Clunkmeister

I’d like to get it to Madison, time allowing. But I can’t compete with it as I’m not the sole builder.

The tail was in multiple parts, but they fit together well enough. The tail is extremely wobbly, and I’m thinking of re rigging with mono line to add strength.

A started unreleased O/100. Being that this officially doesn’t exist, after the PBJ is finished, this will be immediately put on the bench.

Several months ago, a very good friend of mine, Mike Swinburne, broached the subject of me taking over the finishing of an incredibly rare model, one with the possibility of only three or four complete sets of sprues in extant. Back in 2018, Mike had been asked to do a pre production build of the big O/100, and he undertook that task with gusto. His work was well documented on several modeling sites, and he was asked to build the kit “out of the box”, to serve as Wingnuts website build demonstrator. After Wingnuts ceased operations, the build languished, and eventually, it got packed away and forgotten. I have been actively pursuing a set of the unstarted Sprue sets with little success, but several months ago, Mike broke it to me that this model was mine if I would do two things: 1. Finish it 2. Show it at the IPMS USA Nats. I also made it known that after it was finished on the show circuit, I’d find a suitable aviation museum to display the model. Locally, we have the Confederate Air Force B-29 and B-24 Squadron, the Frontiers of Flight Museum, and the Cavanaugh Air Museum. The Cavanaugh has a family connection. I have the honor of finishing this, so I’ll oblige. First observations are that Mike’s quality of work is second to none, and that this is so big, it makes the Felixstowe look like a 48 scale model. Right now, I’m going to simply repair the shipping damage to the biplane tail and the undercarriage. Then, I shall set it aside and continue with my PBJ.

Out of the big styrofoam sarcophagus

He’s pulled through. Apparently talking up a storm

Harv went in for a routine gall bladder surgery yesterday, and he coded. They brought him back, but he then had a seizure. He’s now unresponsive. I pray that his way forward is easy.

The fear is real. A #11 to the tender tootsies is no laughing matter

I received a big styrofoam box today…. Must check to see what box contains. It’s not ticking….

I used rubber black there, Peter. I’m thinking 66 would be a better choice. 66 has always been my “go to” black, and maybe there’s a reason. LOL

Gus, this is looking amazing! Just catching up on your build. I’m glad your micro chisel wasn’t a macro chisel…. I bled all over my hobby room floor after my a #11 blad and handle rolled off my bench and went straight down into the top of my foot. It ruined a good pair of socks, and Joy was unimpressed with the level of copious arterial bleeding. She told me to suck it up, be a man, and mop up the mess before it strainers her wood flooring.

Using styrene strips is the only durable way to attack that permanently. Shape it before you glue it.

Everybody builds 8-Ball when building this kit as a Marine gunship, but Love Bug, to me, is the quintessential USMC crate. Two brothers were the Commanders of the two crews, and this airplane was operating every day, each crew alternating duty. When she went in, it was due to faulty execution by leadership, not due to the lack of bravery of her crew. The decals given by Profimodeler are 100% completely useless. The kit is necessary to get the resin parts, though, so yes, you still need to grab the conversion if you aren’t into scratchbuilding.

Not much has been happening here. Fuselage stars freshly painted, they need toning down. The nose has about 10 coats of slightly different shades I’m hoping a few very light passes with 15000 grit will give some interesting effects. I might be hoping for too much. Guys, I’m still really undecided on the hard edges. I believe they were hard edge demarcation lines, but field painting probably changed much of that, especially on the lower edges. Plus, the black backgrounds on the fins are much too stark. Tomorrow, out comes the RLM 66 Thoughts? Still at it, but car show season is upon us…..

Update: nose art WAY out of scale. Wrong size, wrong font, wrong everything. So they’re off

Plenty of work to do, but we did a bit of weathering on the fuselage so far, then repainted the nose again as it was repainted multiple times during these aircraft’s lives. I applied the fuselage decals, and will mostly obliterate the aircraft name while destroying this paint. The rest of the fuselage will receive a bunch more weathering and a light grey wash to blend it all together. Im very unsure about the scale fidelity of the aircraft name. It almost appears too big. If so, we’ll change directions and GI with a full NMF nose as these got after the Squadron got fed up with repainting the noses every single day. I started laying paint on the wings today.

Good question, but from what I understand, anything and everything not necessary for long range over water flights was removed. So yes, I’d expect that the deice system would be removed. Side waist glass was removed, along with top turrets, package guns, etc. They felt the package guns were tough on the airframes, so they dumped them off. Every 6 or so pounds saved, was another gallon of fuel that could be loaded aboard, while still able to carry as many rounds and bombs as they had room to cram aboard. These B-25s took the war right to the enemy’s doorstep, and the firepower they unleashed was positively breathtaking.

I thought that too. Profi’s profile pics show soft edges as well, and I’m going to blend them A bit with some 15,000 grit and some careful blending. The Non Spec sea blue tends to chalk up, not necessarily fade, but the Intermediate blue fades a ton. Profi’s profiles show an almost primer grey very close to the early war blue-grey as seen on the earliest of Birdcage Corsairs. I know it’s wrong, but it can mislead. Lots of beat up metal, and plenty of coral dust damage on paint. I’ll be tearing up the front as soon as I get the shading and blending I want on the sides.

This looks too bloody new. No worries, instant destruction to follow shortly. That intermediate blue is seriously lightened, and still looks dark. But a bit of grey and grime, and she’ll look like crap. plus chip the crap out of the nose.

I call it Multi Tasking.

I sure LOVE my nice clean bench!!

By Jove I think we’ve got it! Or at least most of it. still some low spots, but we’ll fix those.

Chasing seams. Oh what fun! This plastic HATES solvent bases cements. I’ve tried straight Tenex, and even that gives me attitude. Copious applications of Tamiya extra thin eventually did the job. Finally, Mr Dissolved Putty on the seams. This is the third go round we’ll see

OK, what do you need? How much? No need to bribe or butter me up. 😂

This is one seriously big ol’ boy. Coming together slowly, and a lot more sanding, fitting, sanding, and filling than I thought, especially after the A-20 shake the box Super Kit that almost assembles itself. Not too bad though, kind of like a Hasegawa kit. I’m just spoiled after the A-20