AIR Modeller - Issue 57 (2014-12 2015-01).pdf

MENGAIRMODELLERDECEMBER/JANURAY2014 57DECEMBER/JAN 2014 • £6.50 UK $15.99 www.mengafvmodeller.com HASEGAWA’S ITALIAN JUMPER HARRIER ITALIA Issue 57 cover_Layout 1 06/11/2014 14:37 Page 1

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1 2 P-47D Gabreski’s famous ‘forty seven’ modelled by Tristan Estoppey using the 1:32 Hasegawa kit. 12 Perfect Storm? Part One Paolo Portuesi builds the new 1:24 Airfix Hawker Typhoon. 20 Bear Metal Dave Oliver gives the Hobby Boss F4F Bearcat the bare-metal treatment. 28 Harrier Italia Mirko D’Accordi builds the iconic jump jet using the 1:48 Hasegawa kit 36 Big Bird B-17, Part 8 The Editor continues his build of HK Models spectacular 1:32 Flying Fortress. 44 Air Born New releases. 54 Early FE.2B Chema Martinez Fernandez describes his award-winning Wingnut Wings project. CONTENTS Meng 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. Meng AIR Modeller is published Bimonthly by AFV Modeller ltd Old Stables East Moor Stannington Northumberland NE61 6ES Tel: 01670 823648 Fax: 01670 820274 email: david@mengafvmodeller.com Editor and Designer: David Parker Deputy Editor: Mark Neville 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 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 10/11/2014 15:23 Page 1

Tristan Estoppey models Gabreski’s famous forty seven P-47D 2 When I started this project I was motivated to try unconventional techniques such as Rub n Buff and dry transfers to obtain the best possible "authentic" natural metal finish. This was before I read Gabreski's book A Fighter Pilot's Life whose well-known double page's picture of his P-47D made me change my mind. After a quick search for references on the Internet I realized it wouldn't be necessarily an easy escape from my initial plan, Gabreski's plane field applied camouflage being subject of many interpretations and thus much debated on the discussion forums. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 2

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4 Cockpit I was provided with the truly magnificent MDC resin cockpit which fits into the fuselage almost without any modification, no endless sanding this time! Both smooth and corrugated cockpit floors are provided, the latter was used up to the D-25 version and thus chosen for Gabreski's aircraft. I tried the HGW fabric seatbelts instead of the photoetched parts provided by MDC (separate buckles are also provided by MDC should you want to make your own belts). I was not totally convicted by the HGW belts since they are printed on one side only which limits the positioning options a little. Both Airscale (WWII USAF) and MDC decals were used for the instrument panel. Hasegawa suggests an "Interior green" cockpit but Republic-built P-47D were painted Dull Dark Green. I mixed this green-blue colour by adding 50% of Tamiya flat blue (XF8) to Gunze H312 Green. All details were painted according to the book "P-47 in detail and scale" which features cockpit pictures of a machine in original condition. Weathering was done using various technique such as hairspray technique using (AK Interactive Worn Effect) for the seat and floor and AK interactive products applied with a sponge. A 6b graphite pencil was used to give a metallic look to the edges of most parts in the cockpit. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 4

Engine I rejected the kit engine and opted instead for the good price/quality ratio Quickboost R2800 resin engine. Another slightly better alternative is available from Vector Resin. Pushrods were created using 0.75mm Evergreen styrene rods as well as the 36 ignition wires, two per cylinder, made from lead wire. The Quickboost magnetos are ok, however they depict a model used on earliest versions of the engine so I changed them for those from a Trumpeter kit. The motor was painted Gunze RLM74 which is a good match for the dark grey used at that time. Magnetos and propeller governor are black, ignition wires are painted with a mix of Vallejo light brown and aluminium matt. The inside of the cowling panels is not Yellow Zinc Chromate as often seen on restored aircraft but natural metal. Engraving In a moment of craziness I decided I would go for a full rivetting of the complete airframe using a jeweller’s punch (MDC). If I had known at the beginning the huge amount of time it eventually took to complete this task for such a big kit I seriously doubt I would have done it. If you decided to do so the first thing you would need is plenty of patience, and good reference for the pattern. For the latter I used walkaround pictures whenever possible since I found all published drawings to be either over simplified or wrong, or both at the same time! Straight lines were made using the rivet spacer provided by MDC. Curved areas (fuselage) were lightly pre-riveted with a Rosie wheel using thin (2-3 mm) Dymo tape strips as guide. When using the jeweller’s punch, trailing edges need special care as you can easily push through the thin plastic. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 5

