old stuff

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

No! This is not the old Airfix, out of the bag, 1/72 Defiant. It's actually a pretty accurate cottage industry Vacuform kit that arrived in a kit pal swap. There was also an A6M-21 in the bundle, but my friend kept it because it was more accurate that anything on the market at that point in time. Photo 1r is a top shot. A newly acquired Passhe VSL airbrush was used for the paint job. You can tell immediately by the shape of the fuselage and wings that it isn't the commercial kit. The absence of rivets is another give away. photo 2r is a shot of the underneath. At the onset of WWII a barrage of often conflicting color regulations was issued. Fighters operating over England were not to have roundels on the underside, but differing markings and colors were in profusion. This particular machine had no markings at all. Photo 3r shows that the transparency of the glass has yellowed since the early 1980s. Photo 4r shows the paint job has held up pretty well. Some weathering was done with aluminum paint applied using a very dry brush technique. Photo 5r is a starboard profile. Having no idea what type of plastic was used for the canopy, the only adhesive that would attach it to the fuselage was an epoxy, which was over applied. On the other hand, even after forty one years there is no way that canopy is ever going to come off. Although the air scoop is off center, the last photo shows the defiant was a pretty clean aircraft. Who knows how good it would have been without the weight and drag of that turret and forward firing guns.

Regards, rjccjr

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

Here's an old Tamiya 1/48 Mig-15 built sometime in the late 1990's. At the time it was a very good kit. Having wrestled with trying to amend major difficulties with the old Monogram kit, referred to as a "piggie miggie." this kit was a welcome delight. The other being promptly consigned to the receptacle of modelers frustration. The parts fit was excellent, and the model came with an exposable well detailed engine. The aircraft paint was Floquil platinum mist. Panel shading was partly masked and partly bounce shaded. The engine was primarily Antique Silver and details were tinted with varying amounts of added black. Photo 1r shows the model before cleaning, though the dust and grime were nowhere near as bad as some of the other models on the shelf. Notice that the engine is still in pretty good shape. Photo 2r is a closer view of the engine. The variations in color intensity are a matter of the degree of black added to the silver. In the case of the exhaust exit the additive was a red brown mixture. The mounting struts were interior green. The front half of the auxiliary unit, commonly referred to as an "engine doo dad" is apple green. Photo 3r shows the underneath with open flaps and air brakes. Photo 4r shows a rear view. Notice that the exhaust exit is slightly burned, but not overly dramatic. The last photo shows the cleaned model. The canopy is clear and you can see the interior fairly well. The varying shades of aluminum are clean and not disruptingly over dramatic to make the effect unrealistic. Yesterday I managed to get to a local model show and the kit could be had for ten dollars. Today I looked it up on line and it can be obtained for three to four times that. Good Grief! Let's hear it for model show vendors.

Regards rjccjr

[Don Boose]

Both splendid models, but I am partial to the Deffy Two.

It is a good thing that you are refurbishing these beautiful models.

Don

[rjccjr]

Hi All;

These two are probably the oldest card models still in the collection, Koln and Emden by Wilhelmshavener Modelbaubogen in 1/250 scale. Emden dates back to 1972 and Koln may go as far back as early 1965. While stationed in Furth Germany for two years, I gradually amassed a pile of card models, mostly because they were inexpensive. Figure one Deutschmark per page. That was about twenty five cents American then. Many were built while over there and left behind at the end of the tour. The unbuilt remainder came home in hold baggage and many of them remain still unbuilt. These two just came out of the display case and I'm about to attempt to clean them. Stay tuned for further exciting frustrations.

Photo k1r shows KM Koln which may have been done under field conditions, parts cut with a scissors and assembled with model airplane cement. At first glance it's a lousy build, but it has been around for forty nine years and you can expect it to be pretty well beaten up. The card is fairly thin, yellowed by acid content, is very dusty, somewhat stained and slender parts are bent. Even so, the designer did a good job and the model is well detailed. It doesn't look all that bad from stand-off distance. Photo e1r is KM Emden in pretty much the same position and condition. It's a more fragile looking design, was built around 1972 and has held up a little better. Photo k2r is a profile shot of Koln. The main guns elevate and traverse. The side colors are pre-war gray and the decks are yellowish teak. At the time, there was no internet and good information was hard to come by. Plastic kits were in their infancy and all scales were pretty much governed by the box size, although Airfix and FROG had standardized on 1/72. Photo etch for models had not been invented. Photo e2r. is a profile view of Emden. The main guns were not designed to rotate. Card kits were rare and in their design infancy. Wilhelmshavener and Geli were the best known names. JFS was around too.

Photo k3r is a mid ship view of Koln. You can clearly see the grime and effects of years of aging on the parts. Strangely, the ship has an aircraft crane on the port side of the stack and a boat crane on the other. The little Arado 196 has about an inch and a half span. The crane in main falls mainly on the plane. Couldn't resist that. Photo e3r is the bridge area of Emden. The card is in better condition, but you can clearly see why one shouldn't use airplane cement on a card model. The structure of Emden was very light because the ship was constructed under enforced severe weight saving conditions. The ship was primarily used for training before and during WWII. Mid war all the naval rules were governed by chaos. It was also a learning experience for the designers and later designs showed the structural results of the lessons learned on Emden. Photo p1r shows both ships together. The relative sizes are evident. The Bismark and Forrestal were enormous in 1/250 scale. Now the cleaning and reassembling begins.

Regards rjccjr

[Amccombs3]

“The crane in main …” Groan — that was a good one.

[Michael Mash]

It is remarkable to see card models well over 50 years old.
I wouldn’t know where to begin to attempt a “cleaning”.

[rjccjr]

Hi Michael;

Would it be proper to call you Mike? Honestly, I'm not so sure either, but if it isn't started it won't get done. It's going to take a lot of swabs.That much is for certain. Wood, plastic and resin are familiar territories, but card is a whole new world of restoration.

Regards, rjccjr

[Michael Mash]

Sure. You can call me Mike.
I was looking through some of your paintings.
You have a lot of talent. This one below is one of my favorites.
Does this depict a particular ship that you could name?

[rjccjr]

Hi Mike;

While there may be some talent, the hands are no longer there. It's a good thing that brain surgery wasn't a vocation. As an old tanker, I learned never to give ground easily and that lesson is the approach used to deal with the tremors. Things that can still be done get attempted, those which cannot have to be conceded. Painting like that is no longer possible, but that doesn't mean that the heart has given up.

The ship is the clipper Cutty Sark. It is acrylic on wallboard, done around 1973. It is after the style of an artist named Chris Mayger who passed away in 1994. He was a prolific cover art illustrator, whose work is more dramatic than precise. What prompted the work was his remarkable command of color. Shortly after that painting was done, I moved away from copy art, into more original explorations.

Regards rjccjr