1:48 FAA Tarpon, 849 Sqn

[Grey Beema]

UNot sure if this helps but I made the IP for my 1/48 Mossie XIII by printing an image.

 

 

I searched the internet to find a straight on IP image the I was happy with.  I then downloaded it into paint, and using the highest zoom ‘enhanced’ the image to highlight the details I wanted (whites and yellow especially).  I then tight cropped the image, width and height and dropped the image into a word document.  Measured the width of the kit IP and the go into word, format the image and size it to your IP width.  

 

I printed mine on ordinary paper using an ink jet printer (with the black running out) but I’m sure glossy paper, labels or even transfer paper would give you a better image..  A spot of Klear on the dials and Robert is your mothers brother...  Not as good as some of those commercially produced but it’s all my own work...

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by Grey Beema

[moaning dolphin]

When i ordered stuff for my in the navy GB i accidentally ordered 2 sets of etch. I was going to sell the other set complete but I now need extra harnesses so cant really sell it. I can send you the IP from that set if you like but it'd take about 10 days to arrive. Let me know if you want it. 

[Dunny]

Hi all,

 

After my Instrument Panel disaster last week salvation arrived from the internet in the form of these amazing instrument decals from Airscale (1:48 Allied Forces Generic, thanks for asking).

 

 

I found this image of an Avenger IP and based the design loosely on this:

 

 

I started out by cutting a couple of sections of plastic card to the right size, and sanded back the kit IP to give a smooth base:

 

 

Once I'd marked out the instrument positions in pencil I carefully drilled the holes with 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2mm drills in a pin vice:

 

 

Here's the assembly dry fitted just to show the idea - you can see that the pieces are not a perfect match which I subsequently fettled to size):

 

 

I then carefully marked out the instrument centres using the binnacle as a template:

 

 

Each of the sections was then sprayed with Tamiya Nato Black:

 

 

Here's the separate sections part way through decals being applied:

 

 

And here's the finished panel. After my nightmares with Tamiya Extra thin I decided to use something more benign, so ended up gluing the sections together with Micro Kristal Klear. Finally I picked out the instruments with Micro Gloss and gave the panel a bit of a dry brush with Tamiya AS11 to pick out switch detail.

 

 

Although it's far from perfect I'm not displeased with the outcome given it's my first scratch instrument panel! It's also saved the Tarpon from an early shelf of doom dive so I'm pleased that I can crack on with the rest of the build! Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

On 16/02/2020 at 19:21, Grey Beema said:

UNot sure if this helps but I made the IP for my 1/48 Mossie XIII by printing an image.

 

 

 

I searched the internet to find a straight on IP image the I was happy with.  I then downloaded it into paint, and using the highest zoom ‘enhanced’ the image to highlight the details I wanted (whites and yellow especially).  I then tight cropped the image, width and height and dropped the image into a word document.  Measured the width of the kit IP and the go into word, format the image and size it to your IP width.  

 

I printed mine on ordinary paper using an ink jet printer (with the black running out) but I’m sure glossy paper, labels or even transfer paper would give you a better image..  A spot of Klear on the dials and Robert is your mothers brother...  Not as good as some of those commercially produced but it’s all my own work...

 

 

 

On 16/02/2020 at 23:42, moaning dolphin said:

When i ordered stuff for my in the navy GB i accidentally ordered 2 sets of etch. I was going to sell the other set complete but I now need extra harnesses so cant really sell it. I can send you the IP from that set if you like but it'd take about 10 days to arrive. Let me know if you want it. 

Gents,

 

I completely missed these comments - my humble apologies. Thank you for your helpful advice and kind offer! @Grey Beema That Mossie IP came out really well! As you can see I engineered an Alternate solution which although it's rather clumsily executed I'm pretty happy with,

 

R

[moaning dolphin]

Great recovery!

