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JULY 2012
THIS MONTH
This issue of the Romsey Modeller has been a bit of a trial. I have been beset by computer problems over the last few weeks as my laptop hard disk slowly died. This initially affected my email but then started to loose files. Just before putting the mag together I decided I had to do something so a new disk was purchased and I spent the last two days rebuilding my computer. This has left little time to prepare the normal range of articles coupled with fewer than normal contributions, so it’s a little thinner than normal.
Still we have quality over quantity, with build articles from myself, Russell and Gray and a great piece on the 60th D‐Day anniversary from Steve.
Over the next month we have a new model show at Southampton’s Solent Sky museum and our figure painting workshop which I am really looking forward to.
Also a reminder that Wednesday host the bi‐annual American competition , so don’t forget to bring your entry.
Tony
Stop press : I’ve just got a late submission from Nigel of his review of Airfix’s new Tiger, so the page count is back to normal!
This is the newsletter of Romsey Modellers a group of plastic modellers based in Southern Hampshire. We cater for all modelling genres and skill levels from beginners to well seasoned gurus.
We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 8pm to 10pm in Ampfield, Hampshire, where we often run workshops and club competitions but more importantly have a good chat about our hobby. We also attend most of the local model shows, where we exhibit our member’s completed projects.
We have an open door policy so if you want to sample how we can help you get more out of your hobby or just come and have a friendly discussion (tea and biscuits provided) please feel free to turn up – see the last page for details or visit our web site
www.romseymodellers.co.uk
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CONTENTS
July 2012 ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
This Month ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Club News ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 Hasegawa 1/48 Royal Navy Phantom FGR1 – part 4 bY Gray Sharpling .......................................................... 5 Tamiya 1/48 Vought Corsair F4U‐1D by Tony Adams ........................................................................................ 9 Airfix King Tiger – a Modeller’s review by Nigel Robins ................................................................................... 15 Our longest weekend, with appologies to Cornelius Ryan. Memories of D Day by Steve Edwards ................ 18 Badillac by Russell Eden .................................................................................................................................... 20 Club Diary ......................................................................................................................................................... 23 Contact Info ...................................................................................................................................................... 23
CLUB NEWS
FIGURE PAINTING WORKSHOP BY STEVE EDWARDS
The guys from The Basement are coming to demonstrate their figure painting techniques on Sunday July 29th. The event will be free to all members; all we ask is that a donation to Pat’s chosen charity which is The Marie Curie Cancer Trust, any donations will be gratefully received no matter how small.
I have received the itinerary from Kevin, also an email saying that they are all going to donate their fuel payment to the charity that we are supporting. I think this is extremely generous of them as it means they are coming down from the Bath area and giving their time completely free of charge, and I hope we can repay their kindness by making sure that plenty of us attend the day.
ITINERARY:
09:00 ‐ 10:00 The boys from TB arrive and set up
10:15 ‐ Members to arrive/meet and greet
10:30 ‐ 11:15 Introduction into Acrylics painting .......Kev Peart (Nap on The Basement)
11:30 ‐ 12:15 Introduction to Oil painting ...Jim Evans (Jimbo on The Basement)
12:30 ‐ 13:15 Sculpting with Rob Lane (Elanlane on The Basement)
13:15 ‐ 14:00 Using MDP Products ‐with Martyn Dorey ( War Griffon on The Basement)
14:00 ‐ 14:30 Break for lunch if wanted
14:30‐17:30 Club members model with TB members on hand if needed
17:30 ‐ Thank you and farewells
Those attending should bring their own paints and brushes etc, a figure to paint, or selection of figures, these ideally should be 1/35th or larger, and a lamp if they require one.
The basement guys will have a selection of busts for sale if anyone wishes to buy them, they can be viewed at http://www.tbfigureworld.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:eek:gre&catid=19:the‐figures&Itemid=43
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The lunch arrangements will be discussed at the next meeting, but for anyone who can’t attend that but will be there on the day, my suggestion is that you bring something to put on the table as we do for the xmas meeting.
