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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USAMarch 2002

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

IPMS Seattle Spring Show 3Spring Show Winners 4AMtech Ta 183 6Mirage PZL P.37A Los 10Tamiya Machine Gunner 14Upcoming Shows 15Modeling Gods 16

Well, what can I say? What a show! (Insertappropriate ruffles and flourishes here).Jon and Tracy, Will and Stephen did amagnificent job in putting everythingtogether for another terrific Spring Show.They kept the event the proverbial well-oiled machine, and they are alreadyworking on next year’s show. Yayy! Thevenue seemed to work very well, althoughat mid-morning the parking lot was full(our contact at the facility had never seenthe parking lot filled before). We hadvisitors from as far away as California andNew Mexico, a visitor from the UK, as wellas attendees from most of the IPMSRegion 7 states. There were 561 modelsentered in the contest by 140+ modelersand well over 600 models total includingcollections and display only. With theraffle and all the walk-ins, we came outahead dollar-wise, which made Norm (themoney guy) happy.

I would like to thank all of the members ofIPMS Seattle that volunteered to comeearly and stay late to help set up and takedown the show. Plus, I’d also like to thankall those that were “volunteered” to helpduring the show. Your assistance duringthe show is more than greatly appreciated.

Inside you’ll find more informationincluding award winners, photos of someof the models, and much more, in fact, somuch stuff that I’m going to stop here (ouresteemed editor has informed me that I’dbetter not be too long-winded this month).Enjoy the issue.

See you at the meeting,

Terry

Opposite column: Steve Cosad’s RedDevil Samurai (above) was selected

as Best Figure; a few of the 1/48 scaleaircraft (below). Special thanks toDana Geraths for all of the show

photos in this issue.

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore Keith Laird Norm Filer Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 528 South 2nd Ave. 16510 N.E. 99th 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Kent, WA 98032 Redmond, WA 98052 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 253-735-9060 Ph: 425-885-7213 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Jon Fincher & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested plastic modeler, regardless ofinterests. Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues.Dues are $24 a year, and may be paid to Norm Filer, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join andsupport IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further informa-tion about the Chapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2002 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our new meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

April 13 May 11 (Meeting is from 9 AM-12 Noon)June 8 July 13


Special Award Winners(Category, Sponsor; Subject, Modeler)ward Name,

Sponsor, Subject, ModelerMIDWAY, Tracy White; USS Vincennes, Bob LaBouyGREEN AIRCRAFT, Internet Modeler; OV-10A Bronco, Warwick WrightCIVIL AUTO, Jon Fincher; ‘69 Z 28 Camaro, Paul StedmanBATTLE OF BRITAIN, Anthony Roberts; Rearm, Refuel Diorama, Glen AdamsITALIAN, Skyway Model Shop; Macchi C. 200, James HarmsNAVAL AIRCRAFT, Thom Morton; TBF Avenger, Dana GerathsBRITISH, Robert Allen, Keith Laird, and Andrew Birkbeck; Churchill Tank with Croco-dile, Jonathan StetsonFRENCH AIRCRAFT, Dave Whitmore; Caudron R.XI, James GraySMALL AF, Stephen Tontoni and Will Perry; Ukrainian Su-27 Flanker, Dennis WilsonFLOATPLANE, Bob Dempster (Douglas World Cruiser Foundation); Kawanishi N1K1Rex, Dana GerathsEMERGENCY VEHICLE, Larry Gaye and Pascal Valadier; Bell 47, Kia Anne Geraths

Thanks to all sponsors, and congratulations to the winners!

Clockwise from top left: James Harms’ Macchi C.200 won BestItalian Subject; Bill Windus’ 1/48th scale Eduard Bell P-39

won a very crowded category; One of Bill Johnson’s two1/32nd scale MiG-29s; A view of Juniors and Sci-Fi/Fantasy;

Marty Martinez’ Dilophosaurus was a first-place winner

IPMS Seattle Spring Show 2002

Photos by Dana Geraths


Spring ShowAward Winners

Junior-Aircraft1st - A-10 Thunderbolt, Joseph Nathan2nd - Bell HTL4 CG, Kia Anne Geraths3rd - MH-606 Pavehawk, Joseph Nathan

Junior-Armor1st - Four Vehicle Diorama, Michael Calvin2nd - Bofors AA Gun, Shelby Striclen

Junior-Auto1st - Shelby Mustang, Stewart Quam2nd - ‘61 Ranchero, Stewart Quam3rd - Acura Integra R, Stewart Quam

Junior-Sci-Fi1st - Klingon Battlecruiser, Sean Gaffney2nd - Gundam Diorama, Eric Benka3rd - Blue Gundam, Kenton Callahan

Junior-Naval1st - RMS Titanic, Zac Johnson2nd - U-Boat, Shelby Striclen

Junior-Miscellaneous1st - Dino Tub, Brian Johnson2nd - T Rex, Catie Perry3rd - Visible Man, Kathleen Enlow

Junior-Prefinished1st - VW New Beetle, Roxanne Hilby2nd - Revell Chevy, Travis Spitzer

Best Junior - A-10 Thunderbolt, JosephNathan

Aircraft-1/73rd and Smaller1st - Caudron R.XI, James Gray2nd - Saab Viggen, Herb Arnold3rd - Airco DH.2, James GrayHM - F-8 Crusader, Herb Arnold

Aircraft-1/72 Single Prop1st - P-51D, Jim Schubert2nd - La-5FN, James Gray3rd - F6F Hellcat, Chris BucholtzHM - Avia B.135, Herb ArnoldHM - F4F Wildcat, Michael Gates

Aircraft-1/48 Single Prop-Axis1st - Fw 190 A-3, Mike Medrano2nd - N1K1 Rex, Dana Geraths3rd - Me 109G-6, Randy ColvinHM - Ki-27 Nate, Mike Howard

Aircraft-1/48 Single Prop-Allied1st - Bell P-39, Bill Windus2nd - Yak-3, Bill Windus3rd - P-47, Randy ColvinHM - P-51B, Keith ChmielewskiHM - P-47D, Bob LaBouyHM - Hurricane, Randy Colvin

Aircraft-1/72 Multi Prop1st - OV-10A Bronco, Warwick Wright2nd - Focke Wulf Ta 154, Larry Baldwin3rd - Catalina Mk.I, Jim PrieteHM - Me 323 Gigant, Dan JohnsonHM - AC-119 Gunship, David Hempel

Aircraft-1/48 Multi Prop1st - Mosquito FB.VI, Bob Windus2nd - Beaufighter Mk.X, Bob Windus3rd - Ju 52, Randy ColvinHM - He 219A-7, Steve Gallacci

Aircraft -1/32 and Larger - Prop1st - A6M5 Zero, Dana Geraths2nd - Fw 190A-6, Sid Miller3rd - Me 109E-4 Trop., Troy EnlowHM - Me 109G-6, Steve Gallacci

Aircraft-1/72 Single Jet1st - Harrier GR.5, Warwick Wright2nd - TA-4 Skyhawk, Daniel Carey3rd - F-16, Hans BeernickHM - Vought F6U, Herb ArnoldHM - Saab Draaken, Brian Birk

Aircraft-1/48 Single Jet1st - F-86F, Mark Oliver2nd - A-7 Corsair, Dennis Wilson3rd - MiG-15, Sid MillerHM - CF-104D, Brian Birk

Aircraft-1/72 Multi Jet1st - F-4 Phantom, Daniel Carey2nd - F-5 Tiger, Daniel Carey3rd - Ho 229, Steve Gallacci

Aircraft-1/48 Multi Jet1st - F-4 Phantom, Dennis Wilson2nd - Me 262, Randy Colvin3rd - Su-27 Flanker, Dennis Wilson

Aircraft-1/32 and Larger- Jet1st - Tornado GR.1, Ken Conrad2nd - MiG-29, Bill Johnson3rd - MiG-29, Bill Johnson

Aircraft-Civil, Racing1st - Chipmunk, Larry Schiller2nd - Seversky P-35, Tom Hoard

Aircraft-Airliners1st - Boeing 737-800, Tim Bradley2nd - Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, Brian Birk3rd - Boeing 737 US Airways, Daniel Carey

Aircraft-Rotary Winged Vehicles1st - PKZ-2, Harry Avis2nd - Mil-24 Hind, Hans Beernink3rd - CH-124A Sea King, Brian Birk

Aircraft-Biplanes, Vintage1st - Fokker E.III Eindecker, Will Perry2nd - Fokker Dr.I Triplane, Tim Nelson3rd - Fokker D.VIII, Jeff JohnsonHM - Loire 210, Hans Beernick

Aircraft-Miscellaneous1st - Boeing XF5B-1, Jim Schubert2nd - N. A. AJ-1 Savage, Dave Jarrett3rd - Sukhoi Su-5, Larry Baldwin

