Seattle Chapter News · The American contingent was fortunate because the Canadian dollar took a...

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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USANovember 2008

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

IPMS Vancouver Show 3Decals - Not! 6Dauntless in RNZAF Service

7Trumpeter Wyvern 8Bronco Models V-1 9Heller Renault 4CV 102009 Shows 13Three of the Coolest! 14AMT Kenworth Fire Truck 15

Well, the economy is in the tank, we haveelected a new president, and the price offood still seems to be going up. What’s aperson to do? Turn to local sports? Nope,the Mariners finished last, the Seahawks,Huskies, and Cougars all have beenplaying like (expletive deleted), and theSonics? Well, as Emily Litella was fond ofsaying: “never mind”. One minor ray ofsunshine in all this mess is that the price ofgas is “plummeting” (although not nearlyas fast as it went up). At least there ismodel building. I guess it’s probably timeto concentrate on trying to rassle myAlbatros to completion for the Decembermeeting. As if there isn’t enough stress inmy life, now I have to deal with rigging.And lots of decals. My choice of kit for theDecember Albatros build is the Eduard“Weekend Build” D.Va. It’s been a mightylong weekend - going on seven monthsnow. I suppose the thought of having torig the beast had been the primary reasonit has taken me so long to do ANYTHINGto the model. Surprisingly, that’s not theissue. It boils down to color scheme of allthings. I have decals for a rather colorfulaircraft in German markings, but a fewmonths ago, I also found a picture of anAlbatros that was captured by the British.Decisions, decisions. I am really tornbecause both subjects appeal to megreatly. A second kit so I could do both isout of the question due to the limitedamount of build time.

One of the delays encountered with theAlbatros was a side trip down memorylane. Recently, Lindberg reissued most oftheir kits from the 1950s, including theConvair Pogo. The Pogo has been aroundas long as I’ve been modeling and Icouldn’t resist picking one up. Of course,the fact that I had an original release in thegarage o’ kits didn’t stop me from gettinganother one and actually building it. Andthe original release will still be sitting in thegarage awaiting my next inspiration. Thekit is the essence of simplicity (nothing likethe latest Fine Molds or Trumpeter kitswith a gazillion parts) and I had it put

together in only a few evenings. I cobbledtogether a cockpit from leftover portion ofa Hobbycraft F-94 kit that was used foranother project (ask me about that onesome time). I also added a few bits thatwere not on the original aircraft as Icompleted it for the 2009 Spring ShowWhat-if turbine category. Now that thePogo is done, all my attention is back tothe Albatros. The little side journey withthe Pogo didn’t make things any easier asfar as my choice of colors and markings onthe Albatros, I just have less time to makea decision. Oh well.

That’s it (for now).

We’ll see you at the meeting,

Terry

This month’s meetingwill be held in theCrafts Room at

Bellevue Community/Senior Center, at ourregular time from 10

AM to 1 PM

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore Marilynn K. Laird Spencer Tom Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 1825 South 330th St. F-201 318 N.E. 81st St. 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Federal Way, WA 98003 Seattle, WA 98115 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 206-491-0096 Ph: 206-522-8414 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Norm Filer & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested modeler, regardless of interests.Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues. Dues are $24a year, and may be paid to Spencer Tom, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join and support IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further information about theChapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 2

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2008 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

November 8 (Craft Room) December 13


IPMS Vancouver Fall Model Show

article by Robert Allen

photos by Stephen Tontoni, Eric Christianson, and Tim Nelson

IPMS Vancouver’s 38th Annual Fall Model Show and Swap Meet took place on October 11 at the Bonsor Recreation Complex inBurnaby, BC. The American contingent was fortunate because the Canadian dollar took a swan dive versus the US dollar just daysbefore the show, making those great deals in the Vendor’s Room even better ones.

Although the number of walk-in spectators was almost identical to 2007, the number of modelers who entered models was down, from132 to 117, and the total number of entries dropped slightly, from 576 to 563. The quality of the models was still very high, and as isoften the case, it was impossible to predict just what subjects might show up. A talking point of the 2007 show was the lack of manyMustangs, Spitfires, and Hurricanes, usually staples of Canadian shows. All three subjects showed up in force this year, but there wasanother puzzling trend. In the popular 1/72nd scale single-engined prop aircraft categories, 29 models showed up – 27 Allied, and twoAxis. I’ll be counting the number of Fw 190s next year…

The show, as always, was well run. Warwick Wright, who has headed the show for the past several years, is retiring from his post afterthis year’s show, but has assured everyone that the transition will be a smooth one.