This is an opportunity not to be missed, a chance to learn from guys who are masters of their art and who, having spent a weekend with them last year, are also good company.
So come along and support them, the club, the charity and learn how to paint figures, I guarantee you will learn something that will improve your modelling.
TTFN
Steve
SOLENT SKY MUSEUM MODEL SHOW; 21ST JULY
Romsey Modellers will be attending this new show in Southampton on Saturday 21st July. I have no details of how much table space we have or car parking arrangements at the time of writing ( I have asked) , however Nigel has sent me some useful information:
Regarding the Solent Sky Museum show there is a slightly cheaper public car park which is at the far end of Ocean Village just underneath the Itchen bridge by the waterfront .This is a bit of a trek to the museum, about five mins walk, and I am not sure of the charges for a day. The main Ocean Village car park by the Cinema used to be £8.00 a day, I know as I used to work in an office nearby, these charges may now have risen so unless people are feeling flush that’s not an option. It is really worth having a look around the museum particularly because there is the Spitfire 24 (Pretty Identical to the Spitfire22 to be released later this year) there as well as a Gnat and the Ajeet (Indian fighter version) so well worth bringing the camera to get those key shots which will help detailing the Airfix kits.
AMERICAN COMPETITION
The July meeting hosts the next round of our 2012 competition’s and as the title suggests your theme is any model that has an American connection. This competition is now held every two years, so the winner will be the champ for some time!! The normal rules apply, any model, any genre, any scale, as long as its plastic/resin and not diecast! Please note Sean will be checking the validity of your entry post competition if the connection appears suspect in anyway!! A trophy will be on offer as well as some supplies of scalpel blades courtesy of www.scalpelsandblades.co.uk .
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HASEGAWA 1/48 ROYAL NAVY PHANTOM FGR1 – PART 4 BY GRAY SHARPLING
Talking to a fellow modeller at last month’s club meeting, he said he thought he was a slow builder as he only managed to complete maybe four, and at most six, kits per year. He looked at me very oddly when I told him my rate was looking to be maybe one to two kits per year – if I’m lucky. One thing is for sure, my next kit is definitely not going to be as ambitious as this has turned out to be.
Anyway, to continue from last time...
Test card I sprayed (front and back) to compare the differences between my Tamiya metallic colours
In preparation for painting, I needed to get a feel for how different the various Tamiya metallic colours came out. The tail fins and the “exhaust tunnels” needed to be at least two different shades of metallic, but the difference is subtle, so I sprayed a piece of scrap plasticard with all my various colours to see how they differed after drying, as compared to “in‐the‐jar”. X‐11 Silver and XF‐16 Aluminium looked very similar, so I re‐did those two on the back of the card next to each other to get a better comparison. This proved invaluable when I came to spray the aircraft itself.
LATHER, RINSE, REPEAT
With the pre‐shading completed (or so I thought – see my previous article in the May issue of the club magazine), I then had some final construction to complete. First I put the external fuel tanks and weapons‐racks together, and then had to pre‐shade those, leaving them off the kit
Eduard pre-cut masks used on the canopy
until I had done the decalling. Then there was the HUD for the cockpit. Four pieces of etch and a tiny slice of clear acetate, and the result was set in place before moving on to the canopy. I had purchased a set of Eduard pre‐cut masks, so I applied these and then glued the canopy down using Formula 560 “The World’s Best Canopy Glue” as recommended by Tony at last month’s club meeting. The windshield and central separator were glued down properly, but I just used a couple of tiny dabs to hold down the two canopy’s over the pilot and weapons officer as a temporary measure during painting. My final intention was to finish the kit with the canopy’s open to show off the etch‐filled cockpit. Then I sprayed the canopy with flat black to give the inside of it the correct colour.
