Pied meaning two or more colors, as referring to the black-and-white bill on this alternate plumaged individual.

Atascadero, San Luis Obispo County, California, USA.

The use of ANY of my photos, of any file size, for any purpose, is subject to approval by me. Contact me for permission. My email address is available at my Flickr profile page. Larger file sizes of my images are available upon request.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

During the interwar period, the U.S. Navy Command had placed considerable emphasis upon the role of armed aerial reconnaissance aircraft. To meet this interest, during 1931, the young Great Lakes Aircraft Company (founded in 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio) decided to embark on the development of a new naval combat aircraft to meet this role. The new aircraft, which was designated as the SBG, was a relatively modern all-metal design, even though some conservative traits like a fixed landing gear were kept.

In prewar use, SBG units were engaged in training and other operational activities and were gradually approaching the end of their useful service life with at least one aircraft being converted to target tug duty. By 1940, the US Navy was aware that the SBG had become outclassed by the fighters and bombers of other nations and a replacement was in the works, but it was not yet in service when the US entered World War II. By then, attrition had reduced their numbers to just over 60 aircraft, and with the arrival of the Curtiss SB2C “Helldiver” in December 1942, the obsolete SBGs were retired.

General characteristics:

Crew: 3

Length: 31 ft 9 in (9.682 m)

Wingspan: 45 ft 9 in (13.95 m)

Height: 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)

Wing area: 288 sq ft (26.8 m²)

Empty weight: 4,251 lb. (1,928 kg)

Gross weight: 6,378 - 6,918 lb. (2,893 - 3,138 kg) for reconnaissance missions

7,705 - 7,773 lb (3,495 - 3,526 kg) for bombing missions

Fuel capacity: 200 US gal (740 l; 160 imp gal) in six wing tanks plus

7.9 US gal (30 l; 6.6 imp gal) in a gravity feed collector tank in the fuselage

18 US gal (70 l; 15 imp gal) of engine oil was also carried in a forward fuselage tank

Powerplant:

1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2180-A Twin Hornet 14 cylinder radial engine with 1,200 hp (865 kW),

driving a 3-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic, 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) diameter constant-speed

fully-feathering propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 245 mph (395 km/h, 213 kn) at 3,650 m (11,980 ft)

210 mph (338 km/h, 183 kn) at sea level

Stall speed: 110 km/h (68 mph, 59 kn)

Range: 1,260 km (780 mi, 680 nmi)

Service ceiling: 7,300 m (24,000 ft)

Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 4 minutes

4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 11 minutes 10 seconds

Wing loading: 116 kg/m² (24 lb/sq ft) to 130 kg/m2 (27 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 6.3–6.8 kg/kW (10.4–11.2 lb/hp)

Armament:

2x fixed forward firing 0.30 “ (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns in the spats, firing forward,

plus 2x flexibly mounted 0.30 “ (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns in ventral and dorsal positions

A total of up to 1,500 lb (700 kg) of bombs on hardpoints under the fuselage (max. 1.000 lb; the SCG-2

could carry a single Mk. XIII torpedo) and under the wings (max. 325 lb per hardpoint, SCG-2 only 200 lb)

The kit and its assembly:

I had the idea to convert a PZL.23 into a carrier-borne light bomber on the agenda for a long time and also already a Heller kit stashed away – but it took the “In the Navy” group build at whatifmodelers.com in early 2020 to dig everything out from the stash and start the hardware phase.

Originally, this was inspired by a picture of a Ju 87D with USN “Yellow wings” markings which I came across while doing online research. This looked really good, but since the USN would never have accepted a liquid-cooled engine on one of its pre-WWII aircraft, the concept had IMHO some flaws. When I came across the PZL.23 in another context, I found that the aircraft, with its cockpit placed well forward and the generous window area, could also be a good carrier-based recce/light bomber/torpedo aircraft? This was the conceptual birth of the SBG.

The basis is the vintage, original Heller kit of the PZL.23: a VERY nice kit. It has been crisply molded, fit is very good, and even the interior detail is decent, e.g. with a nice fuselage structure and dashboard. Surface details are raised but very fine, and the styrene is also easy to handle.

Basically the PZL.23 was built OOB. The only changes I made are a crew of three figures (all Matchbox WWII pilots, two of them with their heads in different directions), a tail wheel instead of the original skid, an opening for an arrester hook under the fin (there’s even plausible space available!) and a new engine: the PZL.23’s bulky 9 cylinder Jupiter radial engine with its generous cowling and the two-blade propeller was completely replaced. The engine dummy is actually a matching R-2600 and comes from a Matchbox SB2C, even though its rear bulkhead was trimmed away so that it would fit into the new cowling. The latter came from an Italeri La-5FN, cut off long time ago from another conversion project, and I added a carburetor/oil cooler fairing underneath. Inside of the new engine I implanted a styrene tube which attaches the engine to the fuselage and also takes the metal axis of the new propeller, a (rather clumsy) donor from a Matchbox Douglas A-20G. The whole package works well, though, and gives the PZL.23 a more modern and different look.

A late modification is the glasshouse for the rear gunner. Since the PZL.23 offered considerable comfort for its crew, at least for pilot and observer, I thought that a closed rear position would make sense. I found an old rear gunner station glaizing from a vintage Airfix B-17G in the stash, and with some tailoring (including an opening for the OOB manual machine gun) the piece could be inserted into the fuselage opening. Small gaps were left, but these were simply filled with white glue. I think this was a good move, since it changes the PZL.23’s profile a little.

Other small cosmetic changes include the machine guns instead of the original large landing lights on the spats, an additional antenna mast and a cranked pitot, made from brass wire. Furthermore, I added small underwing bomb pylons and a ventral hardpoint with a scratched swing arm and a 500 lb iron bomb from an Academy kit.

Painting and markings:

For proper anachronism and some color in the shelf, I wanted the SBG to be a pre-WWII aircraft in the USN’s bright “Yellow Wings” markings, just like the Ju 87 mentioned above. As a slight twist, the fuselage was finished in all-over Light Gull Grey (FS 36440, Humbrol 40) instead of a NMF – some aircraft like F4Bs were finished this way, even though some fabric-covered parts were still painted with alu dope. In 1940, however, the bright colors would be replaced by a uniform light grey livery with subdued markings, anyway.

The aircraft’s individual markings were a bit tricky, because the USN has a very complicated color code system to identify not only the carrier to which an aircraft would belong, color markings would also identify the individual aircraft within a full squadron of 18 aircraft and its six sections. I won’t go into details, but I chose to depict the lead aircraft of section two of the scout bomber squadron on board of USS Enterprise.

For this carrier, the tail surfaces became blue (I used Modelmaster French Blue for the authentic “True Blue”), while the 2nd section had white aircraft markings on fuselage and wings. The lead aircraft (connected with the individual aircraft code “4”) had a full ring marking around the cowling. The fuselage band seems to be rather optional on bomber aircraft (more frequent on fighters?), but I eventually decided to add it - pictures suggest that probably only lead aircraft of a Section in the scout or torpedo squadrons carried this marking?

Like the cowling ring, it was painted with white and then black borders were added with decal strips. The wings were painted with Revell 310 (Lufthansa Yellow, RAL 1028), which is a pretty rich tone, and the section markings on top of them were fully created with decal material, a white 5mm stripe over a black 6mm stripe on each wing.

The aircraft’s tactical code was created from single US 45° numbers; the “S” had to be scratched from an “8”, since the decal sheet did not contain letters… Other decals were gathered from the scrap box and improvised.

After the free-standing exhaust pipes had been fixed, the kit received a light weathering treatment and was finally sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish (Italeri semi-gloss with some matt varnish added).

A colorful aircraft model, and the transformation from a Polish light bomber into an American armed scout aircraft worked well – for an interesting result with that anachronistic touch that many interwar designs carried. However, even though the conversion has been conceptually successful, I am not happy with the finish. The glossy Humbrol paints I used refused to cure properly, and the decals were also not without problems (e.g. when you realize that the roundels you wanted to use had a poor opacity, so that the yellow underneath shines blatantly through). But despite a lot of improvisation, the outcome is quite O.K.

Some background:

With more and more experience through military mecha in Japan during the late Nineties, Schaft Enterprise’s Europe branch started the development of civil Labors for public use. These models included the Type-8FF firefighting Labor, which was originally created for the Japanese market but eventually only sold and operated in the European market, and the Type-10P, a dedicated police duty Labor and a direct competitor to Shinohara Industry’s highly successful AV-98 Ingram.

The Type-10P was also promoted abroad, esp. in Japan, but it was rejected there due to its size and the strong (and established) competition from Shinohara Industry, namely the MPL-97S “Python” and the AV-98 “Ingram”. However, eight Type-10Ps were sold to the Austrian Bundespolizei and an undisclosed small number was bought by a private security service company in Northern America.

Technical Data:

Code name: Type-10P "Michael"

Unit type: police labor

Manufacturer: SEE (Schaft Enterprises Europe)

Operator: German Federal Police (Bundespolizei) and several major German federal state

police departments (Berlin, Northrhine-Westphalia, Bavaria), Austria, USA

Number built: 33

Accommodation: pilot only, in heat- and ABC-insulated cockpit in front torso

Dimensions:

Overall height 9.42 meters

Overall width 5.95 meters

Minimum revolving radius: 6.0 meters

Weight:

Standard 6.55 metric tons

Full 8.1 metric tons

Armor materials:

Light composite armor, effective against fire and small caliber rounds of up to 12.7 mm

Powerplant:

unknown

Maximum weight lifting capacity:

2.50 metric tons

Equipment and design features:

Visual and acoustic sensors, range unknown, with suitable recording and data transfer equipment

Retractable visor cover

Highly articulated manipulator hands

Searchlights

Flashlights and four claxons/loudspeakers on the shoulders

Armaments:

No internal weapons installed;

The Type-10P can operate a wide range of handheld equipment like an extendable baton,

anti-terror shields, and weapons like a 42 mm revolver handgun, a taser or a 90 mm pellet shotgun.

Two hardpoints on the lower arms to attach equipment/weapons, plus a single hardpoint on the

back with the option to carry a wide range of equipment packages.