Best Aircraft - Fw 190A-3, Mike Medrano

Auto-Factory Stock1st - Z-28 Camaro, Paul Stedman2nd - ‘66 Charger, Chris Rohde3rd - Firebird, Joe Spitzer

Auto-Hot Rods1st - ‘33 Ford Coupe, Joe Spitzer2nd - ‘32 Ford (Maroon), Chris Rohde3rd - ‘32 Ford, Chris Rohde

Auto-Custom1st - GTO Pro Street, Chris Rohde2nd - ‘66 Chevelle, Chris Rohde3rd - ‘71 Challenger, Chris Rohde

Auto-Pick-ups1st - ‘64 Chevy, Ron Baker2nd - ‘65 Dodge, Earl Simons3rd - ‘37 Ford, Jim RoseHM - ‘62 Ranchero, Earl Simons

Auto-Trucks, Rescue1st - Tow Truck, unknown

Auto-Closed Course Racers1st - Chaparral 2D, Ron Baker2nd - ‘69 Camaro Trans-Am, Ron Baker3rd - ‘68 Penske Camaro, Paul StedmanHM - Jordan Peugeot 197, Tom Gloeckle


HM - Mercedes CLK GTR, Ron Baker

Auto/Straight Line Racers1st - Skoal Bandit Top Fuel, WayneStevens2nd - Exide Funny Car, Randy Colvin3rd - ‘65 Plymouth, Wayne Stevens

Motorcycle1st - Yamaha Roadstar, Glen Ryder2nd - ‘60 Harley Davidson, Glen Ryder3rd - ‘45 Harley Davidson, Earl Simmons

Best Automobile - Z-28 Camaro, PaulStedman

Diorama-Aircraft1st - Doolittle’s Raid, Steve Cozad2nd - Flightline, Dan Johnson3rd - Yak-1, Ray Peterson

Diorama-Auto1st - Citroen 2CV, Steve Hilby2nd - Top Fuel, Wayne Stevens

Diorama-Armor1st - It’s No Longer a Phony War, MarkFord2nd - Road Rage, Dan Johnson3rd - T34/85, Dan Lowe

Diorama-Sci-Fi, Space1st - Orcs at War, Galacia Marrero2nd - Bath of Metal Men, Tony Phillips

Diorama-Naval1st - Valor to Victory, N.R.

Diorama-Vignette1st - Bohemian/Hussite Knight, JohnThirion2nd - Polish/Teutonic Knight, John Thirion3rd - The Longest Day, Robert BurikHM -Royal Scots at Waterloo, RobertBurik

Diorama-More than five figures1st – Shenandoah, Robert Burik

Best Diorama - It’s No Longer a PhonyWar, Mark Ford

Armor-1/35th Closed Top to ‘45-Axis1st - Jagpanzer IVL70, Dale Moes2nd - StuG III, Mark Ford3rd - Finnish T-26, Ray Peterson

Armor-1/35th Closed Top to ‘45-Allied1st - Crocodile Churchill, Jonathan Stetson2nd - JS-2, Ray Peterson3rd - T-28, Randy ColvinHM - T-35, Bruce Roberts

Armor-1/35th Closed Top after ‘451st - M-51 Isherman, Chris Morris2nd - Burned-out T-72, Dan Johnson3rd - Leopard 2A5, Anthony Froh

Armor-1/35th Open Top1st - M-18 Hellcat, Randy Colvin2nd - M-19, Dave Darrell3rd - 7 ton AA Halftrack, Randy Colvin

Armor-1/36th and Smaller1st - AS-1 Starter Truck, James Gray2nd - Pzkpfw 263, Bill Glinski3rd - M-48 A3, Russ FieldHM - Pzkpfw Bill Glinski

Armor-Soft–skinned1st - M-26 Dragon Wagon, JonathanStetson2nd - Chevy 15cm Truck, Dale Moes3rd - Ford Quad Gun Tractor, Dale MoesHM - Jeep, Keith Chmielewski

Armor-Towed Artilllery and Missles1st - Chevy CMP Quad/25 ton, Dale Moes2nd - Renault EU/25mm AT, David Hansen3rd - JB-1, Larry Schiller

Armor-Conversions and Scratchbuilt1st - Israeli Halftrack, David Hausen2nd - Su 76, Greg Harker3rd - Israeli TOW Jeep, Robert Burik

Best Military Vehicle - M-26 DragonWagon, Jonathan Stetson

Ships-Powered1st - USS Vincennes, Bob LaBouy2nd - IJN Takao, Bill Cianci3rd - Floreal Class Frigate, Hans Beernink

Ships-Submarines1st - Midget Sub HA-19, Dana Geraths2nd - USS Skipjack, Terry Moore3rd - U-185, John DeRosia

Ships-Sail1st - HMS Bounty, Bill Cianci2nd - Roman Bireme, Steve Sturgis3rd - Mayflower, unknown

Best Ship - HMS Bounty, Bill Cianci

Figure-Less than 54mm1st - Preobragenski Guardsman, JamesGray2nd - 5th Jaeger 1812, James Gray3rd - Italian Fighter Pilot, Kent Eckhardt

Figures-54mm and 1/35th1st - Cossack, Gary Woodburn2nd - Chevalier Bayard, Jim Schubert3rd - English Civil War, James Gray

Figures-Larger than 54mm1st - Red Devil Samurai, Steve Cozad2nd - Viking Hersir, Rick Bennett3rd - Royal Horse Artillery, Robert BurikHM - 82nd Sergeant D-Day, Randy Colvin

Best Figure - Red Devil Samurai, SteveCozad

Space Fact1st - X-15 A-2 (1/48th), Mark Rehberg2nd - X-15 #1, Mark Rehberg3rd - X-15 A-2 (1/72), Mark Rehberg

Science Fiction-Vehicles1st - T-124 Soviet Hover Tank, AnthonyFroh2nd - Boolaye Anti-armor SPG, RickBennett3rd - Moonbus, Troy EnlowHM - Cutaway USS Enterprise, Earl RSimons III

Science Fiction-Single Creatures1st - Serpent and Leopard, Janine Bennett2nd - Eisenhorn, Galacia Marrero3rd - 101st Spaceborne, Terry MooreHM - Mighty Thor, Tony PhillipsHM - Orc Warlord, Galacia Marrero

Science-Fiction-Miscellaneous1st - Dilophosaurus, Marty Martinez2nd - T. Rex, Dana Geraths3rd - Mammoth, Mark Hallett

Best Space/Sci-Fi - Serpent and Leopard,Janine Bennett

Collections1st - Wulf Pack, Les Knerr2nd - Human Space Flight, Tim Nelson3rd - Mosquitoes, Tim Sera

Continued on page 16


Building the AMtech 1/48thScale Focke Wulf Ta 183

Huckebein(or “An Old Model BuilderTries Ten New Things on

One Model”)

by Michael Morrow

While making my daily perusal of the“What’s New” page on the HyperScaleweb-site, I came across the link to SteveEisenbaum’s AMtech Focke Wulf Ta 183done up in the JV 44 “Papagei Staffel”markings of “Red 13”:http://www.rollmodels.net/reviews/aircraft/48/Ta 183/Ta 183.php

It was so cool! The striking color schemecaptivated my imagination enough that Idecided I just had to build one of my own.I grabbed my copy of Eagle Editions’Doras of the Galland Circus with itsmatching decal set, and looked at the colorschemes to see which of the other threeaircraft I’d build - after all - Steve hadalready done Red 13! But wait! Don’t I alsohave. . .Yes I do! Back to the bookcase, aquick search, and voila! Experten Decals’booklet/decal combo No. 3 containing themarkings for “Red 4”! Now I don’t have tobreak up the Eagle Editions set - I can stillbuild a set of four Fw 190Ds! A quick callto Kevin Callahan at The Supply Depot -Yes, he has one Ta 183, and yes, I can pickit up at the next IPMS Seattle meeting.Cool. Now back to the Internet to see whatelse I can find out about the AMtech kit. Ahalf-dozen kit reviews later, and I’mconvinced that the AMtech Ta 183 is thefinest kit ever produced. All I’ll have to dois polish up the seams with a TropicalShine flexible 4-grit fingernail polishingstick (hence to be known as the “TSF4”),paint it, and display it! Right.

New Thing No. 1: My first (completed)1/48th scale kit. A couple of days later, Ieagerly pick up the only really new kit I’vebought in the last two years. I re-read allthe reviews looking for tips on building thekit. Seems the kit doesn’t come with a pitottube, DF loop, or a morane antennae. I’llworry about those later.

