Scale modelling

[Claymore]

This month's projects...

The Antares 1/72 Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk. The Seahawk was a naval scout floatplane used in the latter part of WW2 in the Pacific Theatre, brought in to replace the OS2U Kingfisher. It was a neat little plane, single-seated but with enough space behind the pilot for another person. The kit was neat and straightforward, easy to build, and with options for either floats and beaching gear, or wheels. It’s my 6th seaplane model of the year.

 

[Claymore]

This monstrous beast is Big Wind, a fire-fighting machine built in Hungary for putting out oil well fires during the first Gulf War. It comprised two Mig-21 turbojets mounted atop a T-34 tank chassis. After the war, the machine was rebuilt on top of a T-55 chassis.

This 1/72 scale model is based on the later, cleaner T-55 version. The model is a 3D print with some scratchbuilt parts. The mesh cage is made from plastic strips and fabric; the water nozzles are made from bent nails; and the water hoses are made from soldering wire. It’s a fascinating machine. I also have the T-34 version to build sometime and that will be a lot dirtier. Read more here: https://machinesinaction.com/big-wind/ or https://hackaday.com/2021/12/06/big-wind-is-the-meanest-firefighting-tank-you-ever-saw/

 

[satanboy]

 

[Claymore]

Airfix 1/48 TSR.2 cockpit in progress.

 

[Claymore]

Aargh, biplane rigging!!!

 

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

Airfix 1/48 TSR.2 cockpit in progress.

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May I know where you purchased this item from your image:

 

[Claymore]

May I know where you purchased this item from your image:
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Temu. Came with a stack of bits too. The tiny bits break really easily, but I guess it's to be expected.

 

[Claymore]

May I know where you purchased this item from your image:
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I see there are a bunch of similar ones on Takealot too, at varying prices.

 

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

I see there are a bunch of similar ones on Takealot too, at varying prices.

I'll take a look because I am not going via Temu for anything.

 

[satanboy]

 

[Claymore]

Completed, the Octopus 1/72 IMAM Ro.43 seaplane biplane. The Ro.43 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.43) was one of a line of Italian seaplanes used for reconnaissance in WW2, and this particular one was flown off the Eugenio di Savoia light cruiser in 1942.

The kit itself is terrible, one of the worst I’ve built. The plastic parts were not great and were mixed with an odd selection of resin bits. No locating pins or holes for anything, and placement of many parts was sheer guesswork. The cockpit section was too small for the fuselage; I had to build a floor for it to rest on. I drilled locating holes for many parts, and attaching resin bits with superglue was an annoying process. Tail and tailplanes were just butt-joined; I actually drilled holes and used wires to help support the tailplanes. The small floats are really fragile thanks to the poorly-attached resin struts. Many parts or sections just did not fit properly at all. The canopy and clear sections are vacform. Since it’s a biplane, there is a lot of wire rigging, and there’s even more because of the big central float. I drilled dozens of tiny, tiny holes (breaking a few tiny expensive drill bits in the process) in order to thread and glue a whole bunch of fine threads in place. Assembly was quite piece-meal; because of the difficultly of painting with everything assembled, painting was done before the upper wing, struts, and floats were glued in place. Of course, paint touch-ups were then needed for the glue marks.

There’s stuff I’m not altogether happy with, but all in all it came out OK for such a terrible kit.

 

[Claymore]

I've finished 3 little planes: Trumpeter 1/350 TBD Devastators. I found other decals and did a little bit of custom painting to get three specific aircraft. It's hard work at that scale, but most of the painting was masked and airbrushed. The canopy frames and a few other bits were brush painted.

The TBD Devastator torpedo bomber was most known for the battle of Midway. Three squadrons, VT-8 (USS Hornet), VT-6 (USS Enterprise), and VT-3 (USS Yorktown), attacked the Japanese fleet on 4 June 1942. All 15 from VT-8 were shot down, 1 survivor; 10 of 14 from VT-6 were lost; and 10 of 12 from VT-3 lost. 41 left, 6 came back, and no torpedoes scored a hit. Dauntless dive bombers then sank 3 of the 4 Japanese carriers.

The one in the Yellow Wings pre-WW2 scheme is 2-T-1 from VT-2 (Torpedo Squadron 2) from USS Lexington in 1938, based in San Diego, with squadron commander Lt Cdr W Stinson as pilot.

