Military Illustrated Modeler - Issue 075 (2017-07)

modeller military illustrated

£6.50 - July’17 (issue 075)

Zoukei-Mura’s 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0

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Aircraft edition 9 770268 832071

TWILIGHT

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ARROW BY

Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle • Copper State 1:48 Sopwith Dolphin • Eduard 1:48 Bf 109 G-14 • Revell Bf 109 G-10 and more…

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Contents

modeller military illustrated

ISSUE No.075 July 2017

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NEWS

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ARROW BY TWILIGHT

What’s happening in modelling and aviation

Zoukei-Mura’s 1:32 Dornier Do 335 by Chris Wauchop

16 PREVIEW

Eduard 1:48 SE.5a

18 STRIKE HARD!

Revell’s 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle by Brett Green

30 DELIGHTFUL DOLPHIN

Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin by Tony Bell

42 THE SMILING ASSASSIN

Eduard’s 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII by Kamil Feliks Sztarbala

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58 LITTLE SCHMITT

Revell Germany 1:72 Bf 109 G-10 by Rafe Morrissey

65 NEXT ISSUES

What’s coming up in the next issues of Military Illustrated Modeller

66 TAILPIECE

The Editor examines a new range of painting accessories from Model Paint Solutions

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30 AIR Edition

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News

UH-1 Huey in Action (Soft cover)

The versatile UH-1 Huey helicopter remains in service with the U.S. military and allied nations today. Bell’s development of the UH-1 Iroquois began in 1952. The aircraft became iconic during its involvement in the Vietnam War. It was originally designated the HU-1, which led to the now-familiar Huey name. Originally conceived as a medical evacuation and utility helicopter for the Army, the helicopter was adopted for use by all branches of the U.S. military. Its roles evolved to include use as an aerial gunship as well firefighting duties. This 80-page book chronicles the use of 15 different versions of the Huey from its prototype through the current use of the UH-1Y Venom, a versatile helicopter in the global war on terror. The book is illustrated with more than 220 photos, 160 of which are vintage colour, and supplemented by numerous line illustrations. Squadron’s new UH-1 Huey In Action is available right now from Doolittle Media’s online store http://adhpublishing.com/shop/store/products/10249-uh-1huey-ia-in-action-soft-cover/

SBS MODEL MACCHI MC 72

SBS Model has just released a new full kit in 1:72 scale, Item No. SBS7015 Macchi MC 72 'World Speed Record'. The Macchi M.C. 72 was an experimental seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Macchi Aeronautica. The M.C. 72 held the world speed record for all aircraft for five years. In 1933 and 1934, it set a world speed record·for piston engine-powered seaplanes which still stands. This new kit includes resin, photo-etched parts, clear resin and decals. Available now online from SBS Model’s online store www.sbsmodel.com

AIMS 1:48 JUNKERS JU 388 L CONVERSION AIMS has provided information and images of a new 1:48 scale Junkers Ju 388 L conversion will be available soon from AIMS website and from Hannants. This comprehensive conversion will be suitable for any of Dragon's 1:48 scale Ju 88 kits. These photos show the resin and photoetched parts. Vacform, clear resin and decals will also be included with the final version. We will have more information about pricing and release dates in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enquiries may be directed to AIMS at [email protected]

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G.W.H. 1:72 F-15E STRIKE EAGLE Hot off the moulds comes the all-new F-15E in 1:72 scale by G.W.H., Kit No. L7201. This is G.W.H.’s first foray into 1:72 scale. The kit is shipping now and should be in hobby shops by the time you read this. We’ll be posting a review when the kit is in hand. Thanks to G.W.H. for the information and images www.lionroarmodel.cn

Military Illustrated Modeller - July 2017

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FEATURE ARTICLE Zoukei-Mura SUPER WING SERIES No. 10, 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0 Pfeil

ARROW AT

TWILIGHT Chris Wauchop wrestles with Zoukei-Mura’s new 1:32 scale Dornier Do 335 A-0.

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he origins of the Do 335 trace back to World War I when Claude Dornier designed a number of flying boats featuring remotely driven propellers and later, due to problems with the drive shafts, tandem engines. Tandem engines were used on most of the multi-engine Dornier flying boats that followed, including the highly successful Do J Wal and the gigantic Do X. The remote propeller drive, intended to eliminate parasitic drag from the engine entirely, was tried in the innovative but unsuccessful Do 14, and elongated, tubular drive shafts as later used in the Do 335 saw use in the rear engines of the fourengined, twin tandem-layout Do 26 flying boat. There are many advantages to this design over the more traditional system of placing one engine on each wing, the most important being power from two engines with the frontal area (and thus

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drag) of a single-engine design, allowing for higher performance. It also keeps the weight of the twin powerplants near, or on, the aircraft centerline, increasing the roll rate compared to a traditional twin. In addition, a single engine failure does not lead to asymmetric thrust, and in normal flight there is no net torque, so the plane is easy to handle. The choice of a full "four-surface" set of cruciform tail surfaces in the Do 335's rear fuselage design, included a ventral vertical fin–rudder assembly to project downwards from the extreme rear of the fuselage, in order to protect the rear propeller from an accidental ground strike on takeoff. The presence of the rear pusher propeller also mandated the provision for an ejection seat for safe escape from a damaged aircraft, and designing the rear propeller and dorsal fin mounts to use explosive bolts to jettison them before an ejection

was attempted — as well as twin canopy jettison levers, one per side located to either side of the forward cockpit interior just below the sills of the five-panel windscreen's sides, to jettison the canopy from atop the cockpit before ejection. In 1939, Dornier was busy working on the P.59 high-speed bomber project, which featured the tandem engine layout. In 1940, he commissioned a test aircraft, closely modeled on the airframe of the early versions of the Dornier Do 17 bomber but only 40% of the size of the larger bomber, with no aerodynamic bodies of any sort on the wing panels (the original Do 17 had twin engine nacelles on its wings) and fitted with a retractable tricycle landing gear to validate his concept for turning the rear pusher propeller with an engine located far away from it and using a long tubular driveshaft. This aircraft, the Göppingen Gö 9,

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Do 335 A-1, W.Nr. 240167 Oberpfaffenhofen April 1945. (speculative).

showed no unforeseen difficulties with this arrangement, but work on the P.59 was stopped in early 1940 when Hermann Göring ordered the cancellation of all projects that would not be completed within a year or so. In May 1942, Dornier submitted an updated version with a 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bombload as the P.231, in response to a requirement for a single seat, Schnellbomber-like high-speed bomber/intruder. P.231 was selected as the winner after beating rival designs from Arado, Junkers, and Blohm & Voss development contract was awarded as the Do 335. In autumn 1942, Dornier was told that the Do 335 was no longer required, and instead a multi-role fighter based on the same general layout would be accepted. This delayed the prototype delivery as it was modified for the new role. The use of a nose-mount annular radiator for the

forward engine (much like a Jumo 211-powered Ju 88, or Jumo 213-powered Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9) and a ventral-fuselage mount air-scooped radiator installation for cooling the rear engine (appearing like that on a P-51 Mustang) was distinctive. When fitted with DB 603A engines delivering 1,750 PS (1,287 kW, 1,726 hp) at takeoff it had the largest displacement (at 44.52 litres) inverted V12 aircraft engine design mass-produced during the Third Reich's existence. The Do 335 V1 first prototype, bearing the Stammkennzeichen (factory radio code) of CP+UA, flew on 26 October 1943 under the control of Flugkapitän Hans Dieterle, a regular Heinkel test pilot and later primary Dornier test pilot. However,

several problems during the initial flight of the Do 335 would continue to plague the aircraft through most of its short history. Issues were found with the weak landing gear and with the maingear's wheel well doors, resulting in them being removed for the remainder of the V1's test flights. The Do 335 V1 made 27 flights, flown by three different pilots. During these test flights the V2 (W.Nr 230002), Stammkennzeichen CP+UB was completed and made its first flight on 31 December 1943, again under the control of Dieterle. New to the V2 were upgraded DB 603A-2 engines, and several refinements learned from the test flights of the V1 as well as further windtunnel testing. On 20 January 1944, the Do 335 V3 (W.Nr. 230004), Stammkennzeichen CP+UC was completed and flown for its first time by Werner Altrogge. The V3 was powered by the new AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Zoukei-Mura SUPER WING SERIES No. 10, 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0 Pfeil

pre-production DB 603G-0 engines which could produce 1,900 PS (1,400 kW) at take-off and featured a slightly redesigned canopy which included twin rear-view mirrors in blisters, one in each of two matching side panels of the well-framed, eleven-panel main canopy's openable section. Following the flights of the V3, in mid January 1944, RLM ordered five more prototypes (V21– V25), to be built as night fighters. By this time, more than 60 hours of flight time had been put on the Do 335 and reports showed it to be a good handling, but more importantly, very fast aircraft, described by Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch himself as "...holding its own in speed and altitude with the P-38 and it does not suffer from engine reliability issues". Thus the Do 335 was scheduled to begin mass construction, with the initial order of 120 preproduction aircraft to be manufactured by DWF

(Dornier-Werke Friedrichshafen) to be completed no later than March 1946. This number included a number of bombers, destroyers (heavy fighters), and several yet to be developed variants. At the same time, DWM (Dornier-Werke München) was scheduled to build over 2000 Do 335s in various models, due for delivery in March 1946 as well. On 23 May 1944, Hitler, as part of the developing Jägernotprogramm directive, which took effect on 3 July, ordered maximum priority to be given to Do 335 production. The main production line was intended to be at Manzell, but a bombing raid in March destroyed the tooling and forced Dornier to set up a new line at Oberpfaffenhofen. The decision was made, along with the rapid shutdown of many other military aircraft development programs, to cancel the Heinkel He 219 night fighter, which also used the DB 603 engines, and

use its production facilities for the Do 335 as well. However, Ernst Heinkel managed to delay, and eventually ignore, its implementation, continuing to produce examples of the He 219A. At least 16 prototype Do 335s were known to have flown (V1–V12, W.Nr 230001-230012 and Muster-series prototypes M13–M17, W.Nr 230013-230017) on a number of DB603 engine subtypes including the DB 603A, A-2, G-0, E and E-1. The first preproduction Do 335 (A-0s) starting with W.Nr 240101, Stammkennzeichen VG+PG, were delivered in July 1944. Approximately 22 preproduction aircraft were thought to have been completed and flown before the end of the war, including approximately 11 A-0s converted to A-11s for training purposes. One such aircraft was transferred the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, and later crashed onto a local school.*

Construction Even if it’s not the first step in the instructions, I usually like to start with the assembly of the engine or, in this case, the engines. This kit provides two very acceptable representations of the DB 603 A twelve-cylinder invertedvee liquid cooled engine. Even though Zoukei-mura include the completely hidden internal cylinder detail they don’t provide much of the very visible external wiring. The internal cylinders were removed from the front engine before assembly and the resulting cavity was filled with as much lead shot as I could cram in there.

Once assembled and painted gloss black with a wash of Flat Earth, I added the external wiring to the engine using fine solder and jewellers wire. Also a small disc was cut from some photo-etched mesh found in my spares drawer and glued over the supercharger intake.

Rear engine ready for installation. Most of the lower wiring detail was not added because it was never going to be seen. There will be lots of plumbing though.

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Reference books were consulted well before the first parts were cut from the sprues.

Very busy under the front engine. This detail will be visible with the cowlings removed.

The ejection seat also received some extra details. These included a new parachute pack behind the headrest, new headrest and backrest padding, a beautiful set of HGW microtextile seat belts and, because I fixed the armrests in the upright position, some mounting detail was added under the armrest supports. The brass mounting clips for the shoulder harnesses were later painted black.

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A. Side consoles with replacement throttle control levers made from Evergreen plastic strip. B. Instrument panel in place with MDC instrument dial decals replacing those supplied in the kit. Instrument dial bezels have been painted individually. C. Wiring was added to the back of each instrument. This feature will be visible when the model is complete. D. Toe straps made from lead foil were added to the rudder pedals. A new oxygen hose was made to replace the short kit part by wrapping solder wire around a copper wire core. E. New reflector elements were cut from clear plastic sheet to replace the thick kit offering and a power cable made from solder wire was also added.

