Anyway, we have a nice lot of models to look at this month. As usual, they can all be seen on the club web site. However, all the members give me some good details of their models so it would be a pity to waste the information so here goes:-
Arthur Banyard
Arthur has provided a clear set of images and some detail about his build of an Airfix Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3.
As soon as I can, I shall be putting together an short article covering this build. In the meantime, here is the finished article (more images on the web site).
Bill Banks
Bill does select some interesting (aka old) kits to build during the lock-down. The first that he has provided for this month is an Airfix Douglas Dauntless.
He has also provided a detailed description of the build and the aircraft as follows:
Monogram 1:48 Douglas SBD Dauntless WW 11 Dive Bomber The
instruction sheet was printed copyright 1959 and 1967 which makes it my oldest
kit to date, It is intended to be built
as a working model ie retractable wheels , working dive flaps and bomb release,.The
thought of demonstrating a toy aircraft to our erudite members was enough to
decide to build static model, The plastic was a hard self colour dark blue. As
advised by Colin I spray painted it with Humbrol Midnight Blue and the decals
went on fine, It went together very well. In fact the wing assembly clicked
into the fuselage so positively I could not release it to apply adhesive.
Speaking of adhesive, I used Humbrol Polystyrene Adhesive from a
tube,,,,,remember that? It gave delay on the long seams.A feature I enjoyed was
the fact that the canopy frame was moulded with two parallel lines giving the
correct width. Thus paint was contained between the lines and there was a firm
line to tidy with the cocktail stick. Wish they all did that.This was a
successful aircraft in the Pacific war and had the highest ship destruction
score...including 6 Japanese
carriers.The SBD stands for Scout Bomber Douglas. I’d dived at 80 degrees thus
there was fitted bomb release gear which diverted the central bomb away from
the prop arc. A land plane version was the Banshee..not popular. Used by US
Navy. Free French NZ Navy and the FAA which had 9. The lack of folding wings
led to its demise..crowded decks as seen on photos. USS ship no 22 was USS Independence. This was a carrier built on a
cruiser hull. It carried 30 aircraft 9 of which were Dauntless. It was
damaged in 1944..repaired back in
service. At the end of the war was used
to ferry men and materials from the war zone. In 1946 it was deployed in Atom
Bomb tests.Was scuttled highly radioactive. Since been found free of
radioactivity with damaged air craft visible.. My next masterpiece will depend
on availability of paint colours. Hope you are all well...Bill PS bet the guy
in the rear cockpit enjoyed the dives,!!!
I have memories of building a Monogram B-66 which could drop a bomb plus a Grumman Avenger with folding wings. I even had that kit in the shop for a while until some brave soul bought it.
Please find attached, photos of 2 of my models for the Clacton Virtual model
club meeting scheduled for Thursday this week.
The first model is a Sherman (what a surprise!). The 2 photos show a British
Sherman 3, operating in Sicily in 1943. The kit is a Dragon 1/35th scale model
that I had in my stash. I wanted to paint the typical, Mediterranean style
camouflage used in that theatre. Of note, is the way that British Shermans
often had the rear sections of the sand-shields moved to the rear deck, where
they were welded upside down to produce storage for stowage items.
The second model (4 photos), is a new departure for me and was inspired by
the wonderful painting skills of Geoff Woods. It is a 90mm figurine of a
Napoleonic Hussar (French) 1809, 5th Regiment. I found this pewter model in my
loft, as an unpainted piece that I bought from a shop in Newquay, Devon whilst
on holiday there as a teenager! It was sculpted by Charles Stadden, a prolific
model maker, who produced the "Tradition" range back in the day.
Unfortunately, it had sustained some damage over the intervening years and was
minus it's plume for the shako (hat) and also had lost it's smoking pipe which
determined the pose of the figure. I managed to scratch build replacements out
of Milliput two-part epoxy putty, over wire armatures for strength. After this
and a couple of coats of white undercoat, I got to work painting the figure.
Although I used artist oils throughout, I took care to undercoat each section
of the uniform with a thin coat of acrylic paint roughly matching the desired
finished colour eg sky blue for the jacket and breeches. By doing this, the top
coat of oil paint could be applied very thinly and allowed blending of shadows
and highlights. I find that ultimately, there is no substitute for using
artist's oils in terms of depth of colour and subtlety when painting figures.
This is particularly true when painting faces. The down side is the length of
time it takes to finish a figure like this. I reckon I have been painting this
figure for most of the recent lock-down. However, I have been working on other
models in parallel, at the same time and hopefully I can share photos of them
next month.
David Pennington
I am not sure how others stand but I am shielding at the moment, which means that I cannot leave the apartment except for a single exercise trip each day. Hence, I am up to my eyes in hobbies! What with all change on my model railway (see Gentle Model Railways) and getting back into sewing patchwork - yup , I sit at a sewing machine for hours on end! (see David's other hobbies) I am a busy bunny. This month I have been mostly working on a Tamiya Flak 36. This, I understand, is quite an old kit but it is a long time since I built anything quite so complicated. You certainly get your money's worth. I am squeezed for space so I had to compress it onto a small base, which has taken away the authenticity of the diorama but, nevertheless, it looks great.
