Old Man

Some real progress at last. As a conversion this is pretty straightforward. The metal wing was covered with corrugate panels The many tightly spaces ribs of the original cloth covered wing must be reduced. Every third rib remains, the two between each are shortened front and back, and toned down a good deal. The inexplicable 'rivets' on the Heller 622 kit have to be smoothed down, and the 'strips' of the metal covering indicated. This is partly done behind the cockpit. There's not much besides contriving radiators under the winglets for the conversion. The correction, however: that's something else again. The Heller nose is far too off to stand compare with the header photograph. The basic problem is that everything is squashed into a nose too short from winglet root to spinner, and even within this abbreviated space, much is too small, and too close together. The cylinder banks don't 'sprout' properly from the streamlined nose. I have gained nose-space by trimming back the winglet root 1mm, and adding a spacer of 1mm sheet at the very nose. This required setting the upper decking piece so it's a little higher than usual at the front. I carved away at the sides to get the cylinder banks more distinct, and provide a flat run for the full exhaust stub run. These are much more prominent in picture and 3-view than on the Heller kit. I beefed up the cylinder banks with 2mm half-round on top. Here's how the nose stands now: Next will be the rest of the nose detail, and the fuselage scribing. James

Cabanes and lower wing dealt with: The cabanes of Matchbox biplanes join as a unit. I tested its fit against the Monogram upper wing. There was a good deal of spread to the open forward portion of the fuselage, most I expect due to my fettlings in the cockpit. The cabane unit worked as a spacer to narrow the gap to its proper width, Here's the forward decking on, and the lower wing: The wing joint looks quite nice from above: beneath was a different story: Rather than filler for gaps and leveling up the central tab to the ventral surface, I cut a plate of 10thou and capped the thing. I taped off most of the wing: it will be far easier to restore damage to the wing's orange-yellow over white primer. Getting the fuselage under color is next.... James

Started with the foil: here's the wing: Foil is tricky to take pictures of. These are indoor sunlight, so there's no glare. Ailerons get silver paint, walkway gets black, wingtips are tricky and left till last, when bits of touching will be done. I've lately taken to doing this panel by panel, with the adhesive 'painted' onto a panel. The panel .lines mostly are separate pieces butted together. As long as you've got the piece's mating edge straight, excess elsewhere is readily trimmed off with a knife and straight-edge, guided by the lines penciled in over primer, with just the barest hint of a scribed line for guide of that. It's fairly quick, the brushed on adhesive sets to sticky quick, and CA accelerator works for cleaning the brush. Fuselage is next... James

That's beautiful work, Stuart! James

I think most all of these went through that squadron towards the end of their service life. Where did you get the decals? I'd have rather done something besides black on silver, but the lingering rudder stripes on Marine machines appeal. James

That is a relief, but this still needs to be a blitz-build now by my standards, I've still my South of the Rio GB trio to be done by the coming fifteenth. My eyes may have got a bit big for my fingers.... James

Thank you! These were prone as PrintScale to wrap the paper and fold over corners. For the small ones, I lift them off the backing onto a wide, flat brush, with the adhesive side showing for placement. The other strip I cut to its components, so the 2 and MF and 10 became separate small ones. James

Fuselage is closed. Instrument panel is scratch-built. Two pieces, one with holes, the other white backing. Paint black, scratch in the wells, put in some gloss. The headrest needed a lot of sanding to get it down to size. Here it is with the vertical surface on" I'll be doing this one, it's a simpler livery. James

I'd hoped to have the wing on this weekend. The clock's running down, and I've got three more going in the Latin American GB. However, the decals staged an ambush. The first 2-MF-10 strip folded over on itself and could not be retrieved. I was able to use the rest, carefully, and could assemble replacement from another subject on the sheet, and '10' from among spares. Flash is brutal to the finish, but does light up the decorations: Here's the upper wing. James