The kit and its assembly:

Traditions can be nice to keep up, and this build is actually a kind of serial project: in 2015, a group build under the motto "De-/Militarize it" ran at whatifmodellers.com, and I submitted a thorough conversion of a 1:60 "SEE Type-7 Brocken" Labor it from Bandai – a pure military Labor turned into a firefighting mecha.

Now, in early 2021, the “Blue Lights” group build ran, and Patlabor – an anime near-SF universe circling around robot-assisted police work – lent itself for another mecha submission. I had an AV-X0 prototype as well as two Ingram kits in store, but I wanted “something different” and also not a Japanese police Labor, since I had just built a fictional Daihatsu Move police car of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. So, the choice fell on the “Phantom” kit as basis, what called for considerable modifications. The “Phantom” is actually an unmanned robot, but I found its stature quite intimidating and more plausible for a non-Japanese police Labor than e. g. a re-badged AV-X0.

At an early stage I already settled for a German police Labor, and took inspiration in some heavier vehicles that are operated by special units of the Bundespolizei, e.g. armored cars or water throwers. This also defined the Labor’s paint scheme (see below). However, the new police Labor’s design was far from certain, it gradually evolved while building the separate OOB elements. Thankfully, this 3rd generation mecha kit allows such a gradual progress, and step by step the details that had to be changed or scratched became clearer.

This primarily included:

A completely new head section; the Phantom has a kind of fixed "hood" with a relatively small and fixed "face unit" in its front. This would be changed into a free-standing head unit, like the standard Labors. I was lucky to find a leftover head unit from a “Helldiver”, an airborne military Labor from the same model universe – its pilot helmet added a tough look to my build, and I added some sensor booms from an Ingram, too. Some PSR went into the head’s re-design, too, and, in the end, it adds to the “riot control” look of my build.

The completely new head necessitated the complete removal of the original “hood” of the “Phantom” and its fixed, small head, and this gap had to be filled/framed with a scratched collar and a new attachment point for the new head. Later, the OOB “neck” element was integrated into the opening, and scratched hydraulic pistons filled void space.

In the same wake, a cockpit fairing was added to the chest, since this would become a manned vehicle, not a robot. This, as well as the collar, were sculpted with 2C putty.

In order to change the Labor’s hull shape a little more, I added a pair of headlights to the flanks of the breast – these are 1:24 car parts, left over from my recent Daihatsu Move build. The parts were fitted into holes, received a shiny backing with chrome foil (hard to tell through the protective grates, though) and were blended into the hull via PSR.

The pack with retractable boosters in the back as well as the extentable upper body (with the visible innards and the spinning blades hidden there) were omitted. Instead, I implanted a donor piece to the back (a back pack from an 1:144 Yha-Giga mecha from Megaro Zamac), which looks very mechanical (a heat exchanger, maybe?) and natural.

Furthermore, the openings for the “Phantom”’s original optical sensors in the chest were faired over.

New hands were deemed necessary; the OOB hands are much too slender and claw-like, and I was able to use the hands from an 1:24 PA-36HD (from Dorvack).

While raiding the donor banks I also came across suitable new shoulder guards, from an 1:144 “Serpent Custom” (Gundam). They replaced the OOB parts, they are taller and more edgy, which is against the “Phantom”’s rather organic design – but they were too good to be rejected, with consoles that would later carry flashlights (scratched) and louvres that could easily hide (and protect) sirens inside.

However, in order to integrate the new shoulder parts better into an overall look, I decided to modify the knee and elbow guards into a more squarish shape – with the help of styrene sheet and some (more) PSR. This stunt worked surprisingly well.

During this modification I also added hardpoints to the lower arms for equipment. I did not want a gun but rather fancied a riot shield and a baton. The right hand was modified to carry a stun baton, sourced from an Ingram kit, and the transparent shield was scratched from a mouth wash bottle.

Lots of work, but it was necessary to move the build away from its “Phantom” basis.

Painting and markings:

Basically very simple: all-blue. The current ID color of German police vehicles is RAL 5017 (Verkehrsblau/Traffic Blue), and before 2006 it was RAL 6029 (Pfefferminzgrün/Peppermint Green), both combined on standard vehicles with white - normally, these are leased white or, more recently, silver vehicles with foil. For the Labor's time frame around 2000, the classic green would have been appropriate, but I eventually voted for the later blue because it looks IMHO less militaristic.

Further design background: German special police vehicles like water throwers or armored cars rather carry a uniform livery, contrasted with very dark grey around the lower areas, and that's what I adopted for the Michael I police Labor, too, using the “Phantom”’s original livery as benchmark.

In Gunze Sangyo’s Mr. Hobby H15 (Bright Blue) I found a pretty good guesstimate for the characteristic German police blue, and it was contrasted with Revell 06 (Tar Black; RAL 9021). The backpack became medium grey, a similar tone to the silicone covers (which were left unpainted, just treated with a washing with thinned dark grey acrylic artist paint), and this medium grey was also used for some detail contrasts around the hull. This looks rather dry, but it reflects the sobriety of German police items, and the uniform blue is also a good contrast to the Japanese police Labors in white and black in my collection, and the others, too. A few highlights in white and cream are the only distractions.

Even though I did not want to weather the model, I did some dry-brushing/post shading (Humbrol 25, Revell 09, 77 and 75 in some areas) to emphasize the shapes/edges and to make the large areas, esp. on the legs, less uniform.

The markings come from two aftermarket sheets for German police cars: one is a 1:43 scale sheet from IDC Decals, the other a 1:87 scale sheet from TL Modellbau. The provided not only suitably-sized “Polizei” letterings and emblems, the IDC set also came with the characteristic dotted trim lines (reflective material in real life) that decorate many typical German police cars and which help to visually structure the Labor’s lines – even though their application to the bulbous surface of the model was not easy, and I rather used them sparsely.

After some more detail painting (e. g. some fake black panel lines, created with a fine felt tip pen) the model’s sections were sealed with a mix of matt and some semi-gloss acrylic varnish on the blue areas for a sheen finish, while the dark grey areas were painted with pure matt varnish.

The build of the “Michael I” police Labor was quite a challenge – mostly because it was not easy to get away from the model’s “Phantom” basis. But with the completely new head/shoulder section and the slight mods on arms and legs it looks quite unrelated – but still intimidating. The all-blue livery is not spectacular, but true to German standards, and it works surprisingly well and convincingly.

Type: Action figure.

Name: Revoltech 040 Helldiver.

Series: Revoltech.

Origin: Patlabor.

Brand: Kaiyodo.

Scale: Non.

Material: ABS and PVC.

Release Date: Dec 2007.

*Note: Pic not by us. This is an action figure collected by my BB or me from many years ago. More in My Collection Corner.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The S 13A was a reconnaissance aircraft that entered the Swedish armed forces in 1940, and it was only built and operated in a very limited number - actually only a pre-production batch of 20 aircraft. Originally, the aircraft was known as the "P7", and it was to be the only design of AB Förenade Flygverkstäder (AFF for short) that entered the hardware stage before the company was integrated into Saab again.

Eventually, the P7's competitor, the Saab 17 dive bomber/recce aircraft entered serial production and took the P7's aspired place in the Swedish Air Force's arsenal. The few S 13s in service mostly served in observation and recce roles, or were used for liaison duties and target tugging, and the war survivors remained in service until the late Forties when all remaining airframes were scrapped.

General characteristics:

Crew: two (Pilot and observer or passenger)

Length: 30 ft 5 in (9.27 m)

Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)

Height: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)

Wing area: 260 ft² (24.2 m²)

Empty weight: 4,365 lb (1,984 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 6,330 lb (2,877 kg)

c/n 83725

US Navy Bureau No 83589

Joined the Confederate Air Force (CAF) in 1970 and flew again in 1971 after restoration. Still operated by the CAF (now renamed Commemorative Air Force) and remains the only airworthy example of the type.

She took part in the 2015 Arsenal of Democracy Flyover on Friday 8th May 2015 to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of VE Day and the end of WW2 and is seen on the following Sunday prior to spending the day giving rides.

Manassas Regional Airport, Virginia, USA

10th May 2015

ww2color.com

Curtiss SB2C Helldiver Civil Registration N92879 83589 USN USS Franklin

Carrier-based dive bomber aircraft produced for the United States Navy during World War II. It replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless in US Navy service

This is the only airworthy Helldiver in the world

Photo taken at Mid-Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend Spaatz Field Reading Regional Airport June 2018

ABD_0508

Two U.S. Navy Douglas SBD-5 "Dauntless" dive bombers attached to bombing squadron VB-5 returning to the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) after the attack on Wake Island, 5 October 1943. Note the recently overpainted red surrounding of the U.S. national insignia.

VB-5 was initially assigned Curtiss SB2C-1 "Helldiver's", but the problems encountered with these aircraft during Yorktown´s shakedown cruise prompted her skipper, Capt. Joseph J. Jocko Clark to order them replaced by the more reliable "Dauntless". The squadron took SBD-5s into combat aboard the "Fighting Lady" (USS Yorktown) in August 1943.

This model represents a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver scout bomber used by the US Navy during the second World War.

This is the third US Navy aircraft I've built for Lego Monster's project Intrepid (after a TBF Avenger and F4U Corsair).

Just some interesting shots when I was shooting this Pied-billed Grebe at Grandin Pond awhile back. Enjoy!

The Portuguese Air Force received 42 Lockheed PV-2C Harpoons from 1953, which replaced the Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver as an anti-submarine aircraft. The Harpoons equipped squadrons 61 and 62 at the Montijo Air Base. They were reitred in 1975.

Museo do Ar, Sintra, 02 June 2017

Another large single-engined aircraft at the National Museum of World War II Aviation, this Curtiss SB2C-1A Helldiver started life as an A-25A Shrike destined for the USAAF. When the Army Air Forces cancelled the contract, it was modified to Marine Corps requirements and it served as a trainer with BuNo 76805. Having eventually been disposed of in Lake Washington, it was recovered in the 1980s and has undergone a beautiful restoration to flying condition.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Arsenal (de l'Aéronautique) VB 31 was a French naval fighter aircraft developed shortly after World War II. In January 1947 Arsenal were given a contract to develop a powerful naval fighter for the four French aircraft carriers. Since the modernization of the Aéronavale was pressing, the aircraft had to be developed fast. In order to cut time, the initial concept, the VB 30, was based on the unrealized German Messerschmitt Me 155 project.