The lighter blue one is T-6-3 from VT-3 at the Battle of Midway, flown by pilot Ens E Heck Jr. and gunner Arm3c D I Richey, the only crew to return to Enterprise.

The darker blue one is 8-T-1 from VT-8, based at NAS Norfolk in Feb 1942, flown by commanding officer Lt Cdr John C Waldron. A few months later he died at Midway attacking the carrier Soryu.

 

[Düber]

I've finished 3 little planes: Trumpeter 1/350 TBD Devastators. I found other decals and did a little bit of custom painting to get three specific aircraft. It's hard work at that scale, but most of the painting was masked and airbrushed. The canopy frames and a few other bits were brush painted.

The TBD Devastator torpedo bomber was most known for the battle of Midway. Three squadrons, VT-8 (USS Hornet), VT-6 (USS Enterprise), and VT-3 (USS Yorktown), attacked the Japanese fleet on 4 June 1942. All 15 from VT-8 were shot down, 1 survivor; 10 of 14 from VT-6 were lost; and 10 of 12 from VT-3 lost. 41 left, 6 came back, and no torpedoes scored a hit. Dauntless dive bombers then sank 3 of the 4 Japanese carriers.

The one in the Yellow Wings pre-WW2 scheme is 2-T-1 from VT-2 (Torpedo Squadron 2) from USS Lexington in 1938, based in San Diego, with squadron commander Lt Cdr W Stinson as pilot.

The lighter blue one is T-6-3 from VT-3 at the Battle of Midway, flown by pilot Ens E Heck Jr. and gunner Arm3c D I Richey, the only crew to return to Enterprise.

The darker blue one is 8-T-1 from VT-8, based at NAS Norfolk in Feb 1942, flown by commanding officer Lt Cdr John C Waldron. A few months later he died at Midway attacking the carrier Soryu.

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Wow, those are tiny. You have the patience of a saint.

They look awesome.

 

[Claymore]

Wow, those are tiny. You have the patience of a saint.

They look awesome.

Thanks! They're actually surprisingly easy to do, even if they are small.

 

[Claymore]

The Airfix 1/48 BAC TSR-2.

The TSR-2 was a beautiful supersonic strike/reconnaissance aircraft that was tested and then cancelled for political reasons in the 1960s, first flying in 1964.

The Airfix kit of it is huge but fortunately not wide, and it looks good in white. I built it as XR222, which is in the Imperial War Museum Duxford. The kit was not the greatest, but not terrible either.

Fit was mostly OK, but there were some issues: the windshield doesn’t fit without rounding it off, the instrument panel glareshield is way too big, and actually blocks the windshield, some part numbers in the instructions are wrong, one part shown wrong way around, and some decals incorrectly labelled.

The model includes a single Red Beard nuclear bomb in the bomb bay. The cockpit was quite nicely detailed. I did have a bit of filling and sanding to do, but many of the seams were well-placed.

My kit was second-hand, and some clear parts were missing, though luckily not the canopies, which had already been painted; I did need to repaint and add the gold tint to the glass. The decals had a long cut across the decal sheet. The fine blue walkway line decals on top were really stressful to apply.

One pic includes in the same scale the first ever jet aircraft, the He-178, as a size comparison.

 

[Claymore]

Revell 1/99 V bombers: The Vulcan and the Victor were two of the trio of Britain's "V Bombers". The Revell kits are actually reboxed old Lindberg kits, with very incorrect box art and painting instructions. The markings supplied are actually for the second prototype of each aircraft, Vulcan VX777 and Victor WB775, painted in white and cerulean blue respectively. Both prototypes first flew in around 1953.

The kits themselves are old, the fit is poor, and detail and accuracy is very limited. That said, they were quite easy to build, and even included pilot figures in the spartan cockpits (though the Victor pilots looked like blobs). A fair bit of white paint was needed for the Vulcan to get the very white finish, and I gave them a nice satin coat. The Revell decals were very yellowed, so I got a superb set of replacement decals printed by MAV Decals. The Victor model has opening engine panels revealing the four Sapphire turbojects tucked into the wings. Both planes are 18-wheelers - lots of wheels to mask and paint!

I quite enjoyed building the kits; it's nice to build really simple ones once in a while.