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        Hello everyone for my 2nd entry I will be adding PK-120, Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston. I will most likely go with an A-20 but I do like the Boston. The kits decals are better than my Tempest sheet so have some options. My kit is a bagged kit so took the image of the box from scale-mates. dHB2zMu.jpg

 

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This is the bulk of the bits, the wings were previously glued and some minor sanding has occurred. These were extras in the bag. Kberg8O.jpg

 

And finally the decals. Oc4aznB.jpg

 

Please feel free to ask questions, pist comments or thoughts. 
 

Dennis

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Great to see the first of what appears to be two Boston builds. This looks like a good ‘builder’ kit and those decals do look to be in very good condition indeed. I really like the glass nosed version but it will be hard to go past that Green Hornet nose art too! Hope you enjoy the kit and it makes a great addition to your vast collection. 

 

Cheers, welcome aboard and best of luck.. Dave 

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  • 2 weeks later...

        Good morning everyone … Not much to say but did get a start on my first two Matchbox builds, this and the Tempest. Pretty basic build and shouldn't take a long time to finish. Macro always makes it look rougher than it is. 8dMWBvH.jpg

added a couple of smashed weights inside. 6uhpdog.jpg

 

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The nose is only mocked on right now. Shouldn't need a lot of filler. Though will need a bomb bay scribed into the belly, Matchbox missed that completely. 

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Im angling for a 410th BG plane out of England in June or July of 44. Something like this one. 
 

https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/aircrafts-2-3/a-20/a-20g-43-10195-646bs-410bg/

 

I dont have the decals but should be able to make them up from spares. Need to ask Dave or Pat @Rabbit Leader or @JOCKNEY these dont need to be 100% accurate as far as nose art ? I mean as long as I can get the codes accurate for the squadron can I make up the nose art ? Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or thoughts. 
 

 

Dennis

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        Good evening/night everyone … I added the nose and corrected it this evening. rz8BdRH.jpg
 

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Ok while studying my info on A-20G’s &J’s. I found their were three basic armament packages. The early G’s had 4 x 20mm cannon, most went to the Soviets. Then there were this nose 6 x .50’s, four in an “X” with the last two underslung. The kits nose was lacking the two additional underslung .50’s. Even though the bulged ammo/breech packs were in the kit. If there had been plain flat piece's It would amount to the last armament for the “G”. The “J” was a “G” with a glazed bomber nose to help guide the gunships in bombing run. Those aircraft just had the underslung .50’s. 

 

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So with a little effort I’ve added the two underslung .50’s.

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Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

Dennis

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    Good evening everyone … Today was wings day on all my builds. Im pretty impressed by the Matchbox stuff, it didn't require a lot of effort to get them lined up correctly. The Cowlings and main gear well thats another story. The wings mate up well enough to the fuselage. However you have to add the main gear struts early and that is usually a recipe for disaster. Again matchbox surprised, my gear struts free floated in the sockets. Well enough that I’ll be able to swing them up into the bays and tape them out of the way. 
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The cowlings/engines are attached but the outer cowling is just compression fitted at the moment for alignment. Once they're set solid I can pull the outer’s off and paint the engines and interior of the cowlings. 

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As you can see the dihedral is pretty steep on these. 

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I do love the Douglas hotrod attack bombers, they just scream speed and power. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or thoughts.

 

Dennis

 

PS - Oh quick question for those interested, the 410th BG operated from before, through D-Day, and beyond. Im trying to decide wether freshly applied D-Day stripes or the later lower fuselage only ? Maybe toning down or covering up the upper stripes ? 

 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Nice update Dennis and your A-20 is really looking good. I agree, there is something about these light attack bombers that is really appealing and I have a Special Hobby A-20 Gunship kit making its way to me slowly from Japan. I have no idea why I bought it from there as there are now plenty of examples of this kit available here in Australia? Anyway, nice nose gun corrections and it all looks the goods. 
 Cheers.. Dave 

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  • 4 weeks later...

        Good morning everybody … was able to get the canopy and escape hatch mounted and sealed. th62JQW.jpg
 

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I didn't trust the escape hatch to not fall in when I placed it in position. If it did I doubt I was going to be able to get it back out. So I used plastic strip to crest a shelf on either side of the opening. uShxfAL.jpg

 

The hatch is in and sealed now and I can mask it tomorrow. The last issue was the nose gear bay, there was a big gap in the middle of it.

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It was both obvious and prohibiting the mounting of the nose gear. Since I’ve no sheet plastic at the moment, I dug back into my old school files. I decided I would use paper soaked in C/A and it worked quite well. ctXRt8n.jpg

 

Now I can paint this once its masked. Feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

Dennis

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       Good afternoon everyone … My apologies for such a long delay in posts. Unfortunately Ive had a family situation occur at the end of January and its slowed my work down. However I’ve been doing what I can when I can and the last four-five days have opened up. So much so that I have done almost all of the painting on all 11 of my builds. So without much more of my lonely babbling here is my A-20G pretending to be an A-20J. wGcUQ6d.jpg

 

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It wasn't a common practice on either side. However some enterprising pilots of Gunships and night-fighters would paint their aircraft to represent lesser armed bombers. The idea being to entice head on attacks so they could use all of the massed weapons to shoot down the enemy. I masked off the nose as best I could to look like a “J” bomber. I will add close-ups later tonight. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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This is looking really nice all painted up and striped Denis, well done. I've not heard about those painted on nose 'glazing' panels, that's quite an interesting story. 

Cheers and nice progress.. Dave 

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        Good morning everyone … Well what limited decals are on now. Not the best quality considering they all came from my spares pile. FZtfWPf.jpg
 

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This “X” ⬆️ shattered into about 14 pieces, I pieced it together the best I could. Now considering they're 36-37 yr old decals Im surprised this was the 1st time they failed. 

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Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

Dennis

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  • 4 weeks later...

    Morning everyone … Almost done with this, should be there tomorrow night. the plastic guns just looked wrong to my eyes so basically made a set out of brass. Two lengths each of tube and wire. Seeing as there isn't much detail in there it will just be gun metal. zsNgyEc.jpg
 

Painted the engines next, the props are done as well just not mounted yet. nN8YJiO.jpg

 

Last but not least got the landing gear mounted and once it was starting to cure tested it out. They work and she’s not a tail dragger. WzaM0hC.jpg

 

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Going to let it harden up solid over night. Then I can add the gear bay doors, cowlings, antenna’s, & props. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments, or add thoughts. 


 

Dennis

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Looks really great Dennis and it's nice to see your models coming to life with even greater attention to detail with each and every build. Well done mate. 

Cheers.. Dave  

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