Tail-Dragon

In some of the photos of the RCAF Goose's (Geese?) the lower hull appears dark, but not in others. I don't know when this was done, or why (anti-fouling, or sealant?). The early ones, at least, were originally private aircraft, not military ordered, the fit, finish and configuration differs on every one. Grumman Goose 941 was flown by No. 13 Operational Training Squadron based at RCAF Station Sea Island, British Columbia. Prior to military service the aircraft was on the Canadian civil aircraft registry as CF-BQE. It also at one time carried the code AN*J. If I can get some definitive info on the hull coloring, I may refinish the belly and floats, but if (as I suspect) that it was done part way through the service life, I may leave it as is. (It's not even clear if the darker color is black, or something else)

After a whole lot of fun with the markings - decals that were wrong, or exploded on the model, or took a horrid set of wrinkles that totally resisted any kind of decal set - I've finally got the markings on. I eventually had to sand off some of the decals, and mask and paint some of the makings. The tail flash and wing roundels in particular, fortunately the underwing serials worked well - go figure! I hadn't given up at all, I'm just really slow!

More insanely small pieces, 12 parts in each observer's seat and traverse ring, not counting the gun itself ... One Kingfisher will be an early model with no armor for the observer, and one will be a late armored version.

I would think a good starting point would be the old Monogram C-180 kit, with rounded tail feathers similar to the O-1 Birddog.. The cowl on the Monogram kit is closer to a C-170, than a C-180, anyhow.

I'm still futzing around with my two Kingfishers. I grow fonder of scratchbuilding all the time.

The aircraft with the smaller roundels have the later style fin flash, so I would assume they are later acquisitions with the later (post 07.42) C1 markings, as opposed to the earlier (pre 07.42) A1 markings.

The engine is the front half of a Vector R-985, the float is from Flightline Engineering, and the prop is my resin cast copy of my scratch built prop I did for my Grumman Goose build.

While I'm waiting for paint to dry, I thought I'd start on a couple of old Monogram Kingfishers. I've separated the cowls, removed the molded in engine faces, and replaced them with resin engines and props, and made new exhaust stacks from hollowed out aluminum tubing. I've also split the wings (with a spar box to retain the correct dihedral) and cut back the lower wing to allow a cockpit to be created. I also have a very nice resin corrected float that shows just how anemic the kit one really was. This is an oldie, for sure, but should be fun!

Very nice, while they might be eclipsed by the coming Eduard kit, I still think the Tamiya kits are very worthwhile, with a little work!

I've got some color on the Goose now, the thing to note is that the RCAF Goose (Geese?) had the 'L' shaped pitot, and the camo scalloped down at the nacelles, but the scheme was very close. Some seem to have had black 'anti fouling' bellies, but not all.

This is Tamiya's 1/48 Zero, (originally issued in the 1970's), with some extra detailing on the engine, exhaust from aluminum tubing, detailing on the landing gear, and an Eduard's photoetch cockpit set, with extra cockpit detail added. Antenna mast and pitot replaced with brass parts. Paints are Tamiya acrylics, weathering with oils and pastels, and a mix of kit (yes! 50 year old decals!) and Techmod. Thanks for looking, Colin

As I behave like a club footed, left handed Ape with epilepsy as soon as I get close to any delicate details, and as I wish to avoid another round of the 'Modelers Waltz' (2 steps forward, one step back), I thought you be amused by the steps I have to take, while I attempt to bludgeon the landing gear into position!

All the final small parts are on and primed, and when dry, it's off to the paint shop. Thanks for looking, Colin

The difference in the shade of the browns could be as simple as was it clean or dirty, flat or polished (in some of the photos, it looks very shiny, as though it was polished up for increased speed) A bigger problem will be the camo pattern on the wings, I tried for a long time to find some photo that would even hint at that, and these were the best I could come up with ... rather than enter a state of "paralysis by analysis", I bit the bullet and came up with this ...

I've got the airframe together, and primed with the zinc-chromate mix (for the cockpit) to check for miss-steps ... I'm getting close!

The 'Canada Goose' build continues, fuselage closed, windows installed and masked, canopy installed (what a struggle!) and smaller unique details worked on. Engines and homemade props finished ... Thanks for looking, Colin

It's called the 'modelling Waltz', two steps forward, one step back! Remember, THIS IS FUN!

Ultracast do early seats with the flare rack, with and without harness ... https://www.ultracast.ca/1-48-Spitfire-s/170.htm?searching=Y&sort=7&cat=170&show=30&page=3 48198 48199

If I was to guess, I'd go with the pale blue-grey of the squadron leaders pennant and the RCAF ensign shown on the 3rd entry on this entry. Unfortunately, all the decal manufactures have incorrectly gone with a white background! The original decal that I posted looks like a badly faded and yellowed version of this color.