Getting something up on the board here: Heller's interior is rudimentary, but its rudiments are accurate. I've put in some stringers on the sidewalls. This will be something of a blitz-build by my standards, along with its fellows here. But at least the finish is simple. Most of the work will be on the nose: Heller squashes things in there, the proportions of the exhausts and other fittings are just wrong. The profile, and length before the winglet's leading edge, is a bit off at the bottom, and a bit short too. I think it's fixable, and do have a spare kit. James

When I got back to this, I decided what I'd done in the cockpit wouldn't do, and took it out. Here's the 'new look'... I took out the kit floor. New one, and rear bulkhead, fit for closing fuselage. So does the 'bar' extending at the cockpit front. It will bear the instrument panel, and machine-gun breeches, if I decide to put them in (I expect these often were flown without a war load --- lots more fun for the flier). The black bit is a front baffle plate, to go ahead of the heel slides. Next session I'll get to 'Negrinho'. James

The sunny uplands have been reached. Here's the wee barrel fresh from the final spray... The smutz on the port wingtip is masking tape residue: I didn't want more on the wings when the fuselage got a last bit of 'here and there' spray. Got the section stripe on (black with white pinstripe). It must be wide enough to contain the 'MF' of the identity alpha-numeric. The kit decals provide pinstripes in parallel, but they're too close together. For the stripe, I masked and painted a band in white, then applied strips of black decal film so just a hair of white was left, then painted between the decal strips. To give some difference between metal and cloth surfaces, I gave the fuselage a coat of Future, then gave everything a pass with a polishing sponge. This dulls the Future, and slightly distresses the bare rattle-can silver spray. Here's the cowling ready for its black front. Wing fillets need to be black as well. Can't say there's nothing but blue skies ahead till I've got the struts sorted.... James

Glad to be back. I was awful tired of the Condor well before I was through with it. But I can get quite bloody-minded about such things.... I'm looking forward to the Negrinho build particularly. James

The YC-30/Condor affair has taken most all my modeling time for weeks, and now that it's settled I've taken up lapsed projects. This was the most advanced of my trio here; I'll be getting to the P-12 and Ni-D 72 next session on the bench. The assembled wing and closed fuselage are just test-fit here. I've done what scribing is necessary for a foil finish. Seat and stick will be added, it's easier to be sure they're centered that way. The locator lug at the bottom I ought to have dealt with before putting the motor in and front on. I could have, the motor was inserted after the fuselage closed, I just didn't check. I expect I can remove much of it, and matte black conceals a multitude of sins.... James

Right up my alley, Sir! Count me in. James

This might not look like the sunny uplands, but compared to the immediately preceding slough, it counts as such. The YC-30/Condor affair has taken most all my modeling time for weeks, and now that it's settled I've taken up lapsed projects. One problem with this is losing touch with the build. I thought it ready for its silver spray, and did so straight off. It was not ready, at least the fuselage wasn't. So the fuselage has been stripped down to plastic. Surface detail has been restored, and it is the fabricated replacements for the 'big' louvers behind the cowling qualify this for 'sunny upland' status. If it's not ready for the silver spray now, I'll opt for the non-specular grey overall.... James

Computer now is all Sir Garnet. Here's the decal sheet: Here are the Bolling Field decals on: The stars replace those on the model, which were the biggest I had but a bit small. The larger go on the lower wing. The blue block will be sliced into stripes, at least that's the plan. The cowlings in the back will be stripped again. They're painted, with reverse masking over the yellow, but it needs more, narrower stripes. By measure off a strip of tape, the cowling circumference is 54mmm so 18 stripes (nine each yellow and blue) should do just right. James

Thanks a lot for the support, guys. The decals have arrived, and are excellent. Nice and opaque, can stand some handling, on clear carrier film, come unstuck quick, settle down nice and thin. My laptop is on the fritz and in a repair shop (it's been an anno horribilus for electrical stuff around here), and I won't often have this machine available, so I won't be around much. I will be getting the Bolliing Field markings on this weekend, should the modelling gods smile.... James

Kwangsi province maintained its own air force in the early 30s, and for bombers it acquired four Westland Wapitis, along with other English aeroplanes. I've two of these kits to make a Kwangsi Wapiti out ofL It won't be necessary to lengthen the fuselage, though the nose will need a bit of work. Kwangsi purchased the Mk VIII Wapiti, which had the longer fuselage of the Wallace, and an Armstrong-Whitworth twin-row Panther. James.

