modeller £6.50 - Nov‘13 (issue 031 )
HobbyBoss F4U-4B Corsair • Kitty Hawk Gripen • Wingnut Wings RE.8 • Revell Tornado • and more…
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A high gloss finish for HobbyBoss’ 1:48 F4U-4B Corsair
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Fly Model 1:32 Bachem Natter Ba 349V
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288 M4A3 Sherman Calliope
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Catalogue 2013 Ask your local distributor or contact: Italeri S.p.A. - via Pradazzo, 6/b 40012 - Calderara di Reno - Bologna - Italy - Phone +39 051 31 75 211 - email:
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Contents 6
modeller military illustrated
ISSUE No.031 November 2013
4
NEWS
6
KOREAN WAR GROUND POUNDER
What’s happening in modelling and aviation
HobbyBoss’ 1:48 scale F4U-4B Corsair by Brett Green
20 NAKED NATTER
Fly Models’ 1:32 scale Bachem Ba 349V Natter by James Hatch
32 QMHE 2013 SHOW REPORT
Queensland Model Show Report
36 BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Dirk Polchow builds Wingnut Wings’ 1:32 scale RE.8 “Harry Tate”
44 PREVIEW
Tamiya 1:72 scale A6M3 Type 32 Zero
54
46 DESERT STORMER
Revell’s big 1:32 scale Tornado GR.1 by Leo Stevenson
48 BOOK PREVIEW
How to Build… Tamiya’s 1:32 F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair
42 PAIN AND ELEGANCE Amodel’s 1:32 Nieuport 16C by Leo Stevenson.
50 JET FUELLER
Skunkmodels Workshop 1:48 R-11 US/ NATO Fuel Truck by Jason Woollett
53 PREVIEW Kinetic Alpha Jet
54 GRIFFIN RISING
KittyHawk 1:48 JAS-39A/C Gripen by Kamil Feliks Sztarbala
62 PREVIEW
HK Models 1:32 B-17G Flying Fortress
65 NEXT ISSUES
What’s coming up in the next issues of Military Illustrated Modeller
66 TAILPIECE
Airfix 1:72 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8
36 50
Aircraft Edition
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News Gerry Anderson Trophy for Scale ModelWorld 2013
I
PMS (UK) has announced the inauguration of a special Gerry Anderson Trophy for Scale ModelWorld 2013. The new award, to be present annually, will be for the ‘best model in the science fiction category of a spacecraft, vehicle or diorama’. Anderson passed away in late December 2012 but his legacy lives on in the TV series he created over a period of some 40 years. Gerry Anderson will be best known for his classic ‘Supermarionation’ TV series such as Thunderbirds, Fireball XL-5, Captain Scarlett as well as the later live-action UFO and Space 1999. The characters and more importantly the vehicles and spaceships, inspired modellers all over the world. Models, both commercially available examples and amazing scratchbuilt masterpieces, have graced the science fiction classes and display tables at model shows for many years and they remain popular to this day. The new trophy is the brainchild of the Wakefield Branch of IPMS (UK), who approached Competition Secretary Tony Horton with their proposal. IPMS (UK) approached the Trustees of the Gerry Anderson Estate, who have graciously allowed us to use the Gerry Anderson name for the new trophy. Gerry’s son, Jamie, said “I’m sure Dad would have been pleased to know that talented modellers would be recognised with a trophy bearing his name”. Tony Horton, IPMS (UK) National Competition Secretary said “The Gerry Anderson Trophy is in honour of the man who has had an influence on our hobby, but in particular those modellers who enjoy creating and modelling Science Fiction subjects”.
FORTHCOMING 1:72 F-35A LIGHTNING II FROM ITALERI
MENG MODEL’S DEBUT 1:32 RELEASE – ME 163 B
he Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, a result of the Joint Strike Fighter program, is the most advanced expression of military aircraft to perform close support and ground attack duties. Its extreme flexibility makes it suitable also to the “dogfighting” and to carry out missions of air superiority. The F-35 is a “Fifth generation jet fighter, with advanced stealth capability, that intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter , strike and ground attack aircraft of the Western Countries Air Forces. The development project is based on three main models: the F-35A is a convention take off and landing aircraft, the F-35B is a short take off an vertical landing variant, and the F-35C is a carrier based variant. Thanks to its external wing supports and its internal bays the “Lightning II” is able to carry a wide variety of offensive weapons such as cluster bombs, laser-guided and GPS-guided bombs, air-to-surface missiles and anti-ship missiles. Italeri will release an all-new 1:72 scale kit of the F-35A Lightning II. This kit will comprise 85 parts in total of which 7 parts for the fuselage, 3 transparent parts and the remaining 75 parts for the rest of the article. Other features of our F-35A are the fully engraved panel lines, weapons bay open and closed, canopy open and closed. Thanks to The Hobby Company Limited for the information.
he Me 163 B Komet was the world’s only operational rocket-powered interceptor to shoot down enemy aircraft. It had tremendous speed and climb rate thanks to its unique power source However, due to the aircraft’s short loiter time and extremely high speed, the only wing (Jagdgeschwader) equipped with Me 163B scored only nine victories during WWII. Even so, just like its nickname Komet, the Me 163 B flashed across the sky of the history, leaving behind a bright light. This 1:32 scale QS-001 Me 163 B model kit is MENG’s first large scale aircraft project. The model is 178mm in length and 292mm in wingspan. This kit consists of 190 parts on 7 plastic sprues, 23 parts on 2 PE frets, 3 rubber tyres and 2 poly caps. This QS-001 model faithfully replicates the small tail-less shape of Me-163B. Two different weapon systems, MG 151/20 and MK 108 are provided. Subassemblies including a complete HWK 109-509A rocket engine, T-Stoff tank and ammunition box are included. A number of hatches may be built in either the open or closed position. Model fuselage breakdown refers to the structure of real aircraft. No cement is needed to join the front and rear parts of the fuselage. A support frame is provided to show interior details. Three painting schemes are provided. In more news from MENG, a 1:48 scale Me 410 A-1 high speed bomber will also be released. We will have more information about these new releases in the next issue. Thanks to Meng Model for the information and images www.meng-model.com
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
KOREAN WAR GROUND POUNDER
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Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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T
he combat career of the F4U Corsair stretched longer than almost any other WWII fighter aircraft. The first of more than 12,000 Corsairs was produced in 1940, and the last of these bent wing birds were still doing battle above Central America nearly thirty years later. The Vought Aircraft company had a strong association with the US Navy during the inter war decades, but their focus in the 1930s was observation aircraft, trainers and seaplanes. In response to a US Navy specification issued in February 1938, Vought submitted two designs. With the second of these carrier-based fighter proposals, Vought adopted the simple strategy of building the smallest possible airframe around the most powerful available engine. At the same time, Pratt & Whitney was developing the supercharged R-2800 radial engine. Radial engines had recently lost favour to the sleeker inline configuration, but the US Navy preferred the ruggedness and simplicity of the radial arrangement. Vought therefore designed their new V-166B around the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 powerplant. The brute force of the R-2800 engine had to be absorbed by a correspondingly large propeller. With a diameter of 13’ 4”, the Hamilton Standard three-bladed propeller assembly was the largest fitted to a fighter aircraft to that date. This imposing propeller needed very high ground clearance. Vought’s solution was to install an inverted gull wing. The main undercarriage was fitted to the lowest point of the wing, improving ground clearance for the propeller while still permitting robust landing gear – essential for carrier landings. This design also lowered the profile of the Corsair with the wings folded, and strengthened the join with the fuselage via its sturdy central spar. The result was the sole prototype XF4U-1, which first flew on 29 May, 1940. The ruggedness of Vought’s design was proven at the end of that maiden flight when the aircraft flipped after a forced landing. Although the prototype was badly damaged, it was repaired and flew again within months. Indeed, before the end of 1940 the XF4U1 became the first US fighter aircraft to exceed 400 mph in level flight. Further development was required to iron out a number of undesirable flying and landing
Aircraft Edition
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
characteristics. In December 1942, the Corsair commenced carrier trials. Ongoing problems with poor pilot visibility on final approach and premature port wing stall disqualified the Corsair from US carrier operations at this time. However, the first land based Corsair Marines squadron entered front line service in February 1943. The famous Jolly Rogers, VF-17, became the first US Navy Corsair unit to see action shortly after. The Corsair immediately demonstrated its superiority over Japanese fighters with an impressive kill ratio. The performance of the F4U also proved to be at least on equal footing with its US Army Air Force fighter counterparts, the P-47 and the P-51. The Corsair was also adopted by the British Fleet Air Arm. Unlike the US Navy, Britain operated their Corsairs on carriers from their first sorties in March 1944. With their strikes against the Tirpitz, the Fleet Air Arm was the only Corsair operator to face German forces. US Navy Corsairs were eventually cleared for carrier use in April 1944, in time to deal with the Kamikaze threat later that year. The Royal New Zealand Air Force was the third Corsair operator in the Pacific. 238 F4U-1As, 126 -1Ds and 60 FG-1Ds served with 13 RNZAF squadrons from May 1944. Development of the Corsair continued throughout the Second World War and beyond. When most WWII fighters were being abandoned in the dawn of the new jet age, the Corsair was adapted to the times. Fitted with a more powerful version of the R-2800 engine and equipped for even heavier loads, the Corsair became a valuable close support asset during the Korean War. Its ruggedness, reliability and versatility made the Corsair ideal for the harsh conditions encountered on ship and shore. Even after the Korean War, the Corsair remained a front-line aircraft in a number of theatres. The French Navy operated the AU-1 and the F4U-7 in Indochina, Algeria and during the Suez crisis, while a handful of Latin American countries used Corsairs in air-to-air combat until the end of the 1960s. The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine had an equally impressive record, with total production exceeding 125,000 between 1939 and 1960.
An aerial view of USS Princeton (CV-37 off Korea during 1951 (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
An excellent overall view of the cylinders & front cover.
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A Vought F4U-4B Corsair of VF-113 aboard USS Princeton, off the coast of North Korea during 1950. The pilot was Commander John “Tex” O’Neill. This is the subject of our modelling project (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
A nice overhead view of an F4U-4 from VF-871 aboard USS Essex, a retired WWII carrier that was recommissioned in 1951. The colour of the worn deck and the markings are of interest (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
An in flight view of an F4U-4B of VF-113 photographed in 1950(image courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
F4U-4Bs of Marine Squadron VMF-323 aboard USS Badoeng Strait in December 1951 (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
An F4U-4 under restoration at Yanks Museum in Chino California, photographed in August 2004.
Cylinder detail, including ignition wiring.
An unique insight into the detail behind the wing leading edge intakes.
Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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F4U CORSAIR PRODUCTION VARIANTS AND CHARACTERISTICS
The table below lists the external characteristics that may help modellers identify Corsair variants.
Designation
Characteristics
Comments
US Versions F4U-1
Original production version featuring "birdcage" framed canopy and window in the bottom of the cockpit. Armed with six .50 cal machine guns. Bell shaped reduction gear housing.
F3A-1
Per F4U-1 or F4U-1A
Brewster manufactured version of the F4U-1 and F4U-1A. 735 built.
FG-1
Per F4U-1 or F4U-1A
Goodyear manufactured version of the F4U-1 and F4U-1A. In total, Goodyear built 4,006 Corsairs of all variants (FG-1 and FG-1D)
F4U-1B
Some references state that this was a US designation for FAA Corsair I. See specification for Corsair I
Designation
Characteristics
Comments
F4U-5N
Night fighter fitted with AN/APS-19 or -19A radar and adjustable scope in cockpit. Aerial pinball device comprising one small reflective trihedral prism on each wing and one on the tail. Light beam projector fitted in the wing leading edge.
214 built
F4U-5NL
All-weather night fighter with radar plus de-icer boots on outer wing panels, horizontal and vertical tail surfaces, deicer for the windscreen and deicer shoes on the propeller blades. Otherwise similar to F4U-5N.
101 built
F4U-5P
One vertical and one oblique camera mounted in lower rear fuselage behind slipstream deflector fairings. Otherwise similar to F4U-5
30 built
AU-1
Low altitude, ground attack version. Redesigned forward cowl with cheek intakes deleted. Hard points for up to ten 5" HVAR rockets or bombs plus capacity on centreline rack and inner wing pylons.
Used in Korea exclusively by Marines units, then 25 delivered to French forces. 111 built
F4U-7
F4U-5 airframe fitted with F4U-4 R-2800-18W engine, including the -4 style of engine cowl with one large chin intake. Hard points per AU-1.
94 built specifically for France under the Military Assistance Program.
F2G-1
Pratt & Whitney R-4360, 3,000 hp engine installed, requiring major modification to the nose of the Corsair including air intake on top of forward fuselage. Four bladed propeller assembly. Full bubble canopy and cut down rear fuselage. Vertical tail raised by 12 inches. Split rudder introduced. Wing-mounted oil coolers redesigned. Cut-out step in flap covered by spring-loaded door. Land-based version with manual wing fold. No arrestor hook. Otherwise similar to F4U-1D
Goodyear manufactured. Only five examples produced. Some used as post-war racers
F2G-2
Carrier based aircraft with hydraulic wing folds. Arrestor hook installed. Smaller diameter propeller assembly. Otherwise similar to F2G-1
Goodyear manufactured. Only five examples produced. Some used as post-war racers
F4U-1P
F4U-1, F3A-1 or FG-1 fitted with a K-21 aerial camera.