Front engine, main armament, cockpit, oil and main fuel tanks and rear engine firewall all assembled and waiting for rear engine to be installed.

This shot shows wiring added to the starboard cockpit console. Never to be seen again! The guns’ ammo boxes were also packed full of lead shot.

The rear engine firewall with some extra plumbing and wiring.

All its innards in place. To my astonishment everything fitted pretty much perfectly!

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Zoukei-Mura SUPER WING SERIES No. 10, 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0 Pfeil

Although not accurate, the radiator detail is still very nice.

The back of the radiator showing the cooling flap actuator mechanism.

After closer examination, I determined that the radiator flaps were completely inaccurate and so replaced them with scratch-built items made from .005” Evergreen plastic card.

The main elements are now all together. At this point I am going to ask why on earth Zoukei-mura have insisted on moulding the majority of the parts of this kit in a very brittle, frosted semi-transparent plastic. They have also inexplicably moulded the wing mounted landing light cover and navigation light covers out of the same textured plastic!! I was able to polish the larger landing light cover to an acceptable state of clarity but the smaller nav light covers were impossible.

The hardness of this translucent plastic also made the task of applying rivet detail all the more tedious. Fortunately I was after a subtle effect but still had to press very hard to get any result at all. Also, this brittle plastic almost caused a huge disaster when, after applying an oil wash to the silver painted interior of the starboard bomb bay, this large part actually cracked and broke in two! I was initially horrified and dumbstruck, but after closer examination I determined that the break was fairly clean and with aid of Tamiya extra thin cement and lots of super glue I was able to affect a very clean repair. Because of the liberal application of the CA glue to the fuselage interior the bomb bay doors would have to be glued shut.

A new D/F loop was fashioned using a flat strip of spare P/E which was then attached to the base of the original kit part.

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Lower engine detail with radiator and exhausts attached.

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Painting, Markings and Weathering

Complete fuselage and wings primed and ready for some camouflage.

In this shot the undersurfaces have already been painted RLM 76 and the first of the upper surface greens (RLM 82) has been applied.

RLM 81 Brown Violet was next.

EagleCals decals were used.

Decals have been applied in this shot. The fuselage cross was carefully masked and sprayed to avoid the multiple cuts that would be necessary for the decal to fit over the removable engine covers.

Undersurfaces have received moderate to heavy weathering.

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Zoukei-Mura SUPER WING SERIES No. 10, 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0 Pfeil

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A. After careful examination of photographic evidence, I determined that the tyre tread pattern was usually worn pretty well completely smooth, so the kit tyres were sanded until there was only the vaguest hint of tread left.

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B. The flat moulded plastic catch hooks and air lines on the wheel hubs were replaced with scratchbuilt items and the tyres have been flat-spotted. C. The undercarriage legs are nicely moulded but some extra detail does need to be added. This will take the form of brake lines on the main legs and hydraulic lines on the nose wheel leg. D. Nose wheel attached. E. Starboard wheel temporarily in place. F. Main undercarriage legs firmly glued to their doors with brake lines in place. G. The boarding ladder release handle was scratchbuilt using Evergreen plastic rod and card. The knob on the end was made by building up layers of white glue. The colour is purely speculative. H. The kit’s clear plastic pitot tube snapped in half before I could get it off the sprue so I replaced it with a much more accurate item made using Albion Alloys slide fit brass tube. I. The windscreen seems to have been moulded too flat which meant it was slightly wider than the cockpit rail. To pinch it in a bit, small holes were drilled into the bottom of the windscreen frame with corresponding holes drilled into the top of the cockpit wall. This little exercise was a pain but it did the trick. J. The location holes for the windscreen can be seen here. After closer examination of reference photos, I removed the knobs on the ends of the red canopy release and yellow canopy locking levers.

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Front engine cowlings removed.

Front and rear engine cowls are all removable and when closed are held in place with small, strategically placed, blobs of Blu-Tack!

Rear DB 603, starboard.

Rear DB 603, port.

The markings and paint scheme are purely speculative on my part mainly because I wanted to do an example of a Do 335 A-1 but didn’t want to do one with any external bare metal panels because usually any bare metal panels were covered with manufacturer’s stencilling. AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Zoukei-Mura SUPER WING SERIES No. 10, 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0 Pfeil

The boarding ladder in place. It’s a long way up to the wing!

The fin with EagelCals decals applied.

Cockpit close-up.

Spinner detail.

Zoukei-Mura’s Do 335 delivers an impressive result, but it demands plenty of attention and work.

Conclusion This model took every ounce of my modelling skill to produce a result that I was satisfied with, and if you are up for this sort of challenge, then this is the kit for you. In hindsight, I think I’m getting too old for this sort of challenge and I should have perhaps built HK Models’ kit instead. It looks like a more straightforward build with plenty of detail and at a much lower price. •

Do 335 in profile.

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MODELSPEC Zoukei-mura SUPER WING SERIES No. 10, 1:32 Dornier Do 335 A-0 Pfeil Materials and Aftermarket Items Used: HGW 132546 Do335 PFEIL seatbelts EagleCals Decals EC#164 MDC Decals 1:32 Luftwaffe Instrument Dials MDC E32005 Rivet Making Tool 0.335mm solder wire Evergreen plastic card, rod and strip of various gauges and thicknesses Albion Alloys brass wire of various gauges Tamiya masking tape Milliput Superfine white epoxy putty

Lower surface weathering.

Paints Used: Gunze Sangyo acrylic H90 RLM Grey 02, H417 RLM 76 Light Blue, H421 RLM 81 Brown Violet, H422 RLM 82 Light Green, H65 RLM 70 Black Green Tamiya acrylic XF-24 Dark Grey, XF-1 Flat Black, XF-2 Flat White, XF-64 Red Brown, X-18 Semi Gloss Black Alclad II Lacquer ALC 107 Chrome, ALC 119 Airframe Aluminium Prismacolor PC949 Metallic Silver Pencil References: Monogram Close-up No. 21 Do 335 Classic Publishing No.13 Dornier Do 335 Pros and ConsPfeil The Internet Great subject; crisp and fine surface textures; high level of detail. Main undercarriage bay detail.

Very expensive. It cost me over AUD$260. Inexplicably, all major parts are moulded in a brittle frosted plastic so the internal wing and fuselage detail can never be clearly displayed even if this is the modeler’s intent. Even navigation and landing lights are presented in this translucent form. Fortunately the windscreen and canopy parts are moulded clear. Some external rivet detail would be nice. Not until page 44 of the instructions is it indicated that 50 grams or more of weight will need to be added to the nose area if the model is to stand on its tricycle undercarriage. It is also recommended at this late stage that, because of this extra weight, you should replace the plastic undercarriage legs with metal parts, which of course are sold separately! In my opinion this is not necessary. The bomb bay includes a lot of very nice detail apart from a bomb, which of course can also be purchased separately. If the incorrect and badly moulded open front engine cowl flaps are fitted as instructed, the two top flaps would be hit by the two top mounted 20mm cannon when firing. The rear engine oil cooler flap is completely the wrong shape and needs to be replaced. Poor fit of the main fuel tank cover meant that it had to be glued in place and the very visible gaps either end filled with putty. Painting instructions indicate that all fuselage (apart from the cockpit) and wing interiors are to be painted RLM Grey 02. All my reference photos quite clearly show that these areas were left mainly unpainted apart from firewalls near engines and fuel tanks, which were given a coat of orange/brown fuel proof paint. * Historical summary courtesy of Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_335 AIR Edition

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KIT PREVIEW Eduard 1:48 SE.5a Wolseley Viper • Kit No. 82131

THE SPITFIRE

OF WWI

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Brett Green examines Eduard’s brand new kit of this iconic WWI fighter aircraft.

he Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was one of the fastest aircraft of the war, while being both stable and relatively manoeuvrable. According to aviation author Robert Jackson, the S.E.5 was: “the nimble fighter that has since been described as the ‘Spitfire of World War One’”. The SE.5 was capable of superior overall performance than the rival Sopwith Camel, both aircraft being capable dogfighters of the era; however, problems with its HispanoSuiza engine meant that there was a chronic shortage of S.E.5s until well into 1918. Thus, while the first examples had reached the Western Front before Camel, there were fewer squadrons were equipped with the S.E.5 than those that had been provided with the Sopwith fighter instead. Together with the Camel, the SE.5 was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 and maintaining it for the rest of the war, ensuring there was no repetition of “Bloody April” 1917 when losses in the Royal Flying Corps were much heavier than in the Luftstreitkräfte. The S.E.5s remained in RAF service for some time following the Armistice that ended the conflict, but began to be withdrawn soon afterwards. Quantities of ex-RAF aircraft were transferred to various overseas military operators, a number were also adopted by civilian operators.*

IN THE BOX

Eduard is one of, if not the most, prolific model companies in the world today, but the release of a brand-new tool kit

is still an exciting event. Eduard returns to WWI during the 100th Anniversary of that world-shaping conflict with their Wolseley Viper powered version of the SE.5a. Eduard’s 1:48 scale SE.5a comprises 111 parts in grey plastic (18 of these are marked “not for use” in this boxing), 11 parts in clear, a single photo-etched fret with pre-painted colour and bare brass parts, self-adhesive painting masks and markings for six aircraft. Detail is excellent. The cockpit is built up inside a plastic frame and sits on the centre section of the wing. Colour photo-etched harness straps and instrument panel are included. The instrument panel features separate dials with precisely printed markings and needles. A nicely detailed Wolseley Viper engine is included too, although you won’t see much of it when the model is complete. The fabric treatment on this model is superb - perhaps Eduard’s best yet. I’m not just talking about the rib tapes, stringers and convincing stretched effect, although these are beautifully done, but when viewed very close up the wings and tail planes feature a super subtle fabric texture. I really like the stitching detail and raised rivets and hinges on the fuselage too. Another detail of note is the clear inspection panels on the upper surfaces of the lower wings and tail planes. Options include alternative main undercarriage legs, optional wing-mounted Vickers gun and headrest fairing, two styles of windscreen and centreline bomb racks. Other options that do not apply to this version are also

on the sprues. These include an alternative two-bladed propeller, a four-bladed propeller, a Hispano-Suiza engine and the early-style radiator. I’m not sure if there are enough parts on the sprues to actually build a HispanoSuiza-powered SE.5a, but you won’t have long to wait anyway, as Eduard has announced a May release of the Royal Class boxing of this version. Parts breakdown is conventional for a WWI aircraft. The lower and upper wings are both full-span, and all control surfaces are separate. These is a single pair of interplane and cabane struts on each side, so this should not be too much of a chore. Deep locating holes and pins are present too. Markings are supplied for six varied SE.5as in British and American markings. The large colourful decal sheet is perfectly printed by Cartograf. Printing, colours and registration is perfect on my sample. Full colour four view diagrams and historical notes are included for all of the schemes.

CONCLUSION

Eduard’s 1:48 scale SE.5a is highly detailed, features exquisite surface textures and should be a pleasure to build judging by my experiences with recent Eduard kits. At USD$33.96, it represents outstanding value too. Highly Recommended. •

*Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Eduard for the sample www.eduard.com

The kit features outstanding surface textures including stitching rivets and hinges.

Clear parts including wing inspection panels.

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Tiny pieces are perfectly moulded. Spare parts on the sprues offer a hint about future releases.

The kit’s photo-etched fret.

The cockpit floor is moulded as part of the full-span lower wing.

Decals are printed perfectly.

Wolseley Viper engine parts.

Six marking options are offered.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs • Kit No. 04891

STRIKE Brett Green builds Revell’s 1:48 scale F-15E Strike Eagle.

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he McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for longrange, high speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic-warfare aircraft. United States Air Force (USAF) F-15E Strike Eagles can be distinguished from other U.S. Eagle variants by darker aircraft camouflage and conformal fuel tanks mounted along the engine intake ramps. The Strike Eagle has been deployed for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, among others. During these operations the F-15E has carried out deep strikes against high-value targets, combat air patrols, and provided close air support for coalition troops. It has also been exported to several countries.*

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HARD!

