AIR Modeller - Issue 43 (2012 08-09).pdf

AIRModellerAugust/September2012 43ISSUE August / Sept 2012 £6.50 UK $14.95 www.airmodeller.com SHOWCASING THE VERY BEST IN SCALE AIRCRAFT MODELLING POTEZ 63-11 Zdenek Sebesta’s PERFECT Issue 43 cover_Layout 1 13/07/2012 09:46 Page 1

AIR 43 June -July 2012_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 13/07/2012 14:46 Page 222

1 2 Potez 63-11 Zdenek Sebesta models the French WWII reconnaissance aircraft using the 1:48 Azur kit. 12 Corsair II TA-7 Francois Regis-Binder builds the Hobby Boss 1:72 kit. 20 Snowbound Stuka Luc Janssen builds Hasegawa’s 1:32 scale JU87 G-2. 28 Black Widow Great Wall Hobby’s 1:48 P-61A modelled by Franck Oudin. 36 F6F-3 Hellcat Maciek Zywczyk builds Hasegawa’s 1:48 F6F-3. 48 Air Born New releases. 58 Mediterranean Menace Charles Whall builds the Eduard Bf110E in 1:48 scale. CONTENTS AIR Modeller welcomes contributions from interested parties, but cannot accept any responsibility for unsolicited material. The contents of this publication including all articles, drawings and photographs originated by AFV Modeller ltd become the publishers copyright under copyright law. Reproduction in any form requires the written consent of the publisher. Whilst every care is taken to avoid mistakes AFV Modeller ltd. cannot be liable in any way for errors or ommissions. AFV Modeller is published Bimonthly by AFV Modeller ltd Old Stables East Moor Stannington Northumberland NE61 6ES Tel: 01670 823648 Fax: 01670 820274 email: david@afvmodeller.com Editor and Designer: David Parker Deputy Editor: Donald Campbell Sales Director: Keith Smith ISSN 1747-177X We are now on Facebook, ‘Like’ us to follow what we are doing and follow our build projects. AIR 43 June -July 2012_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 13/07/2012 13:38 Page 1

63- 2 POTEZ ZDENEK SEBESTA BUILDS AZUR’S 1:48TH POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 1

-11 3 The Azur Company have always specialized primarily in models of French aircraft and have so far released kits of the Potez 63 family of aircraft in both 1/48th and 1/72nd scales. This series of modern twin engined aircraft included the Potez 63-11 reconnaissance version and the Potez 630, 631 and 633 fighter and bomber versions, however the variant I have chosen to build here is the Potez 63-11 reconnaissance version which has a massive, extensively glazed nose as its main identifying feature. The main parts of the kit are made from relatively soft medium grey, plastic, the engines and small details are moulded from polyurethane resin and these are supplemented by a small photo-etched sheet, including seat belts and small surface details. Unfortunately, the instrument panel is not provided on the photoetched sheet. The surface of the kit has finely engraved recessed panel lines which seem to correspond with available drawings, but given that the plane was of all metal construction, except for the moving control surfaces, I decided to add a number of rivet lines to augment the existing surface detail. For this I used the popular Rossie the Riveter wheel set at a spacing of 0.55 mm and for reference various drawings were used, especially those published in earlier issues of the French magazine Replic and AIR Magazine along with the pull out plans from the latest publication on the Potez 63 by Mushroom Models Publications which is excellent and in my opinion a most necessary reference to build a detailed model, especially as it contains a plethora of photos which are essential when building a detailed model. Using these I decided to open the left engine and wing flaps but they also highlight the fact that most of the other kit details require amendment or modification! POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 2

I recommend that the nose glazing is masked at this early stage, not only from the outside but from the inside too in order to protect it while spraying the glazing in the interior colour. Once the nose windows have been fitted to the fuselage some extra detailing was added to the interior using the photos in the Mushroom book as a guide to supplement the original kit parts with extra details made from plastic strip and fuse wire. The plastic instrument panel was replaced using my own etched part which was prepared on my behalf by a professional PE producer using my own design. The defensive machine gun in the rear cockpit position was also given additional detail. Brass tube was used to make the gun barrel and small details were made from thin wires. Like most modellers I started construction with the cockpit, including the extensively glazed nose of the aircraft. The clear parts for this nose are provided as separate left and right sections and these were attached to their relevant fuselage halves, resulting in two complete left and right fuselage sections. The nose parts are moulded from clear plastic are a great idea because it is easy to mask appropriate windows to achieve their very clear and simple presentation. 4 POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 3

