KUROK

new blog dedicated to assembly of BMW 801 posted on ZM website
https://www.zoukeimura.co.jp/sentiment/oyajiblog_128.html
 

 

 

Hi there,
 
Got a shipment notification today, yayyy!!

cockpit assembly of the new Fw-190 in new blog on ZM website
https://www.zoukeimura.co.jp/en/sentiment/oyajiblog_129.html

You mentioned the guy had a large stash.  Perhaps he was looking at it and it got missed at the time of the raffle?  Who knows?
I also recommend asking him privately to have it back.  Make sure it's documented as in an email.
If he fails to give it back then you can forward your email to the club leaders (if you want to).
 
I've been through something similar.  We did an online "secret Santa".
Everyone got paired up and each was to send a gift of about $50 worth.  I did ...but the other guy didn't and I got crap.
So I'll never do that again.
I sent him a Wand Co. TOS Star Trek phaser.  At the time they sold for $50.  Now out of production, they are worth hundreds.
He sent me a painted solid resin Trek TNG cricket phaser that was and is worthless...

Is it DeeCal, or Deckle? Is it tire or tyre? Potato or po-tah-to? 
 
Here’s what I do know…I’m in stencil hell.
 
Got ahead of myself and shot some paint. One thing led to another and here we are…
 

 
There’s some admitted rough spots near the windscreen  that I’ll have to try and fix, didn’t notice till taking these pics.
Have a plan to go back and paint the canopy tracks/rails as well, but pretty pleased she’s made it this far.

 
And here’s a view of the wing and the aforementioned stencil hell. Two issues frankly. The wing looks a little rough in this pic - there was a slight orange peel that I hit with a 4k sanding pad. Should disappear under the next gloss coat. The real issue is the decals themselves, and my experiment. The stencils are an off-white, almost gray and impossible to see on the sheet. I don’t remember who showed the sharpie behind instrument panel stencils, but this sheet reacted poorly. Mostly in that the sheet backing is almost waterproof after using the sharpie?! I’m literally cutting out bits and letting them soak and pealing apart the paper to let it soak again… It’s made applying stencils even more of a trying task. Top it off with the fact that the instructions show a number, but not the actual stencil. The numbers don’t really correspond to anything on the sheet, so I’ve had to go back and look at about five hundred reference pics to find the invisible decals on the sheet… fun times  


So that’s where I’m at. Figure a few more days fighting decals, then I’ll get some markings on her. Still working through construction steps in my ol’ noggin. Need to get the gunner situated, as well as the canopies. But the gun is fragile as are the dive brakes and the bomb bay doors. I’m sure I’ll snap ‘em all multiple times before all is said and done…
 
Hopefully more soon!
-Peter

Last couple of pics about the cockpit...
 
 
Time to turn my attention on the wheel wells and landing gear 

Hi,
as I am stuck at home, I managed to take a pic of the finished cockpit parts.
The "white scratches" are here to allow Tamiya extra fluid to be used to glue the parts together.
It is also a chance to see the Eduard Look IP.... it looks pretty awsome to me and certainly better than anything I could have mad myself.
  
Please feel free to comment and thanks for following 
Cheers !!

It looks great!...and is a labor of love for the mighty Corsair!

Honestly, there is not too much that makes me happier than to see the drawings and manuals on our site getting used to create amazing project like this one! Just goes to show what hard work (oh, and 4.5 years of your life) will get you 
Congrats JayW, can't wait to see the next one!

Let's inspect some details - 
 
The underside with the gear bays:
 

 
The main landing gear:
 

 
Most of the landing gear and gear doors are 3D printed.  Tim Perry in the UK printed these up for me from Rhino 7 digital models I created myself.
 
Scratch built tail feathers:
 

 

 
Aluminum skinning should be in evidence - the tail area was the most difficult of all to skin.
 
Tail wheel:
 

 

 
Almost the entire tail wheel and support were 3D printed.  Also the tail hook and the doors
 
Wing trailing edge (flaps and ailerons):
 

 

 
That last one shows the effects of the "double hairspray" method of chipping two layers to expose both yellow zinc chromate and bare metal.  The ailerons, BTW, are 3D printed.
 
The prop and nose cowling:
 

 
Both items (prop hub and blades, nose cowl) are 3D printed.  This aircraft (#17 VF-17 Pilot Roger Hedrick) had a white painted prop spinner to identify his flight.  Other flights had other colors (black, red, etc).  Also note the open cowl flaps - another big sub-project.
 
