188 replies to this topic

[Peter M. Skaar]

Hi Healey

The numbers were also literally cobbled together as I recall.  I used an old GHQ carrier decal sheet with the real printed decals on it.  I acquired this from one of the guys at GHQ probably at least 20 years ago and use it for things such as this.

Believe it or not, I seem to remember using a 71 from the sheet but adding an additional 1 to create the 4 by turning the 7 upside down and adding the 1 to the right side.  The stripes on the deck were solid white stripes from either Microscale Industries or maybe even lines from the GHQ carrier decal sheet.  I painted the Midway several years ago and did not write anything down as I was not expecting to paint one for myself later.

I hope this helps, Healey. 

[healey36]

Thanks, Peter. I'm going to poke around and see what's available. For now, I'm calling Midway finished. If I find numbers suitable for the island, I'll add them later.

 

 

 

 

[Peter M. Skaar]

No problem, Healey!  Good luck on your project!

[healey36]

Forgive me, but one more for the more esoteric in me. I was up at the semi-annual TCA meet today trying to run down a few things for the model railroad when I found this wooden model of USS Gambier Bay:

 

 

 

Made by Strombecker during the latter years of WWII or those immediately following, this was scale modelling during those austere times. At roughly ten inches long, it's not a bad representation, all things considered, and the kid that assembled this did a credible job. 

 

[Peter M. Skaar]

The Gambier Bay looks interesting, Healey.  Do you know what scale it is?  I am assuming it is a bit larger than the 1/2400 scale that I do.  Strombecker, were they the same company that did the slot cars in the 60s?

[healey36]

Strombecker’s kits were likely box-scale, I.e. it was manufactured to fit a standard-sized box. Lindberg was famous for doing this later with plastic kits. That said, I think this model is in the 1/600-1/700 scale range.

I’m guessing this is the same Strombecker that later made slot-car kits. I think they started out as the Strombeck-Becker company, then later shortened the name. They made these wood kits during the war and shortly thereafter.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Thanks for the information, Healey.  I remember as a kid not being too concerned about scale and all that.  I was happy to put together models and didn't matter what brand, scale, or sometimes even subject matter.  I had models from Aurora, Revell, Hawk, Lindbergh, and Monogram and maybe a couple of others as well.  I remember building airplanes, ships, military vehicles, a few cars, and even monsters when Aurora started making those.  What a time!

[healey36]

Yup, when I was a kid I bought models from all of the manufacturers, but I had a thing for Airfix. Maybe it was the box-art, maybe their availability at the local Woolworth's, but their stuff was just great...not too complicated, assembled easily with good fit/finish. Frog was another that made nice kits, although not quite as sharp as Airfix. I still have a box of Airfix kits that have been following me around for some fifty years...maybe someday I'll sit down and build a few.

 

Not much going on at the workbench these past few weeks. Built a few things for our vintage Christmas table-display, but ship construction has been slim. This is gonna bite me when we flesh out the OOB for our planned January plays. 

[Peter M. Skaar]

I forgot about Airfix.  That was my first Foray into the small scale stuff as they made infantry that was pretty close to my Roco Minitanks .... at least to my eye anyway.  I also had some of their aircraft models and maybe even tried my hand at a couple of their armor kits.  I remember seeing Frog but never actually buying any kits.

On the workbench right now is 17 GHQ M13/40 tanks.  I am doing the cleanup work and mounting the hulls and turrets on nails.  I need to do all the priming, undercoating, base-coating etc.  This is my first foray into Italian North Africa so thought I would give it a try.  I have a decent collection of British and Germans for this Theater already.  I am also looking at adding some Americans for North Africa as well.

[healey36]

Numerous ships headed down the ways as we prepare for a big campaign game. Took a break from RN destroyers to deal with the Russian protected cruiser Askold, a lovely ship:

 

 

A Viking Forge casting in 1/2400, with added guitar string masts, various acrylic paints, an ODGW etched base with a homemade label. A class of one, she had a long career stretching around the world.

[healey36]

I'm really sick of painting destroyers...another diversion, an Eighth Army Deacon by Battlefront:

 

 

 

 

For North Africa, some day.

 

 

[Kenny Noe]

oooooo.....   Nice!!!   Glad to see you stretch your sea legs a little!!   hahaha

[healey36]

Thanks, but it can’t last, lol.

The Deacon was a neat vehicle...position it behind a berm or something to protect the lower third and you likely could sit there and pop away all afternoon. Can’t say I’ve read many accounts of their use, but the Brits built close to 200 of them, so they must have been at least somewhat effective.

It required a crew of five or six; I wish Battlefront had provided a few of the others, not just the two guys behind the enclosed gun-shield firing the 6-pounder.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Nice work on your Deacon, Healey! 

I have a pair of Deacons plus a Deacon Ammo Carrier from 2D6.  I still need to paint them.  They are certainly interesting vehicles.  If GHQ made them, I would buy more.  I have the GHQ 2Lbr and 6 Lbr Portees which I need to paint as well.  I did finish my first Italian M-13/40 tanks last week and am featuring them in the Pete's Minis section on this Forum.

[healey36]

Changed up on installing masts on 1/2400 models, at least the DDs and smaller. I've not been happy with the guitar string on these as it's a bit heavy, some of it nearly the same diameter as the smaller funnels. A trip to the model train supply shop yielded a tube of .010 bronze wire, quite a bit finer than my guitar string supply. 

