I love that title – weekend indeed. Well, if I had 7 day weekends that would
work. I am sure some of you are not as
plodding as I am. As you all know, it
means you get the sprues and decals for one model.
The Cactus Air Force referred to the air group that occupied
Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in 1942.
Eventually, it sported Marine, Navy and Army Air Forces aircraft. They operated under horrific conditions which
included almost nightly shelling by the Japanese Navy as well as living in
crude tents and eating captured Japanese rations.
The Second World War is my main modeling interest, and the
Cactus Air Force and Operation Torch (the invasion of North Africa) are of
particular interest to me. Maybe it is
because Guadalcanal was so much like our struggle in Vietnam (where I served
while in the U. S. Army) that it
captures my attention. Operation Torch
interests me because my late and beloved father-in-law started his war there
and eventually took him to Sicily and Italy.
I purchased this kit as I wanted to build another Eduard
model, and it of course had markings I wanted.
Being a new returnee to the modeling fraternity, I have been struck at
how detailed these kits are, and how many tiny parts need to be dealt with. I really like the surface detail and the
cockpits Eduard produces in their kits.
I painted this one with Model Master Acrylic paints, but I
had some trouble. I did not thin the
paints enough, and probably had the pressure up too high on my compressor, so a
got a fairly grainy surface when I sprayed the dark brown. Actually, it was very grainy. I had to take some very fine emery paper and sand
it down some and re-coat it. The finish was
still not that good. A few coats of Future
helped, but I still regard the result as being a “two foot model”, i.e., it is
best viewed no closer than two feet! Oh,
well…lesson learned.
I did use Eduard canopy masks for the first time, and I hope
to use them on everything in the future.
The results were excellent. They
are well worth the cost.
Once other “new” (to me) product I used was Perfect Plastic
Putty, which is water-based. You can
smooth it in with a damp Q-Tip, and it does not shrink when dried. Much easier to use than Bondo or Squadron
Green Putty.
It spite of the issues I had, I enjoyed the build. And, my skills are getting better.
.JPG)
Great for filling gaps without sanding.
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