Cockpit, windshield,  and canopy:
 

 

 

 
Windshield is scratch built; the canopy salvaged and heavily modified.  The cockpit is a bit dark (sorry) - other than the engine, it was the largest and most complicated sub-project of all!
 
Engine compartments open:
 

 

 
There's that engine!  The cowl panels are held in place by little magnets.  More:
 

 

 
 

 
 
You can see the magnets.  The engine accessories compartment is chalk full of 3D printed parts.  I am especially proud of the engine accessories compartment -  it was an integration nightmare that had a good ending.
 
Many fellow modelers helped me out on this effort.  I got technical advise from Kaeone57 and TAG and OldBaldGuy.  I got modeling technique advise from Airscale, Thunnus, and others.  Painting advise from Chuck540z3, Thunnus, others.  Airscale also provided me some of the decals, and aluminum sheet for skinning - all free of charge.   Thunnus provided stencils for the numerals - also free of charge.  It also helped to have a retired Naval Aviator looking in - Easixpedro.  I am going to forget somebody, darn it.  I'll come back and edit if/when I recall.  I must give a shout-out to Airscale Library for all their technical information - drawings, manuals, catalogues.  It's just amazing.  Also the books I bought - Dana Bell volumes 7 and 8, Lee Cook's "Skull and Crossbones Squadron", and the huge "R-2800 - Pratt & Whitney's Dependable Masterpiece" by Graham White.  I would like to thank all my dozens of followers on the build thread who were patient during 4 1/2 years, and kept me going with kind and enthusiastic comments - it's great to be an LSP-er!  
 
I hope you like the big F4U.  It's a far cry from its beginnings.  Thank you for looking in!

I show here the culmination of approximately 4 1/2 years of on again off again work on what was a Blue Box Toy Corsair in 1/18 scale.  The build thread can be found here:
 
 
Here is a picture of it before I began the work:
 
 
 
The aim was to convert it from a -1D into a -1A (VF-17 Jolly Rogers), greatly improve the realism in general, provide an openable engine compartment and engine accessories compartment, improve the cockpit and gear bays and landing gear.  Along the way many new skills were learned including aluminum skinning and 3D printing (plus learning the computer CAD program necessary for creating digital parts to print), and my first use of the airbrush.  Also, as has been the case with all my 1/18 projects, I made extensive use of original engineering drawings found at Aircorps Library, to help me scratch build parts.
 
The first year of the project was dedicated to the R-2800-8 radial engine that powered the Corsair.  Before installing it into the aircraft it looked like this:
 
 
 

 
It is scratch built 100%, and many parts were turned on a mini-lathe.  So that it would not be completely hidden when installed, I was compelled to make the engine cowl panels and accessory compartment panels removable.
 
For your inspection, first the buttoned up shots:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Photos are a bit amateur - sorry about that.  I will divide this up into two posts.  The next one will show some details, and shots with engine cowls removed.  That is where you will also find my acknowledgements to all the modelers who helped me out - there are many!
 
 

HI All,
 
I have called time on my build of the Tiger Moth floatplane. The build thread is Here should you want to take a look. G-AIVW was not always a floatplane and in fact was a King’s Cup Air-race winner long before she wore clown shoes.  Once converted she was not described kindly in her floatplane configuration as she allegedly was not a stable aircraft and needed to be continuously flown. Sadly she was written off in an accident and no longer exists. My model depicts her in the late 1970’s when she was used for joy rides and to train neophyte floatplane pilots.




 

 


Kind regards,
Paul

Now this looks much nicer. Certainly not perfect, but not too shabby either.
 

 
 
 
 

Hey Everyone,
 
My week has been a bit busy so I haven’t had much time to wrap up painting until this weekend.  
 
I applied some of the decals, but not a lot of the smaller ones like the ones along the lower fuselage - I’ve had some issues with paint lifting so I wanted to just let this be something I learn from and apply to the next build.
 
To begin, I sprayed a 50:50 Clear / Mr Leveling Thinner from Mr Hobby onto the areas that were going to see decals. I got some grainy texture, so taking the advice Woody provided a few posts above, I sprayed Mr Leveling Thinner over the areas and they seemed to settle down.
 