I start with the landing gear bays as shownin the instructions. Model Master BurntIron works great for the engine in the twomain gear bays. When it’s dry, I mask itand spray RLM 02 on all the visiblestructure in the main gear bays, the nosegear bay, and the interior edges of thefuselage where they attach, while the areaabove the engine gets flat black. The smallboxes are also painted flat black, and fuel/pressure/electrical lines get dry-brushedsilver. Each of the two pressure bottles inthe gear bay get a base of flat white, thenpainted green and blue. The fittings for thebottles are painted silver, then red tosimulate an anodized finish. A small hole isdrilled under each landing gear mainmounting hole to accept the brake line thatwill be added to each main gear leg. A littledry-brush of silver to highlight the blackboxes, and a coat of Model Master FlatClear Lacquer finishes off the three landinggear bays. I’ve decided to use all of therockets, so I open up the pylon mountingholes and then glue the wing halvestogether. Next, the air-to-air rockets areglued together. The rockets have an oddslab side on two sides between their wingswith an unsightly seam running down themiddle of the flat section. I add a littleputty to each of these sections to roundthem out and set them aside. While thewings and rockets are drying, I move on tothe landing gear struts.

I spend a little time removing the centermold lines from each gear leg. TV in thebackground keeps me from rushing it. GoBuffy! Kick that vampire’s butt! I decidethat the nose gear needs to be turned, so Iheat the nose gear leg up over a candle,and carefully twist the fork to achieve thedesired effect. I don’t recommend doingthis, as I almost torched the gear leg. As itwas, it almost bubbled, and it took a bitbefore it was solid again. If I were to do itover, I’d find another way. With the nosegear turned, I spray the three gear legswith RLM 02.

New Thing No. 2: Bare Metal foil. After atrip to Emil’s Skyway Model Shop, I comehome with a sheet of chrome style BareMetal foil. Small strips of Bare Metal foilare cut to length and wrapped around eachlanding gear oleo and actuating strut.Cool! It looks real!

New Thing No. 3: An oil paint wash. Nowto give the gear legs that fabled “oilwash.” I spend a day trying to find smalltubes of oil paint. The smallest I can find isabout four times the size of the tubes youused to be able to buy, and about ten timesthe cost. I spend another day trying to findturpentine that isn’t Gum-turpentine, andend up with “Turpenoid” to thin out theburnt umber and black oil paints. Stuff surehas gotten expensive! I thin out a littleburnt umber and wash it onto the gear legsand into the gear bays with a large softbrush. The brush soaks up the excess, andTaa-daa! My first oil wash!

I spray the gear legs and bays with a coatof flat clear to seal them, and start lookingfor pictures of gear legs to see what brakelines look like. A detailed He 162 drawingshows what they might have looked likeon the Ta 183. I sort through my electricalwiring box looking for the perfect piece ofwire and find aluminum colored wire of theproper diameter to use for brake lines. Thepin vise and drills come out again and ahole is drilled through the axle hub for thebrake line. The line is arranged along thegear leg. Let’s see...the line looks to beheld to the gear leg in several places bythe metal equivalent of a zip-tie, so I cutvery thin strips of Bare Metal foil and wrapthe brake line to the gear leg with it -perfect! With the gear legs finished, I gluethe two main gear bays into the fuselagehalves. On to the cockpit!

The seat detail seems a little sparsecompared to some new resin ejectionseats. Since the He 162 also had anejection seat, maybe I can use an He 162resin ejection seat. I look on the Internetfor a 1/48th He 162 ejection seat - nothing.Maybe the real ejection seat was simpletoo. I’ll just try to find a DF loop. AnotherInternet search, and yep, there is oneavailable, and on a visit to Emil’s I find it.Hmmn. Looks way too big. But he doeshave an Fw 190D-9 photo-etch set byEduard. And it’s got seat belts. Andrudder pedals. And a DF loop! And amorane antennae! And levers and handlesfor the instrument panels! Perfect!

I can’t put all this neat stuff in the cockpitand not show it off, so I use a really new,sharp No. 11 blade to separate the


windscreen from the canopy. I’ve only gotone canopy so I sit and patiently score ittill it separates while Buffy smites evil allover the place. With the canopy nicelyseparated from the windscreen, I polish thecut edges smooth with the TSF4. Now tothe cockpit.

The instructions say to paint the interiorRLM 66. A quick look at all my references.No pictures showing dark cockpits. Lots ofpictures showing light cockpits. Since thisis a fantasy aircraft, what color cockpit do Iwant to sit in under the hot sun? Notblack! I compromise. The fuselagesidewalls get RLM 66, and I spray all theother parts RLM 02 except the seat. Then Ifollow the directions in Ted Holowchuk’sexcellent “Painting Aircraft Cockpits”article (available on the Internet withexcellent photos!). The kit’s raised detailon the instrument panel and side consolesmake painting the cockpit a real pleasure.The seat gets painted separately - RLM 66for the seat back and bucket, leather brownfor the seat cushion and headrest, and dry-brushed silver where the pilot would standbefore lowering himself down into the seat.I cut slots in the seat back under theheadrest for the shoulder harness buckles(slot 1: drill two itty-bitty holes and removematerial between them with a sharp No.11blade - repeat for slot 2).

New Thing No. 4: Photo-etch accessorysets. I paint the photo-etch harnesses, andcarefully bend them to follow the seatcontours. A buckle slipped into each newslot, a touch of CA, and they’re in. Back tothe Internet, where I find color photos ofan Fw 190 joystick. I paint it to match thephotos and set it aside. Small holes weredrilled to accept several additional smallphoto-etch handles and levers. Now forthe rudder pedals. Careful study of photosshows the way they attach. I cut themolded-on plastic pedals off the back ofthe instrument panel and make new pin-mounts out from the sidewalls of thecockpit. I bend up the photo-etch pedals,and carefully glue them to the mounts.Gorgeous! They get a shot of RLM 02 andsome silver dry brushing to finish them off.I temporarily fit the instrument panel to thecockpit tub and try the fit inside thefuselage. Eeeek! You can see the back ofthe instrument panel! Double check to

make sure I’ve done it right. Yep, I can stillsee it. What can I do? I know - I’ll wire theback of the instrument panel. Out come thetiny drills and my box of electrical wiring/repair/soldering stuff. I find suitably smallwire and a matching drill. Each instrumentis center drilled from the back being carefulnot to drill through to the front. A smalllength of wire in each hole is secured witha tiny drop of CA on the end of a pointypiece of scrap plastic. When each piece ofwire is dry, I carefully bend it down andthen towards one side or the other of thecockpit wall and then towards the front.I’m careful not to cut the wires off tooshort, as it’s surprising how far you cansee into the forward fuselage. I dry-brushscuff marks on the floor in front of therudder pedals, then glue the seat to thecockpit tub.

With all the pieces of the cockpit finished,I fit the instrument panel into its slot andtest-fit the joystick - It’ll be right againstthe instrument panel if I’m not careful. Iglue the stick in so it will clear both theseat and the instrument panel, and thenglue the instrument panel into its slot. It’shere that I inadvertently make a mistake. Itappears that the instrument panel issupposed to go farther into the slot than itshould. I mistakenly opened up the slot sothe panel would sit in the slot bottom.Oops! Later when I test-fitted the com-pleted cockpit tub I discovered that theEZ-42 gun site no longer looked over thedash, but was aimed half through it!

Now it’s time to glue the fuselage halvestogether. No nose weight is required onthis model, so you don’t have to worryabout finding a place to put it. Even withlots of dry fitting, it becomes obvious thatat least a little filler will be needed on someseams. I put some filler along the top spineclose to the cockpit, and also along thefuselage bottom at the rear. I decided toleave the ‘payload bay’ closed, so after thefuselage halves have set up, I glue theclosed payload bay door in place. I choseto model the “late model” Ta 183B-1. Testfitting the one-piece exhaust shroud on theaft-fuselage revealed a less than stellar fit -in fact there was a small hole on each sidein the center of a concave curve. A badspot, and a challenge for my less thanadequate filling/puttying skills. I glue the

shroud in place, and when the glue hasdried, add a little putty. The nose shouldbe left off till after the cockpit assemblyand nose gear bay are glued in place.

New Thing No. 5: Clear red and greenplastic wingtip lights. I hit the Internet insearch of clear red and green wingtiplights. Nothing. After trying the Internet,several hobby shops, a model railroadshop, Radio Shack, and an industrialplastic supplier, I remember Michael’s artstore. I head off to Michael’s and make abeeline for the plastic bead isle. Perfect!Red and green clear plastic beads in allsizes. I grab a bag each of red and green ofthe largest size beads. Finally! Somethingthat’s cheap! A lifetime supply of wingtiplights for a couple of bucks!

The wings are dry, so I cut away themolded plastic wingtip navigation lightsand cut a red bead in half. After rough-carving it to fit the opening, I paint theinside silver and glue it in place. The silverpromptly dissolves. I’ll have to figure outanother way to make a reflector next time. Irepeat the procedure for the green wingtiplight and set them aside so the glue jointscan harden before sanding the new lightsto shape. When the glue was completelydry, I sanded the bead material so itmatched the contour of the wing tip. Carehad to be taken while doing this, becausethe bead plastic was slightly harder thanthe kit plastic. This was followed bypolishing with progressively finer gritsusing the TSF4 until the lights werepolished smooth.

