The Thousand Mile War - Amchitka, Spring 1943

[Basosz]

Although the warm current kept the ocean ice-free the year round, the clash of forces created the world's worst weather: it was perhaps the only place on Earth where high winds and thick fog attacked simultanepusly - round the clock gales sometimes reaches 140 miles per hour; yet the islands had no more than eight to ten clear days in a year. There was no calm or dry season.

Hurricane force fog!

That sounds terrifying and insanely cool at the same time. Now I want to visit there !!!

[Chris FFZ]

Still love the kit selction and can't wait to see how this comes out.

Alas i have limited space and can't build dioramas, and in fact have to rotate my builds for display for space limitations.

[Antoine]

Whow!

What a project!

Good luck, I really hope that you'll finish it in time.

Anyway, you makes me thinking that I didn't read anything yet about this little part of WW2, some I'm off to amazon to order Thousand miles war.

[Bertie McBoatface]

That sounds terrifying and insanely cool at the same time. Now I want to visit there !!!

I'd like to visit briefly too. I wouldn't like to spend a year there living in a tent and working outdoors. Those guys were tough!

Still love the kit selction and can't wait to see how this comes out.

Alas i have limited space and can't build dioramas, and in fact have to rotate my builds for display for space limitations.

I know what you mean. Mostly I sell, give away or break for spares after a model's been around for a year or so.

I have one old dio that I built into a picture frame and that one hangs on the wall. It's a tidy way to keep it around.

Whow!

What a project!

Good luck, I really hope that you'll finish it in time.

Anyway, you makes me thinking that I didn't read anything yet about this little part of WW2, some I'm off to amazon to order Thousand miles war.

Thank you Antoine. It's a fascinating and forgotten area of the conflict and I am really enjoying the book. I recommend it.

I won't finish the whole thing before the end of the group build. Maybe I'll do half of the aircraft. After

September my modelling time is drastically reduced by the irritating need to go out to work again. I'd like

to have it all finished for Telford 2012.

[oldhouse]

Hi Don, i am sure you will finish your project in the remaining time !! Peter

[Bertie McBoatface]

Too bad you didn't sneak a mohawk in there, i understand a few of them were up there also!

A more serious reply to your suggestion Chris. The Mohawks it seems, had all fallen victim to the

big enemy, the weather, long before the Japanese turned up in '42.

My dio is set in the early spring (say, April) of '43 on the island of Amchitka, a forward operating

base only 40 miles from the Japanese held Island of Kiska. Population - P-40, P-38, a detachment

of P-39, several thousand miserable blokes and a few crows. It was said, somewhat bitterly, that

a posting to the Aleutians was a great experience - "there's a woman behind every tree." True

enough, but there were no trees within fifteen hundred miles.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Chapter One - P-38

My first step in the building of this dio will be the P-38. Mostly because it will be the easiest, I hope.

The aircraft will eventually be taxying past the other aircraft on its way to the runway to launch for Kiska, one of the Japanese held islands. The P-38 was used as a ground attack aircraft and so will be carrying a couple of 500 pound bombs rather that the drop tanks shown here. The mission was only an 80 mile round trip and a shuttle service was maintained whenever the weather allowed.

The major objective was to prevent the Japanese building a runway on Kiska, and this was achieved. The Japanese occupation force never had the support of land-based fighters but had to depend on floatplane fighters. The floatplanes were no match for the USAAF fighters (or bombers) and seldom lasted more than a few days before being eliminated from the argument.

Note the ground surface and the splayed mainwheels; muck and heavy lifting. It's life very different to this:

This prisine and pampered warbird is a later model P-38 (with the larger oil cooler intakes) but I like the pilot's casual stance and I'll be trying to copy it.

The Hasegawa P-38F is my weapon of choice and work starts today.

Edited September 3, 2011 by per ardua ad ostentationem

[Chris FFZ]

Nice to see a start on this huge project Don.

I'm curious about what they did for The runways, later in the war they used a prefab mesh, I wonder at this stage in The war if they used it.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Nice to see a start on this huge project Don.

I'm curious about what they did for The runways, later in the war they used a prefab mesh, I wonder at this stage in The war if they used it.