The operational era of the VB 31 did not last long, though. The type was powerful, but complicated. The VB 31 also needed much more maintenance than the sturdy Corsair, which could also take more damage and had a considerable larger range. Hence, already in June 1953, all VB 31 were returned to Europe and based at Hyères, where they replaced obsolete F6F-5 Hellcats and were mainly used for training purposes. In the early sixties, with naval jet fighters finally available, the VB 31 were quickly withdrawn and scrapped, being replaced by Sud-Ouest SO-203 'Aquilon' (license-built D.H. Sea Venom) and Dassault Etendard IVM.

General characteristics:

Crew: one, pilot

Length: 11.63 m (38 ft 8 in)

Wingspan: 13.07 m (43 ft 6 in)

Height (peopeller at max. elevation): 4,9 m (16 ft 1 in)

Powerplant:

1 × Arsenal 24 H, 2.260 kW (3.000 hp), driving a four-bladed propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 665 km/h (413 mph)

Range: 1.191 km (740 miles)

Service ceiling: 11.125 m (37.100 ft)

Rate of climb: 10.2 m/s (2008 ft/min)

Armament:

1× 30 mm cannon with 100 RPG, firing through the propeller axis

4× 20 mm HS-404 cannons with 200 RPG or 6×12,7mm machine guns with 250 RPG in the outer wings

1.500kg (3.300 lbs.) of external ordnance, including bombs of of to 454kg (1.000 lbs) calibre, drop tanks or up to eight unguided missiles under the outer wings.

The Kit and its assembly:

I wonder if you recognize the basis for this fantasy airplane? It's actually a modified Bv 155 kit from ART Model/Special Hobby from Russia (Both kits are identical; the ART Model contains an injected clear canopy while the Special Hobby kit offers two vacu canopies, though).

Inspiration struck when I read about the huge VB 10, which has, in its profile view, much resemblance to the Bv 155 - and the latter actually has some naval-friendly features, e .g .the raised cockpit, placed pretty far forward at the wings' leading edge, or the massive landing gear. Since France used some German aircraft after WWII (e.g. Fw 190 for the Air Force and Ju 188 for the Navy), why not create a naval fighter from the Me 155/Bv 155 concept? Well, here it is... the Arsenal VB 31.

For this fantasy conversion, the Bv 155 kit saw major modifications, e. g.:

● The wing span was reduced - from each wing, 4.2cm/1.65" were taken away

● The wings received a new inverted gull wing shape, the cuts came handy

● Outer wings were clipped by 10mm/0,4" each

● Original wing tips were transplanted and re-sculpted to fit

● The rear fuselage was shortened by about 1.3cm/0.5"

● A carburetor intake was added under the nose (from a Hawker Hurricane)

● New horizontal stabilizers from a Grumman Panther (Matchbox)

● Lower position of the horizontal stabilizers

● New landing gear wells had to be cut out, a simple interior was scratch-built

● The landing gear retracts now inwards, original struts and covers were slightly shortened

● New main wheels from a Douglas Skyknight (Matchbox) were used

● New tail wheel (front wheel of a Revell F-16, I guess)

● Modified tail section with an arrestor hook

● The original, extensive exhaust piping between the engine and the turbo charger had to go

● New exhausts at the nose were added (scratch, HO scale roof tiles)

● New propeller from a Matchbox Hawker Tempest was mated with the original spinner

● Cockpit was taken OOB, but a different seat, a pilot and a radio in the rear were added

● Some panel lines had to be re-engraved, due to putty work and/or logical reasons

● Missile hardpoints under the wings come from an F4U

● Antennae were added, accoring to French F4U-7 pictures

There actually was no big plan - I had an idea of what to make from the kit, but modifications came step by step, as the parts fell together and looked or looked not right.

The 24 cylinder Arsenal 24 H engine was really under development in France, so it was a neat choice for such a relatively large aircraft. The huge turbocharger bath under the fuselage of the Bv 155 could easily be taken as a radiator bath for the large, liquid-cooled engine, so that no additional adaptations had to be made.

Overall, I wanted to save the elegant lines of the Bv 155. With the reduced wing span the aircraft looks even elegant, IMHO. All in all, and with its slender, inverted gull wings, the VB 31 somehow reminds of the Ju 87 and the later paper Ju 187 development. There's also something IL-2ish to it?

A side note concerning the kit itself: it has nice engraved details and some fine resin parts for the cockpit or the radiators. But wall strength is high (up to 2mm!), the material is somewhat soft and waxy, and fit is mediocre, so expect serious putty work. Not a bad kit, but something for the experienced modeler. Things surely were worse here, since my modifications to wings and fuselage called for even more sculpting.

Painting and markings:

It took some time to settle on a French naval aircraft, since I already have an all dark-blue whif in my collection (the whiffy F1J Sea Mustang). But I had some appropriate decals at hand, and the time frame as well as the potential user offered a good and plausible story behind the VB 31 in Aéronaval service.

Overall, the aircraft was painted in Blue Angels Blue (FS 15050, Testors 1718) and weathered with slightly lighter shades of blue and grey, for a sun-bleached look and in order to emphasize the panel lines. One can argue about this tone: many Aéronavale aircraft look much darker, rather like FS 15042, but I have seen pictures of such bright aircraft - I'd assume that the color standard was not very strict, as long as the aircraft was "dark blue"?

After basic painting the VB 31 looked very bright, so I did some major dry painting with darker/duller shades like Humbrol 67, 77 and 104 to tame things down, and the result is O.K. now.

The interior surfaces were painted in Mid Stone and dry-painted with Chromate Yellow (Humbrol 225 and 81). AFAIK, this is the typical interior finish for Aéronavel aircraft of that time, and it is a nice contrast to the dark and uniform outside.

Most markings come from an F4U-7 decal sheet, some things like the tail rudder Tricolore had to be improvised (comes from a 30 year old Airfix Bristol Blenheim decal sheet!).

Beyond the dry-painted blue and grey hues on the upper surfaces, the model was slightly weathered with exhaust and soot stains and some dry-painted silver on the leading edges. This makes the all-blue aircraft look a bit more lively and is IMHO authentic for Aéronavale fighters of the 50ies, esp. under the harsh climate of South East Asia.

Finally, everything was sealed under a semi-matt varnish (Tamiya Acryllics, rattle can), and some additional matt varnish was applied on the upper surfaces, also for a dull and sun-bleached look.

The kit was built in a week from sprues to pictures, overall a sleek and elegant aircraft with plausible lines - an hommage to the many elegant and innovative aircraft which were developed in France in WWII and later but which are easily overlooked today!

Going counterclockwise from the front the aircraft are a P-61B 'Black Widow', B-26B 'Marauder', SB2C 'Helldiver', F4U 'Corsair'. TBF 'Avenger', F6F Hellcat, A6M 'Zero', He 219 'Uhu' and last but not least a Mosquito B. Mk. IX.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

The Fiat Macchi C.170 Brezza ("Gust of wind") was a single-seat biplane fighter which served primarily in Italy's Regia Aeronautica before and in the early stages of World War II. The aircraft was produced by the Varese firm, and entered service, in smaller numbers, with the air forces of Italy, Austria and Hungary.

Although an obsolete design, it proved to be robust, durable and effective especially in severe conditions. In spring 1943, surviving C.170s were rounded up from training schools and delivered to night ground attack units operating on the Eastern Front. The C.170 was used to conduct night harassment sorties on the Eastern Front until September 1944, when the units were disbanded, due to a lack of serviceable airframes and spare parts.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft² (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant

1× Fiat A.74 R.C.38 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 650 kW (870 hp) at 2,520 rpm for take-off

Performance

Maximum speed: 441 km/h (238 kn, 274 mph) at 20,000 ft

Cruise speed: 338 km/h (187 kn, 210 mph)

Range: 780 km (420 nmi, 485 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,210 m (33,500 ft)

Rate of climb: 11.8 m/s (2,340 ft/min)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Wing loading: 69,6 kg/m² (15,3 lb/ft²)

Power/mass: 311 W/kg (0.19 hp/lb)

Armament

2× 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Breda-SAFAT synchronized machine guns above the engine, 370 rpg

Some aircraft were field-modified to carry up to 8× 15 kg (33 lb) or 2× 50 or 100 kg (110/220 lb) bombs under the wings

The kit and its assembly

Inspiration for this little, whiffy biplane came when I posted a pic of an Austrian Ju 86 bomber as a reply/ suggestion to a fellow modeler's (NARSES2) search at whatifmodelers.com for “something” to make from a Gloster Gladiator.

When I looked at the paint scheme a second time I remembered that I still had some Austrian roundels in stock, as well some very old biplane spare parts... hmmm.

Biplanes are tricky to build, even OOB, and kitbashing this kind of whif would not make things easier. Anyway, I love such challenges, and the potential outcome would surely look nice, if not exotic, so I decided to tackle the project.

Basically, the following donation ingredients went into it:

● Fuselage, engine, cockpit/pilot and tail from a Revell Macchi C.200 "Saetta"

● Upper wing from a Matchbox Gloster "Gladiator"

● Lower wings from a Matchbox SBC "Helldiver"

● Wheels from a Matchbox Hs 126 (shortened)

Pretty straightforward, but even though it would be a small aircraft model, it would come with two big challenges: mounting the lower wings and shaping the resulting, gaping belly, and the custom-made struts and wirings for the upper wing.

Work started with the Macchi C.200’s fuselage, which was built OOB - just without the wing, which is a single part, different pilot (the included one is a pygmy!) and with a free spinning metal axis for the propeller.

The wing installation started with the lower wings. I glued the Helldiver wings onto the C.200 fuselage, so that the wings' trailing edge would match the C.200's wing root ends. From that, a floor plate was fitted under the fuselage and any excessive material removed, the gaps filled with lumps of 2C putty. That moved the lower wing's roots backwards, creating space at the lower forward fuselage for the new landing gear.

The latter was taken from a vintage Matchbox Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft - probably 25, if 30 years old... Size was O.K., but the struts had to shortened by about 5mm, as thge HS 126 is a much bigger/longer aircraft than the C.200. A cut was made just above the wheel spats, material taken out, and the separate parts were glued back together again.

With the lower wings in place I started building strut supports for the upper wing from styrene strips - tricky and needs patience, but effective. I started with the outer supports, carving something SBC-style from styrene. These were glued into place, slightly canted outwards, and their length/height adapted to the upper wing’s position.

