Untitled - Romsey Modellers

APRIL 2009 THIS MONTH Welcome to the second edition of The Romsey Modeller. I have plenty of positive feedback on the new magazine name and format so I must be doing something right!. It looks like word is getting out as we have so far had almost one hundred downloads of the magazine from the Website. This month magazine has a decidedly Airfix led theme. The prospect of the forthcoming competition has resulted in an all time record of Airfix builds (well at least since the 70s). Richard finishes his very impressive TSR2, Dale, his HMS Fearless and yours truly manages to get in on the act with a challenging Queen Mary II. Aside from Airfix related builds, Russell completes his Munition Schlepper and we very nearly have Paul completing his Yamaha M1, the final edition of this saga should be in next month’s Romsey Modeller. We have some exciting news on the next group build, a preview of model shows, as this year’s show season kicks off with the Poole show. We have a review of the Yamaha YZR M1 Super Detail Set and the standard review of the modelling press. As ever thank you to everybody who has helped put this magazine together. Tony… This is the newsletter of Romsey Modellers a multitalented group of plastic modellers based in Southern Hampshire. We cater for all modelling genres and skill levels from beginners to well seasoned gurus. We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 8pm to 10pm in Ampfield, Hampshire, where we often run workshops and club competitions but more importantly have a good chat about our hobby. We also attend most of the local model shows, where we exhibit our member’s completed projects. We have an open door policy so if you want to sample how we can help you get more out of your hobby or just come and have a friendly discussion (tea and biscuits provided) please feel free to turn up – see the last page for details or visit our web site www.romseymodellers.co.uk 2 CONTENTS April 2009 ............................................................................................................................................................... 2 This Month ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Club News ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 It’s a Small (Scale) World .................................................................................................................................... 5 TSR 2: The Final stage! By Richard Stewart ........................................................................................................ 6 Top Studio 1/12 2008 Yamaha YZR M1 Super Detail Set by Paul Adams ........................................................... 8 What the papers say… ...................................................................................................................................... 10 SD.KFZ 252 Munition Schlepper – part 2 – painting by Russel Eden ................................................................ 14 The Assen Assassin Part 6 by Paul Adams ........................................................................................................ 16 Airfix: HMS Fearless ‐ final stage Build by Dale Koppi ..................................................................................... 18 Airfix RMS Queen Mary II by Tony Adams ....................................................................................................... 21 Actual exchanges between pilots and control towers from Pat Camp ............................................................ 24 In Next Months Romsey Modeller ................................................................................................................... 25 Club Diary ......................................................................................................................................................... 26 Contact Info ...................................................................................................................................................... 26 CLUB NEWS COMPETITION TIME BY PAUL ADAMS It’s hard to believe that seven months have flown by since the announcement, and already the first of the new style Test Trout competition’s is upon us. Wednesday night will see the first manufacturer based themed contest for models based on any Airfix kit, old or new. I have seen plenty of kits under construction at club nights, and hopefully many of them will be finished in time!! We might even see some with wet paint! Hopefully we should see a good variety of models to judge. Most of you will be aware, there’s more than just the Test Trout trophy and the plaudits of your fellow modellers at stake this time. Not only will the winner receive an Airfix plaque to keep, but also a model kit/s (to be revealed on the night) to build, donated very kindly by the nice folks at Airfix! Modellers that place in second or third will receive a prize of modelling knives and blades donated by scalpelsandblades.co.uk I really should have built something myself, knowing all this was available!! 3 TEST TROUT 2010 In order to give everyone a good head start for next years contest, I’m pleased to announce the manufacturers theme for 2010 will be Revell. Any model based on a Revell, Revell AG or Revell‐Monogram (known in the States by some as Revellogram!) kit will be permitted. The choice of kits is enormous, and some of the models are too!! I see no excuse for Tony Adams to start his 5ft + Gato class sub now!! Some of Revell’s recent releases are superb and provide a mouth‐watering array of subjects. So, now you know. You’ve got just 12 months!! What are you waiting for, check your stash (I know I have a few) or get down to Just Add Imagination(or their new site http://www.justkitsandmodels.co.uk) and check out what’s available. Alternatively look on the web at www.revell.de/en/ or www.revell.com. No news on prizes just yet. Good luck. MODEL SHOWS The first shows of the year are upon us. First up on April 18th we visit the IPMS Dorset Show (Poole Vikings Model Club) at: Parkstone Grammar School, Sopers Lane, Poole, Dorset BH17 7EP. Web Site Traditionally this is an excellent show with plenty of exhibitors and traders. We have 18 foot of table space; at the time of writing we only have Paul and Lisa manning the table so volunteers please. The second show is a new event on April 25th and 26th at Barton Peveril College Chestnut Avenue Eastleigh SO505ZA This is a new event in aid of aid of Naomi House Children's Hospice. It sounds as if the format will be similar to the Mountbatten show, with railway, radio and static modellers exhibiting. We just about have enough volunteers to man the tables for two days but would be happy for more volunteers. THE ROMSEY MODELLERS SURVEY 2009 If you collected a survey form at March’s meeting just a reminder to bring it back on Wednesday (I will bring new forms for those that forget!). Alternatively you can download the form from our web site, complete it and email it back to me. Once I get all your responses I will begin the enlightening job of correlating them into a set of statistics (reminds me of my GCE maths project), hopefully for next months magazine. 