* Historical summary courtesy of Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15E_Strike_Eagle AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs • Kit No. 04891

Revell’s 1:48 scale F-15E Strike Eagle In the Box Revell originally released their 1:48 scale F-15E Strike Eagle in 2000. The boxings from Revell Germany and Revell USA did not contain ordnance, but the most recent release from 2014 includes a good selection of bombs, rockets and pods. Revell’s 1:48 scale F-15E 2014 release comprises 218 parts in grey plastic, six parts in clear and markings for two aircraft. The model features lovely crisply recessed panel lines. Detail is good straight from the box, with raised switches, throttles, handles and bezels in the cockpit. The four-piece ejection seats are particularly nice, with harness straps and other details moulded in place. The harness straps drape differently on each of the seats – a nice touch. The main undercarriage is moulded with the outboard doors shut, which is correct for a parked aircraft, so not much wheel well detail will be visible on the finished model. The inboard doors are moulded with the wheel well sidewall, making for a solid bond and an opportunity for some easy weathering. Gear legs look good. The main wheels are all plastic and moulded in left and right halves. The tyres are heavily flattened – a bit more than I would like. Intake covers are offered as an optional extra, as is the retractable crew boarding ladder. The speed brake and canopy may be posed open or closed. All control surfaces are moulded in neutral positions. Detail on the burner cans is exquisite, but each exhaust is broken down into three pieces, so a seam-free join may be tricky. Care will also be required to avoid damaging the fine actuators when removing them from the sprues. The canopy has a prominent raised moulding seam along the top centreline. The base for the main canopy is a separate part. Ordnance in this boxing includes two big drop tanks, four AIM-9 Sidewinders, four AIM-120 Sparrow missiles, four GBU10 Laser Guided Bombs, four GBU-15 TV/IR Guided Bombs, an AN/AAQ-13 Navigation Pod, an AN/AA-14 Target Designation Pod and a Data Link Pod. The decal sheet is large and well printed. It includes markings for the weapons as well as two marking options and full stencil data. As is often the case with Revell, the decal sheet is dead flat in finish.

The kit’s plastic flattened wheels.

Intake covers are included.

Each burner can is made up from three main parts plus individual actuators.

Some of the accessories purchased for the project.

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Getting Started I bought a few accessories to upgrade the basic kit: • Legend Productions Item No. LF 4024 – ACES II Seat Set • Eduard Item No. FE225 – F-15E Zoom Photo-Etch • Eduard Item No. EX091 – F-15E Mask • Royale Resin Item No. R043 – F-15E Strike Eagle Weighted Wheels • Aires Item No. 4115 – F-15E Strike Eagle Exhaust Nozzles • TwoBobs Aviation Graphics Item No. 48-026 – F-15E Strike Eagles Mountain Home Avengers In comparing the Legend Productions seats to the kit parts, it was apparent that the Revell seat was significantly taller due to the design of the mount, and detail was at least as good as the resin parts. Rather than make additional work for myself, I decided to dispatch the Legends seat to the accessory drawer and use the kit seat instead. Eduard’s Zoom colour photo-etched fret provides mainly detail parts for the instrument panels and harness straps. Side console details are not included, but I quite like the raised switches and controls anyway – they respond very well to careful dry-brushing and detail painting. I used all the instrument panel parts, the lap harness straps and the Remove Before Flight tags. These added to the already well detailed kit cockpit.

I decided that the kit seat was at least as well detailed as the resin part, so I used these instead.

Each four-part seat was clamped while the glue set.

The plastic cockpit is nicely detailed straight from the box.

The cockpit parts received a base coat of Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey.

Seats received a base coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black.

Raised detail has been scraped from the plastic instrument panels to make way for the coloured photo-etch parts.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs • Kit No. 04891

Consoles were carefully picked out in black using a fine brush.

Cockpit components with detail painting completed.

The grey sections surrounding the consoles were masked off before a light dry-brushing.

Vallejo acrylics were used to pick out the switches and other cockpit features.

Eduard colour photo-etched harness straps and Remove Before Flight tags were glued to the seat.

Instrument panels with colour photo-etched screens and bezels secured with Gator’s Grip Acrylic Glue.

Instrument panels and control sticks installed.

The seats have been glued in place – finis!

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Fuselage sidewalls were painted and weathered. The front landing gear bay is built onto the bottom of the cockpit.

The cockpit has now been trapped between the nose halves. The front office is suitably busy.

The front undercarriage door is precariously attached to the rear bulkhead.

Nose Weight With the cockpit complete I assembled the nose landing gear bay. Before long I was able to close up the nose halves. However, after the glue had dried, I realised that I had not installed any nose weight and I was absolutely certain that I’d need some. Fortunately, there is a narrow open slot in the middle of the instrument coaming that would be just wide enough to feed some flattened fishing sinkers into the nose. I squashed the sinkers using a pair of multigrips and slotted around ten sinkers into the opening, ensuring that the nose was tipped down as I did so. Next, with the nose still tipped down, I inserted the nozzle of a super glue tube into the slot and squeezed a few drops onto the lead sinkers. Finally, I dipped an old narrow brush into super glue accelerator and dripped it into the slot, effectively curing the super glue and locking the sinkers in place. I also added a few larger sinkers to the back of the nose section before it was added to the main fuselage / wing assembly.

I forgot to add nose weight before closing the nose halves.

The squashed lead sinkers were dropped into a narrow slot in the front instrument coaming.

Lead fishing sinkers were squashed using a pair of multi-grips.

Several larger sinkers were also glued to the back of the nose section. AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs • Kit No. 04891

Balance of Construction The rest of construction was straightforward. Fit was generally excellent. The only places I had a little trouble were the outer wing panels. When test-fitted, it seemed that there would be a small gap at the top of the centre wing section where it met the outer wing panels. However, I found that if I squeezed the outer wing panels toward the centre of the model, I could close the gap. The port wing aligned perfectly but the starboard wing, although gap-free, suffered from a slight step. With basic construction complete there was only a small amount of putty required where the conformal fuel tanks met the lower wings. Other than that, it was just a smear of Mr Surfacer here and there.

The intakes – components and assembled. I did not bother painting these as the covers would be fitted.

Don’t forget to drill out holes from the inside of the fuselage to fit racks for ordnance.

A view of the lower fuselage from the inside.

Some of the sprue attachments are quite large. I thought it was safer to cut the sprue off further away from the part before carefully cleaning up the waste with a new scalpel blade and a sanding stick.

The upper and lower fuselage sections ready for assembly.

The parts were clamped while the glue set.

Clamps and tapes were also used to keep the intake ramps in the correct positions.

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The nose and lower wing panels ready to be attached to the central fuselage pancake. Upper wing panels are being fitted here.

After a little squeezing, the fit of the port upper wing join was excellent.

Nice fit at the forward fuselage too.

The inboard intake panel has been fitted here.

The speed brake was glued in the closed position. Large Irwin clamps held the brake in place while the cement set. Conformal tanks in place. A little tape held things in place while the glue set.

Ordnance racks, mounts and pods have been installed here.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs • Kit No. 04891

Painting There’s a fine line between a monotonous paint job and cartoonish overkill. I wanted to occupy this elusive territory by representing a well-maintained aircraft with paintwork that was just starting to show some wear and tear. Tamiya offers a couple of Gunship Grey shades in their AS and TS spray can series. I decided to use the darker version - TS-48 Gunship Grey – as I liked the sinister appearance of this shade. The darker colour seemed to match more reference photos too. I masked the cockpit and wheel wells, then sprayed the metallic areas around the rear fuselage with Tamiya AS-11 Bare Metal Silver, decanted from the spray can and applied with my Iwata HP-C Plus airbrush. When the paint had dried, I masked the metallic areas off and sprayed the entire model with Tamiya TS-48 Gunship Grey straight from the spray can. Two coats almost drained the new spray can – this is a big model! I decanted the dregs from the spray can into a glass jar in case I needed to touch up the base colour. I also used the contents of the jar to mix a paler shade of the base colour, which was applied in streaks, spots and mottles to obtain a generally worn effect. I thought my first attempt was a bit heavy handed, so I applied a light overspray of the base colour before repeated the mottling process. Once this was complete I sprayed control surface hinge lines and most of the major panels with a very fine mix of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and XF-64 Red Brown. The model was prepared for decals with two coats of Future Floor Polish. While the model was still glossy I highlighted the panel lines by brush with a mix of Flat Black, water and Future Floor Polish. TwoBobs’ decals were now applied, including many of the small stencil markings. As I was adding the tiger stripe decals to the tops of the fins, I noticed that all four decals were pointing in the same direction. In reality, two need to be facing the other way so that they will suit the inside and outside surfaces of the fins. I decided to use the kit decals instead of the TwoBobs decals for the tiger stripes. The kit decals were stiff upon their initial application but a generous soaking with Solvaset helped them conform perfectly to the uneven terrain. Solvaset setting solution was brushed over the rest of the decals too. This left a scary white residue in places on the dark grey paint, but an overspray of Future Floor Polish made the stains disappear completely. Alclad II Flat Clear Lacquer Finish restored the lustreless finish.

The seats were removed to make masking the canopy a bit easier.

Metallic areas around the rear fuselage were Wheel wells were masked before further painted with Tamiya AS-11 Bare Metal Silver, painting. decanted from the spray can and applied with an Iwata HP-C Plus airbrush.

The fuselage surrounding the nose cap was masked in preparation for a slightly paler shade.

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The newly painted metallic tail section was masked with Tamiya tape as well.

The model masked and ready for paint. Check out the excellent fit.

The entire model was painted with Tamiya TS-48 Gunship Grey straight from the spray can. Two coats almost drained the new spray can

A few remaining flaws were filled or sanded then touched up with Gunship Grey.

A paler shade of the base colour was applied in streaks, spots and mottles to obtain a generally worn effect.

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The model was prepared for decals with two coats of Future Floor Polish. Panel lines were highlighted by brush with a mix of Flat Black, water and Future Floor Polish. Solvaset setting solution was brushed over the decals. This left a scary white residue in places on the dark grey paint…

…but an overspray of Future Floor Polish made the stains disappear completely.

Alclad II Flat Clear Lacquer restored the lustreless finish.

Ordnance and Finishing Touches Bombs, rockets and tanks were masked and painted before receiving a coat of Future Floor Polish. I had trouble getting the kit decal stripes to wrap around the rockets and bombs, so I reluctantly decided to paint these by hand. Some of the stencil decals were applied to the ordnance though. Although I have covered this aspect in just a few paragraphs, the ordnance was very time consuming, but I think the result is worth the effort. The undercarriage parts were sprayed with Tamiya Fine White Primer, then weathered with Winsor & Newton Raw Umber thinned with Ronson Lighter Fluid. Tyres were painted black and glued to the undercarriage legs. The Aires resin Exhaust Nozzle set was prepared by cutting the resin parts from their casting blocks. The elements were then primed with Tamiya Grey Surface Primer and painted using Alclad II Lacquers. I used Hotmetal Sepia for the first time on the rear exhaust section. This was quite effective.

Tanks, racks and undercarriage doors were attached to small boxes to make it easier to handle the parts while painting.

Yellow bands were brush painted by hand. Bombs and rockets were masked with Tamiya tape.

Ordnance was separated into colour groups for painting.

Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles are attached to the big drop tank mount. AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs • Kit No. 04891

The kit’s main wheels were replaced with resin parts from Royale Resin. The kit nose wheel is a bit bigger and in my opinion looked better.

Undercarriage legs, doors and wheels were painted using Tamiya Fine White Primer.

The red intake covers are quite striking. The weapons also offer a welcome splash of colour on this otherwise grey canvas.

The white paint was weathered with Winsor & Newton Raw Umber heavily thinned with Ronson Lighter Fluid. Lighter Fluid thins cleanly and dries very quickly.

The resin components of Aires’ Exhaust Nozzle set after casting blocks have been removed.

The resin parts were then primed with Tamiya Grey Surface Primer and painted using Alclad II Lacquers, including Hotmetal Sepia.

The exhaust nozzles in place.

