New Project Complete - Hobby Boss 72 Scale F4F-4 Wildcat

I have had that on the shelf for about 5 years. It was to be a part of a project to cover the WWII aircraft of VMF-214, the Marine Fighting Squadron of WWII, best known as the Blacksheep, of the same name as the 1970's TV show.

I completed two 72 scale Corsairs. The first is in tricolor of Sept 43-Jan 44 fame where Pappy Boyington led his actual Blacksheep. I also did a Corsair in Dark Sea Blue of the Blacksheep of March 1945 when they flew off the USS Franklin.

This Wildcat is to represent the two tours hardly anyone hears of from Feb - Aug 1943. These were flown by others who came back from the August tours to have Pappy "steal" their squadron number. While the returnees went to Australia for leave, Pappy took off for action in Corsairs.

For more information on the iterations of VMF-214 during WWII, read
The Black Sheep: The Definitive History of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II

by Bruce Gamble.

One more In Progress - F4F-4 Wilcat

I got the Hobby Boss 72 scale Wildcat maybe 6-7 years ago when I first came back to the hobby.

I had completed the F4U-1a Corsair in VMF-214 (Blacksheep Squadron) colours from their 2 tours in 1943.
I had also competed an F4U-4 Corsair from VMF-214 Blacksheep tour on USS Franklin in March 1945.

Tragically, the 70th anniversary of the attack on USS Franklin is coming up on March 19. Over 700 dead and many more wounded. Not widely known, after the Blacksheep finished their tour in the Solomon's, they trained for about a year to be a Marine carrier squardon to help stem the kamikaze tide. They flew their first 12 sorties on March 18th, losing one pilot as PoW, strangely enough in the camp camp as Pappy Boyington. On March 19, they launched 12 more sorties just before their ship was attacked. They had to land on other carriers upon completion of their mission. Imagine, 24 hours in combat, that's all they got for a year of training, along with over 30 dead - pilots and ground crew.

So upon reading Bruce Gambles book "The Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II" , and learning of the first VMF-214 tour in the Solomon's when they were called the Swashbucklers, I decided to model an F4F-4 Wildcat to finish the collection.

Here it is ready for primer and paint, with its later cousins.

Upcoming Projects 2015

I have a few just about ready for paint, however I do not paint my standard model master grey enamel in the house, waiting for positive temps to go out in the shed. Otherwise Cathy would kill me for stinking up the house. Paint booth did work for crap. Not enough CFM.

Coming up - 3 aircraft

Tamileri (Tamiya rebox of Italieri Hurricane Mk 1- Thanks Chris for putting that one on your swap list). I saw this and realized I had never done a Hurricane before. Coupled with the IPMS Canada 50th Anniversary decal sheet for Sqd Ldr Johhny Kent (Canadian) Hurricane from Sept 2, 1940 when he was a flight leader with 303 Polish Sqn, it was a lock.

Hasegawa Hawker Typhoon Mk 1b Car Door. I started this one a few years ago but ran into trouble with the seams for the cockpit insert. So with new found aircraft skills, I repaired and completed it.

Revel ME-262. This is not a great kit, many seam problems and gaps. However it was a perfect quick build to prepare me for the Tamiya ME-262 that i also have in the stash. Learned more seam skills and will be a great paint test bed. This one had raised panel lines which i engraved to be recessed. I used my plexi glass cutter (Thanks John K) with the metal tape lengths for a guide (thaks  Steve F). Didnt turn out too bad, we will see what it looks like painted.

Update - Sherman Jumbo Winter Camo Jan 22, 2015

So calling this one done. This started out as a test to do winter camo. It would have been used in  the winter of 1955 and into early spring of 45. I didn't want to put snow on it, so had to go to the mud of the spring thaw.

The mud was a combo of AK Interactive Dark Mud Wash, and spatter, then dark mud mixed with dark brown pigment in a thin slurry and splatter, then finally add some Plaster of Paris to the slurry to make it thick, and then splatter that.
I added mud and traces of mud on the spots where the crew would have walked to get to the hatches.

Not the best but I actually like the way it turned out.

Update - Tamiya 48 Scale Meteor Jan 2, 2015

Got it painted over Christmas.
I went with the paint scheme from early 1945 when the Meteor F.3 first deployed to the continent. A detachment of 4 aircraft were sent to MelsBroek Air Base in Belgium. These were painted White to avoid confusion with the Messerschmidt ME 262 jet.

I used light grey for the pre shading. I used Tamiya XF-2 White with a tiny touch of black to get "scale" overall white. I painted "between the lines" first to get uniform coverage on the panels, then did successive overall coats to blend in the grey preshading until it was just barely noticeable.

Then came of coat of Future (Pledge Floor Care Multi Surface Polish in Canada). After letting that dry for a day, I applied the decals, using Micro Sol and Micro Set.

Another day to dry, and another coat of future.

Then came the fun part. The reason I like engraved panel lines on aircraft is to do sludge washes so that I can get that defining black line in the panel lines.
If you haven't done it before, it is real simple. With a fine brush, take highly thinned black enamel (80:20/thinner:black) and touch the engraved lines, the Future should let it run in the lines a bit. Continue to do this til you are tired of it :). Wait at least 15-20 minutes (I have come back the next day and can still remove the excess). There will be some of it that goes outside the lines, but take a Q-tip with thinner (squeeze most of it out) and lightly rub the excess, wipe with a paper towel get the residue, you may have to put a tiny bit of thinner on the paper towel. I don't use tissues or toilet paper, too dusty and will stick on the finish. Using Future or a gloss finish first is a MUST. If you try this straight on flat paint it could ruin your finish. In the end it should really pop the detail!

All I have left to do is Dullcote it to reduce the shine a little, however due to the sludge with flat black, it may be dull enough because I did wipe the whole surface to remove any residue . It may have left more of a dulling action than usual.

Last shot is a 72 scale Airfix vs the Tamiya 48 Scale kits.

Of note, and I only realized this with the 72 scale build a few months ago... The RAF changed the upper wing roundels, from Blue/Red, to Blue/White/Red (like the under wing) in early 1945, not sure why, but they did, hence the different looking roundel on the upper wings.

Not perfect, because my best effort is always the next one :)