Airfix Sea Vixen (5)

More progress on the Sea Vixen. Cockpit inserted into upper fuselage half and intake trunking, airbrake bay, wheel wells, jet pipes and arrestor hook located in lower fuselage part. The instructions recommend cutting out the locating holes for the underwing stores racks in the lower wing at this stage, although this is hard to do accurately given the location of some of these right at the edge of the thin plastic on the outer wing join.  Fuselage booms required a smidgen of filler on the upper join. Joining the two fuselage halves is a relatively painless experience although a second pair of hands would have been handy for securing the booms while aligning the horizontal stabiliser..

Background PC images from John Eacott's Sea Vixen image library. Click on the image to go there directly. Cheers John!



Airfix Sea Vixen (4)

The completed cockpit - well, completed to my satisfaction. Surprisingly enough the cockpit requires 20 of the kit's 84 stages - the seats are each six parts, the ejection handles being particularly small even in this scale. I've added some foil belts, a couple of buckles and the rest is the the best I could do with a brush for the smaller details. As usual not much will be visible when the fuselage is closed up. I've also added a view of the air brake bay and wheel wells installed in the lower fuselage half.  I actually can't see myself doing a full WIP for this one as I shall probably have to put it to one side soon and get on with something I can actually finish...it must be the biggest kit I've tackled since the Airfix 24 scale Harrier back when I was 12 years old ..apart from the 24 scale Fw 190 which is stalled of course..

Airfix Sea Vixen (3)

some work on the Sea Vixen's cockpit - as it is painted black overall it is possible to build up this neatly detailed area of the kit prior to getting the paints out. Note the detail of the observer's radar scope. I've left the seats out for the moment, as they can probably be best painted on the sprue. Once painted the cockpit then inserts very easily into the upper fuselage half. Incidentally the colour information in the Airfix instructions is rather unhelpful.Photo background is Chris Clifford's superlative build in issue 1 of the new Airfix magazine..

Academy Ju 87 Stuka G-2 Kanonenvogel

Academy's 1/72 scale Junkers Ju 87G-2 features the longer-span wing and two 37mm anti-tank guns slung under the wings. The kit looks impressive in the box with its very crisp, finely engraved panel lines, thin clear parts (two canopies included, one multi-part) and decent detail, especially in the cockpit which includes a nicely rendered radio set. The underwing 37mm cannon pods are especially well done. As might be expected in this scale, some of the more subtle elements are oversimplified. These include the "Zwilling" twin machine -guns in the rear of the cockpit and the hinge arrangement for the flaps/ailerons. Cockpit straight out of the box with the addition of some etch rudder pedals.
The finished model is here

Schlangenschwarm Fw 190 - snake Staffel rocket launchers

...the last few stencils being added to this Revell Fw 190 (1/72) finished in the markings of 3./JGr.10, an operational bomber destroyer trials unit, Germany, September 1944. I used the decals from the Kagero Fw 190 monograph (Vol 1)  - which went on just fine, although the Staffel codes should be black, outlined in red. Basically Kagero appeared to have copied the incorrect EagleCals sheet! The Revell A-8 is very slightly modified back to the A-7 variant (which is basically just relocating the pitot tube to the mid-wing position) and I used a new canopy sourced from another Fw 190 kit in order to depict it open. The underwing rocket launchers came from the Airfix Bf 109 G.. 

3./JGr.10 flew in concert with II.(Sturm)/ JG 300 during September 1944 from Erfurt-Bindersleben and suffered very high losses - as did the Sturmgruppe. Although not depicted here many of their Fw 190s were fitted with the rearwards firing belly-mounted Krebs or 'crab' rocket launchers - designed to be fired after a firing pass through the bomber box. Veteran Sturmgruppe pilots I have corresponded with have referred to the Krebs rocket launchers as a " ..stupid idea. A fighter pilot could neither see nor aim to the rear.." 

 Pic above shows the model posed on an image of 'Black 11' from the same unit. This is the subject of the recently released (August 2013) new tool Airfix Fw 190 A-8 which I have finished in a similar scheme at the following link also on this blog
http://falkeeinsmodel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/new-tool-airfix-fw-190-8-172.html

One final pic (below) of the Revell Fw 190 A-8 finished in Jagdgruppe 10 "Schlange" or "snake" markings.

more Luftwaffe fighters - Intech G-2 & new tool Airfix Bf 109 1/72nd scale

 Putting the finishing touches to some more small scale fighters before tackling bigger projects. Here the 'new-tool' Bf 109 G-6 is finished as a Bf 109 G-2 Trop in the markings of a 2./JG77 machine as seen in Tunisia in late 1942. Note the 2. Staffel emblem aft of the fuselage cross - Kagero decals. The Airfix G-6 is  back-dated to a G-2 by removing the cowl and wing bulges and replacing the solid hub main wheels with the spoked variety. Meander/squiggle camo finished using a 0.3 mm nozzle - too big I think. By way of comparison, an Intech Bf 109 G-2 also of  JG77 as flown by Werner Killer (photo above), again decals from the Kagero 'Air Battles' 'Luftwaffe over Tunisia' book.

Super Etendard - les cent ans de l'aéronavale

continuing with the carrier aviation theme, my latest purchase ! decal sheet from Syhart Decal, reference 72-024/48-024, depicting the special markings worn by Dassault Super Etendard Modified - SEM (n° 23) of the flotille 11F of the French naval air arm based at the BAN Landivisiau for the commemorations of the  "100 years of French Naval Aviation (1910-2010)" show at Hyères during June 2010. The sheet is also available in 1/72 scale from Kitsworld.