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JohnRatzenberger

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Everything posted by JohnRatzenberger

  1. Great stuff -- I used it in my review of the Griffon PE for the sfh18 - yes, I stopped the review out of frustration but I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did if I hadn't been using gator's Glue ... One advantage with PE is that it holds well, but if you bump a part it tends not to break off & fly away as with a CA join -- a bit of flexibility is retained. It is also great if you have a lot of parts to put together and you need max time to wiggle them around.
  2. I really envy you guys with the artistic and technicals skills to do figures like this ...
  3. JohnRatzenberger

    Tank Found

    Actually this is the one pulled out in Sep 2000 ...
  4. From what I've gathered in past few days, unpainted or lacquered aluminum, take your pick. I'm going with a gloss aluminum, I'm only trying to make it look close -- there's no interior to see in a Frog kit and I'm not adding any ...
  5. David, Sorry I wasn't clear. I did find the Maryland posts. I didn't find the color info in them. John
  6. Thanks, left a comment/question for him since I didn't find info scanning the posts ...
  7. For a Martin 167 Maryland built for, and delivered to, the French 1940-ish, what would be the probable colors for the cockpit interior, wheel wells & gear doors, and inside of the nacelles ? I realize they may have been in US equivalents and that US companies may or may not have followed French standards, which I know nothing about anyway, so you can see I'm really reaching here. Thanks in advance ...
  8. No tubs or lids ... I have wax paper taped to my bench. I just put a glob on there then shovel it out with whatever tool I think is right, a toothpick being my favorite. When done, I either wipe it up or stick my elbow in it, not being a quick learner ...
  9. Got a kit the other day that wanted me to use "Semi-Gross Black" paint ... To stay on-topic, the (just-arrived) March 2009 SAM has a nice build article on your GB kit ... John
  10. Hi, The Ireland N2B Neptune is a mid-late 1920's amphibian. Ireland was a NY company dba as GC Ireland Amphibians Inc, Ireland Aircraft co, Ireland Aircraft Inc ... I know nothing about the aircraft -- I've Googled around without any real luck other than a list of N-numbers. I'm looking for any info/pictures of this aircraft, in particular if the name "Flying Fish" is on the aircraft. All I know is a crew (Putnam, Lancaster, Lyon) flew "Flying Fish" from Atlantic City to Newport News, VA, 29 Oct 1928 then to Manteo, NC on/about 1 Nov 1928 where weather kept them until 6 Nov when they abandoned the attempt to fly to Bermuda and returned to NJ/NY ... Thanks in advance,
  11. My Build, an abbreviated log ... I am doing the full build on UAMF & BritM ... Avro Lancaster Conversion to Lancaster Mk.II Airfix magazine, Oct 1968 Basically, the conversion involves creating a Lancaster B.II by making a bulged bomb-bay from balsa and replacing the Merlins with the Hercules of the Halifax kit. Props from the Sunderland are required (have them) and the nose turret from a B-17G (I'll scratch build this, as Hall offers as an alternative). One of the issues is that AWH was using 1960's kits, not readily available now. I found this out right off the bat with the Lancaster. The 1960 kit did not have an open bomb bay as do the 80's kits. I understand from the drawings and my references what it should look like and what I should do -- I'll just adjust as I go. 2 Feb Well, off we go. I thought I'd make a start at the bigger pieces. I dove into the Halifax box and came out with the power packs. Although not specifically mentioned in Hall's article, I figured I'd also need the air intakes, the porcupine exhausts, and the oil cooler intakes off the nacelles, so I got them - and a pair of .303 for the ventral turret. Then the Halifax box went back in the stash with a tag marking "Parts Taken". I got the Lancaster out and glued the wing parts together. After re-reading the article and looking at my B.II references, I see no reason to cut the bomb bay back to the middle of the upper turret. The B.II bomb bay was the same length as the B.I/III. The part from the rear of the bomb bay to the ventral turret is just a fairing - the fuselage contour is the same. So, I cut my 1/2" balsa sheet to fit the existing bomb bay and I'll work with that. I'll do a separate fairing out of balsa and scratch build a turret. 3 Feb After thinking about this, all that is really needed is to leave in (glue in) the kit bomb doors then carve a smaller piece to represent the bulge in said doors and the fairing back to the turret. This allows me to use a better quality 3/16" sheet for the fairing. 6 Feb Today's task was to get the engines cut from the Lanc's nacelles and I should have looked at all this more carefully, because I think I have just been bit by the fact that the 1960's kit isn't the same as the 1980's kit. I followed the instructions to cut the engines off, 1/8" behind the exhausts. THEN I looked more carefully at the illustration in the article. Note the apparent difference in the gear doors on the inner nacelles, not to mention the complete difference in the wheel wells, etc. More importantly, note how he has also sliced the bottom off the outer nacelles - that is not mentioned in the article at all. But most importantly, I don't think 1/8" behind the exhausts is the same place on both kits, because a comparison to the provided drawing shows my nacelles are about 1/8" too short !!! I shall have to put in a balsa block to build them back out. I guess that'll help when it comes time to slop on the plastic wood and build the rounded nacelles. This could have been worse, at least I can recover from it. I'd hate to think I might have trashed a kit in the process. Anyway, this is the start. After the Lancaster conversion, I'm thnking of the DH-4 to DH-9 conversion.