Photo-etch HUD installed “The Bug” – my etch-bending tool (with penny for scale)
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I thought I was done with pre‐shading at this point. How wrong I was. First I painted the first of the metallic colours on the stabiliser fins (still separate at this stage – left on the sprue for ease of handling), and the underside of the two jet‐exhaust “tunnels” with Tamiya X‐32 Titanium Silver. This colour was then masked off, and the pre‐shading re‐applied where I had over‐sprayed the first colour. Then I splayed the lighter metallic colour Tamiya XF‐16 Aluminium for the stabiliser fins and exhaust tunnels.
Pre-shading. Lather...
Once dry I masked that colour off and re‐re‐applied the pre‐shading to go over my over‐spray. Then I applied the white under‐side block‐colour to the aircraft lower surfaces, and the under‐wing stores. Again, this colour was then masked off, and the pre‐shading re‐re‐re‐applied over the over‐spray, ready for the final dark‐grey colour for the bulk of the aircraft upper surfaces. Lather, rinse, repeat. Pre‐shading is a new technique for me, and it took a bit of practice, and a lot of effort, but to my eye, the result looks pretty good so far.
Re-Pre-shading. ...Rinse...
Re-Re-Pre-shading. ...Repeat...
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CLUMSEY ME
Of course, no model of mine would be complete without something going wrong, and this time it was simply my own fat‐fingered clumsiness. In all the handling from masking, painting, and re‐masking, I managed to snap off both the tiny plastic pitot tubes that extend from the front edge of the main tail fin. Drat! I tried to find something vaguely correct and of the right size to replace them with, but my ingenuity and meagre spares‐box failed me, so it was off to the interweb to source some turned‐brass replacements. With priority shipping from Hobby Search 1999 in Japan, I came away almost twenty pounds lighter for two of the tiniest pieces of brass you have ever seen. Once super‐glued in place, they do look much crisper (and sharper – ouch!) than the original plastic versions, but it was an expense, and a week of thumb‐twiddling waiting for them to arrive, that I would rather have done without.
Don’t sneeze, or you’ll never find them! New brass pitot tubes installed.
The final block colour for the upper surfaces, being a very dark grey colour, made the pre‐shading beneath it very, very subtle indeed, but I think (hope?) it’s still visible. Enough to give an all‐but invisible impression for the result, if nothing else? You can judge for yourselves, but I know it’s there. Then it just remained to paint the nose‐cone black, and I could legitimately call the main painting now done, so I cracked open the Tamiya X‐22 Clear Gloss and sprayed the entire model ready for decaling. I know that many people swear by original‐formula “Klear” (or ”Future”), but it’s no longer available anywhere (for a reasonable price – I did see a bottle going for over £25 on eBay!). Plus I have heard mixed reviews on the new formulation, so unless somebody has a better suggestion, I’ll just have to stick with good old Tamiya X‐22 for now I think?
At last, real painting gets started. The flash reflection has washed-out the different tones on the tail surfaces.
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Is the pre-shading too subtle under the dark-grey...? Panel lines not yet washed of course.
UNDERCARRIAGE
Whilst I left the gloss‐coated model to dry for a few days, I cracked on with my Scale Aircraft Conversion white‐metal undercarriage. My buddy in the States who scrounged the kits for me originally strongly recommended that I get some white‐metal replacements as he said the kit was quite heavy and the supplied plastic parts tended to sag ‐ not unlike the old Airfix 1/48 TSR‐2, which I am reliably informed has the same problem!
