Jim Kiker

Hi all, Thanks for all the input, gents; there are some really good ideas being passed along and I know they will help. With the basic cockpit pieces together, I will paint them and continue on from there. As a courtesy back to you all, a tip of my own; I normally use a .005" thin saw blade in my fingers to saw off big parts as well as the little ones with very little cleanup. This is working well on this kit because the fiddly bits are truly fiddly and easy to break. Cheers all!

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HI all, I have recently started building Eduard's 1/48 scale Bf-109g-6/AS. This is my first Eduard build and I have some thoughts and a request for assistance. And please take note, I am "experienced" so this is not my first rodeo. First, I cannot recall it from previous reviews and articles that the main pieces, but the fuselage and wings have no location pins. As an old timer I find this amounts to a bug, not a feature, and it's more difficult for me to assemble the kit. Second, the horizontal tails and the top of the vertical fin are virtually a butt join, consisting of two small and short pins to glue them on. From experience this seems flimsy; have any of you had issues with these parts? Third, I appreciate all the extra parts included, but they are spread out among the "stock" parts. I have wound up referring to the parts trees diagram showing the "do not use" bits, back to the instructions, back to the diagrams, and so on. If I had the chance, I would put those extra parts on their own trees so the modeler can easily put them aside while the main build work continue, or make use of them as desired. And what type of 109g-6/AS are they good for? Just curious! And so to the request portion of this note. Is there a document somewhere explaining tips and tricks to make the building of these kit an easier task? I am open for any enlightenment you may wish to share. Cheers, Jim

Hi all, I am bringing this thread back in the hope of uncovering more specific information. I am building the Eduard 1/48 scale Bf-109g-6/AS kit as Blue 9, one of seven g-6 airframes that were converted to AS airframes with the 50-30 mapping camera added. Information for this block of seven airframes includes the removal of the two cowling machine guns but leaving the engine mounted 20mm gun in place. The question remains, for this group of aircraft what would the builders have done, if anything, with the open holes in the cowling once the two guns were taken out? I've had no luck with any pictures or descriptions of 109's with the cowling guns removed. Openings filled with a wood dowel; the entire gun trough skinned with metal; the entire trough covered with fabric and dope? Any light you can shed or point to for this aircraft would be a big help! Thanks, Jim

Hi all, Thank you for the information that has been posted here so far. Special thanks to Werdna, those are the pictures I am working from. And also thanks for the Falkeeins site regarding how this aircraft was to be equipped. That said, I do recognize that different recon airframes carried all guns, but I am trying to nail down this one. If anyone knows of a picture showing either the fuselage guns or the upper wings, I could really use them! More please, and thanks, Jim

Morning all, I am ready to tackle one of the Eduard 1/48 scale Bf109g-6/AS kits as a renaissance modified machines. Blue 9 had an overall RLM 76 scheme, well, she's a recon plane, right? Based on information I have found, the machine guns in the fuselage were removed (or at least supposed to be removed by directive),but the center cannon firing through the spinner was to be retained. So, if you remove those machine guns as directed, what kind of covering would there be? A streamlined plate, a "rounded" plug installed in the opening with the troughs left empty, a piece of tape or doped fabric, nothing? And in addition, what about the two shell chute openings on the lower wing? Did the cannon and one machine gun empty to one opening, plus the other machine gun into the other opening? Thanks in advance, Jim

Thanks Troy, I appreciate the kudo and I thought you'd like it. The nose is actually one of John Adam's Spitfire Mk XVI sets. The thick plastic gave me plenty of room for sanding to match the contours to the Airfix parts. For the radiators, I think they were spares from ICM. I used the kit pieces to shape new flat flanges from .015" plastic sheet that go into the inset mounts in the wing. Then, I cut the flanges off the ICM baths. And the trick- I set the ICM baths on top of the kit radiator faces (which are a lot deeper than the Mk IX radiators). I marked off the excess height, then cut the kit baths down, fitted them, then mounted the new pieces in place. I had the great good luck to show John the finished model at Telford last year. "Hhmm," he said. "Looks like my Mk XVI set." He was quite pleased with it and who could ask for more? HTH, Jim

