An everlasting Work In Progress

Yes, after more than 3 years, I’m away from my blog. But it’s for a good reason. I’m in the midle of a everlasting Work In Progress.
No, this isn’t a super detailed 1/18 th scale model or those endless ship models, carrying tons of spare parts. This is something much more challenging and interactive. I had to give up somethings I like, it´s not that bad, this kind of behavior has been worth me these kind of images, for sure they will last forever in my mind!!!

Here are some pictures of some models that I finished at the spare time changing a diaper, feeding the baby and other demands that every child brings to us.

Tamiya 1/32th scale

IBG 1/32th scale

Hasegawa 1/32th scale

Revell 1/32th scale

BREGUN 1/48th scale

Hasegawa 1/48th scale

Kinetic 1/48th scale

Tamiya 1/32 th scale

Revell 1/72th scale

Hasegawa 1/72th scale

BF-109 G-2 Trumpeter 1/32 Juutilainen´s “MERSU”

Yes, “MERSU” was the nickname for the BF-109, also flew by Finnish air force, during wolrd war two. If you have interest in WWII history, you should subscribe youtube channel “SALA DE GUERRA”,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWsR9x5sBLTVvPCrKd4xeBQ,

This is simply the BEST source about WWII history in portuguese language, and other conflicts as well. There I found two videos about Ilmari Juutilainen. In these two part videos, you´ll find the complete profile about his life, before, during and after the war. He was the Finland´s top ace. This model was a gift from my friend Marcus Borges, when I put my hands on it, it was already started, some minor parts was missing. The versions provided by manufacturer consist of two airplanes flown by Luftwaffe in Libia, so the instalation of lateral sand filter was mandatory. Unfortunately, this is was one of the few parts missing. Then I had the idea, why not change the version, for a 109 G-2 without the sand filter? I stumble at Eduard´s BF-109 “MERSU” 1/48 intructions, and found this plane flow by Juutilainen, lucky me! My friend Felipe Canuto Miranda, from FCM decals made me the masks for the national insignias code letters and numbers. Being a former Lufwaffe 109, this airplane kept for a while, the german stencils, these came from Trumpeter´s decal sheet. Hope you like this model, and don´t forget to check “SALA DE GUERRA” at youtube, sing up please! Thanks Marcus, Felipe from FCM and Julio Cesar from “Sala de Guerra”, you guys are TOP NOCHT!

Arado 196 A-3 Revell 1/32, HPH Clear Resin Canopie, HGW Seatbelts, Master Barrels and EDUARD BIG ED.

The Arado Ar 196 was a shipboard reconnaissance low-wing monoplane aircraft built by the German firm of Arado starting in 1936. The next year it was selected as the winner of a design contest and became the standard aircraft of the Kriegsmarine (German navy) throughout World War II.

The plane was loved by its pilots, who found that it handled well both in the air and on the water. With the loss of the German surface fleet, the A-1s were added to coastal squadrons and continued to fly reconnaissance missions and submarine hunts into late 1944. Two notable operations were the capture of HMS Seal, and the repeated interception of RAF Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley bombers. Although it was no match for a fighter, it was considerably better than its Allied counterparts, and generally considered the best of its class. Owing to its good handling on water, the Finnish Air Force utilized Ar 196s just for transporting and supplying special forces patrols behind enemy lines, landing on small lakes in remote areas. Several fully equipped soldiers were carried in the fuselage.

The quality of the model, is quite well discussed through internet modeling foruns. Revell dis a great job in the model engineering, except by the canopie. Awkwardly, the manufacturer choose to inject the canopie in separate parts, making the modeler life miserable gluing all those part without messing up the clear parts. The HPH, a checz, based company, comes to rescue, with a outstanding clear resin repositon, this aftermt can I say about the other after markets… just perfect! The build was made straight foward from teh box including all the internal a external details replacements. The colors used on this model came from Dryco colors. He uses the Eaglecall RLM color catalog to produce his paints, so I trust him about the accuracy of the colors.

I spent a long time reseraching pictures of this airplane, and I wasn´t able to find any picture B&W, or colored, showing this plane presenting too much wear and tear on the external surfaces, so I keep the weateting process to a minimum to my rendition of this airplane. I hope you like it!!!

SBD-3 Dauntless Coral Sea Battle Trumpeter 1/32

The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD (“Scout Bomber Douglas”) was the United States Navy‘s main carrier-based scout/dive bomber from mid-1940 through mid-1944. The SBD was also flown by the United States Marine Corps, both from land air bases and aircraft carriers. The SBD is best remembered as the bomber that delivered the fatal blows to the Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.^[1] The type earned its nickname “Slow But Deadly” (from its SBD initials) during this period.