Small number of aircraft thus modified
F4U-2
Night fighter version fitted with AIA radar in a streamlined wing pod. Outboard starboard machine gun deleted. Otherwise similar to F4U-1
34 aircraft built to F4U-2 standards
F4U-1A
Cockpit raised seven inches. Turtledeck windows deleted. Canopy design improved. Wedgeshaped spoiler fitted to starboard wing leading edge. Bottom cockpit window deleted during production run. New centreline rack for 1,000 lb bomb or 170 gal fuel tank introduced during production run. Tail wheel strut lengthened by 6.48 inches during production run. Landing light relocated from lower wing to wing leading edge.
Although uniquely identifiable, the F4U-1A was not distinguished as a variant in Vought or US Navy records. A total of 2,814 F4U-1s and F4U-1As were built by Vought.
F4U-1D
Pylons added under each inner wing section. Reduced diameter propeller (13' 1") introduced during production run. Clear vision canopy introduced during production run. Capacity to carry up to eight rockets introduced during production run. Rectangular cut-out step in starbaord inboard flap introduced during production run.
1,685 produced.
FG-1D
Per F4U-1D
Goodyear manufactured version of the F4U-1D
Fleet Air Arm Versions Production totals are subsets of the US Navy quantities above
F4U-1C
Armed with four 20mm cannon. Rocket capacity reduced to two per wing. Clear vision canopy on all but the first three examples. Otherwise similar to F4U-1D.
200 built
Corsair Mk.I
British Fleet Air Arm version of F4U-1 and F4U-1A. Some of the -1As were apparently fitted with the birdcage canopy, although the turtle deck window seems to be deleted according to photos.
45 F4U-1s and 50 F4U-1As. All Vought built.
F4U-4
Revised engine cowl, new chin intake and cowl flaps. Cylindrical crankcase. Four-bladed propeller assembly; Enlarged supercharger intakes. Cockpit redesigned to include floor, enclosed side consoles, new instrument panel, shorter control column, new seat, armrests and a cigar lighter! Revised windscreen and clear view canopy and introduced during production. Armed with six .50 cal machine guns. Cut-out step in flap covered by spring-loaded door.
Entered service in limited numbers during Okinawa campaign in 1945. Widespread use in Korea. 2,045 built
Corsair Mk.II
Eight inches clipped from each wing tip. Fitted with 13' 4" propeller and canopy with two overhead frames. British harness. Rockets do not appear to have been installed. Otherwise similar to either F4U-1A or F4U-1D, depending on batch.
360 F4U-1As and 150 F4U-1Ds. All Vought built
Corsair Mk.III
Brewster built versions of F4U-1A and F4U-1D. Eight inches clipped from each wing tip. Similar specification to Corsair Mk.II
F4U-4B
Armed with four M3 20mm cannon. Modified rocket mounts. Late production examples were fitted with the higher canopy of the F4U-5. Otherwise similar to F4U-4.
297 built.
335 F3A-1s and 95 F3A-1Ds. Brewster built. It is believed that these aircraft were not used operationally due to production problems.
Corsair Mk.IV
F4U-4P
Photo reconnaissance variant. Majority were armed with four M3 20mm cannon. Otherwise similar to F4U-4B.
Production quantity unknown. Possibly a sub set of F4U-4 and F4U-4B
Goodyear built versions of F4U-1A and F4U-1D. Eight inches clipped from each wing tip. 13' 1' propeller fitted. Canopies on the first 400 aircraft had two overhead frames. Remaining aircraft had clear vision "blown" canopy. Final 125 equipped to carry eight 5" HVAR rockets. Otherwise similar specification to Corsair Mk.II
410 FG-1s or FG-1As (no distinction made in US Navy records) and 447 FG-1Ds. No evidence that rockets were carried in service.
F4U-5
Revised engine cowl with two air inlet scoops in the cowl cheeks. Lengthened forward fuselage. Metal sheet replacing fabric covered outer wing panels. Canopy height increased including a raised fairing on fuselage spine directly behind. Armed with four M3 20mm cannon in heated gun tubes. Mark 8 gyroscopic gun sight. Revised and enlarged centreline pylon.
223 built
Aircraft Edition
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
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Surface detail is very nicely done.
The wings feature separate access hatches for the cannon and ammunition, but no internal parts are included for these. HobbyBoss’ 1:48 scale F4U-4B is the third release in their Corsair family.
THE F4U-4 CORSAIR IN 1:48 SCALE
The lower centre section of the wings. Note the incorrect kinked profile of the forward section of the undercarriage bays.
The rudder is moulded with overstated fabric texture.
The clear parts include two styles of sliding canopy section.
SMILIN’ COWL
Some of the True Details accessories acquired for this project. In the end, I did not use the bombs. These were substituted with a Napalm tank.
HOBBYBOSS 1:48 F4U-4B
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The kit’s engine cowling with its suspect smile.
The plug has been removed, but the opening in the cowl is too small at this stage.
True Details’ corrected cowl, with the resin casting plug still in place.
We can see the excess resin to be removed by viewing the cowl from the inside.
hand, are clearly much more accurate than HobbyBoss’ propeller assembly. The first task was to cut off the resin plug cast to the front of the cowling. This was started with a razor saw, cutting in stages from different angles until the cowling was freed. This still left a ring of resin that had to be removed in order to obtain the correctly sized cowl opening. I started this job with a sharp hobby knife, then cleaned up the slightly ragged edges with a piece of rolled coarse sandpaper.
INTERNAL AFFAIRS
Next I turned my attention to the cockpit. Unlike the earlier F4U-1, the F4U-4 featured a completely revised cockpit with a solid floor. This floor is correctly depicted by HobbyBoss, with well-detailed raised switches on the side consoles, deep structural features on the sidewall, and a nicely done seat and instrument panel. Strangely though, the prominent throttle quadrant is missing. I scratch built one from scrap plastic, with copper wire handles and knobs of Krystal Kleer. I found that the fire extinguisher, Part F34, interfered with the fit of the instrument panel. You should fill the locating slot in the floor and relocate or discard this part. The Interior Green shade was obtained by adding a spot of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black with XF-71 Cockpit Green. This was applied to the floor parts, the bulkheads, control column and seats. The side consoles, sidewalls and instrument panel were all sprayed black. I borrowed Roy Sutherland’s cockpit weathering technique for this project. I mixed equal parts Future floor polish and water, to which I added a
A razor saw was used to cut off the main part of the casting plug. This was not done in one continuous cut. The saw was moved around the rim of the plug to ensure that it was evenly removed.
The excess resin was first cut away with a sharp hobby knife, then cleaned up with coarse sandpaper.
few drops of Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. This results in a very thin dark wash, which was brush painted on all the cockpit surfaces. The result is very effective, especially on the lattice structure of the front firewall, but also looks great when it settles into the edges of the seat pan, along recesses and around smaller raised details. The same weathering technique was applied to the tail wheel bay. HobbyBoss provides a single decal with simple white-printed dials for the instrument panel. This matches the recessed circles on the kit’s instrument panel quite well. The only problem is that the circles are so deep that it takes a lot of decal solution to get them settled in. I made three applications of Solvaset before all the dials were in place, and a few were damaged in the process. I overlaid these with replacement instruments from AirScale’s Item No. AS48USN – “WW2 US Navy Instrument Dial Decals”. A couple of placard decals were also added from AS4848PLA WW2 “Allied Cockpit Placard Decals”. Details were now picked out with Vallejo acrylic white, black, yellow and red paints applied with the tip of 2/0 and 10/0 brushes. A coat of Alclad II Klear Kote Matt was sprayed over all the interior surfaces, dulling down the glossy Future wash but retaining the subtle shading. A little chipping was added to the floor and the seat using dark brown and silver Prismacolor pencils. The deep instrument recesses were filled with Future floor polish to represent the dial lenses. Harness straps were not used as I was planning to add a pilot. In fact, I originally thought that I might have to build the pilot’s legs into the cockpit and add the torso later (kit cockpits can be a tight
squeeze for scale pilots), but test fitting suggested there would be plenty of room to fit the entire pilot once the model was finished. The cockpit parts were now glued together and attached to the port sidewall.
STEAMING AHEAD
Construction proceeded quickly from here. The instructions would have you install the tail landing gear before gluing together the fuselage halves, but I decided to leave this until later. With the benefit of hindsight, I really should have followed the instructions here, as I had to hack various locating pins off the tail wheel assembly to fit it later on. The instructions are pretty vague about the location of
The engine cowl with preparations complete.
Aircraft Edition
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A throttle quadrant was scratch built from plastic scrap, copper wire and blobs of Krystal Kleer.
A few electrical boxes were added to the opposite sidewall.
The two parts of each side console were clamped together before painting.
Cockpit parts were prepared and separated into one group that would be painted Interior Green, and a second group that would be painted black.
The forward bulkhead, showing the results of the Future and black paint weathering technique to good effect.
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The cockpit under construction, with weathering and detail painting complete.
The instrument panel with its decal dials.
Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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The lower floor section with the control column glued in place.
The port sidewall with the painted throttle quadrant.
The structural detail on the tail wheel bay interior looks great after weathering.
ENGINE ADDITIONS AND SUBTRACTIONS
HobbyBoss’ Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine is a highlight of the kit. It does not really look like much on the sprues, but it is brilliant when assembled. I added ignition wires from 0.2mm dark copper wire. The cylinder banks were coated with Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver straight from the spray can, while the housing and magnetos were painted grey and the ignition harness picked out in Gunze’s Mr Metal Colour Brass. The Future/Water/Black wash was used to good effect on all of these parts. The grey housing was given a flat coat and details picked out in silver. The instructions are a bit vague on the exact placement of engine parts. They would have you install the engine before the fuselage halves are joined, but you can simply leave off Parts E3, E17 and E18 and the engine mount will slip into the front of the completed fuselage at any later stage. The individual exhaust pipes also proved to be very fiddly. You’ll barely be able to see anything of these, even through open cowl flaps, so I decided to leave them off!
The completed cockpit – a view from the rear.
The cockpit was glued onto the port side of the fuselage before the halves were joined.
EXTRA EXTRA
I sourced a drop tank from the spares box (originally in a Tamiya P-51D Mustang kit) that I used as a napalm tank. Just for a bit of variety, I painted this yellow and added some chipping and staining. The delicate aerial mast was drilled and pinned with copper wire to strengthen the bond with the fuselage, although it was only added at the very end of construction. The True Details propeller was assembled at this time too. The hub and the mating ends of the blades were also drilled and pinned with a short piece of copper wire. The assembly was masked and sprayed, and initially the kit propeller decals were used. However, they looked way too big, so I removed them and replaced them with items from the Victory Productions’ “F4U-5/5N & AU-1 Corsairs” decal sheet, Item No. VPD48001. True Details wheels were used to replace the slightly odd-looking HobbyBoss items. The True Details wheels from Set No. 48013 feature appropriate late-style circumferential tyre tread. The pilot was taken from Tamiya’s 1:48 scale F4U-1D with Moto-Tug boxing, as were the two wing braces.
The fuselage halves fitted without any problems. Clamps and tape are a security measure!
Aircraft Edition
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The mid-wing components.
Note the location of the middle bulkhead (Parts E19 and E20). The instructions are a bit vague about these, with only a general diagram on Part E20 and not illustrating Part E19 at all.
This is how I fitted Parts E27 and E28; although the instructions actually illustrate them fitted the opposite side out. They seem to fit better this way though, and it makes more sense that the raised detail faces out. Even after looking at reference photos though, I am not certain.
The main outer wing panel parts.
The outer wing panels assembled, with the spring-loaded flap cavity covers being added from plastic strip.
Holes were drilled into the front of the cylinders and lengths of 0.2mm dark copper wire were glued in place. Pairs of wire were also glued to the back of the ignition harness.
The main engine sub-assemblies after painting and a Future dark wash.
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The mid wing assembly glued and clamped.
The engine after further detail painting, a flat coat for the front housing and final assembly.
The engine slips snugly into the mount at the front of the fuselage if Parts E3, E17 and E18 are omitted. You’d never have seen them anyway!
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The rudder trim tab actuator was cut off in preparation for the taming of the deep fabric texture.
The centre wing section glued in place. Note that the shape of the forward undercarriage bay areas have been corrected.
The capsule indentations were filled with Tamiya Surfacer…
The original HobbyBoss forward gear door (left), and the replacement cut from plastic card using Tamiya’s F4U-1A part as a template. Not perfect, but better!
…then sanded down to subdue the texture effect.
The fuselage and tail planes assembled, with a few lines of Tamiya Surfacer to deal with minor blemishes and gaps.
The white metal main landing gear legs and scratch build front gear covers were glued in place prior to painting.
Scale Aircraft Conversions’ white metal landing gear and wing fold hinges were used for this project.
The outer wing panels were test fitted at this stage. So far, so good.
‘True Details recently released a resin F4U-4 engine cowling and propeller correction set specifically for the HobbyBoss kit.’ Aircraft Edition
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The main airframe, the outer wing panels and detail parts were all painted Tamiya AS-8 Navy Blue, straight from the spray can.
The tip of the rudder was painted a pale blue shade. This area was masked off using Tamiya tape and Post-It Notes, and painted Tamiya X-14 Sky Blue.
I GUESS THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT GLOSS SEA BLUE
Several coats of Future floor polish transformed the satin finish to a high gloss.
‘The satin finish was transformed to a high-gloss lustre after several coats of Future floor finish and polishing with Micro Mesh cloths.’
The HobbyBoss decals were slightly translucent, with some of the blue paint below bleeding through the white markings.
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A second set of national markings was sourced from the decal drawers. The stars and the bars were carefully sliced from the sheet using a new hobby blade.
These were lined up on top of the kit decals, resulting in an opaque bright white. Note here that the additional star and the right side bar have been applied, while the left side bar awaits its second layer.