Here are the Trophy Winners:

Trophy Sponsor Model WinnerBest Armour - Allied or NATO Maples Trophies M579 Fitter Peter HickeyBest Armour - Axis or Warsaw Pact Finescale Hobbies Panzer 1 B George StrayBest 35th scale German Armour Subject IPMS Vancouver in Memory of John Deutch

Panzer 1 B George StrayBest Small Scale Armour Subject – 72nd/48th IPMS Vancouver in Memory of Andy Sawchuck

BTR – 90 Will PerryBest Auto - Street or Show Automotive Model Builders Club of Vancouver

’32 Ford Seymour DouglasBest Auto - Competition Finescale Hobbies Bantam Roadster Seymour DouglasBest Scifi Space or Vehicle OHMS Starwars Jackson WaiBest TV/Movie Monster Monster Attack Team Canada

The Joker Craig NeufeldBest Aircraft -Jet / Helicopter Mike Grant Decals EA-6B Prowler BryanWadsworthBest Aircraft - Prop Engine IPMS Vancouver Beaufighter Mike MikolasekBest Aircraft -Civilian IPMS Vancouver DC-3 Daniel CareyBest Nautical Subject Internet Modeler HMCS Haida Ryan CameronBest Royal Canadian Navy Subject Neil Ramage HMCS Haida Ryan CameronBest Figure IPMS Seattle Alex the Vampire Talino BrunoBest Diorama IPMS Fraser Valley “Wake up Hans” Roger JungGeorge Price Memorial Award for Best Canadian Subject

Finescale Hobbies M579 Fitter Peter HickeyBest of Show Junior Imperial Hobbies Ferrari 430 Kevin LauBest of Show Senior Burnaby Hobbies M579 Fitter Peter Hickey

And here are IPMS Seattle winners:

Biplanes 1st Pfalz D.IIIa Ken Murphy1/48 Single prop – Allied 1st Spitfire Mk.Ia Mike Millette1/72 Single prop – Comm. 1st Spitfire Mk.VII Tim Nelson1/72 Single prop – Comm. 2nd Spitfire Mk.VIII Jacob Russell1/72 Single prop – Comm. 3rd Fairey Barracuda Bill Osborn


1/72 Single prop – Allied 1st SB2C Helldiver Bill Osborn1/72 Single prop – Allied 2nd Spitfire Daniel Carey1/48 Multi prop 2nd Bf 110 Ken Murphy1/48 Multi prop 3rd B-24J Eric Christianson1/72 Multi prop 2nd Ta 154 Bill Osborn1/72 Multi prop 3rd S-2 Tracker Bill Osborn1/48 Single jet 2nd SAAB Draken Mike Millette1/48 Single jet 3rd SAAB Draken Mike Millette1/72 Twin jet 2nd F-18 Daniel CareyAirliner 1st DC-3 Daniel CareyAirliner 2nd DHC Otter Bill OsbornA/C Conversion 1st Spitfire PR.19 Mike Millette1/35 Allied AFV


Clockwise from top left: Shannon Dimaulo’s ‘25 FordRod; Mike Mikolasek’s 1/48th scale Beaufighter; George

Tufnail’s HMS Hood; Eric Hagedorn’s Avro 522 withHucks starter; The Best of Show - Peter Hickey’s M579

Fitter; Two of Bill Osborn’s beauties , a Fisher P-75, andCurtiss SB2C Helldiver


Decals – NOT!

by John DeRosia

This short little article will discuss the useof making your own flat logos and such –but not decals.

There are a lot of great articles on makingyour own decals if that’s what you may beneeding. Follow those articles if you needdecals that may be transparent, conform tocompound curved surfaces and such.What I would like to cover are ‘flat’ rightoff the home computer printer markings.

I am talking about all the great and coollogos, signs, numbers and such that youcould make right on your own homecomputer and print out and you don’ttypically need any fancy paper of anykind.

I’m talking about model projects that manyfolks do that are not airplanes or such.Those models typically need decals tomake the model look good like they werepainted on. I want to shift your train ofthought to printed logos and numbers thatare generally flat. They do however workgreat on a single curved surface - notcompund surfaces. You can think of asingle surface such as a ‘constant barrel’..like a drinking straw…not a ‘cereal bowl’type compound curve. With a singlecurved surface – gluing and bending thatflat piece of paper is easy.

Here’s just a few ideas these may apply to:lots of vehicles (spacecraft, automotive/trucks, armour, boats/ships, stage-coaches…), advertising signs, storagecontainers (50 gallon drums, boxes of stufflike C-Rations for a diorama etc…), signson the side of delivery vehicles, fireapparatus, caution markings, buildingsigns, direction signs, colorful stripes,locomotives/railroad, miniature road maps,replicate book covers, magazines, RemoveBefore Flight banners (easy to glue back toback and bend), state and country flags,plaques (varnished?), miniature soda canlabels and on and on.

What does it take? Easy. Use a computerprogram you like – or once again ask thatseven-year-old to help you... I usePowerPoint since I’m comfortable using it.It has all types of shapes and colors andtext to pick from. You could also scan insome logo you need or surf the web forthat image you want to make miniature.Use your Copy, Paste, or Print ScreenButtons.

A very recent example was the Sci-Fi“Lunar Salvage Tug” I made for a localhobby show. I purposefully wanted thewords Lunar Salvage Tug in yellow lettersagainst a black rectangular background. Ialso wanted identifying labels for the sideof the ship saying “LST #2” in the samecolor scheme. (Here I had fun and used thePsycology stuff I failed at in college. Bysaying “LST #2”- you are already thinking…. “hey - there must be a #1 some-where”...) Anyway…Lastly - since I didn’thave the time to make fictional thrusterports (so they could manuver the “thing”left, right and so on on the moon), I made ared rectangular box with black dots andwhite circels around the dots. I’ll admit it -have seen many pictures of the SpaceShuttle thrusters to remind me spacevehicles need to move in all dimensions.

