That's not a Sherman.....it's got wings!!!

[alextheblue]

Originally I wasn't going to take part in this GB and just sit back and enjoy watching everyone else's entries, but by mid-week my resolve had weakened and I dived online to order myself a Dragon 1/35 Sherman M48. I found the required model, hit "Buy Now" and on receiving my confirmation of purchase I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed back in my armchair like a junkie that had just had a fix. Imagine my horror the next day when I received an email informing me that the kit was out of stock and that they were doing their very best to re-stock this model in a bid to fulfill my order. Now bear in mind that this was Thursday and the GB was due to start the following day, there was only one thing to do - panic!! As I had already blown my modelling budget for the year (by the third week in January if my memory serves me right!!) I didn't really want to go and buy another one, plus I at least wanted to give the retailer a fair chance of replenishing their stock before pulling the order. And then it dawned on me; deep in my stash (stash!, HA - I've only got eight kits!!) I had something that might just fit the bill. The hairs on the back of neck stood on end and my arms broke out in prickly goose-bumps as the realisation of what it was slowly started to sink in. But I couldn't possibly build this particular kit as it was completely out of my comfort zone as I had never even attempted one before. What am I talking about - why, a plane of course, a winged devil, one of those big metal birds in the sky! Oh, where to start!!

Well, I guess at the beginning is the best place to start and after all, it's only a bit of plastic - what's the worst that could happen!! The kit in question is Hobby Boss's Intruder A-6A in 1/48th scale, which I was extremely fortunate to win in one of the earlier ISM monthly prize give-ways - huge thanks again Lee and Paul! Now onto the kit. This thing is HUGE! The box is so big I could divide it up and let it out as student lodgings!! There's a lot sprues, a small fret of photo-etch and even some metal parts. The clear parts are nicely protected and the instructions seem very clear and easy to follow. There's some nice glossy A4 sheets depicting the colour schemes, including a sheet for the colour call-outs for the bombs and ordinance.

And so onto the pics.........



Box full of plastic!


I've not taken pictures of all of the sprues as there's quite a lot, but here's a few of bits that I have no idea what they are - where's the turret, the hull's been cut in half the wrong way, where's the barrell and what in be-jeezus are this sticky out things!!






Photo-etch and metal parts....




Destructions - or at least they will be when I get started!




Colour schemes and decals......



In terms of the history of this thing, I'm not even going to try and pretend that I know even the slightest thing about it, but I did find this very interesting site when I was doing some initial research. Rather than cut-and-paste huge swathes of text, I've inserted the link for those of you that want a bit of background etc.

https://www.intruderassociation.org/squadrons/va35.html

So let the fun begin!! My first plane and it looks quite a baptism of fire for a relative beginner to wingy things, but as the saying goes - go hard, or go home!!!

[Willem]

Welcome to the path of the righteous Alex.

Best of luck with your build mate.

[chief5437]

Great choice, I love the sher... I mean intruder! Good luck buddy

[UKguyInUSA]

That's the sexiest looking Tank ever.....nice choice!

[MikeyKb]

it's got tanks though, doesn't it?
excited for this one!

[Nige201980]

Im really looking forward to see you doing this mate im sure you will do a cracking job and make it shine.

[Paul]

Nice entry, look forward to seeing it come together.

[martin57]

call it fate, hope it goes together well for you

[felisbarcinonensis]

Not bad... wingy appendixes..., hum... Nobody is perfect

[Jamesday1998]

will definatly look out for this build

[LudvigN]

Nice with metal landing gear for all the nose weight youll have to use Good luck with your build!

[alextheblue]

Thanks for all the comments fellas, I get the feeling that I'm going to need a lot of encouragement on this one. The last plane that I built was an Airfix Spitfire when I was 10 and that consisted of gluing the fuselage halves together, jamming the wings on and two minutes later, voila, finished!! As you can imagine it looked horrendous and that unnerving deja vu sensation has washed over me already! It might help if I recognised any of the parts that I'm putting together, but they might as well be integrated flange-sprockets, or medial return-spring interloopers for all I know!! Anywho, as long as I follow the instructions and take my time, what can go wrong? Well, this for starters - on putting together the front wheel stanchion, I noticed that this is what it should look like.......



