Tamiya 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf109E-3 Johannes ‘Macky’ Steinhoff

Here’s ‘Macky’ Steinhoff’s Bf109E-3 ride during the Battle of Britain, circa September 1940, in dedication to the memory of Tom Meyers:

Tamiya 1:72 F4U-1a ‘Ira Kepford’ Corsair

Finally dragged this one out of the ‘nearly there’ pile kicking and screaming to nudge it through to the flight line:

Roden 1:72 Sopwith Camel with Bentley ‘Laura’

Sometimes it just happens that way…

You’re doing nothing in particular and up pops an idea and before you know it, another kit project’s on the table.

I was innocently touring the Hannants web site and punched Roden Sopwith Camel 1:72 into their search engine. I have a weakness for their Camels – petite, beautifully rendered, they’re little jewels. Scanning down the list I saw they now do a Bentley powered F1 and as this was the definitive engine / Camel combo my interest was piqued.

Clicking the tab brought up this box illustration:

First thing I noticed was the lovely black front end, I’ve always loved these RNAS Camels so I was poised to e-mail Garry at the shop and ask to have one sent down to London. Then I noticed the name emblazoned on the side below and behind the pilot. It didn’t quite say ‘Laura’ (the forward strut obscures the last letter) but knowing the RNAS’s pilots sometime penchant for naming their aircraft after girls (well, the ex-Tripe drivers anyway) was sure it bore my daughter’s name. Garry kindly drew one down and I collected it several weeks ago.

Laura’s my daughter and just at the end of her second year at uni, studying single honours French. In September she departs for France on a nine month stay to further her spoken French by working in a primary school as a classroom assistant (she wants to be a primary school teacher).

She always ribs (teases) me about my modelling so it seemed perfect to give her a little reminder of me while she’s away that also bears her name – a Camel to fly top cover over her while she’s abroad if you will. Besides, it won’t be the first time a Camel was sent to France…

So the clock’s ticking. Cutting of plastic has kicked off in secret. This is the girl herself:

According to Roden’s destructions B7234 was flown by Lt RL Hollingsworth, No 4 Sqn RNAS (No 204 Sqn RAF) – the kit places ‘Laura’ in Roulers, France, July 1918.

Some of Bob’s beautiful buckles await the end of the build. The only other addition to this one’s going to be Eduard’s RFC etched belts. The essential accessory for getting the top wing on properly will be Aeroclub’s MkII jig – a superb device and one that’ll be mated to that brilliant ‘clear wing’ wrinkle I first heard of via Mike Grant (who used it on his lovely 48th DH2) and tripped over again during Tony Bell’s fab Camel build elsewhere on The Aerodrome forum.

Disclaimer – I’m no WWI aviation expert so errors are possible (er, likely) in this and all other builds. However, the fun factor is and remains at a constant 100%…

A video update is currently in my Photobucket account…the intro is geared towards some friends in the US…

The first (and hopefully only) glitch cropped up a few days ago. The instrument panel needs to be fitted to the upper decking / coaming but no guide is given to indicate how close to the leather padding around the cockpit this should be. I opted for as far forward towards the guns as the part allows. Regretably, the control stick mounts right on the end of the forward protruding floor spar. In this position it fouls the instrument panel and prevents the coaming from lining up properly with the fuselage. The solution is easy – just re-locate the control column back towards the seat by some 3/4 of the spar’s length. With the stick re-attached it was smiles all round again. The other thing is to mount the floor frame as far back as the support lugs on the fuselage sides allow.

A little snippet that may surprise Alclad II users – I was in Hannants in Colindale in its new location a year or thereabouts ago and was talking to Garry about Alclad and appropriate methods of undercoating. He wandered over to one of the display cabinets and pulled out a late mark 1:32 scale Bf109. Being a late model it had a central underwing panel area in bare metal that he’d sprayed with Alclad II…and very good it looked to, just as we’ve come to expect from this great metalizer.

The fly in the conventional Alclad wisdom ointment is that an appropriate barrier coat, suitably cured is a must. “What did you use as a base?” says I to Garry. “Nothing” comes the reply, “I just misted it on to the bare plastic”. The ‘bare plastic’ was perfect, unmarked and unaffected. It’s still that way today…

Coming in from church last Sunday morning I put my head round the front room door. As I was holding it by the hair (difficult, not much left) I noticed blood dripping on the carpet…but as it’s Scotchguarded (the carpet, not my head) I wasn’t duly alarmed. The family screamed, proving my tactic correct in securing their full attention…”Just popping to the model bunker for some Alclad fun”.

As the Camel’s fuel and aux tank combo was already undercoated in Tam Sky Grey I misted Dark Aluminium over it in easy stages, blowing air from the airbrush to speed drying. It was parked to one side as the Bentley engine was mounted on a bit of sprue. Under the 3.5 mag Optivisor the Bentley reveals astonishingly fine detail – really as fine as it gets. It’s also the kind of detail that Alclad II will surely eat for (Full English) breakfast, if not barrier coated.

So, in the interests of science (the mad hair, wild stare variety) I misted some more Dark Ally on the bare plastic. Half an hour later I had a metalized motor. A 3.5 mag inspection throughout revealed the Alclad II has left the detail – all of it – completely unaffected.

It later received a good pasting with the weathering oils and this was biased towards some close up shots of a Camel motor at Brooklands I took the following reference shots of.

The upper decking comes in two pieces, front and rear. The fit is extremely good. The parts are just resting against each other and the joints are very nearly non-existent.

The slight gap between the front and rear decking here was clumsy handling by me – they butt up perfectly when the model’s flat and not tilted as it is here. There is a small gap at each wing root that I’ll loose via Milliput Superfine White and a wet charcoal rubber ‘brush’.

As indicated in the vid, it’s just bare bones work in the cockpit as it mostly disappears with the decking on. The sink mark in the aux tank has been left alone – it’s invisible with the decking on. In fact, only the top front face of the main tank plus the strapping can be seen behind the seat.