Here's some Occidentals ventured to Asia.... An English junior officer on campaign in the 2nd Afghan War It's a 54mm figure by Art Gerona. This is a Boeing FB-1 of VNF-3, attached to the Marine Expeditionary Brigade commanded by Gen. Butler dispatched in 1927 to Shanghai. It's scrach-built, in 1/72. This is a Buffalo of 453 Sqdn towards the end of the Malaya campaign. It's an Airfix kit. This is a Cyclone powered Hawk 75 of the KNIL (1st squadron, 4th group) at Java. It's an AZ Models kit. This is a Mohawk IV of 155 Sqdn in 1943 in Burma. It's the old Azur kit, which requires much hacking about to make its cowling right. It comes with a nice 9 cylinder resin motor and appropriate decals, but otherwise, the fuselage is the same as in the Twin Wasp. This is a P-40N of the 14th Air Force at Kunming in 1944. It's the Academy kit, done OOB. This is a Polikarpov I-15bis of the 14th Artillery Ranging Flight at Vladivostok in 1945. It's the ICM 'old tool' kit of the type. This an Avro Anson of early marque still in operation in 1945 in India. Unit is not known, but there is a photograph: James

Just under the wire, and only done to delivery scheme... I am expecting the Bolling Field decals to arrive, and if useable, I'll get them on, and paint the cowlings in yellow and blue. They are on only with white glue, and stripping down to white primer won't be a problem. Hubcaps need to be white, too. They are discs of white plastic set into the wheel, so again, easy to deal with. This has been a helluva build, and I won't deny I'm glad to be off to other projects. James

Curtiss YC-30, finished for group build purposes. Bolling Field decals are on the way but not arrived. So this is 'delivery scheme', and when the decals get here, I'll get them on and put some final pictures in the build thread.. I wanted to get something up within the deadline, and there were again some small eruptions of Murphy's Law, so these are hurried. Here's the WIP: not for the faint of heart.... James

Here's some Japanese subjects, mostly from the Pacific War. This is a 'Nieuport Type 15 Meter' trainer built at the Tokorozawa Arsenal in 1919. The machine is a Nieuport N24, fitted with an 80hp motor for service as an advanced trainer. Later examples were built by Nakajima with more powerful engines, desgnated KO-3, and were the Japanese Army's first line fighter in the early twenties. The kit is a 1/72 Roden N.24, with some detailing. Markings are from Rising Decals 'Early Birds' sheet. This is a Type 96 Carrier Fighter A5M-2 of 14th Kokutai at Nanking in 1938. This is the Fujima 1/72 kit of the type. The markings are of a plane flown by Tetsuzo Iwamoto, an early star of the IJNAF, provided by the kit decals. The finish is foil, given a thin coat of silver lacquer. This is a Nakajima Type 95 E8N floatplane, based on the tender Notoro early in 1938, ready to take off on a bombing raid. This machine was part of the formation Chinese Gladiators first engaged late in February, 1938. The kit is an RS Models offering, and proved something of a bear. I had to make my own struts. The figures of the crew are greatly altered from their Preisser originals. This is a Seversky A8V-1 of 12th Kokutai at Nanking in 1939. The Japanese Navy bought twenty of Seversky's two-seat 'convoy fighters' (a two-seat, up-engined version of the P35). Their sale and delivery was attended by a great deal of skullduggery, They were used as fast reconnaissance planes, but did not last long, due to maintenance difficulties, and lack of spare parts. The kit is a Dora Models resin offering. It is finished in foil. This is a Nakajima Type 97 Army Fighter Ki-27 of 13th Sentai in the Home Islands early in 1941. Low pressure tires were fitted to reduce landing accidents when units were transitioning to fast monoplanes. The kit is the 1.72 ICM offering. Its surface detail is incredible, the closest to actual scale I've ever seen The unit markings are from the Kagero monograph's decal sheet. This is a Type 97 Army Fighter of 24th Sentai late in 1941. 24th Sentai was based on Formosa, and employed in the invasion of the Philippines. This is the old Mania kit in 1/72. It's still a good one. This is a Kawasaki Ki-61, finished as a machine of 78th Sentai in New Guinea in 1943. This is the classic Revell 1/72 kit of the type. I've improved it a little, but mostly left it as it is. It's an odd mix of early and late features, but passes better for an early one. It's finished in foil, with the green splotches painted on. The character on the tail is improvised from decal strips. This is a Nakajima Type 1 Army Fighter Ki-43 of the 25th Sentai, likely at Hankow in 1944. This model represents a machine flown by Sgt. Maj. Kyushiro Ohtake, who flew four years in China and has the distinction of being sole pilot of the 25th Sentai to survive WWII. This is the old Hasegawa 1/72 kit, which is pretty much shake-and-bake. Model was foiled, the green applied with a stippling brush. Tactical markings are improvised. James