  12. Ignore -- duplicate posted by error ...
  13. Background Alan W. Hall passed away Nov 6, 2009. Without doubt one of the major figures in aviation and probably the formative influence on plastic modelling in the UK, he was the first editor of Airfix Magazine, then creator of Aviation News, Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM), and Warpaint Books. One of the things he did was a series of aircraft conversion articles in the Airfix Magazine and later in SAM. Last year when Maurice Landi of Matchbox passed, the Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum (UAMF) did a "Tribute to Maurice Landi" group build, assembled photos, and produced a memorial book that was presented to his family. After some discussion, members of three forums -- UAMF, Brit Modeller (BritM), and the Airfix Tribute Forum (ATF) -- decided to hold a multi-forum group build with any Alan Hall conversion from Airfix Magazine or SAM as eligible, so long as it was built "the old way". The goal would be to also produce a memorial book showing these builds in time for Scale Model World '09. We may also have a display of completed builds. You can find more information and build threads on the three forums: UAMF: http://gregers.7.forumer.com/ BritM: http://www.britmodeler.com/ ATF: http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/ John
  14. 1600 EST Sunday 1 Feb 2009, post mortem. Here's the finished shots, I didn't crash & burn on it. I managed to get the slight twist out of the wings so the heading edges are parallel, roughly. When I mounted the wing module, I noticed a slight but obvious back-stagger. In retrospect, I must have switched hands when installing the first two struts (26,27; see 1744-ish report) and in my haste I simply didn't notice it. With me accelerating CA through the rest of the struts, I didn't have a chance ... Then I noticed the tail seemed to be canted back a bit. That, if true, is a kit issue. Seems to me there should be a wedge between the tailplane unit and fuselage to level it out. Anyway, on to the decals. My one "good" set of three wasn't so good - they came loose with milky film floating about and when laid down looked like they had dirt underneath. I found I could rub that out, but I didn't finish cleaning it off the wing surfaces. Next morning I went down and found it had stained/etched the paint !!! Glad I didn't put my fingers in my mouth .... I could not get the stain off with water and then tried thinner but saw more paint than stain coming up so I quit. Please note carefully chosen photography angles to avoid full shot if upper wing. And as a grand finale, the stand doesn't fit tightly in the fuselage slot so I either have to glue it in (which I do not want to do) or figure out how to tighten things up. On the plus side, the big IMPERIAL under the fuselage does a great job of hiding the seam. Anyway, here it is, late but finished, with enhancements. It's not a bad kit -- it is definitely a bit tougher than the Clipper I did last year. I'm not upset I didn't finish in time, I'm upset that I so badly underestimated the time it would take me to sand down the wings -- in the end it was well worth it, but not in a time-crunch build. That caused me to get a bit hasty in other places and the flaws are visible. I don't think I have enough good parts to do another of these -- if I want another one, I'll have to drag my Contrail 1/72 vac-kit out of the stash ...
  15. 2128 EST Monday 26 Jan 2009, 24:00 down, 0 to go Failure. Actually, defeat was inevitable at 2010 when my airbrush coughed an aluminum hairball all over the rear fuselage. Although "repaired" there went all my drying time before final assembly and decal application. Even if that hadn't happened, I probably would have, at best, been trying to declare victory with wet decals and no sealer overtop. The fault is, of course, mine for not sticking to an OOB build. I grossly underestimated the time to bring down the wing ribs then ran into additonal work cleaning up seams on all the struts - not hard work, but they are delicate. Rigging up the tailplanes by itself didn't contribute to the failure. In fact I'm kind of happy about the way they turned out. Other then the seams on the struts, it really is a nice kit. The instructions and the little jig make wing assembly fairly easy. When you start, you need to pay attention to alignment. I had it straight at the start but as time shrunk I let the wings get a bit out of alignment -- didn't help that I was using CA & accelerator on everything to try & beat the clock. Everything else is done -- engines & props are ready to install. Landing gear is ready to install. Once I slide the wing in, the two fuselage sections will drop in and the canopy, which needs painting, will also drop in. Then it's just decals and a semi-gloss coat to seal everything. I'll finish it in next couple days. I want to see if I can fix the wing alignment issue. Next year, I'll try to remember this little lesson .... In fact as a reminder, I won't clean my coffee cup.
