Battle Of Midway

[DRHarris61]

The subject title might lead one to believe this is about ship(s), but it's really the two opposing aircraft from the battle that turned the course of the Pacific theater of WWII.

This is a 1/72 scale Revell kit from 1976, though it was originally molded in 1962. They may have been originally molded as two separate kits but then Revell put them together in a diorama kit later. I bought this kit sometime after '76, and started piecing the diorama together and hand brushed some of the parts with enamel paints. These parts have all been stripped and primed, using adhesion promotor where I anticipate any masking, though it won't be a lot.

I won't be using the provided diorama, being as it's kind of like an old pop-up diorama put together with scotch tape. I am mulling over a few ideas to use in keeping with the theme of the diorama, but improving on the solidity of it. I may however use the backing illustration.

Box Cover

Partially assembled diorama

All The Parts

 

[Quaralane]

Kits look fairly straightforward

 

[DRHarris61]

Agreed, a pretty straight forward build. And now it's finished. I also decided, for nostalgia's sake, I would use the existing diorama for the backdrop. I couple of the pieces went missing over the intervening years, but the essence is still there. The Zero was missing a landing strut, but since it's displayed in flight, the struts and wheels aren't needed anyway. The one deck crewman is molded opposite of what the box cover photo depicts, so I had to stick him on the opposite side of the deck so he's not posed with his back to the Wildcat taking off. The other crewman was placed opposite too, since he couldn't be posed in the path or wake of the plane taking off.

I used the color callouts from the instructions for the most part, matching to what I had on hand between Tamiya and Master Modeler Acrylics. The Wildcat was MM Intermediate Blue(4744), Tamiya Flat White(XF-2), Testors Chrome Silver enamel for the struts and wheels and Testors Rubber enamel for the tires. The Zero was MM Dark Green(4726), MM Light Ghost Gray(4762), MM Flat Black(4768). I sprayed the decals with 2-3 light coats of Testors Decal Bonder to preserve the 30+ year old decals, and they went down very well with a combination of Micro Set and Micro Sol, using Walther's Solvaset for the areas where necessary.

 

[urumomo]

Cool you've had this thing since the 70's ;D

You say you used " adhesion promotor where I anticipate any masking " ,, what are you talking about there ?

Thanks ,
Uru

 

[smokeriderdon]

Great job with an old kit. I like that you went ahead and used the diorama provided. Its how it was supposed to be.

 

[DRHarris61]

Cool you've had this thing since the 70's ;D

You say you used " adhesion promotor where I anticipate any masking " ,, what are you talking about there ?

Thanks ,
Uru

All I was referring to was that if I thought I was going to be doing any paint masking on a specific area, I sprayed the part with Duplicolor adhesion promotor before priming the part prior to assembly and/or paint. Just to guard against paint lifting up or peeling when I removed the tape wherever I masked. Some use it all the time, just to be safe. I typically only use it if I think I will doing any tape masking for paint in a specific area. Hope that clears it up.

 

[urumomo]

Ah !
OK --- I Googled that .

I've never used it .
" made for automotive plastics " so I'll have to pick some up .

I've been very happy with the RustOleum Primers for plastic ( Painter's Touch label ) .

Thanks ,
Uru