4 JUST AN IDEA I came across an interesting event whilst taking a look at other UK modelling club web site (I admit I was trawling for ideas). West Middlesex Modelling club http://www.westmiddlesexmodelclub.co.uk/ organise a club event where everybody builds the same kit ‐ in 2 hours! The photos on their web site show eight intrepid modellers taking on the 2 hour challenge and what is more tackling Airfix’s Meteor F8 – this is Olympic modelling at its best (I did notice a few pints of beer in their photos, which is not surprising as I sure I would be driven to drink with such a daunting task). Anyway this got me thinking. How about holding our own challenge but instead of 2 hours we could take a whole day. I would like to know how many people would be interested to do this on a Saturday or Sunday later in the year (say September). I would suggest we go for a more advanced kit such as one of the Hobbyboss kits we used for our last group build (I have mentioned it to Malcolm at Just add Imagination who would be happy to supply the kits with a bulk discount). My mind has been spinning with possibilities such as inviting other local clubs for a “paint off” i.e. inter club competition or advertising it to the general public to encourage people to get into modelling. However for now I would like to try it out within the club to see how it works and what are the pitfalls (and I can see there are some that need sorting out before we all get high on glue and paint fumes). I’m quite enthusiastic about this kind of event – what do you think? PHOTO SHOOT We are planning a photo shoot for our club meeting in May. The idea is to get some good gallery pictures for the Web site. Paul and I will be bringing our photo equipment, so please bring along any kits, dioramas etc that you think would like photographed. IT’S A SMALL (SCALE) WORLD I recently received this email from Scott Bricker of IPMS Washington DC I wanted to drop you a note and say thanks for the great resource of knowledge and wonderful site. Patrick Camp responded to a posting I had on figure paining on Hyperscale and was very helpful. I have perused your site and love the format of your monthly newsletter/magazine. As the VP of the DC IPMS chapter I know how much time it takes to maintain such sites. I wish you the best and if any of your club members find themselves in the Washington DC area on the first Wednesday or third Tuesday of the month please let me know I would love to have them visit our club or the NoVa IPMS club. Scott also sent me a copy of their magazine (The Capital Flyer) which is highly impressive. Take a look at http://www.ipmsdc.org/html/newsletters.php the painting guide in February’s edition is superb whilst the F‐
100 in the March edition is outstanding. 5 TSR 2: THE FINAL STAGE! BY RICHARD STEWART Well I left you ‘on a knife edge’ last time just before I was going to apply the top coat. Well it went on
pretty well considering I’m very new to the art of air brushing, using the grey primer had the benefit not
only that I could see where I had sprayed but it also had the bonus of a pre shading exercise and so
the ‘shade of white I was looking for appeared before my very eyes! There was a downside though, I
forgot to prime in grey panels that were to be fitted later in the build and so they stuck out like a sore
thumb when compared to the rest of the model. A rub down and an application of grey primer first
brought them up to standard. All was going well but I forgot this was an Airfix kit and so the parts that I
had just painted to match the rest of the plane did not fit too well on the fuselage. Notably the rear
upper air brakes of which the port side took a lot of filling and sanding on the inside to get a half
decent fit!
Also my little idea about leaving the engines and rear stabilizers off till the end was causing trouble as
to get the circular bushes in to hold the stabilisers the engines have to left off and fitted last, however
the engines will not fit with the stabilisers on! So I just stuck the stabilisers on in the old fashioned
way.
I had some new resin seats ordered from Hannants which were designed to fit the Vac formed kits bit
did fit this one with a little reshaping, notably removing the centre ram from the rear and thinning the
bottom of the seat. Once finished they were a little more detailed than the original kit ones (On the
left)
The decals went on quite well with no major issues, it was just there were so many of them. On
completion of decaling, a coat of Future was applied to seal them in and to finish, a final topcoat of
Humbrol satin varnish. It was now just a case of finishing small ancillary items on the aircraft, so my
attention turned to the case as I have two young boys who at the moment have destructive
tendencies who would love to reinact the decision of the 1965 Labour Government!
6 I have made cases before but they usually turn out with some fit issues as my skills in that department
are a little on the scratchy side, so I found a company to make one.(www.acrylicdisplaycases.co.uk).
Which was perfect, so with some MDF for the base the aircraft should be ready for display for the next
club night.
CONCLUSION Well it’s Airfix say no more, but on the whole I did enjoy this build even with the poor fit issues and the
fact with the incorrect squat of the undercarriage it looks like a duck about to lay an egg! It still has
that iconic TSR 2 look and with the after market decals and resin stuff and the amount of information
on the web to correct the fit issues it has the makings of something of a special, pity they are out of
stock (except for eBay of course). Well back to building the USS Hornet….
