Col. Olds Scat II, MPM (Academy) P-38J Lightning 1/72

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

1 hour ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Great stuff JB  

This kit looks like a bit of a gem, in the right hands of course !

 

It looks like a very enjoyable build and has gone together with very little filler or problem. Oh dear, I can feel temptation to browse the lists of the online model shops... a new kit or more Easter chocolate 🐣,  a very difficult choice.

 

Chocolate wins for now.... I can eat it whilst building an old kit !

 

I like your metal clips on the spray table; are they adapted from clothes pegs, or a special item? The metalcote looks very good; I haven't had much luck with it, it seems very, very thin indeed; hardly any metal indeed in my tins, but yours looks really dense and rich. Maybe I have duff tins  ?

 

Keep up the good work, great progress and good pictures .

 

Best regards 

TonyT

It's a good kit TonyT. Good crisp moulds and no warping with no flash whatsoever. Plastic is nice to work with too; it's easy to sand with W&D.

 

It's a tough call but I'd suggest rethinking that chocolate vs. kit!  go on.... go on....

 

The spray clips came with the turntable ; it's a dual Tamiya turntable/stand which has proved invaluable and wasn't that dear:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Toys-Games/Tamiya-300074522-Spray-Work-Painting-Stand-Set-74522/B00080DIWE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491939342&sr=8-1&keywords=tamiya+spray+stand

 

It's taken me a bit of experimentation to get the Metalcote performing well. I obviously give it a very good stir until all the lumps are gone then add white spirit (not a substitute for) in with it in my airbrush at a roughly 3:1 ratio (Paint/WS) and give it 2-3 coats. 20 psi. I never undercoat as this will prevent a good shine if you choose to buff it - I didn't on the pictures you see in this thread.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

JB

 

[rob Lyttle]

Funny the way things come around. I just been getting some feedback on F101 Voodoo aircraft, especially the ones at Bentwaters in Suffolk. The degree of shine on the bare metal finish is described as Variable depending on the keenness of the ground crew -

Until Col. Olds took over!!

Seems like the keenness level bucked up considerably with the old boy in charge!

I need to find out more about him, I think.

[The Spadgent]

Some solid progress there, she's looking great. You have just reminded me about the wing light, I'll have to drill mine out.  

 

keep it up.

 

Johnny

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

11 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

Funny the way things come around. I just been getting some feedback on F101 Voodoo aircraft, especially the ones at Bentwaters in Suffolk. The degree of shine on the bare metal finish is described as Variable depending on the keenness of the ground crew -

Until Col. Olds took over!!

Seems like the keenness level bucked up considerably with the old boy in charge!

I need to find out more about him, I think.

Yes you could say the level of shine on the undercarriage is a bit OTT at the moment! It'll be reduced when weathered

 

I've just read your Voodoo 1/48 thread and hats off to you sir! I never would have thought that insulation tape could produce such as result. I have some in the garage which I might let loose on my next BMF model... whenever that may be. Maybe the new Airfix P-51?

 

As for Olds, he certainly had a career! This was just before his stint in SEA I believe. 

 

Cheers, JB

 

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

11 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Some solid progress there, she's looking great. You have just reminded me about the wing light, I'll have to drill mine out.  

 

keep it up.

 

Johnny

Cheers Johnny, more progress to come this Easter weekend

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

Evening or morning/afternoon wherever you may be! Made some good headway today despite several hiccups along the last stretch of the gluing and sanding bit.

 

First order of the day was to tackle the nose cone and add that all important 10g to avoid tail-sitting. This was where the fun started!

Using my usual divers lead weights I added layers embedded in PVA glue to the front of the fuselage and continued building up. When I had thought I had added enough, I dry-fitted the undercarriage for a test and it slumped straight to the tail. Clearly this wasn't going to work as I had filled a lot of the space up. Finding a surplus nut from the shed I squeezed that in and filled around it with lead and PVA. Finally she sat on all 3 wheels:

 

Upending to dry I carried on building propellers, making sure to correctly position props for counter rotating:

 

And made a minor mod to the undercarriage flaps to look like the real thing:

https://goo.gl/images/y9Vs1k

 

Meanwhile, checking back on scat II...

 

I was alarmed to find the PVA and lead shot seeping into the cockpit

But then I should have thought that through shouldn't I?!