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True Details cowling set includes a replacement resin propeller assembly. This is very clearly superior in shape to the kit propeller blades and hub.
The assembled propeller was first coated with Tamiya’s Fine White Primer, then the tips were painted Tamuya TS-34 Camel yellow and the end of the propeller hub X-14 Sky Blue. The propeller tips and the hub end were then masked.
The propeller blade locating plugs are very short, so they were drilled and reinforced with copper wire.
The next step was to spray the propeller blades TS-14 Black. This is a very glossy lacquer, so no further preparation is required before decals are applied. The kit propeller logo decals are too large, however.
The Pratt & Whitney logo decals were replaced with markings from a Victory Productions sheet. The propeller blades were flat coated, but the blue hub remains glossy.
The aerial mast was drilled and pinned with copper wire to reinforce the join with the fuselage spine.
True Details’ resin wheels feature the late circumferential tyre tread.
A yellow Napalm tank was added for a bit of colour variation. This was weathered a little, with dark brown chipping applied with a sponge and stains using AK Interactive’s AK 024 Dark Streaking Grime.
A colour photo suggests that the wheel hubs are Gloss Sea Blue. The sidewalls of the tyres were dusted with Tamiya’s Weathering Pastels.
Smaller parts ready for final assembly.
The main airframe awaiting the addition of the wing panels and minor parts.
The outer wing panels with pitot tube and nav lights already fitted. Note that the reference photo shows that only the rocket stubs underneath the outboard cannon fairings were fitted. Aircraft Edition
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The pilot was “borrowed” from Tamiya’s F4U-1D and Moto-Tug kit. His head was primed white, with the body receiving a coat of Tamiya Grey Primer.
Base colours are Vallejo acrylics.
Details were also picked out in Vallejo acrylics.
CONCLUSION
‘HobbyBoss’ 1:48 F4U-4B Corsair is a nice kit, and is arguably the best F4U-4B currently available in this scale.’ •
The folded wings are almost insect-like.
The yellow Napalm tank and the blue tips on the hub and fin lend a bit of colour to this project.
The familiar profile of the bent-wing bird, with the wings a bit more bent than usual! The shell ejection ports for the 20mm cannon were covered with painted decal film.
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MODELSPEC: HobbyBoss 1:48 F4U-4B Corsair. Kit No. 80388 Accessories Used: True Details Item No. 48552 – F4U-4 Propeller and Cowling Set True Details Item No. 48013 – F4U or F6F Wheel Set Circumferential Tread Airscale Item No. AS48 PLA – WW2 Allied Cockpit Placards. Airscale Item No. AS48 USN – WW2 US Navy Instrument Dial Decals Parts from Tamiya Kit No. 61085 – F4U-1D Corsair with Moto-Tug Cutting Edge Modelworks Item No. CED48269 – F4U-4 Corsair Part 3
The pilot fitted easily inside the cockpit.
Tools and Modelling Products Used: Plastic Strip Tuner Model Manufactory – 0.2mm Soft Metal Wire Dark Copper Tamiya Extra Thin Cement Revell Contacta Cement Gator’s Grip Acrylic Glue Selley’s Super Glue Tamiya Surfacer Zip Kicker (super glue accelerator) Tamiya Masking Tape Steel Rule Post-It Notes Iwata HP-TR and HP-CP airbrushes Paints and Finishing Products Used: Tamiya (acrylic): X-14 Sky Blue; X-18 Semi-Gloss Black; X-25 Clear Green; X-27 Clear Red; XF-1 Flat Black; XF-2 Flat White; XF-64 Red Brown; XF-69 NATO Black. Tamiya Spray Can – White Primer; Grey Primer; AS-8 Navy Blue; AS-12 Bare Metal Silver; TS-14 Black; TS-34 Camel Yellow. Gunze-Sangyo Mr Metal Color – 219 Brass. Vallejo Model Color (acrylic): 70865 Oily Steel; 919 Foundation White; 70950 Black; 70953 Flat Yellow; 70957 Flat Red; 70950 Black. Alclad II Lacquer Klear Kote Matte Testor’s Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer Finish Solvaset decal setting solution Future Floor Polish AK Interactive AK 024 - Dark Streaking Grime Crisp and restrained panel lines; very good cockpit and engine detail; good fit; wings may be folded or extended; useful options including drop tanks, separate flaps and poseable canopy sliding section.
The wing braces were trimmed, painted and glued in place only after the outer wing panels were glued in place.
Some poorly shaped and missing detail parts; overstated fabric detail on rudder; instructions are vague in places. Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Thanks to Creative Models Limited for the sample www.creativemodels.co.uk
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
NAKED NATTER
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James Hatch addresses modeller’s burnout with a unique approach to an equally unique subject – Fly Model’s 1:32 scale Bachem Natter in a bare timber finish.
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f any aircraft type ever really exhibited the raw level of desperation to which Germany had sunk in the latter stages of WWII, then surely the Bachem Ba 349V Natter has to be pretty high on the list. The Natter, designed by Erich Bachem, was intended for use as a ‘point-defence interceptor’ that would be deployed from a vertical stance when enemy bombers were about to pass overhead. Once deployed, the intention was to head towards the bomber stream, align the Natter and launch a salvo of 24 R4M rockets towards its target. A single rocket hit could bring a bomber down, so a whole salvo would have been devastating. The Ba 349 ‘Natter’ (Viper) would be launched from a vertical tower, or from a stripped pine tree, rising on both Walther rocket and rocket booster power. The journey to the bomber stream would be conducted under autopilot, with this being disengaged by the pilot at altitude. Once his salvo of rockets was fired, the pilot would bail out of his aircraft on a parachute, whilst the rear fuselage that contained the Walther rocket motor would land with its own chute. The entire forward fuselage containing the fuel tanks, cockpit and wings, would essentially be disposable. The weapon could have been devastating, especially as under glider trial, the Natter was found to have excellent flying characteristics for its intended role. Only one manned flight was conducted, with the pilot being killed. This was the world’s first vertical manned rocket launch. Despite this, if the war had been prolonged, Germany could indeed have operated this machine that had now gone into production. At the war’s end, they were found scattered around various launching locations throughout the defunct Third Reich.
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS
All modellers go through it at some stage. Burnout. It affects all of us differently. For me, it’s not a case of losing mojo, but it is about not being able to translate the things I have learned into practical ability. Sometimes an injection of inspiration is what’s needed to kick-start the creative processes, and luckily for me, inspiration hit at just that right time. In May 2013, I had a trip planned to visit Munich, and my good friend Alex Glass of
Uschi van der Rosten suggested that we meet up, have something to eat, a few drinks, and talk of project work. Well, I sure didn’t want to decline that offer. Alex had brought me a few sample sheets of his latest wood grain decals and an example of his work with them. Knowing I was going through a burnout period, he had an idea to kick-start those creative processes, and his solution was to build a model as a study of the real construction of an actual aircraft. But this had to be all or mostly timber, in order to utilise the wood grain decal. Alex’s suggestion was the 1:48 DML Bachem Ba 349 ‘Natter’. Now I’m a large scale guy, so I pondered this before realising that I had the Czech 1:32 Fly Model Ba 349V kit languishing in the lowest depths of my stash. Of course, I jumped at the chance to do something a little different and out of my comfort zone. The meeting with Alex in that beautiful restaurant in Unterschleiβheim did indeed seem like provenance.
FAITH RESTORED
The Fly Model Ba 349V is one of only two 1:32 scale Natter kits on the market, with the other being the Ba 349A from the same manufacturer. These kits are somewhat reminiscent of Special Hobby kits in terms of plastic colour and property, as well as detail levels. Typically, they are short-run, low pressure, injection moulded kits, and whilst I typically build kits which are from the likes of Tamiya and Wingnut Wings etc., the subject of the Natter is one that I perhaps realised I’d one day attempt, although I certainly never envisaged doing it in this manner. Fly’s 1:32 scale Ba 349V is actually a very nice kit with some excellent surface detail. Some detail is perhaps a little ragged and not up to CAD standard, but overall, this is a simple kit of what was essentially a very simple aircraft. I was already weighing up how to make minor changes to improve the overall appearance of the model, both internally and externally, whilst still needing to get my head around needing to complete this in a relatively quick time in order to restart my mojo. Moulded in a quite soft, light grey styrene, the Fly Ba 349V is spread over three sprues, which also include parts for the ‘A’ variant, as well as an alternative nose, solid canopy hood and a replica of the transportation/construction frame that can
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This seemed such a simple kit that I couldn’t resist a test fit of the main components.
As the mating surfaces of the fuselage were a little rough, I decided to clean them up by running over a sheet of 240 grit paper.
After base coating the interior in Tamiya Flesh, I misted a little Radome into the panel centres. I decided to use the joint holes for the wing for fitting a toothpick spar instead, so I opened them up with a drill.
Tamiya Smoke was then used to darken recesses and panel lines.
The whole interior was then balanced out with a misted coat of Tamiya Flesh and then sprayed with Klear.
Uschi van der Rosten ‘Ronny Bar’ edition woodgrain decal was then fitted to all interior parts.
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The fuselage with all internals closes up very nicely!
Cockpit interior areas were then painted with Vallejo paint, and some Airscale placards used to liven up the quite basic interior.
A poor area of this kit is the scribed bolt ports around the fuselage circumference. I opened these up, blanked them from the rear and added Masterclub resin rivets to simulate the bolts.
Many panel lines were left off this kit as they would be puttied underneath a paint scheme. My job was to reinstate them so the wooden panels could be used to best effect.
The wing joints were levelled by rubbing over 240 grit paper…
be seen in many period images of the Natter. There were a few ragged edges to some parts and a certain amount of flash that would have to be dealt with. Also included with this kit was a bag of resin and a couple of small frets of photoetched parts. The resin parts, which included the pilot seat, R4M rocket tubes, control surface actuators, solid rocket booster nozzles, forward cockpit bulkhead, booster rocket spacer blocks, cockpit control cable pulleys, Walther rocket motor exhaust etc, were superbly cast, having some exceptional finesse and detail to them. No fault could be found anywhere, and removal from casting blocks would be easy to achieve. A small decal sheet was also included, but for the purpose of this project I had no intention of using any of those, with the idea being to recreate the Natter as it looked, sans paint. The photoetched frets contained parts to strap the solid rocket boosters to the rear fuselage, as well as a set of seatbelts for the pilot. I’m not big fan of PE belts, so these would be replaced with an RB Productions set. More on this later in the article.
LET’S GET NAKED!
…and then drilled out to match the toothpick spare locations drilled into the wing roots.
To create the Ba 349 as I wished to, complete with the rocket boosters already fitted yet no paint, I knew that what I was going to aim for was a compromise, with a certain degree of stylisation and artistic licence. A sort of an ‘anatomy of…’ but without all the panels and ports open as you sometimes see in such projects. Strangely enough, the one thing the kit didn’t supply was the clear perspex nose that covered the rockets on take-off, or even the rockets. This didn’t really matter though, as it was the timber aspect I wanted to create, along with the natural metal boosters. The first task was to remove the fuselage halves from their sprue in order to ascertain just how friendly this kit would be to assemble, and to test fit to see how well they matched. The actual match was as good as any regular injection kit, but of course without the locating pins that the latter has. The mating surfaces were also a little rough in places. To fix this, a sheet of 240 grade Wet ‘n Dry paper was laid out, and each fuselage half taken in turn and gently ground against the paper in order to level things out a little. About half a
dozen or so passes each, and the job was done. Temporarily mating the two together proved that everything lined up with no having to push and pull the plastic to make it conform. The Natter more than likely had a lot of its panel seams filled with putty and rubbed back before the airframe was painted. It was pretty obvious from looking at the exterior of the moulded parts, that there weren’t enough panel lines to satisfy what I needed to achieve. Using my personal reference material, coupled with a trawl of the Internet, yielded some very useful images of the Natter under construction in the Bachem workshops. These photos were of actual fuselage and sub-assembly construction, as well as a completed skeletal airframe which was used as an instructional item to show assemblers how the finished thing should look. This proved invaluable for my project. With this reference material, I started to mark out the exterior of the fuselage in soft pencil, before making some Dymo-tape guides and scribing the ‘missing’ panel lines which I would need to create these extra wooden panels. My
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Test fitting shows that the plan worked, with the wings sitting perfectly level.
All flying surfaces were now assembled and cleaned up.
At this point, I shifted from Tamiya to Gunze paint, airbrushing the exterior in gloss Flesh.
Gunze Radome balanced out the shading and basecoat, before highlighting panel centres in Radome + white. A final Radome coat was then applied.
Pre-shading was completed with a heavy burst of gloss Black. I wanted to accentuate the eventual shading more than I would with a painted scheme.
HAVING A BLAST
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Note the tinted panels at the rear of the fuselage.
I decided to mask off a few panels and give a light misting of Flesh. This would help to give a visible tint to these wooden panels.
Armed with just about every Uschi wood grain decal set, I started the most enjoyable task of this project.
To transfer the shape of the panel to the decal sheet, I used Kabuki tape.
“All modellers go through it at some stage. Burnout.”
Instant wood! No need for real veneers!
This was then stuck to a card background, and cut to shape…
...before transferring the shape to the decal paper.
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The fuselage took around a day of fairly light work to complete.
Applying the decals transforms the parts totally.
The canopy parts were masked off prior to airbrushing in Gunze Flesh.
The main canopy part complete.
We certainly can’t forget the non-wooden parts. The rocket boosters are now assembled.
Alclad Dark Aluminium is a great colour for natural metal. This was then sealed with Humbrol Gloss Clear.
The rocket booster packs were then assembled and a Blue-Grey Humbrol wash applied.
