Lots to talk about this week. Grab a coffee as this will be a long post.
Hawker Typhoon
The Typhoon has now progressed thru initial weathering, and a semi gloss clear coat was applied to seal the weathering effects, right before writing this blog.
Photo 1 - After applying a protective acrylic gloss clear coat, an oil wash is applied over all surfaces and allowed to sit for a couple hours. The wash is a mix of Payne’s Grey, Burnt Sienna, and Lamp Black oil paints, thinned about 50:50 with mineral spirits. Colour composition and density is adjusted over the airframe, depending on the underlying color and the desired effect.
Photo 2 - The wash has been mostly removed using a piece of paper towel. It tends to stay most easily in the panel lines and around surface details. Gentle wiping will allow some of the color to remain on the flat surfaces.
Photo 3 - Dark oil paints have been “scrubbed” into the wing, cockpit and engine areas to simulate the effect of air crew working on these surfaces. Oil paint is applied directly to the surface, and then scrubbed into the surface using a stubby paint brush and Q-Tips. The photo shows the second part, where white oil paint has been applied, ready to be scrubbed. This is intended to reflect sun bleaching and general wear of the paint.
Photo 4 - The effects of the oil paint scrubbing are hard to photograph. The darkening is most apparent on the grey areas, while the bleaching is most apparent on the green areas. The main gear and prop have been added.
Photo 5 - On the home stretch. Alclad Light Sheen has been sprayed to seal the various effects. This plane was a Wing Commander’s personal plane, and there is evidence that it was shined and potentially even waxed. The light sheen clear coat was selected in an attempt to reflect a used but well maintained plane. It may be too shiny, and is very difficult to photograph without reflections.
The next builds - three new kits on the bench
Airfix Willys Jeep
Continuing with the theme of building kits given as presents.
In 2015, Airfix came out with a combination kit with a C-47 Dakota and a Willys Jeep. The combination struck my fancy and I asked for one for Christmas. The kit didn‘t actually show up in North America until some time in mid 2016, but my Dad found a way to make it happen. My son, Nicholas, worked with my Dad to get the Jeep kit, and he very proudly presented it to me at Christmas 2015.
My interest in the Jeep was triggered one day while surfing the internet. I encountered a photo of a RCAF Jeep, serving in Europe in 1945. This appears to be the only known photo, and what little I could find suggests that this was one of the first examples of Canadian specific markings applied to military equipment. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. I just had to figure out how to do the markings.
IPMS Canada creates a yearly decal sheet for members, and remarkably, the next year’s sheet included the Jeep. Unfortunately, they did 1/35 and 1/48 scale markings. It is almost impossible to make white decals, and there was no way I could hand paint something so small - the dash of a 1/72 jeep is a little over 3/4” - so the kit sat until I could work out a path forward. Then, about 2 years ago, a company called H-Models produced 5 or 6 different sets of decals for 1/72 Jeeps, including a RAF sheet that included my RCAF version. Problem solved!
Airfix C-47 Dakota
No surprise, but the second kit is a 1/72 Airfix C-47 Dakota. My Dad was able to find a different boxing of the Airfix kit for Christmas that year. There was never any doubt, at least in my mind, that this would be done in RCAF markings. The kit markings were two versions of US Army, so it was time to go looking. I have acquired a number of different decal DC-3/C-47 sets over the years. including Buffalo Airways, Canadian Pacific, RCAF, and CAF versions. None really seemed to match with the Jeep.
The internet is a wonderful thing when it comes to look searching out modelling information. A search found that Canadian service Dakotas were among the first aircraft to be visibly marked with RCAF markings, including what may have been the first use of Royal Canadian Air Force lettering on a plane. Two specific markings stood out. The first was on Dakotas in the far east, which had various versions of “Canucks Unlimited” applied to the fuselage. These planes were famous for their work carrying supplies over the Burma Hump. A worthy candidate, and I even had decals, but it wouldn’t match the jeep. The other option was for European service, and included the words “Royal Canadian Air Force” along the fuselage. This felt like a perfect match and the decision was made.
Unfortunately, there were no commerciallydecals available. The font was very specific and didn’t match anything I had. I found an article on Britmodeller.com for a European service RCAF Dakota. He had created the decal artwork himself, and then had them custom printed. The article included a clear shot of the printed decal sheet, specifically the unique font used for the RCAF wording. Ten minutes of searching on whatthefont.com and I had the font. An hour and a half later and I had created custom masks for all the markings. Next step will be to test out my ability to lay out the lettering and see if it is possible to cleanly paint the rather small letters.
I like to browse a number of modelling forums on the weekend to get inspiration and see what other people are building. By pure chance, I noted a set of Siskin decals while browsing the new production listings on scalemates.com. My jaw hit the floor when I opened the link and saw CanMilAir printed on the decal sheet! CanMilAir used to produce wonderful markings for Canadian equipment, but shut things down three years ago. I have corresponded with the owner several times since then, and he had hinted I should stay tuned as there was an exciting development coming soon. I had coincidentally visited the CanMilAir page yesterday, and it was still showing that there would be decals news soon. Back to the Siskin decals to discover they were printed by Above and Below Graphics. A web search quickly turned up a web site, https://www.abovebelow.ca and there was the entire CanMilAir catalog! The catalog included the same RCAF Dakota, and an order was quickly placed. I still intend to try and paint the markings but now have a backup if that fails.
Photo 1 - Canucks Unlimited. This version is in Winnipeg at the RCAF Headquarters display park.
Photo 2 - The version to be built
Photos 3 - 8 - photos of the kit sprues
Canadair CL-52
One of the most unique aircraft in the RCAF inventory. A true one off in many different ways. The Canadair CL-52 was a B-47 Stratojet, borrowed from the USAF, as a test bed for the Avro Arrow’s Iroquois engine. The plane was officially on the RCAF register, making Canada the only other country to use the B-47.
Nicholas gave me a 1/144 kit of a B-47D for Christmas in 2018. The RCAF’s plane was a B version. Some sleuthing indicates that the major difference was the rear radar pod, at the base of the vertical stabilizer, used to control the tail guns. Nothing a little cutting and filler couldn’t fix. The Iroquois was a more complex problem. I had gotten the dimensions from Bill at CanMilAir some years ago. My thought was to turn the pod from wood or plastic somehow. That took an abrupt change when my friend Dave 3D printed a HO scale grain dryer for my birthday. I was amazed at the detail he was able to get into the model, including things like ladder cages. A question about printing an Iroquois resulted in an enjoyable series of email discussions back and forth, and then one day, 2 beautiful 3D printed engines showed up in the mail. Now I had everything needed.
Photos 1- 4 show the kit and sprues
Photo 5 - 2 copies of the beautiful 3D printed engines from Dave.
Photo 6 - I snuck these in since we are speaking of 3D printing. Dave printed up a bunch of airport service vehicles in 1/144, 1/72 and 1/48. These little guys - 3 tractors and a power cart - are waiting for some primer before going into service with my 1/144 airliner fleet.
Hopefully I didn’t bore everyone too badly. Have a great week and I will post progress as I go.
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