February 2022 IPMS Ottawa On-Line SHOW & TELL

Welcome to IPMS Ottawa's ongoing monthly SHOW & TELL, which allows club members to show off their completed work despite not being able to attend group meetings. Each member is invited to send in up to four photos of a model and some explanation. February marks our nineteenth (19th) on-line show & tell. We thank all of our members and builders for keeping alive the hobby. All entries are always welcome.

THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, and KEEP BUILDING. 

! Miniature world domination !

Enjoy our show, and we all hope to meet again soon.

NEW BEGINNINGS

This blog is happy to note that our late friend from IPMS France, Tomy the Technical Advisor has been replaced by Vera, who is also very interested in our favourite hobby.

FINISHED MODELS

Volkswagen 1200 "Beetle" (Airfix 1:32)

For my latest completion, I built an Airfix 1:32 Volkswagen 1200 "Beetle". This kit was built OOB, and finished using Tamiya paints and Alclad for the larger chrome pieces. For a model originally tooled in the early 1960's, it does have some challenges with fit and finish, but it does build into a nice display model.

Ken Nesbitt

Hunter (Privateer Press,  30mm scale)

This is a 2004 pewter model of a Hunter warjack -- a six tonne steam-powered robot -- from Privateer Press. Primed with Badger Stynylrez, then painted with various acrylics, mostly Reaper and P3.

The blue-grey was airbrushed, the rest was hand-painted.

Vallejo Metal Color was used for the silver metals. For the gold metallics, I'm making my own paint by mixing Green Stuff World metallic pigments with Vallejo Metal Color metal varnish. Both of these paints work nicely with artist acrylic inks for shading, adding the blue tone to the reflections in the metal, etc.

The one picture has a nickel for scale.

Brian Latour

Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk X (Airfix 1:72)

My first completed model of 2022 is a Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk X in the markings of NE686 EO*T from RCAF 404 Sqn at RAF Dallachy, Moray Scotland in early 1945.

I used the recent Airfix kit which is quite good.  The kit included extra parts that are useful for other variants – I used the shorter engine intakes.  The decals were also very good, with a full set of airframe stencils (although one has a spelling error which you can see with a magnifier).  I added a bit of detail to the engines, lights, and antennas.

The main paint is AK Real Colours, which airbrushes well.  I had a problem with the pilot – his feet were too far apart to fit into the rudder pedals, so I had to do some surgery on his legs.

Peter de Salis

SeaRAM CIWS Weapon Loading

At long last we can put my SeaRAM diorama in the "FINISHED" section!   It only took 8 months...

“BREAK TIME”  1/35

With the completion of the figures, I am calling this diorama done.  It was a fantastic journey which saw me trying new things, but more importantly it made me confront and overcome my long-held fear of making figures. Thank you to everyone who supported me in that!   The last month was a flurry of activity to build natural-looking figures to tell a simple story:  a technician taking a break and having a drink, while supervisors on the deck consulted their notes. (Those who look closer will notice that Marco the Tech is getting the stink eye from one of the supervisors, likely for being untethered and not wearing his hardhat).  Building the figure of the tech was rather complex, as I had to cobble together mismatched parts from different figures in a set (and perform some major surgery), and then I researched, designed, and fabricated a full safety harness and tether system.  I also found the time to add small details along the way, including a scratchbuilt ratchet set and case, handheld spanner, and more. When posting pictures of some of the finer details, it became an exercise in “Where’s the Dime?” which I often use for scale reference. I am now planning on building figures for some of my other “dioramas-without-figures” to better tell a story about the central model, and am even thinking about trying artists inks to paint them.  Who’d’a thunk it, right?!?

Glenn Cauley

ZiL D-470 'Moose" USSR Airfield/Aerodrome Rotary Snowblower (AVD 1:43)

ЗиЛ Завод имени Лихачева Д-470/ Д-204. Шнекороторный снегоочиститель на базе ЗИЛ-157. The Soviets informally called this snowblower the Лось 'Moose'.

The ZiL D-470 was based on the ZiL-157 chassis and made into an airfield snowblower in 1958. With both engines running it could go nearly 80 km/hr flat out, and had a mass of some 8.8 tonnes over a length of 8 m. It remained in production until 1986 at the Sewdormasch factory in Severodvinsk. A thousand were built in the first eight years alone. Later versions had their main truck gasoline engine removed and simply took all tractive power from the large tank engine in the rear housing. The final production version could clear up to 720 tonnes of snow per hour.