When this was settled, the upper Gladiator wing was glued into place. After a thorough drying period the short fuselage supports in front of the cockpit – again, styrene strips – were inserted into the gap. This allowed an individual lengthening, and was easier than expected, with a stable result.

After having the upper wing glued in place I added some wiring, made from heated and pulled-out styrene sprues. This not only enhances the kit's look, it also (just like in real life) improves rigidity of the model. Also a tedious task, but IMHO worth the effort. I tried thin wire, nylon strings and sewing yarn for this job, but finally the styrene solution is what worked best for me.

The exhaust installation had also to be modified: the new Hs 126 struts with spats would have been where the original C.200’s hot exhaust gases would have gone, so I added new exhaust pipes that would go between the new legs.

Other small added details included, among others, a pitot on a wing strut, a visor in front of the cockpit, a radio antenna, a ladder made from wire.

Painting and markings:

I would not call the Austrian 3+1-tone pre-WWII-scheme spectacular, but the colors are unique. My scheme is based on an Austrian Ju 86 bomber from 1938, so it fits into the intended time frame.

The colors were puzzled together from various sources and are subjective guesstimates:

● A pale, yellow-ish beige (Humbrol 74, ‘Linen’, out of production)

● A rather brownish green (Testors 1711, ‘Olive Drab’, FS 34087)

● A dark green with a yellow-ish hue (Humbrol 116, ‘US Dark Green’ FS 34079)

● Light blue for the undersides (Humbrol 65, ‘Aircraft Blue’, RLM 65)

In order to add some details I painted the area behind the engine cowling in aluminum. The respective part under the fuselage, where the exhaust gases would pass, was painted in Steel – both Testors Metallizers.

The interior surfaces were painted in a neutral Grey – but with the engine and the pilot in place you cannot see anything of that at all.

Markings are minimal: the Austrian roundels come from a TL Decals aftermarket sheet, the flag on the rudder was laid out with red paint (a mix of Humbrol 19 and 60), the white bar is a decal. The tactical code is fictional, puzzled together from single digits in various sizes (also from TL Modellbau sheets). The original documents how purely black fuselage codes, but I found these hard to read. So I chose digits with a white rim (actually, these belong to modern German Luftwaffe tactical codes in 1:32), which improve contrast a little.

The kit received a thin black ink wash and some shading/dry-painting with lighter basic tones (Humbrol 103, 155, Model Master 2138,‘Israeli Armor Sand Grey’, and Humbrol 122). After decal application, another turn with overall Hemp and Light Grey was done in order to fade contrast and to emphasize the surface structure. The wires were also painted, but only with thinned black ink and a VERY soft brush.

Finally, everything was sealed under a spray coat of matt acrylic varnish.

Voilà, and done in just about a week!

wrhstol.com/2nuBN8K

wrhstol.com/2HcPrV8

The Bug Smashers are used to eliminate any threats caused by the planets dangerous flora and were made to protect resource extraction machinery and workers like the Drill Walker. Thers 4 types of soldiers. The basic Soldier(silver helmet), The Machine Operator (white helmet) which operate exo suits and other vehicles, Jetpacker (turquoise helmet) which can fly and the Commander (gold helmet) which commands and leads squadrons. For drones and machinery there is the basic auto targeting turret, The cargo carrying dog and the airborne drone. For vehicles there is the Exo suit that the Machine Operator is controlling. The Exo-suit and Dog were not originally made to be used against the bugs and were originally used to transport and help move cargo at the planets various facility's. The Exo-suit was upgraded to withstand its quad-canons recoil and to withstand the fall it endures when being dropped from a dropship. The Exo-suit can hold onto more cargo and guns on its back thanks to the various bar attachments. Usually the suit is equipped with a quad canon and a backup shotgun to deal with the bug threat. The Bug Smashers were inspired by the game helldivers and their bug like enemy's.

Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Childrens' Day 2018 at the National Aviation Museum of the Royal Thai Air Force

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was a carrier-based dive bomber aircraft produced for the United States Navy during World War II. It replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless in US Navy service. The SB2C was much faster than the SBD it replaced.

Crew nicknames for the aircraft included the Big-Tailed Beast (or just the derogatory Beast), Two-Cee and Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class (after its designation and partly because of its reputation for having difficult handling characteristics). Neither pilots nor aircraft carrier captains seemed to like it.

Delays marred its production—by the time the A-25 Shrike variant for the USAAF was deployed in late 1943, the Army Air Forces no longer had a need for a thoroughbred dive bomber. Poor handling of the aircraft was another factor that hampered its service introductions; both the British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force cancelled substantial orders.

The Truman Committee investigated Helldiver production and turned in a scathing report, which eventually led to the beginning of the end for Curtiss. Problems with the Helldiver were eventually ironed out, and in spite of its early problems, the aircraft was flown through the last two years of the Pacific War with a fine combat record.

Source: Wikipedia

The Helldiver was developed in 1940 as a US naval dive-bomber. After some initial problems were solved, the Helldiver was judged to be a success and over 6000 were built for service from late 1943. The Helldiver was delivered to the Thai Navy in 1951. The six supplied had a short service life, retiring in 1955.

The Helldiver was able to attain a speed of 295mph on the power of a 1900hp Wright Cyclone R-2600 engine.

This Hellcat is painted a dark blue overall, with a white band around the rear fuselage. Just forward of this band is the number '4'. Sources quote the serial '3-4/97', US Navy identity Bu83410 and the construction number '366' for this aircraft.

Source: peterlewisdesign.tripod.com/thaimuseum/helldiver.htm

Lakeland Linder 12/04/2013 KLAL/LAL

Climbing into the mech. I find this picture just too good not to be shown by itself, as it shows off a lot on its own.

As usual, my mechs can still fit a minifigure pilot. Was a challenge to make work without bulking up the cockpit too much. Although the pilot has to technically be placed up into the turret before it folds back down, I believe that I managed to pull it off, and I'm quite happy with the results that include a deployable access ladder (thanks to Helldivers mechs for that inspiration)!

Named after a bird known for slowly wading through swamps looking for prey, the Heron is a very light mech that can stalk targets all the same.

This skirmisher variant is equipped for more direct combat, featuring a light Gauss Cannon on the left side and two light Rayguns on the right, in addition to the standard pair of chin-mounted light machine guns and rear SSAM-2s.

Inspired by various Metal Gears, Star Wars walkers, and the Halo Mantis, among others. Thanks to not having a human form, the Heron succeeds the Peltast as my smallest mech design and was the last mostly completed build of 2020.

My favorite things about this MOC are the use of the old, discontinued boat piece inverted and used to form the bulk of the turret head, and the panels used as 'butt-flaps' (lol) to armor up and add some form to the rear of the legs without sacrificing articulation.

The Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (Comet) was a two-seater carrier-based dive-bomber aircraft developed by the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal and was operated by the IJN from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. The Suisei was operated from the following Japanese aircraft carriers: Chitose, Chiyoda, Hiyō, Junyō, Shinyo, Shōkaku, Sōryū, Taihō, Unryū, Unyō, and Zuikaku. All of which were sunk.

Development of the aircraft began in 1938 at the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal when the Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau (Kaigun Kōkū Hombu) issued requirements of a Navy Experimental 13-Shi Carrier Borne specification for an aircraft carrier-based dive bomber to replace the Aichi D3As (Val). Its design was inspired by the Heinkel He 118, which the Japanese Navy had acquired from Germany in early 1938. The aircraft was a single-engine, all-metal, low-wing monoplane with a wide-track retractable undercarriage and wing-mounted dive brakes. It had a crew of two: a pilot and navigator/radio operator/gunner, seated under an extended, glazed canopy, which provided good all-round visibility. The pilot of bomber versions was supplied with a telescopic bombsight. The aircraft was powered by an Aichi Atsuta liquid-cooled inverted V12 engine, a licensed copy of the German Daimler-Benz DB 601, rated at 895 kW (1,200 hp). The radiator was behind and below the three-blade propeller, as in the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.

The aircraft had a slim fuselage that enabled it to reach high speeds in horizontal flight and dives. In contrast, it had excellent maneuverability despite high wing loading, with the Suisei having superior performance to contemporary dive bombers such as the Curtiss SB2C HellDiver. In order to conform with the Imperial Japanese Navy's requirement for long-range, weight was minimized by not fitting the D4Y with self-sealing fuel tanks or armor. Lacking armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Suiseis were highly vulnerable against Allied fighters. They did, however, cause severe damage to many allied ships, including the infamous attack on the Essex-class carrier USS Franklin (CV-13), which was nearly sunk by an assumed single D4Y, and the light carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23), which was sunk by a single D4Y.

The D4Y1-C reconnaissance aircraft entered service in mid-1942 when two of these aircraft were deployed aboard Sōryū at the Battle of Midway, one of which was lost when Sōryū was bombed and sunk. The other had been launched on a scouting mission and returned to Hiryū; it was then lost when Hiryū was also attacked and sunk as well.

Bombs were fitted under the wings and in an internal fuselage bomb bay. It usually carried one 500kg (1,100lb) bomb, but there were reports that the D4Y sometimes carried two 250kg (550lb) bombs. The aircraft was armed with two 7.7 mm (.303 in) Type 97 aircraft machine guns in the nose and a 7.92 mm (.312 in) Type 1 machine gun—selected for its high rate of fire—in the rear of the cockpit. The rear gun was replaced by a 13mm (.51 in) Type 2 machine gun. This armament was typical for Japanese carrier-based dive-bombers, unlike "carrier attack bombers" (torpedo bombers) like the Nakajima B5N and B6N, which were not given forward-firing armament until the late-war Aichi B7A, which was expected to serve as both a dive-bomber and torpedo-bomber, and was given a pair of 20mm Type 99-2 cannons. The forward machine guns were retained in the kamikaze version.