The destructions would have you fit the seat plus frame plus tanks after the fuselage is joined. I left the tanks off and the framing was a very tight fit. With the framing in place the tanks, that fit when the framing’s outside the cockpit, don’t fit when it’s in. A No11 blade whipped off some inner frame ’till all was well, a rough mod that also disappears with the decking on.

As I mentioned further up, the Bentley was sprayed with Alclad II, without the aid of a safety net primer and was been washed with Burnt Umber fairly liberally after the Camel I had a gander at over at the Brooklands Air Museum last year revealed itself to be a mixture of dirty metallic browns. The total loss Castor oil lube system makes the engine a muck magnet. The light blue fried egg behind it is the Blu Tac used to support it on the sprue rod it sits on…

Making a completely unexpected and unrehearsed entrance is Mr Eduard 1:72 DR1 that’s ready for primer. It’ll be an all red tripe in Von R’s markings so’s I can play mock dog fights round the living room with Laura in her Camel…yeah, right…Laura will more readily chew raw slugs three at a time than do that… Check out Von Beetle on the upper wing…a hitch hiker I failed to spot until after the pics were shot…

Some of Bob’s right good buckles lurk here and there on the model…

“I sink zer leetle triplane vill be too much for zer Englander Camel…mua ha ha ha ha ha haaaar”!

Laura and I fly to France on 23 September so in order to make the other Laura ‘fly’ on time – here’s a little more progress.

This was always going to a ‘black cat in a coal cellar’ shot. The Bentley’s cowl has been cleaned up and sprayed with Tam Nato Black cut with cellulose. Just a brief mention, attaching bits like this to a paint ‘handle’ is easy – a smear of Copydex rubber cement went on a bit of the cowl interior via a tooth pick and then the ‘handle’. Both were left to dry (15 mins in the model bunker with temperatures as warm as they are). Once dry just press together. Removal is clean and quick and doesn’t damage the part. The part awaits a satin varnish overspray and something suitable on the interior…

The prop suffers from its leading edges having flat spots and mould misalignment steps that were easily cured with semi thick CA set up with accelerator. 600 grit wet ‘n dry gives rough shaping, 1200 grit brings the profiles close and the whole thing is finished off with a ladies nail buffer pad (three grades of abrasive) that leaves the CA and plastic with a high shine gloss that also reveals any faults with the CA shaping – betchalife there was the first time I shined it so a repeat dose of CA went on and all was well second time around. The prop wears Gunze ‘Radome’ cut with cellulose after it was de-greased with methylated spirits. A session or three with oils will follow…

Setting up the tail feathers needs a slightly more formal approach as the horizontal stabs are a simple butt joint. A sheet of graph paper, taped to a thick sheet of optically flat plate glass, has had a centre line penciled on, with lines for leading and trailing edge alignment added. Position fuselage on centre line and check dihedral. Mine was off, with the starboard wing slightly low. Some gentle bending brought it up level so it was back on the graph paper and very carefully taped in place (Tam tape is translucent, allowing the lines to show through). A little Microweld was run onto the fuselage rear and the stabs were added. I still appear to be the only modeller in the Western hemisphere willing to admit to using Microweld…it’s the absolute kiddie in this application, giving a controlled set up that allows for the necessary tweaks to get it all square and level. The pic shows a small right angle of .30 plastic sheet cut and marked with a small dot to check final horizontal alignment – all basic stuff.

Same thing…but closer. It made the whole thing an assured breeze.

To be continued…

Tamiya 1:48 Bf109E-3 ‘Macky Steinhoff’ – Tom Meyers Memorial Build

I am a regular over at www.agapemodels.com, that I joined about a year before Tom’s sudden death in 2008. I became acquanted with Tom at a relatively early stage as the first Fellowship Build on the site  was organised by him. The build was a competition in association with Accurate Miniatures as Tom was the company’s Art Director and required entrants to simply select and assemble anything from AM’s catalogue. I chose their Il-2 and was lucky enough to win.

Tom was a believer and one of the original members of the site and after prayer and consultation with his family and those on the forums a memorial build in 2009 was agreed.

I chose as my entry, Tamiya’s ultimate ’slammer’, their Bf109E-3 with Tom’s Possum Werks decals for ‘Macky’ Steinhoff’s bird during the Battle of Britain. I hope, when it’s finished, that it will do justice to Tom’s memory. I’ll certainly try…

Eduard’s now quite ancient brass fret for the Tamiya E3 and E4 kits was dragged out of the spares dungeon and yielded a selection of bits to busy up the pilot’s station. You’ll spot belts in there obviously and these pass through an oblong hole in the seat obligingly created by me and ringed with an etched oval of brass so tiny I left the CA alone and fixed it in position easily with gloss enamel varnish. The etched leather strap for what I think was the battery cover was dobbed in with enamel gloss varnish too. I’ll be loosing the hard edge wash staining beside it any day now…

Etched trim wheels, stand and chain were added. The chain terminates in a sprocket but has nothing else to connect it with the fuselage wall, so the Punch & Judy set yielded a disc of card to suit. The etched double panel had the instrument acetate back painted in light grey, not white, as it drops the contrast and looks more in keeping to my eye but that’s just a personal thing. The acetate was ‘glued’ using enamel gloss varnish to the panel rears and further dabs filled in the ‘glass’. The instruments themselves need edging in black and in this scale I ditch the enamel black for artists oil mixed with the UK version of Japan Dryer, Liquin. This viscous paint stays put and is perfect in this application.

Etched seat rails sealed the port side of the deal. The only addition on the starboard side was the etched map case holder – lots more convincing than the moulded version. It’ll grow a map later in the build. From there it was a simple case of closing up the fuselage, adding the wings and sending the lot into traction…

Here’s a gallery of full sized images from the build -

Sunday 15 August 2009:

Just a short update. This is the first aircraft model where I’ve had the foresight to fit the canopy so’s it can weather in with the rest of the paintwork at the same time. Previously I’d leave it off then try to recall what I did to the airframe as I’d frantically try to make the two match…

The white, narrow lines are oil paint used to blend parts together. The kit provides dropped flaps and deciding to buck the trend I whopped mine up. The upper and lower rear fuselage seams were zapped with CA then reinstated with a scriber ala the advice Floyd Werner hands out. The joint on the real aircraft was in the form of lapped panels but this is close enough.