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I didn’t want to use copper paint to replicate the exterior windscreen framework, so I opted to use real copper in the form of self-adhesive tape. This was then riveted with an MDC tool.
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This was given the same treatment as the aircraft, but finished with Uschi planking decal for the side planks.
The wooden Bachem carrier frame was then assembled.
Photo-etched parts were used to mount the rocket boosters to the fuselage. The decal was removed in these places and CA used to fix the metalwork.
construction. To this end, Uschi van der Rosten woodgrain decal would be used here. The resin and plastic bulkheads were first test fitted and trimmed to ensure a good, close fit to their surroundings. I didn’t want a tight fit here as I needed to apply no less than 4 coats of paint, a decal layer and a sealing varnish coat.
INTRODUCING ‘USCHI’
Uschi woodgrain decal isn’t the simple option, or an artistic cop-out at all. The various products are all printed with a translucent base. This means that the preparation work needed before you can apply any decal pieces is vitally important to the ultimate finish. Perhaps there is more effort and preparation work for this than with the oil-drag method of applying wood grain. I am well-acquainted with Uschi decal, yet I painted the interior base colours with Tamiya paints that have a darker hue than their Gunze equivalents. The result was perhaps a darker interior than I would have wanted, so for the exterior, I switched to Gunze. Firstly, the interior walls were given a coat of Tamiya Flesh. In order not to make things in there look too dank and dark, I used Tamiya Smoke to highlight the edges and corners that existed.
Booster packs are now attached and all of a sudden, this little aircraft begins to look very purposeful.
After a quick coat of Klear to seal, I used Model Master Radome to accentuate the centres of the panels and other open spaces. As I have said, this arrangement of paints would be ditched later in the build. To balance out the rather garish finish, a thinned coat of Radome was applied overall, followed by a few thin coats of Tamiya Flesh. This has the effect of creating highlights and lowlights/ shadows to the various areas, giving them a visual depth. Everything was then given a gloss finish by brush painting Klear. For the decaling, I used Uschi’s rich ‘Ronny Bar’ wood decal sheet, as I had a few pieces of this left from a previous project. Each piece was applied using a little Mr Mark setter to help drift things into position before being patted down with a cotton bud. Once all decaling was done, it was sealed with a coat of Klear. The cockpit, despite its quite sparse appearance, still has enough to catch the eye of those who like to ‘office gaze’, as I put it. I didn’t want to go all out here and start modifying pieces, and getting all anal about the various aspects. A reproduction Natter cockpit image I have seen still showed this aspect of the aircraft to have quite simplistic controls. As a result, there would be no real modification of kit parts in this area as they
were still very representative of the actual aircraft. The pilot’s bulkhead required a headrest framework attaching. This was decaled at the same time as the rest of the interior, and then fitted. A couple of support rails were fitted behind this from the resin parts supplied in the kit. These were painted in Gunze Chrome. The lower headrest rail appears to be a little darker in my photos. This is due to me applying two layers of decal here, which has the effect of making things look a little richer in colour. Other cockpit detail was finished in a combination of Gunze and Vallejo paints, mostly applied with a detail brush. I decided to rig the rudder pedals with a little EZ Line. This was passed through two holes I drilled into the bulkhead, below the pilot’s seat. The control cables were also rigged, through a pulley system from the cockpit floor through to the seat bulkhead and beyond. As I needed a little rigidity in these cables because they pass down the cockpit wall, I used fine detailing lead wire. These were ‘clipped’ to the cockpit wall with two small pieces of Tamiya tape, painted silver. Some interior parts had a pin wash applied to them to accentuate any detail. For this, I used Mig Dark Wash and a 0000 size brush. The forward bulkhead was then fitted using
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The model assembled with no problem whatsoever. I was very satisfied with the overall appearance.
The finished display cradle.
The subtle variations between the panels and hatches are shown to good effect in this view.
Detail around the exhaust and rocket nozzles.
LET’S CLOSE THIS ONE UP
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“Fly’s 1:32 scale Ba 349V is actually a very nice kit with some excellent surface detail.”
This project made me think differently about my approach to modelling, and most certainly inspired me to try something more challenging.
point I also cleaned up the wing to fuselage joint in order to give a perfect fit to the fuselage. Now for the fun part! Preparing the fuselage for the correct tints and tones took longer than applying the decal itself. As I previously mentioned, I now switched to Gunze/Mr Hobby paints exclusively.
SHOW THE FLESH
First of all, the entire exterior was painted in a base coat of Flesh. It didn’t take long to get a good, solid colour covering to this little model. The finish to this flesh colour, and all the paints I used for this section were either gloss or semi gloss and diluted 50:50 with Mr Levelling Thinner. The airbrush was then loaded with Black paint and a heavy pre-shade was applied to all panel lines and ports. This thing looked seriously ugly at this point. A balancing coat of heavily thinned Flesh was then applied, but slightly more diluted than 50:50. Radome was now sprayed in the centres of panels and then thinner coats were used to balance the whole model once more. The next stage is to then lighten the Radome 50:50 with white paint and again concentrate on those panel centres before applying thinned, misted coats over the whole model. By now, things should look quite subtle. Despite using a variety of wood grain decal, I opted to airbrush a very light misting of Flesh over a few random panels, just to break up the appearance of the various timber decals. When the model sub-assemblies were painted, they were then airbrushed with Klear in order to seal them and provide a perfect decaling surface. When I met Alex in Munich, he supplied me with a number of different wood decal sheets. The ones I would be using for this would be the Veneer types. I also supplemented this with Uschi’s Knotless decal, supplied to me courtesy of the wonderful Grant Lovett of Arrow Wolf Models. Decaling a model entirely isn’t such a time consuming project, but it does pay to take your
time in order to get things right. To produce the panels for this model, I used a combination of two methods, For the larger shapes with a number of compound curves, I traced the panel shape to a piece of masking tape, peeled it off the model and then stuck this to a good quality thin card. I like to use cereal box card. This is then cut around and the shape transferred to the decal sheet. Alex suggests just lessening the adhesive of the tape by repeatedly sticking to your hands a few times, but I’ve had mixed results and damaged the decal doing this. The easier panel areas had a slightly oversized piece of decal applied to them, and while relatively freshly applied, the decal was trimmed with a sharp scalpel blade along the panel lines. The excess was then removed. It was whilst I was doing this process that I noticed the rich and natural variation that occurred when one decal piece overlapped another. I thought that the appearance was something that shouldn’t be dismissed, and I decided to use this effect for the control surfaces in order to offer demarcation from the rest of the airframe. I used Mr Mark Setter only where I was working with compound shapes. Other than that, no setting solution was required. The Natter had a wooden canopy hood with glazed panels installed. This was masked and painted at a later stage than the fuselage, and decaled in the same manner now described. Before any painting could be done, I took a polishing stick to the canopies and buffed them up. The native transparent quality of the clear parts is better than average, but not glowing, so a dip in Klear helped improve these a lot. I used a combination of the veneer and knotless decals, in both rich and pale shades in order to break up what could have been a rather monotone finish. Total decaling time for the model was about one and a half days. Not too bad when you consider that a paint scheme and weathering don’t need to be applied.
HAMMER, NAIL, SORTED!
Well, you can’t have timber without nails. The real Ba 349 had its plywood panels fixed to the skeleton by the use of both glue and nails. As I was a little reluctant to start sticking Dymo tape to the surface of the Natter in order to run a rivet tool, I opted to purchase some HGW Wood Nail decal (free lines). Adding the various rows of decal nails was a little laborious, but paid dividends with the overall finish of the model, really adding that touch that a wooden structure would have. The HGW nails are quite clever. You cut a strip of the nail decal from the sheet, measure and trim to size. You then soak it as you would a normal decal. A few seconds later, the carrier film and nail dots are removed from the backing sheet and transferred to the model. Once you have it in position, a cotton bud is used to remove the excess moisture. When the strip has been in place for 3 hours, you peel the carrier film away, just leaving the nails in place….nothing else! A quick rub with a cotton bud then removes the carrier film residue. The wingtips looked difficult to wood decal but with care and setting solution you can get the decal to mould around the tip to the half way point. Once neatly trimmed along that centreline, the process is repeated from the other side. The forward most nose ring decal was applied in sections and carefully trimmed to size. With all decaling done, Klear was hand brushed over the whole model to seal the decals. I applied as many lines as I could in one session due to the 3 hour wait in between applications. Once all the nails were added, the model was given a final coat of Klear to seal everything in. I did think about the option of adding a coat of Tamiya Clear Yellow to the model to make everything look a little richer, but I don’t think it would have been worth the risk in altering the tone of the whole model at this stage, plus the base coat and decal ensemble seemed to
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The simple photo-etched canopy hinge.
Note the subtle nail detail
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The control surfaces look very effective.
The copper windscreen frame and the photo-etched gunsight lend some variation to the timber grain finish.
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MODELSPEC Fly Models 1:32 Bachem Ba 349V ‘Natter’.
Kit No. 32001
Tools and Modelling Products Used: Iwata HP-CH airbrush GSI Creos Scriber Dymo Tape EZ Line Tamiya Extra Thin Cememt Devcon Epoxy Zap CA and activator Copper tape, self adhesive HGW Wood Nail decals, free lines Mr Mark Setter 0.2mm Plusmodel Lead Wire Tamiya Tape Swann Morton scalpel and blades No.11 & No.15 RB Productions Luftwaffe seatbelts, green Lindstrom tweezers 2mm drill bit & pin vise Tooth pick Uschi van der Rosten Veneer, Ronny Bar and Knotless wood grain decal Uschi van der Rosten concrete base Eduard German tool box, 1:35 Airscale Luftwaffe instrument decals Airscale Luftwaffe placards Paints and Finishing Products Used:
“Uschi woodgrain decal isn’t the simple option, or an artistic cop-out at all.”
get everything right first time. The time had come to finally assemble all the various Natter sections. Where plastic to plastic joints were employed, I removed and decal which was in the path of the joint, and used a very small amount of Revell Contacta. Where the resin tail mount was involved, I used a small amount of Devcon Epoxy, well within the middle of the joint. I didn’t want to risk using super glue and not aligning things properly. Removal of the part could have torn the wood decal from the surface. This is indeed a simple kit to assemble, and the rocket boosters are no exception. These were supplied as halves, glued together with Tamiya cement, and when dry, the seams were removed with sanding sticks and sponges. The resin booster nozzles were then removed from their casting block, cleaned up and fitted to the booster bodies with CA. I decided to airbrush the boosters in Alclad Dark Aluminium, and add a subtle wash to the booster nozzles. The boosters were then assembled into packs of two using the ‘wooden’ blocks that I prepared and decaled earlier in construction. The boosters were then fitted to the fuselage using the photo etch straps which were included in the kit. I was
pretty sure that these straps would have been made from a low grade metal, and probably not very clean either. I decided to airbrush these parts in Gunze Dark Iron, before buffing to a suitable sheen. The Natter’s forward windscreen was sheathed on the outside with what appears to be copper. Instead of simply spraying this in a coppercoloured paint, I opted to use very thin selfadhesive copper tape. The real beauty of was that it would eventually take on a nice patina. The thickness of the copper tape would also enhance the appearance as the plastic part doesn’t have great frame definition. Once applied, I used a beading tool to add rivets to the framing. I also ensured that the copper slightly overlapped the fuselage joint in order to give a more authentic look The final parts, such as the small dorsal fin and aiming sight for the rockets, were added and touched up with a little paint. Fly Model supplies a small photo-etched hinge for hanging the models hood. This was bent to shape and the hood fitted into on open position. I had been pondering for a while on how I might display the Natter. Should I pose it on a plinth, suspended on a pole, and in flight?
Johnsons Klear Mr Hobby Flesh, Radome, White, Black, Silver Tamiya Flesh, White, Smoke, Deck Tan Griffin Alkyd Raw Umber oil paint. Model Master Radome Vallejo Red, German Green, Black, Chocolate Brown, Leather. References: X-Planes of the Third Reich by David Mhyra Bachem Ba 349 Natter by Joachim Dressel
No, perhaps not. Instead I decided to use that construction cradle that was supplied in the kit. This area required perhaps more clean up than the kit itself in order to remove seams. Painting it in the same manner as the model itself, I added Uschi’s planking decal to give it an authentic appearance, and using the same paint preparation to achieve the underlying coats. This had to look different to the Natter’s timber, and I think these products achieved that pretty well. Again, I used Masterclub resin rivets to simulate the bolts/nails which would have been used to hold the cradle again.
CONCLUSION
This project was designed to pull me from the modelling doldrums, and it did more than that. It actually made me think differently about my approach to modelling, and most certainly inspired me to try something more challenging. Please watch this space with regard to that one! Many thanks to Jeroen Peters, Grant Lovett, Alex Glass, Dave Johnson and Martin Philpott for their invaluable and much appreciated support during the planning and building of this project. I owe them much. •
Aircraft Edition
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SHOW REPORT: QUEENSLAND MODEL AND HOBBY EXPO 2013
QUEENSLAND MODEL AND HOBBY EXPO 2013 The Editor heads to sunny Brisbane to visit the 2013 Queensland Model and Hobby Expo.
N
ow in its 18th year at the same location, the 2013 Queensland Model and Hobby Expo was held at the Brisbane Table Tennis Centre on the weekend of 7 and 8 September. QMHE is a co-operative annual venture between local Queensland model clubs, but entries are open to members and the public alike. This year, the tables boasted nearly 350 quality entries, but numbers were boosted by many more models on club display tables. In addition to the aircraft models present, there were plenty of cars, trucks, military vehicles, figures and even a working small scale railroad. The show was well attended by modellers and members of the public, including families and young people. Plenty of traders were on hand, amongst them OzMods, Modelnerds, Firestorm Models, Fold iT Models, Creative Models Australia, Ronnel’s Hobbies and many more. The canteen, serving hoot food, was doing a roaring trade too. If you’re in Australia anywhere near sunny Queensland in September next year, drop by – it’s well worthwhile! •
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The imposing Hawk / Lindberg 1/245 scale Graf Zeppelin by Wayne Huston.
