Magua87

Hi, team. I was given a Catalina PBY-4 some time ago (Academy, 1/72), but I'd like to build it as a PBY-2. I'm looking for some images of the colour schemes of the PBY-2 in American service. I've found this great build on Hyperscale and I've been inspired. Can anyone recommend any books or websites or other media which I can use to learn more about these colour schemes?

Mate, that looks amazing for a rough job!

Welcome, all. That's him. I think the MOTAT example is a copy, but I can't remember where I read that. I've grabbed some photos of the elevators. I had to use a lot of plastic card and super glue on the underside to get them level before they could be scribed. The top side wasn't anywhere near as bad, but still took a lot of sanding.

Hi, team. Figured I'd share some progress on a kit I've been working on for a wee while. This is an old kit my father gave me after he upgraded to the Italeri / MPM Hudson. I'm hoping to have this wrapped up in a few months (I'm not a fast builder). Progress to data includes removing the raised detailing... ... and a bit of scratch building. I moved the wall behind the cockpit back to where it's meant to be, added some boxes, and busied up the walls. The rear door has been re-profiled to match my target aircraft. The propellors were lumps of misshapen plastic. They had a good sanding down and the spinners were rounded. No photos, but I've also built up the elevators by filling in the gaps, and scribed these as one piece. Airfix has them moulded as individual elevators, which is incorrect. The reason I'm doing all this is to represent a Hudson at my local museum in Auckland, MOTAT. Photo is mine. I'll visit again soon to get some better shots. Shout out to @fightersweep for helping me with this kit. I lost one of the nose transparencies and he kindly sent a spare set across the world for me! Next step will probably be to join the fuselage. I think I'll practice with some liquid mask on all those windows before I commit to cement and styrene.

I'm interested in building an RNZAF Hudson, NZ2031. 2031 flew in the pacific with RNZAF. "This machine served with No. 3 (GR) Squadron at Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal, and later in its transport guise became the personal aircraft of the Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Islands Group, Group Captain Geoffrey Roberts". I'd like to represent the aircraft in its current museum form (no turret), painted in early war colours. I assume these are the colours it flew in New Zealand with, rather than on operations in the Pacific. However, I would be modelling an aircraft in its current guise, following its modification and adventures in the pacific. Is this allowed or am I pushing the boundaries here? Image is mine (and an old one).

Another quick question while you're here. Any thoughts on the colours used on MOTAT's Hudson. I've got one of these on the go, too. I presume these are meant to represent the Du Pont colours? http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000696655.html Looking more closely at my tin of H67, I might pick up some XF-23 instead. Though it's pretty hard to tell the real difference without spraying them for a comparison.

Alan! You're a star! You need to put all this info down in a book somewhere. A follow up question or two if you wouldn't mind? NZ3035. I presume the roundel would sit in the same place on the port side of the fuselage and the letters would be reversed and be seen as HQ-Q as read from left to right? Am I safe in assuming that the lighter colour in the pictures is the blue? Cockpits; any idea of a name for the vivid blue green? I'll probably stick with green now that I've touched up my cockpit. Out of interest, what colours do you use for these schemes? I'm looking at Gunze paints. H42 for the Blue Sea Grey (I've been scratching my head for ages about this one), H309 for the Du Pont Dark Green, H67 for the Duck Egg Blue (Gunze equivalent of XF-23).

Hi, team. I'm trying to tap into some more of the international knowledge on here with more RNZAF questions. I've stripped an old Hasegawa P-40e kit of its olive drab paint as part of a restoration job. I'm interested in building an aircraft which sported NZ Blue Sea Grey camouflage. I've been trying to research colour schemes over the last few days and I've gone down the rabbit hole. I came across this image of a p-40 at the RNZAF museum at Wigram and was inspired. The aircraft seems to be sporting NZ Blue Sea Grey, Foilage Green, and Duck Egg Blue (DuPont's colour for the RAF's Sky). I don't think the aircraft was ever displayed in these colours and it now sports an olive drab scheme in the display hall. Ok, the questions. I'm interested in building NZ3027 since we have images and a drawing of the aircraft (see thread below). NZ3027 was written off in February 1944 after an accident in January (link here). The images in the thread below show the aircraft at the time of its accident. Charles Darby (RNZAF, The First Decade), illustrates this aircraft with standard RAF Dark Green, but with NZ Blue Sea Grey replacing the RAF brown paint. However, at this point of the war, wouldn't it be safe to assume that this aircraft should have had the green replaced with Foilage Green? I've gleaned this from various boards and WIP threads, but mostly from @LDSModeller here at Finescale. Calling @LDSModeller and anyone else who might have some info on the topic. Do we know how individual airframes were painted or do we have to make general assumptions for time periods? If we do have any solid information on other airframes with the NZ Blue Sea Grey/Foilage Green/Duck Egg Blue I'd be very interested to know. Second question, hopefully an easier one. I've touched up the interior green in the cockpit, but I'm not sure what colour to paint the area behind the cockpit. I've left the olive drab in this area for now.

