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Marty Sanford’s 1/48 scale Eduard F6F-3 Hellcat shows how careful construction, clean finishing, and realistic weathering combine to produce an eye-catching, realistic model. – p.10
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Models 4
Editor’s page
Welcome to our special issue, Build Better Models Matthew Usher
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Arming Revell’s F-15E Strike Eagle Giving a Mudhen an aftermarket makeover Mark wilson
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Even a Hellcat can use a little help Detailing and finishing Eduard’s F6F-3 Marty sanford
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Detailing a destroyer
Improving a ship with photoetched metal, resin, and scratchbuilding frank cUden
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Last of the U-boats
This WWII German Type XXIII display makes a great weekend project Matthew Usher
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Secrets of resin casting Make one part – or a whole pile – with this easy-to-learn technique Matthew Usher
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Model a Canadian Forces LAV III A straightforward conversion builds this modern Light Armored Vehicle JaMes wechsler
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Finish a Canadian Forces LAV III
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Painting, weathering, and final details
Better canopies? They’re soaking in it!
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Improve clear parts with Future Matthew Usher
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Get started airbrushing The secrets of choosing and using your first airbrush Matthew Usher
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Easy armor detailing
Aftermarket parts make a great Panzer III kit even better Matthew Usher
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Easy aircraft figures
Nine basic steps for painting figures for aircraft dioramas rafe Morrissey
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Hairspray weathering How worn and rusty paints behave karl logan
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Rescuing a Ta 152H-1
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JaMes wechsler
Stretching sprue
This basic technique has multiple applications for builders aaron skinner
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Updating Italeri’s 1/72 scale T-45 Goshawk A little sheet styrene here, a little super glue there... PaUl Boyer
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Cutting tool roundup
Outfit your workbench with the tools you need
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Matthew Usher
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Plan of attack
Planning makes modeling armor faster and easier Matthew Usher
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Working with photoetched metal Hints to help you get started and keep going Matthew Usher
Salvaging a partially built kit kaMil feliks sztarBala Build Better Models (ISBN 978-1-62700-146-5) is produced by FineScale Modeler magazine and published by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187. © 2013 Kalmbach Publishing
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Let’s build something! Welcome to Build Better Models
Models
Editor matthew W. usher
Associate Editor mark hembree
by mattheW usher
Associate Editor tim Kidwell Associate Editor aaron skinner
Some Say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or a magazine by its title, but in this case I think it’s pretty safe to say that Build Better Models really does deliver what it promises right up front. For the better part of a year, we’ve worked at assembling this volume that combines some of the most-popular and mostrequested features from FineScale Modeler’s past editions. Tat’s not all, though. In addition to the selections from our archive, we’ve also included a variety of fantastic, all-new articles. Every feature we’ve included here was carefully selected to help you, well, build better models. With our usual clear, step-by-step style, we cover subjects like airbrushing, weathering, resin casting, and working with photoetched parts – tools and techniques you may have
been hesitant to tackle for the frst time. Hopefully these articles will help you expand your modeling skills and try something new. Te modeling subjects we cover inside were carefully selected, too. Tere’s a great variety, including everything from aircraft to armor to ships. I’m sure you’ll fnd plenty of great how-to information and modeling inspiration in these pages, no matter what you like to build. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this edition, as well as any thoughts or suggestions you might have for future special editions. Enjoy the issue!
Editorial Associate monica Freitag Art Director tom Ford Senior Graphic Designer Patti L. Keipe Illustrator Jay W. smith Photographers Jim Forbes, William Zuback Production Supervisor helene tsigistras Production Coordinator Cindy barder Group Circulation Manager Kristin Johnson Circulation Coordinator Carly Witkowski Associate Publisher mark savage ContACt uS
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ADVISoRy boARD John Noack, Paul boyer, shep Paine, bob Collignon, Cookie sewell, Pat Covert, rusty White, Pat hawkey ©2013, kalmbach Publishing Co. all rights reserved. title is registered as trademark. this publication may not be reproduced in part or in whole without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews. Postmaster: Periodicals postage paid at Waukesha, Wisconsin, and additional offices. send address changes to FineScale Modeler, Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612.
arming revell’s
As a modeler, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Wilson was acutely aware of a glaring deficiency in Revell’s 1/48 scale kit of the F-15E Strike Eagle — groundattack weaponry. So, he gathered a couple of Academy kits and shopped the aftermarket for what he needed.
F-15E StrikE EaglE Giving a Mudhen an aftermarket makeover • By Mark Wilson
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arly on, designers of the F-15 vowed “Not a pound for air-to-ground.” But times change. A new suite of air-to-ground avionics gave this air-superiority thoroughbred impressive groundattack capability. Replacing the aging F-4 Phantom and F-111 Aardvark, the F-15E Strike Eagle became a workhorse in close air support. Many consider Revell’s 1/48 scale F-15E kit the most accurately shaped of the various models. But this Strike Eagle
lacks talons — no air-to-surface weapons. Fortunately, there are aftermarket products to model a modern Strike Eagle. Also, Academy’s F-15K SLAM Eagle and updated F-15E Strike Eagle contain upgrade options.
Updating Revell To model a “Mudhen,” there are several identifiers to consider. The kit supplies older-style AIM-9 Sidewinder launch rails, 1; but post-Desert Storm F-15Es have
AIM-9/AIM-120 AMRAAM LAU-128 launcher rails and ADU-552 adapters. Also, the kit has the LANTIRN AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod and AN/AAQ-14 targeting pods seen on home-based or pre-2005 deployed aircraft. Recently deployed Mudhens replace the AN/AAQ-14 with the angular AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). Stock weapons include only four AIM-9Ms; a ProModeler boxing has an additional set of GBUs not commonly seen these days. www.FineScale.com
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Mark compared the Revell AIM-9 rails (top and bottom) to the Academy LAU-128 AIM120/AIM-9 rails and chose the latter.
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Clear, iridescent film lends realistic luster to the HUD.
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“Some rather grisly surgery was required to fit the pilots into the Revell pit,” Mark says. He repositioned the arms of the backseater, and says, “That grab bar gets a lot of use, judging from the wear seen in photos!”
Mark cut up the intake to allow easier painting of the trunk.
Academy offerings
Office hours
Both Academy kits include four AIM120s, four AIM-9Xs, AMRAAM rails, two 2,000-pound GBU-31 JDAMs, and six 500-pound GBU-38 JDAMs. Additionally, the Academy F-15E includes two GBU31(V)3, two GBU-12s, the Sniper XR ATP, and two AIM-9Ms. There are also the normal impact fuse and laser JDAM seeker head for the GBU-31s and -38s. Furthermore, the decal sheets have a mindboggling array of stencils and weapon decals, right down to the tiny and next-toinvisible AIM-120 stencils on the missile fins! Academy’s F-15K is all you need to transform the Revell molding into a wellequipped, home-stationed F-15E. Since I intended to model an Operation Enduring Freedom bird — and the updated Academy F-15E hadn’t been released yet — I also needed an aftermarket Sniper XR ATP and a brace of GBU-12s. A Mudhen doesn’t carry all the weapons the F-15K kit offers, so my spares box runneth over with the latest military high-tech bang-bang. Any Revell parts lost or broken now have ready replacements.
The Revell cockpit is well detailed, even if the crew and canopy obscure most of it. Academy’s F-15K decal sheet provided nice “power on” decals. I trimmed a piece of iridescent film to fit in the HUD frame and glued it down with a Pledge Future floor polish. Depending on the angle and lighting, it is green, red, gold, or clear, 2. A $3.50 roll is a lifetime supply! I mustered the crew from some Hasegawa F-16 kits, 3.
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Modified intakes When the engines are shut down their inlets point straight ahead. However, in flight the inlets rotate down, exposing pieshaped wedges mostly covered by the conformal fuel tanks. Revell supplies straight ramps, while Academy includes both straight and extended inlets. Using a photoetched-metal saw, I transplanted the extended wedges on the Revell inlet ramps, using a lot of filler and sheet styrene. The inlets posed a painting challenge. Unlike most modern U.S. fighters, which have an all-white intake trunk, the first six feet (1.5" in scale) is gunship gray — the rest is white. Instead of wasting time trying
to make a mask, I simply cut the trunk at the 1.5" mark, 4. After painting them, I rejoined the parts (reinforced with sheet styrene), applying cement only to the outside of the trunk. With only one viewing angle, and a high contrast between the dark gray front and the bright white rear, the seam is impossible to see. I masked the inlets to protect against future overspray.
Ordnance Researching Department of Defense images, I chose a common weapons load: GBU-31s and AIM-120 AMRAAMs from the F-15K; GBU-12s from Hasegawa’s Weapons Set D; and GBU-38s and a Sniper ATP from Shawn Hull. I also took two AIM-9Ms from an Academy F-22 (I preferred them to Revell’s). Academy’s GBU-31 is superior in detail to that of the Hasegawa Weapons Set D, with one odd exception: It is missing a strake. The JDAM kit includes a set of small wings or strakes along the body of the bomb. Academy only molded three, not the correct four. No matter: I fixed it with a small strip of styrene, 5. I modified the GBU-12s by removing
New strakes
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Unaccountably, a strake was missing from the Academy JDAM. Mark made one with .020" strip styrene.
Replacing the solid seeker head with an epoxy-tipped resin casting enhanced the Hasegawa GBU-12s.
New panel line
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Details like the back of pods would be hard to see gear down, but in flight the whole underside can be scrutinized — so Mark inserted mesh in the exhaust port.
The GPS dot was added to the F-15 after Revell made the kit, so a key panel line was missing. Mark added the dot and scribed a new panel line.
As molded
Corrected
9 Simple sanding reshaped and corrected the forwardmost upper rack.
the seeker heads and scratchbuilding new seeker heads, rings, and fins. I cast them in resin and filled the tip of the seeker head with clear epoxy to simulate the lens, 6. I made minor tweaks to the AN/AAQ13 and Sniper pods by carving out the rear face of the pods with a motor tool and inserting a small screen to represent the exhaust, 7. To my chagrin, after I got the F-15K, I noticed two tiny metallic screen decals on the Cartograf sheet — exhausts for the pods! Interestingly, the Academy F-15E included only two GBU-12s. Not a problem for this model — recent photos from Afghanistan show only two on F-15Es. All
weapons are attached to the racks by neodymium super magnets and/or copper pins.
Other updates Post-Desert Storm F-15Es were updated with a GPS receiver, represented as a raised dot on the upper right fuselage. I scratchbuilt one by rounding off a piece of sprue, adding four rivet points, and lowering it to match references. The difficult part was figuring out exactly where the dot was supposed to go, as Revell missed a panel line that nailed down the exact location. I determined the correct location from photos and scribed the missing panel line, 8. The Revell forwardmost upper bomb
racks on the conformal fuel tank have a forward-swept edge. But it should be straight. I fixed this simply by shaving and reshaping the leading edge, 9. The jet fuel starter ( JFS) exhaust served as a detail fix and a convenient display mount. The Revell JFS has the F-15A exhaust grille instead of the F-15E open hole with two nested exhaust tubes. To represent this, I drilled out the grille with a 5⁄32" bit in a pin vise. Using outer aluminum and inner brass tubing, I partially drilled out each one with a bit that was 1⁄64" smaller than the outside of the tube. For the aluminum tube, this meant a 9⁄64" bit; for the brass tube, 7⁄64", 10. The end result was a brass www.FineScale.com
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After drilling, here are the inner brass (left) and outer aluminum exhaust tubes.
The finished JFS exhaust will be firmly mounted in the fuselage with JB Weld.
Mark put shims inside the gear bay to reinforce the gear doors, preventing headaches later on.
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Copper wire filed to shape and embedded in the fuselage “isn’t going anywhere!” Mark says.
Mark replaced grab bars with thin wire to dress up the cockpit.
tube with a 1⁄64"-thick wall nested in an aluminum tube that had a 1⁄64" air gap and a 1⁄64" wall, 11. I super glued the nested tubes together and mounted them with JB Weld. This was easier than you’d think. The bit self-centers; just take care to avoid wearing through to the outside. Note: I drilled by hand; do not use a motorized drill. I made a few other minor modifications, mostly based on past modeling experience. I placed shims inside the landing gear bays to support the doors, 12. The spike-like air data probes on the nose were molded on, and, with handling, they came off. I replaced them with copper wire filed and sanded to a sharp point, then countersunk into the fuselage to prevent their breaking off in the future, 13. Likewise for a set of air intake probes near the inlets — knowing these tiny pieces of styrene on the bottom of a gear-up jet were doomed, I replaced them with wire. Substituting 30-gauge magnet wire for grab handles made them more dimensional, 14. Finally, I cut out the solid-molded navigation lights and replaced them with clear epoxy, carved and sanded to shape.
this monotone scheme, there are opportunities to add visual interest: You can make the nose-cone radome either darker or lighter; the canopy frame will almost never be the same shade as the fuselage; and there are various antennas and panels that are a lighter gray. Also, flaps, ailerons, and the airbrake will be a shade darker or lighter than the rest of the fuselage. Often, a wing or tail leading edge has a strip that is a lighter gray from a field touch-up, or may even show bright yellow primer or bare metal. Drop tanks are almost never the same color as the aircraft (or each other). Unless you plan to build a spotless air-show bird, you can work in a lot of variety. I used all of the above to break up the solid gray, 15. Another way to make the kit pop is with panel lines. Aircraft modelers usually darken them, but topside photos of many F-15Es show a reverse effect; the lines are lighter than the panels. A former crew chief told me this is caused by a fuel-tank sealant. I used Testors Model Master light ghost gray (FS36375) to get that look by filling in rivets and panel lines, then quickly wiping off excess paint. Normally, you would do this with acrylic over enamel, but in this case the base had cured; working quickly prevented damage to the base coat. When
Painting I applied a base coat of Testors Model Master gunship gray (FS36118). Despite 8
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all this dried, I lightly dry-brushed more of the darker gunship gray around the panel lines to make the treatment more subtle.
Engine tune-up I prepared the natural-metal areas of the engines with 3200-grit wet-dry sandpaper before airbrushing with shades of Alclad II: polished aluminum, duraluminum, and darker shades like jet exhaust, dark aluminum, and steel, to depict heat-distortion seen in reference photos. Once this part of the painting was complete, I masked it off to shield it from overspray with clear coats. The Revell exhaust cans capture the look of the F-15, with each of the 15 control rods molded separately. Note: Do not remove what you think might be seam lines or flash on the rods — the real rods are castings with a noticeable seam! I painted with Alclad II magnesium, and the base ring with aluminum. Washes of dark enamel and clear blue acrylic enhanced details. The interior of the can was tricky, due to the scorch marks. After trying several methods, including washing (not enough control) and dry-brushing (wrong color intensity), I airbrushed around the scorches with off white and got the appearance I wanted, 16.
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A lot of color variation can be worked into an all-gray aircraft by portraying field applied paint touch-ups and picking out panel lines.
Mark studied exhaust burn patterns carefully and airbrushed them to achieve the desired look.
Paint
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Painted decal
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A thin strip of painted decal is sometimes easier to apply than a thin strip of paint.
Weathering I sealed the base coats with Future and applied artist’s oil washes thinned with mineral spirits. Reference photos are invaluable for determining the placement and intensity of washes. For example, control surfaces are usually messy with fluid leaks. Also, Strike Eagles look oil-streaked underneath, but only aft of the gear doors. I lightly airbrushed around the front of the windscreen with sand, where apparently it’s hard to wipe off the fine desert dust, and dirtied up the left side of the cockpit exterior to model scuff marks. (Keep the canopy frame clean.) Paint chips are appropriate along the lower lip of the intake or bomb-rack leading edges; I did this with bits of yellow primer or silver painted over gunship gray. Gentle sanding of gunship gray replicated wear. Also, I base-coated fuel tanks with silver, applied dots of liquid mask, over-coated with gunship gray, then rubbed off the dots, leaving bright chips. The canopy presented a challenge. Removing the centerline seam with a polishing stick and a quick rub of Meguiar’s PlastX left it crystal clear. But, while the
The Academy kit helped right up to the very end, providing a tailhook and decal for Mark’s Mudhen.
left side of the canopy has crisp molding, the right-side framing is faint. This made masking difficult, especially the thin strip along the bottom edge of the canopy. I solved this by airbrushing gunship gray onto decal film, then cutting it into strips using a new blade and a metal straightedge. The decal strips quickly gave the canopy perfect edges and a desirable gray variation, 17. I used a corresponding black airbrushed strip of decal for the interior frame.
Decals The aircraft’s markings are a hodgepodge of decals from Revell, Academy (F-15K), the “Da’ Heath!” sheet from TwoBobs (No. 48127), and a few that I ran off my ALPS printer. (Unlike other printers, an ALPS can print white.) Again reference photos are key: Aircraft rarely have all the markings provided, or even the same markings on both sides. For example, the elevators are interchangeable — so a “No Step” stencil might be found on the underside. I used the TwoBobs sheet for most markings; the Cartograf sheet was perfect for the weapons, stores, and tail hook, 18.
The rest are from the Revell sheet. I scanned the TwoBobs tail number, converted it to AF 00-3004, and printed it on my ALPS. The 494th Panthers squadron badge supplied did not match the current design; again, I turned to the ALPS. Once the decals were on and dried, I flattened the finish with several coats of Testors Dullcote.
Display stand The display stand should look nice but never detract from the model. Mine is a simple, stained wood base with a ½" acrylic rod in it. The top of the rod has a 2"-long, 3⁄32" rod that fits into the inner JFS brass exhaust tube without obscuring the model. To prevent spinning, I filed the top of the rod to a D shape. I lined the JFS interior with epoxy putty and pushed the rod into it. It will not rotate. This was my return to aircraft modeling from a decade-long hiatus, and it was a blast. Melding the Revell kit with the Academy and aftermarket parts results in a truly modern, dropping-bombs-in-theStan-today aircraft. FSM www.FineScale.com
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Although Marty had a high opinion of Eduard’s 1/48 scale F6F-3 Hellcat, he wanted more than the kit contained — so he added a raft of aftermarket details and a took a decal detour to model the plane flown from the USS Hornet in the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot on June 19, 1944, by Ensign Wilbur “Spider” Webb. After his famous radio call that he had 40 Japanese aircraft “surrounded,” Webb shot down six (and possibly eight) enemy aircraft.
Even a Hellcat can use a little Help Detailing and finishing Eduard’s F6F-3 • By Marty Sanford
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s the U.S. Navy took the offensive in World War II in the Pacific, naval airpower helped form what became known as the “Big Blue Blanket.” That air superiority depended largely on the “ace maker” of the Pacific — the Grumman F6F Hellcat. This was my inspiration in building Eduard’s 1/48 scale F6F-3 Hellcat (kit No. 8221). I chose to depart from the kit’s 10
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decal sheet to build a Hellcat of VF-2 aboard USS Hornet (CV12) in 1944, flown by Ensign Wilbur “Spider” Webb, who became an “ace in a day” during the Battle of the Philippine Sea — better known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
Cockpit Eduard’s deluxe “ProfiPack” boxing has its own photoetched metal and mask set. I inserted an Ultracast resin Hellcat seat
but used the kit’s colored seat belts, 1. Because the color stitching on the belts looked too dark and heavy-handed, I applied a highly thinned coat of Vallejo khaki acrylic paint and added shades of brown acrylic paint. Continuing with acrylics, I painted the cockpit U.S. interior green, a 1:1 mix of Tamiya yellow green (XF-4) and field gray (XF-65). Instructions are to remove molded instrument-panel detail
and replace it with photoetched metal, 2. I painted the gunsight black, dry-brushed it, and coated its reflector glass with Pledge Future floor polish. Remember to test-fit the cockpit before committing it to glue or joining the fuselage halves!
