Posts by bgeresy:
USAF 4+ Build Challenge Results
January 8th, 2012
I put forward the challenge the club to go big. The theme was anything USAF with 4 or more engines. I was in the USAF at mostly SAC bases. I saw plenty of KC-135s and B-52s.
We see plenty of small models at Show & Tell. Now we are going bigger!
We were all waiting to see the finished 1/144 scale B-36 that Steve Nelson was working on. Sadly, neither the B-36 or Steve were there. Both were AWOL!!! So we will never know how it would have faired.
Larry Cherniak brought a 1/72 scale Italeri YB-49.
Larry has spent many, many hours figuring out how to use aluminum foil to get an aluminum finish on this model. It wasn’t quite finished, but it sure looks nice!
Richard Bauer built a 1/200 model of the HK-1 “Spruce Goose”. This huge sea plane was to be built for the Army Air Force and not the Navy. Buy the time it made it’s one flight in November, 1947, it was the USAF. So if it had went into service, it would have been in the USAF. The fictitious markings are for MATS Atlantic Command. I’ll buy that!
Richard had to do much work to correct the fit of the wings. He did a nice job of capturing the look of silver doped wood for the finish. Hey Stewart, how about this for your real one???
Clarence Wentzel brought a Minicraft 1/144 model of the C-54 “Candy Bomber” flown by Lt. Gail Halvorsen during the Berlin Airlift.
So this judge and jury looked all three models over very carefully several times noting their pluses and minuses. To be honest, I liked all three. Sadly, only one could be selected. The winner is…………….
Claire Wentzel and his C-54 “Candy Bomber”. I gave Claire the trophy and the wrapped present. So what was in the present you ask?
Claire got a sport drink bottle with the Air Force logo. This is his to keep. Thanks to the local Air Force Recruiters for donating this for the contest.
Now Claire, we are all waiting for you to name the next challenge!!! Please don’t keep us waiting too long!
For me, it was nice winning the “Back From The Dead Challenge”. I look forward to what Claire is dreaming up for us. Claire, we are all waiting!
KM Admiral Graf Spee “Back From The Dead”
October 19th, 2011Steve Nelson announced the “Back From The Dead” build challenge, I got to digging into my stash of models. The Spee seemed to be my best candidate for this challenge.
I think I purchased the Aurora KM Graf Spee back in 1971 before going into the USAF. I started the model in 1974 at Griffiss AFB, NY. I assembled the hull, prop shafts, and rudder. I painted the hull red. Then I taped the waterline. I used Pactra Paint to paint the hull a light gray and was going to paint the false bow wake on the bow. I was very unhappy with how it was turning out, so I put it back into my wall locker. I had other models I wanted to work on. So it followed me to Grissom AFB IN, Pruem AS West Germany, Ellsworth AFB, SD, and finally in 1984 back home.
This is what I found in the basement. It sure hadn’t gotten better with age!
And when I opened it after how many years, this is what I found.
I found a great many loose parts. I sure hope they are all here!
I started with Goo Gone to remove all of the brown masking tape. Even with tape this old, it works! I had removed some before I took the pictures. The old Pactra paint was the next problem to remove. I see the dimples in the bottom of the hull. So the red paint will go to!
I stripped the paint with Chameleon. It is a gel and it works great. You still need to do some tooth brush scrubbing and plenty of rinsing in water. As you can see, the paint is gone. Next was a large amount of Squadron Green Stuff to clean up the bottom of the hull.
After a lot of wet sanding. It is starting to look better.
After priming the hull with Testors shaker can gray, I found spots that needed more filling. I know this never happens to you!!! So a bit more wet sanding!
I masked off the upper hull and painted the bottom Testors shaker can 04 dark red. This is my favorite color to simulate red lead navy paint.
I thought a long time ago about painting the model as she went to war in 1939. She had an interesting cammo scheme. What stopped me is scratch building the fake turret and funnel. So I decided to paint her for a pre-war scheme at the start on 1939. I started painting the deck. I used Tamiya Deck Tan for the wood deck. I used Model Master Light Ghost Gray for the hull and steel parts of the deck.
Then I put the model away until just before the due date. I got to work post haste. I am sorry, no time for in work shots. It was paint and glue time. Sometimes it was glue and paint. The fun was painting the KM flag on the stern. As Steve noted, it is in scale, many feet thick! I chickened out at painting the swastika in the center of the flag! But you get the idea of the colors of the flag!
I did end up short one search light. I found a OLD Spee that I built back in High School. So I borrowed the search light and put it on the new Spee.
Here she is. I finished it just a few hours before the contest. I even did a paper for Steve on how I brought this kit “Back From The Dead”. I guess I did pretty good. Steve named the Spee the winner. I think it was more story than build.
The kit was the only choice we had back then. It is 1/600 scale. The kit is very basic. The anti-aircraft guns are of poor quality. The Ar-196 float plane is even worse! There are no floats. That makes landing on the water a bit tough! The kit had a lot of flash. This is normal for kits of this era. The good is when you see it, you know what ship it is. Back then this was a “B” kit. Today, I would have to give it a “D-”. There wer no decals for the ship’s crest, name, or Golden Eagle crest on the stern.
Only the bottom required filling, a lot of filling! The rest of the kit was modeled very well except for lots of flash.
Today, this kit is best left to collectors. That is it’s real value today. If you want a Graf Spee model, there are much better kits to be found. But this one lives again.
Back From The Dead Build Challenge
October 18th, 2011Steve Nelson gave the Club a build challenge. Take a model you had started and gave up on and finish it. Four members completed the challenge.
Karen entered her 1/35 scale Blackhawk helicopter.
Claire entered his 1/72 scale jet trainer.