Ah, the "Gormless". Wonder if they'll release a variant with the improved tail.

Digging up this old thread to ask a new question about decals. Has anyone ordered decals from Carpena? The two sheets below are just what I need for my Lancaster. I've emailed asking for shipping to New Zealand, but haven't heard anything back. 7261 BLACK CODES 45º 1st Part 7262 BLACK CODES 45º 2nd Part

Thanks, all. LDS, I think there might have been some repainting of the airframe. The question is whether this was before or after the aircraft became a instructional airframe. The paint scheme matches that in the SH instructions (but black, rather than red - thanks for confirming!). You can see the black and yellow scheme stops after the port engine. I assume this was a repair job which wasn't completed or which had not yet been completed at the time the photo was taken. Looking at the photos above of the starboard side you can see the black stripes under the wing, but none on the port wing outside of the engine nacelle in the below.

Hi, BMers. I'm hoping to tap into some collective knowledge on the Airspeed Oxford. I'm interested in representing NZ1318. Seen below in markings for No.1 Beam Approach Training Flight. According to ADF serials and this page 1318 was a Mk1. However, for a Mk.1 it's missing a turret. I presume it was removed as unnecessary for the Beam Flight. My questions are: Is the Mk2 identical to the Mk1 excluding the removed turret? If so I could use the Tasman Mk2 kit to represent 1318. Secondly, I would have thought this was a black and yellow colour scheme, but looking at Special Hobby's Airspeed Oxford "Commonwealth Service" I'm likely looking at another red and yellow airframe? See airframe 1376 in the linked SH instruction sheet. Can any keen eyes confirm? It seems to have stripes on the underside of the starboard wing, but perhaps not on the port wing (see this link - half way down the page). However, at the time those photos were taken the aircraft was an instructional airframe, which probably explains the discrepancy? Now that I've typed all this out I could just build a kit based on the SH instructions. Still, I'm curious about the Mk1 and Mk2 differences.

Excellent. There's a Planet Models resin DH108, but I've never been able to justify purchasing one at the price they're asking ($85 NZD at my local hobby shop). Hopefully this retails for a bit less!

Very nice. I think this is the first Meteor 7.5 I've seen built up. What colour did you use for the blue?

Are you trying to preserve the raised detailing?

I dug out my Special Hobby T Mk 7.5. Their colour call out for the wing spar is aluminium, but they don't give a reference for the rest of the inside of the nacelle. If I'm reading the Airfix instructions right (1/48 F8), it's gun metal (Humbrol 53 to be specific). https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/hnaircraftkit-airfix-gloster-meteor-f8/2

What shade of grey would you use for the intakes? "Grey" is about as descriptive as the Xtrakit instructions get. Also it seems like the cockpit is black, black, and more black. Same for the seats? And the seatbelts? I'm all questions tonight!

Nice choice, Riot. Agree that these and the F8 are the best looking Meteors.

From memory the lips of the intakes were made of wood? I wonder if that's what we'd see with wear or another layer of paint underneath (if so, what colour?) Thanks everyone for the responses. Very helpful! To keep this train running I've got one more question. Does anyone have any photos of the canopy retraction mechanism? I'm toying with building an aircraft with an open canopy and will need to remove the shuttle currently posed for a closed canopy and build a new one out of plastic card.

Morning, all. I was wondering if there was an easy way to determine what nacelle size a particular night fighter Meteor was fitted with? I've got a Matchbox build on the go (NF14) and I have an option of narrow or enlarged intakes. I'm currently looking at airframes WS800, WS830, and WS833 from Modeldecal sheet 92. Actually, while we're on the topic of Meteors, regarding airframe WS800, the decal sheet reads "60 Sqn. machines are believe to have had aluminium silver undersides". Can anyone confirm?

Also, I've also found Gunze (Mr Hobby) silver 8 Lacquer to be a good choice. It comes in a bottle, so no decanting required for airbrushing.

Tamiya AS-12 Lacquer in the spray can is a good choice. You can either spray direct from the can or decant for spraying from an airbrush (my preferred method).

Props for perseverance! Looking forward to the next update.

Beautiful work. Nice to see British aircraft in foreign markings.

I had some minor cracking on the nacelles of a recent meteor which were painted with Gunze's shine red and coated in klear. Unfortunately I hadn't made the association before I started brushing the whole of the Swift with the same bottle! I can't comment on Humbrol's oil paints other than their gloss black, which seemed to airbrush nicely. The acrylic 230 was ... inconsistent. I couldn't get a good thinned ratio. It would seem to dry up in the paint cup and require constant re-thinning and playing with the air pressure.