My wife very kindly bought the 1958 ZiL D-470 airfield rotary snowblower as my christmas present. It arrived from St Peterburg Russia just in time. The only parts which were not up to general standard of the box were the two massive rotary blades which needed a lot of body work to get rid of the seams. Base plastic is black, so everyhing is spray painted using body gloss orange and the snowblower matte red (Tamiya acrylics), along with blacks and greys and interior green. The forward cabin itself is cast metal, so is primed with Tamiya white metal primer. The decals look okay, and stick down nicely, but I was shocked to find out that all the decal images are printed on a single sheet of clear, so each has to be labouriously cut out and trimmed. There are no decal placement drawings.

It is marked as a Soviet airfield/airport snowblower from about 1966. Imagine fleets of these moving through the darkness of a Soviet winter clearing runways and roads.

This Russian kit has much to recommend it (it is very unique and looks large); and much to hate (poor slightly soft plastic, useless instructions, and a single uncut sheet with all decals printed on). But it has been a wonderful and fun build of something we Canadians can really appreciate - moving vast quantities of snow in short periods. 

The build was fun but a bit of a nightmare as the kit instructions are about as bad as can be. At least it has a lot of metal pins for securing the blower rig to the chassis.

John Clearwater

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Mack Bulldog Tank Truck (Monogram 1:24)

I am building the Mack Bulldog Tank Truck as my entry to the Monogram/Revell Group Build at Model Makers’ Union FaceBook page. Although the Tank Truck version was first released in 1974, the kit can be traced back to the 1967 release of the Monogram Tom Daniel’s Beer Wagon, a customized, hot rod version of the Mack AC truck. The Mack AC has also been released as a stake truck in 1973, a dump truck and log truck, both in 1976. All five versions have been re-released several times; this particular kit is the 2009 boxing of the Tank Truck.

The Mack AC truck–said to be “the truck that build America”–achieved a degree of success and international fame which has never been approached by any other truck in history. After the eminently successful introduction of the medium-duty Mack AB truck series in 1914, the AC series began production in 1915/16 and was manufactured continuously for 24 years until 1939–the longest production run of any American automotive vehicle. Serving both American and British troops in Europe during WWI, the AC distinguished itself with incredible toughness and dependability. With their snub-nosed hoods, the Mack AC trucks resembled Bulldogs in both appearance and performance, and hence became known as the ‘Bulldog Macks.’ This appellation grew to encompass all Mack products, and the company adopted it as its corporate symbol in 1922. The famous Bulldog hood ornament began to appear in the early thirties.

The Mack AC is powered by an in-line 471 cubic inch 4-cylinder 40 HP 1,175 RPM which drives a dual chain-driven rear axle via a four-speed transmission. Unlike modern vehicles, the transmission is separated from the engine by the drive shaft, being connected to the differential. Also unique is the behind the engine radiator and centrifugal fan.

Assembly begins with the springs. Half of each leaf spring is moulded to the c-channel longitudinal frame pieces with the other half moulded as a separate piece. This was where the age of the kit began to show. A lot of the flat surfaces had a slight angle to them. This included the frame pieces, the leaf springs, the axles, etc. I believe this is an artifact of the mold technology of the time. The clean up of the leaf springs was a very slow and tedious process. I began working on the transmission/differential unit by removing all blobs that I believe were to represent nuts and bolts as well as much of the erroneous details. I began replacing the blobs with Meng nuts and bolts. I also cut the axles off the differential to flatten the surrounding surface for the Meng nuts. It also permitted the frame to be assembled without the transmission, making it easy to ensure squareness of the frame. I left off one axle to allow fitting of the transmission/differential unit into the appropriate spot; the axle was also added during installation of transmission unit. Once the transmission was installed, I moved onto the axles. The rear axle required little modification, but the steering components of the front axle needed some work, primarily replacing the missing control arm.

I am moving on to modifying and assembling the engine as well as the cab of the truck. The group build ends at the end of March, so wish me luck in finishing…

Bill

January 2022 IPMS Ottawa On-Line SHOW & TELL

Welcome to IPMS Ottawa's ongoing monthly SHOW & TELL, which allows club members to show off their completed work despite not being able to attend group meetings. Each member is invited to send in up to four photos of a model and some explanation. January marks our eighteenth (18th) on-line show & tell. We thank all of our members and builders for keeping alive the hobby. All entries are always welcome.

THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, and KEEP BUILDING. 

! Miniature world domination !

Enjoy our show, and we all hope to meet again soon.

SAD PASSINGS

This blog is sad to note the passing of our friend from IPMS France, Tomy the Technical Advisor. Tomy was featured in other blog entries assisting with our favourite hobby.

 

Tomy the Technical Advisor

FINSIHED MODELS

CF-105 AVRO Arrow (HobbyCraft HC1393, 1:72)

This shelf/hangar queen was the third iteration of trying to do this bird.  The first two attempts came to a horrible demise many years ago!!!!

