nuuumannn

Been away from the paint for a couple of weeks; went to look at the Mosquito being dismantled in Auckland last week. I posted pics elsewhere on the forum, but can't resist putting them up here> Anyway, on with the 747. I've fitted the lower fuselage plug to which the stand fastener has been attached. It didn't go on without a fight and I found that I put it on with a slight bias to one side. Drat. You can see the areas where it sits proud and flush here: Once again, quite a lot of puttying and sanding before I do the fuse in its top coat. Meanwhile I've made progress in that I've finished painting the nacelles. Hooray! Progress! Away for the next two weeks, then more to come on this rather lengthy and rapidly becoming tiresome project.

Its currently being pulled to bits for its journey to the USA. I took these today.

Hi fredsopwith, all I know is that it was built in the USA some years ago and registered N1388J at one stage. It has flown in recent years; it made appearances at the Classic Fighters airshow at Omaka, where it is based permanently now.

A bit more goings on with this has seen a bit more progress, but things have been reduced to a crawl with work, life etc. Here's an update. The wings have been steadily progressing, although running out of paint has slowed things down a bit. The kruger flaps are painted white and the edges of these need to be touched up. I've now done the leading edges silver, although this pic doesn't show them too well. The gremlins that have been plaguing my painting efforts are not relenting, as can be seen here; tape lifted paint and messy edging; this has to be redone. As a result of these issues, I'm having to redo the base coat on the left hand wing, but I've now run out of paint for this. I did have to do some correcting of the paint on the wing underside based on photos; the instructions give a clear demarcation line just inboard of the winglet on the underside, as seen on the instruction sheet. Looking at photographs of the real thing, however, the silver actually goes right to the wingtip, and so it now does. Lastly for now, silver has been added to the engine intake lips. More once I've got some more paint.

Hi Guys, A photo shoot of a rather reclusive and rare Halberstadt D IV reproduction. The D IV variant itself was rare enough; only three were built, so it is a surprise to see a modern reproduction of it. More photos of the Halberstadt here: http://warbirdswalkaround.wixsite.com/warbirds/single-post/2016/09/23/A-Replica-of-a-Rarity-the-Halberstadt-D-IV

Thanks Graeme, although I do liken it to the fact that Airbuses had their first flight in a Boeing (the Super Guppy - until the Beluga was built)! Couldn't find any scrap Boeing bits in the bin, sadly.

On with the build, after a week away from the plastic. I've finally got the fuselage to a point where I'm happy with it and I can begin spraying with white, but I have to get some more now because I'm running out with painting the fiddly bits on the wings and nacelles. The channel in the belly has been filled in, thankfully. Painting is progressing (slowly and painfully) on the nacelles and wings. The nacelles are ready for the leading edges to be done in aluminium and other details done on them. The wings are still proving troublesome - it's still one step forward two steps back with them, so progress is slow. Kruger flaps are being done and silver panels being sprayed. Note, this is due to user incompetence rather than faulty equipment, although spraying with a can requires a deft hand, which I don't have. About now I have to work on the stand. I made one out of a piece of dud ali alloy from the scrap bin; it's actually from an electrical plug junction box from an ATR airliner that someone had miss-drilled and tossed out. I have metal left over for future aircraft. Here it is next to the dummy I created earlier; it's a little different in design and rolling the metal was easier than folding it. I have also cemented the anchor nut on the lower fuselage piece and covered it in fast-weld, which will ensure it won't go anywhere. The fastener is also from the scrap bin and screws nicely into the bottom of the aircraft. The fuselage fitted to the stand as a trial. More to come soon; I might be able to squeeze some more in before I go away this coming weekend.

Gotta agree with you there, celt; I'm a fan of Powerslave, although I also rank The Book of Souls pretty highly, along with A Matter of Life and Death. I do a lot of driving long distances and every now and then I chuck an IM CD on and blast it out; good driving music. A great driving track is The Red and the Black from Book of Souls. Nice to see Maiden fans here, too! Lucky you guys getting the tour next year; I saw them twice this year, but would love to see them in front of a home crowd (again - last time was mid 90s with Blaze Bailey up front).

