communist uprising, a threat that never amounted to anything.
This close-up shot shows the subtle weathering that reflects wear and tear on the wing roots from months of daily servicing by busy ground crews. Crowbars, contrary to popular belief, were not painted red.
The main wheels are also from Cooper Details, and feature much extra detail, such as the castellation in the main axle nut. Getting the gear angles right is important to making the model look natural.
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The empty zero length rocket rails add interest to the underside of the wing. The recognition bands were added to No. 80 Sqn Spitfires during the Korean War, in case the conflict came east.
The bands were painted on, and required careful masking and measuring. The Aeromaster decals I was using had the spacing of the serial numbers wrong, so I pieced them together from two different decal sheets from Carpena.
This view shows many details: the fuselage position lights, the rocket rails, the staining and leaks running back from the engine and the belly tank jettison hooks.
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The finished gear bay with wheel door fitted. Note the scratch built retraction mechanism, and the very light staining running back from the guns. Keep this staining light, as modern aircraft guns don’t use black powder!
The carbon and lead deposits from the exhausts, streaked by rain and spilled fuel mark the fuselage sides. The weathering that looks quite stark in this photo is almost too subtle in person.
The Mk 24 was the last version of the Spitfire to see service. It differed from the Mk 22 mainly in the electrical system, which changed from 12 to 24 volts.
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of Future. Once dry, a dark grey panel wash was applied using enamel paint thinned with mineral spirits. After 20 minutes. I took a folded-up piece of cotton t-shirt material lightly moistened with thinner and gently scrubbed the excess dried wash from the surfaces. This leaves the wash undisturbed in the panel lines. The exhaust stains were sprayed using thinned dark brown and light grey enamel paint, as it’s easy to remove if it doesn’t look right the first time.
F INAL
ASSEMBLY Before unmasking the cockpit and canopies, a final satin clear coat was applied. I mix Testors’ Dullcote and Glosscote together in a bottle to get a light satin. I do not like dead flat finishes for anything other than armour, figures, and desert aircraft that are heavily weathered. It tends to leave aircraft looking lifeless. Further weathering effects were applied
at this point. Paint chipping was simulated with silver paint applied with fine brush. I also used chalk pastels applied with an artist’s stump to create dirt and oil streaking. The cockpit and canopies were unmasked, and I launched enthusiastically into the final assembly stage. The seat, stick, gunsight and door were added to the cockpit. Landing gear components were assembled and attached. The prop and spinner, exhausts, sliding hood, rocket rails and various small parts were glued in place. All newly glued joints were carefully inspected and touched up if needed. It’s easy to leave a shiny glue mark on an otherwise immaculate model.
C ONCLUSION With that, my Mk 24 Spitfire was complete. I am very happy with the result. Aside from the new Tamiya Spitfire Mk IX in 1/32 scale, the
Airfix Mk 22/24 is, in my estimation, the most accurate Spitfire model available in any scale. I love this kit so much that I created a ton of aftermarket parts for it. They were available for a number of years under the Cooper Details banner. Some parts are available again as part of the BarracudaCast line of resin detail sets. The only original parts I used on this build were the fuselage halves, wings, radiator fairings, main gear legs and doors, tail wheel, and the pitot tube! The fact that the resulting model, by parts count, is overwhelmingly resin is not a criticism of the basic kit, but rather a homage to both the kit and the subject. I really enjoyed the build. I have an Airfix Seafire FR 47 in the works, and plan on converting a third kit to a high-backed Spitfire 21, but then, I am a little unbalanced when it comes to Spitfires.
The Mk 22 and 24 were fitted with the huge yet graceful Spiteful tail, necessary to counteract the torque from the massive Griffon engine that produced over 2,200hp. Late-mark Griffon Spitfires have a special place in my heart, and this model is one of my favourite builds.
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The USS Kitty Hawk visited Sydney in July 2007 following its participation in a joint military exercise between US and Allied forces off the east coast of Australia. This was Kitty Hawk’s last visit to Australia before she retired from active service in 2008.
US
NAVAL AIRPOWER TODAY – ABOARD USS K ITTY H AWK odger Kelly is a long-time volunteer who conducts guided tours on US military ships when they are visiting his home town of Perth. While the USS Kitty Hawk was still steaming along the Australian east coast en route to Sydney, Rodger was fortunate enough to be able to hitch a ride on a Carrier On-Board Delivery (COD) from Sydney Kingsford-Smith airport to the deck of CV 63. Following his carrier trip, Rodger had the chance to see Kitty Hawk’s air wing in action. Once the Kitty Hawk was in Sydney, Rodger invited myself and two friends, Chris Wauchop and Al Bowie, to accompany him on board for a few hours on 6 July 2007. Rodger also joined the Kitty Hawk for her last cruise to Hawaii in May 2008. During this cruise, Rodger had the unique opportunity to watch and photograph the Royal
R
Maces’ F/A-18 Super Hornets in action and at rest. The photographs on these pages were taken by Rodger and myself during these visits. We would like to extend our gratitude to the US Navy, the captain and crew of USS Kitty Hawk for their generous hospitality during their Sydney visit and final cruise.
USS K ITTY H AWK (CV 63) At the time of her retirement in May 2008, Kitty Hawk was the oldest of the 12 aircraft carriers in the US fleet. The ship was
commissioned in April 1961. The statistics associated with the Kitty Hawk are staggering. The ship is over 320m long, weighs 86,000 tons, has capacity for more than 75 combat aircraft and boasts a crew, including the carrier air wing, of 5,300. Kitty Hawk’s long history has been filled with many periods of crucial service, including six tours to support US operations in Vietnam between 1963 and 1972, operations off Somalia in 1992 and participation in the coalition attacks against specific targets in Iraq during January 1993. Kitty
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A GBU-16 Paveway II 1,000lb laserguided bomb being prepared to load on a Royal Maces F/A-18E Super Hornet.
AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. It is interesting to note that the wings and fins are not installed here.
An F/A-18C is raised to the flight deck via one of the side deck elevators.
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TOP: Here is the colourful CAG bird for VFA-192 Golden Dragons, also on board Kitty Hawk for her last cruise in 2008. This is an F/A-18C Hornet. MIDDLE: VFA-27 Royal Maces is equipped with the new F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet. Although the family resemblance is unmistakable, these Super Hornets are much bigger than the earlier F/A-18s. BOTTOM LEFT: F/A-18E 112 on the deck. The outer wings are still folded at this stage. BOTTOM RIGHT: Royal Maces 405 is lined up on the catapult. Note that the Fowler flaps and ailerons are all in the dropped position.
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Hawk was also deployed to the North Arabian Sea in October 2001 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as a floating staging base for US Special Forces.
