Getting close to doing a WWI kit, at least she is nicknamed the Spad


Real quick and dirty history speel - The Skyraider started life as the XBT2D-1 prototype and made its first flight on 18 March 1945. By December 1946 the designation was changed to AD-1 and it began being taken into service with the American Navy replacing it's Curtiss Helldivers. The last Skyraider in American service was handed over to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in 1973. The Royal Navy retired theirs in 1962 but several were still flying with the Swedish Air Force into the late '70's. Not a bad life span for a prop job that has it's roots solidly locked in the WWII era.

Sarcastically nicknamed the Spad (by the jet jockeys) after the WWI French wood and wire biplane, she is a truely classic airframe. Big and brutish and able to carry a ridiculous amount of ordnance, she has always been a model i have wanted to build ever since my Dad knocked out what i thought was the coolest model kit ever in the early '80's. Being a Tamiya kit i expect the fit to be their usual top quality and i'm hoping the biggest challenge will be deciding on the plethora of supplied options that i can hang under her wings.

Here's the real deal, notice the single Mig kill under the cockpit, you can read about Spads v Migs over Vietnam here - PART I - PART II







Dirty little creature huh. It seems i can go a couple ways, really really dirty, average dirty or just washed. I think i'll do average dirty and just concentrate on getting the exhaust stains half decent. The stains are a stand out feature of the plane and from some research over the last couple of weeks the undersides were filthy and oil covered as well. A common comment i have seen come up amongst the pilots and ground crew was 'she would run out of oil before she ran out of fuel'








Box art, I'm starting to get quite a collection of these. I have been cutting out the artwork and throwing the boxes away in hopes of making a wall of planes or something one day. Maybe i'm just hoarding.








I'll give this guy a plug this time, him and his mates pop up quite a bit.








Cockpit, another fairly basic affair with a decal for the instrument panel.











This will be the first kit with a pilot in the seat, y'all should know by now i hate my figure work so fingers crossed. Basic colours before any detail work.






Adding a wash, hoping to tone it down with some pigments, knock of the shine and help his arms not look so Barbie girl like.







The pilots home, fuselage is a nice fit and i have only a tiny bit of putty work needed on the top seam.


.




Old v new Douglas aircraft. Size difference is huge considering the whole cowling is still missing on the Skyraider, and she is only a single seater.









This was when i decided she had to be airborne, i was mulling the idea around earlier which is why i needed a pilot. I am going to do her low over some water and hoping to achieve a fast looking water blurry type effect so she looks like she is hauling some a ss. I've managed to get hold of some clear rod which should do the job.










This shows about where the rod will go (blue line) so some drilling required and i'll possibly have to add some weight depending on how front heavy she ends up. The crossed out piece is the lower air brake inner door in open mode, my airbrakes will be firmly shut.







Whilst waiting to get my hands on some rod i looked at the load out options..and there is quite a few. I'm sticking with the bombs and drop tanks as the Olive Drab will add a bit of colour..and i'm a bomb dropping ground pounder in all of the flight sims i used to play.













The drop tanks and 2000 pounders have polycaps for a nice tight wing mount fit whereas the 250s are just slots.











Now the fun begins. Because she is flying she needs to be wheels up and the kit doesn't give you the option, so it's going to be a bit of hacking and filling. The doors are a three piece assembly.










First is to remove the inner wheel well sides and then the front door needs trimming and sanding to sit flush. The area on the wing where the front door sits also has to be trimmed and sanded for the two pieces to match.










Easy peasy. The side doors after some mucking around were easier to glue together first so i could see how the one section fits to the wing. Fairly average as it turns out but shouldn't be a biggie. The main thing was ro make sure it lines up with the front section, everything else has to work around that.








Trimming, sanding, putty and i let it sit for a couple of nights before attacking it again.








The rod i ended up getting at a curtain and blinds shop, it's called a flick stick and is the twist piece you use to open end close blinds.








Pilot dulled down and touched up sitting in the now glued together fuselage. I may have to operate on him and seperate an arm so it can sit on the stick.






Back to the wing and undercarriage. Sanding and then putty, lots of putty, well not really..it just looks like it.