22 January 2010

The little Emil was finally finished about ten days ago. The finished shot have been added to the gallery above.

Accurate Miniatures 1:48 IL-2 Sturmovik

Kit: Accurate Miniatures IL2 Sturmovik – 1:48^th Scale

Kit Number: Oops, I’ve thrown the box away…

Price: About £25.00 when it was first released

Decals: The kit supplied ‘Invisi-clear’ decals were used.

Reviewer: Steve Budd

Notes: None

History: Often referred to as a ‘flying tank’ by virtue of its one and a half tons of armour plating, the Sturmovik is regarded by some air historians as having been a fine ground attack, close support weapon but a bit of a sitting duck when confronted with single engined fighters.

According to the latest Osprey book dealing with Sturmovik Guards Units this was not the case, for two principal reasons. Pilots learnt, through the hard experience of live combat missions that suddenly throttling back decelerated the Sturmo relatively quickly, forcing a pursuing German fighter to overshoot. Throttle open again, brisk reactions on the controls gave good opportunity to pump heavy cannon shells into the aggressor as he sailed past. One pilot (whose name escapes me) shot down two Bf109Fs in quick succession by this means. Another knocked down seven Germans, passing the ace mark comfortably and all while flying an aircraft not normally linked to aerial victories.

In the second case, shooting down one and a half tons of armour sometimes took more ammunition that a single fighter could deliver. Tales abound of Sturmo’s flying on with much of the fin shot away or large holes in the wings which continued to fly doggedly on, successfully delivered the pilot home (the gunner on two seat models was not usually so lucky – sitting the wrong side of all that protection). I particularly enjoy the story of the only encounter between a Japanese fighter and a single Sturmo. The gunner later commented that he was mesmerised into inaction by the beautiful flying display put up by the pilot of the Ki43 Falcon, who pitched and turned, emptying all his ammo at the Sturmo which flew on unperturbed until the gunner reported that he ‘grew bored and blew him to hell’. Charming.

The Kit: Accurate Miniatures Sturmovik broke new ground in kit engineering when it was first released. Tamiya Magazine reported it as sufficiently complex to result in a model that was highly detailed but tricky to construct. This reputation has stuck and I’ve seen very few actually built up. Ironically, the normally sound advice for AM kits: ‘follow the instructions and don’t deviate’ will result in difficulties with the fit between the novel wing root arrangement and relationship of the lower wing section to the fuselage and the outer lower wing halves.

All this is easily avoided by a bit of tweaking with the recommended sequence.

Construction: The interior along the fuselage halves will look bare and relatively unadorned with no sign of the stringers and formers you’d normally find. The cockpit sides of the actual aircraft comprised hunks of the one and a half tons of armour plate the Sturmo lugged around the sky, so traditional reinforcement was redundant and unnecessary. The port side on the kit has a couple of big ejector pins in plain view of an open cockpit so need filling. As they also bisect moulded cables these need to be renewed, easily done from tiny sections of stretched sprue.

The cockpit’s lovely. The kit guide recommends a colour similar to RLM02 but my research suggested ALG-5 Metal Use Primer was a fair choice so this was ordered in from White Ensign models. The large fuel cell immediately behind the pilot was sprayed with X1 Tamiya gloss black before masking off the metal straps and dusting Alclad II Aluminium over them. The moulded cable was hand painted with Xtracolour Gunmetal before satin varnish from Xtracolour was misted over.

The fuselage can be closed up before installing the pit from below. I varied the sequence by joining the nose halves to their respective rear sections which allows the joint to be manipulated for best fit. I was glad I did this as they were slightly short on width that I left ‘as is’ to become a gap in the top seam (when the halves were later joined) which would be more easily resolved.

Breaking away again from the AM build sequence I glued each top wing half into their root positions. The plastic joining face on the starboard side is inch perfect and a flush fit but the joint introduces a little extra unwanted dihedral that needs to be lost. Simply sanding the lower part of the joint face on the wing half lets it drop enough to cure.

On the port side it’s a different story. The wing joint face is too thick by a small amount – simply sand to reduce until the flush fit matches the other side. Dihedral also needs to be knocked off as per the other wing. Fitting the upper wings in this way makes the wing root join easy and controllable and very tight.

The two sub-assemblies were then joined as the tail wheel unit was added and the joints cleaned up with CA and Mr Surfacer 500. The lower wing section had its spars attached to set the dihedral and these parts also contain provision for mounting the completed cockpit assembly. Having departed from the instructions to some degree already I decided that it may be preferable to attempt to test fit the cockpit into the fuselage without installing it onto the lower wing. The instructions advise that the cockpit will ‘snap into place’. Maybe it’s just me but I have an automatic reticence towards forcing anything into position. There was no option however and it seemed that with the degree of force being required, that the finished subassembly would fly apart if I pressed any harder. It truly snapped into position with an audible click.

It was immediately clear that something wasn’t quite right as the fuel cell sat noticeably off centre when viewed from above. Eventually it was apparent that the cause was the displacement of the elevator actuating rod, which had slipped out from between the cut-outs in the pilot’s armour and rear bulkhead. I hadn’t planned for removal of the cockpit and with even more trepidation forced it out. A repeat test fit simply duplicated the problem again so out came the pit and the actuating rod was CA’d into the cut-outs before having its surplus length, from the rear bulkhead backwards cut off. The part itself is moulded primarily for the two seat version and needs the extra length as it would otherwise be visible in the rear station. Once cut down and glued into position, the cockpit fitted perfectly.

Having now wandered away from the established assembly sequence, it was necessary to remove all the alignment pins in order to fit the wing lower section. Once installed, the lower wing outers were run in and their rocket rails fitted.

The instrument dials were carefully masked with Copydex craft rubber cement under the 3.5 mag Optivisor before the panel itself was painted a very light grey in accordance with advice on the web site ‘Modelling the aircraft of the VVS’ before the decal provided in the kit was added to the rear face. The rear of the panel was sealed with varnish and left to cure before it was later glued in position in the cockpit. The gun sight, being mounted on a long rod was left out until final assembly, so that the cockpit could be safely masked.