C ARRIER A IR W ING FIVE (CVW-5) Carrier Air Wing FIVE (CVW-5) is a multi-task element of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet that operates from the northern Pacific Ocean to the Arabian Gulf. CVW-5 moved onto the Kitty Hawk in July 1998. CVW-5 is made up of eight squadrons and one detachment: • VFA 27 Royal Maces, equipped with the new F/A-18E Hornet. The F/A-18E and F Super Hornets represent the US Navy’s premiere all-purpose, all-weather strike and fighter aircraft since the retirement of the F-14 Tomcat. The Super Hornet
can carry up to 18,000lb of ordnance. It can undertake air-toair and air-to-ground missions, as well as aerial refuelling. • VFA-102 Diamondbacks, operating the new F/A-18F Hornet as a multi-mission, all-weather strike fighter. The F/A-18F can conduct day or night, air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, launch precision-guided weapons, provide fighter escort, close
• • • • •
air support, ground defence suppression, reconnaissance, FAC and refuelling operations. VFA 192 Golden Dragons, F/A-18C Hornet. VFA 195 Dambusters, F/A-18C Hornet. VAQ 136 Gauntlets, EA-6B Prowler. VAW 115 Liberty Bells, E-2C Hawkeye. HS 14 Chargers, SH-60F Seahawk.
Loaded with two 330-gallon fuel tanks on the wings, 405 is ready for take-off.
The catapult launches Royal Maces F/A-18F 106 over the Pacific Ocean. This is the two-seater variant of the Super Hornet.
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A Royal Maces F/A-18F makes a perfect approach over the threshold of Kitty Hawk’s deck.
405 makes a safe return after its flight. The trap cable is still connected to the arrestor hook.
The aircraft becomes a hub of activity after landing. The wings have been folded already, and deck crew converge on the aircraft after shutdown.
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An F/A-18F fitted for refuelling. This aircraft is attached to VFA-102 Diamondbacks. Sydney’s Centrepoint Tower can be seen in the background.
A 330-gallon fuel tank. This may be carried on wing or centreline pylons.
The stout forward landing gear of an F/A-18F. Note the clear inspection windows in the undercarriage door.
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US Navy jets are fitted with intake and exhaust covers when they are idle. This colourful cover would be an interesting enhancement to an F/A-18E model.
One exhaust cover partially in place.
• HSL-51 Det 3 Warlords, SH-60B Seahawk. • VRC 30 DET 5 Passwords, C-2A Greyhound.
R EVELL 1/48- SCALE F/A-18E S UPER H ORNET Modellers currently have the choice of three manufacturers when buying Super Hornet kits in 1/48 scale. Italeri, Hasegawa and Revell offer F/A-18E single seat and F/A-18F two-seaters.
We can quickly discount Italeri’s offerings as underdetailed and suffering from a number of serious inaccuracies. The Hasegawa family of Super Bugs feature finely recessed panel lines, plus separate flaps and slats that may be posed either retracted or dropped. The outer wing panels may be modified to be built folded too. Revell’s Super Hornet kits also include nice, crisp recessed surface detail, but the wings are moulded with the flaps and slats in the
recessed position. Although the outer wing panels are separate subassemblies, these are not designed to be posed folded. This will be a disappointment to modellers who like to depict their models with everything hanging out, but there are other benefits to the Revell kit, such as a better-detailed cockpit and simpler parts breakdown. Although conventional modelling wisdom generally favours the Hasegawa kit, it cannot be
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ignored that the Revell Super Hornets can often be found for less than half the price of the more sophisticated Japanese offering. For this project I decided to use the Revell 1/48-scale F/A-18E. Revell’s F/A-18E Super Hornet comprises 159 parts in grey plastic and five parts in clear – a relatively modest parts count for a large jet fighter aircraft. By contrast, the Hasegawa kit has around 260 parts. Moulding quality is generally very good, with only a little flash to clean up here and there. Parts breakdown is interesting, with the upper fuselage and inner wing sections being moulded as one large upper and one large lower half. This bypasses the problem of wing root joins.
A comprehensive suite of ordnance is supplied in the kit, another advantage over Hasegawa. These include two AIM-120C missiles, two AIM-9X Sidewinders, two GBU-31-4B JDAM, two Mk 83 bombs, one AN/ASQ-228 FLIR pod, and a 330-gallon tank. The boarding ladder is provided, and the ladder well detail is nicely done. The wheel wells are great too, bristling with plumbing and electrical detail all moulded in place. I particularly liked that the nose landing-gear door is moulded in clear plastic. This permits the modeller to accurately depict the
inspection windows, although some tricky masking will be required here. The horizontal stabilizers may be left to pivot on their axle. This actually works quite well. The landing gear looks good, and it is also very simple to assemble. On the downside, the wings’ leading edge extensions (LEX) are too short. They should extend further under the windscreen. The spine is also too tall, resulting in the canopy not looking quite right (the base is far too tall for a start). This is less noticeable when the canopy is displayed open though. The other two issues are the intake
BELOW LEFT: Revell’s 1/48-scale F/A-18E is nicely detailed, cleverly engineered and often available at around half the price of Hasegawa’s Super Hornets. BELOW RIGHT: Wolfpack Designs from Korea offer a resin folded wing set for Revell’s kit.
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Wolfpack’s resin parts have been tidied up, with the casting blocks and strips removed prior to assembly.
Revell’s flaps and slats will need to be cut off the model. Here, they have been outlined in pencil to prevent any unfortunate errors!
Revell’s cockpit parts are reasonably well detailed.
The side consoles of the cockpit tub are a bit basic.
The main side halves of the seat did not want to join at the middle of the rear, so a couple of clamps provided some friendly persuasion.
Side console detail was ground off the plastic cockpit tub with a square-ended dental burr fitted to a Dremel motor tool.
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There are plenty of accessories and upgrades for Revell’s F/A-18E and F Hornet kits. Here we can see Eduard’s ‘Big Ed’ photo-etched set, Aires’ resin cockpit and the lamentably unavailable replacement full-length intakes from Cutting Edge.
I used elements of the Big Ed set, especially in the cockpit. The colour photo-etched parts are just beautiful, and add a lot of authentic detail to the front office.
The cockpit parts, assembled, painted and ready for assembly.
The Eduard instrument panel parts include lit-up displays and separate bezels. I challenge any modeller to paint a panel with this level of detail and precision!
Eduard supplies the side consoles and upper sidewalls too. They have all been fitted in this view.
The kit seat received a careful paint job, with weathering techniques used to highlight the harness straps. The stripes on the pull ring were applied with an indelible black marker.
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ducting, which is very short, and the oversimplified burner cans, which simply butt up against the rear of the airframe.
