Every scale plane needs a great pilot figure. My daughter for Father’s Day gave me an Aces of Iron WW2 Pilot.

The pilot honors James H. Howard. Here’s his story. He was a missionary kid from St Louis and was an ace with the Flying Tigers and P-51B in Europe. He’s the only US pilot to get the Medal of Honor. His heroism has been called a One Man Air Force. http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineA...1110oneman.pdfhttp://http://www.airforcemag.com/Ma...1110oneman.pdf

This project was done with Testors enamels. Those AOI painting tips work best with oils, not so much with enamels. Here’s what I learned:

1. Paint a base coat of flesh color.
2. Paint the eyes first., then the face.
3. Dark colors to light colors.
4. Dab on washes 10:1 odorless thinner to paint
5. Mix lighter colors and drag dry brushes with barely any paint over the surfaces. Clean the brush completely every five minutes. Start fresh and regularly thin the paint as it dries. Keep it thin, not runny.
6. Flat enamels are ideal. However, you’ll want to spray one light coat of matte finish at the end.
7. If you spray two coats and it hazes on you just rub tiny amounts of petroleum jelly over the parts. The brown jacket really went gray quickly.

I wish I’d known these tips. Enjoy!

UPDATE: A 9th Air Force shoulder patch decal and I made an Inspection sticker decal on the life vest. I dated it 1-11-44, the date James Howard became a One Man Air Force and won the Medal of Honor.

Making my own wheels has been an interesting project. Using layers of balsa and basswood ply has been a challenge, but theirs texture looked like tread. The last part was building a "receptacle" into which they can fit inside the wings between #4 and #6 rib.

I've made my own plans on this. And except for pinching my thumb and later my palm with linesman's pliers working the 1/8" wire, it was relatively painless and full of good sanding effort.

The wheels were rattle can spray painted with Testor’s flat black and I used clear flat matte spray lacquer on the finished wheels for protection and durability. The hubs were dry brushed with Testor’s silver enamel. They were affixed with Gorilla Glue 5-min. Epoxy.

UPDATE: After building 3” diameter balsa wheels, I added rubber tread. I’m a cyclist and skidded to a stop at an intersection. It tore a hole in my rear tire. Hmm... I cut 3/8” strips from the tire that were 10” long and epoxied them in place. I had to repaint where I sanded and masked off the rubber before hitting it with a couple of coats of matte finish rattle can spray. In retrospect, strips from inner tubes would have been easier....Continue Reading