KSM Group Build B-17G, 1/48th Scale
September 30th, 2011Since January, I have been working on a Revell 1/48 scale B-17. This kit was given to me as a Christmas present by the person that got me into plastic modeling way back in 7th grade.
I am just working on this kit just during the Club’s group builds.
It has been many months of painting the parts on the sprues. I find this easier than trying to paint assemblies after they are put together.
This article is up to date with last Saturday’s Build Session.
I am about finished with painting parts on the sprues.
Here you can see me hard at work painting a bulkhead for the radio room in the Fort.
The first gluing is done. The tail wheel is glued to the bulkhead. You have to start somewhere! Much more to do!
I know it is hard to see, but the glass parts have been dipped in Future. They are drying on the paper towel. When dry, they look so much better.
Here is the black sprue. All of the parts have been painted. You can see the propellers, wheels, instrument panel, machine guns, and many more parts.
The same sprue on the back side.
Here are both sides of the fuselage sprue. You can see much detail painting was done inside the fuselage and on the cockpit/nose floor.
Here are both sides of one wing sprue.
Here is the other wing sprue.
Now it is time for gluing, again!!! YIPPEE!!!! I am building again!
Here is the famous chin turret painted and assembled!
Here are 5 views of the radio room. Now that I see the pictures, I see a bit more painting I can do to bring out more details. Behind the radio room is the mount for the ball turret. Now that the turret itself has been “Futured”, I can start to paint it.
I did start assembly of the cockpit floor Saturday. All I got done before it was time to quit was to get the control column/wheel for pilot and copilot glued in place.
That is the update with text and pictures. I hope you all enjoy it!
IJN Battleship Yamashiro – 1/700 – Minicraft
April 5th, 2011Laid down: November 20, 1913
Launched: November 3, 1915
Completed: March 31, 1917
The Battleship Yamashiro mainly served her time cruising her home waters doing training. She met her fate on October 25, 1944 when she was gunned and torpedoed by the US 7th Fleet at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
This is an old kit. There are vague issues with the forward amidships turret. I was never sure which of the two holes the turret goes into. Both amidships turret barrels seem a bit long as they interfere with either the stack or the aft superstructure. The biplane float planes are a royal pain to build, you have three floats to put on. Be very careful with the wing tip floats as they are very small. If you loose one, good luck finding it. The upper wings have very heavy struts that are molded to the upper wing. The fit for the main float is a guess. This a major short fall of the kit. I painted the model Testors 1163 Gray and 1167 Tan. The float planes are Model Master IJN Green and Gray. There are a lot of small details on the deck to paint. Overall this is a fair kit. There are much better kits on the market today. I am still happy to have this “ugly duckling” of the Japanese Navy in my collection. I built this kit straight outta the box.
For comparison, I have included the following images to show comparisons between; IJN Light Cruiser Tatsuta, IJN Heavy Cruiser Takao and the IJN Battleship Yamashiro (left to right)
IJN Heavy Cruiser Takao – 1/700 – Aoshima
April 4th, 2011Laid Down: April 28, 1927
Launched: May 12, 1930
Completed: May 31, 1932
December 1941 – provided distant cover for the Philippine invasion
December 23, 1941 – covering Malaya operations
January 1942 thru March 1942 – SW Pacific Operations
May 1942 – Aleutian operations
August 1942 – Battle of Eastern Solomons
October 1942 – Battle of Santa Cruz Islands
November 1942 – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, was damaged while engaging USS South Dakota
November 1943 – hit by two bombs from aircraft of the USS Saratoga and USS Princeton
June 1944 – Battle of Philippine Sea Center Force, Battle of Leyte Gulf, was hit by two torpedos from the USS Darter. Returned to Brunei.
January 1945 – badly damaged by Limpet mines from British mini sub XE-1.
The Takao met her fate in September 5, 1945 when she was surrendered to British Forces. She was then towed to the Straits of Malacca and used as a target ship.
This kit is a bit less than normal. The aft stack and the anti-aircraft deck have vague fit locations. In step 8, part 1 I needed to sand down the forward part to allow the gun deck to fit properly. The float planes are not very good. Positions for the ship’s boats are also vague. The guns for the C Turret seem like they are either long or our the mounts are a bit aft. The model is painted with Testors 1163 Gray and Tamiya XF-64 for the linoleum decks. The float planes are painted Model Master IJN Green and Gray. The canopies are painted silver. This kit however is still not that bad. One must take the time to test fit and look three times at the instructions. I built this kit straight out of the box.
For comparison, I have included the following images to show comparisons between; IJN Light Cruiser Tatsuta, IJN Heavy Cruiser Takao and the IJN Battleship Yamashiro (left to right)
IJN Light Cruiser Tatsuta – 1/700 – Hasegawa
April 3rd, 2011Laid Down: July 24, 1917
Launched: May 29, 1918
Completed: March 31, 1919
The Tatsuta and her sister the Tenryu were Japan’s first modern Light Cruisers. The 18th Cruiser Squadron was based at Truk at the start of World War II. The Tatsuta took part in the attack on Wake Island and the landing at Port Moresby. She spent the rest of WWII cruising her home waters. Tatsuta met her fate on March 13, 1944 when she was torpedoed and sank by the US submarine USS Sand Lance (SS-381) about 145 nautical miles SSW of Yokosuka.
This kit is typical of 1/700th Japanese ship models with the fit being very good with no putty being used. The model was painted with Testors 1163 Gray and Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown for the linoleum decks. There were no difficulties encountered during the build of this model. The is an excellent kit despite it’s age. I built this model straight outta the box with no additions.
For comparison, I have included the following images to show comparisons between; IJN Light Cruiser Tatsuta, IJN Heavy Cruiser Takao and the IJN Battleship Yamashiro (left to right)