C ONSTRUCTION Although I was keen to build Revell’s kit, I also wanted to depict the wings folded and the flaps/slats dropped. Wolfpack Designs of Korea offer a resin update set providing just this configuration for the Revell kit. This set is made up from 22 parts in grey resin, and includes single-piece outer wing panels with downward deflected ailerons, mid and rear Fowler flaps, flap hinges, blanking plates, leading edge slats and alternate-length rocket rails. I was pretty satisfied with the detail in the cockpit, but I owned Eduard’s ‘Big Ed’ photo-etch detail set. This provides a mass of detail for the interior, exterior, Remove
Before Flight tags and canopy masks. I decided to use some of this set for this project too. I originally thought that I would replace the very short intake trunking with the one-piece resin parts from Cutting Edge, but test-fitting suggested that some serious modifications would be needed to the kit parts to make the resin ducts fit, so I gave them a miss. The project kicked off with the resin parts. I spent a leisurely hour cutting off the relatively minor casting blocks and cleaning the parts up in preparation for assembly. Getting the kit parts ready took a little more time and care. First, the flap and slat panels that were to be cut out of the upper and lower wing halves were marked in pencil. There are a number of panel lines in these areas and I wanted to make sure
that I cut the correct ones! The next step was to lightly score the panel lines with a scriber to deepen the lines. Once these lines were well defined, I placed a new blade in my Olfa hobby knife handle and continued to score lightly. When the lines were nearly cut through, I used my razor saw to complete the cuts and remove the flaps and slats from the wings. With this surgery successfully completed, I turned my attention to the cockpit. A square-tipped dental burr was chucked into my Dremel motor tool. This was used to grind the raised detail off the side consoles of the cockpit tub. The cockpit tub, instrument panel, seat and control column were then painted. Eduard’s colour photo-etched parts were attached to the side consoles using acrylic Gator’s Grip glue. This does not ‘grab’ like superglue, allowing LEFT: The kit intakes are very short. The trunking and the inside of the intakes were painted with Tamiya’s Extra Fine White Primer. This delivers a smooth, satin finish ideal for US Navy interior parts. BELOW: The flaps and slats were cut off with a scriber, a new hobby blade and a razor saw.
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The wheel wells and insides of the undercarriage doors were also sprayed with Tamiya White Primer.
The cockpit fitted well into the fuselage, but there was a large gap in front of the instrument coaming.
The upper and lower fuselage halves were a decent fit, but clamps were used while the cement set to minimize gaps and steps.
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The wings lose some of their structural integrity once the flaps and slats are cut out, but they will retain their rigidity later on.
The multi-part engineering of the nose is unique, but it seems to work well. Fit is tight though, and clamps are helpful to keep all the parts properly aligned until the adhesive sets.
Wolfpack supplies resin inserts to plug the gap in the fuselage left when the flaps have been removed.
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A similar gap is also present at the front of the wing, but this is left to the modeller to fill. A wedge of plastic scrap was used to fill the bulk of the space. This was later completely filled with Milliput.
The resin leading edge slats and mid flaps have been attached to the wings with superglue.
The fit was pretty good. A brushed application of Tamiya Surfacer corrected the uneven appearance of this join.
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adjustment after the part has been placed yet still offering a strong grip for these lightweight parts. The upper sidewalls were secured with superglue. Gator’s Grip was also used to attach the various panels, displays and bezels to the instrument panel. It has been pointed out to me that it is unusual to see the displays lit up without a pilot on board, but perhaps this aircraft is undergoing maintenance! The seat was used straight from the box with nothing more than a careful paint job and weathering to highlight the harness
straps. The cockpit assembly fitted snugly into the upper fuselage half as it was inserted from underneath. I was concerned that the very short intake trunking – around a third of the length of the real thing – would be very obvious on the finished model so I thought I would probably make a cover for the intake. Just in case though, I still painted the inside of the intake and the trunking with Tamiya’s lovely semi-gloss White Primer. In the end, the short trunking, seam lines and ejector-pin marks were not obvious at all on the completed model.
With the cockpit and intakes complete, the balance of basic construction was surprisingly fast. The breakdown of the horizontally split wings/fuselage and the vertically split nose looks strange, but makes perfect sense as the parts come together. The fit is pretty tight at the nose though, so I used tape and clamps to counter the tension until the cement dried. Now that the fuselage and central wing assembly was ready, I could take care of some of the smaller details. The gaps left at the wing root when the slats and flaps were
ABOVE LEFT: In common with most bulged clear parts, Revell’s canopy is moulded with a raised line down the centre. This was carefully scraped down with the back of a hobby blade, and sanded with 1,000-grit abrasive paper. ABOVE RIGHT: The canopy was then polished with successively finer grades of Micro-Mesh cloths, followed by polishing cream and a bath in Future floor polish. The seam line has now been eliminated from the now sparkling canopy. LEFT: A few niggly join lines were still obvious. The worst of these was under the canopy where the nose cap assembly meets the main fuselage. This was filled with a brushed line of Tamiya Surfacer.
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The windscreen to nose join also needed the Surfacer treatment. This was the first of several applications before the join line was reduced to an acceptable level.
More filler was required at the bottom and edges of the intakes, this time Milliput White, a two-part epoxy putty. The intakes and landing gear bays were masked with tape and tissue.
removed needed filling. Wolfpack Design provides resin inserts for the rearmost gap, but you are on your own for the one at the front. The resin plug fits pretty well, and it only took me a few minutes to carve a couple of wedges of scrap plastic to fill the gaps at the front of the wing root. White Milliput was used to fill in the blank spaces. Many bulged kit canopies are moulded with a slightly raised centreline seam. This is an inevitable
by-product of the production process, but it is not something that we see on a real aircraft. I carefully scraped down with the back of a hobby blade, and sanded with 1,000-grit abrasive paper. The canopy was then polished with successively finer grades of Micro-Mesh cloths, followed by polishing cream and a bath in Future floor polish. The seam line has now been eliminated from the now sparkling canopy.
PAINTING
AND
MARKINGS US Navy fighters are finished in a simple scheme of dark gull grey over light gull grey. Once the intakes, the cockpit opening and the wheel wells had been blocked off with masking tape and tissue paper, the lower surfaces, outer fins and the fuel tanks were sprayed Gunze-Sangyo H308 Light Gull Grey using my Testor Aztek airbrush. The lower surfaces were
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The lower surfaces, including the wing pylons, plus the outer fins, were masked after they were painted with Gunze H308 Light Ghost Grey FS36375.
Tamiya masking tape was used to form the crisp demarcation between the upper and lower surfaces at the nose.
The model then received a coat of Gunze H307 Dark Ghost Grey, FS 36320, on the upper surfaces.
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A slightly lighter batch of dark ghost grey was mixed and applied in subtle spots, streaks and mottles to add some variety to the otherwise monotonous finish.
US Navy aircraft are exposed to harsh elements and also suffer from the constant tramping of deck crews. A mix of Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown and XF-1 Flat Black was used to depict this heavy wear.
