VOLUME 12, ISSUE 12 DECEMBER 2010 THE...

November „10 Meeting Pictures ............... 2-3

Club Officers ................................................. 4

Support Your Local Hobby Shop! ............... 4

Mike Mackowski‟s “View” ............................ 5

Pavla PQ-14 by Jim Pearsall ........................ 6

Pics from the Lt. Ernest Love Chapter ....... 8

Alan Roesler Takes Prescott by Storm ...... 9

AML Fiat G.50 by Carmel Attard ................ 10

For Sale ....................................................... 12

Upcoming Events ....................................... 12

Aircraft Detection Before Radar III ............ 12

THE CORSAIR The Monthly Newsletter of the Craig Hewitt Chapter

VOLUME 12, ISSUE 12 DECEMBER 2010

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E For the second month in a row, Jay Steward won the monthly contest. This time the contest was “Famous Firsts”, and Jay

brought in this 1/72 F-18 which was built from the old Airfix kit.

Seasons greetings, all. I hope you all had a good

Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time with your

families and/or friends.

I‟ve been offline for a week or so and haven‟t been able

to keep up. I know Steve Keck is generating the list of

contests for next year. I suspect he will also have a report

for us on separating the contests into two „divisions‟ and

how we‟ll manage that. I think it‟s a great idea and hope it

will generate more interest in our monthly contests.

As you know, our Christmas party is coming up next

weekend. Be sure to bring your money to the meeting to

pay for your tickets. The meal will cost $20 per adult and

$5 per child. We always have a good time and the food is

always outstanding. It‟s also the time when we honor our

Modeler of the Year and Member of the Year. I look

forward to celebrating with you all.

This month, Doug Sloviak will be doing another of his

great presentations of aircraft photographs. I missed the

last one and am anxious to see this one. He promised to

have some F-4s in there for me.

Our contest for the month is Monogram‟s Golden Age,

any Monogram kit from 1945 to 1980. Should be a good

one.

Now for the sad news. Some of you will already know

this, but we received word that Don Alberts, one of the

founding members of the Albuquerque club, in fact all the

Albuquerque IPMS clubs, passed away a couple of weeks

ago. I‟ve sent a card on behalf of the club to the family

expressing our condolences and I received a warm reply

from Don‟s family. She said he always enjoyed coming to

Phoenix and participating in our events. He will be missed.

Come to the club meeting on Tuesday. If you can‟t

make that and want to attend the Christmas party, let Jim

Fry or me know and we‟ll make arrangements for you. If

you can‟t make either event, I hope you have a great

holiday season, celebrate well (but not too much), and find

something plastic under your tree.

See you Tuesday.

Steve Collins

President’s Message

Charles Swanson built this 1/35 Aufklarungspanzer 38(t) from the Dragon kit.

THE CORSAIR PAGE 2 DECEMBER 2010

November 2010 Meeting There was a good crowd on hand at the November

meeting, and for the most everybody was on their best

behavior. The contest theme was “Famous Firsts”, and was

won by Jay Steward. Jay built the Airfix 1/72 F-18, which

was based on the prototype of the Hornet. Jay has won the

last two contests. Way to go, Jay!

Thanks to Jim Hough for taking the quality pictures of the

models at the last meeting. If you bring a model to display

at the meeting, don‟t forget to take it to the back of the

meeting room and let Jim take a few photos. That way you

will be able to see your work in the gallery on our website

and in this newsletter next month.

To see more pictures from the meeting, visit the Gallery

on our website at www.ipms-phoenix.org.

Dennis Hutchison’s 1/72 Monogram A-10 Warthog.

One of several models brought in by Gary Thomas. Here is Gary’s 1/72 P-40Q.

This Dragon 1/72 Do-335B-2 was built by John Kienitz.

James Hinderliter keeps cranking out the Gundams. This is the 1/100 Crossbone Gundam.


Gary Thomas is the man when it comes to building vacuform kits. Here is his 1/72 Fw-191V1 built

from the Airmodel kit.