Some more of the Eduard photo‐etch set, plus a little 0.8mm brass rod enhanced the white‐metal landing gear nicely, and it was on to painting, including the gear doors which I’d forgotten until now. These had to be painted and assembled in exactly the correct sequence, as there were some clear parts for lights, colour tints for the lights, and photo‐etch to be added. So paint the outer‐side first, then secure the clear parts with Formula 560. Tint the rear of the clear parts with Tamiya clear‐colours and back them with kitchen foil to reflect the light. Then fold and glue the etch that covers the back‐side of the clear parts, and paint the inner‐side of the doors. Phew! Get the sequence wrong, and it’s a pain in the proverbial. Photo-etch and brass rod enhanced the otherwise excellent
white metal undercarriage from Scale Aircraft Conversions
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Lights tinted Backed by kitchen foil Photo-etch in place
TAMIYA 1/48 VOUGHT CORSAIR F4U‐1D BY TONY ADAMS
I have decided that modelling is a bit like golf! When I started playing many years ago I improved rapidly from my first hack around the course , after 5 games I was convinced that with the rate if improvement I would soon be winning majors! Of course it didn’t quite happen that way, and pretty soon I my progress bottomed out and as I found out what a bloody difficult game it was, occasionally I went home happy but normally I finished the game frustrated that my score hadn’t improved.
When I started modelling again, particularly after joining the club the quality of my models improved rapidly but just as my golf scores stagnated so has my modelling, as my ambitions for each model is far outweighed by my skills.
This model is a perfect example of this phenomenon, at some points during the build I thought I was on to a real winner but I was ultimately disappointed with the result. Still if you consider that I did start out the build with the intention of using this as a test piece for my Dauntless while having some thing that I could enter into this month’s American competition, perhaps I’m being a bit hard on myself.
The model has been around for sometime, and in it’s many versions is considered to be the best rendition of a Corsair in 1/48 . When I opened the box I was very impressed by the crispness of the moulding as soon learned that the fit was exceptional too. Three decal schemes are included and I quickly decided to build the aircraft depicted on the box of No 167 of VF‐84 from USS Bunker Hill in Feb 1945.
The model can be depicted with wings folded or deployed , as the wing root detail is superb I decided to go for the folded option.
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Work started as normal on the cockpit , which is nicely detailed. I used the kit decal with plenty of microsol to create the instrument panel, which I was quite impressed with. I added some etch seat belts scavenged from my spares box
The seat and rear cockpit with added etch seat belts
The instrument panels is a decal , softened with microsol and pushed into the plastic detail – it looked rather good!
The cockpit tub competed and weathered With the cockpit competed the fuselage was glued together, I used Mr Cement thin glue , running it down into the join while applying a little pressure to squeeze some molten plastic out of the join, when dry this is easily sanded to produce a invisible seam line without the need for filler.
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I did have one problem, the forward fuselarge didn’t quite line up and although there was no join line there was a visible bump.
This required some aggressive sanding with a course sanding block, which removed a lot of the surface detail , partically around the fuel cover.
With the fuselage sanded and rescribed I built up the wings, they consist if a centre section containing the wheel wells and the outer foldable parts. They were all complete when I suffered my first “incident “ with the build as I managed to knock over an almost full bottle of Mr Cement over my work bench including the outer wing sections. I waited a day ( require to calm down) ensuring that the plastic affected was fully dry before rubbing down damaged areas and rescribing. Once complete the wings looked as good as new.
Mr cement spillage is guaranteed to spoil your day It could have been worse , but would take some work to rectify
Once all parts were assembled and sanded they were given a coat of Tamiya Fine surface primer. Any imperfections were resanded and primed.
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There are plenty of photo on the internet that show Corsair with large patch of paint peeling off. I wanted to try some techniques for doing this and after some research settled on a new method.
Firstly all the parts were sprayed metallic aluminium. I used the new Mr Metal Color Aluminium, which I must admit I was very impressed with. It sprayed very well, coving with one coat. When dry it buffed up to a very shiny finish. I must say I got carried away and buffed the whole plan to see what a bare metal finish would like using this paint – it was great! I almost stopped there.
However in the interest of research I continued with the original plan. I used Mr Mask , applied with a sponge to areas that would get high wear such as the wing roots and panel lines. When dry I applied the main colour using Mr Color Navy Blue. The centre on the panels were lightened with Intermediate blue.