The stains and scuff marks were added according to reference photos of real Hornets. Once the weathering was completed, the model received three thin coats of Future floor polish to seal the paint job.
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ABOVE LEFT: The gun panel and IFF device in front of the windscreen were both masked and sprayed with Tamiya XF-63 German Grey. ABOVE RIGHT: With its overall grey finish, any variety is welcome! MIDDLE: Markings were sourced from Afterburner Decals ‘Felix Rules F/A-18E VFA-31’. They went on beautifully over the high-gloss Future coat.
Afterburner includes the slime lights and a full set of stencils in addition to the unique markings.
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Two thin coats of Gunze Flat Clear ties in the decals with the paint job, and subdues the weathering somewhat.
The fit of the windscreen is still not perfect, but the canopy is not actually glued in place here.
The grimy weathering breaks up the single-colour upper surface, and conforms to reference photos.
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Revell’s undercarriage parts are simple to assemble yet nicely detailed.
The outer edges of all the gear doors were brush painted red with Vallejo acrylics prior to the outside being painted grey.
Revell supplies one of the 330-gallon tanks, but I borrowed two more from a Hasegawa F/A-18F. Afterburner includes enough markings for up to four Tomcatter tanks.
Sidewinders, Sparrows and JDAMs are painted, decaled and weathered in preparation for final assembly.
The flaps and outer wing panels were painted and weathered separately. This made it easier to access the fuselage, and also reduced the risk of damaging the parts due to excessive handling if they were attached earlier.
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ABOVE: The various subassemblies have all been brought together for the completed model. RIGHT: The exhaust cans were painted using Testors’ ‘Jet Exhaust’, followed by weathering with the ubiquitous black/red brown mix and buffing back with Micro-Mesh polishing cloths.
Revell’s starboard side front undercarriage door is moulded in clear, accurately depicting the inspection windows. Some tricky masking is required here.
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then masked off and the top of the model painted Gunze H307 Dark Gull Grey. Unlike their Air Force counterparts, US Navy aircraft are filthy and patchy in service. This is especially true of fighters and attack aircraft on carriers. The first step in achieving this level of in-service grime was to mix up a slightly paler batch of dark gull
grey, applying this fresh paint in random spots, streaks and mottles to represent recent repairs to the camouflage. Next, a mix of Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown and XF-1 Flat Black was used to apply heavy wear. Stains and scuffmarks were added according to reference photos of real Hornets. Once the weathering was completed, the model received
three thin coats of Future floor polish to seal the paint job. The gun panel and IFF device in front of the windscreen were both masked and sprayed with Tamiya XF-63 German Grey. My original plan was to finish this model in the markings of one of the Royal Maces F/A-18Es that feature in the first section of this chapter, but Afterburner Decals The F/A-18E and F bristle with ordnance. Here we can see the 330-gallon tank, JDAM bomb and Sparrow missile on their pylons.
The wing folds were a trouble-free fit. They were secured with superglue. Note the position of the narrow rectangular wing fold cover.
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Revell’s 1/48-scale F/A-18E is a nice kit straight from the box, but the addition of Wolfpack’s wing fold set and Eduard’s colour photo-etch really lift it into a different league.
kindly sent me a pre-release version of their VFA-31 Tomcatters sheet. I had long wanted to build a Tomcatters F-14, and this would also be a good excuse to use some Felix the Cat decals on the fin of a US Navy aircraft! The decals, printed by Cartograf of Italy, were a pure joy to use. They went down perfectly over the glossy Future finish. My
only mild complaint is that the sheet is so full of markings that it is a bit tricky to navigate around with a knife or a pair of scissors cutting out the individual decals. Full stencil markings are provided too. There are quite a few of these. I spent a couple of sessions of a couple of hours each applying all of the decals. Two thin coats of Gunze Flat Clear sealed the paint and decals. The landing gear is mercifully simple. The landing gear legs and ordnance were painted and weathered prior to final assembly. I used superglue to secure the
main gear legs so that I could instantly freeze the parts into the correct stance using Zap accelerator.
C ONCLUSION Revell’s 1/48-scale F/A-18E Super Hornet is not without its flaws, but none are what I would consider to be fatal. This is a nice kit straight from the box, but the addition of Wolfpack’s wing fold set and Eduard’s colour photo-etch really lift it into a different league. If you want to experiment with multimedia upgrades, this would be a good place to start.
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A DDING
DETAIL TO AN OLDER KIT
The Macchi MB-326 was a lightweight jet trainer designed by Ermanno Bazzocchi. The efficient Armstrong Siddely Viper engine was chosen as the powerplant.
M ACCHI
JET TRAINER CLOSE UP fter a lengthy development period, the Macchi MB-326 entered service with the Italian Air Force in
A
March 1962. In addition to its primary role of trainer, Macchi also scored export success with the MB-326 being used as a light fighter and ground-attack aircraft. The two major export
clients were South Africa and Australia. The Fighter World Museum north of Newcastle in Australia is home to a complete Macchi MB-326 plus a cockpit.
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The front cockpit of Fighter World Museum’s Aermacchi MB-326H bristles with instruments, dials and switches.
The right side console in the front cockpit. Note the black colour of the basic metal seat.
The rear cockpit duplicates the instruments of the front, albeit on a slightly different shaped panel.
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The top of the Martin Baker Mk 4 ejection seat in the rear cockpit.
A high view of the top of the front ejection seat. The drogue container may be seen clearly in this photograph.
The front landing gear features a metal cover for the wheel and a landing light on the front of the leg.
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The main landing gear legs are short and simple in the extreme.
The fixed wing tip fuel tanks feature navigation lights. This is the green light on the starboard side.
The exhaust is protected from debris by a simple cover. Note the white navigation light above the exhaust.
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The nose is tipped with a bare-metal cap.
1/48- SCALE M ACCHI MB-326 ESCI’s 1/48-scale Macchi MB-326 kit dates from at least 1983, but it is fundamentally a nice little kit with crisply engraved and very petite panel lines, minimal moulding problems, straightforward construction and good fit. Italeri recognized the value of this old kit by re-releasing the Macchi MB-326 under its own label in 2004. It is still widely available today.
The area that most noticeably lets ESCI’s Macchi down is the cockpit. The rudimentary tub, blank instrument panels and side consoles and oversimplified seats will be severely lacking under that large clear canopy. Surprisingly, in more than 20 years since this kit was first released, there has never been a resin cockpit update set offered. Until now. OzMods manufacture resin accessories and multimedia kits in various scales, with a particular
focus on Australian subjects. Their latest release is a replacement cockpit for ESCI/Italeri’s 1/48-scale Macchi MB-326. The configuration is best suited to one of the 97 Macchis that served with the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy.
