AIR Modeller - Issue 72 (2017 06-07).pdf

MENGAIRMODELLERJUNE/JULY2017 JUNE/JULY 2017 • £6.50 UK $15.99 www.mengafvmodeller.com 72 CAMELF.1 WE BUILD WINGNUT WINGS’ LATEST AIR 72 cover.qxp_Layout 1 12/05/2017 16:35 Page 1

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1 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 2059-5964 We are now on Facebook, ‘Like’ us to follow what we are doing and follow our build projects. 2 Sopwith Camel Chocks away as the Editor dives straight into the latest Wingnuts release. 14 Short Sterling Part 9 Megas Tsonos concludes his scratchbuilt heavy bomber in 1:48. 22 Supreme Supermarine Grega Krizman shares his love for Eduard’s 1:48 Spitfire IXc. 30 Fab Phantom Zoukei Mura’s 1:48 F4 modelled by Dirk Eikholt. 38 The ‘X’ files Florin Claudiu Silaghi details the vintage 1:32 Revell X1. 44 Air Borne New releases. 56 Double Gloucester John Wilkes converts the 1:32 HKM Meteor. CONTENTS AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 14:29 Page 1

2 The Sopwith Camel, the iconic World War One fighter and if my memory serves me correctly, an aircraft Wingnut Wings said they would not model with so many kits of the Camel already available. But who else would do justice to the fighter in 1:32? Happily Wingnut Wings have reconsidered and have now released a grand total of five different Camel kits and a sixth in a duelist twin kit release along with the out of production LVG C.VI. Justice has been done to the Camel by any standards! It has been a little while since I had time to clear my cluttered bench and dive into the modelling pleasure that is a Wingnut Wings kit but the box art on this F.1 “Clerget” with its big fuselage graphics immediately caught my imagination although with a little over two weeks before our print deadline it would need to be a fast moving project! For those unfamiliar with a Wingnut Wings kit it is a simple but brilliant proposition. High quality precision engineered parts with crisp moulding in grey plastic are provided along with a small equally high quality photoetched fret. Cartograf are commissioned to print the highest quality decals you could imagine to allow you a choice of six different schemes and a full colour booklet. The clear and comprehensive nature of the booklet provides all the information, reference and colour guides you will need to construct the model and all you need to provide are the paints and rigging material of your choice. CAMEL Sopwith F.1 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 2

3 WINGNUT WINGS 1:32 “CLERGET” MODELLED BY DAVID PARKER AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 3

The completed cockpit sides with the cabane struts moulded integrally for added strngth. 4 Down to work, beginning with the cockpit which is almost a stand alone model and assembles into a well detailed tub that will eventually plug into the two halves of the fuselage. The numerous wood and metal finishes that are indicated in the instructions are best applied before you get too far with the assembly as there simply is not room to work inside when everything is put together. My approach to the cockpit components is to spray a base colour of a mid brown over which oil paint is applied and dragged with a flat brush to create a wood grain effect. It is a quick and effective method and can then be sealed with an acrylic satin varnish. The other metallic details were then picked out using Gunze Mr Metal Color shades and Vallejo Air Black which brush paints superbly and has a great soft satin finnish. Some of the bigger metallic components like the fuel tank and ammunition boxes were sprayed with Alclad colours. From the start of the build I had considered adding a pilot as a change from the usual open cockpit, and as the assembly of the cockpit began after painting I was able to consider some options. Dry fitting the cockpit moulding onto the cockpit tub came as a shock because of the small size of the opening in the moulding. Even without a pilot there was very little visibility for all of the cockpit details. As a consequence I decided not to bother with adding any rigging to the cockpit, and with a potential pilot I did not spend time on the seat area. After testing a few figures I chose one of the sadly out of production Wings Cockpit Figures. He was a tight fit in the opening and I cut off his lower body to position him up under the cockpit moulding which he completely filled. With better planning I could probably have saved myself the time I spent working on the cockpit as it is now obscured by the pilot but it gives I hope a good impression of the cockpit detail on offer in the kit. Above: The basic oil grain effects applied over the brown acrylic base. A coat of transparent Orange is used to enhance the varnished look before it is sealed with satin varnish. The excellent instrument dial decals fit the dials and look great but are mostly hidden when the top of the cockpit is added. With both sides of the cockpit added you can see why it is best to pre-paint these parts. The cockpit surround is test fitted along with the Vickers Machine guns showing the exact tollerances that the kit is designed to. The pilot takes up his cosy position jammed into the cockpit. I used Magic Sculp to secure him in place and once dry he was removed for painting. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 4