  16. 1744-ish EST Monday 26 Jan 2009, 20:14 down, 3:46 to go I've test fit the lower wing, the two upper fusleage panels, and the canopy -- looks fine and won't require filler or repaint. Engines & props painted, ready to put on last ... Gear & wheels cleaned & painted, except tires, which I'll get shortly. Tailplane done -- all rigged & painted, next comes assembly to fuselage. Starting wing assembly, following very nicely explained procedures, not just a bunch of wild arrows & such that we get in so called "modern" kit instructions. I do suggest that in the first step, gluing down struts 26/27, that you use the drying time to just test fit how they go in the upper wing. I had to to some fancy rework that I think will save grief later. Also note the join of these two struts into the nacelle is just ugly -- I did a quick CA fill, quick sand and then over painted -- I won't be taking any pix up inti that mess ... Next post will probably be the last one approx 2130 ... success or failure ...
  17. My fear is Uncle Dave will see it & not let me get away with "I'm just slow excuses" on my reviews ...
  18. A mile too far, maybe ... Clone key helps greatly ...
  19. For me, Bluegrass & Cajun (see 1st post ) ...
  20. 1340-ish EST Monday 26 Jan 2009, 16:12 down, 7:48 to go Progress has been an important byproduct of this exercise. Wings & struts are now painted, so assembly can proceed. Engines, props, etc, are painted. Tailplane mostly rigged. I figured a way to correct the mis-alignment and it'll be fine, although it has been somewhat of an adventure. If I can get 3 more poieces of wire in without knocking out some other one, it'll be fine. I think I'll mount this to the fuselage, add a couple supports under the tail, then paint the back section all at once. The fuselage has been a problem and with the clock ticking, I have decided the real HP42 had a nice seam running along the underside. I've made 3 tries and it still won't go away and frankly I don't know why. I have no more time to screw with it. Almost 8 hours left but I'm going to burn one of them by walking away and not touch anything for a while, let it all be real dry before I move on ... But I do need to clean up the landing gear pieces so they're ready when needed ...
  21. 0840-ish EST Monday 26 Jan 2009, 11:12 down, 12:48 to go Back again, I was unable to get organized enough to start at 8:12 and make this easy. My deadline is thus 2130 tonight. Picture should be the same except the clock to show I wasn't feverishly working at it all night. I did ensure the coffee cup was back for Paul to see. Clean wing joins. Paint wings & struts. Fix fuselage issues & repaint. Probably should add tail on here also. Build wing structure and touch up paint. Got to remember 4 engines & gear & things are part of this. Music restarted, off we go...
  22. 2300-ish EST Sunday 25 Jan 2009, 11:12 down, 12:48 to go I am so tired of sanding - I can skip going to the gym tomorrow, I've had enough upper body work. There is dust everywhere, some of it is the type plastic. I have the effect desired, sort of .... Anyway, both wings have ribs taken down and are glued together. Tomorrow I clean up the join and paint. Tail assembled. If you do this model, I suggest changing order of steps to 7, 6, 9,8 - and use the upper tailplane as a jig when doing step #7. My rigging holes going thru the rudders & trim tabs aren't in perfect alignment. Fuselage is together & part painted. I have seam and a fingerprint to take care of. Struts (sorted in the green thing). All of 'em have seams. I scraped & sanded. Some still have seams. The Z-shaped struts are deleicate, I've broken two already. One of my other struts was broken. Repairs are done, but .... Anyway, I can get a coat of paint on them when I do the wings and start assembly. And that's it for tonight, I'm fried (see sanding above) and something has come up that I have to take care of. I'll try to be back at the bench by 0800 tomorrow. Thanks for looking and see you tomorrow.
  23. 1900-ish EST Sunday 25 Jan 2009, 7 down, 17 to go Not going well at all -- the rib sanding is taking way longer than I thought it would. Anyway, the tail pieces are sanded down, drilled, and have a coat of paint on them, I can start assembly now. The upper wing is sanded down, re-primered, and is glued together. Time to tackle the lower wing - fortunately there is much less work to do there. The windows are in the fuselage and it is glued together. My attempt at window gauzy window treatments was terrible and I reverted to spare glass. The stand is looking nice. Food ! Beer ! Back later
  24. 1500-ish EST Sunday 25 Jan 2009, 3 down, 21 to go The rib sanding takes more time than I thought - mostly trying to be careful to get 'em all down about the same amount. The tail pieces are done. I had to fill a few pin marks, almost left 'em as inspection panels, but then my conscience took over. I have a couple different pix and drawings of the tail rigging, including the box art. I'm going to do something close to most of them -- see exacting drawn sketch ... broke two #79 drills in the process. Anyway, I'll start tail assembly next. Meanwhile, I got another (??) idea to paint fuselage exterior before assembly. Then I'll only have to lay a strip of masking tape over the windows rather than do each one separately after I close it up and need to hide the evidence.
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