6 Undercarriage Some pipes were added to the otherwise quite empty wheel wells. These were painted with a 50/50 mix of Tamiya XF-4 and Gunze H329 to represent yellow zinc chromate. The undercarriage legs were detailed with the traditional brake pipes, undercoated with Alclad aluminium, a coat of AK Interactive Worn Effect and painted with slightly lightened Tamiya Olive Drab (XF-62). Weathering was done according to photos of Gabreski's aircraft. Kit wheels are poorly engraved and went directly into the bin. They were replaced by the excellent Barracuda resin items. They are accurate and casting is perfect, you just have to cut their casting block and sand them flat at your convenience to represent the weighted effect. Tyres were painted with a mix of Gunze tire black, brown and a drop of white. Wheel hubs are natural metal on the outside, the wheel hub cover plates on the inside were painted dark green and ocean grey, matching the upper camouflage style of the aircraft. This is my personal interpretation of what I could observe on the period pictures. Propeller The Hamilton Standard propeller is nicely represented by Hasegawa but, as often, the blades are far too thick and so were carefully sanded to a more appropriate scale thickness. Propeller tips were painted in Gunze H329 yellow and then masked. Tamiya Nato black was sprayed on the blades. The hub was painted with Alclad steel, the spinner with Rub ‘n buff applied using my fingers to obtain a polished look. Flaps I decided to glue the flaps retracted to prevent this massive aircraft from having a heavier look and, flaps are usually retracted just after landing to avoid ground debris getting thrown against them by the propeller while taxiing and most WWII pictures show this configuration when parked. This requires some sanding and numerous test fittings to get the flaps perfectly aligned. Fuselage and wing assembly Fuselage assembly was straightforward except for the 4 part engine cowling. Hasegawa's design follows the pattern of the real aircraft, which is a good thing but makes things a little bit tricky to have all of them glued in the correct position. This difficulty was exacerbated by the installation of the Quickboost engine which required the removal of the positioning tabs inside the cowling panels. Again a fair amount of dry tests were needed to obtain a good result. Wings to fuselage assembly also needed sanding on the ensure a good alignment on both side of the wings. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 6

7 Painting First of all a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1200 was applied on the whole model using my airbrush. This was done not only to erase the small scratches created by the rivet spacer/ruler during the riveting process but also to help soften the rivets as I wanted them to be present but discrete. The next step was to spray a coat of Tamiya matt white at the locations of the stars & bars, codes and invasion stripes. The paint was then sanded smooth with micromesh clothes before Montex adhesive masks and Tamiya tape where applied to the model. The under surfaces were painted first. Gabreski's plane, based in England during spring/summer 1944, is known to have been painted with RAF paint stocks, however the colour is still debated. Some say it was left natural metal and others think it was painted medium sea gray. After a careful examination of all pictures available and considering the common practice within the unit, I am now convicted that this plane had its undersides left in natural metal. I started with a coat of Alclad white aluminium which was then masked before Alclad magnesium was sprayed along the fuselage panels covering the supercharger ducts. This particularity is clearly visible on pictures of natural metal P-47s and also noticeable on Gabreski's plane. Black stripes were painted on the underside of the horizontal stabilizers and liquid mask (Mr. Masking Sol Neo) was applied on the leading edge of the wings to later create some chipping. Red areas (nose and no walking zone at the wing root) were painted and masked at that time too. Next came the Tamiya RAF dark green (XF-81), applied over the whole upper surface of the model with a soft demarcation line with the undersides. References show paint covering the first third of the horizontal stabilizer lower surface too. This colour was then slightly modulated using lighter mixes of the base colour applied randomly and along AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 7

8 selected panel lines and areas exposed to wear. The ocean grey (XF-82) was then sprayed following two distinctive patterns which are characteristic of Gabreski's aircraft. For the fuselage I prepared a very diluted paint and applied some mottling in a similar way I would for a German camouflage pattern. The left side is well documented and progressing very slowly is the key to achieve a good result. References available for the right side were just enough to give me a general idea of the pattern, the rest is artistic licence. For the wings here again the reference material offers only some clues. The pattern seems to be much denser with tight soft edge demarcation but the paint was sloppily applied since overspray is clearly noticeable. I found that trying to replicate this on my model was quite difficult and my first attempts just ended with something that just looked badly painted although this is somewhat what I wanted to achieve! After several adjustments I ended up with a wing scheme probably cleaner than the original but more pleasant to look at. To complete the camouflage Tamiya medium sea grey was applied on the lower part of the cowling. Last paint jobs consisted in completing the invasion stripes and spraying the blue of the stars and bars. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 8

