2019 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show (pt 2 of 5)

Here is another selection of photos of the 1:72 builds at the weekend show. We'll start off with a group of single engined fighters. One note: given that I was a vendor this year, I couldn't take much time away from my table to graze through the entries. It was pretty much snap - sidestep - snap - sidestep - next category. So there are a lot of items where I didn't identify the kit used. The visuals will have to speak for themselves. 

Once again, I'm not sure this year's show scores very highly on the "unusual models" scale, but the work was very high quality. More tomorrow. 

2019 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show (pt 1 of 5)

Another Seattle show is in the books. It was very crowded. I don't have official attendance or model figures yet, but should get them in the next few days. This was longtime Show Chairman Andrew Birkbeck's last show before he relocates to New Zealand later this year. 

First off, a couple of general crowd shots - and this was in the morning before registration closed. 

Now shots of my two favorites in the show (being a lover of the odd and unusual). An Anigrand C-17 and a Valom Albemarle. 

Tomorrow I'll be back with another group, but we did have something of a similar issue with other shows - too many Bf-109s, P-51s, P-47s, etc. But there were some standouts beyond the herd, which I'll try to showcase as much as possible. 

1:72 armor seemed a bit light this year as well, though I'll have a small selection in part 5. 

Paint session (tires, Eurofighter cockpits, Ms-406)

Amidst the events of this week I was able to spend a few minutes in the garage getting a small paint session completed. Mostly this was just routine smaller items, such as tires for the Tilly truck, the Mc-205 and the Arma Hurricane. But I did get a matte topcoat on the Mc-200, which means it is complete and ready for its writeup.

Also, I found myself with two Eurofighter specials on the boil, and needed to get all the cockpits and interiors painted Dark Admiralty Grey. There are still other Eurofighters in queue (the last two Italian specials from the recent Italeri boxing and the German Ghost Tiger) but they will be waiting until these two are at least mostly completed.

The other color was Dunkelbraun, which I used as the dark brown in French camo schemes. This was applied to the Hasegawa Ms-406. Some seems to have gone on a bit rough (insufficient thinning?) and will need to be evaluated after curing to see if it needs a buff-and-reshoot job.

Content delay

Things have been pretty quiet around here for a few days, and are likely to be so for another few. My wife had her (second) foot surgery on Monday due to the tendon rupturing after the October (first) surgery. Much more complicated this time, much more pain. She basically can't get out of bed for the next 2 weeks, so this comes under the "and then life happened" rules. 

I haven't been out in the garage for a painting session in a while, though I do have a healthy queue lined up when the opportunity presents itself. One completion imminent (Mc-200) and one coming shortly (Tilly truck). A bit of detail painting and construction going on as well, though at a much reduced rate. 

Plus of course the IPMS Seattle Spring Show is coming up in Renton WA on 4-13. I will be acting as a vendor this year, putting some "surplus to requirements" kits up for sale and hopefully gaining a bit of space in the garage. The main prep is to price all of the kits/books/decals and get them packed for transport to the show. 

Here is a link to the show page: http://ipms-seattle.org/springshow/  Of course I'd like to invite you to the show if you are within driving distance. It tends to be a large show and always worth a day out. And bring some money!

Hasegawa Avro Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster is another type that I have built before, but only in its Airfix incarnation from many moons ago. I haven’t completed one of the new-tool Lancs yet.

I remember a conversation with Al Trendle of Minicraft waaaaaay back in the day. They had already produced the B-17, B-24, and B-29, and a few of us were trying to sway him into doing a new tool Lancaster. He rather scoffed at the idea, with the rather forceful argument that “it would never earn us back the money it cost”. Well, nowadays we have new-tool Lancs from Hasegawa, Airfix, and Revell, so apparently someone thought it would make them a profit in the meantime. Still nothing from Minicraft, though.

This particular one is the Hasegawa kit. As you would expect, it went together wonderfully. It borders on being over-engineered, but that is the Hasegawa way. Still a million miles better than the rivet-laden ancient Airfix kit that is already on the display shelf.