With the cockpit tub complete, at least to suit my requirements, I was able to close the fuselage where there is a big pin to securely locate the tub accurately. I followed the instructions by painting and fitting the tail skid but from there on it continually snagged on everything as I worked on the model and as it is a fragile part I went back and removed it from inside the fuselage which was possible due to the openings top and bottom. Much of the technique with a model like this is working out the best sequence to build and finish the various parts and with the addition of the pilot I needed him painted as well as the surrounding areas of wooden panelling on the fuselage. I used a similar technique for the wood as used on the internal parts with a mid brown base and oil colours used to add the woodgrain. Looking at the period photos any indcation of woodgrain on these parts is very subtle so I oversprayed them with a dark brown Vallejo Air colour leaving just a hint of the grain pattern and sealed with satin varnish. The pilot was painted using Lifecolor acrylics along with some subtle oil colour work on the face and he was then glued into place inside the cockpit surround with the putty I added helping to reposition him exactly. 5 The Clerget engine is superb from the box but I chose to enhance it by replacing the push rods with Albion Alloys aluminium tube. The base of the rods were drilled out and the new rods glued in place followed by the ball connectors at the opposite end. It’s a small enhancement but the new rods are a little thinner and shrpaer than the original plastic ones. The assembled fuselage now with the breech of the Vickers guns painted and installed The woodgrain pattern is applied using oils over a base colour. The panels are oversprayed with Vallejo Air brown. The finished wooden panels with a satin varnish coat applied. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 5

Making any further progress with the assembly was now impossible without painting the remaining main components which had all been prepared and items like the undercarriage assembled. For the painting I chose some of the new WW1 colours from the MRP paint range. These colours are ready to spray, extremely airbrush friendly and pleasingly thin yet dense. They will show any flaws in your assembly so you may want to prime, but I just sprayed directly onto the plastic. The paints dry with a finish which allows decals to go straight down which is another advantage especially when time is critical. On the undersides I applied a base of the bleached linen before masking the rib tapes and overspraying with doped linen. It is a high contrast effect which was reduced by misting over the tape strips when the masking is removed. One of the challenges of this particular aircraft is the turned finish applied to the metal cowlings and something I wanted to try and recreate. I began by preparing the metal areas by buffing and polishing the bare plastic parts as much as I could without damaging the rasied details. I sprayed a coat of Alclad Aluminium over these and then I applied a coat of AK Interactive True Metal Aluminuim. This was buffed using my finger tips and cotton buds to give an ultra-real aluminium finish. Before I moved on I carried out some tests on one of the spare engine cowlings from the kit which I had prepared to the same finish. I tried various different metallic finishes to create the turned patterns but I found Vallejo metallic acrylic Aluminium colour gave the best results. Then I simply had to paint the dots of Vallejo across the cowlings in a neat pattern, a process which took 4 hours to complete. Just as I was feeling pleased with the look of the cowlings disaster struck when I removed the fuselage masking. Parts of the top layers of the wood panels lifted off with the tape. It was lifting as a kind of skin and I was able to peel off the remaineder of the paint to at least have a uniform surface to repair. I masked the wooden panels and resprayed them so that they No priming just straight on with the PC-10! A base coat of Alclad Aluminium is sprayed onto the polished plastic without a primer. Individual dots of Vallejo Aluminium were brush painted over the cowlings. AK True Metal paste is then brushed over and buffed up for a realistic aluminium finish. One of the more tedious jobs is masking the rib tapes on the undersides. The high contrast look of the lower wing is toned down by misting MRP-257 over the stripes. 6 The completed effect needs considered weathering as the True Metal finish will be dissolved by certain thinners. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 6