Mike Hinderliter brought in this 1/72 Academy P-51.

Keenan Chittester built this 1/72 Airfix Helldiver.

Another gem by John Kienitz. This is the 1/72 Heller Heinkel He-112B-1 in Rumanian markings.

Dennis Hutchison also brought in this huge 1/350 Polar Lights NX-01 Enterprise.

More November pictures...

Jim Pearsall’s collection of 1/144 models continues to grow. This PB2Y Coronado was built from

the Anigrand kit.


www.airline-hobby.com

Your One Stop Source for

Scale Model Airliner Kits, Decals,

Diecasts and Accessories

Space modeling reference books by Mike Mackowski.

www.spaceinminiature.com

Avalon Books and Hobbies

1510 N. Scottsdale Rd.

Tempe, AZ 85281

(480) 994-2263

RIGHT STUFF,

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www.thehobbydepot.com

216 W. Southern Ave.

Tempe, AZ 85282 (480) 968-1880

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY SHOP!

Copper State Models

“The Cutting Edge In Military Details”

Eric R. Hight 3245 E. Hillery Dr.

Phoenix, AZ 85032 (602) 867-8822

1817 E. Baseline Rd.

Gilbert, AZ 85233

(480) 892-0405

Don’t forget to sign up for your HobbyTown Card!

www.gofastest.com/cruzin

2018 N. Arizona Ave., Ste. D118-126

Chandler, AZ 85225 (480) 899-6640

HOBBY BENCH 2 Great Locations!

8058 N. 19th Ave. NW corner of 19th Ave. & Northern

602-995-1755

4240 W. Bell Rd. NE corner of 43rd Ave. & Bell

602-547-1828

Chapter Officers

President ................... Steve Collins ............... [email protected] ..................... (623) 877-4631

Vice President ........... Jim Pearsall ................. [email protected] ............ (623) 583-2308

Secretary ................... Chuck Ludwig ............ [email protected] ..................... (480) 982-0485

Treasurer ................... Keith Pieper ................. [email protected] ....................... (480) 994-2263

Chapter Contact ........ Dick Christ .................. [email protected] .......... (480) 983-7131

Member At Large ..... Sam Bueler .................. [email protected] ......... (480) 612-1257

Webmaster ................ Don Crowe .................. [email protected] .................. (623) 872-6151

Newsletter Editor ...... Keenan Chittester ........ [email protected] ................... (480) 706-8178

The club meets at 7pm on the first Tuesday of each month at the American Legion Post #1 in Phoenix. Check the club website at www.ipms-phoenix.org for more meeting info.

American Legion Post #1 364 N. 7th Ave.

Phoenix, AZ 85003

The post is located South of I-10 just a few blocks North of Van Buren. Look for the huge Ameri-can flag.


Join the IPMS/USA!

$25 annual membership includes a one year subscription to the IPMS Journal. Visit www.ipmsusa.org to

download a membership form. Or you can write to:

IPMS/USA National Office

P.O. Box 2475

N. Canton, OH 44720-0475

Membership also gives you access to the online Discussion Forum, where you can exchange ideas and

information with other members of IPMS.

problem since I‟ve made my own

decals before, even large ones. But

here I‟m having problems. The large

tail decals won‟t come off the backing

paper. I‟ve tried Testors spray decal

sealer and (in a test) that worked better

than just clear lacquer. Note that the

instructions for the decal paper suggested that

a clear finish should be adequate. Microscale

liquid decal film didn‟t do much better. A single

layer worked on some old solid white that was falling apart

but when I tried it on the inkjet printed markings, the ink

just dissolved.

So I try the semi-gloss clear overspray only and that

slips off the backing but it also tends to fall apart. When I

try the liquid decal film over that it smears the markings.

I‟m wondering if when I used the liquid decal film I did it

on the decals already cut apart and trimmed to the edges of

the markings. Maybe that “sealed” the edges making it

difficult to slip off the paper backing. Eventually I got a

combination to work, and in some cases I had to put down

two decals to patch up the areas that smeared or bled.

