Category Archives: Military

B-25J Mitchell “the Strafer” – part 3

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I did some work on the backsides of some of the panels for the bombbay, painted the instrument panel black and sorted a few ammo lanes.

One strange thing is that the 1/48 scale version actually have a premade weight that goes with the kit! There’s none with this kit but I think there’s clear evidence that there was supposed to be one.

I measured 80g of bullets and put as many of them I could in the nose.

Then I used blue tack to hold the rest of the bullets that I put in the empty space behind the front landing gear well.

As can be seen I’ve also repainted the cockpit area with dull dark green.

I added the bombs to the side walls.

Then I assembled the bomb bay.

Lastly I added the ammo lanes to the rear gun.

I still need to paint a few more details and sort the mid guns. I’ll probably add a few wires to the guns as they seems to have that.

Hopefully I can soon start to assembly the interior and then the fuselage halves.

B-25J Mitchell “the Strafer” – part 2

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The bombs was painted dark green.

The interior was painted interior green, and I’ve also started painting a few details.

I’m not happy with the seat belts as they don’t sit as I would like them to do.

I’m thinking of moving them backwards into the seat, and just let the rear end where it ends when that is done. Otherwise perhaps a Quintas set would be the best solution, but that would take some time, and I don’t like delays.
It’s possible to work with the wings, engines and other stuff meanwhile. I’ll think about it.

B-25J Mitchell “the Strafer” – HK Models 1/32

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Yet another build for the LSP Silver jubilee group build. As I’ve already built a P-47D in “silver” I thought I had to find something “25” as well. So I got myself this kit.

I brought the kit with me to the build weekend I was attending last weekend.
I started building the interior as usual.

The instructions are a bit unclear, not telling exactly where the seats should go, and the parts doesn’t help much either. It’s a bit of guess work, but looks alright to me.
I also built the bombs as they’re part of the interior and needs to be in place before closing the fuselage.

More parts was assembled and I even started working with the PE belts.
PE isn’t my forte and the belts are driving me crazy. Besides it wasn’t easy to work with them with the seats in place, so I used some Tamiya glue and removed them.

I also started painting the interior parts, but messed up a bit, so I have to redo parts of it.
At that time it was time to break up the build meeting and travel home.

More pics later when I’ve sorted the paint and hopefully even the belts.

EE Lightning – part 4

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After a clear cote, I removed the canopy and glued what I guess is part of the opening mechanism on the inside. Then some actuators got both aluminium and chrome paint.
The tires was touched up as well.

The pylons was painted grey, but I’m not sure that is correct. According to the tab and corresponding hole on the rocket the pylon will sit like this.

I hope that is correct, as it’s hard to see exactly how it sits on the pics I’ve seen.

EE Lightning – part 3

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I noticed that I had missed painting a few spots like the black on the fin and one antenna (I think it is)

Then i repainted the grey a bit on the fin.

It looks a little bright, but with clear cote on it turned out quite okey.

Then on to the decals. They go down quite nicely, but the print is a bit off, at least the white background.

I still need to do the other side and some stencils are still missing. I’ll let this dry a bit and then do the other side.

I got the advice to buy new decals, but for some reason didn’t follow that advice.
Maybe if I get hold of this kit again, I’ll get some better decals, as there are quite a few nice paint schemes available.

P-47D Thunderbolt – Part 15

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Time for some weathering. First I used Flory’s grime wash on the entire plane.

Then a good part of it was viped off.

Next step was to use oils, in this case black, to create some streaks.

I’m no specialist at weathering, and I’m still learning, by looking at pick and other builds.
I’ll do some wear on the propeller and a few other places. Other than that I’m not sure what more to do. Other colours perhaps?

P-47D Thunderbolt – part 14

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After assembling the landing gears, I left the plane to rest.

The day after, I assembled more or less everything else. The closed canopy was removed, and parts of the paint was touched up. The front glass was glued and the pilot put in place.

Lastly the glass on the bottom of the wing was glued and also the drop tank.

Except for some weathering, there’s only one thing left to do. The glass pieces on the wing tips needs to be glued in place, but first I need to sort their colours.
After checking the net it seems like the left is red and the right green.

P-47D thunderbolt – part 13

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This is just a quick update on the decals.
Where is it easiest to hide something black? On something black!
I thought the black area on the nose looked a bit strange, and on closer examination, I realized that it was the missing part of the skull decal.
After using Microset on the decal, letting it soak, I could move the missing piece in place.
There was just a little bit missing that I sorted with a little black paint later.

Happy for having that problem solved.

P-47D Thunderbolt – part 12

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I’ve been doing the decals one side at a time, more or less.

And the other side!

Here it is with all the other decalled parts.
I’m not sure what have happened with the skull decal. Part of it is missing and I can’t seem to figure out where it has gone. I even tried lifting the decal a bit so see if it had folded under, but no, not what I could determine.
The only missing decals are those for the lights under the wing. I’ll sort them once all those dried properly.
I’ll also try to sort the missing decal part, by painting by hand.

Soon time for clear cote and final assembly and then some weathering.