arma hobby

Makin Island P-39Q Airacobra

/ Matt Dyer / Leave a comment

NB: This page has been updated with new photos. The previous photos were not up to an acceptable standard. They were a fialed experiment with handholding the camera. I got the tripod out for these. Much sharper and much better depth of field.

It has been six weeks since I commenced this model, and it is finally completed.  Not that it took  month and a half.  Other activities took much of the time.

This is my third Arma kit.  Some of the parts are very tiny and very easy to lose, so caution is necessary.  The detail of the parts is exceptional.  As mentioned in my previous post, I was fortunate to order the kit prior to its release, so Arma included some 3D printed parts which included the most detailed 1/72 scale seat (with belts molded in) I have ever had the pleasure of using.

Arma supplies three steel ball bearings to weight the nose so the model will not be a tail-sitter.  As I was getting to the end and attaching all the small bits and pieces, I came to a place where I had only the prop and the cockpit doors to attach.  And the model was sitting on its tail!  I was not pleased.  But once I glued the prop and the doors on, it sat on its tricycle landing gear.  That is great engineering on Arma’s part to weight the model so precisely.

I liked the unusual color scheme for an Airacobra stationed on Makin Island in the Gilberts.  The color was unusual;  however, I could not find a match for it anywhere.  I settled for Vallejo Model Air 71.143 UK Light Stone.

These Arma kits are a real pleasure to build and display.  The finished models have exceptional presence on the display shelf.

Thank you for dropping by.

Arma Hobby P-39Q Airacobra 1/72 Scale

/ Matt Dyer / 2 Comments

The last few evenings I have been able to have a couple of building sessions and have made a start on this excellent kit.  I am opting for the color scheme of some Makin Island Airacobras.  They were a type of tan on top and azure blue underneath.  It will be different.

As you can see by that quarter, it is small.  It is a typical Arma product, i.e., very well designed and executed.  The fit is flawless.  The detail is excellent.  Like I have said before, Arma kits are 1/48 scale kits produced in 1/72 scale. (The little round piece is the propeller mount that is sandwiched in the nose.) This is my best guess on “Bell Green”. Who really knows? There was no FS number.

Since I pre-ordered the kit directly from Arma, they included a 3D printed pilot seat as a bonus.  This was my first experience with a 3D printed part.  Cutting it loose was so much easier than many resin parts.  There are many attachment points, but being plastic, they are easily dealt with.  These  parts are certainly the wave of the future.

It is Christmas Eve and the festivities are soon to get underway.  Merry Christmas to all!

Academy F-86F Sabre “Korean War”, 1/72 scale

/ Matt Dyer / 2 Comments

The F86 is one of the iconic symbols of American aviation during the Korean War.  Future astronaut , Marine Major John Glenn, flew one during the conflict when Marine pilots were on detached service with the USAF.

And, they soldiered on for many years in the service of other countries.  I took this photo in the late 1960’s in Korea at Kimpo.  I was flying out on a very old Constellation flown by Flying Tiger Airlines in route to Taiwan when we were halted at the end of the runway waiting for traffic to clear.  This fellow suddenly appeared and obviously possessed a greater priority for take off.  I snapped this photo.  Notice that there are Sidewinder launch rails under the wings near the fuselage.  The aircraft appeared to be well used.

I have been disappointed by some Academy 1/72 scale kits, and I am always disappointed by their decals – except this kit which was a “Special Edition”.  The decals for this kit were printed by Cartograph and were excellent.  The are three markings:  The Huff, John Glenn’s Mig Mad Marine and one other.

I am not sure about the origin of this kit.  The scalemates.com chart was not clear, but I think it originated in the 1980’s.  It appears to be a molding of that vintage.

None the less, it is  nice kit that goes together quickly with no huge issues.  I built this kit as part of my interest in Korean War aviation.

This will be my last completed model for 2022.  The Arma Hobby P-39Q Airacobra is on the workbench now.  However, Christmas guests will be arriving soon, and I will be taking a break from the workbench.