Mr Mask applied with a sponge The mask can just be seen in this picture
Navy Blue – it looks like a Corsair now A down side of polishing the metal undercoat
I expected the mask to be easy to remove, but this was not the case. The aluminium undercoat was too smooth to provide a good key for the topcoat and came way too easily, making much bigger marks in the paint than I wanted. When masking the cockpit I managed to pull a big section away ( deja vue).
The engine was assembled , painted black and dry brushed with silver. The yellow band was painted and masked around the engine cowl and assembled to the model.
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The engine assembly Ready for decals
The decals went on reasonably well, I did manage to totally wreak one of the arrows on the tail when I tried to move it after I had applied decal softener. Fortunately it was white so it was easy to cut out a replacement from white decal sheet.
The model was given a coat of future to seal the decals and provide a base for further weathering. Pro Modellers Dark Wash was liberally sprayed over the model and dried with a hair dryer before being rubbed off, leaving behind plenty of grime in the panel lines, wing roots and wheel wells.
As mentioned before the plan was to display both wings in the folded position , however as I was assembling the port wing I broke the wing linkage. I made a number of attempts to fix it but I couldn’t achieve a joint strong enough to hold the weight of the wing, so I decided to instate the one wing in the flight position.
I was now starting to encounter a number of self inflicted problems ( perhaps I was rushing to complete it for this mag!). I had used bare metal foil to mask the canopy, when I removed it , I found the canopy badly scratched due to over rigorous burring as I ensured it was well down. This was partially rectified through the use of plastic polish but it is still far from perfect. The second issue, again inflicted due to my stupidity occurred
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as I gave the model a coat of matt varnish. I should have masked the exposed bare metal as the varnish simply made it look grey – all that effort and I could simply have painted on grey patches – doh.
So once again I am slightly disappointed with the final result, I have a few days before the competition to make some adjustments and perhaps improve my feeling about it – overall it’s a bit of a bogie!
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AIRFIX KING TIGER – A MODELLER’S REVIEW BY NIGEL ROBINS
Before I commence I must say that I am no expert on the King Tiger as I am unable to tell you the exact number of bolts on each drive sprocket or for that matter the subtle variations between individual tanks at various points of time. That said this review is my opinion of Airfix s latest 1/76 tank kit and it is based on my experience of building the model.
I first saw the test shots at Yeovilton earlier this year and I was a bit disappointed with them possibly because last year’s Cromwell had been such a ground breaking model for Airfix. Whereas the Cromwell was clearly a model for this century the King Tiger is more 1980s, in my opinion. The instruction leaflet starts off badly by trying to make a point stating that “This first version of the King Tiger often incorrectly called the Porsche turret, made its combat debut in Normandy”‐ Who really cares. Unfortunately everyone I have ever met describes this vehicle as the Porsche turreted King Tiger mainly because the turrets were originally made for the Porsche type 180 and re‐used on the first 50 examples of the King Tiger.
On opening the box what is immediately obvious is that this kit uses rubber type tracks rather than link and length plastic ones. This is no bad thing if they are produced correctly and the tracks can be stuck together with liquid poly. The Airfix tracks are nicely defined but moulded from glue resistant rubber and had (On my example) difficult to remove flash along part of their edges.
The vehicles tools are moulded on to the hull and whilst they have been re‐produced nicely on the upper surfaces the definition of those moulded to the hull sides and of the tow cables is slightly soft. There is no impression of zimmertitt paste on
any part of the tank which I believe is incorrect as my understanding is that all of these early Porsche turreted Tigers would have had this applied unless, of course, the model is to represent one of the three prototypes,
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which it doesn’t, as it has a segmented turret ring. I believe that some of the Henschel built vehicles did not have zimmertitt applied in the later stages of the war along with other late war production AFVs.