The first (of five) prototypes was completed in November of 1940 and took its first flight in December of that year. After the prototype trials, problems with flutter were encountered, a fatal flaw for an airframe subject to the stresses of dive bombing. Until this could be resolved, early production aircraft were used as reconnaissance aircraft, such as the D4Y1-C, which took advantage of its high speed and long range while not over-stressing the airframe. Production of the D4Y1-C continued in small numbers until March of 1943, when the increasing losses incurred by the D3As resulted in production switching to the D4Y1 dive-bomber, and the aircraft's structural problems were finally solved. Although the D4Y could be operated from the large fleet carriers that formed the core of the Combined Fleet at the start of the war, it had problems operating from the smaller and slower carriers, such as the Hiyō class, which formed a large proportion of Japan's carrier fleet after the losses of the Battle of Midway. Catapult equipment was fitted, giving rise to the D4Y1 Kai (or improved) model.

Early versions of the D4Y were challenging to keep operational because the Atsuta engines were unreliable in frontline service. Even from the beginning, some had argued that the D4Y should be powered by an air-cooled radial engine, which Japanese engineers and maintenance crews had experience with and trusted. Thus, the aircraft was re-engined with the more reliable Mitsubishi MK8P Kinsei 62, a 14-cylinder two-row radial engine, as the Yokosuka D4Y3 Model 33. Although the new engine improved the ceiling and rate of climb to over 10,000m (33,000 ft) and climb to 3,000m (9,800 ft) in 4.5 minutes, instead of 9,400m (30,800 ft) and five minutes, the higher fuel consumption resulted in reduced range and cruising speed. The engine obstructed both the forward and downward view of the pilot, thus hampering carrier operations. These problems were tolerated because of the increased availability of the new variant.

The final version was the D4Y4 Special Strike Bomber, a single-seat kamikaze aircraft capable of carrying one 800kg (1,800lb) bomb, which was put into production in February 1945. It was equipped with three rocket boosters for terminal dive acceleration. This aircraft was an almost ideal kamikaze model: it had a combination of speed (560 kmh/350 mph), range (2,500km/1,550mi), and payload (800 kg/1,760 lb) probably not matched by any other Japanese aircraft at that time.

The D4Y5 Model 54 was a planned but never materialized version designed in 1945. It was to be powered by the Nakajima NK9C Homare 12 radial engine rated at 1,361 kW (1,825 hp), a new four-blade metal propeller of the constant-speed type, and more armor for the crew and fuel tanks. Ultimately, 2,038 of all variants were produced, mainly by Aichi.

This example is one of only two surviving D4Ys left in the world. It was recovered engineless and abandoned from Babo Airfield, Indonesia, in 1991. It was acquired and restored to a non-flying status. It was restored to represent a radial-engined version using an American Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine. The engine is still in running condition and can be started to demonstrate both ground running and taxiing. I am unsure if this aircraft is flyable.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

The Fiat Macchi C.170 Brezza ("Gust of wind") was a single-seat biplane fighter which served primarily in Italy's Regia Aeronautica before and in the early stages of World War II. The aircraft was produced by the Varese firm, and entered service, in smaller numbers, with the air forces of Italy, Austria and Hungary.

Although an obsolete design, it proved to be robust, durable and effective especially in severe conditions. In spring 1943, surviving C.170s were rounded up from training schools and delivered to night ground attack units operating on the Eastern Front. The C.170 was used to conduct night harassment sorties on the Eastern Front until September 1944, when the units were disbanded, due to a lack of serviceable airframes and spare parts.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)

Wingspan: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)

Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)

Wing area: 323 ft² (30.0 m²)

Empty weight: 3,217 lb (1,462 kg)

Loaded weight: 4,594 lb (2,088 kg)

Powerplant

1× Fiat A.74 R.C.38 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 650 kW (870 hp) at 2,520 rpm for take-off

Performance

Maximum speed: 441 km/h (238 kn, 274 mph) at 20,000 ft

Cruise speed: 338 km/h (187 kn, 210 mph)

Range: 780 km (420 nmi, 485 mi)

Service ceiling: 10,210 m (33,500 ft)

Rate of climb: 11.8 m/s (2,340 ft/min)

Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 4.75 min

Wing loading: 69,6 kg/m² (15,3 lb/ft²)

Power/mass: 311 W/kg (0.19 hp/lb)

Armament

2× 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Breda-SAFAT synchronized machine guns above the engine, 370 rpg

Some aircraft were field-modified to carry up to 8× 15 kg (33 lb) or 2× 50 or 100 kg (110/220 lb) bombs under the wings

The kit and its assembly

Inspiration for this little, whiffy biplane came when I posted a pic of an Austrian Ju 86 bomber as a reply/ suggestion to a fellow modeler's (NARSES2) search at whatifmodelers.com for “something” to make from a Gloster Gladiator.

When I looked at the paint scheme a second time I remembered that I still had some Austrian roundels in stock, as well some very old biplane spare parts... hmmm.

Biplanes are tricky to build, even OOB, and kitbashing this kind of whif would not make things easier. Anyway, I love such challenges, and the potential outcome would surely look nice, if not exotic, so I decided to tackle the project.

Basically, the following donation ingredients went into it:

● Fuselage, engine, cockpit/pilot and tail from a Revell Macchi C.200 "Saetta"

● Upper wing from a Matchbox Gloster "Gladiator"

● Lower wings from a Matchbox SBC "Helldiver"

● Wheels from a Matchbox Hs 126 (shortened)

Pretty straightforward, but even though it would be a small aircraft model, it would come with two big challenges: mounting the lower wings and shaping the resulting, gaping belly, and the custom-made struts and wirings for the upper wing.

Work started with the Macchi C.200’s fuselage, which was built OOB - just without the wing, which is a single part, different pilot (the included one is a pygmy!) and with a free spinning metal axis for the propeller.

The wing installation started with the lower wings. I glued the Helldiver wings onto the C.200 fuselage, so that the wings' trailing edge would match the C.200's wing root ends. From that, a floor plate was fitted under the fuselage and any excessive material removed, the gaps filled with lumps of 2C putty. That moved the lower wing's roots backwards, creating space at the lower forward fuselage for the new landing gear.

The latter was taken from a vintage Matchbox Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft - probably 25, if 30 years old... Size was O.K., but the struts had to shortened by about 5mm, as thge HS 126 is a much bigger/longer aircraft than the C.200. A cut was made just above the wheel spats, material taken out, and the separate parts were glued back together again.

With the lower wings in place I started building strut supports for the upper wing from styrene strips - tricky and needs patience, but effective. I started with the outer supports, carving something SBC-style from styrene. These were glued into place, slightly canted outwards, and their length/height adapted to the upper wing’s position.

When this was settled, the upper Gladiator wing was glued into place. After a thorough drying period the short fuselage supports in front of the cockpit – again, styrene strips – were inserted into the gap. This allowed an individual lengthening, and was easier than expected, with a stable result.

After having the upper wing glued in place I added some wiring, made from heated and pulled-out styrene sprues. This not only enhances the kit's look, it also (just like in real life) improves rigidity of the model. Also a tedious task, but IMHO worth the effort. I tried thin wire, nylon strings and sewing yarn for this job, but finally the styrene solution is what worked best for me.

The exhaust installation had also to be modified: the new Hs 126 struts with spats would have been where the original C.200’s hot exhaust gases would have gone, so I added new exhaust pipes that would go between the new legs.

Other small added details included, among others, a pitot on a wing strut, a visor in front of the cockpit, a radio antenna, a ladder made from wire.

Painting and markings:

I would not call the Austrian 3+1-tone pre-WWII-scheme spectacular, but the colors are unique. My scheme is based on an Austrian Ju 86 bomber from 1938, so it fits into the intended time frame.

The colors were puzzled together from various sources and are subjective guesstimates:

● A pale, yellow-ish beige (Humbrol 74, ‘Linen’, out of production)

● A rather brownish green (Testors 1711, ‘Olive Drab’, FS 34087)

● A dark green with a yellow-ish hue (Humbrol 116, ‘US Dark Green’ FS 34079)

● Light blue for the undersides (Humbrol 65, ‘Aircraft Blue’, RLM 65)

In order to add some details I painted the area behind the engine cowling in aluminum. The respective part under the fuselage, where the exhaust gases would pass, was painted in Steel – both Testors Metallizers.

The interior surfaces were painted in a neutral Grey – but with the engine and the pilot in place you cannot see anything of that at all.

Markings are minimal: the Austrian roundels come from a TL Decals aftermarket sheet, the flag on the rudder was laid out with red paint (a mix of Humbrol 19 and 60), the white bar is a decal. The tactical code is fictional, puzzled together from single digits in various sizes (also from TL Modellbau sheets). The original documents how purely black fuselage codes, but I found these hard to read. So I chose digits with a white rim (actually, these belong to modern German Luftwaffe tactical codes in 1:32), which improve contrast a little.

The kit received a thin black ink wash and some shading/dry-painting with lighter basic tones (Humbrol 103, 155, Model Master 2138,‘Israeli Armor Sand Grey’, and Humbrol 122). After decal application, another turn with overall Hemp and Light Grey was done in order to fade contrast and to emphasize the surface structure. The wires were also painted, but only with thinned black ink and a VERY soft brush.

Finally, everything was sealed under a spray coat of matt acrylic varnish.

Voilà, and done in just about a week!

I went back 2 years for this one, a navy Helldiver from the Mid Atlantic Air Museums WWII weekend in June of 2015.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Curtis-Wright SB2C Helldiver, Chance Vought F4U Corsair, & Grumman TBM Avenger at 2018 Thunder Over Michigan Airshow Ypsilanti, Michigan

Wings Over Columbus 2006 - Columbus, Mississippi

SEAF - Helldivers @saffyjemz

Some background:

The Type-R13EX Phantom was an experimental unmanned labor developed by Schaft Enterprises’ Planning Section 7. The exact purpose of the labor remains unclear, it might only have been a singular prototype for innovative weapon and A.I. technology, so that it is most possible that the type or its systems were primarily intended for military service, even though the Type-R13EX as such was not adopted for serial production. Its silhouette is reminiscent of the military Brocken labor, which could mean that the Phantom's body was based on the Type 7B/2B. However, the difference lies in mobility, since the Phantom was slower due to having thick armor and carrying on his torso the complex mechanism necessary to carry out his attacks.

However, just a few months later, the Phantom appeared once more at a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) training ground at Oshima, where it engaged a number of light military labors in combat. The JGSDF labors were unable to repel the Phantom, and Patlabor units that arrived on scene shortly after were barely able to fend it off. This was the final appearance and known deployment of the Phantom before the debut of the Griffon.

