Jump to content

George Guimaraes

Members
  • Content Count

    177
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by George Guimaraes

  1. Hello!

    Here's my recent project, the iconic P-51D Mustang, the Very Long Range version, operating from Iwo Jima. Kit is Eduard's Tales from Iwo Jima, 1/48. Since is the profiback box, it comes with resin wheels, masks and a lot of PE. Plus, the decals are those you can pell off the film after applied, provided you take some care.

    You can choose among lots of schemes, all of them very nice and colorful, as they were those days. I've decide to weather mine quiet a bit. After all, fighting from those sandy/dusty/sunny/rainy airstrips, and enduring very long sorties to Japan mainland, escorting B-29's, must have beaten them up hard, I suppose. 

    Apart from the requirement for you to bend a tiny clear part for the landing light (of course, it broke), it all went well. And a few decals, although in general good, simply disintegrated when wet. Talking about decals, I've used one with wood pattern in that twin antennae set behind the cockpit. They were for the Uncle Dog navigation radio set and made of wood! This system allowed the VLR Mustangs to find the B-29s they were escorting, and to find their way back to Iwo Jima.

    Hope you enjoy!

    Cheers!

    George

    IMG_5708.jpg

    IMG_5711.jpg

    IMG_5713.jpg

    IMG_5714.jpg

    IMG_5715.jpg

    IMG_5716.jpg

    IMG_5718.jpg

    IMG_5719.jpg

    IMG_5720_1.jpg

    IMG_5723.jpg

    IMG_5726.jpg

    IMG_5728.jpg

    IMG_5731.jpg

    IMG_5732.jpg

    IMG_5734.jpg

    IMG_5736.jpg

    IMG_5737.jpg

    IMG_5739.jpg

    IMG_5740.jpg

  2. Hello!

    This is my recent project, a GWH SU-35S Flanker-E, 1/48 scale. It is, undoubtedly, my most demanding and longest build since my return to the hobby. It certainly could have been a much easier and quick build, but after seeing some fantastic jobs in the net and to be, at least, close to the level of the kit, I had to try harder. 

    For starters, Sukhois have that particular hundreds of different tones for the metals in the engine/exhausts areas. They differ a lot, depending on the incident light and angles of view Also, there are not too many good references around, specially for the underside. 

    But then I got lucky and found a masterpiece from a guy named Haneto, here at the arcforums.com. He came out with a fantastic tutorial for his SU-27 which I tried to follow. Of course, I didn't get even close, but it helped a lot.

    The kit is very good, with an impressive level of details and weapons, but as Mr Haneto points out, there are a few issues to deal with. In my case, the main one was the fitting of the engines nozzles to the fuselage. Their diameters were not a perfect match. Don't know if was my fault or not, but I ended up with some small steps. Fortunately, that area is so visually busy and colorful that is mostly unseen. 

    Instructions, for this particular kit, because GWH has several SU-27 and SU-35, are far from ok. They don't come with decals spots for some weapons, so I had to download them from the net. Also, I don't like their choice of CAD pictures instead of good old drawings. Those low resolution pictures aren't clear enough and lack precise locations for some items, at least for me. 

    The decals are just ok too. The red stars are a bit thick, but the problem is the transparent film for the rest. They aren't that transparent and tend to silver, so I cut them off everywhere I could. Good call!

    I've used Quinta Studios 3D decals for the cockpit and Galaxy masks ( I'd say they are essential) and Reskit resins for R-73 missiles. Paints are locally made polyester based colors. And, of course, for those blue, gold and silver shades for the engines areas, I've used the Tamiya Weathering Master Sets, also very useful.

    Hope you enjoy and, again, kudos for Mr Haneto and his tutorial.

    Cheers!

