BOEING 314 CLIPPER (Airfix)

Several years ago I got it into my head that I needed to build a civilian flying boat. An IPMS Ottawa member was selling the newer Airfix kit (A04172) of the Boeing Clipper in 1/144 scale, and I snapped it up for $10. It then languished for a year before I did basic body work and then destroyed the windows, resulting in having to dig out the clear parts and further damaging the structure between the windows. Eventually I painted it with Alclad aluminium and then added Vallejo green to the hull and after a year added the Vallejo orange to the top. It was a mess and I left it in the lobby of my building for anyone to take. Yesterday, after being gone for more than a year, it showed up in the lobby with a thick layer of dust, so I cleaned it up and fixed a painting error and photographed it for this blog. Do not look too closely, but try and imagine yourself crossing an ocean in the cavernous hull/fuselage in 1939. They were operated by Pan Am Airways and BOAC during and immediately after WWII. None of the twelve built remain, but a single airframe of the very similar Sikorsky version (the S-44A) can be seen in the New England Aviation Museum. Now the model goes back out in the hope someone else will take it.

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Boeing Clipper

Third place winner in the Airliner category at CAPCON 2017 on 30 September 2017.

WEST LAKE PLEASURE BOAT

This is a 1/30 (?) scale all-wood model of a Chinese pleasure boat still seen on West Lake near Beijing.
It is a plank-on-frame construction without metal parts. I added the brass bolts for look and strength. The hull wood is dark, possibly mahogany, but has been stained with furniture repair felt pens, then coated with clear varnish.
I am very pleased with the outcome of this Chinese wood model kit I acquired from AliExpress for about $20.
It was a first place winner in civilian ships and boats at the Montreal MIMM 2016 contest.

 

 

 

CHINESE WAR JUNK

Here is my newly-finished Chinese War Junk with five masts.
I know nothing about the actual ship as the instructions (seen in the first image) are totally and completely in Chinese, without even dates showing in English.
This would have been a huge ship, and until the ruling class forbade distant sea travel, would have been the battleships of their time ranging around Asia prior to 1490.
It is an all-wood, plank-on-frame laser-cut kit I bought on AliExpress for about $15.
The colouration of the hull was accomplished with furniture repair felt pens which have various wood stain dyes, and are excellent for adding colour and depth to the actual wood. The deck was rubbed with grey powder to wear and wash out the new wood look. 
Now that I have more experience with Asian sails, I was able to build the sails and masts and rigging in a single weekend.

 

WOODEN FISHING BOAT

This is said to be a 1/30 scale wooden model of a Greek fishing boat from a Chinese toy company. It is a plank-on-frame model. The fit is rather good but the overall kit is somewhat crude. A little bit of work makes it far better than the out-of-box version. The plans are awful and missing details, and are only in Chinese. It took three weeks to plank the hull, then a week to finish and paint the hull. Numbers on the side are from an aircraft model kit decal sheet. I like the effect of real wood and of the wooden deck. The stained wood effect comes from touch-up pens for repairing furniture damage such as small nicks and scrapes. It was mail ordered from Ali Express in China for about $15. It took less than a month to finish.

 

  

 

RCAF SABRE Mk4 (Hobbycraft)

This is a 1/72 scale Hobbycraft (Canada) kit of the Canadair Sabre Mk4. I started the kit in about 1995 and finished it in 2013. The metal finish is duraluminium from Alclad. Cutting the decals to fit the open airbrakes doors was a small headache. It shows Royal Canadian Air Force, 444 Squadron aircraft VH-584 from about late 1953 to early 1954 just after making the hop over to England from Canada - a long and scary flight in a small single-engined aircraft with relatively short range. I gave this as a going-away gift to a friend who had flown VooDoos for the CAF and Phantoms for the RAF.

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Some real ones...

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

Canadair Sabre Mk4

JOSEPH STALIN JS-1 TANK (Testors)

This gun kills nazi scum.

This is the rather odd 1:35 scale Testor's (USA) Four-Star Collector's Series  model of the JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank. This was a heavy tank used in the latter part of the Great Patriotic War to spearhead the offensive into Germany and the final battle for Berlin. The kit has very little detail, but the decals are interesting. The main image shows a polar bear on a red star. The slogan on the side of the turret says "For Stalin". 

Hobby House (Ottawa) was selling off a bunch of these for $20. Lots of fun and I got a display case! For a Testor's kit it was actually rather good. The box included a large clear plastic display box long enough for the tank and gun, which of course was used for some better project. 

The tank is lightly weathered with smoke effects near the engine, and rust effects on the tracks.

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank

A real one...

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank

JS-1 (IS-1) Joseph Stalin Tank