Trumpeter’s 1:72 scale Sea Fury by Don Moore. Greg Anderson from OzMods with their latest releases.
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Tamiya’s 1:48 scale Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VIc by David Roach.
Visitors lining up for entry on a sunny Brisbane weekend.
Club displays were impressive. Here is IPMS Queensland.
Eric Galliers’ 1:32 scale sleek Aerotech Supermarine S.4
Also by David Roach was Hasegawa’s 1:48 scale Republic P-47D-23 Thunderbolt.
A lovely finish on this 1:72 scale Hasegawa F-111 by Mick Drover.
Trumpeter’s 1:24 scale Spitfire Mk.Vb.
It was also a good chance to stock up on tools.
This remarkable model is Aerobase’s 1/1000 scale stripped-down Graf Zepplin Airship by Adam Claxton.
Aircraft Edition
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SHOW REPORT: QUEENSLAND MODEL AND HOBBY EXPO 2013
Trumpeter’s 1:24 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2 “Steppe Relic” by Danny Lapthorpe.
This model has been extensively weathered and damaged.
Right: Academy’s 1:72 scale Umpire P-39D Airacobra by Darryl Slight.
Left: Pro Modeller’s 1:48 scale Me 410 by John Dryburgh.
Left: Zoukei-Mura 1:32 scale Kyushu J7W1 Shinden by Wayne Huston.
Also from Danny, Airfix’s 1:24 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4.
Trumpeter’s 1:32 scale Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot by Gary Lang.
Full engine detail is on display.
Tamiya’s 1:72 scale A6M2 Zero by Darryl Slight.
A good variety of subjects from Darling Downs Scale Modellers.
Maritime modellers were well represented too, including this impressive Trumpeter 1:350 scale Richelau by David Dalton. Italeri 1:48 scale Wessex Helicopter by Gary Lang.
Plenty of traders were on hand to relive modellers of their money.
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Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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Brett Simpson’s 1:32 scale Wingnut Wings RE.8
P-40N in 1:48 scale.
Hobbycraft’s 1:144 scale B-36 by Phil Morlet.
Airfix 1:48 scale BAE Hawk T1 by Shane Weier.
RAAF Amberley, home of the late great F-111, and a model club.
John Dryburgh entered this 1:48 scale Dragon Me 262 B
Shane Weier was responsible for HobbyBoss’ colourful 1:72 scale F4F-3 Wildcat.
Danny Lapthorpe ‘s 1:24 scale Bf 109 F-2 conversion.
Creative Models Australia.
Eric Galliers’ 1:32 scale Kinetic BAE Hawk 127.
Aircraft Edition
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
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BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER 36
Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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T
he RE.8 (Royal Aircraft Factory Reconnaissance Experimental 8) entered service with the RFC in late 1916 as a replacement for the BE series of 2-seaters. It was based on the BE.2e design, sharing its components like wings, undercarriage and tail plane. Nicknamed "Harry Tate" – rhyming slang after an English music hall star - the aircraft can be seen as an antithesis to a streamlined design. Form follows function but in this case the overall appearance clearly shows that this plane has nothing to do with a modern design. Major elements of the plane such as the exhausts, the air scoop and the dominant King Posts seem to point in all but the intended direction. The excessive rigging and the short number of struts in comparison to its wingspan will have been made
pilots sceptical to its stability and performance. Nevertheless it continued in service for the rest of the war, employed on reconnaissance, artillery observation and light bombing duties.
THE PTERODACTYL
When I first saw pictures of the RE.8, I was attracted by its unconventional look. You can feel the instability of the design and the need for structural rigging and that’s what I wanted to express with my model. In this sense rigging represents this fragile state of stability in which all those different materials like wood, linen and metal are forming a functional unit. To use a metaphor: While modern planes are often compared with birds and named especially by birds of prey, I had the impression that this plane bears analogy to a
less successful early design in nature: a prehistoric “Pterodactyl”. Three modelling techniques proved to be essential for the outcome of a British WWI fighter and my article will focus on three key aspects: Applying a convincing wood grain finish, handling complex rigging and creating realistic monochrome surfaces. While building Wingnut Wings “LVG C VI” and their “Albatros D Va” I had my first experience in creating wood grain finishes. WNW’s British WWI planes, their Brisfit, the “SE.5a” and especially their fabulous “FE.2b late” gave me some extensive teaching sessions in rigging. The rigging of the Fee’s tail boom with its instable design gave me Aircraft Edition
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
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Small spots of Umber and Black followed, applied with a toothpick. This paint was treated in the same way as described above.
Painting the woodwork follows the "Hints and Tips" included in Wingnut Wings’ instructions. I used Tamiya XF-59 desert yellow as the base colour and "Future" for the coat. For the basic wooden finish undiluted Burnt Sienna oil paint was applied by using a sponge. After a few minutes I used this special brush to get the structure in a more detailed way. The brush was used with a small quantity of White Spirit.
The various elements of the cockpit receive different mixes of Umber, Sienna and Red-Brown oil paints to emphasise the appearance of the multiple types of woods used inside the cockpit.
and see!
WOODWORKING
The cockpit has been detailed by using 0.15mm copper wire for the wiring of the instrument lamps. The copper wires have been coloured in red and blue. After using "Future" to protect the lacquer, both wires were drilled together. The instruments were painted with Alclad paints.
The instrument lamps have been made scratch by using tin-solder. The metal was bended and sanded down on the sides to get the shape of lamps. The decals were placed and I had some problems in identifying the correct position of the numerals.
In preparation for the rigging I drilled some holes in the struts. I used the hole in the back strut as a guide for drilling through the strut on the instrument panel. Choose a relaxed day for this operation!
I tried to trim the wicker pattern on the pilot seat. As shown on Wingnuts “Hints and Tips” the plastic on the backside of the seat can be cut away with caution. That’s the theory. I have tried the same on my Brisfit and… failed again.
I removed the middle part with the very delicate pattern and choose some nylon mesh from a wallet and fixed it with CA. After priming and a base coat the seat looked very convincing to my eyes.
The completed cockpit enclosed in its framing.
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The engine block was airbrushed with Alclad Aluminum and has been polished afterwards by using cotton buds.
For the cylinders I used Tamiya Black and added some MigPigments (gun metal), applied with the finger.
The ignition wire has been made from .20mm copper wire. In order to fit on the shape of the engine block, the 10 strings of the wire were bent together. The harness was coloured in a dark reddish brown and was sealed with a coat of Future.
I used different Alclad-Lacquers (Aluminum, Dark Aluminum, Steel) to create some colour variation due to the different metals used for the engine.
The weathering was done with a mixture of heavily thinned black and Umber artist-oil-colours.
especially during the fitting of the gunners section. WNW suggests sanding down the plastic behind the wicker pattern on the pilot’s seat to achieve a realistic look, so that’s what I did and I easily came to the point of … its destruction! I had to find an adequate substitute for this important detail and chose some nylon mesh material. While working on the wooden parts of the cockpit, the struts also receive their wood grain finish. Preparing the struts proves to be very time consuming. Besides the wooden paintwork, every metal bracket needs to be painted by using a high quality 000 size brush. Structural rigging is done by using conventional 0.12mm fishing line. The optional Ruston decals on the struts are of excellent quality. One very interesting detail is the struts between the upper and lower ailerons. They were wrapped around the brackets for enhanced stability and I reproduced this detail by using EZ-line fixed with superglue (CA). The castings of the instruments were painted with Alclad colours. Decals, all printed in excellent quality, were placed and I had some problems in identifying the correct position of the numerals and markings. I failed to find the correct position under my magnifying glasses due to the microscopic dimensions. I used the macro function on my Nikon Coolpix camera to check the right position and was able to fix the decals after several attempts. The decals were applied by using Microset and Microsol. After drying I used crystal clear to simulate the glass. One thing that’s quite irritating and caused some discussion in forums is the map decal No. 77 on part A66. Printed in colour it is hard to believe that it’s close to the real maps used in 1918. A scaled down and printed photo of one of the original maps would be more convincing to my eyes.
I used Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan lightened with XF-2 Flat White as an overall base colour. The wing rips and parts of the nacelle have been masked with Tamiya tape before some preshading with Tamiya X-19 Smoke. The wings and the fuselage get their coat of PC 10. The first step was the overall base coat of Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tanfollowed by some shading.
The next step highlights the dark and bright parts of the wings and the fuselage, similar to a mottled Luftwaffe scheme. I mixed a lighter and a darker shade of PC 10 by using Tamiya XF-62 Dark Green and XF-10 Flat Brown.
STEELWORKS
Like all Wingnut kits, the cockpit of the RE.8 can be considered a model in its own right. Another area of interest is the engine. The RAF 4a engine provided in the kit is high detailed and consists of 28 parts. To reproduce the different materials used on the engine, Alclad paints proved to have the best results in my view. All parts have been painted before assembly and the lacquer can be Aircraft Edition
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
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More coats of light and later dark shaded PC10 mix followed. After the final and very brownish coat of PC 10, the varnish has been sanded down with 8.000 to 12.000 size micromesh cloths.
This step ensures the worn look, pops up the details and let the linen shine through on heavily exposed areas.
INSIDE THE SPRAY SHOP
During painting, the cockpit was masked off with a piece of sponge
Markings have been applied to the fuselage before further assembly.
CLIMBING THE RIGGING
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The lower wings were added next. Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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The struts are a tiny works of art. Due to their thinness and the fact that only eight struts are used it is quite hard to imagine that the upper wing can be fixed in a stable way.
First the struts were primed with Tamiya’s desert yellow and sealed with Future. For the wood grain oil paint were used as described above. While the mounting points from the exhausts to the upper wings will do their job in adding some stiffness I decided to use nylon monofilament for the rigging between the pairs of struts to enhance stability.
The most difficult procedure was the fixing of the struts on the upper wing. Like Wingnuts’ "Hints and Tips" suggest, I first glued the centre struts and then the external struts. I had lots of problems with fixing the left centre strut No. 33. While every other strut sits properly, this one seems to be too short. I am sure that this was because of my own mistake. I fixed the strut as best as I can, keeping in mind that the parallel alignment of the wings has priority.
The bird carries a 112lb Early Type Hale Bomb.
Fixing the eight struts on the lower wing was much easier than on my FE.2b. For correct alignment I have modified a template of the upper wing that I have used before on my “Fee”. To keep the correct distance between the left and right centre struts, I have used some small cardboard sheets in the proper length.
While the CA cures, the upper and lower wings were kept aligned by using the box as shown here.
Finally, the excess rigging was cut off.
I used the HGW detail set for the bomb and its carrier. I cut After a base coat of Tamiya’s Fine Primer, I used a mix away the fin and sanded down the body of the bomb by of Tamiya XF60-desert yellow and XF3-flat yellow and using my Dremel. lightened the mix with a drop of XF2-white.
The completed bomb on its rack.
The Lewis gun and its mount.
The HGW detail set for the Lewis Gun was also used.
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The bungee cord on the mount of the Lewis gun has been drilled by using three 0.05mm copper wires, painted in Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan and one 0.15 copper wire, painted with a mix of XF-10 Flat Brown and XF-7 Flat Red. The wires received a coat of Future and were drilled together by using a hand brace. Afterwards the wires were sealed with another layer of Future bonding them together perfectly.
Aircraft Edition
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
HARRY GETS A GUN
All that extra time put into the complex rigging is well worthwhile.
PTERODACTYL SHAKEDOWN FLIGHT
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This build was completed over a four month period.
‘Like all Wingnut kits, the cockpit of the RE.8 can be considered as a model in its own right...’
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Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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MODELSPEC Wingnut Wings 1:32 RE.8 Harry Tate”. Kit No. 32012 Accessories: EZ Rigging Line (Gold-Zack/Prym Knitting in elastic 977770) Tectan Fluorcarbon Fishing Line, 012mm/0,004in HGW 132020 RFC Bomb Tail-Rack HGW 132019 RFC Lewis / Vickers Guns Tools and Materials Used: Tamiya Extra Fine Cement Revell Contacta Professional Cement UHU Cyanacrylat Super Glue Harder and Steinbeck Evolution Airbrush Dremel Multi-Tool Brass rod and drills from 0,3mm to 1,2mm Tamiya 10mm Masking Tape Isopropyl Alcohol Future Floor Finish Copper wire, 0,20mm, 0,15mm, 0,05mm; tin-lead solder 0,5mm Paints and Finishing Products Used:
The Lewis gun and its mount have been fitted to the rear cockpit.