Engine and propeller Eduard’s Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine is well detailed and accurate. The kit
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Thin coats of Vallejo khaki and brown softened the stark, sharply defined look of the kit’s precolored photoetched-metal seat belts.
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Modifying the engine to take on individual prop blades, Marty cut the shaft from the back of the hub and inserted a brass rod.
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Marty used a mini pipe cutter to section brass tubing for the bushing seen on the engine in the previous photo.
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A photoetched-metal ignition harness, silver paint, and grimy dark washes bring out the engine detail.
supplies a photoetched-metal ignition harness that looks great, too. I followed instructions for the engine, except I did not use the kit’s propeller — I substituted a resin Hamilton Standard 13'1" paddle-blade prop from Obscureco. The prop hub and blades are separate parts. But they were designed for the Hasegawa kit, and the shaft is part of the hub assembly. So, I sawed the shaft from the back side of the
Marty followed instructions to replace molded details with photoetched metal. A bit of dry-brushed silver replicates wear in the cockpit.
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Marty painted the fire wall and exhaust troughs flat black. The interior green on the canopy frame will become an interior color visible through the clear part when covered with blue.
Obscureco hub and drilled it out to accept a brass rod, 3. Using K&S Metal’s mini pipe cutter, 4, I cut brass tubing to accept the brass rod and make a prop-shaft assembly, 5. Both banks of cylinders are painted with Tamiya AS-12 bare metal silver, right from the rattle can, then slathered with a wash of artist’s oils — burnt sienna and lamp black — thinned with Turpenoid. The crankcase housing and magneto heads
Here’s an inside look at Marty’s prop-shaft assembly.
Getting the cowl straight means lining up the intake’s “grin” just so.
were painted with Tamiya light gray (XF-66), and the photoetched-metal ignition harness got a mix of Testors brown enamels. I trapped the ignition harness ring under the crankcase’s front end and painted it Testors gloss silver. Finally, I gave the whole subassembly a thin brown-black Turpenoid wash to make it look grimy, 6. The Eduard photoetched metal includes a Pratt & Whitney logo I put on the for-
ward crankcase housing, just under the prop shaft. I would have preferred a decal; thank goodness for Optivisors.
Airframe Sizing up the airframe, I had two initial thoughts: “Wow! The F6F Hellcat was a big airplane!” and “Some modeling experience required.” It’s not a straightforward construction. But as it takes shape, it looks exactly like a Hellcat to me. www.FineScale.com
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Modelers know all sorts of jigs: Marty finds Testors little paint bottles work just fine for holding the plane while the glued wings dry.
Marty masked off the engine and navigation lights before priming.
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For the plane’s distinctive tail markings, Marty airbrushed flat white and masked with Tamiya thin tape.
After applying Alclad II primer and painting the underside flat white, Marty applies intermediate blue to lateral surfaces.
As I built up the fuselage, I glued, faired in, and masked the windshield and rear panels. I masked the cockpit and sprayed interior green on the frames and inside the cowling, 7. Then, I installed the photoetched-metal mesh in the cowl. You’ll have a better time with the cowling if you depart from the instructions and don’t glue the cowl halves together before adding the cowl ring. Test-fit it and you’ll be fine. I painted the fire wall area flat black and mounted the engine. On a friend’s advice, I painted the propeller governor on top of the crankcase gloss black. I spotted a bit of brass on the front of a real R-2800, so I brushed in a wee strip of Testors gold to replicate this. I substituted Quickboost resin exhaust stubs for the kit parts and painted them and the exhaust trough flat black; I
step where the flap should be flush with the wing underside. I followed the instructions, then struggled. With the wing halves finally glued, I sanded the joins and smoothed everything. The engraved panels that go around the wings’ leading edges were lost as a result of sanding; I rescribed them with a JLC razor saw. I double-checked my seam work by hand-brushing with gray enamel, and used super glue and accelerator to smooth remaining rough spots. I painted the inside of all the landing- and navigation-light recesses with Testors gloss silver enamel. The wingtip lenses have neat little recesses inside that I painted with Tamiya clear red and green (port and starboard, respectively). Then I glued the lenses in place. I filled gaps around the clear parts (have you noticed there are
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would return later to detail and weather them. Lastly, the completed cowling assembly went on, 8. I focused on the “grin” of the cowling intake to check the alignment and symmetry of the big radial.
Wings I used Quickboost’s resin machine-gun barrels, which are cast on an insert that looks like Eduard’s but with better detail on the cooling jackets. If I had it to do over, I’d cut off the barrels and glue them on after the wing was together; it would have been a lot easier to sand the wing seam. By the way, I strongly recommend not following Eduard’s instructions for the wings: glue the flaps onto the bottom wing halves before gluing the wing halves together. Otherwise you’ll have a nasty
always gaps around clear parts?) with super glue. After it dried, I blended it in with sanding sticks and a Flex-I-File in progressively finer grits, then polished them to a high luster with Blue Magic metal polish. Using tube-style styrene cement glue for a strong joint, I glued the wings into the recess on the fuselage. Before the glue set, I moved the joint around until I was able to verify the symmetry of the wing to fuselage alignment. Once I was satisfied, I propped the model up on ¼-ounce Testors paint jars to let the glue dry overnight, 9. With the wings in position and all seam work passing inspection, I masked the landing and navigation lights with thin Tamiya tape, 10. I used a metal circle template to cut out a 4mm-diameter mask for the underwing lens. A punch and die helped me knock out masks
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Next comes sea blue on the wing and fuselage tops, followed by postshading panels lines to emphasize paint fading.
When Marty peeled the tape off the tail he had the solid white markings he wanted.
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A coat of clear gloss provides a surface more receptive to decals than flat paint would be.
Cutting up decals of U.S. Navy 8s gave Marty the 3s he wanted.
for the formation lights under the fuselage; these would get Tamiya red, green, and orange (for amber) clear paints after the camouflage was applied. I reglued a machine-gun barrel I knocked off earlier, then glued on the tail and dorsal antenna posts.
Paint Using a micro-fiber cloth, I wiped down the model with Polly S (now Testors) PlasticPrep to remove dust and reduce static. Then I sprayed Alclad II primer. That revealed a few more goofs and flaws, which I sanded and cleaned up. Rewind and repeat — sanding, smoothing, and wiping down — until you are satisfied. A great finish depends on perfect prep. As previously mentioned, I was modeling a specific aircraft: White 36, an F6F-3 with the U.S. Navy’s “Fighting 2” VF-2,
aboard USS Hornet (CV-12), June 1944, for the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. Aircraft of VF-2 aboard Hornet were marked with a white disc on the vertical fin, the so-called “Hornet ball.” I used Tamiya acrylic paints, custom-mixed to match the original colors and sprayed through my Paasche H singleaction airbrush. Post-shading, panel fading, stains, and weathering would all play a part. I pre-shaded the underside panel lines with light gray, then applied Tamiya flat white (XF-2). I also sprayed flat white on the sides of the vertical stabilizer and rudder, then cut a mask for the Hornet ball and an unidentified horizontal patch I saw in a photo right next to the rudder trim tab (perhaps a repair job), 11. Also note that the trim tab is darker; perhaps it was a replacement part, too.
For the rest of the aircraft, I mixed Tamiya acrylics for two different Army-Navy Aircraft (ANA) blues in the U.S. Navy tri-color scheme. I applied nonspecular (flat) intermediate blue (ANA 608) to lateral surfaces such as fuselage sides and fin), 12: • 2 parts flat medium blue (XF-18) • 2 parts flat white (XF-2) • 1 part flat light gray (XF-66) Nonspecular sea blue (ANA 607) goes on the fuselage top and the tops of the wings and horizontal stabilizers), 13: • 4 parts flat white (XF-2) • 2 parts flat sea blue (XF-17) • 2 parts flat field blue (XF-50) • 2 parts flat blue (XF-8) This paint was notorious for fading and bleaching in the salt spray of the tropical Pacific. I
post-shaded panel lines and faded broad panels to show this; I prefer it to preshading for darker colors. For post-shading, I add a little Tamiya flat black (XF-1) and red brown (XF-64) to each of these blues and thin it way down — it’s almost a wash — to airbrush panel lines and other recesses, implying shadow. For panel fading, I add flat white to each of the blue base colors and airbrush panel centers and other highlights, again to mimic light. Mix it up a little to keep it looking random. Also, fabric control surfaces would fade more readily; this panel-fading treatment can reflect that as well. Study your research photos for the desired effect.
Markings After painting the blues, peeling the circular mask off the tail www.FineScale.com
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Marty masked off the wing walks to airbrush those non-skid surfaces.
The underside shows how dark washes can bring out panel lines.
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A thin coat of clear flat restores a realistic sheen to the airframe.
A multistep, light-to-dark process produces the Hellcat’s distinctive exhaust streaks on the fuselage.
left the white Hornet ball on the tail, 14. After that, I prepared the plane for decals with a clear gloss coat, 15. I got the numbers I needed from various decal sources and my spares box. The fuselage numeral 36 was from an old Eagle Strike decal sheet (actually an 86 that I cut apart to make the 8 into a 3), 16. The tail numeral 36 is from a decal sheet that came with the book Grumman F6F Hellcat, by Andre R. Zbiegniewski (Kagero Monograph Series No. 10, ISBN 978-83-89088-49-9), decals printed by Techmod. (By the way, don’t use solutions on Techmod decals — just water). The cowl numbers are off a really old Microscale sheet. National insignia came from the Eduard sheet. After decals came another coat of clear gloss. I masked off the wing walks and sprayed with acrylic flat black, softened
brown (XF-64), NATO black (XF-69), and flat black (XF-1), all cut very thin at about 1:9 paint/isopropyl alcohol, 20. Here’s the process: First, a long, light gray stain just aft of the stacks and over the wing where the airflow is laminar. This trails away about ⅔ of the way back from the leading edge. Next, a brown stain back to about the front spar; this might be burned oil or some other fuel residue. Finally, a very dark gray comes from the exhaust jet and goes aft just a little; this is probably just soot. I put a piece of Tamiya yellow tape on the cowling, flush with the rear vertical line of the cowl opening next to the exhaust stubs, to keep the exhaust spray from going forward onto the cowl. I think of the exhaust pattern as an elongated flame or
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with progressively lighter shades of gray and tan, to simulate the non-slip tread, 17. Following the last coat of clear gloss to seal the decals, I applied a Grumbacher artist’s oil, Payne’s gray, in a wash thinned with Turpenoid. This gave recesses greater depth to emphasize surface detail, 18. When the wash had dried, I applied a coat of Testors Model Master clear flat cut with Testors lacquer thinner, 19.
Exhaust stain American high-octane leaded gas and the location of the exhaust stacks on the F6F produced trademark exhaust stains on Hellcats (one of the reasons paint specifications switched to overall glossy sea blue). These exhaust stains built up over many hours of service; painting it is a gradual process, too. I used Tamiya acrylics: medium gray (XF-20), red
teardrop shape in almost concentric colors, drifting aft from the stacks. Study photos to keep a picture in your mind of what you want. Build the long, light gray streak in thin layers and don’t travel the same path on every pass. This should end aft of the wing, about where the hand and footholds are located. It can also spill out past the wing walks and still be accurate. Don’t allow any of these thinned colors to pool — they may dissolve the previous layer. Keep the paint very thin, apply it in short bursts, and keep the brush moving. For the brown stain, I used a murky mix of Tamiya XF-64 red brown; mix in flat black, gray, or both (as I did) until it’s a lovely, yucky brown. Keeping the flame pattern in mind, stay inside the gray and go no farther aft than the main wing spar. If you slip up and go “out-
SourceS
Cockpit self-adhesive “Zoom” details, Eduard (No. FE411), www.eduard.com Exhaust details, Quickboost (No. 48-171), www.quickboost.net Gun barrels, Quickboost (No. 48-181) Hamilton Standard propellers, Obscureco (No. OBS48003), www.obscureco.com Pilot’s seat, Ultracast (No. 48210), www.ultracast.ca Rigging, Berkshire Junction Model Railroad Supplies, www.berkshirejunction.com Wheels/tires, Ultracast (No. 48187)
side the lines,” you can go back over this again with the gray. Repeat, but with a yetsmaller pattern, using NATO black. When you’re through with the NATO black, mix a little pure flat black into your yucky airbrush, turn the airbrush around, and paint the exhaust stubs; trail the paint aft just enough to hit the center of your carbon-soaked burned-fuel area. (You still have that piece of yellow Tamiya tape protecting the cowl forward of the exhaust line, right?) I recommend practicing this on another piece of plastic first. You may have to touch it up — I did a few times — but go slowly and you’ll be OK. Remember: Less is more.
Weathering and subassemblies I added chipped paint using Testors gloss silver enamel and a sharpened toothpick (tap, tap, tap), 21. I used my Waldron punch-and-die set to cut out a red decal for an indicator on top of the wing stubs. I airbrushed a bit of faded paint here and there, and random patches of burnt umber artist’s oil washes, especially where the paint chipping was heaviest. I used artist’s pastel chalks for gunsmoke stains on the wings. Then I hit the whole airframe again with a thin coat of flat clear. I pulled masks from the clear parts, touched up the clear red and green on the navigation lights, then carefully handbrushed all clear-plastic parts with Future. With a good brush, a nice, soothing cup of
tea, a clear head, and a steady hand, you can cut inside all the canopy frames with Future after the masks are gone. Fear not — with its self-leveling properties, Future will smooth itself out. Naturally, I snapped off both antenna masts while painting. I was being careful not to, but I did anyway! I replaced them with what I should have used in the first place: K&S brass rod flattened with a ball peen hammer, then filed and sanded into an airfoil shape. I primed and painted them, then super glued them in place. I had already assembled, painted and decaled the Obscureco prop; the main landing gear legs were also ready for installation. I added fine brass Obscureco prop Chipping
21 All the fiddly bits are gathered for final assembly.
wire to the gear-leg strut to simulate brake lines. The drop tank has fuel drizzle streaked aft from the filler cap. The main wheels are resin from Ultracast; I painted them with Tamiya acrylics. Layers on the tire tread were painted using a technique I learned from the “Spanish school” of hand-painting with Vallejo acrylics: I painted individual blocks on the tread with Vallejo medium gray (this is not as hard as it sounds); then I airbrushed the whole tire with a Eduard cockpit details
Brass-rod antenna mast
thin dusting of Tamiya medium gray (XF-20); and I followed with a coat of flat clear. If you look in the tire tread, a dark wash is readily apparent in the grooves, too. Finally, I painted the pitot red and gloss silver and rigged the aerial with EZ Line elastic thread. You don’t often see a Hellcat with the Hornet ball on the tail. Eduard’s kit makes a fine remembrance of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and Ensign Webb — the pilot who became an ace in a day. FSM EZ Line thread
Hornet ball
Modified prop hub Multilayered exhaust stereaj
Cut-up No. 8
Ultracast resin wheels
Some use strings of stretched sprue for rigging, but EZ Line elastic thread is easier to install and more durable (read less breakable). With that, Marty’s Hellcat looks ready to surround a squadron. www.FineScale.com
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detailing a
destrOyer
Improving a ship with photoetched metal, resin, and scratchbuilding By Frank Cuden
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n Nov. 13, 1942, five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, died when their ship, the light cruiser USS Juneau, sank after a Japanese submarine torpedo attack. After Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison, and George Sullivan died, the U.S. Navy no longer allowed brothers to serve together on the same ship. In recognition of the family’s sacrifice, a destroyer still in the yard, Putnam, was renamed The Sullivans on Feb. 6, 1943. It served with distinction during World War II and is preserved as a museum ship in Buffalo, N.Y. The Sullivans holds a special interest for me. I was born during the war years, and, according to 16
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my mother, she had considered naming me Sullivan in memorial of the five brothers. Little wonder the story of the Sullivans has stuck with me over the years. For my first ship model in more than 40 years, I chose Trumpeter’s 1/350 scale USS The Sullivans (DD-537) and spent some time hunting down resin and photoetched-metal details from L’Arsenal and Tom’s Modelworks. To build The Sullivans in its 1945 configuration, I researched the ship, relying heavily, but not exclusively, on Al Ross’ The Destroyer: The Sullivans (Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-0870-21617-6).
Capstan
Chain-pipe cover
Filler
1 I embarked by searching out a sufficiently fine anchor chain in the jewelry department of a department store. I also added details for the capstan and chain-pipe covers made from styrene sheet and strip. The seam between the hull and deck had to be filled and sanded.
Twin bitts
Frank Cuden spent two years and three months working on and off to model USS The Sullivans, named for the five brothers who died in 1942 when USS Juneau was sunk. Frank was almost named for them, too!
Chock
2 The kit’s bitts and chocks were representative but not terribly detailed. I removed and replaced them, fore and aft, with resin parts from L’Arsenal (No. AC 350 57).
Scuppers
3 The twin bitts and chocks are in place and the seam around the deck filled and smoothed. A little primer around the edge revealed no gaps.
4 I added scuppers to the deck’s edge using Evergreen styrene strip. Small, nonserrated clamps I purchased from Radio Shack helped tremendously with super gluing the photoetched-metal railing from the Tom’s Modelworks set. www.FineScale.com
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Floater net basket
Quad Bofors
Breech doors Impulse chambers
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Twin Bofors
Resin replacements for the Bofors 40mm antiaircraft guns and the Mk. 37 director tower came from L’Arsenal. The photoetched-metal radar and rails came from Tom’s Modelworks (No. 3557). I made details like the impulse chambers and breech doors for the quintuple torpedo tube from styrene.
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6 All the photoetched metal took a lot of time to get right, especially the floater-net baskets and the ladders. Dealing with this many parts requires thinking ahead so you don’t glue yourself into a corner.
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I secured all of the ship’s tiny parts to masking tape, thinking it might keep them from flying away during airbrushing — an experiment on my part. I dialed the air pressure down, loaded the brush with White Ensign haze gray and began spraying. What do you know? The tape worked!
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Returning to the hull, I painted the deck White Ensign deck blue. The sides of the ship were masked and painted, in succession, White Ensign antifouling red, navy blue, and haze gray. I held the hull at an angle while airbrushing the sides to ensure no paint hit the deck. The boot stripe is a black decal from Scale-Master.
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I touched up some deck fittings with haze gray and hand-painted the superstructure’s horizontal surfaces deck blue — three coats in all to get the proper coverage. Haze gray also covered the railings. The canvas boots and recoil covers on the guns were painted Floquil dark gray. 18
Floater net basket
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With the primary painting done, all that was left to do was put together the subassemblies in the proper order. The model finally began to look like a ship!
Smokestack covers
MK 51 director tower
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Anti-skid deck mats
I detailed the kit’s lifeboats with photoetched metal from Tom’s Modelworks; the L’Arsenal’s anti-skid deck mats (No. DEC 350 02) were a godsend. Tissue dampened with water simulates the canvas around the MK 51 director tower.
The last of the superstructure and gun turrets are in place. I gave the smokestack covers a coat of Floquil engine black, then applied the destroyer’s numbers.