 

After clearing that up and repainting where needed I proceeded to sand the not too well fitting nose cone:

 

Electrical tape applied to protect the detail around the gun ports. This is the only poorly fitting piece and I'm certain it's nothing to do with any of the weight I've squeezed in, it's just slightly too proud. End result:

Not perfect but It'll be ok once all the paint has gone on.

 

Finished the cockpit now all the rescribing and sanding is complete by attaching the gun sight and yoke:

 

Cockpit glued in place which only needs a tiny bit of filler at the front:

 

I'm going to pose it with the side windows open so you can see in, so I'll have to cut some strips of plastic for the edge of the windows where the 'NO STEP' warning is.

 

More tomorrow! JB

 

[rob85]

That's some bloody fine wor, shaping up very nicely!

 

Rob

[rob Lyttle]

The P38 is really shaping up now.

The tail-sitting tendency is a challenge for sure! I did the Hobby Boss"easy -build" kit 1/48 and crammed the nose and both engine nacelles. She sits OK, but I've no idea what the all up weight is.

Ref. the foil tape work, thanks for that! If you were going to have a go, get a bit of practice in on spare parts or something in the stash you couldn't care less about. You don't want to be under undue pressure or uptight when you start out..

Here she is. Needs some of that exotic nose- art. The H.Boss decor scheme was rubbish! Pappies Burdie or something.

 

[The Spadgent]

Nightmare about the leakage. Nice save though, excellent work.

 

John.

[corsaircorp]

Hello Spad and ViK,

I will mind the weight, I use old .357 bullets, it's heavy, ideally shaped for almost every nose cone.

I no longer practice shooting and I still have a box, Nothing loose !!

With all the resin and scratch, I'll put 2 or 3 of it.

Have a nice day and nice easter week end.

sincerely.

corsaircorp

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

19 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

The P38 is really shaping up now.

The tail-sitting tendency is a challenge for sure! I did the Hobby Boss"easy -build" kit 1/48 and crammed the nose and both engine nacelles. She sits OK, but I've no idea what the all up weight is.

Ref. the foil tape work, thanks for that! If you were going to have a go, get a bit of practice in on spare parts or something in the stash you couldn't care less about. You don't want to be under undue pressure or uptight when you start out..

Here she is. Needs some of that exotic nose- art. The H.Boss decor scheme was rubbish! Pappies Burdie or something.

She looks great with that metal finish - must have taken some patience?! Good call on having a go on spares first, in fact that's how I learnt with Metalcote.

Where you have paint on the tape, how well does it adhere? Do you do anything special to prime it first? Do decals behave any different?

 

18 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Nightmare about the leakage. Nice save though, excellent work.

 

John.

Was not happy. Fortunately it dries clear but obviously the time lead weights don't! 

 

18 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Spad and ViK,

I will mind the weight, I use old .357 bullets, it's heavy, ideally shaped for almost every nose cone.

I no longer practice shooting and I still have a box, Nothing loose !!

With all the resin and scratch, I'll put 2 or 3 of it.

Have a nice day and nice easter week end.

sincerely.

corsaircorp

Excellent, some real ammo in the models  Have a great one too.

[rob Lyttle]

5 hours ago, Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen said:

 Where you have paint on the tape, how well does it adhere? Do you do anything special to prime it first? Do decals behave any different?

No big problems with paint, enamels or acrylic, so far. My style or method works the metal quite hard and probably "keys" the surface a bit.

Bearing in mind I'm working with a brush, I can't speak for airbrush work. Any car paint cans are OK - the polystyrene is totally protected.

A Matt primer can be useful. So here I put matt white first. Then followed a tip off and put a yellow base over, and then the bright red 

That's the most elaborate operation I've done. Anti-glare panels etc are trouble free, and the odd chip around the screen or canopy frame just adds a little character!

Johnson kleer or Pledge multi surface Wax helps seal it, and more over the decals.

 

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

On 15/04/2017 at 0:08 AM, rob Lyttle said:

No big problems with paint, enamels or acrylic, so far. My style or method works the metal quite hard and probably "keys" the surface a bit.

Bearing in mind I'm working with a brush, I can't speak for airbrush work. Any car paint cans are OK - the polystyrene is totally protected.

A Matt primer can be useful. So here I put matt white first. Then followed a tip off and put a yellow base over, and then the bright red 

That's the most elaborate operation I've done. Anti-glare panels etc are trouble free, and the odd chip around the screen or canopy frame just adds a little character!

Johnson kleer or Pledge multi surface Wax helps seal it, and more over the decals.