All of the interior surfaces were painted using a Medium Grey GSI colour whilst the detail parts were picked out in various different colours from the Vallejo paint range. To keep the interior paint off the clear parts, Eduard masks were used and although the basic clear parts, such as the nose of fuselage and the main parts of the canopy were retained, all of the other parts were cut away and rebuilt from clear plastic and metal, including the entrance doors. 5 POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 4

6 The wheel bays of this kit are very simplistic and also include the top of the recess for the wheel, which, according to the reference doesn’t match with reality. In fact the top of the wheel bays should simply show the underneath of the metal skinning covering the top surface of the wing. To rectify this problem new wheel bays were made up using the side walls of the original bays as a basis to which were added numerous details. The complex wheel legs in the kit look very good and only require small adjustments, however I recommend that the undercarriage doors are thinned out, which I did from the inside. POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 5

7 The wheel bays were painted using the French interior colour Chamois, which corresponds quite accurately in tone to Gunze Mr Colour 318 Radome Tan. The landing gear legs were painted a dark grey colour and the wheel well doors are finished in the lower surface colour - Gris Bleu Clair. One thing worth mentioning at this point is the fact that the tail wheel bay on this kit needs to be opened up as it is incorrectly moulded closed. POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 6

The opened wing flaps of this aircraft type were painted in the French interior colour Chamois and this certainly provides a colourful addition to the model. In order to detail the flaps, completely new moving parts were constructed from thin plastic material and PE parts which were part of the PE set that I had exclusively ordered to my own design. The inner wing construction was replicated using metal sheet, plastic plates and profiles. To add further interest and detail all of the control surfaces were separated, adjusted and fastened in a deflected position. The kit engines were replaced using new resin Gnome-Rhone 14 M engines from the Russian company Vector and the quality of these additional parts is extremely high indeed, just requiring some extra wires to achieve perfect results. However the exhaust system had to be made completely from scratch using pewter wires of different diameters which was malleable enough to form into this relatively complex array of piping. 8 POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 7

After spraying the colour scheme it was time to add the decals and these came from Techmod which produces three decal sheets for this aircraft. Each of these Techmod decal sheets includes 4 optional markings and I used Techmod decal sheet No.48087 to decorate my model. The option that I chose from this sheet was an aircraft flown by GR II/14 at the end of 1940 and the Techmod decals were of high quality with good colour representation. These adhered perfectly to the surface using GSI Mr.Mark Setter and Mr.Mark Softer which made them literally `soak’ into the surface, including the small rivets to give a painted on appearance and a coat of clear gloss was used to seal the decals into place. I almost forgot to mention that the decal sheet also provides a set of masks for the glazing and wheels and these were applied prior to painting the model. To weather the model and highlight the rivets and recessed panel lines a Dark and Neutral Wash from the MiG Production company was utilised and the various scratches associated with operational aircraft were applied gently with aluminium and grey colours. This particular aircraft, unlike most other aircraft of this type had an antenna mast mounted above the cockpit with wires leading to the two vertical tail surfaces and these antennae wires were replicated using thin nylon thread. 9 I sprayed the whole surface of the model using a base layer of GSI Mr. Surfacer 1000. Gunze does not produce authentic French camouflage colours so it was necessary to mix the individual colours from the available paints according to available documentation – especially from the French magazine Replic. The lower surfaces were painted in a light gray-blue colour known as `French Gris bleu clair’/ GSI C115+ C308 whilst the upper surface camouflage combined a grey blue colour called `Gris bleu fonce’ - GSI C 307, with `Khaki’ GSI C 54 and a brown called `Terre de sienne’ GSI C 369. POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 8

10 POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 9

French aircraft, thanks to their attractive camouflage colours and impressive markings, are a significant part of any WW2 model collection and the Potez 63.11 should definitely be included amongst them. 11 POTEZ63 Zdenek:Layout 1 13/07/2012 13:16 Page 10