C ONSTRUCTION OzMods’ 1/48-scale Macchi cockpit comprises just nine parts in grey resin. All the parts were well presented with no casting
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imperfections present on my sample. The biggest component is the one-piece cockpit tub. This is ready to use, with the casting tub already sawn off the bottom. Side console detail is very well done. Similarly, the instrument panels feature deep and authentic detail – a vast improvement over the ESCI plastic parts. The seats are another highlight. They are dressed with the various RAAF cushions
and packs, but they are lacking any harness straps and ejection-pull handles. These should be added using lead foil and wire (or similar materials). The remaining pieces are control columns, canopy brace and canopy support.
S TARTING WITH THE COCKPIT … Surprisingly, upper sidewall detail is not addressed in the OzMods
cockpit, so the first task was to measure and mark the interior sidewalls, then add some detail using plastic strip and wire. I also fabricated four oxygen hoses by wrapping very fine wire around slightly thicker wire. Next, harness straps were added to the seats. I wanted to dress the seat with the harness straps off the seat (stowed beside the seats on the consoles), so I used lead
The old ESCI Macchi MB-326 is dimensionally accurate but woefully underdetailed. OzMods has come to the rescue with a resin cockpit update.
Although the cockpit tub and seats are well done, the update does not address the prominent detail on the Macchi’s upper sidewalls.
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These details were added using plastic strip and lengths of metal.
The extra effort is worthwhile, as this area is highly visible under the open canopy.
BOTTOM LEFT: Oxygen hoses were made by winding fine fuse wire around lengths of solder. BOTTOM RIGHT: Painting of the cockpit commenced with a coat of flat black. The instrument bezels were masked off prior to further painting.
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foil to permit me to position the straps after everything else was painted and the seats were installed. I painted all the components black. The various black panels were masked off with Tamiya tape before the cockpit tub and instrument panels received their coat of Gunze Barley Grey. This might not technically be the correct colour, but the slightly glossy light grey looked appropriate.
Details were picked out with a fine brush. Decals were also used for more precision in tricky areas such as the instruments and fuse panels. Many of these were punched and cut out of the relatively ancient ESCI decal sheet. A number of Reheat placard decals were also applied. Washes were used only sparingly to maintain a clean look in the cockpit. The fit of OzMods’ cockpit components was perfect. No
trimming, sanding or adjusting of the kit parts or the resin cockpit tub was required. There is also plenty of space for weight in the nose and under the cockpit to prevent this model from resting on its tail skid. I spent more time on this cockpit than on most, but I was pleased with the result.
G ENERAL
AIRFRAME In addition to their cockpit set, OzMods also offers the big
The light grey cockpit interior helps show off all the extra detail.
OzMods’ resin cockpit tub fits well inside ESCI’s fuselage halves.
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The seats have been supplemented with straps from lead foil and wire pull rings.
The instrument faces and dials were added using a combination of kit decals and careful painting with a fine brush. There is not much spare room in the nose, but every empty space must be filled with lead weights to prevent the Macchi from sitting on its tail.
OzMods also offer separate landing flaps. The moulded kit flaps were first scored with a sharp knife, then cut from the wings with a JLC razor saw before being tidied up with a sanding stick.
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The resin wing tip tanks look awful, but the crazing effect was quickly dispatched with primer and some sanding.
90-gallon wing tip tanks almost exclusively used on all but the very earliest Australian Macchis, machine-gun pods, flaps and replacement nose gear for ESCI’s old kit. I used all of these resin parts except the gun pods. Casting of these parts was not up to the standard of the cockpit. The wing tip tanks suffered noticeable crazing and some misalignment along the centre line. Even so, this set was better than a second pair that I also had in my collection, so I slathered the affected areas in putty and sanded the surface smooth. The tanks eventually looked fine under a coat of primer. One of the resin flaps was warped, but it was quickly straightened after dipping in hot water, followed by a second dip in cool water to freeze the corrected shape. The flap sections were carefully removed from the upper and lower wing halves using a JLC razor saw and a sharp hobby blade,
The OzMods 90-gallon tip tanks are larger than the kitsupplied items, and are appropriate for this Australian Macchi.
while the interior surfaces were bevelled to accommodate the new resin flaps. The extra time spent in the cockpit and on the flaps was easily compensated for by the balance of construction, which was completed in a few hours. Fit was very good indeed with only minimal filler required.
PAINTING
AND
MARKINGS All paint was applied with my Testor Aztek A470 airbrush fitted with the fine tan-coloured tip. Painting started with a coat of Alclad Grey Primer. The black leading edge boots and anti-glare strip were also masked and sprayed at this stage. Next, the dark grey was sprayed over the entire airframe. I used Tamiya Spray AS-4 Grey Violet for this shade, decanted from the spray can into my airbrush paint cup. This colour looks too dark and too neutral for the Luftwaffe colour, but was
just about right for my purposes on the Macchi. I originally planned to have a slightly patchy finish on a well-worn airframe, but I was not happy with the effect after several attempts. I also started testing the ALPS decals from Hawkeye and found that the white backing decals remained translucent over the dark grey. I therefore painted white underneath some of the larger markings. At this point, I was feeling a bit disheartened with the appearance of the model so I set it aside. Five months later, I literally dusted off the plastic and resumed with a new enthusiasm. I eventually decided to abandon the heavily weathered look, and sprayed over the patches. Two coats of Future were sprayed over the model for a glassy gloss in preparation for the delicate ALPS decals. I wanted to build a particular machine, one of two transferred from the RAAF’s 76 Sqn to
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Black de-icing boots and the anti-glare strip were painted over the grey primer coat.
Tamiya Spray AS-4 Grey Violet was used for the base colour. This colour looks too dark and too neutral for the Luftwaffe colour, but was just about right for this project.
Markings were sourced from a number of decal sets.
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Smaller details were painted in preparation for final assembly.
The completed model. There is no doubt that the additional detail from OzMods plus a little elbow grease transforms the model.
All that hard work is rewarded by the view inside the long cockpit.
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D E TA I L T O A N O L D E R K I T
TOP: A tiny hole was drilled into the kit’s nose cap.
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BOTTOM: Although previously unavailable for some time, ESCI’s Macchi MB-326 has now been re-released by Italeri.
The kit canopy parts are thin and beautifully clear, so I did not bother to dip them in Future. OzMods supplies a cross brace and strut for the canopy, but the exact placement is not shown in the instructions and I could not find a clear reference photo. I hope that I have it right!