Steve, Alan Peart is a lovely fella; met and spoke with him that time up at Ardmore. The following is what the excellent book 'Eyes for the Phoenix , Allied aerial Photo-Reconnaissance operations South East Asia 1941-1945 has to say about the FB.VI; When the versatility of the Mosquito was first realised in March 1942 it was decided that all Mosquito FB.VIs should be factory finished with Medium Sea Grey on all exterior surface, so that the various camouflage schemes of different Commands could be applied to them after delivery, according to the operational [use] of the aircraft. It is not clear, however, to what extent this requirement remained in force as Air Ministry Order A.1096 of 8 October 1942 stated, "Mosquito aircraft with a day role are to bear standard day fighter camouflage and colouring. National and tactical markings are to conform to the scheme for day bomber aircraft. The spinner is Ocean Grey, the code letters Sky." A further instruction stated, "Full (sic) markings are to be applied to this aircraft with the exception of the yellow leading edge stripe"; the 'full' Home Base Fighter Command markings consisted of Sky spinners and fuselage band and Yellow leading edge stripe." "There is no record of the finish applied to the first Mk.VIs intended for weathering trials. It is just possible that they were finished in overall Medium Sea Grey but there is no doubt that later aircraft from the same production batch were in Green/Grey camouflage with Sky spinners and fuselage bands. "On 20 January, HQ Base Air Forces, South East Asia signalled the Air Ministry, "Decided to supersede camouflage finish on Mk.VI and Mk.IX and XVI Mosquitos with Aluminium on all surfaces. Request flow similar"; (i.e.for aircraft to be delivered already so finished.) The scheme received immediate approval and the Air Ministry issued an instruction, dated 15 February, that "consequent on the exacting climatic conditions", Mosquito FB.VIs in ACSEA should be given two coats of Aluminium finish above and beneath, whilst Mosquito PR.XVIs should be similarly finished on upper surfaces only, remaining PRU Blue beneath." In the appendices is a facsimile of Order A.F.O (India) 69-76 concerning camouflage and markings, issued on 4 April 1944, which states that; "All fighter aircraft will be camouflaged in accordance with the temperate land scheme as follows:- Upper surfaces. - Dark Green and Dark Earth. Under surfaces. - Medium Sea Grey. Tactical Markings.- Nil. Code Letters._ Sky. Day Bomber Aircraft. Upper surfaces are to have the 'temperate land' scheme. Night Bomber Aircraft. Upper surfaces are to have the 'temperate land' scheme."

Cheers mate; I've been making a few mistakes with the painting; splatter, overpainting etc, which is putting me off a bit, because I seem to be going one step forward and two back, but I'm pleased to say I've made a couple of breakthroughs. The cockpit surround has had putty applied and has been sanded down, to fill the enormous gap between the windows and fuselage. Up to that point I hadn't worked out how to tackle this ugly fact, but something settled it for me. Once that was finished I discovered that there was a smudge of glue on the inside of the window, which sealed its fate. It'll be painted. I've sanded it and put putty around it to set it flush with the nose. And now it's finished and I'm happy with the result. Thanks for the suggestions of how to tackle this, too, guys. The fuse continues to reveal big imperfections, so still more sanding and puttying going on. (Writing about these things here is like, therapy, y'konw?) On the painting front, the nacelles are getting coats of white. As are the fuselage undercarriage doors. I've also done the silver wing panels, although these are the bits I'm having issues with right now; there's just a couple of stubborn places that are really trying my patience. Fearing I might make even more f-ups, I'm afraid I'm going to have to live with the imperfections. More when I'm in a better mood.

Thanks TallblondJohn. As a live album, yes, but different league to Book of Souls. I also have En Vivo, which just doesn't match Live After Death in clarity and excellence of song selection; the latter is too good. Lots more sanding and puttying - getting quite despondent about it all; it's not looking as good as I'd hoped - need some inspiration (cranks up the music)....

This is a nice little kit; I have one stashed away untouched. Looking real good and this'll prove useful for if I ever get round to doing it.

These pics might help. The UH-1 broke just aft of the fuselage. Here's a pic of a tailboom showing the bulkhead at the point of the join with the fuselage: And another UH-1B. The tail boom breaks where the fuselage begins. The cover over the exhaust is exactly that. It is removed before the boom is removed. The engine sits on a deck halfway up the rear fuselage and covered by removeable fairings. The two horizontal lines aft of the door are door tracks. The torque tubes for the tail rotor are contained within the top spine on the boom. You can see these in the drawing above in Hook's post.

