Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Someone (possibly SAC) does a white metal undercarriage set which includes white metal cockpit bulkheads.

I hope the Beaufort is as good as the Mitchell.

[NARSES2]

I hope the Beaufort is as good as the Mitchell.

Better in my view 

[zenrat]

Good to know.

Tempest cleared and ready for transfers.
Tempest II WIP 18-10-22 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

  

[PR19_Kit]

Is that a standard RAAF camo scheme, with the green blotches on the leading and trailing edges I mean? I know the white tail is.....

[NARSES2]

Is that a standard RAAF camo scheme, with the green blotches on the leading and trailing edges I mean? I know the white tail is.....

Reminds me of some USAAF P-47's

[Rick Lowe]

Rocking along nicely, Fred. 

[Old Wombat]

The image below is of a model of a US bomber (B-17) but it was a common USAAC camouflage during WW2.

I know Fred has used an Australian green but I think you'll find the camouflage was applied in the US using US colours.

One complaint I read from US bomber crews in Europe was that the paints aged differently & the green splotches on the wing edges became brighter as the OD became duller & the aircraft stood out more, making them easier for German fighters to see & aim at. Aircraft quickly reverted to an all OD scheme (mostly) before going NMF.

[Dizzyfugu]

Yup, these Medium Green (that's what the tone was called, IIRC it's close to FS34092, which is very close to the RAAF's Foliage Green) blotches were used early in the war on USAAF aircraft to break up their outlines, I remember seeing P-39s, P-40s and A-20s in this style, esp. in the PTO. It was soon abandoned, though.

Suits the Tempest well, though. 

[zenrat]

I swear I replied to this yesterday.

The P40 I pinched the scheme from was pre-loved when the RAAF got their hands on it so I presume they just painted the tail white and roundels over the stars.
I got all the transfers from the Red Roo P-40 set on today but then hit a wall with the KP stencils.  There doesn't appear to be any details of where they go in the KP instructions.  The positions of the markings are shown on the back of the box but nothing about the stencils.  I did look on the KP website but with no joy.  That it is all written in NotEnglish didn't help.

And the Mitchell.  I knew the B-25 was a ballast hog but I didn't realise by how much.  This morning I put some heavy glue and a couple of fishing weights in the front of each engine nacelle.  I thought this would be enough to prevent tail sitting but it appears I was wrong.  While it does, just tilt forwards I have yet to add the flaps, ailerons, and two turrets behind the main undercarriage legs and I don't think their weight will be less than that of the engines, cowlings, props, glazing, and the nosegear.  Gun-nose Mitchells are so much easier to ballast.
Tomorrow I plan to add bulkheads inside the nacelles and fill all available space forward of them with heavy glue.

[Rick Lowe]

A couple of the old Aeroclub white metal engines could have helped, which probably isn't a lot of use to you, now...

I think there could be a market for some shaped metal blocks, so one could bulk out things like consoles, radios, ammo boxes, even cockpit floors etc and then skin them with sheet plastic, to help with this sort of issue.
Or some discs to place behind the engines.

Again, probably not much use to you at this stage... 

[Captain Canada]

Oooh that's looking good !

[Dr. Griffin]

Spit and polish Tempest. 

[zenrat]

Don't get used to the shiny look, it's getting a coat of satin clear tomorrow.

Today I put bulkheads in the nacelles of the B-25 and then added as much heavy glue as would fit.  This does the trick but she'll still tipback if poked.  Given the amount of weight I had to add i'm not convinced white metal engines would be enough.  What it really needs is a small quantum singularity* in the nose gear bay.  That or vacuum "filled" bucky balls in the tail to add lightness.

[NARSES2]

I got all the transfers from the Red Roo P-40 set on today but then hit a wall with the KP stencils.  There doesn't appear to be any details of where they go in the KP instructions.  The positions of the markings are shown on the back of the box but nothing about the stencils.  I did look on the KP website but with no joy.  That it is all written in NotEnglish didn't help.

There's no stencils instructions on any of the KP tempests.. They're squeezed onto the bottom of the last page of the 109 instructions, but some of the 109 kits don't have the separate stencil sheet included. All part of their somewhat iffy quality control and I'm also convinced they just don't want to add an extra page to the instructions sometimes. although the Tempest ones have a full page for the isometric drawings. 

Anyway I have the Airfix Mk V instructions which might be of help or the Eduard 1/48 Mk II instructions which are probably of more help. I can scan and e-mail them to you if you want ?