trickyrich

I may not have to, it's actually very close to being right, just slightly rounded a wee bit. There are two different "13" styles in the mask pack, one quite rounded and the other a bit more square. I'll try the original decals first, the green ones have no outline, but there is a set of yellow ones that have the black edge and strangely they are slightly bigger that the non edged green ones. So if I'm lucky putting the greek=n ones over the yellow ones will give me the black edge i'm after. Failing that I may take the easy way and do "Green 1".

Just a small update to this. While bits and pieces were drying on the 152 I finally glued in the cockpit and not the easiest of tasks either! I had done lots of test fits and thought I had everything sorted but something went amiss when I glued it in. Of cause using CA glue meant that once it was in place that’s where it was going to stay! Somehow the front floor section is a bit lower then it should be! It’s not a big issue and honestly you can’t/won’t notice. It all looks pretty good once it’s all together, but as I suspected you don’t get to see too much at all, which is a little bit of a shame. As you can see it required some extra support! So tomorrow I should be able to glue the wings on and probably the cowling as well I hope. Once I get the cowling shape sorted then the rest of the build is pretty straight forward.

Well first off I have to say I’m over the moon with how she’s looking at the end of two days work! Even though the paint gave me a few scares she just looks awesome! Ok so what have I been up to, well painting and masking. First up I just wanted to break up the whole aluminium look of the underneath, as a lot of it will be left unpainted. So a couple of areas were paint steel, just to add a bit of relief. Then it was given a coat of sealer and masked ready for the first of the main colours. I’ve decided to give the LifeColor paint a go again even though I’ve had some issues when I’ve tried to thin it down. This time however I’ll be using their thinners, so fingers crossed. And I have to say it went on like a dream, I only needed to thins it by ~10% from the bottle and it went on perfectly. While this was drying I masked up and painted the canopy as well. Ok this was left overnight to cure before more masks applied and the upper surface colours were applied. And this is where his paint gave me a scare again! Both colours (RLM82 on first then RLM81) went on completely different, in both cases I had to use different amounts of thinners to get the right consistency. Even then they just flowed on completely differently, hard to get a nice finish while spraying, but they both dried perfectly!! So off with the masks to see how it looks, and not too bad at all. The finish is great, the top surfaces look a bit washed out but this is just the light and the angle of the photo. The scalloped edges are a bit crappy but I can live with that, I doubt if they were perfect on the real thing. Next the mottle. I’ve never had much luck doing this free hand with the airbrush, but finally I think I’ve got it right. After that has settled down a bit time for more masks and the national markings. For something this size painted markings are a must. They went on without dramas, gotta love Tamiya acrylic paint! So with all the masks off this is how she looks. I’m really happy with the finish and how the colour scheme and markings came out. As I mentioned the scalloping is probably the only letdown but I’m not too concerned about this. The paint work at the moment is very fragile so I’ll leave it to cure over night before a clean coat, that should protect it. There’s a little bit of touching up to do but that will add to the patchiness of the finish, which is what I’m after. I’ve decided to use the “3” from the mask set, it’s very close to what I’m after, it’s not perfect but it’s close enough for me. So I’ll add that and the green bar across the RV bands. For a very brief period in early 45, JG301 aircraft had a bar through the RV band that was the colour of their Stab. From memory it was dropped around March (?), in the last 6 months of the war these types of markings and ID’s seemed to change almost monthly! So the end is in sight, the only big job left to do is build the other flap, which I’ve seemed to have forgotten about!!! With luck I should have this beasty finally completed by the end of the weekend which will be a big relief……..then back to the Macchi’s!

welcome aboard, glad to see this thread hasn't been forgotten!

very Nice Arnold, she looks awesome!

thanks, I think they're one of the nicest looking Luftwaffe aircraft after the Me-262. They would have been quite an aircraft if there had been a little bit more time to sort out the odd issue or two they had. If these had entered service in numbers at the beginning of 1944 instead things may have been a wee bit different, but that can be said with most of these late war entries!

I know I said I would more or less finish the 152 before doing any more on this build, but the new exhausts showed up while I was at home. So during a small break from the 152 I started fitting them As you can see the moulded ones were pretty crap and the top flame guard was completely missing, The new ones are from QuickBoost and look so much better. So to fit them the old ones were ground away with plenty of space for them to move around, this will help with aligning them. I forgot the extra photos as usual, but I did need to trim back the front on the new exhausts as well as either edge of their base, so they’d fit nicely in the cutouts That looks better already. Next I had to make the new flame guard for the top of the exhausts, as mentioned in an earlier post, the lower cowling section sits a wee bit too high and I need to shim it to get it to sit correctly. So part of this shim will form the new flame guard. The shim is formed from a thin sheet of plastic cut to shape. So there it is, a lot better than the original and a fairly painless process. It’s a bit hard to see but the section between where the oil coolers sit needs to be reshaped. It too shallow, almost sunken, plus the rear edge of the cowling is a bit low as well. I’ll need to remove the two small fairings and build this area up, I’ll probably do this as soon as get the wings on. I also did a wee bit more to the cockpit as I really want to finish up this area and close it up. Once the wings are on and the lower cowling is fitted it’ll be a simple run to the finish. Plus I’ve started painting the cockpit area for the 1/48th 205 as well. I’ll start a thread for that once the 152 is finished…..the workbench is pretty full up and busy at the moment!

hmmm and interesting idea, I'm up for it, have no idea what I'd build but it sounds fun!

