Marek's even bigger black hole

[Marek]

Second completion this year. I had a time and will yesterday to finish Hasegawa 1/72 Crusader III (more pics in the armor galery)

[Ian]

Tracks and wheels look superb. Hard to believe it's 1:72. You look to have a nice wash on there too. What did you use?

[Marek]

Hi Ian,
I used artistic oils burnt umber + sienna with trupenoid. I am just getting the feel for it so far. This is a second model washed with them.

[Ian]

I'm going to have to get some to try that for myself. Thanks.

[Softscience]

welcome back to the fold Marek. I love the MS!! Nice paint job on that.

[Marek]

Thank you Ralph, I think I will do a different machine (since techmod gives two full sets of main decals) but this time from Hase if I can get it cheaply (ha-ha hasegawa cheaply )

[AndrewR]

Thank you Ralph, I think I will do a different machine (since techmod gives two full sets of main decals) but this time from Hase if I can get it cheaply (ha-ha hasegawa cheaply )

You mean to look for cheap Has-a-largepricetag kits... Well, you never know for the old stuff, you might find something on Ebay. My LHS has given up stocking Hasegawa - the prices are just too much and they take up valuable shelf space.

cheers

Andrew

[Marek]

Yeah, from time to time I get lucky on ebay and score some interesting hase thing for less than 10 bucks. Not lately though. My LHS, on the other hand, has a second hand shelf and I did get a trumpeter's 1/72 A-7P Portugese Corsair II for 7$, something I consider bordering on miracle. Almost got a Hasegawa 1/48 Phantom for 12$ but when I returned after overcoming shopping guilt, it was gone!

[Softscience]

I don't remember, but the Hasehaha kit may now come in a Battle of France combo pack along with a Dewontine (or whatever). If you have $50 burning a hole in your pocket....

[Marek]

For 50$ they better be flyable , but maybe Squadron or Spruebrothers will have them on special one of these days.

[Marek]

OK, good winds prevail. I did have a little time today. In a bag stashed away from the curious eyes was this unlikely beauty

The only thing I have done with it over the years was detaching fuselage halves from sprues. At that time (way back) it think this little PE scared me away. To clarify, this is basically an Academy kit (very rudimentary) with PE cockpit (by Eduard, ~1994), new fuselage, canopy and engine. I have decided to actually build that but with a little twist. I am using Eduard's cockpit and building it almost OOB Academy style. Insides are basically done as seen below.




Hopefully this one will not take me 7 months to finish.

[Marek]

Work continued on the Wildcat today. Airframe is basically assembled, some Surfacer 500 laid into joints and cleared with lacquer cleaner. I realized, finally, what was missing from the 'big picture'. The Academy would make us think that material shortages were crippling earlier during the war and two bulkheads (a firewall to the rear of the engine and bulkhead in front of the cockpit) needed to be scratchmade with old sprue parts. My attempt was not clean by any means, however, once the undercarriage contraption will go into the airframe, it will be sufficient without much of a loss to the aesthetics. And of course the potential pilot will he happy to know he won't be burned or unnecessarily dirtied with hydraulic oil while operating this particular device of doom.

[Asoka]

Hi Marek,

That looks like a nice little flying piggy... and odd to see it called a GM Wildcat...

Cheers,

Asoka

[dipweed190]

looking great .

[Marek]

Little time in two days allowed me to put on canopy and mask the Wildcat, do some post-putty polishing and I have also started another cat, this time Italeri's Hellcat.
I almost used the GM canopy provided, however, not in a mood for some cosmetic surgery on the fuselage profile to fit it. Resorted back to regular canopy. Now, I am waiting for two very interesting decal sheets - Yanks in roundels. They have both wildcats and Hellcats in them. If the decals come before I start regular painting, this baby will be Royal Navy, otherwise I'll put on markings supplied with the kit on Wildcat and go for RN Hellcat.
State of affairs today:





More soon (one hopes of course )