Here are some Nationalist Chinese subjects from the thirties. This is a Curtiss Export Hawk I at Canton. These early radial engined Hawks were literally P-6E airframes with a Cyclone radial swapped in for the V12 Conqueror. Three 1/72 scale kits went into this. The fuselage mates the front end of a Monogram Goshawk with the rear fuselage of a Curtiss P-6E, which also provided the wings. The motor, landing gear and skid, vertical tail surface, and some other details, are from an RS Models Goshawk kit. Between 1931 and 1936, a government established at Canton remained independent of Chiang Kai-shek's regime at Nanking. Its collapse was marked by the defection en mass of its air arm to the Nanking government. This is a Curtiss Hawk III, the chief fighter plane of the CNAF when war was commenced with Japan. This is the Special Hobby 1/72 kit, with a bit of detailing. This plane was flown by the commander of the 4th Pursuit Group, then-Major Kao Chi-Hang, and in it he was the first Chinese pilot to shoot down a Japanese aircraft, a Type 96 twin-engine bomber, on August 14, 1937. This is a Polikarpov I-15bis of the 21st Pursuit at Chungking late in 1939. This is the ICM 'new tool' kit of the type. Soviet equipment was supplied in VVS finish, but after repair, or even reconstruction from scrap, the standard overall green would be applied. Chinese tactical markings grew less conspicuous as fighting went on. the 21st carried the process about as far as it could go. This is a Polikarpov I-16tip17, early in 1940 1940. This is ICM I-16 kit, sold variously as tip 18. 21 and 28. The tip17 was in effect a pre-production tip18. With two 20mm cannon, these proved useful interceptors, when they could get high enough. This is a Gloster Gladiator, China purchased several dozen late in 1937. This is an Airfix Gladiator. The model is complete, the display is not. It needs a couple more ground crew in attendance to jell into a scene. Pilots of the 29th Pursuit were the first to employ the Gloster Gladiator in combat, engaging a formation of Japanese float-planes late in February, 1938. This is a long-ago attempt at building a Heller Dewoitine 510 as a machine of the 17th Pursuit in 1940. It's not accurate. The overall finish is, but it wouldn't have had those big numbers, and it would not have its wing guns underslung in fairings. I followed a profile in the 'Wings of Glory' number on the type, but consider Cheung's Osprey number on CNAP aces to be more reliable in this. It's one I think about doing over. This is a Breda 'Metallico', a squadron's worth of which were purchased from Italy. The model did not survive a move, and these are the only pictures I can find now. It was an AZ Models kit, and took a lot of work. Worth it, too, for such an odd-duck one-off. James

It's definitely a 'best viewed at arm's length' model, Uncle. The camera is kind to the finish. There's a lot I'd have done differently, were I to do one again (which I will certainly not do), and I'd advise anyone who did try to bite the bullet and do the new cockpit roof at the start, among other things. I might, though, take a run at a decent 1/72 kit of the type, were one available. It's an interesting oddity, and a good kit certainly could be made. James