Cockpit installation time. The cockpit isinserted through the nose. After much testfitting, I discovered that the cockpit tubside consoles sit on top of the wing slotstubs inside the fuselage. This causes thecockpit aft deck to sit slightly proud of theupper fuselage. By carefully trimming thebottom of the cockpit tub side consoles, Iwas able to get the aft cockpit deck to sitlevel with the top of the fuselage. By now Ihad discovered that the EZ-42 gun-sightwas aimed right through the middle of thedash. It needed to be raised to look overthe dash so I cut off the mounting posts,and carefully drilled two very small verticalholes in the crossbar for new mountingposts. Matching holes were then drilled in


the top of the instrument panel. A candle,a match, some plastic sprue, and I’ve gotsmall plastic rod to use for the mountingposts. Two pieces of the stretched spruelong enough to ensure that the gun sightwould be aimed over the dash were slippedinto the holes in the crossbar and gluedwith liquid cement. The new assembly wastest-fitted and set aside to be remountedlater after painting was complete. With agood cockpit fit achieved, I glue it in place,and then glue the nose gear bay in place.

New Thing No. 6: Using hypodermictubing for gun barrels. I have decided touse scale hypodermic tubing for thecannon barrels. I scale 30mm down to1/48th scale for the inside barrel diameter,and make a rough measurement of theoutside diameter from a reference and scaleit to 1/48th scale. With these two measure-ments, I’m off in search of hypodermictubing. I call around a couple of places,and then give the Internet a shot. In shortorder, I find a source:http://www.smallparts.com/index.htmI click on their new tubing brochure andfind almost the exact size I need.

New Thing No. 7: Using hypodermictubing for pitot tubes. Hmmm. While I’mhere, how about the two sizes I could usefor the pitot tube. I grab my micrometerand measure the two diameters of the pitottube from a Trimaster Fw 190D-9 kit. Backto the web site, and there they are, the twosizes I need. A couple of days later, I pickup the phone and call in an order. A weeklater the tubing arrives, but in the meantime, back to the fuselage nose.

I need to drill out the cannon barrel holesso I can install the tubing barrels. Off tothe local hobby shop where I buy anumbered drill bit that matches the outsidediameter of the tubing. Back home, the drillbit goes into the drill press, the nose goesflat on a block of wood and presto, thenose cannon holes are drilled perfectlyvertical. When the nose is glued in place,care must be taken to ensure that the gunports are level when viewed from the front,as the locating pin may allow them to beslightly askew of level. Since the wingshave a very positive firm fit, you may evenwant to glue them in place first to giveyourself a reference for what “level” is.

Some filler may also be needed around thenose to clean up the join line.

Wing installation. The wings have a verysolid fit with the fuselage, but there wasstill a slight step between the fuselagewing stub and the wing root. Putty wasapplied and much effort made to get asmooth join, but I still need to work on myskills in this area. When the wing had setup, I propped the wings/fuselage assemblylevel, so I could glue the stabilizer in placelevel relative to the wing. While thestabilizer dried, the filler on the missilesides is sanded and the rockets are given acoat of gloss black.

DF loop and morane antenna: Afterlooking at pictures of DF loops on aircraft,I carved the small streamlined DF loopbase fairing from a piece of plastic sprueand polished it. Two tiny holes drilled inthe top would be the mounting holes forthe DF loop found on the Eduard photo-etch set. The fairing was glued to the topof the fuselage just far enough aft to clearthe open canopy. Halfway between the DFloop and the tail, a small mounting holewas drilled for the morane antennae.

The gloss black on the rockets is dry, so Imask off the rocket noses and spray therockets with a couple of coats of Alclad II.The Alclad dries pretty quickly (this time),so the fins all get a coat of tan. After thetan is dry, I dry-brush the wings withbrown to simulate wood grain. In an e-mailfrom Jim Schubert, he mentions usingTamiya Clear Orange to simulate varnishedwood - what a great idea! I promptly runout and get some. It works great! A littlegloss black on the fin tip pods, a littlesilver on the fuse pins on the rocket noses,and the rockets are done.

New Thing No. 8: Using Future FloorPolish to dip canopies. Ever since I cut thecanopy away from the windscreen, I’vebeen trying another first - dipping acanopy in Future Floor Polish. A trip to thegrocery store scored me a bottle of thefabled floor finisher. Now back to theInternet to see what I can find out aboutthis stuff. Lots of articles mention dippingthe canopy. Few give any detail abouthow. I finally come across an article thatgives a little detail. A quick call to Norm

Filer got me up to speed on the dippingprocess. The windscreen goes without ahitch. The canopy’s first dip goes well. Onthe second dip I get a tiny bubble thatwon’t pop. Clean the whole thing off withrubbing alcohol and try again. This time adust mote on the first dip. Clean it offagain. Check the bowl with Future in it.There’s dust on the surface! Clean out theFuture bowl, wash the canopy and let it airdry. Try another dip. This time I get to thethird dip before I discover an offendingdust mote. Clean it all off again, wash, airdry, and start over. After several more triesI finally get three perfect dips. After lettingthe Future harden for a couple of days, Imask the windscreen and canopy withTamiya yellow tape and spray them withAlclad. I’ve already discovered that thecanopy won’t sit on the aft deck withoutsupport of some sort, so I cut a small pieceof “armor plate bulkhead” from sheetstyrene to glue inside the canopy just aftof the clear section. A small notch in thebottom of the bulkhead keeps it alignedwith the center rail on the aft deck. I paintthe armor bulkhead RLM 66, and add a redcanopy ejection notice decal from theExperten Decals sheet. I glue the newbulkhead inside the canopy. Wait. What’sthat in that photo? A handhold on theinside of the canopy - and the Eduard sethas one! I carefully cut the tiny handholdfrom the fret, bend the ends at an angle,and glue it in place with a spot of glue oneach end. Perfect! But wait - the photoshows the handle wrapped with tape. Noproblem. Out comes the tan paint and adetail brush. Just a little paint here, and alittle paint on the inside, and...arrrrggghh!!! A tiny dab of paint on theinside of the canopy! Right where it’s mostvisible. I ponder this horrible turn ofevents, then remove the bulkhead andhandhold and head to the sink. A goodsoaking in rubbing alcohol, and most ofthe finish comes off. But something in thepaint has reacted with the canopy, leavinga crazed spot. Back to the Internet to seehow to fix damaged canopies. I see severalkinds of metal polishes mentioned. Afterlooking around the house, I find some oldMeguire’s Plastic Cleaner and PlasticPolish that I used to use to polish plasticmotorcycle windshields. I try a little. Seemsto work, but not very quickly. I spend thenext day or so trying to polish out the


canopy, and in the process manage tocrack the back end. At least it happenswhere it will be painted. It looks like I’mdone, so I try a Future dip. Nope, not doneyet. Clean it off again, and More Polishing.Good thing Buffy is on Saturday after-noons. I can watch the Slayer whip up onbad dudes with pointy teeth while I polishout the canopy. Finally. It looks almostpassable. I try another Future dip. Looksokay - except for that speck of dust#@*&! Clean it off, wash it, let it dry, andtry again. A good first and second coat,then a speck in the third coat. After severalmore tries, I finally decide that one goodcoat is better than more frustration. Acouple of tries later, my critical eye detectsno spots in the Future coat, so I stop. Ifigure I’ve dipped that canopy aboutthirty-five times by now. I let it sit for a dayor two to harden off, re-paint it, and thenglue the bulkhead and handhold back in.This time I paint the handhold first, andthen glue it in.

Back to the model. All the major compo-nents are now attached, so it’s time to startpainting. But first, I need to drill a hole inthe wingtip for the new hypodermic pitottube. I stick a 1/32 diameter drill bit in thepin vise, hold the wing as flat as I can on ablock of wood, and drill a hole beingcareful to get it straight in both thehorizontal and vertical planes. I’ve beensanding and polishing the model for a bit,so now it’s time to give it a base coat. TheAlclad II silver lacquer I’ll be using on thefuselage requires an acrylic base coat toprotect the plastic, and I need a white basecoat for the white stripes on the bottom ofthe aircraft and as a base for the yellownose.