Cutting the large decals into smaller sections helped. In

the end it looks pretty good. I put on an overcoat of

ModelMaster Sealer for Metallizer and I‟m ready for

adding all the small parts (engines, landing gear, tail gun,

etc.).

If I‟m lucky I‟ll wrap that up this weekend and you‟ll

see it at Tuesday‟s meeting. And if I don‟t see you then or

at the party, I wish everyone a happy holiday season!

The View from Space City

Commentary on the Hobby by Mike Mackowski

Boss Lady

As I noted in this column a

couple of months ago, my latest

modeling project has been a 1/72nd

version of a B-17G that my father-in-

law, Carl Phillips, flew in. His unit, the

384th Bomb Group, has a nice website

with a lot of information. It listed eleven of

the 30+ missions he flew on as a bombardier.

Perhaps the most unique was a run over

heavily defended Cologne, Germany. To avoid

flak, the US tried using glide bombs and Carl was on one

of the twenty aircraft on that raid with those experimental

bombs.

I was able to nail down the tail number and name of the

aircraft he flew that day: 42-97271, Boss Lady. I found a

couple of photos but none show any close up of the nose

area that might show if and how the “Boss Lady” was

inscribed. (Interestingly, one of his most common pet

names for his wife is Boss Lady. I have no idea if it has

anything to do with his exploits in 1944.) A problem is that

90% of the photos I can find are on the left side of the

aircraft. This is not just h his aircraft. I picked up a few

books on WWII bombers and it seems most pictures show

the left side. The right side of the B-17G has a different

waist gunner position so it‟s hard to tell where to put the

code letters. From what I do see, it varies all over the

place. So I‟m pretty much guessing on some of the

markings.

I couldn‟t find any commercial decals that were even

close, so I had to make my own. That‟s not usually been a


The Aircraft With all the attention being paid

to RPVs (Remotely Piloted Vehi-

cles) lately, such as the Predator

and Global Hawk, it was interest-

ing to receive the Pavla kit of the

Culver PQ-14. It‟s certainly an

interesting aircraft, being designed

as a flying target for anti-aircraft

practice. Radio control was cer-

tainly the preferred mode, as it was

probably hard enough to get those

P-63 pilots to fly as targets for .50 caliber guns with frangible

bullets, which disintegrated on impact. Flying the aircraft that

they‟re shooting at with 90 mm guns

was probably a non-starter.

The PQ-14 did have standard controls

for ferry flights, and there are still a cou-

ple still in existence. It started as the

Culver Cadet, a civil sport plane, but in

1940, in response to a US request for an

aerial target, Culver modified the Cadet

into a radio-controlled target. I think

Pavla‟s drawing of a “PQ=14 pilot” is

pretty clever, although most flights

were made using a C-45 as a control

aircraft.

The Kit The plastic part of the kit is certainly reminiscent of Airfix

or (gasp) Frog kits of the sixties. One sprue, with two fuselage

halves, a single-piece wing, and some small detail parts. What

brings this kit into the Twenty-First Century is the addition of

PE detail parts and a vac-u-formed canopy. There‟s also a de-

tail for the instrument panel. More on that later. Also, note that

the helpful drawing to show you which parts are which on the

sprue has no relation to the actual sprue layout.

Assembly

Assembly begins with the cockpit.

Here‟s another interesting thing

about this kit. You‟re expected to

manufacture some of the parts.

Note the control stick (purple ar-

row). It‟s made from stretched

sprue. OK. But once I had a stick

10mm long, it was taller than the

seat. I cut it down to about 6 mm.

Yes, they were giants in those

days, but not THAT tall. The pho-

toetch is sturdy, and fits pretty cleanly in the seat. Yep, far bet-

ter than Frog, with their “Little Martian” pilot. The rudder ped-

als are nice, but once the instrument panel is installed, you are

never going to see them again, which is a shame.