Conclusion Revell’s 1:48 scale F-15E Strike Eagle is a terrific model - not to mention great value - and I can thoroughly recommend it. •

The kit includes the retractable crew ladder.

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MODELSPEC Revell 1:48 F-15E Strike Eagle & Bombs The tiger stripe decals on top of the fins are from the kit decal sheet. The balance are from TwoBobs.

Kit No. 04891

Accessories Used: • Eduard Item No. FE225 – F-15E Zoom Photo-Etch • Eduard Item No. EX091 – F-15E Mask • Royale Resin Item No. R043 – F-15E Strike Eagle Weighted Wheels • Aires Item No. 4115 – F-15E Strike Eagle Exhaust Nozzles • TwoBobs Aviation Graphics Item No. 48-026 – F-15E Strike Eagles Mountain Home Avengers Modelling Materials and Tools Used: • Lead Fishing Sinkers • Tamiya Extra Thin Liquid Cement • Revell Contacta Cement • Gators Grip Acrylic Glue • Selleys Super Glue • Hemostats • Multi Grips • Plastic Clamps (various sizes) • Tamiya Masking Tape (various widths) • Blu-Tack Paints and Finishing Products Used: • Tamiya Spray Cans: Fine White Primer; AS-12 Bare Metal Silver; AS-14 Olive Green (USAF); TS-48 Gunship Grey. • Tamiya (acrylic): X-23 Clear Blue; X-27 Clear Red; XF-1 Flat Black; XF-2 Flat White; XF-20 Medium Grey; XF-24 Dark Grey; XF-63 German Grey; XF-64 Red Brown. • Tamiya Weathering Master Set B – Item No. 87080 • Mr Hobby Mr Color Leveling Thinner 400. • Vallejo Model Color (acrylic): 865 Oily Steel; 891 Intermediate Green; 919 Foundation White; 70953 Flat Yellow; 70957 Flat Red; 963 Medium Blue; • Vallejo Panzer Aces (acrylic): 337 Highlight Ger. (Black) • Alclad II Lacquers - Shade D; Hotmetal Sepia; Flat Clear Lacquer Finish • Testors Model Master – Aluminium Non-Buffing Metalizer • Gunze Mr Metal Color (lacquer): 211 Chrome Silver; 214 Dark Iron; 217 Gold; 217 Brass • Solvaset decal setting solution • Future Floor Polish

Revell’s 1:48 scale F-15E Strike Eagle is a terrific model, not to mention great value.

Excellent surface textures; high level of detail; generally good fit; includes ample ordnance.

“There’s a fine line between a monotonous paint job and cartoonish overkill...”

Some wrestling required to get outer wing panels to fit without gaps. Rating: 9 out of 10 Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

Strike Eagle in profile.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin (Premium) • Kit No. 1026

DELIGHTFUL DOLPHIN Tony Bell is impressed with Copper State Models’ reincarnation and their debut injection moulded kit, a 1:48 scale Sopwith Dolphin.

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“If there was one thing pilots mistrusted it was an unconven tional design, and with that bulbous, pugnacious nose and the low er wing stuck forward, and the cockp it in the middle of the top wi ng, it was most certainly unconventiona l for a scout. It looked damn ed dangerous even when it was on the gro und. The Dolphin was everything the pilots said it was. It stalled too readily, the radiators were ine fficient, the magnetos were fau lty, the view downward was disastrou s, the geared Hispano-Suiza engine was totally unreliable and the pla ne was a killer when overturn ed. After a dozen flights, and after I ha d removed the port Lewis Gu n – like the rest of the pilots, I retained the other for shooting two-seate rs up the backside – I thought it was the most delightful plane I’d eve r flown.” – Donald Jack, Bandy Papers Volume 3: It’s Me Again, 19 76

T

he four years that spanned The Great War saw aviation technology improve in leaps and bounds, with the state of the art progressing from types that were scarcely more than motorized kites, to metal skinned monoplanes by the time hostilities ceased. Throughout the war, in the contest for air supremacy the advantage swung back and forth between the Allies and the Central Powers several times. The Sopwith Aviation Company made more than 16,000 aircraft throughout the war, starting with the Tabloid and 1½ Strutter, and producing such iconic types as the Pup, Triplane and Camel through the middle years. 1918 saw the introduction of the Snipe, the ultimate rotary engine WWI fighter, and the Dolphin. The Dolphin was somewhat of a departure from the usual Sopwith design philosophy in that it was powered not by a rotary engine, but rather by a liquid cooled Hispano-Suiza V-8 W.4.B similar to that which powered the S.E.5a and SPAD S.XIII. The radiators were mounted on either side of the cockpit and provided some warmth for the pilot. Although a fairly typical two-bay biplane, the wing configuration featured some unconventional design elements. The upper wings were mounted to a tubular steel structure integral with the cockpit, with a distinctive backwards stagger to maintain the correct centre of lift. The Dolphin entered service in the first months of 1918 with RFC Nos. 19, 23, 79 and 87 Squadrons. It was popular with pilots and enjoyed a good degree of operational success, with numerous aces racking up impressive tallies on the type. The short-lived No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron of the Canadian Air Force operated Dolphins from late 1918 through to early 1920, alongside the S.E.5a and several captured Fokker D.VIIs.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin (Premium) • Kit No. 1026

COPPER STATE MODELS’ 1:48 DOLPHIN

Copper State Models has been around for some years as a cottage industry outfit producing limited run resin WWI models. I have their 1:48 Sopwith Snipe in the stash, and it is a very comprehensive model with nice detail, although as can be expected, it will entail quite a bit of old-fashioned modelling skills to get the best of it. More recently, CSM has changed ownership and their first offering is the 1:48 injection moulded Sopwith Dolphin, and what an offering it is! Looking at the crisp, well detailed and defect free sprues, one could be forgiven if it were mistaken for a new Eduard kit. Moulded in grey styrene are 66 parts, 97 nickel alloy photo-etched bits and, in the “Premium” edition, five resin engine parts plus two hollow metal exhausts. A very nicely printed decal sheet features markings for four eye catching schemes. The instructions are in the form of an attractive booklet that emulates those produced by Wingnut Wings. Included is a comprehensive rigging diagram and full colour profiles of the four marking options. A couple of the diagrams in the instructions are a little out of sequence, so a thorough read through prior to starting is a worthwhile investment of time.

Copper State Models’ box art.

The wings have nice deep locating holes for the struts.

The plastic parts are perfectly moulded and feature lovely surface textures.

Detail parts are equally well moulded.

Plenty of photo-etched detail parts on the generous fret.

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These gorgeous metal exhaust pipes are included in this Premium boxing.

Markings are offered for four aircraft.

The six-piece resin engine is luxurious too.

The instructions are lavishly illustrated in colour.

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The Engine The resin Hispano-Suiza 8E needs a bit of work to separate the parts from their casting blocks and to remove the flash. There were a couple of air bubbles that needed to be filled, but otherwise it builds up quickly and easily, and the simple construction does not compromise the level of detail. The one issue I found was that the carburettor intake trumpet interfered with the copper coloured oil tank, so I simply cut the trumpet short and drilled out the opening. Looking at reference pictures on the web, this appears to be more accurate anyway. I also elected to cut off the two pipes that run from the intake manifold to the cylinder banks and replace them with lengths of solder as this was easier than cleaning up the flash. I also scraped away the ignition leads and replaced them with fine lead wire. I primed the engine with Krylon Fusion black, decanted from the spray can and airbrushed on. I masked off the cylinder banks and painted the rest of the engine Alclad White Aluminium. The oil tank was painted Testors enamel Copper from the little square glass bottle, with other details picked out in Vallejo Black and Chrome Silver. I gave the black cylinder banks a wash of AK Interactive Engine Grime and brought out the details on the aluminium parts with a hand brushed mixture of Vallejo semigloss clear acrylic and India ink. The ignition leads were painted Vallejo Yellowish Rust.

I primed the engine with Krylon Fusion black, decanted from the spray can and airbrushed on.

The oil tank was painted Testors enamel Copper from the little square glass bottle, with other details picked out in Vallejo Black and Chrome Silver.

I gave the black cylinder banks a wash of AK Interactive Engine Grime.

Fuselage Interior CSM provides a comprehensive fuselage interior from the engine compartment back to the fuel tanks behind the pilot’s seat. The frames and longerons are detailed with little photoetched brackets that look great. Sixteen of these miniscule parts adorn the interior with no two alike, so it is very important to keep track of the part numbers as they are removed from the fret for painting. I painted the interior overall clear doped linen (CDL) mixed from Tamiya XF-2 Flat White with a touch each of Gunze H24 Orange Yellow and Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow. The wood furniture was painted with artists’ oils; Burnt Sienna mixed with Van Dyke Brown for the dark wood and Yellow Ochre for the lighter wood. I added a little bit of Stand Oil to the paint to help them spread easier and reduce the drying time.

I painted the interior overall clear doped linen (CDL) mixed from Tamiya XF-2 Flat White with a touch each of Gunze H24 Orange Yellow and Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow.

The aluminium engine panels were painted Vallejo Chrome Silver. AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin (Premium) • Kit No. 1026

The aluminium engine panels were painted Vallejo Chrome Silver. The fuselage seam is visible below the seat, so I cut some 0.010” styrene sheet to fit between the frames and painted them silver too. For the internal bracing I used lengths of stiff ceramic “Wonder Wire” held in place with small dabs of gel superglue. A photoetched seat is included which looks acceptable, but I elected to replace it with the lovely resin offering from BarracudaCast which offers superior detail. There is no bending folding or gluing either, which is nice. I painted it CDL and applied a heavy wash of oil paint. The kit’s photoetch seatbelts look nice, but are somewhat stiff, even after annealing them over a flame. Getting them to drape convincingly was a challenge. The instructions call for the instrument panel to be painted black (accurately so, I might add), but I chose instead to paint it a teak wood colour for visual appeal, with details picked out in black and brass. It would have been nice if decals were provided, but the modeller is left to their own devices to dress up the instrument faces so I had to raid my stash of airscale instrument decals. The clear glass dials were simulated with dabs of clear Bondic UV curing glue. The brass manual fuel pump is not provided, so I fashioned one out of brass rod and nested tubing from Albion Alloys. Alas, it is barely visible at all, buried deep as it is within the cockpit. The Vickers machine guns are very nicely detailed and are augmented with photoetch parts. I drilled out the front end of the cooling jackets and detailed them with yet more photoetch parts from Tom's Modelworks. The guns were painted with Humbrol Metalcote Gunmetal and buffed with a soft paintbrush, with the brass details picked out in Testors enamel. Fitting the guns to the instrument panel and through the top cowl was a test of patience. It was necessary to thin the cowl in places from the inside with a Dremel tool and ball cutter in order for the guns to fit properly. Closing up the fuselage was uneventful, with everything lining up perfectly.

The wood furniture was painted with artists’ oils; Burnt Sienna mixed with Van Dyke Brown for the dark wood and Yellow Ochre for the lighter wood.

This is the aftermarket BarracudaCast wicker seat.

Details parts were painted before adding them to the interior.

The kit’s photo-etched seat (right) is acceptable, but the BarracudaCast part is superb.

The starboard fuselage interior with its various colours and textures.

Detail parts are about to be trapped between the fuselage halves.

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The brass manual fuel pump is not provided, so I fashioned one out of brass rod and nested tubing from Albion Alloys.

The fuselage halves were joined without any problems.

The Vickers machine guns are very nicely detailed and are augmented with photoetch parts.

The guns were painted with Humbrol Metalcote Gunmetal and buffed with a soft paintbrush, with the brass details picked out in Testors enamel.

The machine gun cowl is fitted to the fuselage.

The engine in place.

Ready for painting!