New Thing No. 8: Using acrylic paints. Itry Tamiya Flat White Acrylic thinned withwater - after all, it is water-based, right?What a mess! The paint goes on like peachfuzz, and in spite of what I thought was agood job of masking, manages to sneakunder the tape over the landing gear bays.White acrylic spray on my beautiful gearbays! Let’s see. I can thin it with rubbingalcohol, right? What a mess that makes.Another e-mail to Jim Schubert asking howto clean acrylic paint off, then the tediousjob of sanding the entire model down toplastic. I go through the process of

completely repainting both main gear bays.This time I snap the main gear doors intoplace to cover the gear bays instead ofusing masking tape and try Model MasterAcryl flat white thinned with rubbingalcohol as a base coat. Very Nice. I spraythe missile pylons and the nose gear doorswith the same flat white. I mask off thenose, as it needs to have a white base coatfor the yellow to follow. Out comes mycopy of Doras of the Galland Circus tocheck the width and general location of thewhite stripes on the bottom of the aircraft.I cut Tamiya Yellow Masking Tape intolong 0.05-inch wide strips, and mask offthe white stripes on the bottom of theaircraft and on the nose gear doors. Nowfor the RLM 23 - boy does this stuff lookpink! I thin it out 1-to-1 with rubbingalcohol and spray a coat over the bottomof the aircraft. Doesn’t look quite so pinknow. When dry, it makes a very pleasingbright red. The missile pylons and thefront gear doors also get a coat of RLM 23.I remove all the masking, and am verypleased with the result.

Now for the nose. The spinners of theDora 9s in JV 44 had a black base with ayellow nose. I mask everything behind thenose of the aircraft and spray several coatsof RLM 02 yellow over the white on thenose. When it’s dry, I mask over the yellowup to the nose join line, and mask theentire aircraft off behind a panel line thatwill give a black stripe around the nose thesame width as the yellow nose. A coupleof light coats of flat black do nicely. Thenose gear doors are masked and the fronthalf is painted flat black so they will matchthe fuselage when glued in place. Whilethe flat black is in the airbrush, I spray thewheels too. When I’m sure the black is dry,I mask off the entire bottom of the aircraftand the nose, and spray the wings andstabilizer tops with RLM 75 Grauviolet andRLM 82 Dunkelgrun camouflage. A semi-hard color break is achieved by holdingcardboard masks just above the surface ofthe model and spraying over them.

New Thing No. 9: Using Future to sealpaint and gloss coat. When all the acryliccolors have been painted, I spray severalcoats of Future over the model to protectthe paint finish. This stuff is great - nothinning required!

New Thing No. 10: Using Alclad II silverLacquer. Now for the silver. I’m going totry another new thing on this model -Alclad II silver lacquer. I hear it’s greatstuff. I’m about to get some more “experi-ence” (“experience” is what you get whenyou don’t get what you wanted). I maskeverything that wasn’t already masked,leaving the upper fuselage and vertical tailto be painted silver. I shoot a coat ofAlclad II on the fuselage. Two problemsimmediately jump out. The first is curdledpaint - apparently I didn’t get completecoverage with the acrylic base coat. Thesecond is that the polished finish Ithought I had wasn’t polished nearlyenough. This stuff shows every blemish.A slightly heavier coat hides both prob-lems, but not for long. This stuff issupposed to dry really fast, but whileremoving the masking an hour later, Imanage to put huge fingerprints in theAlclad. I re-mask the entire bottom of themodel and sand the Alclad off. Moresanding and polishing. This time a coat ofKrylon flat white acrylic. I sand and polishit, then shoot a coat of Future just to becertain it’s sealed. In retrospect, thiswasn’t a good idea. When the Future wasdry, I sprayed two coats of Alclad II. Afterthe additional sanding, several parts of thewing camouflage needed to be touched up,so I masked everything but the top of thewing and re-sprayed the camouflage.When all the masking was removed,disaster struck. The Alclad had failed tostick to the super smooth Future andpeeled off in big strips. The contest wasonly a week away! I carefully feathered outthe edges of the peeled off paint with 1200grit wet-or-dry and cleaned off thefuselage with clean water. The model wasentirely re-masked, and the Alclad re-sprayed. After several coats, a suitablemetal-like finish was achieved, but notwithout a small near-disaster. Alclad comeswith two good-sized ball bearings in thebottle to assist paint mixing while youshake the bottle. While shaking the bottlebefore the last two coats, the ball bearingsbroke the bottle from the inside, and paintstarted draining out the bottom of thebottle onto the floor. A new bottle wasquickly found, cleaned, and the remainingAlclad II transferred to the new bottle. I



Mirage Hobby 1/48th ScalePZL P.37A Los

by Lukasz Kedzierski

The PZL P.37 (Panstwowe ZakladyLotnicze - National Aviation Establish-ment) was the most modern aircraft in theinventory of the Polish Air Force inSeptember 1939 and a symbol of Polishtechnological ingenuity. In fact it was oneof the best medium bombers of its timefeaturing several advanced technologicaldesigns, combining good performance andmaneuverability with high bomb carryingcapability. However, too few aircraft weredelivered to the front line units by the timeWW2 broke out to make much of acontribution to the Polish war effort inSeptember 1939. This was due to design’s“teething” problems and equipmentdelivery delays.

The PZL P.37 was developed in responseto the specifications issued by theDepartament Aeronautyki (Department ofAeronautics) in 1934 for a new twin-engined bomber capable of carrying abomb load of 2000 kg (including 300 kgbombs) with speed in excess of 350 km/h,and a range of 1200 km. The task ofdesigning a new aircraft was given to ateam of engineers led by Jerzy Dabrowskiand Piotr Kubicki. The new design wasaerodynamically “clean” with a fuselage ofsmall elliptical cross-section that enabledthe plane to reach speed of 400 km/h. Thishowever, necessitated the inclusion ofbomb bays in the wings. To accommodatethe bomb bays Dabrowski designed a newwing profile of very good aerodynamiccharacteristics that was similar to the firstlaminar profiles, which became widely usedin military aircraft later during the war. Thewing also featured a caisson patented bydr. Misztal and successfully used in Polishchallenge aircraft PZL.19 and PZL.26.Departament Aeronautyki acceptedDabrowski’s project with a few minormodifications such as a reduction ofaircraft’s defensive armament in favor ofachieving higher speed. The construction

of prototypes commenced in 1935 and inthe same year PZL received an order forten production PZL P.37As, soon in-creased to 30 aircraft. The first prototype,powered by Bristol Pegasus XIIB and testflown in 1936, revealed several problemswith fuel system, main undercarriage,shock absorbents, rudder, etc. These werefixed by PZL and in 1937 the aircraft wastransferred to ITL (Aviation TechnologyInstitute) for further testing. The secondprototype was completed in 1937. Thisaircraft was powered by Bristol PegasusXX engines, and had a redesigned cockpitand twin vertical stabilizers in place of asingle one to improve the rear field of fire.A revolutionary unit with sway beam andtwin wheels replaced heavy main undercar-riage unit with a single wheel. In 1938 bothprototypes were tested in ITL. Duringthose tests P.37/I was lost due to inad-equate riveting of the main wing thatcaused the wing to break off during flight.Production started in 1938 with ten P.37As(single vertical tail plane) being completedfirst, followed by 20 P.37Abis (twin tailplane).

Two aircraft of the latter batch wereconverted to demonstrator aircraft with thecivil registrations SP-BNK and SP-BNL.SP-BNK was used to test Gnome-Rhone(GR) 14N engines and became a prototypefor the export variant P.37C. Los C wasdemonstrated in Greece and Turkey whereit crash-landed due to poor weatherconditions. The aircraft was left in Turkey,while the crew went back to Poland. SP-BNL was used in a promotional flight toRomania, Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslaviawhere it was shown in Belgrade during theInternational Aviation Show in 1938.During the same year this aircraft wasshown in Paris and in the meantime a flightof two Los As and one Los Abis wasdemonstrated in Bulgaria. The Los (Elk)was very well received by the internationalaviation experts and was considered to beone of the best bombers at the time due toits high speed and great bomb load. In1938 PZL started a license production ofBristol Pegasus engines designated PZLPegaz XXA and B, and initiated produc-

tion of PZL P.37B of which the Polish AirForce ordered 124 aircraft. By the end of1938 PZL had completed 50 Los Bs. Theremaining production was postponed dueto a series of unexplained crashes, shiftingresources to the production line of PZLP.43 (an export version of PZL P.23 Karas)and initiation of production of a newfighter, PZL P.50. In early 1939 the produc-tion was halted altogether due to thechange of Air Force Commander-in-Chief,who put more emphasis on the develop-ment of fighter planes. A total of 104airframes were completed and productionof the additional 20 was moved to a newPZL factory in Mielec of which only a fewwere completed before the hostilities ofSeptember 1939 broke out.

If not for the war the Los could have beena huge export success. PZL plannedproduction of export variants P.37C withGR 14NO1 engines and P.37D with GR14N21 engines, which were offered toseveral European countries. The Belgiangovernment purchased the rights to alicense production of Los, whereas Greeceordered 12 aircraft with the possibility toexpand the order to 24. Bulgaria displayedinterest in acquiring 15 P.37Cs, Yugoslavia20, Romania was interested in a procure-ment of 30 P.37Ds as well as a licenseproduction, Turkey was interested in apurchase of 10 P.37Ds with additional 25aircraft to be assembled in Turkey fromparts delivered by Poland. Other countriesinterested in Los included Denmark,Estonia, and Finland. The SpanishRepublican government placed a clandes-tine order for 50 Los Cs, but the Republi-cans were defeated before the deliveriescould commence. If all of the above orderswere finalized, it would have kept the Loson the production lines well into 1940.