 

Thanks for all the info and tips - I am definitely intrigued enough to give this a go as it seems to be a lottery as to achieving a good level of shine with metallic paints. 'Bulls Out' and 'MMM' will testify:

Bulls Out I invested in two (yes two!) rattle cans of Humbrol Metalcote and £6 a go and simply couldn't achieve the level of shine that the product is supposed to produce. On reflection (ha) I believe it's because I didn't get an ultra smooth surface on the primer which simply meant that I couldn't buff it up enough. MMM looks better with different variations of panels but purely by experimentation.

 

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

On 13/04/2017 at 9:43 PM, rob85 said:

That's some bloody fine wor, shaping up very nicely!

 

Rob

Cheers Rob! Progress is slowing now though as I'm moving through the various stages of camo and invasion stripe painting - update to follow later 

[rob85]

26 minutes ago, Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen said:

Thanks for all the info and tips - I am definitely intrigued enough to give this a go as it seems to be a lottery as to achieving a good level of shine with metallic paints. 'Bulls Out' and 'MMM' will testify:

Bulls Out I invested in two (yes two!) rattle cans of Humbrol Metalcote and £6 a go and simply couldn't achieve the level of shine that the product is supposed to produce. On reflection (ha) I believe it's because I didn't get an ultra smooth surface on the primer which simply meant that I couldn't buff it up enough. MMM looks better with different variations of panels but purely by experimentation.

 

Your balls out looks a lot smoother than my balls out....  in all seriousness that's a fine finish you have on both! Mine tend to end up rather rough and ready. Also well done on the revell transfers, I found them a right paint on my p-47.

 

Rob

[corsaircorp]

Hello Dears,

I once make a F-86 (Beautuous Butch) with my basic Badger, spraying metal cote from humbrol, you spray it, wait for it to dry a bit and then polishing the paint with soft clothes.

That was givin' a pristine results, then metal cote has disappeared from HS in Belgium.

You can have variation and some panelling just the way you polished, hard or softly, that was making a variation. That was a very fine stuff.

I now work with alclad, really like it because it actually IS metal !

Will use bare metal for my cars, will give it a try soon.

Whatever very nice kits, congratulations !

Did you have tried to polish the rattle can paint ?, May if humbrol give it the same properties ??

That give me a call to make some F-86

Good job !!

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

9 hours ago, rob85 said:

Your balls out looks a lot smoother than my balls out....  in all seriousness that's a fine finish you have on both! Mine tend to end up rather rough and ready. Also well done on the revell transfers, I found them a right paint on my p-47.

 

Rob

Ha! It's been a while since I've got my balls out  Thanks - I remember the nose art being a royal pain but worth it in the end. I do love the P-47. It's also a fine model from Revell. 

 

7 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Dears,

I once make a F-86 (Beautuous Butch) with my basic Badger, spraying metal cote from humbrol, you spray it, wait for it to dry a bit and then polishing the paint with soft clothes.

That was givin' a pristine results, then metal cote has disappeared from HS in Belgium.

You can have variation and some panelling just the way you polished, hard or softly, that was making a variation. That was a very fine stuff.

I now work with alclad, really like it because it actually IS metal !

Will use bare metal for my cars, will give it a try soon.

Whatever very nice kits, congratulations !

Did you have tried to polish the rattle can paint ?, May if humbrol give it the same properties ??

That give me a call to make some F-86

Good job !!

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

I so want to build an F-86; what kit was it?

I did polish until some of the paint came off and I had to re-apply   I followed all the instructions and online video's but could never achieve the holy grail of uber shiny finish...

Thanks for the kudos on the models

 

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

Right - time for an update ladies and gents... 

I've been slaving away with the airbrush and masking tape for what feels like days but I have managed to lay down all the main colours on the model in between the various weekend chores  and Easter visiting duties!

First off, I added small strips of plastic to simulate the dropped windows and then got to work masking the canopy (used Eduard die cuts):

Next on with the primer, using my usual Humbrol spray can grey:

 

After some minor corrections with filler and sanding (this kit fits well), I started adding colour to the model. First up, Tamiya XF-19 darkened and lightened for US grey:

 

After that had cured it was on to blu-tak sausages for the camo demarcation and lots of Tamiya tape:

 

On to the second colour, US Olive Drab mixed to my own preference (Tamiya XF-62 and XF-49, 4:1 ratio):

 

Then lightened ror variation:

 

Moment of truth with my masking skills...

Some minor corrections needed but I'll leave that sensibly until the invasion stripes are attempted. Gulp.