The next step is to install the cockpit seat and floor in the

right fuselage half. It‟s important to notice that the bottom of

this floor is the top of the nose wheel well, so alignment is im-

portant here. I had to do some cutting on the bulkhead behind

the seat to get it to fit. Also, the weight is added to the nose

now. Quite important. Our friends at Cabela‟s were happy to

sell me an assortment of weights, originally intended for fish-

ing.

The other nice touch in this kit is that they provide a very

nice control panel. I thought it might be a decal, but after I cut

out the panel, I dipped one of the scrap pieces in water. No

effect. So I used craft glue to attach the instrument detail to the

panel.

Also added these steps are the “cheeks” on either side of the

cowling. Since the PQ-14 used an opposed 4 cylinder air

cooled engine, the designers made provision for good airflow

Pavla Models 1/72 Culver PQ-14 Kit# 72012 MSRP: $9.95

Reviewed by Jim Pearsall


for the cylinder heads. But that also leads us to our next

“adventure in scratch parts”. Each of these cheeks has an ex-

haust pipe. You‟re supposed to manufacture it. I lucked out and

found some .020 diameter aluminum tubes, which I picked up

somewhere. Probably at a train show. Those guys have the

neatest tools and stuff at their shows. Anyway, I cut two 1 mm

long pieces of tubing and glued them in place.

Next was the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, the wing,

and the canopy rails (PE). There are two little “horns” at the top

rear of the cheeks. They‟re PE too, and I added these just before

painting. I always paint and decal before adding landing gear,

antennas, props, pitot tubes, etc, because I know I‟ll break them

off while handling during painting and decals.

Painting Here‟s where this kit shines. There are three possible aircraft

you can build, one yellow overall and two red overall. I chose

the yellow one, because it used the pre-1947 USAAF markings.

The red ones are USAF and US Navy aircraft.

The painting was simplicity itself. Mask the cockpit, set the

airbrush on “paint the wall”, and rock n roll. Then go back and

paint the wheel wells interior green and the exhausts “burnt

metal”.

Decals I put a coat of Future on the entire aircraft to make the entire

finish uniform. The decals were good quality, opaque (maybe

that‟s why I chose the yellow scheme?) and stood up to some

handling. You need to be aware that with the small wing of the

Cadet, the large “stars & bars” go on the fuselage. Also, the

serial number was a little larger than the instructions show, and

I had to cheat it down the vertical stab to keep it from overlap-

ping. Another coat of Future protected the decals and blend

them in.

Finishing up

I cut out the vac canopy. Pavla thoughtfully provides two,

but I only needed one. I did have to use a brand new #11 scal-

pel blade, as the canopy is thicker than I am used to, and could-

n‟t use my usual method of cutting with my decal scissors. I

installed it, using Micro Krystal Kleer® and except for one spot

at the upper rear, the canopy fit beautifully. I fixed that spot

with a drop of Krystal Kleer, and after it dried, I painted the

canopy.

I assembled the prop, wheels and gear while I was waiting

for the canopy to dry. Really simple; and they include the scis-

sors for the oleos as PE parts. Unheard of on a 60s kit. And a

nice detail. The prop apparently doesn‟t have the yellow tips,

but there‟s a piece of PE for the hub, with all those bolt heads.

CA is necessary here. Putting the gear in place was pretty sim-

ple, although the only locating item for them was a dimple in

the bottom of the cockpit floor. I had no problem with the main

gear doors; there aren‟t any. There‟s only one PE nose gear

door.

I added the PE pitot tube, and finally the stretched sprue

antennas. A quick coat of Clear Flat to get rid of the gloss fin-

ish, and the project is done!

Overall Evaluation Recommended for experienced modelers. Since it‟s a lim-

ited run kit, there are some issues with separating parts from the

heavy attachment points on the sprue. There‟s also the added

need to manufacture some small parts. On the other hand, it

was a hoot to build, really reminiscent of the fun I had with the

69 cent Revell kits when I was in high school. Thanks to Pavla

for the review kit and the fun time.