To see what this plane would have been like with some great backing music input this into your web
browser;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQTXwKZvza8&feature=PlayList&p=747CDEF32542ED59&playnext=1&ind
ex=33 Ed: In the meantime I have knocked up this montage of Richard’s TSR2 on the runway. 7 TOP STUDIO 1/12 2008 YAMAHA YZR M1 SUPER DETAIL SET BY PAUL ADAMS Having been part of the aftermarket bike scene for a few years or so, producing etched based small detail sets for Tamiya’s MotoGP kits, Japanese manufacturer, Top Studio, have taken the leap into the transkit (TK) field, an area previously dominated by Studio 27, Renaissance and garage kit maker CGM. Whilst their efforts have kept modellers happy for several years, Top Studio first TK for the ageing Tamiya 2005 M1 kit simply moves the goalposts for the opposition by some distance. Why? Let me explain. Modellers have been used to resin cowling upgrades and a few etch pieces thrown in with some decals (just like my Assen M1 project), or CGM’s rough resin casting with ALPS printed decals and no etch at all, but Top Studio have endeavoured to provide not only those pieces and more, but with more detail and better quality. The TK is presented in the usual rectangular box, but with a nicely done sleeve to indicate it’s contents, all of which are housed cosily in the red and black box. Upon opening you are greeted with a beautifully produced instruction booklet, in full colour with easy to follow illustrations and photographs detailing every aspect of using the TK, with painting guides along the way. This is a huge improvement over the single photo reference sheets provided by Studio 27 and Renaissance. CGM kits have an unintelligible small sheet of paper!! The resin parts are plentiful. In four bags are new for 2008 cowlings, including a correct two‐piece dummy tank cover, which can be removed after completion. The quality of casting on these parts alone easily matches anything I’ve seen in injection‐moulded plastic, including the thickness of the parts – an inherently difficult area to tackle given the softer nature of resin. There’s not one pinhole or rough casting edge to be seen and 8 the parts will only need the plugs removed and a little clean up to be ready for painting. Even all the attachments holes are present to avoid the use of Tamiya’s out‐of‐scale screws. Astonishing. Two other resin filled bags contain parts for upgrading the engine from its 2005 spec 990cc spec, to the modern 2008, 800cc version, an area often overlooked by other companies. Then there’s the extensive electrical and engine management hardware, which lives beneath the dummy tank and in the tail unit (there’s room in there too due to it being fully hollowed out), all electrical connectors, a fully realised instrument binnacle, new upgrade pieces for the revised frame, a new one piece swingarm (all holes cleaned out and aligned), new wheels with predrilled air valve holes, a new exhaust, a full radiator cowling, fluid bottles cast in white resin, new callipers, rear hugger and a new textured seat pad to simulate the material used. A bag of machined parts contains a beautiful silencer (hollowed out to take a gauze filter!), exhaust retaining springs, rivets, screws, air valves and machined nuts for wheel retention. Four bags are home to the etch frets which provide small brackets, new radiator covers, chain tension brackets, a rear disc, velocity sensors, and an in scale exhaust retaining bracket. Another bag gives you 200 or so nuts, bolts, washers, which are simply held in place on the thin film covered with adhesive so the parts on need gently prising away to be used. No cutting etch and orbiting your parts here, oh no! The last bag has various sizes of wire and tubing so you can fully wire up your Yamaha, also made clear in the instruction booklet.
Another excellent full colour sheet demonstrates decal placement. The Cartograph decal sheet has option for four races at which Valentino Rossi won on his way to his 8th championship, and it even has two options for his dog, Guido (always seen on his bike’s seat) to allow for the winged angel‐on‐ a‐cloud version, seen at Motegi after the poor thing past away!! Other decal options are going to be released including a version for the other 9 factory team rider who was seen several times last year crashing very heavily, Spaniard Jorge ‘look Mum I’m flying’ Lorenzo! All this quality comes at a price of course, which with today’s weak pound means you’ll pay a pretty price for it from Japan. I decided to purchase mine in the UK from Hiroboy at £156. I read some have managed to buy it from Germany at £130. When you consider the amount you’ll spend getting a Renaissance or CGM TK to this standard, you’ll inevitably spend more than that. My Assen Yamaha has cost well over £200 to date with all of the extra bits I‘ve added over the original transkit. Top Studio has created, in the author’s opinion, a groundbreaking transkit for avid MotoGP bike builders. Once integrated with Tamiya’s lovely 2005 kit, the result should be stunning. The company are currently building one up on their website at http://www.topstudiohobby.com/ The company’s strap line is Detail Master , they aren’t kidding. WHAT THE PAPERS SAY… A Kiwi “Fee”... In February this year a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b fighter, a type extinct for almost 90 