Here’s just a portion of the whole printedfinal sheet scaled way up for this article toshow you:

Anyway - it took me all of about 17.45seconds to make up one item of each. I toldthe computer I wanted twelve of each

using the copy command(okay…demanded the program duplicatethese items or I would stop the flow ofelectrons to its brain) - and presto - therethey were on one single page of bondpaper. I even printed one in ½-scale at theprint option in case I wanted smallerthrusters. I used plain old ordinary bondpaper. I cut them out – put a little bit ofsuper glue where I wanted the signs (oruse the type of glue you like) and kabam! -I was done in less than 15 minutes with allneeded labels on the model. The superglue darkened the logos slightly butended up looking okay for the model.

Please note, we do have a color laserprinter at home and wow, are the color-printed copies crisp. If you don’t have alaser printer- save your graphics on a CDand take it to a local print store (or friend’shouse along with a box of donuts!). At theprint shop, you could even ask for ‘cardstock’ for thicker prints, or glossy paperprints so the super glue can’t bleedthrough it. It’s a very cheap way to makemodel graphics to your heart’s delight. Toget rid of the white edges - use a blackmagic marker carefully around the edges.

I know I sometines tend to think incomplicated terms of making decals andsuch, but give it a try! Remember thatsaying you hear every now and then -keep it simple...and keep having fun!


Allied Wings No. 5: TheDauntless in RNZAF

Service by Cliff F.L. Jenks,with Malcolm Laird & Phil

H. Listemann

reviewed by Andrew Birkbeck

I am an American citizen, born in Iowa City,Iowa. However, out of the six members ofmy immediate family, I am the only Ameri-can. The rest are citizens of the BritishCommonwealth, my Mother being a NewZealander, my Father is Scottish. Many ofmy maternal relatives fought in WW2 invarious sections of the NZ Armed Forces,and so I have always had a keen interest inthe exploits of Kiwi aviators, which surelyis a bit of an oxymoron, since Kiwi birdscan’t fly!

My parents live in Auckland, NZ, anddown the road from them used to live aWW2 Pacific theater pilot who wasstationed aboard a British carrier duringthe war. He told me the following story:during a stop at Newport News late in thewar for refitting, he ran into some USsailors while in a bar. They soon becamegreat friends over a few beers, and late inthe evening, another US sailor entered thebar, a friend of the sailors who hadbefriended the Kiwi pilot. “Hey Mac, comeon over and meet one of our brave allieshelping fight the Japanese in the Pacific!”The new arrival came over to the bar, buthe was confused. “There isn’t anyonehelping us fight the Japanese!”, heinsisted, it was solely an Americanventure…

Clearly, this wasn’t so, and here we have avery neat 38-page monograph coveringone particular New Zealand unit, on itseight-week tour of the Pacific in March/April/May 1944, as well as its training priorto going into combat. The unit concernedis No. 25 Squadron, RNZAF, the only non-US combat unit in the Pacific War to fly thevenerable SBD Dauntless, training onSBD-3 and -4s, and going into combat with

SBD-5s, all of them “borrowed” from USstocks, and over painted in RNZAFmarkings.

The Kiwis took charge of their Dauntlesstraining aircraft in July 1943, the planesprovided to them by Marine Air Group(MAG) 14, then based at Seagrove airfieldoutside Auckland for a period of R&R.Training in New Zealand lasted fromAugust 1943 to mid-January 1944, where-upon the unit transferred to Pallikuloairbase on Esperitu Santo in the NewHebrides for operational training toprepare them for tropical conditions.

Finally, at the end of March 1944, No.25Squadron, together with its maintenancecrews in No. 25 Servicing Unit transferredto the front lines, to Piva airfield onBouganville Island. Target for their tour ofduty: the Japanese stronghold at Rabauland surrounding areas. For eight weeks,the Dauntlesses of No. 25 Squadron,together with various US Marine Daunt-less units and TBF bombers from both USand RNZAF squadrons flew almost dailysorties attacking various enemy targets:gun emplacements, supply dumps,bridges, airfields etc. Thankfully for theDauntless crews, flying their slow, and by

this time obsolete aircraft, the JapaneseNavy and Army air forces had beenshattered, and aerial opponents were rarelyencountered.

The text of the book covers in some detailthe training of the squadron, and inparticular its day-to-day operations at thefront line, chronicling daily targets, thesuccess or not of the particular operation,etc. Lists are provided for all the SBDs thatserved in the Squadron, both training andfront line, covering their NZ Serial number,their BuNo etc., along with figurescovering their daily front line service, suchas sorties flown on each day, number ofhours flown per day, etc. Also included are28 black and white photos of good to verygood quality, showing the aircraft in NZservice and their crews. There is a nicesection of six photos showing the pilotand gunner standing on the wing of theiraircraft, and that also shows their personalfuselage artwork. These photos, togetherwith the text, help the reader sort outwhich pilot and gunner flew in whichaircraft. Rounding off the book, sevenpages of high quality color artwork,depicting colors, general markings, andpersonal crew fuselage markings.

I really enjoyed reading this book, andthumbing through all the photos and colorartwork. It is a first-rate book, covering asit does the training and operational historyof one small unit from one of the smallestparticipating nations in WW2. If you haveany interest in Small Air Forces, the SBDDauntless, or the Pacific War in general, Ihighly recommend you track down thishigh quality monograph. My thanks to thepublishers for supplying IPMS USA with areview sample.