First P.37s (mainly A and Abis) weredelivered to operational units in late 1938and equipped 210 Dywizjon Bombowy(bomber squadron) consisting of 211 and212 Eskadra, and 220 Dywizjon Bombowy(221 and 222 Eskadra) of the 1st PulkLotniczy (Aviation Regiment). Eacheskadra consisted of nine aircraft, how-


ever, deliveries were very slow due todelays in deliveries of radio equipment,guns, bomb racks and propellers. 210Dywizjon reached combat readiness inMarch 1939 and at the same time 215Dywizjon Bombowy was being formedconsisting of 216 and 217 Eskadra. ByApril 60 P.37s were delivered and in Junethere were 36 Los in the first line units and38 in reserve. By the end of August 1939the Polish Army was put on alert since warseemed inevitable. Los equipped unitsformed part of the Brygada Bombowa(Bomber Brigade) along with units usingthe obsolete PZL P.23 Karas. On 31August 1939 the Air Force had a total of 86PZL P.37s: 36 in X and XV (ex-210 and 215)Dywizjon as part of Brygada Bombowa, 31in Malaszewice Base (20 in XX reserve (ex-220) Dywizjon plus additional 11 fromvarious training units), five in SamodzielnyDyon Doswiadczalny (experimental unit),and 14 undergoing repairs.

The enemy air superiority, dispersal ofPolish bomber units, and inadequatelyequipped field airstrips prevented theeffective use of Poland’s most modernaircraft in the September Campaign. TheLos was mainly used for missions thatincluded reconnaissance and bombard-ment of German mobile forces, a task forwhich Los was not intended. Moreover,none of the sorties included a largenumber of aircraft that could inflict anyconsiderable damage. Repairs of damagedaircraft were not possible since the groundcrews did not have all the essentialequipment and battle worthiness wasfurther affected by the fact that most of theaircraft were not fully equipped (radio,compass, etc.). Shortage of fuel andinability to coordinate operations withPolish fighters (it should be noted thatPZL P.37 was much faster than any of thecontemporary Polish fighters) deterioratedsituation even more. P.37s of BrygadaBombowa made a total of 135 sorties (fromSeptember 1 to September 19) of which 25were purely reconnaissance. Most of thebombing missions involved attacks onrandomly chosen mobile German forcesand a total of 119 tonnes of bombs were

dropped. 27 aircraft were lost whichaccounts for 75% of the initial strength(59% including reinforcements deliveredduring the hostilities): 11 were destroyedby enemy fighters, five by enemy AA fire,one by friendly AA fire, two were de-stroyed on the ground by enemy bombers,

three were abandoned by crews due totechnical difficulties, three were damagedon the ground, and lost due to pilot error,and two crash landed due to the lack offuel.

The Germans captured a total of 41 P.37s inWarsaw and Mielec. Those aircraft were atdifferent stages of assembly althoughseveral were completed. Polish workersused by Germans to clear airfields de-stroyed the majority of them, whichresulted in only two PZL P.37B’s beingairworthy. Both aircraft received Germanmarkings and one was sent to Rechlin fortesting where it crashed. The secondaircraft was a part of the “Victory in theWest” exposition that took part in Viennain 1940. Its final fate is unknown. TheGerman war booty also included 50 brandnew PZL Pegasus XX engines that weresold to Sweden and used in the Ju 86K-13.Polish crews evacuated 27 P.37s toRomania. These aircraft were seized by theRomanian government and despite thePolish government’s diplomatic efforts,backed up by France and Great Britain, theaircraft were never returned to Polish AirForce, of which new squadrons were beingformed in France. Later on the aircraftequipped 76 and 77 Squadron of ForteleAeriene Regale Romane (Royal RomanianAir Force) and took part in the attack onSoviet Union in 1941. By the end of 1941

the Los was used for training of the crewsflying Ju 88s and remained in this role until1944.

For modelers in Poland the Los is anessential part of everybody’s collection.As far as I know all my friends had a model

of the Los so it is apretty common thing,but for many of you itis an esoteric subject.For me the Los startedmy modeling passion(mental disorder andobsession that’s outof control according tomy wife) since it wasthe first model kit thatI put together. That

was Mikro’s 1/144th scale PZL P.37B. Afew years later ZST Plastyk released their1/72nd offering that has been re-boxed bynumerous companies in Poland, and it’sstill the only one model kit of this aircraftin 1/72nd scale. PART has produced twophoto-etched sets that improve the modelconsiderably and Engines ‘n’ Thingsmakes Pegasus engines for Los. However,everyone was longing for a 1/48th scalekit. S-Model released in the mid ‘90s avacuformed kit in this scale enhanced withresin parts (see a construction feature onHyperscale), but it was too expensive formany modelers and not really suitable forvac-illiterates (I have this kit and its resinparts will soon come in handy). Finally,Mirage Hobby, a company that makesquite a lot of kits of Polish aircraft, armorand ships, has released two different kitsof Los in 1/48th scale - single tail P.37Aand twin tail P.37B. As you can imagine Igot both of them straight away as well asresin Bristol Pegasus engines and PARTphoto-etched sets (three altogetherdealing with interior and exterior detailsand offering replacement flaps) that werereleased almost simultaneously with theMirage Hobby kit. However, this articledeals with the out-of-box construction ofPZL P.37A, which will hopefully soon befollowed by another PZL P.37B stuffedwith metal and resin.


What you get in the box is five sprues ofparts molded in dark gray plastic withrecessed panel lines, one sprue of trans-parent parts (nice and clear, but a bit thick)and an excellent decal sheet printed byTechmod. Major parts have a bit grainysurface and a few sink marks, and myexample had a hole in the lower wing nextto the engine. Smaller parts are a bitsimplified, but acceptable. The cockpitinterior is pretty well detailed with switchand radio boxes, oxygen bottles, emer-gency flares, and ammunition drums formachine guns (both types, Vickers andPWU are included). Unfortunately, theinstrument panel is very oversimplified(holes in the panel) and ventral gunnerposition is molded in closed position,which is correct since it was usually closedon the ground, but it would be nice toleave it up to the modeler. Flaps can bedepicted either closed or deployed andwing bomb bays can be shown open with18 100kg bombs inside. A fuselage bombbay is not provided, which is a pity since itwas the only one that could carry 300kgbombs or additional fuel tanks, and Isuppose they all were opened simulta-neously. There are also optional spinners,main undercarriage legs, and wheels withdifferent hubs, but this is applicable to Bvariant not A. Engines are probably thebiggest let down of this kit, but onceinstalled and painted not much can beseen anyway. Instructions are clear andcomprehensive (though entirely in Polish).There is the type history and specifica-tions, tips and hints for modelers (AMstyle), 20 construction diagrams as well aspainting and decal placement guide. Thereis an additional sheet with color profilesfor all decal options and colors are givenas Humbrol numbers.

I started with the cockpit and afterpainting, drybrushing etc, was quite happywith the final result. I know I said that theinstructions are clear, however, theplacement of different subassemblies inthe cockpit is sometimes vague andreference photos are needed. Bothfuselage halves went together withoutproblems, but be aware there are nolocating pins. Some of the panel lines did

not actually join whereas others did and Isuppose that is the manufacturer’s fault,but it was easily corrected. The ventralgunner position needs some attention aswell, namely getting it into shape (theframe has different width on both fuselagehalves). Tail plane assembly did not causeany problems, but I sanded down thestrips covering the riveting since theywere too pronounced. Wings were nextand these require some work. I decided todepict flaps in a deployed position andhave the bomb bays open. The assemblyof 18 bombs was a real pain and their fins

are better replaced with scratch built onesfrom plasticard. Do not follow instructionshere and install bombs after completion ofpainting otherwise you will keep losingthem while dealing with the wing-fuselagejoint (I learnt it the hard way). The flapopening has a conspicuous “step” on theinside surface of upper wing that needs tobe sanded if you want to have the flaps ina dropped position. The radiators on thewings look ridiculous and need a replace-ment, but they are included in one of PARTPE sets.

With wings, fuselage and tail section alldone it was time to put them together.They do not fit very well and all jointsrequire some filling, filing, and sanding,but I have done it all before so there wasno surprise here. Engines and propellerassemblies did not pose any problems, andneither did the undercarriage. Next I turnedmy attention to the clear parts. Thewindscreen comes together with a section

of upper fuselage, which caused a bit of aproblem since the fuselage sides werespringing apart and some persuasion withclamps, rubber bands, and superglue wasneeded. The cockpit and dorsal gunnercanopies fit nicely, but they a bit on a thickside of things, and this may be a problem ifyou want to show them in an openposition. The nose glazing comes in twohalves split vertically along the frames, socaution needs to be exercised whensanding down the joint. And that prettymuch concludes the construction.

