Massimo

Hi CC, I'm loving all these builds and following thes topic. I have a Barracuda by Special Hobby but it's equipped with a set of resin parts for the interior.Among them are some walls to be glued to the fuselage halves in this area. Here below a link where you can see the pics of all the parts. Maybe yours is a different reboxing without them.Is there any reference in the kit instructions? Ciao Massimo https://www.super-hobby.it/products/Fairey-Barracuda-Mk.II-III.html

There aren't better word to express my feeling towards thid build! I'm really admired!!! Ciao Massimo

Hi Colin, I think bright is the right word for this topic!!!🤪 P.S. ...THEY' RE FOUR!!!!!🤣🤣🤣 Ciao Massimo

Good evening mates, It was now time to start working on the Dewoitine 520 and bring it to the same point as the other two. I started by glueing the kit floor and front bulkhead. A piece of sprue was glued at the back to strengthen its fit, as internal parts’ edges aren’t that precise and need some…help!!! I added the back bulkhead, pedals, several levers and trim wheel from the PE fret by Brengun. The seat provided with the kit is quite good and with the addition of the photo-etched seat belts ans proper painting it looks really convincing. By the way it’ll be added once the cockpit is painted. Painting starts with the usual black coat, followed by my own blue, sprayed at an angle to create a shadow effect. A coat of Future , followed by a brown wash and we’re ready for brush painting some details. Once the cockpit interior is painted and dry-brushed to enlighten the details, the instrument panel and seat can be glued into place. Here is the final effect. Last , but not least the Marcel Bloch 152. After a few months wait, eventually this kit arrived and I could collect it and add it to the multiple build. As for the other ones, I cut the rudder off. The PE fret by Brengun doesn’t provide many parts for the interior, but I decided to fit the lower console , to be used as a support for the Yahuu painted panel. The resin control stick supplied with the kit is a real gem. It is soon time for some paint . Same process as for the other three. Here below the cockpit’s been painted and dry-brushed and it’s ready for the instrument panel by Yahuu and the painted seat to be fitted. At the end this is what the finished cockpit looks like: Once the painting of the interior was done, the fuselage halves could be glued together. From now on , I'll do my best to carry on with the four builds as evenly as possible. That’s it for now. Time to go to sleep! Thanks for watching and goodnight! Ciao Massimo

I love scratch building and this scale is allowing you to go really deep with details. You're doing an incredible job!!! Those seats and instrument panels are wonderful and the clip is a gem!!! I'll be following closely!!! Ciao Massimo

Hallo mates, A quick update. Once detailed the cockpits on the H75 Hawk and the M.S. 406, I couldn’t wait and went for some painting on both. Starting with the Hawk , I sprayed some black as a base , followed by Interior green , sprayed from the top and quite soft, to create a shade effect. Same process for the MS 406. I used a blue shade I had mixed myself when I had built the Loire Nieuport 411. Next was a coat of Future , to make them gloss, in order to give them a wash with Tamiya panel accent line brown. The cockpit details were brush painted and a coat Xtracrilic matt varnish ,completed the interiors’painting process. Here is the H-75 Hawk…. …and the MS406. Not much will be seen once the fuselage halves are glued together and these kits are so small…so I went for a heavy drybrushing. One last family picture and then the fuselage halves were glued together. This is it for now. Thanks for watching. Ciao Massimo

I love the wear effect you've achieved with day glo, heavier on the upper sides and softerbelow!!! When I first saw the pictures of the primed model I thought...why yellow?Now I know!I'll.have to keep that in mind!!!! 👏👏👏

