Air Campaigns
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OFFICIAL: China-Burma-India Campaign
goodn8
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Berlin, Germany
Joined: October 12, 2008
KitMaker: 709 posts
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Posted: Friday, January 06, 2017 - 06:02 PM UTC
Update:
first various base colors are partially on; as I mentioned before I lost the main canopy so made a new one from clear plastic and matalfoil. Also I went on with the moulded engine instead enucleate the cowling with the chance of destroying all... Modified the prop attachement and hollowed out the guns.


Thomas
doubtingthomas
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Wisconsin, United States
Joined: March 17, 2009
KitMaker: 156 posts
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Posted: Saturday, January 07, 2017 - 02:24 AM UTC
Wow, guys! There is a fantastic variety of aircraft underway here!

I'm starting a bit late (had to finish two kits), but I'm in with the Special Hobby 1/32 A5M2b "Claude." I'm a bit nervous about finishing this in time, given that - as a Special Hobby kit - the expected 5 rounds of putty and sanding, and the 80 hours of scratch-build will take up most of the campaign length.

Seriously though, this is a 2nd-generation Special Hobby kit, which means improved sprue gates, smaller ejection towers, and panel lines out to the part edges; with no resin and minimal photo-etch. Smaller parts still have "iffy" molding, but the main parts look pretty good. We'll see. Overall, not as good as 3rd-gen kits like the Tempest or Yak-3, but better than the "nearly carved from a blob of plastic plus some resin thrown in" 1st-gen kits like the Hawk-75 series.
I've never seen one of these built, so this will be a bit of an adventure!

Regards-
Tom D
Antilles
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Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Joined: March 22, 2015
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Posted: Saturday, January 07, 2017 - 02:53 AM UTC
Tom:
Nice choice. This seems to be an interesting kit!

Thomas:
Nice work on the clear plastic. The lowered flaps look very nice, too.

Instead of engraving the glasses in the cockpit, I used some old decals of the hasegawa hurricane. I cut it in different pieces and glued it onto a scratched panel. Not really correct, but it is o.K. for me.

The interior was built with old parts of Eduard´s PE-parts of the P-40E and some styrene.




The fuselage was glued together. And now, as Thomas supposed, comes the most interesting and difficult part. The implementation of the Wright cyclone engine.

The old Academy engine was enhanced with some cables (not in scale. I severely have to get some finer thread!).
The fit was checked with a drawing, copied down to 1:72 and fitted with CA-Glue.




Now, the putty part will come!

Oliver
rdt1953
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: February 06, 2015
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Posted: Saturday, January 07, 2017 - 03:19 AM UTC
Oliver -
Looking good - watching somebody else work is fun !

Cheers- Richard
Removed by original poster on 01/08/17 - 01:08:52 (GMT).
MichaelSatin
Staff MemberCampaigns Administrator
AEROSCALE
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 19, 2008
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Posted: Sunday, January 08, 2017 - 12:09 AM UTC
The HobbyCraft 1/32 P-51A black base applied:

 photo 20170108_112403_zpsy68hk6dc.jpg

 photo 20170108_112416_zpsduzmbpfx.jpg

Pretty sporty, eh?

Michael
c4willy
#305
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Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted: Sunday, January 08, 2017 - 06:57 AM UTC
Positively! The kit looks relatively simple Michael I'm guessing the parts count is quite low for a kit of this scale? This is Hobbycraft you say? I've seen the kit about and wondered which kit manufacturer they got to mould it for them. I do remember Hobbycraft reboxing a Trumpeter 1/24th scale spit awhile back. I think I have it in the stash somewhere.
Pave-Hawk
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Western Australia, Australia
Joined: May 05, 2006
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Posted: Sunday, January 08, 2017 - 07:54 AM UTC
Some different stuff going on, I like it.

My pre-start shot, including my planned scheme.