During its combat service, the SBD proved to be an excellent naval scout plane and dive bomber. It possessed long range, good handling characteristics, maneuverability, potent bomb load, great diving characteristics from the perforated dive brakes, good defensive armament, and ruggedness. One land-based variant of the SBD – omitting the arrestor hook — was purpose-built for the U.S. Army Air Forces, as the A-24 Banshee.

The Coral Sea Battle was a four-day World War II skirmish in May 1942 marked the first air-sea battle in history. The Japanese were seeking to control the Coral Sea with an invasion of Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea, but their plans were intercepted by Allied forces. When the Japanese landed in the area, they came under attack from the aircraft carrier planes of the American task force commanded by Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher. Although both sides suffered damages to their carriers, the battle left the Japanese without enough planes to cover the ground attack of Port Moresby, resulting in a strategic Allied victory.

There is no macht for in 1/32 for this model. If you have the old Machtbox Dauntless you should throw it way or keep it as modeling souvenir. However the Trumpeter model present his own shortcomings. To name few ones, part fit is poor, some details is over scaled, surface texture (rivets and painel lines) is oversized compared with other model brands, engine detail is not so good. The wheels width is too narrow, landing gear details need some work. I scracht some parts like Bomb tail fins, interior and exterior details. I hope you like my model.

SPAD XIII AMERICAN EAGLES EDUARD 1/48

The SPAD S.XIII was a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII.

During early 1917, the French designer Louis Béchereau, spurred by the approaching obsolescence of the S.VII, decided to develop two new fighter aircraft, the S.XII and the S.XIII, both using a powerful new geared version of the successful Hispano-Suiza 8A engine. The cannon armament of the S.XII was unpopular with most pilots, but the S.XIII proved to be one of the most capable fighters of the war, as well as one of the most-produced, with 8,472 built and orders for around 10,000 more cancelled at the Armistice.^[2]

By the end of the First World War, the S.XIII had equipped virtually every fighter squadron of the Aéronautique Militaire. In addition, the United States Army Air Service also procured the type in bulk during the conflict, and some replaced or supplemented S.VIIs in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), pending the arrival of Sopwith Dolphins. It proved popular with its pilots; numerous aces from various nations flew the S.XIII during their flying careers. Following the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, which effectively marked the end of the First World War, surplus S.XIIIs were sold in great numbers to both civil and military operators throughout the world.

Not too much to say about the Eduard Spad XIII, this a very goos kit, and in the box, again, you´ll find everything necessary to finish this machine in the markings of top american aces of WWI. To seat next SPAD XIII, flown by Eddie Rickenbacker´s Spad XIII I´ll build the Spad XIII flown by his squadron mate Frank Luke. Hope you like it.

Lots of projects!!!!

Well, after almost one moth of abscence, I´m back. Since August 7th I started three new projects. Firtst one is a Spad Dual Combom 1/48 scale “American Eagles”, second A-380 Emirates 1/144 scale from Revell, and the last one, a project entitled “The biggest and the smallest”. This is about to build the biggest airplane flying around, in this case the AN-225 Mriya (Dream in Ucranian). For the smallest airplane flying around, we talking about the french experimental aircraft Cri Cri. For the Mriya there is avaiable in the market models in two main scales, 1/144 and 1/72, from Revell and Modelsvit, repectively. For the second one there is no kits avaiable in any scale whatsoever. I took the original blue prints in the internet, reduced the three views drawings to the 1/144 scale, and used some styrene sheets and acetate to build one. I hope you like the results. I´m still have to build his big brother! Soon I´ll post articles relating the two other projects, I´m still working on them.

Nieuport 28 RODEN 1/48

The Nieuport 28 C.1, a French biplane fighter aircraft flown during World War I, was built by Nieuport and designed by Gustave Delage. Owing its lineage to the successful line of sesquiplane fighters that included the Nieuport 17, the Nieuport 28 continued a similar design philosophy of a lightweight and highly maneuverable aircraft.

By the time the Nieuport 28 was available, the SPAD XIII had been chosen to equip the escadrilles de chasse of the Aéronautique Militaire for 1918, and this fighter was also the first choice for the projected American “pursuit” squadrons.^[2] In the event, a shortage of SPADs led to Nieuport 28s being issued to four American squadrons between March and August 1918, becoming the first aircraft to see operational service with an American fighter squadron.

Nieuport 28s saw considerable post-war service: in particular 50 were “returned” to America, and as well as army and naval service these found civilian use, especially in Hollywood films.

The quality of RODEN model is far from the Eduard Profipack Editions. There is a lack of interior details and the part fits in terrible, also the plastic is too brittle. The decals brings the amrican national insignia in wrong colors, I had to paint them. I choose to make the airplane flown by Captain Edward  Vernon Rickenbacker, he was the most successful American pilot of the WWI. Born on October 8th 1890 in Columbus Ohio. Rickenbacker joined the famous 94th  “Hat in the ring” aero squadron, comanded by Raoul Lufbery, the Escadrille Lafayette ace.