....I am a wee bit confused and lost for the moment, I like the new format a lot, but I've lost the history of everything i've posted in to in the past! (edit...left it for an hour, had to do work, came back and it's all back!!!! I am sooo relieved!))) I had a look at that set you mentioned Arnold and you're right the 3 looks to be the one I want but the other national ones don't look quite right. I really don't want to buy the set just for that. Hence why I was looking at other options and this is where I'm really doing my head in!!. There is a real lack of any proper information on the actual colour schemes or markings of these aircraft, even the famous "Green 9" is open to debate with some of it's details. There were only around 23 H1's that made it into service (even that number is debatable), all with JG 301. There is only one or may be two photos of these aircraft in actual service so the colour scheme and details come from the notes or accounts of the time which are vague and often contradict themselves. The quality of these photos isn't the best, in one there is even still some debate in places as to whether the aircraft shown is Yellow 1 or Green 1, hard to tell in B&W photos. Plus whether there is a "Stab" line on the RV band or is it just a shadow??? And I'm not going to go into the debate over the colour of RLM 25, the green used for codes and spinners. Ok there's been a couple of hours since I started this and I'm now leaning towards doing Yellow 1, though I may give up and just do Green 1 like everyone else!!

you're not wrong are they're not in the best of spots either, but you're right they're such a lovely looking planes, one of the reasons I just have to keep going with it.......no matter the grief it gives me at times!

Ok lots of progress but there's still away to go and I haven’t really gotten my head around the colour scheme yet, or to be more correct the markings, but more on that later. Oh and this will be photo heavy as well. Ok first up the main gear, the moulding wasn’t the greatest, especially the scissor arms, some plastic disks for the pins and they looked better. They’ve since been painted and lightly weather, plus wheels and hubs have been done as well. Next up were the gun doors, as mentioned I was really debating whether to use the PE inner sections or not. The instructions tell you to remove and replace the inner section with PE, but there’d be huge differences in the thickness in the doors. So this is what I did to use one. The top of the inner section was ground back the thickness of the PE. Next the new door hinge was made. Then the new PE section added to the original plastic door, it actually looks quite good! My new door I added to the fuselage gun area ended up being a real pain in the butt! The area is actually very weak now and to make matters worse the new PE door is actually too small!! So it’s probably going to have to stay open now! Ok I couldn’t put it off any longer time to fit either the wings or engine!! In the end after lots of additional test fitted and fettling the wings had to go on first as that was going to give me the fit issues. So after quite a bit of CA and liquid cement and a lot of effort they’re on. The gaps aren’t to bad…… So filling the gaps just took a couple of small bits of plastic strip and a bit of re-profiling. Now that’s done some additional detail to the ailerons. So a quick assembly to see how she looks, it’s getting there and I’m pleased with the fit. Ok painting time, I was intending to paint everything using Vallejo Air acrylics but after some test runs I was really unhappy with the way it went on, I just couldn’t get a nice even finish, so I’m switching to LifeColor. As I’m going to do it in sections pretty much how they were done in the real. So first is the engine cowling, this was built is a separate factory and pre-painted in a lot of cases before it was ever attached to the main airframe. A coat of aluminum is the base, there was no primer used at this late stage of the war so the main colour was just laid on bare metal, and it was a pretty light and uneven coat as well. As well the batches of RLM81/82/76 varied between factories as well. To simulate this I’ll use the Vallejo Air just for this section, if I stuff it up it’s easy to fix. It actually came out pretty good and is nice a patchy, one more light coat and she’ll be done. While that was drying a coat of Aluminum was applied over the rest of the model. The ID strips were done as well, it’s easier to get that done at this stage. The results are really nice there is a couple of really smaller spots I need to tidy up a bit but she’s already for the final colours! She actually looks really cool as she is, may be she can be a factory bird that never quite made it out?

