From the Vault - Planes, Planes, Planes - June 28,2020

I thought I would drag some photos out as examples of other work done in either refurbishing or constructing.  Bob and I have built many "Little Planes", as my wife terms the Wings of Glory air combat game, which employs 1/144 scale (for WWI) and 1/200 scale (for WWII) models as combat pieces.  As you have seen in other posts the rehab of planes from the 60s and 70s "Out of the Storage Box".

TBD Devastator - 200 scale.

"Kate" 200 scale

Valom kit, Se5 - 144 scale

Valom kit, Nieuport 17 - 144 scale

Shapeways Caudron G4 - 144 scale.  This is a highly customized, and painted 3D print, the following photo is what I started with.

A broken fuselage boom and no wheels.  I fixed the boom by cross bracing with wire in horizontal and vertical planes (as a real aircraft would) and used No. 60 O-rings for wheels.  Paint, paint and more paint to smooth the rough 3D texture, decals and monofiament rigging.  Tedious but worth it.

Ok, let's move on!

A Reviresco (metal) Sopwith Triplane - 144 scale.

A 1/72 Vought OS2U Kingfisher - A rehab "Out of the Storage Box".

An Airfix kit, 1/72 Sopwith Pup.

Roden kit, 1/72 Fokker Dr1 with a Czech Republic Resin MvR crew and a scratch built (Muslin) tent/hanger used with the quickly moving Flying Circus.

I did upgrade the Roden kit with brass/photoetch Spandau guns and ammo belts.

Oh, and I added LED lights!

These are a few of the projects over the past number of years.  There are many more by Bob and me and they may eventually appear.

Ooops, almost forgot, I had to rehab and big boy as well.  In "The Storage Box" was a Revell 1/28 kit which had no crew and was supposed to be an Fokker F1 -103/17 flown by Werner Voss.  Back in the Day Bob wanted a Red Triplane (Dr1) so that is how it was painted.  I did some work on it.

Repair of the undercarriage, completion of control wires, cleaning, detail and painting including revising to F1 102/17 which MvR did fly thereby justifying the red paint job!

I found another kit that had a full crew and negotiated its shipment to me.  I set to work painting.

And grouped them around the refurbished " Fokker F1 102/17".

OK, now I'm done - For Now!

On the Bench - I can't see the forest.... 06/26/2020

Just basing some trees for use in tabletop gaming....

The Enemy Below DE /U-Boat Commentary - June 26, 2020

This is a brief addition as I wait for paint to dry before application of Gloss Acrylic to the Ocean.  I find that it may be confusing trying to create an accurate depiction of the movie vessel combatants.  I have already explained my modifications to the Type VII C U-Boat to make it appear more like a Type B, although there are other things I would have to remove from the the sub to make it more "movie" accurate.

My discussion today is focused on the Destroyer Escort.  It is a Buckley Class DE, the USS England.  The movie was filmed using the Buckley Class DE, Whitehurst.  While very similar, it is the 1957 Whitehurst and not the WWII Whitehurst as is the USS England.  This has presented many challenges in terms of trying to accurately reproduce the movie scene while trying to depict the fictitious USS Haynes, a WWII Buckley Class Destroyer Escort.  I have used many views in the movie (the Whitehurst) for depiction of the the deck and platform railings, and the 26ft. Motor Whaleboat.  But there are components of the model kit, the WWII USS England, that don't conform to the 1957 USS Whitehurst.  A glaring example is the more modern radar that is shown rotating in several movie scenes.  No such equipment is on a  WWII DE.  The England also has torpedo tubes amidship, which the Whitehurst most likely had but were removed in favor of additional equipment and life rafts.  The Buckley has the Hedgehog Projector which, if used, may have sunk the U-Boat, but that would ruin the story! Even the movie dialog refers to this fact during the identification scene - " American escort destroyer, 3 inch guns fore and aft, anti-air craft amidships, one Stack, no tubes - Buckley Klasse Destroyer Escort, depth charges and k guns, able to lunch 17 patterns, latest under water detection gear,".

There are other dissimilarities such as my installation of the Twin Bofors, which the Navsource site lists as part of the USS England armament.  When the USS Haynes goes to battle stations you see the 1957 Whitehurst quad Bofors mount!  

