Tom Hall

Nick, if you want a really nice A-5, you'll probably want at least some of the Eduard version. The Hasegawa rendering is not the greatest. In the Hasegawa kit, the indentation aft of the cowling for the exhaust does not extend far enough aft. (This is a mistake Hasegawa apparently did not make on their 1/32 version.) The vent doors aft of the exhaust trough are too proud and needed to be of a more triangular cross-section. You could, possibly, transplant the Airfix A-8 exhaust troughs and vents, and Hasegawa's cover for the nose guns. I'm afraid there is no perfect solution to make the Japanese A-5 in 1/72, if that is your goal.

B.hammer, Squadron "green" putty is basically an auto body refinishing product which we call "glazing putty" in the USA. It should reduce to pea soup with a drop or two of lacquer thinner, which will make it adhere to styrene quite well. If you reduce it with lacquer thinner, you'll want to allow plenty of time for curing.... P.S.: For that matter, you can also use liquid cement for models (the ones with MEK in them) or acetone to make the green putty more liquid. Whichever of these solvents you choose, you should get better adhesion but there will be shrinkage.

Learstang, I believe that there is not yet a Douglas A-20. Nor is there a North American B-25, an Li-2 (C-47), or a Catalina, or any other seaplane, AFAIK.

Touvdal's got a couple of I-16s going. They are 1/72.

So far, I see a well-rounded assortment of Soviet-made airplanes in 1/48 and 1/72. Just to summarize our inventory and without pressing anyone to build anything, I don't see any Ilyushin DB-3, Il-4 or Il-10; I don't see a Tupolev SB-2 (although Hardtarget's Ar-2 is close) or a Tu-3; I don't see an La-7; I don't see a MiG-1; there is maybe one Yak-9 and that is in the planning; and I think no one has undertaken a Polikarpov R-5 or Po-2 yet. Forgive me if I have overlooked a thread named with a Russian heading or a type hidden in a multi-type festival. I hope this helps anyone who is thinking of joining this group build on the airplane side.

Jockney, you must be psychic. I had just been shopping for lead. Toko instruct that a 10-gallon milk pail is to be placed in the nose. Or, maybe it is a 10-gram weight. Ten grams would be roughly a third of an ounce, or seven of my new split-shot fishing line weights. There is not space for seven in the nose; five will have to do. Removed some plastic from the hidden part of the ventral fin to reduce weight aft. Put in some duct for the dorsal air intake. Glued on a couple of guide blocks for the floor, which I have test-fitted at least 15 times. I have also filled the hole where the nose gear strut is supposed to be inserted. It's too far forward for where I want the floor.

Well, a lot can be improved. Parkinson's Law: Work expands to fill the time available. For one thing, Toko has put a lot of access hatches on the surface. They stand a bit too proud and I am sanding a lot of them down. Toko also put some raised rivets on the aft fuselage. I removed them. The sheet metal work that Bell and Hudson (an American auto maker) did on these planes was excellent, and there were few or no raised rivets on P-63 skin.

Took warp out of wing pieces; enlarged the wheel openings; enlarged the leg openings, changed the angle of the leg openings slightly and applied putty; filled lines in wing lower half in preparation for new aileron and flap lines later; attached wing air intake; started some ducts for wing air intake; made backing for landing light; removed trim tab from left aileron; installed fuselage ventral fin and fuselage air intake halves; filled indentation on left half of intake (because I am fairly sure it was just an oval plaque or decal that Toko mistook for an opening - purple arrow below).

Thank you for that advice. I am far from being a professional photographer. I have tried tinkering with colour adjustments after the fact using various software. It is not a good use of my time, so the more colour fidelity I can get from the camera, the more satisfied with it I will be. I know that I cannot expect perfection in colour reproduction. (I once spent a lot of time shopping around Hollywood to get a fine reproduction of a 1941 colour slide. Even with all of the sophisticated colour film knowledge in Hollywood, I found that it was not practical to get all the colours of the slide.)

Many thanks for your comments. I shall look at your photos, Baron. The tripod I have. The lighting I have. It's the camera for detailed close-ups that I am considering. Am not set on the Canon but have owned a couple of their earlier models and like the brand. I presume that Sony's A6000 is more of a travel camera and less of a budget studio camera for product photography. The Sony SLT-A65 seems fairly similar to the Canon T3 and T5. Since this camera is to have a specialized use, that being detail on small things, I am considering buying just the camera body and purchasing the lens a la carte. One thing I am not finding in online product reviews is discussion of colour fidelity. I have an old digital camera that was more or less blind to violets and purples. I can put up with a lot of fidgety procedure to take a good "studio" photo if I can actually get proper colours and fine detail. Any comments on colour fidelity? To get it am I going to have to step in price level?