Sanding makes a big difference, she is almost flush now and the gaping holes at the font are nearly gone.




A quick shot of primer so i can see where it stands. Some more putty needed in a few spots but she is getting there.






Back to the loadout. Primer, preshade, silver and then the OD. I'll do one coat of the OD and then some salt chipping with a slightly different mix of OD over it to add some age. The bombs were leftover WWII ordnance so they should have a bit of character about them. The silver really showed up the seams so the tanks and bigger bombs needed filling and sanding and respraying, thankfully the 250 pounders only need a slight sand. The engine got thrown into this mix as well for it's first coats.










Dirtying up the engine with a light wash and some engine oil and engine soot coloured paint. It will get a little bit more love yet.

Sweet, I love the "Able Dog"!

No porcelain throne?

Looking good Ajay.

Obscure reference bonus points!

No dunny on this one, it has been scratchbuilt a few times over the years though.

Little bomb update.

You're really getting amazing in those details.

Looks great, as usual. As it’s in flight check out propblur.com for some added vvrroooommmmmmmm....

Yep looking real good Ajay

Looks great Ajay! I'm a huge fan of Skyraiders. Both because my grandfather flew them in Korea and also because of the cool role they found in Vietnam.

However, I have to say I'm disappointed with your very vanilla selection or ordinance! So many cool choices and all just surplus WWII GP bombs? At least throw some of those rocket launch tubes and rocket pods on there!!!

Man, so many combos. The main reason for the bombs is the colour contrast but i am going to glue up all the ordnance and check it out. I'm locked in with only the centreline drop tank and thinking maybe the 2000 pounders on the inner racks, rocket pods next, rocket tubes then the 250 pounders on the outers. I reckon i need 1000 pounders though not the 2000s. If you can find a pic of this combo i'm in

I'll dig around, but I think from the inside out starting after the 2000 (or 1000) pounders on the inner racks, you'd want to go something like Rocket Pod, then 2 or 3 of the 250 pound bombs, then the rocket tubes on the ends...

If you were doing a USAF scheme, I could give you a much more definitive answer. For USN, I need to poke around...

Here's a start...

Awesome, cheers!

Ordnance selection. The bombs are nearly done, yellow still to be painted on the 250s and i added a hint of the strapping/storage marks to the 2000 pounders. I read recently about the strap marks on some of the left over WWII bombs so thought it might be a cool little detail.

I dont think I've ever seen an actual image of a USN A-1 using the rocket tubes. But a combo of the rocket pods and 250 lb. bombs on the wing stations seems feasible based on what I can find. Definitely some images of rocket pods combined with mk82s.

Yeah i'm really not a fan of the tubes. I wonder if the pods were ever mounted on the inner stations?

Great vid with some unique Navy loadouts at the end.

If you mean stations 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the image I posted, then yes, I believe so.

1st pic is USN. 2nd is USAF.

Here's a shot similar to first loadout you planned, that I seem to be trying so hard to talk you out of... :

Ajay - I thought I was done with models but you've got me wanting to build a Skyraider!

Do it, we need more model posts!


Cheers Nixer, i'll give that a watch tonight.

Loadout decided. After all of that i'm going to run with the 2000 pounders, 20 odd dollars for two 1000 pounders so no thanks Rocket pods, two each wing and then two 250 pounders plus the centre line drop tank. The white i mixed had some gunk in it so the tank gets another light sand and a quick respray, plus needed some more putty work on a seam.






Engine and nose








Exhausts with the first colour on








Upper intake and nose fillets. I can't find any info on those or what they do. Some sort of air deflectors but for what?






Wingy bits





All the bits so far





First full trial fit up

Ajay, great build, as usual.

I found this, part of some kids university thesis, re the fillets:

THE HISTORY OF THE 6TH AIR COMMANDO SQUADRON
1967 TO 1969
By
Arthur R. Halliday
July 2010

The second feature was four flat fins behind the cowl flaps above the top
exhaust stacks set. The fins were staggered one behind the other and two per side. They
prevented the pilot’s night vision distortion from engine exhaust flames during night sorties.