As they moved forward along the chain, the US Army engineers became very adept

at making runways fast. Amchitka had a PSP runway and taxiways etc.

It was known as Marston Matting at the time and was laid pretty much straight over

the boggy, peaty, volcanic mush that counted as 'land' over there. Apparently it undulated

in waves when heavy aircraft took off, and landing was akin to falling onto a trampoline. Once

things calmed down after the Japanese were driven off, concrete was laid on top in

preparation for B-29 use against Japan itself. This never actually happened, although a few B-24

missions were launched against the Kurile Islands. Little damage was done but as a result a lot of

Japanese aircraft had to be kept up north just in case, reducing the defences in the south.

The story of the runway built on Adak, some 300 miles back from Amchitka, is truly amazing.

The Yanks landed there and couldn't find a flat space big enough for a runway. A scout

joked that the only flat place on the island was the lagoon, a swampy tidal stream estuary.

Hearing this joke, an engineer agreed. The lagoon was shallow and flat bottomed. With that

wonderful Yankee ingenuity and can-do spirit, they built a dam across the neck of the lagoon

with odds and ends from their invasion fleet, bits of timber etc, and closed it at dead low tide.

Then, because the ship with the Marston mats had sunk, they bulldozed sand from the

beaches onto the surface and graded it sufficiently to make an operating surface. It had

been estimated that it would take four months to build the airfield. However, the time from

first landing on the island to first use of the airfield was ten days flat.

Adak Airfield

(Source; The Thousand Mile War, Brian Garfield, 1995. p145)

Edited August 18, 2011 by per ardua ad ostentationem

[Bertie McBoatface]

Today's dayshift has been concentrating on the cockpit. It will be fairly visible with

the two side windows wide open and I enjoy cockpits anyway. The stock cockpit is

pretty good.

However, when I eBay'ed this one it came with a photo-etch set from Reheat so

I decided to incorporate some of that. That meant it was important to know what

clearances I'd have to work with so I mocked up the assembly.

I'm putting a pilot in so he had to be tried for size too.

His legs were initially spread a bit wide but bent inwards easily enough. I'll have

to carve his right leg around the column which supports the control wheel. This

means that he will have to be incorporated in the cockpit before the assembly

goes into the fuselage.

It will be a squeeze, but that's accurate. Lightnings were notoriously chilly to fly

in, and the weather up there was very cold too, so this guy will be wearing several

layers of kit. There won't be any spare room in there.

The first thing to be modified was the seat which needed just a little chamfering

so that the edge looks thinner. It's only the top curve that matters really.

Then some brass was fitted to the side-wall. There are twelve separate pieces

there. I like the throttle box in particular. It's the first time I've got all the knobs

on. Note the window winder, just like a car's.

The other side-wall is a little less busy. I slipped a little bit of scrap onto the 'box'

on the right since there was no etch provided. I thought about rewiring the thing

but the pilot will obscure most of this anyway.

Here's a useful little trick. Notice the rounded corner where the battery and the

equipment mounting rail meets the rear decking?

Some gentle strokes with a panel line scriber makes them look like separate

components and also makes painting a straight edge much easier.

The i/p. Again, the kit one isn't bad. It's under a deep coaming so I could probably

get away with it. That's one way to look at it (as the fly said when crawling up the

mirror), another is to think that, if it's hard to see, it has to be more striking. So the

brass one will go in.

It's a sandwich designed for using instrument decals, but that's too fiddly for me.

Jet black dials will contrast with a very dark grey, highlighted panel. This is the

first time I have used jet black as a visible coating in years!

This is the coaming under which the panel will live. Far too thick of course.

Half done.

Much better. I just stroked it down with gentle scrapes of a scalpel blade. I find

I use a scalpel blade more and more. I used to only use craft knives but there are

things that X-Acto just can't do. I don't like Swann-Morton handles though and

usually use an X-Acto type handle for better control.

Finally, for today, I thinned the armour plate by about half. I ran a blade around

the headrest too, to separate it like the battery. This time I used the sharp end of

a scalpel and just impressed a line which I hope is finally visible. [On screen like

this it is obviously in need of a little more fettling which I'll get onto rightaway!]