I have never owned a camera that is capable of photographing fine detail in closeups. Am now researching. I don't intend to use the camera for action photography such as car races, air shows, etc. Don't especially need it for landscape photography, either. Any thoughts on the Canon EOS T3, T5 and T6 Rebels? To photograph the detail of coins, plastic models, HO trains and small products, a high quality 50 mm lens or the Canon 18-55 mm lens would get it done, wouldn't it?

Since the Ju-88 group build looks like one that I have no chance of finishing in time, I would like to enter this one, if I may. I will build the Toko P-63A kit. Luckily, it includes the ventral fin for the P-63C-5. I will decide what to do about the canopy in due course. It's not as awful as one or two reviews make it out to be, but it may need a little grinding and polishing to deal with a bit of distortion or misplaced canopy frame. Need to examine photos. I have to use some imagination about the markings. While it is easy enough to see which planes went to the VVS (see Joe Baugher's online lists of airframe serial numbers of US planes), it is not easy to find photos of Soviet P-63s of 17 IAP and 821 IAP of 190 IAD; 781 IAP and 940 IAP of 245 IAD; or 888 IAP and 410 ShAP of 128 SAD. These are the units that were arrayed against the Japanese in August 1945 that had P-63s. It looks as if I will need to buy some decals for the tail number, which will begin either "311..." or "444...". I'm not sure I can devote the time needed for a model right now, but here goes.

There is a wealth of detail photos of the A-1 (also possibly applicable to other variants) starting at http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=21808. More than 50 pages worth.

Mottlemaster, I probably would not be able to finish in the allotted time, but if it's process and not product that counts, it would be a conversion into an

I am toying with the idea of joining you, if I may. Would need to get a better camera. Won't attempt any more GB's until I have a proper camera.

As of last March, Erwin said, "Military and civil Japanese subject any era: land, air and sea", but added and perhaps limited as follows: Military: Japanese or foreign design with Japanese markings: example:a captured P-40 in Japanese marking Japanese design with foreign markings : example: a Zero in US markings [and any other Japanese military thing that ever existed, apparently including the castle models, the sword models, etc., but perhaps not designs which did not reach a completed prototype, such as the Ki-94 I.] Civil: Cars and bikes: Japanese design only. Planes, flying for Japanese airliners [and perhaps all other Japanese civilian things that ever existed in real life, but Erwin did not mention trucks, busses, civilian vessels, and perhaps wants to limit civilian planes to those flown by airlines.] Not allowed are models based on Japanese cartoons and videogames.This GB is only for 'real' subjects." Erwin, now is the time to really polish up the eligibility statement.

Since most of my kit stash is "rising sun", I plan to enter as a builder, although in my two previous GBs I have not met the deadlines for completion. I build models a few atoms at a time. Mine would be something Japanese military 1931-45. At Mish's suggestion, I post here that I would also co-host, if you like. I have read the rules for GBs and understand them. (My background for this is limited to 1931-45 Japanese military, especially aircraft, and Japanese cars through approximately 1975. Collectively, maybe we have enough people and knowledge to spot non-conforming models and provide guidance....) If I am not stepping on Mish's toes, I would like to see us decide whether "rising sun", as Erwin seems to have dubbed this, includes any and all Japanese subjects, e.g., Nissan sports cars, Yamaha motorcycles, samurai figures, and movie monsters, or whether we are limiting ourselves to 20th and 21st Century Japanese military subjects. Not sure how many of the 39 prospective builders listed so far intend to build 20th and 21st Century Japanese military subjects. Do we have the required 30 prospective builders for 20th and 21st Century Japanese military? I think we also need to define whether this includes any "what if" models, and if so, what sort. (My feeling is that we should maybe limit ourselves to projects that are covered in Japanese books and maybe not include some of the more fanciful things, such as the Unicraft "Kugisho NK-1b fighter". Just a thought.)

