Sikorsky Ilja Muromets

 Sikorsky Ilja Muromets by Boris Ivanov.

My good friend Boris Ivanov from Vyborg comes every year  to Kuopio. He is a very skilled scale models builder. Especially when he is doing airplanes. Here is his "Ilya Muromets". 1:72. See and be inspired

From Wikipedia,:
The Sikorsky Ilya Muromets were a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and military heavy bombers used during World War I by the Russian Empire.[1] The aircraft series was named after Ilya Muromets, a hero from Slavic mythology.[2] The series was based on the Russky Vityaz or Le Grand, the world's first four-engined aircraft, designed by Igor Sikorsky.[3] The Ilya Muromets aircraft as it appeared in 1913 was a revolutionary design, intended for commercial service with its spacious fuselage incorporating a passenger saloon and washroom on board.[4] During World War I, it became the first four-engine bomber to equip a dedicated strategic bombing unit.[5] This heavy bomber was unrivaled in the early stages of the war, as the Central Powers had no aircraft capable enough to rival it until much later.[6] The Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI of 1916-17 was the only example of any of the Imperial German Riesenflugzeug airframe designs to be produced in any quantity during World War I.

Thanks from viewing!

Avatar bow

ntti Karppinen wants to make avatar photos and ask me if i build something. And  i make  full  scale  Avatar ceremonial bow.  The schedule was busy but I'm happy with the result. some of the things I would have done differently and done more details if have more time.  but here final result.

take also look others Avatar photos and bigger photos to Antti's homepage : 

 I SEE YOU – THE AVATAR STORY

also my valokuvaus sivuilla.

Aichi D3A1 Type 99 By Angel Martinez

Next weekend I'm going to  Lahti's scale model exhibition. Friend also sends its own model with me.
So here is her fantastic aircraft

Aichi D3A1 Type 99

On December 7th, 1941 over 100 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers darkened the skies above Pearl Harbor. Their 550 lb (250 kg) bombs ripped through ships, destroyed aircraft and killed American servicemen in the worst surprise attack America had ever suffered. These aircraft were fast, agile, well-armed and lethal; the U.S. Navy felt their bite time and again throughout the war, losing more ships to this plane than any other warbird.

Model : 1/48 Aichi D3A1 Type 99 Bomber Model 11 Limited Edition
Hasegawa 
Stock Number: HSGS5142
Mfg. Number: 51042 CH42

Modeler  Angel Martinez

Abandoned Mig 15 Bis - Tamiya 1/48 By Peter Cottingham

Abandoned Mig

I’ve always wanted to try to build a heavily weathered, bare metal aircraft. I had Tamiya’s Mig 15 Bis Clear edition sitting on my shelf for years, gathering dust. It was probably one of the first kits I purchased when I took up this hobby 3 or 4 years ago but I never really took to.

With no specific strategy in mind for the paintwork I pressed on with the build stages and wasn’t disappointed with the usual Tamiya fit and finish. The outer fuselage was particularly well moulded but did lack some finer detail.

I purchased some “Rosie the Riveter” wheels to add further rivet details on the fuselage and while waiting for them to arrive I bashed on with the cockpit. This was a basic affair out of the box so I set about applying the science of “gizmology” or “ adding bits of old parts and sprue to make it look sort of appropriate and more detailed”.

 Parts laid out and ready to assemble

 Cockpit up-detailed with a spot of “gizmology”

 Cockpit dry fit into fuselage

In addition to the cockpit I also added the de-humidifying pipes and scratched up a more believable gunsight from sprue and old parts I had lying around.

Then the cockpit got a spot of paint and weathering to represent an old and well worn workplace. This, of course, was all pretty much a waste of time as the canopy would be fogged from age, obscuring all the details inside. At least I’ll know it’s there right?

 Painted cockpit installed. Belts were paper prints from a photoshop master I created.

The kit comes with a nicely detailed engine. However, I didn’t want to depict the Mig split in half in this instance so elected to tack the front and rear fuselage halves together so I can go back and do the engine some real justice in the future.

 The nicely detailed jet engine won’t be seen.

Once the major elements were prepped it was time for final assembly. The canopy was masked and smaller parts, like landing gear, fuel tanks and nose cowling, were set aside for painting later..

 Final assembly.

There are many reference images available on the net for abandoned aircraft but I was looking to create something that showed off the look of old aluminium metal rather than the usual depictions in models of shiny bare metal with variegated panel shades.

I found the below pic and thought it might be possible to get close.

 Reference pic of an old Polish Mig.

I used Titanium paint over a Mr Surfacer 1200 primer which was lightly sanded back for a smooth base. The rosie riveter tools also arrived so I set about adding rivet lines in appropriate places, with a spot of guesswork too.

 Tamiya’s titanium enamel paint.

Sadly I didn’t take any step by step pics of the actual paint and weathering stages as I get so involved in the process that I often forget. It is also pretty difficult to remember exactly what steps and sequences I applied the different mediums used.

The titanium basecoat was spotted with medium sea grey enamel applied with a sponge and then rubbed over with dark pigments. This was then sealed with klear and the number decals added. These were then weathered with sanding sticks and scalpel to create the chipped worn effect. After resealing the decals I then added a lighter overspray of titanium mixed with white and a touch of buff.