But it actually looks like this....



The half of the top "T" section has snapped off, plus the shaft is not only bent, but it is also twisted. At first I was sure that it must have happened prior to been packed and sealed as I literally cut the bag open and tipped the contents out onto my cutting mat, but on looking back of the picture that I took of the bag of metal parts, this one was in fact in tact. However, you can see that it is bent etc. After much musing and pondering I figured a couple of ways of potentially fixing it, so I decided to plough on an carry on with the build.









Dry-fitted a couple of bits to make sure everything is fitting together okay.





And finally, managed to lay down some Vallejo grey primer.


I'm chomping at the bit to put everything together, but if there's one thing that I've learnt about plane building so far, it's be patient! Alas, this is the one thing that I severely lack in spades and I know that it will come back to haunt me at some point. Still, I'll be a lot happier once the tracks are on and it starts looking like a proper tank!

Thanks for taking a look!

[alextheblue]

I've just realised that I need a couple of colours in order to get the cockpit painted. The main colour call-outs are Mr Hobby, but there's also equivalents for the likes of Vallejo and Tamiya etc which gives a nice wide range of options I'm going to stick with Mr Hobby Aqueous as I love the colours and the finish they give. So, while I'm waiting I'm going to crack on with the build and the next step is the wings -yay!!




And a quick dry fit to make sure everything lines up ok.




Now I'm no aviation expect, but hose wings will never produce the required amount of lift in order to get this thing off of the ground!!!

But then I found these......




And I couldn't resist mocking it all up to get an idea of the size.




I must say, I'm thoroughly enjoying this build and quite warming to these wingy things. I must also confess that I wasn't quite feeling it when I first started it, but I'm really feeling the vibe now.

Thanks for taking a look!

[Art17847]

lookin good....i havent done a wigey thing in many years but they were my "first love" when i first started in the hobby....good luck with the rest of your build!!

[alextheblue]

lookin good....i havent done a wigey thing in many years but they were my "first love" when i first started in the hobby....good luck with the rest of your build!!

Thanks Art!

[alextheblue]

Well the paints I was waiting on arrived earlier in the week and I managed to make a little bit of progress with the Intruder. I don't really have any idea what the hell I'm doing and as fast as I'm doing some research, the more confused I seem to be getting. Cockpits and the like are new to me and I don't have a clue as to the correct colours that I should be using. I started with the ejector seats and to be honest I think the colours are all wrong - I thought I had found a reference picture of the right thing, but now I think it was actually the drivers seat out of a London Routemaster double-decker bus!!



Had the same problem with the main tub (is that what its even called !?!) of the cockpit, so in the end just dry-brushed the main consoles with a steel colour and then picked out random buttons and switches with equally random colours.



And that's about it for the intruder. Doesn't seem a helluva lot, but it was the "research" that took up a lot of the time. The rest of the cockpit should be more straightforward, so as soon as that is done I can fit it in place and then concentrate on getting the two halves of the hull, .......sorry, fuselage together.

Thanks for taking a look!

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice progress Alex
The metal cores for the landing gear are a nice touch as yhey should be stronher then styrene parts
Keep up the good work

[Tiger131]

This is a kit i want to build so look forward to seeing more

[alextheblue]

Thanks for the kind comments Mark & Tiger, much appreciated.

Finally managed to get the cockpit finished up, well apart from a final wash to tone everything down a bit. So now it's time to fit it and put the two halves of the fuselage together and I must say that I'm a tad nervous. I've dry fitted the fuselage together and it looks a pretty good fit. It will need some filler here and there but not too much and there's no huge gaps, but that was without the fuselage. I hasten to add at this point, if there are any fit issues once the cockpit is in, this will be down to my lack of build skills and not a reflection of the kit. Being new to building planes I'm always a little worried that might not be doing things in the right order or I might be missing some "tricks"that only come with experience. With that said, it all seems to fit together quite well and I can breath a small sigh of relief!



Oops, forgot to take some pics of the finished cockpit so if tried to zoom in with the iPhone. The first pic is a little dark and the second one is too bright, but hopefully you get the general idea! For the screens I only had German green tail-light from Vallejos Panzer Aces range, so it is a little dark, but does the job.