Searchlight
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Bent rail
The photoetched-metal rails are extremely fragile. I decided not to press my luck trying to straighten them. I hollowed out the searchlights so I could improve them with clear lenses.
14 Both sides of the flag came as a single decal. I cut it in two and applied one side to a piece of tin foil. When the decal dried, I trimmed the foil to the size of the flag and put on the remaining half. Once it was dry, I applied a coat of thinned white glue to the flag. I shaped the flag against the handle of a dental tool. The support and flagstaff are styrene rod.
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Thin fishing line provided the ship’s rigging. To color it, I drew a length of line through a black permanent marker pressed on my workbench. I cut lengths of line and tacked them into place with super glue. Afterward, I held an old X-Acto hot-knife shaft near the rigging to tighten the lines.
The stand seemed a bit light to me, so I pounded some fishing sinkers flat and trimmed them to fit inside the stand’s stringers. I airbrushed it with Testors Model Master sable brown metallic and hand-painted the raised name with Model Master brass. FSM www.FineScale.com
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Improve parts with Future
Better canopies? They’re soaking in it! By Matthew Usher
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ou’ve got to be kidding me. That was my first reaction when someone told me about using Future to improve the clear parts on my models. “Future? The floor polish you get at the grocery store?” It’s true. Among its many magical properties, Future not only makes clear parts appear “clearer,” it also makes them easier to mask and protects them from dust and fingerprints. Really. Trust me. Here’s a step-by-step guide to this easy-to-learn technique. 20
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First, you’ll need a fresh bottle of Future; look for it in the household section of your grocery store. A 27-ounce bottle like this one will last a long time on the workbench but note that S.C. Johnson is still making the stuff, but it’s been renamed so Future doesn’t appear on the bottle. Look for Pledge FloorCare Multi-Surface Finish. That’s a long title, so for now we will continue to refer to it as Pledge Future floor polish.
1 Remove the clear parts from the sprue, but leave a small section of the tree connected to the part.
4 Once the part’s thoroughly submerged and you’re convinced there aren’t any air bubbles, you’re ready to remove the part. This is the tricky part. Slowly pull the part out of its Future bath. Removing the part slowly will allow the excess Future to flow back into the bottle and prevent runs. Use the edge of the jar to rest your hand; take your time. When you can, have a corner of the part be the last thing that comes out of the Future.
2 The piece of the parts tree makes a perfect handle while you treat the part. Pick up the part with a good set of alligator clips or strong locking tweezers, and make sure it’s held securely.
5 Here’s why: No matter how slowly you remove the part, a drop of Future will probably remain at the last point to come out of the bath. If the drop’s at a corner, you can drag the corner along a sheet of paper, and the excess will wick away. Take a look at the part while it’s still wet – if the layer of Future has runs, dust, or looks uneven, simply give the part another dunk in Future and try again. If the coat looks even and smooth, you’re ready to let it dry.
3 Here’s the easy part: Submerge the part in the Future. Just dunk it in. Look for any air bubbles that might be trapped in the part’s engraved details. If you see bubbles, turn the part over using the alligator clip and let them float out.
6 I use an “extra hands” stand to hold parts while they dry. I also place them in a plastic storage container to keep the dust off. After 24 hours, the Future will be completely dry and the parts can be handled as usual. You can trim away the parts-tree handle and get to work. You’ll be amazed at the smooth finish and extra clarity the parts will have. You’ll also find that masking materials (like Bare-Metal Foil) will be easier to remove.
7 What happens if you’re not happy with the coat of Future you’ve added? Dunk the parts in Windex. It’ll remove the Future without harming the plastic parts.
Once you get the hang of dipping clear parts in Future, you’ll be able to use it on all kinds of models and all kinds of parts, from windshields to headlights to periscopes and vision blocks. FSM www.FineScale.com
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Get started The secrets of choosing and using your first airbrush By Matthew Usher
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irbrush. It’s a simple word that easily intimidates a lot of modelers. If you’ve been reading FSM for two decades or two issues, you’ve seen “airbrush” pop up in almost every article. Learning to use an airbrush is probably the single most important step toward building better models. After a little practice, you’ll be able to apply beautiful finishes in whatever color you choose.
You’ll be able to apply complex camouflage schemes, apply subtle weathering effects, and other special finishes that would be impossible with spray cans or brushes. It’s an ideal paint applicator for scale modeling. Twenty years ago, airbrushes were widely used for photo retouching and illustration work. Nowadays that work has gone to computer software, and it would be easy to think that the airbrush might go the way of the rotary phone or the wind-up watch. Quite the opposite is true, thankfully. Airbrushes are still in use every day in new roles, doing everything from decorating nails to applying spray-on suntans. There’s a staggering variety of airbrushes available from plenty of manufacturers. That’s good news on one hand, but it does make choosing your first airbrush more difficult – which one is best for modeling?
Single-action or double-action? Generally speaking, airbrushes can be divided into two groups: single-action and double-action. With a single-action air22
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brush, the fingertip button controls only the supply of air. The paint flow must be adjusted separately. On a double-action airbrush, the button controls the airflow and the paint flow. Double-action airbrushes give you the most control over the spray pattern, but I wouldn’t recommend one for a beginner. How can that be? Isn’t a double-action airbrush twice as good? Well, yes and no. Double-action airbrushes are complex, hard to clean, and can be tough to handle if you’ve never airbrushed before. If you’re looking for your first airbrush, I’d suggest a single-action model from an established manufacturer, 1. Single-action airbrushes are less expensive, are easier to clean, 2, and are still up to the task of most modeling work. (This is not to say double-action airbrushes don’t have their place in modelbuilding. As you progress, you can always add one or more to your collection of tools. Most intermediate and advanced modelers have multiple airbrushes, the same way woodworkers will have more than one saw and mechanics will have more than one screwdriver.)
Metal or plastic? You can find single-action airbrushes that are all-metal, a combination of metal and plastic, and all-plastic. I’m a little “oldschool” in my thinking, and prefer a mostly metal, traditionally designed airbrush. However, I do have friends who love their lightweight, high-tech all-plastic airbrushes. You can get great results with any version, but what kind of “feel” you want is something to consider.
Color cup or bottle? Airbrushes hold their paint supply in either open-top color cups or bottles that attach to the airbrush. (Some airbrushes can handle both.) If you have a choice, pick the airbrush that can handle a color bottle. Bottles hold more paint, and since they’re closed on top, you’ll be less likely to spill paint. On a related note, if you’re lefthanded (like me) make sure you pick an airbrush that will work in either hand, 3.
Putting the air in airbrush When you think about investing in your first airbrush, don’t forget to factor in the air supply you’ll need to operate it (“air” is
right there in the name, after all!). A lot of entry-level airbrush sets include an air line, a simple regulator, and a can of compressed-air propellant, 4. Propellant works fine, but that little can won’t last very long, and buying replacements can get expensive quickly. Shop for a diaphragm compressor that’s designed to work with airbrushes. These are relatively quiet and will provide all the air you’ll need for many years. One with a regulator (or one that can have one added later on) is even better, 5.
Control button Air nozzle
Paint nozzle
Ask around It never hurts to ask other modelers which airbrush they’d recommend. While model building can be a solitary activity, there are online forums where modelers gather to talk about their craft (the best by far is at www.FineScale.com, by the way). Before you take the leap and buy your first airbrush, log in and ask other modelers what equipment they use, and what they like and dislike about it. The FineScale Forum is subdivided by subject matter, so if you only model armor, you can talk directly to other armor modelers. There’s also a very active general “Painting and airbrushing” section. The FSM Forum has almost 40,000 registered users worldwide, so you’re bound to get plenty of answers from modelers of all skill levels.
Siphon tube Bottle Air line
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A straightforward single-action airbrush is an ideal way to get started airbrushing!
Color cup
Spray booths
A small spray booth, 6, is a fantastic investment for a number of reasons. First, by drawing air through the area where you’re painting, the spray booth keeps any overspray from falling on the model. Second, the fan and filter capture paint particles that might otherwise float around in the workshop where you (or your family) could inhale them. Enamel and lacquer fumes are unquestionably dangerous, and even “safer” acrylics can contain ammonia and other ingredients you don’t want to inhale. Even with a paint booth, a respirator mask and eye and skin protection are a good idea, 7. If your paint booth is vented to the outdoors, it will remove paint odors from your workshop. This is especially important when you work in a room used by the rest of your family, and if you use strongsolvent-based paints such as lacquers, the ventilation the booth will provide will be vital to your health. A good rule of thumb is if you can smell the paint while you’re airbrushing, you’re inhaling it, and you need to step up your ventilation and respiratory protection.
Air nozzle Paint nozzle
2 This metal-and-plastic airbrush has interchangable paint and air nozzles for everything from moderately fine to heavy paint coverage. It can be fitted with a bottle or a color cup.
On a lighter note, a paint booth can help you keep dust out of your finishes. I turn my booth fan on about 20 minutes before I plan to paint, and the fan helps remove any dust that’s in the air.
Preparing the paint You’ll absolutely need to thin paint before you load it into your airbrush. Straight from the bottle, model paint is too thick to flow through an airbrush’s tiny nozzle, and even if it does, it’ll produce a nasty looking finish. Thinning will help the air-
brush atomize the paint into a fine spray. Don’t listen to the guy who says “I just jack up the pressure to 45 pounds and spray paint full strength.” Your best bet for obtaining a high-quality finish is to thin the paint and apply it as recommended by the paint maker and the airbrush manufacturer. For paints without manufacturer recommendations, experiment by cutting the paint 15 to 50 percent with thinner. Different paint brands and even different colors within a brand require varying www.FineScale.com
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Left- and righthandconnections Shiny!
Bottle
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Because of their simple construction, singleaction airbrushes are easier to clean. This paint nozzle is big enough to see inside; when it’s shiny, it’s clean!
Air line
This single-action Testor Aztek airbrush can be adapted for left- and righthand operation, and can also be fitted with a number of color cups.
Regulator and pressure gauge
5 A good compressor designed for airbrush work (like this Iwata Smart Jet) is a fantastic investment. This one operates quietly, and features a regulator and pressure gauge. Also, it’s portable and easy to store, in case you don’t have a dedicated work area.
amounts, but generally, light colors must be thinned more than dark colors because light paints have more and heavier pigment in them. If you have problems with your airbrush clogging, try straining the paint after you thin it. You can strain the paint through a fine tea strainer, an enamel washing strainer, or fine carburetor screening. Some manufacturers offer in-bottle strainers that fit inside the paint bottle, over the siphon tube. It’s amazing how much material straining will remove from a new bottle of paint, and even a tiny lump can bring your painting session to a halt.
Preparing the model A model you’re going to airbrush must be clean, dry, and dust free. Even the oil from your fingertips can affect a freshly applied finish. A little dish soap and plenty of water will clean things, or you can use Floquil’s Plastic Prep cleaner. Holding the model during painting is important, because you’ll have one hand tied up with the airbrush, and there’s nothing worse than dropping a freshly painted model. Depending upon the shape of the model, I use wire coat hangers, a length of dowel, or an inexpensive plastic turntable to hold the model. When other options won’t work and I have to hold the model with my hand, I wear latex examination gloves to keep me from painting myself. Latex gloves are available inexpensively at most drug stores, and when you’re done painting, you can toss them. Investing in a stand for the airbrush is a great idea, too, 8.
Starting to paint
6 A paint booth with an exhaust to the outside makes it easy to use a variety of paints, from acrylics to lacquers. This is a “downdraft” booth, where fumes are drawn down through the booth’s floor. 24
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With the paint and the model prepared, start the compressor, depress the button on the airbrush, and (if you can) adjust the pressure to 20 psi while the airbrush has air flowing through it. You’ll find you have the best control at pressures between 15 and 20 psi. Very thin paints, such as colors thinned for weathering, Future, and Testors Metallizers, can be applied at between 8 and 10 psi. Now load the paint into the color bottle and practice spraying on a box top, an empty soda can, or (best of all) a scrapped model. Vary the setting of the color control and adjust the airbrush until you can apply a smooth, even coat of paint. Control – of the pressure, spray pattern, and paint consistency – is what this tool is all about, and you should be able to adjust the airbrush until you can paint along at your own pace without hurrying.
Keep the airbrush moving so you don’t cause puddles or sags.
Fire away! Now it’s time to try your hand at airbrushing a real live model. Hold the airbrush 3" to 6" from the surface you’re painting, and keep the airbrush moving while you build up thin coats of paint. I usually start by painting recessed areas first (such as landing gear wells and the seams where wing roots meet the fuselage), then I finish up by painting flat or gently rounded surfaces. While you’re spraying, remember to stop occasionally. There’s a tendency to be drawn into the work when you’re airbrushing, and this can cause you to apply too much paint, especially when weathering. The solution is simple: Stop every now and then, put the airbrush in its stand, and take a break for a couple of minutes.
7 Even with a paint booth, it’s never a bad idea to invest in a protective mask. Eye and skin protection go hand-in-hand.
8 Where’s that extra hand when you need it? A clamp-on workbench airbrush holder is a lifesaver, particularly when you’re using a color cup.
Troubleshooting a clog Paint clogs are a common problem. Straining the paint will eliminate most clogs, but when it happens (and it will), keep your temper in check. Put the model aside (someplace where you won’t spill something on it or knock it over), turn off the compressor, and determine the cause of the clog. The places to look, in order, are: 1. The paint-nozzle tip, or the tip of the needle 2. The siphon tube, or the color cup 3. The air hole in the top of the color bottle. If this is blocked, the paint won’t flow Regardless of the cause of the clog, the remedy is usually to stop and clean the paint passages of the airbrush and paint bottle siphon before continuing.
Cleaning and maintenance As soon as you’re through painting, move the model safely out of the way and clean the airbrush immediately. Most problems with airbrushes are caused by lack of thorough cleaning, and it’s easiest to clean right after you’ve finished painting. Be aware that the instructions for your airbrush may not take into account the kinds of paint we use for modeling, which, compared to artist’s paints and inks, are closer to glue when they start to dry. You’ve got to get every bit of paint out of the airbrush before you put it away. Start by removing the color cup or bot-
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When used and stored properly, hardwarestore lacquer thinner makes a great all-around airbrush cleaner.
Always keep track of the little wrenches that are supplied with the airbrush. This Aztek one helps disassemble and clean the airbrush.
tle. Open up the paint nozzle, and spray the paint left in the airbrush into a paper towel. Then rinse the color cup or bottle with solvent, and fill it with clean solvent, 9. Spray solvent into a rag, then hold the rag against the tip of the airbrush, deflecting air back into the paint passages. Complete the job by cleaning the paint passages with cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. Never force the pipe cleaner where it won’t fit – doing so can ruin an airbrush – but gently poke the pipe cleaner wherever you can. On internal mix airbrushes (such as the Badger 200), make sure every last trace of paint is removed from the needle and the needle bearing; I’ve seen airbrushes literally welded together because paint was allowed to dry on the needle and in the needle bearing. This kind of trouble is easily avoided and almost impossible to fix without damaging the airbrush.
Final words There’s plenty to learn about airbrushing beyond what’s presented here – I’m still learning tips and tricks after more than 20 years. Beyond what you take from this article, keep a couple of things in mind as you go forward. First, the best way to get better at airbrushing is to practice, and there’s nothing better than practicing on a model. Knock together a few sale-table kits and fire away. You’ll be able to experiment without fear of damaging a model you’ve invested months of work in. Next to practice, the best thing you can do to maintain your airbrush is to clean it meticulously every time you use it. A clean airbrush functions properly, is ready to go when you’re ready to paint, and will last for years and years. Take care of it, and it will help you take care of your models. Now go get started – good luck, and good airbrushing! FSM www.FineScale.com
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Easy
Tamiya’s Panzer III Ausf L kit benefits from a few easy-toinstall aftermarket parts.
armor detailing Aftermarket parts make a great Panzer III kit even better By Matthew Usher
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imes are changing for armor modelers. The latest kits are fantastically detailed and include everything you might need right in the box. It’s not uncommon for us to open up a new kit release here at FSM and find big frets of photoetched parts and turned-metal gun barrels in the box along with piles and piles of parts trees. I’m a slow builder, which means it takes me forever to finish a kit with hundreds and hundreds of parts. It also means I have a lot of older kits in my unbuilt collection, like Tamiya’s Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf L (kit No. 35215). OK, the Panzer is only ten years old, so it’s not exactly in Kit Classics territory along with Aurora and Strombecker kits. It does mean, though, that it’s a nicely molded plastic kit, but one without all the extra
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bells and whistles. But with a little extra work at the workbench and a small investment in aftermarket parts, Tamiya’s Panzer III can easily do battle with brand-new high-tech kits. To add a little detail, I picked up Eduard’s turned-aluminum gun barrel (No. 34024) and its Zoom photoetched set (No. TP047), 1. I love adding detail, but I don’t always add every little piece that’s included in bigger photoetched sets. Eduard’s Zoom sets are smaller and less expensive, but still include a good variety of parts. The Panzer set includes intake grilles, lift hooks, latches, and a few smaller pieces, 2. The turned-aluminum barrel doesn’t add a lot of detail over the kit parts, but it does save you from assembling the two-piece plastic gun that comes with the kit, 3.
1 Eduard makes a turned-aluminum gun barrel and a small photoetchedmetal detail set for Tamiya’s Panzer III.
3 I can never get two-piece gun barrels to go together without some warp or a noticeable seam. The turned-aluminum replacement saves a lot of building time.
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2 The smaller Eduard photoetched set has basic details: engine grille, lift rings, and brackets.
4 Be prepared to spend some time installing the kit’s individual suspension arms and assembling its running gear. The parts fit perfectly, but there are a lot of them!
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Inserted into the slotted opening, a jeweler’s screwdriver makes the headlight lens easy to install and adjust before the glue dries.
A quick pass with some flat-black paint adds depth to the engine intake ducts before the grilles are installed.
Road wheels and hull
hull. I used slow-setting super glue to attach them so I could make sure they were level, 4. Next, I moved on to one of my least-favorite parts of armor modeling, assembling all the road wheels. Counting the hull-mounted spares, the Panzer has 14
I started work on the model’s hull. Each of the Panzer’s suspension arms is a separate piece, and they’re not all the same, so take your time and check the part numbers as you add them to the
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A chisel-type hobby-knife blade makes it easy to remove the delicate photoetched parts cleanly.
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After sanding the flat-black paint away from the duct’s edge, Matthew glued the grilles in place using super glue. Regular model cements won’t work with metal parts, but super glue and epoxy do.
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The biggest grille in Eduard’s set tucks under the rear end, just above the exhausts.
The turned-aluminum barrel plugs into the breech after the original plastic barrel is removed. Matthew used a jeweler’s saw to cut the plastic parts.
road wheels, six return rollers, plus the usual drive sprokets and idlers. That’s 24 wheels, with two parts each. While the road-wheel glue was drying, I added the upper hull plate. Tamiya provides a lot of parts for the outer hull, including the spaced armor for the front of the superstructure. I added the headlight housings (A40) to the hull and when the glue was dry I installed the blackout lenses (A39). I slide the lenses over a jeweler’s screwdriver, and use it to place them on the housings. The screwdriver makes it easy to adjust the headlight slits parallel to the ground before the glue cures, 5. With most of the hull completed, I decided to install the photoetched intake grilles. The intakes the grilles fit over are deep, so I airbrushed the openings flat black, 6, and made sure the paint made it all the way to the bottom. It’s better to err on the side of black than end up with a spot of bare plastic under the photoetched grille. The attachment points on the photoetched fret are thin and easy to cut through. I placed the parts over a thin sheet of cardboard and chopped them off the fret with a chisel-tip hobbyknife blade, 7. A medium-grit sanding stick cleaned up any excess. While I had the sanding stick out, I sanded the black paint from the face of the grille opening on the hull to provide a clean spot for the glue. I installed the parts with gap-filling super glue,
8, applied with a toothpick. The largest grille probably won’t get noticed unless I drop the model on its roof; it’s tucked under the rear deck, just above the exhausts, 9.