Tamiya Acrylics as listed in Instructions paint callouts Tamiya X-20 Thinner Alclad II Lacquers: Alc-104 Pale Burnt Metal, ALC-105 Polished Aluminium, ALC-111 Magnesium, ALC-112 Steel, ALC-108 Pale Gold, ALC-110 Copper, ALC-103 Dark Aluminium Norma Professional Oil paints: 680 translucent redbrown, 624 burnt umber, 792 ivory/black, 610 burnt Sienna, 681 English red light, 114 titanium white Schminke 50038 “Medium 1” turpentine Valleyo Model Air acrylics: 71058 Gloss Varnish, 085 Italian Red, 71057 Black Valleyo 100% Acrylic Resin: 70522 Satin Varnish, 70520 Matt Varnish MIG-Pigments: P034 Russian Earth, P23 Gun Metal, P033 Dark Mud Microscale Products: Micro Sol, Micro Set, Micro Kristal Klear References: Windsock Datafile 153 RAF RE8 at War by Paul R Hare The Vintage Aviator website Jamo Fahey’s Photo Bucket account, especially library TVAL RE8 (http://s1011.photobucket.com/user/Jamo_kiwi/library/ TVAL%20RE8?sort=6&page=1) Acknowledgements: Thanks to Brett Green for his support and to the members of HyperScale’s Forums Many thanks to Des Dalore and the forum members on WWIaircraftmodels.com Beautiful detail and moulding; excellent fit. Tricky struts and rigging. Rating: 9 out of 10 Availability: I made the decision to build the Tate in the markings of the B5106 "1a", a Daimler built machine from 59th Squadron.
Wingnut Wings kits are available online from their website www.wingnutwings.com and from Hannants www.hannants.com
Aircraft Edition
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KIT PREVIEW:
ISLAND HOPPER Tamiya expands its 1:72 scale Zero family with the clipped wing A6M3 Type 32. The Editor takes a look.
T
amiya released their game-changing 1:32 scale A6M5 Zero more than a decade ago, followed by their stunning 1:48 scale Zero in 2008. It was therefore pleasing but no surprise when Tamiya released a brand new 1:72 scale Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero in the first quarter of 2012
with a Pearl Harbour A6M2 following before the end of that year. Tamiya has now further expanded the family with a new 1:72 scale A6M3 Type 32. This variant featured clipped wing tips and a new engine, but it suffered from lower range due to its smaller fuel capacity. Tamiya’s new A6M3 Type 32 comprises 72 parts in grey plastic; five parts in clear; two polythene caps and decals for three marking options, two in overall IJN Grey-Green based in New Guinea, and one with Green upper surfaces as part of the Oita Naval Air Group. In common with its earlier siblings, moulding quality is perfect. Surface detail is remarkable for this small scale, mainly by way of very finely recessed panel lines, with some subtly raised
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fabric strips on control surfaces. Selected rows of subtle rivets are present along some of the lower wing panel lines too. Detail is excellent throughout, but the cockpit in particular is every bit as good as the earlier Zero front offices. The seat is realistically thin. Lightening holes are represented by indentations, but a few minutes with a pin vise will hollow them out. Sidewall detail is deep and accurate, with the various quadrants and boxes added from separate parts. The floor features an open space for the clear viewing window. The instrument panel is mounted on the back of the ammunition bins and with the gun breeches included. The panel features decal instruments, which should look fantastic if carefully aligned. The wheel wells are authentically deep and busy. The engine is equally good. It is made up of only four parts, but it looks great. Cooling fin detail is crisp, while pushrods are moulded to the front cylinder face. The one-piece engine cowling is seamless. Cowl flaps are moulded shut, and all control surfaces are in neutral positions, including the closed landing flaps. Poly caps are used to fit the propeller assembly and the drop tank. The clear parts are thin and completely free of distortion. Alternative canopy parts are included for closed or open configurations – a nice touch. A well detailed reflector gunsight is also provided in clear. The decal sheet includes printed harness straps for the pilot’s seat. Tamiya’s 1:48 scale Zeros include canopy masks but unfortunately still none for its smaller cousins. Tamiya’s 1:72 A6M3 Type 32 Zero is beautifully detailed, with one of the best small scale cockpits straight from the box available today. The model should be a pleasure to build thanks to the thoughtful planning of Tamiya’s designers too. Even if you are not a big fan of Japanese aircraft, you would be doing yourself a favour by sampling the sheer excellence and of Tamiya’s new 1:72 scale Mitsubishi Zeros. Thanks to Tamiya Japan for the sample www. tamiya.com Tamiya kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited www.hobbyco.net •
The new clipped wings.
The engine is simply broken down but also nicely detailed.
The clear parts include the option for an open canopy.
Surface detail is simply exquisite.
Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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GALLERY:
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DESERT STORMER Leo Stevenson builds and details Revell’s big 1:32 scale Tornado GR.1, finished in markings from the first Gulf War.
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he first Gulf War in 1991 was the last major pre-Internet war, and yet at the same it was also the first war in which all sorts of new military technology was used in anger for the first time. However, it now seems like a long time ago and more recent events, including ‘9/11’ and the second Gulf War, have overshadowed it. For me, this model was an opportunity to reflect on those times.
LIVING THROUGH WAR
I have a friend and former work colleague at the British Museum, Kirsty, who has particularly vivid memories of this war because she was working in Kuwait at the time of Saddam Hussein’s invasion. She remembers many frightening and surreal things happening as events quickly unfolded, and it is through her recalled experiences that I now think of this war as much as through what I remember seeing in the media at the time. All wars have striking images that leave their marks on us. Ever since the 1960s the most memorable images and personalities of war first come to us first through television. In the case of the first Gulf War, who can forget ‘Storming’ Norman Schwarzkopf, the grainy video footage of guided
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missile strikes or those burning oil wells? Other images linger too. With my interest in aircraft, I particularly remember the sight of the Royal Air Force’s Panavia GR.1 Tornados painted in ‘desert pink’ and the TV reports of their actions, especially during the opening few days of the war. As part of Operation Desert Storm their daring missions were designed to rapidly disable Saddam Hussein’s air force; heroic actions that contributed to make the British press jangle with jingoistic sentiments. It was seen as (another) ‘just war in a just cause’. The RAF entered into this spirit by letting their air crews decorate their aircraft in various ways to personalise them - something that they’ve never done in such a flamboyant way before or since. Many RAF Jaguars and Tornados in the Gulf sported a wide variety of typical warplane artwork, inevitably running from scantily dressed women to figures from cartoons and of course the weirdly common shark’s mouth motif, a motif that has been painted on aircraft of almost every conflict and nationality since the middle of the First World War. It makes me think that this would make a great subject for a book and/or a special series of decals, but I digress.
TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
As a modeller my main interest is in World War One, but not exclusively, so when I saw this 1/32 Tornado GR.1 kit on EBay about five years ago I just couldn’t resist it, not least because Revell don’t make this kit anymore. As soon as I bought it I also managed to buy two 1/32 JP233 ‘runway denial’ weapons made by Paragon designs, and as these are also no longer made I was very lucky with both items. It is only in the last few months that I finally managed to build this model, and so I present it here for your delectation. This is a big model – 55cm long and with a wingspan of 43cm (wings folded out); was it worth taking up so much shelf space? Yes. It’s a brutal but sleek looking aircraft and this fact, along with the slightly odd camouflage and unusually flamboyant markings are what made me want to build it. I was also attracted by the heavy weathering that these Tornados endured, something caused by a combination of hasty and bad re-painting from the grey/green schemes they had in Europe and also the harsh unforgiving conditions of the desert, as well as constant combat use. The distinctive soot staining on Tornado fins caused by its unique
Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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“All wars have striking images that leave their marks on us...”
MODELSPEC Revell-Monogram 1/32 Tornado GR.1.
Kit No. 4705
After-market items and accessories used: Master – pitot tube and angle-of-attack probes, Aires – Panavia Tornado IDS Cockpit set, Aires – Panavia Tornado exhaust nozzles, Paragon Designs – JP233 runway denial weapons Tools and modelling products used: Revell – ‘Contacta professional’ polystyrene glue, Zap – ‘Slo-zap’ cyanoacrylate glue, Gator’s Grip – ‘Acrylic Hobby Glue’, Microscale Industries – ‘Micro Krystal Klear’, Humbrol – ‘Maskol’ masking fluid, Tamiya – 6, 10 & 18mm masking tapes, Alclad II – ‘Micromesh Polishing Cloth set #301’, + a variety of abrasive sticks and papers.
The characteristic Desert Pink paint is sourced from Xtracrylix, available from Hannants.
Paints and finishing products used: reverse thrusters was also fun to simulate. I enjoy weathering models, it makes them look used and lived in, adding realism and veracity. Factory-fresh equals drearily-dull in my view. I bought various additional ‘after-market’ items for this kit in addition to the JP233’s, including the wonderful Aires cockpit set which is meant for the IDS Tornado but seemed to be similar enough to GR.1 interiors to use without too much guilt (!),
The Aires replacement exhaust set is a marked improvement over the simple kit parts.
The pitot tube and angle-of-attack probes are from Master.
although I’ve just learned that Avionix now make a GR.1 cockpit set. This Aires cockpit is certainly a huge improvement on the rather basic cockpit as supplied with the kit. More than that, this Aires set is an absolute masterpiece of exquisite casting technology, with very beautifully made detail and a very sensible use of the respective qualities of resin, photo-etched parts and vinyl (for the oxygen hoses), and so buying this was very much worth the extra expense, even more so if you buy it in order to display your model with the canopy raised. I also bought the Aires Tornado exhaust set, and this is also a huge improvement on the clumsily simplified parts that come with the kit. This area of the model is worth the added expense because
the large sprockets and cogs of the exhaust mechanisms (both for the iris diaphragms and the reverse thrusters) are very visible on Tornados. More improvements were made by buying the pitot tube and angle-of-attack probes made by Master for the Revell Tornado(s), which are well made and I recommend them. What I would not recommend is the use of the white metal landing gear made by Scale Aircraft Conversions; the detail quality of these parts are actually worse than the kit’s own parts, and the flimsy metal alloy is about the same strength as the plastic parts making them superfluous or even useless. I also bought the Eduard masks made for this kit, which worked well. The paint I used was the excellent Gulf War Desert Pink FS10279 by Xtracrylix, available from Hannants. My original intention was to make one of the aircraft represented by the options in the excellent set of decals made by Flightpath for this kit, but for some reason, having bought them, I didn’t use them in the end and I used the ones supplied with the kit. I’m not sure why I made this last-minute fickle decision, there’s nothing wrong with Flightpath’s decals; model making is all about the luxury of having choices I suppose. Finally, as I am sure many of you will appreciate, when trying to make a model as well as you can there is always a balance to be struck between your time and money spent on research and the natural limits there are to both your resources and your patience. The bottom line is that sometimes even a whole stack of books and Mr Google just don’t provide the answers you’re seeking, so you end up making educated guesses. In this case, I just couldn’t find out if, after the hasty re-painting of the Tornados just before the war started, they had all the stencilling of labels and walkways etc re-applied to appear as they were when in their normal grey/green camouflage scheme. Some sources said they did, some said they didn’t. In the absence of definitive information, I opted to add these. If I am wrong, may the great God of rivets strike me with a thunderbolt. Anyway, right or wrong, making this model was enjoyable.
Eduard paint masks for Revell Tornado(s) (EDJX013), Xtracrylix - Gulf War Desert Pink FS10279, Tamiya - a variety of their acrylic paints, Alclad II - grey micro primer, Alclad II – metalizing paints including ‘steel’, ‘stainless steel’, ‘jet exhaust’, and various ‘heat stains’ colours. Scale-reference items: Saddam Hussein period Iraqi dinar notes, Ancient Assyrian limestone plaque.
The Aires cockpit was designed for the IDS Tornado, but it was close enough to use here!
CODA
Now those of you who are expert enough to know about the history of this aircraft and how it was used will be aware that there is a mistake, an anomaly, in the way I have presented it here. The JP233 weapons were only used in the first few days of the first Gulf War and so by the time this particular aircraft had accumulated so much weathering and all its kill markings these weapons were no longer carried. Well done to those of you who spotted that. As the authentic alternative was to show them being carried on an aircraft in much better or even pristine condition I preferred this inauthentic combination, imagining that this represents this aircraft in a museum environment where such things happen. Okay okay, I can also hear you experts also tell me that this particular aircraft was later converted to a GR.4 and it is still flying with the RAF today. Just give me a break; it’s only a model! •
Aircraft Edition
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PREVIEW: How to Build Tamiya’s 1:32 F4U-1 Corsair
How to Build Tamiya’s 1:32 F4U-1 Corsair by Marcus Nicholls
Brett Green has converted Tamiya’s Corsair into a late version Fleet Air Arm Corsair Mk.I.
ADH Publishing’s next title covers the all-new 1:32 scale F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair in detail. We have some photos of the projects and information on the contents.
A
DH Publishing presents the complete guide to building Tamiya’s brand new 1:32 F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair, written by Marcus Nicholls of Tamiya Model Magazine and Military Illustrated Modeller AFV Edition fame. The combat career of the F4U Corsair stretched longer than almost any other WWII fighter aircraft. The first of more than 12,000 Corsairs were produced in 1940, and the last of these bent wing birds were still doing battle above Central America nearly thirty years later. The Vought Aircraft company had a strong association with the US Navy during the inter war decades, but their focus in the 1930s was observation aircraft, trainers and seaplanes. Vought submitted two designs in response to a US Navy specification issued in February 1938. With the second of these carrier-based fighter proposals, Vought adopted the simple strategy of building the smallest possible airframe around the most powerful available engine. At the same time, Pratt & Whitney was developing the supercharged R-2800 radial engine. Radial engines had recently lost favour to the sleeker
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inline configuration, but the US Navy preferred the ruggedness and simplicity of the radial arrangement. Vought therefore designed their new V-166B around the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 powerplant. The brute force of the R-2800 engine had to be absorbed by a correspondingly large propeller. With a diameter of 13’ 4”, the Hamilton Standard three-bladed propeller assembly was the largest fitted to a fighter aircraft to that date. This imposing propeller needed very high ground clearance. Vought’s solution was to install an inverted gull wing. The main undercarriage was fitted to the lowest point of the wing, improving ground clearance for the propeller while still permitting robust landing gear – essential for carrier landings. This design also lowered the profile of the Corsair with the wings folded, and strengthened the join with the fuselage via its sturdy central spar. The result was the sole prototype XF4U-1, which first flew on 29 May, 1940. The ruggedness of Vought’s design was proven at the end of that maiden flight when the aircraft flipped after a forced landing. Although the prototype was badly damaged, it was repaired and flew again within
Spencer’s engine. This build was straight from the box with the exception of decals.
