WEAPONS DETAIL Mk II HID (High Impact Dumb)

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Frank R

WEAPONS DETAIL Mk II HID (High Impact Dumb)

This is getting silly. I don’t really know who’s dumber, the subject or the photographer.  I know what the photographer would say.  Don’t blame me. – Arthur

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There once was a wizzo who always wanted to be that “Special Weapon”…..

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Lt Kevin “Super Dave” Greeley hung well and happy, ready to go to work.

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Beautiful October day after an ORE at Volk Field, WI. “Super Dave” loaded on station 8. Note the two Mig kills on the splitter of F-4E 68-0338, the 131st TFW Cdr a/c. Images © Norris Graser.

I wonder if this was how they got the idea for that movie the Governator made 20 years or so ago…. – the webmaster

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2016 August Meeting Notes

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Frank R

August 27, 2016 McKinstry Meeting
Theme: D Day/Armor

Notes by The Tick and Paul

Attendees were: Paul Gasiorowski, THE TICK, Jim Batchelder, Frank Ress, Mark Murray

The meeting was held at Paul’s house (as there was no room at the library).  It was a nice change of pace, and those who attended had an enjoyable time.  Plus, there were snacks!

Not too many club members attended and that’s OK; The Tick had less members to fight with over the refreshments. It did, however, make it more difficult to steal some of Paul’s golf ball collection. A total of 10 models were on display.

Boeing 720, 1/144th, Roden, built by Paul Gasiorowski

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Paul is still on his 1/144th wide body “kick” and had this attractive scheme which represents Elton John’s tour plane that he used in the 1970’s.

Tamiya gray primer, Model Master acrylic Gloss white and Blue Angels Blue. Metallics used were Floquil Old Silver and Model Master Aluminum from a rattle can. Kit decals posed no major problems. Paul reports it was an OK build, wing to fuselage fit was good, though the small landing gear doors gave him the “fits.”

Dornier 27, 1/72nd, HUMA Modell, built by Carl Geiger

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Carl was inspired to build this model as there is a 27 located on a private air strip near his home. Added incentive: he has flown in it. Colors were matched to the warbird.

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¾ rear image of the actual Do 27 located on an airstrip in Barrington Hills, near Carl’s home.

And now… the ARMOR!

M1 Sherman, 1/35th, Testors, built by Paul Gasiorowski

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Paul built this Sherman out of the box, probably the 3rd or 4th armor kit he’s built. He notes that many small parts had a tendency to break when separating from the sprue. He pre-shaded with Tamiya light gray. The finished model was painted with Model Master Acrylics, using olive drab, bark green and pre-shaded with flat black.

Panther G, 1/72nd, Hasegawa, built by Frank Ress

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Tiger 1 ausf E, 1/72nd, Hasegawa, built by Frank Ress

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88mm Flak 18 and trailers, 1/72nd, Hasegawa, built by Frank Ress

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US 155 Long Tom, 1/72nd, Hasegawa, built by Frank Ress

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Willys Jeep and cargo trailer, 1/72nd, Hasegawa, built by Frank Ress

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All late 70’s early 80’s vintage – purchased and built. Kit decals. Color schemes were based on the box art. All Floquil paints (custom mixes, nothing right out of the bottle). US OD stuff (the Jeep, cargo trailer, Long Tom) were airbrushed for the OD base and everything else (aluminum/steel highlights, tires, weathering) done with brushes.  Tiger, Panther, and 88 were also an airbrush base coat and brushed camo and highlights/weathering. The highlighting was a bit heavy-handed.

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July 2016 Meeting Notes

Posted on July 24, 2016 by Frank R

July 8, 2016 McKinstry Meeting
Theme: Innovators – Anything history changing, ex. Wright Bros., Spirit of St. Louis

Notes by The Tick and Paul

Attendees were: Paul Gasiorowski, Mike Hanlon, THE TICK, Charlie Scardon, Steve Kumamoto, Jim Batchelder, Frank Ress, Lee Lygiros, Carl Geiger, Dan Paulien

Bell X-1, 1/32nd, Revell, built by Lee Lygiros

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Lee detailed the cockpit, including wiring the instrument panel. Modifications were made to the empennage. For extra detail Lee put a piece of wood on the seat that Chuck Yeager had to use to close the canopy, since his shoulder was injured in a late night horseback ride. (The kit came with two right fuselage sides, and Lee had to go the factory in Morton Grove to get the left side. Kit happens.)

A6M-5 Zero, 1/48th, Tamiya, built by Mike Hanlon

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Aeromaster Decals, Tamiya Mitsubishi green and Tamiya IJA grey paint.

Ki-27 Nate, 1/48th, Hasegawa/Mania, built by Mike Hanlon

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P-43 Lancer, 1/72nd, Rare Planes, built by Steve Kumamoto

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Vacuformed kit. Scratch-built interior and landing gear. Used MicroScale decals.

P-47N Thunderbolt, 1/72nd, Johan, built by Steve Kumamoto

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Built 40 years ago. Lengthened the wings 18″ and modified wingtips. Modified the prop from symmetrical to asymmetrical 13’ blades. Vacuformed canopy. Scratch built the dorsal fillet. Added wheel well detail. Household aluminum foil used to replicate the natural metal finish.

