Navy Bird

Yikes, have I really been away for two weeks? Sorry about that, but we went to Maryland to visit my son and grandkids. I'm finally back, though, and managed a little time at the workbench today both with the Annie and the Black Bullet. First, let's see if I've accomplished anything worthwhile on the stubby little fella... I added the wheel wells to the bottom of each wing - this was interesting in one respect. You know how Special Hobby occasionally always have those tall ejection gates or whatever they're called? Well, they managed to put on right where one of the wheel wells had to go, so a bit of careful Dremel tooling was necessary. The resin inserts for the cooling intakes are also added at this stage. I've read a few articles, and seen some drawings, where these are labelled "radiators" - which I find somewhat unlikely as the engine was air cooled. But it does make me think how they could get enough air through the intakes to cool that big radial engine buried in the fuselage. I then spent some time on the cockpit. The Special Hobby version of the kit includes some really nice resin parts for the cockpit floor/bulkhead, sidewalls, and seat. The earlier MPM boxings only have resin for the cooling intakes, I believe. The detail moulded on the sidewall looks reasonably accurate compared to some walkaround photos of the remaining prototype. Due to the shape of the Black Bullet's fuselage (rather like a bullet, actually) the sidewalls "lean in" at the top, and it would be difficult to photograph the entire cockpit with both in place. So I taped each sidewall onto the cockpit floor and snapped individual photos. The control column will be added at the end, when the risk of me breaking it off is at a minimum. The instrument panel consists of film that is sandwiched between a photoetch piece and an injection moulded backing. Pretty typical of Special Hobby kits of this vintage. I'm working on that now. And speaking of Special Hobby, who are probably my favourite kit maker due to the subjects they produce, I managed to get the 1:72 Bristol Beaufort Mk.Ia/II at a recent show. I've been looking for this one, as I'd like to do one from the Malta campaign. Besides, my DAP Beaufort Mk.VIII is lonely. Hopefully, the updates will come more quickly in the future! Ta for now. Cheers, Bill

"Interesting" is what Jack Northrop was all about. I think I need a parallel universe to work on two models at once! Well, I mentioned Jack Northrop right? Jack Northrop. 'Nuff said. Ain't that the truth! Those guys were amazing. I have a Moonbat kit in the stash - it's resin and from Anigrand so there is probably more wrong than right with it. It looks particularly bad in the canopy. But I'll build it someday. Cheers, Bill

That's a clever little gadget. Not sure I can justify that much money for something I can do with a pencil and a pair of scissors, but maybe. If I was making more than one copy (i.e. going into the masking set business) then sure. But I have a hard enough time building a model...and I retired so I wouldn't have to run a business! Speaking of that, I am still working on little Annie. Unfortunately, the canopy and windscreen did not fit quite as well as I thought they did, and as soon as some paint went down I could see several areas that needed some fixin'. Darn that clear plastic anyway, it's almost like you can see straight through it! Oh, wait. Luckily, the parts didn't have to come off and I can repair the fubars to a tolerable level of good enough. I think. Maybe. We'll see. Cheers, Bill PS. I managed to snare another SH Beaufort (Mk.Ia/II) for pocket change at a recent show. It always pays to look in the boxes underneath the vendor table. I think a Malta bird in EDSG/DSG would look rather nice next to my Aussie version.

Pretty much the same plan I have for my Cyber Hobby kit. You're right about the Pavla nose, it's almost identical to the MPM plastic. But I used one anyway because it's resin. And resin makes everything more accurate, right? Right? Don't tell me the salesman lied to me... Cheers, Bill PS. I think the way to slim it down is to put it on the High Planes diet.