The Skyraider, cool name for something so....not good looking, proved beauty is only skin deep in two wars

Awesome find, cheers. They had me stumped as to what they did.

I love the way this board always has someone knowing the answer, even to the most obscure questions...

Getting some colour on.







Exhausts nearly done







Old mate waiting for ride to be flyable






New tail marking options






Tinkering with loadouts













Finally getting cracking on the base.











The lighting is killing the base colours a fair bit. The green shows through a lot more and now i just have to wait for the first layer of the water effect to dry so i can see where it's at.

Can be found on some WW2 airplanes.

I like loadout #1! I want to like #4, but something looks funny with the rocket pod so close to the 2000lb bomb, but then so far from the pod next to it.

But looks great overall! You do amazing work. I'm really excited to see this one finished!

Four looks funny to me as well Malibu. I just finished putting the wing pylons on so hoping it looks better instead of just sitting on the wing like i had them placed above. We'll see tomorrow


Second coat of water effect drying.




First coat of the still water clear, same as used on the Warspite build. Looks a bit arty farty like a subdued Starry night.




Mostly cured, should be totally dry by tomorrow. Up against an old map i have hanging up that is about '76, notice Kampuchea.





Amputated pilot, he has to be a tough sob to fly the Syraider so he'll make a comeback.




Post surgery, used some miliput to roll up his sleeve.





Close, but no cigar, looks like some hand surgery is in order to try and get it on the stick.





Besides the paint rip off from masking and some tidy up work needed on the black/gull grey demarcation line on the fuselage, the front glass needs a small trim so i can pull the rear canopy piece in a smidge to close that little gap.





Pylons painted, of course i forgot the centre line pylon so had to paint it separately, after the brush was cleaned of course.







Rudder and tailplane insignia white sections. I finally ran out of Tamiya tape so will have to do the upper main wing ailerons white and leading edge aluminium tomorrow.









Tail wheel and arrestor hook. Fairly sure i need to tuck the wheel up into the rear bay, i need to look into it a bit closer and see how it sits in flight.

Main paint all done, just some bits and pieces to go like the wing walkways and leading edges then i will mount the clear rod and glue the wings to the fuselage. The ordnance looks much better hanging from the pylons. The 2k bomb isn't sitting in tightly yet as once it is in that poly cap i don't think she will budge easily.










Sorted out the canopy gap and touched up the masking error and some more under canopy painting and added the canopy rail.




Starting to look like something, man, this thing is a beast size wise compared to the WWII jobs i have been doing.

Your attention to detail is superb.


Wheels

Finally got to the stage where i could mount the clear rod. I built up a base of putty in layers over the last few weeks around the hole inside so the rod isn't just relying on a couple of mm of plastic. It's now nestled in about a centimetre of putty, glued with cyano glue, let set and then topped off with another layer of putty. The top of the rod sits flush against the fuselage spine as well so it should be all good.




Final test fit of the wings before they get mated to the fuselage.





Glued, taped and sitting overnight. I put some pressure on the wings to close the gap at the fuselage but the angle of wings is too high so it is what it is.





While waiting i masked up and sprayed the front cowl section, i was worried this may be a bit iffy but my taping job ended up being ok. I'll let it settle for a few days and then give the silver a cloth rub to smooth it down a bit.













Exhausts mounted and exhaust stains nearly done. I really should have done the stains before putting the wings on as they were exactly where i needed my hand to be when airbrushing. Based them black with some engine soot/oil colour mixed in and then played around with some compounds. They seem a bit stark to me atm but i will leave them alone until after i clear her her for weathering. I think i'm just too used to seeing her all nice and clean and the stains on all that grey and white are freaking me out

The exhaust soot looks great. Remember in that video I posted earlier, they had guys constantly wiping that stuff off...

I think they called them "Swabbies"!

In the Air Force, confused "Wing Wipers". (Just some friendly inter-service ribbing there)

I am no rivet counter by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn't help but notice ELEVEN (11) exhaust pipes.

18 cylinder engine with 11 exhaust pipes??

From the Wiki: "were inserted into the exhaust piping of each group of six cylinders," Still no clue where 11 pipes come from???