The horizontal stabilizers were glued and all of the Fletner rods were added to the various flying surfaces. AM provide ample warning in their instructions about the vulnerability of the fin counterweight which I duly ignored as I broke it off three times in succession while handling the model, until forced to acknowledge that it would have to stay off until after final assembly. I succeeded in also repeatedly breaking the counterweights fitted to the extremities of either wing. On reflection, it would be possible to protect these during construction by taping card over them but I remain unconvinced that they wouldn’t become casualties once paint began to be applied.

The nacelles were fitted and faired in with Superfine White Milliput, smoothed perfectly with a wet finger, before all the remaining ancillaries in the kit such as the undercarriage, bombs and so on were cleaned up, painted and finished ready for the final glue fest.

Painting and markings: With the cockpit masked off, a custom mix of Tamiya acrylics XF23 Light Blue with a few drops of XF8 Flat Blue made up the fairly vivid blue seen on the under services of early war ‘Cementers’ (the German nickname for the Sturmovik). This was weathered with the Chris Wauchop mix of Tamiya Red Brown and Nato Black in the 10% paint, 90% thinners ratio.

Following the standard MO of lightest top colour first, Gunze Brown acrylic H310 was run on, having first masked of the demarcation edges as per the painting guide. Sticking with Gunze, Green H303 and Extra Dark Sea Grey H333 were sprayed free hand having first marked out the appropriate areas lightly in pencil. Pointing the airbrush ‘into’ the area being sprayed at a 45 degree angle gives a tight feather along the edge of the new colour.

Some restrained weathering was applied to the green and gray by way of Humbrol enamels. Several different shades of green and gray were streaked and dabbed and dry brushed in succession until the finish was moderately broken up. Applying enamels over acrylics ensured no conflict between the colours. Once this had cured the surface was protected by spraying it with Tamiya clear gloss and several custom oil washes in shades of brown and greenish brown were run into the panel lines. The whole ensemble was finished off with the ubiquitous Chris Wauchop mix being run along some panels. The edges of some lines were masked off and the shade overlapped into the tape (vertical panels were shaded ‘tail side’, horizontal lines received shading on the lower edge).

The exhausts were hollowed out using a grinding bit on my motor tool before being painted and weathered with Tamiya Red Brown and sympathetic pastel shades slopped on with an old brush and sealed with matt varnish. The drilled and hollowed interiors were given an oily black finish before installing them through the front of the fuselage.

The prop was painted black and the hub sprayed in the camo green. Once cured the hub was masked with Parafilm M and a new blade run round the groove dividing the front and rear sections (this had earlier been defined and deepened with a scribing tool to give a positive guide for the blade). The Parafilm M was removed from the front of the hub and Tamiya flat white was over sprayed to kill the green. Tamiya flat yellow completed the job and with the rear masking removed was sealed with more flat varnish. The Hucks starter was detail painted with Xtracolour Gunmetal by hand.

The rear fuselage yellow band was masked and sprayed as the radio mast had been added earlier in the build for strength. The same Tamiya white was used to kill the brown before adding the yellow.

Parafilm M also dealt with the clear parts which were prepped with ALG-5 and then topped with the brown and sealed with matt varnish.

The few decals refused to respond to any setting solutions despite my entire armoury being brought to bear, until they were physically attacked with a sharp blade along the relevant panel lines, at which point they finally conformed and folded into the recesses.

The bombs and rockets were CA’d in along with the cannons, pitot and undercart indicators on the upper wing. The radio aerial was CA’d to the top of the mast and a little Gunze brush painted over ‘wet’ to conceal the bond. I had earlier drilled a very narrow hole using a .30 drill bit in the fin to simulate the fitting used by the Sturmovik. The line was passed through the hole and brought back on itself to cross the line some 3mm in front of the fin. CA locked the arrangement in place and the excess was (very carefully!) removed with my flush cut sprue nippers. A short second line was threaded through a hole drilled in the fuselage top decking and overlapped with CA to the main line. Another very careful snip and it was done. Tamiya Nato Black was applied to the line with a pre-damped brush (to increase ease of flow) to give it some ‘presence’.

Conclusion: The Sturmo has a reputation for being a difficult build amongst modellers that it doesn’t deserve. A few small deviations from the recommended assembly sequence cancel out the problems reported when the kit was first released and result in a build that is a genuine pleasure to complete. There’s a lot of modelling in the box so pace yourself and expect it to take longer than your average single engine kit.

The Base: This was a real, ‘Saturday night’ last minute special. I had amassed a collection of unfinished MDF bases from visits to various model shows. A suitable size was selected and the edges painted with Humbrol enamel black. The Luftwaffe planking was easily cut from Basswood veneer and wood glued to the base. A selection of custom mixed oil washes, in brown and blackish brown were freely slopped over the wood and force dried with a hair dryer. Woodland Scenics Static Grass was heaped over the exposed bits previously covered in their own brand Scenic Glue that dries matt and clear. The grass was dabbed down by finger pressure to indent it into the glue and ensure a matted appearance. The Sturmo now sits on the recently abandoned Luftwaffe temporary hardstand, the accursed Bosch having fled before the irresistible might of the Red Tide. At least that’s the way I see it…lol.

References: http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/index1.php (Modelling the aircraft of the VVS)

Dragon 1:35 JSII Diorama ‘Hunter – Killer’

Kit: Dragon JSII

Price: Bought second hand from Hannants in Colindale, circa £12.00

Decals: The kit ones fractured during storage in my loft so an Eduard vinyl mask kit replaced them

Reviewer: Steve Budd

I’ve never had a quick turn around in kit completion. In fact I’m not so much a slow finisher as someone who’s better off measuring the period taken in nailing a model together in geological time – this effort’s from my plasticeous period when numerous techniques gleaned from various magazines and books converged in an evolutionary soup of ‘let’s give it a try and see how it goes…’

It was this willingness to suck ‘n see that nearly resulted in the almost completed diorama flying against a wall. The thing was just about as you see it in the shots – virtually there and seeing the end in sight I found myself in a dangerously confident mood.