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11 Decals A few kit decals (kill flags, white instruction panel near the windscreen and propeller stickers) where applied as all other markings were painted. Klear floor varnish was applied locally, decals were applied and then sealed with another coat of Klear. Matt varnish (Tamiya XF86) was applied on the whole upper surfaces of the model. A feature of Gabreski's aircraft is the presence of electrical tape outlining the fuselage invasion stripes. I estimated the width of this tape to be 2 inches on the real aircraft, accordingly I cut 1.6 mm width stripes in black decals (those from the kit) and applied them to the model. Weathering Weathering started with the classical panel lines washes, using MIG products. Neutral Wash was applied to all panel lines and Dark wash to dirty areas, i.e. the lower fuselage and around wheel wells. Next I loaded my airbrush with a highly diluted black/brown mix and sprayed it within panel and along panel lines, inside wheel wells, gear doors, etc. without being too systematic. The staining due to fluid leaks on the bottom of the fuselage and wings and the exhaust staining were also created using similar black/brown mixes. The area around the shell ejector holes were treated with diluted black oil paint applied with a sponge. The sponge technique was also used to apply MIG and AK Interactive products on the walking area at the wing root and on the propeller blades. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 13:02 Page 11

THE PERFECT STORM? Paolo Portuesi The Typhoon was designed around the powerful Napier Sabre engine beset by several problems, almost all the initial production batch was lost without any enemy involvement. Frequently, toxic gasses leaked inside the cockpit, the engine caught fire, and tail sections broke off when flying... When at last most of these problems were corrected, the Royal Air Force found they had one of the most capable ground support aircraft WWII. A Typhoon could combine the devastating fire power of its four 20 mm cannon with a large payload of rockets and bombs striking fear into the enemy on the ground, proving particularly effective after the D-Day landings. We now have another Airfix kit in the monster scale of 1:24. I have fond memories as a boy of the very large Airfix Bf 109E and Spitfire Mk.I, holding the huge box of this new kit, comparisons with the other ‘super kits’ of yesterday and today is inevitable. Looking back, I thought the Hurricane was the best detailed, at least amongst those released by Airfix, but this new kit is something completely different, even from their more recent release of the Mosquito, the Typhoon stands in a class of it’s own. PART ONE There was an air of excitement around the Airfix stand at Scale Model World 2013 with the unveiling of a very special kit to commemorate their 75th year and also the 70th anniversary of D-Day, a 1:24 Hawker Typhoon. Even a cursory glance over the assembled test-shot and it was obvious Airfix had gone out to produce something very special, yet affordable. Airfix 1:24 aircraft will no doubt touch a nostalgic spot with many modellers, always on the top self of the local toy shop out of reach, and certainly out of reach of our pocket money they made the ultimate Christmas or birthday present. Unfortunately we never received a sample kit to feature in our 'Air Born' pages but, thanks to Paolo, at last we can take an in-depth look at this landmark release from Airfix. 12 AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 12

In this scale there’s nowhere to hide! Rarely will you see a more comprehensive engine built straight from the box with such high levels of detail and accuracy. 13 It’s reputed Typhoon and Tempest expert Chris Thomas was consulted by the kit’s designers to ensure high levels of accuracy and some stunning surface detail. AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 13

The large red box has striking box art that captures the feeling of the Typhoon in action very well. As with the box art of Airfix’s golden era, it tells you a story, a very exciting one straight from the pages of a vintage boys comic! The box is heavy, containing around twenty five sprues it’s packed with plastic and a large decal sheet containing four options of markings. On un-packing it, you find that Airfix has moulded some over five hundreds of parts in a good quality light grey styrene. Parts are crisp and well moulded with stunning detail. However, some smaller parts often need some cleaning up before assembly. Due the incredible number of parts, this is certainly not a kit for the novice builder! The instructions are very well done. Airfix has chosen to give us a multipage booklet of clear and detailed build diagrams and colour call-outs. Almost all 231 stages are easy to understand but, because of the complexity of the kit, do not jump from one stage to another, with this kit you cannot go back! You need to read the plans until you’re familiar with the stages of assembly to have fun with this incredible kit. In addition, you need to decide which of the three possible final display configurations you like the best. I went for a fully open engine feeling it would be rude not to show off all of the rich detail and complex assembly. Before adding the seatbelts I repainted the quilted seat back in a greener tone 14 On the negative side I have to say that ejector pin marks are way too frequent AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 14