P-47M Thunderbolt, 1/72nd, Airfix, built by Steve Kumamoto

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This was built from the Airfix P-47D razorback 45 years ago. (There were no bubbletops in 1/72nd at that time, aside from the even older Revell kit.) Scratched or highly modified: Spine, cockpit interior, engine crankcase. Cut and dropped the flaps.

Modified prop and canopy. Scratch built air and oil intakes, and detailed the landing gear. Steve was inspired because an IPMS chapter made P-47 decals and thought to include an M – even though no kit was available. Markings for 63rd FS /56th FG.

F-15C MSIP II, 1/48th, Great Wall Hobby, built by James Batchelder

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Model Master paints, Bullseye decals 144th FS. Jim liked this one a lot. The only issue he found was that the canopy clear could have had more of a base on the rail. Not much to align it to.

USS Nautilus, 1/300th, Lindberg, built by Paul Gasiorowski

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Just a total of 20 parts including the two hull halves and deck planking. Overall flat black with nonskid deck in dark gray. Modified the diving planes to fit against the hull. Conning tower consists of 9 periscopes and antennae.

The decals supplied were not used as they had a red outline around the white numbers. Some “spares” decals about the right size were used instead. This kit was probably geared towards a beginning modeler because of the ease of assembly and didn’t need to be painted.

Vickers Vangard, 1/144th, Airfix, built by Paul Gasiorowski

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A straight forward build, most time spent on masking for painting! Primed with Tamiya light gray followed by Model Master Acrylics and non-buffing Aluminum metalizer.

Used MicroMark Mask for the windows. The decal sheet for the stripe/windows was clear. Any paint on them would have shown up. All the decals went down well, except the wings could have used a little more Future prep work. The aircraft ID number had some silvering.

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Airfix De Havilland Comet 4B in 1/144th scale

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Frank R

Airfix De Havilland Comet 4B in 1/144th scale

by Paul Gasiorowski

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The De Havilland Corporation needed to re-build the aviation industry in Great Britain after the war. The first advanced turbojet was to be designed as the D.H. 106 Comet in 1946. The first prototype flew on July 27, 1949. The Comet entered service with B.O.A.C. in May 1952, becoming the world’s first jet passenger aircraft. With an improved Comet 2, orders from airlines from around the world increased until 2 B.O.A.C. Comet 1’s crashed in January and April in 1954. The cause was metal fatigue do to the pressurization and depressurization cycles that the plane endured. It was a new technology that included how metals would be affected by these cycles. Redesigned as the Comet 4, B.O.A.C. ordered in quantity. The Comet 4B also got orders from B.E.A. (British European Airways). The 4B’s were used by Dan Air till 1970. The British AEW Nimrod developed by Hawker Siddeley, was a highly modified Comet 4B

This was another Airfix kit with a lot of flash on most parts. The first thing I did was put the fuselage and wings together with tape to see if I had to add any weights to the nose to keep it from being a tail sitter. Since the wing is large and sits about the middle of the fuselage, no weight needed to be added,

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Next was to tackle the wings. Just two pieces comprised the wing assembly. These were glued together and then sanded to get rid of the flash on the leading and trailing edges. I then glued the four exhaust nozzles at the rear of the engine outtakes. I drill out some of the exhaust stacks, as a solid piece would look kind of funny. After I assembled the wings and took a look at the engine in takes, something was missing. The 4 intakes looked like big gaping holes and something had to be done to make them look better.

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Since the intakes are oval in shape I found some 3/16″ brass tubing that I thought would work. I cut some pieces about 3/8″ long. Then I used a vise to squeeze them to an oval shape. They happen to fit just right into the intakes. But I had to cut some of the brass tubing at an angle to make them fit better. After gluing these pieces in place, I added putty and sanded to smooth out the intakes. This makes the intakes a lot nicer.

The wing is one assembly and glued to the fuselage nicely. Very little filling was done and since the gaps were small I used Elmer’s glue. I applied several layers in the seam and a wet Q-tip help smooth out the glue.

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I used Tamiya primer out of a rattle can. This primer gives the plastic a good base for using acrylic paint. The aircraft was painted in the following sequence, the entire fuselage was painted Gloss White, after each coat I let it sit for an entire day before adding the next coat. The fuselage was taped off and the bottom was painted Light Ghost Gray. The entire fuselage was then masked and Model Master Aluminum was used on the leading edges, the engine nacelles and the horizontal elevators. After leaving this coat of paint sit for two days, the leading edges and nacelles were masked off and Clear Red was applied the wings and Midnight Blue to the edges of the horizontal elevators.

I then applied a couple of coats of Future before laying down the decals. They went on easily; the windows were all one piece decals. A final coat of Future was applied to seal the decals. There was no silvering at all with these decals.

Another day or two till everything dried and then I worked on the undercarriage and wheel assemblies. Five pieces were used for each bogey, plus the wheel well door.

Model Master Acrylic paints were used, except for the Primer and Aluminum.

Overall it was a nice kit to put together and another addition to my collection of 1/144 scale planes.

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