What's on Howard of Effingham's 1/72 modelling bench..... and not?!

[Howard of Effingham]

hello.

i thought its about time that i had a page of me own in this particular blogging-galaxy and here it starts. 

a brainwave occured yesterday to see if adding the spare radial engine from the matchbox hawker tempest kit i've recently finished in a RW scheme, would look good on the front of a revell grumman bearcat. especially as you get the whole engine cowling spare and the prop' spinner too in the matchbox kit. the spinner is easily adaptable to the prop' from the bearcat kit. i've also decided to increase the rudder and fin area on the bearcat too as the radial engine is quite a bit larger on the tempest than the bearcat. a plastic card firewall is on the front of sawn off bearcat fuselage for a bit of extra strength.

as the bearcat is the variant of the F8F armed with 4x 20mm cannon that lends itself neatly to a ground attack a/c in british colors with suitable fighter recon' mods

i don't have much suitable FAA decals so it will be in RAF markings.

many thanks to kitbasher for selling me the kit and some helpful plans with it at the RAF hendon model show last month.

[JayBee]

You mean like this?















The rest of the story is here:

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,22685.0/highlight,jaybee.html

[Howard of Effingham]

yeah jim, sort of but my fin is wider. thanks for posting your photos. 

more later.

and some on the pair of Dornier Do335's i'm also working on. its the 1/72 dragon kit and bits of it aren't nice 

[Howard of Effingham]

the first thing to note with the dragon Do-335 kits is that they are a bit over engineered.

if you really want to go to town on the detail, both cowlings can be modelled open and there is very reasonable detail on the two engines. some of the boxings come with etched brass and when the model was first released by dragon in the early 1990s, some companies did various bits of aftermarket accessories, not the least of which was reheat models [from somewhere in the west of england] which are for their time rather neat.

however, the kit has to be nose weighted so leave out all of the parts for the front engine, and plate over the openings for the exhausts [inside the cowling] and then add your desired nose weighting material and you should get it right. if you are building the Do-335 nightfighter variant this styrene plate isn't required as the flame suppressant exhausts fill the hole very nicely.

a useful and very recent resin upgrade to the hobbyboss Do-335 kit has been issued by freightdog models. with very little alteration this kit will happily fit the dragon Do-335 series of kits, though the new resin engine front end
and cowling seems right in shape also seems a little squashed in shape compared to that in the dragon kit.


more later.

[PR19_Kit]

Can't you fill the front engine moulding with weights Trevor? I've never even seen a Dragon Do-335 AFAIK so that's just a shot in the dark.

[The Wooksta!]

There's very little space in which to put any weight in the Dragon 335 kits.

[PR19_Kit]

Ah OK.

A good case for an Aeroclub white metal engine perhaps?

[The Wooksta!]

When the kit came out, someone - possibly Toad Resins - issued a white metal front prop which seemed to cure the noseweight problem.  However, toad have been gone for nigh on twenty years...

[Howard of Effingham]

There's very little space in which to put any weight in the Dragon 335 kits.

quite right wooksta. i have a third dragon Do-335 in the stash and that ain't getting touched any time soon.

i could have glued some shot in the nose of these dornier's but decided against it as with the way the kit is
engineered, i'd've ended up with perhaps superglue running out of the the cowling and into the nosewheel bay
[which i didn't want. this problem nearly killed a revell gannet i built some years back in CEAM makings
[they are the french AF version of farnborough or boscombe down] and ended up with a nosewheel leg that was 80% superglue..... ] as a result the easiest option was to stuff the cowling with plasticine.

both of these are now being painted.

the nightfighter version with the extended wings will be in a black undersides and greys topside.

the fighter bomber, has the standard length wings and will be finished using a scheme applied to a RW Me109 or
such as used by one of the luftwaffe experten thanks to a luftwaffe aces decal sheet PR19_kit sold me years back.  

[Captain Canada]

Love British Bearcats. There's a few more on here as well no ?

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,29830.0/highlight,bearcat.html

[Howard of Effingham]

i've gone for a finish of PRU blue undersides for the bearcat but am stuck for a topsurface grey.

should it be ocean grey or medium sea grey?

i recall that some of the mosquitos that were out in the far east at the end of the war and soon after had PRU
blue undersides, but have forgotten their upper surface colors. it was bound to be one of these colors. 

[NARSES2]

Howard looking at my Combat Colours on the Mossie there's a FEAF Mossie with PRU blue undersides and Aluminium uppers, Aussie Mossies with Azure blue under surfaces and dark green/medium sea grey uppers. No PRU blue/grey aircraft.

I'd go Medium Sea Grey as that was the post war upper colour on high flying fighters

Chris

[Howard of Effingham]

i've gone for ocean grey, but will at a later stage give it a wash with a lighter grey.

[Howard of Effingham]

the bearcat is now 80% complete.

i have used a serial and identification letters from an AZ models spiteful kit and roundels from freightdog decals.

weathering will be quite light. the underwing rockets are pinched from the new airfix mustang F-51D kit.

it should be ready for its first display at the IPMS birmingham show this coming sunday.

[Captain Canada]

Looking forward to seeing her finished ! And those Airfix Mustangs are the bomb eh ? Love that kit. And for 7 dollars I'll buy them every time I see them !