You even get a motorbike and rider!
Jeff Adams
Jeff has sent in some photos of - guess what? - a Sherman tank - and a very nice French hussar 90mm figure (as a rave from the grave). He says:
I remember going to the Tradition shop back in the 1970s when I spent my evenings painting up Napoleonic and Peninsular War British war game forces. Such memories!
JohnOvenden
Here is my contribution for this month along with an article on the subject.
This months contribution is a 1/32 Revell model of the Arado 196B
The model depicts the Aado 196B which was produced by Fock Wulf and first took flight in 1937. Two versions were made one with a ventral flaot and two supporting wing floats as depicted, the other with two wing floats. It was used as a scout / reconnaissance aircraft on German capital ships where it, on occasions took on the role of attacking submarines and small ships. It was a robust aircraft and well liked by those who flew it. This particular depiction D-OVMB serial number 2592 was a test platform for the MG FF machine gun and under wing bonb racks. It's main propulsion was a BMW 9 cylinder rotary engine. Some 530 of the two main float types were produced by end of war. The plane continued to be used after the war up until 1950 by the Romanian and USSR forces.
The model was sufficiently detailed within the cockpit including for safety harnesses pre-moulded on the pilots and navigator / Gunners seats.The pieces fitted snugly together with little or no flash to speak of. My only issue was with the cockpit canopy which was formed in three sections, front visor, centre section (pilots) and rear section for the Nav/Gunner, however each section was made up of three separate pieces, top, port and starboard sides. Not only were the sections difficult to place together using minimal glue, so not to run it over the clear canopy but the angles had to be judged so as to fit the fuselage when dry. Other than this, as ever, Revell= cost= nice build!!!
This months contribution is a 1/32 Revell model of the Arado 196B
The model depicts the Aado 196B which was produced by Fock Wulf and first took flight in 1937. Two versions were made one with a ventral flaot and two supporting wing floats as depicted, the other with two wing floats. It was used as a scout / reconnaissance aircraft on German capital ships where it, on occasions took on the role of attacking submarines and small ships. It was a robust aircraft and well liked by those who flew it. This particular depiction D-OVMB serial number 2592 was a test platform for the MG FF machine gun and under wing bonb racks. It's main propulsion was a BMW 9 cylinder rotary engine. Some 530 of the two main float types were produced by end of war. The plane continued to be used after the war up until 1950 by the Romanian and USSR forces.
The Model:
The model was sufficiently detailed within the cockpit including for safety harnesses pre-moulded on the pilots and navigator / Gunners seats.The pieces fitted snugly together with little or no flash to speak of. My only issue was with the cockpit canopy which was formed in three sections, front visor, centre section (pilots) and rear section for the Nav/Gunner, however each section was made up of three separate pieces, top, port and starboard sides. Not only were the sections difficult to place together using minimal glue, so not to run it over the clear canopy but the angles had to be judged so as to fit the fuselage when dry. Other than this, as ever, Revell= cost= nice build!!!
Colin Ovens
Please find attached four photos of the 1/72nd
Airfix MiG-17F carrying the markings of the Defensa Anti Aerea de las Fuerzas
Revolucionarias - Cuban Air Force, or DAAFAR. I've also written a little
critique of the kit for the Members' Notes: it was so much more enjoyable to
build than the Blenheim kit.
Peter Terry
Peter sent in two submissions this month - one a newer kit than the other. First off, one of Airfix's newer kits.
Buccaneer
Building this new kit of the Airfix Buccaneer has been slow for me
distracted with other kit projects but I enjoyed this kit very much having made
Airfix "s Phantom kit which in the words of there design team was over
engineered and some thing they would never repeat. The Buccaneers goes together
well good fit of parts and the end result a good version of this navy aircraft,
Soon to be released will be the RAF version and I look forward to another great
modelling session.
Avro Anson
Another golden oldie from
me this time the Airfix Anson. This one kit that's been around a long time and
shows its age particularly in the transparencies but i over come this by
masking and using decal strip although given its age it still holds up well
being the one of the few 1/72 scale kits on the market. Decals needed some care
as age also played its part but liquid decal film came to the rescue making
another classic kit to the collection.
Peter Carlo
Soviet
SS 23 Spider tactical ballistic missile system
This is made by HobbyBoss
and is another kit to keep you off the streets! Lots of internal detail to
be painted before you close up the cab and body. There is a well detail
underside with the whole drive train shown. The wheels need to be attached
before the support jacks so that it all sits correctly. Care is needed with the
missile erection rams and pivot to enable them to work but you cannot extend
the missile fins and retract it into the vehicle. The upper doors are very
fiddly, and need a lot of care, but can be made to work. The missile is simple to
construct but complex to paint. (Different shades of green to show access
hatches.
This is a good kit of a
fascinating subject which, perhaps fortunately, was traded away in the SALT
missile negotiations.
Well, that's it for another month. This the nearest we can get to "going round the table". It is looking likely that we will have one more month of this before we get back to normal - fingers crossed!
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