12 TA-7H CORSAIR II FRANCOIS REGIS - BINDER 1:72ND HOBBY BOSS TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 1

13 The Corsair II flew for the first time in 1965 and quickly had its baptism of fire. The two seat version, named TA-7 was produced for the US Navy and the Air National Guard for pilot instruction. This version was exported to several countries including Greece (TA-7H) and Portugal (TA-7P). For this model, I used the Eduard set designed for the Hobby Boss kit which is comprised of two sheets (interior and exterior). I also retrieved Verlinden and Eduard pieces from an old Fujimi model (seat and radar). From this kit, I also took the air intake for its more accurate shape. Finally, an Aires set for the single seat version was used for the cockpit. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 2

14 Radar The radar made of resin and photoetched parts that comes from a Verlinden set. The main piece is detailed with plastic sheet and copper wire. The nose is first cut and thinned with a spherical burr. Then hinge and structural reinforcements are added. The radar dish is a photoetched piece burnished into shape by rubbing it with a pen. Cockpit The cockpit is quite basic with some instruments and side consoles supplied as decals. As it remains very visible with its wide canopy, it is essential to increase the detail level. I started with a single seat cockpit from Aires which was duplicated and glued together. The rear part was deleted and I used the Hobby Boss parts instead. This allowed me to keep the TA-7 features and at the same time, to ease the insertion of the set in the fuselage. The two cockpits have been glued and any gaps filled with Milliput. Details on the side consoles were removed in order to be replaced with Eduard pre-coloured photoetched parts. It should be noted that these parts whilst theoretically attractive were actually quite disappointing. Critically, Eduard has coloured all the parts as dark grey when they should be black. Secondly, the printing on my parts was blurred, so most of the parts had to be repainted. The overall finish also lacks any raised detail. This is why I added a few switches cut from plastic sheet with a 0.3mm propelling stencil. For the pilot’s instrument panel, I used the Aires parts which are much more accurate. It should be noted that for the rear cockpit, a radar scope has to be added to the Eduard part. On the back walls, details are added such as cable, cases and the green small cylinders on the side of each position. Seats are duplicated from Verlinden seats. They are improved with details such as specific headrests (enlarged fins for the front cockpit). The windshield is very good and can be easily fitted without any putty. On the other hand, the canopy has a moulding seam along the top that should be removed. For this, I used a scalpel blade passed along the canopy. Then, this area has been polished with Micromesh and Tamiya Compound. To finish, the canopy interior received frame made of Evergreen plastic card, handles and mirrors. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 3

15 Main wheel bay Main Wheel bay are particularly successful. Hobby Boss had provided many details on its insert. It is still possible, with good references, to enhance this area with additional cables and boxes. Be careful because wheel bays are not symmetrical and each has its own features. The bays received a Humbrol white coat followed by a matt varnish. A grey wash is applied in order to enhance all the details. Then a second coat of white is painted to soften the grey wash. Finally, raised detail and structures were picked out in pure white with a little brush. Forward wheel bay Again, Hobby Boss has paid attention to this area. I really liked the intelligent design with the bay moulded directly onto the air intake and separate walls. This greatly helps the detailing and the painting. For this area, Eduard offers a few parts, mostly uninteresting. Photoetched cables are not realistic but can be used as template for their replacements in copper wire. Electronic bays and access doors The model can be represented with open electronics bays as often seen in reality. All the bays are well detailed even if the moulding is a little soft. The main challenge will be to paint accurately. As all the boxes are moulded in one block, it is necessary to work with an extra fine brush. On the right side, I disassembled the bay to make the painting easier. In retrospect this was a bad idea because I had to redo most of the bay walls and the arrangement was complex. looking back, there was probably no need to complicate things. I had in my possession the Verlinden parts for these areas but these are mostly innacurate, so I chose not to use them. These compartments were painted in zinchromate yellow. Like the wheel bay, a grey wash was applied in order to enhance all the details. At this stage, its time use fine brushes and start the micro painting. In the left bay, do not forget to add the big oxygen bottle painted in green. The compartment doors are nice especially on the interior face. For more realism, it is necessary to thin them by sanding the exterior side. Information placards, can be added on the inside. Access panels for steps to the cockpit have been drilled and the steps replaced with plastic square strips. Air intake It is the main fault of this model because it is too flattened on its interior shape. This mistake is easily correctable if you have an old Fujimi Corsair. I simply cut the air intake lip and fixed it instead of the Hobby Boss one. The lip created was then filled with milliput. After drying for 24 hours, I sanded the area and redid the engraving around the air intake. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 4