Will only be doing one of the Spitfires contained in the kit for this campaign.
MichaelSatin
Staff MemberCampaigns Administrator
AEROSCALE
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Colorado, United States
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Posted: Sunday, January 08, 2017 - 05:45 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Positively! The kit looks relatively simple Michael I'm guessing the parts count is quite low for a kit of this scale? This is Hobbycraft you say? I've seen the kit about and wondered which kit manufacturer they got to mould it for them. I do remember Hobbycraft reboxing a Trumpeter 1/24th scale spit awhile back. I think I have it in the stash somewhere.



I think it's their molding, but not their design. It's pretty clearly a scaled up Accurate Miniatures kit with detail that was fine in 1/48 but a bit sparse in 1/32. Still, not too bad with a little help.

Michael
c4willy
#305
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Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted: Monday, January 09, 2017 - 10:32 AM UTC
Thanks for the reply Michael. So it would benefit from a 1/32 scale resin cockpit? Was the price reasonable? Would a resin cockpit make it too pricey against say buying a more detailed kit from another manufacturer? Just curious about the kit is all.
MichaelSatin
Staff MemberCampaigns Administrator
AEROSCALE
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 19, 2008
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Posted: Monday, January 09, 2017 - 08:25 PM UTC
Vector made a cockpit for it that certainly would have dressed it up. But for whatever reason the kit itself (and the others in the series, the P-51, A-36, and Mustang IA) didn't stay in production long and are now quite hard to find. I snagged this one on Ebay for a frankly pretty high price and have the P-51 in the stash, but don't plan on looking for the others unless I get lucky. The Vector set would add another $50 or so and you're starting to run into Tamiya 1/32 P-51D territory price wise.

Michael
bomber14
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: February 02, 2015
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Posted: Monday, January 09, 2017 - 10:40 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Tom:
Nice choice. This seems to be an interesting kit!

Thomas:
Nice work on the clear plastic. The lowered flaps look very nice, too.

Instead of engraving the glasses in the cockpit, I used some old decals of the hasegawa hurricane. I cut it in different pieces and glued it onto a scratched panel. Not really correct, but it is o.K. for me.

The interior was built with old parts of Eduard´s PE-parts of the P-40E and some styrene.


The fuselage was glued together. And now, as Thomas supposed, comes the most interesting and difficult part. The implementation of the Wright cyclone engine.

The old Academy engine was enhanced with some cables (not in scale. I severely have to get some finer thread!).
The fit was checked with a drawing, copied down to 1:72 and fitted with CA-Glue.


Now, the putty part will come!

Oliver



looks to be a good start oliver. i am planning on doing an avg p-40. once i decide on a kit i will post the start. one question i have is that i have read some first hand accounts by pilots of the avg where they state they smashed their heads on the IP because the b and c models were equipped only lap belts but i see above your seat has shoulder belts and the resin cockpit i have also has molded shoulder belts. should they be removed? i am a little uncertain what to do. i would err on the side of no shoulder belts but i see some building theirs with recently.
anyone know what it should be?

joe
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 09, 2017 - 11:38 PM UTC
I have (4) kits to choose from for this campaign, but no references or markings for the CBI:

1. Airfix 1/48 Hawker Hurricane Mk I
2. ARII 1/48 Ki43 Oscar
3. Monogram 1/48 P-51B
4. ACCURATE MINIATURES RAF P-51 Mk 1A (need to modify the wing for .50 instead of the 20mm.

After a bout with health issues Ive been trying to get back into building again, but the CBI does not have much material to work with for any of the above for me to make a choice.
rdt1953
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: February 06, 2015
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Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 04:20 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I have (4) kits to choose from for this campaign, but no references or markings for the CBI:

1. Airfix 1/48 Hawker Hurricane Mk I
2. ARII 1/48 Ki43 Oscar
3. Monogram 1/48 P-51B
4. ACCURATE MINIATURES RAF P-51 Mk 1A (need to modify the wing for .50 instead of the 20mm.