Photos from the Lt. Ernest A. Love Chapter in Prescott Photos by Norm Camou


Editor’s Note: These photos are from the April and May

2010 meetings. My apologies to Ed Tharp for not including

them in an earlier issue. Ed sent them to me at about the

same time that I switched computers, and I simply

overlooked them when I was transferring files. Human error

overrides technological advancement every time.


Alan Roesler Talks To Prescott Modelers Photos by Dennis Quigley

Author and IPMS Phoenix club member Alan Roesler

recently journeyed up to Prescott and gave a presentation to

the members of the Lt. Ernest A. Love Chapter. Alan is a

fount of knowledge when it comes to World War I aviation,

and his presentation focused on Lt. Ernest A. Love and the

aircraft that he flew. As many of you know, Alan has written

a book about the life of Lt. Ernest A. Love entitled “An

Arizona Aviator In France”. The Prescott airport is named in

honor of Lt. Love, and the IPMS chapter meets on the first

Sunday of each month at the airport.

History

The Fiat G50 was the

first all-metal fighter in

Italy that was fitted with a

retractable undercarriage.

At the time it was re-

garded adequate for the

fighter interceptor role and

it had proved itself in

combat when rushed to

Spain where the G50 se-

ries 1 fought in the Span-

ish Civil War alongside

the Messerschmitt Bf-

109B of the Condor Le-

gion. The conflict exposed

major shortcomings prin-

cipally being lack of ade-

quate visibility. The view

from the cockpit was infe-

rior to that of the Bf-109

and even the Polikarpov I-16. The G50 was also lightly

armed with 12.7mm machine guns at a time when fighters

then in service were fitted with the more powerful cannons.

Still the G50 had its share of fame where a G50 series 1, FA

-25 shot down 4 enemy aircraft and a G50 Series II, FA-1

shot down 9 aircraft besides other ace G50s while in service

with the Finn AF during the war.

The kit Fiat G50s, „series II‟ (72-007) and the earlier release

„series I‟ (72-005) are neat kits issued by AML. It is a small

fighter aircraft that I often associated with the Finn AF more

than those of Italy or

Spain. There is little differ-

ence between the Series I

and II and while I have

completed the earlier G50

series I in Finn AF mark-

ings, this kit build con-

cerns the more recent re-

lease Series II, which is

made in Reggia Aeronau-

tica markings. The kit is

molded in light gray plas-

tic just like the earlier Se-

ries I and there are resin

and brass etch detail parts.

Basically it is a similar kit

to the series I but with ad-

ditions to the kit so that an

accurate Series II-IV can

be made. The windscreen

is vacform in clear acetate.

Construction

The first stage was assembling the cockpit area. The

sidewall detail structure is molded into the fuselage halves

while the cockpit floor, rear bulkhead and seat are in cream-

colored resin. The three-piece instrument panel is in brass,

as also are the trim wheel, throttle and rudder pedals. These

items are all carefully painted up making the cockpit look

very close to what it should be in this scale. Once the assem-

bly is inserted in the fuselage there will not be much visible.

I found it best to assemble the fuselage halves together, the

bulkhead is fitted to the fuselage top part and the assembled

cockpit is inserted in place from the mid fuselage bottom

opening.

The 2-part radial engine is injected in rows of cylinders,

which made the required cleaning from excess fining an

easy task. The exhaust stubs are drilled before affixing them

to the cowling. Two spinner types are provided to suite the

variant selected. Propeller blade shape is accurate but re-

quired cleaning of each blade at their periphery. The kit also

has alternative tail fin and rudder units depending if one

makes the Italian or Finn version. Two measured hollow

metal tubes were cut and fixed to the nose deck.

