Up | Chez Bill Arnold | Gallery | Home
Kit: Rosemont (1:72)
This is the Rosemont AEG J1 all resin kit. A joy to build to say the least. The molding is superb, and everything you need to build it is in the box...including excellent decals for one version.
This is one of my favorite methods for masking.
The kit went together with no problems at all. Model Master and AeroMaster paints were used. Windsor Newton oils enhance the panel lines. I did substitute contrail strut stock for the kit supplied resin struts. The model is rigged with Ethicon .005 stainless steel. Special thanks to Barry at Rosemont for the opportunity to build
this little gem, and to Diego Fernetti for his invaluable assistance in providing additional reference photos, and information.
Kit: 12 Squared (1:72)
The kit was a "started" gift from my mentor Ken Henderson back in '94. I have had this kit laying in a box since then. I needed something quick and easy to finish up 2005. This was perfect. I have about four hours invested in this model. It is painted in RLM colors, rigged with Ethicon stainless and edged with a Sharpie marker. The national markings are Americal Gryphon.
Kit: Meikraft (1:72)
Meikraft Dornier D.I. Built out of the box. P/e ehhaust was discarded, and a new one scratched out of brass wire. P/e seat was replaced with a generic Roseparts resin seat.
Kit: Pegasus (1:72)
This is the Pegasus Halberstadt DII. Typical "soft" plastic...poor instructions, and excellent decals.The level of detail was far superior to any Pegasus kit I had built before. Only lead foil seat belts have been added to the interior. Construction was very straight forward, and only a small amount of superglue was needed as filler on the bottom of the fuselage. The lower wings were "pinned" with brass rod in four places. The cabane struts, tail skid supports, and rudder supports are .020 evergreen rod stock. The outer struts are from the spares box. Thank you Roden!! They were an exact fit. The model is fully rigged with Ethicon stainless steel, and painted with Model Master paints. The colors used were rust, Euro 1 Dk green, wood, radome tan for the CDL, and insignia white. The engine (which is white metal) was painted steel and given a wash of black water color paint. It stained the paint, and built up nicely in all the "nooks and crannies" of the engine. The model itself was coated with Future and given an artists oil wash just to enhance the ailerons, and the fuselage details. All decals are from the kit, although the white backing was cut away and only the crosses themselves were used on the upper and lower wing. Construction from start to finish took three days. The model is quite "nose-heavy" due to the metal engine, landing gear, and wheels. The kit prop was replaced with one from the spares box. My reference photo showed the arc of the prop well over the top of the upper wing. The kit prop barely made it to the leading edge of the top wing.
Kit: Phoenix (1:72)
This is the Phoenix release (Blue Ryder) vac kit of the Junkers J2. An odd looking plane to say the least. Often referred to as the "Tin Donkey". The kit was a very simple build. All the white metal parts that originally were included in the kit had been lost. New Landing gear, prop, roll bar, and wheels were all either scratched or taken from the spares box. The national markings are Americal Gryphon, and the numbers are a hodge podge from various sources. The large "E" is actually a number 6. Thanks to Dave Rhuling for the kit, and the technical help.
Kit: Roden (1:72)
Inspired by Bill Powers, I undertook this project. This was built OOB with only seatbelts added from lead foil. Floquil RLM 73, ModelMaster RLM75 and RLM 65 were used for the colors. The kit decals finally reacted after four applications of CHAMP setting solution. Total time spent building and painting this model was less than ten hours. It was masked with silly putty. Looking forward to tackling the short version.
Thanks to Bill Powers great article, I was able to convert this kit to a short fuselage version. I also borrowed his color scheme.
Other than shortening the fuselage by 5/16" this is an OOB project. A totally different color scheme was employed on this model for something different than the first D1 build. Lead seatbelts were added and ethicon stainless was used for the bracing on the l/g. The model was masked with silly putty. An acetate windscreen was scratched and added.
Kit: Eduard (1:72)
The rudder fin support struts were tossed, and new ones were scratched from evergreen strip stock. The top wing profile was corrected thanks to Dave Rhuling. The model was masked with silly putty. Eagle Strike five color upper and lower lozenge was used. The rigging is Ethicon stainless
Construction time from start to finish was 5 days. Special thanks to Dan Hartz for the Rimmel profiles and Andrei Koribanics for the hand made decals.