A few months ago I pre-ordered the Kotare Supermarine Spitfire MkI hoping it would be here by now.  I have just received email informing me that production is being delayed due to supply chain issues (ask me if I was surprised), and it looks like a month or two more.  I immediately emailed Kotare and said I understood, let the order stand and I will wait for it to arrive when ready.  Imagine a Wingnut Wings kit of a WWII fighter, especially the aircraft that saved the West from a new dark age.  (I don’t think I am overstating that.)

There is much to look forward to in 2023.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Arma P-51B/C Mustang – Completed

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House quests having left and neglected matters having been caught up on, I was able to spend some time completing this model.

Arguably one of the most famous airplanes that fought in the European Theater, Col. James H. Howard’s North American P-51B Mustang “Ding Hao!” Col. Howard, who was awarded the Medal of Honor, was one of the relatively rare pilots who had the opportunity to down enemy aircraft in both the Pacific and European Theaters. On the nose was painted a phrase he had picked up while flying with the Flying Tigers — “Ding Hao!” — fittingly, it roughly translates as “Top Good” or “The Best”.

Now that I have had the entire experience of building and completing this kit, I am convinced that if Arma had made this exact kit in 1/48 scale, it would also have been a real winner. The engineering and the level of detail would have propelled this model to the forefront of P-51B/C models. The Accurate Miniature models would have been left looking at retirement after decades of service to the grateful modeling community.

On this project, I used the following Vallejo Model Air colors: Interior Green (71.010), US Olive Drab (71.043), Black (71.057) and US Interior Yellow (71.107).

I used Tamiya Lacquer Flat Silver (LP38), which is now my substitute for the no-longer-available Model Master Steel.

Mr. Finishing Surfacer 150 Gray thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner was used as a primer.

Hataka Orange Line (Lacquer) was used for the overall colors, and were Olive Drab 41 (Early) (C004) and Neutral Grey (FS36173)(C265). These were thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. The combination of this thinner and these paints must be experienced to be appreciated. If Hataka was generally available here in the U.S.A., I would use it almost for everything, but alas it isn’t. At least yet. Hopefully it will be available soon in all of its many colors.

Finally, another product relatively new to me is Ammo Lucky Varnish-Mat (A.Mig-2051), which is acrylic resin, applies very easily and dries rapidly to a very flat finish. And, you can touch up with it using a brush.

I said in the recent past that I liked an occasional 1/72 scale project as they can be completed quickly. Well, not here. Arma kits in 1/72 scale take as long as the average 1/48 model.

And the result is a really nice model with tremendous presence on your display shelf.

The Arma P-51B/C Mustang – Painting

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I selected the color scheme depicted on the kit box top – “Ding Hoa!” The main colors will be Olive Drab and Neutral Grey, both of which will be Hataka Orange Line (Lacquer) colors. Hataka lacquers airbrush like a dream when thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. The thinner prevents paint drying on the airbrush tip and allows the application of the paint wet and not drying before it touches the model (a problem with some paints).

The white stripes were applied first with Stynylrez white primer. I find that stripes like this are best applied first as this minimizes the amount of masking one has to do. If I paint the stripes last, I find myself doing a lot of masking to protect the rest of the model finish from overspray.

Lastly, I like to paint canopies separate from the model. It is easy enough to fill the cockpit with damp tissue or some other filler to protect it. No matter how hard I try, somehow on some models some overspray gets on the inside of the canopy. It is like a dust setttling and sticking there. I find doing them separately yields a much clearer canopy, at least it does for me.

The grandchildren are arriving next week, and my hobby room is needed for an adult guest room, so I may not be able to complete this project until they depart.

I was thinking of starting a recently acquired Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXc in 1/32scale. However, I would first like to add an aircraft from the Korean War, i.e., the Forgotten War, and a Hobby Boss F-80C Shoting Star I have will fill the bill nicely.

It is high time to start adding some Korean War aircraft, and I was able to purchase from Sprue Brothers the excellent 2022 IPMS Convention decal sheet “MIG Kills of the Forgotten War”. If you have any interest in the Korean War, grab these before they are gone. You get two F-86 one F-80, one Twin Mustang and two F9F Panthers, and they are presented in 1/48 scale and 1/72 scale. To top it off, they are printed by Cartograph.