[Kallisti]

Nice progress - you must have good eyesight and a very steady hand to work with the PE this tiny. I really struggle to manipulate items this small and my hand is relatively steady!

[Bertie McBoatface]

Nice progress - you must have good eyesight and a very steady hand to work with the PE this tiny. I really struggle to manipulate items this small and my hand is relatively steady!

Thanks. I have some very good tweezers and a strong magnifying glass/anglepoise lamp unit. It's also a very good set of PE, quite chunky really. And it took HOURS!

[Chris FFZ]

The irony is it will hardly be noticed as the entire thing will be so busy.

[robw_uk]

holy smoke but that is one very very ambitious build.... love the concept, attention to detail and passion for the subject (I am enjoying researching things for the Prolwer I am building - each time i have a look for stuff I find something else i need/want to attempt)....

looking forward to seeing more of this work.........

[Bertie McBoatface]

The irony is it will hardly be noticed as the entire thing will be so busy.

Indeed. But I don't mind. I'm building it for three 'audiences': firstly for my personal satisfaction; then for those who will read this thread; finally for the show goers who will see the final product at Telford, Coventry, Sutton, Milton K, etc and find something different each time that do so.

holy smoke but that is one very very ambitious build.... love the concept, attention to detail and passion for the subject (I am enjoying researching things for the Prolwer I am building - each time i have a look for stuff I find something else i need/want to attempt)....

looking forward to seeing more of this work.........

Thanks Rob, It's going to run and run...

[Bertie McBoatface]

I've been fiddling about a bit since last time. Before I show you my progress, allow me to digress.

Here's another picture of the Marston matting.

Damage done by the wind! Good grief!

Right, back to the kit.

I added some white glue knobs to my pe levers. They look big here when the glue's wet but shrink to

scale as it dries. Each lever 'stands for' at least two real levers which, of course, came in pairs.

First paint layer applied. The green looks dark on the photo but when the highlights and shadows are

applied I think I'll get away with it. Note that the back wall is olive. So is the seat and the armour plate. I based this on the following info from the Stockholm IPMS site, which is very authoritative.

Recent research claims that early production P-38Es and F-1s had Olive Drab cockpits.

Later down the production line, for the P-38F to H, the colour was changed to Interior Green. Instrument

panels, control columns, rudder pedals and electrical boxes were all black. Some evidence suggests that

some (possibly subcontracted) components, notably pilot seats and the rear armour plate attached to it

continued to be delivered in Olive Drab through a long time after the transition to Interior Green was made.

I find the variations interesting.

I took the opportunity with my very dark grey in the airbrush, to shoot the coaming and the 'parcel shelf' areas.

Bomb fins. At this magnification they look awfully chunky. Here's why.

Hasegawa has made them as thin as the average clumsy modeller can cope with when removing

them from the sprues!

When they have set hard I will try to thin the edges a little.

This week's money-saving tip.

This 2.5lt tin cost me less than £20 including postage. Usually we call Xylene 'airbrush

cleaner' and pay £4 for 150ml (which would be £66.66 for 2.5 lt!)

Decanted into a sensible sized bottle, with a pipette for precise application. WHY-OH-WHY

is 'airbrush cleaner' supplied in an aerosol? Much of it splashes straight back in your face without

ever removing anything from the airbrush!

I reckon that with the bulk-buy saving and the vastly reduced wastage, I've reduced my spend on

airbrush cleaner by some 80%. I'd say it was well worth the effort involved.

Edited August 20, 2011 by per ardua ad ostentationem

[Bertie McBoatface]

On the final diorama, the P-38 will be taxiing by with propellers turning. There are many

ways to represent this. Right now, I'm thinking of filling the holes in the spinner and

leaving it at that. One alternative is to fashion some kind of transparent or translucent

disc. There are probably other methods I haven't thought of yet.

Has anyone any suggestions?

[AndyP]

On the final diorama, the P-38 will be taxiing by with propellers turning. There are many

ways to represent this. Right now, I'm thinking of filling the holes in the spinner and

leaving it at that. One alternative is to fashion some kind of transparent or translucent

disc. There are probably other methods I haven't thought of yet.

