Australian

Trumpeter 1/48 Douglas C-47 Dakota

/ Bruces Scale Models / Leave a comment

Date Completed: 2014
Aftermarket used: Quickboost rudder and corrected cowlings
Decals  Not decals at all, but masks from Mal’s Miracle Masks

 

 
Trumpeter’s Dakota gets cast as inferior to Monogram’s ancient model in  some quarters.  I built the monogram one as a kid and   found the Trumpeter kit  light years ahead in fit, detail and engineering.  Ok, there are some accuracy issues, the rudder is riveted where it should be fabric covered, the cowlings are based on the soviet copycat aircraft and the sit of the aircraft is not quite correct but these can be fixed with aftermarket items.  I just love all the riveting on the kit which you really need on a kit this size.  Mine was built for a Korean war GB on Britmodeller.com.  Th year had started off with several failed builds, so this one reaching the finish line was very satisfying indeed
I left the wings removable to ease transport, which leaves slight gaps, maybe this is why it has received no love at competitions, plus I have modelled it clean with no weathering whatsoever.
I increased the height of the undercarriage by adding plastic block spacers to the locators in the cowlings so the aircraft nose points up more.  The drag links were lengthened with rod.
This was the first time I painted national markings on using masks.  I got Mal Mayfield to cut masks from a Hawkeye decal sheet.  I impressed myself with how easy painting the roundels was, and determined to go this route on all of my future larger builds.  There is some conjecture over whether the cheat line was red or blue.  I opted for blue after seeking answers on Aussie Modeller International on-line forum

​C-47B Dakota 77 SQN  Royal Australian Air Force Korea 1952

 
 

 

Hasegawa 1/48 A4G Skyhawk

/ Bruces Scale Models / Leave a comment
  • Built: 2013
  • Aftermarket Used: Steel Beach Tailplane plates
  • Decals: Hawkeye Australia

A little more effort was put into this model of the skyhawk than my last one as I wanted to display it with the tailplanes tinted up exposing the hole through the fin and the hellhole open.

Cutting off the moulded tailplane rub plates was trickier than expected, but I got there in the end using a thin razor saw. These days I would use a P.E saw.

I made up some rudimentary innards through the open hell hole door. The door itself had its interior detailed with plastic strip and some foil to replicate the small bag for the R.B.Fs. These doors were commonly seen open on the flight line.

The air superiority scheme consisted of light and dark admiralty grey. At the time of modelling, no off the shelf paints were available from any of the major manufacturers.

The paints for this came from a local company that actually made model railway colours. As far as I kno, these paints were their only foray into aircraft sets.. The practise bomb carrier seen so often on Aussie skyhawks was scratch built from plastic card and strip.

McDonald Douglas A-4G Skyhawk 805 SQN R.A.N F.A.A H.M.A.S Melbourne

Hasegawa 1/48 A-4G Skyhawk

/ Bruces Scale Models / Leave a comment
  • Built: 2013
  • Aftermarket Used: Nil. OOB
  • Decals: Ronin Decals
This is one of my older models.  The still nice Hasegawa 1/48 Skyhawk from when Hasegawa were a big name in model kits.  This one has been modified into a Royal Australian Navy A-4G which were basically E models anyway.  All the parts to make a G are included in the kit.  I decided to do an early Skyhawk before colourful unit markings became all the rage in the R.A.N.  Mainly because I had not seen one done before. As well as completing this one, I also did one in the Air Superiority scheme as a parallel build.
Decals came from a Hawkeye sheet for R.A.N Skyhawks, which was an early ALPS printed sheet.  The decals were thick and the underlying white shapes for the decals that needed them were oversized.  In a word they were crap, but Steve Evans is completely redoing the sheet under his Ronin Aviation Graphics label.  The decals released under this label bear no resemblance to his earlier Hawkeye sheets in either printing or performance  The latest sheet –  when he finally gets around to releasing it –  will allow you to model any skyhawk that saw service. 
Centre line TER came from Aerobonus and bombs came from a hasegawa weapons set.  There are lots of mistakes if you look closely, but I am happy with it. It remains as a timeline marker as to how my skills are slowly improving.  I remember the kit as being easy to assemble with some fit issues around intakes and the gun inserts.

A-4G Skyhawk 805 SQN. H.M.A.S Melbourne. Royal Australian Navy

 

Classic Airframes 1/48 Fairey Gannet T2

/ Bruces Scale Models / Leave a comment
  • Built 2012
  • Aftermarket Used: Nil
  • Decals: Combination of kit and spare to make specific airframe

 

 
Build Notes:
This was the second Classic Airframes Gannet that I built.  I wanted to do a Training Machine as the colour scheme appealed to me with those bright yellow training bands.  As I have noted in my previous build, I didn’t find this one of C.A’s better kits, although I love them for doing it.
OOB the model can only be built into the ASW version, luckily I still had a dynavector vac form kit lying around, which you really need anyway to build the CA kit if you want to open the canopies.  The beauty of the Dynavector kit is it includes the parts to make the training version.  These comprise the white metal periscope for the student and the extended cable bulge.  These parts can be easily incorporated into the injection moulded kit. As I lacked good reference photos for the students cockpit, I just mirrored the front cockpit with a spare control stick from the spares box.  The instrument panel was the white metal item from the Dynavector kit.  The assembled model was painted with xtracolour silver, the bands were xtracolour training yellow from memory

Fairey Gannet T2 725 SQN Royal Australian Navy Nowra 1960

Trumpeter 1/48 Sea Fury F.B11

/ Bruces Scale Models / Leave a comment
  • Built: 2012
  • Aftermarket Used: PP Aeroparts spinner and blades,
  • Decals: Aussie Decals

i Think everyone who likes this machine was quite excited when Trumpeter revealed they were releasing a badly needed new tool kit to replace the ageing HobbyCraft kit. That anticipation quickly melted when everyone saw what a complete hash Trumpeter had made it, as they do with a lot of their British subjects.

The details of this build have been lost to time, but I do remember a lot of remedial work was required to accurise it.

This involved building up the strange scallop shaped cockpit opening, replacing the bulborous spinner with a PP aeroparts one, or was it W.E.M, cant remember!

In fact quite a lot of PP aeroparts were used from their very comprehensive set designed for the Hoobycraft kit.

These days were I to do this one again, I would use the lovely Airfix kit. But I won’t be as I have the lovely Fisher Models 1/32 scale kit in the stash.

I only just recently sold this one, so it had stayed with me for quite some time.

Hawker Sea Fury F.B11 Royal Australian Navy F.A.A Nowra.