Building the kit is a rewarding experience as the fit of the parts is universally good although the turret ring needs a little filing to ensure an easily rotating turret and the escape hatch on the turret rear is a tight fit. The detail on the kit parts is very nice; I was particularly impressed with the drive sprockets and the wheels. It is a shame that all of the hatches, with the exception of the commanders, are moulded shut as a lot of modellers like to crew their vehicles and it is rare for a tank to be completely closed up. It is also a shame that Airfix have omitted a commander figure as they can produce nice figures and a steel –jawed Teutonic SS tank commander would
add to the completed model. The biggest problem I encountered was fitting the tracks, I have already alluded to the problems with flash but these tracks are quite solid and did not form easily around the idler wheels and drive sprockets. The track joining system
employed by Airfix is similar to that used on Matchbox tanks of the 1970s except that when put under tension, as the tracks are a tight fit, the joint pulls apart. I resolved this issue in the time honoured way by stapling the tracks together with two staples per track and hiding the joins under the track‐guards. I also had to remove the teeth on the drive sprockets and the guide teeth on the tracks to ensure that I could fit the tracks over the wheels and even then it was a tricky job. Luckily I had left the wheels overnight to dry thoroughly but I found that the mountings for the drive sprockets and idler wheels were fairly weak and with abuse and under pressure from the too tight tracks may break or bend in future. Airfix please, in future, provide stronger mountings for these. When I added the hull top, despite it being a perfect fit without the tracks in place, I discovered that the fit was now poor with the tracks in situ and a 1mm gap had appeared at the joint between hull top and rear plate which I had to fill (The only filler on the model) The whole hull top had to be glued on with superglue as normal liquid poly was not up to the job all because of the resistance and flexing caused by the wretched tracks. Regarding the tracks an omission from the kit are spare track links usually carried on the turret sides, though again Airfix may have modelled a vehicle without these fitted and missing their mounting points.
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Whether Airfix will consider producing a Henschel turret for this kit is an interesting point as the Porsche turret comes on a separate sprue so it is not outside the realms of possibility as is the prospect of a Hunting Tiger as, again, the hull top is a separate part. There are decal options for two vehicles from 503 Abteilung one for Normandy 1944 where 12 tanks were used against the British and Commonwealth forces and one for Hungary 1945. The camouflage schemes suggested are the standard late war scheme for 1944 and a white washed scheme for 1945 and the decals are nicely produced and to Airfix s usual high standard though I do question the use of a Porsche turreted Tiger that late in the war but Airfix may have a photo of an example in service. My only other complaint regarding the decals is that you have to cut off the top on one of the crosses to make it fit into place on the body side due to the presence of moulded on tools.
In summary, this is an okay kit of the early King Tiger though I did enjoy building it and I am pleased with the finished model though my camouflage Scheme is not that advocated by Airfix being more typical of later King Tigers. Unfortunately other manufacturers have already produced examples, chiefly in 1/72. It will be improved by the addition of zimmertitt, probably an enterprising cottage industry manufacturer will produce an etched brass set and a set of tow cables and tools in due course which will transform this model into something a bit more special, though the tracks will remain a problem if not an insurmountable one. Compared to the old Fujimi and Nitto kits which are the only other 1/76 King Tigers available; the Airfix kit is a massive leap forward. The Nitto Porsche turret is inaccurate whilst the Fujimi Henschel version, despite being dimensionally accurate, lacks any tools and tow cables and both are horrible kits to build. The Revell kit in 1/72 remains my favourite, the Dragon kits are again nasty to build whilst the Italieri/ Esci kit is a bit dated.
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OUR LONGEST WEEKEND, WITH APPOLOGIES TO CORNELIUS RYAN. MEMORIES OF D DAY BY STEVE EDWARDS
Hello Chaps,
Club members who know me fairly well will know that I have ridden motorcycles for most of my life. What they may not know is that I have three brothers, one of which also rides bikes.