years, flew in New Zealand. We report on how Lord of The Rings film director and The Vintage Aviator Ltd made it happen Nachtjagd!... :Two former Second World War Luftwaffe nightfighter crew members recall stalking the RAF's bombers by moonlight. Destiny at Dübendorf...A look at the Zürich International Flying Meeting of 1937 with the help of contemporary Flight reports HIDDEN HISTORY: Fox One!... We reveal how a bizarre sequence of events in 1972 led to a Fleet Air Arm Phantom firing a missile on a US Navy Skywarrior DATABASE: The Fairey Barracuda... The full story of Fairey's unloved monoplane torpedo‐bomber . . . and how it was more effective than is often realised Ooh La La!... A report from California on AeroCraftsman's fine replica of the ultimate 1930s racer, France's Caudron C.460, which made its first flight in January 2009 AIRCREW... Under the spotlight for May is the Bristol Boxkite flying instructor Where on Earth?... This month Aeroplane's intrepid web explorer, focuses his Google Earth gaze on Tucson, Arizona Posh Panzer ‐ The Editor builds the new Resicast Rolls Royce Armoured Car Afghan T‐54 – A model of an abandoned T‐54 using the Tamiya kit British Bulldog ‐ Cromwell Models new upgraded FV432 kit is given a test drive Stug III Ausf.B in 1:48th ‐ upgrade the Tamiya kit Sherman Up Close ‐ We continues our series looking in detail at the Sherman variants One Sixteenth Superking ‐ The Editor looks at the impressive new Trumpeter kit and begins a series building the kit Keeping Track ‐ More new releases Postcards from Nuremburg Toy Fair ‐ upcoming releases from the leading manufacturers at this years show 10 Hurricane intruder A Hawker fighter for night operations Cover Story: Easy carrier deck Display your 1960s aircraft at sea Showcase: Saluting Sweetie Pie F‐4 Phantom made to a general's order Vietnam U.S. Navy SEAL boat Model action in the Mekong Delta Build a Boilermaker Boeing How to place Airfix's 737 at Purdue Finishes for a Japanese sub Modeling the gargantuan I‐400 Post‐apocalyptic Peugot Some "mad" fun with a rally car kit Workbench Reviews FSM's unmatched reviews of the latest kits, every one built by a modeler. Academy 1/48 scale F‐22A Raptor Italeri 1/35 scale Carro Armato L6/40 Xtrakit 1/72 scale Sea Harrier FA.2 Tamiya 1/35 scale Jagdtiger Revell Germany 1/144 scale C‐17A Globemaster III Hasegawa 1/72 scale E‐2C Hawkeye 2000 Bronco 1/35 scale SdKfz 221 Leichte Panzerspähwagen Eduard 1/48 scale Fokker E.11/111 Eindecker Pacific Coast Models 1/32 scale Fiat G.55 Serie 1 Centauro MiniArt 1/35 scale Bantam BRC 40 1/4‐ton 4 x 4 Tamiya 1/24 scale Porsche 956 MARDER‐MANIA Group builds are a great way of showing different modelling techniques as they assemble the same basic kit. We prove that this month with 23 builds of Tamiya's 1/48 Marder III CANADIAN WILDLIFE TEe Italeri LAV IS CONVERTED into two original Canadian APCs, the Grizzly and the Cougar. Plenty of scratchbuilding and two wonderful paint jobs set these models apart RAKETENWERFER Cyberhobby, Dragon's sidearm, frequently release one‐off FROM MARYLAND TO BALTIMORE Nine months in the making, a Martin Baltimore BUSHMASTER We look at Australian armour in Afghanistan CAMOUFLAGE AND MARKINGS We provide plenty of choices for modellers Last of the Breed 2nd part of the Soviet T‐10M feature
Three of a Kind Airbrush tests Commodus the Roman Hercules Painting the Pegaso figure Red Flak Truck 1/48 model Detail a DAK Panzer IIF Adding interior detail to the Dragon kit On the Bridge where the Lotus Blossoms assemble and paint the Pegaso Samurai warrior... Last of their line Builds of a Seafire FR.47 and Spitfire F.22 in 1/32 scale using the Revell/matchbox kit and some long‐awaited resin conversion parts... Roosevelt’s last Cats Provides a photo report on the last US Navy F‐14 Tomcat cruise ever... Seafires ahoy! Offers a selection of archive photos showing the Seafire FR.47s of 800 NAS aboard HMS Triumph before and during the Korean War... Guards ‘ace’ The Gavia 1/48 scale La‐7 in the markings of Soviet ‘ace’ Pavel Golovachev Spotlight illustrated a selection of NATO‐operated F‐16 Fighting Falcons American Harrier The first of a four‐part series tracing the story of the Hawker Harrier in the United States...Part One: The X‐men – the Kestrel programme AMI ’104S Builds Hasegawa’s 1/32 scale Lockheed F‐104S For Valour The aircraft flown by Victoria Cross winners 11 SCALED UP Czech these! Taking a look at a selection of Czech Air Force types
Flanker blue Viper Hasegawa’s 1/48 scale F‐16C in the striking 57th Adversary Tactics Group Flanker‐like blue camouflage scheme... 8pg Supplement sponsored by Airfix AIRFILE 12 – Supermarine Spitfire F.22/24 Describes the camouflage and markings of the last Spitfires in RAF service... Two‐seat Hunters Side by Side ‐ The Hunter T.7