Tail planes have a pair of dowels to slot inside the fuse-

lage. The holes needed to be chased with a 2mm drill. I like

the fabric texture on the elevators and care was made to pre-

serve it. The main planes come in three pieces, a one piece

lower and two upper halves. Ejector pin stubs on the inner

AML 1/72 Fiat G.50 Series II Kit No. 72-007 MSRP: about $38

Reviewed by Carmel Attard


face have to be removed first as these interfere with fixing

the wing parts together. The leading edges of the wings are

also on the thick side, which required a little scraping with a

flat X-acto blade to improve the overall thickness in this

area. Wheel wells lacked detail and it is left to one‟s re-

search and reference to enhance this area. Merging the wing

to the fuselage is not a straightforward job and some adjust-

ment was needed followed by careful fairing with a little

filler.

Painting and decals

I elected to do the Italian scheme for the G50. Markings

are those of 320 Squadriglia. The aircraft is ochre with

verde and terracotta mottle on upper surfaces and grigio

azzurro undersurfaces while the codes 352-13 are black. The

cowling is yellow. This I gave a white undercoat and then

airbrushed the yellow over it. After masking the cowling

and the front of engine and the open cockpit, I applied the

Italian yellowish brown to all upper surfaces then added

mottle in red brown and olive green in all cases using Hum-

brol brand. The undersurfaces were light blue gray and the

upper camouflage overlapped slightly like the full scale

G50. The fin insignia of 51 Stormo depicting a black cat

trapping three mice superimposed on a white background

disc, are a separate decal item which is attached to the fin

after fixing the white cross in place first. The white rudder

cross is by no means standard in shape and size. This had an

arm extended to reach the leading edge of the fin. The de-

cals are printed by Propagteam and are thin and register is

excellent. AML certainly did a great job by including a wide

selection of decals with this kit. Besides the Italian scheme

there are six Finnish Air Force G50s wearing different cam-

ouflage patterns with respective registrations, Finn roundels

and other details included such as markings on prop blades.

Decals were sealed with a coat of Klear and finally an over-

all semi matt coat of varnish was airbrushed once all mask-

ing was removed.

Conclusion

This was my fourth G50 built, two of which are AML

kits and the others an earlier release by Airfix that are now

showing their age. Overall the AML G50 is a most reason-

able kit with a marked improvement attained when com-

pared with earlier releases. I look forward to a possible re-

lease of a G50 bis which will continue to fill my Italian

WWII aircraft dispersal shelf.



Upcoming Monthly Contests

December - “Monogram‟s Golden Age” Any Monogram kit from 1945 through 1980.

January 2011 - To be announced at the December meeting.

UPCOMING EVENTS

JANUARY 2011

Tuesday 4th, 7pm - Craig Hewitt Chapter meeting at American Legion Post #1. CONTEST: TBD.

Sunday 16th, 9am - 1pm - Plastic Model Swap Meet at the Tucson FOP Lodge #1, 3445 N. Dodge Blvd., Tuc-son, AZ. Admission $1. For more info call Derek at 520-425-0209.

Saturday 23rd, 8am - 4pm - AMPS Model Contest at the Papago Military Vehicle Show, Arizona National Guard, 1335 N. 52nd St., Phoenix, AZ 85008. Parking $5. Admission FREE. Model registration: $5. Model regis-tration from 9am - Noon. For more info contact Keith at 480-994-2263.

Sunday 23rd, 9am - 2pm - Spring Model-Fest Swap Meet and Show hosted by the Central Arizona Modelers. Holiday Inn, 777 N. Pinal Ave., Casa Grande, AZ 85122. For more info contact Don Baker at 520-316-0007.

For Sale: Entire collection of FineScale Modeler magazine. I have not counted every one,

but every issue from #1 is nicely boxed up as a collection. Asking $100 or best

offer. Contact Mike Mackowski, [email protected] or 480-926-4765.

FEBRUARY 2011

Tuesday 1st, 7pm - Craig Hewitt Chapter meeting at American Legion Post #1. Contest: TBD.

Monday 14th, All day - Valentine’s Day. Just a reminder for those of you with significant others.

Aircraft Detection

Before Radar

Part 3

mailto:[email protected]

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