This is one of the aircraft on my Dad's list of aircraft that he "worked on".  As I understand it he was on one of the RCAF crews that were sent to learn about the Arrow from an external view point.  Each crew apparently spent 2 weeks cleaning and fueling an active version. The prime point of the exercise was to

know where all the access panels were and generally become familiar with the aircraft overall.

Michael Roy

US CIVIL WAR WHITWORTH 12 POUNDER FIELD GUN (Marine Model Company Inc. 1:16)

This is the 1972 rebox of the original 1947 kit from the USA. It is all metal with a turned brass barrel. Paints are Tamiya. It was purchased at the used kit sale at the USA IPMS Nationals in Arizona a  few years back.

Tean S., a new IPMS Ottawa member

Karchev & Deathjack (Malignant Fusion, Privateer Press)

Karchev & Deathjack is the new boss fight expansion for the miniatures game Riot Quest. The model was about a dozen pieces, a mix of resin and metal. As such, assembly required a lot of pinning and CA glue. It was done in sub-assemblies, with the shoulders separated from the torso until the end so I could paint the shoulders more easily. I also did a headswap on this model to match another model in my collection.

Painting was done almost completely with acrylics, with the exception of an oil wash. Weathering was mostly sponge chipping and an oil wash. Purple and pink was done with the airbrush, the rest was brush painted.

I've been using a new technique for gold, bronze and copper metallics. I've been making my own paint by mixing Vallejo Metal Varnish with Green Stuff World metallic pigments. So far, this is much better than any acrylic metallic gold paints I've been using. I've yet to test it out in the airbrush but as the pigments are very fine and Vallejo Metal Varnish sprays nicely on its own.

Silver metals are in Vallejo Metal Color, with shading and tinting accomplished with acrylic artist inks to bring in the blue tones, and highest edge highlights with Scale75 Speed Metal. The blue glow emanating from the base onto the model was a simple quick airbrush job with a mixture of Badger Miniataire Plasma Fluid and white ink.

Base is 50mm in diameter, for scale reference.

Brian

CF-18 HORNET

I finished off 2021 with a Hornet.  I chose to use markings from the Symmetrical era, shortly after it was acquired by the CAF, mid-late 1980s.  I prefer to show off the aircraft, so it doesn't have any tanks, missiles, etc. attached.

Paint is mainly Model Master enamel, with a variety of accents in enamels and acrylics.  I used decals from Leading Edge, since they were very comprehensive, but the kit decals would have been ok.  It took me several tries to build an acceptable head-up display for the pilot.

Peter de Salis

USS CVL22 INDEPENDENCE and USS FLETCHER

Ray Bean of IPMS Winnipeg

F-100D (Trumpeter 1:48)

My latest for the blog.  I have included a pic of an actual Danish F100 for comparison.  Not easy to recreate the effect of the weathering. They really rode them hard and put 'em away wet.

The kit goes together well with no issues. I used the Eduard cockpit. The only issue was eliminating the fuselage seam. There is a lot of detail that had to be rescribed. And as with Trumpeter kits the prominent rivets had to be added back in.

I used Gunze paint. For the burnt metal effect on the rear fuselage, I started with Tamiya LP 70 Gloss Aluminium, then the brown stain Gunze H 310, followed by Alclad burnt metal effects. I followed that up with highly diluted base colours H 309 (FS 34079) and lightened with white, then with yellow. The entire airframe was then dappled with H 54, olive drab highly thinned with Leveling Thinner. The colours on the fuselage (and wings I assume) seems to be a combination of light olive drab, almost green, and brownish green. That took a lot of experimentation until I got it close to the pics I found on the Internet.

The decals came from Xtradecal 48085, F100's in foreign service. An old set. One if the roundels shattered. 

I finished it off with heavily thinned mix of black, red brown sprayed thru the Artool mask followed by clear matt (H 20).

Michael V.

TWO-MASTED SAILING SHIP

I have no name or even scale for this model. It is between 1:90 and 1:130 scale by my rough estimate. I bought it from AliExpress for a mere $12 shipping included. It arrived in two weeks. Clearly some knock-off small factory in China got hold of the computer file for the kit and burned a bunch of copies. However, the burn image is backwards and there is no reference to the original name. Several of the small delicate parts were so badly laser burned that they disintegrated.

There were two basic problems: 1) there were no plans/instructions; and 2) the laser-cut sheets of wood are plywood instead of solid single type wood. You can only bend plywood in one direction. So this has been a bit of a challenge. The goal here was to make a ghost ship or sort of disney pirates vessels with a lot of crud and dirt and aging. I covered over the gun ports, and added chain-plates and several other parts which were not in the kit. Hull crud is baking soda and crushed pencil shavings. The entire thing has been spray painted with a dirty black, then sanded down (80 grit) to show highlights. It took two weeks to go from flat box to ready-for-sails.