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FEATURE ARTICLE Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin (Premium) • Kit No. 1026

Clear Doped Linen Trompe-l’œil Biplanes by their nature require a slightly unconventional construction sequence, so before assembling the airframe components it was time to paint the main colours. British aircraft of the period were typically left unpainted on the undersides, giving them a translucent quality that subtly showed the internal structure and fabric layering. To reproduce this effect, I relied on thin, translucent layers of colour to create the illusion of the underlying ribs and spars. I started by priming the wings with Tamiya Fine White Primer. I then masked off the rib tapes and carefully airbrushed the edges of the tapes with heavily thinned Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow. Next I used a spaced mask using old business cards and Blu Tak to airbrush the lines for the spanwise spars. For this I used XF-59 mixed with a bit of Tamiya XF-68 NATO Brown, again heavily thinned. After removing the masking I sprayed the undersides of the wings with my CDL mix, gradually building up the colour density until the rib shading barely showed.

I started by priming the wings with Tamiya Fine White Primer. For this I used XF-59 mixed with a bit of Tamiya XF-68 NATO Brown, again heavily thinned.

I then masked off the rib tapes and carefully airbrushed the edges of the tapes with heavily thinned Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow.

Next I used a spaced mask using old business cards and Blu Tak to airbrush the lines for the spanwise spars.

The darker spanwise spars are obvious here.

The chordwise ribs with the masking tape removed. The whole effect is exaggerated at this stage.

Mask in place.

After removing the masking, the undersides of the wings were sprayed with the CDL mix, gradually building up the colour density until the rib shading barely showed.

Paint and Markings After masking off the fuselage openings and the CDL undersides, I airbrushed a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000 and checked for flaws. A handy trick is to shine a flashlight at a low angle perpendicular to the seam so that the light exaggerates any subtle flaws. As usual there were a few to take care of, most notably on the bottom of the fuselage. I’ve always found seams on flat joins to be particularly difficult to eliminate entirely. A couple of hand brushed applications of Mr. Surfacer 500 and sanding took care of this troublesome seam. Were I to do it again, I would just skin it with 0.005” styrene and be done with it. The painting instructions call for PC10, a sort of greenish olive drab colour, but from what I understand the RFC/RAF switched to the more brownish PC12 late in the war. My chosen subject is dated around late 1918 and so, unconstrained by such things as colour photographs or well preserved paint samples, I mixed up my own shade of PC12 from Tamiya XF-10 Brown, XF-81 RAF Dark Green and XF-49 Khaki in an approximate

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ratio of 3:3:1, respectively. There is nothing remotely scientific about this ratio; it just looked good to my eye. The Mr. Surfacer was a satisfactory shade for the grey of the forward fuselage, so I didn’t bother with another coat of paint and instead just masked it off. The decals looked like they might be a bit translucent, so I airbrushed the fuselage and upper wing cockade locations with Tamiya fine white primer and masked off circles the exact size of the cockades.

Masks were created using the Silhouette Portrait computer guided cutting tool.

Although the kit schemes are interesting and varied, I went with a different scheme. I chose to represent a machine from No.1 Canadian Air Force squadron, which features a large white maple leaf with a green number “1.” As far as I am aware there are no such decals, so I had no choice but to paint the aircraft-specific markings. To create the masks, I turned to my new favourite modelling tool, the Silhouette Portrait computer guided cutting tool, using photos gleaned from the internet to create the artwork the cut files using the

Photos gleaned from the Internet were used to create the artwork.

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drawing software that came with the cutter. The masks were cut from Artool Ultra Mask adhesive backed vinyl used by graphic artists. After painting and removing the masks, I gave the entire model a couple of coats of Tamiya X22 clear gloss to prep the surface for decals. The kit cockades and stencils performed well, responding nicely to spot applications of Solvaset decal setting solution to bed the decals down over the surface details. I found that it helped to wet the surface with a generous amount of water so that the decals could be positioned. Without enough water the decals would lock themselves in place before they could be positioned. After they had dried, I sprayed the decals with a couple more coats of X-22, gently rubbing them down with a 3600 grit sanding cloth between coats to blend them in with the paint. My suspicions about the decals being translucent turned out to be correct which worked out to my advantage, with the lower wing rib shading subtly showing through the white of the cockade.

Wings and Struts The masks were cut from Artool Ultra Mask adhesive backed vinyl used by graphic artists.

The rudder ready for paint.

Masking and painting are completed before the final assembly of the wings and fuselage.

The lower wings each have two small locating nubs with corresponding locating holes in the fuselage. This arrangement does little to help with setting the dihedral and nor does it provide much strength, so I cut off the nubs and drilled holes in their locations to receive brass rod that I passed through the fuselage using the existing holes. Sitting the model on a flat surface, I then bent the wings upwards to set the dihedral, carefully measuring the height of each wingtip to ensure symmetry. I then ran some superglue along the wing roots to lock the dihedral in place. The locating holes for the interplane struts are nice and deep, so there was no need to pin them. The locating pins for the cabane struts were pretty small, so I drilled them out and inserted brass wire for a nice, sturdy fit. The tubular struts connecting the two top wings are extremely delicate, so I left the two sprues connecting the wings in place for as long as possible. This worked well, preventing the delicate structure from breaking. Just prior to installing the top wing I removed the sprues and literally within seconds the two wings had broken apart right in the middle. To repair the break I drilled all the way down each of the broken frames into the wing and used brass rod for extra strength. Most of the interplane rigging is attached to lovely little photoetched stay plates, leaving only a handful of rigging holes to be drilled. There are no locating dimples for the rigging as are found on Wingnut Wings kits, so it is necessary to consult your references in order to determine where they should go. The fit of the struts is very positive and I was able to dry fit the interplane struts and top wing, holding it all together with a couple of elastic bands. Making sure that the leading and trailing edges were parallel, I sparingly applied superglue to the struts, attaching them first to the lower wings and then to the uppers.

Rigging Sometimes you have to abandon an approach to something if it’s not working out, even if it means undoing a fair amount of work. For previous 1:48 biplane builds I’ve kept the rigging fairly simple, running nylon thread through holes drilled in the wings and using superglue to hold it all in place. The photoetch stay plates necessitated a more sophisticated approach. I tried tying the nylon thread to the stay and using a small piece of heat stretched styrene tube to represent the turnbuckle, but after doing a half a dozen lines in this manner I decided that it looked like crap, so I trimmed them all off and started again. I decided to adopt the same approach I used for my 1:32 Wingnut Wings builds, which is to run the rigging line down a small piece of tube, through a loop attached to the wing (in this case the photoetched stay plate) and back up through the same tube. The tube is then cinched up tight against the loop and fixed in place with a dab of superglue. The trouble was, the steel tubing I use for 1:32 is way overscale for 1:48 whereas the brass tubing

that would be more to scale has an inside diameter too tight to run rigging down and back again. I tried using short lengths of heat stretched Evergreen styrene tube, but they had a tendency to disintegrate when subjected to any stress. I finally settled on heat stretched plastic tube using the shafts from cheap discount store cotton swabs, which turned out to be much stronger than styrene. Most of the rigging was black nylon monofilament thread that I found in a sewing supply store. Each piece of rigging was initially cut to several times the required length so that it could be easily handled and threaded through the loops and tubes. A good pair of needle nose tweezers and a self-locking haemostat were used to grip and thread and weave the rigging, and a pair of surgical scissors ground to a fine point was used to trim the excess. The photoetched control horns provided with the kit are solid, so I replaced them with ones with little holes in the tips from a generic PART photoetched set. Each horn has a little stub that is inserted into a No. 80 hole for strength. Don’t trim it off!

The wings were set using a custom-made jig.

The kit supplies photo-etched turnbuckles to terminate the rigging. AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin (Premium) • Kit No. 1026

There are locating dimples for the control horns, however the ones for the elevator are too far outboard. The instructions illustrate the elevator horns in their correct locations, but neglect to advise you to ignore the incorrectly located dimples. Likewise, the lower ailerons have control horn dimples located on the top sides whereas they should be on the bottom. Again, the instructions depict the aileron horns in the correct locations. I would have filled the incorrectly located dimples,

Rigging of the wings is completed here.

but I didn’t realize this until after I had painted everything so I left them alone. They’re not very visible anyhow. For some of the non-structural rigging such as the drag wires, cabane struts and rudder control cables, I used stiff ceramic “Wonder Wire” and fine brass tubing for turnbuckles. Each piece was cut slightly oversize and both ends were inserted into partially drilled holes, with one end fixed with superglue and the other end left floating.

Rigging by necessity involves a lot of handling of the model, so I made an extra effort to avoid wearing the paint off in spots by wearing nitrile gloves and grabbing the model in different places. Inevitably, I knocked a few of the completed lines loose and had to redo them. I also made the mistake of attaching the pitot probe before doing the rigging and was constantly knocking and bending it. Fortunately it survived my ham-fistedness and only needed to be gently straightened when I was done.

This lower view shows how effective the trompe l’oeil technique is.

Details and Final Touches The landing gear struts were pinned for strength, and the “Palmer Cord Aero Tire” decals were pinched from the 1:48 Roden F.2B Bristol Fighter. I scanned the printed acetate provided with the kit and used my Silhouette plotter to draw and cut the windscreen. I painted the edges with heavily thinned Gunze clear green to simulate the edges of plate glass and attached the windscreen to the photoetched frame with X22 clear. I drilled out both ends of the Aldis telescopic gun sight and added a dab of Bondic for the lens. I made a bezel by wrapping some brass wire around a micro drill and attached it to the front of the sight with Future floor polish. The instructions would have you install the Aldis sight before adding the windscreen and frame, but I chose to do it the other way around which turned out to be very fiddly indeed. My advice is to follow the instructions. The kit provides two different styles of props, with separate photoetched metal bosses. The props had a bit of an odd cross section, being completely flat on the rear face but with an exaggerated curve on the front. So much so, that I actually used my Dremel tool to knock it back initially, refining the shape with a couple of grades of sanding sticks. Consulting my reference pictures, I discovered that neither of the kit props had the correct shape for my chosen subject, so I pilfered the prop from the old Blue Max Sopwith Dolphin (which I will probably never build now, because what’s the point?). It may have had a better shape, but it needed considerable cleanup. The CSM boss was a little too big for the Blue Max prop, so I

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fashioned a new one from 0.010” sheet styrene, cut using my Silhouette machine and detailed with little discs punched with my Waldron sub-miniature punch & die set. I painted the prop the same way as I did the cockpit wooden bits, and once dry gave it several coats of Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss. When that dried, I masked and painted the grey blades with Mr. Surfacer 1000. I sprayed the boss Alclad Steel and made the shaft from nested brass tubes. I attached the boss with Tamiya X-22. The fit of the shaft was tight enough to leave it press fit without any glue. Because I chose to depict a machine in post-war service I kept the weathering understated. I used black and brown oil paints to created oil streaks on the underside of the fuselage, applying a dab of paint at the origin of each streak and drawing it back with a paint brush moistened with thinner. I mixed up a dirty grey wash from Davy’s Grey and Raw Umber oil paints, thinned with odourless mineral spirits. I created little spatters of this around the grey areas by loading a No. 2 round brush with the wash and flicking it across the edge of a thin piece of metal (a JLC razor saw in this case). By varying the thickness of the wash, the amount on the brush and the distance of the brush from the model, the effect can be varied as desired. Mud and grime were applied to the wheels and undersides using MiG pigments and flicking spatters of Ammo by MiG “Engine Grime.” I faded the cockades by hand brushing thin layers of very diluted lightened shades of the colours.

A nice view of the machine guns and the unique arrangement of the upper wing.

Tail rigging and elevator control lines.

