The Ages of Modeling: What are yours?

This isn't about A Model, but about Modeling. Naturally, there are models as examples, but on reflecting on the hobby, I realized I had passed through some distinct phases in model making. Perhaps you have too.

THE FIRST AGE:

(1/72 Fokker Dr.I, painted purple, just like the box art appeared to me)

My earliest modeling memories are as a small child. My fathet and older brother both built models, and I enjoyed looking at and occasionally playing with them (supervised dogfights and tank battles; me vs one of them!) Models I built often used their assistance, particularly paintwork. As a I grew and had more under my belt, within a few years I was building solo, rarely trimming flash, twisting bits off the sprue, cutting off excess with a single edge razor blade. Paint was brushed if used at all, Testors bottles for less than 19 cents each, cleaned up with turpentine. Models were frequently 1/72 aircraft - larger scales were beyond my budget. Box art was a big influence on the finished look. An arms race with my school friends resulted in my first attempts at scratchbuilding, balsa wood for additional HO tanks,  and a cardboard version of the Lexington for my fleet, based on the hull outline of an old kit of the Missouri and photos from Queen of the Flattops (wish I still had that one ;-) ), with balsa 8 in.  batteries and cut nail barrels. As I grew older I added tools like ecscto knives, razor saws, pin vise drills, and my first single action airbrush, which ran off a bottle of compressed gas. Once high school and college arrived, my building slowed, and marriage and work put it on the shelf. Here ends the First Age.

THE SECOND AGE.

(1/72 Monogram F-105, airbrush, clean build)

A physical injury resulted in weeks of at-home time. Not being used to sitting down for extended periods, and completely unenthused about daytime television, how to stay busy, and sand, while I healed? 

Why not build a modrl or two? It's been years...

More kits available, and with adult resources available, better kits on larger scales! More and better tools! Books like Squadron and Detail & Scale meant I could really get these right! So I got back into the hobby, taking over my modest basement workbench with modelling tools and supplies. Maybe I could finally master airbrushing by getting a nice double action Badger and a small compressor setup. And my growing boys could build with me... 

But alas, they grow too soon, and the focus moves to auto restoration and other pursuits, and once again, modeling languishes. 

THE THIRD AGE.

Having been an empty nester for a while, my professional life reaches its apex and one of today's common M&A events results in retirement a little earlier than originally planned. Going to need to ramp up those hobbies and house projects. Should I pick up the Exacto and Airbrush once again? Let's throw in a pandemic - everyone stay home. Now I have LOTS of time to elevate my art.

(1/48 UH-1D on scratchbuilt beach, handmade decals, forced perspective outdoor photography,  etc.)

Where has Little Bro Gone?

September has been a busy time in the 1:1 world, leaving little mental bandwidth for heavy duty modeling projects. But it has not been without the odd hour here and there, working on repairs, cleans, and completes from earlier projects, and a few new adds to my HO empire. In no particular order...

This began life as a cheap used Bachmann F7. Sanded the nose, scribed panel lines, repainted and decaled everything forward of the doors, added grabirons. Still needs those windshield wipers...

Added a Sdkfz 251D to my Bolt Action 1/56 collection. Painted to match the Panther it supports.

This old 1/72 Thud was in for a cleaning and landing gear repair. Probably one of my better efforts in my Second Age of modeling.

Yes, there's even an uncompleted Gato class sub in the pipeline...

Monogram 1/48 TBF Avenger Update - 9/19/2021

This is a "Glamor" shot of the TBF built in December of 2020.  You can review this effort by typing in "Nostalgia" in the Search This Blog box on the right.  What follows is a wartime photo:

I found this photo AFTER I completed my build - believe it or not.  It was the number 16 that floored me!  Anyway, the reason I show this comparison becomes obvious with a little study.  The Monogram kit lacked some fiddly details in favor of operating wings, retractable gear etc.  That and the fact that my Dad had built this model lead me to build the Monogram as opposed to AM or other more detailed kits.  Although I had done a bit of scratch building on the Monogram I just could not get over the lack of the hydraulic gear retractor arm (yep that is the significant difference in the photos.)  So how do I add something like this ATF and give up the retracting aspect?  Well, here we go.

