newsfeed

Torsten
Started on vacation in the mountains of Austria, it is now ready to be placed in a diorama together with the small harvester

Ben M
Watching!

gorby
Looking very good so far Kesa.

gorby
Nice work. Don't forget that any loose oil drums or boxes would probably fall off when a real tank moves, so they would most like be strapped down.

Kesa Tiho
I would add straps but i dont have any polystyrene nor the precision to paint them. And on this Sherman in particular it's in place, sniping tigers and any other IFVs so i can imagine it wont be moving much. Though maybe ill try painting straps on the oil drum later.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
First mockup of the cockpit looks promising 🙂

Zsolt Czegle
Following!

DuperScale
Follow

Michael Kohl
I really wish that they release that beast in 1:72. Until then I follow the bigger ones. Looking at your first pictures I am sure this will be fun.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Welcome @Zsolt and DuperScale and thanks for your interest in this build. I was able to finish first step of cockpit section. 3D printed seats fit well into tracks even of they are designed to be glued on the plastic. I used Eduard PE tracks. Dashboard also made with PE. PE seat belts were planned but I felt they are too flat so I ordered Kelik 3D decals - they are better in my opinion.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Michael: nice to see you here and glad you have fun 🤩 ICM plans to release the 1/72 in 2025 as far as I know and I have a good idea for a nice diorama. But definitely have to do this in 1/72 ... that thing is really big ...

Michael Kohl
Oh. Didn't know that. Those are good news.
You might be aware of two CH-54-builds in 1:72 based on the ol Revell kit which are absolutely stunning (with fire fighting equipment).
But now it's your stage. Cockpit looks very nice.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
I think I know at least one of them 😝 . This build is supposed to be the military version operated in Vietnam - no extras except the tons of aftermarket I´m going to use

gorby
Looks a veeeery promising build! 🙂

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Thanks @gorby! Let's see what the rest will bring - it's going to be a long way …

CaptGPF
Following!

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Welcome @CaptGPF - a little update on this build. Pilot and crane operators office done. Assembly of the main body was surprisingly flawless as the kit does not offer a lot of alignment points. Next steps will be masking transparent parts and glue them in place. Now the big parts are coming the bench needs to be prepared to handle this big thing ☺️

Desert Marlin
This looks fun!!!

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
It is Marlin - coming from 1/72 working on a beast like this in 1/35 is blasting. Sometimes I'm lost in the size 🤣
@Gorby - sorry, I forgot to mention you yesterday. Thanks for your kind words and welcome 🙌

Desert Marlin
Excellent work!

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Many thanks @Marlin! First dry fit of the main „body" again shows absolutely no issues. Expecting a smooth and flawless assembly. The aftermarket components also fit very nicely ☺️

Alec K
Taking a seat. Excellent progress 👍

Neuling
Joining ..................

Michael Kohl
Just coming from Telford, I had the possibility to talk to Valeriia from ICM and she told me, that they had to postpone the scale 1/72 release to - earliest - 2026.
I'll comfort myself by watching your build. 🙂

bughunter
What a project, with all the accessories, of such a huge beast 👍 Great work so far.
Luckily I don't have any space for it 🙂
Have fun!

Guy Rump
Looking great, following. 👍

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Welcome guys and thanks for your interest and nice comments 😊 @Michael: oh damn, I was really looking forward to this release ... but my stash is full, I will wait 😁 I hope I will not disappoint you 😳 @bughunter: I ordered it immediately when it was released, not considering the massiveness of this thing ... once I opened the box and checked the rotor diameter, I was scared and also know I have no space for that. Luckily Reskit developed the folded main rotor set so it doesn´t need a square meter of space to display.

Alberto
Beautiful cockpit!

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Many thanks @Alberto!! Glad you like it 😎

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat, of course!

bughunter
Welcome Robert! Which one you want to take, the yellow or a green one? 😉

Please do not miss the project description, for the _VERY_ important reason for this project!

Robert Podkoński
👍 A green one, please 🙂

Marcel Klemmer
Hi Frank, I am in and do not need a seat. 😉

Ludvík Kružík
I'll sit down too. If I'm not mistaken, one green seat is still open. 😉

Spanjaard
I am certainly in

Martin Oostrom
Green two for me

David H
Be rude not to join in. 👍🏻

gorby
I'll join the audience as well. 🙂

bughunter
Hello my friends! A warm welcome to each and every one of you!

Working on the parts of this kit can be considered bodily harm! The bright yellow hurts your eyes and you can't see any details or damaged areas that need work. I would have preferred a more common gray!

Michael Kohl
Moin Frank. Nimmst mich mit?

bughunter
Aber sicher doch, wenn Du eine wilde Fahrt aushälst 😉

Kenneth
Hallo Frank, the set with lap belts only could be intended for the US Navy variant of the Stearman, the N2S. Until US entry in WW2, US Navy aircraft mostly did not have shoulder belts. I read this in a review of a 1/32 Vought Kingfisher while looking for seatbelts and wondering about the same thing for my 1/32 Revell/ICM N2S Stearman kit.

Juergen Klinglhuber
Schau ich mir auch an,...

bughunter
Welcome! Thanks Kenneth! That makes sense, as the kit offers also a yellow Navy plane with red stripes. Luckily my wife want it blue-yellow. All the pictures I found shows also shoulder belts, but that was mostly still flying machines and I guess the shoulder belts was added later.
I had already downloaded the ICM manual as an additional reference and looked at reviews because of an oddity on the upper wing. More on this later.

bughunter
Because I was still in soldering mode after the seats, I immediately turned my attention to the tank on the upper wing. I like the look of the metal fuel tank now.

Robert Podkoński
Perhaps you will find my photos useful for your build:
Hangar 10 | Album by podkon

bughunter
Yes, definitely 👍 Thanks!

bughunter
Found a nice page: stearman-aero.com/

bughunter
The wing is yellow again, but now the look is better!
I used here MRP-142 Orange Yellow. If someone remembers my Piper: the yellow was "Dark Chrome Yellow" also from MRP. Even this one here called "Orange Yellow" it looks more yellow compared to the Piper.

Ben M
👀

Alec K
I was just wondering where the heck is Bughunter, and here he is! Lovely progress and topic, following of course 👍

bughunter
Welcome Ben and Alec!
The lower wing is now also painted yellow. I only not sure about the blue. I want to go with the darker later blue, tried AK Pure Blue, but I will also try others.

Jakub Fiala
Nice work on this interesting type of aircraft so far 👍 Following for sure!

Ben M
Love these old trainers. They used to show up at airshows a lot when I was a kid.

Greg Baker
Sign me up!

Zbynek Honzik
A joy and pleasure to follow such a project! 👍

Christoph Kunz
Ui, da habe ich den Start ja irgendwie verpennt. 🙁
Aber jetzt bin ich dabei.

Kenneth
Noch was, je nach dem, was das Vorbild ist: Part 71 in Point 4 of the instructions is in my opinion not correct for a WW2-era Stearman. Such a box typically houses a radio, intercom, transponder etc. on modern, restored examples

David Taylor
Watching.

bughunter
In the spirit of "Piano man": the regular crowd shuffled in ...
Welcome!
Oh, can someone wake up Kyle? 😉

Juergen Klinglhuber
Kyle! - come on, you will miss a good portion of the show and have to put the stool again in the back... 😉 Just kidding. It is never to late for a bughunter-show

bughunter
Kenneth, thanks for the hint! Interestingly the Eduard manual of the PE set here on SM told me to remove the mount points for this part 71. After that hint I checked some pictures of original machines and found the modern equipment. So thanks for the confirmation! After my PE set arrived I found out the remove of that mount points is missing in my paper version! Luckily I have checked the corrected online version first.

I would like to build a original equipped plane, but this is somehow limited. I have only the kit decals for a US Army plane "136" dated 1941. There is no serial number mentioned. I have not found photos of that plane yet. So I will build it according the information I have, with "educated guesses" on some points. Later more.

bughunter
I made the instrument panels. May be you know the Eduard sandwich method of multiple PE parts? Here we have a special thing!