Same basic engine was used on the B-29. I never knew this:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_R-3350_Duplex-Cyclone

OK, back to the guy with the talent.

The 3 pipes must be 5 into 3 as from what i can find the odd one is 3 into 2. I wonder if that was specific to the Skraider because of engine orientation or rather part of solving the heat issue with rerouting of the system?

Speaking of B29s, the attempt to salvage Kee Bird in '94/'95 , a Cold War B29 that made an emergency landing in Greenland in '47 is an interesting watch if you haven't already seen it.

Frozen in Time

Crap it's blocked by PBS in this country

Do a search for unblocking YT vids that are region blocked, there is multiple ways around mate

Thanks M8 I've been thinking about adding a VPN for awhile ,,now is the time i really want to watch that video

Googled Kee Bird" , "Frozen in Time" and this is one site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g3ZU0ZEVRk

After you watch it you may wish you had not. It's heart breaking.

Agreed It's a roller coaster of a watch.


Masked and painted the leading edges, i really ended up doing this all ass about face. I should have done these and the still to be done black outs on the wings before glueing them to the fuselage. I also should not have stuck on any of the pylons as all i have done is make it hard on myself for no other reason than my head has been in fairy land for half of this build.





My cut price rendition of the Bell X1





Silver on





Same as with the engine cowl, i will wait a few days and then give these a decent cloth rub.

Had to dry my eyes but still glad I watched it..

Glad you got to watch it mate.Very coo, although tragic, doco.

Arggh. I just did a 10 picture update but only hit preview post and then thinking i posted, shut down the pc for the night and then checking it now on my phone as i always do realised what i did. Will re-update tomorrow

Ok, let's try again. Pylons, flaps and tail wings on. The flaps needed some sanding to fit, tight, and the flap hangers need some touch up as does underneath the rear wing.





Tail wheel assembly cut in half and snugged in nicely.








For some reason i thought i needed to add a skirt to the canopy mechanism... so i modelled this (if you can call it that) out of milliput from a cutaway drawing i have of the plane. I should have just left the mech open but it's done and dusted now. The colour i have started to paint it, a canvasy/khaki type of colour is way off as it should be white so it is still a wip.








Wing radar warning antennas painted, cleared and ready for decals after she cures.








Decided against using the supplied decals for the prop. Those things are no fun at all, require fine trimming and just never really fit great, painted looks better and is less work.









That was last nights failed post, today was decalling. I was going to finish off the canopy rail skirt but i'll dive into that tomorrow with the other small touchup stuff. Started out with the fuselage split decals..






...that match up with the rear top of the fuselage dive flap






After initially placing them both, i found you have to overlap them to get a neat fit, this was about as good as i could get regards matching the star and stripes and edges.





One side done, very nice to have some colour added to all that white and gull grey.





The tip of the bolt should settle with some Markfit applied. Once the AK decal is fully dry i will slice the clear section down the rudder line and Markfit it as well.





I managed to split this engine cowl decal removing it as it was overhanging, always read the instructions first kids





The reason..i still hadn't joined the cowl flaps to the cowl, looking at the decal sheet i was like..oh..that's why it was too long..





Attempt two, engine finally fitted and cowl flaps on. Same as the bolt, this should settle overnight. I let it sit like this for a few minutes before rolling the decal out with a cotton bud and then applying some Markfit.





Opposite side completed.





And left to settle overnight.

Awesome Ajay.

Happy Birthday to ya also mate.

I'll have a virtual one with ya later...well real for me.

Hit the big five o so i am officially an old f art. That number that seems impossibly far away when you're a kid building models finally caught me. Cheers mate, look after yourself.

Ajay the Mona Lisa is a cartoon compared to your work and Happy birthday Mate..This month I'll be 71 being 50 felt like yesterday

Happy birthday Ajay. I hit that milestone last year, can't remember being happier!

Thanks guys, the old time...she certainly flies by!

I have discovered that no matter how hard and fast you run time still catches-up with you.

And the grey hair is inevitable... creeping towards my 64th...

Geez, not sure whether you guys are making me feel better or just older,
This year's end, if I make it, will see the first digit change to an eight.
...You young whippersnappers....