I figured all it needed was a liberal dusting of pastel chalks to bind the groundwork together. So I got busy with the stuff until, utterly sated from an orgy of weathering, I sat back for the final, decisive act – fixing the chalk.

I remembered some modelling sage reporting in the plastic press that 3M Photo Mount was the ideal weapon of choice for this task and as I had a can handy reached for it while continuing to leave my conscious brain idling in neutral. Oh dear.

The can was shaken (but not stirred) and in one fluid movement I hit the button, the cross hairs set for a firing pass over the base in a full deflection shot. Expecting a fine, gossamer spray, the remarkable thing (to me) was the unexpectedly astonishing quantity of viscous liquid that flooded towards and over the carefully manicured components. If you had walked in immediately following this fatal act (with your hands clamped over your ears) you’d be forgiven for believing that Toby Maguire himself had loosed off a double dose of Spiderman web at my latest effort.

I simply couldn’t believe that I could navigate through what was for me, a real modelling odyssey only to wrench defeat from the slavering jaws of plastic victory. It was a mess. A really, really big mess. I sat just staring at it, suddenly able to see every minute of the many hours nudging the thing closer to the moment I’d be able to sit back and appreciate the results.

I was overwhelmed by a powerful urge to trash it and try to forget I ever started it. I went outside my modelling shed and picked an appropriate wall. A little plastic voice inside said that I was actually about to pursue a cop out, adding hopefully that every problem has a solution. Mine was white spirit (a solution indeed) brushed over the gunk. Brush, clean, brush, clean, brush, clean. It was laborious but heartening as it all returned to a pre-apocalyptic state with a light (!) spray of matt varnish.

I’m truly glad I didn’t lunch it after all and ironically the episode taught me a great deal about things I should have worked out before hand. These days I test something new on a bit of scrap first!

The Diorama

The thing represents a JSII in central Germany having apparently fought its way up to the street corner (an emergency, hastily constructed firing position).

Unbeknown to the crew Hans has hidden out of sight and fancies doing the anti social thing of lobbing a Panzer Faust into the engine deck of Ivan’s JSII once it’s fired and begun moving off to a (safer) distance.

The cobbles are mung beans (never eaten them) and the pavement is ubiquitous plastic card and foam board.

The house is a £3 Italeri cheapie skinned with card and fitted with scratched floors and sundry fittings. Likewise the wooden door was scratched with plastic, brass sheet and wire.

The figure is from the Dragon Volksturm set and the JSII is from the same manufacturer wearing an unusual camo of sand and earth brown. The dragon decals had fractured terminally in the box before I built it so I got hold of an Eduard mask set for alternate JSIIs and was smitten by the camo – I even did some research on the web and found artwork supporting its existence.

All told, this was an interesting build and a fun exercise in compact dio design. Kit-tastic mate (not ‘alf!)!

Osprey Duel: Sopwith Camel Vs Fokker DR1 – Western Front 1917-18

Title: Sopwith Camel Vs Fokker DR1 – Western Front 1917-18

Author: Jon Guttman

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Osprey continue their successful run of military aviation titles with this excellent ‘ Dog fight double’ publication, that looks in some detail at two of the most famous aircraft to take to the skies during World War One.

Interspersed among the text are period photographs and superb illustrations, comprising three view colour plates, as well as detailed colour cockpit paintings and a two page aerial battle scene from aviation artists Harry Dempsey, Jim Laurier and Postlethwaite.

Nine chapters of highly readable prose cover an introduction to the subject matter and then take the reader progressively through the chronology, design and development, technical specifications, the strategic situation, the combatants, combat, statistics and analysis and the aftermath of the struggle between these distinctive aircraft. The book, totalling 80 pages, concludes with a further reading list and an index.

This title and others like it in the series, are perfect complementary reads to the ‘Aircraft of the Aces’ releases, also published by Osprey. The book is highly recommended, even if you do not regard this as your favorite period of aviation history. Guttman’s handling of the material is excellent in providing a rounded appreciation for how each aircraft came into being, as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses in the cauldron of combat.

However, an aircraft is useless without a pilot and Guttman’s technical and strategic study is constantly woven into the colourful lives and eventful careers of the men who fought each other, often to the death. It is the human element of war that is the most compelling and any purchaser of this title will be rewarded with a greater understanding of what it was like to fly a machine, separated from enemy bullets by little more than fabric and wood.

Highly recommended.

Verlinden 120mm Viking Raider – Circa 900AD

Kit: VP Viking Raider – circa 900AD

Kit Number: VER-833

Price: Circa $34.00

Decals: N/a

Reviewer: Steve Budd

Notes: None

History: I doubt there are many folks in the Northern hemisphere who haven’t heard of the Vikings. Rather than rehash the plentiful information which is available on the Internet about these fascinating people, please see the following link for the historical and cultural taster contained within Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking (while the popular view of the Vikings largely remains that of a people devoted to rape, pillage and conquest violence it seems that they were sophisticated and technologically advanced for the time).

The Kit: The box contains a quantity of resin parts which comprise the figure, together with sectional pieces of moulded plaster that make up the base. Rounding out the presentation is a short section of fine chain which is designed to enable the builder to hang a resin amulet around the neck of the figure (I succeeded in misplacing mine and so it does not figure in the final build).

The overall quality is excellent and consistent with the fine reputation that this line of figures from the Verlinden stable have deservedly built up over many years.

Construction: Bearing in mind that the figure is made of resin it is essential to follow sensible health and safety precautions when removing casting stubs from the various parts. I wore a dust mask and razor sawed the plugs outside in the garden on a dry day. Any final sanding was carried out wet using course wet and dry emery paper to adjust to fit between parts until ready for final assembly.

The figure itself was built up with the legs, lower torso, upper torso and the two jacket sleeves; leaving the arms, hands and head, together with the sword and shield to be painted and finished separately.