Bob

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

A little more progress over the last couple of days. I spent a very zen couple of hours masking the glazing. Perversely this is one of my favourite parts of the hobby, although on this particular build I'm glad of the Eduard masks (there is a lot of glazing!) 

 

 

And the signature turret:

 

 

I then gave all the glazed parts a squirt of Bronze Green:

 

 

Whilst these were drying I decided to tackle the bomb bay doors. As the kit part comes in one piece (closed), if you are to pose the doors in the open position you need to slice in half and then carefully fold to an angle:

 

 

Next I tackled the turret assembly. This is pretty fragile and difficult to assemble without much cursing, but I got there in the end. Here's the sub-assemblies after spraying:

 

 

Here is the final assembly with gun in place, lightly drybrushed with gunmetal.:

 

 

Next, the tailwheel assembly. I decided to go with Insignia White for the undercarriage. Although @tonyot is probably correct in his assertion that the undercarriage were coated in the underside colour (Sky), I thought there was just enough difference in tone in the photo below to introduce some doubt. On that basis I thought it would add a bit more interest, so I don't care if it's incorrect!

 

 

Here's the tailwheel assembly (again, bloody fiddly!):

 

 

And then assembled with the flare chutes and ventral 0.30" machine gun:

 

 

Here's the lot assembled in to the fuselage:

 

 

Finally I dry-fitted the turret deck just to check fit.

 

 

I'm glad I did this as I then realised how low the turret sits relative to the fuselage. I decided to remove it, and next time I will paint the glazing with Extra Dark Sea Grey, remove the masks, fit and mask over the whole lot prior to painting the fuselage. That's a job for another day, so thanks for looking!

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[seejayjay]

Fantastic work. I’m watching this one with great interest as this is next up on my bench once I have finished the cursed Special Hobby Seafire! I too am a scratch building novice and am going to attempt the observer’s cockpit. 

 

[Biggu]

I've been following along here as I am trying my hand at the A/M 1/48 TBM fire bomber conversion, and have another I will do as a Royal Canadian Navy bird, I know this may be a little late and you also may know about this but I will toss it in for your information...

https://www.ultracast.ca/SearchResults.asp?Search=avenger&Submit=

If this link doesn't work got to ultracast.ca and search Avenger.

 

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb4.htm

 This is the conversion set I have for my RCN machine, if you guys buy from Mike, rest assured he is a GREAT guy and very easy and honest to deal with.....  sorry for the thread highjack, but I just thought there might be something fo interest for you guys

Jeff

[Dunny]

A good day's progress today! First of all I addressed the remainder of the internal bulkheads, and the bomb bay components. Here's a shot with them in place. I elected to add a pair of 500lb bombs as the ordnance. The kit only provides two so I'm presuming that this was a load limit for the aircraft?? This is prior to an oil wash...

 

 

Next I had a go at the Twin Cyclone. I did not trust the colour call-outs in the instructions, so dug out this shot of the same powerplant - although it's clearly a restored unit it looks close enough for government work...

 

 

So after a little while we had this:

 

 

I then proceeded to button up the fuselage. Early on in this enterprise I got a nagging feeling that something was missing. Of course, dear reader, it was the turret. 

 

I carefully prised the fuselage apart, and after a few choice words with myself removed the turret from its deck and sprayed it with a coat of EDSG. Here's the turret de-masked in all its glory - I'm quite happy with how it looks:

 

 

Once this had been fitted in the appropriate position the fuselage was buttoned up without incident (this time). 

 

Whilst I left that to set I had a go at the undercarriage, which had already been oil washed. This is what resulted:

 

 

I then assembled the wing roots and empennage onto the fuselage. Hobby Boss are to be congratulated on these elements - they literally snapped together and the fit is superb. So this was the result (I couldn't resist a sneaky test fit of the undercarriage - looking good!!) 

 

 

Last work for the day was fitting of the fixed glazing elements using Krystal Kleer. The IP coaming needed a bit of fettling to sit nicely under the windscreen, but no major dramas. 

