02.19.2006» Concepts / Intro

Well, now I have 2 projects on hold so I've randomly decided to start a 3rd. This started out as a German Me-109 for an IPMS Group Build where you could basically do anything you wanted to a 109 as long as it resembled a 109 in the end. I had started cutting it apart to make it look like a robot that had transformed from a 109, but wasn't going to meet the deadline so I put it away. Then at the IPMS X-mas party, I recieved another 109 in the white elephant game. I really wasn't sure what to do with it as I'm not big on building WW2 aircraft. I like looking at them, just no real motivation to build one. Both 109's are exactly the same except for color and quality. The gray one has far more flash than the green.

Anyway, the other day I was trying to figure out what to start next that I wouldn't need to worry about waiting on parts and ending up with another on-hold project. I found the 109s and remembered playing a PS2 game called 'Sky Gunner'. I didn't like the gameplay much, but I did like the open-seat single pilot aircraft designs. Based on that I started playing with ideas for making a MaK-like aircraft that's ridden like a motorcycle.

Story-wise... These style aircraft were initialy manufactured as racers. Later when the war broke out, Mercenary pilots began using them as scouting craft due to their high speed, agility, and ability to fly low and fast to avoid radar detection. They were eventually equiped with a gatling-gun mounted underneath, but were not all that useful in combat due to the lack of pilot protection. The mercs nicknamed the craft 'Mosquitos" as they were annoying to enemy forces, but easy enough to swat down.

I started playing around with the chopped-up 109 first (gray) then eventually decided to start cutting up the green oe to use as well. As you can see below, this craft will be sort of a bi-plane in the front. Ignore the tape and wire as i just used them to put the wing into a rough position. I think I want it forward a bit more. Eventually I'll make some nice rigging and booms to hold the front wing into place. The seat and other smoothing was done with Magic Sculpt. I still need to make the contour on the top-front that meets the instrument panel and the motorcycle-handle-like controls. I'll also need to sculpt most of the pilot fig as the one shown is just sticy-tacked into a rough position. The final pilot will have a flight-cap, goggles, parachute and a nice scarf. Anyway, it's a work in progress and here's some pics:

02.21.2006 » Seating for One

Based on advice from Zerobxu I changed the position of the pilot to ride more comfortably. He's into motorcycles and suggested this would be better and I agree. It looks better and adds more of an element of speed to the pose. This won't be the final figure as I'll need to scratch-build a new one to fit properly, but for mock-up I'm using bits of the 1/20 Tamiya Pit Crew set stickytacked together. I will however be cutting off and using some of their boots, these hands and a head which will be modified with a flight cap and goggles later on.

I also got the bulk of the upper-front portion formed from Magic Sculpt. I still have some cleaning, smoothing, sanding, and more MS to add, but it's coming along nicely.

02.22.2006 » Skeleton Crew

Since the last update I did some more clean-up on the "hood" and made the handlebars and grips. These were made with bent wire, wrapped thin wire, and bits of tubing. I needed to make these and put the foot-rests on before posing the pilot fig. I did a lot of chopping up for figs to get the pose I wanted which is that of the pilot leaning slightly to the side and looking over and down. I first removed the head from the torso and made a new neck to get the head into position. Next I took some MS and made a rough lower body. Then I cut off the hands and feet I wanted and added them to the body with floral wire to keep the pose. Lastly I added more MS around the wire and into the body to hold the shape of the wire when I go to add the clothing. The result is a weird skeleton-looking man.

Tomorrow I'll be able to start adding the clothing and such that will make up the flight-suit. You can also see a rough blob on the back. This is the start of the parachute. I also need to make the cloth cover for around the handlebar attachment points to make them look "moveable". Oh, and in the last pic, you can see the start of my gatling gun.

02.24.2006 » Bulking Up

The pilot is starting to take shape now with added bulk from the clothes. It's a slow process however as you can't do too much at once lest you accidentily mash parts that are still uncured. I've done that a lot already and have had to fix quite a few spots. I also started making the wind-screen from heat-formed clear plastic and misc photoetch given to me from an IPMS member who didn't need it.

02.25.2006 » On the Skids

The pilot is still taking shape a little bit at a time. THe only thing I have a photo of at the moment (even though I'm slightly farther with the arms) is the lead-foil straps on the chest where I made hooks from leftover LED leads. Pays to packrat small bits of wire I suppose. I also added a pic of the underside of the wings as someone was curious about them.