 

After curing overnight I masked Scat 2 ready for her invasion stripes. I had considered painting these by hand to replicate the in-the-field applied look but I just couldn't bring myself to do it! Chickened out and carried on with the airbrush. White applied:

 

Then masked for the black which was an f-in nightmare around the booms and involved many, many attempts...

 

Just before spraying the black, I base coated the rudders with yellow:

 

Then hit it with the red and black:

 

Big reveal due tomorrow... I'm letting her cure overnight 

Happy Easter folks!

 

 

 

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

On 12/04/2017 at 6:51 PM, rob Lyttle said:

Funny the way things come around. I just been getting some feedback on F101 Voodoo aircraft, especially the ones at Bentwaters in Suffolk. The degree of shine on the bare metal finish is described as Variable depending on the keenness of the ground crew -

Until Col. Olds took over!!

Seems like the keenness level bucked up considerably with the old boy in charge!

I need to find out more about him, I think.

Robin Olds was working on a book before he died. It was published by his daughter afterwards - entitled 'Fighter Pilot' - what else.

When he converted to the P-51D, Scat IV, the 479 FG had NMF airframes without any painted noses. Only the anti glare panel. Olds was all for advantage, and would be on the flightline with his groundcrew, polishing his machine, to improve it's speed.

Post war, he was an exchange pilot at Tangmere with No1 squadron on Meteors. He is the only American ever to command an RAF squadron.

Get a copy of his book, it's fascinating.

 

Victory, I have memories of your P-38 problems. I built Scat II in 1/32 scale. I made up bulkheads in the nose and engine nacelles, to stop the PVA leaking. I then built one in 1/48, and that leaked. It was left on it's nose for 48 hours for the glue to go off - not long enough.

 

P.S. I researched the colours of the wheelwells on wartime P-38s, as there are varying shades of green or even yellow primers. Looking at restored birds, they are green or white. I ended up finding wartime footage of P-38s in theatre, and ex factory. The wheelwells, including the doors, were left NMF, or painted aluminium. Further input from knowledgeable persons confirmed this. Might be a bit late for you, but I know others are building them too.

[corsaircorp]

Hello Bentwaters, (nice name) since I like the place.

Thank you for the tips and for the infos.

Did'nt knew that his daughter have finally published the book.

To me , he was a great man and a great pilot, equal to my other favourite Charles Yeager.

They are friends, and make some unclassified missions in SEA.

So I have another Meteor to do Do you know the Mk used by the Firsties at that time ??

Thank again.

Hello ViK,

Yes I think that the timing for polishing is important, but I must confess that I did at feeling manner.

It was in 1989, don't remember rightly, Don't know why Humbrol has stopped the production of these paints.

Did you saw the photos published on the 2 other P-38 threads ?

I told you that you'll be the first to RFI your lady, look, she already has her suit, mine is still a would be P-38

You did great with the painting, Congrats !

See you soon.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[bentwaters81tfw]

10 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Bentwaters, (nice name) since I like the place.

Thank you for the tips and for the infos.

Did'nt knew that his daughter have finally published the book.

To me , he was a great man and a great pilot, equal to my other favourite Charles Yeager.

They are friends, and make some unclassified missions in SEA.

So I have another Meteor to do Do you know the Mk used by the Firsties at that time ??

Thank again.

1948 Meteor IV. No reference to individual aircraft though. No 1 sq F IVs were in the VT range from 102-150

[corsaircorp]

9 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

1948 Meteor IV. No reference to individual aircraft though. No 1 sq F IVs were in the VT range from 102-150

And Thank again, I think the Tamiya will suit for a Mk IV, I will buy my Korean Mk 8 at SMW in November

(Hum and some other kits for sure....)

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[AngstROM]

On 13/04/2017 at 10:44 PM, rob Lyttle said:

The H.Boss decor scheme was rubbish! Pappies Burdie or something.

 

 

'Harrumph!' as they say in the comics...! But that is an old Hasegawa fork-tailed devil with Aeromaster markings; next job will indeed be an OD/Grey scheme on the wonderful-ish Academy plastic. Hopefully another wildly over-decorated one like the 80th FG Haleakala, as I have a child-like love of such tawdry things.

 

Very splendid work on Mr Olds' sled, Sir!

 

 

 

[The Spadgent]

That paintwork is something else.  muchos impressed. Bravo indeed.

 

Johnny

[neil5208]

Agreed, outstanding airbrush work