ISBN 2-9526381-9-5978-295263819-7www.raf-in-combat.comPrice: Euros 13.50 (US$17.50)


Trumpeter 1/48th ScaleWestland Wyvern

by Hal Marshman Sr

This is for me, a most unusual subject. Iseldom do British subjects, and can’t everremember doing a post-WW2 Britishairplane. There’s just something about theoddball looks of this bird that caught myeye. Ugly, yes: charismatic, perhaps. Thepossibility of doing the Suez black andyellow stripes also gave it some appeal. Inany event, what follows are my impres-sions.

The kit is pressed in light gray, moderatelysoft plastic, with etched detail, right up toall the rivets. I like panel lines, but don‘tcare for rivets. I found only one sinkhole, avery minor one just forward of thewindscreen, left cowling side. There weretoo many mold release pin circles to suitme. Two inside each flap housing, wherethey would surely show if the flaps weredeployed. The kit caters to that option, sothere you are! There was one on the upperinner surface of the inner gear doors,which are to be painted aluminum, so haveto be dealt with carefully, plus the divebrakes each showed one, again in an areato be painted silver. Believe what I’ll do, isget them as smooth as possible, thenapply a coat or two of Future before I paintthe aluminum. During assembly, I amholding the flaps for last, as the attach-ment points are quite small, and invitebreakage if the model is handled carelessly.

The clear parts are very nice, being quiteclear and fairly distortion free. Trumpeterhas shown the framework in dull clear,making masking that much easier. Alsoincluded are clear circular windows for thecamera ports, one on each side. Thecamera is included, and a clear lens isprovided, although mine will be an MVlens, painted smoke. Should make a fairlyrealistic lens, and easily visible throughthe port.

The cockpit of the model is quite decent,including a ten-piece ejection seat, rudder

pedals, stick, and individual side walls, allcastings being quite crisp. Once as-sembled, and the photo-etch seatbeltsattached, it looks rather nice, although theairplane’s design provides for a smallcockpit in a very large aircraft. Nice littlerollover arch is mounted behind the headrest. One thing I care little for is filminstruments applied behind a photo-etchinstrument panel, and that is the onlyoption Trumpeter provides.

The landing gear are very attractive, beingquite robust looking, with the finest ofmold separation lines, easily dealt with,again for items that must be paintedaluminum. The wheels, both main and tail,are decently done, the main wheelsconsisting of two wheel halves, and twotire halves. There is no provision forflattening of the tires, so when sandingthem down, be aware you may wearthrough the plastic to the hollow inner tire,and will probably have to fill in this area.As said, the gear legs are quite robust, butshow a lot of detail which a black wash willbring out nicely.

There is a complete assortment of externalstores, consisting of three 1000-lb bombs,a torpedo, eight double sets of rockets, a

long center mount fuel tank, and twoteardrop shaped tanks with streamlinedfairings.

Provision is made for the wings to bedisplayed either in the open mode, orfolded, with the tips also folding over.Impressive either way.

The Wyvern was a turbo prop airplanewith contra-rotating four bladed props,one in front of the other. Trumpeter hasprovided a rather complex system of nylongears so these blades may be made to spinin a realistic fashion. I don’t usually caretoo much for toy-like gimmicks, so youknow I will eliminate this feature. The decalsheet is fairly large, catering to threedifferent Wyverns, including the one withthe black and yellow Suez stripes. Lookspretty extensive, with plenty of stencilingfor the wee decal folks to appreciate. Icould only find one color scheme, evenafter Googling the plane, and that’s ExtraDark Sea Grey over Sky. The Suez birddisplays a red spinner, so all-in-all, itshould make into an impressive model,considering its size, and that schemeaccentuates that size. I can heartilyrecommend this kit, if something a little onthe odd side is to your liking.

photo by James Tainton


Bronco Models Fi 103A-1

by Terry D. Moore

In June of 1944, the first V-1“Vergeltungswaffe” (Vengeance weapon 1)was launched from northern France andaimed at London. Between June of 1944and March of 1945 over 9,200 V-1’s werelaunched from ramps in France or airlaunched from He 111s against England.Only 2,419 were successful in reachingtheir target and nearly 4,000 were shotdown or knocked out of the sky by aircraft,anti aircraft guns and even barrageballoons. The V-1 was a collaborationbetween Fieseler Flugzeugbau, whodesigned the airframe, and ArgusMotorenwerke, who designed the exceed-ingly simple pulse jet engine. The missilewas tested for two years at Peenemundebefore Hitler unleashed them on England.The distinctive sound of the Argus pulsejet gave the V-1 its nicknames, “buzzbomb” or “doodlebug”. The US militarycaptured a number of V-1s and made nearlyidentical copies, called the JB-2 Loon, withthe plan to use them against Japan, but thewar ended before they could be deployed.The Russians and the French also copiedthe V-1.

There have been a number of kits issued ofthe V-1 over the years. The oldest is the 1/48th scale Hawk kit. In 1/72nd scale, a V-1kit was issued with a Spitfire Mk.XIV byFrog. 12 Squared also issued a V-1 and JB-

2 Loon kit. Tamiya and MPM both issued a1/48th scale kit of the V-1 and about a yearago, Pegasus Models issued a 1/18thscale(!) V-1. Now, we have a 1/35th scaleentry added to the list of V-1 kits and thisone is produced by Bronco Models ofHong Kong. Upon opening the box youwill find three sprues, each individuallypoly-bagged. One sprue is the fuselage/engine/detail bits, the second sprue is thewings, and the third sprue is for a handlingdolly. The kit includes a small decal sheetfor the various stencils and cover twodifferent aircraft. The instruction booklet is

an eight-page full color affair printed ongloss stock. The assembly is covered byexploded view drawings. There are fullcolor three-views of the two aircraftcovered on the decal sheet.