C ONCLUSION 25 Sqn in Western Australia. Before transferring this Macchi, 76 Sqn ‘zapped’ their emblem on the fin. The 76 Sqn Black Panther could be seen mauling a pink duck, their interpretation of the 25 Sqn Pink Swan emblem. Hawkeye Models produced ALPS decals for a similarly ‘zapped’ Macchi in grey/green camouflage, A27-05, but I wanted to depict the overall grey aircraft. I therefore needed new serials and some different stencils. I sourced decals from all over the place, including the mauled pink swan from Hawkeye, ESCI kit
decals, and several Model Alliance sheets. Polly Scale Flat was sprayed over the newly applied decals. There was no sprayed post-shading on this model, but I did add a wash of thinned oil paint to the control surface hinge lines, and Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black thinned with water in other panel lines. Smaller parts were now added, including the undercarriage and ‘disco lights’– the orange strobes on the top and bottom of the fuselage. Other details not included in the kit such as blade and vane antennae were cut from plastic strip and card, and glued in place.
ESCI’s (and Italeri’s re-released) 1/48-scale Macchi MB-326 is an underrated kit. The release of OzMods’ 1/48-scale Macchi MB-326 cockpit was a welcome surprise and makes a huge visual impact on the bare front office of this otherwise respectable model. You will be further rewarded for your extra efforts in the areas of sidewall detail and seat harnesses. With the addition of the big wing tanks and dropped flaps, the model takes on an aggressive yet graceful stance. There are also a huge number of colourful marking options for this truly international jet trainer.
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S OURCES
AND REFERENCES
Airbrushes and painting supplies are available from hobby and art shops. Some of the more specialized accessories may only be available at specific airbrush supply companies. A number of online hobby shops and specialist airbrush retailers are listed below. I have also noted some useful websites with tips and hints for the airbrush, and a number of sites with great examples of the airbrush art as applied to models.
B OOKS
O NLINE
The Osprey Modelling and Masterclass series, http://www.opsreypublishing.com
HyperScale, http://www.hyperscale.com
Alcorn, John, Lee, George, and Cooke, Peter, Scratch Built!: A Celebration of the Static Scale Airplane Modellers Craft Schiffer Publishing: Lancaster, PA, 1993
RESOURCES
IPMS Stockholm, http://www.ipmsstockholm.org Missing-Lynx, http://www.missing-lynx.com Modeling Madness, http://www.modelingmadness.com
Graham, Thomas, Monogram Models Schiffer Publishing: Lancaster, PA, 2006
Aircraft Resource Center, http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com
Lines, Richard, and Hellstrom, Lief, Frog Model Aircraft 1932–1976: The Complete History of the Flying Aircraft & the Plastic Kits New Cavendish: London 1989
Internet Modeler, http://www.internetmodeler.com
Ward, Arthur, Airfix: Celebrating 50 Years of the Greatest Modelling Kits Ever Made Collins Gem: London, 1999
Armorama, http://www.armorama.com Cybermodeler, http://www.cybermodeler.com Britmodeller, http://www.britmodeller.com Aussie Modeller, http://www.aussiemodeller.com
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Index A Accurate Miniatures 99 adhesives Gator’s Grip glue 160–64 Tamiya Extra Thin Liquid Cement 34 aerials: making 72, 88, 130, 1 31 Aeromaster 143 Afterburner Decals 1 68, 172–73 aircraft carriers 150–53, 1 51 –54 Aires 5, 69, 70 Airfix kit quality 133 Spitfire kits 133–49 Alclad products 49, 50 antennae: making 22, 88, 116, 130, 1 32, 186 AR II/Otaki 80 Australian War Memorial, Canberra 55, 55–60
B Bader, Douglas 28 Bell, Tony 108 Bowie, Al 150
Cutting Edge harness straps 62, 63 Hellcat upgrade set 90 Sea Fury upgrade set 120, 122 Super Hornet upgrade set 1 59, 160
D Dangerboy Hellcat wing fold set 90, 93–96, 93 Di Terlizzi, Maurizio 75
E Eduard F6F-3 kit 80–89 instrument panels 31 Mask sets 1 1 3, 114 product quality 4, 5 Spitfire kits 29 Super Hornet accessories 1 59, 160–64 engines: painting 1 9, 22 ESCI Macchi kits 178–86
F
C camouflage and camouflage techniques Hellcats 84, 85–86 Messerschmitts 58, 71, 72 Mitchells 114 Spitfires 28, 38, 3 8 –3 9 , 142, 1 4 2 Zeros 13, 1 6–1 7, 20, 22 canopies: masking and painting 7, 1 5, 40, 41 , 53, 126, 1 29 Carpena 143 Classic Airframes Spitfire kits 29–41 cockpits: painting 63, 1 34–35, 137–38, 1 80–81 , 181, 1 82 control sticks, full-size 75, 75–76, 79 Cooper Details upgrade sets for Sea Furies 120, 122–23, 1 22–23, 124, 1 25, 126, 1 27, 130, 1 31 for Spitfires 133, 1 36–37, 1 38, 140, 149
fabric control surfaces: painting 20, 114 Falcon 132 Fighter World Museum 1 74–78 filling materials Milliput White 36, 66 Testors’ Clear Parts Cement 114 Flightpath 132
G Gibbes, Wing Commander R. H. (Bobby) 28 gunsights 76–79, 76–79
H harness straps handling photo-etched sets 8, 9–13 making 9–13, 1 09, 179–81, 1 82 weathering 1 59 Hasegawa Hellcat kits 80, 89, 90–98