See at least I'm helpful in a good way....... I can't take credit for the "plug" method, but it is a great way to fill those holes, plus I think you'd get a better surface finish and it'd make re-scribing easier as well. I can't see in the photos but does it have the rectangular panels on the wing upper surfaces? from memory there are 4 one each wing, three outside the guns/cannons and on inside slightly lower that the other three. Mine doesn't have any so I have to add those, will make a mask for that job. She is looking great, I've heard so many good things about these models, it's great to see one being built!

arrr crap!!! just when I think I've had a win with this build someone comes along and bursts my happy bubble!! I have to admit I was so happy to find a 3, any 3 in that scale I didn't completely check!! And looking at some past builds by others I wasn't the only person to get the 3 style wrong. Not to worry, I can easily go a green 1, 6, or a 13....or keep it as the "Silver Arrow" as she stands at the moment!!!! At least the main markings look right, I'm not to sure about the ones in the set you're talking about. Anyway mine will be at home waiting for me when I get home. More on this in the update to come, but the decals with my model have quite a few issues too by the looks of it, for one the the fuselage banding is too thin. Plus the actual print quality of them is actually pretty poor, the colours are not solid but very grainy!. I'm quite surprised just how hard it is to get the right style in that scale, I haven't been able to find a set of AM decals to suit, and only PCM has or had the correct decals for this aircraft in their model, which is long since OOP.

thanks, I'm making good progress, some of the bit are almost complete and I may even get to start some painting! I'm going to have to order those masks for the markings today else they won't get here in time! edit: I think I've just solved my number 3 issue!! Montex do a mask set for "Galland's Circus" which by chance one of the aircraft is number 13 with the black edge to it. So my problem is now solved, thats a big relief, now all the main marks will be painted and should look much better!

Sounds nice, are you going to build it?? All the bits for my 1/48th C.205 have arrived and I'm very tempted to start that one!! Plus the new exhausts for the 1/32nd one have arrived as well, I've removed the old ones and have the cowling already for the new ones. I so want to get back to these but I do need to finish the 152!!

nice to see a rush of members joining up, looks like it's going to be another successful event.

I'm not sure, guess it's up to Enzo whether this can go into the vote?

…. and so the battle continues unabated…..problems solved but more found….plus some ranting along the way….as usual! Ok first up unfortunately some rationalisation of this build is required to get everything to fit and actually complete it!! First up the wing mounted guns have to go, or rather I won’t be fitting them! The PE set gives you a hinged door so you can have them either open or close, however you only get half the actual panel and you are required to remove and replace this plastic section with the hinge with the PE part. Not a terribly difficult job at all except the new PE section has now internal rib detail and is about a tenth the thickness! This would look ridiculous! You could with quite a bit of effort rebuild the whole thing with thin brass sheet and plastic strip but that would be a big task. Thinking about this as I’m writing this up, may be they only want me to grind back enough to add the PE section to it….the instructions for this are in Japanese and soooo vague! I’ll think about the “grinding” option but once I start that there’s no return! I’m not going to get too carried away with detailing in a lot of the open panels because realistically I’m probably going to leave them closed and in a lot of cases you won’t actually see that much anyway! I opened this fuselage gun bay panel then realized when everything is fitted you don’t actually “see” that much at all. I won’t be doing the other side!!! I’ve built up and test fitted the tail wheel, there’s not a lot going on behind the panel in the tail so really no reason to have it open, very much just a gimmick in my opinion. This is not a model you can throw together without test fitting. Getting the engine frame to fit to the fuselage is a bit of an effort as you have the bend open the front fuselage section while trying to fold together the rear engine frame mounts, to get it them to fit. A recipe to break something!! So I’ve had to grind off part of the support structure, I loose a bit of strength but there is less chance to break/split something!!! So now fit issues, I have spent quite a bit of time test fitting and making a few adjustments, it’s going to go together but in which order?? Engine to airframe, them wings on, or wings on airframe first them mount engine?? This is the fit just with wings to fuselage, it’s not to bad, if I join it in sections and use small drops of CA to hold thing in place while the glue dries I should have some nice clean joins. However when the engine is in place and I try the same thing…. The engine has dropped a wee bit in this photo but that’s the gap I’m looking at. There are a couple of pins on the engine frame that are meant to line up with holes in the wing spar, I think the issues are here…alignment issues again. Gosh resin models are sooo much easier! On a better note the prop is done. The spinner is that infamous RLM25 which no one really has nailed down the exact colour, I have seen it referred to as an Emerald Green (Gunze H46), while in other places it said to be a more darker green. I’ve sort have gone for something a bit in between. Plus the radiator has finally been sorted out as well, not that you’ll see that much in the end! So it’s all looking much better, all that top detail in the engine will be hidden, as that panel will not be removable, it’s going to help provide some strength! I’ve finally decided on a scheme, “Green 3” from Stab./JG301, she was flown by Oberfeldwebel Josef Keil, who was the only “Ace” in a Ta-152. But like everything in the build it’s not quite that easy! The green 3 (as are all the green codes) is meant to have a thin black boarder, the supplied decals however do not. They do supply a green 9 that has the black boarder (it’s for Willi Reschke’s 152 and everyone builds that one), so they may have realized there mistake with that one….but why not fix up the rest!! Of cause there are no AM decals available and they’d be too expensive, so I’m going to have to came up with a work around for this. I could always do “Red 9” which was the other option I liked but I’ll have to redo the spinner and add a spiral….NO!!! Oh and finally I will be using masks for the national markings, that should look so much better.