Pick up a Penguin Kinetic’s NATO Viper modelled in Norwegian Markings Emil Rising Messerschmitt Bf 109E‐1 in 1/32 Scaling Down Amodel’s Lancaster BI / BIII finished at last Harvard HomeConverting the Revell Texan to a RAF Harvard Mk I Milton’s Schemes Revell’s An‐124 24‐Hour Finnish Building Heller’s Fouga Magister in a day Modelling to the Max Building the Trumpeter 1/32 Yak‐18 Stryker 1128 Mobile Gun System 105The 1:35 AFV Club kit which includes a metal barrel, photo‐etch screens, clear vision blocks, headlamps, decals, rubber tyres and hatch cover. The Armour Workshop IXI Working with Resin Following on from the Photo‐etch article in the February 2009 issue of SMMI this Workshop once again uses the reliable Tamiya Panther hull Ice Cold in Alex A movie‐inspired diorama Life’s a Beach A look in detail at the Great North Roads Pacific Beach Diorama Real and Replica The AAVP‐7A1 America’s Amphibious Armour – Part 1 High and Mighty A look at the new Accurate Armour resin Antar Tractor and Taskers Trailer Wehrmachtschütze im Feldanzug 1939: One of Pegaso’s latest 90mm white metal figures Urban Warrior The Cyber Hobby Panther F, and equipped it for street fighting Ambush Scheme Assault Gun The Tamiya 1:35 StuG.III Ausf.G Kwik Build The HobbyBoss 1:72 single‐ and twin‐seat Eurofighter Typhoons by Alan Bottoms Special Hobby 1:32 Brewster Buffalo by Libor Maly Trumpeter 1:32 P‐51D Mustang IV by Jamie Haggo Superb Samurai Tamiya’s all‐new 1:48 Mitsubishi A6M5/5a Zero Faster, lower, smarter We build, update and correct the Eduard 1:48 Mirage 2000D RAF Phantoms The Flying Tank Academy’s superb new 1:72 Il‐2 PREVIEW Accurate Armour series III ‘Hard top’ Land Rover Tamiya’s 1:48 Austin Tilly 1:6 accessories from Dragon AFV Club Stryker MGS The all new 1:35 HobbyBoss AAVP‐7A1? Dragon’s re‐boxed 1:35 UH‐1N ‘Huey’ Gunship BERLIN BRUISER Tamiya’s ancient Chieftain Mk.5 converted into a Mk.10 sporting the complex Berlin scheme! PROPAGANDA PRIZE As we finish our Panther/Panzer IV Hybrid conversion, Dragon announces it as a kit! STALKING GIANT Tamiya’s all new Jagdtiger THE DEFEATED FOXES Italeri’s Crusader Mk. I detailed with the help of Royal Model and Fruilmodel. 12 THE MISSING‐LINK MARDER Tamiya’s huge 1:48 Marder III for the Missing‐Links group build! LEOPARD SPOTTING more superb reference on Canadian Armour. This month, the awesome Leopard 2A6M Skorzeny’s Surprise World War Two ‐ German Shermans in secret attack » Napoleon fights for Paris Napoleonic Wars ‐ Brilliant defence against overwhelming odds Mussolini against the Black Napoleon World War Two ‐ Fascist conquest of Ethiopia Ordeal at Beecher Island Frontier Warfare ‐ Desperate US Cavalry stand against Dog Soldiers Henry the Warlord Tudor Army ‐ 500th anniversary—Henry VIII as military leader ‐ Add detail to a basic kit MPC's 1972 Road Runner gets a facelift How to apply decals All you need is a few basic tools and a little patience Better bodywork with polyester resin putty It cures quickly, is compatible with many paints, and makes bodywork easier From curbside to full‐detail Build a 1958 Oldsmobile Fiesta station wagon from a curbside resin kit Multicolor paint masking How to paint Kasey Kahne's camo‐scheme 2006 Charger Kitbash a 1960s racer No fenders? No problem for this Late Model Dodge How to work with photoetch Add fine detail to grilles, brakes, emblems, and more NNL Toledo Held on October 11, 2008 at Maumee, Ohio DREIFINGER IM 1:32! part one of a build of Revell’s new 1:32 Ju88A‐1 bomber
CHAPMAN’S BALLISTIC BATHTUB Tamiya’s classic 1:20 Lotus 25 gets the once‐
over... Twice! GRIZZLY BEAR Dragon’s Sturmpanzer IV ‘Brummbär’... KIT PREVIEW Studio27 1:24 Ferrari F430 ‘Ecosse’ NEWS FROM NUREMBERG TMMI reports from the Nuremberg Spielwarenmesse, the biggest toy fair of the year BATTLE CRUISER HOOD Trumpeter’s 1:350 HMS Hood, and adds some extra details... AN EYE FOR A SOUVENIR... PT.6 Time for the painting and weathering! MESSERSCHMITT BF109E COLOUR PROFILES Stunning colour artwork from Richard J Caruana Feature 1: Airfix Resurgent: The editor builds the new 1:48th Airfix TSR.2 and finds that after their recent troubles Airfix have picked themselves up and brushed themselves off in order to deliver a great kit of a British enigma. TSR.2 Walkaround: A thorough examination of the exterior of the restored versions on display at Cosford and Duxford. Feature 2: F.3; The Number of the Beast: Your editor puts in some overtime hours this month with a second build for this issue, taking a look at the new Trumpeter 1:32nd E.E. Lightning, and has some fun along the way. Feature 3: Corsairs over Korea: continueation of our series on Korean War aircraft with this intensive build of currently available 1:72nd scale Corsairs. Compact Build Reviews: Our dedicated team of builders examine recent kit releases for your pleasure. Aviation in Profile: “Sea Vixen: The Early Years”: The early development on the Sea Vixen. Profiles: Sea Vixen SAM Plans: Sea Vixen by Mark Rolfe.
13 SD.KFZ 252 MUNITION SCHLEPPER – PART 2 – PAINTING BY RUSSEL EDEN Continued from Romsey Modeller Vol 1:1 After the halftrack assembly was finished it was on the painting. This would essentially be the same as the Stug B – a nice shade of panzer grey. The halftrack and trailer were sprayed with grey primer and the joins on the halftrack rubbed down, until I was happy with them. Primer shows up any casting lines or badly filled surfaces. It was then given another coat of primer. Once dry and I was happy they received a coat of Tamiya panzer grey spray paint. This went well until the trailer hitch loop snapped and the whole thing hit the floor, bugger. This happened because the resin was a bit thin and I used it to loop wire through to hold whilst spraying, I won’t be repeating that mistake! After removing the floor fluff and rubbing it down I resprayed it and left it to dry with the halftrack. Washes were next, after my previous mistake with the Stug I did not give these a coat of The finished trailer – not very exciting!