    George

    IMG_5117.jpg

    IMG_5127.jpg

    IMG_5129.jpg

    IMG_5130.jpg

    IMG_5133.jpg

    IMG_5134.jpg

    IMG_5135.jpg

    IMG_5137.jpg

    IMG_5138.jpg

    IMG_5145.jpg

    IMG_5147.jpg

    IMG_5149.jpg

    IMG_5150.jpg

    IMG_5153.jpg

    IMG_5155.jpg

    IMG_5156.jpg

    IMG_5158.jpg

    IMG_5162.jpg

    IMG_5163.jpg

    IMG_5165.jpg

    IMG_5166.jpg

    IMG_5167.jpg

    IMG_5168.jpg

  3. 4 hours ago, barkin mad said:

    It's a superb model right enough, but & not that it detracts from the overall model at all, the F2a wasn't compatible with the Red Top missile, only the Firestreak. I have also seen pictures of this a/c fitted with 4 cannon ie 2 on the top of the nose & 2 below. Again it doesn't matter too much, as they were sometimes removed especially, the lower pair.

     

    ----------------

     

    Thank you! You're right about the Red Top. Should have researched better. I've ruined one of the Firestreaks in an accident and just switched to the Reds. 

  4. Hello!

    This is my recent project, this iconic cold war beast. It’s been one of my favorites jets since I’ve laid my eyes on a big poster, a long time ago, at the Air Force Academy. 

    But this jet is more special for me because of something else. In 2015, I found this remarkable book, about the Cold War and these fighters , called “Never in Anger” by Anthony “Bugs” Bendell, a former RAF fighter pilot.

    I can not emphasize enough how good it is, as a precise combination of technical aspects of military flying and a fighter jock’s life in the RAF, in those days. It was a great reading and I was truly impressed with the author, not only about his career, but most of all, because the way he dealt with an impairing disease, which started to affect him when he was still in active duty.

    In the book, he describes his battle to continue to work, even not being able to regain flying status and yet maintaining the enthusiasm of a young fighter jock, which is something special, and that’s why I was so impressed.

    Sadly, he passed a few months later. But, before that, I had the privilege to exchange some e-mails with him, a very special thing, I have to say. A that time, he was already unable to write at all, so he dictated the message to his daughter and she kindly sent me the email. His enthusiasm and love for the Lightning was still there in his words…… 

    So, even not having the chance to meet this gentleman, the whole thing made the Lightning a special kit for me.

    And so I went looking for a good one, in 1/48. Unfortunately, even the best there is, this 1997 Airfix tool, is not what such a jet fighter deserves.

    The fitting is just ok, with some alignment issues . And you have a lot of errors with sprue parts not matching instructions and/or not so precise locations to glue some parts. Landing gear bays could have a lot more details, just like the cockpit. I’ve used Eduard PE to improve this areas and metal pitot tube. The canopy, by the way, can only be glued in the closed position, or you can improvise as I did.

    Anyway, here it is. I hope you’ll enjoy. And I’ll keep dreaming with a Tamiya kit for this great jet fighter. It would be a blast!

    Cheers!

    George

     

    IMG_4395.jpg

    IMG_4396.jpg

    IMG_4382.jpg

    IMG_4383.jpg

    IMG_4384.jpg

    IMG_4385.jpg

    IMG_4387.jpg

    21f1e18f-d775-48b4-9887-22fee774fbf3.JPG

    IMG_4389.jpg

    IMG_4390.jpg

    IMG_4392.jpg

    IMG_4393.jpg

    IMG_4394.jpg

    IMG_4398.jpg

    IMG_4399.jpg

    IMG_4400.jpg

    IMG_4401.jpg

    IMG_4402.jpg

    IMG_4403.jpg

    IMG_4404.jpg

    IMG_4405.jpg

  5. 16 hours ago, joeltc said:

    Its a fairly old kit at around 20 years. And I think their first injection moulded one at that. I've built both this and the Kinetic one and can attest to what your talking about. As for both companies their more recent efforts have improved significantly since then. Nice build BTW.

    Thank you!

×
×
  • Create New...