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Turret
Adding the turned-aluminum gun barrel meant a little surgery was in order. Using a razor saw, I cut the barrel halves away from the kit breech. The turned barrel is neatly designed, and fits perfectly into the face of the kit breech, 10. Gap-filling super glue attached it securely. The Ausf L has the easy-to-spot “Rommel-kiste” stowage bin on the rear of its turret. Using a sanding stick and my motor tool, 11, I added a few dents and dings to the kit bin. It only took a few minutes to round off the corners and add some scrapes and ripples, 12. As the turret turned, the metal bin could touch the tank’s fender-mounted antenna and short out the radio. The solution was simple – crews installed thin strips of wood to the edges of the bin to insulate the antenna. Using reference photos as a guide, I added insulating strips made from .015" x .040" styrene strip, 13. Where the strips crossed a dent, I used the tip of my hobby knife blade to chip away the strip and create the appearance of split-and-splintered wood. Finally I added the extra armor to the gun mantlet, and the
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A medium-grit sanding stick helped dent the turret storage bin.
Matthew used a grinding bit chucked in a motor tool to add the bigger dents.
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Sheet-styrene strips simulate the wooden strips added to insulate the radio antenna from the metal storage bin.
The finished turret, ready for paint.
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Matthew applied an overall coat of dark yellow paint to the hull and turret using an airbrush. The airbrush made it easier to reach tight places, like inside the space armor and around the suspension parts.
Matthew painted the road wheels off the model, after attaching them to a piece of scrap foam-core board with masking tape.
finished turret was ready for paint, 14.
yellow paint. I decided to add a little color to my collection and model a dark yellow Panzer with dark red field-applied camouflage, like a vehicle fighting in Russia in 1943. Step one is easy, just do what the factory did. I thinned some
Paint shop
Panzers of this period left the factory in either dark gray or dark
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Tamiya’s red brown paint and a smaller airbrush pattern added the fieldapplied camouflage pattern.
The taped-down road wheels were much easier to airbrush.
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Matthew painted the roadwheel rims flat black before installing them on the model.
It’s done, but it looks like its commander just had it washed and detailed. It needs a little grime!
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A soft brush helps apply the artist’s-oil wash to the finished hull.
The wash deepens the upper hull’s molded-in details…
Tamiya dark yellow (XF-60) and sprayed the hull and turret, 15. To paint the road wheels, I attached them to scrap piece of foamcore board with strips of sticky-side-out tape, 16. After the yellow paint dried for a couple of days, it was time to add the red brown camouflage. There’s no set pattern for German camouflage of this period. The camouflage colors were supplied as paste that was about the consistency of Kiwi shoe polish. The paste could be applied to the vehicles in a random pattern of stripes by hand, or it could be thinned with gasoline
and sprayed on. I thinned some Tamiya red brown (XF-64) and put on a random pattern of stripes, 17. To make things easier, I painted a section at a time, and sprayed the turret and hull separately. I camouflaged the road wheels while they were still attached to the cardboard, 18. When I was done, I let the paint cure overnight. To soften the contrast between the colors and give the red brown stripes a worn and faded look, I filled my airbrush with highly thinned dark yellow paint. Working from a distance with
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…and the delicate welds and recesses in the road wheels show up much more easily.
Finally, a steel-colored artist’s pencil adds a little wear and tear to the edges of the hull and turret.
a medium spray pattern, I shot the mixture over the vehicle varying the amount I applied in any given area to give the finish an unevenly worn appearance. After cleaning my airbrush, I filled it with straight Tamiya thinner and misted a coat over the whole model. This final coat of thinner softens the finish even more and helps eliminate the camouflage pattern’s “freshly airbrushed” appearance. I let the model’s paint rest and cure for a couple of days, then I brush-painted the road wheel rims flat black. Sticking each wheel on a toothpick and turning it against the paintbrush makes things go much faster. When the paint was dry, I glued the roadwheels onto the suspension arms, 19. Wash
I spent the next evening combining all the finished subassemblies. I added the soft-plastic tracks, then installed the pioneer tools, extra tracks, and spare roadwheels, 20. The model was finished, but certainly didn’t look like a veteran of the Russian Front. A little dirt and grime was in order. I mixed black and raw umber artist’s oil paints with mineral spirits until the mixture was the density of strong black coffee. Using a wide, soft brush I let the mixture flow all over the model, 21. The pigment not only darkens the overall finish, but it also deepens the recessed details. The wash really makes a difference on the turret roof, 22, and the running gear, 23. Finally, I used a steel-colored art pencil to simulate wear along the edges of the vehicle, 24, and anywhere else where the paint might get knocked off, like around the hatches and grab handles. The effect is easy to control with the pencil, and it can be blended in with a clean cotton swab for a more subtle effect. The finished Panzer III makes a colorful addition to my German armor collection. I spent a couple of weeks honing my detailing, airbrushing, and weathering skills, and didn’t have to break the bank in the process.
The Ausf L SdKfz 141/1 Germany’s Panzer III medium tank had a long life and evolved through a number of types, from A to N. Ausf L production started in 1942. Although its general layout was essentially the same as earlier versions, it mounted a long-barrel KwK50 L/60 main gun to help combat Russia’s heavily armed T-34s and KVs. Extra armor was added to the front superstructure and gun mantlet, and the suspension system was beefed up to handle the resulting extra weight. Power was provided by Maybach’s HL120TRM V-12; the water-cooled V-12 produced 300 horsepower and was mated to a six-speed gearbox. Normally outfitted with a crew of five, the tank served in North Africa and on the Eastern Front, until it was relieved by the larger Tiger I and Panther. 653 Ausf Ls were produced from June to December 1942.
REFERENCES Achtung Panzer No. 2: Panzerkampfwagen III Dai Nippon Kaiga, 1991
Matthew’s model represents a Panzer III of the 11th Panzer Division, 15th Panzer Regiment, Russia, 1943. FSM www.FineScale.com
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Easy aircraft figures By Rafe MoRRissey
basic steps for painting figures for aircraft dioramas
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f you’re an inveterate aircraft modeler like I am, you’ve probably gotten into the habit of dumping any figures that come in a kit in the spares box thinking, “I’ll get around to them someday” or maybe even, “I’ll leave that to the armor guys.” If you like to photograph your models, though, there’s nothing like a figure to provide a sense of scale and to help establish a convincing scene. Unfortunately for many who specialize in finishing aircraft, painting figures can seem like a black art. The following method is designed to help a modeler produce convincing figures with a minimum of guesswork in a few easy steps. 32
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This method is a simplification of techniques discussed by master modeler Sheperd Paine in How to Build Dioramas. It’s broken into two stages: painting the flesh tones and painting the uniform and equipment. It is ideal for 1/72, 1/48, and possibly even 1/32 scale figures. Larger figures require the much more elaborate techniques contained in Mr. Paine’s book, however. Getting started
As with any model, proper preparation of parts is the key. Wash the figure with soap and water to remove any leftover mold-
release agent. Most kit figures have mold parting lines and flash on them. Resin aftermarket figures, on the other hand, generally don’t have mold parting lines but may have flash or blobs of excess resin that need to be removed. Begin by trimming away any flash and scraping off the mold parting line with a No. 11 hobby-knife blade. Afterward, wet sand the area with some 400-grit sandpaper followed by some 600-grit. This blends the treated area into the rest of the figure. Unlike airplane models, figures are best finished once they’re completely assembled. Many resin figures have separate arms, legs, and heads. Kit figures may need an arm
attached, but most arrive in one piece. If the figure has a complex pose, like a pilot climbing into a cockpit, test fit it by temporarily attaching the parts with small bits of modeling clay to confirm the pose in relation to the model. Resin figures must be assembled with super glue or epoxy. Be sure to fill any seams with putty. A quick way to fill seams on figures is to slightly overfill them with Squadron White Putty or any toluene-based filler. While the putty is still wet, use a cotton swab dipped in Cutex nail polish remover to remove the excess putty. Do not to use the acetone free formula. It won’t work. The cotton swab should be damp, not sopping. Repeat with fresh cotton swabs as necessary to remove any excess putty. This technique eliminates the need for sanding.
inconspicuous area of the figure (like the bottom of the foot) and insert a toothpick to hold the figure. In this manner, I can hold and move the figure during painting without handling it. Vallejo paints will not stick well to bare plastic or resin so a primer coat is essential. I prime my figures with light gray paint. The particular shade does not matter much, but be sure to completely cover the entire figure. I used Testor Acryl light gray (FS 36495) on this project. Some modelers claim that only lacqueror enamel-based primers should be used, but Testor acrylics work just fine for me. Wiping the figure down with a cotton swab soaked in isopropyl alcohol helps remove any traces of mold release, sanding dust, or skin oils, and is the key to successful priming with acrylic paints.
Prime directive
Take a good look
The next step is to prime the figure. This highlights any remaining seams and provides an even surface for later paint coats. Usually, I drill a small hole in an
Once the figure is primed, take a long good look at it under a strong light. Note the areas that are in shadow and those that are exposed to the most light. These are the places where darkened and lightened colors will be used to emphasize shadows and highlights. Keep a mental note of these areas in mind as you begin to paint, 1.
Faces and hands
Realistic flesh tones are the biggest obstacle when creating a convincing figure, so let’s start there. It’s best to paint the areas of exposed skin first, anyway. Picking the right colors to paint a face is one of the toughest challenges artists face. In these small scales, however, I’ve found a few colors in the Testor Model Master line of enamel paints that seem to work every time. The colors are tan (FS 20900), military brown (FS 30117), and radome tan (FS 33613). These are common colors and should be easy to find, but any enamel paint of the same FS number should work just as well. It is important to use only enamel paints for the skin areas, though. They have a more realistic sheen and allow for the subtle blending that is a critical part of the process. We’ll use acrylics for the rest of the figure. Begin by painting all the exposed skin areas with a basecoat of the Testor Model Master tan, 2. Next, areas that are in shadow like eye sockets, wrinkles, and the underside of the chin are painted
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Here is the primed navigator figure from the classic Monogram 1/48 B-17G kit. All flash and mold parting lines have been scraped away with a No. 11 blade and the figure given a light sanding with 400- and 600-grit sandpaper to smooth everything out. Lay in the base flesh color with Testor Model Master tan (FS 20900) enamel applied with a fine-point brush.
Use a fine-point brush to lay in any areas in shadow such as eye sockets, under the nose, under the chin, and recesses near clothing with the Testor Model Master military brown (FS 30117).
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Testor Model Master military brown with a fine-tip brush, 3. Be as precise as possible here. For example, apply a dab of the darker color on the underside of the nose, between the lips, and under the lower lip. Finally, use the Testor Model Master radome tan to apply highlights to the areas of the face and hands that capture the most overhead light, such as above the eyebrows, the bridge of the nose, the tops of the cheeks, and the point of the chin, 4. When all the shadows and highlights have been added to the face and hands, blend everything with a clean, smoothbristle brush that’s slightly dampened with thinner. Make sure there’s not too much thinner in the brush, or you will remove the paint instead of blending the differently shaded areas. Go slowly, and you will see the stark lines between shadow and highlight areas disappear. Photo 5 shows the final effect. You’ll notice that I didn’t worry about painting the eyes. That’s because from a scale viewing distance, you can’t really see the individual eyes. Try looking at people when you’re walking down the street. They have to be awfully close before you can see the “whites of their eyes!”
Clothes and equipment
Acrylic paints are ideal for painting clothing because they dry dead flat. For the same reason they don’t work as well for flesh tones, the flat finish of most acrylic paints really makes cloth areas look realistic. My favorite brand of paint for figure painting is Vallejo’s. These paints come in a rainbow of colors and are unrivaled in their ability to cover with one coat. Each bottle comes with a dispenser tip that lets you squeeze out just enough paint for the job while keeping the remainder from drying up. In most cases, acrylic paints dry too quickly to be blended, so a different technique is needed. The initial steps are the same as those for faces and hands. First, lay in the base color of the garment. Paint the figure as though you were dressing a mannequin, 6. Next, add a little black or dark brown to the base color and apply it to the areas where shadows fall from folds in the cloth or belts and other equipment. Keep in mind that the shadows are only on the underside of the fold and not in the entire recess. Next, add a little bit of
white to the base color and pick out the highlights, such as the top of folds and the upper edges of the cuffs. At this point, all of the highlights and shadows probably look too stark and unrealistic, 7. Since it’s impossible to blend them easily, create a very thin mixture of the base color and water and apply it to the entire area. Artists call this a “glaze,” and it blends the highlights and shadows effectively. Just make sure the glaze goes on evenly and doesn’t pool in recesses. If the shadows and highlights are still too stark, mix up a slightly thicker glaze and apply a second coat to the area, 8. Don’t make it too thick though, or it will cover everything and you’ll have to start over. Vallejo is a relatively new brand of paint available to modelers. Each bottle comes with an applicator tip allowing you to neatly dispense precise amounts of paint.
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Next, lay in the highlighted areas like the forehead, bridge of the nose, tops of the cheeks and the tip of the chin with Testor Model Master radome tan (FS 33613). 34
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Lightly draw the fine-point brush slightly dampened with mineral spirits back and forth over the face and hands to subtly blend the transition areas between dark and light areas. Don’t use too much thinner or you will smear everything. Go lightly!
Use the Vallejo paints to lay in the base color of the uniform, life vest, and boots. Paint the figure as though you were dressing it.
Once the glaze has dried thoroughly and you are satisfied with the blended effect, you can go in and paint the smaller details, like the figure’s belts, shoes, buckles, and equipment, 9. Unless the detail is very small, you should follow the same procedure of laying down the base color, shadows, and highlights, followed by a glaze. Avoid using straight white or silver for detail. It looks too stark and unrealistic in smaller scales. Mix a little tan into white and black into silver and they’ll have a much better appearance. Hopefully the techniques I’ve described here will inspire you to pull the figures out of an old Monogram kit, or maybe even pick up a few new aftermarket ones. You may not take up figure modeling full-time, but a nicely done figure next to a model makes the perfect
finishing touch, and provides a change of pace between airplane projects. Meet Rafe Morrissey
Besides being just plain fun to paint, figures are an excellent way to convey the immense size of the real aircraft in photos as in the case of this Revell Germany 1/72 P-47M Thunderbolt.
Rafe Morrissey began modeling at the age of 6. His father, an Air Force pilot, who introduced him to the hobby, kindled his interest in military aviation. Rafe earns a living as public affairs consultant for a Washington, D.C.-based government relations firm. He fits modeling in between work and helping raise his two small daughters.
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7 Using a process similar to that with the flesh areas, add black and white to the base color and use the two altered shades to lay in the shadows and highlights. For some uniform colors you may need to use other hues to achieve the effect. In the case of the life vest, I used a mixture of black and red to create a dark orange tone for the shadows because black turned the shadow green. White uniforms are another special case. Use a very light gray for the base shade so you can use straight white for the highlights. A dark purple will work better than black for making the shadows on white uniforms.
Acrylic paints do not blend like oils or enamels. Instead, make a thin mixture of the base color and apply it over the entire area. Don’t load your brush up too much or let the mixture pool in recesses. Keep your mixture thin and reapply as necessary to achieve the effect of blending. Don’t make your mixture too thick or it will cover everything and you’ll have to start over!
Once the major elements of the uniform have been completed, finish the figure off by adding detail items such as parachute straps, buckles, and insignia. Tone down colors such as white, black, and silver by adding brown, white, and black, respectively. Otherwise, they look too stark and unrealistic. FSM www.FineScale.com
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There is a lot to look at in Karl’s scene of rural decomposition, but the realistic rust and flaking paint make the diorama sing. The secret of Karl’s style? Hairspray.
Hairspray How worn and rusty paints behave • By Karl logan
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like to model derelict and abandoned vehicles – anything old, rusted-out, or blown-up. I love the stories these “dead” things tell, and the challenge of the extreme weathering is irresistible. They can also be great test beds for new techniques. I wanted to model a derelict car like those I saw as a kid while hunting in rural Pennsylvania. I thought it’d be a great place to try the hairspray technique – in vogue now for representing well-worn winter whitewash on armor models. I’ve seen it used on enamel base coats with acrylic sealers. I’m not a big fan of enamels, so I decided to see if I could do it using only acrylics.
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After priming the Chevy Nomad’s body, Karl airbrushed a 50:50 mixture of Tamiya flat black and brown. He left it overnight to dry.
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Karl’s key to success: Aqua Net No. 3. The hairspray helped weather the Nomad as effectively as it helped his hair weather the ’80s.
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My victim for this experiment was Revell’s 1/25 scale 1956 Chevy Nomad (kit No. 852892). After beating it up (see “Better beater building” on Page 39), I shot it with Model Master Acryl gray primer to check the surface for flaws. Later, I airbrushed a mix of Tamiya flat black and flat brown, 1. Then, I added a sloppy coat of burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and red artist’s oils, 2. I wanted an uneven coat to give the rust variation. I let this dry for three days and didn’t use any clear coat to seal the paint.
Hairspray? Really? Now I turned to an old friend: Aqua Net No. 3 Extra Super Hold hairspray, 3. I have
4 After two coats of hairspray, Karl’s wagon looks silky smooth and shiny. Note the rusty oils over the dark brown base.
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Strips of tape mask the rustiest areas, such as the tops of doors, center of the hood, and the corroded wheel arches.
Preparation
Karl roughly mixed a base coat of Winsor & Newton artist’s oils, then coated the Nomad’s body, chassis, hood, and doors.
a long history with this stuff – playing rock guitar in the 1980s, I wore my hair about 3' high – but this is the first time I’ve used it in my modeling. I sprayed the entire model twice (always worked for my ’do, too!), 4. It comes out of the can fast, so use quick passes. After setting the parts aside for a couple of days, I applied ragged strips of masking tape to areas I knew would be rusty, 5.
Paint your wagon Experience has shown me it’s easier and more efficient to add color to white, rather than vice versa, when mixing light paint. Otherwise, I end up dumping a lot of white into the color to get the right shade. I used
Karl sprayed turquoise without worrying about coverage because he wanted a degraded look. He misted upper surfaces with a lighter shade.
white with miniscule smidges of blue and green – I mean just a tiny bit! – to get a turquoise shade right out of the 1950s. While I was at it, I mixed a slightly lighter shade for highlights. A final mixing tip: I find it helpful to mix little drops on a scrap of paper before committing paint to jar – it lets you see the possibilities. I airbrushed the turquoise over much of the car, leaving the roof bare because I knew it would be mostly rust, 6. Then I carefully sprayed the fins and tailgate Tamiya flat white.