The same is true about the cockpit, which is superbly made and can be detailed up to a very realistic standard just with some careful painting. The seat belts are nicely done in plastic. My choice was to replace them with some very nice RB Productions paper and photoetch belts. Practically all of the fittings are moulded separately. Any additional detailing, with the notable exception of the wires running along the cockpit, is probably pointless. As usual with large scale kits, Airfix has produced the instrument facia in two parts. The front of the instrument panel has been moulded with open gauges, and a clear plastic insert to fit from the back has been provided. Finally instrument decals are placed on the back of these clear inserts for a very convincing effect. While the ones included by Airifix are good, the aftermarket decals from Airscale are better and were my choice in this case. 15 Aftermarket additions in the cockpit were limited to RB seatbelts and Airscale instument facia decals AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 15

It is when you look at the diagrams for the engine assembly that suddenly such a large scale makes sense. No plastic kit scale aircraft engine has ever been detailed to the extent that this is, at first glance it could seem over-engineered. You need to be brave enough and actually start the building to understand that it is not the case, everything that should be there simply is, including a pipe (part C14) that has been forgotten by the instruction booklet but not by the Airfix web site which shows the missing pipe placement! 16 The Napier Sabre was one of the most powerfull aircraft inline piston engines designed. It’s H-24 layout made for a short stroke and power ranging from 2200 BHP in the early versions up to 3500 BHP in it’s final specification AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 16

I believe that aircraft models need a different approach to painting and weathering than tanks. I very rarely pre-shade my scale aircraft models, when I do it’s always in the smaller 1:72 scale. Another technique that I don’t recommend to a modeler new to such a large scale is dry brushing. Given that this Typhoon is three times larger, I surrender both pre- shading and dry brushing and go for my trusty post-shading technique. All the internal structures have been first painted with various shades of Alclad aluminum and then warmed up with some un- thinned burnt umber oil colour. In some cases, I over sprayed a very light and thin coat of Gunze Mr Hobby brown. For the engine I went from a barely lightened aqueous Mr Hobby matt black to a dark shade of Alclad aluminum. The seat is very well done with some realistic seams running across the quilting. It comes to life with some khaki for the padding, and a mix of matt and gloss black for the seat, again from the Mr Hobby aqueous range. 17 There are three different propeller spinners supplied, two backing plates and the option of three or four propeller blades AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 17

So far has been an enjoyable kit to build. I can't say the parts fall together perfectly, but it’s decent. Fuselage and wings get along very well together. Really, there’s no putty and no sanding required if you carefully follow the instructions in the correct order. 18 Various shades of Alclad laquers give the realistic bare metal finishes while Burnt Umber oil colour gives depth to the detail In this scale, rivets can have the correct appearance, hard to acheive in 1:72 and 1:48 AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 18

The movable parts are a perfect fit, and they do remain movable. On the negative side I have to say that ejector pin marks are frquent, and, often, are placed in highly visible places. Here careful filling and sanding is required to get satisfactory results. Another small problem that I experienced with the build is that a couple of the four gun barrels require some help, and some putty, to fit well into their wing recess locations. next issue 19 Internal detail of the wings extends to fuel tanks and the cannons complete with ammunition AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 14:32 Page 19

BEARMETAL T he F4F Bearcat, like its British contemporary, the Sea Fury can be seen as perhaps the pinnacle of piston engineered fighter design that had been rapidly advancing throughout the Second World War. Entering squadron service on the 21st of May 1945 it was too late to see combat in WW2, but It still provided a useful and capable stop-gap until the new generation of jet fighters became available and remained in service with some countries until the mid 1960s. Its superior manoeuvrability compared to its predecessor the Hellcat, made it a firm favourite with pilots. It also boasted some unusual design features such as provision for a G-suit (The first operational aircraft equipped with this feature) while early versions had explosive bolts that would automatically jettison one wing tip if the other one broke away.The Hobbyboss kit is quite a recent tooling and displays a high degree of surface detail and precision parts which make assembly a pleasure. Unfortunately, the level of detail is rather inconsistent, with areas such as the undercarriage bays and the engine being rather basic. It’s strange then that other parts, such as the area in front of the cockpit fire wall are so detailed, yet without modification, would remain unseen once the fuselage halves were joined. A search of the internet revealed a few aftermarket items specifically for this kit, others items such as the cockpit photo etch set had to be heavily modified from items made for other manufacturers kits. 20 AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 15:04 Page 20