The kit and its assembly:

It has been a while that I built a humanoid mecha, and the mysterious Phantom labor (or better: robot) from the Patlabor anime TV series was still missing in my collection. I have already built this kit, even though as a heavily modified fictional German police labor.

The kit was built almost OOB – it is a rather simple mecha/action figure kit which can probably built without using any glue. As such, the detail level is not very high, but the Phantom Labor is a rather sleek design with a very organic and clean shape. Therefore, I just added some bits and pieces to the “interior”, in the opening under the head/face and around the removable EMP generator block in the torso, which can be plugged between the hips and the torso to depict the “open” body. Most details were made from styrene profile, but I also used sprue material, paper tissue dipped in white glue, soft iron wire and plastic-coated steel wire to create the hydraulic pistons under the chin (which can hardly be seen, though, just from certain angles).

Another option is to display the heat exchanger arrangement on the Phantom’s back in open and closed position – the open module is well detailed. However, I made a mistake when I assembled the latter, because I did not read the instructions properly (which could be better drawn, some illustrations, e .g,. the assembly of the upper arms, leave you guessing). The kit's designers want you to fix the "reactor" part to the back of the mecha, and then you can alternatively put the closed heat exchanger onto/over it, or mount the three opened covers to it. I found this construction weird and intuitively glued the reactor piece to the open covers, only to find out later that the closed cover section needs the recator piece underneth to hold onto the Phantom's back and cover some gaps. Luckily I had the reactor piece left over from my first Phantom Labor build, thanks to the thorough conversion I did with it, so that I had a suitable donor part to mend the mistake. Phew... O.o'

A unique (if not odd?) design feature of Bandai’s Patlabor IP models are the silicone sleeves over an endoskeleton for arms and legs. When you follow the instructions, they are easy to mount, though, just be careful when you want to paint them: only acrylic paint is recommended, since any solvent-based paint might react with the silicone. I have also heard of many builders having problems over time with the silicone, but – with some of these kits that I have built now 20 or more years on display – I never had any issues of problems?

However, on this specific kit (bought as “used” but still NIB; not certain about its production date or age, but I assume it's from the initial 1990 run and not a re-issue from 2014 or later) I found the sleeves to be disturbingly thin and their inside surfaces stuck together. "Opening" them was a tedious and delicate task, even though the silicone/rubber material was still intact and not melded together. The parts were still sealed in their plastic bags, but a single IP sprue (the light purple material) was quite brittle (while the others were fine), too. I can only guess that the kit had been poorly stored before I bought it, probably in an attic where it was exposed to excessive summer heat that vaporized and extracted some of the plastic/silicone softeners?

The kit goes together easily and can be assembled as a snap-fit kit without glue, even though the silicone sleeves require some manual skill to trim them properly. However, apparently design with robustness in mind the extremities’ fit is not too good and requires PSR on every seam for a proper finish. Another problem: the shoulder sections with the additional guards are designed in a matryoshka fashion, with three flexible layers of parts over each other, so that you have to finish each layer individually (PSR and paint) before you can add the next. On the other side you can assemble, paint and finish many segments of the model separately, to be completed as final step.

Painting and markings:

I stuck to the mecha’s appearance in the TV series, which features quite dark colors and yellow highlights around the hull. The basic color appears to be a little controversial, as it is described as “cobalt blue”, but on TV the color rather reminds of a purple tone, and the kit is molded in a similarly colored plastic. Maybe (as often) a translation issue?

Another problem: there are no clear painting instructions - you have to refer to the box art illustration (which only shows the front of the mecha in dubious light conditions) and pictures of the finished model on the box' sides, but these are very small and are not truly helpful. The instructions themselves are disappointing, too: the product designers decided to use a poster format, which shows the box art on one side (looks cool, but it's not helpful!) and only a tiny b/w picture of the model with vague color indications. This leaves the builder guessing about many painting details. You can find some screenshots of the Phantom Labor online, or you can try to find videos of the TV series' episodes where it appears, but in the end there's a lot to be guesstimated or made up.

To keep the Phantom mysterious and give it a less comic-esque look I decided to stay true to its impression on TV but add effects like weathering and post-shading – similar to my Dorvack PA models.

For the purplish basic color I used a rather exotic tone: Humbrol’s vintage “HJ4” from the brand’s long-gone Authentic range, the infamous and highly dubious WWII “Mauve N.9” (a.k.a. “IJN Purple”) that some A6M2-Ns were supposed to have carried. This is a kind of purple, but a rather greyish and dull tone that looks more like a military/camouflage tone than decorative/flashy. The mauve tone is less bluish than the Phantom's “authentic” tone on TV, but it looks fine to me and offers enough contrast to the darker sections, which were painted in Humbrol 112 (Tarmac, also sold as Field Blue?), which is a very dark blue-grey, very similar to FS 35042 (USN Dark Sea Blue) but less greenish. The color of some areas, like the "hood" behind the head unit, had to be guessed, and I outlines some surface details on the back with black to add contrasts.

The skull-like head unit was painted in a very light grey instead of pure white, to avoid too much contrast to the rest of the mecha. The silicone sleeves were treated with thinned grey and black artist acrylic paint with very fine pigments to avoid long-term chemical reactions with the softener in the rubber material.

The technical innards, the reactor on the back and the EMP generator in the torso, were painted in a bare metallic finish. I used Humbrol 56 as basis and then layered some washings with black ink and thinned black acrylic paint over it, plus dry-brushing with brighter aluminum and rubbing the parts with graphite, which adds a dark metallic shine and a more natural look.

The lenses on the head and in the torso were laid out with silver and then "filled" with clear acrylic paints in various shades.

The parts also received a black ink washing to emphasize edges and engravings, as well as dry-brushing/post-shading with lightened/dulled-down basic tones to make the model looks less toyish, and the give the Phantom Labor a slightly worn look. Unfortunately, the kit only comes with stickers instead of decals, but since these comprise onyl some small Schaft Enterprises logos and black inserts for louvres on arms and legs, which I had painted, anyway, so that I left the model without markings. Finally, all parts (except for the silicone sleeves) received a coat with matt acrylic varnish, and the model as finally assembled/completed.

It took a long time that I eventuelly tackled and finished the Phantom Labor kit to complete my collection of Patlabor mecha - only the Type Zero police prototype is still missing and a respective kit already waiting in the The Stash. Thanks to me experience with a former build of this kit, I knew what I had to expect, even though the mistake with the optional parts for the heat exchanger on the back bugs me, but I am happy that I had a spare part to save the situation. The dubious IJN purple tone turned out to be lighter than expected, esp. when you see screenshots of the "real" Phantom Labor in direct comparison, but on the other side the color does not look bad or wrong - the overall impression is IMHO O.K., and the bigger contrast to the dark blue-grey sections on the body make the model look more interesting than the orginal all-murky livery.

Some background:

The Type-R13EX Phantom was an experimental unmanned labor developed by Schaft Enterprises’ Planning Section 7. The exact purpose of the labor remains unclear, it might only have been a singular prototype for innovative weapon and A.I. technology, so that it is most possible that the type or its systems were primarily intended for military service, even though the Type-R13EX as such was not adopted for serial production. Its silhouette is reminiscent of the military Brocken labor, which could mean that the Phantom's body was based on the Type 7B/2B. However, the difference lies in mobility, since the Phantom was slower due to having thick armor and carrying on his torso the complex mechanism necessary to carry out his attacks.

However, just a few months later, the Phantom appeared once more at a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) training ground at Oshima, where it engaged a number of light military labors in combat. The JGSDF labors were unable to repel the Phantom, and Patlabor units that arrived on scene shortly after were barely able to fend it off. This was the final appearance and known deployment of the Phantom before the debut of the Griffon.

The kit and its assembly:

It has been a while that I built a humanoid mecha, and the mysterious Phantom labor (or better: robot) from the Patlabor anime TV series was still missing in my collection. I have already built this kit, even though as a heavily modified fictional German police labor.

The kit was built almost OOB – it is a rather simple mecha/action figure kit which can probably built without using any glue. As such, the detail level is not very high, but the Phantom Labor is a rather sleek design with a very organic and clean shape. Therefore, I just added some bits and pieces to the “interior”, in the opening under the head/face and around the removable EMP generator block in the torso, which can be plugged between the hips and the torso to depict the “open” body. Most details were made from styrene profile, but I also used sprue material, paper tissue dipped in white glue, soft iron wire and plastic-coated steel wire to create the hydraulic pistons under the chin (which can hardly be seen, though, just from certain angles).

Another option is to display the heat exchanger arrangement on the Phantom’s back in open and closed position – the open module is well detailed. However, I made a mistake when I assembled the latter, because I did not read the instructions properly (which could be better drawn, some illustrations, e .g,. the assembly of the upper arms, leave you guessing). The kit's designers want you to fix the "reactor" part to the back of the mecha, and then you can alternatively put the closed heat exchanger onto/over it, or mount the three opened covers to it. I found this construction weird and intuitively glued the reactor piece to the open covers, only to find out later that the closed cover section needs the recator piece underneth to hold onto the Phantom's back and cover some gaps. Luckily I had the reactor piece left over from my first Phantom Labor build, thanks to the thorough conversion I did with it, so that I had a suitable donor part to mend the mistake. Phew... O.o'

A unique (if not odd?) design feature of Bandai’s Patlabor IP models are the silicone sleeves over an endoskeleton for arms and legs. When you follow the instructions, they are easy to mount, though, just be careful when you want to paint them: only acrylic paint is recommended, since any solvent-based paint might react with the silicone. I have also heard of many builders having problems over time with the silicone, but – with some of these kits that I have built now 20 or more years on display – I never had any issues of problems?

However, on this specific kit (bought as “used” but still NIB; not certain about its production date or age, but I assume it's from the initial 1990 run and not a re-issue from 2014 or later) I found the sleeves to be disturbingly thin and their inside surfaces stuck together. "Opening" them was a tedious and delicate task, even though the silicone/rubber material was still intact and not melded together. The parts were still sealed in their plastic bags, but a single IP sprue (the light purple material) was quite brittle (while the others were fine), too. I can only guess that the kit had been poorly stored before I bought it, probably in an attic where it was exposed to excessive summer heat that vaporized and extracted some of the plastic/silicone softeners?

