121: Photo Feature 2 - 2013 Warbirds Over the Beach, Virginia Beach

 

121: Show and Tell

The theme of the May meeting was "Aggressors".  There were five theme builds and eight non-theme builds.

May's honored "Golden Clamp" award winner was Nick Kessel for his pair of Top Gun A-4E models.  Members had a hard time picking between the 1/72 Fujimi kit and the 1/48 Monogram kit.  The Fujimi kit represents "Top Gun 56" that was built completely OOB including the kit decals.  The nicely done MiG silhouette was painstakingly hand masked and painted.

The old but venerable Monogram kit was also built OOB with added Sidewinder launcher and adapter as well as the In Flight Refueling Probe from a Hasegawa kit.  Decals are from Superscale to represent "Top Gun 52".

Jim Rotramel's theme entry is his Monogram 1:48 F-20 Tigershark in a "What If" USAF aggressor scheme.  The kit was built OOB except for the captive Sidewinder and AIS pod that were taken from his spares box. Jim also used rhinestones for the wing nav lights.

Another 1:48 A-4 Skyhawk for the theme build was this "Super Fox" model built by Joe Hegedus.  Joe started with the excellent Hasegawa kit and added a True Details seat, Cutting Edge "hotdog" antennae on the tail, and a TACTS Pod from the Hasegawa weapons pack.  Markings are from either a Fightertown or Afterburner decals sheet.

The final theme build was this 1:48 Italeri F-15 built by Ryan Turgeon.  This was the kit that Ryan used to make his return to modeling.  Ryan added Aires resin exhaust cans and Afterburner decals to represent an airframe from the USAF 65th Aggressor Squadron.

Non-theme builds for May included this eye-popping 1/144 F/A-18E Super Hornet built by Vince Mankowski.  Vince built the excellent Revell kit OOB with decals from DXM to represent the 2011 CAG bird from VFA-137 Kestrels.  For more details, see last month's blog entry.

Besides his A-4, Joe Hegedus also brought along a pair of Glossy Sea Blue (GSB) aircraft.  The first is the XTB2D-1 Skypirate.  The Douglas torpedo bomber was built from a Planet Resin 1/72 kit with a tailhook fashioned from a paper clip and new prop shafts made from brass tube.

Joe's second GSB model was also built from a resin kit.  The Czechmaster 1/72 TBY-2 Seawolf was built almost OOB, with main landing gear struts from a Wings 72 Seawolf kit and the propeller from a Tamiya Corsair.  The markings represent a NATC service test aircraft from 1945.

Moving along in 1/72, we have a wonderful Boeing F4B-4 built from the excellent Monogram kit.  Ken Kelly completed this build in his usual style of a brush painted paint job with Polly Scale paints and EZ line rigging.  Ken added a scratch built seat, floor, yoke, and panel to the otherwise sparse kit cockpit.

John Bray was along with a pair of nicely done diorama's, including this very unusual Ostrich Egg diorama.  The center piece of the diorama is actually the egg itself with John fashioned from an actual ostrich egg.  A nicely done Ostrich figurine was added in front of a hand painted mural of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

John's second diorama represents the (in)famous shootout at the OK Corral.  The diorama is done up in 1/32 scale with Black Hawk Toy Soldiers figures that were repainted and placed between a pair of scratch built period buildings which were made from construction board.

Equally impressive was Collin Tatsuko's beautiful Bf-109E Trop.  Collin built the 1/32 Eduard kit OOB and finished it with Model Master paints.  The green blotches were free handed with his new Sotar 20/20 airbrush.  All paints were thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner by Gunze which Collin endorses as "Awesome".

Rounding out this month's builds is the unique Japanese Type 94 Combat Car built by "Doc" Haugh.  The 1/35 Fine Molds kit was built OOB with a Soviet tanker figure added for scale reference.  Doc reports that the tracks were a bit too short in the otherwise excellent kit.  And yes, they did fit more than one person in there!

121: In Progress

For May, there were only three in progress builds, one of which was theme related.

Mike Colvin is working on a Hasegawa 1/48 F-16A that he had intended to have complete for May's theme build.  He plans on using a Fightertown Decals sheet to depict one of the Navy's NSAWC Top Gun aggressor aircraft.