7 Unexpectedly the masking tape caused damage to the wood panels on the fuselage. Fortunately the remaining paint could be peeled off and the panels restored Rather than mask the overlap of the topside colour I brush painted the strip using Lifecolor. The discoloured markings and the oil staining on the lower edges of the fuselage taking shape. looked as they had done previously. When I then removed the masking along the demarkation with the cowlings I discoverd that many of my dots of aluminium had lifted off with the tape as well. I had no choice but to repaint these to restore the cowlings. Sealing the cowlings may well have prevented this but would also have degraded the realism of the metalic finish. After this the decals were applied without a problem and the parts of the aircraft except the cowlings were given a coat of Vallejo satin varnish. I used oil paints to discolour the markings and given them a less stark clean appearance. I carefully fitted the top front cowling followed by the pilot and his section of fuselage, test fitting these to avoid any problems with gaps at this stage. The engine had been given a base of Alclad at the same time as I painted the the cowlings and then the other colours were brush painted over this using a mix of Gunze Mr Metal color and Vallejo acrylic Metal Color. It was weathered using oil paints remembering that these early engines were notorious for the large quantities of oil they threw out. With this in mind I used the excellent Vallejo Engine Oil Stains to airbrush the lower edges of the fuselage and cowlings and most especially the underside of the fuselage where the oil is blown back down the fuselage causing staining. i also used the same Vallejo paint to spatter oil stains on the engine firewall. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 7

The gun sight and windscreen were both painted and weathered individually before they were fitted. the ends of the sight were also drilled out to improve its appearance. The engine was fitted at last, although with time running short I chose not to wire up the spark plugs on each cylinder. The machine gun barrels were fitted next they have a great snug locator pin so the sit true. My only modification was to drill out the ends of the barrels. Before fixing the upper wing I drilled out part A56 and threaded it on a EZ line between the Cabane location points Above Once the upper wing is in place I was able to thread another line through the lower holes in A56 and tension them to correctly position A56 abover the guns. Left the extensive oil staining on the underside of the fuselage. Below When gluing the top wing I managed to drip glue onto the wing. Fortunately MRP paints assisted in blending in a reasonable repair! Before the top wing was installed I added the rigging between the cabane struts using elastic EZ Line while they were easy to access. 8 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 8

The tail rigging is the most complex area - I used a mix of regular and Gel CA glue to secure the elastic lines depending on the situation. The undercarriage was pre-weathered before it was and rigged up. The dusty wheels are installed at last. Once again the absence of the tail skid was a help in applying the rigging but once this was done it was refitted. A little bit of planning will help ease some of the pain that is rigging! I rigged the Cabane struts first while it was easy to reach them and I pre-glued the wires into the lower wing so that the fixings at the other ends would be on the underneath of the upper wing and any mistakes less visible. I used the eleastic EZ line which I find is quite forgiving of my attempts to persuade it to stick and I like the finished appearance so there is no need to paint it. In comparison to most British designs of the time the Camel is fairly minimally rigged but does feature a testing cross over line arrangement above the guns. The benefit of the elastic line here is that it allowed me to tension this so that the central connector was properly positioned. When you have not done this for a while it is technique that does improve with work, and by the time I tackled the complex tail rigging I had relaxed and become quite casual about the process! I did not fit and rig the undercarriage until the rest of the rigging was complete as it is most helpful if the fuselage sits flat. The base brown has been grained with oil paints. Tamiya clear Orange is oversprayed and polished when dry and the decals applied Several coats of Future are applied and polished again and the hub is painted. 9 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 9