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Spencer Pollard’s Tamiya 1:32 scale F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair in Marines markings.
Marcus Nicholls’ exquisitely chipped and weathered cockpit.
The harness straps are from Fine Molds.
Eduard fabric harness straps have been used Brett’s build. Marcus’ build also features cockpit placard decals from Barracuda Studios.
months. Indeed, before the end of 1940 the XF4U-1 became the first US fighter aircraft to exceed 400 mph in level flight. Further development was required to iron out a number of undesirable flying and landing characteristics. In December 1942 the Corsair commenced carrier trials. Ongoing problems with poor pilot visibility on final approach and premature port wing stall disqualified the Corsair from US carrier operations at this time. However, the first land based Corsair Marines squadron entered front line service in February 1943. The famous Jolly Rogers, VF-17, became the first US Navy Corsair unit to see action shortly after. The Corsair immediately demonstrated its superiority over Japanese fighters with an impressive kill ratio. The performance of the F4U also proved to be at least on equal footing with its US Army Air Force fighter counterparts, the P-47 and the P-51. The Corsair was also adopted by the British Fleet Air Arm. Unlike the US Navy, Britain operated their Corsairs on carriers from their first sorties in March 1944. With their strikes against the Tirpitz, the Fleet Air Arm was the only Corsair operator to face German forces. US Navy Corsairs were eventually cleared for carrier use in April 1944, in time to deal with the Kamikaze threat later that year. In addition to full build Chapters on two US Marines Corsairs by Marcus and another by Spencer Pollard, Brett Green has converted the kit to a Fleet Air Arm Corsair Mk.I This model has been modified to represent a closed-in turtledeck and clipped wing tips - both a bit unusual for US-based Corsair Mk.Is. The book will also feature reference on the fullsize aircraft. More information will be available closer to release. The book may be pre-ordered now from ADH Books www.adhbooks.com • Barracuda Studios’ engine upgrade set was also fitted to Brett’s model. This includes a replacement ignition harness and new magnetos.
Spencer’s markings are for VMF-223 operating from Vella Lavella December of 1943.
Aircraft Edition
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BUILD PREVIEW:
JET FUELLER
Kinetic’s attractive box art.
Jason Woollett builds a brand new 1:48 scale kit from Skunkmodels Workshop that will be an interesting crossover subject for both aircraft and military modellers.
T
he R-11 is the primary mobile refuelling vehicle for The United States Air Force. It replaced the R-9 Refueller . There are currently three models of the R-11. The first generation was delivered in 1989 to the Air Force by the Oshkosh Truck Corporation and is commonly referred to as the Oshkosh R-11. The Air Force purchased 1,250 Oshkosh R-11s between 1987 and 1991. Deliveries of the 2nd generation R-11 began in 1994. The contract for the 2nd generation model was awarded to the Kovatch Corporation, and the pumping and dispensing systems are mounted on a Volvo chassis. These models are commonly referred to as the Volvo R-11. Deliveries of the 3rd generation R-11 began in 2004. The contract for this model was also awarded to the Kovatch Corporation, and the
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pumping and dispensing systems are mounted on an International chassis. The fuel tanks hold a maximum capacity of 6,000 US gallons (23,000 L) and are able to deliver fuel at a rate of 600 US gallons (2,300 L) per minute. This third generation model is commonly referred to as the International R-11 and this is what this Skunk Models kit represents.
IN THE BOX
Kinetic’s new 1/48 scale R-11 kit comprises approximately 159 parts in green and clear plastic and provides a detailed cab, chassis and a detailed fuel tank with access ladder and grated walkway. The kit provides one option, which is the access door to fuel pump control panel that can be opened or closed
The wheels are supplied as all-plastic parts - no vinyl tyres here. Clear parts include windscreen, separate quarter windows and side windows, and various light lenses. The instruction sheet is well laid out with large easy to read instructions, though references will be need for detailed painting as there is no reference for the cab interior. Three different US Air Force paint scheme/markings are provided, one in desert sand and two in gloss green. The decal sheet offers markings for two gloss dark green vehicles and one desert sand example.
INSPIRATION
When I was offered this kit, I was just going to do the review, then stick it in the ever-growing pile of “I’ll build it one day” kits.
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The one-piece cab.
Clear parts for the windows and lights.
Tyres are provided in solid plastic – hooray!
This is a substantially sized kit, even in 1/48 scale.
There are quite a few decals to put on, so careful attention to the instructions was needed to ensure correct placement.
Fit is good, even with the main components dry-fitted here.
The chassis with the cab interior parts and pump unit attached.
The big tank. This needed repairs when the centreline join split after initial assembly.
Plenty of glue and filler was applied to the tank to ensure it stayed together this time! The suspension is quite well detailed, but note the bald tyres!
The cab may be assembled separately and attached to the chassis later in the build.
Aircraft Edition
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BUILD PREVIEW:
Kinetic’s 1:48 scale R11 Fuel Truck was a quick and easy build.
The decal sheet includes plenty of stencil markings.
“The R-11 is the primary mobile refuelling vehicle for The United States Air Force.” PAINTING
Reference pictures show these trucks to be remarkably neat and tidy so I decided to do the same with the model and keep it fairly clean.
MODELSPEC Skunkmodels Workshop 1:48 R-11 US/NATO Fuel Truck. Kit No. SW-62001 Paints and Finishing Products Used: Tamiya Acrylics: various Tamiya Spray Can: TS-3 Desert Yellow True Earth pigments True Earth Grease and Soot Wash Interesting crossover subject for aircraft and military modellers; quick and easy build; good size for 1:48 scale; high quality moulding. Poor tyre tread detail; details lacking inside fuel pump panel. Skunkmodel Workshop kits and accessories are available online from www.luckymodel.com
CONCLUSION
• The tyres were painted with Tamiya NATO Black.
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KIT PREVIEW:
ALPHA JET Mick Evans gets an early look at Kinetic’s latest 1:48 scale kit – the Alpha Jet A/E.
T
he Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced trainer aircraft co-manufactured by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France. Adopted by many air forces worldwide, the Alpha Jet continues to be widely used even after its useful service life is over for its primary operators, France and Germany. The French Air Force decided to use the Alpha Jet primarily as a trainer, while the Luftwaffe used the type mainly in the light strike role, preferring to continue flight training in the south-western United States on American trainer types instead of performing training in Germany, although Germany also used Alpha Jets based at Beja, Portugal for weapons training.* Other operators included Belgium, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Portugal, Qatar, Thailand, Togo, and private contractor companies in Canada and the United Kingdom. The Alpha Jet was considered by the RAAF as a replacement for the Macchi 326 trainer aircraft that was due to retire in 1994, but it lost out to the BAE Systems Hawk Mk 127. Kinetic has just released the first 1:48 scale injection moulded kit of the Alpha Jet since the old and now rare Esci Alpha Jet. Until now, the only other option has been the very nice resin kit from PJ Production. The Esci kit was very basic and bare on detail, which was typical of Esci at that time but at least it had the shape of the Alpha Jet. Kinetic’s 1:48 scale Alpha Jet comprises more than 172 light grey injection moulded parts, 20 clear parts and 7 etched metal parts. The fuselage is constructed from three main parts to which are added the nose cone, wings, intakes, and fin. The intakes have full intake ducting back to the engine compressor face. This is a big plus. The surface detail is fine and restrained and the best that Kinetic has done so far. It represents the panel lines of the Alpha Jet without being overdone. The wings are spot on, the anhedral looks correct, while wing panel detail is great and correct. Separate flaps are provided and can be positioned in the up or down positions. The wheel wells look good but they are missing all the hydraulic pipework that is evident in the wheel wells. A major plus point is the speed brake bays. Separate speed brakes have been provided and this should be greatly applauded as it may be positioned either open or closed. Wheels are provided in typical Kinetic style of separate wheel hubs sandwiched between two tyre halves. The cockpit has sufficient detail with nicely detailed Martin Baker Mk.10 ejection seats and
instrument panels with photo-etched harness assemblies being provided. The transparencies are crystal clear and well moulded with the canopy is broken into three parts to allow the canopies to be positioned in the open position. Alternate nose cones are also provided for the A or E version, as are alternate in-fill panels, antennae and fuselage scoops for both the French and German versions of the aircraft. The stores supplied for this kit are as follows: • • • The kit represents a late Alpha Jet A and E fitted with the Martin Baker Mk.10 seat. It does not contain the early Stencel seat so the modeller cannot build a German Alpha Jet A or Belgium Alpha Jet B or any other early version but according to Kinetic this kit will be released by another company with resin parts to depict an early Alpha Jet.
One of the fuselage halves.
Surface detail is well done.
Decals for three schemes are provided: • - Canada (formerly Top Aces) finished in a wraparound camouflage scheme of FS 35180 Gloss Light Blue, F36270 Gloss Medium Grey and FS 27874 Gloss White • overall Gloss Black with Gloss White outer wings. • overall Gloss Black.
CONCLUSION
Big kudos to Kinetic - this is another excellent kit. Kinetic’s Alpha Jet may be built as either a late A or a late E type. Detail is very good and surface detail is their best yet.
The canopies may be posed open.
Highly Recommended Thanks to Lucky Model for the samplewww. luckymodel.com Historical summary courtesy of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault/Dornier_ Alpha_Jet • A modest photo-etched fret supplies harness straps.
Aircraft Edition
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Feature Article:
•
I
t seems to me that each subsequent kit release by Kitty Hawk Models is more impressive than
GRIFFIN RISING 54
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ASSEMBLY
“It seems to me that each subsequent kit release by Kitty Hawk Models is more impressive than the last...” In accordance with the instructions I started by completing the cockpit. No problems appeared at this stage of construction.
The first of the small number of sink marks was located in the nose landing gear bay. I filled this with C.A. glue.
G
The nose section consists of quite a number of parts so I had to use a few clamps and some pressure to fit them properly.
Aircraft Edition
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Feature Article:
Following the instructions, I began assembling the engine. The simplification of this isn’t an issue, since only the exhaust nozzle and its interior are visible in the finished kit.
Despite using pressure, some gaps appeared in the joints of the nose section.
The photo etched part that forms the inner surface of the exhaust nozzle was shaped with the help of the excellent photo-etch rolling tool manufactured by The Small Shop.
I filled these with black C.A. adhesive. This way, I also strengthened the connection of the nose halves.
Once I’d soldered the photo-etched tube, I could mount it in the engine housing.
The forward fuselage required some weight to be added. I curled a piece of Lead sheet and glued it inside the nose.
I then focused on the main sections of the airframe. Unfortunately, the fuselage halves turned out to be a little warped, therefore they didn’t fit too well.
To join them properly, I had to employ some clamps and use physical force again.
On the other hand, the main landing gear bays went together easily…
…which was not the case with the wing halves.
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After connecting the wings to the fuselage, I had to fill the resulting gaps. To apply Tamiya putty precisely, I used the brush which is connected to the cap of the Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.
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The gaps between some of the sections were wide enough to fill them with small pieces of styrene instead of the putty.
I then mated all previously completed sections together, again being forced to use putty here and there.
While browsing some reference photos to determine the typical set of external stores that were loaded onto the Czech Gripens, I noticed that the kit is missing a distinctive auxiliary fuel tank, which therefore had to be scratch built. I started by gluing a few pieces of styrene sheet together.
Next, I took a jeweller’s saw blade and cut out the rough shape of the fuel tank.
I gave it its proper shape using coarse sandpaper glued to a piece of wood. That allows me to get an even surface.
Before I drilled the mounting holes, I had to fit the tank to the pylon.
The prepared part was then smoothed with polishing blocks. During this process I subsequently switched to higher grade grits, beginning with 80 and finishing with 220.
Afterwards, I scribed panel lines with the help of an Olfa P-cutter and 3M masking tape.
The final step was to add the fins which I had cut out from the pieces of thin styrene sheet. At this point, I also assembled the other external stores.
Aircraft Edition
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Feature Article:
The air brakes in the kit are designed to be attached only in the open position. However, I decided to close them.
After lengthening the actuators, I glued the air brakes in their place…
A.
B.
D.
E.
… and filled the gaps with small pieces of styrene.
Since the kit’s Pitot tube was not the finest one I’d ever seen, I replaced it with one of the newest products of Polish company, MASTER.
C.
A, To move forward with the build, I had to paint the cockpit. I began by priming it with Mr.Color C8 Silver. B, Once the silver layer had dried, the interior was given a coat of Mr.Color C60 German Grey. This particular colour from Mr.Color range is much darker than its equivalents offered by other model paint manufacturers. C, The edges and other particular areas were slightly highlighted with strongly diluted Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey, whilst the side panels were painted with Vallejo’s Light Grey. D, Next, I brought out the details by applying an almost black AK-interactive’s AK075 “Wash for NATO camo vehicles”, and dry brushed the edges with Vallejo’s Light Grey. E, I then mounted not only the ejection seat, but also some small parts which were to be attached to the canopy, as per the instructions. Since I wanted to fix the canopy in a closed position, there would be no difference if I connected latter details either to the cockpit, or canopy, but gluing anything to clear parts is always risky.
After fitting the canopy, I could finish the assembly. I prepared the landing gear covers and other smaller details. Of course, some of them were only temporarily attached to the kit in order to check if they fitted properly. I left these parts separate in order to make the subsequent stages easier.