I also finished the skids. Again, they're a little farther along than the pic shows, but not by much. The only change is that I added some hex-bolts on the outsides of the ski-mounts. They're made from brass tube, strips, and rod, styrene shapes and 1/300 747 aircraft landing gear parts.

02.26.2006 » Pedal to the Metal

Here's some more progress shots. First is the pilot which is almost sculpted completely. Well... I still need to do a lot of sanding and carving and a nice scarf and details, but he's almost done. I also did the cloth covers for where the handelbars meet the fuselage.

Next up is the gatling gun which is almost done except for finishing the mount to the underside of the plane.

The landing gear is done as well. They too just need mounted.

Here are the foot-rests/pedals I made from photoetch non-slip plate, aluminum tube, brass wire, angles-shaped styrene, misc aircraft resin bits, and mesh screen.

Finall, here's the wire basket I made for the molitov cocktails. It still needs a bit of work, and the mounts created but it's coming out well..

03.02.2006 » Primed But Not Ready

I took some shots of the Mosquito primed today. It's not all primed as it's still not done. I needed to prime it to see how I've done so far on the sanding and shaping. I have a bit of clean-up but nothing too major. The pilot is looking good, but has a ton of fingerprints to clean up from sculpting him. Here's the pics:

03.05.2006 » Exhausted

I've been cleaning up the sculpted parts of the mosquito and adding details since the last update. One detail I haven't shown much of yet is the exhaust pipes. These are made from fiberglass braided tubing with wire inserts, styrene tube, aluminum tube, and heat-shrink tube. Here's some pics:

03.10.2006 » Paint Time!

The Mosquito is all primed and mostly painted. First I primed everything in dark gray Duplicolor primer. Then I gave everything a base-coat of Tamiya Brown. For the plane colors, I painted the craft first with a mixture of Nato Brown, Desert Yellow, and Red. That was painte don as highlights leaving some brown show through as a preshade. Then on the underside of the craft I painted straight Desert Yellow and faded that upward into spots as a sort of cheap Junker camo. Next when that cures in to paint the white tips of the wings and the white stripe behind the seat where 2 of the tubes connect. I also need to paint the "leather" part in front of the instrument panel the same color as the seat.

I also painted just about everything else with their base coats. The "nose" of the prop is Yellow mixed with a little Red. The canteen is just Khaki Drab so far and the fluffy bed roll is Khaki. The roll was made from wetting and rolling facial tissue and tying thread around it. The tissue frayed all over, but that gave it a wool-look which IMO looks pretty cool. The pilot was painted in a mixture of Khaki Drab, Buff, and Khaki. The result is a dull buff-gray-green color which looks great in person. The flight cap will either be light brown leather or dark gray. The boots will be light brown leather. The armor part for the cap is obviously red. The scarf will be a beige/off-white color.

03.11.2006 » Chips and Figure

Here's my progress update for today. The Mosquito was striped with white and Futured last night and decals and paint chips were added today. I also painted more of the pilot figure. He was painted first in Tamiya acrylics with the jump-siut being airbrushed as seen above. All the other colors have been hand-painted. After giving them all their base colors except the scarf knee pads and cap (since they will and have gotten oils all over them) which will be painted after the skin dries. The skin was painted with a base coat of acrylic then highlighted and shaded with oils. The other parts of the figure were highlighted with white oil paint. Next up, the wash... Here's some pics:

03.13.2006 » Staining

Yesterday I added the wash (which was a medium mucky brown) and the staining with oils. These were done the same way as on my KV-2 except I used different colored paints this time for the stain. Blue, white and yellow. Next up is a flat coat to seal and even the finish then the dusting with pigment powders. Here's some pics:

03.13.2006 » Dusted

Here's the latest with dist and rust and some pre-building. I still have to sand-dust the rusted parts.

03.14.2006 » Figure

The figure is almost done. He just needs pack hook painted, another flat-coat, mic and rip-cord added, then some dust to make him look like he's been busy and also to blend him better with the plane. Also pictured is the gatling since I keep forgetting to photograph it. It too needs dust and some more graphite applied.

03.14.2006 » Instrument Panel and Stowage

More progress... the instrument panel is made from brass bezels and panels given to me from John Huff (Tazman3). They worked out beautifully for this kit! I painted the panels, but left the bezels in their natural brass finish for an old-timey look. The stowage is some G scale wine bottles for molitov cocktails wrapped in a mesh, a canteen, and a bedroll.