Wear and tear Ten minutes later, I grabbed an old paintbrush with the bristles cut down, 7, dipped www.FineScale.com
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Don’t throw out your old paintbrushes! Cut off the fraying bristles and you have a useful tool for removing paint.
Karl scrubs recently applied paint from the roof of his Nomad using firm pressure and moving the brush randomly to easily remove paint.
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A film of watered-down paint remained after Karl’s initial rubbing. He removed it by wetting it and dabbing it away with facial tissue.
Karl removes paint from a wheel arch. Atop the fender, Karl scrubbed laterally to produce a different peeling effect.
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Karl leaned on the hood a little too much, revealing gray primer. He touched up the mistake with paint, hiding it under subsequent pastel layers.
Agents of rust: Karl’s recipe calls for appropriately colored artist’s oils (left) and oil pastels.
it in water, and began scrubbing away the turquoise paint. I focused initially on upper surfaces where the paint would be most weathered from exposure to the elements, 8. A film of thinned paint remained after scrubbing; to remove it, I moistened the area with the brush and wiped away the residue with facial tissue, 9. I weathered the dashboard and ceiling as well. I experimented with brush size and 38
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stroke, 10; small brushes were great for getting in tight spots. Warning: It’s possible to rub too aggressively. I rubbed through the turquoise and base coat, revealing the primer on the hood, 11. On another model, it could have been a serious problem. For the Nomad, I simply patched the paint by hand, then hid the boo-boo under the layers of pastels to come as weathering continued.
Pastel rust Layering is the secret of effective, convincing weathering. I combined pastels and artist’s oils to breathe life into the rust, a technique I’ve also employed to beat up armor. I use oil pastels, not pastel chalks, favoring Alphacolor earth tones by Weber Costello. I shaved a little of the rust-colored sticks onto a palette. (A plastic coffee-
Better Beater Building
WOrn uphOlstery
Before he started painting and weathering his Chevy junker, Karl had to build it. Knowing a lot of it was going to be on display when finished, he added details galore. Open dOOrs Karl deepened the molded door seams with a scriber, then finished the cuts with a micro razor saw. after removing the corresponding section from the interior panels, he glued the parts together. He filled gaps around the edges with styrene and putty and added .030" x .060" strip-styrene hinges. Karl shaved off one of the window handles and drilled out its location.
dashing thrOugh the dirt after cutting open the glove compartment and boxing it in with styrene, Karl added loose, dangling wires under the dashboard using stretched sprue. He made gas and brake pedals from styrene rod and strip.
rust in peace Karl painted the engine with craft-store acrylics, then sprinkled it with rust-colored pastels while the paint was still wet. He washed it with burnt umber and orange artist’s oils, then drybrushed several shades of rust and tan. to simulate the remains of the engine’s Chevy paint, Karl stippled the block with reddish-orange paint. Finally, he added light washes of black and orange to deepen the finish.
BOdy WOrk Karl shaved some of the side moldings, then drilled mounting holes in their place. after thinning the inside edge of the wheel arches with a rotary tool, Karl used a hobby knife to punch holes and deform the plastic. then, he stippled on Squadron putty to simulate rusted sheet metal.
has-Been headliner after painting the body, Karl soaked facial tissue in white glue and stuck it on the inside of the roof. after making several cuts with a razor blade, he turned the body over. the torn, wet tissue hung down as the glue dried, creating a realistically dilapidated headliner.
to model torn vinyl, Karl super glued wine-bottle lead foil to the front seat, sanding down the edges to blend it in with painting. then, he tore the foil with a no. 11 blade and bent the torn edges up. after gouging the plastic from under the tears, Karl stippled the insides with Squadron White putty to replicate stuffing. He added fabric texture to the seat back with lightly sanded putty. the worn carpet is flocking applied over patchy white glue.
dead engine
Karl stripped the chrome from the kit’s plated parts by soaking them in bleach. He added no. 28 softsteel wire to the distributor cap, and a slightly thicker gauge for the coil. leaving the air cleaner and carburetor off, Karl drilled open the intake hole, adding copper-wire plumbing to the missing items. the firewall features a scratchbuilt .010" styrene battery tray, but Karl left the brake fluid reservoir off, drilling holes in its place. He found appropriate brake drums in an aMt Charger 500 kit.
interiOr decOrating
after painting the seats, floor, and walls with turquoise and white craft paints, Karl added tamiya dark yellow for foam seat stuffing. He washed the upholstery with light gray and burnt umber; pastels gave the floor and dash a rusty hue. after the windows were installed, including clear plastic parts for the doors, Karl gave them a light gray-and-white wash for a film of dust and grime. www.FineScale.com
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Using low-odor mineral spirits and raw sienna artist’s oils, Karl washes the Nomad’s roof.
Karl adds clumps of pastel to the wet thinner on the roof…
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…then pulls some down the edges to mimic streaks and runs from rain.
The first layer of pastels dries lighter than it looked going on. Karl scrubbed off some of it, blending the colors in preparation for highlights.
17 Karl adds bright orange rust spots with pastels in small pools of thinner. After blending, he sealed the corrosion with acrylic clear flat.
tin lid works great.) On another palette, I squeezed out dollops of artist’s oils: I like raw sienna, burnt umber, and orange, 12. First, I thinned raw sienna oil paint with mineral spirits and laid a heavy wash over the model, 13. Then, I added pastels to the still-wet wash, starting with the darkest colors and getting lighter. I clumped them on pretty heavily, 14, and drew some of them down the sides, 15. Laying the pas40
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Hairspray, pastels, artist’s oils, and modeling acrylics combined to turn Revell’s 1956 Nomad into a rural rustbucket.
tels on too heavily wasn’t a concern because I knew I would remove some after this stage dried, 16. For fresh rust and more variation, I repeated the pastel process, this time adding lighter orange to small pools of thinner, 17. After it dried, I scrubbed and blended the lighter colors, then added more streaks with artist’s oils and pastels. Finally, I sealed everything with an air-
brushed coat of Model Master Acryl clear flat. I attached the windows with 5-minute epoxy and mated the body with the interior and chassis. After I applied a little BareMetal Foil for chrome trim, mounted a pair of flat tires, and filled gaps at the doors with putty, my Nomad was ready to settle into the “Lair of the Rust Bunnies.” (For details of Karl’s diorama, see “Down-home diorama” on Page 41.) FSM
Down-home diorama: A scenic tour of Karl’s creation Sculpey-over-wire tree. Karl carved the bark with a sewing needle and super glued twigs to add smaller branches. Overturned cart, trash from Detail Master and Scale Equipment
Grime added with light graywhite wash
Joefix Studios leaves
Celluclay groundwork One of several repainted Preiser model railroad rabbits
Woodland Scenics long grass
Karl built the rock wall using pebbles gathered in his driveway.
rescuing a
Italeri’s reboxed version of Dragon’s 1/48 scale long-nose Focke-Wulf found its way into Kamil’s hands partially built and damaged. Nevertheless, he endeavored to restore it to a flight-ready fighter.
Ta 152H-1 Salvaging a partially built kit By Kamil FeliKs sztarBaŁa
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friend gave me a partially built Italeri 1/48 scale Ta 152H-1 (No. 861) he did not plan to finish. Damaged pieces rattled around in the bottom of the box, and some of the cockpit parts had already been glued
together and painted — and not very well. In my opinion, the model had been devastated. With that said, I happily noted the kit included the Ta 152’s famous Jumo engine — Italeri’s later boxings dropped this detail.
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Although the engine is nicely detailed, Kamil wanted more. He corrected some fit issues and plumbed the engine with wire.
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What could be cooler than showing off one of the fastest piston engines of World War II in a unique fighter? I picked up the Eduard Zoom photoetched-metal detail set for the Ta 152H (No. FE113) and got started!
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Kamil base-coated the engine flat black and went over the block and details with flat aluminum. To dirty it up, he applied a wash of Vandyke brown artist’s oil and white spirits and selectively used LifeColor Tensocrom sand, rust, smoke, and oil.
3 The exhausts received a coat of black paint, and the ends were drilled out before Kamil attached them to the Jumo.
6 Photoetched-metal parts from the Eduard set bulk up the cockpit details, including replacement pedals, seat belts, and the seat frame.
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Kamil mounted the engine and closed up the fuselage before turning to the cockpit.
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When it came time for paint, Kamil started with Tamiya German gray (XF-63), then brightened with neutral gray (XF-53). He picked out details with a variety of Vallejo colors and washed the cockpit with thinned Vandyke brown artist’s oils.
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The cockpit was partially assembled and painted when Kamil received the kit. “Removing the paint caused more damage,” he says, “and several elements required reconstruction.”
“Instrument panels can be assembled and painted before they’re removed from the fret,” Kamil says. He uses Microscale Micro Metal Foil Adhesive to attach clear film gauges to the panel backs.
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After adding some final paint chips to the cockpit with Vallejo smoke and silver, Kamil inserted the assembly through the fuselage bottom and super glued it in place.
The main landing-gear bays presented a problem: The parts from the detail set didn’t fit well and didn’t match the kit’s molded details.
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Using a razor saw and hobby knives, Kamil trimmed the photoetched metal to match the wing’s exterior. He modified the rib placement inside the wheel well to match the wing.
Styrene rods replaced the kit’s 20mm cannons. Once Kamil had rescribed panel lines lost while sanding the wing, he painted the gear bays with Tamiya flat aluminum (XF-16). www.FineScale.com
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The landing gear received photoetched-metal oleo scissors and thin solder wires to represent brake lines.
The engine cowl got some attention, too, including a photoetched-metal shutter mechanism. Kamil improved the air intake with a metal screen and lengthened the connection point with styrene.
Kamil filled ejector-pin marks and removed poor detail inside the engine cover. He simulated the cover’s internal structure with styrene strip.
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Once the wing was on and the seams smoothed with a little putty, Kamil base-coated the plane with silver paint. He went over inspection panels with gunmetal and masked those surfaces that were to remain natural metal.
Next, he pre-shaded: black for panel lines; and dark blue, white, and brown for various panels and details.
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Kamil airbrushed Gunze Sangyo Hobby Color light blue (a match for RLM 76) under the wings and fuselage...
...and then placed some of the kit’s decals on the fin and fuselage sides.
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He finished by airbrushing the splinter and mottled camouflage freehand with Hobby Color light green (RLM 82) and dark green (RLM 83).
“The decals in the kit were the worst I’ve ever come across,” Kamil says. To save himself the headache, he painted the wing markings.
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With the paint thoroughly dry, Kamil applied a thick mix of Vandyke brown artist’s oils and white spirit to the entire plane, removing the excess with a soft cloth and cotton balls.
Before weathering his Ta 152, Kamil attached the last of the details and airbrushed the whole thing with satin acrylic varnish.
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Kamil started weathering by scratching away the top layers of paint with the point of a sharp hobby knife, exposing the silver layer beneath.
Next came oil and fuel stains. Using a fine-tipped brush, he painted with Tensocrom oil and smoke and Vallejo smoke. www.FineScale.com
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Grime on the landing gear, fuselage, and wing came from Tamiya weathering sticks mixed with a little water and applied with a brush.
The final touch to “Yellow 1” came with smoke stains from the exhaust, made from a mix of Mig Productions black smoke and Vietnam earth pigments.
Panel shading: Select panels were shaded or streaked with blue, white, and brown paint to vary their appearance.
Photoetched-metal parts: To replace damaged kit parts and add detail, Kamil used Eduard photoetched metal in the cockpit and wheel wells.
Decals: The markings in the kit were not of the quality Kamil expected. He used what he could and opted to paint the rest.
Panel lines: Kamil pre-shaded panel lines with black paint.
Engine: Displaying the Ta 152’s engine takes it to another level. Kamil saved himself some time by detailing only those parts of the engine that would be visible.
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With the help of aftermarket parts, Kamil’s Ta 152H-1 “Yellow 1” looks ready to take off from Altenow airfield, west of Cottbus, Germany. FSM
Last of the U-BOATS This WWII German Type XXIII display makes a great weekend project By Matthew Usher
A little extra work turns ICM’s basic Type XXIII U-Boat kit into a model worth a closer look.
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That’s it? Yep, all of ICM’s 1/144 scale Type XXIII U-boat kit comes on a single parts tree. Despite the low parts count the kit is nicely detailed and sharply molded.
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The hull is split into halves, and that makes for a loooong seam to glue together. After lining them up and tacking them together with masking tape, I glued the halves together with gap-filling super glue, applied a little bit at a time with the point of a hobby knife.
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I used a twist drill to open up the holes in the aft section of the conning tower, which is a real focal point of the model.
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The kit’s one-piece stand is small and short, so I decided to mount the model on brass tubing over a new base. The model’s keel has two slots for the kit stand; I opened them up with progressively larger round jeweler’s files.
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think a lot of modelers will agree that simply finding the time to build a model is one of the hobby’s biggest challenges. However, a few weeks ago I found myself looking at a blank schedule with at least two or three days off from work. How did I manage that? I caught a terrible head cold. After muddling through for a couple of days, I admitted defeat, called in sick, and
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A lot of the kit’s parts were covered with a thin film of oil – likely a leftover from the molding process. I started by cleaning everything with Polly S Plastic Prep.
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I filed the holes until 1⁄8" brass tubing fit inside snugly. I worked slowly and carefully with the files to keep the holes at right angles to the keel.
planned for a little R & R around the house. I’d quarantine myself until the cold passed. And what better place to rest than my workshop? The challenge, though, would be finding the appropriate project to tinker with, since I clearly wasn’t firing on all eight cylinders, and the cold-medication wasn’t adding to my mental clarity. A Formula 1 car? Too complicated. A tank? Too many
little pieces. Revell’s Constitution? Er, no. Then I spotted ICM’s Type XXIII U-boat on top of a pile of unbuilt submarine models. Not too many pieces, not to many colors to paint. A good choice, I thought. Armed with the kit, my dog-eared copy of U-boats In Action, and a bottle of cough syrup, I sat down at my workbench and looked at what I could do with the kit.
7 Unfinished pine bases like this one are available at most craft stores for less than a dollar each. I had a variety of shapes in a box under my workbench, and this one looked like a good fit for the U-boat.
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8 To properly position the holes for the brass tubes, I first cut a piece of typing paper the same size as the base’s top. Folding it into quarters located the center and both the centerlines. I traced over the folds with a pencil and a straightedge, then taped the paper in place on the base. Using a compass, I measured the distance between the holes in the model’s hull, and transferred the marks to the base.
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Between doses of cold medication, I snuck out to the garage and used my drill press to drill the 1⁄8" holes into (but not through) the pine base. While the model was still in progress, I used the base to help hold it, after placing it on short pieces of brass tubing. I used gap-filling super glue to add the delicate hydroplanes to the hull.
The kit has a ladder molded to the front of the conning tower, but it’s poorly detailed and split by the hull seam. I sanded off the ladder, smoothed the seam, then replaced the ladder rungs with new ones I bent from music wire. I left off the middle rung, however, to make painting easier, as I’ll show shortly.
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I decided to paint the hull before adding the periscopes and the other delicate conning-tower details. Some Type XXIII’s had a white band around the conning tower, so I airbrushed it Tamiya flat white (XF-2).
When the white paint was dry, I masked the stripe using a strip of blue masking tape. The stripe crosses the middle ladder rung I left off.
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With the stripe masked off I airbrushed the hull Tamiya neutral gray (XF-53). Peeling off the masking tape revealed a razor-sharp white stripe underneath.
With the stripe in place I installed the missing ladder rung and brushpainted it to match. I masked a line around the hull using more blue tape. Thankfully the Type XXIII’s hull isn’t terribly curvy, so it’s not too hard to mask a straight line from the bow to the stern. With the tape in place, I airbrushed the lower hull Tamiya flat black (XF-1).
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While the hull’s paint dried, I decided to work at dressing up the base. After knocking off its rough spots with some medium-grit sandpaper, I painted the base using Krylon’s suede-finish Bordeaux (No. 1245) spray paint. It’s a textured paint that helps hide the inexpensive base’s imperfections.
I added four stick-on rubber feet from Radio Shack.
A little brass polish and a rag brought the brass tubing to a high shine suitable for inspection.
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I used an old razor saw to cut the brass tubing. A file cleaned up the rough edges so the tubes fit smoothly into the base. The right-hand tube is longer since it extends into the model’s conning tower.
After a little trimming, the model dropped onto its display stand and sat dead-level. I added the periscope, snorkel, and direction-finding loop to the conning tower, then added the propeller.
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The rigging is decidedly low-tech – it’s a piece of one-pound test fishing line I colored with a black permanent marker.
The model was essentially “done,” but it was far too clean to represent a late-war Atlantic-cruise veteran. A little weathering was in order.
22 I mixed a little burnt umber and black artist’s oil paint with mineral spirits to make a dark wash. I applied it with a wide, flat brush and let it flow down the hull from top to bottom. The wash gave the finish a war-weary, streaked appearance and helped bring depth to the limber holes.
23 Finally, I ground up a little dark-orange pastel powder and added some rust stains using a fine detail brush. With the last details in place, I put the model on top of the TV, and tried to pick an appropriate movie for the rest of my sick-day recouperation: Das Boot? The Hunt for Red October? Operation Petticoat? Hmmm...
The Type XXIII deserves a place in anyone’s submarine collection: U-2336 scored the last U-boat victories of WWII against two British freighters on May 7, 1945. FSM
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Secrets of resin casting Make one part – or a whole pile – with this easy-tolearn technique By Matthew Usher
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n the last decade or so, cast-resin parts have become a familiar part of the scale-modeling landscape. A whole segment of the aftermarket provides cast-resin cockpits, wheels, gun bays, and other add-on details. Conversion sets and complete cast-resin kits are available if you want a model that’s more detailed or more unusual than what’s available in the mainstream. Cast-resin parts are generally as easy to work with as plastic ones and can provide a level of detail that’s not always possible with molded-plastic kit parts.
Some modelers think that resin casting is a complex process, but it’s much easier than you might think. Learning to make molds and cast resin parts yourself will quickly open up a whole new level of modeling creativity. In the next few pages I’ll show you how to make a molds of original patterns and cast copies in resin. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll be ready to experiment and take on more complicated projects.
SUPPLIES
1 Although resin-casting supplies are available from a number of suppliers, for this article I used a starter set from Micro-Mark (800-225-1066, www. micromark.com). The set (No. 82698, $73.75) includes mold-making rubber, casting resin, mold-release agent, modeling clay, and a mixing set. Beyond this, I bought some disposable latex rubber gloves at a drug store to protect my hands while I mixed and poured the rubber and resin.
2 Legos? Yep – they’re great for making mold boxes in any size or shape and they’re reusable. This set of 500 blocks was around $10 at a discount store. Look for a set that has a lot of basic building blocks, not the fancy sets that include wheels, trees, and little people – they’re fun to play with, but won’t help you with your projects. Legos work perfectly for casting, but they will come into contact with chemicals that should be kept out of the hands (and more importantly, the mouths) of children. If you have children at home, buy your own set of blocks and store them out of their reach.
ONE-PIECE MOLD
3 Some parts can be copied and cast using a simple one-piece mold. My friend and former FSM staffer, Paul Boyer, has been working on a multiengine aircraft conversion project, and needed multiple copies of this engine nacelle he scratchbuilt.
4 The first step is to form a mold around the nacelle pattern. To form the mold, build a wall around the pattern using the Legos – the wall needs to be wider and taller than the pattern by about ¾" all the way around. Try to overlap the joints between the Legos. The mold will be stronger and less prone to leaks this way.
