Friday, February 4, 2011

Flying Barrels on yellow Wings

 

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Whats up with this guy? Is his bench not busy nuff at the time? Well, sometimes i´m in the mood to paint, sometimes to build something. Sometimes my thoughts are in the air, sometimes at sea, sometimes at the ground. Currently pretty much at sea and in the air. Its quite obvious to combine these two elements, right? Ok, here we go: Naval Aviation :-)

Accurate Miniatures 1/48 Grumman F3F-2

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See the small dent? Sanded and polished it may will once add some extra touch at this rather prominent spot.This one is the housing for a nice radial engine…

 

 

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…like this one. 865hp Wright R-1820-G5 Cyclone two-speed supercharged air-cooled radial engine. Well, ok…my approach to it…..

 

 

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Welcome aboard!

 

 

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Need a proper propeller? Here you go…

 

 

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The usual suspects….

 

 

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….attending a meet and greet.

 

 

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A quite small one, if you ask me.

 

 

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“On yellow wings”, right? So lets paint some. It´s a basecoat made of Gunze´s very nice H34 cream yellow. Strips of masking tape was applied and the orange component was brushed over using Tamiya´s X-26 clear orange.

 

 

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Note the subtle  highlights accentuating the framework. Barely visible from a distance, but quasi-subconscious noticeable if you get closer.

 

 

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Tactical number plus national insignia applied. The point of no return. it gonna be the 2-MF-16, BuNo 0976.

A note of historical interest:

This F3F-2 was assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia (USA), on 21 December 1937. The aircraft served briefly with Aircraft Squadron One (later Marine fighter squadron VMF-1), but was assigned to VMF-2 at Naval Air Station (NAS) San Diego, California (USA), on 17 January 1938.

On 29 August 1940 the plane was piloted by 1st Lt. Bob Galer (later a brigadier general) for carrier qualification aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) off the coast of California.

On approach for one landing Galer switched fuel tanks, causing the engine to quit and leaving Galer with no choice but to ditch the aircraft. It sank to a depth of 600 m and was discovered in 1989.

It could be salvaged by the USNS Narragansett (T-ATF 167) on 5 April 1990 and was restored at the San Diego Aerospace Museum for three years and is today on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, Florida (USA).

 

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I currently prefer a glossy acrylic basecoat when it comes to Alclad II.

 

 

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I found out Alclad II ALC-405 transparent smoke to be just perfect for preshading

 

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To be continued….

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