May 2021 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 three photos of a model and some explanation. May marks our twelfth (12th) on-line show & tell. We thank all of our members and builders for keeping alive the hobby.

THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, and KEEP BUILDING.

! Miniature world domination !

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

This month's show & tell is brought to you by Tomy the Technical Advisor. Tomy helps with all aspects of building plastic models.

Tomy the Technical Advisor in his natural habitat

This month we have a special guest from France. He is the former president of IPMS France (FFMS). He saw our France theme in March and has sent some photos of his work on post-Soviet aircraft. Enjoy.

MiG-29, Ukrainian Air Force

Jean-Michel Christian (president, FMMS, IPMS France)

Hough MD-3A Carrier Fire Vehicle (Verlinden Productions, resin kit. 1:72)

Michael Roy

Opel Blitz Feuerwehr 3,6, (Wespe Models, resin kit. 1:72)

Michael Roy

RCAF Hampden (AZ Models 1:72)

Michael Roy

RCAF Hudson (Italeri 1:72)

Michael Roy

USN P-25 Shipboard Fire Fighting Vehicle (Brengun, resin kit. 1:72)

Michael Roy

X-Wing Fighter (Bandai 1:48)

I built the X-Wing Fighter as a commission. It is a motion, light, and sound effects kit. It is a ‘Lego-like’ construct which is molded in several colours allowing the assembler (I have purposely not used the word builder in this context) to put the kit together without the need for paint. The X-Wing sits on a stand which provides power and control to the effects which are resident in the electronics/motor box inside the fighter. The pieces fit together by cleverly designed connectors that snap together, hence the phrase ‘Lego-like’ construct. As a model, the model suffers from this style of assembly in that the pieces do not always line up in a smooth surface, like Lego constructs. I used Tamiya cement to hold the parts together so I could sand unevenness and fill the crevasses that occurred between some of the parts. This required rescribing of the panel lines and replacing raised details. While Bandai provides stick stickers for the markings as well as most of the coloured panels, they also provided the same markings as water-slide decals. However, the decals appear to be pixilated as if printed vice silk-screened. Except for a few decals (pilot’s helmet, R2-D2 and diagonal striping on laser cannons), all of the panels and markings were masked and airbrushed with primarily AK Real Colour paint.

I had submitted some photos of this model previously as a WIP at about this stage. I then began the weathering of the model, starting with a gloss coat in preparation for panel lining. I used Tamiya Panel Liner, several shades of grey, dark brown and black. Several dull coats followed the panel lining. I again used the panel liners; using them over the dull coat made them act as filters, providing staining and discolouration of the base colour. This was followed by oil paint dot-washes. The engines received a heavy washes of burnt sienna, burnt umber and payne’s grey oils. My thought here is that these fighters were held together by ‘duct tape and wire’ and would not have the ‘polished’ look of the Imperial equipment. Laser blast graze marks were added with a stippling technique using a brush with its bristles cut to about 1-2mm using . These were then accentuated and toned with a bit of silver and grey. Once all the paint dried, I broke out the weathering powders to add a bit of subtle weathering as well as toning down some of the other weathering.

The ‘industrial’ areas received a slightly different approach than the rest of the craft. All these parts were painted in Alclad steel. Then areas were dusted with a bit of Alclad stainless steel, followed by transparent yellow and blue. I also touched a couple pieces with a bit of Alclad prismatic maple. Once this all dried, I did a black wash followed by drybrushing silver, gold and copper on the parts. I find that drybrushing other metallic colours lends to the futuristic feel of the metal. The last step was use metallic pastels I picked up at an art supply store. The exhausts were treated similarly but instead of pastels, I used a prismatic blue-green-violet powder to simulate heat effects as well as a bit of black powder at the exhaust ends.

Bill Eggleton

F-4B/N (Hasegawa 1:48)

Marc Racine

Fokker E.VIII (MicroMir 1:32)

Fokker E.VIII flown by 54-victory German ace Erich Lowenhardt. Markings hand painted except for crosses and a real leather seat cushion.