One issue on nearly every V-1 kit yetproduced is the correct shape of the Argusengine, which seems to be rather hard tocapture for some reason. The Bronco kitappears to have done the best job here,except for the lip of the cowl, whichappears to be not rounded enough andgives the appearance of being too wide atthe opening. The rest of the model looksquite good comparing it to various photosand drawings. The details and panel linesare finely inscribed. I was hoping to havethe model built for this review, but therapidly approaching deadline did not allowthat. I’ve test fit some of the parts andthere doesn’t appear to be any issue withfit or alignment. The alignment pins on thefuselage are a bit different than anythingI’ve ever seen on a kit, but work quite wellin that there are no sink marks where thepins are. My plans were to convert the V-1

continued on page 13


Thoroughbred

Heller 1/43rd ScaleRenault 4CV

by Andrew Bertschi

The Renault 4CV is a small French car builtbetween 1946 and 1961. Intended by itscreators to be a “people’s car”, it wasinspired by the original Volkswagen Beetleand was the first French car to sell over 1million units. Conceived during Germanoccupation, the design team envisionedsomething suitable for the economicallydifficult years expected to follow the war.The 4CV was first shown to the public atthe 1946 Paris Motor Show and by 1949was the most popular car in France. It waspowered by a rear mounted, water-cooled760cc inline 4-cylinder engine. Thecompletion of this same kit by my latefriend Ted Holowchuk, a true mastermodeler as well as teacher, was an inspira-tion for me on this project. Prior to hispassing, Ted and I had talked on and offabout both building the same ‘simple’ carkit and the example he built was a ‘dona-tion’ from me.

This kit is from Heller’s fairly broad rangeof 1/43rd scale European cars originallyintroduced during the later 1970s. Some,including the 4CV, are still irregularlyavailable today and it is one of the betterofferings from the range. At one time thesekits were quite common and extremelycheap, but now some of the harder to findissues like the Alfa Romeo Alfasud,Peugeot 604, and Citroën DS can bedifficult to find and costly to purchase. All25 parts were molded in a grayish tanplastic that was easy to work with. Exceptfor reworking some parts and adding anumber of small details, I built the kit more

or less out of the box. The moldings arecrisp and accurate with good detailthroughout. The head and tail lights are aprime example as though very small, theyhave accurate scale fidelity, plus aremolded in clear plastic versus beingchrome plated like I’ve seen on other smallcar kits. Everything fitted pretty well andthe way the parts were originally designedallows detailing to be easily done. In spiteof this, there are two areas that needimprovement; the wheels and the wind-shield.

The chassis is simplified but reflects theactual car well and the interior floor ismolded integral with the chassis. Otherparts included in the box are a pair ofseparate front bucket seats, a rear benchseat and package shelf, a combinationdash/fire wall, a steering wheel andcolumn, four individual clear windows, afloor shifter, chrome plated bumpers,hubcaps and headlight ‘buckets’. My kitalso had a small decal with a pair ofunusable “Renault” license plates. Theinside of the body shell and dash havebasic detail, which I enhanced a bit duringassembly. The kit wheels are very simple,made up of two halves with molded-ontires and the aforementioned separatesmall hubcaps. The issue that I had withthe wheels is because the differentiationbetween the rim and tire are very subtleand must be scribed or otherwise en-hanced to look right. The instructions on

my late 1970s issue used a single explodedview drawing. There isn’t a lot of pub-lished material on the car, at least inEnglish, and the box art was quite accu-rate, so I used it as a detailing reference.The Internet also came in handy foramassing a small photographic referencefile.

I decided to start on the smaller sub-assemblies first, beginning with thewheels. After priming and painting two ofthem, as mentioned I was not happy withthe uneven demarcation between thewheel and tire since the detail was a bit toolightly molded. After discussing how tosolve this with Ted, we decided thatreworking and creating a new master wheelto cast in resin would be the only way toget the desired result. I took one wheel andsanded the ‘tire’ off and also removed the‘rim’ portion from a second. After a lot ofcareful sanding, dry fitting, followed bymore sanding, I was eventually able to getboth to mate up with a realistic lookingbead edge. Ted then went ahead and castup several sets of the new wheel/tirecombo. That was one of the great thingsabout Ted: he was always there to discussand figure out the best way to solve thesekind of technical problems when theycropped up.

The new wheels were cleaned up,primered, painted grey, sprayed withDuracryl, washed with artists’ oils and


then put aside to dry. Next the headlightbuckets were cut off and cleaned up.Doing this caused some of the chrome tocome off so I decided it would be easier touse bare metal foil on all of the exteriortrim, as it was the simplest way to geteverything looking consistent. Since Istarted going in that direction, at that pointI decided to rework the bumpers as welland removed their mold-in overriders sinceI felt they made the car not look as ‘clean’as I wanted it to. I also stripped the chromeoff of the hubcaps.