I began with 0.5mm styrene rod I had on hand.  Two lengths joined by thin cement (easy to lift from my glass work surface).

I etched some wine bottle foil and folded it around the styrene.  Cyano Gel holds this together.

I carefully pin drilled into the gear legs at the attachment points.

\

More styrene rod for hinge pins.

Briefly let the Cyano gel dry and then snipped off the excess rod.

I test fitted and trimmed off the excess foil opposite the hinge pin and flattened it a bit to accept a drop of Gel.  Then I inserted the hinge pin into the hole drilled in the gear leg and pushed the foil end against the inside of the wing bulkhead.  Now I can paint with the interior green to match and add some hydraulic lines.  Below is a photo of TBM 17 at the Peru Illinois TBM Reunion this past summer.  You can see that the gear is painted with interior green and you can make out the hydraulic lines.

I will ad completion photos later, but now the lack of hydraulics will no longer keep me up at night😄

Painted and silver (wire) added.

Grainy historical photo of engine running and wing(s) extending.

Not bad - I will put it on my carrier deck and try and duplicate it for posterity and then replace this pic.

Change of Pace: Warlord Bolt Action 1/56 scale Sdkfz 251 D

A brief palate cleanser while I psych myself up for a return to High Detail Modeling. 

Today it's a recently obtained WWII German halftrack, the ubiquitous Sdkfz 251.

Like most kits in this scale, they are designed as detailed game pieces moreso than scale models. They assemble quickly, but present a nice finished model that looks good on your gaming tabletop, and can survive occasionally incautious use by your ham-fisted fellow gamers.

We'll start this post with basic assembly and priming complete. It's the painting that will bring out the available detail. Primered with Army Painter desert yellow, tracks given a coat of Vallejo black, we're ready to get down to business.

First, the benches. Dark brown wash over all, and highlighted with "wood" to give it depth. All panel lines picked out in black wash. Back pads over benches in a light tan for contrast. The front seats included the exposed spring detail, which was drybrushed black. Now for some dirty-ing and wear.

Black, nearly dry brush, stippled on for dirt; silver drybrushed on for floor and edge wear.

Now the top half of the body can be mounted.

Probably should have done the crew first... ;-)

In any case, I can now make a camo decision.  I have my german armor in a Battle of the Bulge time period, so this needs to fit in. Late war, 3 color.

Color 2

Color 3

 Needs some touch up, let's let it dry first.

Then apply multitudes of ambush camo dots...

Basic decals

Panel lines are next, then dull coat over all.

2 coats clear flat lacquer.

Next, oil paint "dirt" streaking

and finish with some pigment splatters.

Now they look to have traveled the same roads!

A Rehab/Diorama, or the Double Rehab -1/72 OS2U Kingfisher

This photo appeared in this Blog once before in a somewhat obscure post about Planes, a collection of different models I had worked on at one time or another.  This old kit,  that I freshened up, nagged at me.  It needed to be displayed somehow and not just sit cockeyed on its pontoon.  I have a piece of packing foam, and I thought about creating an ocean base as I did with The Enemy Below diorama I did about a year ago (see the list of Project pages just to your right).

I did some research about the Kingfisher and found something curious......

 

......Some may recognize this photo of F6F and Avenger aircrews clinging to a Kingfisher.  Battle at the Truk Atoll in April 1944 had BB-55, USS North Carolina protecting the flat tops carrying out the attacks.  North Carolina's OS2Us were launched on April 30 for rescue duty. JG Lt. John Burns landed his Kingfisher in the Truk lagoon to pick  up a downed airman that had been languishing under Japanese guns for 22 hours.  His companion Kingfisher flipped on is back in a gust of wind when it landed so Burns had to pick them up too!  He taxied them almost 6 miles to the waiting submarine USS Tang that was on rescue duty. Burns then took off and was radioed about other downed crews.  He landed again in 5 foot seas and over the next four hours Burns picked up seven more crew and spread them over the wings and fuselage of the Kingfisher.  The plane was taking a beating and the main pontoon had commenced leaking, so Lt. Burns ferried the crews out to sea and again found USS Tang, that had recently re-appeared on station.  They were all picked up, including Burns and his radio man.  It was fortunate for Burns that he was below deck and did not witness the orders of the Tang Captain to use the deck gun to put the battered, but valiant Kingfisher out of her misery. Burn's received the Navy Cross. 

