Revell 1/72 Fiat Cr 42 J11

I built the 1/72 Revell Fiat Cr42 as the Swedish Air Force J-11 an aircraft bought initially for reconnaissance duty but forced in service as a stopgap fighter when the Us stopped all delivery of aircraft to Sweden in 1940. The kit probably dates from the 70s or early 80s and is rather crude by today’s standard. The thick wing struts and the lack of gun ports are the kits main downfall.  I only build it to try out my new Infinity airbrush. I wouldn’t recommend anyone buying this kit, go instead for the excellent Italeri kit.

I opend up new gun ports and painted camouflage with Gunze H47 Red Brown, Tamiya XF59 Dessert and Lifecolor UA 530 Green. The underside was painted Gunze H53. The decals were a mix of kit decals and some old spare decals. The biggest problem was fixing the upper wing to the fuselage and lower wing, it took a lot of super glue and mild force. Well it turned out ok in the end but if you look close it looks like a flying lumberyard due to the thick struts.  

   

Special Hobby Seversky P-35 / J-9 finished

Well there it is the Special Hobby J-9 Swedish defender. A very nice and much needed kit of the P-35 the aircraft that defended Swedish airspace together with the Reggiane Re.2000 (j20) during most of the war. Both types hopelessly outdated already from the start and only a desperate stopgap measure until the Swedish built FFVS j22 and Saab J21 could be delivered.  

Links to the build report and inbox review:

Build report

Inbox review

H & S Infinity Airbrush Update

Infinity update

I am really disappointed in the performance of the Infinity. The 0.15 mm needle nozzle constantly clog up and I find it impossible to get a consistent result, it´s like all or nothing. I have tried different pressures, retarders and paint mixes to no avail. The Infinity 0.15 mm set is probably not made to work optimally with acrylics like Gunze, Tamiya or Lifecolor. What’s even more disappointing is that the Infinity is simply an Evolution with some custom parts to make it look better when studying the spare parts list I found that most internal parts are the same as for the Evo!

Well with that said, when used with the 0.4 mm needle it works and feel exactly like the Evo which isn´t a bad airbrush and I will use it as a backup and for pre-shade technic which demands a comfortable trigger.  It also has to be said that working with Enamel paint like Humbrol may produce a better result due to better flow characteristics of that type of paint.

So my recommendation is:  If you want an H&S Airbrush then go for the Evolution and save a 100 Euro!

Swedish Piston Fighter Colours: 1925-1954

Mikael Forslund's new book about the Swedish piston fighter era came in the mail today. And what a happy surprise it was, I thought it were to be a small paperback like the same author’s book on the J-21 fighter but it turned out to be a big A4+ size, 264 page, hardback.  It is loaded with photos, some in color, and beautiful color drawings depicting various camouflage and markings for the different types of aircraft . All aircraft are described in english text and in chronological order from J-1 Phönix D.II to the  J-30 DH Mosquito NF Mk XIX, all with plenty of pictures and illustrations  At the end of the book there is a short summary about colors and markings (but if you want to immerse yourselves in that topic you really need the book “Kronmärkt” ISBN: 9789172430037)

This is the book to have if you are the least interested in piston fighter aircraft in Swedish air force service and it is an Aladdin's cave for the Swedish Air Force modeler. The price for the book ranges from 28 to 40 Euro so it pays to check prices online. I bought my copy online for aprox. 28 Euro including shipping.

Publisher: Mushroom Model Publications

Language: English

ISBN-10: 8361421726

ISBN-13: 978-8361421726

Harder & Steenbeck Infinity Airbrush

I bought a new airbrush today a Harder & Steenbeck Infinity 2 in 1. I will use it for fine lines and advanced camouflage like leopard dots and smoke rings, etc. The Infinity 2 in 1 kit comes with two needles, 0.15 mm and 0.4 mm. I will use 0.15 mm set up most of the time but it's good to have a medium needle backup in case my Iwata should ever fail. 

Now I have three Airbrushes, the Iwata for most jobs, the old Evo for solvent based paint type Alclad II and the new Infinity for the really delicate jobs. I will be back with a Review in a year or so.

SPECIAL HOBBY 1/72 Seversky J9 - Build report.

Construction of the Seversky J9 is moving forward. All parts are painted and only assembly of wheels, weapons, etc.. Remains. I'm a little unhappy with camouflage, I feel that the dark green color needs to be a little more dominant, I might paint on another coat of dark green.

The kit is relatively easy to build, the only difficult part is fitting the wing to the fuselage. Generally, all parts fit a little tight so sandpaper and small drills are good to have on hand. The instructions say that you should paint the parts B22 and B7 black, but if you do the instrument film will not be visible, it is better to paint these parts white where instruments film should sit.

If you choose to paint scheme A then you should use part A13. I used the recommended colors except the yellow-green that I mixed Tamiya XF4 with XF3 until the mix was more yellow than green.

Seversky P-35 update

The arrival of the excellent book” Swedish Fighter Colours” trigged some last minute changes to my model.  At page 100 there is an excellent colour picture of Blue Erik at F8 wing and my first reaction was that it was the same as the kit version A, but a closer look reviled lots of differences, In fact it’s a another individual.

  The most obvious is the lack of the blue ring around the engine cowling and black & white marking on the wing bottom. Minor differences is the smaller size national insignia on the upper side of the wing, lacking of white bottom on the letter E, a blue spinner and the longer air intake on the engine cowling. All this needed to be corrected.  Now it´s just waiting for a light wash and a satin finish.

The kit is highly recommended.


Pictures of the finished model is here:

http://hogges-modellbygge.blogspot.se/2013/01/special-hobby-seversky-p-35-j-9-finished.html

2012 Summary