mustang1989

I wrapped up this build after about 4 months total. It was a run of the mill 1/48 Tamiya Fw190 D-9 with an Aires (pretty much complete engine and cockpit set), CMK undercarraige set, Model Master gun barrels and Aeromaster decals. Additionally, there was a slew of parts that I used from my spare Eduard Fw190 A8/ R2 kit to include the sliding canopy section, landing gear struts and doors (due to fact that Tamiya's landing gear is WAY too short), port side wing root cannon access panel, pitot tube, and instrument panel with PE. I also used a cowl gun access panel from an Eduard Fw190 D-9 kit that I had. The aircraft that I built is "Black 10" from I/JG26 surrendered in Flensburg in May of 1945. The aircraft was supposed to be shipped back to the U.S. for evaluation but never made the trip and was left in Germany. Odds are it ended up in the scrap heap. Anyways , noticeably visible is the half obscured Gruppe numeral on the side of the fuselage after it was reassigned from III Gruppe to I Gruppe as it was hastily painted over in the field.

I finished this up in the fall of 2013 and have recently updated the photos to reflect the recently acquired knowlege of how to operate my camera. I'll have to say that despite the severe warpage issues I had with the wings and fuselage, this Eduard kit was a joy to build. Depicted here is "Yellow 8" of II JG 4 in September of 1944. It was piloted by Friedrich-Karl Frank and was shot down 11 Sept 1944 in a fierce air battle over the Ore Mountains. Frank managed to bail out and the plane became a "lawn dart". Pieces of the plane were dug out of the ground fairly recently and some managed to find their way into the Royal Class Fw190 A-8/ R2 kit from Eduard which is what this kit is.

I bought this kit during the spring time for a project to do with my son , I bought one for me and one for him to build together at the same pace. After we got started we both realized that this wasn't the kit to have a beginner on so I shelved it and bought something a little easier for him. The reason behind this build was a meeting with my mentor at a church function we had over early summer. He used to build models but cant any longer due to a slight shake he has in his hands which makes him unsteady. I had asked him what his favorite WWII aircraft was(because he's into that kind of stuff) and he responded almost right away with "The Corsair". I kept that in the back of my head until September 26 when I put the wheels in motion on building this kit. What I didn't know was just how much of a challenge this build would be with all the gaps, misfits and alignment issues. I literally slaved away on this thing to get it done in time to present it as a Christmas gift by next month for him with anywhere from 30 min. to 4 hours a day being spent on it. This is the kit I'm talking about to give you all a visual (and to properly warn any innocent bystanders out there) of what I bought. The fit issues alone where enough that I actually had the thing in the trash can twice! I knew if I did what I wanted and went for the Tamiya 1/48 kit that I would have had a lot better looking build with more detail but I wouldn't have been able to finish it by Christmas because thats how I am. The more detail, the more time it takes to get it done. I built her as flown as part of Black Sheep Squadron VMF-214 operated off of the USS Sicily (CVE-118) , Korea in 1951. Any ways here are the finishing photos; and a shot of it on the display base without the acrylic glass top on it. (It's actually a shadow box with the glass removed, mirror cut to fit and a acrylic glass top made by a local plastic glass shop.

I finished this thing up last year around August or so. I had been waiting 18 years to build this and finally got around to it. I started with a Hasegawa offering and used an Aires cockpit update kit. I have the double throw down Aires update with the enigne and all but just couldn't bring myself to break up the lines of this beautiful snake motif on this particular bird that I chose to build. I also used an Eduard canopy mask and some Verlinden details in the forum of the oil reservoir access displayed just in front of the cockpit on the port side and the wing mounted machine gun internals on the port wing. Paints are all Master Modeler acrylics on the exterior. Depicted here is aircraft T6+CP of 6/StG 2 from Libya in 1941 and was flown by Leutnant Hubert Polz. Its one of the more interesting schemes out there for Stukas. The color of the motif from what research I have done is still a mystery. It's either red or tan. I had both but chose to go with red due to the more sinister look of the red.

Armor builds have always interested me a lot because of builds like this! The detail and weathering are phenomenal Dennis!!

Thanks Clarence and Dick! It seems like a good group alright. I finally built that Stuka after 18 years of wanting to. lol

