34 and counting

I just wanted to add a brief note to commemorate my wife and my 34th wedding anniversary. These are not common milestones in this day and age. We've survived disasters and some wonderful experiences. I just can't figure out where all that time has gone! Anyway, congratulations to Sue for having put up with my nonsense for that length of time. BTW, she can't complain about the model stash, because knitters are just as bad at hoarding as we are. That alone has probably saved a lot of arguing over the decades!

Hasegawa Eurofighter

This is the final catch-up completion for 2016.

It is another anniversary Eurofighter, a sub-project that I have been thoroughly enjoying, since the RAF has seen fit to paint up a number of special schemes in the last few years. This is the red-tailed beauty of 29^th Squadron for their 100^th anniversary.

Just to be different, I used the Hasegawa kit for this attempt. I’ve been rather disappointed with the deterioration in the later pressings of the Revell version (prior to the new-tool release that escaped recently) so I wanted to get back to something with nicer engineering. And the Hasegawa kit did not disappoint. Everything fitted like it was supposed to, detail is nice, and since I generally produce models without a weapons loadout, the lack of extra bits in that category didn’t bother me at all. The only stiff problem is the price. Hasegawa Eurofighters run about $39 from Sprue Bros, while even the new tool Revell comes in at $14.50. As I may have said before, if you are only going to produce one Eurofighter in your collection, choose the Hasegawa. If you’ve got a lineup planned, consider the Revell. I’ll be starting the new-tool version in a short time, and we’ll see how the engineering on that kit is at that time.

Decals came from Xtradecal sheet 72-230. According to the instructions, it was flown by Flight Lieutenant Jonny Dowen of 29^th Squadron, based out of RAF Coningsby in 2015. Definitely an attractive set of markings. No problems in application. 

I still have the 11^th and 45^th Squadron specials in queue from the RAF. Then I might do something out of pattern and try a couple of Luftwaffe specials. The kit markings for the new Revell Eurofighter are really nice, and I’ve picked up two aftermarket decal sets as well. I guess it is a good thing I enjoy making Eurofighters.

This is completed aircraft #467 (28 aircraft, 6 ordnance, 0 vehicle for the year 2016), finished in July of 2016.

Painting (landing gear, Lightning, Yak-130)

While we were getting ready for a day at Gig Harbor, a nice little bay town across the former Galloping Gertie bridge, I decided to use a small window of time to get caught up on painting.

Most of what was required was natural metal, for which I used Alclad’s White Aluminum. Now that I’ve segregated most of the paints which I bought during some of their paint formulation issues a number of years back, Alclad paint is a joy to airbrush. Covers well, doesn’t require any thinning, and can be masked when it fully cures. This covered landing gear on three Hurricanes and a P-47. I also had two sets of five-spoke early Hurricane wheels in resin, and included those as well.

Next came a quick job: painting the Black anti-glare panel on the Lightning F2A. The paint tried to be a bit contrary by being too thin, but I got that sorted out without too much difficulty.

The final color was White, being used to patch up some overspray on the prototype Yak-130. Once that cures, I’ll be able to start the masking job for the Blue portions of the aircraft.

This is an example to myself that airbrush sessions don’t have to be marathon events. Sometimes all it requires is about a half hour of realtime, including cleanup. 

Construction (Hurricanes, P-47)

Much of today’s workbench time was spent on preparing for the next painting session. I had some overspray when I painted the Red tail of the Yak-130 demo, so I needed to mask the new tail off so I can get rid of that prior to masking for the Blue on wings and fuselage. I think I’ve decided on which blue to use, based on AModel’s own recommendation. According to the instruction sheet, they suggest Humbrol Intermediate Blue. I don’t have any Humbrol of that color, but do have a tin of the Xtracolour version. It looks like it will do fine.

Next, since Aluminum is on the list of colors for the next session, I tried to gather up bits from projects that required this color. It is always efficient to group items that need to painted the same. Mostly this is landing gear for the three Hurricanes and the P-47, along with the forward portion of the Eurofighter’s exhaust (not the burner cans).

I’ve also masked the Black anti-glare panel on the Bae Lightning. Finally, I got the canopy masked and installed on the P-47. I still have two more canopy jobs for the Hurricanes and I am out of Eduard precut sets, so these will have to be self-cut. Not that hard on a bubble canopy, but more of a challenge on the Hurricane’s framing.

It wasn’t all masking this time, however, I got the major construction completed on the Airfix Hurricane and will be concentrating on seam cleanup next. Finally, I had to add some exterior bits onto the Hobbyboss Hurricane, which means, once the canopy is masked and attached, it will be ready for the first paint as well.

Minicraft Boeing Fortress

Given that it was the 50^th anniversary of the B-17’s first flight celebration at Boeing Field in 1985 that got me interested in starting to model again, it is surprising that I haven’t built that many B-17s. I think I have a couple in the display cases somewhere, one of which is an early variant. So I decided it was time to correct that oversight, and I was aided by what at the time was a new decal sheet.

This is the Minicraft B-17. Although there are newer kits out there, I still have a few copies of this kit, and I don’t really see the new ones as enough of a quantum leap to chuck these out. If Airfix eventually issues a variant that Minicraft doesn’t do, I may have to reconsider that.

