Well it took a couple months but the build is finally underway.
What is the build?
For those of you already in the build this is irelevant. But for those just joining heres what our build is.
This build is a bit of a different one. The object is to build aircraft that depict battle scared veterans of many years of war, aircraft that have just gone though a hellish battle and have come home with mortal wounds, aircraft that could not make it home and had to make forced landings, craft that crashed and were forgotten about for many years in the Jugles of the Pacific, and the many war weary veterans that made the treck back home to the states only to be put into a boneyard and forgotten about in the desert for decades.
As you can see this build is a far cry from the conventional style of building which is why this build is a unique one.
Are there any guidelines for what can be built?
There are only guidelines that a person has to follow.
1.) An aircraft must be depicted in a state of disrepair, crashed, damaged, or as a battle scared veteran.
2.) Any type of aircraft can be used, from WW1 fighters to presant day ( Even trainers, comercial or private aircraft are acceptable)
3.) There is no specific scale needed.
4.) You do not have to build a base for the model, although it might look better if you so choose to do one
5.) If possible try and depict a reall aircraft based on photos, after all one of the fun parts about this project is the research needed to see what type of weathering and damage the reall thing would have had. If you can not find photos of a good subject then freelance the model.
6.) But the most important thing is that you have fun doing it.
Outstanding. Kick the tires, light the fires and let’s go. I need to dig through the AMARC residents in the closet and see which one becomes the “victim”.
When I was stationed at Andersen AFB, Guam, in the late 70s, Continental Airlines flew several Boeing 727 tri jets around the Mariana’s and Micronesian Islands. They were quite attractive with NMF wings, white fuselage with gold, red a & orange stripes and then that big gold tail. The deserts of the Southwestern US have quite a few civilian airports and abandoned Air Bases that are being used as storage yards for retired or unneeded commercial airliners. This “deconstruction” represents one of Continental’s 727s that has been sitting in the desert sun for quite some time. The paint is very faded, the #1 and #2 engines have been removed along with the left stab and right aileron. Most of the windows and the 2 over wing escape hatches on the port side are missing and the salvage folks have painted their “D-646” inventory number on the fuselage. This a 1/144 scale that I built while I was on Guam. I don’t remember the manufacturer’s brand
Tis sad to see, but no more “three holers” gracing the skies.
yardbird78-That really looks great, get that thing on a base and you have it. One thing though I dont know if you were going to do this but the tops of the wings should they be weathered also? But otherwise that is one good looking abandoned plane there. Day two into the build and somebody is already done[8D]
j.s.harrison-Well if your Avenger looks like is been shot down, abandoned or been in service way too long, then yes I would have to say it qualifies.
I got the material to do a base for the 727 today. I am not sure what a NMF should look like after doing a slow bake in the sun for 20 or so years. I’ll see if I can come up with something.
I was in Barnes and Nobel today, flipping through some of the magazines. One magazine had an excellent article about what the Army Air Corps did with their aircraft after the war. I wish I could remember the name of the magazine for you guys, but there were about 6 pages of neglected/destroyed aircraft that would be perfect for this build.
Yardbird- That has come along very nicely, the base is good as is the weatheringalready a show worthy model. Now because I think your model has so much potntial I think it would benifit from the adition of a light overspray of sand colored paint (Tamiya Dark Yellow works very well for this) all over the model, and then you can get a truly weathered appearance. Also try and add small oil streaks coming out of the engine areas. And I was not shure if you are going to do this but put some debrie piles on the ground by the aircraft.
Well my idea has changed… slightly. I have several old models, especially a devastator that is missing peices (or an even older dauntless). I still want to do a crash in the rainforests of the pacific northwest. I think I’ll use one that I already have! Does anyone have crash pics of a devstator possibly from trainig here in NA? I hope to get on this after the BoB GB.
Ah. Apperantly I am not a part of this build. I see. Sigh. Another kit to get before 2006.
Perhaps I can Just take my F-16 that I built a while ago. If is covered in glue, completely unpainted, with peeling decals, ad worst of all : It is lopsided. If you look at it head on, there is quite a noticable slant. Anyway, Would it be Okay If I just took a hammer to it?[xx(]
Ok, I’d like to join this build as well… put me in for a 1/48 TH-1F from MASDC… parted out… [:D]
Darwin, on the aluminum that’s been exposed to the sun for 20+ years without any TLC, it sorta oxidizes to a dull aluminum color. Sometimes has streaks from where paint is wearing off from rain, etc. I used to think that the NMF B-52s were one solid color of aluminum over a white base! Hope this helps…
Got started on my build; here’s some pictures…
Here’s the right side after cutting… ever have that feeling that you might be in over your head with a kit??? The bottom fuselage is from another kit, I put it there for comparison…
Another picture of the two fuselage halves.
The basic floor, with a few stringers put in. I’ve still to add some details to the floor and possibly open up another panel or two on it.
Here are some photos of the detail work on the landing gear & doors of my F-105. The Trumpeter kit is massive but the landing gear, gear doors and wheel wells lack detail. I used reference photos from the book ‘F-105 walk around’ to try and get the detail right or at least close to the real thing.
The interior of the kit doors are just plain smooth plastic with ejector pin marks in them. I used white putty to fill the pin marks. I also used my Dremel grinding bit to thin the edges of the gear doors. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/Maingeardoor1.jpg
The main gear doors also have raised rivets along the door edges. I made a simple template from masking tape to mark where the rivets will be placed. I used a #11 blade to make the marks and then used a drill bit to make small holes. I used stretched sprue as the rivets and attached them with Pro-weld. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/Maingeardoorrivettemplate.jpg