The son of a doctor, Löwenhardt served with an infantry regiment before he volunteered for the German Air Force. He was wounded in action over Roulers on 20 September 1917. After scoring his 54th victory, he collided with Leutnant Alfred Wenz of Jasta 11. Both men jumped from their planes but Löwenhardt was killed when his parachute failed to open.

Marc Racine

Etrich Taube (Flashback 1:48)

Ever spend 15 hours rigging a kit? Just finished a superb Flashback Models Etrich Taube. Interior was not overly detailed so I added framing and other little bits like wire wheels and rubber plumbing O-rings for tires as the kit did not supply them

Marc Racine

Hawk 75 (HobbyCraft)

This is a Hawk 75 in Free French colours.

I got the kit in a trade before the pandemic. I attempted to do it for the theme contest back in March, but was unable to finish it in time.

Additions:

- Eduard photoetch set

- Quickboost resin engine (to replace engine missing from kit), with scratchbuilt pushrods and spark plug wires

- EZ-Line rigging

Painted mostly with acrylics, with some oil washes in the panel lines. Decals only used for the numbers, the rest of the markings were masked and painted.

It was a tricky build; a lot went wrong near the end with parts going missing, alignment issues, etc. But I finished it and I'm happy with it.

Brian Latour

C-130H Hercules in the Boneyard (Hasegawa 1:200)

This is the very tiny Japanese air force C-130H Hercules from 401st Sqdn TAW, Komaki Air Base.

It is shown as a desert boneyard storage queen with taped front glass and a missing engine. The engine is literally missing. It popped off and none of us here could find it in a tiny room. How bizarre.

Paint is all Vallejo regular and metalizer acrylic, plus Future Floor Wax and decals OOB. I love orange! Paint jobs with the day-glow flouescent orange like these were used on aircraft going to the arctic and antarctic, as well as target towing aircraft and other special purpose mission aircraft which needed to be very highly visible.

Strange Herc fact: entering service in 1956, the C-130 recently passed the Antonov AN-2 to become the world's longest continuously produced military aircraft.

John Clearwater

M*A*S*H Ambulance (Italeri 1:35)

I built this Italeri kit (#226) in about 1984 as part of my M*A*S*H fan phase. For the time it was my best work. I had solved airbrushing, and the mystery of using solva-set to get the giant red cross decal to settle on the roof. I also used masking to paint the rear doors, and to make windscreen wiper patterns on the cab. Inside the back I built wire loops for holding the upper stretchers in place. On the front seats there is a medic bag with a red cross, and a similar helmet. The water and mud in the diorama are actual water and mud from a Manitoba spring.

Over 26 000 of the Dodge WC-54, Ambulances, 3/4-ton, 4 x 4, were built from 1942 to 1945 to serve as the U.S. Army's main ambulance, with several used during the Korean War by the U.S. Army Medical Corps. I am sorry that all I can show is a grainy old printed photo found in a storage box.

M134 MINIGUN (4D Models 1:6)

This is a rather large kit, from 4D Models of China, of the General Electric M134 MINIGUN 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (about 2000 rounds per minute). It was designed in 1960 and entered service in 1963. Various versions remain in service around the world to this day. This gun has a range of about 1000 m, and a muzzle velocity of 869 m/s. It is called a minigun because it is MINI in comparison to the larger Vulcan guns from which it is derived; and it is a GUN in that it uses standard ammunition.

There is no such thing as a man-portable version of this gun. That is a movie fantasy only. Where would you carry the battery pack, never mind thousands of rounds of ammunition?

Paint is a base of Tamiya gloss back, and an overcoat of Vallejo matted metallizer jet exhaust to bring up a more metallic look. Then it was shot again with diluted Vallejo matte. I used a chain to hang it from a model aircraft display stand salvaged from the sprue box.