21 Dave Oliver gives the HobbyBoss F4F Bearcat the bare-metal treatment AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 15:04 Page 21

cockpit resin radial The parts supplied with the kit gave a reasonable representation of the cockpit, there was however much room for improvement. With no P.E set for the Hobby Boss kit, I bought and modified the one for the Hobbycraft model. This involved trimming up the instrument panel and side consoles in order to fit correctly, Then Plasticard was used to reshape the kit side consoles, while the rather two dimensional wires on the cockpit floor were removed and replaced with lead wire. The gun sight supplied with the kit was rather large, so a replacement was scratch built. The cockpit walls had a few P.E items added such as the throttle leavers, but still looked rather bland so again lead wire was used to make the area more interesting. Vallejo Interior Green was then used to paint the cockpit tub. It seems to have a slightly brighter tone more suited to American aircraft and can be both sprayed and brush painted with ease. The side walls were sprayed with Zinc Chromate Yellow. Finally the seat cushions were painted with Citadel Scorched Brown and then given a light dry brushing and highlighting. A light wash of Mig Shadow Brown was used almost as a filter to unify the whole area, and then Citadel Badab Black was then used to highlight the instrument panels and remove the rather glossy appearance of the pre- painted P.E, giving it a matt, dusty texture. Chipping was added to the whole area and the seatbelts were then super-glued in place. This was then put to one side rather than gluing it in place due to further work required on the fuselage halves which could result in damage or accidental overspray. Having decided it would be a shame not to display the detail of the engine and the area behind it, I decided to make two cut outs in the engine cowling and the fuselage. The Aries front bulkhead detailing set was added along with some extra wiring to make the area look a little busier. Plasticard was used to make the framing around the hatches. Finally, inspection hatches were made from Plasticard and riveted around the edges to simulate the removed panels. After these panels were removed I decided to replace the rather Basic kit Engine with the Aries aftermarket item. The resin plug was carefully removed from the back of the casting then the engine was painted grey for the crank casing and Tamiya XF-16 for the cylinder blocks, the ancillaries were then added. The pushrods were made using copper wire, small holes were then drilled in the back of each cylinder block and lead wire was used to create the exhaust. Plug leads were then made with very thin lead wire. The whole assembly was given a light wash of black oil paint to pick out the details, and then more specific pin washes around areas of greater wear. The prop was painted Lifecolor Panzer Grey, then chipping was added using a fine sponge dipped in Citadel Chainmail silver. 22 AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 15:04 Page 22

wings and things ‘bays and ‘gear As I mentioned in the introduction, the wheel bays were a little plain so more detail was added first from the Aries detailing set, then with wire for the various hydraulic cables on the walls of the compartment. Due to the open design of the undercarriage area I decided to glue the wings to the fuselage halves first rather than try and detail the area once the two sides had been glued together. Painting this area took a bit of research as reference material was rather thin on the ground, the two tone green and silver paint scheme looked interesting so making an educated guess this was applied. The undercarriage legs themselves were nicely detailed, never the less there was still room for improvement so the hinges at the top of the legs were drilled out and wire was added for the hydraulic hoses. The wheels supplied with the kit were a little small and had no tread, a feature only present on the immediate post war aircraft. Again there were no specific aftermarket items so I had to improvise. The replacement wheels for the Academy kit looked great, nicely weighted with a good tread pattern but being about 2mm bigger in diameter than the kit wheels; they wouldn’t fit on the struts. Holding my breath, I cut away the bottom section of the legs, retaining the brake calliper housing. Longer replacements were then made with plastic encased metal rod, cutting recesses in the calliper and the leg, this was then supper glued in place. The finished items were then test fitted in order to get the correct angle of fit. The construction of the wings was very straight forward and required just a little filling on the leading edge. The joining of the two fuselage halves was also relatively straight forward. Aligning the replacement parts took a little bit of work but once glued in place, only a little filling and rescribing was needed. This was a relief, as it would have been a shame to lose the any of the well moulded surface detail, one of the kits strongest points. The elevators on the tail-planes were reset to a dropped position, and then in a moment of madness, I decided to do the same to the ailerons. This proved to be a rather time-consuming as it opened up some of the seams along the wing root and the leading edge. In hindsight, I should have done this before fixing the wings to the fuselage but it was worth it in terms of adding interest to the model 23 AIR 57 Dec/Jan 2014_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 06/11/2014 15:04 Page 23