This is a Kingfisher on the deck of the Museum Ship North Carolina (BB55).  My intent is to emulate the paint scheme, find aircrew and recreate the daring rescue scene.

This artists portrait done in 1943 confirms some of the paint scheme as best I can tell.

So the search for 1/72 aircrews is on.  In the meantime the rehab of my rehab will begin.

The first thing to do is pull off the canopies.  This is a rescue so the canopies would not be closed.  It is not real clear, but I have cut into the foam for the pontoon(s) and you may be able to tell that the plane is sitting back in (what will be) the water as seen in the actual rescue photo above.  My plan is to have the timing of the rescue in between that of the photo and the artists concept.  I have ordered a raft from Shapeways so the diorama will have a few crew on the wing(s) and in a raft.  I am looking for more visual interest - fingers crossed🙏

The Wasp junior (R-985-4) was never detailed so I tried to add a bit, insitu. Getting to the cylinders was tricky at this scale.  Also made the crank case gray (not happy with that piece, as it is flat and not rounded as it is supposed to be - oh well).  Touched up the propeller hub and tips.

I had pulled out the crew and turned the Radio man/gunner around to face forward and then trimmed up and replaced the rear canopies in open position.  Note the gray strip behind the cockpit.  I had to add lengths of styrene rod to build up the canopy track so that the canopy could properly sit in the open position (for which it was NOT designed).

I brushed on some ghost gray as a primer to the formerly blue underside.  Note the only panel lines on this plane are control surface lines - it is a simple kit devoid of panel line detail.

Much has taken place - masking and spraying Navy Blue and the inadvertent deconstruction of the pontoons.  I will not explain my fax pas but only say that it coincidentally resulted in a painting advantage.  I am still wavering on the final look of this Kingfisher.  There are way too many examples from which to chose.  I don't think I will know how it will turn until it's done😜

I layered on the Ghost Gray instead of spraying.  My rationalization was that it is the underside that will not be as noticeable in the final diorama - ok, ok, I did not feel like re-masking everything.  I succumbed to a bout of laziness.  It happens!  Also notice the two tone of the pontoon supports and pylons.  I guess my decision on paint scheme has been made.

With the pontoons reattached the final painting is completed.  Actually I did mask and add the Tamiya medium blue (used on the Midway SBD 2-3) before attaching the pontoons.

A bit of Tamiya Weathering Master (soot) and it is time for decals.  I have to quit with the morning photos - too much backlight.  Anyway, I have asked brother Bob if he has any decals.  I will look in my stash as I recall I did not use the Stars and Bars from the Lindberg B-17 kit.  Although 1/64 scale, the B-17 fuselage may work out on the 1/72 Kingfisher wing.  Stay tuned.

I was correct and the smaller of the Stars and Bars from the Lindberg B-17 are 3cm long and fit the wings nicely.  The underside was a bit tricky since the Bars are both under the pontoon struts and under the bomb hard point.  The problem is that the molded hard point is solid so I had to cut off a portion of the Bar, slice off a section the width of the hard point, and piece it in,  It turned out just fine.

Now to search for fuselage Stars and Bars about 1.75cm in length - UHG!  In the meantime I will work on the radio wire and antenna.  Oh, did I forget to mention that two air crew and my 3D print Raft arrived in the mail........

........The Diorama in ON!  Now back to the decals.

As I scratched my head about how to solve the Stars and Bars on the fuselage problem I took a look in my stash and found these!  I now recalled that these were from the 1/72 scale P 26 I ordered (to get big red dot stars for the wooden Sparrowhawk rehab).  Half the problem seemed solved but I would have to resort to algebra and paint for Bars to go with the Stars.  I had known dimensions of large B & Ss and known dimensions of the small Bs.  I calculated that my small Bars needed to be 3mm x 2mm. Let the masking begin.

Add paint.

Unmask.

Slide in the decal Stars!  The paint is a bit "whiter" but will have to do.

I stretched and trimmed some sprue, pulled off a length of my ever useful monofilament and the mast and radio wire were in place to finish off the Kingfisher.  Now to the raft and crew.  The Avenger was a large aircraft and carried a raft with paddles and provisions.

The raft color was painted black then yellow, the brown straps were added with a yellow brush coat over the top.  There are two paddles using black yellow and then brown.  The two containers are not identified, so I painted one black and one yellow and brown with a blue lid to signify water, but I am rethinking that they should be a military gray or green??  I have started in on the two flyers and am following the picture on the package for colors of shoes flight suit etc,  I have the faces yet to paint as well as finishing the head gear.

I have put the crew together and completed basic painting.  Touch up and weathering needed, but staging has begun.

I have ordered an additional pair of fliers for distribution on the wing(s) and I glued chip board to the foam base.  I can begin the ocean surface now, so stand by!

The ocean is beginning.  I have my watered down Elmer's glue in my tray and am laying on pieces of the "Charmin" and patting it down with a sponge applicator.

It does not take long to get a layer down and now it has to dry to see if it will adhere properly to the packing foam.  The surface looks pretty rough - which is what I want.  I enhanced this by placing some pieces of the foam (I had shaved off of the edges and dug out for the Kingfisher pontoons) under the tissue paper. Three layers of the Charmin should provide a stiff surface for painting. 

My other crew has arrived.  Now I can paint them while the third layer of tissue dries.  I will not be using green but I like that the detail on these includes the O2 masks.  They have a different look and are slightly larger that the other crew, both positives!

Without belaboring the paint mixing, I came up with colors that I wanted.  The flight jackets are a glossy brown, so I hope they look wet.  They need touch up and weathering.  The airman on the right came with a choice for the right arm (all others were molded to the torso), so I chose the upright one to simulate a salute.

A "Staging" example - I do like the position of the crewman giving Lt. Burns the much deserved Salute, but I think it makes more sense  to have them all on the starboard side - the direction of the planes list (outrigger in the water).

Yep - better, so I glued them into position.  Neither the Kingfisher nor the raft will be fixed into position until I get paint on the ocean.  Of course now I have to wait for paint to arrive - UGH!  I thought I had enough but my black and dark blue acrylic were gone and dried up.  I should have checked earlier. 

The Blue acrylic I ordered finally arrived.  I thought I had ordered black as well but it was not included.  Just as well since I had a dark blue/green already.  The color worked out well as Pacific lagoon water.  I generally brush on blue first and then daub in the green.  Sometimes I added a bit more blue, but your eye has to guide you.  I worked in small section so the paint would stay moist adding white to the ridges that I created while applying the tissue paper.  Some were like waves breaking as well as mixing in for the wake of the pontoons.

Now the paint needs to dry completely.  Then I will add the Vallejio Water Texture with additional bits of tissue for breaking waves on the pontoon and around the raft.  As I mentioned previously this is a snapshot of the Truk rescue.  There is another 3 airman out there that Lt. Burns will pick up before heading out to sea to locate the USS Tang.

After squirting the Vallejio on the surface and daubing it down in a couple of layers the surface is taking on the shiny wet look.  Now I put the Water Texture in the tray and throw in bits of tissue.

I put the wet tissue down with the tweezers to build up the wave action.

I fill the gaps around the pontoons and along the crest of waves......

......and around the raft.  It has to dry now so I can determine any remaining "Waves" I want to add,

More "Water" added

TRUK ATOLL LAGOON RESCUE-APRIL 30, 1944

is completed.