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Using a tiny dot of super glue, I attached the flat rear surface of the nacelle to the middle of a sheet of .040" styrene, then dropped the Lego wall in place around it. I sealed the wall to the styrene around the outside with a bead of modeling clay.
Now it’s time to pour the mold. Micro-Mark’s casting kit includes room-temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone rubber to form the mold. Following the kit instructions, I slowly mixed equal amounts of the two-part rubber compound. The two parts are different colors, so it’s easy to tell when they’re properly blended. Avoid stirring vigorously so you don’t pull air bubbles into the mixture. Slowly pour the mixture into a corner of the mold box in a thin stream. It’ll fill the box and creep up around the nacelle pattern. Fill the box until the pattern’s submerged.
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The RTV takes about four hours to cure. Then you can tear down the Lego box. A few swipes with a coarse-grit sanding stick will remove the excess RTV that leaked between the blocks.
To remove the nacelle pattern, I flipped the mold over and popped the sheet of styrene loose from the nacelle. To make the pattern (and copies) easier to remove, I carefully sliced one side of the mold along the nacelle’s lower edge so I could pry the mold open and pop out the pattern more easily.
TWO-PART MOLD
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How do you copy complex shapes? With a two-piece mold. After scratchbuilding this fuel tank and stand for an armor diorama, I decided to cast and copy the tank in case I wanted extras later on.
Build the mold form around the original just as you would with a onepiece mold. You can use one of the Lego base plates instead of styrene sheet.
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9 With the pattern removed, the mold was ready to use. After aligning the split edge of the mold, I used a loop of masking tape to keep the split closed.
10 Micro-Mark’s two-part urethane casting resin mixes in equal parts, just like the mold rubber. Measure each part in a separate cup, then pour them together. Stir them gently and try not to mix in any air bubbles. The resin’s mix/pour or “open” time is about seven minutes. When the resin’s mixed, slowly pour it into the mold until it’s full.
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Two things happen as the resin cures: It heats up and turns from clear to white. The resin takes about an hour to cure, but thin sections may take longer.
When the resin’s cured, you can remove the masking tape and pop the part out. The resin copy is a nearly identical twin of the scratchbuilt pattern.
Here’s the finished two-piece mold form ready for RTV mold rubber. Note the single block in the upper-right corner of the mold box. It will help “key” the halves of the mold later on.
15 In a two-piece mold, the original isn’t mounted to the base, it’s suspended in the middle. Here I’ve suspended the tank with straight pins inserted through blocks in the sides of the mold box.
16 www.FineScale.com
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Instead of submerging the original in RTV rubber all at once as you would with a one-piece mold, you’ll fill it in halves. To make the first half of the mold, I poured RTV into the form until half the tank was submerged. The bolts and valve on the tank’s end plate are just below the surface of the RTV. Set things aside and let the RTV cure.
Before pouring the upper half of the mold, coat the lower half with moldrelease agent. If you don’t do this, the halves will stick together and trap the original part inside. (Please don’t ask me how I know this...) Make sure to work the mold release into the corners of the box.
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Mix another batch of RTV and fill the mold box with it.
When the second batch of RTV is cured, you can remove the mold from the form and clean up the brick-separation lines with a sanding stick.
If the mold-release agent does its job, the mold halves should peel apart, revealing the original inside.
Resin casting and copyright If you’re thinking about casting parts, especially making copies of kit parts, make sure you understand at least the basic idea of copyright and patent law. Copyright protects the unique expression of a creative act. Patent law similarly protects the creation of things more than words. In modeling, that creative expression can be a model or a model part – exactly the kind of thing you might be tempted to cast in resin. And the copyright or patent holder has protection against having the work copied and sold by someone else. Copyright springs to life from the moment of creation, whether it’s a songwriter penning a love song, an artist dabbing oil on a painting, or a manufacturer figuring out how to design a mold to cast a certain part. It is not necessary for the copyright owner to file any paperwork – although doing so strengthens his legal standing – in order to claim the copyright. And the copyright does not go away simply because the owner has never acted to protect it. In short, you have many reasons to be careful. Because copyright exists from the moment of creating something, and because it does not diminish for lack of exercising the right, it applies no matter how old the original pattern is. Even if the kit part you’re thinking about recasting is long out of production, or if the company that produced it is out of business, it’s probably still protected by copyright laws. 56
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For that matter, another company may have picked up the rights to reproduce it. You may well ask, don’t modelers copy parts all the time to replace broken or unobtainable parts? Probably, but that doesn’t make it legal. Make such copies at your own risk. And realize that it is one thing to take on that risk knowing it’s unlikely anyone could ever identify your copy on a built model, but copying a part from a kit and selling copies is certain to raise a red flag. You should not be surprised to find a “cease and desist” letter in your mailbox, which will be the first of many expensive pieces of paperwork for you. More than a few modelers have used their resin-casting skills to start their own aftermarket businesses, offering everything from basic detail parts to whole kits. But they obtain permission to do so and almost always must negotiate royalties to obtain the copyright. As a practical matter, you may be safe to cast a part for your personal use because it is difficult for the owner of the copyright or patent to know about it or it’s just not worth their time to pursue an infringement action. Just be aware that what you’re doing technically may be a violation. And for Pete’s sake, don’t start selling knock-offs without obtaining permission. Ð Mark Thompson
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Carefully flex the mold and pop the original from the mold cavity.
OK, now we have a mold, but how do we get the resin inside? You’ll need to cut two V-shaped channels into the lower half of the mold with a hobby knife or a razor blade. One channel lets the resin in, and one lets the air out as the mold fills.
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Before filling the mold with resin, you’ll need to fasten the halves together. I aligned the halves, then stuck them together with masking tape. Sheetbalsa plates on either side of the mold give the tape something to grab. Mix up a batch of resin and slowly pour it into the mold through one of the holes. Keep pouring until the resin comes out the second hole.
When the resin hardens, you can take the mold apart and remove the casting. Trim away the pour stubs with a hobby knife, and the new part’s ready to use!
Thanks to the RTV mold he made, Matthew can cast multiple resin copies of the fuel tank he scratchbuilt. FSM
Canada has more than 700 LAV IIIs in six different configurations. Jim’s model represents a Command Post variant serving in Afghanistan.
| PART ONE |
Model a Canadian Forces
LAV III
A straightforward conversion builds this modern Light Armored Vehicle By James Wechsler 58
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The turret is a single large casting and about all you need to do is remove the pour block and clean up a little mold excess. The next step is to build the two side stowage baskets and the rear basket.
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he LAV III is a third generation Light Armored Vehicle presently serving with the Canadian and New Zealand (NZLAV) armed forces. It is also the vehicle form which the U.S. Army’s Stryker family of vehicles was developed. The LAV III design was developed using the lessons learned in the previous generation of vehicles that include the U.S. Marines LAV-25, the Australian ASLAV-25 and the Canadian Coyote. But it is a new design. Canada has acquired over 700 of these vehicles in six different configurations. These are now serving in extended duty in Afghanistan. This model is of a Command Post variant presently serving in Afghanistan around the 2008 time frame. The basic kit is a conversion set from Real Models with the AFV Club M1126 Stryker as the donor kit. The conversion set contains some large resin castings, some small parts, and a lot of photoetch, 9 sheets to be specific. But before you take a huge gasp at the amount of photoetch, let me note that it is made by Eduard under contract to Real Models. Not only is the photoetch the typically high quality Eduard product, it comes with Eduard style instructions which makes it pretty easy to use. I do not solder and in looking through the instructions, I did’t see any need. Another real nice addition in this set is a metal, fluted barrel made by The Barrel Depot. To be entirely honest, there’s really nothing that beats a metal barrel. It pretty much eliminates risks of warping, damage, or casting problems that can occur with
As Jim continued, it was a pretty straightforward job to install the vertical support strips and the two Jerry can holders to the side plates of the rear basket.
resin barrels. Finally, and not shown in the picture, Real Models supplies two paper sheets of stowage boxes, warning signs, and street signs for use with the LAV in Afghanistan. Things like MREs, water bottle boxes, the large, red ‘stay back’ signs as well as some cool street signs are all there so you can load up your LAV with stowage. Real Models also sells their own book on the LAV III called ‘Canadian LAV III in Afghanistan’. This book is great. It has a large series of clear, color photos of the LAV IIIs in Afghanistan. Pretty much a one stop shop.
Turret stowage baskets – main supports I almost always start each model by building the hull and suspension. Why? I think because the directions in the plastic kits usually do that first and I have just ended up in a rut doing what I’m told. But not this time. I’m building the turret first, just to be different. The turret is a single large casting and about all you need to do is remove the pour block and clean up a little mold excess. The next step is to build the two side stowage baskets and the rear basket, 1. These are made up of bent wire and photoetch parts. I’ve built baskets before and they can be a real pain. But the use of photoetch for the screens and brackets makes this project quite a bit easier. The instructions tell you to use.040" brass wire but it looked a little thick to me so I switched to .032" aluminum wire. I switched to Aluminum wire because it’s a little softer and you can cut through it (at
least at this thickness) with a hobby knife. I deviated from the instructions in a couple of ways. First, the instructions suggest that you cut the basket rails so that they can be glued to the back and side of the turret. I decided to drill some locating holes instead. I did this mainly so that the baskets would be very strong once I got them assembled. As it turns out, they’re strong even without gluing as evidenced by the picture where they are not glued but fit so well I can easily pick up the whole assembly. The second way I deviated form the instructions was that I did not use the resin wire bending templates that were provided. Instead, I just made the lower rails by bending the wire using the photoetch screens as a template. Pretty easy actually. For the side baskets, I did the same for the middle and upper rails but left the side bars longer. Then I placed them in the locating holes and clipped the side bars until all three rails lined up. This actually worked really well. For the rear basket I ended up eyeballing the width of the top and middle rails and then I left the side bars long and again adjusted them by clipping them incrementally until the back lined up vertically. This was bit time consuming but the result is a set of rails that are on tight with the turret and now match the dimensions of the photoetch screens.
Completing the turret baskets Well the extra work on getting the rails just right really paid off in this step. The screens pretty much fit right on the lower rails. Another big help on this step was that I didn’t to install the top two rails until the www.FineScale.com
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With the extensive turret modifications completed, Jim glued the photoetch plates to the top of the turret.
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Careful test-fitting and some shimming with styrene strip helped smooth the cast-resin rear plate into the main hull.
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Some of the photoetched assemblies are quite complex, but thankfully, they're straightforward to assemble since the parts fold cleanly and the instructions are clear.
Jim combined brass rod and lead foil to model the LAV's rear-mounted stretcher. The foil is malleable and looks realistic as fabric.
The large rack in the back is for the pioneer tools. Jim added an axe, mallet, and shovel from the AFV Club kit.
screens were in place which made it easy to get to them. The next step in building the turret baskets was to install the middle and top rails. Then I glued the support brackets in place. I started to fit the large metal plates that are attached to the sides of each basket and butt up to the turret. The photoetch parts have a flange that I believe I was to bend 90 degrees to fit between the rails and the turret. Obviously since I’d drilled holes and mounted the rails, I couldn’t do that so I just cut away the flange. To be honest, I like my approach better since it results in a stronger basket. One problem I did run into was that the height of these plates is a bit too high but it was pretty easy to simply trim them. The side mesh screen also seems a bit too big but again, some careful trimming ahead of time made them pretty easy to install. With these parts in place it was a pretty straight forward job to install the vertical support strips and the two Jerry can holders to the side plates of the rear basket, 2. It may seem like building these baskets was complicated and difficult but that really isn’t the case. It does take patience and
some careful planning, but the actual work was pretty straight forward. I’m glad I took the approach I did because the baskets are extremely strong so I won’t have to worry about breaking them during the rest of the build. The biggest bummer is that these LAVs are covered in stowage so much of my work is going to end up blocked from view.
small items when I add the stowage.
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Completing the turret Well I wasn’t kidding when I said the almost the entire turret was one large casting. To wrap up the turret I glued on the metal gun barrel, the wire cutter and the smoke dischargers, a pretty easy effort. There wind sensor is a really nice set of about eight photoetch parts that give great detail. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to fold and assemble these parts. I then added the grab handles to the turret and the hatches. I also rebuilt the locking handles on the hatches since they were cast solid. In case you’re wondering, the white strip of plastic running around the hatch is there because I screwed up and cut off the edge from the hatch when I was removing it from the pour block. My bad. I’ll add some additional tie downs and
Turret blast shield In order to install the blast shield, you have to remove the armor plate on the rear of the top of the turret (behind the hatch openings). No problem normally, just shave off the .5mm indicated in the instructions. Unless you have already built the turret baskets, installed the hatches opened, mounted the machine gun between the hatches, and installed the Laser Warning Receiver on its mast. Then you have a problem. I should have spent more time thinking this through at the beginning. So I carefully cut loose the hatches, and of course broke off the hinges. But I didn’t lose any parts so I was able to glue the hinges back in place. Then I had to figure out how to shave off the turret armor. My problem was that at the back was the Laser Warning Receiver (the large mast) and less than an inch forward was the machine gun. All I could think to do was to use my Mission Models Micro Chisel and slowly shave away pieces. Eventually I got it and then I used a curved blade to scrape the turret top smooth because I couldn’t get sand paper in there.
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Before painting the model, Jim worked out where he wanted to place the stowage in the turret racks.
Amazingly, I didn’t break anything other than the glue holding a couple of the parts of the baskets together and that was easy enough to repair. Yeah, I’ll plan better in the future. So with the turret modifications completed, 3, I glued the photoetch plates to the top of the turret without issue. Their position is pretty obvious since they have cutouts for the periscopes. But you have to guess at the bend angles and then adjust many times. I think Real Models could fix this very easily by etching the correct line into the plates that are glued to the top of the turret. Then it would act like a template and the bending and installing would be simple. Also, there are three small, triangular supports for each shield. Their position isn’t super clear either and I found out the hard way that those are best installed AFTER the shields are glued in place.
Hull assembly Real Models provides a complete replacement hull. After removing it from the pour block I was pleasantly surprised by how tight it fits to the AFV Club lower hull. Only a little putty in the seam and it is closed up nicely. But, it’s about 1mm shorter than the AFV Club hull so the rear hull plate doesn’t fit quite right. This 1mm is due to shrinkage in the resin. To fix this problem I had planned to add a shim (small strips of plastic) around the rear plate. But, mostly by chance, I was comparing the Real Models rear plate to the AFV Club part. I realized that the two were quite similar. In fact, the AFV Club part has a few extra items on it that I could easily shave off and they’d be the same. With the only other difference being that
“One of the reasons I really wanted to make the Command and Control version of the LAV III is that it has a ton of cool antennas,” Jim says.
the AFV Club part is quite a bit taller. This makes a huge difference in that I could now butt the AFV Club part up to the Real Models upper hull and glue it tight. Then I trimmed the corners and only had to add a small shim on the hull sides. The shim was made using .020"-thick strip plastic that was .080" wide. Using this method, this whole effort was pretty simple and with a touch of putty, the hull sealed right up, 4.
Suspension and wheels AFV Club has done a real top notch job on the suspension. There are a lot of parts but thankfully the molding is first rate so the amount of clean up is minimal. Also, the instructions are quite clear and the sequence of installation is logical. The result is excellent with everything fitting tightly. Real Models provides an excellent set of replacement wheels designed to fit right on the suspension. One thing I really like about these wheels is that they have a noticeable bulge at the bottom which gives a clear impression of the weight of the LAV, 5. Be sure to read the AFV Club instructions since there is small plastic part (F8) that you must glue to the inside of the Real Models wheels. Also, I found the locating pin on the AFV Club suspension to be a bit too long for the Real Models wheels so I shaved off just a bit to make sure the wheels pressed flat against the axles. I ended up with a pretty good contact on all of the wheels. But to get a super solid ground contact I lightly slid the model back and forth on a sheet of sandpaper I laid flat on my workbench. Now the model sits perfectly.
The wheels have hub caps (not spinners) that are made from photoetch parts. One part is the flat ring and another is a rectangular part that you are supposed to roll into a tube. I confess, I have no idea how to do that and get a prefect circle. Is there some type of tool I should own? Instead, I bought a piece of 5/16" aluminum tube at my local hobby shop and cut the rings to length using my miter box. One final note, the photoetch part has five small etched circles on it. The instructions don’t show this but they are actually the locating marks for five hex bolts that hold the rim in place. I made the hex bolts using a punch-and-die set and .015"-thick plastic sheet.
Photoetch – rear blast shield With most of the resin and plastic parts attached, it’s time to start on the large amount of photoetch. One key thing to understand is that there are actually two photoetch sets. There’s the basic LAVIII set (35125) and another set specifically for the C&C/CP/ISF variant (35132). The second set has a number of parts that replace the parts in the first set so study the instructions carefully. I started by assembling the rear blast shield which forms a protective shield around the hatches on the rear of the upper hull. I chose to start with this assembly because it covers a lot of space on the vehicle and it’s critical that other parts don’t interfere. The parts are pretty straightforward to attach but I did find that scraping away the anti-skid texture on the resin hull where the parts attach makes a huge difference. It only takes a small bump in the resin to have www.FineScale.com
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Jim left the right-side boxes loose so he could remove them before painting the model. This view clearly illustrates the amount of photoetched brass he added to the model.
Pile it on! Among the LAV’s stowage, Jim found four water cans and mounted them in the back rack. Later, he secured them with a small strap made from lead foil.
the whole photoetch part mount at an awkward angle so a little preparation goes a long way. After a little trail and error, I found that mounting one of the side parts was the best place to begin. Then I worked around the rest of the parts until I had the whole shield attached. Then the rest of the small bits went on without a hitch.
Photoetch – rear hull plate As you can probably see in the photo, some of the assemblies are quite complex. But thankfully, they are pretty straight forward to build since the parts fold cleanly and the instructions are clear. A hold and fold (I use the Mission Models Etchmate) is very helpful but, speaking from experience, it’s possible to make these parts using just tweezers and razor blades. One note, there is a large stowage box that mounts on the two large brackets coming off the top of the rear plate. This is available on the photoetch sheets but nearly all of the photos of LAVIIIs in Afghanistan show it removed. It would definitely block the view from the upper hatch blast shield. Instead, the troops seem to have laid a stretcher or cot on the brackets and thrown stowage on top of that. Obviously, there is a lot of photoetch in this step and it does take a while to get it right. But you’ve got to admit that the result is really impressive, 6.
Stretcher I used brass rod for the poles since I wanted something strong and plastic rod was too flexible. I cut these to a length of 2" to basically match what I could see in the photos. I glued these to a rectangular sheet of lead foil and wrapped the sheet around the poles. I made sure to leave the spacing between the poles slightly larger than the 62
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flat length of the brackets. That way I was able to press a sag into the foil to represent the weight of the stowage, 7. Since it’s still flexible, I plan to use the actual stowage to make matching indentations.
Photoetch – right side Like the rear hull plate, the photoetch on the right side is extensive and yet still pretty easy to assemble. There are a number of options for mounting the various racks. I made sure to use the big one in the middle. It is intended to hold Jerry cans but there are number of photos of LAVs with white water bottle boxes and/or tan MRE boxes being carried in that rack. So that will let me add a lot of color to the model. As for the other options, I’ve decided I’m going to use as much of the photoetch as possible so I’ve chosen the options that let me do that. It comes with the kit and it looks cool so I might as well go ahead and use it, right?
