Marathon masking session

Workbench time this week has been primarily spent on masking and other prep for the next paint session.

I had a chance to buff the Eurofighter whif’s coat of Red Arrows Red. It will indeed need a surface coat, to get a smooth final surface and to reinforce the red paint over the overspray from the Insignia Blue rudder.

I also needed to mask the Arctic Rose DC-3 to clean up some overspray. Same with the Beech Starship, though that is to clean up a massive botch I made while trying to paint the silver leading edges.

There has also been some cockpit construction for the next models to enter the construction queue. I’m always leary of using superglue, but had to deal with resin cockpits for both a P-47E two-seat trainer conversion and the Planet N1M flying wing. Plus one of the wing halves on the N1M had gotten broken during its time in the stash and I had to repair that. The RS Models XP-79 cockpit also got some attention. The P-47E cockpit is noticeably too wide for the fuselage to close, so some fettling will be required to shave the sides down, probably prior to painting. And of course the recently acquired AZ Models DHC-1 Chipmunk is getting attention as well.

In an effort to move a couple of hangar queens along, I’ll be masking the bottom portion of the Norseman seaplane and the upper surfaces of the Hasegawa Lancaster in order to get them both ready for Black paint. These will probably not be ready for the next paint session. 

New acquisitions

I have been on a bit of buying frenzy lately, spurred by a number of early summer model completions and – I’ll admit it – some retail therapy when I was feeling sorry for myself when the van’s transmission and my right hip chose the same week to go completely dysfunctional. By and large, these are kits that are on my “buy once available” list, usually by way of Hannants, with some extras thrown in. Some of the packages are starting to arrive and the featured kit will immediately go into the construction queue.

The first of these is the relatively new AZ Models DHC-1 Chipmunk. The variant I was waiting on is the Lycoming engined version. Not for the specific engine, but rather one of the markings variants offered in this box: the British Airways hack version. There are limited opportunities to put commercial airline markings on a 1:72 kit, so I’ll take em where I can find em. It’s entering the construction queue now.

I also picked up an Academy Oshkosh truck as part of my vehicle series. I think this one will have to wait until the Stryker makes it to the complete column, though.

The rest of the items were accessories. A set of Master pitot/guns for the upcoming Me-163. I am really coming to like these Master bits. Masking sets (from Peewit) for the Balliol and Chipmunk (see above). And finally, another set of Hurricane decals, this time from Kits World. Like I need more, but I think I will start with the Iraqi markings. It does have some foreign examples that I don’t have decals for yet. Yeah, that was the reason.

Much more in the mail stream on its way to me. Because 1500 kits just isn't enough of stash for a real man...

Academy Republic P-47 ("Pride of Lodi")

Today’s completion is another one of the clutch of P-47 razorbacks that have been winding their way through the 72 Land production line during the great mojo revival of this spring. I do have a P-47E Doublebolt conversion in the early stages, but I think that once the last of these is completed I’ll concentrate on other types for a little while. I do have kits for the main (plastic) variants of the Me-163 that I haven’t already completed, and at least a couple of Eurofighters. Also, a couple of Northrop flying wing prototypes (N1M and XP-79) are having their cockpits built and painted. And there are the usual workbench queens (Beech Starship, a Eurofighter whif, Norseman airliner, and Yak-130) that seem to be taking their sweet time moving along the production line.

This P-47 was one of four I purchased from Scale Hobbyist, since I had been having trouble finding them in stock at other retailers. The Academy kit presented no problems during the construction phase, and since I still have sufficient Olive Drab and Neutral Grey Xtracolour tins – though the stock is starting to run low - painting was no great challenge either. I did manage to not notice the White wing leading edges during the first round of painting, but that was quickly rectified.

Decals came from Kits-World 72-132. The “Pride of Lodi” set is especially attractive since it not only has a presentation name but nose art as well. I was not aware that there is a Lodi Ohio; I was only aware of the California one from my days living in that state. The plane belonged to the 342^nd Fighter Squadron, 348^th Fighter Group, 5^th AF, and was piloted by Commanding Officer Lt Col Robert Rowland in 1943. He survived the war and was credited with 8 aerial victories.

This is completed aircraft #476 (9 aircraft, 2 ordnance, 7 vehicles for the year 2017), finished in June of 2017.

Minor painting problems (Eurofighter whif, Tsar Bomba trailer

Despite the absence of inclement weather, I was able to get into the garage for a short painting session.

Really just two colors this time around. First was a surface coat on the Tsar Bomba trailer from AModel. The first layer was a bit thin and watery, so this helped to fill in the density of the Deep Olive Green. But of course we couldn’t make it through a session without at least one disaster: I managed to drop the trailer while moving it to the place where it would be drying. Two axles and the framework that engages with the tractor both went flying. Once everything cures I will be getting the bits reattached.