Good morning mates, As anticipated, it was now time to get started with the Moran Saulnier. I cut the rudder halves off abd gued them together. The interior detail is quite poor, but I kept the side frames to hold the photo etched ones, which have the same shape. To fit the photoetched bulkhead, I had to engrave a vertical line on the inside of each fuselage half. I also glued some plastic bits to hold the sort of shelf at the back of the bulkhead. In the picture below, I’ve fitted all the photo-etched parts to the fuselage halves. This fret , together with the one for the Hawk, is the one I like the most of them all: there’s a lot of parts and it’ll look good, once painted. The photo-etched seat will be added after painting. The lack of locating pins doesn’t help, but it’s a feature of short run kits so I added some plastic blocks to the fuselage halves. I glued them thicker and refined them once dry, test fitting until I was happy with the joint. Wings were next. I cut the flaps from the lower half and filed the square housing for the photo-etched retractable radiator (…at least I believe it’s retractable!!!). The top halves have been chosen from a couple of option supplied with the kit for different variants. The ailerons have been cut off and re-positioned slightly offset. Detail for the interior of the flaps will be added later. Before painting the interior, I had to test fit the pre-painted instrument panel by Yahuu. To do this , I had to bend it first. This operation is quite tricky as, being pre painted, I didn’t want to scratch it. In the last picture can be seen the back shelf’s holding frame made of sprue I mentioned earlier. So here we are , with the Morane Saulnier 406 at the same stage as the H75 Hawk, both ready for some paint to the interior. That’s it for now. Thanks for watching! Ciao Massimo

Good evening mates, As I said , these built were started some time ago, so I’ll try to remember as much as I can how things went. The original plan was to proceed in parallel with all builds, so to compare step by step the progress on the each kit, but unfortunately the Marcel Bloch 152 wasn’t available at the same time, thus I started the other three and later I took care of it. I started with the Hawk. The interior is quite detailed, but a bit rough. Even those parts as the bulkhead and the floor are a bit…distorted and to get a good fit some filing is needed . Here I've cut the rudder off. I'll re-position it slightly angled to one side. Marabu design PE fret provides some nice additions to the cockpit, like a bulkhead with relevant…headrest, the side electrical boxes, a nice seat , throttle box and levers. I won’t use the instrument panel as I’ve got the pre-painted one by Yahuu. Once the fuselage halves are glued together, not much will be seen, thus to me it’s more than enough and next step will be painting. The landing gears’ wells are really poor representation, some sort of….cups. In the picture below I’ve also cut the ailerons and glued them slightly offset. Marabu Design PE fret provides main wheel-wells. The wings top halves are quite thick and two square recesses must be grinded on the interior, to house the photoetched wells. Interior detail for the bulges housing the landing gears’ legs. Once painted they’ll look great…and will never be seen again!!! Elevators were cut off the the tail planes. I’ll re-position them angled down (…or up!) Due to the angled shape of the dividing line, in order to create the recesses for the hinges, I sacrificed the hinges and glued some plastic bits which I’ll shape to pair the recesses on the tail planes. Next is the Morane Saulnier 406. I’ll deal with it in my next post. Ciao Massimo