What I did next was, from my way of thinking, a little unorthodox in the fact that I removed the original spring perches from the build frame and graphed the ones from the spare parts frame onto the one from the build. I know it's not correct but I'll be able to lower the rear suspension down about 1/4" to put the wheel/ tire assy where I want it and have about 1/8" tweeking room. I've still got to brace them up a little better with some spare resin stock that I've got to clean up the appearance and have to trim up some on the truck bed so that it sits all the way down on the frame in the front (about 1/32"-1/16") but here's the current progress so I can at least show that I'm building on this. and a little closer: Next I graphed a few things from one frame to another so I'll post the major update pic first that has green callout lines. I didn't label the lines but I'll start with the lines starting at the front of the frame and work towards the rear. Here we go: For line #1 at the radiator core support area I cut out the large area so that my belt, pulleys and fan would have a place to sit in place. At line #2 I cut out the transmission cross member and relocated the cross member to the 4 speed transmission mount location. At the 3rd line I relocated the rear leaf spring front perch on top of the frame and the 4th line is where I relocated the rear spring perch on top of the frame. The transmission sits in like so: I've still gotta install fabricated motor mounts from the frame to the engine but this is where that's gonna sit: (this body is ONLY used as part of the test fitting) A little crooked but I'll straighten that out: Next up will be motor mount boss fabrication and rear suspension and driveline work....................

I had run up against an issue already in the build and I hadn'teven started yet. The rear tires are a two piece design so I either needed to use another set of one piece design tires or work with these. I chose to work with these and use Permatex gasket sealer (thanks to a tip from a friend here) to assemble the tire halves and help with getting rid of that nasty seam that runs right down the middle of the tires.

The plans are to use some Weld Draglites that I got from Competition Resins. These wheels are my faves and will be used on most of my builds. Here's where I'll be going with this:

That Dragon Care link is helpful. I just got through submitting a ticket just yesterday to them for a 22 year old Mistel kit I just bought at a show in Houston that had decals that were toast! They responded back within the hour having put their hands on the last decal sheet they had in stock for this thing and have already got it in the mail to me at no charge. Give it a try Ramon.

Picked these up from Modelmania in Houston last weekend. I just had to get this one.......had to! and this jewel. The decals were SHOT.....................BAD! I ended up getting ahold of Dragon and believe it or not they actually had one set left and are sending it to me free of charge. I'm really looking forward to building this one as I've been wanting it now for 20 years and I think I've finally got the abilities and skills to do it justice!

I don't know about the Master part but I do thank you for the warm welcome Mark. :D

Thanks Gary. So far it's been going fairly well but I'll see if I can catch up to my current progress fairly quickly. I bought a total of 4 kits for this build. I'll explain here: Kit #1: This is my main kit where all productive assembly will take place: Kit #2 : I will be using various parts that kit#1 does not have. The brake calipers are one example. Kit #3 is a copy cat of kit #1 but has been half built (it was a terrible effort on somebody's part but the kit is PERFECT) that I got off of ebay. This kit will be the sacrificial donor for all initial cutting / hacking and placement of the powertrain and drivetrain components as well as where and how much to cut out of the bed for the wheel tubs. I couldn't care less about the appearance of this thing but it serves its purpose in this build. I'll post pics of this thing in a minute... Kit#4 I have just in case something breaks or if I need another part (which happens a lot with my modified builds): With all this in mind I've got the 429 test fitted into the donor kit ....aww man! I forgot kit #5 for the hood scoop, 429 Boss decals and the engine donor Here's the sacrificial donor kit:( I only hope the original builder was 6 years old!!!!LOL) and the 429 bare block and transmission test fit. I'll haf to move the transmission crossmember back a little and fabricate some motor mount bosses. The engine had to go back a tad in this photo.

Looks good from here Z!

Ok fellas I wrapped up my Monogram Challenger a couple of months ago have started on my next build which is the Revell Street Demons F-100. I built this kit as a kid and had a blast with it even though it turned out mediocre.......well.......bad. Here's the kit I'll be starting a WIP here with. . I have been working on getting the rear suspension lowered and the rear tires to tuck under the rear fenders and so far have had some decent luck at it.. I have narrowed the rear end and repositioned the rear spring perches to drop it a scale 6" and am going to tub the inside of the fender area / truck bed to get this to work. It'll be a slow build because I'm taking my time on this bad boy so I don't mess it all up. The paint job will be exactly as it appears on the box top but the stance and wheels will all be different/ better. With that, it's going to be a catch up game to get to where I'm at right now with it but am looking forward to having this sucker done so I can show it possibly in October in Austin. We'll see.

Sure Dick! Here's the Challenger in the middle of the pack of Street Stock: Glamour shot: and the Fw190 D-9 in the Inline prop section:(The Stuka in the foreground is mine as well) and the glamour shot of that:

Thanks Mark! Dick: Thank you as well sir. Oh yeah I was there. I took 1st in Street Stock and Best in Automotive with my 70 Challenger T/A build and took 1st in 1/48 Aircraft Inline Engine with my Fw190 D-9. :D

Thanks Gil!! :)

Hey everybody! I've been around on a few of the model forums and figured, "What tha hay? Might as well join this one too." . I have been building models since I was about 10 years old and have built primarily WWII 1/48 scale aircraft but have recently been bitten by the "automotive bug" in the last couple of months and am enjoying myself with auto builds at the moment. I'm looking forward to the company here. :D