The clip holder above from Sean’s Custom Model Tools has become an indispensable tool on my workbench. It is so handy mounting smaller pieces on sticks and keeping them out of the way yet handy to be worked on and painted. The CCI 22LR plastic cartridge box is a good size to apply some tape to and mount flat parts to be painted.

The Arma P-51B/C Mustang

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Kit Box Top (C) Arma Hobby

In January, I wrote about Arma kits in a post. Shortly after that, I purchased this kit. This is nothing less than a 1/48th scale kit molded in 1/72 scale. Much has already been written and said about this kit by better modelers than I. At a local hobby shop, the proprietor told me that he could not keep the kits in stock. And from the attention this kit is receiving on the Internet and in the scale model press, it is clearly a real winner.

With all the zillions of Mustang kits out there one would think that more than a few would be the B or C model Mustangs. Most of what I see are re-pops of the Accurate Miniature kits and of course the Tamiya kit. These are all good kits, but they are in 1/48 scale.

There have been a number of P-51B/C kits in 1/72 scale, to wit: Academy (new in 1999), Airfix (new in 1978), Hasegawa (new in 1992) and Monogram (new in 1967). There were also some European kits during this period.

Not to criticize any of these past efforts (there is always someone who really loves any particular kit), but these older kits seem to have receded from the prominence they may have enjoyed in their heyday. At any rate, it is clear that Arma Hobby hit another homerun by bringing the modeling world a new, state-of-the-art 1/72 scale P-51B/C Mustang.

This kit is an Arma “Expert Set”, which means it comes with photo etch details, painting masks and six marking options. No need for aftermarket extras here.

This is where I am in construction at this time:

I sprayed the interior fuselage halves with Flat Aluminum Tamiya lacquer paint. The Interior Green and Zinc Chromate Yellow are Vallejo Air colors.
Notice the side braces on the seat. I have made 1/48 Mustangs with less detail. That seat will easily fit on a dime. I know this is not contest-winning building on my part, but there are seven (7) tiny parts there to make that much of the seat with a few more to come. I am very pleased with making it look that good.
The interior detail available in this kit far outdistances anything we were being offered last century. It shows how far consumer demand and manufacturing skill have come since then.
The stabilizer is one piece and fits perfectly into the top of the rear of the fuselage
Any putty seen here should be put down to builder error. A little panel line re-scribing will be called for.

As you can see, I am not far from the paint shop. Like my Arma Hobby PZKL P11c, I am really enjoying this build.

Have You Built an Arma Hobby Kit?

/ Matt Dyer / 2 Comments

I built their PZL P.11c early last year and have a couple of their kits in my stash. These kits have 1/48 scale detail in a 1/72 scale model. The “Expert Set” version comes with more decals choices, masks and a PE fret. These kits look really nice when done, and the detail is amazing. Part fit is top notch. I mixed the brown paint from Tamiya acrylic colors to match the colors I saw in photos from museums where preserved and restored examples are found. It looks close. Who knows what Polish Khaki really looked like?

The Poles fought so hard in WWII against insuperable odds. I visited Warsaw a few years ago and stood on the Warsaw bank of the Vistula River where the Poles fighting in the uprising against the Germans would have seen the Russian tanks that were supposed to be helping them. The Russians were only watching and waiting for the Nazi war machine to consume them so they could move in for the spoils.

Arma Hobby PZL P.11c, buuilt from Expert Set version. (c) Matt Dyer

Scalemates show that vendors in Europe have the P-51B/C for sale now, but I see no vendors in the USA yet. I am sure it will be along soon. Followers of “the one true scale” will at long last have a really excellent P-51 with a turtle deck. I am sure the kit is superb and will buy it when once they are obtainable here.

Box cover for the Arma Hobby 1/72 scale Mustang. (c) Arma Hobby

One thing I love about 1/72 scale kits is the fact that they can be completed in much less time than larger scale kits. They make great projects to keep your scale model mojo alive and well.