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MODELSPEC Copper State Models 1:48 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin (Premium) Kit No. 1026

Conclusion

Materials:

The revamped Copper State Models has produced a real winner with their first new release. Although a little too challenging for a first-time biplane

modeller, the detail, fit and engineering make it a great choice for someone with a few Eduard or Wingnut Wings kits under their belt. •

Injection moulded styrene, resin, photo-etched nickel alloy, waterslide decals, acetate. Accessories Used: -

BarracudaCast: BR48260 British WWI Wicker AGS Seats Tom’s Modelworks Photoetch Details; #201 WWI British Guns PART Photoetch: S48-087 WWI Control Horns & Turnbuckles Albion Alloys: SFT2 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, & 0.9mm Brass Tube Slide Fit Tube Selection Pack

Paints Used: - Tamiya Acrylics: XF-2 Flat White, XF-10 Flat Brown, X22 Clear, XF-49 Khaki, XF-59 Desert Yellow, XF-68 NATO Brown, XF-81 RAF Dark Green, XF-85 Rubber Black - Tamiya Spray Paints: Fine White Primer - Krylon Fusion Spray Paint: Gloss Black - Alclad Lacquers: ALC-106 White Aluminum, ALC-112 Steel - Vallejo Model Air Acrylics; 71.057 Black, 71.064 Chrome Silver - Vallejo Panzer Aces; 70.303 Yellowish Rust - Gunze Acrylics; H24 Orange Yellow, H94 Clear Green - Gunze Mr. Surfacer 500 and 1000 - Testors Enamels; 1151 Metallic Copper, 1144 Metallic Gold - Humbrol Enamels; Metalcote Gunmetal - AK Interactive; AK 082 Engine Grime - MiG Pigments; European Dust - Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oils; Burnt Sienna, Van Dyck Brown, Yellow Ochre, Davy’s Grey, Raw Umber

I pilfered the prop from the old Blue Max Sopwith Dolphin.

References: - Sopwith Dolphin Windsock Datafile 54, published by Albatros Publications Ltd., 1995, ISBN 0948414308 - Dolphin and Snipe Aces of World War 1, published by Osprey Publishing, 2012, ISBN 9781841763170 - Sopwith Fighters in Action, published by Squadron/Signal Publications, 1991, ISBN 089747256X Excellent detail, fit and engineering. A little too challenging for a first-time biplane modeller. Rating: 9 out of 10

Cockades were faded by hand brushing thin layers of very diluted lightened shades of the colours

Thanks to Copper State Models for the sample www.copperstatemodels.com

Although a little too challenging for a first-time biplane modeller, the detail, fit and engineering make it a great choice for someone with a few Eduard or Wingnut Wings kits under their belt. AIR Edition

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31/05/2017 11:42

FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

THE

SMILING

ASSASSIN Kamil Feliks Sztarbala presents a masterclass of painting and weathering Eduard’s 1:48 scale Spitfire Mk.VIII.

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T

he Spitfire Mk.VIII is yet another variant of the famous British fighter, from Eduard’s 1:48 scale aircraft model range. Having previously completed some of the Spitfire kits released by this Czech company, I expected that the Mk.VIII would be nothing other than a pleasant build. No other range of models had given me so much joy and satisfaction during assembly, as had Eduard’s Spitfire Mk.IXs. As is typical with kits from the ProfiPACK series, inside the box we find one complete kit, which consists of four sprues, moulded in grey styrene, and one clear sprue, plus a basic photo-etched fret and die-cut masks. This is complemented by two decals sheets. The larger one is printed by Cartograf and includes markings for six aircraft, whilst the second sheet, printed by Eduard, supplies the airframe stencils.

Kit contents.

Construction With the experience I have gained whilst building Eduard’s Spitfire Mk.IX kits, I suggest a slightly different approach to the assembly sequence recommended by the manufacturer. The first changes are applicable to the initial steps of the construction process.

I began by gluing the lower parts of the cockpit side walls to the fuselage halves.

I wanted to mount the pilot entry door in the closed position, but despite using the kit part designed for this, I still had to finely sand its edges with a flat file.

This allowed me to fix the door in place within the fuselage, and secure the joint with a little Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

As I had changed the order of construction from the very beginning of this build, I had to divide the cockpit into a number of subassemblies and separate parts, allowing for easier painting. Of course, all of these were dry-fitted to each other, in order to ensure trouble-free assembly.

The easiest way to deal with a small cavity or hole is to fill it with a length of styrene rod or some scrap plastic, and seal this with cyano. Once you cut off the excess rod and smooth the area with sandpaper, the problem is gone. This process takes just a few minutes, and you don’t need to worry about shrinking, as you would in the case of using putty for such a purpose.

The flat photo-etched part was glued to the plastic fuselage frame using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. Although this glue does not dissolve brass, it softens the plastic, which, together with paint layers applied later, sufficiently secures the flat photo-etched parts.

I temporarily attached the sub-assemblies to hypodermic needles, or, as in the case of the gun sight, left the part on the sprue, allowing for easier handling during the painting stage.

The first step was to prime the inner surfaces with Mr. Color C8 ‘Silver’.

Next, I airbrushed a layer of Mr. Color C364 ‘Aircraft Grey-Green’.

Those areas and details that would remain in a metal finish, were now masked off with Tamiya tape and masking fluid.

This was followed by highlighting details, edges and chosen areas with a heavily diluted mixture of base colour and Mr. Color C69 ‘Off White’.

Top Tip! W

Some interior details were brush painted with black paint from Ammo MIG’s acrylic range.

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aterare t based acr y h for b e best pa lics i r any d ush paint nts e i do no tail. They ng t previ react wi t o paint usly appl h i they layers, a ed nd dry q uickl y.

The pilot’s seat was made from an early composite material known as Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper. I reproduced its distinctive colour by mixing together two rusty tones from the AK-Interactive range; AK708 ‘Dark Rust’ and AK709 ‘Old Rust’, directly onto the seat surface, using the wet-on-wet technique.

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The instrument panel may be built in two ways. We may use a flat plastic part, which works as the base for the photo-etched instrument panels, or a plastic instrument panel which features both raised and recessed details, but has to be finished by applying decals.

Both plastic parts were temporarily fixed to lengths of kit sprue, and sprayed with an even layer of Tamiya X-1 ‘Gloss Black’.

The assembled panel was then sealed with a layer of flat clear varnish. Afterwards, I slightly emphasized the raised details with grey paint, using the drybrushing technique.

To attach the photo-etched part to the plastic base, I used Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive. White glue is also suitable for this task.

The assembled panel was then sealed with a layer of flat clear varnish. Afterwards, I slightly emphasized the raised details with grey paint, using the drybrushing technique.

Taking advantage of the better print quality of the decals, I applied a decal with a compass face over its photo-etched, printed counterpart.

The next ‘layer’ of photo-etched parts was glued in the same way. I spread a little Miscroscale adhesive over the joint area, and added the small photo-etched panel before the glue had fully cured.

The plastic instrument panel was finished in a very similar manner. The effect was almost as good as the photo-etched panel, although you may notice that the decals didn’t fit some of the bezels.

To bring out the interior details, I used different coloured enamel products. Green-tone AK-Interactive AK026 ‘Slimy Grime Dark’ is suitable not only for creating various effects caused by humidity, but also for accentuating the nooks and corners of grey-green surfaces…

…whilst almost black AK075 ‘Wash for NATO Camo Vehicles’ is my favourite choice for metallic areas.

Once the enamels had dried, I removed the excess with cotton buds.

Using the drybrush technique again, I additionally emphasized chosen details with Vallejo 70883 ‘Silver Grey’. This mainly concerned the edges of black elements.

Finally, I added some small scratches and paint chips onto various edges and other areas that could be vulnerable to damage in the real cockpit. For this purpose, I scratched the paint layer with the end of a pair of tweezers, revealing the silver undercoat.

All the sub-assemblies were now ready to put together.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

…but to ensure the correct alignment, I squeezed the fuselage with clamps until the glue had fully cured.

The fuselage frames and other sub-assemblies had to be assembled and carefully adjusted to the fuselage halves before using any glue. The parts fit seemed to be perfect…

For sanding the joint area of the fuselage halves, I used a flat metal file, as usual.

The small sink mark in the fuel tank cover was filled with a tiny amount of cyano. Once the glue had cured, I smoothened the surface with a flat file.

The top engine cowling on a real Spitfire was made from one sheet of metal. As the kit part was supplied as two halves, after assembly, I had to carefully sand and polish the joint area. For these purposes, I again used a metal file, and finished with a polishing sponge.

I also had to deepen the panel lines. This was achieved by slightly cutting across them with a razor saw blade…

The rivet detail, which was too finely engraved, or damaged during sanding process, had to be restored with a sewing needle.

…and then increasing and levelling their depth using the Scribe-R tool, from RB Productions.

This process was repeated on other fuselage surfaces, where necessary.

During the exhaust assembly, it’s useful to carefully dry-fit all parts. I can’t emphasize this enough, as I have the impression that the instructions for this step contain some minor errors in terms of part numeration.

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At this stage, I also attached the windscreen and rear portion of the canopy, and covered them with the die-cut masks that are supplied with the kit. It’s easier to do this before mounting the wings.

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The main landing gear bays consist of over a dozen perfectly-fitting parts. You only need to put each of them in its correct position and secure the joints with a little Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.

Before I could join the wing panels, I first had to paint a few small areas. Firstly, I applied a layer of Mr. Color C8 ‘Silver’ which would work as the inside reflective mirror for the landing lights.

The centre part was painted in the same manner as the fuselage interior, with Mr. Color C364 ‘Aircraft Grey-Green’ applied to the front area, and Mr. Color C8 ‘Silver’ used for the rear.

Once I had glued the wing parts together, I could add the radiators. It is useful to dry fit these sub-assemblies before finally securing the joints with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.

However, a small gap emerged along the joints of both main airframe sections, on the underside of the model.

I also sprayed some black paint over the inner surfaces of the upper wing halves, as bare plastic would be visible through the ejector chutes in the finished kit.

The excellent fit of the particular sub-assemblies sometimes creates minor problems. To mate the fuselage and wings, I had to slightly bend the latter, and then gently press the fuselage into its position within the wings.

To deal with this flaw, I again used super glue, which provides a durable, non-shrinking seam that is great for sanding.

The rivet detail which was damaged whilst sanding the surface, had to be recreated with a sewing needle.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

Top Tip!

If yo u to us would li e sup k er gl e as a u putty a thi , cho e os c glue k one. Su e p accel erato er also r i you h nvaluable is a a lar ve to app when g l adhes er amoun y t of i speed ve, as it will up th e cur ing The last sub-assembly that required some sanding was the lower cowling, with its engine air intake. Once more, I used cyano for filling the seams, and metal files for smoothing the surface.

A simple way to simulate weighted tires is to slightly sand them. To apply this equally, you may mount the wheels onto a brush handle and sand them both at the same time.

During this process, I had to keep in mind that whilst the surface of the air intake fairing was smooth, a distinctive seam should run along the lower cowling.

Upon closer examination, I noticed some fine scratches Now it was time for the masking process. Firstly, I covered on the sliding hood, caused by contact with zip-bag the cockpit interior with an accurately cut piece of Tamiya tape. packaging. Fortunately, I easily got rid of this flaw by polishing the surface with Tamiya compounds.

The photo-etched sheet supplied with the kit includes landing gear oleo strut scissors. However, in my opinion, they are too flat in appearance, so I decided to mount their plastic counterparts. The latter only required hollowing out.

Masking the canopy hood was more complicated. The die-cut masks supplied by Eduard allow only coverage the external surface. As I was going to paint the inner framing of the hood too, I had to use a few strips of tape and some masking fluid.

It’s useful to be able to paint the tires separately. In this case, I attached them onto cotton buds for the painting process.

The kit was then ready to have some paint applied.

The wheel hubs were temporarily attached to a piece of masking tape, whilst other parts that had to be painted separately, were held with wire clips from Tamiya’s Spray-Work Stand Set.

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Paintwork Amongst the painting options offered with the kit, the Spitfire HF Mk.VIII, flown by W/C Robert Gibbes, CO of No.80 Fighter Wing in 1945, quickly became my favourite. I found its contrasting camouflage pattern and shark mouth motif much more appealing than the scheme illustrated on the box art.

Top Tip!

My first step was to spray a silver primer layer over all surfaces of the kit that were metal-skinned on the real aircraft. For this, I used Mr. Color C104 ‘Gun Chrome’. The fabric-covered surfaces were given a coat of Mr. Color C321 ‘Light Brown’.

When I have to paint models of metal-skinn ed aircraft, I always start by applying a priming coat of silver paint from the Mr. Col or range. It is useful, no t only for wanting to add chipping using the scratching tec also because the hnique, but colours look better if we ap ply transparent layers of paint over a silver undercoat. The effect is more realistic than it if we simply use would be d a standard grey, or even white primer.