A suggestion was made in late 2003 that the four of us should take a holiday together on a couple of bikes, an excellent idea but where should we go? Andrew suggested a long weekend in France, ‘why not Normandy?’ he said. From this little seed grew the idea that we should go to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D Day.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was certainly not what I experienced that weekend. I don’t think the goose bumps went down for the whole four days. It being eight years ago now, I can not guarantee to get events in the correct chronological order, but I am sure you will appreciate the sentiments.
The morning we arrived it was drizzling with rain, great fun on a bike, but it soon cleared and we had red hot weather for the rest of the weekend, which was the icing on the cake.
We found the French very welcoming, but there was a special atmosphere there that weekend. What I had expected were some organised events to celebrate the occasion, what I found was Normandy awash with veterans, re‐enactors, military vehicles from the war and people of every nationality.
We went to Pegasus bridge which I found very moving indeed. ‘The Longest Day’ has always been one of my favourite films, and I have always found the action to take it incredibly well executed by all involved. The original bridge was replaced some years ago, but the original was put in a field next to the canal and now forms the hub of an excellent
museum.
To walk on that very bridge put a huge lump in my throat, the damage to the counter weight from small arms fire can still be plainly seen, and I took a few minutes to reflect on the sacrifice made to capture and keep it. Little did I know that there would be more very moving times to come.
We stayed at a hotel in Honfleur, and whilst wiping dead flies off my Triumph Bonneville I was accosted be a load of Parachute regiment veterans, waiting for their coach to take them to a memorial event.
It was quite humbling to see how modest they were. I was trying to ask them about their experiences but all they wanted to talk about was the Triumph. I wanted to shout
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‘never mind the bloody bike, it’s not important’, but of course I didn’t, and seeing the enthusiasm on these old heroes faces for my bike, I have to admit to a feeling of pride.
We went to Arromanches which was in the sector of beach codenamed Gold, and was one of the beaches that the British landed on. It also has the remnants of the Mulberry harbour in its bay.
They had planted a small union flag for each casualty on the beach, like the ones we used to put on sand castles as kids, ‐ you couldn’t step between them! That was so sad, to try to contemplate that many young lives lost in such a short period of time. I saw a lovely sign out side a bar in Arromanches, it said ‘free beer for all veterans’, which I thought was a nice touch.
But however moving the flags at Gold were, we had saved the saddest for the last day, for on our way to catch the ferry, we stopped at the American cemetery at Coalville – Sur – Mer.
This is the cemetery that over looks Omaha beach and features in the opening and closing sequences of ‘Saving Private Ryan’. There are over 9000 people buried here, under neat rows of clean white crosses, all arranged in perfect rows. No matter which way you look, from whatever angle, they are all in line. No matter how hard I looked I could not find a single one
out of line. I defy anyone with a shred of humanity not to shed a tear whilst strolling around the grounds, and the ages of some of the men is tragic.
A funny interlude occurred as I tried to get back in to the cemetery as was stopped by the American soldier guarding the gate because they were shutting the cemetery museum. When I said my three brothers are in there he looked at me as if I was taking the mick out of him!
However, I would not want to give the wrong impression, it was not a sad weekend but one filled with excitement. To ride around a bend in a road and be faced by a convoy of half tracks and jeeps with all personnel in period uniform was quite incredible, everywhere you went there was music from the era being played, very often live. The whole thing had a carnival atmosphere, and of course there were the vets, proud men in their blazers and berets, showing a dignity not seen everyday, until they shared a private joke when they would erupt into a deep rich laughter and you would suspect that the subject may just have been a little saucy!
So, my advice if you like military museums is get yourself over there for a couple of days, and roll on 2014 and the 70th anniversary, I’ll be there.