Has anyone any suggestions?

personally i would cut some perspex into triangles and paint them in a dark tamiya smoke or some such to give them impression of the props turning at high speed

something akin to this:

[Col.]

Nice idea And but I'd personally go with a full disc to better represent what the eye sees rather that what a photo records.

[Bertie McBoatface]

personally i would cut some perspex into triangles

I'd personally go with a full disc

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm still mulling this one over. I may research some other dioramas to see what others have done.

[Bertie McBoatface]

I'm still in that cockpit mostly, having been distracted by 1/1th scale business which some fools call 'real life'.

What I want, eventually looks a bit like this hotshot.

My guy will be looking out of the port window, and signalling with his hand. The signal being undecided as yet. It may be a thumbs up to a helpful ground crew bloke who's giving him wingtip clearance from the P-40Es parked close to the taxiway. That's if I'm in a serious mood. If I'm feeling cheeky, the signal might be the Lightning dude 'flipping the bird' to the Warhawk pilots!

Anyone know what the 'thing tied with string' might be? Sitting on the coaming like that, I wonder if it's some hideous form of in-flight meal; an in-flight rat perhaps. One group of Aleutian Islands is called the Rat Islands because there are so many of them there. Makes a change from baloney!

The parcel shelf looks bare so I've added another black box and some looms and a rucksack (yet to be painted). This contains some extra survival gear in case of a forced landing on one of the islands. (Believe me, it really does! I just forgot to photograph the sleeping bag, rations, canned heat stove etc before I packed them.) Anything that invites a "What's that?" from the viewer is, in my opinion 'a good thing'.

And temporarily in situ. Note that I've cheated and slipped the sidewall under the edge of the decking. This gave me an extra 2mm cockpit width and made slipping the pilot in a lot easier.

And there he is! It took hours of shaving his legs down a little at a time before they would fit right. (Who else dreams of shaving pilot's legs? Just me then? I'll get my coat.)

Other side showing the stbd sidewall assy in place. I'm happy with his legs and torso at this point. He's even leaning forward towards the widow. Unfortunately, he's looking straight ahead and that will not do.

Off with his head! (Actually with a saw, but that looked too gruesome.)

On with his head!

I think that is the face of someone giving his single-engine fighter pilot rivals the finger, don't you? (I just noticed the 1970 moustache; it's Burt Reynolds!)

Fitting the brass instrument panel called for a little reinforcement. A little piece of sprue with a flat filed on did the trick.

And there's the panel. Can't see it. Try this...

Still can't see it? Good job I didn't paint all the needles on the dials then! lol. The instrument panel is easily a half inch under the coaming and hardly worth the bother of the brass. Oh well, it's all good practice for when I really do need to waste a lot of time on something completely pointless. hahahahahahaha! Doh!

An overview of the work so far.

Edited August 21, 2011 by per ardua ad ostentationem

[Col.]

Like your work on the 'pit Don but adding the pilot and giving him a hand gesture will really bring life and a sense of the human element not only to this particular model but also to your diorama.

[Chris FFZ]

Maybe the little sack is tabacco for rolling his own!

[Killingholme]

On the final diorama, the P-38 will be taxiing by with propellers turning. There are many

ways to represent this. Right now, I'm thinking of filling the holes in the spinner and

leaving it at that. One alternative is to fashion some kind of transparent or translucent

disc. There are probably other methods I haven't thought of yet.

Has anyone any suggestions?

spin-a-prop....

Will

[Bertie McBoatface]

Like your work on the 'pit Don but adding the pilot and giving him a hand gesture will really bring life and a sense of the human element not only to this particular model but also to your diorama.

I wanted to give him the finger but good taste intervened and he's now just waving casually. I think it works though. I'll have other figures waving back at him so the gesture becomes a link to another part of the story.

Maybe the little sack is tabacco for rolling his own!

I like that thought. He'd roll them one-handed like Brando of course.

spin-a-prop....

Will

Aaaaaaaagh. I remember that from the sixties. I don't think so, Will. Not unless it spins at 1500 rpm anyway (and then H&S would intervene).