yes she has and still is being a bit of a pain, but I'm making good progress and haven't been distracted by the Macchi yet! I'm having to make some hard decisions on a few areas such as leaving the gun bays closed, more on that in the update. It's probably would be such a difficult model if you didn't add the PE extras, they're the stuff thats giving me the most issues. By and large it's not a difficult model to build, it's just not like a Tamiya or Hasegawa model. This one you need to be very precise on how you fit and position items before gluing them in place. If it's not in the "right" place you'll have dramas. Not a model for the inexperience thats for sure! But I'm getting there another good day of building an I'll almost be ready for painting!

PE Purgatory was pretty much what it felt like yesterday, to get further I had to do quite a bit of PE work. I reckon to get out of purgatory and into heaven you have to build a set of PE gate form Eduard and if they’re anything like these sets you’ll be there forever!! Anyway after being distracted by the MTO builds I figured I needed to get back to this one least it ends up on the shelf of doom as well sitting beside the Fw-190D!! (I actually have done a wee bit of work on that beast!!). So first up was to join wedge and lever the cockpit and fuselage pieces (there are three bit the to fuselage) together, and that’s pretty close to what was required, plus liberal amounts of CA glue as well! As I’m finding out, how you fit things together is extremely important, they need to be in their exact spot or you’ll have fit issues. Plus I’ll fitting PE cockpit bits don’t help at all either! That said the resulting joins weren’t too bad and cleaned up nicely. Having the fuselage in three pieces actually works (two side pieces and a bottom) and means two of the joins are nicely hidden by panel lines. The tail fit isn’t quite so nice and there were noticeable steps at the top and bottom that needed to be sorted out. I forgot to post a photo last update of the new cannons fitted, they look great but what a pain to fit!! The cannons (barrel and breech) are meant to be one of the first things you fit on the wing spars……opps! The engine mount is finally painted, I just need to add some detail to it. That radiator was a bit of a pain to fit as well it didn’t want to fit and kept splitting along one of the joins. Next up was the cowling again, I wanted to see how it’d all fit together! Unfortunately one of the hinges parted company so I had to refit that first. Well it does all go together which is a bit of a relief but the panel won’t open and close freely as they foul on the exhausts. Not a biggie they’ll either be left opened or closed. Now to the not so fun bit (are there any fun bits on this model!), the cowling flaps! The cowling flaps are made of 17 individual petals that need to be shaped and glued in place. The biggest issue was they are slightly too narrow! Fitting them nice and snug like they should be and you’re left wit a 3-5mm gap at one end! So I had to leave little gaps between each one so as to remove this final gap…plus all the joins are just butt joints! I can see some breaking off between now and the end! The cowling was given a coat of aluminium to help with the tiding up, I still have a bit to go here. The man U/C doors are finished as well, more PE hell there as well, fitting tiny ribs the size of tiny pinheads to each main door! Luckily they supplied extras as 4 disappeared in the process! They’ve been undercoated along with the engine covers. And that’s about two solid days work…almost. So some test fitting to see how it’ll all look together……..and I’m a bit worried!! The wings when fitted to their mounts on the fuselage/engine assemblies don’t fit and there are some rather large gaps!! It appears that something wasn’t in its exact 100% precise place and now the wings won’t fit!! Something to worry about later! And the Macchi decided to photo-bomb! Interestingly one of these should be a relatively easy build and one a difficult one…….and I can’t work out which is which!!

Gee Arnold, I seemed to have missed this build of yours altogether!! I like very much, just how nice are those MDC resin bits, they have to be one of my favourite AM suppliers!! I should have just used their AM kit on my 109D instead of that horrible FM resin/PE AM kit!!! She's looking great well done.

welcome aboard everyone. and welcome to you're first GB, they're lots of fun and a really great place to pick up all sorts of hints, tricks and tips. Plus if you get stuck on something theres always plenty of help at hand. Just keep and eye on the start date.........bugga I've forgotten it, anyway will see you then.

no worries at all, you're added, and I like your choices

a great story and a fitting tribute, will follow with interest

gosh I remember building these two as well so long ago it's scary!!! I seem to remember that the hull was a real pain to get square on the M3 and the tracks were pretty rubbish. I still have both of these stored somewhere!