And that's where I'm at. I must say, building planes is a bit slower than I initially thought, but very enjoyable so far.

Thanks for taking a look!

[Nige201980]

that looks great to me buddy your doing a top notch job.

[TheWeasel]

Amazing job! I'm sure this is going to turn out great

[Hillbilly]

Excellent work so far,really diggin the cockpit detailing

[alextheblue]

Thanks for all the comments chaps. All of the techniques that I'm using and trying here have all been learnt from all the great plane builders right here on ISM - you know who you all are!! Sure, some of the techniques transfer from genre to genre, but it's amazing just how many things are unique to AFV's, or unique to planes.

Talking of techniques, it's onto filling and sanding - aaaargghhhh!! I hate filling and sanding and avoid it at all costs. Luckily there isn't a huge amount to do with most armour kits and what there is can mostly be hidden by carefully placed stowage, or you can also pass it off as battle damage - "is that a gap in your tank?" "Nah, bullet hole!!" Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is all part of the process, but for me, if your not attacking the styrene with either glue, a knife or a brush, I'm just not interested. But, I'm also keen to learn and do things the right way, so it's out with the filler and lets tackle them seams and gaps! Luckily this is a great kit and there doesn't appear to be too much to do. The tip with the masking tape was just one of many that I've learnt here on ISM from the great plane build threads and "how-to's". That's right, I eagerly follow all the plane realted stuff as well - just don't tell the other tread-heads!!



My weapon of choice for filler is Vallejo's as I like the needle applicator which is very easy to use. The more observant of you will notice that very little has been used which is testament to my avoidance of anything filling related! Whether it is any good on gaps that are bigger or at least more noticeable than on a AFV, time will tell.



And with the tape off and some vigorous sanding action later -



It all feels quite smooth and level, but until some primer is down I won't know for sure whether that seam has gone or not. Guess I might have to invest in some Mr Hobby surfacer, not to mention gas mask and full bio-hazard suit!! I then decided to jump a couple of steps and get the arms, I mean wings fitted. My reasoning behind this is that I figure it will be easier to attach all of the other bits once the main fuselage and wings are all fitted and lined up properly - well, that's the plan anyway!



Whilst I'm tempted to crack on and do a bit more, I must resist temptation and put this to one side to fully dry/cure etc. Too much over-handling now and bits will start to drop off!!

Thanks for taking a look!

[chief5437]

Great progress! Looking like an intruder rather than a Sherman, now she's got her wings on!

[Nige201980]

Shes looking great Alex you make a damn fine plane builder

[Paul]

Great work Alex, to check the spine for seems, just spray some flat black along it that will show any seem lines

[Yevgeny]

Great looking plane and cockpit looks fantastic!

[felisbarcinonensis]

Looks great mate!

[UKguyInUSA]

You're doing a cracking job on this, Alex...the cockpit was awesome. Can't wait to see what you have done for the next update now!

[JayCub]

Great work Alex im not sure which I enjoy more the build or the dialog, either way its a brilliant thread and certainly puts fun first, which it is all about, white metal parts are a real pain if thats what the struts are made of,
Tom

[SyntaxModels]

Cracker job mate, thats more detailed a cockpit than I've ever done, and I almost only build wingy thingys! Good job on it and good luck with the rest!

[Ozzie21]

Excellent job Alex. Hopefully when I get around to building mine it'll look half as good.

[DC87]

Great build and log thus far, cockpit is ace .

[Tiger131]

Looking great your doing a superb work on this wingy thing...

[alextheblue]

Thanks for all the great comments and encouragement fellas, it means a lot.

I haven't forgotten this one and have got some work done on it. The wings are on and all of the gaps are filled (at least I think they are - will definitely try out that tip of Pauls, thanks bud! ). The canopy is masked and I've got a lot of the little gubbings attached.

I need to give it a final light sanding and then get some primer down and I'm aware that whilst I still have a bit of time, the clock is ticking!

Thanks again!

[Coen]

I just caught up on your work here Alex
I love this bird buddy.
You look to be doing an awesome job so far on her too dude. I love that cockpit.
This is such a cool kit.