Hi all, As ever this is a fascinating thread involving my own Spitfire faves. For the conversion I did to make a Spit PR XI, I chose to start with an Airfix PR XIX which in my view gives you about 75% of the work done, especially the cameras and the unique Bowser wing. I added a Merlin nose, lower larger cowling panel (greater oil capacity), changed out the oil/coolant radiators, reshaped the vertical tail and added a resin rudder. Thus: To show off the mods, here is a pre-paint view. It should be noted that you can find pictures of PR XI's with the side oblique window in place but painted over (as seen here), others with the window unpainted, and some with a solid hatch. This panel was swapped out based on operational requirements. All of our precious photos represent moments in time and a/c configurations change over time. Hope this helps and cheers, Jim

Gentlemen, I want to thank you all for your help and for straightening me out on colors and markings for this scheme. I have re-done my paints for this build and I have a Ventura decal sheet on the way so I feel a lot better about how the model will turn out! Much obliged, Jim

Hi all, As my subject implies, I have a Hasegawa 1/48 scale P-40 Kittyhawk Mk III kit, to be built as a K-15 #23-NZ3059, July 1943. Color-wise, a couple of years ago experts reported that the upper surfaces camouflage was NZ Blue Sea (instead of a flavor of Dark Earth), NZ Pacific Green (not RAF Dark Green, nor Foliage Green) for overseas P-40's, and duck egg blue (aka the Dupont 071 bluish-grayish-slighty greenish color). I have just been reviewing all the threads here at BM and I am still confused. NZ Blue Sea is described as a medium blue-gray, with RAF PRU Blue noted a one alternative and US Navy Blue Gray noted as equivalent; however, color call-outs from the American Federal Standard paint reference indicate a blue in the very dark range of FS 35056 fading to 35109. So who has the correct combination of FS equivalent and paint chip which can be mixed? As for the green, some references have been made to shades like RAF Light Slate Grey. At least one of the boffins has recommended that this green was simply Olive Drab because the delivery scheme of OD and NG, so that the green portion of the repaint was just left in place with the NZ Blue Sea sections added. Greeny-green, olive green, US Olive Drab gray green with FS equivalent, or something else? Again, there seems to be variances between paint samples/colors and nomenclature. Markings- Roundel Blues. Before colors, I have one sheet of NZ roundels sized to 36" for the wing markings; some decal sheets seem to be scaling out closer to 48"; so what is the correct diameter? A couple of modelers have noted that the Ventura decals for the Lockheed PV-1's can be used for the overseas P-40's. And am I right to think that the fuselage roundels should be 36", including the thin yellow surround? Back to markings colors, light blue and medium blues have been long since ruled out. Again in a couple of cases very dark blues have been called out by FS equivalents while the photos from mid-1943 seem to show a mid-darkish blue. So far, most existing decals appear to be from too light to 'far too light. Of course we cannot really tell which colors are which based solely on old B&W pictures, but I see roundels in the mid-tone range in the pictures I have and it's hard to dismiss what I'm seeing without good evidence to the contrary. While I do not expect a unified chorus of definitive answers, I am interested in what those of you have wider experience than I have to say. Thanks in advance for any light you can shed. If I cannot get to fairly correct colors to paint/decal with, I'll just set this kit aside. Thanks and cheers, Jim

Hi all, It is nice to see this thread pop back up again. Back to the cameras, does anyone have a picture or official documents showing the vertical camera lens/mount? On American PR Corsairs there is a panel forward of the tail wheel door's front end and the camera mounts there. I cannot remember seeing the RN's placement of the vertical camera. Anyone? Thanks, Jim

Welcome Muddyf and Jerry, the more the merrier as they say. Thanks to Muddyf for the information, if only I had a few pictures of this particular machine! For Jerry, I too have seen a couple of write-ups regarding the Catalina sinking the same u-boat. Of course the same boat wasn't sunk twice; that said, the Catalina got shot up pretty badly so the Germans must have spotted them before they got dropped their depth bombs (not sure what ordnance). I think it possible that the Catalina damaged the sub and T5258 finished the job the next day. On the other hand, mistakes get made when entering information onto official logs and that could just as easily have occurred. Anyone with further evidence for this attack want to chime in? I have copies of the write-up from Nesbit's well known book and also “Coastal Command's Air War Against the German U-Boats,” plus the entry in the ORB (passed to me as plain text). Cheers, Jim

Hi all, Thank you for the information and source references. For rossm, thanks for the clarity for this attack- first successful 236 Sqn sub sinking. Were they the first Beaufighter crew to sink a sub? I have that impression but confirmation (or not) would be most helpful. Cheers and thanks, Jim