Very nicely done! Cheers, Bill

Gotta like that one! Now you have me pondering the Italeri B-57 with DB conversion for the B.2 that's just found it's way into my stash... Cheers, Bill

I had fun building it. I think it holds the record for the most number of corrections made of any kit I've built. If you'd like a kit that has the same number of errors, but actually fits well, get the Cyber Hobby kit. Has anyone heard whether the "new" Special Hobby kit is a new tool, or a re-box of the MPM/Xtrakit kit? Since MPM=Special Hobby, I figured it would be a re-box. But, I've not heard anything either way. It sure would be nice to have an accurate, new tool Vixen. Cheers, Bill

Hi mates, I'm normally a "serial" guy, but while I wait for the fairy dust to settle on my Avro Anson build I thought I'd put on my "parallel" hat and start another kit. I'm currently working my way through Martin's @occa stash, and the little Northrop XP-56 came to the top. For those unfamiliar with this little guy, the US Army Air Corps released a specification in 1939 or 40 to encourage the development of unconventional technology. I think the reasoning was that a new, innovative design might emerge which would revolutionize air combat. Alas, that didn't happen but the three aircraft built to this specification were unconventional indeed. In addition to Jack Northrop's XP-56, there was the Vultee XP-54 "Swoose Goose" and the Curtiss XP-55 "Ascender." About the only thing the three had in common was that they were all pushers. The XP-56, or Black Bullet as it was nicknamed, was a tailless design (of course, this is Northrop we're talking about) made of welded magnesium. To build these guys, Northrop developed a new technique called TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding, not knowing that GE had invented roughly the same thing. Today this is often referred to as Heliarc welding and is used to weld aluminum among other metals. Now, magnesium burns like crazy once it's ignited, and it's said that Northrop would throw sand onto the airframe if it caught fire during welding. Only two aircraft were built - the first was destroyed in a crash and the second was deemed too unsafe to continue the testing. Today it lies in a warehouse somewhere, right next to the Ark of the Covenant. The Black Bullet, like a lot of Northrop's designs, was ahead of its time and would most likely not have been successful without the technology we use today to keep flying wings and other tailless designs stable. Special Hobby made a nice little kit of the XP-56, including short run injection moulded parts, cast resin parts, photoetched parts, and decals. Let's have a look - first the box, with a nice painting of the second prototype (the first prototype did not have the large dorsal fin): Buried in that diminutive fuselage is a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp. Right, I didn't believe it either. Next up are the styrene sprues: The kit still has all the parts to build the first prototype with the much smaller dorsal fin. The resin parts are mainly for the cockpit, but also include the wing leading edge cooling inlets. Remember, the Double Wasp engine was air-cooled. And, of course, the instructions in the older Special Hobby style, the small sheet of transfers, and the photoetch fret which is in the envelope underneath the transfers. I believe the first version of this kit had a vacuform canopy, but that's been replaced by two injection moulded copies. As far as I can tell, these two canopies are identical - I can't see any differences. Not sure why we get two. Here is a nice shot of the first prototype: And a not-so-nice shot of the first prototype's crash, the result of a blown tyre. The pilot, John Myers, survived with minor injuries. He's said to have credited his survival to the fact that he was wearing a polo helmet. The second prototype had several modifications made as a result of testing with the first ship. I found a web page with some nice photos of the second prototype in storage many years ago. Here is a link to that page. And, of course, a short video from YouTube: Cheers, Bill

Thanks guys - these were Eduard masks, but they didn't want to separate from the backing. Perhaps the die cutting didn't go all the way through? Anyway I had to cut them out, which was OK because I could see the lines to follow, and was not OK because some of these were bloody small! Wifey informs me that my language was even more colourful than it usually is - hard to imagine that. My eyes still hurt... Cheers, Bill

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I guess the birthdays are OK as long as they keep coming. But in the meantime, this kind of stuff drives me nuts. And now I've got to make this fit. We're OK on the width (although I'll have to squeeze the windscreen together a bit while the CA takes hold), but where the two pieces join together isn't as nice as I would like. A wee bit of filler looks to be necessary...we'll see. Sometimes you have to paint the clear parts first to get a better understanding of how everything fits. Cheers, Bill

