RainierHooker

Thank you gentlemen. As almost always seems to happen, the second I posted these pictures, I started to notice a few errors. One of things I decided to correct was some of the chipping, especially that on the wings as noted by @Ventsislav Gramatski. Thanks for the heads up.

A few more pictures... 287DBC28-C496-4DF7-8C7B-BCB1819F5C9C by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 16127C8D-DFB2-4D8A-BA64-9B1B7FB00455 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 75E437E4-871C-4A76-9F06-3761F031B0FD by Evan Bailly, on Flickr B17615C6-A9A8-46DE-8E1A-DE44C3A35723 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 75D912B8-FE74-4717-B858-9885EC9E6C59 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 245E1FF8-1F73-452B-BA4E-CF82CE5817C4 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

This was an enjoyable, and quick, build of Arma's lovely Yak-1b in 1/72 scale. C8D42124-EA3A-4C6A-8232-7AC06CC87124 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr It was built entirely from and according to the box with the exception of markings provided by a DP Casper decal set for Operation Kutuzov, in 1943. I have an affinity toward the early green-black VVS camouflage, and I simply don't build anything to the marking options found in any kit if given the chance. D0628A8C-6CE9-4636-B22B-F76B655524AA by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Paints used were all from the AK Real Colors range and weathering was mostly achieved through artists oils. EB145398-43BB-4671-8064-18CD98F5B197 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr F8C30934-F017-4824-ADE7-0CEE87C724BB by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 3D33B67B-1F99-436E-8ABC-ED6A9719F55C by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

For elegance and purely fit-for-purpose form I propose the F-102 Delta Dagger as being right up at the top of the list of most beautiful fighters.

The bolts never line up in the real thing either! Something's always bent or un-adjusted in storage. The Army Reserve unit down the street from my last duty station had the high-altitude rescue mission for the area (Mount Rainier among other 10000ft+ mountains). Around November they'd fit the skis onto a singular aircraft that waited for something, anything, to happen. I don't think it would move or do anything other than a 14-day engine runs and regular services until the skis came off in the spring. That way they only had to do battle with the snowshoes two days a year!

Nice hook in a colorfull livery made even more so with the snow shoes. In my 16 year career flying Chinooks I think we only ever once took the skis out of the storage shed. They're a bear to get on and off and always threaten weirdness in flight (I can't remember exactly, but I think there was a severe airspeed restriction when installed). As for why... at max gross weight the Chinook is 50,000lbs and will sink right down to the bottom of the airframe in snow leaving your cargo hooks and all your antennae at risk. And if you have to shut down and restart, there is the problem of ground resonance at low rotor speeds when the landing gear struts are taken out of the equation.

A few more pictures: FE58FF07-7A1D-4D90-ABF8-AB0C1740E9D9 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr DA131AAC-9366-4A7A-B117-5520CD762DC4 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 3FBD594E-970B-4F85-825F-96D388A40D70 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr EA79677A-1D4A-4D81-A586-7812240449AB by Evan Bailly, on Flickr My mojo restored, I will now be resetting my sights back onto the obscure Eastern European short-run kit on the bench.

