Subject: Re: WWII Japanese Ground Maintenance dio (from Jerry Hawhee, Old Blind Dog)
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Jerald Thomas Hawhee" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 14:26:47 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jerald Thomas Hawhee 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:34 PM
  Subject: WWII Japanese Ground Maintenance dio (from Jerry Hawhee, Old Blind Dog)

  Gallery Template #03

  WWII Japanese Ground Maintenance Dio

  (Academy 1/72 A6M5c

  with Hasegawa vehicles)

  by Jerry Hawhee (Old Blind Dog)
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  This is a revised and slightly re-worked version of the diorama I built for the Ground Vehicles GB here on ARC several years ago. I've literally sawed the old dio base in half, concentrating the action of the scene and improving the composition.  

  The A6M5c Zero being refueled here is the Academy kit enhanced with parts from the Aires resin cockpit and the Eduard Zoom photo-etch set. It was entirely hand-brush painted with Polly Scale IJN Green over IJN Sky Gray; sub-standard kit-supplied decals were used and the model was heavily weathered using Tamiya Flat Aluminum applied with a Microbrush to simulate chipping.

  The Isuzu fuel truck and Toyota aircraft-starter truck come from the excellent Hasegawa kits, which also include generous helpings of figures and accessories; oil drums and carts from the fuel truck, and the "bomb dolly" from the starter. I used Polly Scale Br (RAF) Middlestone and Khaki for the trucks, highlighting with Tamiya Flat Aluminum, Gunze Steel and Gunze Wood Brown. Tires and underframes were hand-brushed with Polly Scale Grimy Black. I took the opportunity to do some touching up while revising the dio.

  The "concrete" base was made from Evergreen .040 plastic sheet, scribed with my Bare Metal Foil Scribing Tool and hand-brushed with a prime coat of Polly Scale Grimy Black and one or two not-especially even coats of PS Concrete. This, in turn, was mounted on a plywood sub-base. Some interesting discoloration occurred here and there when I used acetone-based fingernail polish remover to de-bond the CA that held some of the figures and vehicles in place. After halving the plywood sub-base with my table saw and reattaching the removed pieces, I thought the bleached areas looked right in character and elected to leave them as they were. 

  Sticklers for detail or those who get a thrill out of identifying continuity errors in movies will immediately notice that the trucks are in the wrong colors! As the Zero was an IJN plane, the trucks ought to have been painted Navy Blue, and, in fact, I'd originally intended to use two A6M5s for the scene with accompanying naval personnel and colors, but as one of the Zeke's accidentally "crash landed" on my workshop floor, I had to substitute a Hasegawa IJA Oscar at the last minute, and the trucks ended up in army livery. A close look at the driver figure in the starter-truck cab reveals a white naval uniform shirt; all other figures are in the Middlestone and Khaki army uniforms. Admittedly, figure painting is not my strong suit!

  Cheers

  Jerry Hawhee (Old Blind Dog) [email-masked] 

  Click on images below to see larger images

         Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 02.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 02.jpg   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg  

  Photos and text © by "your name goes here"