Showing off his latest project, Nate Swift brought along his Dornier Do-335B-4.  Nate is building the Dragon kit OOB, including kit supplied Photo Etch.  This reconnaissance version of the seldom modeled fighter is sure to be a stunner.

Rounding out the in progress builds is Andrew White's nearly completed Hobbyboss F9F-2 Panther.  Andy is taking a departure from his usual larger scale builds and tackling the 1/72 kit nicely.  The OOB build is being finished gear up, with markings to represent the VMF-311 aircraft flown by Ted Williams when he was shot down in Korea.  Markings are from an Iliad Decals sheet, and the fine panel lines were accentuated  with a Flory Models light gray wash.

Looking forward to seeing these three models completed!

121 - BTSK: Notes, Cautions, Warnings.

BTSK

 

Notes, Cautions, Warnings

 

For our October BTSK theme, the Airfix 1/72 scale BAE Hawk is the designated subject and I know that some of you have begun work on yours. It seems that Jim Rotramel is not one to procrastinate, as he has completed his! In way of helping his fellow modelers Jim offers the following build review of the Airfix Hawk kit.

 

Take it away Jim!

 

 

Build Review

1/72 scale Airfix Hawk (Kit # A02005)

By Jim Rotramel

I’m done with this little kit now, and have a few words of experience to share.

Fit is generally not too bad with one massive exception. The wing-fuselage join results in a significant ‘step’ on the bottom of the aircraft between the two. While you could do some cutting on the fuselage to make the wing fit flush (i.e., higher), that will result in a gap on top where the wing fairs into the fuselage. Pick your poison, but the bottom line is that the fit as it comes out of the box leaves much to be desired.

The instructions are okay, with a couple of problems. In step 10, they show that the wing fences need to be glued to the wing, but fail to provide any positioning information whatsoever. (They are roughly aligned with the break between the aileron and flap, maybe a couple of inches outboard.) Step 12 shows the flat clear windscreen between the front and rear seats (part 4H) being glued into the canopy (part 6H) without the benefit of knowing exactly where it goes (ARE you kidding me?). DON’T do it! You’ll note a small step on the front of the back seat glare shield (part 13A) in step 7. When you get to Step 12, attach part 4H there, NOT to the canopy.

I could point out some other things I have issue with, but this is an introductory-level kit, so for a young fan of the Red Arrows, it’s fine and generally accurate.

For masking, I bought the Eduard mask EDUCX248. WARNING! The break in the mask for the white separation band on the canopy (part 4H above) is too far aft by about 1/4-in! The major justification for buying this masking set in the first place was that there is no scribing on the canopy to aid in painting the band (or locating part 4H), so this provides an extra challenge. The set is still useful, but DO NOT apply the masks to the main canopy until the fuselage is assembled with part 4H installed. Then dry fit the canopy and apply the masks, which will need to be modified somewhat. The good news is that the curved parts of the masks are still usable, its just that the straight parts along the bottom of the frame will have to be shortened for the front section and additional masking added to the rear section. I found adding a strip of painters tape along the sill line useful to ensure the two sections are aligned.

 

 

 

 

 

I also bought Eduard’s Zoom set (SS354), even though I’m not normally a big fan of PE. I found some parts of this set useful. When I bought the set I was concerned about the cockpit instrument panels, but they are so far beneath the glare shields that they really aren’t that visible. The new glare shields don’t fit well and the front one is too short by about 1/8 inch. However, there were a some of useful bits: The HUD frame is nice, but wait until ready to install the windscreen to add it, as it’s quite fragile (don’t ask me how I know!). The exhaust nozzle is nice, once I figured out how to install it  (inside a piece of 3/16” brass tubing to ensure it’s round). And the wing fences are nice, although I had to use a razor saw to cut a slot in the wing for them to fit into, as the opening for the wing is a tad narrow. That’s okay as they fit more securely in slots, but it would have been nice to know beforehand.

I used a pair of Pavala 72060 MB Mk.10H ejection seats. Nice seats, very detailed, but remember to order two!

For the pitot tube, I used the Master AM-72-020. Worked fine. It bent a little when I dropped the model, but straightened out nicely!

The little clear piece in the nose is a light. I drilled out the hole, inserted a piece of plastic rod, sat a rhinestone on top of it and finished it off with a drop of clear epoxy. Much better!

In short, it was a much bigger fight than I expected out of such a tiny kit.