Torbjorn
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Posts posted by Torbjorn
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Hmm, am I the only one getting a huge gap here?
Hope I didn’t put the wings at some odd angle. Anyhow that’s how it will be because it’s all glued together. Despite my best efforts the ”glass” pieces have a small gap that will require awkward and careful filling, between the large top piece and the starboard side piece.
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I too like to start with masking canopies: get the most boring stuff finished first so it doesn’t cause a speed bump of boredom later on. I have a Japanese boxing of this and dread that part. Happy to see someone putting it together.
Wonder what the purpose of the mid-fuselage glass cupola was.
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Seeing that wing take up all the workbench… she’s a beast!
Too bad all the lovely interior will be hidden.
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Droptanks and rockets:
BW pictures show light rockets with very dark fins and quite dark warheads, tips metallic. Trying to figure out how that translates in RGB.
Drop tanks installed, I made a guess on the plumbing. I believe the connection points for both lines were forward of the hardpoint on this version.
Painted the bare metal with metallic Vallejo silver and aluminium, while the pinted parts on the wings were metallic aluminium mixed with regular light grey. Tanks got the latter treatment too.
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I am following it closely (letting you trigger all the booby traps :D) now. For the portholes I settled for just cutting away most of the thinner section, and inserting acetate. With about a mm extra around it, there is space to hide the seams.
Based on your thread, made a few additions to the insides. Though there’s a lot of glass, it’s also quite thick, so I doubt fine details will be seen
I missed painting the underside of that ”bench” on the starboard side, but caught it before closing up.
The wing roots won’t align for me either. I’m aligning everything to the largest canopy piece as that would be disastrous to have to fill and sand gaps around. As a result I have gaps of various widths elsewhere (the worst are on the other side).
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Started painting, no pictures as I’m trying to find another host service.
Something I did find was 165 gallon grop tanks! When flying strike missions with HVAR rockets, they needed extra fuel to compensate for the drag added by the rockets and the solution was the larger external tanks used by P-38 - and apparently P-47s too: I found them in a boxing containing Iwo Jima Thunderbolts.
Anyway, trying to figure out the plumbing on these things, as I want to add the fuel and pressure lines.
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Splendid looking machine!
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That is most helpful, many thanks for taking the time to make that summary. I’ll make sure to follow your build - hadn’t seen it, sorry. The glasshouse assembly is what I’m most concerned with, from looking at the instructions.
Regarding the portholes, I wish they just had extended the clear side pieces aft to cover the entire panels where the portholes are. Then one could just mask the portholes when painting. This way there is a terrible mating surface - and I still have to mask the portholes. Maybe I sand away a fraction of a mm on the outside and just slap an acetate sheet over it.
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10 hours ago, dogsbody said:
What do you mean by " navy colours"? Coastal Command? The Royal Navy never used Blenheims.
Chris
Yes I know, but it was shorter than writing temperate sea scheme. 😛 Yes, Coastal Command.
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With a Japanese nightfighter finished, I thought I’d try an allied machine as well. The Blenheim isn’t as popular I thought it would be, so I’ll add a Mk IVF. Maybe I’ll go with the one on the box cover, unless I can scrounge some serials and codes for a plane in navy colours. Or maybe not. Will do some research, found seceral titles on Scribed. The box:
I built the old Airfix as a kid and remember struggling - I expect this to be a bit different.
The box contains pieces to do a regular Mk. IV as well, so that is another possibility.
Assembled the office - will try to paint it all in one piece. I’m masking the lower window to paint it on the inside as well. The rest of the glass house I’ll paint only from the outside. It’s very thick anyway.
This is the first Airfix model I’ve seen where the flaps can be left lowered, with moulded structure inside. Thickness of braces is of course widely overscale. Will see what to do. Some internal structure in the wheel houses too:
Fit seems good, but the soft plastic has quite rounded edges, which results in trenches where the pieces mate. I expect some filling.
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On 3/13/2024 at 5:02 AM, HarryHobbyin said:
that Cockpit looks Amazing, if it was not still on the Main Sprue i'd guess its 1/32 or a damn good looking 1/48. batteries look killer.
Thank you kindly. I think the resin seat makes a huge difference. The IP too, but that can barely be seen later.
