Thursday 3 October 2013

Radial Fighters of WW2 Group Build

Good evening,

Paul, over at Plastic Warriors has proposed a group build based around his Airfix Zero.

Seeing as my main WW2 Wargaming interest lie in NZ 2 Div's efforts in Italy, I suggested that he broaden the criteria to include any radial engine powered fighter of WW2, mostly 'cause I had this stashed away...


...as a generous gift from Andy. FW-190s are radials, right? Wrong. Well, right and wrong - the A's were...





...but the D model was actually powered by an inverted V-12. From the JU-88, if memory serves.

Still, Paul's keen to see it (seeing as he's just finished one himself) and, as I'm on holiday for the next week...







All on the same day!!

A nice simple kit (main planes and fuselage are both one piece pieces), the only drawback is that they're designed to be modeled wheels down. A simple fix, but still not the tidiest result on the planet.

Oh, and there's no pilot, so I've decided to paint the canopy blue as so many clever chaps (most especially Tim Gow) have done before. I'm hoping I can get it right.

While I was at it, I decided to drag out the unfinished Hurricane...


...that's been waiting all this time just for the canopy frames to be painted (!), and my Thunderbolt...



...that is at least radial engine powered!

So, as Paul would say...model on!

Nick

15 comments:

  1. Cripes Nick you are quick off the mark here!

    Excellent progress!

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    1. Hi Paul. Yep, I thought, while I've got a little spore time before Term 4 starts up. Any thoughts as to how to approach the painting of the canopy?

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    2. Opps, spare time! This handwriting recognition is pretty good, but still...

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    3. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this Hobby Boss kit is a breeze to put together. Hence the apparent 'speed'!

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    4. I usually just free hand it Nick or use some really thin tape. Canopy painting sucks.

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    5. Yep, free handed the Hurri, and it came out ok. No, I was wondering how to 'solid' paint the canopy - this Hobby Boss kit has no pilot, so I'm planning to completely paint over the canopy to hide the fact. Ain't never done that before, any ideas?

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    6. I did see a post on this somewhere but cannot put my finger on it at the moment.

      I will search on...

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    7. http://willwarweb.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/windscreen-painting.html

      This maybe of help. I am pretty sure Tim just paints them sliver.

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    8. Thanks Paul, that does help. I've decided to go grey on black, much like Will's gone blue on black.

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  2. The HobbyBoss Bf109 was certainly a quick build - no doubt it'll take me months to paint it! What make is the P-47?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tim,

      Yep, I'm quite sold on this Hobby Boss stuff. Well, by sold I mean I've been given this and a BF-109...I should get it done alongside yours!

      The P-47 is an old Academy kit if memory serves. Not great (I'm not very happy with the fit of the nose with the fuselage...and I've lost the bombs!) but it was cheap.

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  3. Nice work. It will be great to see these up and running, so to speak.

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    1. Thanks Sean. Probably won't be on the table for a while - I got it on the slim chance that it might turn up in a Crete game, but the Falshirmjagers are quite a way from being done.

      Still, they were in Greece while the Kiwis were pulling out...

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    2. Opps, that comment was specifically about the Hurricane! The FW and P-47 will be up and done by the end of next week. I hope.

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