Painting time! Well, notmuch variety here sinceall pre-war Polish aircraftwere painted Polish khakiupper surfaces with lightblue-gray lower surfaces.And that’s what you getin here - three markingoptions sporting identicalcamouflage. Two of themare Polish - P.37A “white1” (72.11) of 212 EskadraBombowa in 1938 and“white 3” (72.5) of thesame unit in 1939. Apartfrom squadron numbers

and serial numbers (only on the left side ofthe fuselage) these aircraft are alsowearing the PZL logo on the tail and Polishnational insignia on the wings and rudder.Polish checkers on the upper wings werepositioned asymmetrically in relation to thefuselage, which was supposed to makeaiming by an attacking fighter moredifficult. Both aircraft also sport the unitlogo - Ursa Major (Great Bear, a constella-tion on the Northern Hemisphere sky),“white 1” has also a foundation inscriptionon the fuselage; this particular aircraft waspurchased from money donated by Polishbanks. The last option is a sole P.37A inRomanian service that belonged to 76Squadron (1941). This aircraft wears thePolish camouflage, but has a yellowfuselage band, Romanian crosses in sixpositions, and white 201 number on thetail. Mirage Hobby gives you Humbrolpaint colors, which is fine with theexception that some of them are no longerin production like the elusive Polish khaki -


Humbrol 142. I have never seen this colorand cannot buy it here in Australia (myfriends told me it is still available in somehobby shops in Poland) and everyone hasa different idea as to its shade rangingfrom dark green to khaki. I am no expert inthis area, but I tried khaki before (TamiyaXF-49) and that does not look right. I alsoused a ModelMaster equivalent of H142that is called Field Drab and this one doesnot look right either, and I have seen greenbut that seems to be too dark. So I mixedmy own brew of Polish khaki form Humbrol150 Forest Green with some scarlet, yellow,and green. Looks good to me.

Undersides are quoted as light blue (H65)and that’s what I used, but I think it’swrong. The color should be more grayishand I was told that H147 or lightened H87are the correct colors. Everything else iseasy - Townsend ring and exhausts werepainted H113, drybrushed with some silverand copper, propeller blades and undercar-riage are aluminum. Weathering wasaccomplished by spraying with lightenedmain camouflage colors and Tamiya smoke

as well as minimalpaint chipping. It hasto be remembered thatthese aircraft wereonly in service forabout a year so do notgo overboard here.The entire kit wassealed with SuperShine and decalsapplied. Decals areprinted by Techmodand are of outstandingquality. Perfect

register, color density, and thickness withminimal carrier film (that applies to my LosA; the Los B decals are out of register).You get full sets of national insignia (bothPolish and Romanian), stencils and all theother markings. I used Aero Set and Sol onmy decals and there were no adverseeffects and no silvering at all. Fantastic!The entire model was then sealed withH135 varnish and final details wereinstalled such as antenna, guns, and all thebombs that fell out from bomb bays.

What an outstanding kit! Do not expectTamigawa-Revellogram quality but it is

definitely a good kitwith just a few smallfaults. Decals arefantastic, there isplenty of potential forimprovement and itbuilds into a pretty bigmodel of a veryinteresting aircraft.And believe me, youcan even win competi-tions with this kit builtout-of-box (I did). Mynext Los will involve

PART’s photo-etched sets and S-Modelresin combined with Engines’n’Thingspower plants.

This article is reprinted with permissionfrom Lukasz Kedzierski’s excellentLukasz' Modelling Page web site athttp://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/7252/– ED]

was lucky - there was just enough left tofinish the fuselage painting! Lesson -Don’t shake the bottle too hard!

After waiting a couple of hours for theAlclad II to dry, I sprayed the entire modelwith three coats of Future in preparationfor decal application. I set the model asidefor two days while waiting for the Futureto set up completely.

While waiting for the Future to dry, I takecare of a couple of small details. The gun-sight is painted flat black with brownaround the back to simulate leatherpadding. The front and back are gloss-coated to simulate lenses, and the assem-bly is lightly dry-brushed with silver. Ipaint the pilot’s retractable ladder whitewith red stripes like one I’ve seen in apicture of an Fw 190 and set it aside. Thewheel hubs are painted semi-gloss black,and after drying, I try to dry-brush mudonto the tires. I first try brown paint. Itdoesn’t show. A quick look at my hikingboots reveals that dried mud is light tan,not brown. I grab some flat white, stir in alittle brown, and dry-brush it on the tires.Instant mud! The 30mm gun barrels areshort lengths of stainless hypodermictubing purchased from Small Parts Inc.Stainless is tough, and requires a high-speed cut-off wheel to cut it. I left the gunbarrels in a natural steel finish - theyshould probably be painted a gloss orsatin black. To keep paint from getting inthe end, push a small bamboo cocktailstick into the gun barrel end. This alsogives you something to hold while youspray it. The pitot tube is two differentpieces of hypodermic tubing - a long largediameter piece attached to the wing, and ashorter piece that slips inside the end ofthe main piece. The long piece is sprayedRLM 82 and then marked at the lengthwhere it shouldn’t be pushed any furtherinto it’s mounting hole. The smaller pieceis left in its natural metal finish and markedat the point where it shouldn’t be pushedany farther into the main tube.


Ta 183 from page 9


Tamiya 1/16th Scale WWIIGerman Machine Gunner

by Hal Marshman, Sr.

This is the second Tamiya 1/16th figureI’ve done, and I’m quite impressed. BeforeI get into the review, let me say to theregular figure painter, in this case you haveto be a plastic model builder, also. By this Imean that you will have to assemble muchof this figure in the same manner as youwould a plastic model airplane or tank. Justas any regular modeler has to eliminateseams after construction, so will you. Thebasic body parts are in two-piece front andback configuration, with the skirt of theovercoat consisting of three pieces. Thelarge collar of the great coat is also aseparate piece, with tunic collar and neckpart of toque (a large knitted scarf type ofitem which was wrapped around the headand neck, under the helmet) included. TheMg-42 machine gun, gas mask tin, andcanteen are also in two halves.

The head is a separate item consisting ofthe face, with the rest of the toquewrapped around the head. Notice that thehelmet strap is cast into the toque, so besure to paint differently from the toqueitself. The face is long and thin, so you canreally go to town with pale face colors ifyou want this guy to look as if he’sexperiencing really cold weather. I centeredthe eyeballs in the eye, which is somethingI usually avoid, but this time I wanted that1000 km stare.

Lower portion of boots are separate andattach to upper part that is cast as part ofthe legs. You will almost certainly havesome filling to do at this joint. For my part,I think the feet should be more bulky, butthat’s personal preference.

Helmet is well shaped, representing the M-1936 model. Tamiya has missed a bet here,as there should be prominent rivet headsin center of rear, and forward sides ofhelmet, which are the means by which theliner is attached to the helmet shell. Tamiyaalso missed the slightly raised vent holeson the forward upper side curvatures. If

you desire to add these features, theyshould be easy to scratch up.

The Mg-42 is very well done, with separatedrum magazine, cocking lever, and choiceof open or folded bipod stand. My onlygripe here is that the gun is in two halves,with the seam passing down the center ofthe barrel. This seam will be visiblethrough the vent holes in the casing, andis a son-of-a-gun to eliminate. The muzzlewill profit from being bored out.

The upper part of the torso includes lowercollar lapels, and “Y” harness, are all welldone. Shoulder straps are part of castingand represent a rank lower than sergeant.If you decide to paint the branch of servicepiping (waffenfarben), remember for bothHeere and Waffen SS, infantry piping iswhite. For Waffen SS, the basic strapwould almost certainly be black, except forvery late war. Tamiya provides belt claspsfor both Heere and Waffen SS, so be sureto use the correct buckle. Again, if goingSS, remember the SS pattern sleeve eagleon the upper left sleeve. A cuff title on thelower left sleeve is not mandatory on thegreat coat, and period photos showovercoats with and without same.

The accessories sprue provides Lugerholster, bayonet, entrenching tool, breadbag, gas mask tin, canteen, and Mg-42equipment pack. There are several un-needed items on the sprue such asSchmeisser with folding wire stock,schmeisser magazine pouches, and potatomasher grenade. All accessories are verywell done indeed. In regard to the accesso-ries, no one says you have to use them all,and mix and match is allowed. Whatever isleft over can be saved for later use eitherto enhance another figure, or as “lay aboutwindow dressing.”

This is a very good kit, and once as-sembled and painted represents a verytypical Eastern Front, or maybe Battle ofthe Bulge German “soldat”. Probably theworst fault I can find is the lack of aninstruction sheet giving the placementlocations for the equipment. There aremany books on today’s market which doprovide this information if needed.