For the record, the aft box is no battery: it is supposed to be an SCR-695 radio, which was used for the homing signal they used to find the way back to Iwo Jima. Need to fabricate twin antennas for that as well.
Found some more goodies deep in the stash (K14 gunsight, vacform canopy and resin exhaust):
Almost ready to paint, just trying to figure out if there are any more 25-NA specific modifications needed. I’m admitedly no rivet counter, but can potentially classify as panel-counter…
I scribed the elevator balance tabs.
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Those cockpits are something else. I’d feel forced to buy vac-form canopies and/or leave open to do them justice.
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Will follow with great interest.
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Nice sprue towers!
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Looking splendid. Haven’t seen an Arma Mustang before - this looks absolutely first class. Is there any aftermarket there?
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Thanks. Yes, the seat is a quickboost resin piece, with some scrap added to represent a switch and indicator on the backside of the headrest (seen inthe ”Iwo Jima” models link) and support bars.
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Started. Previously I’ve been filling the wing panel lines with putty, tedious and boring. Tried stretched sprue this time, not sure it was more fun or quicker, but here we are:
Finished the office too. Replaced the chair and the radios.
And the IP
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Which boxing is this? I bought one of them, but didn’t have time to have a look yet. Will follow with interest. And good to know it’ll be all my fault if it doesn’t snap together!
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On 3/5/2024 at 8:21 AM, Bedders said:
What’s the best thing for NMF these days? I’ve been using Alclad over the last few years but I’d like to find a less smelly and more user-friendly alternative. Any thoughts?
Justin
Thinkkng to try foil, but if that fails or I’m too lazy I intend to use Vallejo metallic colours. Tried alclad once, but it was too smelly for me (or rather for my better half).
The wings are aluminium mixed with grey for a dull look, but the fuselage is pure silver and aluminium, which is shiny enough for me:
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I’m going to be so rude as to link to my own build thread. I’ve forgotten all the little tweaks the Airfix needs if you have detail-OCD, so aim to follow what I did last time. Putting the link here so I don’t have to rewrite it all, and easily find it.
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Thanks for the welcome!
I found this very informative link regarding the concerns of the long-range missions from Iwo Jima, which among other things resulted in a homing system and larger drop tanks. Many thanks for writing this piece, whoever you are:
https://iwojimamodels.com/2019/08/29/getting-it-right/
This will translate to:
-replacing the battery with something that looks like an SCR-695 radio - the PE ”battery” should look the part after adding some wires and omitting the protruding part
-adding the switch behind the headrest: in 1/72 that will be merely a speck
-adding more radio antennas: double on the spine, one underneath just forward of the wheen bays
-stealing 165 gal drop tanks from a P-38 kit
-perhaps steal some rockets from a Hellcat kit?
-make tail warning radar antennas
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My last Airfix Mustang in the stash. I found some goodies too.
Although the red-tail markings are attractive, I once fell for the luxorious design of these Exito decals, and I somehow need to motivate that expense, so this will be the choice this time:
It’s a P51D-25-NA operating as long-range escort out of Iwo Jima towards the end of the war, and since I have 5-, 10 and 15-NA since before it complements the collection. Some tweaks will be needed, regarding radio equipment (I distinctly remember they had a different set of boxes, not to mention the different set of antennas) and tail-warning radar.
I now have one week to find that vac form canopy and Quickboost exhaust stacks I remember buying but cannot find. I now understand how squirrels feel.
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10 hours ago, TheKinksFan said:
I don't know what or who was Creamer's Dream, but all these different Mustang schemes in 1/72 are a dream come true, and looking at them makes me salivate. There's surprisingly few P-51 decal sheets available, considering how popular the subject is.
Is it really? I think there are few subjects less treated than the P-51D when it comes to AM decals. Not that I mind more of course.
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Pacific warrior, Airfix
in P-51 Mustang STGB 5
Posted · Edited by Torbjorn
Started stenciling. Still quite pristine-looking, will add some wee dirt later. Skipping stencils on the green tail, unsure if they’d put them back.
Decided on olive drab warheads on the rockets, with dark grey or black fins. Haven’t found anything definite, so have to make a guess.
The tanks look odd because they are hanging by a thread, literally. I always had problems getting tanks to stick on Airfix hardpoints.