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patmaquette

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  1. Hi Tim. It was great to meet you at the Jet Age Museum and to admire the models you built for display there.

    Hope to see you there or at one of the shows in the future.

     

    Pat Camp

  2. Many thanks, @psdavidson, @Alan P & @stevehnzfor your kind words: it's nice to know the thread is being viewed even though the GB is long finished. Here is my final update, as today the model was installed into its new home, suspended from the ceiling of the Heritage Centre at Dunkeswell Airfield, near Honiton in Devon - I wonder whether anyone will read this post now its even later after the closing date! The model has led lighting inside. The electricity (3V dc) is supplied via the suspension wires from a "ceiling rose". This incorporates a standard socket which takes the lead from the power supply which plugs into a nearby mains socket. The rose was 3d printed and has some extension pieces made from carbon fibre tube that were epoxied to it. This was wired up and the lighting checked out...... I quite like the result, so will think about doing more of this in future builds... Installation went fairly straightforwardly, albeit having to be done carefully.... View from the submarine.... So there we are. Job done and, most importantly, the folks at the museum are pleased with it. Thanks everyone for following the progress and posting messages of encouragement throughout this (way overlong) build! Pat
  3. Although it is way beyond the end date for this group build, work has continued on completing the Catalina so I thought I should post an update nevertheless - even if no one reads it! The model is done now, apart from a "ceiling rose" to support it from the ceiling in the museum where it will be displayed, with an electrical circuit routed throught the supporting wires to power the LEDS inside the model. Fitting out the gun positions... The stinger gun was popped into place where it was retained in place by magnets...... The 0.5" waist guns had shield supports added from plastic rod and some belt ammunition taken from Eduard's US Navy Personnel 1942 set. These were added once the blister windows had been attached. I wanted to have the crew members visible from beneath the model, as if they are observing the sea during a submarine esearch. Everything was glued using AK Ultra Glue. The nose turret was fitted out with a single .3" Browning before attaching to the fuselage. Retro rockets. Dimensioned sketches were made of the backwards firing anti-submarine rockets based on diagrams and photos, and a design made from these for 3d printing. Fins were too fine for filament type printer, so were very kindly made on a resin type printer by Luke at Romsey Modellers - thanks once again Luke The motor was cut to length from thin walled 1//16" brass tubing. Plastic rod slipped through this and glued into holes in the warhead and tail fin parts. Various light & dark tones are seen in photos of the rockets, so I'm not sure a standard colour was used for them and what this may have been. The component parts do seem to be the same, unlike the HVAR types that often have a different tone for the warhead and motor. A film showing retro rockets being loaded onto a Catalina has them brush painted in white on their undersides, the base colour being quite dark. In the end I opted for an overall drab colour used on US Navy bombs. A similar uncertainty existed for the launch rails, and I decided on white for these so they would not stand out against the camouflage. The rails were made from "I" section plastic extrusion placed on its sides. Some plastic was whittled away at the ends so they looked to have the right shape where visible. Plastic strip packing was placed between the launch rails and the wing undersurface to take account of the curvature of the latter. The size and spacing of the rails was also deduced from photos and it can be seen that they are in groups of three, progressively angled outwards to provide the spread pattern for bracketing the submarine target. Propellers. The spinning blades were represented by a clear plastic disc. This was cut slightly oversized from a sheet with a hole in the centre through which a nut and bolt was placed and tightened. The bolt was put into the chuck of an electric drill and a very sharp chisel used to trim the outer edge to a neat circle. My first attempt at painting did not work as the painting mask I made left a lot of glue residue that proved so difficult to remove that I ended up scrubbing everything off the surfaces until I was back to a clear surface. My second attempt was simpler and more successful and started by lightly spraying black and then, on the opposite face, spraying yellow for the tips and white in the area of the engine cowling (called for in the camouflage measures), using simple paper masks for spraying. The blades were snipped off the kit's propeller and the rear of the hub cut to fit the hole in the clear disc. That's about it, except to mention that radio aerials were added from elastic thread. Here are some final photos of the model before it gets suspended from its "ceiling rose"..... Thanks for stopping by to look. Pat