Following the paraphrased dialog noted above (no tubes) the opening scenes have the kitchen waste being dumped over the fantail where  the USS England has rear firing torpedo tubes.

Ah, well, we do what we can and go with it.

Now I have to run out and buy Gloss Acrylic!!!

The Enemy Below - Atlantic 6/25/2020

I'm back after a day off to hob nob with my brother, have lunch and shoot down each others 1/144 scale WWI aircraft!  The moment of truth has arrived and I began my first Acrylic Paint Ocean Diorama - admittedly nervous I dove in.  Since this is the deep Atlantic I used only Black, Blue and White.  Here goes...

Black pretty much takes over even at a three to one ratio of Blue over Black.  It is the addition of White that draws the Blue out.

Mostly a stippling process of the black and blue with white highlights added on ridges and along the hulls where the water is breaking or in the wakes of the two ships.

I cover everything including the edges.

The ocean is ominously dark.  I hope when I start the clear gloss acrylic that the surface will come alive.  Right now as she dries, it does not look too bad for my first effort.

From The Vault - 06/24/2020

Busy day today - no modeling - so here are a few from the vault

We prepared a group of aircraft for a Wings of Glory game to simulate the Battle of Midway

You can't do that without Kates - these sourced from Armaments in Miniature 

You also need the ill-fated Devastator (couldn't resist painting one in the earlier "Coral Sea" scheme)

These are Trumpeter kits, modified by opening the canopy and installing crew and guns

Slow But Deadly - modified Wings of Glory A/C

And even a "Strawberry" PBY, again from AIM.

A large effort was expended in creating 2D representations of all of the Capital ships, after all, these planes need targets (and sources for AA fire)

The IJN forces

And the rather modest USN forces

A good time was had by all......

On the Bench - Back to Minis 06/23/2020

Having gotten as far as my materials would take me with my Narrow Gauge fleet, I returned to Bolt Action figures, in this instance, Imperial Japan Special Naval Landing Forces, aka "marines".

While they still all need eyes and face touch ups, they are table-worthy once I got them based. In this case, I was looking for something vaguely Tropical and decidedly different from my other ETO figures, something of sand and jungle. What i ended up with was an overall covering of this:

A Woodland Scenics product that while not sand,  well, you'll see.

Next, in splotches, some of this:

giving some variegation. Finally, weedy tufts of 

Used together, I like the effect:

On the Bench - HOn3 Madness Day Four

Well, nobody said it would be easy.

5 cars, 4 different manufacturers, all needing some degree of modification. If you're just tuning in:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Sergent narrow shank Sharon couplers, and Smoky Mountain Model Works draft gear boxes because ACCURAIL is out of stock (apparently a normal condition).

Started back at the Durango Press high side gondola, which needed both shimming to get the draft gear down to line up with the rest of my rolling stock, and a box shortening so it clears the axles.

Here's the new shim, cut from a single sheet of Styrene, shaped to match the kit contours, glued to the frame, and drilled to spec to accept the draft gear screws.

Note the cut down box. I left the SMMW cover intact to help keep everything from rotating. Now, how's the height?

I'll take it. Now to repeat the process for the other car end.

Clearly shows cut down box and full size cover plate. And two dabs of glue to keep it in place. And it's probably not a glue you have on your bench unless your spouse is a paper crafter.

Dries fast, like a tough rubber, sticks well to every surface I've used it on. If you're doing wood/paper construction, you'll cut your "waiting for it to dry time" down so far you'll be nearly in continuous construction. Recommended.

Now, back to the Rotary tender clearance issues.

As you may recall, I had clearance issues. Upon further review, I felt if I drilled carefully I would not overpenetrate andcould use a solution like that on the gondola, with a full cover but only half a box.

So I  marked the drill bit with tape and drilled the outboard hole....

Success.

Now, cut down the draft gear box and reinstall. 

Reattach the truck....

Confirm coupler height.

Calling this done. Paint touchups beginning in 3, 2, 1, ....
(Buzzer Sounds)

BONUS ROUND

With a set of drill bits and screws available for draft gear boxes, I finally bit the bullet and attached the drawbar on the Rotary.

My narrow gauge empire just one step closer to reality 

Yes.