Next thing up was the chassis. I cleaned it,sprayed a light coat of primer and thenbent and fitted an exhaust tail pipe madefrom a section of hypodermic tubing. Indoing research on the car the tailpipe wasquite visible in photos yet not included inthe kit. I painted it with a grime color I useon car chassis’ and put on several coats ofa thinned down ‘rust’ to give it a morerealistic ‘used’ appearance and then put itaside.

Next I went over the body shell, doingsome light clean up with sandpaper and aScotchbrite pad. Several areas also hadmold seams and other irregularities toremove. Since the bumpers were mountedusing only butt joints, I drilled small holesin the body to insert metal pins to the

bumper brackets to mount them withadded strength and much more ease ofinstallation/removal. I cleaned up the othersmall parts including the seats, shifter,headlight and taillight lenses as well thetiny hubcaps so everything was ready forpaint.

As mentioned, the windshield wipers weremolded into the glass and did not lookconvincing. I was ‘lucky’ in a way as thekit windshield had a crack that could notbe fixed so I opted to just replace it for amore realistic appearance. I used a sparepiece of HO scale window ‘glass’ from aFaller building kit for this. The shape andhow the windshield is mounted in a grooveto the body required tracing the old partand making a template so it could besanded to fit. Again, a lot of trial and errorwas needed until dropped in right in allareas. Once done, I removed the blue tape,cleaned and polished the ‘glass’ and put itaside.

I went back to the chassis, painting thebottom a weathered black, followed bysome clear to seal, an oil wash followed byanother sealing. Once that was completed,next was some light dry brushing andspraying of certain areas with an acrylic‘grime’ that I’d mixed up to simulate roaddirt, etc. The end result was to get a moreof a typically ‘used’ looking chassis thatone might see on a regularly driven car.

After some additional light clean up, I laiddown some grey primer as a base for the


color coat. From what I’ve seen and beenable to determine, in the years followingthe war through the late 1960s, mostEuropean cars were painted in subduedcolors and I wanted this Renault to betypical of that. While many of the actual4CVs I’d seen photos of were paintedlighter shades, I narrowed my own choicesdown to a medium blue or green. Afterdoing some checking on what pre-mixedgloss colors were available and findingnothing that seem ‘right’ to use, I decidedon going with Model Master MediumGreen, a military flat color. After allowing acouple of days to dry, I sanded the bodylightly to remove some roughness, firstwith 280, then 320 paper and finally with anold, worn Scotchbrite pad. After I felt itwas ok, I cleaned it and later put a coupleof additional light color coats on and set itaside to dry. After a day or so, IScotchbrighted it again until the wholebody was uniformly smooth and free ofany orange peel.

I cleaned the body again and applied sixcoats of Duracryl clear. Duracryl can betemperamental and I’ve ruined several nicepaint jobs using it in the past. For what-ever reason, this time the planets werealigned or something and everything wentvery well because the final coat came outsmooth and looked really good as it was.At this point several non-model relatedthings occurred, the end result being thatthe 4CV sat undisturbed in a box foraround six months.

Generally speaking, the longer clearlacquer cures, the harder it will get and thebetter the end result will be when polishedas this kind of automotive paint dries fromthe outside in. Since my 4CV had had along and undisturbed time to sit, itssurface was hard and ‘ready’. I went overit with a Millennium 2000 polishing kit fromfront to back. Polishing can be a painstak-ing process that often takes a few days oftedious work, so it’s best to separate it intoa couple of hours at a time. When nearlyfinished, a small problem struck. Havingnot quite put enough clear on the driver’sside front fender, I had a slight color rubthrough near the wheel opening. Luckily, it

was small and not really noticeable, andafter some fiddling I was eventuallysatisfied with the overall result.

I brush painted the inside of the body witha Gunze flat medium brown military colorand used a slightly darkened shade of thatsame color in my airbrush for the packageshelf and interior door panels. Inside doorpanels were not in the kit and I made someby cutting out clear decal paper patternsthat were then airbrushed as well. Theyalso got a light sealing coat of clear beforebeing put on the inside of the shell, sealedto it with thinned down white glue.

Once the polishing was done the finaltedious step began, foiling the trim. Mynormal method for applying foil trim is witha series of ‘custom made’ toothpicks thatI’ve specially modified for applying it anddoing similar fine detail work. This timeapplication took me about a week’s worthof time spaced out over several days tocomplete. The hardest part was thedelicate horizontal grille bars. I re-didseveral of them a number of times untilsatisfied in how they were spaced andaligned. To keep things consistent, like Imentioned, I stripped the chrome platingoff so all the foiled maintained the samesheen.

As things started to slowly wind down, Iattached the completed small interior parts(steering wheel, etc.) and glass to thechassis with clear trim glue and then mated

the chassis and body together. The fitbetween them was so good that I did nothave to glue the body down. Then I usedclear trim glue to attach the front and rearbumpers to the body after which I attachedand adjusted the exhaust pipe to line upcorrectly. The clear tail lamps werepreviously painted with Tamiya clear redand allowed to dry. They were theninstalled along with the delicate frontheadlight lenses. Before installed the frontlights, I made a pair of clear yellow bulbcovers, something required in Francethrough the 1980s and visible on olderFrench registered cars. This little addition

made a big different is the outwardappearance of the front of the car to myeye. I then installed a pair of old styleFrench license plates and a small, periodRenault emblem to the center of the frontgrille.