10 So at the conclusion of an ambitious 11day build and hindered along the way by my own frequent mistakes how does the Camel look and feel? Well its a remarkably good-looking little aircraft which I find catches the eye with its powerful nose and compact wingspan. Wingnut Wings have an enviable reputation for kits which fall together and the Camel is no exception. I used no filler during my build and there are not many kits you can say that about! I like a bit of a challenge and in this case it was the turned finish of the cowlings which I think have been quite successful in replicating the look. I am pleased the Wingnut Wings have decided to release the Camel and we can only hope for some of the other ‘big name’ fighters like the Fokker Dr.1? CAMEL Sopwith F.1 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:00 Page 10

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SHORT STIRLING 14 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:02 Page 14

MEGAS TSONOS CONCLUDES HIS SCRATCHBUILT PROJECT part nine Oil dripping from the engines on the tyres was (and still is on certain types) a common thing seen on aeroplanes, the Stirling being no exception. This was done with a mixture of black artist’s oil and enamel gloss varnish, applied carefully with a fine brush. With the aid of a small brush I made the paint scuffing and chipping caused by the ground crews stepping on the wing surfaces using Mr. Metal Color 218 Aluminium. The fuselage roundel outer yellow circle was initially painted as a disk; then a decal roundel was applied over it. This helped weathering the yellow ring alongside the surrounding area which added to the realism of the whole roundel. Other decals used were the fuselage code letters, the fin flash, and the serial number, all coming from Xtradecal. 15 On the wing undersurfaces of the Stirling Mk.Is the oil leaking from the oil coolers (located inside the wings between the engines) was making enormous staining. The situation was made better after the introduction of the Mk.III into service when the oil coolers were relocated under the engines. On the model, I used enamel gloss varnish to simulate the leaking oil. I directed the ‘leaking oil’ towards the fuselage as a result of the wing dihedral. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:02 Page 15

16 The correct positioning of the fuselage roundel, codes and numbers owed everything to the faultless locating and scribing of the stringers and upper longerons (in itself a must). The dimensions of the letters and the diameter of the roundels were clearly specified in the Air Ministry Orders of the period; when correctly applied at Squadron level (exceptions do exist), they leave no allowance for errors on the part of the modeller. As with every aeroplane, the Stirling had its own stencil data, much of it passing almost unseen in the black and white photos. I approached the matter from two directions; the first was to make the readily seen stencilling as appeared in the contemporary photos, and the second was to apply some more, technically guessing that it was there. I used custom made dry transfers, in an effort to do away with the decal film and the possible silvering that goes with it. The fuel tanks were numbered, their number being stencilled in white. I also included a fuel octane and capacity stencil in black. The well-known stencil (apparent in most fabric-covered control surfaces) and in this photo the one painted on the rudder, along with a photo of the real one. This is the starboard aileron underside and the stencil as duplicated on the model. The topside of the aileron is a white line, probably denoting the positioning of a protractor to check the aileron angle of movement. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:02 Page 16

A sealing compound (or tape for that reason) was applied to some fuel tank access panels. Not all panels on a single plane were thus treated, and it was not common to all planes. It added more technical interest to my model so I included it as well. It was done by masking over the already weathered topsides; I airbrushed a medium grey colour which when dry was weathered accordingly. The fuel tanks which were located in the flap recesses were painted in a reddish shade of black to differentiate them from the rest of the wings. This was done shortly after the painting of the wings. I matt- varnished the tanks the same time as the wings and added some shading with dry pastels. Lighting the cockpit helped to bring out the less visible details and help the viewer to more clearly get the sense of the depth of the fuselage. I avoided scale lighting as I considered it was out of purpose. Additional lighting was added to the lower compartment so the detailed nose section could be seen from the opened emergency exit and the bomb aimers’ windows. A CR2032 3V dc battery and an on/off switch are encapsulated in a small container which can be plugged to two almost invisible holes and to a socket, located below the port horizontal stabilizer fillet. All equipment including the LEDs was purchased from www.smallscalelights.co.uk (jsminiatures@gmail.com). 17 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:02 Page 17