Photoetch – left side More of the same on the photoetch. Lots of parts but they all go together cleanly. One note is that the large rack in the back is for the pioneer tools. This isn’t noted in the instructions but I saw it in the photos. I just grabbed an axe, mallet, and shovel from the AFV Club kit and mounted them based on the photos. There may be other tools in there too but I couldn’t figure out which ones. Also, you can see these racks empty, and partially loaded so I figure I’ve got it about right, 8.
Boxes Real Models includes a printed set of boxes for the LAV. There are six types. The ones at the top of the photo are water bottle boxes and the ones on bottom are rations.
The most important aspect is that they are different sizes so it’s possible to choose the ones that fit the various stowage racks and tie downs around the vehicle.
Turret stowage I really had to think about what to do for the side stowage baskets. They are reasonably narrow and most typical items don’t fit. I got the stowage set from Real Models (35194) and decided to use just the rocket launcher and the small rolled up tarp. Instead of trying to fit the other items into the basket, I went with an old trick. I cut a piece of thick cloth to the width of the basket and then rolled it up. Once rolled, I dipped it in Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement. While still wet, I shoved it into the basket and then placed the rocket launcher on top (the tarp is on the top in the left basket). Then, I used a clip to add some pressure while the whole thing dried. The result is that the resin parts are now pressed into the cloth giving a sense of weight. I didn’t worry too much about the accuracy of the tarp since, as you can see from the photo, it is almost completely blocked by other items. Once dry, I added the small photoetch tie downs and a couple of lead foil straps over the rocket launcher. Then I glued the ammo cans to the outside of the turret basket since this arrangement can be seen in many photos of the LAVs in Afghanistan. I’m not entirely sure of how the ammo cans are attached since I don’t see any straps in many photos. I’m guessing they are tack welded to the turret rails. For the rear basket, I’m going to put ration boxes inside and water bottle boxes on the water can holder racks. Right now they are loose since I’ll need to paint the model first and then I’ll add the boxes and
With the model’s construction and detailing completed, Jim’s LAV is ready for paint and weathering. Next he’ll start by adding paint and follow through with the rest of his realistic vignette.
the straps. One point to keep in mind: No items hang off the back of the rack since they interfere with the hull blast shield and the hull antenna, 9.
Antennas One of the reasons I really wanted to make the Command and Control version of the LAVIII is that it has a ton of cool antennas. The most striking are the two large ‘T’ antennas on the left and right corners of the upper hull. These are provided as really nice photoetch parts. I was worried that trying to fold a square tube might be tough but it turned out to be easy, especially since the top and bottom parts have a nice etched pattern to locate the tube. The result is a strong part. To the ‘T’ I added a resin spring base for the aerial that will be added later. I also added a large post type antenna that is provided in the update set. This appears to only be on one of the ‘T’ supports and I chose the right one for no particular reason other that I have a photo of it installed there. Also
shown in the photo are the wires coming out of the antennas. I made these out of solder wire and the attachment posts I punched using my punch and die set. The third antenna, in the middle of the upper rear hull, is also provided in the update set. There are a couple of photos of this in the Real Models LAV book and it’s noted as being a satellite antenna. In the photos it’s strapped to the center post antenna. My best guess is that it’s done that way to raise it high enough so it won’t interfere with opening and closing the rear upper hull hatches, 10.
Right side stowage Turning back to the stowage, this is what I’ve come up with for the right side of the LAV. Like the turret, the boxes are loose so I can paint the model and I’ll add straps when I permanently attach them. But the two resin tarps forward of the boxes are mounted since I can paint them while they are already on the model. I did modify the straps on the front one to connect to the
brackets. I just shaved off the existing molded-on strap from the edge to the cross-strap and then replaced it with one made from lead foil, 11.
Left side stowage The left side has less stowage than the right. One reason was I really didn’t want to block too much of the cool photoetch parts I worked hard to get assembled correctly. I also found four water cans and mounted them in the back rack and ran a small strap made from lead foil. Lastly, you can see the row of boxes that will be lying on the stretcher. These too are loose and will be attached and strapped down after the vehicle is painted, 12.
Ready for paint With all the detail I added, it’s hard to believe how quickly this kit went together considering the scope of the conversion and the amount of photoetch. Next, I’ll start painting and put together the basework to help display the LAV. FSM www.FineScale.com
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With his Canadian LAV III assembled and detailed, Jim can start painting and weathering the vehicle and add its crew.
| PART TWO |
Finish a Canadian Forces
LAV III Painting, weathering, and final details By James Wechsler
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With its heavy load of photoetched parts, Jim primed the model with Testor Model Master Flat Gull Gray. Next he painted the tires and added the overall coat of Olive Drab.
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Next, Jim gave the whole model a wash using thinned Raw Umber oil paint from Windsor & Newton. He thinned the paint with Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner.
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ith the LAV’s construction and detailing out of the way, I was really looking forward to painting and weathering it. I started out by giving the model a coat of Testor Model Master Flat Gull Gray enamel as primer. I don’t normally use a primer, but with so much photoetch installed it seemed like a smart move. I’m not sure what it is about gray, but it seems to cover much better than any other color. I painted the tires using Model Master Acryl U.S. Army Helo Drab. It’s a dark gray that to my eye looks a lot like old, dirty rubber. I painted the rest of the model using Model Master Flat Black enamel. Afterward, I did some panel fading, first with Model Master Olive Drab, then with a light dusting of Model Master Faded Olive Drab.
Jim built up a layer of dust on the model by spraying a heavily thinned (about 20 percent paint to 80 percent thinner) mixture of Tamiya Buff and Tamiya Thinner.
How cool is this? You don’t often get to add a big red “Stay back” sign to your armor models, so Jim couldn’t resist.
At this point, the model looks notably more washed out than a clean, factory-fresh LAV would. This is intentional. For me, painting is the beginning of weathering. When I look at the photos of LAVs in Afghanistan, they look very washed out due to the amount of dust that’s accumulated on them. That’s why I went this route and started with these colors. Next I dry-brushed the model with Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau, which is a tan/gray color. I touched up the gray on the tires with a brush and gave the model a heavy flat coat, 1.
Detail painting The bulk of the detail painting on the model is the stowage. I painted the tarps and stretcher canvas in Model Master Afrika Khaki Braun and dry-brushed them with a lightened version of Model Master
Enamel Afrika Dunkelgrau. I painted the straps with Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau, too. I also painted the rocket launcher in the right turret basket and the ammo cans on the outside of the stowage baskets using Model Master Green Drab. Afterward, I dry-brushed them with more Model Master Akrika Dunkelgrau. I used Model Master Metalizer Gun Metal to give the turret machine gun a base coat of paint, then dry-brushed it with Model Master Metalizer Dark Anodonic Gray. The butt of the gun is painted Dark Tan, which seems a good match for wood. At this point the model looks pretty contrasty and looks overdone; again, that’s by design. After the washing and dusting that will follow, the contrast will decrease. I wanted to start with a fairly high amount of contrast so it wouldn’t fade away completely www.FineScale.com
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Jim used Accurate Armour’s water bottle set for this job. I think these water bottles must be a bit bigger than the ones in use in Afghanistan but they were the best I could find.
Jim attached the water bottles and the rations boxes using Gator Glue then added straps made from lead foil.
Once again Jim dusted the model using an airbrush, letting the effect build up as it would on a vehicle operating in a desert-like area.
as I progressed with the rest of the weathering.
.010" sheet plastic that I also painted red. How cool is this? You don’t often get to add a big red sign to your armor, 4, so I couldn’t resist.
with Tamiya Thinner. I focused on the underside again, but this time I made sure to avoid the wheels. Later, I’ll add pigments to them, and I don’t want to lighten them up too much before that step. I continued to add the thinned Buff mixture up the sides of the hull and then covered the entire model in a very light coat. Once all of this was dry, I did another round of dusting with similarly thinned Tamiya Deck Tan. It’s a lighter color than Buff and makes a nice complement in the dusting process. Again, I focused mainly on the underside of the hull and avoided the wheels. I didn’t go too far up the hull sides since I wanted to control the amount of lightening. My main goal in this step was to get as much of a dusty effect as possible so I could minimize the use of pigments, 7. Pigments can really wash out the look of a model and after installing nine sheets of photoetch that was the last thing I wanted to happen!
Pre-wash dusting Before I put a wash on the model, I wanted to add a “dusting” effect to simulate a huge buildup of dust on the lower portion of the LAV’s hull and running gear. I did this by airbrushing a heavily thinned (about 20 percent paint to 80 percent thinner) mixture of Tamiya Buff and Tamiya Thinner. This has the effect of lightening the affected areas without washing out the details. I focused on the bottom of the model and worked my way up along the hull sides for this step, 2. After the wash, I will repeat this dusting process to extend it to the rest of the model in gradual amounts.
Oil wash I gave the whole model a wash using thinned Raw Umber artist’s oil paint from Windsor & Newton. I like to thin this paint with Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner (available at art supply stores). It’s a very weak thinner; it will dilute the oil paint but it’s not strong enough to attack the finish on the model. I’m not terribly careful with the dilution ratio when I mix a wash, but I’d guess it’s about 20 percent paint and 80 percent thinner. Hopefully it is visible, 3, that the model is now not nearly as stark now that the wash has blended the colors together and given the finish a more integrated look.
Stay back! One of the really cool things on some of the LAVs in Afghanistan is the large red sign that’s sometimes carried on the front and back of the vehicle. I don’t speak the language, but I’m fairly certain they say something like “Stay back.” These signs are included in the printed sheets that come with the kit. I mounted them on a sheet of 66
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Water bottles In some of the photos I noticed water bottles in thick plastic shrink wrap, similar to what you might find in a grocery store. I was intrigued and thought I’d have a go at modeling a set. I bought Accurate Armour’s water bottle set to use for this job. I think these water bottles must be a bit bigger than the ones in use in Afghanistan, but they were the best I could find. I painted the caps blue and just used an old blue decal to simulate the marking stickers. I glued all eight bottles together using Gator Glue, which is great for this application since it doesn’t leave a white residue like super glue. When the glue was dry, I wrapped the set in a kitchen shrink wrap that has a slightly tacky side. (My wife uses this at home, so I just scavenged a bit.) I hit it with a hair dryer until the edges shrunk up around the bottles, giving me just the look I wanted, 5.
Turret stowage I attached the water bottles and the rations boxes using Gator Glue and then added straps I made from lead foil. I had to be super careful to thread them through the tiny tie-downs without ripping tie-downs from the basket, 6. Tough work, but patience was the main skill.
Post-wash dusting One of the effects of the wash is to blend all of the colors together. As a result the dusting I did previously faded slightly, so I repeated the process with a couple of changes. Once again I used Tamiya Buff thinned
Pigments I limited my use of pigments to the lower hull and the wheels. I used a mixture of Mig pigments and applied them dry using a large brush and an eye-liner sponge (from the cosmetics department). I wrapped up the model construction by adding the antennas. I added the three upside-down water bottles to the turret antennas; I believe these are used to hold a special infrared glowstick for vehicle identification.
Base layout Originally, I thought I’d make a simple base with just some flat groundwork. But then I realized I had Verlinden’s “Desert City Ruined Gateway” (No. 1786). As configured in the set, it’s quite long, so I cut it in half. The problem with the Verlinden set is that there’s no detail on the back of the
8 Jim cut apart a Verlinden scenery set and added detail using brick and stucco sheets from Plastruct. White glue helped fill any gaps.
9 Jim couldn’t find any commercially available Canadian tankers, so he studied his references and subtly converted a couple of Marines.
10 Unlike many figure modelers, Jim used Model Master enamels to paint his tankers. A wash of artist’s oil paint finished the job.
gateway. I wish I had epoxy-sculpting skills, but I don’t. Instead I bought some Plastruct brick and stucco plastic sheets. I love this stuff because it’s inexpensive, and since it’s styrene it’s easy to use. First I cut out the bricks to match the wall contours. Then I cut out some of the stucco and trimmed it to look like it had been partially knocked off the walls, 8. I glued everything together and trimmed and puttied where the bricks met the resin parts. I used a knife to add notches and nicks. I saw no need to be super careful. I shaved the edges of the stucco to give them a blended look and put a thick coat of white glue along the edge of the stucco and bricks to make sure there weren’t any gaps.
Finishing the base With the wall rework done, I painted the walls Model Master Afika Khakibraun. I then dry-brushed them with Model Master Afika Dunkelgrau. I painted the stucco areas using Model Master Radome Tan over a Khaki base coat. Once the paint was dry, I gave the whole thing a wash of about 20 percent Windsor & Newton Raw Umber oil paint and 80 percent thinner. I followed this with another dry-brushing of the Khaki areas using a lightened version of Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau.
Figures I was disappointed to realize that there are no figure sets of modern Canadian soldiers, so I started with a set of modern Marine tankers. After comparing them to my reference photos I realized that I wouldn’t be able to completely accurize the figures, so my goal was to cover the main points. First, I added shoulder pads I made from sheet plastic. There’s mesh under the pads that looks like it’s attached to the shirt, so I simulated that with lead foil. I made a small modification to the hel-
Jim’s LAV vignette illustrates both the massive bulk of the vehicle as well as all of the fine detail and stowage that covers it and keeps it (and its crew) operating in brutal conditions.
mets to make them look more like the Canadian equipment, and I also did a little carving on the headgear. Then I added straps on top of the helmets using lead foil. Finally, I added a Royal Models photoetched metal microphone set. In the end, these figures aren’t perfect, but I think they’re reasonably close to modern Canadian tankers and should be OK for this build, 9.
Figure painting Again using my reference photos, I painted the figures with lightened Model Master
Afrika Dunklgrau and then added the camouflage mottling using Model Master Afrika Dunklgrau, 10. The figures’ skin is painted with Model Master Wood and dry-brushed with Model Master Tan. After a clear flat coat, I gave the figures a light wash using highly thinned Windsor & Newton Raw Umber artist’s oil paint. This has been a great model to build. Even with the extensive amount of photoetched parts I installed, I’d still deem it an easy, enjoyable project of an important piece of modern armor. FSM www.FineScale.com
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Stretching sprue This basic technique has multiple applications for builders by AAron Skinner
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odelers have used sprue (parts trees) as a detail source since plastic replaced wood as the primary material used to manufacture kits. Using the same substance as the model means you don’t need special glues to attach it. You only need a few things to get started. First, some sprue: I’m sure you have some lying around. After removing
Plastic kit trees and a small candle are all that’s needed to create endless amounts of a very flexible substance – stretched sprue
any extra parts from a finished model’s parts trees, I cut away likely pieces for stretching. Experiment with different sprue sections. My experience is that different manufacturers’ plastic stretches differently. And clear sprue performs differently from opaque plastic. Next, you’ll need a heat source. A short, round candle is the perfect thing: It gives off a nice, even flame, generating just
the right amount of heat. Most of them smell good, too, so when you’re done you can use the candle to create the perfect mood for a romantic dinner (always good when you have to tell your significant other the financial damage caused by your latest hobby store outing). In addition, keep a box of matches handy. They’re useful for more than just lighting the candle.
Common uses for stretched sprue Radio antennas Rigging Wires Gun barrels Wheel spokes Rod antennas Pitot tubes Landing-gear struts Instrument-panel switches Rivets Cigarettes Canopy hinges Ammunition Ladders Bomb fuses Axles Gunsight cross hairs Door and hatch hinges Panel reinforcements Hydraulic cylinders Super glue applicator Filling seams Replicating weld beads Tire stems Race-car frame parts Control or shift levers Replacing raised detail lost to sanding Filling holes (like unused locator holes) Conduit
1 When selecting sprue to stretch, look for longer straight arms without ejector-pin marks or branches in the middle. Trim the sprue so there is enough to hold onto at each end while heating it. Remember, there’s fire involved, so you want to be able to keep your fingers away from the heat and flame.
4 As you move the sprue away from the heat, begin steadily pulling the ends apart; the plastic will begin to stretch. Be careful, though – if you pull too fast, you risk breaking the plastic; too slow and the plastic will cool, resulting in an uneven strand. Varying the speed can yield different diameters appropriate for different uses.
7 …because it’s easy to take care of the sag. Strike a match, let it burn for about 10 seconds, then blow it out. Move the match back-andforth underneath the wire; the heat will shrink the sprue, taking up the slack. You can also try heating a nail (hold it in a pair of pliers, it’ll get hot!), then running it under the wire.
2 After lighting the candle, let it sit a minute until the flame settles into a steady burn. Then, grasping the ends of the sprue in either hand with the center of the section about 3⁄4" above the flame, turn it slowly back and forth. Don’t get too close! Burning plastic not only smells bad – it isn’t healthy to inhale the fumes.
5 A magical aspect of stretched sprue is that the altered section retains the shape of the original. For example, if you stretch half-round sprue you should get a half-round segment with a smaller diameter – same for tubing or multifaceted pieces. You can stretch styrene strip, rod, tube, or stock to the same effect.
8 Warning: Be careful doing this, as a little heat goes a long way; it’s easy to melt the wire completely. Also, watch how close you hold the match or nail to the model’s surface. Few things are more depressing than watching the nicely finished surface of your model bend and sag because it got too hot.
3 Keep your eye on the section of plastic over the flame. As it heats, the surface sheen will change and the plastic will begin to swell. Like a muffin in an oven, the swelling is an indicator that it’s almost ready. Another way to check is to let go of one end; when it begins to bend and sag, it’s ready.
6 Use super glue to attach thin, stretched-sprue wiring such as the antenna on this Heinkel He 111. Thin styrene is easily dissolved by solvent-based styrene glues. Note the stretchedsprue nub being used to precisely apply the glue. Simply anchor both ends and don’t worry about getting it perfectly taut…
9 Stretched sprue has many uses beyond wires. I used it replicate weld seams on the turret of a KV-1 tank, placing thin filaments on the surface and applying liquid glue (this is one of those times when melting plastic is good). With so many uses, stretching sprue is a technique every modeler can use – and it’s easy! FSM www.FineScale.com
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Paul’s modifications helped him model a present-day Goshawk.
updating Italeri’s 1/72 scale
T-45 Goshawk A little sheet styrene here, a little super glue there… By Paul Boyer
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he only kit of the U.S. Navy’s T-45 Goshawk is Italeri’s 1/72 scale offering. Amazing, since the aircraft is more than 20 years old. Italeri’s reputation rests on being the first kit manufacturer to produce kits of the latest aircraft.
For example, they were the first with kits of the F-117 Nighthawk (with Testor’s cooperation), V-22 Osprey, F-18E Super Hornet, and many others. But being first doesn’t necessarily mean the models represent the full-dress machine. As it turns out, Italeri’s T-45 Goshawk represents the first jet at rollout. This highly-modified British Aerospace Hawk was “navalized” with stout landing gear, tailhook, relocated speed brakes, and many other changes. But after its first flight in 70
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April 1988, the Navy ordered even more changes for the production aircraft, including full-span leading-edge wing slats, squared-off wing and stabilizer tips, enlarged ventral fin, and other modifications for enhanced performance. I wanted to make these major visual changes so my model would represent the look of the present-day Goshawk.