The final thing to do before completionwas to make and attach a pair of front mudflaps to the chassis behind the frontwheels. These were clearly visible in thebox art and on several photographs I’dcome across. They were carefully cut outof a piece of wine bottle foil, flattened,painted grimy black, then washed andweathered and attached with metal pins toseveral small holes drilled in the chassis.Once that was done, I put on a final slightdusting of ‘grime’ to the bottom of the carand called it complete.


into a JB-2 Loon as many of the Loonswere quite colorful. The only differencebetween the V-1 and Loon was that theforward fairing for the pulse jet engine hada different shape and until someone issuesa 1/35th scale B-17 so that I can hang twoLoons under the wings, I’ll have to becontent with doing that in 1/48th scale. Ifyou are so inclined to build the launchramp in 1/35th scale and add some of yourGerman armor to make an interestingdiorama, it would scale out to roughly 5’long. I would recommend this kit. It’s oneof the most accurate V-1 kits out there inany scale, and is easily buildable in anevening or three.

Review sample provided by StevensInternational.

[The photo of the real V-1 on page 9 is thenewly installed example at the Museum ofFlight in Seattle. Photo by Jim Goodall -ED]

Bronco Models V-1 from page 9

Model Shows/ContestsScheduled for 2009

Courtesy of Carl Kietzke, here is thecurrent known schedule for upcomingmodel shows and contests. Multi-dayevents are listed by start date and aretagged with a #.

2/14 Seattle MoF NWSM #2/22 Mt Vernon Performance Modelers2/27 Seattle Roadster #3/21 Surrey BC MCM4/18 Renton IPMS Seattle5/3 Puyallup MCS 206/20 Ft Worden NOPMS7/24 Puyallup Good Guys #8/19 Columbus OH IPMS Nats #9/19 McMinnville OHMS10/10 Burnaby BC IPMS Vancouver10/27 Silvanna 5th Annual11/8 Clackamas OSSM

More info will be provided when available.

More Photos from IPMS Vancouver

Top to bottom: Anoverall view of theroom; a large scale

P-51; ChrisMorris’s 1/32nd

scale P-39D


Three of the Coolest!

by Scott Kruize

When I was modeling way back Then, Icould not understand how my neighborKim Peterson — the first other kid I evermet who built model airplanes — could doit. How, out for a shopping expedition withhis mother, could he pick up a secondChance Vought F8U Crusader? He alreadyhad one!

I thought the point of building models wasto acquire as large a collection of differentones as you possibly could. So why, Kim,buy the same plane again? He never didgive me a really satisfactory answer, butleft it that he liked the Crusader and washappy with having a second model of it.Besides, this was from a different makerand was ‘better’.

Now, I understand perfectly well whymodelers want to build more than onerepresentation of the same plane: to showdevelopment over time, or its adaptation todifferent roles, or even just to show offdifferent liveries. One of the first projects Itook on when I resumed modeling inmodern times, in common with my friendKen Murphy, was to build whole shelf ofMesserschmitt 109s festooned withcrosses other than German: Spanish,Swiss, Romanian, and half-a-dozen others.

But I should have been more sympatheticwith Kim back Then, because I one-uppedhim eventually by building not just two,but three different kits of the sameairplane. The coolest jet fighter that everwas: the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter!

(Hold your vitriolic protesting e-mails till Ifinish my story!)

My first Starfighter model was a birthdaypresent, one of the best I ever received: aRevell multiple-kit gift set of “ThreeSupersonic Jet Fighters!” (What thiswould fetch on eBay nowadays if I’d evensaved the box! - Fabulous artwork: thethree superfighters streak upwards into adramatically-lit sky…!)

The other two planes were theGrumman F-11 Tiger and Kim’sfavorite, the Chance VoughtCrusader. They were OK, Isupposed, but the Starfighterwas the one that I recognizedright away as being the coolest!

This was the first time ever thatI had more than one kit in handat the same time, and I rememberindulging this “embarrassmentof riches” by basically buildingall three simultaneously.Enthusiasm was not enough to overcomemy impatience and inexperience, and Iruined all three by sticking the partstogether with more tube cement than I’veconsumed during the dozens of modelbuilds I’ve done in modern times. The lastassembly step on all three was to flip themon their backs and glue on the landinggear legs, and I remember coming backlater to find them all fallen over andcollapsed into big blobs of dissolvedplastic and glue on the undersides of thewings and bodies. That was the end ofthat first Starfighter kit.

The second was Comet’s version, nodoubt inferior in quality to the Revell“Authentic Kit”, and probably in someobscure box scale. Still, I wasn’t hyper-critical of kit quality at the time…not thatthere would have been any point in beingso, given my skill level. I built this one

without putting on landing gear at all, andwas happy for a long time to look up at mybedroom ceiling and see that sleek silverdart-shape climbing ever upwards from itsthread harness.

Then I got the third Starfighter model. Thiswas a Christmas present, and what a greatone: the impressively large one-quarterinch scale Hawk rendition, and its mostastonishing feature: chrome plating!

I was thrilled about the chrome, but had amost odd, negative reaction to anotherfeature the kit had that we Now don’t justenjoy, but routinely expect. The decalsheet had markings for putting the fighterinto three different air forces: ours,Canada’s and West Germany’s.