varnish and moved straight to the MIG dark wash. This went on a lot better without the varnish! After a couple of coats I was fairly happy with the result, perhaps a bit too streaky, more practice and another thing to learn methinks. I gave them a coat of matt cote to seal this in and gave it a quick dry brush with various lighter shades of panzer grey to highlight the raised surfaces. The finished halftrack
14 The tyres and rubber parts on the road wheels and tracks were painted black and the tracks were painted a mix of rust, panzer grey and black, this came out very dark and were not as good as the Stug tracks but I’ve seen tracks in so many colours and shades it is impossible to say what’s right or wrong. I gave them a dark wash and a light dry brush of gunmetal to highlight the detail. You can still see the interior detail too
Onto the decals, the conversion comes with none so it was off to the spare decal collection. The ones that come with the kit are unique to Rommel’s halftrack so were unusable. I used the Stug batterie 667 ones to match the Stug, some halftracks did this, most didn’t but with no photos of any 667 batterie vehicles who knows? The crosses and the number plates were taken from various 1/48 spares sheets. These were given a light coat of the dark wash to dull them down and a coat of matt cote to seal them in. Note the ‘silvering’ on the front cross – see below
15 Lastly: the detailing, the mirror was painted silver, the width indicator tops white and the tools GW Chainmail and handles GW Bestial Brown. The pads on the top hatches were painted red/brown with a coat of Tamiya Smoke for shading. The rolls were painted Field grey and the straps khaki and then given a coat of the dark wash for detailing. Using a pencil I gave the halftrack a few scuffs and scrapes and added to this with a light dry brush of GW Chainmail in a few places too. My only major problem is the backing of the crosses shows up when photos are taken of it – well done for pointing that out Paul! I should cut out each part of the cross and line them up!?? You’re having a laugh!! The mud and weathering will be done with the Stug when I’ve sorted out what I’m doing with the base…. When’s the annual competition? Might have to get my butt in gear. I’ve got to make the figures look as good as the vehicles next – eek!! THE ASSEN ASSASSIN PART 6 BY PAUL ADAMS In the January 09 issue of Update, I finished with the news of another problem in the form of a broken tail unit, after clumsily dropping it on the floor almost immediately after completing the decaling. [1] So, with my second major disaster behind me it was time to regroup and find a way forward, and quickly. It’s very easy to become bogged down with problems when working through a project, and I find it’s important to find a solution and quick. These are the foundations of one of those models that never see the light of day again. [1]
[2]
I figured after breaking the tail that it could be repaired, but not without damaging the paint and decals. So needing to purchase decals anyway, I decided to obtain and replacement tail and at only 5.00 Euros, it was cheap, and would save some time in repair and stripping the broken part for paint once more. I got straight onto painting the new part as soon as it fell through my letterbox. Although cast from the same mould, there were some differences in the quality of the finished item as I had a lot more cleaning up to do on this one. I chose the same sequence of painting as for the first version, white Tamiya primer, then Zero pure white followed by masking up for the red, green and blue painted areas. Keen to avoid differing shades of paint I even undercoated the green with fluorescent green as I done on all the other green sections, before repainting with the Kawasaki/flo green mix (see Decembers update). One advantage I had now was I could use the first tail as reference and from this I was able to assess the demarcation lines far easier, and improved the blue line so much so, that I have now virtually hidden the bleed I had before. [2]. 16 Another improvement was made to the red and green panels by sweeping the masking line back to form more [3] [4]
of a point at the tail and this now looks more like the real machine. The picture tells a better story. [3] After coating the paint with clear, it was on with the decals. Once again I had the benefit of hindsight and applied all of the decals in half the time of the first! I decided to make some changes to the carbon areas beneath the tail, as I checked my references and found I got another bit wrong on the first one. The central strip is now wider and the angle has been softened where it blends into the area that would house the fuel tank. The new tail unit is seen here on the right. [4] I allowed a few days of drying and then shot 3 coats of clear through my Iwata CR Revolution airbrush. I was very pleased with the finish, which only needed a short session of polishing. [5] [5] [6]
While decaling the tail I also completed the remaining decals the made up the ‘love note’ on the seat. The larger part on the tail had been carefully aligned, so that the final decals that went across the tank would line up nicely. Before completing the decalling on the tank however, I needed to mask off the small blue strip on the side and spray it light blue to match the other painted areas, a job quite frankly I had been dreading!! This was achieved by masking off the cleared decal to reveal just the darker blue section. I then airbrushed a base white using Zero pure white and covered this with 3 light coats of my mixed blue, which I have now christened ‘Assen blue’. To my surprise it turned out very well, with my careful masking paying dividends once more. I clearcoated the paint and left this to harden off for a few days. I could then apply the last part of the ‘love note’ and clear this with two nice wet coats leaving a very pleasing finish. It’s difficult to seen the difference all this work made, but once on the bike, the evidence was all too visible. It’s all in the details!! Picture 6 shows the blue on the decal for comparison. [6, 7] With the main painting out of the way, I could now progress onto adding detail to the frame. [8] 17 Due to the deadline for this issue, you’ll see the conclusion of the detailing and see the bike finally completed next month. [7] [8] AIRFIX: HMS FEARLESS ‐ FINAL STAGE BUILD BY DALE KOPPI And yet another month has past and the club competition draws ever near. On the positive side, it looks like everything is mostly on track as far as time is concerned. With 4 days to go, the majority of the build is complete. Continuing from where we left off last time, the main structure was complete with the etch doors and ladders glued in place. The fun and games really began