Custom carriers from OOB's and painted pieces

[DMcLaren]

The Vals with finished canopies:

[John Brown]

Wow, all these are really cool! Great job!

Cheers!

John

[DMcLaren]

Thank you, John!  With the Zeroes and Vals out of the way, it’s time to get back to the Spitfires.  Earlier, I posted a Mk1 from the pre-Battle of Britain (BoB) RAF.  Here are 3 from 19 Squadron, early BoB roundels and undersides.  If anyone can tell me where I can get numbers small enough to fit on the rudder of these planes, I’d love to put a red, black, and white “19” on each of these.  (Edit: I-94’s letters work great for squadron markings, as seen later in the post- aircraft alongside a quarter for scale. All UK aircraft now have squadron markings.)  They didn’t carry the fin flash yet, so these don’t have them.  The second pic also has an early Desert Air Force (DAF) P-40.  It probably has the wrong roundels, but it’s the starting fighter for Egypt in our games.

[DMcLaren]

Another of 19 Squadron and the P-40, along with a Spit based on the Malta camo colors.  Needless to say, it’s the starting fighter for Malta.

[DMcLaren]

A few late war Spits, Czech and Polish squadron.  (These get appropriate squadron letters, shown later in the post next to a quarter.)

[DMcLaren]

We’d bought some Hawker Hurricanes for our Anzac forces, but I had to swipe a few for the UK, since 2/3 of the fighters in the BoB were Hurricanes.  Only have one done now, so here it is with another grey/green Spit, but this one has a darker grey and a lighter green to distinguish it from the other, and a traditional dark earth, dark green Spit to represent 303 Squadron, the Polish squadron.  FJO is Polish, so I had to do that one for him.  I used the same tan on that one as I did for the others with tan, but I put a black wash over it to darken it up a bit before adding the dark green.  I wish I’d done that before I finished the others because I really like the dirty look and more authentic dark earth color.  I did it on the Hurricane as well, and I think it helps the piece look cool.  Nice sculpt from HBG, really authentic looking when you paint it up.

[DMcLaren]

Another 2 views of the Hurricane, 303 Sq., and alt color grey/grn.

[DMcLaren]

The “Big Wing” on our glass topped board, which is currently covered with FJO’s painting set-up and a mess of painted and primed pieces.

And some of them again after squadron letters have been applied:

We use them for “Check Your 6!” also. Here’s a group of them that failed to stop the Luftwaffe from hitting their target:

[John Brown]

Very nice work on your spitfire’s! So much detail, and so many of them. :-)

[DMcLaren]

Thank you, John.  I’ve been enjoying your pictures as well!  Your latest made me look forward to getting to land units.

I’ve started on the Mosquitoes and have found tons of paint schemes on google.  There are also a ton of documentaries on youtube for roundel reference, and even found 2 whole films- “633 Squadron” on youtube for the Mossies, and for Spits and great story, “First Light” on Vimeo (BBC production of the book).  (“Sink the Bismark!” is also on youtube.)  Well, before I get too off track, here are the first 3 Mosquitoes (later, these get squadron letter decals and cockpit canopies drawn in):

[DMcLaren]

Two other views:

[John Brown]

I will have to check those films out.

Great job on the mosquitos!

Cheers!

John

[DMcLaren]

Completed Shoho. This started as a black OOB Akagi bought on sale from HBG for a dime, seen on pages 1 and 4 of the thread.  There’s an orange mini sub under the aft flight deck that even has its own tower.  Gun deck under front of flight deck between the pillars.  The one thing that bothered FJO was that the stern should be pointed.  The profile is spot on, and the deck guns are about as accurate as they can be.  Best viewed by right clicking and opening in a new window.

When this piece was photographed above it hadn’t yet been dull coated. When it was sprayed, it was in low light and lead to an overspray, which dried white and made a re-paint necessary. This is how it looks after the re-paint:

[John Brown]

Where is this piece from?

Awesome job, on this!

[DMcLaren]

I clarified the descriptions in the previous pictures of the Shoho in progress to make it’s origin more clear.

[John Brown]

@DMcLaren:

I clarified the descriptions in the previous pictures of the Shoho in progress to make it’s origin more clear.

Thanks for clearing that up. I see the previous posts your talking about.

That is cool! :-D

[DMcLaren]

While FJO is finishing up some radical mods on the Takao sculpts to make some Mogami cruisers, I’ve been adding squadron letters and cockpit canopy details to some aircraft.  I’ve got to get a pic of the Mogamis, but here are some aircraft with letters from I-94.  The Hurricane is a 1/500 print from Shapeways with the landing gear removed.  Merry Christmas everyone!

[Andy6049]

Nice, as always!  What did you use to get the fine panel and canopy lines?

[John Brown]

DMcLaren, great job on these.

I had to take a break from painting, lol. :-D

[DMcLaren]

Thanks guys.  For the cockpit canopies I use a .005 pen.  Paint the canopy & coat it with clear flat lacquer over the silver so the pen takes, then after the ink dries give the canopy another shot of clear dullcote.  Don’t use a brush to coat the ink with clear- it will smear the dried ink.  Use the spray dullcote.  The grey canopy Stuka was the first test cockpit but the rest are silver.  Flap lines are drawn in on the Stukas with the .005, but the Shapeways Hurricane has them molded in, so those lines are dark washed before the plane is painted.  I got the 1/500 Hurricanes from SNAFU (https://www.shapeways.com/product/TFK4LDQWH/1-500-hurricane-w-gear-x4-fud?optionId=63261413&li=marketplace). If you get them you have to be careful or the landing gear breaks off because they’re so small.  The one pictured was the first one I removed from the “tree”, and one snapped off with a little pressure.  I super glue coated the others to strengthen them, and that worked really well.  We’re using the planes for “Check Your 6!” also.