Perhaps the additional decals, other thanthe Stars-and-Stripes, irritated me because


I never actually got to see any Starfighters.Although McChord Air Force Base wasnot far from where I lived, diligent watch-ing of the skies overhead, and wheneverwe drove near it, showed only F-102 DeltaDaggers in residence. I thought they wereway less cool than F-104s. I couldn’tunderstand it then, and it seemed totallyunfair: whole other countries hadStarfighters, but I didn’t!

You can see I knew nothing, at the time,about the F-104’s serious problems…notjust with its innate machine qualities, butwith its economic and political struggles.I’ll leave that for now.

But it remains in my mind “The coolest jetfighter that ever was!” Inevitably, I cameacross kits of it in modern times. At thefirst contest’s swap meet I attended, Idiscovered that the old Hawk kit is stillavailable, now boxed by Testors. It had tobe built again, as a nostalgic exercise. Nochrome plating on the plastic this time, so Itried painting it with chrome spray paint.This bombed, and I chucked it into thetrash, something I never did way backThen, except of course after a session ofBB-gun “anti-aircraft fire”… I do plan totry again some other time. But then I didattempt to make up for my negativereaction to F-104s being in foreign airforces: I put together the Monogram kit,doing it in Dutch camouflage and mark-ings.

I haven’t yet described in detail how Icame by my impression of “the coolest jetfighter that ever was”, but I’m out of spaceand time, here, and will have to ask myreaders’ patience for a continuance inanother column. At the moment, I can’tlinger, for at the other end of the aviationhistory spectrum is World War One, andI’m committed to building a Bristol“Brisfit” two-seat fighter. NorthWest ScaleModelers is about to put up a model WWIairplane display at the Museum of Flight inSeattle. So it’s back to the workbench…Watch this space for the next exciting,heart-wrenching chapter in the story ofHow I Found Out The Truth About theStarfighter.

[Thanks to Chris Banyai-Riepl andwww.internetmodeler.com for permissionto use Scott’s, Andrew’s, and Carl’sarticles. - ED]

What Do I Do With TheFire Engine (or Truck) KitAfter I’ve Built One? AMT1/24th Scale Kenworth Fire

Truck

by Carl Kietzke

I have heard this question many times overthe years of building truck models. I havebeen known to reply, “What do I do with aP-51 after I’ve built one?” Seriouslythough, the best part of truck and fireapparatus building is the sheer variety ofpossible variations that can be built withonly limited kit-bashing and scratch-building skills. Almost every single USprototype truck kit that has been producedby the kit builders over the years can befound under a fire apparatus body. From

the mid 1940s till the late 1970s, Seattle hadtheir fire apparatus built on Kenworthchassis. A large number of Fire Depart-ments in Pennsylvania used Autocarchassis. If it’s a truck, it probably has beenused somewhere as a piece of fire appara-tus. So where does that leave us? Thesimplest commercial chassis conversionusing the AMT American LaFrance kit is tomount the firebody on an AMT Ford Cseries Stake bed kit chassis.

This is a very simple kit-bash requiringonly minor modification to the frame endsof the C chassis. The Ford C series chassisin the Stake bed kit has a 160” wheelbase,which was the standard used by almost all


Meeting Reminder November 810 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

Fire Apparatus Manufacturers for theirstandard Commercial chassised pumpers.Don’t want a “Belly Button” pumper? Witha little slicing and dicing, a Ford LN seriesfrom AMT also builds into a nice, thoughless common, commercial chassis unit.

The unit I am showcasing here is a model Ibuilt about 30 years ago to try out somekit-bashing and modifying techniques.This Kenworth/American LaFrancefeatures hinged cab doors with a semi-scratch interior plus some body modifica-tions. This build started life as an AMTKenworth W-925 highway tractor and anAMT American LaFrance Custom Pumperkits. The frame and engine were assembledper kit instructions with the rear suspen-sion omitted. The frame ends were squaredup by removing the end caps that helpguide the trailer to the fifth wheel. Thebasic firebody from the pumper kit wasbuilt according to the instructions and dryfitted to the KW frame. This allowed me todetermine where the rear axle from thepumper kit should be located. This dry runalso allowed me to measure the spaceavailable for the crew cab. The crew cabwas built up using sheet styrene and wasconstructed to house the electronics forthe emergency lights. I then raised thesides of the hose bed using styrene strip,

and added details including a suspendedfloor in one bay and extra dividers.

The cab doors were removed and a newfloor and firewall were cut and fitted. Thecab doors were then hinged to the cabafter painting. Vinyl upholstery cloth wasused to make the cab interior walls anddoor liners. Originally this model was tohave working emergency lights, so wiringwas placed in the cab and body with theelectronic control fitted under the jumpseat in the crew area. The lights them-selves were miniature LEDs in assortedcolors. Markings for the Department and

company markings are a combination ofhand painted decals and vinyl lettering.

As I said at the beginning, this model wasbuilt to test various techniques that I hadnever attempted. Well, since building thismodel I have not hinged anymore doors. Ihave however done about 40 kit-bashed 1/25 scale pieces of fire apparatus. Add tothat 20 semi-scratch builds and 25 varia-tions on the basic ALF pumper kit, I haveabout 100 different pieces of fire apparatusbuilt with more on the way.

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