After a bout with health issues Ive been trying to get back into building again, but the CBI does not have much material to work with for any of the above for me to make a choice.



Bob - might be able to help you out with the Oscar if needed - I'm not real familiar with the Arii kit but just looked on e bay and it looks like it is a Ki 43 - II late. I have some references and will be happy to research for you - can you post a picture of the kit ?
Richard
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 05:56 AM UTC
Richard, this is the ARII kit:



MichaelSatin
Staff MemberCampaigns Administrator
AEROSCALE
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 19, 2008
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Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 06:08 AM UTC
Now THIS is what I love about this site! Modelers helping modelers.

Michael
rdt1953
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 07:00 AM UTC
Bob - Looks like a Ki 43 II late - ( some refer to it as Ki 43 II b or type II Otsu)
single thrusting exhaust on each side is the biggest clue . May of 1943 likely for first production . Lifelike decals sheet 48-042 has markings for this model flown by Major Torashiro Aizawa - 204th Sentai operating out of Meiktila airbase, Burma in August of 1944. I just bought this sheet on e bay and should still be available from Scott Z - search 1/48 Ki 43 should get you close . If you can't find it send me a PM and I will get you the info. Hope this helps and I am always interested in seeing another Hayabusa !
Happy Modeling- Richard
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
Joined: February 22, 2008
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Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 07:31 AM UTC
Richard, thanks for your help. I was able to purchase the Lifelike Ki43 decals with Aizawa's a/c which has a scheme that looks fairly easy to accomplish.

Ok! my entry to this campaign is ARII's 1/48 Ki43


Bob
c4willy
#305
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Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted: Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 04:42 PM UTC
Actually after studying the kit decals I realise that there are markings for the 203rd flying group actually in the kit! So Decals all sorted, engine build underway! Just tossing up whether to scratch the cockpit or go aftermarket. Plenty of resin cockpits for the Tamiya kit not a great deal for the Hasegawa.
goodn8
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Berlin, Germany
Joined: October 12, 2008
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Posted: Thursday, January 12, 2017 - 09:18 PM UTC
Oliver: Very nice work on the cockpit, I think the decal-dials will do it. And a good mix of anything available.

Obviously there are many old kits which need modifications or scratchbuild to fit the aim... Good choices guys!

Talkin about aim: my little progress - maybe someone notice what I'm going for...? Details of this unit will follow when I finished

Airbrushed enamel aluminum, partially covered with acrylic olive drab/wiped away and gave a clear gloss varnish. Only had 2 insignias(veeery old, maybe '70s!Others were useless), so decided to put them on the upper wings.


Th mas
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
Joined: February 22, 2008
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Posted: Friday, January 13, 2017 - 05:08 AM UTC
Thomas, the P-36/Hawk 75 is coming along nicely. How did you accomplish the scheme?.

As you stated this is an old kit and the fit is not as good as I would have liked, But it is turning out OK. The engine ended up better than I could have hoped for, and the experiment on the cockpit color well at least it is covered up.



rdt1953
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Friday, January 13, 2017 - 05:46 AM UTC
Bob -

Nice progress ! Glad to see another Oscar around - watching with great interest !
Cockpit color looks fine.
Richard
MichaelSatin
Staff MemberCampaigns Administrator
AEROSCALE
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Colorado, United States
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Posted: Saturday, January 14, 2017 - 08:44 PM UTC
Great stuff going on here!!

The 1/32 P-51A is ready to decal:

 photo 20170114_114050_zpsbsrh52pp.jpg

Really looking forward to laying down those separate white diagonal stripes! I probably should have painted them, but I'm too lazy. We'll see if that was the right call.

Michael
rdt1953
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Saturday, January 14, 2017 - 09:48 PM UTC
Looking good campaign boss ! - Richard
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Saturday, January 14, 2017 - 10:58 PM UTC
Gotta see those stripes on that 1/32 monster.