16 Auxiliary generator The original piece is accurate but lacks sharpness, so I only kept a small part of this piece, added cables and remade the four bladed propeller. The bay also received reinforcements made of plastic in the interior. Refuelling probe Hobby Boss offers a separate refuelling probe but unfortunately moulded within its housing, so I had to use my scalpel in order to cut out the probe. In this process, I only managed to save the front of the housing and the probe was not usable anymore, so I had to look for a substitute part. I found it in a Trumpeter F-100 kit. This new probe had the same diameter and a similar head. Only the shape and the length were changed. Wings and flaps. The wings are moulded with heavy riveting, which was filled with cyanoacrylate glue. The principle is to apply the glue along the line to filled, wait for a few minutes and then, with a scalpel blade remove the surplus, leaving the glue in the hole. The finishing is done with fine sandpaper. Be careful not to wait too long for the glue to dry, because it becomes hard very quickly, making the sanding much more difficult. The rivets lines are redone more accurately with the Rosie the riveter tool. The flaps have been separated from the wing and are hollow on the internal faces. The fixed part of the wings received a plastic strip that allows repositioning the flaps down and shows the hinges. The little airbrakes on the underside and upper are represented open. For this, it is necessary to drill and refine the wings and create a slot with tiny hinges. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 5

17 Antennas and fairings Hobby Boss have modelled a US Navy version (TA-7C), it is important to take into account features of the Greek version. There are two dorsal antennas: a black small one situated just behind the hood and a larger white one further behind. There is no need to put the fairing on the rear underside of the fuselage as indicated on the instructions, but do not forget the little fairing situated just behind the front wheel bay. This piece is supplied in the kit (but not used in the US version). Regarding the parachute housing (which is characteristic of the TA-7H version), there is nothing given in the kit and it has to be scratchbuilt using 4.8 mm diameter Evergreen tube (cut through the centre). Missile tracks on the fuselage are improved with plastic sheet and Eduard parts. Finally, little oversight from Hobby Boss: a drain has to be added on the left side of the fuselage. Paint, Decals and Patina The main attraction of the Greek versions are the weathered finishes. Most pictures show very dirty planes with colours faded by the sun. After the masking of all the parts to be protected, the model received a yellow zinchromate coat which allows for the first time to check the surfaces and to correct any defects, and, this coat will also serve as an undercoat for the future patina on the most worn areas. I started the camouflage (Vietnam type) with a grey on the underside (Humbrol 28) then, the brown (Humbrol 118) and finally the two green (Humbrol 116 & 117). The boundaries between the two layers are done with paper masks. After 24 hours drying, I started the weathering with an anthracite Wash for the darker areas and light Brown for the rest. Washes are made of Humbrol paint and thinner. Excess is removed with a tissue soaked with lighter fluid. The model is randomly spotted with a masking product (Mr Masking Neo / Mr Hobby) in order to create darker areas. Then, the airframe received a coat of lightened base colours in the center of the panels with a DH2 Sparmax airbrush. The principle is to achieve a fine marbling. Exhaust nozzle The Hobby Boss exhaust nozzle is nice. It is sufficient simply to refine the edges. Do not forget to paint the internal part of the fuselage in zinchromate yellow before closing. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 6

18 Panel and rivets lines received the same treatment but with darker base colours. In order to be more accurate you can use an adhesive paper sheet (Post-it), which allows you to make particularly fine lines. With a new scalpel blade a scuffing is made on the most worn areas revealing the yellow zinchromate undercoat. Decals are set up. I used the superb Icarus sheet 72001 dedicated to Greek A-7 and TA-7. The quality of the decals is excellent and the application is very easy between two Future layers (Klir in France) A Humbrol matt coat is finally sprayed over the decals. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:52 Page 7