I always try to match the colour of pre-shading lines to the final colour of the painted surface. Usually, I use various shades of grey. In this case, I chose Mr. Color C333 ‘Extra Dark Seagrey’ for darkening the panel lines and edges, and selected rivet lines.

The upper surfaces received a similar treatment, but in this case I used heavily diluted Mr. Color C18 ‘RLM70 Black Green’. Certain rivet lines on the fuselage undersides were emphasized with Mr. Color C72 ‘Intermediate Blue’. I also airbrushed some misted lines of this colour over the control surfaces and other movable parts of the airframe.

ip! T Top he pre-

The final step of the pre-shading phase was to spray some thin streaks with heavily diluted Tamiya XF-1 ‘Flat Black’. These run along the wing from the guns and ejector chutes.

g t try Durin g phase, n try, shadi id symme te o a to av ot to cre re a and n ns that is r h patte nse, as t n a e too d esult in t. r ec will l eff a r u t unna

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

This allowed me to begin the camouflage application process. As it is useful to start with the lightest colour, I airbrushed a transparent layer of Mr. Color C363 ‘Medium Sea Grey’ over the undersides.

Of course, the effects of pre-shading and post-lightening look overdone at this stage. I therefore toned them down by airbrushing another transparent layer of the base colour, which worked as a filter.

Using heavily diluted Mr. Color C316 ‘White’, I highlighted chosen details and panel demarcation, as well as a number of rivet lines. The colour I applied has a distinctive shade that can be placed between pure and off white.

Top Tip! Next, I masked the colour scheme demarcation with pieces of Tamiya tape.

Even if using Tamiya masking tape, which is without doubt the best avail able product for modelling purposes, it is useful to lessen its adhesion by att aching and removing pieces of tape from a desk, or hand . Th particularly imp is is ortant if you apply the colours over a silver under coat, otherwise it is too easy to their layers wh damage ilst removing the masking tap e.

Now it was time to create the camouflage pattern on the upper surfaces. Again, I began by applying the lighter of the two colours. I airbrushed a transparent layer of Mr. Color C362 over those areas that should be painted with RAF Ocean Grey, trying to deploy the colour patches exactly as depicted in the kit painting guide, in order to avoid unnecessary over-spraying into the areas that were to be painted in the darker camouflage colour.

Next, I added the highlights with a heavily diluted Mr. Color C69 ‘Off White’. For this purpose, I randomly sprayed some meandering lines over the surface, and accentuated selected access plate edges, details and rivet lines.

The resulting discolouration was toned down with another transparent coat of the base colour.

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The next phase was performed in a similar manner to the previous steps. I airbrushed a transparent basecoat of Mr. Color C361 ‘Dark Green’…

Once the paint layer had fully dried, I could mask the camouflage demarcation. I marked the shape of the various patches with thin plasticine rolls, and subsequently covered the ocean grey areas with masking fluid.

…created some discolouration with Mr. Color C308 ‘FS36375 Grey’…

…and reduced the effect by spraying a filter of very heavily diluted Mr. Color C361 ‘Dark Green’.

Afterwards, I carefully removed the masking, trying not to peel off the camouflage colour layers from the silver undercoat…

…and then wiped the areas that had been masked off with plasticine, using a paper towel dampened with lighter fluid, in order to ensure that no grease from the plasticine was left on the surface.

To spice up the kit, I decided to simulate the traces of overpainting of the original national markings, namely the RAF ‘roundels’. I airbrushed them free-hand, using Mr. Color C12 ‘Olive Drab’ for dark green surfaces and Mr.Hobby H331 ‘Dark Seagrey’ for ocean grey areas.

The process of painting the white quick-identification markings required a lot of masking. To avoid any bright overspray, I covered quite a lot of the surrounding surfaces that were immediately adjacent to the areas of white paint application. Once more, it was useful to lessen the adhesion of the Tamyia tape prior to using it on the kit, and to pay attention to its careful removal after painting.

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

Top Tip!

If yo u nee d to basic a red, a colours l pply ike b nd es lue, yello p e c ial w apply , it is us ly eful t h e m to under over c will oat, other a white n w thick eed to ap ise you p achie layer of ly a v p of th e the ful aint to l eff e col ec our’s vivid t ness.

The propeller was initially primed with Mr. Color C104 ‘Gun Chrome’. Next, I painted the blade tips in yellow, and then applied an even coat of Mr. Color C79 ‘Shine Red’ over the spinner. I purposely chose the latter colour as an ordinary flat red paint would be too dark. Once I had masked the spinner and blade tips, I could paint the remaining parts of the blades in black. The decals, both those printed by Cartograf and by Eduard, went on easily with a little help of Microscale setting solutions. During this process, I had to keep in mind that the airframe stencils adjacent to the original national markings would also be overpainted. Therefore, I cut the black walkway stripe decals and didn’t apply their middle sections, matching the lengths of the resulting remnants to the demarcation of the overpainted RAF roundels. Additionally, I retouched the stripes to simulate some overspray at their ends.

At this stage, I sealed the paintwork with a layer of Mr.Top Coat Semi-Gloss varnish, applied directly from a spray can. This allowed me to proceed with decaling. Vallejo 70939 ‘Smoke’ paint may be used for many purposes. For example, if you apply it over a matte black undercoat, you will achieve a realistic effect of tire rubber that is representative of the WW2 era. The very same colour, mixed with a little ‘Gunmetal’ (Vallejo 70863), was brushed onto the exhausts.

When I had painted all details in their appropriate colours, I airbrushed another layer of clear semi-gloss varnish over the entire kit.

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To emphasize the panel lines and other details on the undersides, I used Ammo MIG-1602 ‘PLW Deep Grey’. Firstly, I applied this enamel wash over the entire lower surfaces.

Once it had dried, I removed the excess with paper towels and cotton buds.

For the upper surfaces, I chose AK-Interactive AK014 ‘Winter Streaking Grime’. As this enamel product is darker and more dense, it required a more precise application, because otherwise I could undesirably alter the tones of the camouflage colours.

Once dry, the excess wash was removed with paper towels.

“When I have to paint models of metal-skinned aircraft, I always start by applying a priming coat of silver paint from the Mr. Color range...”

The panel lines crossing the dark blue portions of the RAAF roundels were accentuated with bright Ammo MIG-1601 ‘PLW Medium Grey’ enamel. To seal the paintwork and get the kit ready for weathering, I airbrushed it with a layer of clear matte varnish.

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

Weathering

The weathering process was begun by replicating the damage to the paint layer. Using a thin brush, I painted some fine chips and scratches with heavily diluted Vallejo 70883 ‘Silver Grey’.

More intense damage was added by scratching the paint layer with a large sewing needle, in order to reveal the silver undercoat.

I also added some fine scratches on the propeller blades by patting the surface with a steel wire brush. Worth mentioning is that usually, the rear surfaces of the blades tend to be more exposed to paint layer abrasion. Also, note that whilst the Rotol propellers were made of wood, the latter was often covered with a fine metal mesh, with the leading edges of the blades fixed with a brass sheath. All of this was coated with black plastic, which was the material subjected to wear and tear.

To dust the fuselage sides and wing root surfaces in the cockpit area, I applied AK4062 ‘Light Dust Deposit’ from AK-Interactive’s ‘Dust & Dirt Deposit’ set. This interesting product is a mixture of enamel and dry pigment, which once dry, faithfully replicates accumulated dust. Firstly, I randomly airbrushed some tiny patches and streaks over the selected area.

Next, using a cotton bud that had been slightly dampened with white spirit, I distributed the product over the surface. It is important to perform this in a rolling motion instead of wiping straight over the surface.

I now had to reproduce the distinctive staining on the fuselage undersides. Firstly, I airbrushed this area with a mist of MIG Productions P220 ‘Dark Wash’. This was followed by spraying some fine streaks of the same enamel product, which may be slightly diluted with white spirit if necessary. For airbrushing enamel products, I set the micro air control (MAC) valve on my airbrush to a minimal air pressure.

Some fine, greasy streaks and leaks were painted with a very fine, long-bristled brush. I used MIG Productions P220 ‘Dark Wash’ and AK-Interactive AK2019 ‘Aircraft Engine Oil’, mixed in different ratios, in order to get a variety of tones and gloss levels of the particular streaks.

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ip! T p To

The products from AK-Interactive’s ‘Deposit’ range should be applied gradually and carefully, as the effect becomes more intensive whilst the product dries. Therefore, it is useful to apply small amounts of the product and wait until each layer dries, in order to assess if further application is necessary.

rocess ying p The dr accelerated may be ng air over r u wi by blo el, using yo r od ye your m . A hair dr is sh th airbru useful for is also but must be , s purpose h caution, a m, r it used w h is too wa c i astic. air wh ort kit’s pl st i may d

The mud splashes in the landing gear area were recreated with Tamiya Weathering Sticks, ‘Light Earth’ and ‘Mud’, applied with an old brush. To add some variety and richness to the final result, you may mix a small amount of these compounds with water in different ratios, and apply a little at a time.

To add dirt to the wheels, I used the same compounds, but this time I applied them with a cotton bud, dampened with water.

The last weathering step was to reproduce the exhaust staining. I began by airbrushing some fine streaks with AK-Interactive AK083 ‘Track Wash’, diluted with white spirit.

As its name suggests, Mr. Color C188 ‘Flat Base Rough’, diluted with Mr. Color Thinner, gives a slightly transparent and quite crude whitish layer. I guess that every modeller at least once encountered a ‘frosting’ problem with a matte varnish. However, this usually unwanted feature may be used for creating whitish staining.

To make the resulting stains less uniform, I blurred them and modified the shape of their edges by rolling a cotton bud over the surface. The cotton bud had been dampened with white spirit.

With a fine brush, I also applied tiny amounts of quite heavily diluted AK-Interactive AK2019 ‘Aircraft Engine Oil’ here and there.

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AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII • Kit No. 8284

The final touch was to remove the masks and attach those parts and sub-assemblies which would have been vulnerable to damage whilst manipulating the kit during the previous stages. These included the propeller, rear view mirror, canopy hood and antenna mast.

The smiling shark mouth!

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Chipping and weathering really breaks up the camouflage colours.

“No other range of models had given me so much joy and satisfaction during assembly, as has Eduard’s Spitfire Mk.IXs...”

Eduard’s 1:48 Spitfire Mk.VIII is a great kit.

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell Germany 1:72 Bf 109 G-10 • Kit No. 04160

LITTLE SCHMITT Building a Better Bf 109 in Braille Scale Rafe Morrissey details Revell’s small-scale Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-10.

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T

he Messerschmitt Bf 109 may be the most popular (and over-kitted) modelling subject of all time. For all the popularity and options in 1:48 and more recently 1:32 scales, an accurate and detailed late model 109 remains elusive in 1:72 scale. Kits have been offered by almost every major manufacturer since the dawn of time, but few have had the level of detail and accuracy that modelers now crave. A nice line of late model 1:72 109s was released by Fine Molds

in recent years, but they are expensive and difficult to find. All the other available kits require the modeler to choose among the lesser of a variety of evils. I really wanted a nice 1:72 scale kit for my collection, so decided to find a path that would get me there in the end.

THE KIT

I selected for my starting point the 1:72 scale Revell Germany Bf-109G-10. This kit was originally released under the Monogram Pro-

Modeler line and has a number of admirable features. The outline is generally accurate; it includes a reasonable amount of detail and finely recessed panel lines and is priced affordably. As with all the other 1:72 kits, there are also several faults. The canopy is thick and moulded closed, the cockpit is basic, the main landing gear mounts are not correctly positioned and the propeller is anemic. The supercharger inlet is also moulded solid and needs to be drilled open. These issues are all solvable, so I determined to press on.

Figures and a base always add a welcome sense of context and perspective to a model.

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell Germany 1:72 Bf 109 G-10 • Kit No. 04160

The Revell Germany wings are nice but most 109s had the flaps and slats lowered on the ground.

Careful slicing with an X-Acto knife and JLC razor saw is required to remove the control surfaces.

With precise cuts, the slats and outer flaps can be reused. I also used corrugated plastic to make grill faces for the oil cooler exits.