TTFN Steve
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BADILLAC BY RUSSELL EDEN
I’ve always loved leadsleds and custom cars but without a lottery win I doubt I’ll ever own a real one. That doesn’t mean I can’t build a model one. Some of you may remember my ’49 Mercury leadsled – my first ever competition entry from several years back. I fancied something a little different this time. Whilst trawling through Jimmy Flintstones site of resin car bodies I came across the Badillac – a Custom 58 Caddy – new lower roof, extended fins and a new mouth for the grill. After checking out the finished pix I was in love –
How low can you go…?
By chance I found one at Modelcar.org – a UK company so snapped it up – no US postage, or customs charge, for me for a change.
Whilst waiting for it to arrive I did a bit more online research and found a couple of built ones – the green and white ones are the Jimmy Flintstone resin body and the red one is a custom one based on a plastic kit before the Badillac was sculpted. It’s been de‐finned and has most the original grill….
I then looked at wheels – there are many aftermarket manufacturers out there inc. – Hoppin Hydros, Pegasus, Aoshima and Fujimi. I eventually choose a set of 23” Chrome ‘T’s from Pegasus, including resin brakes £10 inc. reasonable shipping from the US.
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This is going to be a cheap build so nothing extravagant will be purchased. I also decided to build it at work to give me something creative to do in my lunch break, when I get one.. This has a big advantage – a fully kitted workshop with lots of tools and material to play with. I needed this as the Badillac is one of the few Flintstone bodies that doesn’t have a donor car so I’m going to make a simple chassis and black out the windows like the green and white ones above. This will hopefully show off the heavily modified body to maximum effect and without me having a scratch building nightmare!
THE BODY
After checking all the available pictures online I thought I’d de‐fin the Badillac too – it makes the shape of the car flow better. I’m currently building a custom 59 caddy with huge fins so that will satisfy my fin fetish! Once
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the body was here it was onto the clean‐up – these bodies arrive as they leave the mould with no clean up done, unlike my Scale Production Nissmagnum which was perfect when it arrived. I got on with cleaning up the body, rubbing down all edges, removing the window flash and attacked the rear end with a razor saw – a bit too much on one side so it was out with the filler ‐ oops. The fins were removed and cleaned – this took copious amount of emery paper but the resin is quite soft and nice to work with. The headlight surrounds came next – I like the sunken look of the headlights on the red car compared to the other two so I’m replacing the supplied resin lights with twin lights off my old unfinished ’58 Impala. The body needed a bit of clean‐up around the lights to make these fit but luckily nothing drastic. I might keep them chrome or strip the chrome of and spray them the body colour for the frenched‐in look – we will see as the Badillac progresses.
Exhausts were next – whilst rummaging in my car spares box I found a set of metal exhaust tips from my R35 GT‐R Skyline – these looked great so I filed slots in the rear of the body to fit two of these.
I then drilled out the rear lights and filled them square – I’ll machine up some tail lights from clear plastic for these.
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CLUB DIARY
July 18th American Competition 21st July
29th July
Solent Sky Model Show
Figure Painting Workshop
August 15th Club Night
September 19th Club Night September 1st September 22nd
Build a Model in a Day 2012
Farnborough Show
October 17th Club Night October 27th Yeovilton Autumn Show
November 21st Annual Competition November 10th/ 11th
Scale ModelWord 2012
December 19th Xmas Night
Next Meeting: Wednesday July 18th (8pm to 10pm)
Ampfield Village Hall Morleys Lane Romsey Hampshire SO51 9BJ
Thank you to this month’s contributors to this publication
Steve Edwards Russell Eden Nigel Robins
Gray Sharpling Tony Adams
CONTACT INFO
Web Site wwww.romseymodellers.co.uk email info@romseymodellers.co.uk
Club Secretary Tony Adams Tel: 01794 519153 Magazine Editor Tony Adams Tel: 07736555664 email: tony@romseymodellers.co.uk Treasurer Steve Edwards Competition Secretary Sean Summers
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