Good morning mates, here is another project I started a while ago and never shared. I never liked the 2nd WW French aircraft, but the Colours of those which flew for the Vichi Republic caught my attention (a bit different from the stealth concept which applies to modern aircraft!!!) . It probably happens to most modellers and there isn’t a particular reason for it, but one day you wake up and …YOU MUST BUILD THAT AIRCRAFT YOU HAD NEVER CONSIDERED BEFORE! It all started when I was seeking info to build my Loire Nieuport 401. I came up with pictures of every possible aircraft wearing Vichy colors, but the one I was looking for!! RS box arts did the rest. When I saw them, surfing Hannant’s website, they captured my attention and I went for them. As soon as I got them I realized I may have opted for the Hobby 2000 Hasegawa reboxing for at least the Dewoitine 520 and the MS 406, but …never mind, at the end , once I opened the boxes, I was more than happy with what was inside and also I had planned to add some aftermarket. Not much room for scratch here, they’re so small!!! But for sure flaps, ailerons , stabilizers and rudders will be angled. PE frets will do the rest, even because they’re the only ones which can represent some of these aircraft’s features as the gunsight and cockpit details. After having bought for years just 1/48th kits, the Ark Royal project brought me back to 1/72nd and I had a lot of fun with the Buccaneer, Gannet and Wessex, so I decided I would have gone on with both scales. I was also a little frustrated for the space that projects like the 1/48th Canberra required in terms of space and wanted to concentrate on something small!!! Enough talking for now, let’s see What I bought for this project. First of all the Curtiss H75 Hawk by AZ Models. The camouflage I wanted to go for is the first one, featured by a shade of sand which makes it different from the other aircraft in this project. Info about this colour are quite different, as for many 2nd WW aircraft. BTW the second one , with the yellow tail and engine covers is the other option I might go for. The aftermarket for this kit: PE fret by Marabu Design Instrument panel by Yahuu. I think in this scale they’re perfect and cheap enough, a good compromise. Peewit masks for canopy and wheels, to save time and because my sight isn’t the best in town. Second in the list is the Morane Saulnier 406. I’ve chosen is the red tailed one. Not really an elegant silhouette, it reminds me a flying potato, but it isn’t the only ugly bird in my collection, so…it’ll be in good company! The aftermarket for this kit: PE fret by Brengun, Instrument panel by Yahuu, Peewit masks for canopy Third in the list is the Dewoitine 520. In my opinion this one is the most elegant of them all, even if it’s a little…short tailed! The third one is my favourite and responding to the project ‘s features, but there are many other schemes to choose from…we’ll see. The aftermarket for this kit: PE fret by Brengun, Instrument panel by Yahuu, Peewit masks for canopy. Last but not least, the Marcel Bloch 152. To me his one’s got the opposite problem of the Dewoitine 520, it’s a bit…long tailed. (I mean the distance between the cockpit and the tail, not the tail itself!!!). What can I say then about the angled engine…..???? This brings to attention the different ways aircraft designers found to compensate the propeller torque on takeoffs. Some, like the aermacchi 202 and 205 had a longer wing, others like the Hurricane had the tail slightly angled. I notice that some years ago on a Hurricane at Duxford. This one has the engine angled to one side…not my favourite. The kit comes with a resin engine and cloche. Very nice! The aftermarket for this kit: PE fret by Brengun, Instrument panel by Yahuu. Canopy masks by Montex. Decals are the downside of some of these kits, expecially the roundels’ colors and mainly blue, thus I decided to buy a decal sheet by Carpena, with a few interesting different options I, m taking in consideration. Transparencies are quite thick on all kits, thus I purchased the vac.form set by Falcon, dedicated to French aircraft 2nd WW Then I bought Camillo 1/1 scale. Not very elegant, whose nose reminds me the MB 152, but who’s helping a lot me nad family!!! He’s very patient …not a very happy guy Here some aftermarket: These are the premises. Ciao Massimo

I think Supermodel did also the aerosilurante version (torpedo).It might be interesting for something different and the camouflage is another option which you may like. Here a link which might be of help. https://forum.europeanaf.net/t/fiat-g55-silurante/35353 Ciao Massimo

What a good looking and colorful family!!!! For the last one I think the choice must be for the german style camouflage!!! I'll look forward to that!!! Ciao Massimo

Hope your a patient guy!!! May take a while!!!!🤣

Hi Pappy, thanks very much for your appreciacion! The pilot will have to stay as it is as it's already "sealed" inside the closed cockpit . I thought about changing the colour scheme, but then decided to leave it lake this as I believe a single colour scheme and war load will emphasize the aircraft pose. The pilot was done 3 years ago and I was happy with the result, thus I couldn't bear re-painting him. Ciao Massimo