 

 

So that's the state of play at the end of today - thanks for looking!

 

Roger

[Dunny]

19 hours ago, seejayjay said:

Fantastic work. I’m watching this one with great interest as this is next up on my bench once I have finished the cursed Special Hobby Seafire! I too am a scratch building novice and am going to attempt the observer’s cockpit. 

 

@seejayjay Thanks for the kind words! Good luck with the scratchbuilding - I'm pleased with my first go and the next scratch element is going to be the wing joints. I'm thinking of building wings folded and the exposed kit components are rather plain. Good luck with the Seafire,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

16 hours ago, Biggu said:

I've been following along here as I am trying my hand at the A/M 1/48 TBM fire bomber conversion, and have another I will do as a Royal Canadian Navy bird, I know this may be a little late and you also may know about this but I will toss it in for your information...

https://www.ultracast.ca/SearchResults.asp?Search=avenger&Submit=

If this link doesn't work got to ultracast.ca and search Avenger.

 

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb4.htm

 This is the conversion set I have for my RCN machine, if you guys buy from Mike, rest assured he is a GREAT guy and very easy and honest to deal with.....  sorry for the thread highjack, but I just thought there might be something fo interest for you guys

Jeff

@Biggu Thanks for the tip! I've got the Xtradecal 'Yanks in Roundels' set for this build, but will be sure to have a look at these next time round. I've definitely got another Tarpon in me so will bear them in mind. Not a highjack at all - the more the merrier!

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

This is looking rather splendid Roger. Your scratch building work looks great and what a great recovery with the IP. You should be justifiably proud of this. It looks very impressive with the fuselage together and sitting on it's undercarriage.

Great work fella.

All the best

Chris

[Dunny]

36 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

This is looking rather splendid Roger. Your scratch building work looks great and what a great recovery with the IP. You should be justifiably proud of this. It looks very impressive with the fuselage together and sitting on it's undercarriage.

Great work fella.

All the best

Chris

@bigbadbadgeThank you sir! I am enjoying the experience very much - let's hope I can keep the modelling gremlins at bay...

[Dunny]

Some more progress today, and also some Olympic-standard procrastination. More on that later...

 

I decided that the wings were going to be modelled in the folded position. The fold element for the wing is presented thus:

 

 

I thought this looked a bit light on detail (and rather uninspiring to boot), so I went firtling in the darker corners of t'internet to find some suitable photos. Here's what I came up with:

 

 

 

As this is clearly a restored aircraft, I also went back to one of my original reference photos to cross-check:

 

 

That gave me a good basis for starting the scratch-building, but I thought I'd mull it over a bit. You know, the more I look at the undercarriage leg in the above photo, the more it looks a lighter shade than the Sky underside - what say you @tonyot?

 

With the wings folded, the 'outer' wing trailing edge joint will be quite visible. I thought that deserved a little attention - this is the kit part:

 

 

I drilled out a series of lightening holes in the cross-members, ending up like this:

 

 

Once I'd done that I gave the interior surfaces of the outer wing a squirt of home-brew Zinc Chromate Yellow. Whilst I had the airbrush loaded I also coated the high-wear areas for subsequent exposure. This is the rather lurid result 😎

 

 

Whilst that was drying I finished off fitment of the smaller glazing elements. Curiously, Eduard do not provide masks for the ventral rear cupola (shame on you Eduard!) so here's my sausage-fingered attempt with Tamiya tape. 

 

 

And the small 'portholes' fixed in position. You'll note that I've left the larger oval windows at this stage. They'll need blisters fitting and I haven't yet figured out how to approach that. 

 

 

So, after all that I decided that I didn't have time to start the wing roots, so bravely did some easy things instead 🤫. Here's the prop after decalling, flat coating and oil wash, and the drop tanks without. It's all progress, right?

 

 

Anyway, by the time benchtime comes around again I'm sure I'll have the wing roots all sussed out! 😬 Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Grey Beema]

Great progress so far Roger.  