There's always gotta be that guy that out does everyone else

Here's to the next twenty Fittop

Or the lack of hair.

… or the growth of hair in unwanted places


We`ve really become a bunch of old farts, when I first joined first here was when this other sim-site (forgot the name) had gone pay-ware, I was in my early 30ies back then.

@ Ajay: superb model!

Clear and weathering. I've noticed with a couple of my kits that the decal softener i use, Markfit, is affecting my paintwork so i'm going to have to change it out for the microsol and microset from now on. More on that further down. I ummed and ahhed a bit about how i was going to tackle the weathering, the underneath and the vertical fuselages streaks on the side make me nervous I decided to go all in, these birds get dirty.



The tank and engine oil shouldn't be so bad...




...it's fuselage that worries me the most, but i'll see what i can do.





Started off with some panel liner after clearcoating and letting it sit for a few days. Once that had set i used two different acrylic engine oil colours that i hope will blend together a bit better once i get to the oil weathering stage.















The prop decal never fully settled, i worked it about as much as i could before it got to the 'starting to fall apart stage' The tail decal i had to slice to get it to seat neatly around the light fitting.








Gorgeous day outside so i moved the whole shebang out of the shed and invested in some rums. This whole staying trapped at home is getting a bit barmy.









Oiled wing compared to non oiled.










Oil and white spirit mix on





First wipe over. You can see the Markfit issue here around the decal.





Second wipe over





Mostly done. Qtips and the white spirits sorted most of it out. I'll give the whole plane a final wipe down before i do the dull clear coat.





Lower about halfway through





Cowling started









Lower mostly done... and i only managed to break one piece.




Fuselage sides, just getting to this stage took what seemed ages..the day had well gone and the moon was well up.






My eyes ended up about as blurry as that last shot so i called it quits for the night Still a bit of mucking around to go with the oil paint and then let it sit for a few days and settle.

Flatted out and drying after a hundred and one little touch ups,






Ordnance and nose finally on.






Cannon, canopy, antenna to go and i think that's it. I need to clean and reclear the base as well.

Spruced up the base with a couple of coats of clear and mated the model to it for eternity, barring cats, with some zapagap. My old photo box was too small for this kit so i have had t revert back to a couple of sheets of large card.






So here is the big dirty girl.

































I had a patch of a few weeks in the middle of this one where i slowed right down and was just procrastinating with it. I managed to give myself an extra shove in the last week and get her knocked out. It felt like i had to switch over to the reserve tank to get home


Edit - annoyingly i didn't notice the loose rocket pod pylon until i rechecked my photos. Some of them were a tight fit so i didn't glue them if i felt they didn't need it. That one, in hindsight, clearly did. Doh!

A marvellous job there!
Before mounting it on base for eternity, are you tempted to hand-fly it round your workroom with a 'skeeeeoow, takka takka takka!"?

Kite looks as though it leaks oil like a 1960's BSA bike!

That's an impressive build and finish there Ajay. So this is what keeps you away from WoWs.

All the models I ever built and painted in my youth had that factory fresh look,it never occurred to me to weather them or give them a used look. The only time they ever had battle scars was when I hung them with string from my gran's washing line and shot them with grandad's pellet gun

Or a Detroit Diesel.

Another superlative piece of work Ajay.

Yep, another museum quality build. You do have the talent Ajay.

Real nice work. Good job

Insane. Simply insane!

Fantastic!

Thanks all. From what i've read about it, if she wasn't leaking she was empty! It kind of makes one wonder if they ever solved the issues or just kept on topping them up until they mothballed or sold off the fleet.

Used to put bangers in mine and chuck them out of a bedroom window!

Kids eh lol. We burned a few. I remember running around the back yard with a hurri with its wing on fire trailing that toxic looking stringy black smoke.

Another magnificent job. :cheers

Built some solid balsa Spits, 190s, 109s as a kid. About 6" ws.: Now I will have to go thru the old trunk as I think I still might have a 190.

Finally a plane where your dirtymindedness came into perfect use...

Love the base/flying diorama idea.

Every time i think i will do a clean one...it goes dirty. I guess i just can't go against my grain, cheers mate