Finally, I put the first coat on the whif Red Arrows Eurofighter. I’m using some of the last of my Xtracolour Red Arrows Red. A strange development: although I used this paint just a few months ago to do a RA Hawk, it seems to have gone a bit thick and – no other word to describe it – chunky in the meantime. Lots of stirring and thinning couldn’t head off difficulties in passing through the airbrush. A bit of spattering. Although the color coat managed to get laid down on the entire airframe, I am pretty sure this will require buffing and a surface coat. There is also some evidence that overspray from the Insignia Blue rudder is showing through the red paint. So I won’t be progressing on this project until those issues are dealt with. I’ll give the paint a couple of days to cure.

Avis EADS Barracuda drone

Drones have some advantages as models. They don’t require canopy masking, for one. A great comfort to the Lazy Modeller ™. And there are a growing number of them available as 1:72 models. I’ve already completed an RQ-1, RQ-4, RQ-9, D-21, and have the Attack Hobby RQ-7 in the stash.

But today’s completion concerns the Avis EADS Barracuda. The program is a joint development between Germany and Spain and, at least according to Wikipedia, it is meant to be an equivalent of the RQ-9 Reaper. EADS wants to make some inroads to American domination of this market sector.

The kit, which was only released a couple of months ago, definitely falls into the short run category, but it is not crude by any means. Test fitting will be rewarded, but you should still expect to use up some putty in the process. The landing gear is probably the only thing one might find to be complicated. The rear fuselage / exhaust bits didn’t fit very well on my example. Decals all came from the kit, and include the various manufacturer logos.

I used Xtracolour X126 for the overall grey, based on the fact that they are apparently painted the same color as the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighters. There was an issue of paint adhesion on parts of the underside – maybe some stubborn mold release agent? A quick buff and respray fixed that.

As long as manufacturers continue to make kits of drones, I’ll be there to buy and build them. It’s an interesting little byway of aviation history. According to photos, the nose pitot does in fact droop that way. 

This is completed aircraft #475 (8 aircraft, 2 ordnance, 7 vehicles for the year 2017), finished in May of 2017.

Painting in the land of thunder

Another paint session, another thunder and hail storm here in the Great Northwest. I swear that we have had more thunder this winter than we typically do in the summertime.

But hey, at least I was ambulatory enough to get down to the garage to paint! Most of the drudge work this time was shooting a matte coat onto the Barracuda drone, two P-47s, and an ammo trailer. They will be debuting over the next few days as completed models.

I shot a coat of Dark Olive Green on the Soviet Tsar Bomba trailer. This trailer had a lot of parts; more than are probably in most 1:72 fighters. Every crossbeam, every hinge, every handle is its own little bit. Unfortunately, this doesn’t play well to Amodel’s strength, being a short run model company with somewhat less than perfect small detail and large sprue gates. It was similar to the Tsar Bomba itself, in fact, which also had dozens of tiny bits. Still, I powered my way through it. The green was mixed pretty thin, and I suspect a surface coat will be required.

The final round of spraying for today was the cockpit and wheel wells of the next Hurricane in my long series; this time, an Egyptian AF example. Next will come the addition of some seat belts and then completion of major assembly.

I was going to shoot the first coat of Red Arrows Red onto the whif Eurofighter, but realized I had not completed the masking for the landing gear doors. So that will go onto the agenda for the next paint session. I might have to check the weather forecast to see when the next thunderstorm is due in the area.

Pain and the aging modeller

I have tried to keep this blog from turning into the 60+ Modellers Book of Aches and Pains, but no doubt some have noticed that after a very productive April and May, things went radio silent for the month of June so far.

It comes down to some bad back and hip issues. I’ve always had sciatica, but this most recent attack was violent indeed. Fierce constant pain in lower back and right hip, radiating down the right leg, shin and into the big toe. My knees are actually pretty decent, all things considered. It got to the point where I could barely hobble about, and the pain level while walking, sitting, or laying down was at Defcon One. Even some pain meds I had to coax out of my physician weren’t doing much good. The last thing I could manage was bench or paint shop time.

I had x-rays of the hip, which showed lots of arthritis (which I expected). I am scheduled for a CAT scan on the lower back and hip this coming Monday, which hopefully will allow us to diagnose what is really going on and get a plan of treatment together. In the meantime, the pain levels have decreased a bit. I live in fear of a recurrence of a spinal abcess I had 15 years ago, which was one of the most hellacious periods I’ve ever spent in my life. Really, the chances are pretty low that it would be the same thing, but ugh – just the thought of that gets me shaking.

Things had improved enough that I did try for some bench time last night – and immediately made a huge botch on the Beech Starship that about had me beating my head against the wall. Combining native impatience with a desire to move quickly due to residual pain is not a good combination for model making. I’ll be going into damage control and repair on that one.

I have 3 or 4 models just waiting for overall matte coats before they can have their photos taken. I am going to try and revisit the paint booth this afternoon and hopefully can avoid another disaster. So normal service should (I hope!) resume shortly. Until then, I will leave you with this monumentally disturbing image.