After slogging through a big build of a short run kit for the past few weekends, I needed a little mojo-building exercise to get my head back in the game. Going through the stash I discovered a newer-tooled Airfix Spitfire Vc that I'd bought for less than $10USD some time ago. Whenever I see a new Airfix kit on sale for less than a tenner, I instinctively buy it for just such an occasion. I also had an Eduard “Zoom” cockpit set and canopy masks so the choice to build this little Spit was a no-brainer. This was the result of a weekend build-a-thon: 74556352-FF48-4229-B930-6F4416054119 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Also present in the stash was a multi-topic decal set from DK Decals that I'd purchased for a previously built P-47. In the set were the markings of two RAAF Spitfire Vc airframes, and I chose A58-180 for its odd nose art of a bull chomping on a rising sun flag. Helped by a few older threads here on BritModeller, I think I got reasonably close to the subject for a mostly out of the box build. F73F86FC-FE78-4401-8E9F-5028D34EEB64 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Paints were all from AK's Real Colors range, RC340 for the RAAF Foliage Green, and RC241 for the RAAF Sky Blue. The dark brown was mostly standard RC287 RAF Dark Earth but the areas where the the original aircraft had been over sprayed (over the RAF roundels, and the RAAF's earlier Squadron and tail empennage markings) were a mix of dark earth and RC081 to provide a little tonal difference. Weathering came from a sponge on a stick for chipping and artists oils for washes and filters. To Arifix's plastic I added the previously mentioned Eduard "Zoom" cockpit details and, made from wire, the rod-type IFF antenna under the starboard wing particular to RAAF spitfires. Other than those the kit was built out of the box and according to Airfix's instructions. Total build time: two evenings and a few Sunday morning minutes for cleanup and photos. 99DC7EB6-E152-4858-BFFB-D4908FBB9120 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 1AE774CF-3F67-4D9F-8035-97400CC43C34 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 40B90BE7-20F0-4DA7-93AD-258C14752275 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 5456F7C0-332F-482C-9435-70996E14108C by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

I'll close with a shot of these three sisters: 82B2D543-215E-449E-9273-32A5532C904C by Evan Bailly, on Flickr The B-18A Bolo on the left, the B-23 Dragon the Bolo's failed replacement in the center, and a C-47 on the right. All from the same basic DC-1/2/3 design.

Unfortunately, due to the typical dreary winter weather in these parts, I was unable to get any good shots of the interior. Much is covered by covers and condensation mostly obscures the plexiglass from the inside. I may make a request to the museum staff to see if I can access the interiors at a later date as the weather allows. Not just because of the Bolo, I love this little outdoor museum. It's really a hidden gem. Well, a restricted gem anyway. The Air Force Base is restricted access, but since I'm a retiree, I still have access-privileges. I take my kids regularly during the summer to see the collection and do some airplane spotting. 99% of the time we are the only ones there save the occasional jogger or dog walker. Its like our own private air park: C5C3F05A-A7ED-4B77-8C2B-038C9A18B077 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 682A2467-93B2-4773-A23D-B1C873B5AEB5 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 465487DE-E98E-4A3E-89FF-511C2FBD6566 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr C8C91608-C1D7-445D-8CB6-08E12E6EA4BE by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

As I was running out to the local hobby shop to collects some thinner and paints, I noticed a glimmer of blue sky braking through the clouds. So I changed tack and drove to McCord Field (now part of Joint Base Lewis McCord) and "Herritage Hill" the small outdoor museum overlooking the departure end of the field. Among other examples of aircraft that formerly called the base home, is this awkward beauty: 3817B7B1-7528-4A0A-87F9-5A2144C53F3D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Many overall and detail shots were taken, including these: 9DE9B333-9B81-490B-B417-D3177A8C63C0 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 267C056E-71A8-4868-92D1-640C1C97F0F2 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 38F81FEC-2E8D-499D-BE62-D04E472807C6 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr E66CD745-3D8E-410E-9C17-23018A89D4DB by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 33E3FF5E-8A98-4C6A-8CB4-1D469EB5E3B7 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Others are available to whomever would like them, they can be accessed on my Flickr photostream by clicking the link under the pics. Ive also sent a message to @Julien should he like to add a walkaround to that section of this site.

Thanks guys, the remedial work is definitely a hit to the modeling mojo, especially after my recent spate of building really nice Eduard, Tamiya, and FineMolds kits. Hopefully the biggest speed bump had been surmounted (I'm not counting on that) and my desire to have a Bolo on the display shelf push this one through to completion. Tomorrow finally has a forecast without rain in it (not counting on that either) so maybe a visit to McCord's restored Bolo in the morning can restore motivation. Failing that, I might need to slap together an Airfix Spitfire or some such to regain momentum...

Still chugging along with this one, but still haven't gotten out of the cockpit... D33E593A-7421-4648-9E4D-D85CA7A64F95 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr As you can see I've added all the normal requisite parts and details, particularly seatbelts. I also added a few "panels" to the sidewalls, made from thin styrene, to emulate the soundproofing blankets along the cockpit sides and to hide the unsightly hole left by the negative of the wing root. A45C35D4-A400-46FE-AA42-228BC440347A by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Then we started into the first problems with the kit's fit. In order for the cockpit section to go in, I had to whittle down several very large injection points scattered throughout the fuselage. Then I had to almost completely remove this boss that locates the front latitudinal wall of the cockpit, it was far to large and overly thick: 52EF682B-BC0B-41AA-925E-C3E53B76C88E by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Once I'd cleared all the obstacles in the interior's way, it all went together looking fairly spot-on... 55E6FDAF-F120-48EC-931E-FA276EF80AE6 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Thankfully, before committing to glue, I checked the fit of the transparencies: 5D5A122B-326E-4AE1-9394-1AEFC7A4CF1D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr The cockpit glazing as furnished by special hobby is about 2mm narrower than the fuselage, the nose transparency about 1.5mm too skinny. So I took it all back apart and started narrowing both fuselage halves at the center seam and the whole of the interior parts. I think I have it just about right, some careful narrowing and fairing of the outside fuselage, aft of the canopy, as well as some creative glueing will need to be done but I think it's almost ready. Before then, I have a few ideas to add some busyness to the cockpit interior before final close-up. 47252703-A5AA-40F9-97A8-6A5A26671A6D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

Thanks to all. I love when a mainstream producer makes an obscure airplane, one that goes together as well as this example. I just wish more model companies outside of the short run arena would follow suit.

Looking good. Having been delighted by the build of an Eduard Bf.110 kit last year, I bought another profipack kit with the intentions of someday also building an Iraqi-flagged example. I'll be watching...

Moving back to the cockpit, I wrestled with the first of the PE in the kit. The instrument panel is a multi layer affair with PE and printed acetate for the gauge faces. Not my favorite medium, and this would be a great subject for the likes of Yahu to create a pre-printed panel. Secondly the main engine control console is a resin piece to which a number of PE parts affix: a trim wheel, throttle and mixture levers, and the lower face of the console... 0250A211-55D3-4B7F-B3CB-126475A299C9 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr I persevered and painted the aforementioned assemblies as well as a few other details still on the PE fret: ECE5353C-B009-470C-ACD3-566D0A5A569D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr That's about all my eyes and shaky paintbrushes could handle for one night. Back to busying up the cockpit on the next bench session...

Time to start slinging paint, plastic, and glue... I started by mixing up a 50:50 mixture of AK "Aluminum" and "Yellow Zinc Chromate" which I found to be a decent match to the pale greenish yellow apparent on the wartime Bolo's interior. I sprayed this on the majority of the interior components except for the cockpit floor which I painted dark brown to match the example in the above Life magazine photos and a few other components such as doors and the chart table in strait aluminum color. After the major parts had dried, I started sticking pieces together: 60A18D50-58CB-4D71-870D-EE61A7F40CB1 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr While I waited for all that glue to dry, I started sub assembly construction starting with the DC-2's, ahem B-18's, wings and horizontal stabilizers: A4496F64-9C54-45DB-A2DD-C7C1CC8A2C5B by Evan Bailly, on Flickr This provided me with the first real indications as to the fit of the kit. To put it bluntly, this is definitely a short run kit. Flash is rampant and the sprue attachment points are large. The wings had decent fit, but I will have to use some putty or gap-filling CA on the leading and trailing edges even after making sure everything was in alignment. There are no alignment pins/sockets. There is nothing in the landing gear bays, so once I get some good references, these will be a place to put in some effort to fill the caverns.

Before starting into the cockpit and interiors, I went down a rabbit hole trying to reconcile Special Hobby's color callouts and pictures of the restored B-18A in the National Museum of the US Air Force. I found a stunningly good series of Kodachrome color photos taken by Life Magazine for their July 1941 issue. Turns out neither Special Hobby or the US Air Force restoration crew got it exactly right. These are a few of the photos from the Life series showing the interiors of the Bolo: b18barksdale004 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr b18barksdale006 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr b18barksdale008 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr b18barksdale011 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr b18barksdale012 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr b18barksdale014 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr b18barksdale009 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Rather than mostly silver (Special Hobby's ref) or a combination of a Silver and Kelly Green (USAF museum) most of the interiors are a distinctive pale greenish yellow. I'm guessing that rather than a paint, it's likely a fresh Alodyne or similar anodizing. Ive got my work cut out for me.

Enough beating around the bush... it's time to get going on the kit. The first order of business was washing the sprues, apparently Special Hobby had gotten a good deal on release agent just prior to molding my kit. Every plastic part was covered in a shiny slippery film. A few minutes with water and dish soap, and then the Bolo was set out to dry: 81464E1E-B17A-4819-8AEE-5C516570CFCE by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Then just to get an idea of how much shelf space this ungainly thing is going to take up, I taped together the fuselage and wings. It's utterly massive for a twin engined thing. Here it is compared to my most recent build, the Kyushu Q1W1 also for this group build: D7892473-81C8-4693-8371-6195B8BEE7A7 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

After going round and round, I've decided to build this Bolo as one of the local boys of the 17th Bomb Group in the Natural Metal scheme in use immediately prior to the US's entry into WWII. I found this picture of a 17th BG B-18A: B-18A_17BG_Felts_Field_1940 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr So far this is the only photo I've found of a Bolo assigned to McCord Air Force Base's 17th BG. Oddly, this photo is captioned as being taken at Felts Field, a small airstrip outside of Spokane Washington, almost 300 miles away and home to a National Guard observation squadron. The Bolo is clearly marked "BQ" which was the code numbers of the 17th BG until the code number system was revised in May 1940. The 17th's code changed to 17B thereafter, but it's likely that it took a little while to repaint all that alphabet soup throughout the group. I've ordered a copy of William Wolf's monograph on the B-18, maybe I can find better references in there, but for now I think I have a good idea on the direction of the build. The 17th's aircraft were fairly plainly adorned, I'll just have to pick a squadron and aircraft number and that'll determine the markings and colors of trimmings. If I completely booger up the NMF (I can't claim to be good at them) there's always the option to slather on a later OD anti-sub scheme.

Searching my phone, I found a picture I took a fe years ago of this big, but not really beautiful bomber at McCord Air Force Base's Heritage Hill: 60FCFC12-E451-4E93-91CA-2769878B1D0E by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but the next time the sun gives me a chance I plan on giving her another visit. Maybe I can convince myself to do a NMF finished B-18A... but maybe not. Maybe?

Thanks @stevehnz this is one of those models that I bought when I re-entered the hobby some years ago but then buried it in the stash as I judged my skills not up to the task of a short run multimedia kit. I’ve always had an affinity towards this homely bomber ever since I saw the example on display at the local Air Force base, especially the version with the upturned excessively glazed nose. Strange that something viewed as the peak of modernity so quickly changed to looking awkward and thoroughly out of step.

bolo [ boh-loh ] noun,plural bo·los. 1. a large, heavy, single-edged knife or machete for hacking, used in the Philippines and by the U.S. Army. 2. a soldier who does not meet the minimum standards of marksmanship. 3. a clumsy or incompetent soldier. 4. bolo tie verb (used without object),bo·loed, bo·lo·ing. 5. to fail to meet the minimum standards of marksmanship. The Douglas B-18 was given the moniker "Bolo" ostensibly because it was big, brutish, and brash like the Philippine knife that was the primary use of the term in the english language. In the heady days just prior to world war two, the B-18 was the primary bomber in use by the US Army Air Corps. It was a brilliant idea; use the tried, tested, and true wings and mechanicals of Douglas' sensational DC-2 passenger liner and couple it with a new fuselage bristling with turrets and crew positions to fulfill any role required of a bomb group. Its low cost and high serviceability ensured that the bulbous twin-engined bomber from Santa Monica beat out Boeing's B-17 in the USAAC's next-bomber competition and was ordered into full production in 1936. Unfortunately for Douglas, and the Air Corps, those that remember the B-18 (very few folks indeed) remember it in the light of the more pejorative definitions of the word "Bolo". By the time the war had broken out, it became quite clear that the B-18 was quite useless as a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft. It was far too slow, far too lightly defended, far too incapable of taking battle damage, and carried far too small a bomb load to be considered anything short of hopeless in a fight. The one thing the B-18 had going for it was range. The USAAC and the RCAF, the only other official users of the type, both came to the same conclusion: just about its only worth in the war was as a transport or as a maritime patrol plane. Indeed, the first U-Boat sunk by an American aircraft was sunk by a B-18A off French Guiana in 1942. Here's my second stab at this group build, using another esoteric aircraft from my odd stash... 30EABF37-20C2-42E8-9B8D-AFA22A3426F2 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr At present, my first inkling is to build a B-18A assigned to one of the USAAF Anti-Submarine groups stationed in the Caribbean. Like these ones of the 99th Bomb Squadron in British Guyana: B-18_of_the_99th_Bombardment_Squadron_Caribbean_1942 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr However, I have been toying with building one of the B-18's that were stationed here in my hometown, down the street at McCord Air Force Base. They actually have a B-18A on display, so regardless I'll be making a little field trip in the next few days. Anyway, on to the model. I have Special Hobby's B-18A Bolo "At War" boxing. Upon opening the package, it appears that it comes with enough bits to build either a B-18, B-18A, or a B-18B, although the instructions and decals leave out all but the B-18A: B1992629-E23C-4177-858A-405B0B2D29E9 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr Stay tuned to see if I can hack away at this build successfully, or if I bolo it completely...

A few more pictures of Lorna: DCF5827D-FDD6-4E43-8D20-C769E960583E by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 4127DE91-E527-4268-AFE5-3FFAD50B4880 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 4FF29BB7-88A1-4DF5-A61A-F6CC4731D064 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 489B7283-8F4E-4B08-A6DA-A1E97FAEB316 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr D334E276-C100-477B-83B5-6885B333E5ED by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

This somewhat obscure aircraft was my first build for the WWII Twins Group Build here on BritModeller. 721774DD-2562-4278-BF86-6FA975DA7E31 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr The Kyushu Q1W Tōkai, allied code name "Lorna", was one of the first purpose-built anti-submarine patrol planes specifically designed around a Magnetic Anomaly Detection system. Normally at the time, most aircraft assigned to anti submarine warfare were aging or obsolete bombers and transports with some sub-detecting equipment shoehorned in. The Q1W was built to a 1942 Japanese Imperial Navy requirement, and it was designed to fly low and slow, with range and stability at wave-top level as paramount. The Q1W1 Type 11 was the major production model, and was equipped with either a "Jikitanchiki" Type 3 Model 1 KMX, a sophisticated magnetic anomaly detector developed by the Sony Corporation, or a Type 3 Ku Mk.6 Wireless Telegraph Model 4, an early Air-to-Surface radar system with a range of about 50km. Aircraft both detector types would patrol in groups searching for Allied submarines on and under the surface. Like most advanced Japanese ideas that were hatched mid-war, Lorna wasn't ready for her first dance until 1945. Unlike most of these projects though, the Q1W was actually built in quantity and used operationally. Unfortunately Lorna wasn't a very good dancer, her moves were just too slow and awkward, of the 150 or so built, around half were lost operationally. F4DBFD00-A15A-49D7-B0EE-4921C8F90EF1 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr My model was made from the Fine Molds 1/72 kit, and went together beautifully. Detail was added in the form of cockpit and engine wiring from fine copper and lead wire, Eduard seatbelts, and a 3D printed machine gun from Gaspatch Models. Otherwise the model was built out of the box. Paints were mostly from AK's Real Colors range. Weathering was a combination of the salt-n-hairpray technique, sponge-on-a-stick chipping, and artists oils in washes, shading, and highlights. I modified the kit's decals to represent aircraft 917 of the Saeki Kokutai in the Summer of 1945: Saeki_Kokutai by Evan Bailly, on Flickr 57BF3587-D148-4D03-BA74-DF9E65878BE1 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr C1EE7751-AEBC-41B2-A8B1-656FF076A038 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr