Hangar Queen XII

Not quite sure how this all goes…

I’m restarting an Eduard SE5a that sat on the shelf since early last year. This is the current state:

I stalled because I did not have a pilot figure and despaired of making one, but I’ve recently done a little sculpting and think I can make it work so am reinvigorated to finish this. It’s a fairly complex kit, but I hope I can finish it by year-end. Is this an ok entry?

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Hey Phil,

You’ve done it! The whole purpose of this campaign is to reinvigorate builds. Looks good so far, and I’ve got this kit so it’ll be interesting to see how it all comes together. Welcome and all the best on completing this one!

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been quite busy building away, and have not been good at updating, sorry. So, I looked at where I was on my P-47 and there’s a paint story here.

Upon completion of the gloss black, which was Mr. Color, I did Mr. Color 218 Aluminum. it was shortly after that I realized my error. If you’re gonna paint other colors, do them first. This is a tip I gleaned from several on-line modelers (Plasmo etc…). The NMF doesn’t hold up so well, even with a great NMF. The learning is do the colors like stripes, antiglare first, then mask them. You’ll be a much happier modeler!

I also ran into a lot of dust getting onto the finish. Turns out sanding with basically a paper towel does not work with this paint, though it should. I found this odd, and as a scientist I continued to experiment instead of dealing with the issue and moving forward.

The Mr. color 218 Aluminum is a great paint! It’s metallic, thus don’t rub so hard! The gloss black does provide a nice background for the patina of the silver to show through, but go gentle and all will be well… After painting the yellow stripes I gave in and called it a fail. Because we’re in a Hangar Queen build I came back…

I removed the NMF but left the yellow stripes. masked the other places and then painted a new gloss black, this time Tamiya gloss black because it was on hand and I think it’s a better primer for any NMF that one will do.

Once done, everything fell into place. I gave her a NMF and then a nice clear coat, still suffered a bit of dust, but moved on none the less.

I decided to do “Smaltzie” that flew out of Cypress in 1944. For a P-47, this meant an antennae wire and a 75 gallon drop tank. The drop tank came from a P-51 kit, and the wire from EZ-Line, The decals came from a book, “P-47 Thunderbolt with the USAAF in the MTO, Asia and Pacific”. It’s a good book, the decals that came with the book were initially suspect to me. I will admit these are some of the finest decals I’ve ever used. They include 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scale. If anyone in the community wishes to do one please contact me. They are that good!

I did use a hodge podge of insignia decals and messed up the upper wing by going too big, still my audience won’t notice and this bird won’t be going to a show. Overall, I’m very pleased with how this bird turned out given her start, many iterations, and ultimate completion! Hope you enjoy.

So, it’s on to the next Queen, and in keeping with the P-47 motif, I’m leaning towards a -5 started some time back to try riveting. Stay tuned!

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OK, let’s see if I can drag these two queens over the line this year.
Ace of Korea 1/72 A-7D in wrap around camo. The tan is down, setting up the masking for the green patches.


Airfix 1/72 F-105G Wild Weasel. Tan is down and the green was done freehand. Might be able to finish with out masking anything except the camo gray belly.


Since I’m already doing the colors for my Sifi and Alt History TSR-2, why not do all three. :roll_eyes: :wave:

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Looks good, Mark! Colors looking spot on. You will have a small 1970-80ties air force :slight_smile:

Mark, great work so far! Love me both these birds, and the camo looks really good. Over the years, I will say your airbrushing has certainly improved, really good!

In my best Max Smart voice … “Would you believe … twenty … twenty-three?”

Hi Everyone,

Well it’s that time once again. The new year approaches quickly, so if you’re going to complete them, do! If not, no big deal as this campaign will roll over to become Hangar Queen XIII next year. I’ll be putting together the list of all who completed this year’s campaign to submit on the first of January. Till then, have fun.

Wow, this is disappointing :disappointed_relieved:. For the first time in a few years, I didn’t push a single Hanger Queen over the line. Matter of fact, I may have created 4 new Queens, including one piece of armor. :wave:

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But the comeback story will be that much better because of this.

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Well, I should certainly hope so. I have great hopes for the F-105 and the LAV. :wave:

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Hi Everyone,

I want to thank everyone that participated and congratulate all that completed this campaign! We had seven builds that got completed, which isn’t too bad. Congratulations again.

The Gallery:

PeteDoc - PV-1 Ventura
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JPTRR - Ki-84 Hayate
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B-17-peter - Heinkel 219 UHU
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RadekZ - PZL P.11a and c
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Cookie - IL-10
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SGTJKJ - “1946 Horten”
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john41492 - P-47D-30-RE “Smaltzie/Mercedes”
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If anyone has been missed, please let me know. I’ll be forwarding the list on, so look forward to the ribbon coming your way. For those that didn’t finish, fear not! Hangar Queen XIII begins tomorrow, where I think we can expect a stronger showing and getting more of the Queens off the shelves of doom!

Happy New Year!

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Hi Everyone,

Ribbons have been awarded for this campaign. If you didn’t receive one and feel that you should have, please contact me.

Big thanks to Jim for getting the ribbons out to everyone that completed this campaign!

Onward and upward to Hangar XIII!

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I am ready for the next hanger queen - lots of candidates :roll_eyes:

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Me too Jesper. Started a couple this year, and didn’t quite make it, though did get one done that had been in waiting for a over five years. Sure, and steady wins the race!

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