The base is a different animal entirely, being made of plaster. Assembly is nonetheless extremely simple and while some people will be tempted to use two part epoxy, I took Verlinden’s advice and joined the parts using a medium thick plaster mix. The plaster ‘glue’ was simple household domestic wall filler. The surfaces of the parts to be joined are ‘painted’ with the plaster and brought together. The excess will naturally ooze from the joint and this is perfect for ensuring the easy elimination of any visible joint. I removed the overspill using a quarter inch flat chisel brush that was rinsed off in a jar of water after each application. Any moulding defects like air holes, were filled with a thinner mix of the plaster ‘glue’.

Painting: Leave the airbrush tucked away for this one – it’s good old fashioned brush painting all the way. I acquired Verlinden’s “The System” Volume One: Figure Painting at the same time that I picked up the figure. It really is essential reading and helpfully contains illustrations and text relating to finishing the jacket. The only drawback is Verlinden’s habit of referring to all colour call outs in terms of Humbrol paint numbers only – follow this link for an Internet summary chart here: http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_humbrol.htm

The jacket was base coated with dark green enamel, further darkened with enamel flat black. This provided shadowing in the recesses of the quilted jacket when the lighter tints were dry brushed in later. From there it is simply a case of progressively lightening the base green until a suitable contrast with the recesses is reached.

A different green was used for the trousers and the folds and shadow areas were painted in with a darkened version of the same. The brown tunic was finished using the same approach, as were the shoes.

The leather belt and strapping on the scabbard were base coated with flat black and left to cure for 24 hours before dark brown oil paint was applied over the top. The access was carefully brush away leaving a gentle sheen on the leather.

Humbrol buffable Metalcote paints were used for all the metal areas which had been previously base coated in flat black. Using this system was an enjoyable alternative to Alclad II and enables the builder to finish a project without the need of an airbrush. Once the Metalcote is dry it is simply rubbed with a soft, lint free cloth which transforms it from a slightly rough, dull gray matted paint to the polished surfaces you see in the photographs.

Probably the scariest part of building a figure like this is attempting to reproduce a reasonable flesh tone in the hands and face. I chose this figure as the skin area was minimal, given that the face is unshaven and the longhair masks the neck.

Verlinden’s guide was again followed and Humbrol 63 matt sand was used as the base colour to the oils that would follow. All the oils were mixed 50-50 with Liquin (Japan Dryer in the US) which increases the translucency of the oils and makes them easier to blend. It also reduces the drying time of the oils from a number of weeks to only a day or so.

I guesstimated a mix of several tones of oils to both lighten and darken the basic skin tone until I was relatively happy with the result. Raised areas, like the cheekbones, knuckles, bridge of the nose and so on were all highlighted with the lighter mixture which was then gently blended into the surrounding areas. Recesses and natural shadow areas were painted with the dark mix and again blended in.

The eyes were painted an off white, with a light blue cornea, before the dark gray pupils were carefully touched in. I have to say that this was very much easier under the Actulite daylight balance lamp and 3.5 mag Optivisor.

The base was finished in virtually the same way as the jacket, insofar as each distinctly separate area received a dark base coat before being dry brushed with various lighter tones. Selective washes were run in to help further highlight some areas and smooth the transition between tones in others. The edges of the base were painted in matt black enamel to tidy the finish. As I said when I posted pictures in the forum, the rat was a whimsical touch from the spares box, easily finished in a base coat of dark brown with some lighter oils applied; the eyes being painted black with clear gloss varnish.

Final assembly of the figure was predictably via common or garden superglue.

Conclusion: Not counting my great alien, this was my first figure project and the first time that I had tried painting skin areas since I was a child modeller. Having given it a go it has only increased my admiration for those like Verlinden and Bob Letterman who have obviously mastered the medium.

The great advantage of doing something like this is the fact that it makes painting a face onto a 1:48 pilot seem routine in comparison. Highly recommended as a change of pace.

References: The internet and “The System” Volume One: Figure Painting by Francois Verlinden and Bob Letterman.

Tasca 1:35 Panzer II Ausf ‘L’ “Luchs” (Lynx)

Kit: Tasca Pz.Kpfw.II Ausf L “Luchs” (Lynx)

Kit Number: 35-001

Price: £33.95 (2003 purchase price)

Decals: Four options (kit decals used in the finished model)

Reviewer: Steve Budd

Notes: None

History: The Luchs (Lynx) evolved from the Panzer II development lineage, after Experimental Design number VK1303 was commissioned in 1939 and grew out of the German Army’s need for a nimble reconnaissance tank with a slick turn of speed to make up for its lightly armoured construction.

Weighing in at some thirteen tons, the little Luchs resembles a tiny Tiger with its interleaved road wheels (the only series two panzer to feature this) and housed a four man crew (commander, driver, gunner and radio operator). The main armament was a turret mounted 20mm KwK L/55 (the ‘L/55’ denoting the barrel’s length being equal to 55 times the calibre) automatic cannon with some 330 rounds available, backed by an MG34 in a coaxial fitting with 2,250 rounds of 7.92mm ammo for close defence. Turret traverse was by hand wheel, rather than electric driven (presumably as a weight saver) and there must have been some very focussed and frantic use of the same while in combat.

With both the driver’s feet hard down on the accelerator the Luchs could whistle up to 60km/h through its six speed transmission (plus a reverse) and range, at a more economical cruise, along roads some 290km before spluttering to a halt; reducing to around 175km on the rough.

Initial production was set at around 800 units but was reduced to only 104 (some sources claim 133). Although Henschel produced a small number most were built by MAN – who dealt with the chassis, while Daimler-Benz supplied the superstructure and turret assemblies.

Armoured recon units in both the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS made use of the Luchs and reports list the 116^th Panzer Division on the Western Front and the 3^rd, 4^th and 6^th Panzer Divisions on the Eastern Front. The 3^rd SS Panzer Division “Totenkopf” and 5^th Panzer Division “Wiking” also took delivery of vehicles that were operated in Russia – these being fitted with heavier frontal armour.

Today it seems only two examples of the Luchs survive – one at Bovington Tank Museum in England, the other at Saumur in France.

