Short Sunderland, early 1940

A very simple conversion this time. The Tumbling Dice model is a later war one with the top turret, so I snipped that off and sanded it smooth. I tried painting the hatches on top for the gunners, but like the side windows (just round holes) they didn't turn out very well so I painted them over. For the next one I will know that filling those holes will be the smart thing to do!

I copied the scheme off these pictures.

Decals were all I-94 for a change as I don't have these from Doms Decals yet. 2 part decals was a first for me but they came out nice. Went for the simple M as identification (2nd Sunderland, top pic) as fitting all 3 in that size is impossible with the decals that I have.

Painting was simple enough; primer with Vallejo Surface Primer Black, then the brown with VMC 70921 English Uniform, the green with my old bottle of VMC 70894 Russian Uniform (and I know the new colour is a bit different) with a thinned down wash of Vallejo Model Wash 76517 Dark Grey to bring out the panel lines and shade the aircraft (dark grey works better then all black I think). Then do all of the panels again with the brown and green, paint the undersides black and get craking on the windows. Pain them with VGC 21 Magic Blue and then with VMC 70961 Sky Blue. Do the engine rims VGA 72.758 Brassy Brass. Gloss the aircraft with Vallejo Polyurethane Varnish (Gloss). After a good 30 minutes drying time you can apply the decals. For the 2 part one I applied the first layer, matted it down with solvent, let that dry, applied another coat of gloss varnish, and after 30 minutes applied the next layer. When all was done I applied another full coat of gloss varnish and let that dry for a night. Then my trusty Daler & Rowney matte varnish to cover everything but the props, engine fronts and glass.

I did find a bag of the correct Blenheims in my box so I can make a headstart of those as well, or I will do something else. With me, you never know! What I know is that I want to paint a late war Fleet Arm Sunderland in white and with radar since I like the scheme so much.

Me-262 A1/U4 with 50mm

One of the old conversions, finished off. Pity about the silvering on the wing decals but I'll note that down as "battle damage".

L5 Stinson Sentinel painted as Israeli Piper Super Cub

The "Head to Head"sceanrio calls for a Piper Super Cub. Nobody makes that, but the L-5 Sentinel does come close and with some additional painted windows (all the way underneath the wing) it looks quite ok. This is the last test, this time to see how I handled something really small, and I passed that too. Not too many left now on the block, and I want to get as many done as I can before Doms shipment comes in for the Falcon and the Duce scenarios.

2 Israeli Mirage IIIs in Six Day War scheme

Also in my scrapbox, as were 2 others, but they had the wrong magnets inserted....the ones I painted have 1x3mm round, the ones I did not paint have 3x1mm round bar, and they just keep falling off the flightstand whereas the 3mm round stick on like glue. I have a box of flat head nails that I will use for the smaller WW2 aircraft as a big 3mm magnet might be a bit much on those....I will experiment with that on a Israeli spotter plane next.

1/600th - finishing a job started a long time ago!

A job started in December 2011 to be precise! (never throw anything out)

Remember this one? Il-14

 Well, I didn't want to drown myself in thinner again tonight so grabbed the Il-14 from the scrapbox and had a go at it. And I'm quite happy with the result to be honest. A tad rough, windows could be a shade whiter but other then that, pretty happy. But, you be the judge (and jury).

I even did the presentation in my old way from back in 2009 when I was painting lots of aircraft. I think it suits them. The base coin is a 1 euro cent, the squares are 1 cm.

Original C-47 by Tumbling Dice, Roundels by Doms Decals, flag by I-94 and numerals by QRF