Cheers mate, well, I can't say I agree and I suspect the public doesn't since their biggest selling albums came after Killers; both Seventh Son and Book of Souls debuted at No.1 in the album charts, but each to their own, I guess. A lot of people slammed No Prayer, but I thought it was a good one. Still lots of sanding going on to get it right, especially under the belly, which, as you can see in the last post had a massive chasm in it. While I've been waiting for putty to dry I've been doing a bit of prep for mounting wings, engines etc. I drilled a hole in the fuse side to mount the hori stab properly and put holes in the wings for mounting the nacelles. You can see that I've started re-shaping the APU exhaust, too, which was only half formed on the kit. The wings have had their final coat of top coat and to make the holes to support the nacelles, I got some 32 thou lock wire and twisted it into the plastic. Little lock wire tabs will support the engines when they are mounted. I've now finished the top coat on the hori stab and have painted the leading edges and a hole has been drilled to fit the dowel to mount it to the fuse. The undercarriage doors now have primer on them. Now, the nose (again). As I had been warned earlier, the windscreen doesn't fit, as you can see here. There is a massive gap between the top of the windscreen and the aircraft. I'm going to fill this in with putty and decide whether to paint the windscreen or leave it glazed, depending on the results of this. Meanwhile, on with the sanding of those ruddy ridges in the fuse... "Turn like a devil, shoot straight from the sun. Climb like a monkey out of Hell, where I belong... Death or Glory, it's all the same. Death or Glory, the price of fame.

Looks superb Martin/Martian (!). Could be that since the thing was so dark that in low light the balances stood out so ham fisted pilots doing a pre-flight walkaround didn't brand themselves in the chest area or bang their heads on them? Just a guess, not really sure, but it makes sense.

Ta dahh... http://warbirdswalkaround.wixsite.com/warbirds/hawker-hunter?lightbox=dataItem-ij7uwe2w I hope this helps. This is a Hunter FR.74, but that shouldn't matter.

Cheers guys. I've been away for a bit and so Trojan, I wasn't ignoring you - the tadpole markings are decals. I couldn't paint something that precise. Quite a bit of sanding has gone on of late and the fuse has had its first coat of primer, but the results are not encouraging. You can see that Paul Bunyan has dragged his axe down the centreline of the belly of my 747. I've cleaned up the nose and added putty to reshape it a bit and it doesn't look to bad now. Wasn't going to do this, but it looks better than I thought it might. Wings and hori stab have had their first coats of top coat. In the photo they look a bit flat and is almost the same hue as the primer, but the colour I used is a bit bluer and of a satin finish - Pastel Grey - it's not the exact colour, but it looks good and I don't know if Tamiya do that shade of grey in their spray can range. Next, the little u/carriage doors were cleaned up; these were covered in flash and had lots of blemish marks on them. I did a trial fit on the lower fuse and as you can see they don't fit; they have a tab to enable them to be glued open, which is shown on the left side of the picture and the other shows what the fit'll be like once that's removed. Pretty bad. Back to the sanding and puttying to get rid of that lower fuse channel. If that were Mars; they'd find signs of life in there...

That could very well be it. Who knows. When I was younger I worked in a prop shop and we overhauled a few Ham Std Hydromatic props, 23E50s; the same as fitted to DC-3s, B-17s, B-24s '25s Lancasters Mosquitos etc. The De Havilland ones were almost identical; they had a different spline for fitting to the engine. Looking good Martin. Cripes! That means after working in this industry for awhile I'm a mass of carcinogenic fluids and poisonous solvents...

Wow, that looks terrific Martin and sorry to hear about health issues. I've been trying to figure out what you guys have been discussing, so I looked at images of the Flap Jack on the net. Firstly, the logos missing from the RHS prop. The logos are transfers that are normally applied by the manufacturer or overhaul shop and I can't really say why they weren't installed on one prop and not the other. perhaps they wanted to roll the thing out for an official photo shoot before the stickers had been applied? Who knows, but it's not impossible to surmise that the stickers were applied afterwards. Tommy, as for "high twist", I take it you mean variable pitch/constant speed? "flapping capability" Aha! Finally found out what that actually meant; the blades in pairs were able to rock forward and aft within their orifice in the hub; a unique feature in a fixed wing aircraft. This provided thrust on an angle off centre from the thrust line of the driveshaft to give it a near V/STOL capability. I had to do some looking on the net for that. No wonder the thing suffered vibration. "The blades on the left-hand propeller were turned 180 degrees" That's physically impossible on a standard F4U prop; the blades are actuated by teeth on the blade butts that mesh with teeth on a moveable cam that was attached to a piston within the hub; differential oil pressure acts on either side of the piston, which moves the props within a specified range depending on stop rings attached to the hub. You'd have to remove the innards of the hub to enable that to happen. The F4U's prop was of the 'Hydromatic' variety - a brand name patented by Ham Std. Looking at the image, the LH prop looks to be put into reverse pitch, which will angle the leading edge slightly aft; this is provides reverse thrust - a useful thing an a carrier based propeller aircraft. I suspect the ones fitted to the XF5U were not standard F4U props, however. I can't answer the logo anomalies between the different propellers, although I did find one site that mentioned that the aircraft in the photo was a non-flying example; since neither actually flew, that means the first one wasn't intended on flying, so was designed for trials only. You might notice the cuffs on the inboard section of the XF5U prop blades; these were to provide extra cooling for the engines at low speeds and high power outputs. Hope this helps a little.