Onto the decals. The decals were pretty thick so I had to apply a few rounds of Mr Decal Softener followed by Mr Decal Setter to get them to suck down into the recessed panel lines. Since I painted most of the markings the decal stage didn’t take long. 
 
I was going to seal everything up with a semi gloss, so I did 50:50 Clear / Flat Super UV Cut from Me Hobby with 50:50 paint and thinner and a few drops of Mr Retarder. I put it down wet and in the corners I ran into the graining issue again. This was resolved with Mr Leveling Thinner. The only problem was the sheen of the semi gloss was inconsistent and kind of obvious. I laid down another coat but it did not resolve it. 
 
I went with a product I knew - VMS Semi Gloss which is acrylic based and self leveling. This resolved the issues with inconsistent shine. I also like how it sways a little more flat than gloss - it helps with how I approach weathering. 
 
I painted the rest of the other bits and pulled the masks/ marking tape off of everything else that I didn’t need to touch up. All seemed to be great until I took off the masks for the glass. I should have scored the edges to reduce the cracking. I need to find a good Vallejo or AK Gen 3 equivalent for RLM75 - I’d love to hear any suggestions if you have any. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next, I’ll assemble the tail wheel, landing gear, prop, and finish painting the exhausts. I also forgot to throw in the armored wind screen so we’ll see how the hell I’ll get that cemented in. Ugh.
Once that’s done I’ll be able to start weathering. 
 
Thanks for taking the time to check in

She's looking so darned good Jim!!

Small update.
Maurizio in his article highlited problem with wrong gunsight in instruction. Correct one is San Giorgio Type B not Type C.
 

 
 

 
It is part 70 on sprue C.
 

 
Other thing, these bits needs to be erased, because they prevent cockpit walls from good align with cockpit frames:
 
 

Progress. Fit is very well.
 

 
According to the instructions, the landing gear should be glued immediately, which is a bad idea at this stage of assembly. I cut them with a Czech razor blade and glued only the small part that connects to the frame. I will put a wire inside to make them stiffer and finally connect them.
 

 

 
Traces left by ejector pins are sometimes found in hard-to-reach places. The remedy for this is a Dremel mini grinder with a pen tip.


 
I then pour thin glue over it and then apply a few layers of Surfacer 1000 to smooth it out.
 

 
The same for the flaps, although here you need to be more careful not to damage the ribs.
 

 
On the Facebook account that publishes photos of models - Takatodoki, I found a superbly made Hasegawa Mc 202, which I can use as a template for detailing. The author added a lot of details to the engine, undercarriage bay and cockpit. I will remove the engine cover from the side, I want to preserve the silhouette.
 

 

Fun, fun!
Riding along now.

Fun, fun!
Riding along now.

In one of polish forums there is contest which theme is "Africa" so i changed my painting conception and will build Franco Lucchini early series III machine with parts from other plane/planes.



I started to correct Italeri obvious mistakes, Maurizio article is very helpfull. Additionaly i use Kagero Topdrawings. This book is focused on drawings and showing 
manufactring differences beetween series of Macchi.

https://archive.aeroscale.net/review/14521/index.htm

Panel lines which needs to be filled. Early series possibly didn't have gun panels, but I'm not sure.



Other thing is tail working surfaces. I corrected rudder. It has wrong number of ribs and looks very "tooyish". Tamiya thin tape and plastic profile used to fix its poor representation.







I had an idea to paint rivet lines instead of making holes. It was always tiring for me, correcting when line went in wrong direction or crushing plastic by force of pressure.  It is promising.

So after my jet plane build  thot I'd build a fall together Tamiya kit. Just glue and paint
and no muss or fuss. Grabbed the Mosquito out of the stash and OMG that's allota parts.
I needed to get out a bigger table.
 

 
I decided earlier to build this with as few parts as necessary. No engines, no gun bay / cannon bay / bomb bay,
if it isn't visible sitting on the shelf, I won't mess with it. Minimalist modeling, minimalist wip.
Cockpit first, there are alot of parts, some of which are never seen as they will be blocked by the
crew and their seats.
 

 
If you decide to add the crew, you'll need to assemble/paint them first.
Got the cockpit and radio area behind the navigator finished .
 

 
The crew is there but headless so far. More later ...

Thanks Shoggz, hopefully, the build goes well and we can both get this beautiful kit finished. Any advise from your build is welcome. Don't sell yourself short, your Hurricane is coming along nicely.
 
