Japan Fighting Floatplanes ! Solomon Islands 1942

[rodrant]

So my entry on this GB and idea is to make something like this phot , but a little smaller



This on the water is a KAwanishi , a more modern plane than the Rufe , but they coexist but later than 1942 as by now the Rufe was using more for training , still a good idea for a diorama and what I have in mind



For this and for now I have two 1/48 Rufe's with some aftermarket cockpit instruments (as I already know the kit and it is good but quite simple ...) some masks for doing some different identification on both planes and with some other Tamiya accessories , the Bulldozer could be add , not sure yet ...but I would kike to do some hut in scratchbuild ...

Some fuel drums , maybe some figures from a 1/48 Zero as it is really hard to find figures in 1/48 scale , I have a Tamiya Zero that have some waving mechanics that can be used/adapted to this scene ...and water and Palmtrees



well will start on this soon ...

[Smiffy]

I look forward to seeing this

[Richp1969]

Wow! Are you building all those models? I can't wait to see all this come together.

Sincerely,

Richard

[Always48]

sounds so cool mate, love the idea of the diorama. watching this build with excitement

[rwsmith14]

Great Idea !!!!!

[Vleugelmoer]

Nice choice of subject matter. Having visited The Solomans in 2009 myself and having seen some of the sites there really got me into the Pacific Theatre of Operations. Even with Indonesia being a Dutch colonie at the time that part of our history is mostly glanced over and sometimes even only whispered about is history classes in schools here.

As always happy modeling and keep sticking styreen.

Paul

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

great project! Looking forward to see it all come together !

[Vleugelmoer]

sitting down and watching how this unfolds... For 1:48 figures you could have a look on the site of blackdog

[rodrant]

great project! Looking forward to see it all come together !

Really a little big my friend , just really hopes that everything unfold as it is in my ambicious head
Thank you !

sitting down and watching how this unfolds... For 1:48 figures you could have a look on the site of blackdog

Thank you !
Actually I search a lot and only found CMK figures in 1/48 , I will use figures from the Tamiya 1/48 Zero that I have it has about 4 mechanics waving , also the Rufes has the option to have a standing pilot...well it is always the same pose , let's see how unfolds all this , Ideas ...Ideas ...

[rodrant]

Making a start on this today ...it looks wintertime in Portugal ...not Spring ...so what else to do ? Bench and get some quality time for myself

I already Presented the photos , will have something new to add

So will be two new NAkajima Rufe form Tamiya in 1/48 , a simple but easy and great fit kit to do , exactly what I want to this build ...



the gemini ...



Will use aftermarket and some first using this brands ...some pane instruments from Yahú ...nd Montex Masks for painting ...well will try to paint the Hiromarus and the identification of the planes ...being Japanese they do not have that much markings , and lately I had a lot of decals issues , I can always have the option to use decals if not working well , the masks have also canopy ones , and that is great for me

Like a lot that very weathered Rufe on the top left ...



A Komatsu Bulldozer and a Kurogane 4X4 vehicle from Tamiya ...maybe the commander of the base is inspecting the planes before the mission ...don't know , but could be a nice add



Some Palm trees and leaves from Reality in Scale will add to the scenario , maybe I should buy some more as this could get Big ...then also I have the idea to make a small Hut from scratch ( a first to me ...) , Some aditional figures in 1/48 will come from a Tamiya ZEro in 1/48 that I have to make some mechanics , and will start on this today



Thank you for following this build , seems another great GB here in the ISM forum , Good luck to all entries !

[rodrant]

I was searching and I built a Rufe some time ago when I was back to Modelling ...the result ...like the idea do not like the water

[Vleugelmoer]

those palm trees look awesome Antonio, where did you pick those up and or who made them?? They look way better that the Verlinden one I have in the Stash..

[rodrant]

those palm trees look awesome Antonio, where did you pick those up and or who made them?? They look way better that the Verlinden one I have in the Stash..

They are from Reality in Scale , they make a lot of nice diorama buildings and accessories ,and they are from Netherlands too

[Vleugelmoer]

they are from Reality in Scale , they make a lot of nice diorama buildings and accessories ,and they are from Netherlands too

Thanks I had a closer look at the pictures in a larger format and thought that they where. There house painter for the prototypes is a modeling buddy of mine so know Reality in scale very well as they are located 15 mins up the road from where I live.

[Always48]

I was searching and I built a Rufe some time ago when I was back to Modelling ...the result ...like the idea do not like the water

Rodrant that is a very cool dio mate

sorry for going of topic though, just praise is due on that one

[martin57]

great plan you have there , like the dozer and the palm trees, hope it all goes to plan.

[pourquoi61]

It's going to be a good one this.

[rodrant]

Well , was about time to get a littel update on this , honestly I made this a few weeks ago , I have some started build in the bench and I decided to clear it out before to focus on this , still waiting for some more suplies and must start to see the size of the base of the diorama , well I started for one of the Rufe's













Now the kit is old , but it is a leaseant kit to do , already make one of these in the past , this time will try a different color scheme , still this color scheme that Tamiya has in their old kits ( I saw in this one and in a NAkajima ) , and this is nice ...you can keep this as it is beautiful plane art and very nice if you like Planes ( me...



Instructions ...old fashion ones







Pilots one standing , one flying position





Instrument Panel from YAhu models ...nice detail







Cockpit was done fast







And that is how the build is so far ...now will have more regular updates , the planes will build fast ( I think ...) as I must made two , will get the one that i have built already in order to check base size and my needs for the diorama , and to have a first idea on what will be the size

so for today that's it ..not to much

[Lysus]

I swear cockpits are like 50% of an airplane build, so that's loads of progress. Impressive!