The Kit: Although the serial number on the box gives this away as Tasca’s first kit the company previously existed under the Bego label and released a very nice Kubelwagon in 35^th scale that was later boxed by Hasegawa and Dragon.

Take a careful tour around the sprues of this kit and you’ll be amazed by the razor sharp detail. Look again and you’ll notice things the second time around that you missed first time out – the perfectly moulded wing nut on the aerial mount is a great example. This little Luchs must have made the directors at Tamiya and Dragon take in some sharp intakes of breath when it first appeared. No Tamiya unboxed sponsons here. No Dragon fit issues either. The price may say ‘ouch’ but this is pure plastic pleasure in a box.

The love poured into this model by Tasca’s design crew is reflected in the real (and operating!) torsion bar suspension. Not content with even this level of realism the kit has adjustable rear idler wheels for correct track tension – just like the real thing. A figure (as I’m some way through a Normandy ambush diorama he’s just in primer at this stage but I’ve included a shot of him to give an indication of quality), top class decals and a small brass fret with engine screens and sundry other parts, including an etched ‘crows foot’ for the top of the 2 metre tall, long range, send and receive aerial, proper to a recon tank, round out the presentation. Those lovely people at Tasca couldn’t do enough to ease the modeller’s path and include a pair of injection moulded conical formers for the ‘crows foot’ giving a simple (and perfect) result every time.

The 20mm cannon and co-axial MG34 both have their barrels moulded with hollow ends, the lifting lugs are separate (and have a tiny hole moulded into them – amazing!), as are the Bosch headlight mounts. All of which gives a level of fidelity that exceeded that of other manufacturers at the point of original release.

Construction: Kicks off with the lower hull – as predictable as beginning with the cockpit in a hairy plane. With 19 parts nailed together the foundation of your little panzer is off and running. Be as careful with alignment as you can here as it affects the relationship with the upper hull later – I must have been slightly lax as the final fit of the upper to lower hull, where it passes over the drive sprocket housings, was a little gappy. This disappeared to nearly nothing with a bit of light adjustment filing. I applied Tenax 7R to the inside of the join (hull front and sides) back to where the hull top starts to run horizontally. This was left to dry for half an hour while other sub-assemblies were nailed together (storage boxes and so on). Once the front section had set up I applied appropriate pressure on the remaining 60% of upper hull to be joined and glued from the inside as far back as I was able.

The basic turret unit is best assembled by gluing one turret side to the base (take your pick). Before this sets up (I used Micro-Weld, a gentler, slow acting solvent) add the turret rear armour to accurately set the angles of these three pieces. The other turret side follows and then the roof. All of these can be glued from the inside for neatness. Whether you paint the interior is dependent on your choice of commander’s hatch open or closed. If it’s the former you can assemble the whole turret minus the black leather pad on the rear access door and spray the interior cream through the turret ring and commander’s hatch. The pad can be painted and installed last. Being a klutz I installed the pad in the assembled turret, before painting and left myself an ‘interesting’ little masking job.

The tracks are the ‘rubber band’ type – very good detail nonetheless and fine from the box but….I had a set of metal Fruilmodellismo replacements to try out. These are the newer style Fruil tracks – each link is joined by an individual track pin sourced from a coil of wire included with the set. I made up 90 links each side and used the adjustable rear idler feature on the kit to later achieve the right level of sag. These tracks really are absolutely beautiful – but pricey. Having said that, nothing sags better than a set of articulating metal tracks and the weight certainly helps to anchor the little Panzer.

The Fruil tracks come with their own white metal drive sprockets, as the injection ones in the kit won’t fit. Unsurprisingly, the locating pins moulded on the lower hull final drive housings are too narrow for the holes in the metal sprockets. Not a major problem. My sprockets had pieces of plastic tube super glued into them to ‘sleeve down’ the hole. This reduced the mounting holes a little too far, so a drill bit was used to open them out to the correct diameter. The benefit of all this is that the sprockets can be cemented to the hull using conventional plastic solvent. Before things can move to this happy state of affairs though there’s one final task to sort out. A brief test fit revealed that the Fruil sprockets sat noticeably outboard of the road wheels. Left untreated the tracks wouldn’t line up. Bringing them all into line required some machining of the inner sprocket mounting faces (i.e. the bit that butts up against the final drive housing) until all was hunky-dory. The metal was ground out using a motor tool and cylindrical cutter mounted in a drill stand.

The two brass engine screens supplied by Tasca are handed so make sure you keep tabs on this. Mine were given the appropriate curve by pressing them over a suitable diameter of brass tube (Tasca provide a mini illustration of the curve necessary in the instructions). You need to apply solid, even pressure over the whole part simultaneously in order to get a smooth result. My easy solution is to use a common rectangular rubber pencil eraser for the job. The size of the etched bit dictates whether you use the end or the side of the eraser. Either way, the rubber grips the part and then the former and makes a slip very unlikely. Just press down firmly and the rubber curves around the former taking the part with it. With the right curvature set in you’ll need to alter the angle of the screen’s mounting frame. I resorted to my Hold ‘n Fold which makes this very easy. This device is a very worthwhile ‘must have’ and does exactly what it says on the tin.

It’s a little perplexing that Tasca supply screens for the two side engine vents but not the big one at the back. Time for a little low level scratch building then. A piece of Eduard generic rhomboid mesh was cut to size, together with four lengths of plastic strip for the frame. Some light touches of thin super glue fixed it in short order.

Last up is the need for a couple of short, pre-shaped sections of fuse wire for the connections between the Bosch headlamps and the conical ‘roses’ on the hull. Again Tasca show consideration for the modeller, including two views of the headlight, with cable added in both plan and elevation views in Section 10 of the instructions. Lovely stuff. I drilled receiving holes in the light’s base and ‘rose’ to make the bonds positive.

I can’t recall anything else that warrants special mention here; it’s all pretty straightforward stuff (even if it’s your first armour model) and as such, means the fun factor remains intact throughout.

