DONE: A-20G Havoc, RAAF No.22 Squadron, Kamiri 1944 Group Build

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Looks good Keith, should look the dog's when painted mate.
Any chance of a pic of the wheels when you can? Still undecided whether to get a set from Hannant's, or correct the kit wheels, although there's plenty of time before the Bomber GB anyway.
 
Cheers lads , will do Terry, in work right now, will take some close up shots of the wheels and inflatable raft when i get home.
 
Yep. Toothpaste. Use it after a good sanding with 1500 grit paper wet. Then I heard something somewhere about some floor polish being good for transparencies...

On a side note, I had a friend (now deceased) who was a maintenance officer at a depot in England during the war. He mentioned to me they brought in toothpaste by the cases and squeezed out all the tubes into gallon cans. They, too, used it for all the transparencies.
 
Cheers guys

Interesting Sweb, my mate polished the scratches off his mobile phone screen with toothpaste, why didn't I remember that before buying that compound???

Here's those pics Terry. (Using a borrowed camera, cant find mine!)





Tyre thread detail...



I'm up nearly 24 hours right now, too tired to do any work on the A-20! I'm off to bed.
 
Get some kip mate!
Thanks for the pics Keith. The tyres certainly look better than the heavy tread pattern on the kit ones. I think I'll have a go at improving the kit tyres first, and if I stuff it up, then I'll get the resin set.
 
Cheers Dan

Got the panel-lines pre-shaded this morning, going to see if this'll work this time, they'll probably disappear under the top coats! Will post a pic later.

Question for you Terry, you mentioned you have cast resin parts in the past, how about I send you the wheels and inflatable so you can cast a set for yourself, and maybe a few spare sets. I'll be building another few havocs I reckon and spare wheels would be nice. I'd have a go myself but I wouldn't know where to start.
 
It's a thought, but I've only ever cast wheels twice, doing them in two halves, other work being things like prop blades, exhaust stubs and so on. The wheels I cast were 1/48th scale, for a starter trolley and a bomb trolley, so not too detaild or important, unlike relatively large aircraft wheels. To be honest, it's an expensive thing to do, as the resin and hardner costs qutie a bit, so more cost effective to purchase wheels.
I reckon I'm going to have to improve the tread on the kit wheels, as they have the correct 'blank' face on the outboard side, as fitted on the Boston, whereas the ones you've got are spoked, as per U.S. Havocs / A20's.
 
Cheers Evan

You're probably right Terry re the casting, cheaper to buy them. So would the resin wheels I have be wrong on the RAAF A-20?

Here' a pic of the preshading completed yesterday morning.



I've started painting the grey undersides, these big 1/48 kits take a lot of paint! I've got one wing done and the amount of paint I used would've completed a 1/48 fighter!
 
Yep, bigger models certainly drink up the paint, especially 'thin' colours.
Keith, far as I know, RAAF Bostons / Havocs displayed both types of wheel. The 'blank' face, being a cover, was often removed, or not fitted in the first place.
I'll have a look through what I've got and let you know if they really should be blank. If so, a circle of thin card, or fill the spokes with Milliput and sand flat, will do the job.
 
Cheers Terry, I'll probably leave them the way they are. Just about to spray another couple of gallons on the other wing!
 
Had a look through all my refs Keith. Most pics where the wheels are visible show the blank covers, but there were a couple where the spokes were exposed, so you should be OK. Might as well use them anyway, now you've got 'em!
 

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