Good evening all! Another update on the works I did on this SU-22: Tail time. The kit tail wasn’t exactly perfect, thus some work needed to be done. Using the Kagero volume for this aircraft, and various pictures found on the Net, I started by cutting the rudder and the landing chute’s container end off. The rudder will be positioned slightly offset for more dynamism and the chute container’s doors will be open ready to house a landing chute for the next flight. I wasn’t happy with the shape of the pointed boom at the rear so a Sparrow came to help. I drilled a square hole on each side of the tail intake and added the PE grills. The rudder was re-shaped and rivets were added. I added some hinges made from scratch to the main tail , then drilled them from the bottom and top to insert a brass rod which allows the rudder to move. I’ll glue it into position once the rest is done. I add some detail to the interior of the chute housing. Then I built the chute doors and fitted them to the tail . The chute doors will be painted and added at the very end of the project, not to get them damaged. The tail section was glued to the back of one fuselage half. This is it for Tonight! Good night!!! Massimo

These works were done some months ago, thus it looks I'm very fast, but I', now just posting the pictures. Once I'm done with them, I'll slow down!!!😅

Of course...ELEVATORS!!!! and trim tabs. Thanks Ian, as I said I've forgotten lots of words andthis sort of help is really appreciated! As for the trim tabs, I'm sure I had them glued the same angle of the elevators and then I saw this picture, so I repositioned one of them so to be opposite to each other. Ok, now I've got a good source and I'll re-position them angled down, so opposite to how they were in the pics I posted earlier, correct? Thanks again Massimo

Very nice little kit!!! I like the scheme you chose and the brush paint work you did! Well done! Now I'll look for the Supermodel and Frog builds! Ciao Massimo

Thanks very much for the pics! Green is fine to me too!!! oneOn the other hand, Desert Pink is a mistery to me!!! I've got Xtracrilics but looks much darker thanb in all pics <i've seen!!! Massimo

Good morning mates, First of all thanks to all those who spent some nice words for my wife who ‘s recovered even it it wasn’t easy. I haven’t surfed this topic for ages and hadn’t read some of those messages. Apologies for that!!! Back to business, Another project left on hold was the Canberra PR9, so , after months of inefficiency and thanks to the winter time, I felt the need to spend some time on plastic bits and share some nonsense with whom may like to read. Having too many projects half way…(or even less than half!!!) I struggled a bit choosing where to start from, then I went for this one. Later I concentrated on the Jaguars, but you may already have noticed that. I had several options to re-start with: the flaps’ and wheel bays’ detail, the nose interior with the detail for the camera operator or the tail and I opted for…the camera operator’s side windows!!! This area had been previously detailed, but I still had those holes I couldn’t stand, so I started by cutting a bit od clear sprue and polishing it on both sides, which will be the inside. I cut thit in half and glued the two rods into the round holes with the polished end inside. Once dry, I filed them down and polished the outside with fine abrhasive paper and a nail sponge. I repeated the same procedure with two more rods, flattened and polished on the inside first, glued then filed and polished on the outside. Then I moved onto the tail. The system is quite different from what Airfix proposed, but at the end of the day, it’s a lot of work to achieve something which will be hardly seen. May be by gluing the kit parts as they were and adding a small angle profile at the top, then re-scribing some panel lines , I could have achieved a result not too far from this… but enough with the “Ifs”, let’s see what I’ve done! I started by adding some material at the two sides of the fuselage, just in front of the cut I had done. I think the original parts by Airfix were too high (…or too low….) Then I added some CA glue and flour to create some material at the top to be shaped to match the fuselage. Understanding the real shape of this area is really difficult as the “ orizontal “ planes are angled up and that area is hidden in all the pictures I’ve seen. I had to zoom some picture of the machine in flight to get a clue. After several attempts, I got to this result, which I’m quite happy with. There’s a gap at the bottom which will be dealt with later, when I’ll glue a couple od shaped plates as in the real thing. Then I re-shaped the external part of the fletchings.(is fletching the correct word? After so much time I’ve forgotten most of the common words for aircraft parts!!!) Once happy with their shape, I glued them to the main unit, with an angle, to make the ensemble look more dynamic. I also cut and glued the stabilizers slightly offset, but then , after a better look at the pictures, I realized they move opposite ways and I re-positioned one of them., Of course these pics were taken before that!!! This is what it looks like, once in place. Now a couple of pictures which I took a loooooong time ago. I started this build from the rudder and forgot to mention it, so here is the modification I did to it. The rudder was re-shaped and the side lines partially deleted. Then a shaped strip was added at the top. I then concentrated on the tail bulge (please forgive me for not having a better name for it! I assume it’s some sort of sensor, but to me …it’s a bulge!!!) and added some plates around it. This is how fare I’ve gone and the components are just dry fitted. …and finaslly a comparison which shows another project I started during this long period of modelling idleness!!! This is it for now. Thanks for watching!!! Ciao Massimo

Hi all, Another update on my SU-22 build. After I had opened the engine bays, and having purchased the LP ladder and platform, I decided to open the radio bay. I started by cutting the panel at the rear of the cockpit and glued some plasticard to create the bay’s walls. Then I added some detail form the usual strips and rods, cable and some panels from a PE fret. I didn’t like the kit cockpit , so I decided to build a frame from scratch to support the Yahuu PE panels. This is quite basic and not much detail at this stage, just want to proceed in different areas inside the fuselage, so sooner or later the time to glue the two halves will come. The PE rail for the ejection seat wasn’t very good and…straight, so I decided not to use it and did something from scratch, but I have no pictures of it right now. To create the cockpit interior I had to bend the Yahuu instrument panels to shape and use them for several dry fit tests. To check the cockpit depth, I did a dryfit trial with the ejection seat and the canopy in place. Hinges and doors were built from scratch, using the usual plastic card and strips, adequately shaped. At this stage, I decided it was time for some paint and started with a black layer to the Air brakes’ bays. I then proceeded with alluminium for the air brakes, followed by Future, then a wash with Tamiya brown accent panel lines liquid and finally a layer of satin clear. Air intake interior, Radio bay: black first, followed by zinc cromate, then all details were hand painted and finally a layer of satin clear. This is it for now. Thanks for watching. Ciao Massimo

Interesting projects after the two pearls which you've delivered recently!!! I'm one of those who didn't know Americans flew Defiants, and this project is very attractive! I may get also some info about 3D...for exemple now I know Fusion 360 exists and I've watched a tutorial video...who knows... I'll be watching with attention. Ciao Massimo

Hi Rob, thanks very much for the precious info. I think I'll remove the tandem beams and purchase the CBU-87's. That's the coinfiguration in the picture in my previous post and, being one for each side, they' ll allow a better view of the landing bays. Your consideration about flying gears , together with those from @Fritag, have convinced me it may have been a possibility for pilots to wear green gears as well. Thans again!!! Massimo

Correct, and some more panels open here and there. More of it Tomorrow. Time to sleep now!!😴

Good evening to you all! It may look like I’ve woken up from ibernation (and it’s partly so!!!) and thrown myself in multiple projects, but it isn’t true! As some one said on my Jaguar topic, it’s been a looong time and thus I’m just sharing the pics of the projects I started in the last three years. Back to this build, I got started by replacing the air brakes’ bays, which are quite basics, using the PE parts. To fit them, I had to drill out the existing ones and shape the openings to house the folded PE bays. The etched bays had to be folded and bowed, before being glued with CA glue. To beef them up I sticked some paper tape around the sides and filled the back with CA glue and flour. This created a solid back for them. More etched parts were added then, as per Part instruction sheet. Finally the new bays were glued to the interior of the fuselage halves. Airbrakes were assembled next and left aside for better times to come. As some of you may know by now, easy life isn’t for the modeller in me, thus I couldn’t resist the temptation and drilled the opening for the engine bays. Next on my list were the auxiliary air intakes, which I wanted to depict in the open position. Same procedure: drilling and filing. This is it for now. Thanks for watching. Ciao Massimo