The road wheels attach via Polycaps and while I generally don’t favour this system (which in other kits has left part movement a little too sloppy for my OCD to deal with) the Tasca caps are so snug in their receivers they locate perfectly and all main wheels can be happily added before main painting. Their freedom to rotate eases spraying later on, as you only need to hose what you can see, then turn them to reveal bare plastic until sorted. The other bonus of rotating wheels of course is track attachment after assembly and painting, so it’s win, win all the way.

I fitted all the wheels, drive sprockets, tools, spare track rack and links at the front of the hull, stowage boxes, wing nuts and levers until it was complete, bar the tracks and exhaust collector box.

Painting and markings: No shocks to your socks here – It’s all dark yellow bases with differing over-sprays of green and red-brown. All pretty normal fare for a tank based in Northern Europe during 1944.

I chose ‘4121’ for no better reason than I thought the camo scheme was a goody. First up was to spray the whole thing with Tamiya Red Brown. This imitates the primer used on the full size machine and is a suitable tone if, like me, you’re looking to pre-shade. Tamiya Dark Yellow was misted on leaving shadows along edges, in recesses etc. The turret was sprayed separately to the hull by the way.

The patches of brown and green camo are Tamiya Dark Green and Red Brown respectively. The real paint was mixed from drums of paste concentrate and dilution in the field would range from a relatively little to loads, with most possibilities in between. The net result was shades of colour that were pale on some vehicles, through dark on others (green could vary from a light pea green to black green for instance). The pay off for modellers is a very generous freedom of choice – pick any reasonable green or brown that’ll give you the final result you’re aiming at and you can’t really go wrong.

I remember my reaction, on reading that classic AFV modeller phrase for the first time: “I assembled the whole kit, tools, tracks and all before painting”. Eek! As a mainly aircraft modeller used to pre-painting I baulked at the prospect of trying to paint tools and other mini items in situ, especially as the main camo would, by then, be on and ripe for the capture of any errant brush slips. The reality was quite different however and I quickly realised that the tools (already primed with camo) took detail paint with ease. The metal bits are Xtracolour Gunmetal which was thoroughly stirred and gently thinned with white spirit to a consistency that would flow along edges (like the moulded clasps) but not run like water under the parts in little pools. It helped to first dip the bristles of the brush in white spirit and ‘wick’ the liquid away (mostly) by touching it to absorbent kitchen paper before taking up paint. I cleaned the brush of paint after every second or third application; this kept the whole plot running smoothly. The wooden tool handles were finished with Burnt Sienna artist’s oil paint mixed 50:50 with Liquin (Japan Dryer in the USA I understand). The Liquin transforms the paint from a thick paste to a clingy cream that can be applied in surprisingly small quantities as a colour glaze. This translucent quality makes use of the camo shades already applied and gives some variation in tonal appearance. Even better, it shortens the drying time from the usual weeks to a couple of days. Groovy!

Those lovely Fruil tracks were sprayed off the tank using Tamiya Flat Earth and immediately covered with Xtracolour matt varnish. The normal practice is to leave the application of top coats like varnish until after the base has dried (a day or so). However, I read that dissimilar paints (e.g. acrylic and enamel) can be sprayed over each other without delay as their differing chemical construction allows them to dry ‘through’ each other. I’ve been doing this for ages now with no ill effects, as was the case here. The following day ground pastel chalks were larruped (English for: ‘applied enthusiastically) on with an old brush. More matt varnish was misted on to seal the chalk. This ‘kills’ the effect by some 60-80% so I re-applied the chalk / varnish combo until I was as happy as the happiest man in Happy Land.

This was my first soirée into the realm of paint chipping on armour – so de rigour these days. Humbrol Matt White was wheeled out and darkened with straight black until it looked dark enough. I rapidly discovered (by less trial and way more error) that a very light touch with a fine brush carrying a little paint was the right way to go.

I agonised over painting the rubber tyres on the road wheels. These are not moulded separately and I wanted to avoid a less than even result. The solution was cribbed from an article by the very talented Steve Palffy who recommended thinning black paint down to a point where it will flow (like a dense wash) around the raised rims of the wheels. Again, it needed a light hand but worked as predicted – thanks Steve (your place in Plastic Heaven is now secure but not to be taken up for many, many longs years yet).

The exhaust collector box was sprayed Humbrol Matt Black and later hand painted with an acrylic paint containing metal filings (from a purpose made rusting set). Once dry the antiquing solution was run over it, promptly inducing real rust that grows, develops and ages until sealed with any matt varnish, giving a variety of finishes.

Decals are limited to the turret numbers, a couple of data stencils and three national insignia, one of which needs an overspray (when dry of course…) of Red Brown to match photos of the real vehicle. These were faultless over the usual gloss coat and sank into the detail with a few baths of Micro Sol. Matting down left not a trace of silvering. The instructions list my chosen vehicle as part of 1 Kp. Pz.Afkl.Abt.9 in Normandy, 1944.

Last to come under the brush were the 20mm cannon and MG34. Humbrol Matt Black was wheeled out and when dry over coated with Xtracolour Satin Varnish for a ‘gunmetal’ sheen. The extreme ends of the barrels were tickled with a very light, subtle dry brush with Xtracolour Oily Steel. Solidly in the home straight, the tracks were fitted, the exhaust box and the aerial (intended to depict a new replacement fitting on my grimy, war weary Luchs), before declaring victory and the end of modelling hostilities.

Conclusion: It costs more than a current Dragon Tiger 1 and is significantly smaller…but…it is such a profoundly class act and so thoughtfully produced that for this plastic addict, it was too much to resist. I loved it so much I snapped up Tasca’s later release 35006, 4^th Panzer Division version to feed my hunger for this delightful kit a little longer.

So now you know what to do – first thing tomorrow, book a day’s leave, flick on the answering machine, grab a fistful of beer vouchers and go hot foot to your nearest stockist for the cure to terminal AMS – even if you don’t ‘do’ armour models.

References: Bits and pieces here and there on the web.

Testors Grey Alien

Hi folks:

Testors Grey Alien is a simple project and a classic ‘weekender’. The manufacturer designed the kit to be depicted wearing a space suit of some description but I finished mine more in accordance with reports from those who claim to have seen such creatures…