Modelling Warbirds......

As many of you know, I enjoy, besides photographing them, building aircraft.

In 1/72 scale, let's not get carried away here.

And, since I've had a BIT of free time lately, I've started working on some of the unbuilts in my storage unit.
It also helps me deal with stress and anxiety.

You already saw the progress on the newer-vintage birds, the MiG-29UB of the NVA and the experimental Su-47.

I decided to go back a few years and work on some warbirds. Specifically, Doolittle's B-25B, a USAAC PT-13D Kaydet painted to resemble the real-life Waldo Wrights bird, an Me-262, and a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat.

Starting prelim assembly on the Me-262A-1 Schwalbe and PT-13D Kaydet

First yellow coat is on the PT-13D The Boeing-Stearman PT-13D Kaydet was the primary trainer pilots would train on before and during WWII. Once they passed schooling on the Kaydet, they would advance to the T-6 or T-28 before going on to their fighters or bombers, like, say, the F4F-3 or B-25B ;)

Preliminary painting and assembly completed

Decals on, dullcoat applied, now adding glosscoat to try and simulate that doped fabric look

The completed 1/72 Waldo Wright Kaydet

The ACTUAL Waldo Wrights Kaydet

Not bad, huh?

Next up, one of my all-time favorite aircraft, The Messerschmitt Me-262A-1 Schwalbe, the first operational jet fighter!

Interiors painted on the Me-262A-1.

Major components assembled

First coat of paint applied.

If you noticed in the prior photo there were some issues with the first coat, and the fit of the wing joint and gun access panel, so I sanded away the imperfections.

After sanding I added the second coat. Much happier with this one.

Decals on, getting ready to add the dullcoat.

The Me-262A-1 and Ferrari 512TR Paladin drives in the Saga, completed and ready to roll.

Check this ish out. Paladin's Me-262A-1 and Ferrari in 1/18th. My car collection is in 1/18th and I found this Me-262A-1 on eBay. So, this is the paint scheme I was trying to match in the 1/72 scale to match my ETF aircraft in size. How did I do?

Both scales shown together ;)

The Me-262A-1 with the subject of my last modelling blog, the MiG-29UB from the NVA. Two generations of German Air Force front line fighters.

My next project was the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat, a Navy fighter made famous by the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Navy had Wildcats in the inventory before Pearl Harbor.

The F4F-3 Wildcat kit.

I love the way the Wildcat looks with folded wings. So.....after looking at the F4F at Fantasy of Flight closely, I started sawing away on the thick plastic wings. Much cursing ensued.

Wings separated, finally, about 2 hours later.

Placed and taped in the correct position, letting the glue set in.

First coat applied

The paint scheme is completed. It's a version I had seen at a Warbirds airshow a couple years back.

Painted, decalled, and getting a shot of dullcoat.

And the issues continue. Look near the roundels. Somehow, the decals reacted with the dullcoat and ran like watercolors.

The real Wildcat. I took some license with the markings, mainly due to me losing (or maybe just misplacing) my decal stockpile in the move and having to work with what was in the kit.

My last project bird is the hardest, research-wise. None of the 16 North American B-25B Mitchells that launched from the Hornet to attack Tokyo on April 18, 1942 have survived. Only one landed, and that was in Vladivostok. No one knows what happened to it, but the other 15 planes under Jimmy Doolittle's command were destroyed in crash landings.

Getting the B-25B that Doolittle flew ready for assembly. Interior painted and OD top coat applied. Even the colors on the Doolittle Raiders are open to debate.

Fuselage together and engine nacelles added to wings.

Final assembly complete, the glue bottle is holding the top guns, which had snapped, straight.

lower gray applied and nose lined and painted.

have the reference materials out and ready to apply the decals. Except for the snapped dorsal guns, this kit had gone together pretty well.

Should have known not to even THINK that out load. Um.....Shangri-La, we have issues. This specific kit was issued before many of my readers were born, in 1978, and then, after i bought it, had sat in a non-air conditioned storage unit for about five years. The decals disintegrated when I tried to slide them off the backing. I've already ordered replacement decals.

As complete as Doolittle's B-25B Mitchell will get until the replacement decals arrive

The B-25H converted to B-25B standard by North American and on display in the Airpower Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton Ohio.

Group Shot!

The "Warbird Crop" clockwise from top R: Me-262A-1, F4F-3, PT-13D, B-25B

The next project......I plan on making her a Janet bird!!!