Messerschmitt kits and parts 61, 65, 67, 67, 69, 74 product quality 5 Super Hornet kits 156–57 Zero kits 6, 22 Hawker Sea Fury 119–32 antennae 130, 1 32 cannon 120 canopy 120, 124, 1 25, 126, 1 29, 132 cockpit 120, 122–23, 1 22–23, 132 compass and mount 123 control column 120 control surfaces 120 decals and markings 126, 130, 1 30, 1 31 drop tanks 120, 126, 1 27 exhausts 119, 126, 1 27 ferry tanks 120 fuselage spine 119, 132 lights 120, 132 painting 123, 1 23, 126, 1 27–30 panel lines 120–22, 1 21 , 1 30 pitot tube 130, 1 32 propeller, spinner and cowl 119–20, 1 22, 130, 132 rivets 1 21 , 122 rockets 120, 132 seat and straps 120, 122, 1 23 tail and tail wheel 126, 130 tail hook 130, 1 31 undercarriage and legs 120, 1 22, 126, 130, 1 31 wheel wells 120, 126, 1 27 wheels 120, 132 whip aerials 130, 1 31 windscreen 119, 124, 1 26 wings 120, 132 Hawkeye Models decals 183, 1 84, 186 Hellcats 80–98 aerial 88 antenna and post 81, 88 cannon fairing 94 canopy 81 cockpit 81, 81 , 82, 91 control surfaces 81, 83, 84 decals and markings 80, 84–89, 86, 96, 97, 98 drop tank 96, 97
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engine and cowl 83, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98 exhausts 95 flame dampers 95 instrument panel 81, 90, 91 , 92 lights 87 modelling F6F-3 80–89 modelling F6F-5N nightfighter 90–98 painting 82, 84–89, 85–87, 96, 96–97 propeller 97 radome 91 , 96, 98 replacement parts 89 rocket stubs 94 seat and straps 81, 90, 91 undercarriage and legs 81, 84, 87, 88, 97 wheels 81 wings and roots 83–84, 84, 90, 93–96, 93 Hobby Boss 5, 73 Hobbycraft Sea Fury Kits 120–22, 1 20–21 , 123–26, 1 24–25, 132
I instrument panels applying decals 8–9, 9, 30, 31 , 137–38, 181, 1 82 painting 92, 137–38, 1 80, 181, 1 82 Italeri 156, 178–86
K Kelly, Rodger, 150 KG13A Steuerknuppel Luftwaffe Control Stick 75, 75–76, 79 Kitty Hawk, USS (CV 63) 150–53, 1 51 –54
L lights: making and enhancing 72, 132 Lone Star Models 90
M Macchi MB-326 174–86 actual aircraft 1 74–78 antennae 186 canopy 186 cockpit 1 75, 178–81, 1 79–82, 1 85, 186
control surfaces 1 82, 183 decals and markings 183–86, 1 84 exhaust cover 1 77 instrument panels 1 75, 178, 179, 1 80, 181, 1 82 lights 1 77, 186 modelling 178–86 nose gear 183 nose weights 1 82 oxygen hoses 179, 1 80 painting 1 80–81 , 181, 1 82, 183–86, 1 84 seat and straps 1 75, 1 76, 178, 179–81, 1 82 undercarriage and legs 1 76–77, 186 wing tip tanks 183, 1 83 Mackenzie, Steve 108 Marshall, Sid 23 masking for camouflage painting 38, 38–39, 71 canopies 1 5, 40, 41 cockpit openings 1 41 Eduard sets 1 1 3, 114 straight edges 1 6, 20 for theatre markings 51 –52, 52 Messerschmitt Bf 109 55–74 109G-6 55, 55–60 aerial 72 antenna mast 67 bombs 61 canopy 56, 70, 72 cockpit 62, 63, 65 control surfaces 58, 61, 64, 64, 65, 66 decals and markings 72, 73 drop tank 61 empennage 64 engine and cowling 56, 60, 66–67, 66, 68 fin 67, 67 fuel filler hatch 69 fuel line 62, 63 fuse panel 57 instrument panel 65 KG13A Steuerknuppel Luftwaffe Control Stick 75, 75–76, 79 lights 72 modelling 109F 60–74 nose 66 oil cooler housing 59, 61, 68, 69 oleo scissors 57
painting 63, 64, 70–72, 71 –74 panels 61 pilot figures 63 pitot tube 72 propeller and spinner 60, 60, 61, 68, 69, 70, 70, 72 radiators 64 radio 57 reflector gunsights 76–79, 76–79 resistors 72 rudder 65, 67, 67, 71 , 72, 73 rudder toe straps 62, 63 screw covers 65, 66 seat and straps 62, 63 supercharger intake 61, 68, 69 tail wheel 57, 60, 61, 64, 65 undercarriage and legs 61, 64, 64 wheel wells 59, 61, 64 wings and roots 57, 58, 64, 66 Mitchell B-25 99–118 antennae and masts 116 astrodome 108, 113, 1 1 6 bomb bay 109 canopy 112, 1 1 2, 1 1 3, 114, 117–18 cockpit 109 decals and markings 114, 1 1 7, 118 engines 111–12 fume extractor tube 112 fuselage windows 100, 1 02–03, 1 06, 108, 113, 116, 1 1 7, 118 gun pack 1 1 0, 112, 117 life preserver cushions 109 machine guns and covers 114, 1 1 5, 117 nose blast panels 100, 1 01 , 1 1 0, 112 nose weights 1 07–08, 110–11 painting 108, 109–10, 1 1 3, 114–16, 1 1 5–1 7, 117–18 panel lines 1 1 1 , 112 rear fuselage length 107–08 seats and harnesses 109, 1 09, 118 tailplanes 1 1 0, 112 turret 100, 1 01 , 1 03, 1 1 6, 117–18 undercarriage and legs 117 waist gun position 101, 1 04–06 window ‘eyebrow’ fairings 102, 1 06, 1 07
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windscreen 112, 1 1 2, 1 1 5 wings 112 Monogram Hellcat kits 80 Mitchell kits 99–118 MPM 4
N nose weight techniques 1 07–08, 110–11, 1 82
O Obscureco 89 Ostermann, Leutnant Max-Hellmuth 70 oxygen hoses 1 45, 179, 1 80 OzMods Macchi upgrades 178–81, 1 79–82, 181–83, 1 82–83
P painting techniques airbrush camouflage painting 142 bare metal finish 48–52, 49–52 canopies 1 5, 40, 41 , 53, 126, 1 29 cockpits and interiors 63, 109–10, 1 34–35, 137–38, 1 80–81 , 181, 1 82 control sticks 79 engines 1 9, 22 fabric control surfaces 20, 114 Hawker Sea Furies 123, 1 23, 126, 1 27–30 Hellcats 82, 84–89, 85–87, 96, 96–97 instrument panels 92, 137–38, 1 80, 181, 1 82 Macchis 1 80–81 , 181, 1 82, 183–86, 1 84 Messerschmitts 63, 64, 70–72, 71 –74 Mitchells 108, 109–10, 1 1 3, 114–16, 1 1 5–1 7, 117–18 overcoming problems with acrylic yellows 70 overcoming problems with Tamiya paints 84 reflector gunsights 79, 79 Spitfires (early models) 37–41 , 38–40, 48–52, 49–53 Spitfires (late models) 1 34–35, 137–38, 141–49, 1 42–44, 1 47