I have not built the D-13, but I have built the D-9 and D-11 and found them to be nice and fairly accurate builds. Where they have issues is in the finer details, missing panel lines, missing gun bulges etc., on the D-11, the cowl gun panel was the same as the D-9 (it should not have cowl guns or bulges - I think the D-13 is the same) as well as fairly rudimentary engine details visible through the wheel well, and the one cowl flap in front of the supercharger should remain closed. Nothing that should put you off with a little research, and scratchbuilding. HobbybossFW-190 D-11 Hobbyboss FW-190 D-9

Here's some photo's of the incorrect and corrected Tamiya parts ... ... and here's a 'tweak' list I have on file ... Fixing the Tamiya Meteor by Brian MacNamara via Flights of Fantasy Tamiya's 1/48th scale kit of the Gloster Meteor Mk.I is a beautifully engineered kit. Unfortunately, it was researched using the prototype Meteor on display in the museum at RAF Cosford, which differs from an operational aircraft, having been severely modified during the course of its career. This article shows the differences - ED In effect, the kit represents an operational Mk.I, with Mk.III wings, so the changes are essentially just to the wings. The airbrakes are, of course, not there on the operational Mk.I - fill them. On the bottom of the wings, the kit shows the undercarriage fairings as being abbreviated (as on a Mk.III) to clear the airbrakes. They should continue to curve back in a teardrop shape, almost to the flaps. The ailerons on the Mk.I are fabric-covered, and not metal skinned as the kit shows (nice rivet detail there, sigh!). It's the trim tabs on the ailerons that are in the wrong spot. These should be about the same size, but rather than being in the middle of the aileron, they should begin at the inside edge. In addition to the trim tab, there was some sort of balance horn at the outboard edge of the aileron. I don't know enough about this one to suggest how it looks, but I've read that it is only visible in plan view, otherwise it fits within the wing and can't be seen from the side. If you're doing the prototype, the gun ports were faired over. In addition to all of the above 'fixes' here are some other comments to ponder: I can't find them used on the instructions, but just in case, don't use either parts C-10 (wrong exhaust output), or C-11 (surge vent). These can only relate to a Mk.III. I've heard comments that the acorn on the tail either shouldn't be there or it's the wrong size. These stem from the first prototype not having it at first, then having a differently sized one. It, and all the others were (retro)fitted with the size shown in the kit, very early on. What's in the kit looks right compared to any pictures I've got. The canopy has been a question for me. I finally found a review that put things straight. The canopy with the bubble (it's for a mirror), was retrofitted to all the operational Mk.Is partway through their combat service. In short, don't use it for the prototype, but you can use either canopy for any of the operational aircraft. There is debate over the interior color. Some of the early Meteors may have had Interior Green insides, but all later ones had Black. My various gleaned Internet comments seem to lean towards black, though. I believe the comments on Tamiya suggesting Blue are due to mixing up the various Tamiya paint types and designations. Finally, here are some useful color comments that Jonathan Mock dug up and posted to the Net a while back: For prototype aircraft (including DG202-G featured in the kit) as well as two early production F. Mk.1s (EE213 and EE214) delivered to 616 Sqn, external colors consisted of dark green/ocean grey (based on the M.A.P. plan No. 2) with yellow on the undersides and an 18 inch sky band on the rear fuselage. The ocean grey shade was the proper M.A.P. color and not the mixed grey sometimes used on other aircraft (Mustangs especially). Prototypes DG202-G and DG203-G had the fin flash extended to 24 inches high, terminating above the hinge line of the rudder. Production Meteor F. Mk.1s had the same dark green/ocean grey scheme but with medium sea grey underneath, sky band and yellow outboard wing leading edges. Interior colors on most Meteor F. Mk Is (and F. Mk.IIIs) were Night (i.e. black). Wheel wells and undercarriage were painted Aluminum dope. The upper part of the nose undercarriage was painted Night with the lower part painted Aluminum. Markings were: · 54 inch Type B roundel (wings top sides) · 36 inch Type C1 roundel (fuselage) · 32 inch Type C roundel (wing undersides) · 11 inch wide Type C fin flash · 8 inch high serial black numbers (these were the squared off wartime versions not the post war style Tamiya have put on their decal sheet. The serial number stenciling on the decal sheet is the wrong style. The right number is shown, but it's in a post-war font.) · 20 inch high sky code letters The credit for this goes to James Goulding and Camouflage and Markings No. 11, which was the primary source. If you see one, grab it.

Here's a thought, take any empty tin can with flat sides, and cut out a strip of the side. Bend it over an appropriate sized drill bit to get the correct arc, and use that as a master to either plunge mold, or vacuform a canopy. I do this on many builds and it saves wear and tear on the plastic parts, and if you try to use a kit canopy as a master, after a couple of tries, you'll find it warps from the heat. If you really want to get fancy, you can add thin strips of tape to the tin master as frames before you vacuform, or after, you can add plastic strip for frames, if needed.

When the invention of the first functioning home time machine occurs, modelers all over the world will rejoice!

As I understand it, the decal was supplied to RCAF squadrons operating in the RAF to identify them as Canadians. Ian Keltie's EN398 was undoubtably marked as such when it was in 402 Squadron. However, when Johnson took the plane over, he had it repainted (he speaks of this in his book 'Wing Leader') eliminating the scuff marks, 'Popeye' nose art and the decal, adding Johnson's initials, and resulting in the 'stencil' type serial number in its unusual location. 50 years later, when asked, Johnson recalled the leaf as being green, but that would have required it to be hand painted by the Canadian Squadron painters by special order. Note - that is a possibility as the Johnson's leaf does appear slightly larger in the photos than the supplied decal leaf. There is no real evidence either way. Personally, with all the duties and obligations of assuming command of three Squadrons, I would find it hard to believe that he would concern himself with such a small detail when issuing his instructions, but we can never know for certain.

Well, I've found a good close up photo that shows the tire size as being 36 x 11, after all ... and from an aviation tire chart, I get the dimensions ... so now we know the tire is 35.1 inches in diameter, 11.5 inches in width, and on a 16 inch rim. The next step in finding a close enough resin tire (diameter of .4875", width of .160", rim of .222" in 1/72) , with a deep dished rim, and modifying the rim and casting copies. Who said this was going to be easy?