Kenneth
Fuselage innner side colours are also totally wrong in the instructions (overall aluminium). See flugzeugforum.de/thr...103126/post-3062086 where I posted some thoughts about this.

The „thick" plate on the instrument panel which you chose is correct for the period, it's a padding saving an unfortunate student pilot's face when smashing it against the instrument panel…

bughunter
Kenneth, thank you very much for your great support 👍 Highly appreciated!
Now I understand, why the bolts of the instruments are hidden by this padding.
According to your picture I painted the fuselage halves bright linen and added the read brown tensioning varnish. It will not be very visible after closing the halves.

The inner structure is not in scale: much too thick! As it will be not very visible later I do not go the extra mile to replace the structure by brass wires!
Did someone say Jehovah? 😎

bughunter
The seat belts (what a fiddly job), the seats and the cockpit as a whole are finished. What beautiful interior!

Have I forgotten something, or can the fuselage halves be glued?

Ben M
Pancakes! (IYKYK)

gorby
Lovely work on the cockpit Bugs. 🙂

Kenneth
Looks perfect 👍 I was wondering whether there shouldn't be a fuel cock (the red lever on the lower left side in the front cockpit) in the rear cockpit as well, but found quite a few photos were this indeed not the case (but also some with one).

And while the ICM fuselage structure is indeed very delicate, it stops short of the rear cockpit!

bughunter
Thank you mates!
Beside the thick structure it is a nice kit (and Eduard PE set) with great fit. Sometimes even with the famous Tamiya click 🙂

@Ben Pancakes?! You say if you know you know, but I do not know 🙁
If you mean the upholstery of the seats - I think that this task was taken over by the parachutes.

bughunter
The kit includes a clear lamp to be installed on the back of the fuselage for Navy and Army. I have not found a reference photo.
Is this perhaps an anti-collision light on modern aircraft? Add it or leave it out?

Kenneth
That fuselage lamp (probably a modern strobe light) does not appear in the manual available on the Stearman Aero site (p. 105)… from which I've also just learned that the red lever I mentioned earlier is control lock and not a fuel cock.

bughunter
Thanks for the confirmation of my guess Kenneth! I glued stretched sprue into the socket for later sanding.

René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Bughunter "not going the extra mile"? 🤔
Usurper!
What have you done to the real Bughunter? 🤣

bughunter
Don't worry, I'm okay. I still go the extra mile, but where it makes sense and is visible.
The fuselage is now closed and other small things done.

Alec K
You are making a lightning progress Frank. I can barely keep up! The added detail is, as usual, superb 👍

babak chalangi
definitely watching this

bughunter
Alec, that is a Revell Level 4 kit with only 58 parts according to the box. Ok, the PE set and the belts doubles the number and there is room for a little scratch work, but the fit is fantastic! That saves a lot of time.
I have the Mr.Paint True Blue on order and hope it will arrive soon.

bughunter
Some more little details are prepared, for example a Venturi pipe. This idea is maybe useful for other types.
But I also decided to go the extra mile to meet all expectations and made it possible to mount the rudder in an angled position for more liveness.

Martin Oostrom
Great work from the master

Ludvík Kružík
Your work is gaining momentum. It's a pleasure to watch the model grow under your hands.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
How could I miss this build .... very very nice progress so far and kudos for the soldering work!!!! I was thinking of this approach very often, but I´m too scared and always came back to CA removing the excess with debonder. Watching this build with interest 😊

bughunter
Thank you mates for your very kind words!
@Thomas I was lucky enough to have been drilled in the art of soldering at a young age during my training as a telecommunications technician. Even though my studies were more theoretical afterwards, I now have 45 years of soldering experience. It was therefore obvious to use this experience in model making. This is also how I soldered my strip downs (see projects) 🙂

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Well, that explains it all - you can be glad having this kind of skills man 🤘