19 1:72ND HOBBY BOSS CORSAIR II TA-7H Conclusion The last step is to fit all the small items without disaster! To finish, I created a small seagull in Milliput, which has landed on the top of the tail left its tell tail signature on the tail fin! Bibliography A-7D/K Corsair, Lock-On n°9, Verlinden Production Walk Around 44, Squadron Signal. TA7 Francois Binder:Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:53 Page 8

H A S E G A W A ’ S 1 : 3 2 J U 8 7 G - 2 M O D E L L E D B Y Luc Janssen *S N O W B O U N D 20 Big Stuka Air 42Luc Janssen (Q8):Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:41 Page 1

21 When I decided to build a Ju 87 G-2, I had in mind to make a heavily weathered winter- camouflaged tank hunter. However, after checking different books and publications I was very attracted by the usual German ‘every day’ green – green camouflage with a lot of dirt marks and oil strains. To obtain a good contrast, I decided to make a green-green Ju 87 G-2 parked on a snow covered airstrip. I found many photographs of such scenes. Big Stuka Air 42Luc Janssen (Q8):Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:41 Page 2

22 Although the Hasegawa kit is beautiful and well detailed, I wanted to change some parts and I used following after- markets sets, namely: Robert Schatton 37 mm gun barrels Eduard Ju 87 G-2 Stuka Interior Eduard Ju 87 D/G Stuka Cockpit Set Voyagermodel Weighted wheels Assembling the model is fairly easy as the parts fit together well and only a minor correction with putty is needed. The Eduard Cockpit Set is extremely well detailed, but rather difficult to install nicely. I went for a very good cleaning of the parts and different dry-fits of the whole cockpit interior to be sure of the correct construction and a perfect installation in the fuselage when closing. Once convinced of the right fit of the parts of the interior set, I assembled the whole using Super Glue. In the left fuselage I positioned the side wall with the floor while the right fuselage received only the side wall. Some parts were left apart to be painted separately. For the seat belts I wanted to use the Eduard set, but the general impression of these belts, although extremely well detailed, is too artificial! With lead foil from an old toothpaste tube I made new belts and formed more realistic poses. These new belts were hand painted, some decals were applied, coated with varnish and weathered. As the Germans sometimes dismantled the wheel covers when mud build up could cause trouble, I decided to present an uncovered landing gear. Although I had bought an after -market set of gear forks from Master Casters, they did not impress me and I went for scratch building! With thick sprue I made rough U-shaped forms using the kitchen oven and gravity force! The sprue was placed on a rod with the right diameter and put in the oven. When the sprue began to weaken and bend nicely over the rod, I opened the oven to stop the warming up and I obtained the basic form. With lots of sanding (and lots of patience) I succeeded in making good looking gear forks on which I added the necessary details. Building Big Stuka Air 42Luc Janssen (Q8):Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:41 Page 3

23 To give the model a more dynamic look, I changed the angle of the elevators in the upward position. The separation of the elevators and the mass balances was done with a dental tool with very sharp point. By repeatedly running the point of this needle- shaped tool over the joints, the parts come loose without problems and with sharp edges. The elevator trims now also had to be adapted and I made new ones from sheet styrene. The kit trim actuators were partly replaced by stretched copper wire. As the kit actuators of the flaps and ailerons are on the heavy side, I replaced them by pins. At the top of the tail I added the attachment point for the wire antenna. The gun pods from the kit need further detailing as well, thus I added some small bits and pieces and wiring. The holes in the attachment brackets were drilled out and the brass 37 mm barrels dry fitted to be sure the finished pods would have the correct look once painted and installed under the wings. For the landing light I used a small piece of Acrylic that I prepared to fit precisely in the existing recess in the wing leading edge. The back and the sides of this piece were then sanded and highly polished and glued in the recess. Once the glue had hardened, I formed the correct look of the landing light cover by sanding and polishing the Acrylic. The navigation lights, which are not provided in the kit, were made from the shafts of old coloured tooth brush. * Big Stuka Air 42Luc Janssen (Q8):Layout 1 13/07/2012 12:41 Page 4