Hi all, Thank you for the information and pictures provided here, and especially to Jamie for the explanation. Time to drop back and punt, will have to review the material to get to a choice about whether to correct the kit tail planes on my own. Cheers all, Jim

Hi all, Hope it is OK to reopen a thread every now and then. I have a Beaufighter build in the future and have decided to switch from a Mk IC to a Mk VI. I think I will need the canted tail planes (versus the early flat ones). I would like to grab a set of the late corrected tail planes that Jamie put out. So, two questions for Jamie. First, will the late TFX tail planes you produced also work for the Mk VI? And if so, it looks like you have some (one?) in stock at Sovereign Hobbies. Correct? If so, I'll put an order it ASAP. Thanks to all, Jim

Hi all, So we have Beaufighter T5258, coded as ND-B from 236 Squadron. On 1 Jun 1943 she sank a German submarine using 25 lb rockets. I would like to find pictures of her although I am without luck in that part of the search. I do know what her markings should have been but I'd like more. In addition, I have a list of Beaufighter serials which identifies this a/c as a Mk I; however, in the book "The Strike Wings: Special Anti-Shipping Squadrons 1942-45," Roy Conyers Nesbit ID's this plane as a Mk VIC. If the list of serial blocks I have found is correct, I would expect this a/c would have flat tail planes, versus the VIC which would, I think, have the canted tails. As I read material however, there were some instances where the flat tail planes were seen on later series a/c, and a few canted tail planes of Mk I's. So much for intuition! Can anyone help me unravel this knot of data? My targeted kit is the Tamiya Mk VIC /Mk X in 1/48 scale. For a late MK I I would prefer the flat tail planes but I know there are corrected horizontal tails for both flat and canted tails for this kit. Thanks in advance, Jim

Hi Tony, Indeed, I know the fundekals men and as you may know, they make great decals on top of their excellent research. I have long been intrigued with Hay's Corsair, since it seems to have carried a TSS scheme in equivalent colors. So, it's TSS with a twist! And now at last I think I have the camera location nailed down. Thanks again and cheers, Jim

Hi Tony, Thank you for sharing this picture; it's the first I've seen of it and it will be big help! Cheers, Jim

Good evening all, After a long layoff, I have returned to a long-term interest in the Royal Navy's Corsairs in the Far East. Specifically, I want to build Lt Col Ronnie Hay's Corsair II, JT427. I've collected a fair bit if information on this plane and mention is regularly made of the this a/c having both a vertical and a left oblique camera. I also have the old QSM magazine article that features a sketch of the camera ports. What I lack is either a photo showing these ports or an official document that verifies the camera locations. Correct or not, I would like know what the QSM drawing was based on. I realize this an older, regularly re-visited topic, but I am hoping that something new has been discovered which can be shared. Thanks in advance for any light you can shed! Cheers, Jim

Hi GB, I really appreciate your digging into your stash on my behalf. Thank you very much for the information and for the prompt response! Cheers, Jim

Hi all, I have a rather off-the-wall question to ask so please bear with me. I am doing some planning for a project and I need a compact two seat jet trainer cockpit and canopy. At a glance the Folland Gnat T1 might fit this bill but I cannot say for sure. If you have one of the Airfix 1/48 scale T1 kits, I need to know the length of the canopies and cockpit from the front edge of the windscreen to the rear-most point of the back seat canopy. Thanks in advance, Jim

Hi all, Spinner/prop- who made them? Great calls from Mike and Max H.; you are both right, the spinner and prop are from the old Otaki kit! Thanks for playing, Jim

Thanks for adding the link, Bob. Much obliged! Cheers

Hi all, Thanks for all the positive responses, I am glad you all liked the result. For Colin- actually, I think the spare letters and numbers for the serial number and a/c code letter likely came from the 1/72 scale Ventura sheet you mentioned. The actual size of letters/numbers in use at that point in time was 4"; that size was what I could not find in 1/48 scale, light grey decals. Lucky for me the 1/72 8" size worked out really well! Cheers all, Jim

Hi all, Here are some completion pictures of my latest Reconnaissance Spitfire project. The base kit is the Airfix PR XIX kit in 1/48 scale, converted to a PR XI. I have just finished an extensive Build Diary in the Work In Progress threads so please check there for all the details. Thanks again to Mr. John Adams. Cheers,