John Clearwater

WORK IN PRGRESS

SeaRAM (RPG 1:35)

The SeaRAM is a ship-based, defensive close-in weapon system (CIWS) which fires missiles at incoming targets. People are probably more familiar with the vulcan phalanx (gun) version of the CIWS, which kinda looks like the love child of R2-D2 and an A-10 Warthog. RPG released their CIWS kits only a few years ago, and at the time I picked up both the phalanx and the SeaRAM version. Since many modelers seem to build the phalanx CIWS, I wanted to try my hand at the missile version. The kit is well designed with lots of detail, though there is a LOT of photoetch (PE) parts. Fortunately, I am no stranger to PE and this did not scare me off. (Yet.) The build is going well, though when I got to the radar housing assembly, I started to form an idea in my wee hamster brain. Rather than just building it as-is, I decided to scratchbuild a search radar which is housed beneath R2-D2's top dome. Other than that, it is being built out-of-box (mostly). The full build album is here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sv5gjPLiMAC4iQCbA

Glenn Cauley

AK-130 Automatic Naval Gun (Takom 1:35)

Being on a bit of a kick of building 1/35 weaponry, here is one that I started in 2020... put away... resurrected & completed building... then lost my mojo before any colour was laid down. Takom's 1/35 model of an AK-130 automatic naval gun is an interesting and fun kit... and it's YUGE! (ruh ruh ruh) I scratchbuilt a few minor parts and added some detail. Otherwise it is out-of-box. When I finally completed the build, my interest waned before I started painting it. I wanted to keep BUILDING something, so painting such a large canvas drew a yawn or two. I also want to come up with some sort of experimental camouflage instead of having it be a shade of grey (boring). So while I ponder a paint scheme and purchase another bottle or two of paint (remember... it's BIG), I moved on to another model. The full build album for the AK-130 is here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dBFUytcQqX1CeZNs7

Glenn Cauley

Dione’s Escape Ship (MPS 1:96)

Dione’s Escape Ship appeared the first season Space: 1999 episode The Last Enemy. The first image is of the studio filming miniature which was about 10 inch long. The kit on the other hand is about a third of this at 3½”; it is in scale with MPC’s 12 inch Eagle. This tiny resin kit (image 2) requires a bit of scratch building experience. While the manufacturer provides some of the bits required for the scratch building, I decided to just use brass and plastic materials I already had in my hobby room. The most critical aspect of the build is the landing gear. The struts used on the filming miniature were from a 1/48 B-29 model kit; two nose gear struts for the rear and a rear strut for the front. Unfortunately, scavenging these from two 1/144 B-29 kits wasn’t going to happen. Thus, the first stage of scratchbuilding. For the rear struts, two 1/32” holes were drilled at an angle of ~60 deg from horizontal and ~70 deg front to rear and brass rod was glued into these holes. After trimming to ~9mm, the lower ~3mm was bent forward until vertical. For the front strut, a 3/64” brass rod was similarly fixed at ~50 deg from horizontal. The length of the front strut was cut to give an angle of attack similar to that seen in the episode. I then drilled holes into the foot pads and fitted them to the brass rods. I glued everything in place with super glue, ensuring alignment using the lines on my workbench cutting mat. I detailed the landing gear by adding styrene rod and pieces of shaped styrene strip (image 3). After adding the engine mount, as well the cylindrical and spherical tanks, I primed the entire ship with Mr Surfacer 1500 Black. Image 4 shows the primed model with MPC’s 1:96 Eagle for size comparison. While fixing some glue streaks and fill issues, I also added a bit of detail forward of the engine mount that I noticed on the studio miniature (image 5). After repriming, I painted the entire band between the upper and lower hulls with Testors (original) Zinc Chromate. Once the paint is cured, I’ll mask the squares that are to be yellow (image 1) and reprime the area in black. While the yellow paint was curing, I tackled the engine bell using all Alclad paints. I started by painting inside the bell with Alclad Burnt Iron. The outside of the bell was painted with Stainless Steel followed by a dusting of Polished Aluminum. I then added some bands of Transparent Yellow. Blue and Red. I toned the starkness of these bands down with a lighter dusting of Polished Aluminum. Image 6 is the result of this process which was done in a single airbrushing session. Once the paint is cured, I’ll mask the bell and reprime the engine housing for the hull colours.

Bill Eggleton