mywifehatesmodels Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Well, my ammo belts aren't turning out. I think I'll have to make a better mold if I want to pursue that further. I've got nice wheels, however! John Learstang 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Man, There is NO stopping you John! Another stunner in the making....................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Thanks, Brian! A little more progress.... I attached the belly and inner wing panels to the fuselage. There's a bit of a seam in at the top, on the fuselage sides, but it won't be hard to attend to. This is kind of a funky arrangement, how they chose to do it, but I guess it works. Next, I cut out the spent shell casing/link ejection openings in the undersides of the wings. The kit isn't quite accurate in their placement (and the smaller hole isn't even present). I still need to clean them up a bit, but wanted to get them roughed in before assembling the wings. After that, I got the wing halves and spars all assembled and attached the outer wings to the rest of the model. I was very impressed with the fit of the outer wing panels, on both the top and bottom. The seams fall on the SIDE of the reinforcement straps, which is a great feature. I wish Trumpeter had done the same thing with their Ju 87 kits, as it would save a ton of filling and sanding. If done properly, I think one could get away with zero filler and only some primer before painting to hide these seams on the Sturmovik. Next was the horizontal stabs/elevators. They went together perfectly and also have no seam issues on top or bottom. Now we're starting to get somewhere and it's even resembling an airplane! Plenty of details to add, seams to work and priming to do before I can get to the painting stage, but I can almost smell it (well, that AKAN is strong stuff, so maybe I am actually smelling it!). I'm not sure how much I will get done in the next day or two, with the holiday and all, but if I don't post before tomorrow, I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! John Tewika and Learstang 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark31 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 good progress looking forward to your paint job. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Looking good Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 (edited) Thank you, Mark and Dennis. Okay, one more picture before I let her cure over the holiday. I got the ailerons and rudder in place. Rudder fits like a glove. The ailerons.....not so much. I ended up cutting off the inside attachment stub on both (was hard to get them seated all the way with them in place) and the left one still doesn't fit quite as good as the right, but they're good enough. I masked off the seams that needed putty and gave them a swipe. Probably overkill on the wing seams, but I wanted to be sure. (Just noticed that I missed the forward wing roots. OOPS!) John Edited November 26, 2014 by mywifehatesmodels Tewika, Out2gtcha and mark31 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Nice progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 I've been pecking away over the weekend, every chance I had. I still feel like I should be further, but there were a lot of little things to do. I added some more details, here and there and also had to make new fairings for the cannons. The ones in the kit are the wrong shape for a Zvod 18 machine, which this one is going to be. So, I tried sanding them down to a more proper profile, but there's just not enough material there. I sculpted a chunk of resin to get a basic shape, then made a mold of it and popped out a few of them. From there, I started sanding away and got two that fit the wings the best I could get them to, then filled in the rest with putty and CA. The landing light was a bit of a trick, not wanting to fit right, but I got it in place. Also, Eduard's set has a frame for the landing light surround and I tried several times to get it to work, but it just didn't look or fit right for me, so I scrapped that idea. Here are some general pics. Added splitters to the intake: More details: More primer: Gear door interiors: EmperorKai, mark31 and Learstang 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Very well done !........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) More: After a final primer coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000, I taped off the metal sections in two stages. In the first stage, I shot the forward fuselage area that's supposed to be made of steel with MM Metalizer Magnesium. Seems dark at first, but when you chip the top layer of paint off, later, it shows up plenty shiny and it also has some contrast to the aluminum paint on I used in the second stage, on the rest of the metal parts (got the ailerons, too. Oops!). Before doing all of this priming, I ran some tests with various metalizers, my regular aluminum paint and the AKAN lacquers. I also threw in some hair spray, in a couple of spots, for good measure. I coated two different sections with flat lacquer and with both flat and semi-gloss lacquer. I wanted to put this stuff to the test before I get this stage on the model, so that I would (hopefully) be able to avoid any messes caused by reactions between the various types of paint. Here's my test part: The hairspray lifted right off with a wet, stiff brush, even through the lacquer paint. So, maybe they truly are an "acrylic lacquer"? Whatever they are, I like them and this effect seems to work pretty well. Thanks for following along, John Edited November 30, 2014 by mywifehatesmodels EmperorKai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 I spent more time today prepping for paint and masking/checking the fit of the canopy parts. I used the Montex masks and they fit the parts quite well. After that, I started working on the star markings. These were a major pain to get even close to right and I'm not so sure that they'll turn out to my liking. Looking back on it, I probably should have just masked off the white areas and painted the entire plane before coming back to do the red. Now, I have to go back and mask off each complete marking before painting. Both ways have their pros and cons, I guess and what's done is done. I'll let that sit until tomorrow, then go back and give the markings a coat of Micro Mask. I hope this works! John EmperorKai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark31 Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Nice work Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Thanks, guys! I got to work, right away, this morning. I started by painting the interior gray to the canopy parts, then I coated the national insignia with Micro Mask. After that was dry, I used a fresh blade to cut along the outer edges of the masks, then carefully removed the outside portions. Then I shot the underside light blue, which dried in just a few minutes. After that, I held my breath as I started to remove the masks on the underside of the wings..... They definitely need some cleaning and touching up, but I'm actually surprised at how well they turned out. I was expecting worse. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the fuselage and tail stars turn out as well. I should be spraying the rest of the camo colors on the top side, today. Thanks for hanging around, John EmperorKai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Looks great !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Thanks, Loic! A little closer.....Step by step..... John EmperorKai, Learstang and Tewika 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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