when I started on the inclined walkways and railings. Using my new etch tool, the tiny hold and fold, otherwise known as "the bug", the railings were bent into shape. These were then glued to the ship using a needle dipped in superglue. This is when I learnt a valuable lesson. Not only does fresh superglue dry fast, but breathing on superglue helps it set even faster. Nothing like glueing the railing piece to the needle instead of the ship to raise the blood pressure! Lesson number two. You always need a third hand. Creating jigs or using clamping tools may take more time, but it helps a lot. e.g. by using cocktail stick, with two V cuts placed in the correct place, you can hold tiny bits of etch in place to give you two hands free to glue them. With this new stability, I was able to glue three very tiny pieces together with minimum glue which kept it very tidy. Another example was creating a base to hold the ship. A piece of cardboard and some off cuts of wood glued together. This kept the ship steady while working on it. Anyway. about half my time was spent creating jigs to hold parts in the place, the other half was gluing them together. 18 Now that 95% of all the etch was glued in place, including the two masts that will remain separate from the ship till the last moment. I began the painting. I was struck with a problem straight away. As with most military ships, they tend to have two colours, one from the top looking down, and the second from the sides. This would require a lot of masking and with all the etch in place which took considerable amounts of time to fix, I did not want to damage anything. This is where I need to thank Richard for showing me the correct way to mask using masking tape. I was not aware that you can use a sharp blade to cut through the tape without damaging the paint below it, and even if I did, this tiny groove would actually help. The 90 degree bends on the ship were really useful for slicing through the tape and then using my blunt tipped tweezers, I gently pressed the tape to the surface of the ship to ensure no seepage of paint. 18 working hours later, the masking was complete and using my trusty airbrush, the second colour of paint was applied. Yet more time passed while I removed all the masking as carefully as possible and hey presto, a two tone paint job and no detail etch damaged in the process. The waterline was then masked and painted. By looking at the photo's of the ship being scrapped in the dry‐
dock, the bottom of the ship was not red, but a mixture of black and bare metal. This is due to the anti rust paint having been stripped off sometime prior. By using a black ink wash, I simulated this effect. Onto the rust: Due to the tiny scale of the ship, it would be way too easy to go overboard with the rust. The further away you look at the real ship, the more perfect the paint job looks, yet when you get very close, the thing is covered in rust. I tried to emulate this and so, if you look really close, there is a lot of rust, yet from a foot away, only the major rust streaks are visible. Well, apart from the rear dry dock in the ship as that was rusted to heck. 8 years sat in Portsmouth Harbour tied to its sister ship HMS Intrepid collecting water contributed to that. And with the rust work complete the anchor chains where then applied to the ship. Yet another fiddly job that consumed many hours without me even realising it. I had a horrid time getting the chain to bend just right and the poor flag mast on the front of the ship was bent many times in the process. I was terrified that it might snap. The ship was then glued to its base, and the tow ropes were applied as per another photo. I was surprised just how black they were in the photo. I assumed they would be more rusted or well used. The rear of the base was created using games workshops grass flock, and then painted brown and blackish to transform it into earth. The embankment walkway and the two cranes were glued in place. 19 Next on the list is the marking on the rear deck for the helicopters to land on. I am amazed as to how pristine this deck is on the real ship at this time, I suspect the deck was still in use even in its decommissioned state. Once this is complete, on go the masts and Ta da, One about to be scrapped HMS Fearless in a dry dock in Belgium. I have actually enjoyed building this Airfix kit, but I will probably still never get round to finishing off the Airfix Sunderland kit as it scares me. 20 AIRFIX RMS QUEEN MARY II BY TONY ADAMS Without doubt this kit has provided me with my most frustrating, challenging and downright unpleasant modelling experience since I have got back into hobby. The reasons behind that statement are manifold as I will try to explain in this article. The most obvious failure was my inexperience in building ship kits (this was my first) The idea of course was to produce an entry in this month’s Airfix competition and with four months to complete the project it didn’t seem to much of a stretch. I purchased this kit for the grand sum of £5 on eBay not bad for a kit that normally retails at £25. The reason it was so cheap was that it had already been started, the engine sponsons has been glued together and the bow insert glued in place (badly). The first job was to sort out the bow which required a considerable amount of squadron putty and a lot of elbow grease applied via sanding sticks[1]. Once happy the hull was given a couple of coats of Halford’s grey plastic primer with a light micromesh rub down between coats.[2] [1] [2]
Paint was supplied with the kit and my original intension was to make a true “out of the box” build using the supplied paint. To that end I loaded up my airbrush with the supplied hull red thinned with isopropyl alcohol and sprayed the hull below the water line. The paint proved to be a real nightmare clogging my airbrush after a few seconds, cleaning it out of my airbrush was a night mare. I persisted and moved onto the main hull colour again using the supplied paint which this time had to be mixed from two colours. After I had applied the colour with the same issues as the red with my airbrush (I tried various thinners without success) I was unhappy with the colour which was a medium grey [3]. I have seen the QM2 on many occasions as it generally docks opposite my parent’s house in Southampton and the hull looks almost black from a distance. [3] [4]