The kit goes together easily and can be assembled as a snap-fit kit without glue, even though the silicone sleeves require some manual skill to trim them properly. However, apparently design with robustness in mind the extremities’ fit is not too good and requires PSR on every seam for a proper finish. Another problem: the shoulder sections with the additional guards are designed in a matryoshka fashion, with three flexible layers of parts over each other, so that you have to finish each layer individually (PSR and paint) before you can add the next. On the other side you can assemble, paint and finish many segments of the model separately, to be completed as final step.

Painting and markings:

I stuck to the mecha’s appearance in the TV series, which features quite dark colors and yellow highlights around the hull. The basic color appears to be a little controversial, as it is described as “cobalt blue”, but on TV the color rather reminds of a purple tone, and the kit is molded in a similarly colored plastic. Maybe (as often) a translation issue?

Another problem: there are no clear painting instructions - you have to refer to the box art illustration (which only shows the front of the mecha in dubious light conditions) and pictures of the finished model on the box' sides, but these are very small and are not truly helpful. The instructions themselves are disappointing, too: the product designers decided to use a poster format, which shows the box art on one side (looks cool, but it's not helpful!) and only a tiny b/w picture of the model with vague color indications. This leaves the builder guessing about many painting details. You can find some screenshots of the Phantom Labor online, or you can try to find videos of the TV series' episodes where it appears, but in the end there's a lot to be guesstimated or made up.

To keep the Phantom mysterious and give it a less comic-esque look I decided to stay true to its impression on TV but add effects like weathering and post-shading – similar to my Dorvack PA models.

For the purplish basic color I used a rather exotic tone: Humbrol’s vintage “HJ4” from the brand’s long-gone Authentic range, the infamous and highly dubious WWII “Mauve N.9” (a.k.a. “IJN Purple”) that some A6M2-Ns were supposed to have carried. This is a kind of purple, but a rather greyish and dull tone that looks more like a military/camouflage tone than decorative/flashy. The mauve tone is less bluish than the Phantom's “authentic” tone on TV, but it looks fine to me and offers enough contrast to the darker sections, which were painted in Humbrol 112 (Tarmac, also sold as Field Blue?), which is a very dark blue-grey, very similar to FS 35042 (USN Dark Sea Blue) but less greenish. The color of some areas, like the "hood" behind the head unit, had to be guessed, and I outlines some surface details on the back with black to add contrasts.

The skull-like head unit was painted in a very light grey instead of pure white, to avoid too much contrast to the rest of the mecha. The silicone sleeves were treated with thinned grey and black artist acrylic paint with very fine pigments to avoid long-term chemical reactions with the softener in the rubber material.

The technical innards, the reactor on the back and the EMP generator in the torso, were painted in a bare metallic finish. I used Humbrol 56 as basis and then layered some washings with black ink and thinned black acrylic paint over it, plus dry-brushing with brighter aluminum and rubbing the parts with graphite, which adds a dark metallic shine and a more natural look.

The lenses on the head and in the torso were laid out with silver and then "filled" with clear acrylic paints in various shades.

The parts also received a black ink washing to emphasize edges and engravings, as well as dry-brushing/post-shading with lightened/dulled-down basic tones to make the model looks less toyish, and the give the Phantom Labor a slightly worn look. Unfortunately, the kit only comes with stickers instead of decals, but since these comprise onyl some small Schaft Enterprises logos and black inserts for louvres on arms and legs, which I had painted, anyway, so that I left the model without markings. Finally, all parts (except for the silicone sleeves) received a coat with matt acrylic varnish, and the model as finally assembled/completed.

It took a long time that I eventuelly tackled and finished the Phantom Labor kit to complete my collection of Patlabor mecha - only the Type Zero police prototype is still missing and a respective kit already waiting in the The Stash. Thanks to me experience with a former build of this kit, I knew what I had to expect, even though the mistake with the optional parts for the heat exchanger on the back bugs me, but I am happy that I had a spare part to save the situation. The dubious IJN purple tone turned out to be lighter than expected, esp. when you see screenshots of the "real" Phantom Labor in direct comparison, but on the other side the color does not look bad or wrong - the overall impression is IMHO O.K., and the bigger contrast to the dark blue-grey sections on the body make the model look more interesting than the orginal all-murky livery.

Hillsboro Airport

Hillsboro, Oregon

19 Jul 2015

I think this is a Curtis-Wright SB2C-3 Helldiver, aka the Beast, Big-Tailed Beast, Son-of-a-Bitch 2nd Class, and Two-Cee. It was a dive bomber used by the Navy during WWII. It had a reputation of being difficult to handle, and also suffered from a variety of maintenance and performance problems; it was not well-liked among the sailors and pilots who had to fly them.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

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Some background:

The mighty Suchoj SuCh-1 started its life in early March 1943, when the Sukhoi OKB finished work on the design of a high-speed fighter with a unique powerplant arrangement. The aircraft was an all-metal low-wing mono­plane with conventional tail surfaces. The three-section wings had constant dihedral and basically trapezoidal planform; the sta­bilizers had zero dihedral.

All in all only 120 of these powerful machines were built until the end of hostilities, as the feared mass attacks of German long range bombers did not materialize. as the Su-7 was complicated to operate and jet engines promised a far more efficient way of propulsion for high speeds, the type was already retired in 1947 and replaced by 1st generation jet fighters like the Yak-15 and MiG-9, which carried a similar armament, attained a better performance (except for the range) but weighed only half of the large and heavy SuCh-1.

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General characteristics

Crew: One

Length: 11.75 m (38 ft 5 3/4 in)

Wingspan: 13.85 m (45 ft 3 1/4 in)

Height: 5.30 m (17 ft 4 in)

Empty weight: 5.250 kg (11.565 lb)

Max. take-off weight: 8.100 kg (17.840 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Klimov VK-107A liquid-cooled V12 engines with an output of 1.650 hp (1.210 kW) each at sea level and 900 hp (650 kW) at 8.300m (27.220 ft)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 720 km/h (447 mph) at height, clean configuration

Range: 750 km (465 mi)

Service ceiling: 11.700 m (38.400 ft)

Rate of climb: 876 m/mim (2.850 ft/min)

Armament:

1× Nudelman-Richter NR-37 37mm cannon with 60 RPG, firing through the propeller hub

2× Nudelman N-23 23mm cannons with 120 RPG in the wings

Many different cannon and machine gun arrangements coulod be found, though.

*Information about the conceptual Suchoj I-2M107 was primarily gathered from the book 'OKB Suchoj', written by Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov; Hersham (UK), 2010.

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The kit and its assembly (a long story!):

This abomination of an aircraft is/was real, even though the I-2M107 was never built – the fictional name Suchoj-Chizhevskiy SuCh-1 was actually chosen because I could not find any plausible Su-X code for a WWII fighter. Vladimir A. Chizhevskiy actually joined the Suchoj OKB in mid WWII, so I deemed this alternative to be plausible.

I had this on the agenda for a long time, but the horrors of kitbashing kept me from building it - until now. The current Anthony P memorial Group Build (for the deceased fellow member at whatifmodelers.com, RIP) was a good motivation to tackle this brute thing. Fortunately, I already had some major ingredients in store, so work could start asap.

From that, anything else was improvised from the scrap box, and with only a three side view of the I-2M107 as guidance. It became a true Frankenstein creation with...

● Fuselage and inner wings from the (horrible) NOVO Attacker

● Wings from an Italeri Fw 190 D-9 attached to them

● Nose is a resin Griffon from an Avro Lincoln conversion set from OzMods

● Tail cone is a radar nose from an F-4J Phantom II

● Tail fin is a horizontal stabilizer from a Matchbox SB2C Helldiver

● Vertical stabilizers come from a Matchbox Me 410

● Oil coolers are modified front landing gear wells from two Revell G.91 kits

● Cockpit hood comes from a Revell P-39 Airacobra

● Landing gear comes from an Italeri Fw 190 D-9, covers were modified/improvised

● Main wheels belong to a MPM Ryan Dark Shark

● Tail wheel belongs to a Matchbox Harrier

● The propeller was scratched, IIRC from a Grumman Hellcat drop tank front and blades from an Airfix A-1 Skyraider. Inside, a metal axis was mounted.

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Work started with the fuselage and the wings as separate segments.

The Attacker fuselage lost its fin and the cockpit and air intakes were simply cut away, just as the tail pipe. The resin Griffon was slightly shortened at the front, but more or less directly attached to the fuselage, after I had cut out openings for the four rows of exhaust nozzles.

Then, the new tail cone was glued onto the end and the original fairings for the Attacker's stabilizer cut away and sanded even - anything had to be made new.

The wings were a bit tricky. I had hoped to use the Attacker's OOB wings, but these were not only much too small and did not have the proper shape, they also lacked landing gear wells!

Finding a solution was not easy, and I had to improvise. After some trials I decided to cut the Attacker wing span at about the width where the guns are located, and then add Fw 190 wings.

The depth would be fine, even though the Fw 190 wings were a bit thicker, and they offered a leading edge kink which was good for the original and characteristic I-2M107's wing root extensions. The latter were sculpted from a 6mm thick core or styrene sheet, added to the Attacker parts' leading edge, and the rest, as well as the lacking Attacker wing's thickness, sculpted with 2C and later NC putty.

Furthermore I cut out and sculpted landing gear wells, another challenging, since these had to cover the Attacker/Fw 190 parts' intersection! LOTS of putty work, sanding and shaving, but as a benefit I was able to use the Attacker kit's original wing/fuselage joints. Effectively, my placement turned out to be a bit far outside, so the track appears too wide - the price to pay when you work on single parts. Anyway, I left it was it turned out, as a major correction at a late working stage would mean to tear anything apart again...

Back to the nose: adding the propeller and the cockpit into the massive nose was the next working station. The propeller had to be huge, and also needed a rather big spinner. A contraprop was ruled out, even though it would have looked great here. But eventually I settled for a scratch-built thing, made from a teardrop-shaped drop tank front onto which the four blades from a A-1 Skyraider were glued. Probably the biggest prop I have ever put onto a 1:72 scale model! Since the resin nose was massive, drilling a hole and adding a metal axis to the propeller was enough.

With that in place I started carving out a cockpit opening - it worked better and easier than expected with a mini drill and a coarse shaving head! The opening is still rather small, a seat and a pilot hardly fit, but it works - I found a rather smallish pilot figure, and added a seat and some other small details from the scrap box, just to have something inside.