Ventral fin I’m sure there are improvements that could
be made to the cockpit interior and ejection seats, but I’m not a dial counter, and this model was going to have the canopy closed. So I pushed on with the exterior improvements. Before closing the fuselage halves, I filed the inside mating surfaces of the abbreviated ventral fin that serves as the tailhook mount. This made room for an enlarged ventral fin I cut from .020" sheet styrene, 1. The old fairing sandwiches the new one as it does on the real jet, 2.
Square tips The rounded wing and stabilizer tips were easy to fix. I first built the wing and glued in the wheel covers (which are closed except when the landing gear cycles). After the wing assembly was dry, I used a razor
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The new, larger ventral fin was cut from .020" sheet styrene.
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Paul used .030" sheet styrene to form the new squared-off wing tips. Note the yet-to-be-corrected leading edges.
saw to chop off the tips, then glued on a square of .030" styrene to each tip and let it set. Then I carefully shaped the new squared-off tips with a medium sanding stick, making sure to maintain sharp leading and trailing edges, 3. I used the same method to replace the stabilizer tips, 4, the right one shown here with the removed rounded tip.
New leading edges The biggest challenge in the upgrade project was reproducing the shape of the wing leading edges. The Goshawk’s leading-edge slats produce arrow-straight edges right up to the roots where they join the fuselage at the intake trunks. The kit wings represent the aircraft before these slats were fitted, so
The new fin is sandwiched between the kit fin/hook mount, just like the real deal.
Same thing on the stabilizer tips, but this time .020" styrene was used.
they have a curved fairing at the fuselage joint. I thought about chopping off the leading edges and fashioning new ones as I did for the wing and stabilizer tips, but it seemed like a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be great if I could just “pour” a new leading edge and just “glue” it in place? Hmm. Pour edge . . . glue edge. Pour . . . glue. Ding! Pour new leading edges from gap-filling super glue! All I had to do was make a temporary form to hold the glue in place until accelerator could set it, much like plywood is used to form concrete structures. I quickly pulled a length of masking tape and formed a dike under the edge of the wing up to and under the intake trunk. I poured in Zap-A-Gap gap-filling super glue until it covered the
entire leading edge and filled in the curved edge at the root, 5. I tilted the assembly back and forth until the glue spread level, then locked it with accelerator. It took only two applications per side to form the new edge. Removing the masking tape wasn’t difficult, but a little mucilage was left behind. No biggie, it disappeared as I sanded. A coarse sanding stick knocked down the slightly bumpy cured super glue, then medium, fine, and extra fine sanding sticks polished the new edges straight and smooth, 6. I then lightly scribed the slat edges with a sharp blade.
Pretty paint job U.S. Navy trainers are always bright and www.FineScale.com
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Wide masking tape makes a temporary dike that holds gap-filling super glue to form the new leading edge.
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The new, straight leading edge is clear, but can be seen against the white kit plastic wing.
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The model is masked for the application of bright orange paint.
Unmasking reveals the white “A” on the fin and the colorful orange training markings.
The Boeing/BAE Systems T-45 Goshawk SINCE THE rETIrEmENT of the T-2 Buckeye advanced trainer, every one of the U.S. Navy’s student aviators has made their first carrier landing in a T-45. The Goshawk is a truly international aircraft. Boeing, in St Louis, is the prime contractor, and is responsible for the manufacture of the forward fuselage and cockpit, overall systems integration, final assembly, flight test, and integrated logistic support.
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Britain’s BAE Systems is responsible for manufacture and assembly of the sections aft of the rear cockpit bulkhead, which include the wings, the center and rear fuselage, fin, tailplane, air intake, tailcone, speedbrake, windscreen, canopy, and flight controls. The Goshawk is powered by a single “navalized” Rolls-Royce Adour mk.871 turbofan engine; it’s capable of four hours of flight endurance
and a range of approximately 700 nautical miles. First delivered in 1997, the “C” model T-45 Goshawk is the latest in the highly successful line of trainers. Unlike its analog predecessors, the C has an up-to-date digital “glass” cockpit which makes it easier for student aviators to transition to the Navy’s carrier-based combat aircraft, such as the F/A-18 Hornet and the AV-8B Harrier II.
– Matthew Usher
shiny, with gleaming white and orange trim, and sometimes with colorful unit markings. After attaching and masking the canopy, I sprayed the entire model with three coats of Testor Model Master classic white and let the model sit for a week so the gloss paint would cure. The particular aircraft I was modeling was a T-45C flown by a family friend, Lt. Nicholas “Boy” George, during his training at Naval Air Station Meridian (Mississippi). The jet is from VT-7 of Training Air Wing One. The kit decals provided the usual national insignia, “NAVY” markings, and warning stencils, but nothing in the way of unit markings. Since this is the only kit of the T-45, and since it is in 1/72 scale, there are no aftermarket decals available. Training Air Wing One has a large, swept-back, black-shad-
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Paul “shadowed” the big A with strips of black decal. Note the red wash in the speed brakes.
The finished model displays the corrections and Training Air Wing One markings.
Since the retirement of the T-2 Buckeye, every naval aviator has made their first carrier landing in a T-45.
owed white “A” on the fin. By studying photos and drawings, I was able to determine the size and position of the big “A”s and cut thin strips of masking tape to their shapes. The areas that would remain white were also masked, 7.
A note on color Now a word about orange. Orange is one of those colors that look radically different under different light sources. The proper color for U.S. Navy trainers is international orange, FS 12197, and when applied to a model, it looks great in sunlight and under incandescent bulbs. However, it looks dull and yellowish under fluorescent lighting, and since my models are usually displayed under fluorescent light, I use a brighter,
redder orange – Testor “Sunburst” (No. 52708) from the company’s line of highgloss enamel car and truck paint. That’s what I used on this model. It may look too red in the photos of the finished model in this article, but looks just right in the fluorescent light of my display case. After the orange was dry, I removed the masking tape, revealing the spiffy paint job and the white “A”s on the fin. The antiglare panel on the nose was masked and painted flat black. I hand-brushed the intake rims with red to match the intake warning markings to come, 8. I made the “shadows” for the “A”s with thin strips of black decal stock, measured to fit, 9. I didn’t have a Bureau Number for the particular jet I was building, so just used
the decal provided in the kit. The nose and tail numbers and tiny “VT-7” and “TW-1” scripts were scrounged from my decal stockpile. I applied a wash of flat red to the grooves in the speed brakes, then wiped away the excess. A light sludge wash of neutral gray adds depth to the landing gear struts and wheels, 10. Until the model industry comes up with new kits of the graceful Goshawk, Italeri’s will have to do. With these improvements, it will look more like the current trainer in which most U.S. Navy pilots first land on a carrier. FSM Thanks to Tommy Thomason and the members of the 72ndscaleUSmilair e-group for their supply of references. www.FineScale.com
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Cutting tool roundup Outfit your workbench with the tools you need By Matthew Usher
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t’s an ironic fact of model building that before you glue parts together, you usually have to cut some apart. Not surprisingly, having the right tool for the job makes building a lot more enjoyable, so here’s a look at the most commonly used knives and cutters for model building.
A small pair of sharp scissors makes cutting decals and masking tape a whole lot easier. I found this pair in the needlework section of a craft store, and I have a similar pair with curved blades. 74
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Cutting shears are a great all-purpose tool, but they’re especially handy for removing delicate parts from the sprue. This pair is from Xuron (www.xuron.com). Precision shears like these save lots of time at the workbench. What little sprue remains on the parts can be trimmed away with a hobby knife.
My first modeling tool was a hobby knife with a pointed No. 11 blade; it replaced my trusty Cub Scout pocket knife. Now I keep several knives on my workbench and I use color-coded handles to tell them apart easily. When the blades wear out, I place them in a plastic “sharps” container. You may have seen a sharps container in a doctor’s office; they’re normally used to dispose of syringes. With a sharps container, the old blades are stored safely, and when the container’s full, it’s disposable.
Although it’s especially handy for grinding, drilling, and sanding, you may not think of your motor tool as a cutting tool. But if you need to cut more substantial materials, such as music wire, you may want to outfit your cutting tool with a mandrel and cutting discs.
When you use a motor tool or most of the cutters outlined here, it’s always a good idea to wear a good pair of safety goggles, which are available inexpensively at hardware and home stores. Cutting wheels can break, and tiny bits of wire and plastic can go flying – protect yourself properly.
Safety first Few things are sharper than a new hobby-knife blade, and few things can tear you up more quickly. I’ve gone through plenty of Band-Aids in my modeling career, and once even ended up in the emergency room under the care of a plastic surgeon. I’ll spare you the details, but I will tell you my wife almost fainted, and we could have filmed the model-building equivalent of a driver’s-ed movie (“Red Workbench” starring Matthew Usher). In all seriousness, though, I made a stupid mistake with a common tool. The pain was considerable and I took a long, long time to heal. Bring up workbench accidents at a model-club meeting and you’ll hear a wide variety of similar stories. Learn from our mistakes. All of the tools outlined here should be handled and stored with the utmost care.
A general-purpose razor saw and a miter box will serve you well, particularly if you’re thinking about doing conversion or scratchbuilding work. There’s no easier or more accurate way to cut a right angle in styrene stock. FSM www.FineScale.com
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Plan of attack
Planning makes modeling armor faster and easier • By Matthew Usher
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ne of the best parts of working at FineScale Modeler is that I get to build a lot of different kinds of models. In the last year I’ve built a “Star Trek” Enterprise, a Titanic, a Pontiac GTO, a couple of aircraft, and a bunch of armor models. My display case is getting full, but it’s getting harder to divide up the models by subject. The only downside to this modeling frenzy is that all of these models have been built on short deadlines. I’ve never considered myself anything but a slow builder, so the deadlines have required me
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to get organized. I’ve developed a modeling “plan of attack” that helps me build more quickly, mostly thanks to better research, test-fitting, and planning. It’s a method that seems to work well no matter what I’m building. This time it’s a Dragon 1/35 scale SdKfz 250/10 (kit No. 6139), a classic German-gray Werhmacht halftrack mounting a forward-firing 3.7cm PaK cannon. The kit’s jam-packed fighting compartment and individual-link tracks take a little extra time and effort, so it’s a good test of building strategy.
Research
1 Self-adhesive reminder notes are great for marking pages in your reference books.
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Kit Instructions
3 The paint chart in the instructions calls for Gunze Sangyo and Italeri colors, which may be hard to find in the States.
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4 In addition to paint for the project, Matthew stocked up on other supplies, like fresh sanding sticks, setting solution, and hobby-knife blades.
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Matthew used reference photos, color illustrations, and the kit instructions as guides to paint and mark his halftrack.
Dragon’s kit includes parts that aren’t used for this version; they’re marked on the instruction sheet’s parts map.
To avoid confusion during construction, Matthew removed the extra parts from the trees before he started building.
I haven’t built a halftrack in a long time, so I started the project with a little research. FSM’s library is well-stocked, but you could probably come up with about the same material at your local library. I didn’t find any books specifically on the 250, but I did turn up a number of campaign-specific books with pictures of the 250 in action. As I flipped through each book and found a photo I could use, I marked the page with a self-adhesive note so I could find it quickly later, 1. Researching a World War II subject can be tricky, particularly when it comes to color and camouflage. My research turned up some grainy blackand-white photos of the 250 in the field, a few color illustrations done by researchers after the war, and the old-standby kit instructions, 2. All of these sources have their strengths and weaknesses, but by using them together, I felt like I had a good idea of how the vehicle should be painted, marked, and weathered.
Next, I spent some time studying the kit instructions, starting with the paint list. Dragon’s instructions list only Gunze Sangyo and Italeri paints, neither of which are easy to come by here in the States. Thankfully there’s an English translation in the chart, 3. I planned to use Tamiya acrylics on my model and needed to pick up a couple of colors at the hobby shop. Before I left, I took a look at the rest of the expendable supplies on my workbench. In addition to the paint, I picked up some fresh sanding sticks, hobby-knife blades, decal-setting solution, and clear flat, 4. I was running low on all of them, and I made a shopping list so I wouldn’t forget anything during my restocking trip (somehow I always get a little distracted in the hobby shop).
Dragon’s 250/10 kit includes a number of parts for other 250 variants, since the different kits Dragon offers share some parts trees. The parts map shows which parts aren’t used for this version, 5. To cut down on the confusion, I removed all the unused and redundant parts from the parts trees before I started building, 6. I ended up with plenty of extra stock for my parts box.
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Test Fitting
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Painting
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Working with the instructions, test-fitting the major components is always a good first step.
Test-fitting showed the lower hull could be split into three subassemblies.
A jig made from scrap foam-core board made it easy to airbrush both sides of the tracks.
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9 If you’re careful with the glue, the kit’s individual-link tracks will work just like the real thing.
Test-fitting is an important step for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to make sure the model’s parts would go together properly without gaps or alignment problems. Second, I wanted to see how I could break the kit’s components down into subassemblies to make painting easier. A closed-up tank model is easy to paint after assembly – you can hit everything with an airbrush without too much trouble. The open-top 250, however, has a lot of complex shapes and gear inside
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its fighting compartment, and I knew I’d have to paint a lot of it before I closed it up. Test-fitting the major interior parts against the lower hull, 7, showed that I could assemble the front and rear ends of the fighting compartment, paint them, then install them as two basic subassemblies, 8. They’d be nearly impossible to paint after they were installed inside the model. Test-fitting really paid off when it came to the model’s individual-link tracks, too. Dry-fitting a couple of the tiny links showed that if I assembled them carefully with droplets of super glue, they’d flex and operate just like the real thing, 9. I felt a little like a watchmaker while I worked on the small parts with tweezers. The research I did earlier really paid off here. The photos I’d marked showed that the 250 had 38 track links per side. After assembling a run of 38 links, I test-fit it on the model and found it fit perfectly.
Toothpicks and a foam-core stand held the road wheels for painting.
The flexible tracks made installing the running gear easier. I could paint the tracks and road wheels separately, then join them on the model during final assembly. I made a simple jig to help paint the tracks. I scrounged up some long, rectangular scraps of foam-core board. I cut a slot in the board and attached the track over it, securing the run at the ends with straight pins. This way, I could airbrush both sides of the track at once, 10. I used more foam-core scraps when I painted the road wheels. I twisted the road wheels onto toothpicks to make them easier to hold while airbrushing. I pressed the pointed end of the toothpick into a foam-core strip to hold the parts while the paint dried, 11. When the gray base coat was dry, I hand-painted each wheel’s molded-in rim using flat-black paint. While these parts were drying, I assembled and airbrushed the main hull and the PaK main gun. I also painted some of the smaller interior parts such as the seats and crew equipment and the exterior tools I’d add at final assembly.
Finishing up
12 The individual-link tracks fit the running gear perfectly and took on a realistic drape.
With the hull completed, I slipped on the road wheels, then wrapped on the tracks and secured their ends by adding their final link, 12. With the model on its feet, I added the last of the interior parts through the open top, then installed the fender-mounted tools and a (Fender) guitar-string antenna. With a little forethought I was able to assemble and paint all of the model’s details – even the ones hidden deep inside the driver’s compartment, 13 – without any extra work or tedious masking. Planning and re-thinking the kit instructions helped me meet tight deadlines. And I hope that if a contest judge armed with a penlight gives my halftrack’s interior a closer look, it’ll pass muster. FSM
13 The deepest parts of the 250’s fighting compartment were much easier to assemble and paint with a little extra planning.
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working with
Photoetched metal Hints to help you get started and keep going By Matthew Usher
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f you’ve never worked with photoetched metal detail parts before, you probably have a few questions about the best way to get going – the parts look great, but they’re not going to behave like plastic ones. Here are a few tips to get you going in the right direction.
Photoetched parts are a great way to add fine detail to almost any subject. Even basic parts, such as these engine-cover grilles on my Tiger I, really go a long way toward enhancing the model.
TRIMMInG and clEanuP
1 Photoetched parts arrive attached to a fret, the same way plastic parts come on a parts tree. Most photoetched parts are thin enough to cut loose with a sharp hobby-knife blade, but they have a habit of springing away and hiding in the carpet. To keep small parts from disappearing, put the fret in a clear plastic bag (if it isn’t aready in one) and remove the parts with a pair of tweezers.
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2 You can use a file or a sanding stick to remove any remaining attachment points – this is a miniature diamond file. File or sand in line with the edge of the part and you’ll have less of a chance of bending it.
Regular plastic model cement won’t work on photoetched parts, but there are plenty of other options depending on the application. Epoxy provides the strongest bond and allows you to adjust the parts before the glue cures. Gap-filling super glue is a good choice, too, and also provides plenty of strength. Water-based glues (such as Micro Krystal Klear and good old white school glue) are handy, too, when raw strength isn’t a concern. I use white glue to attach photoetched emblems to car models – if I’m unhappy with the placement, I can remove the part and wipe off the glue with a little warm water on a cotton swab.
foLdIng CoMPLEx PArTS
1 Some parts, like this 1/32 scale Thunderbolt seat, must be folded into shape from the flat original. Making the folds in the right order is important, since photoetched metal is difficult to straighten once it’s bent.
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There’s an easy way to practice folding the part without damaging it. Put the photoetched fret on a photocopier and run off a few copies.
Using a straightedge and a sharp hobby knife, cut out the paper copy and practice folding it up. When you’re sure you’re working in the right order you can move on to the metal original.
AnnEALIng PArTS
1 I decided to add Eduard’s photoetched skirts to Tamiya’s 1/48 scale Stug III. The parts are realistically thin, but they’re a little too flat and factory-fresh for a vehicle that’s been in combat for a while. Annealing the parts will soften them and make them easy to bend.
3 2 After trimming out one of the skirts, I heated it briefly over a candle flame.
Let the part cool slowly until it’s room temperature. The annealing process removes the temper from the part. The metal will be softer and easier to bend with its springiness removed.
4 A little lacquer thinner on a cotton swab will remove the soot and discoloration from the part.
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With the part softened, it was easy to bend in some wear and tear; annealing makes the parts look much more realistic. Using a hammer and a nail, I was even able to add a little small-arms damage.
At the other end of the spectrum, photoetched parts are a great way to add realistic trim to car models. After painting these Corvette enginecover grilles flat black, I polished them with a three-grit sanding stick from Squadron. The polishing left the paint in the recesses while giving the surrounding grilles a high shine. The grilles and the tiny emblems are attached to the model with white glue; using it gave me time to position the parts properly, and I could remove the excess glue afterward. www.FineScale.com
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Photoetched metal
A variety of tweezers makes working with photoetched parts easier. round-point tweezers (top) have a large gripping surface, and are ideal for large, delicate parts. fine-point tweezers (center) can help place the tiniest parts. Locking tweezers (bottom) hold parts securely until you release them.
coLor pArts
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1 eduard (www.eduard.cz) offers several photoetched-metal detail sets with color and fine details printed on the parts. A few are selfadhesive, too, making installation easier.
eduard even offers photoetched-metal figures to man the decks of your ship models. these are 1/350 scale, and 1/700 scale figures are available, too.
forming tubes cooling jackets
2 mission models’ (www.missionmodels.com) multi-tool is great for shaping round and tubular parts accurately. each stepped section is precision machined and laser-etched with standard and metric measurements. Anneal the parts first and they’ll be easier to wrap around the tool.
1 this fokker D.Vii set includes photoetchedmetal cooling jackets for the aircraft’s twin spandau machine guns.
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3
the pointed end can be used to form conical parts, and it also makes a fine burnishing tool.
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