The most impressive act in Rickenbacker´s life, in my opinion is that he survived the WWII, when his airplane was forced to ditch, and he and his crew, survived for 21 days, drift throught the Pacific ocean. At the time,Rickenbacker and his crew hold this record, until the unbroken Louie Zamperini and his crew survived 47 days in the same ocean!  Rickenbacker died in Zurich, Switzerland on 23 th July 1973, at the age of 82.

Richthofen Brothers Eduard 1/48 “DER ROTE FLIEGER”

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen ; 2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), known in English as Baron von Richthofen, and most famously as the “Red Baron”, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Air Service in 1915, becoming one of the first members of fighter squadron Jagdstaffel 2 in 1916. He quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and during 1917 became leader of Jasta 11 and then the larger fighter wing unit Jagdgeschwader 1, better known as “The Flying Circus” or “Richthofen’s Circus” because of the bright colours of its aircraft, and perhaps also because of the way the unit was transferred from one area of allied air activity to another – moving like a travelling circus, and frequently setting up in tents on improvised airfields. By 1918, Richthofen was regarded as a national hero in Germany, and respected by his enemies.

Richthofen was shot down and killed near Vaux-sur-Somme on 21 April 1918. There has been considerable discussion and debate regarding aspects of his career, especially the circumstances of his death. He remains one of the most widely known fighter pilots of all time, and has been the subject of many books, films and other media.

Baron Lothar Siegfried von Richthofen (Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen in German; 27 September 1894 – 4 July 1922) was a German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories. He was a younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) and a distant cousin of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen.

Following the war he worked for a while on a farm before taking an industrial position. He married in June 1919 and had two children. Yearning for aviation he accepted a position as a pilot, conveying passengers and postal mail between Berlin and Hamburg.

He died aged 27 on 4 July 1922 in a flying accident at Fuhlsbüttel.

“DER ROTE FLIEGER” is a very limited edition from Eduard. This box brings two complete models for a Fokker DrI and an Albatros DVa, it is also include PE frets for both models, a scaled down “Pour Le Merite” pin, two cards with Richthofen brothers information, and finally three outstanding figures, the brothers and their dog “Fritz”. The medals you see, hanging in the brothers clothes, it is actually real ones in miniature (Photoecht). The build was made strait out of the box. I choose to build two Fokker DrI´s instead of one DrI and one Albatros DVa, the last one still waiting in my stash to be build. The DrI´s was put side by side over a MDF base, the terrain was made using tradional diorama build techniques and static grass was used for the vegetation. Hope you like it.

Fokker VIII 1/48 Eduard

The Fokker E.V was a German parasol-monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The E.V was the last Fokker design to become operational with the Luftstreitkräfte, entering service in the last months of World War I. After several fatal accidents due to wing failures, the aircraft was modified and redesignated Fokker D.VIII. Dubbed the Flying Razor by Allied pilots, the D.VIII had the distinction of scoring the last aerial victory of the war.

Again a PROFIPACK version. There is great pro to buy these versions from EDUARD. In the box you´ll find all the Aftermarkets provided by this manufacturer. You can buy a “WEEKEND VERSION”, but you´ll have in your hands a box with the sprues and a decal sheet for one version only. You should expend a few more bucks to buy the PE frets and masks.

The Fokker EVIII, rendition from Eduard is far supperior than old Dragon, in all aspects, parts fit, structural details and PE fret. It was quite interesting to build a model that you have to paint only 10% of the model, the remain finish was made using decals losange, provided by the manufacturer, and by the way, it is have a very good quality. I only replace the foot step by streched sprue.  Hope you like it. 

Albatros collection Eduard 1/48

The Albatros D.II was a German fighter aircraft used during World War I. After a successful combat career in the early Jagdstaffeln, it was gradually superseded by the Albatros D.III.  The D.III was flown by many top German aces, including Wilhelm Frankl, Erich Löwenhardt, Manfred von Richthofen, Karl Emil Schäfer, Ernst Udet, and Kurt Wolff, and Austro-Hungarian ones, like Godwin von Brumowski. It was the preeminent fighter during the period of German aerial dominance known as “Bloody April” 1917. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service (Luftfahrtruppen). The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatros fighter to see operational service. Despite its well-known shortcomings and general obsolescence, approximately 900 D.V and 1,612 D.Va aircraft were built before production halted in April 1918. The D.Va continued in operational service until the end of the war.

The Eduard box e re- boxes, brings a very good renditon of these machines. If you want to get a complete pack (PROFIPACK) I recomend you “google it” before buying, and check what each box brings. Some of them, brings only the plastic parts and decals, some others brings PE frets, small resin parts and masks.

These builts was made strait out of the box, all of them are PROFIPACK versions. I have no problems with the part fit or wing allingment, whatsoever. The rigging was made using EZ Line, and the wood finish… you know… “google it” Hope you like!!!