The decal sheet is the Kits World 72125, a selection of RAF Fortresses. For some reason I was drawn to the Black, Dark Green, and Dark Earth version from 214 Squadron RAF Coastal Command. It is one of the RAF B-17s that carry nose art, always a draw for me. This is for “Take It Easy” as it was at Downham Market in January of 1944. Kits World specializes in nose art, and in fact all three of the Coastal Command Fortresses on this sheet have it.

Construction, though a bit drawn out, proceeded without incident. Most of the drama came while trying to take the masking off the cockpit. This was another Cutting Edge set, in the black vinyl they were famous far. I have had nightmares dealing with the stuff. It’s probably self-inflicted, since I doubt there would be an issue if I had gotten the masks on and off in a timely manner. But this model spent some time on the Shelf of Shame, and once those masks are attached for a while, they grasp on like the model owes them money. Scratches, remaining adhesive gunk, and much foul language ensues. Some can be repaired by judicious use of WD40, but not all. However, at this point, I just found a space in the back of a display cabinet, declared victory, and headed for higher ground. Still, I think this is my last voluntary involvement with black vinyl masking medium.

This is completed aircraft #466 (#33 for the year of 2016), finished in July of 2016.

Painting in the rain (Lightning, Hawk, Hurricane, Yak-130)

It was back to the painting booth tonight. I may have mentioned this, but my paint table is along one wall of the garage. I usually just open the garage door while painting to let the fumes disburse and keep the air nice and fresh. This has its downside in the Great Northwest, given that winter can be uncomfortably cold and summer uncomfortably warm. Now that we are nearing the end of March, the daily temps are fairly moderate, and as long as you are not planning a picnic outside, the rain is not a hindrance. In fact it is relaxing as I’m doing a process that doesn’t always go well. Quite a little squall went through while I was working. 

First job was to put the surface coat on the Oxford Blue tail and spine of the Lightning F2A and the overall paint job on the Hawk demonstrator. This amounts to thinning the paint after buffing down the already painted surfaces. It all went quite well, with the areas ending up nicely gloss and smooth. Next comes more masking for the NMF coat on the Lightning and attaching the gear to the Hawk. Alas, even thinned blue paint tends to get all over everything. I ended up looking like a Smurf. 

Second was to put a red tail on an AModel Yak-130. This will be in prototype colors, the first boxing that AModel put out. This one has spent some time on the Shelf of Shame, so it is nice to get it into the production stream again. Next comes the rather complex job of masking for the blue detailing. Not sure what paint I’m going to use for that. Most pictures look almost like an ashy grey-blue, not unlike the color on WW2 French roundels. I’ll have to see what I have in stock that comes close.

Finally, the only sour note of the evening. I had to put some RLM74/75 mottles on the fuselage sides and rudder of a captured German Hurricane. I knew the chances of success were minimal. I don’t have a pressure regulator on the current compressor, so I can’t just turn down the pressure and get those fine pencil-thin paint lines that we all see on the net. They tend to end up looking like exactly what they are: small bursts of paint, either too thin or thick, entirely out of scale. I do have a new compressor picked out with all the appropriate options, but it is competing with a lot of other capital priorities in 2017 (new fencing, a new heater, summer vacation, a new microwave, and the fridge is upwards of 15 years old now). Thus, it is what it is; meh. 

Still, I am glad to be able to get on with painting and accept the results, which has been a challenge over the years. This is key to amping up the production rate in the last half of 2017. 

Catching up on construction (Eurofighter, P-47, Hurricanes)

Things seem to be moving along at a reasonable clip on the 72 Land production line.

I started out by buffing down the Oxford Blue paint on the spine of the Bae Lightning and the overall surfaces of the demo Bae Hawk. As expected, the surface just wasn’t smooth enough, so a high-grit sandpaper was used – with lots of water – to take the high points off of any rough spots. At the next painting session, I will shoot a thin coat of Blue to get the surface nice and glossy.

You may remember that I painted the White sections of the Eurofighter that will eventually become a Red Arrows what-if. Today I began the arduous process of masking off the stripe that goes from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose. There are three areas that need some intricate masking: both sides of the fuselage and the distinctive arrow on the lower wing surfaces.

I should point out that the yellow tape you see in the photo is NOT the outline of the masked stripe down the side. I used the extra-thin white Tamiya tape specifically made for curves. It doesn’t stand out against the white painted background so you won’t really be able to see it fully until the Red coat is laid down. The yellow tape was just to fill in the masking.

The captured German Hurricane has now had its RLM74/RLM75 camo put down on the upper surfaces. Next I’ll need to paint the mottling on the fuselage and tail. I don’t have a pressure gauge on my compressor so painting small mottling is always a challenge.

Beyond these, you can see the P-47 bubbletop coming together, along with some interior paintwork on the Hobbyboss and Airfix Hurricanes. I do enjoy building these ragwing Airfix kits, and really wish they would release an updated metal wing Mk 1. The elderly rivet-infested one they have in the current catalog just isn't a modern kit.