 

I'm getting down to the last of my 3D prints by WTJ, but still quite a few destroyers and torpedo boats left in the resin pile. I used some of the bronze wire to fashion masts for a number of German torpedo boats. Technically they had a second "main" mast that supported the radio aerials, but I left these off. The .010 wire is pretty fiddly:

 

 

Not the best photo, but here's the results; the four boats of the G 101 class and a single B 97 class boat (V 100):

 

 

Drilled and cemented in the masts, then a shot of Krylon matte gray. A diluted ink wash, a bit of a dry-brush with some off-white Vallejo, then an overspray of Tamiya clear matte. ODGW etched bases, with homemade labels.

 

The German torpedo boats (small destroyers) were pretty sharp, and represented themselves well when going after the larger RN destroyers. Some of these will figure into the upcoming Dec. 1917 battles.

 

[Peter M. Skaar]

Those look great, Healey!

[healey36]

Thanks, Peter. I've been working on a few other things, including my first Zeppelin. I picked one up off the Shapeways site a while back, Masters of Military being the designer. It's pretty nice (although it was still full of water when it arrived, presumably from their post-print rinse process). It was pictured with a base, but that didn't come with the print I received; this was fine, as I wanted to make my own base with a decent bit of altitude instead.

 

It's a resin print, but was nice and sturdy with a decent bit of detail. One side had some minor imperfections, but nothing oppressive. The tail fins, gondola, and engine nacelles are decent. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Basing consisted of a bit of heavy guitar string and a Litko clear round base. I used a pin vise and bit to (1) drill a hole through the Litko base and (2) through the top and bottom of the print. I pushed the three-inch piece of guitar string through the airship print, top and bottom, then cemented it in using some Loctite GO2, making sure the guitar string was flush with the top of the print so no trimming was required. I let that dry for a few hours.

 

Next, I made myself a jig to use to cement the guitar string into the Litko base, making sure it was perfectly vertical when I attached the base. I always have a problem getting aircraft vertical on their bases, and the Zeppelin, being a bit unwieldy, was even more of a challenge. I used some bits of corrugated I had laying on the workbench to fashion a "box" of sorts, then pushed the string through it vertically and cemented the base onto the string underneath. By pressing the base flush to the bench-top, I could be assured that the guitar string remained vertical and that the base was perpendicular to it. It seemed to work pretty well, but not perfect. Here's a pic:

 

 

With the string cemented to the Zeppelin and the base cemented to the base, I let the whole thing dry/cure for 24 hours. Not all cement will bond to the clear plastic base, but the GO2 seems to work well. I use the same stuff to glue ships to their ODGW etched bases.

 

Next was painting; what color is a Zeppelin? From most of the photos I've seen, they seem to be a medium to light gray, although I saw at least one colorized photo that showed a green-caste in the paint. After looking at all of these, I decided to go with Tamiya acrylic J. N. Grey (XF-12), which I think is their color for the undersides of WWII IJN aircraft. It's a light gray with a tinge of green in it.

 

For decals, I had a set of I-94 German national markings in 1/200-1/600 scale (GR-102). Few of the Zeppelin photos I looked at showed any markings at all, but a few showed a single large cross on the underside near the nose (presumably for ground air-recognition). I didn't see any with crosses on the sides (except in the movies, see Hell's Angels, a great movie for Zeppelin action). I'm not sure if any featured markings on the sides, but I thought they'd look neat, so I slapped 'em on there. 

 

After decaling, I gave the whole thing a wash with Vallejo Grey (76.516). This was helpful in bringing the structure lines to the fore and adding some depth to the tail-planes. Before applying the wash, I gave it an overspray of Rustoleum clear satin over the flat Tamiya, figuring this would help the wash flow properly. After applying the wash, I touched it up a few times to correct some pooling, then let it dry for a few hours. Still in the jig, I gave it a shot of Tamiya clear matte lacquer.

 

I hadn't really quite thought the jig through completely, lol, realizing that with the Zeppelin attached to the top and the base at the bottom, I'd have to cut the jig to extract the Zeppelin. No bother, it's easy enough to make another one for the next job.

 

So here's where I ended up on the first attempt:

 

 

 

No label on the base, so it can be used for any number of different craft. It will fly as L 42 in the upcoming North Sea operation. 

 

[Peter M. Skaar]

That Zeppelin looks great, Healey! 

[Peter M. Skaar]

I have been busy painting some more WWII German Panthers over the last couple weeks.  Here are the 6 that I added to the other 6 I already have.

[healey36]

Okay, those look great, Peter. The skirted versions are particularly nice. Are you prepping for a late-war dust-up? Perhaps a couple platoons of M-26s are in order.

 

All those Italian tanks had me going through the bins of unpainted stuff. I found a couple packs of Battlefront L6/40s that look particularly neat. Gave them a base-coat of ModelMaster Light Earth (FS 30140)...looks a bit dark:

 

 

Weathering and detailing to follow, with radio aerials to be added. I'm going through the decal sets I have, and none have appropriate markings for a complete platoon, tanks 1-4. Might just go with what I have, a battlegroup of remnants from a single company, each with different tank/platoon markings.