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19 EPILOGUE The construction of the Stirling spanned 23 months. It was a rewarding build with a few setbacks during the process. As these lines were written and the finished model was photographed for this most detailed account, small corrections were still being worked on. As a model of such a large aircraft, the Stirling was always asking for more, and the best of my ability was sometimes not enough; not in terms of difficulties faced, but in the quantity and quality of the work that went into it. Weighing close to 2.5 pounds or 1.1 kilos, it was at times quite tiresome to handle in one hand and work with the other. Thankfully its hefty brass-based structure prevented parts cracking (or breaking away altogether) during the build. As is the case with all scratchbuilt models, I ‘stopped’ it rather than ‘finished’ it and you can always add something here or there. This long term build finally came to a happy end. In this construction I tried to achieve, in scale, not only what the Short Stirling looked like, but to breathe on my model the aura of aeroplane technology of a bygone era. If I succeeded, then this model is a tribute to the people who built and maintained her, as well as to the men that went to war in her, many of them destined to pay the ultimate price in doing so. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to record my appreciation for the considerable help, which I have received from the R.A.F. Museum Department of Research and Information Services, for the manual extracts and drawings of the Short Stirling, which I was provided with. Also, to Mr. Michael Skoularikos and Mr. Yiannis Sagiadinos; their valuable expertise in their respective fields of occupation is a great asset to the conduct of my work. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:02 Page 19

20 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Short Stirling remembered, Wingspan Publications 1974. 2. The Stirling File, Bryce Gomersall, Air Britain/ Aviation Archaeologists Publications, 1979. 3. The Stirling Bomber, Michael J.F. Bowyer, Faber & Faber Ltd., 1980. 4. Short Stirling in Action, Ron Mackay, Squadron/ Signal Publications No1096, 1989. 5. Stirling Wings, Jonathan Falconer, Sutton Publishing, 1997. 6. The Stirling Story, Michael J.F. Bowyer, Crecy Publishing Ltd., 2002. 7. Stirling in Combat, Jonathan Falconer, Sutton Publishing, 2006. 8. Short Stirling, Warpaint No15, Alan W. Hall. 9. The Aeroplane Bomber Command Special Souvenir Issue, August 2002. 10. The Aeroplane Magazine: Collectors’ Archive Series: British Bombers of WWII, 2011. 11. Remember the Stirling (DVD), Bryan Harris, DD Home Entertainment, 2007. AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:02 Page 20

21 MEGAS TSONOS’S SCRATCHBUILT AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:03 Page 21

M y first modelling related memory is building a Matchbox Spitfire with my dad when I was about five years old. I remember admiring dad’s patience and the finished model, which survived intact for about half an hour before being destroyed in an “accident” caused by me. My dad eventually quit scale modelling but I was infected by then and took up this hobby later on in my life. In my opinion Eduard’s Spitfire Mk.IX is one of the top five kits ever produced in 1:48 scale. Even built OOB, the amount of detail is just incredible. But I’ve decided to go ‘full monty’ on this kit, with flaps, engine, radio compartment and gun bays opened. Offerings from Aires (Cockpit and gun bays), Brassin (engine and radio compartment) Eduard (PE flaps) were chosen for this build, as well as some HGW seatbelts and Department of correction spinner and blades. Armed with a great reference WWP book it was time to start this build. 22 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:05 Page 22

SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE One of the best 1:48 aircraft kits ever? Grega Križman thinks so. 23 AIR 72 June/July 2017.qxp_AFV/26 Jan/Feb 06 12/05/2017 12:05 Page 23