I added a wrinkle by choosing to model a Bf 109 G-14AS which mated an upgraded DB605ASM high altitude engine with a G-14 airframe. In this scale, the differences are largely reduced to markings and I was attracted by an Eagle Editions decal sheet with a nose art option. I was not able to source the sheet in 1:72nd scale but figured I could make the necessary markings myself.

THE UPGRADES The flaps behind the oil cooler are too thick for a good scale appearance but are easy to scratch build out of thin plastic using the kit parts as a guide.

“This kit was originally released under the Monogram Pro-Modeler label and has a number of admirable features.” 60

Fortunately, the aftermarket is active regarding the popular 109, so I could address the two biggest shortcomings in the kit rather easily. I obtained a True Details cockpit and a Squadron vacuform Erla-Haube canopy. The propeller was more difficult. After looking through a few other kits, I decided that I liked the shape of the propeller blades in the 1:72 Italeri G-6 kit which in other ways falls short of the mark. Finding one cheap at a swap meet, I decided to liberate the propeller blades for my kit. I also

wanted to separate the leading edge slats and flaps for a more characteristic ground appearance. I couldn’t find any aftermarket parts at the time, so decided I would do it the old fashion way and cut them out.

‘THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST’

Figuring that the cut out control surfaces would make or break the project, I decided to begin with that task. Using a scriber, X-Acto knife and JLC razor saw, I carefully worked through the separation lines on all the control surfaces. With care and repeated light passes, all of the flaps and slats came away from the wings cleanly. I was able to reposition the leading edge slats and outer flaps, but the inner flaps behind the oil coolers were too thick to be used. I ended up using the removed kit parts as templates to make replacements from .010 sheet styrene. I also used a piece of Evergreen corrugated plastic to make the rear oil cooler vent faces and added thin strips for a bit of detail. A photoetched part would probably be more in

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A True Details cockpit and Squadron vacuform canopy are inexpensive upgrades that really give the Revell kit a boost.

A sharp X-Acto knife and JLC razor saw are all that are needed to carefully remove the resin parts from the pour blocks.

AIR Edition

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FEATURE ARTICLE Revell Germany 1:72 Bf 109 G-10 • Kit No. 04160

Kit bashing and basic scratch building are the best options for an attractive small scale ‘Gustav’.

scale but none was to be had and I reckoned only a sadistic critic would look that closely.

RENOVATING THE FRONT OFFICE

With the wings well in hand, I turned my attention to the cockpit. I really like True Details sets. They are well-detailed, reasonably priced and offer a real improvement over what you get in the kit. Unlike some other aftermarket companies, they are generally designed to fit into the kits they are intended for. After washing the parts in a diluted solution of Simple Green to remove any traces of

Removing the molded detail inside the fuselage halves can be a lot of work but a Dremel makes it go faster. Don’t remove too much, though! Better to get close and then finish by scraping with a curved blade and sand paper.

62

release agent, I carefully cut the parts from the casting blocks using an X-Acto knife and the JLC razor saw. The trick here is to use careful repeated passes of the knife or saw. The cockpit pour block did not affect the fit, so I simply cleaned it up with a knife and sanding stick. The next task was to remove the moulded detail from the kit side fuselage halves. I grazed a Dremel grinding bit over the detail to remove it slowly. Once the majority of the detail was gone, I switched to a curved blade and wet or dry sandpaper to level the surface for the lovely True

Details side walls. After a careful test fit to ensure all the parts would fit properly, I was able to focus on painting the lovely detail. Dry brushing, selective washes and careful detail painting resulted in a very pleasing cockpit. The True Details set has seatbelts moulded into the seat which look great in this scale and were much easier to paint than trying to add photo-etch versions.

Properly painted and weathered, the impressively tiny True Details cockpit detail rivals many larger scale parts.

Combining different kit parts is often an effective solution to get the best final appearance. The Revell kit is generally nice, but the prop blades were disappointing. Italeri’s blades look great and were east to fit.

PROPER PROP

The final task was to address those emaciated propeller blades. I carefully removed the blades

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MODELSPEC Revell Germany 1:72 Bf 109 G-10. Kit No. 04160 Accessories Used: Squadron Vacuform 1:72 Bf-109G Erla Canopy True Details 1:72 Bf-109 G/K Cockpit Italeri 1:72 Bf-109G-6 (propeller blades) Paints Used: Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black Tamiya XF-2 Flat White Tamiya XF-63 German Gray Tamiya custom mixes for RLM 74/75/76 Other Products Used: from the Revell hub and glued the Italeri blades on. In this scale it was not necessary to drill and pin, so a just made sure the mating surfaces were levelled and tweaked the blade position as the glue dried.

WRAP UP

With all the major issues with the Revell Germany kit solved, construction and painting went quickly. I used kit decals for the national markings and carefully hand painted the name on the cowling with Vallejo White paint and a tiny brush. I

sprayed the yellow ‘1’ through a custom frisket mask onto clear decal paper. After an overcoat of clear lacquer, I applied it with the Micro Scale system. This was my first attempt at making my own decals and I was pleased with the final result. It took a bit of work, but a well-detailed late model Bf 109 is achievable with a bit of elbow grease and careful planning. Until a state of the art kit is released in this scale, kit bashing and basic scratch building are the best options for an attractive small scale ‘Gustav’. •

“Kit bashing and basic scratch building are the best options for an attractive small scale ‘Gustav’.”

Tamiya Extra Thin Cement Pledge Multi-Surface Finish Testors Dullcote Evergreen sheet plastic Frisket Film Micro Sol Micro Set Good outline, recessed panel lines, good detail for scale, decals well printed with good registration. Poorly moulded propeller blades, thick one piece canopy, solid supercharger, incorrect mounting points for main landing gear struts. Rating: 7 out of 10

AIR Edition

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DOOLITTLEMEDIA.COM

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Superdetailing, Painting and Weathering

Aircraft of WWII, with airfield accessories, ordnance and diorama

Aleksandar Počuč

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SCALE MODELLING: A LOVE STORY READY TO ASSEMBLE TOOLS AND MATERIALS TECHNIQUES BUILDING THE AIRCRAFT ■ SPITFIRE MK. IXC ■ P-47D THUNDERBOLT ■ JU-87D ‘STUKA’ MAKING A DIORAMA

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modeller Next Issues military illustrated

ISSUE No.075 July 2017

Military Illustrated Modeller Issue 76 - AFV Edition

Aircraft Edition - Brett Green AFV Edition - Marcus Nicholls Publisher; Alan Harman Graphic Design; Alex Hall Advertising Manager; Sean Leslie Office Manager; Paula Gray Administration Manager; Hannah McLaurie Administration Assistant; Julie Lane MIM Website; Doolittle Media Web Team Editors;

on sale July 20th 2017 PANZERSPÄHWAGEN ‘234/4

Dragon’s 1:35 Sd.Kfz.234/4 in detail

Printed by; Henry Stone Ltd, Oxfordshire Distributed by; Seymour Distribution 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT Tel; 020 7429 4000 Newstrade; Select Publisher Services 3 East Avenue, Bournemouth, BH3 7BW Tel; 01202 586848 Email; [email protected] Military Illustrated Modeller is published on the third Thursday of each month by; Doolittle Media, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX UK www.militaryillustratedmodeller.com Tel; +44 (0)1525 222573 Fax; +44 (0)1525 222574 Editorial enquiries; Aircraft Edition email; [email protected] AFV Edition email; [email protected] Advertising enquiries; Tel; +44 (0)1525 222573 Email; [email protected]

NAGGING AWAY

BATS IN THE BELFRY

Photo references of the Soviet BAT-M engineering vehicle

Military Illustrated Modeller Issue 77 - Aircraft Edition

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Tiger Model’s 1:35 Nagmachon full-build feature

RODEN TROJAN

Roden 1:48 T-28D Trojan by David W. Aungst

JET TRAINER

James Hatch converts HK Models’ 1:32 scale Meteor Mk.4 into a Mk.7 two-seater

MEET THE FOKKERS

Three Wingnut Wings 1:32 scale Fokker D.VIIs by Leo Stevenson

THE GREY GREYHOUND

Brett Green details an ANR Macchi C.205 © Doolittle Media 2017

...AND MORE! AIR Edition

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Tailpiece

Model Paint Solutions Painting Accessories The Editor examines a new range of painting accessories from Model Paint Solutions.

A

s modellers, we tend to focus on kit releases, accessories and decals; with paints, brushes and airbrushes following these. Painting accessories seem to be a bit of an afterthought, but they are undoubtedly important for a high quality painting result and consistent colours. Model Paint Solutions is a new company that moves the focus onto paints, painting tools and accessories. They have sent a selection of their new paint tools and accessories for review: MPS-TP-201 - 0.5 ml Transfer Pipettes (25) - USD$6.00 MPS-TP-202 - 3 ml Transfer Pipettes (25) - USD$6.50 MPS-GB-300 - 15 ml Mixing Beakers (3) - USD$4.50 MPS-GB-301 - 30 ml Mixing Beakers (3) - USD$5.00 MPS-GB-302 - 50 ml Mixing Beakers (3) - USD$5.50 MPS-GB-303 - Beaker Combo (two of each) - USD$8.50 MPS-PB-101 - 6 ml Storage Bottles (5) - USD$6.00 MPS-PB-102 - 10 ml Storage Bottles (5) - USD$6.50 MPS-PB-103 - 20 ml Storage Bottles (5) - USD$7.00 MPS-PB-104 - 40 ml Storage Bottles (5) - USD$7.50 MPS-PB-105 - Storage Bottle Sample (one of each) - USD$5.50

TRANSFER PIPETTES

Pipettes are a clean and accurate way to transfer paint from their original bottle to a

66

mixing bottle. Simply squeeze the air from the bulb at the top of the pipette, then dip the tip into the paint bottle. Slowly releasing the pressure on the bulb will draw paint up into the narrow body of the pipette. The pipette may then be positioned over a mixing cup or a storage bottle. With another squeeze of the bulb, the paint may be released in a controlled manner. Pipettes may also be used to transfer water or thinners from one place to another. If flushed thoroughly between transfers, you’ll be able to reuse these many times. MPS’s pipettes are available in 0.5 ml and 3 ml capacities. 25 are included in each pack.

MIXING BEAKERS

As modellers, we are often required to mix colours from multiple paints. MPS has made this task easier with their range of mixing beakers. These are available in 15 ml, 30 ml and 50 ml sizes, plus a Combo pack offering two of each. Measurements are marked on the beakers in both metric and Fluid Ounces. The beakers are reinforced with a rim at the top, and a pouring beak is moulded in place to ensure clean transfer. These are very handy accessories for

accurate and neat mixing of paints. They can be used for mixing paints with thinners too.

STORAGE BOTTLES

Now these are nifty. MPS has released a range of plastic storage bottles. Capacities are 6 ml, 10 ml, 20 ml and 40 ml. Five bottles are included in each package, and a Combo is available with one of each size. Each bottle comprises a plastic bottle, a pressfit nozzle, a screw-top lid and a steel mixing ball. When you shake your paint, the steel mixing ball will help to break up any chunks of paint. A funnel is supplied with each set for clean pouring of paint into the narrow neck of the bottle. The nozzle may be removed for this purpose.

CONCLUSION

Model Paint Solutions has produced a high quality selection of painting tools and accessories that will make it easier and neater to transfer, mix and store your model paint. These will be suitable for all types of modelling paints - acrylic, lacquer and enamel - as well as thinners. All Recommended. • Thanks to Model Paint Solutions for the samples https://modelpaintsol.com

Military Illustrated Modeller - July 2017

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Available in the ‘HOW TO BUILD...’ series ORDER NOW NEW How to Build the Tamiya 1:32 Mosquito FB.VI The definitive guide to building the much anticipated Tamiya 1:32 Mosquito FB.VI by Brett Green. This book features a comprehensive build plus: ■ Mosquito restoration close-up ■ Historical summary ■ Wartime reference photos ■ Step by Step – Tips and techniques for building the ultimate Mosquito ■ The other Tamiya Mosquitos in 1:72 and 1:48 scales ■ Aftermarket decal and accessory summary

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