It is finally finished. The ghost ship sails away. All the wood work and sail work and rigging and even the forgotten archor are all done.

As I mentioned previously, there were no plans/instructions, and therefore all mast and boom and yard measurements are made up to look proportionately correct first against the hull, and then against the masts and remaining space.

John C.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

JUNKERS J.1 (Wingnut Wings 1:32)

I spent part of my Christmas break cleaning and re-organizing my workbench, which finally gave me room to work on larger models. I have had this Wingnut Wings Junkers J.1 for several years, but didn't have the space to really tackle the kit. So far, the wings are assembled, and I have started to paint some of the sub-assemblies. I am not planning to do any changes to this kit, but will use it as a starting point for future large-scale aircraft builds.

Ken N

SeaRAM  CIWS (RPG Models 1:35)

A Modeller’s Retrospective

Just the other day it dawned on me how much time & effort I have invested in my current model project: a 1/35 SeaRAM Close-in Weapon System from RPG Models. Started in late April 2021, l plugged away at it while the seasons passed, periodically taking breaks to build other models and enjoy the summertime. In doing some end-of-year reflection, I realized that this project had really struck a chord with me for some reason, and I really wanted to stick with it to make it special. This project afforded me the opportunity to broaden and refine my modelling skills (particularly old-school scratchbuilding), and gave me the courage to “bite the bullet” to tackle things which I normally would have avoided. It also opened my eyes to just how far 3D design & printing has progressed; a modelling friend helped the project along by designing and printing numerous large & small components which I incorporated into the build or used as masters from which I scratchbuilt other items. 3D printing has certainly opened up our hobby to exciting new prospects.

It took me about a month to complete the SeaRAM model, time enough to do some scratchbuilding (the search radar unit) and extra detailing along the way. As the model neared completion, I discovered a series of online photographs showing a crew loading missiles into a ship-borne SeaRAM. Seeing those photos sparked something within my brain's creativity centre, making me ask myself, “I wonder if I could do that?” (though it might have been safer to think, “I wonder if I SHOULD do that?”). But I don't build models just for the sake of passing time, and I certainly don't build models "safe" because, well, what's the fun in that?  And so, much like Alice, down the rabbit hole I went.

By the end of December, in addition to the SeaRAM model itself I had also scratchbuilt a complete missile-loading platform and a missile transport case, all mounted to a custom base replicating a weapons area on a ship deck. I’ll admit that I broke Cardinal Rule #1 of Scratchbuilding – “Measure twice, cut once" a few times, and twice I had to cut apart the platform to make major corrections. But the thing is, I did not just pack it in… I persevered.

As I put the final touches on all the hardware components, I was smacked in the face with the realization that I was coming up on the most terrifying part of the build: FIGURES.  

[STAGE DIRECTION: INSERT FOREBODING MUSIC SCORE]  

With the exception of two models built in my adult life, I have never added “real” figures to my models – because, frankly, making and painting figures terrifies me. However, I knew I wanted at least three figures in the diorama: a technician on the loading platform, and two supervisors standing on deck having a consultation. I searched for sets of figures wearing coveralls and hardhats, but the results were very limited. After easing my requirements and coming up with almost a dozen possible figure sets, I narrowed it down to one set from Meng and another set from Gecko Models. I would, however, need to make the hardhats myself.

Having watched (with great interest) a presentation given by a fellow club member about how he paints figure faces, I knew I wanted to use Hornet resin heads & hands rather than dealing with the softly-molded features on those figures; Hornet resin heads & hands are much more exquisitely detailed. Within a week, I had cobbled together the three figures, hardhats included, with only a few tweaks required here and there after some excellent feedback from modellers whose opinions I respect and trust. Aside from adding a head to one of the figures - I am awaiting its arrival in the post - they are essentially built. (And yes, I know how weird that last part sounds LOL.) Next up is painting the figures, which will likely give me fits until they are done to my satisfaction. This will likely take a few attempts - I am under no illusions about that - but the goalpost is finally in sight!  I have kept the model manufacturer – RPG Models – updated on my progress, and they have been very happy with the direction I am taking their model; they are eager to see the final result.

This SeaRAM project has been an interesting journey so far, and it has indeed opened new doors to be further explored.

Full build album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sv5gjPLiMAC4iQCbA 

 Glenn Cauley, President, IPMS Ottawa

D-470 ZiL Aeroflot rotary snowplow (AVD 1:43)

My wife very kindly bought this 1958 ZiL airfield snowblower as my christmas present. It arrived from St Peterburg Russia just in time. The only parts which were not up to standard were the rotary blades which needed a lot of body work to get rid of the seams. I have got the initial colours and coats sprayed on, and will add one or two more coats of both the body gloss orange and the snowblower matte red (Tamiya acrylics). It will have the Aeroflot airline decals which are included in kit.