I thought that it might be a typo at first, but the auction transcript has several handwritten corrections. If this was a mistake, I suspect that it would have been corrected too. There are several companies in the US (and likely elsewhere) called Round 3 LLC, and none of them have anything to do with the hobby industry. I don't think it's any of them - I think Round2 formed a new legal entity called Round 3 and are using it during the bidding process. They could even operate it as a separate business, insulating their other companies. But, pure speculation on my part. Round2 is a good home for the Revell US business, with its emphasis on automotive and sci-fi models. Not so sure about Revell GmbH. If I recall correctly, a management buyout in 2006 removed Revell of Germany from Revell/Monogram who owned them at the time. Maybe another management buyout could save them from Hobbico. I never quite understood why they sold to Hobbico in 2012 in the first place. Distribution channels and access to R/C products maybe? Cheers, Bill

One of the bidders was identified in the auction transcript as "Round 3 LLC." They were identified only because their lawyer asked a question about the sealed bid process prior to the auction. Based on that name, I would speculate this is an organization related to Round2. It would make sense for Round2 to go after Revell, as they previously acquired AMT, Hawk, MPC, Lindberg, etc. - a veritable conglomerate of styrene. Plus, Round2 seems to have a lot of Star Trek models, so adding the Revell Star Wars kits would give them a good chunk of the sci-fi market. Plus, the legal name of Round2 is Round 2 LLC, very similar to the bidder identification. Cheers, Bill

Hi mates, It's taken me quite a while, but I have gone through every one of my WIP and RFI threads, editing out all links to photos hosted by Photobucket. All pictures have been replaced with links to my Flickr account. I didn't keep track, but this was literally thousands of pictures. No wonder my modelling output has been lame lately! So that's good, I think. However, any Photobucket links that were in posts I made outside of my WIP and RFI threads have not been updated, because I really don't know where they all are. If anyone stumbles across any posts of mine with that big ugly Photobucket extortion graphic, please let me know and I'll update the photo link (assuming it's of any interest). I've recovered all the photos that were in my Photobucket account and they are safe with me. The Photobucket account, however, was terminated with extreme prejudice. Cheers, Bill

Great job, Stew! The paintwork on the camouflage is superb, I can imagine that took a bit of time. Now you have me thinking I should build a Japanese subject next. Hmm... Cheers, Bill

Thanks for the birthday wishes, mates! Being 63 is better than, well, not being 63. Especially with my medical history. But I can tell you that the secret to blowing out 63 candles is having a couple of your grandchildren help you! So let's see, right, there was a question. @Threadbear, the maps came from an image search on the net. I'm not sure what specific site, I think I searched on "London Pub Walk" or something like that. The radioman actually has a reduced copy of one of the pages from the manual that came with my new music player. I imported the images into Corel Draw, reduced them to a quarter inch wide, and then printed them out. If you look at them with a magnifying glass, you can't discern anything. But having a look with just your eyeballs they look the part. A couple of quick updates. First, I broke the resin seat support for the turret, which has to be installed before that section of the fuselage spine goes on. So I duplicated it using styrene rod: I'll add the seat and do some painting before that goes on. I test fit this piece, and it's the first piece of the model that doesn't fit well. However, this is somewhat self-induced, as it's due to the small shim that I put between the fuselage halves in order to make the canopy fit. This is OK, as I'd rather spend time making the turret fit than the canopy. Some filler work ahead! I had to use a small section of styrene rod to repair one of the landing gear supports. I think you can see the portion of this that is white, instead of the resin colour. Somehow this bit of resin was either missing (unlikely) or broke off when I was removing it from the casting block (ah, that's it). I'm detecting a trend of broken resin pieces here, starting back with the bomb bay doors on my TSR.2. Anyway, here's what I came up with - I think it will work. I cur out the notch for the landing light, and then closed up the hole with small pieces of styrene. I hope this picture isn't too blurry, as it's magnified a ton. You may recall the small resin piece that Special Hobby provide for the lights - and then failed to mention at all in the instructions. I cut this down into a size that will fit into the notch I created. This should look pretty good once it's painted and I put the lens over it. I suspect I'll make the lens from clear tape of some sort. I'm anxious to start painting, but I still need to do more in preparation. That turret piece is not going to be fun, as it is undersized due to that shim. But, whatever - I'm adding Annie to my collection! Cheers, Bill - who just realized that the day he arrives in London is the day of the Royal Wedding. Think there will be any extra crowds?