After letting the Future dry for a day, I gluethe nose gear leg in place, and thencarefully remove the main gear doors fromthe gear bays. A light scoring around thedoor with a disposable razor blade to breakthe paint keeps the paint from chippingaway when the doors are pried off. Nowit’s time to prop the model up on blocksand glue on the main landing gear legs.The brake lines are carefully pushed intothe previously drilled small holes under themain gear attach holes. It is important tomake sure both wingtips are the sameheight above the surface, the axles of bothgear legs are level, and that the landinggear legs both touch the surface. I let themodel sit this way for a day to make surethe gear legs are fully hardened.

The Future has now had two days to setup, so now it’s time for the decals. I usethe Experten decals for “Red 4” of JV 44,and add the fuel fill, pilot step location,and “nicht anfassen” (don’t touch) decalsfrom the AMtech decal sheet. A littleMicroset and they settle right into thepanel lines.

With the decals all in place, it’s time forfinishing touches. The nose wheel issnapped into the nose gear fork. I discoverthat the holes in the main wheels are a littletoo big, so I wrap a little Bare Metal Foilaround the axles for a more snug fit, andpush the wheels onto the axles. Aftermaking sure that the flattened part of eachwheel is on the bottom, I secure them witha tiny drop of C/A. The protruding ends ofthe main wheel axles get a little gloss black.I check the fit of the main gear doors andgear door actuators. The actuator is gluedin place in the gear bay, and the door isglued to the bay and the end of theactuator. Now that the model can sit on itsown wheels, the missile pylons are gluedin place and carefully checked to makesure they hang vertically. The 30mm gunbarrels are slipped into their holes andsecured with a tiny bit of C/A. Be carefulnot to push them in too far, as it is verydifficult to get them back out. The EZ-42gun-sight is slipped into its mounting

Ta 183 from page 13


Upcoming Model Shows and Contests

Friday-Sunday, April 26-28Sakura-Con, the Pacific Northwest Anime Convention presents an Art and Model Contest. Anime, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, etc.Sea-Tac Airport Hilton and Center, Sea-Tac For more information, contact Katty Goslee at [email protected] or check the web siteat www.sakuracon.org

Saturday, May 4First Annual Combined Eastern Washington Scale Model Show and Contest. Hosted by IPMS/Yakima Model Makers and IPMS/Palouse Area Modelers. 9AM-4PM. Registration 9AM-12 Noon. Fees: Adults, $5 for up to 5 models, each additional $1; Juniors (under18), free; Spectators, $1. Regular IPMS categories and several special awards. Make It/Take It for Juniors – Under 18s will choose asnap-together kit to build, and then keep it. Speed Build – Using only tools provided, competitors will race to build a snap kit. Prizes forfirst finished and best built. Selah Civic Center, 216 South First, Selah, WA. For more information, call Stu Alvord, 509-697-7914.

Sunday, May 5Puget Sound Model Car Sunday 13. Hosted by Puget Sound Auto Modelers Association. 9AM-4PM. Entry deadline 11:45 AM. Entryfees: Adults, $5 for up to 3 models, $1 each additional; Juniors $2; under age 6 free; Spectators $3. Puyallup Elks Club, 314 – 27th StreetNE, Puyallup. For more information call Doug Hale 253-627-1005; e-mail: [email protected].

Saturday, May 18HobbyTown USA Redmond Model Contest and Show. 10AM-3:30PM. Registration 10AM-12 Noon. Entry fees – Adults/Youth, $5 forunlimited entries; Juniors (12 and under) $2; Display only $2. Model sale – All kits 20% off day of show only. HobbyTown USARedmond, 16421 Cleveland Street, Redmond, WA. Phone 425-558-0312.

Saturday, June 86th Annual OSSM Model Contest and Swap Meet. 9AM-6PM. Entry fees: $5 for up to 3 models, $1 each additional; Adult spectators $4;Seniors and Youth spectators $3. Primarily Autos, but a few categories for airplanes, armor, ships, etc. Clackamas Meeting and BanquetFacilities, 15815 SE 82nd Dr., Portland, OR. (Inside Denny’s). For more info call Floyd Blakley at 503-666-7563.

Saturday, June 15Spring 2002 Invitational Model Show and Contest. Hosted by IPMS Lt. Alexander Pearson Modelers in conjunction with MasterpieceModels Swap Meet. 9AM-5PM. Clark County Fairgrounds, 17402 NE Delfel Road, Ridgefield, WA. For information, send SASE to 2804NE Hancock, Portland, OR, 97212, or call 503-282-9371 or e-mail [email protected].

Saturday, September 14ReCon 7. Hosted by IPMS Oregon Historical Modelers Society and IPMS Salem. Capt. Michael King Smith Evergreen AviationEducational Institute, 3850 Three Mile Lane, McMinnville, Oregon. More details next issue.

holes and glued with C/A. The photo-etchDF loop is now glued to the DF loop base,and the morane antennae slipped into itsmounting hole and held with a tiny drop ofC/A. The large section of the pitot tube ispushed into its mounting hole up to themark and glued with C/A, followed bypushing the small pitot tube section intothe end of the main section up to its markand gluing with C/A. After gluing thewindscreen in place, I put a little glue onthe canopy bulkhead I made, and positionthe canopy in the open position to displayall that wonderful detail. The last step is toglue the missiles to the pylons. Check thefront-view drawing on Page 5, Step 6 of theinstructions to see which missiles go on

which pylons. They are not all the same!

It now looks like a real model. There are acouple more steps to go. Wash the modelto remove decal setting solution, anothercoat of Future to seal the decals, more oilwashes and weathering, and a final flat/semi-gloss coat to cut the gloss and sealthe oil wash, but the contest is tomorrow,and there’s no more time. Besides, it lookscool now, and I can do all that after thecontest!

I’m pleased that this model actually gotfinished after all the learning experiences Ihad. And it actually looks OK too. A bigpart of enjoying this model was the

simplicity of the building process. Not a lotof parts, but great detail where it counts. Itwas also neat to be able to build some-thing the way I wanted to without havingto worry too much about being absolutelycorrect about every little detail. Thank youAMtech for producing a fun little kit!


Meeting Reminder Saturday, April 1310AM - 1PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

Modeling Gods

by Bill Osborn

I know that there is a Modeling God. Therehas always been something or someonelooking over my shoulder and jabbing myelbow at just the right time, so that the fullbottle of paint spills all over the decalsheet I need to finish the unique modelI’ve been working on for the last fewmonths. All these years the gods seemedto have had it in for me.

Well, “They” must have talked it over anddecided to be kind to me for a change. As Isat in my over-stuffed recliner scanningthe new issue of Fine Scale, what to mywandering eyes should appear, but aminiature sleigh, no that’s not right, sorryabout that, I was lost for a moment at thethought of good things to come.

Not only have my prayers been answeredbut also, the year 2002 will go down as theyear of the big ones in1/72nd scale. Notonly are we to get a Tu-95 “Bear”, but asan added bonus, there is going to be a Tu-160 “Blackjack” to go along with it. What,you say that’s not enough? OK, howabout a Bv 222? With three models that

size I may need to add a new wing to themodel room.

The Bear is coming from Trumpeter, so wemay get more than one configuration thanthe Tu-95MS-H that is listed. Revell alsoannounced a B-1B. This could be the oldone reissued but this was not specified.

Also announced by Amodel is an Su-100.For those of you who don’t speak Russianthis is their would-be clone of the B-70Valkyrie. Now wouldn’t that be a pair toput on the table at a contest? However, themain parts will be resin with the small partsinjected. As some of you know I’m notreally a fan of resin kits and something thatbig seems to offer a chance for real trouble.But you never know, I may be overcomewith an irresistible urge to attempt one justfor the sake of the hobby, you do under-stand don’t you? [Even with the hugeprice tag? – ED]

If all these models are truly released thisyear, I’m not going to see the light of dayuntil 2007. In case I find time on my hands,there will also be an F-107 and aChyetverikov MDR-6. Look it up - I had to.So even if only half of what is announcedshows up, it will be a great year.

Flights of Fancy1st - Focke-Wulf Ta 183, Mike Millette2nd - Focke-Wulf Ta 183, Michael Morrow3rd - King County PD, Terry Moore

Misc1st - Norman Rockwell, Marty Martinez2nd - ‘57 283 Small Block, Lil Petit3rd - Ultimate Act of Defiance, MartyMartinezHM - Off-Shore Platform, Earl Simons III

Prefinished1st - ‘69 Cutlass, Everett Quam2nd - W.Z. 28, David Hansen3rd - ‘64 Chevy Lowrider, Everett Quam

Best Of Show - Doolittle’s Raid, SteveCozad

Spring Show Results from page 5

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