Not much to report from the weekend, unfortunately. Between family duties and a niggling little back problem (where my back cramps up if I sit in a chair too long leaning over the bench), I didn't get too much achieved. Still, a little progress was made. After an hour or so of scraping and sanding, I was able to clear the molded on ignition wiring & spark plugs. If I had thought about it earlier, it would have been much easier to do before I glued the engine together 
 
Once it was clear I was able to bend up and fix in place a new rail out of styrene rod & drill out new holes for the spark plugs to fit into 
 
 
As I mentioned above, I managed to get a resin 3D printer for free a couple of months ago. It's been pretty easy to work with so far so I purchased the Anyz spark plugs and line connecter set in 1/32 scale. After a test print at 1/32 (man they are small!) and another test enlarged 150%, here is what I am left with:
 
 
They are a touch too large for the scale once in place but gave me a good start and proved my idea was sound. I will print them again, enlarging to 133% which should be bang on 1/24 scale.  The hooked connectors are the spark plugs I will be using and the smaller connectors in the middle will be attached to the rail. They each have a rebated hole in the end so a wire should (in theory anyway) fit straight in.
 
 
Of course, I do not want to do anything the easy way so I printed them in Smokey black transparent resin, haha! With the printer, I also got 2L of resin for free so I might as well use it up, even though it a test on the eyes 
 
To keep the craziness rolling, the print of the exhaust pipes & gunsight went well. I printed the exhausts at 100% (the STL is sized for 1/24 scale & fit the gap left after the molded exhaust are removed) & also at 110% as I want to thin down the molded shroud and I will need them a touch bigger to take up the extra space. After a rough comparison, I prefer the bigger ones but will test again once the kit exhaust has been removed.
 
The parts have just been cleaned and are waiting for a coat of paint but so far they are looking great. 
 
 
 
 
I also started filling the sink marks on the back of the props and a little blade shaping but only early days so far. With any luck, I will get some more time on the bench this week. Will start another print maybe Wednesday for the smaller plugs a will see what the new size will look like

After recently finishing the Airfix 1/24 Fw-190, I had been really torn with what to build next. To make matters worse, I also had another distraction. I managed to get a resin 3D printer at the best of prices ($0!) which was totally unexpected. Its an older Elegoo Mars Pro but hey, it does the job well and the printing extravaganza has been great so far. 
 
I had a number of choices but over the weekend I came across the Airfix 1/24 Bf-109E at a price I couldn't refuse! I was bitten by the mojo bug and got straight into it.
 
 
Still not sure of the exact model or colour scheme yet but I got a bit to do prior before the decision needs to be made. I am not going to super detail the kit by any means but much like the Fw-190, I am going to add bits here and there and see where the build takes me. 
 
This is a brand new release of this vintage kit and it shows how the molds are faring, look at the flash
 
 
 
Still the bones are there and I am excited to crack on. I cut the main parts ways and gave them a quick test fit for size. Everything is looking pretty decent so far
 
 
First things first, let's have a look at the DB601. The detail is pretty good and I am planning on having the front cowl removable so I will pimp this out as much as I can. I cleaned off the flash, started building the main parts & once together I decided to get rid of the molded wiring to either side of the block. I am 99% certain I will also be removing the molded ignition wires and installing my own spark plugs/wiring. I bought the STL files for the ANYZ spark plugs & line connecters and have been test printing which ,so far, have come out great. 
 
 
 
I have also started to thin the edges of the one piece cowl to better represent the scale. 
 
 
 
From here, more cleaning of the engine and more test printing ahead. To replace the molded on exhaust & the very soft detailed gunsight, I purchased the STL files for the individual exhaust stacks & the Revi C 12/D gunsight from Jiri @ JPWarbirds. I am trying to teach myself 3D design but his parts are too nice to pass up on. 
 
 
Hopefully another update over the weekend!

I got the Eduard P-40 wheel set and it is well made...worth the money.
The only trouble is that the spokes have a webbing to be removed.
Seemed I'd have to use a knife and scrape the corners?
I'm pretty sure the latest revision of these are printed and there is no webbing to deal with.

 
Looking at it from the backside, the webbing stands proud perhaps 0.01" or less.
Using my Dremel with a small grinding tip was the plan.

 
 
Great care and a light touch.... and it worked!

 
Rubbed the burrs off with an old toothbrush and I'm in business: