Fifer54

Gosh, I'd best get on with this, people are showing finished models and I haven't reported any progress at all! I have actually made progress on this, and here it is! As is usual for me, a start was made by way of some pre-assembly painting: I don't know if those colours are right, They are my interpretation of what I've seen in Shackleton walkarounds. Aaand, the fuselage is closed up! I've not added any of the fuselage windows, I intend to use KrystalKlear after painting . . . This is an interesting kit. Movable control surfaces abound, including flaps, and while no attempt has been made to preserve the feature, all that are installed so far work fine!

OOps, no that isn't quite all for this year! How I forgot to include this I don't know- only just completed, a vintage FROG kit, their 1/72 Fairey Barracuda And since my desk is now clear, I'm about to start a Revell (FROG) Shackleton for the Maritime GB, a Mistercraft Aichi "Val", and a HobbyBoss Dewoitine D.520, all in 1/72, but I don't believe any will be finished by Hogmanay.

As the title says, a quiet year for me. My partner's and my own health, work issues and a general loss of interest have all got in the way. So without further ado, here are my completed models for 2018 (in no particular order!) First up, the Special Hobby 1/72 Blackburn Roc, built for BM's "Brits Abroad" GB as a machine from the aborted sale of Rocs to Finland. Emhar's Mk.IV tank in 1/72 from WW1 was a reminder of a visit to the Tank Museum, Bovington, where I sat in this very tank (the real one, you understand, not the model) The old Airfix Seafire Mk. 47 in 1/48 crossed the bench, albeit finished in an impossible "one folded" pose Another ancient FROG kit was their 1/72 Armstrong, Whitworth Whitley Mk.V A well-documented captured aircraft that currently resides at the USA's National Museum of the US Air Force was built from Italeri's Junkers JU-88A-4 in 1/72 Revell's reboxing of ICM's 1/72 Heinkel He70F-2 wasn't a bad build, although I had actually expected to find Matchbox plastic in the box! More vintage modelling with FROG, whose 1/72 Lockheed P-38J/L Lightning fought me all the way! The year's only "what-if", Hellers F-84G Thunderjet, built as an aircraft of the Royal Yugoslavian Air Force. Here is the Italeri 1/72 Douglas C-47 Skytrain. the Airfix kit in 1/72 of the Kamov Ka-25 was a "Kitswap" find at SMW some years ago . . . Another SMW find was Heller's Fouga Magister in a special boxing with Irish Air Corps decals. Another vintage FROG kit was this 1/72 Douglas A-4 Skyhawk in RNZAF markings And lastly, two little tanks, Italeri's M4A1 (left) and Mirage Hobby's M3A1 (right) And that, ladies & gentlemen, is it for this year!

At this time of year, I generally get a big box (with a big kit inside) out of the stash to be a winter project. This year, it coincides with the start of the Maritime Patrol & Coastal Command GB, so I'm going to take part with Revell's 1/72 Avro Shackleton MR.3 Now this is the old FROG kit, originally introduced in 1967, and part of the FROG range until their demise in the late 1970s.The moulds then passed to the Soviet Union, where various manufacturers produced the kit, before the moulds were passed to Revell Germany, who produced a "Limited Edition" of the kit as a vintage or retro kit, including a Qualty Control disclaimer in every box! The kit is product of its time, with little interior detail and extensive rivet effects on the exterior surfaces, which will have to be at least reduced. Here are the obligatory mugshots of the kit. And that's all there is to see here at the moment. See you on December 1st!

Count me in too, please! A quick glance at the stash reveals Hawks, J-Ps, a 2-seat Harrier and an Aero L-39 Albatros!

Here is my entry for the "Brits Abroad" Group Build. I have built Special Hobby's 1/72 scale kit of the Blackburn Roc for this GB. Build Thread is here- "A Mythical Bird?" The Blackburn Roc was developed from Blackburn's Skua, which was Britain's first naval dive bomber, and the country's first deck-landing aircraft with flaps, retractable undercarriage and a VP propeller. The Roc first flew in December 1938, and was the first FAA aircraft to have a power-operated gun turret. Production Rocs were built by Boulton-Paul, and the Roc suffered from the same flaws as that company's Defiant fighter for the RAF- a performance penalty from the weight of the turret, and no other armament except the turret guns, which limited its effectiveness. Britain had a policy of support for Finland, and when a border dispute between Finland and Stalin's Soviet Union erupted into the Winter War in November 1939, the UK sold Finland a batch of 30 secondhand Blackburn Rocs. Unfortunately, by the time the aircraft were prepared, the Winter War was effectively over, and Finland lost interest in the deal. The first batch of aircraft had flown as far as Dyce (now Aberdeen Airport) in Northern Scotland.. Photographs taken there are the visual evidence of how these aircraft looked. It is reported that they wore standard Temperate Sea Scheme camouflage with a mid-fuselage demarcation, Finnish serials, and that while Finnish insignia were applied in the normal roundel positions, the big Blue Swastikas were covered over so that a white disc was the device worn. It probably would not have been advisable to fly the length of Great Britain in aircraft emblazoned with Big Blue Swastikas-sure to attract attention from anti-aircraft gunners in 1940! My model carries its swastikas because that's how the Rocs would have appeared in Finnish service . . . Thanks to the GB organisers for their efforts, and to all the participants for showing us their talents. Thanks to everyone who's given me support, inspiration and advice with this build. That's me done with this GB, I'm not entered in any others at the moment, though I may jump in to the tail end of another very soon . . .

Well, the decals are applied-check, matt varnish is on-check, landing gear and detail parts added-check, so she must be finished! More pix in the Gallery soon (after lunch!)

I am now cursing Special Hobby decals. What a mess! The decals WILL NOT move once they contact the model, no matter how much water or decal setting solution is flooded onto it. There is no margin for error! Attempts to move them result in wrinkling or tearing. There will now be a short interval while Finnish national insignia are sourced (Techmod decals from Hannant's arriving any day now . . .)

Thanks for your kind comments, Giorgio! It feels like ages since I posted on here (again!), but I've been away on holiday to here: A week of peace and quiet by Lough Corrib in Galway, Republic of Ireland. Anyway, enough of that. I've done quite a bit on the model, and now she looks like this: As you can see,, painting and decalling is now under way, and hopefully this little bird will soon be ready for its photoshoot!

Is it really a month since I posted anything on this? I just haven't done much modelling, work has been manic, and I've finally (!) finished dismantling my scooter's engine unit, ready to build the transferred parts onto the new one. I have done some work on it; here she is now: The engine is an interesting little piece of resin, that needs 18 tiny exhausts adding to it! After a bit of paint it looks like this: There are a couple of gaps in the exhausts- the carpet monster got those!

Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments. Now, where was I? Oh, the turret. Ah. Yes. The Turret . . . There is a 2-piece clear plastic "cupola" which I felt might need greater strength than PVA or canopy glue could give. So, a very thin film of tube cement(!) was applied to the joint and left to dry. I then masked up the cupola for paint. It is my belief that the cupola framing was finished in black- this is backed up by the well-known photo of Finnish Rocs at Dyce, the framing looks very dark. I had had my doubts whether these aircraft would have had armament fitted for a ferry flight, but the same photo makes it clear that they were armed. The turret interior consists of a 2-piece (top & bottom) "block" that has a vertically disposed pair of MGs on each end, and what I take to be a little suspended "perch" for the gunner. Great, you say, but when it's assembled, the barrels of the guns are more widely spaced than the slots in the cupola! So, saw block in half, sand down joint faces and trial fit. Repeat until guns fit slots! When this is painted it will go into the turret and the fuselage will be closed up. I'm hoping construction after that will be straightforward, taking note of Ms Kay's caveat regarding the landing gear.

Go for it! They're not much different from a primitive old FROG or Airfix kit. Usually it isn't compulsory to use all the PE, and sometimes the same applies to resin parts (Sadly, not in this case!) Most of the PE in this kit could be left out, and the detail level would still be better than a 1970s mainstream kit. However, the wheels, engine (including intakes and exhausts) and various other miniscule parts are only provided as resin- I'll find that, shall we say, challenging? Anyroadup, the fuselage on this is almost ready to close up. The interior is assembled and fixed in one fuselage half Next, the turret . . .

I've just spent a few minutes taking and uploading this kit's mugshots, so here goes with my usual GB-opening inbox review! The kit comes in a sturdy (better than Revell's!) end-opening box with a nice piece of artwork showing 2 Rocs on patrol somewhere. Inside the box, the modeller will find a large polybag containing 3 sprues of parts, and another 3 smaller polybags, and the instructions First, the airframe sprues: There are no locating pins, and ejector pin marks are evident on internal surfaces. Sprue attachment points are fairly small for a short-run kit. A small clear sprue is in the first smaller bag: Inside the second smaller bag are the decals, a small PE fret labelled "Blackburn Skua" and a film for the IP. The decals supplied provide markings for 3 FAA machines; 759NAS with a low demarcation camo scheme, 806NAS in a high demarcation scheme, 778NAS in overall Aluminium, and a Finnish machine in a high demarcation scheme with provision for full Finnish Swastika insignia, or the plain white discs where they were covered over. The final polybag contains resin parts; engine, wheels, air intakes, 18 individual exhaust pipes . . . Lastly, an 12-page A5 instruction booklet includes a sprue map, full colour 3-views of all the scheme options, and colour exploded diagrams in 13 construction stages. As usual, consruction begins with the cockpit. Now all I have to do is build it . . .

Phew! This GB sneaked up on me, that's why I'm late! The mythical(?) bird in question is the Roc, not the one that carried Sinbad's ship away, but the one designed by Blackburn, built by Boulton-Paul (I never knew that until now!)and sold to Finland, but never delivered. Due to the lateness of the hour, I'm not taking and uploading photos now, I'll do that tomorrow (hopefully)- I have an appointment with a half-built scooter tomorrow! Blackburn's Roc was a turret-fighter version of their Skua dive bomber, a sort of Royal Navy equivalent of the same flawed concept that created the Boulton-Paul Defiant for the RAF. The Roc first flew in December 1938, and production aircraft equipped 4 FAA squadrons, but only supplementing Skuas, none flew exclusively Rocs, which even before the start of WW2, were transferred to training and target-towing units. Some Rocs were embarked on HMS Ark Royal on the outbreak of war, and later served at Hatston. They never encountered an enemy aircraft. By mid-1940, Rocs were being withdrawn from combat units and used by second-line units for target-towing or training. Meanwhile, before he became Uncle Joe, Stalin's Soviet Union attacked Finland in what became known as The Winter War. Britain decided to sell 30 Rocs to Finland as part of a policy of extending help to that country. Finnish serials and insignia were appllied, and then the insignia covered over as it was felt that aircraft emblazoned with large Swastikas in flight over the UK might attract unwanted attention from trigger-happy Anti-Aircraft Artillery units! The first batch of Rocs had flown as far as Dyce (now Aberdeen Airport) in Scotland. The Winter War ended, and the Finns had no further interest in the type. I will be building the Special Hobby 1/72 scale Blackburn Roc Mk.1 in Finnish markings for this GB. See more in the next post . . .

Thanks, murfv, those walkround photos are great! Giorgio, those photos you found are great too! It seems that unpainted French 'big' tanks had a grey gelcoat to the fibreglass, where the tanks in noelh's pix of '215' appear to be in raw fibreglass. Giorgio, that civil Magister in grey & white looks superb. I really am going to have to build more of these . . .

That sounds plausible to me. So displaying birds would have the small tanks, then. I see what you mean about the colour of those tanks; yes, they look like unpainted fibreglass, but unpainted fibreglass where the gelcoat is grey! I'll experiment with tans/browns/greygreens in drybrush/wash techniques until i'm content with it! . . .

Well, this is confusing! The more we find out, the less we know! It looks as though the safest option is to build '215' with unpainted big tanks . . . Maybe I'll have to build another one . . .

Thanks, Alistair, that's a great pic of '215', this time she's wearing painted large tanks! (I think!) The dayglo on the outer side would be the same for large or small tanks- I think the giveaway is the nav lights in the outer part of the nose of the tank (the small tanks have the nav light lens over the entire tip of the nose. (now someone will post a pic of obviously small tanks with a nav light like the big 'uns!!)

Thanks to all who have contributed, your input is greatly appreciated. It's especially good to hear from Irish-based members with photos of the actual aircraft I'm likely to model! Those pix of '215' with the unpainted fibreglass tanks are wonderful reference material, and may well form the basis of my model. Now, how to replicate unpainted fibreglass in 1/72? Looking at the lower pic of '215', maybe a coat of Humbrol 118 US Tan, followed by a heavy dry-brush of H29 Dark Earth, followed by a light dry-brush of H31 Slate Grey? All topped off with a satin varnish . . .

Thanks again to Giorgio and Trevor, who have managed to set the cat among the pigeons with this new information. You see, the 2 IAC Magisters for which decals are provided in the boxing I have are 216, of which Trevor has displayed a photo appearing to show large tanks, and 215, Giorgio's large-tank-carrying aircraft! Perhaps big tanks (I like big tanks!) are the way to go. It would make providing wingtip nav lights easier . . .

Thanks very much for your input, Giorgio and Dennis! I followed the link to that Max Decals page about the book, and the sample pages displayed there with the enlarged pictures, seem to me to show the smaller tanks in use on the Irish aircraft. I base this assessment on the length of tank showing behind the trailing edge of the wing. The big tanks have a much larger "overhang" at the back. Small tanks it is!

Hi, Guys! Here I am with another query, this time concerning Irish Air Corps Fouga Magisters. I cannot find the information I need. Even though DuckDuckGo is my friend, it is unable to find out what I need. I have looked on airliners.net, and studied walkrounds (you can't find a IAC Magister walkround anywhere!) but I can't find the data I want, but I know some of the regulars here are Irish-based and might know this. I am building Heller's 1/72 Fouga Magister, in a limited boxing with IAC decals. Now, this kit includes 2 sizes of wingtip tanks, a large pair with nav lights built into the front end, or a smaller set apparently without lights. The instructions cover a kite from the Austrian Luftstreitkraefte with the big tanks, the little tanks aren't mentioned in the instructions at all, but the separate IAC colour scheme diagram appears to show the smaller tanks fitted. The few pictures I've found on the 'net are inconclusive. SO . . . which wingtip tanks for Irish Magisters, big or small? Any guidance gratefully received!

The Mad Nurse's 2nd entry for this GB is:- Mirage Hobby's 1/72 M3A1 Lee Again built OOB, and build thread is here. She's finished in Vallejo Olive Drab, over an undercoat of Xtracolor Faded olive drab. Interesting to see that it's much browner than the Tamiya OD on the Sherman. Done in the markings of a tank of the US Army's Armored Force School & Replacement Center, Fort Knox, 1942. A kit with a "short-run"feel to it, with a little PE fret, of which I only used a little. And with my other entry for this GB, Well, that's it from me for this GB, all that remains is to thank our GB Co-ordinator Enzo Matrix for the great job he's doing, our host Sgt. Squarehead, and his co-hosts Ozzy and Threadbear for their work on this GB, and thanks to all the participants who have made this such a successful GB. I've enjoyed myself among the treadheads, and I'll never call them targets again!

1/72 Italeri M4A1 Sherman Here is my first entry for this GB. Build thread is here. Built OOB, she is finished in Tamiya Olive drab, and the only identification Italeri give is "US Army, Normandy campaign 1944" And shot with my other entry, the Mirage Hobby 1/72 M3A1 Lee. All done!

Finished!!!! M More pix in the gallery!