  4. Hi all. Well here we are: time's up! The extension to the deadline was helpful, but I have still not been able to complete my model in time, unfortunately. As mentioned previously, I had decided against following R-M's sensible sequence of assembling the wing owing to the complication of running electrical cabling inside. I had some small amount of misalignment as a consequence, but nothing too serious. A visible area that had to be addressed was the recesses for the landing lights that required neatening and the addition of some detail for the lamp that was simply, but effectively, done with a drill and a burr in a pin-vice to form a hemispherical dimple for the lamp reflector...... I then found that the clear covers were too shallow and sat inside the wing's leading edge. The covers also needed a lot of corrective work and polishing and this further worsened the problem. My solution was to add narrow strips of plasticard to the top and bottom edges so the lamp covers sat slightly proud and could be sanded flush with the leading edge and then polished once everything was glued together. The engines in the kit are quite simple but can be painted up nicely. I painted the reduction housing covers in Engine gray, but I later found they should be in Insignia white, as should the inside of the cowls. I had an unsightly step between the cowls (or rather the cowlings around the rear part to the engines) and wings..... The steps were packed out to the required depths with strips of plasticard. Rivet detail was added to the strips before they were glued into place.... A smear of Milliput was then applied and, once set, all of this feathered in..... The corrected parts then blended to the wing and were glued into place without the need for any further filling & sanding. The aircraft is to be finished in the USN ASW Scheme II comprising Dark Gull Gray over Insignia White. Here is an example (this being a PB4Y) of an aircraft in that scheme from Dunkeswell... (USN photo) Some very helpful information on ASW Schemes I & II was found on ww2aircraft.net Most photos and illustrations of MAD Cats are in ASW Scheme I which is for aircraft operating where prevailing weather conditions are clear, such as off the US SE coast or the Straits of Gibraltar, and comprises Dark Gull Gray over Light Gull Gray over Insignia White. However, aircraft operating out of Dunkeswell in England were in Scheme II that had Insignia White in the Light Gull Gray areas. An example (but of an aircraft based in the North Pacific) was found on inchhighguy As for markings, my model will be based upon this aircraft, but as code R & number 18: Vallejo Insignia White was applied over a couple of coats of white Stynylrez primer. The second coat of primer did not go on smoothly, but I was pleased to find that it came up super smooth after a rub down with an old tee shirt followed by light abrasion with 6000 grit Micromesh. The US marking was applied as a stencil mask to the top of the wing. The other masks will follow later; applied onto the Insignia White once the grey upper surfaces have been painted. The mask was cut from Frisk film using a "Silhouette" cutter. This was my first time using one and I am pleased about how well everything went. The design was produced from a .jpg photo of the kit's decal sheet. The software has a "trace" function that picks up the edges of the colours. "Grab" points on the trace lines allow the lines to be tweaked where improvements are needed (such as getting nice points on the stars). The design of the lettering and numbers used a font set uploaded from the internet: volareproducts Three coats of Vallejo Dark Gull Gray were applied, but I couldn't get the tone dark enough. I therefore resorted to applying a darker tone - Dark Sea Grey 71.048 - and this resolved the problem. The masking was teased back and the graduated boundary added. This was difficult to do in places, particularly fore and aft of the pylon. Highlights were made with Dark Gull Grey. Work on applying the stencils and painting the various markings is now under way and should be done in the next day or so. But I can confirm already that the Silhouette stencils have worked really well. Modelling of the retro-rockets and their launch rails deserve a posting of their own, so I'll do that shortly. That's it for now. Thanks for looking and, once more, well done to all those taking part in this GB and special thanks to all who ran it. Pat
  5. That is great news, @Col. - the extra time will help a lot! Cheers, Pat
  6. Dear reader 🙂. Some progress has been made on the Catalina and the point is now in sight for slapping some paint onto the model, but no way will it be completed by the deadline, unfortunately 😒. Although I have the Belcher Bits tail correction set for the Catalina, I have decided to save it for another build. The set includes an MAD boom, but it will not integrate easily into the much wider kit fuselage... However, it was relatively easy to make an alternative from 1/4" Perspex rod, using the Belcher Bits item and photographs of the actual aircraft for sizing.... The photo above shows a strip of label backing paper to stop glue (and later Milliput) from going into the gap at the foot of the rudder. The paper was slid out afrer the job was done). Some MAD booms had strakes on the underside and some did not, so it is worth checking for this on your selected subject. Mine was made from plasticard and fitted after the boom had been faired into the fuselage with Milliput. Attention now turned to the wing. This comes in five pieces: two lower halves and, on top, a central section and two outers. The instructions give a sensible sequence for assembling these, which I did not follow as it would not permit me to route the wiring for the lighting to the brass suspension points that are fitted into the wing outers..... I also decided to add some structural support into the wings to keep everything aligned even after prolonged periods of the model hanging from the museum's ceiling. A pair of 6mm diameter carbon fibre tubes were used for this and fed through holes drilled into the ends of the upper pieces and epoxied to the underside of the centre section..... After much dry fitting and trimming (plus the addition of some shims)..... , the lower halves were glued to the fuselage pylon, applying pressure across the joint to achieve a strong bond. I did one side first and let that set before doing the other side, checking everything was aligned by means of the upper centre section....... The centre section was then added and I glued the leading edge first and then the trailing edge once this had set. A rigid rule was also clamped in to keep the trailing edge nice and straight. The brass suspension plates were slotted into position and soldered to the wires, heat sinks being clamped on to avoid the heat from conducting down the brass and melting the plastic. The outer pieces were slid into position over the ends of the carbon fibre rods. Dollops of Milliput were placed under the ends of the rods and then the outer pieces were glued and clamped into place. This provided support out towards the wing floats once the Milliput had hardened off. (The wooden pegs are not clothes pegs! - they are little ones for hanging christmas cards 😀 and are really useful for modelling) With thoughts now turning to painting the model, I designed and 3d printed a couple of supports to slot into my Tamiya paint turntable to hold the model. Well done to anyone reading through all this! And also well done to those who have actually completed their builds within the deadline! Pat
  7. Hi everyone. It's been a long time since I last posted an update as my progress has been slow. But I have at long last got to the point of putting the two fuselage halves together so here are a few photos of the interior before it gets largely lost to view...... I have included a gunner in the stinger position. The gun itself is held in place with magnets so can be removed whilst the model is being handled.... The 3d printed cubicles and tables painted up okay and I added some detail using punched discs of plasticard. Here are the radar and radio operators.... Here is the cockpit and forward compartment ..... The LED lighting has been wired up..... and were given a test before gluing the fuselage halves together..... I'm still aiming to get this build completed in time, but it will be a challenge at my rate of progress! The wings are to have some strengthening added as well as wiring routed to the suspension points for hanging from the ceiling. That is my next step, along with adding the MAD sensor to the tail. Thanks for looking! Cheers, Pat
  8. Hi everyone and thank you for your kind comments and likes. The model is finished at last. I had a lot of niggles on this final stretch which delayed things, but at least it is done. Thank you everyone for your interest and input during this build and, of course, to Freightdog & K-P for the enjoyment I had constructing their kit & conversion. Cheers, Pat
  9. Thank you, Col. Hopefully the figures will bring the model to life as we go on. Today was spent cleaning up the transparencies and applying masks. The clear parts are not as clear as they could be and have some flash to remove. The fuselage windows were distorted by a shrinkage dimple in their middles, so these were sanded out with progressively finer grades of abrasive before polishing. The polished one is the nearest in this photo, the raw kit one is behind.... The Montex mask set is really good, fits well in general, covers both inside and out and well worth having. I bought some miniature LEDs for lighting the inside of the model. These illuminate to one side and look perfect for attaching to a surface. I'm now pondering about how best to route the wiring (it needs to be kept twisted as there is a resistor beneath the sleeving). As the model is to be displayed suspended from the ceiling, I have decided to route the supply (3000 mV - so not too lethal!) through the suspension wires. This means the lights can be switched on and off from floor level and so no provision is needed in the model itself for a switch (or for batteries and having to change them). So I'll marshal the LED wires together mid way along the fuselage and take the supply wires up through the pylon to the wing. That's all for now, Thanks for reading 🙂 Pat
  10. Sorry to hear this, Tony. Thanks for everything that you've done. Pat
  11. Hi everyone. The Catalina aircrew has been painted (all by brush). Flesh areas were given a couple of coats of Vallejo 70.955 Flat Flesh with Thinner Medium, followed by 2 coats of Citadel Reikland Fleshshade with Lahmian Medium. This was allowed to gather in the nooks and crannies to bring out the detail, but was wiped from highlights using a clean brush. Deep shadow was painted in with oil paint (Abteilung 502 ABT215 Flesh Shadow). The exhibits at the Dunkeswell museum were used as references for the clothing. The green coveralls were blocked in with olive drab (I used a couple of coats of Mission Models MMP-020 US Olive Drab Faded) followed by 2 coats of Vallejo 76.519 Verde Olive Wash mixed with Vallejo Glaze Medium. Deep shadows were a dark green oil paint mix. The pilot's "Shearling" flight jackets were painted with Citadel "Snakebite Leather" contrast paint over Vallejo 70.880 Khaki Grey. My next task is to add some further detail to the fuselage and install some small LEDs for lighting. Thanks for reading, Pat
  12. I'd be worried about the outside pressure. 680 atmospheres (or thereabouts). That is incredible engineering, isn't it!
  13. Hi Louise, Gloss coating is my least favorite part of modelling as well, and my experience has been much as yours. FWIW (as others are more expert than me), I've found more opportunities for things to go wrong if you airbrush the gloss coat, so I brush the stuff on now using a flat brush as Troy mentioned. I've just done a 1/72 Tempest using Klear. I rarely get much of a shine with it, but the thing to remember is that the gloss is only there to reduce decal silvering and to help with panel line washes. If you need a shiny finish then that is a different matter. This time I added a little Winsor & Newton Flow Improver, thinking it would make the Klear more fluid and maybe increase the working time. I did the yellow underside first and left it to dry for 2-3 hours. I then turned it over and did the topsides. I worked wet and did not go into areas that were drying or the underside area done previously. If you miss a bit then don't touch it in - wait for the next coat. Two coats were sufficient for the job - I waited a day before applying the second coat. HTH & I hope you find a reliable solution soon, Pat
  14. Thanks for your interest & comments, folks. I completed assembling the crew... Those on the left came with the kit and, as you can see, I have already started painting them. The others have been primed with Grey "Ultimate" Primer and given a highlight by airbrushing in white from the direction of light.... The same thing was done with those assemblies that are ready for paint.... Thanks for looking, everyone, Pat
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