 

I think I agree with you on the UC leg being lighter than Sky.  Personally (and with no underlying fact) I think I would go for aluminium paint.  

 

On the subject of getting sub assemblies done.  I attended a talk at the IPMS chapter meeting around model making productivity, which stated you should try to build as many as you can of the sub assemblies (UC Wheels, armaments, etc) up front because once the painting and markings are on, completing these sub assemblies becomes a drag to the finishing process..  So keep doing what you’re doing..

[Dunny]

16 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Great progress so far Roger.  

 

I think I agree with you on the UC leg being lighter than Sky.  Personally (and with no underlying fact) I think I would go for aluminium paint.  

 

On the subject of getting sub assemblies done.  I attended a talk at the IPMS chapter meeting around model making productivity, which stated you should try to build as many as you can of the sub assemblies (UC Wheels, armaments, etc) up front because once the painting and markings are on, completing these sub assemblies becomes a drag to the finishing process..  So keep doing what you’re doing..

Thanks @Grey Beema - I'm going for Insignia White as I suspect they would have had some form of paint applied (even on aluminium) as a corrosion inhibitor - white has been identified as one of the potential options...

 

Interesting theory on productivity - I think it makes sense because enthusiasm for the small stuff definitely wanes once the decals are down!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Looking great and great start on the wingfold.

With regard the blister windows, you could try your luck in posting a wanted thread in the buy and sell area as others may have made the Accurate Miniatures/Italeri kit as a US machine and may have them leftover.

Keep up the good work

Chris

[Grey Beema]

8 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks @Grey Beema - I'm going for Insignia White as I suspect they would have had some form of paint applied (even on aluminium) as a corrosion inhibitor - white has been identified as one of the potential options...

 

Interesting theory on productivity - I think it makes sense because enthusiasm for the small stuff definitely wanes once the decals are down!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

Sorry to be clear I meant aluminium paint rather than  unpainted aluminium.

 

As my Dad would say (ex FAA) “In the Navy, if it does move, hit it with a hammer, if it still doesn’t move, paint it”..

[Grey Beema]

1 minute ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking great and great start on the wingfold.

With regard the blister windows, you could try your luck in posting a wanted thread in the buy and sell area as others may have made the Accurate Miniatures/Italeri kit as a US machine and may have them leftover.

Keep up the good work

Chris

There must be someone on here that can do a quick tutorial on plunge moulding.  It can’t be that difficult to turn plastic food packaging into domed windows..

[Dunny]

8 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

There must be someone on here that can do a quick tutorial on plunge moulding.  It can’t be that difficult to turn plastic food packaging into domed windows..

Wise words - it's just the fear 😧

[Dunny]

17 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Sorry to be clear I meant aluminium paint rather than  unpainted aluminium.

 

As my Dad would say (ex FAA) “In the Navy, if it does move, hit it with a hammer, if it still doesn’t move, paint it”..

Not a bad motto for life...

[Dunny]

25 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking great and great start on the wingfold.

With regard the blister windows, you could try your luck in posting a wanted thread in the buy and sell area as others may have made the Accurate Miniatures/Italeri kit as a US machine and may have them leftover.

Keep up the good work

Chris

That 's not a bad plan Chris - appreciate the tip. At today's bravery rate that may be the best option 😉

[corsaircorp]

Great work Roger !!

Congratulations !!

Sincerely.

CC

[Dunny]

2 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Great work Roger !!

Congratulations !!

Sincerely.

CC

Thanks Dennis - good to have you aboard!

 

Roger

[corsaircorp]

Dennis is my F4U cousin...I mean @Corsairfoxfouruncle we share the same atavic interest for the bent wing bird

I'm Alain, best known as CC

Don't you worry about that, it's usual

You did a great job, I started something similar with a Monogram and an Accurate Avenger.

I will restart my Tarpon as soon as I get my 3 Hellcats in RFI

Congrats again

Sincerely.

CC