Crikey! And I thought I had a lot of sanding to do on my Revell 744! Like the technique of planking.

Suits me fine - that's my sir name! One of the guys at work goes "Helloooo Numan!" and "Numan! I knew it!" (Seinfeld, in case you're mystified...) Thanks Graeme, it has gone together, but is sinking in the middle, despite the plastic card reinforcement I added. I'm not looking forward to all the sanding required to get it right. Work on the nacelles saw them go together without any hassle, but there are the inevitable gaps, nonetheless, they don't look too bad. The three different types of tadpole marking on the centre cones in evidence. Note the seam line inside the upper lip of the nacelle to the left. For effect I ran a 5B pencil over the lines on the exhaust cones, then wiped it off using a wee bit of spit (Hey! It was the only water source handy!), creating a bit of weathering. Airliners are not known for excessive weathering, so this'll probably be the lot. The winglets have been undercoated. As has the hori stab. First coat of top colour will be applied once these dry. Putty applied to the fuse and nacelles. While I wait for all that to dry/harden, it's getting time to consider the stand. I want to make something relatively simple and since I have access to scrap metal, I can achieve that. Initially I didn't know what I was going to do, but I got a recent copy of Metal Hammer magazine (Rawk!) with a feature on Iron Maiden on tour and it came with this large sheet of stickers to apply to your car, bike or self; wherever your mood takes you. The circular markings are exactly the same as the ones on Ed Force One's nacelles and so I decided to incorporate one of those into the stand for effect. Note the plan view of a 747 above Eddie's head in the circular marking. The base would be circular, based on the dimension of the sticker, with an arm emerging from the back and arcing up toward a flat section angled slightly upwards, on which the aircraft would sit. Or something like that. I made a wee mock-up at work the other night using a circular sanding disc as a template. I also drilled a hole in it to facilitate fitting it to the aircraft. Hopefully it'll look something like this when it's all finished, only with my 744, not a 1:200 scale homebrand 733. Fastening the stand to the aircraft is going to be a bit tricky, but I have a couple of solutions. Firstly I'll drill a hole in the bottom section of the aircraft that has yet to be fitted. I haven't drilled it yet, that'll be determined by the method I use to attach the stand to it. The options are to either fit a piece of dowel to the stand and poke it through the hole and place a lump of resin on the other side of the hole into which the dowel fits, or to take the sophisticated option and attach a used anchor nut on the inside of the hole and cover the lot with resin, then attach the aircraft to the stand with a fastener I can find in the scrap bin. Either way, things to ponder. I have noticed that the cover sits forward of the model's C of G, so I might have to extend the vertical arm of the stand aft a little before it descends toward the base. Next, sanding, sanding, sanding... "Falling of Ages, Forest of Kings; The search for the truth; The Book Of Souls..."

I'm not sure Steve, I don't do C checks, so I wouldn't know the parameters of ATR heavy maintenance inspections on that area. That however, has no impact on the production of corrosion though and by not looking, you can't see the corrosion, even though you might know it's there. And if you can't see it, you don't have to do anything about it. But it's still there.

A photo shoot at the excellent Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka yielded a number of good walkarounds of unusual subjects, including this slightly weather worn R.E.8, which was built by The Vintage Aviator Ltd - the 1:1 scale arm of Wingnut Wings! I've also prepared a couple of old photos of the Imperial War Museum's original R.E.8 F3556 before it was restored and hung from the ceiling in the big hangar at Duxford. Take a look here for more: http://warbirdswalkaround.wixsite.com/warbirds/what-s-new

Aboard the Zeppelin L 70, which was shot down by an Airco D.H.4 being flown by Egbert Cadbury of the confectionery company and his gunner Robert Leckie. You're not the only one interested in airships, Panzer Vor. Of interest to me though are the British non-rigids used for maritime patrol; very much below the radar in terms of knowledge about air activity in the Great War. Hello Michal, are you going to do n 'r' Class, as L 33 and such like? L 33 was brought down in Essex and landed intact, becoming (along with L 49 in France) the basis of Britain's post-war 'R' Class, R.33 and R.34, the latter being the first aircraft to make a return crossing of the Atlantic.

"Ohh Cock..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrc3HWvNm5s