For a canopy I found a very old (30 years, I guess...) clear part from a Revell P-39 Airacobra in the scrap box, which was almost perfect in shape and width. It was a bit blind and stained with ancient enamel paint, but some wet sanding and serious polishing almost got it back to translucent status. Since I would not open the cockpit, this was a sufficient solution.

The asymmetrical cockpit opening was, in an initial step, faired with styrene strips, for a rough outline, and then sculpted with 2C and later NC putty, blending it into the rest of the fuselage.

For the tail surfaces, the SB2C stabilizer was cut away at its base - it is not a bad donation piece, its shape and rudder come pretty close to the I-2M107's original design!

The stabilizers I used on my kitbash come from a Me 410, and their leading edge was a cut away so that the sweep angle would be a bit larger. They lack depth, compared to the I-2M107's original design, but since the wings have become more slender, too, I think it's a good compromise, and the best what I had at hand in the spares stash.

Finally, and before detail work could start, the wings were attached to the fuselage. I eventually set them back by ~6mm, so that the new, extended leading edge would match the respective fairing on the fuselage. The resulting gap at the trailing edge was, again, filled with 2C and NC putty.

A personal change was a different oil cooler arrangement. The original location was to be in the wings' leading edge, just in front of the landing gear wells - but that appeared a bit doubtful, as I could not find a plausible solution where the exit for the air would be? Consequently, and in order to avoid even more messy putty sculpting on the wings, I decided to re-locate the oil coolers completely, into shallow, tunnel-like fairings under the wing roots, not unlike the radiator arrangement on a Spitfire or Bf 109.

In order to check the surface quality I decided to add a coat of grey primer, once the fuselage/wing segments had been connected. This showed only minor flaws, but made another turn with NC putty and wet sanding necessary.

Now it was time for finishing touches, e .g. mounting the landing gear, completing the cockpit and adding exhaust stubs - cut individually from HO scale model railroad roof tiles and inserted into the four fuselage fairings.

The canopy was fixed into place with white glue, which also helped closing some small gaps.

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Painting and markings:

While the I-2M107 looks odd, to say the least, I wanted to keep the paint scheme rather simple and quasi-authentic. I went for a pale grey/green camouflage, used e. g. on late war Yakovlev Yak-3 fighters.

Basic colors are Humbrol 31 (Slate Grey, it has a very greenish, even teal, hue), ModelMaster 1740 (Dark Gull Grey, FS 36231) and Humbrol 167 (Barley Grey) for the lower sides with a wavy waterline. Since only marginal surface details were left over, I decided to fake panels and panel lines with paint.

Panels were simulated with lighter shades of the basic tones (RLM 62 from ModelMaster, Humbrol 140 and 127 below), panel lines were painted with highly thinned grey acrylic paint and a special brush - in German it's called a 'Schlepppinsel', it's got very long hairs and is also used to paint scallops on car models, and similar things are used for real car tuning/custom paintwork, too.

Sure, the painted panel lines are a bit rough, but I did not want to risk any damage through manual engraving on the rather delicate mixed-media surface of the kitbashed model. For an overall look or first impression it's very good, though.

As 'highlights' I added a white spinner and half of the fin was painted white, too.

The decals were puzzled together. The flashes and the tactical code number come from a Hobby Boss La-7, the Red Stars, IIRC, belong to a vintage MiG-21F from Hasegawa. The "Rodinu" slogan actually belongs to a 1:35 Soviet Tank decals set.

Finally, after some additional dry painting with light grey, some oil stains around the engines and coolers and soot stains at the exhaust stubs and guns (painted, plus some grinded graphite, as it yields a nice, metallic shimmer that looks like oil or burnt metal), everything was sealed under a coat of matt acrylic varnish.

If it had been built, the Suchoj I-2M107 must have been an impressive aircraft - it was bigger than a P-47 Thunderbolt or an A-1 Skyraider, and one can only wonder how its field performance would have been?

Similar concepts had been underway in UK, too, e. g. for a heavy naval attack aircraft, but the I-2M107 with its asymmetrical cockpit and engine arrangement were unique. A worthy whif, even if some details like the landing gear or the borrowed nose section are not 100% 'correct'.

Picture from the 2024 Wings Over Houston air show at Ellington Field Texas

A key component of U.S. Navy and Marine Corps doctrine from the interwar period to the end of World War II was dive bombing, which was the use of an aircraft to deliver a bomb at a steep angle to increase accuracy. U.S. Navy dive bomber squadrons flew Curtiss SB2C Helldivers against Imperial Japan beginning in November 1943 until the end of the war. After a prolonged development, about 30 Navy squadrons operated Helldivers aboard 13 carriers. Changes in carrier tactics, technology, and weapons made the dive bomber obsolescent as the war progressed making the Helldiver the last of the type operated by the U.S. Navy. The Helldiver is also the last significant combat aircraft produced by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

This Helldiver was completed in May 1945, but the war ended a few months later, and it never saw combat. From September through December 1945, Bombing Squadron (VB) 92 aboard the USS Lexington flew it in the western Pacific and occupied Japan. It served with various other Navy units until 1948 and entered the Museum collection in 1960. Source: see below

I would encourage you to read more about this aircraft and some of the trails and tribulations that our brave flyers went through. You can read more here: airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/curtiss-sb2c-5-hell...

© 2017 Skip Plitt Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This photo may not be used in any form without permission from the photographer. None of my images are in the Creative Commons. If you wish to use one of my images please contact me at: skipplittphotography@gmail.com

Todos los derechos reservados. Esta foto no se puede utilizar en cualquier forma sin el permiso del fotógrafo.

Closeup of a pied-billed grebe exposing its huge shiny eyes

'HELLDIVERS - COSPLAY BY ALAN' - 'CHESTERFIELD COMIC-CON' - 'UNLEASHED EVENTS' - 23rd FEB 2025 - NIKON D5600 With NIKKOR 18-105

New pics from an old model! This PA-58N model had been an early attempt to modifiy an out-of-the box kit: after I got hold of a PA-58N "Halk Sovat" (ended up in its original livery, even though with different markings due to poor decals) and, much later, a blue/gray standard PA-58N from the TV series, I wanted to add some drama and a personal touch. Just having seen the movie "Predator" at that time (must have been in the Nineties, I guess :rolleyes:), I knew that a mini gatling gun HAD to be integrated. Et voilà, this became the fictional "MG" version! ;-)

The main modification was the scratch-built gatling gun, made from plastic bits and hollow needles as barrels, mounted onto the left arm and replacing the respective hand. Then came a flexible ammunition feeder belt that runs along the arm to the PA-58's back, made from rubber. Worked initially well, but the material became brittle over the years and needs a replacement now. Additionally, small rocket launchers were added on top of the shoulders, which are/were modified drop tanks from a Matchbox SB2C "Helldiver" kit in 1:72, holding spare rockets from the PAM-74 Tinkle SAM kit. Furthermore, for extra mobility and somewhat inspired by a modified PA-58N in one of the conversion booklets that came with the original Gunze Sangyo PA kits, I added some rocket thrusters on the back and on the legs, leftover from a 1:144 Revell Space Shuttle kit. Beyond these mods, some more minor details from the scratch box were added, for a grittier overall look.

The color scheme is also fictional/non-canonical. Today it would certainly look more color- and/or contrastful. However, the jungle theme from the "Predator" movie prevailed and it was turned into a disruptive 3 color overall scheme in a medium, yellowish earth tone (Tamiya XF-49 "Khaki"), a bluish dark green (Tamiya XF-11 "JN Green") and light grey as a stark contrast to break up egdes and outlines (Tamiya XF-12 "IJN Grey"). The only color contrast became the blue "breast box" with the emergency ejection system. The model was lightly weathered, even though I do not remember which methods I used back then (probably only some dry-brushing, skills and tools were then not as sophisticated as today). The decals/markings had to be fully replaced because they had turned blind and were not usable anymore.

Vintage stuff, but still "part of the family", so that the model deserved some more/better pics than before, which were IIRC still analogue photo film shots, with scanned pictures to be posted here. ;-)

The SB2C doing an afternoon fly-by at AirVenture 2008.

Although it swims like a duck, it does not have webbed feet. Each toe has lobes extending out on the sides that provide extra surface area for paddling.

Folk names of this grebe include dabchick, devil-diver, dive-dapper, hell-diver, and water witch.

The Pied-billed Grebe is rarely seen in flight. It prefers to escape predators by diving, and it migrates at night.

I found this "Dive-Dapper", (that is what we always called them in Florida.)

along Heron Hide Out Trail, at Circle B Bar Reserve.

Polk County, Florida.

As i stated in my previous Videogame-themed Figbarf, i love to spend some of my free time gaming, and i had a great time making those figures, so i made some more characters! (L-R)

-Helldiver (helldiver/Helldivers 2): i've never played Helldivers, but i've been watching a lot of gameplays lately so i figured why not?

-Chosen Undead/Pyromancer (Dark Souls): i absolutely loved Dark Souls and. while i've already made a Dark Souls Figbarf, but i really wanted to make 1 more figure based on my starter ingame build, which was the Pyromancer.

-Psycho Mantis (Metal Gear Solid): i originally wanted to make Solid Snake for the Metal Gear character of this Figbarf, but i went with Pyshco Mantis instead with the weird mind control tricks he used in the first MGS.

-Edward Kenway (Assassin's Creed: Black Flag): again, i've already made an Edward Kenway figure, but i was originally gonna make the Edward Kenway from the beginning of the game, when he wears Duncan Walpole's robes, and so i did for this Figbarf.

-2B (Nier Automata): like Helldivers, i've never played Nier Automata, but i have watched a lot of gameplays.

The piston engined, prop-driven Skyraider was a postwar follow-on to World War II dive bombers and torpedo bombers such as the Helldiver and Avenger. It was replaced in the 1960s by the A-4 Skyhawk as the Navy's primary light attack plane. Used over Korea and briefly over North Vietnam, it was adopted as the primary ground support attack for the U.S. Air Force and South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) during the Vietnam War, before being supplanted by the jet powered A-37 Dragonfly in USAF and VNAF and the A-7 Corsair II in USAF service.

Pied billed grebe photographed at sunset on a flooded mudflat

wrhstol.com/2ttv7bz