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:
Very nice work on your spitfire’s! So much detail, and so many of them. :-)
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):
Two other views:
I will have to check those films out.
Great job on the mosquitos!
Cheers!
John
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:
Where is this piece from?
Awesome job, on this!
I clarified the descriptions in the previous pictures of the Shoho in progress to make it’s origin more clear.
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
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!
Nice, as always! What did you use to get the fine panel and canopy lines?
DMcLaren, great job on these.
I had to take a break from painting, lol. :-D
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.
those brits are incredible. where did you get the decals?
Flipping unreal detail on those ships. Can’t believe I missed this.
The decals are I-94 for the letters and roundels, Dom’s Decals for the fuselage roundels. Can’t tell you how happy I was when I found the I-94 letters on HBG’s site. I’ve been adding letters and other markings to what’s been painted so far aircraft-wise- fighters, tacticals, bombers, and even paratroop planes from HBG. Some fighters and Stukas have 16-18 decals on them. For instance, a Stuka has 2 letters, the German cross, followed by 2 more letters on the fuselage, so that’s 10 decals right there. Add the tail and upper and lower wings and that’s 6-8 more, depending on which model Stuka. It takes a LOT of patience to make sure the letters are lined up and even, but it’s worth the effort.
Thanks, LHoffman. My pal and gaming partner FJO is the ship master. He puts insane amounts of time into each ship in an effort to make it look like a named ship in the IJN. Not above taking a saw to a piece and adding some putty, as seen in previous pictures. He even bought some of those 1/2400 aircraft from GHQ to put on HBG’s IJN Nagara light cruisers, the Kongo battleships, and Takao and Mogami cruisers (yes, he’s modded 4 Takao sculpts into Mogami cruisers, even putting 4 of those 2400 scale aircraft on the Tone, complete with launch catapults). I’m overdue to get some pictures of the finished ships.
Thanks, LHoffman. My pal and gaming partner FJO is the ship master. He puts insane amounts of time into each ship in an effort to make it look like a named ship in the IJN. Not above taking a saw to a piece and adding some putty, as seen in previous pictures. He even bought some of those 1/2400 aircraft from GHQ to put on HBG’s IJN Nagara light cruisers, the Kongo battleships, and Takao and Mogami cruisers (yes, he’s modded 4 Takao sculpts into Mogami cruisers, even putting 4 of those 2400 scale aircraft on the Tone, complete with launch catapults). I’m overdue to get some pictures of the finished ships.
That is just nuts. I did a slight bit of modification on one of mine to make the OOB Shinano look like Zuikaku, but that was about it. I will say that this is inspiring me to a whole new level of tiny detail though. The sides of the hull are especially magnificent. Excellent work from you and your friend. It will be a pleasure to see more.
That is just nuts. I did a slight bit of modification on one of mine to make the OOB Shinano look like Zuikaku, but that was about it. I will say that this is inspiring me to a whole new level of tiny detail though. The sides of the hull are especially magnificent. Excellent work from you and your friend. It will be a pleasure to see more.
That’s one finely detailed ship…
Now… just multiply that detail by like about 600 units… lolz…
This is a project I could only imagine to take-on if I was retired and had no life (and about 1,000 times more skilled than I actually am).
Hats off to some amazing work that I could never compete with.
I finally got some pictures of some of our recent (and not so recent) finishes, and shots of some make-overs. I’ll start with a set of Japanese Ki-57 transport planes from HBG and IJN Akitsuki DD’s from the '41 set.
The Pearl Harbor versions of the Zuikaku & Shokaku with their later war versions (from the first picture in the post on page 1). That the Zuikaku camo version is an out of box Shinano really bothered FO, and that’s what started the whole “chop off this tower and swap that one in here, and maybe add a little putty here for more deck guns and cut away under the flight deck” ideas. All of these started as Shinano sculpts (and the one still is). The side view picture is the same ship on the left top & bottom, and right top & bottom.