The markings are from Tiger Force, the group that the RAF put together to finish up the Japanese War in 1945. But before everything was ready to go, the two bombs dropped and plans changed. They took up positions in other parts of the Pacific, but didn’t really ever appear as a unified force. The decals come from a nice Xtradecal sheet, Postwar Lancasters X72256. I’ve always had good luck with Xtradecals (they are good at producing 1:72 markings) and this time was no exception.

The most difficult part was the masking and painting. It seemed that no matter what I did, there was some overspray or leakage that needed repair. The model thus spent more than its share of time on the Shelf of Shame. But it is particularly satisfying to rescue a model from that shelf. There were definitely issues with canopy masking, self-inflicted. Much of that may have come from the respraying to repair some of the large (non-canopy) masking issues. The paint was a little thick which caused some definition issues. This is one of those models with a long gestation period, and might not have ever been seen in public except for the core philosophy of this blog (that everything completed gets photographed and displayed). Still, I’m glad that I finally could get this one into the display case and out of the “pending” area.

This is completed aircraft #513 (11 aircraft, 1 ordnance, 2 vehicles for the year 2019), finished in March of 2019.

Italeri Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 (Italian AF special)

Despite my resolve to complete some types I’ve never done before, that doesn’t mean I have abandoned my long-standing series production of Eurofighters, Hurricanes, P-47s, etc. In fact, today’s completion is another Italian AF special markings Eurofighter.

It came from the two-kit Italeri boxing, which means that I was building the Italeri kit. It lacks the finesse of the newest-mold Revell version but ends up looking like what it is supposed to by the end of the build. There were some minor fit issues along the way.

The decals went on well. I think I would have preferred to have color callouts for the Green and Brown in the spine camo, with decals for the individual markings. Instead you get decal bits for the entire spine, including the cockpit surround. That caused some anxious moments after the matte overcoat when the cockpit masking was removed. But my recommendation is to take the decals in stages, soaking them with setting solution overnight between sections. That way you run less of a risk in accidentally moving a decal that you thought was already in place.

The markings are for 12^th Fighter Group from Maggio Air Base in 2017. There are still plenty of special markings schemes in the decal stash, including two more contemporary Italian specials, one Italian special from a few years back, a few German specials, and (on the way from Hannants) a Spanish Tiger Meet version. Along with the 3 Tornado retirement schemes, modern RAF fighters seem to be doing well if you like gaudy markings (which I do). Time to get some F-35 specials in gear!

This is completed aircraft #512 (10 aircraft, 1 ordnance, 2 vehicles for the year 2019), finished in March of 2019.

Construction (Arma Hurricane, Tilly, A-4, X-3, Mc-205)

So, with all the painting going on, how is the production end of the 72 Land operation fairing?

As you have gleaned from this blog, I tend to have a lot of models in process at any one time. This makes it easy to do something while glue or paint dries, or when decals are in setting solution. And the current state is no exception. At least 11 are in motion, with another set awaiting cockpit assembly, and a stout number of examples on the Shelf of Shame. A couple of larger items on that Shelf will be coming off now that I have a bit more flexibility as far as storage space goes.

But on to work on ongoing projects. I had to assemble the Fiat CR-25 engine nacelles and clean them up in preparation for their Dark Green paint. Another plane requiring a Dark Green will be the top sides of the Polikarpov I-16 Rata.

General construction on the Arma Hurricane and the Italeri Mc-205 are mostly complete. The Tilly truck from the Airfix RAF Refuelling Set really just needs the tires masked and painted before moving to decals.

The Fujimi Blue Angels A-4 is together and needs to have the seams buffed up a bit. I don’t remember the air intakes being such a challenge on earlier Fujimi iterations of the A-4, but I’m not sure what is responsible for that. Probably me.

The AZ Models X-3 Stiletto continues to crawl along. I’ve now gotten the fuselage together and the wings/tail attached, and will next be working on the intakes and exhaust surfaces. I have also received the Peewit masking set and have masked and installed the canopy as well. It fit about as well as everything else has, so it will require so puttying and buffing around the edges.

The Azur Latecoere 298 continues to glare at me balefully since I haven’t attached its float surfaces yet. And the N1M and B-45 are still waiting for cockpit work.

I also received from Hannants a couple of masking sets for the MS-406 that I received partially built from a friend in the hobby. I’ll probably move the second one into active work once the first one – which is partially painted at present – gets further along.