Airfix C-47; Putting the wings on...sort of.

While the fuselage was drying I thought I would begin fixing the wings. The lower fuselage and wing section was glued into place although the fit at the front was'nt brilliant and had to be shimmed to avoid a step between the forward lower fuselage and wing.
There are inserts for the wing roots and it's quite tricky here as the cabin floor pushes them out too far. I scraped some material from the backs of the inserts and the fit was a lot better but I may have lost the slight steps where the wing roots meet the fuselage but I'll worry about that later as detail is going to be lost when the gaps are filled (and there will be a few gaps surprisingly).
I've taped it up and again it will be left to set so there won't be any updates for a couple of days as I'm back to work this weekend.

Airfix C-47 fuselage buttoned up

The cockpit has been painted and although it does'nt look much it will be adequate for what you can see through the cabin windows. Now that's done I glued the fuselage halves together so once it's set I can clean it up.

I tend to use Humbrol Liquid Poly for this as I want the glue to ooze out a bit because when it sets it can be sanded without using filler (most of the time anyway). It may take longer to set than Mr Hobby or Tamiya stuff but it works for me and I ain't in any rush.
If anybody is interested I sprayed Tamiya matt black first then did the cockpit in XF-5 green, lightly dry-brushed (yes I said dry-brushed lol) with a lighter green by Vallejo. The seats were painted with Vallejo Cavalry Brown and the seatbelts with Iraqi Sand.

Airfix C-47 progress

I just can't help myself! So much for an OOB build LOL :oD
The engines were missing the con rods so I added them using copper fuse wire and after taping the fuselage together and seeing what could be visible in the cockpit I added some throttle levers and seat belts but THAT'S IT!

I might add the ignition wires to the engines though.
Once the cockpit is painted you really won't see much through the windscreen and side windows so that will do for me.

Airfix C-47 OOB build

The interior has been glued together and the only detail the cockpit will receive is seat belts made from masking tape then it will be painted black, using interior green for the cockpit. Al the doors will be shut on this one.
The engines in the kit have triggered the MOCD (Modelling Obsessive Compulsion Disorder) as they are not brilliant and lack any sort of ribbed detail on the cylinders. Also the way Airfix have designed them means you have to fit the engines to the wings THEN glue the cowlings around them which to me means a difficult clean up. So having already a pair of Quickboost Pratt &Whitney engines that I was going to use on the Italeri C-47 I've adapted them to fit the Airfix kit although I still have to remove some material from the tops of the cylinders to get them to fit inside the cowling, I'll also remove the locating lugs from inside the cowlings too so that I can fit them after.

The Quickboost engines needed all the resin material on the back removing so the majority was cut off with a razor saw then sanded back (using LOTS of water to keep the dust down) until the cylinders showed. It's a bit of a pain to get them to fit but they do look better.

I tidied my work bench today....

After finishing the SS-23 and the E-25 ready for painting I thought I would tidy the bench and take a few months away from modelling...well that did'nt last long :o)

It's the new-tool 1/72 Airfix C-47 that I pulled this out of the stash tonight as I was inspired by a photo I took last year at the three Lancasters event at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. The C-47 was also at the airfield and I just fell in love with it;

I managed to bugger up the last couple of model aircraft so this one WILL be OOTB (Out Of The Box) as much as my modelling OCD will allow, I REALLY just want to get on with building and painting without getting bogged down in super detailing and allowing AMS (Advanced Modellers Syndrome) to creep in. That's the plan anyway :o)

30,000 views!

Wow! Thank you so much for looking in and taking an interest in the stuff I post here, it is very much appreciated :o)

Trumpeter E-25 rescue

A good modelling buddy of mine gave me this kit a few years ago as he got bored and was going to throw it away so I just HAD to give the poor thing a good home. Fast forward to 2015 and you may recall an earlier post in April of this year where I was cleaning up the tracks, well here's the built model.
I WAS going to post a few pics on the way but I completely forgot having been wrapped up in the SS-23 saga;

I can hear the collective groans of " Ohhhhhhh gawd it's a panzer and a paper one at that!"
To be honest I was never a fan of 'paper panzers' either but this have given me a sorely needed break from research-heavy subjects and it has been FUN to do as basically I can do what the hell I like with it construction AND painting wise. I used the Voyager etch set and an RB Model barrel to jazz it up a bit but even then I did'nt use all of the etch (basically because I was getting fed up with the stuff).
Anyhow like it or loathe it but it's built. So there! Ner ner nerner ner :o)

SS-23; It's done

FINALLY! The thing is finished YAY!

It's been a long journey but I'm calling it done. Hopefully you will be able to read all about the battle of wills between the two of us in a forthcoming edition of Model Military Int'l but for now I'm happy it's off the bench.

SS-23; Weathering started

Well once again this thing is fighting me and probably will to the bitter end, this time its the weathering. I'm trying to use washes and effects but these have all left tide-marks so I'm going 'old school' with the use of pastel chalks and spraying the dust on with Tamiya XF-57 Buff then using a mix of Tamiya Earth and Black, Pigment powders will be used to build up the dirt deposits but for now this is where I am;