[rodrant]

New update on the build , and was again 'distracted' for another build

the Rufe (the first one ) is ready for paint , I decided to do one at a time , I haven't that much space and had two builds , that I finished now , in the middle





I use for the first time the Montex masks ...well these were for the HAsegawa Rufe , not the Tamiya , I have to cut small adjustments in order that I could use them , from other side didn't like much this masks , I mean because I often use Eduard ones ( they are made with the same type of tape from Tamiya ) and they glue very nicely ...not this ones from Montex , I placed them and some seconds and they begin to go up seems that the paper used is very thick ...but will go with them now ...the mask kit also brings the stencils to paint all decoration of the plane , for me will be a first doing this and not using decals , but already read soemwhere that this aren't the best masks to use ...well we will see :



Ok , I primed the plane )use Tamiya Grey Primer , still have some cans around , and must waste them ...then after being primed I use also Tamiya AS-12 Aluminium ( also spray can ) , y idea and for the first time also to try to do some very weathered Japanese Planes ...I could paint the planes all in IJN Grey ...but also like the IJN green , and decided to do a very weathered Float planes , usually I use a sponge , but this time will try another techniques , that I will try to publish in the thread and see if I could get a good result .



So After I primed the plane spray some aluminium in the areas were I will do some weathering

AS I'm doing all after work and only soem hours during night , I may have more developments during weekend , as now I'm really 100 % focused on this build ( at least until I remember to do another of my kits )

Thank you for watching ,

[Willem]

Nice one Antonio. Will keep an eye on your thread to see how you do your chipping as I'm hoping to do a Zero build soon.

Keep it coming mate.

[rodrant]

Nice one Antonio. Will keep an eye on your thread to see how you do your chipping as I'm hoping to do a Zero build soon.

Keep it coming mate.

thank you buddy !

[rodrant]

So it is painting time ...

After Primed and make a first Aluminium Coat



Will use some Maskol in where I would like to have the more chipped surface

so here and there where I supposed that the plane surface will be with more 'use' , this isn't easy and or you exagerate or do little ...





After all is dry , Painted the Rufe , using XF-11 IJN Green for upper surface , and XF-76 IJN Grey Green for the under surface ...



Fot the highlights or post shade I mixed the two above solors very thinned and sprayed , a little like I do lately in my AFV's , and I like this result very much , must try to do this in a Corsair , it is very fun to do and the result is very nice , at least I thin it is



Then remove the MAskol , and worked a little using some sponge , if not will be a big aluminium surface , and like this seems better

[rodrant]

ok , starting doing the hinomarus painting using the Montex masks ...







Start painting the white



ok the tail identification



must use some MAskol in order to make sure that when I'm going to spray the red will not go to the white





the no step lines on the wings



And the result ...was ok , have to do some minor corrections , not an easy paint job to do ...definitely will try to paint more often as seems better than decals ...but it is hard , oh yes it is ...







Now will paint the floater markings in red also



some detail on the 'no step' marks



ok , now some change here ...my idea was to do do two Rufes ...well it will be only one , two rufes would be a Big Diorama , something that I can do right now , will change a little my initial idea , and that is something that happens , I would like to do one parked and this one starting to take off , will be just this one , think will become a nice diorama also

[Willem]

Cool. Like the chipping mate, you're giving me some ideas. Like the look of the hinamarus too.

Continued success. Will be good whichever way you decide.

[Lysus]

Painting circles, particularly circles within circles, frightens me--I don't think I could attempt them for a long time. Yours look great!

[rodrant]

Cool. Like the chipping mate, you're giving me some ideas. Like the look of the hinamarus too.

Continued success. Will be good whichever way you decide.

thank you Will

Painting circles, particularly circles within circles, frightens me--I don't think I could attempt them for a long time. Yours look great!

Thank you Lysus , the masks helped a lot , but no decals issues on this build

[rodrant]

The Rufe is now ready ...make a Clear coat and put some MiG wash in the panel lines and some rust washes in the floaters , also some soot was aplied , then a Flat Clear Coat ...

here still in washes phase ...



For the base this is the stuff I will use



Will try to choose the colors as some pictures I saw, and all are Black and white , this one seems one of those colorised pictures from a B&W one:




Then and first and as a base for the paint I aplly the Vallejo Texture paint 'White Pumice' , also ued some Sandy Paste



Then I paint using the Model Color shown ...



With the Rufe just to see how it went ...now must see how to put the water ...and even if it will be deep enough ...shouldn't be too deep but must think in a way to seal the base ( it is MDF wood ) , and then to place the Palm trees , and start to do the figures ...

[rodrant]

while I place the water (Deluxe MAterilas Solid Water that I use ) , and what a work it was as the base wasn't deep enough and I noticed that , but it was what I could get avaiable , so a lot of masking tape and x*######s ( I can write her , but my neighbours hear all ...) , I start on the figures , as I mention I used some of the figures on this ZEro Kit from Tamiya , it has about 6 figures of mechanics







painted then





Plce the Reality in scale Palm Trees and a Banana tree



THey are very easy to use and very nice effect , about the water will be shallow waters



The Palm trees have a spike so was easy to make a hole and place them in the diorama



Also I painted the trolley and two Fuel drums that I decided to add to the diorama



I even painted 'Gasoline' in Japanese ...or at least I try from Google



Some ground palms from Mig (Modelscale)



And after some touches of some loose Palm leaves and some coconuts and place all in the diorama we go for the final reveal :

http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=492&t=18411

[pourquoi61]

wow, brave man regarding the decal masks. Looks good, and the diorama is well good.