Then the panel lines and rivets received a thin wash of AK Interactive’s engine grime, followed by a delicate brush over with dark pigments. This was then resealed with a matte varnish ready for more filters and washes. I also used an overall dark wash with Flory products and this was left to dry for a few days.

Once the washes were fully dried I began to rub back some of the flory wash with a dampened Q-tip to get some streaking in the lower fuselage. This was accentuated with further streaks of AK’s engine grime applied with a thin brush. Further details were added with the AK engine grime around rivet and panel lines and subtle use of the AK slimy green wash was used to create small areas of algae build up.

 Partially complete weathering.

Final steps included using some green chalk powder to add some green tinges to the wing surfaces and tail uprights and then the front cowling received an overspray of light blue acrylics which was then chipped back with water for the old paint look.

AK Interactive rust washes were added around the canopy frames and panel lines and the whole build received a final coat of Matte varnish.

The finished build was placed on a simple pre-made ground cover sheet, glued to a cut MDF base.

Here’s the final pics, the first of which was a simple photoshop overlay on a suitably stark background. Hope you like.

Peter Cottingham

Modeler  Peter Cottingham

Steyr 1500A Tunisian Oasis Diorama By Peter Cottingham

Steyr 1500A Tunisian Oasis Diorama

By Peter Cottingham

 Box Art

I built this venerable old Tamiya kit about 12 months ago, and, as expected with a Tamiya kit, it fell together easily. The only tweaking to the basic kit was to open the bonnet flaps and add a few dings and scratches.

With a DAK scheme, and Tunisia in particular, in mind I gave the Steyr a dusty finish with a well used, but not dilapidated, appearance. Although I had no proof for or against I decided to remove the rears seats and create a makeshift, long range supply vehicle, loaded with fuel, ammo and water, and settled on idea for a diorama base set in an oasis.

For the supplies I used resin accessories painted up with acrylics and AK washes, pigments and filters. With these all in place it was time to begin the base.

 The finished Steyr with supplies

To start with I found some lovely reference photos of the Chebinka Oasis in Tunisia. It isn’t too hard to imagine that this spot could have actually seen DAK troops and vehicles during the war. I then sketched out a simple plan to mark out where I wanted the main elements to go.

Chebinka oasis in Tunisia

The basic master plan

Using some sturdy Styrene sheeting I built up the walls around a picture frame and began layering cut sheets of foam board to build up the rock walls and ground areas.

Styrene sheet walls around photo frame

 Foam board rock layers

The foam board layers were then trimmed back to create more believable rock walls. I usually resort to using DAS clay for my groundwork but these vertical rock walls posed a problem with the clay adhering to the foam board. I then came across Woodland Scenics “Foam Putty” and found it to be an excellent medium for creating rock faces. It took a bit of trial and error to get right, and the long drying times were frustrating, but eventually I had something I could live with.

Woodland Scenics Foam Putty was ideal for the rock faces

 The final rock walls carved and ready for priming and paint

I then primed the rocks with a rattle can general purpose primer, spraying from a distance so that the paint was almost dry when it hit the rock faces. This gave a slightly grainy surface which is ideal for paint and washes.

Acrylic paints were applied heavily thinned and then I went all over the rocks with a mixture of pigments and washes to simulate the subtle strata colours. A dark wash helped to bring out the deeper cracks and then a light spray of deck tan colour was applied with the Airbrush from above to give highlights.

 The final rock colours and early groundwork.

The pic above shows I’d started on the 2 figures and some small twigs were placed where I hoped to add a palm tree and shrubs. I created the palm trunk from milliput and carved in some simple pattern with a scalpel. The leaves are from Js Works in Germany, re painted to a more realistic desert palm hue.

Palm trunk from Milliput and Leaves from Js Works, Germany.

 Final adjustment of vehicle and figures

For the ground work I used a range of gravel sizes from approx 1cm all the way down to fine sand (from my garden). I applied the gravel and sand in layers using diluted PVA glue to stick each layer down. It was more realistic to start with the larger sizes and end up with a layer of the finest sand.

Once the ground was set I then sprayed a graduated layer of turquoise acrylic into the pool area and gave the waterfall a wash and detailing with AK enamel light grime and dark grime. I also added a few small shrubs and reeds around the water’s edge.

Gravel and sand groundwork with greeny blue spray in the pool areas

The water was created with Woodland Scenics “realistic Water” liquid. Easy to use though patience is required as it must be added in thin layers and allowed to set between each layer. Keeping the layers dust and dirt free was difficult but in the end I settled for a compromise with a few natural looking cat hairs and dust specks adding to the authenticity ;0)

Waves and the waterfall were created by layering on thin applications of the realistic water through a small pipette and the waterfall was also gently teased with a brush to give the white foam effect.

Final tweaks included the addition of some dead palm fronds under the trees, a dusting of light sand pigments and a few more reeds to cover up annoying bubbles that had formed in the water. Then I took the diorama out into the garden to get some daylight photos. Here’s the end result which I am rather pleased with :0)

Peter Cottingham

Modeler  Peter Cottingham