spray lacquer paint 1 4 Super Hornets 1 59, 1 60–61 , 164, 165–73, 1 66–71 windscreens 53, 1 1 3, 1 1 5 Zeros 7, 8–9, 13–22, 1 4–20 see also camouflage and camouflage techniques; masking; weathering panel lines de-emphasizing 120–22, 1 21 highlighting 1 7–1 8, 20–22 restoring 138, 141 scribing 1 1 1 , 112 parts relocation techniques 100–08, 1 01 , 1 03–06, 108 removing from sprues 29, 32 Pay, Colin 23 pitot tubes: making 72, 130, 1 32 Pounce Wheels 114, 1 1 5
Q Quickboost replacement parts 89, 93, 94, 98
R RAAF 25 Sqn 186 76 Sqn 183–86 453 Sqn 28 RAF: 54 Sqn 40 Red Roo Models conversion kits 42, 44 decals 52, 1 84 reflector gunsights, full-size 76–79, 76–79 relocation techniques 100–08, 1 01 , 1 03–06, 108 Revell Messerschmitt kits 61 Mitchell kits 99, 100, 112 Super Hornet kits 156–73 REVI 16B reflector gunsights, fullsize 76–79, 76–79 rivets 114, 1 1 5 rudder toe straps: making 62, 63
S Sea Fury see Hawker Sea Fury Special Hobby Spitfire kits 29–41 Spitfires aerial mast 41 antenna mast 54
cannon 25, 30, 32, 37, 42, 43, 48, 1 37, 140 canopy 40, 41 , 43, 53, 138–39, 1 41 carburettor intake 1 38, 140 cockpit (early models) 24–25, 30, 31 , 32, 32, 43, 45–46 cockpit (late models) 1 33, 134–38, 1 34–35, 1 41 , 149 compared to Bf 109F 60 control column 1 45, 149 control surfaces 27, 30, 34, 1 36, 140–41 crowbars 1 46 decals and markings (early model) 32, 40, 40, 42, 51 , 52, 53 decals and markings (late model) 1 42–44, 143, 1 47 difference between Mks Vb and Vc 42 engine and cowl 27–28, 43 exhaust stubs 26 glycol tank 28 horizontal stabilizers 30, 34, 34 instrument panel 24, 30, 31 , 45, 46, 1 34, 137–38 lights 1 47 machine guns 25, 42 Mk VIII 23–28, 24–25, 27–28 Mk XVI 26–27 modelling Mk Vc 29–54 modelling late-mark 133–49 oil cooler intake 42 oil tank 28 oxygen hose 1 45 painting (early models) 37–41 , 38–40, 48–52, 49–53 painting (late models) 1 34–35, 137–38, 141–49, 1 42–44, 1 47 panel lines 138, 141 pilot’s mirror 41 pitot tube 54 propeller and spinner 30, 40, 42, 48, 54, 1 41 , 149 radiators and housing 27, 1 37, 140 rocker covers 138 rocket covers 1 36 rocket rails 1 47, 149 rudder 30, 50, 1 38–39, 140 rudder toe straps 30, 30 seat and straps 24, 30, 30, 43, 45, 138, 1 45, 149 shell ejector chutes 1 35
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slipper tank 36 tail wheel and doors 25, 1 40, 141 tailplanes 1 36 tropical filter 30, 33–34, 34, 42 undercarriage and legs 41 , 42, 54, 1 35–36, 139–40, 1 44–45, 1 48, 149 wheel bulges 43 wheel wells 30, 32, 33, 36, 38 wheels 26, 30, 43, 1 46 windscreen 42, 53, 138–39 wing tips 30, 34 wings and wing roots (early model) 25, 32–34, 33, 42, 43–48, 44–45, 46–48 wings and wing roots (late model) 1 35, 1 37, 139–40 sprues, removing parts from 29, 32 Squadron 116 Super Hornets 150–73 330-gallon tanks 1 70, 1 72 actual aircraft 1 51 –56 boarding ladder 157 bombs 1 51 , 157, 1 70, 1 72 canopy 157, 1 64, 165, 1 69 cockpit 1 58–59, 160–64, 1 61 control surfaces 1 52, 156, 1 58, 160, 1 60, 1 63, 1 70 decals and markings 1 68–69, 172–73 exhaust cans 160, 1 71 fuel tanks 1 53, 1 55, 165 gun panel 1 68, 172 IFF device 1 68, 172 instrument panel 1 59, 164 intake and exhaust covers 1 56 intake ducting 157–60, 1 59, 160, 1 60, 164, 1 65 missiles 1 51 , 157, 1 70, 1 72 modelling F/A-18E 156–73 nose 1 62, 164, 1 64–65 painting 1 59, 1 60–61 , 164, 165–73, 1 66–71 seat and straps 1 58, 1 59, 164 undercarriage and legs 1 55, 157, 1 61 , 1 70, 1 71 , 173
wheel wells 157, 1 61 windscreen 1 65, 1 69 wings 156, 157, 1 57–58, 160, 1 61 –63, 164–65, 1 70, 1 72
T Tail Boom Kits 75–79 Tamiya product quality 5 Spitfire kits 42–54 Zero kits 6–22 Temora Aviation Museum 23–28 Terry Dean Nose Weights 1 07–08, 110–11 True Details 81, 89 Trumpeter product quality 5 Sea Fury kits 119–32 21st Century Toys: Messerschmitt kits 60–74
U Ultracast: Hellcat replacement parts 81, 89, 90, 91 US Navy: Carrier Air Wing FIVE 153–56
W Wallis, Sir Tim 28 Wauchop, Chris 150 weathering chipping 1 8, 149 engine stains 1 47, 149 exhaust stains 89, 114–16, 1 1 6–1 7, 118, 1 71 gun stains 1 48 harness straps 1 59 interiors 109–10 Mitchells 114–16, 1 1 6–1 7, 118 Sea Furies 126, 1 30 Spitfires 40, 41 , 54, 1 46, 1 47, 1 48, 149 Super Hornets 1 67, 1 69, 1 71 , 172 wing roots 20, 20, 1 46 Zeros 13, 1 7–1 8, 1 9, 20, 20, 22
Wilson, Stewart 114 windows ‘eyebrow’ fairings 102, 1 06, 1 07 making new 100, 1 02–03, 1 06, 108, 113, 16, 1 1 7, 118 windscreens mounting 124, 1 26 painting 53, 1 1 3, 1 1 5 wing fold techniques 90, 93–96, 93 wing roots: weathering 20, 20, 1 46 Wolfpack Designs wing sets 1 57–58, 160, 1 62–63, 165
Z Zero A6M5/5a 6–22 aileron balance horns 22 antenna 22 cannon 7, 1 8, 22 canopy 7, 1 5, 22 canopy masking sheet 7 cockpit 6–7, 8, 9, 1 0, 13, 22 control surfaces 7, 21 , 22 cowl 7, 1 4 decals and markings 7, 8, 1 5–1 7, 20 Detail Up set 7, 8, 9, 1 8, 22 drop tank 7, 1 1 , 1 9, 22 engine 6, 8, 8, 1 9 forward fuselage 1 1 –1 2 instrument panel 7, 8–9, 9, 1 0, 13 lights 7 nose 1 0, 13, 1 4 painting 7, 8–9, 13–22, 1 4–20 panel lines 1 7–1 8, 20–22 panels 1 0, 13 pilot figures 6, 7 pitot tube 7, 22 propeller 1 4, 22 reflector gunsight 7 seats and straps 7, 9–13, 9 undercarriage 7, 1 9, 22 wheel chocks 7 wheel wells 6, 8, 1 1 wing roots 1 1 , 1 2, 13, 20
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