Bishop Hobbies

9/12/2010 This is my next build.  As you can see I've assembled some aftermarket bits produced by Roy Sutherland (BarracudaCals and BarracudaCast) who is in the model club I attend.  These include decals with corrected colors for the roundels, resin seat, cockpit door and enhanced parts for the cockpit. I also purchased the Tamiya book on this a/c build – it has such great pictures and a lot of helpful information. 10/2/2010 ok – I'm about done with the dashboard – here is a pic (I gotta get a close up lens):

Ok – I've just received a nice set of closeup lenses (the screw on filter type) for my camera.  This is the first pics with them.  The first one is the control panel close up.  I've added 18 extra decals which include the black backing decals which go on first.  This stuff is all from BarracudaCast and are really great.  The set also includes the control stick and the gear retract and throttle guadrants as well as decals for them along with a lot of other bits.  This really enhances the already fantastic cockpit.  The second picture is the partially finished cockpit showing the resin seat.  I've done a oil wash to show some wear and tear.

 

 

Below are pictures of the cockpit sidewalls. Normally you glue the sidewalls to the control panel – seat assembly, but I wanted to add some extra wiring to the sidewalls – this necessitated gluing them to the fuselage sides instead of the seat structure.

I used as a reference the nice pictures that came with the BarracudaCast cockpit set as well as the Tamiya book on assembling the 1/32 Spitfire.  The cockpit set also included a great set of decals to enhance the cockpit – you can notice many of them on the sidewalls.  In order to replicate the fine stripes or brackets on the air tanks – I used clear tape (Scotch Tape).  The tape was laid down on the cutting mat then painted Tamiya XF-71 – the cockpit interior green.  When that was dry I cut some strips of tape using a new X-Acto knife and attached the strips to the pre-painted tanks.

The oxygen hose on the starboard side is a resin part included in the cockpit set.  I have also added two pictures of the cockpit with the seatbelts installed.

 10/27/2010 I've added pictures of the Rolls Royce engine – and a very nice engine it is!!! I painted it semi gloss black, oversprayed with semi gloss laquer and then used Tamiya weathering sets to add a little oil and grime.  I've also taken a few more pictures of the cockpit…

 

The engine is finished and as the following pictures show – enclosed in the engine framework this is a real gem.  Looking at the picture the exhaust seem a little too rusty so I will be toning that down.

 11/7/2010 I've glued the fuselage halves together – the fit is very good but I had to do a bit extra adjusting here and there as I had glued the cockpit sides to the fuselage halves.  I had to do just a little sanding on the seams but no putty will be needed.  And here are some pics:

12/31/2010 I've finished the fuselage and the wings.  The following pictures show the joining of these two sections as as well as the first coat spray of primer.  For the first time I'm using Mr Surfacer 1000.  I sprayed it outdoors where the temperature was 52 deg F.  It worked pretty good. 

 1/23/2011 I've painted the camo.  In the first picture you see my first take on this.  I took the model to the SVSM meeting last Friday and Ben mentioned that the camo demarcation was a little soft – I agreed, so yesterday I redid it and you can see in the following pic that effect.  It does look a lot better.  I have also dipped the clear parts in Future Floor Polish to improve the clarity.  I've also included a pic of the landing gear.

1/30/2011

More pics – I've finished the camo added the landing gear and painted the prop.

2/13/2011 I'm almost finished.  All that's left is adding the pitot tube and an underwing antenna plus the radio wiring – here are the latest:

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BUILDING THE TAMIYA 1/35 FAMO TANK TRANSPORTER

 

As World War II progressed, the vehicles used on the battlefields became larger and larger. When these mammoth machines broke down or became damaged, the task of bringing them back from the front lines was not an easy one. This need was especially felt by the German Wehrmacht, who were fighting on a wide range of battlegrounds: from the scorching desert of N. Africa to the railroad lacking plains of Russia. Bringing damaged vehicles back from these difficult conditions was indispensable to replenishing fighting strength to the army. The German 18 Ton Heavy Half-Track "FAMO" and Tank Transporter Sd.Ah.116 was one of the vehicles that contributed to this task. Including all variations, over 2500 18ton half-tracks were produced by the end of the WWII. One of the major types was the tank recovery half-track, which was a mighty towing vehicle equipped with two rows of seats and a flatbed in back for the storage of equipment such as a draw-bar and spare wire rope. Tool storage compartments were found on each of the outer sides of the flatbed. In addition, the underside of a vehicle was equipped with a winch. Its powerplant was a Maybach HL 108 12-cylinder engine, which put out 270hp. Tank transporting was conducted by either direct towing with a draw bar, or by loading the tank atop a massive trailer. Officially known as "Sd.Ah.116", the Type 116 Trailer connected with the 18ton heavy half track, which allowed for the transportation of 22-23 ton class tanks such as the Pz.Kpfw.III, Pz.Kpfw.IV and other heavy artillery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Feb. 19, 2011 I won this model at the Model Expo in Petaluma at their wonderful raffle. This is really an awesome model that I just had to start. When finished it will be over two feet long – actually it comes out to 640 mm or 25.17 inches. I will be posting pictures and comments as time goes on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/27/2011 I've done a lot of work on the FAMO itself.  Here you see the basic running gear.  There is still a lot of paint touch up and weathering to do:

 

3/20/2011  I've finished the tracks and installed them.  I dusted them with Tamiya brown and then desert sand then used Tamiya weathering powders to add white to the rubber pads.  The front tires had the seam sanded off then the treads were filled with Tamiya thickened primer.  Then I used q-tips dipped in Tamiya thinner to wipe off the excess primer.  This was followed with a liberal dusting with Tamiya weathering sand powder.  I wiped that off with the dampened q-tips also.  The last pics have some of the upper body works placed on the frame.  I have yet to paint and weather these parts.

 

 

3/21/2011 I've painted the upper body works…

 

 

 

 

3/29/2011 I have decided to change the overall color of the body from German Grey to the camo tri color of sand, green and brown.  I have found that the German grey is really dark and the details of the model are harder to see.  Plus that fact that the camo version was a lot more prevalent I believe.  I am painting the tank transporter as if it had an in-field camo job done with spray guns, and the FAMO crew compartment was left in the German gray color as it would have been just too time consuming to mask off and paint in the field.  I also am not repainting the underside as they would have been left as the factory color.  This color scheme will lend itself to more weathering possibilities too.

 

3/31/2011 I've done a little more – all that's really left on the FAMO itself now is adding misc parts and loads….

5/1/2011 I've done a lot on the fore and aft trucks and have just started the trailer framework.  Below are some pictures of all of the parts posed as they would be as finished:

 

 

5/22/2011

I've finished off the trailer and painted the parts of it.  I still have to attach the rubber tires and do the weathering.

 

 

 

6/6/2011

I'm almost done – ha ha.  The tires are now on and I've just added a canvas cover made from tissue dipped in white glue diluted with water.  I've also added some cargo for the famo in the form of 5 fuel drums and a few jerry cans.  The boxes are actually tank ammo boxes but I think they look good in there.  I've also added the decals and given the whole thing a light dusting of sand.  Now to the pics…

 

 

6/12/2011

After almost four months the FAMO tank transporter is finished!  Here we have the transporter with a captured American Sherman tank.  I still have a few items to add – a bucket and hitch pin along with a few items for the storage drawers in the FAMO.  Please excuse the background items.  I no longer have my photo booth.  Someday I'll have a much better setup for photos – until then….

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