21 Consequently I added a good deal of black to the mix and resprayed to produce a colour I was much happier with. I now made my big mistake driven by my inexperience with ships and being spoilt by the quality of the kits I have been building recently by Tamiya and Eduard – this was an Airfix kit for God sake and I forgot! The ship super structure is white and I thought it would be a good idea to spray all the parts before assembly to reduce the need for complex masking of the decks. Consequently a sprayed the super structure Tamiya X‐2 (gloss white) having given up on the supplied paints. I was lazy and decided not to prime the superstructure (another mistake) the resultant paint finish was far from ideal. I started of building the super structure to the hull [4] and soon found out the fit was not to special [5]. The gaps had to be filled and sanded which did nothing for the quality of the paint work. I masked the main decks and painted them a shade that was close to the supplied colour. When dry it looked diarrhoea yellow [6]. [5] [6]
I made a lighter mix after referring to photos I’d found on the internet and resprayed. I then proceeded to fit the decks in place. At this point I thought it would be a good idea to give the decks a wash to bring out the planking , so I smothered one of the rear sun decks in pro modellers – ahhh another mistake it looked as if the ship had been in service 70 years[7]. I resprayed it, but because the undercoat was different the deck colour did not match the other decks. I was starting to get decidedly hacked off, only the approaching competition stopped the kit from ending in the bin. [7] [8]
22 I then set about applying the numerous decals to the side structures that represented the cabins [8]. This was a couple of nights work but once done I got a feel of what the ship may look like when done so I felt a lot better. [9] [10] It didn’t take long before my illusions were shattered as I began to encounter fit issues as I glued the super structure in place. The gaps were huge, particularly at the side of the bridge [9] and the rear sundeck [10] which required copious amounts of filler. The continued rubbing down was disturbing the surrounding paint which was looking worse and worse. Finally the superstructure was finished and the funnel painted (twice as the original colour was far to bright). The mast was rigged with nylon thread and other ancillary parts added. I then turned my attention to the life boats. At this stage I was thoroughly hacked off so it was a case of completing this laborious job as quick as possible. I can’t say I am happy with the lifeboats but their completion brought me one step closer to finishing this trial. Lessons Learnt
I gave the hull and decks a couple of coats of semi • Build as much of the ship before painting, gloss varnish, during this exercise I managed to put a inevitably filling will be required especially finger print in the middle of the main deck (I think I if it is made by Airfix! must have had thinner on my hands). This was a real • Don’t skimp with primer coats, particularly problem as I had no “deck mix” left and the chances of on gloss white matching the colour didn’t look good. I had a go at by • Do laborious jobs first (such as lifeboats) so you don’t skimp on quality when applying some very thin coats found that it didn’t look enthusiasm wanes too bad. • If your not enjoying a build ‐ stop (even if a competition is in the offering) rushing to The final major task was to paint the glazed deck finish because you hate working on it will surrounds. This consisted of four very thin transparent make the situation worse. pieces with 20 to 30 windows in each, this would be a • Use decal paper for glasswork framing masking nightmare. Fortunately Richard Stewart suggested that I use thin strips of white decal sheet rather than paint, which I managed over several nights, and was actual quite pleased with the result. The remaining decals were added along with various breakable parts and the pools filled (with Klear). Finally after mainly frustrating hours the bloody thing was completed. Looking at the final result, the model hasn’t turned out too bad, a year ago I would have been delighted but I do feel it is a step back in quality compared to kits I have completed recently. Note to myself: In future do not publish how rubbish your model is until after the competition! 23 ACTUAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN PILOTS AND CONTROL TOWERS FROM PAT CAMP Tower:"DELTA 351, YOU HAVE TRAFFIC AT 10 O'CLOCK, 6 MILES!" Delta 351:"GIVE US ANOTHER HINT! WE HAVE DIGITAL WATCHES!"
Tower:"TWA 2341, FOR NOISE ABATEMENT TURN RIGHT 45 DEGREES." TWA 2341:"CENTER, WE ARE AT 35,000 FEET. HOW MUCH NOISE CAN WE MAKE UP HERE?" Tower:"SIR, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD THE NOISE A 747 MAKES WHEN IT HITS A 727”
O'Hare Approach Control to a 747:"UNITED 329 HEAVY, YOUR TRAFFIC IS A FOKKER, ONE O'CLOCK, THREE MILES, EASTBOUND." United 329: "APPROACH, I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THIS.....I'VE GOT THE LITTLE FOKKER IN SIGHT."
A Pan Am 727 flight, waiting for start clearance in Munich, overheard the following: Lufthansa (in German): "GROUND, WHAT IS OUR START CLEARANCE TIME?" Ground (in English): "IF YOU WANT AN ANSWER YOU MUST SPEAK IN ENGLISH." Lufthansa (in English):"I AM A GERMAN, FLYING A GERMAN AIRPLANE, IN GERMANY. WHY MUST I SPEAK ENGLISH?" Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "BECAUSE YOU LOST THE BLOODY WAR!" 24 A student became lost during a solo cross‐country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "WHAT WAS YOUR LAST KNOWN POSITION?" Student: "WHEN I WAS NUMBER ONE FOR TAKEOFF."
A DC‐10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down San Jose Tower Noted: "AMERICAN 751, MAKE A HARD RIGHT TURN AT THE END OF THE RUNWAY, IF YOU ARE ABLE. IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE, TAKE THE GUADELOUPE EXIT OFF HIGHWAY 101, MAKE A RIGHT AT THE LIGHTS AND RETURN TO THE AIRPORT."
IN NEXT MONTHS ROMSEY MODELLER It’s always difficult to precisely predict what will be in next month’s edition but here’s a stab: Paul Adams has a fighting chance of completing his Assassin I have made progress on my Dambuster Lancaster so it will be time for an update Pat describes his build of Airfix’s 1/48 Canberra Russell has been putting together a jeep with full photo etch bling (see below) The club survey results Anything else I can extract from club members….. 25 CLUB DIARY April 15 Test Trout Competition (Airfix) May 20 Club Night – Photo Session June 17 Club Night July 15 St George’s Competition August 19 Club Night September 16 Club Night October 21 Club Night November 18 Annual Competition December16 Xmas Night and Prize Giving Next Meeting: Wednesday April 15th (8pm to 10pm) Ampfield Village Hall Morleys Lane Romsey Hampshire SO51 9BJ Thank you to this month’s contributors to this publication Paul Adams Russell Eden Pat Camp Richard Stewart Dale Koppi CONTACT INFO Web Site www.romseymodellers.co.uk Editor Competitions Treasurer Tony Adams Paul Adams Vic Short Tel: 01794 519153 / 07736 555664; email: tony@romseymodellers.co.uk Tel: 02380 398858 Tel: 01794 511843 26