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PAINTING
My next step was to darken the panel lines and demarcation of some detail on the underside, with strongly diluted Tamiya XF-63 German Grey.
Before I applied the silver priming coat, I masked the clear parts with Tamiya tape and masking fluid from Wamod.
The upper surfaces were pre-shaded in a similar fashion, but this time I used XF-1 Black instead of German Grey.
Next, I switched to Mr.Color C12 Olive Drab and treated the upper surfaces in a similar way as the underside in the previous step.
I then sprayed some transparent layers of Mr.Color C72 Intermediate Blue over most of the rivet lines and some particular panels on the undersides.
The pre-shading and pre-lighting stages were finished by highlighting the remaining rivet lines and panel demarcations which contained visible screw lines, with strongly diluted Mr.Hobby H001 White. I also added some smudges to the wings and fuselage.
A few transparent layers of strongly diluted Mr.Color C334 Barley Grey formed the base colour of the underside.
After masking the colour demarcations with rolls of plasticine, I applied Mr.Color C305 FS36118 Gray to the upper surfaces of the kit.
Once I’d painted various details, including the external stores, I secured the paintwork with a layer of clear gloss coat.
Aircraft Edition
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Feature Article:
As I’ve already mentioned, the decals are very good in quality, as is typical for Kitty Hawk Models kits. It is worth noting that the decal sheet includes far more stencils for the external ordnance than for the actual airframe itself. Due to the large quantity of the aforementioned maintenance markings, the process of applying the decals was quite time-consuming. Another reason was that I had chosen a Czech aircraft with large commemorative markings on the fin. Since such decals have to be printed differently than typical markings, these markings are quite thick. Therefore, they required a lot of decal setting solution. However, after a few hours these decals nicely conformed to the recesses of the kit surface.
The model was then given a coat of gloss varnish. Once it had dried, I brought out the details with AK Interactive’s AK070 “Brown Blue Wash for Panzer Grey Vehicles”. I applied the mixture onto the panel lines, rivets and some other areas, and soon removed the excess with a paper towel.
The effect was sealed with a layer of clear matt varnish. I also started attaching some parts, which were left separate for the painting stage.
WEATHERING
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My first step was to recreate the distinctive stains aft the ailerons and slats. I began by brush painting some thin lines with AK Interactive’s AK014 “Winter Streaking Grime”.
Next, I removed the excess enamel with a brush dampened with white spirit.
The underside was treated in a similar way, but I also added some streaks around various covers and apertures.
The dirt and discolouration caused by the hot air were recreated by airbrushing a fine mist of AK Interactive AK076 “Brown Filter For NATO Tanks”.
I also sprayed a little AK082 “Engine Grime” over the surfaces around the cockpit, and removed the excess enamel by rolling a cotton bud slightly dampened with white spirit over this area.
The exhaust stains on the rear fuselage were reproduced by airbrushing some AK075 “Wash for NATO camo vehicles”. This way, I also added more volume to the discolouration previously recreated in this area. This action required setting the compressor to a minimal air pressure.
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The final touch was to mount the wheels and then attach the turned metal pitot tube from MASTER, to the fin.
MODELSPEC Kitty Hawk Models 1:48 JAS-39A/C Gripen Kit No. KH80117 Paints and Weathering Products Used: Tamiya acrylic enamels Wamod Masking Fluid Mr.Hobby’s Mr.Color and Hobby Color paints AK-Interactive’s: AK014 Winter Streaking Grime; AK070 Brown Blue Wash for Panzer Grey Vehicles; AK076 Brown Filter For NATO Tanks; AK082 Engine Grime. Enjoyable build; fine surface detail; a welcome 21st Century quality kit of this attractive aircraft. Slide mould marks interfere with some of the fine surface detail; a few sink marks; gaps and fit problems here and there. RATING: 8 out of 10 Kitty Hawk Models are available from Pacific Coast Models www.pacmodelscatalog.com and Hannants www.hannants.co.uk
“It is worth noting that the decal sheet includes far more stencils for the external ordnance than for the actual airframe itself...” Aircraft Edition
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KIT PREVIEW:
•
A FLYING LEGEND, NOW IN 1:32! Marcus Nicholls takes a look into the huge box of HK Models’ amazing new 1:32 B-17G Flying Fortress.
W
e were first introduced to HK Models a while ago when they released their B-25 Mitchell kits and now we have something that has truly brought the new company to prominence within the aircraft modelling scene, the iconic Boeing B-17 ‘Flying Fortress’. The first of their Fortresses is the ‘G’ model with chin-turret but according to an illustration on the side of the kit-box, the earlier ‘F’ model will be released too, enabling modellers to build the best known B-17 of all, the Memphis Belle. While we wait for the ‘F’, we have the ‘G’ kit to build And what a kit it is! HK Models has detailed pretty much the whole of the fuselage interior, providing not only a full cockpit (of course) but also the bomb bay with ordnance load, radio operator’s ‘office’, bomb-aimer’s station in the nose, plus dorsal and tail gunner’s positions. The ventral ballturret has not been neglected and this distinctive part of the Fortress’s defensive armament system is comprehensively replicated from the internal mount to the guns and their ammunition feeds. Only the gunner’s seat is missing. The main cabin is a little work of art with pilot and co-pilot’s seats on their tall frames, flight controls, instruments and oxygen bottles all depicted. The fuselage bulkheads are huge in this sale and each is laden with raised and recessed detail that will really ‘pop’ when painted with some creativity. The bomb bay comes with ten bombs, each sporting fuse-arming impellors and two-part tail fins. Sensibly, the bomb bay builds onto the back of the cockpit module, forming a larger unit with support frames that sit securely within the fuselage halves. The cabin roof is a separate moulding that simply drops down onto the assembled fuselage and receives its window panels at the same time. The nose section is separate from the main fuselage to allow the ‘F’ version of the aircraft to be depicted. It’s moulded in two halves with bomb aimer’s floor and controls and simply plugs into the completed fuselage. Let’s hope the fit is good! Throughout initial construction – with the exception of the ball-turret and dorsal guns – the barrels are left off the machine gun bodies, which will greatly help in the masking/painting process, and there’s lot of glazing panels on this aircraft. Four excellent representations of the Wright R-1820 single-bank radial engines are included, along with their pushrod rings and individual rocker-cover parts; with the addition of Eduard’s PE engine detail set, the modeller can adorn the engines’ fronts with ignition harnesses too. The engines, like the interior sub-assemblies,
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The stout box is packed full of plastic.
Interior detail is quite comprehensive.
The size of the aircraft is obvious when seen next to Marcus’ hand!
One of the bulkheads, illustrating the level of detail moulded straight onto the parts.
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KITS-WORLD DECALS
Kits-World has also been quick in creating alternative decals for HK Model’s kit. We received ‘Little Miss Chief’ of the 324th BS, 91st BG at Bassingborn, plus a set of national insignia, data stencils, instrument faces, placard, propeller logos and more, all extremely useful for this kit. www.kitsworld.co.uk
EDUARD SETS FOR THE BIG B-17G
Eduard has been very quick off the mark, releasing separate photo-etched sets for the engines and undercarriage, plus window masks and resin main undercarriage tyres and wheels. More is on the way from Eduard for this kit too. www.eduard.com
The large decals sheet offers one marking option.
Printing and registration looks good close up. Photo-etched parts include harness straps.
The lower section of the multi-part ball turret.
The tail gunner’s glasshouse.
The bombadier’s nose glazing.
The kit instrument panel.
build into neat modules that fix to the fronts of the nacelles when ready. HK Models offers the option of a wheels-up configuration and a very neat touch is a special plate to allow the model to be wall-mounted, not a bad idea given the finished model’s gargantuan size! HK Models are to be commended on this kit release, a significant model of a very significant aircraft and one that does the subject proud. Detail is impressive but without being overwhelming; all the important bits are included, leaving the modeller to add their own extras if they choose.
CONCLUSION
This is a truly magnificent achievement from HK Models. They have done a great job of this handsome bomber of WWII. Add to it the plethora of Eduard photo-etched brass sets and it will become a display piece worthy of a museum.
Interior structural detail is moulded all the way back into the fuselage.
The beautiful waist gun ammunition belts.
Our thanks go to Pocketbond Ltd for the review sample. www.pocketbond.co.uk •
Aircraft Edition
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ISSUE No.031 November 2013
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FIFTY SHADES OF...
Subtlety is the key with Lars Richter's stunning Panzergrau PzIV in 1:35
LET US PRAY
Özgür Güner builds Bronco's 1:35 Bishop with full turret interior
Military Illustrated Modeller Issue 33 - Aircraft Edition on sale 19 December, 2013 SEPECAT JAGUAR A
Feliks Kamil Sztarbala builds Kitty Hawk’s 1:48 scale Jaguar A.
FIREFLY OVER KOREA
The Editor builds Special Hobby’s brand new 1:48 scale Fairey Firefly Mk.V, and provides walk around reference.
THE MAGIC MUSTANG
You’re in for a real treat when David Glen presents his spectacular scratch built 1:5 scale P-51D Mustang.
END OF THE LINE PART TWO www.fsc.org www.pefc.org © ADH Publishing 2013
The Editor paints and weathers Grey Matter Aviation’s 1:32 scale Ha-1112 Buchon conversion.
...AND MORE! Aircraft Edition
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Tailpiece SMALL SCALE WONDER WURGER Mark Davies concludes that the all-new Airfix Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8 is the best of the many 1:72 scale A-8 Wurgers. Let’s see why…
T
he Focke-Wulf Fw 190 represented a watershed in fighter design. In particular, it showed how a radial engine could be installed to rival in-line engine streamlining. The design was rugged, fast, very manoeuvrable, and had a powerful armament; added to which were good pilot visibility and an ergonomic cockpit layout. It was unmatched as a fighter when first encountered by the RAF in 1941. Readily adaptable to many roles, it had a wide range of weapon and equipment fits; whilst further development led to in-line engined versions and the Ta 152 series of fighters. The A-8 was the most produced version of this superlative design. There have been many Fw 190 kits in 1:72 scale over the years. Kits of the A-8 version have been released by Heller in 1963 (re-boxed by Hobbycraft), Hasegawa in 1970, Airfix in 1982, and Hasegawa again in 1985 with a new tooling; then Academy around 1994, Italeri in 1995, Monogram/Revell Germany in 1997, and Hobby Boss just recently. The 1982 Airfix kit is well regarded for accuracy, but has raised detail. Hasegawa’s 1985 release is widely considered excellent in terms accuracy and surface detail. Based on my reading it has remained the best Fw 190A-8 kit overall since its release. It has since been offered in many permutations over the past 28 years. The Monogram Pro-Modeler/Revell Germany kit of 1997 is also a good kit; almost rivalling Hasegawa’s kit for accuracy and general quality. The Revell boxing is very attractively priced, and
is considerably cheaper than Hasegawa’s kit when storebought. At a glance, the Hobby Boss kit seems to have a quite reasonable outline appearance and surface detail; it is attractively priced and engineered for quick building, but I cannot comment on its accuracy. The track record of many Hobby Boss quick-build kits raises the spectre of glaring faults as a distinct possibility. It seems fair to say that Hasegawa sets the benchmark for accuracy and Revell for value, with Hobby Boss an unknown quantity (to me at least). So what is Airfix’s new tool Fw 190A-8 like? And how will it rate against the competition? This all-new 1:72 scale Fw 190 A-8 is a very good effort from Airfix. If Arthur Bentley’s plans are to be trusted, then it is also extremely accurate. There are some nice touches to the way the kit is engineered, with good wheel well detail, nice cockpit detail, albeit lacking 3D instrument panels, a commendably deep fan shroud and representation of the engine, nicely done exhausts, and in-flight undercarriage options. Although still not equalling the best, the panel lines are at least quite acceptable. The exaggerated fabric effect on the control surfaces needs to be filled, and the wing trailing edges thinned down considerably, but this is easy enough to do. Also, the tail-wheel mechanism inspection hatch on the starboard fin needs to be filled in. The undercarriage legs are moulded with the oleos fully extended, and I think that they need
Flat and blown canopies are included.
The full span lower wing.
to be shortened about 2.5-mm for the correct stance to be achieved. This will be fiddly as the parts to be cut are very fine but must support the model’s weight. The main wheels are below the standard of the rest of the kit - perhaps not as bad as they appear at first glance, but some will still want to replace them. The decal sheet lacks a spinner spiral required for the scheme and fails to provide swastikas, which I feel is inexcusable these days.
Surface detail is still a little heavy, but will be acceptable when painted.
But none of these criticisms are deal breakers in my view. Most can be fixed with a little skill, and many modellers will have spare swastika decals and be able to mask and paint a spinner spiral if needed. Hasegawa’s Fw 190 A-8 kit has slightly finer surface detail, but cannot match Airfix’s wheel wells, engine or cockpit. It equals Airfix in outline accuracy, but its retail price these days is ridiculous in most markets (although second hand kit can still be worth buying). The Revell kit’s surface finesse is really no better than Airfix’s, and it is let down by inferior wheel wells and a poor canopy. It may also be less accurate. Recent mouldings are showing evidence of tool wear, and the price difference is negligible. On this basis Airfix is the winner, unless you insist on the having finest available panel lines; and have a good bank balance to pay for a Hasegawa kit and the detail sets it needs to better Airfix. Despite some gripes, I still highly recommend this new-tool Airfix Wurger. Thanks to Airfix for the review sample www.airfix.com •
Fabric texture is very deep and should really be filled and sanded.
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Left: Markings are supplied for one colourful aircraft.
Military Illustrated Modeller - November 2013
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