Seconding ClaudioN on the Blenhiem V (Bisley); Seconding several gentlemen on a Beaufort; Seconding Occa on an AVRO York, including decals for Viceroy Mountbatten's plane; Seconding 2Wheels on an AVRO Anson, maybe in both 1/72 and 1/48; Not seconding new moulds of the Val or Claude in 1/72, but am not necessarily opposed as to 1/48; Two very significant airliners, the Short Empire flying boat in 1/72 (foiling the ridiculously priced Czech resin version with stove-in fuselage panels) and the DeHavilland Comet in 1/72 or 1/200 scale; A good Ilyushin Il-10 and maybe a good Ilyushin DB-3. Maybe these are in the cryogenic category; A series of all of the James Bond Aston Martins, probably in 1/24. Each to include appropriate James Bond and villain figures; Some ordinary cars of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s which have not been done well by Japanese makers, such as the 1959 Jaguar Saloon, 1961 Mercedes Benz 190 saloon, Rover P5 saloon, etc. Probably high risk as to sales figures.

Thank you, T7, I will look into what Peewit offers. Have not heard of them until now. Thank you, JackG. I will undoubtedly get a circle cutter, but I need to get smaller than 9 mm, too. I like your hinomaru.

I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet, especially if you are planning for 2017. I'm still planning for the last two months of this year! As TonyOT suggests, I think we need a little more definition of which time span(s) you are considering. To me, the USAAC spans the period July 1926 up to about March 1942, because March 1942 is when the last of its administration was dismantled in favour of the USAAF. Or, you could say that an "Air Corps" in the USA lasted into 1947 in the sense that it was the air service branch of the US Army. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Corps. If you accept that the USAAC name came about in July 1926, then wouldn't 2016 would be its 90th anniversary? I'm afraid I don't see a connection to the 1950s in the Wikipedia article. From September 1947 on, it is the USAF.

I am looking for circle masks that measure a bit less than 1/2 inch (a bit less than 12.7 mm), but larger than 1/4 inch (6.35 mm). Besides a punch and die set, which is on the "some day" list, what can you recommend in the way of circle masks? I imagine that 1/48 armour and vehicles would be the most likely to need such masks, but I don't have any 1/48 armour kits, much less measurements of circle masks for them!

The Toyota starter truck is for the planes that have a Hucks starter hub to crank the engine by spinning the prop. Since Judy does not have a Hucks hub, you probably don't want to display your starter truck with your Judy. Do you have a Nate, Oscar, Tojo, Nick, Dinah or other army aircraft model to go with it? In my opinion, the Isuzu fuel truck (another army variant --- it has a star on its grille) is not shaped as accurately as the starter truck. There is a big space betwen the cab and the tank.

She seems to be carrying a lot of lamp shades and bowls under the radio operator's compartment! (Just joking. Of course it's ballast. Any idea how much weight needs to be added?)

"...the wings are both warped towards their tips and I got scared not knowing how to fix it!" Like yours, mine has warped wings, which is why I am thinking about using the wings from the Revell kit. Unlike for resin parts, you can't easily remedy a severe warp in injection-moulded styrene of this shape by dipping in hot water; the plastic usually won't stretch the way you need it to. It wants to break. I hope that has not happened to you. If you are feeling brave and ambitious, you can use one of two methods of surgery. One is to cut all the way through the plastic at the leading edge of the wing half, cutting very thin slots every quarter inch or so all the way up to the highest/lowest point on the wing. Having broken up the leading edge at numerous spots, you can then bend the wing half by hand to your heart's content. When the slots at the leading edge have splayed apart from the bending, glue some bits of sheet styrene in the slots to keep them splayed apart the right amount. When it comes time to join the wing halves, you will of course need to fill and file at the leading edge. The other method is sort of the opposite approach: You would cut your slots in the central part of the wing half, leaving the leading and trailing edges intact. Then bend the wing half straight. Clamp the one half only and use a splint to help straighten the part. Cement liberally at the slots you cut. Use tube cement that melts the slots together thoroughly. Allow the thing to cure for at least a week, but check every day to be sure you are keeping good alignment. Later, fill in the slots with stretched sprue or bits of sheet styrene, keeping everything in the clamp/splint until the cement has cured. P.S.: I see on another web site where one man claims to have fixed the warp with steam. If you go that route, be careful not to get scalded. I'm a little skeptical that steam heat is enough to stretch this plastic.

Dicussion of the variants: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b24.html A couple of fairly good walk-arounds: http://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/b-24/b-24_all.shtml