HB252

Today's update
Cockpit installed into the fuselage
 

Today's update
 
Seatbelts are from Eduard
 













 

The riveted parts were washed with soapy water to remove as much of the pastel wash and sanding dust from the rivet holes and panel lines.

 

I can now start to assemble the previously painted cockpit components and install them within the fuselage.

 

Here is the Aires instrument panel sans gun sight glued onto the front bulkhead.



 

The seat and rear bulkhead were glued in next.  The sidewalls have been temporarily taped into place to serve as position guides for the front and rear bulkheads but I didn't want to glue them in yet as I am concerned that the top edges of the sidewalls may not sit flush against the fuselage interior.

 

After placing the cockpit tub between the fuselage sides, I can see that there is no problem with the starboard sidewall so I can glue that one into place.

 

However, the top edge of the port sidewall does protrude too far from the fuselage interior.  This one is glued into place with less glue, hopefully giving it enough flexibility for me to push the sidewall onto the inside of the fuselage.

 
The cockpit tub is then glued into the port fuselage side, with lots of CA glue on the sidewall so I can stick it into place.

 

After that, I can glue the fuselage sides together, using Tamiya Extra Thin cement.  As typical on these aircraft models, the view into the cockpit goes bye-bye.









 

Fuselage halves went together
 

A small update, slowed by my need to learn how to use Cura and Meshmixer.
 
As I mentioned earlier the STL files I purchased were in appox 1/56 scale and I worked out upscaling to 1/32.  But the files also had the national markings on the wings/fuselage/vertical stabilizer added to them as raised symbols/lettering... much like old Aurora kit.
 
The old school modeler in me thought about sanding these items off.... but then, hey its a digital file.... hence my need to use Cura and Meshmixer, in order to digitally remove the offending items.   Also, I worked on varying printer settings to try and get the best resolution for a filament printer. Understand a resin printer would give me better fidelity but I dont have a suitable place to locate one, given the smell of resin. 
 
So here are some test prints in PLA, with the insignia and lettering removed. Pop can is for reference as to the size of these 3D prints.
 
The fuselage is printed in 2 sections... you can see the joint line in the photos.
 
Next up is to continue learning Meshmixer and Cura to reduce the size and depth of the trench like panel lines.
 
Once I get this to an acceptable level my plan is to print final versions in High Impact Polystyrene filament... which can be sanded/cut/painted similar to regular polystyrene.
 
Cheers!
 
Dave/Ironman1945
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There is a new project for therapy purposes. 
I will use my last Eduard issue as Miss Frances III.
 
Special guest star : YODA
 

Here we go;
First step is cutting properly side fuselage window slots and installing not so nice looking transparent parts. 
 









 

Really looking forward to this build. The Hellcat is my favorite US WW2 subject….and unfortunately we don’t have a modern new tool of this subject. 
 
watching with great interest. 
 
Cheers
Collin

New start:
I hope I don't ruin it
 

Afternoon all,

My modelling mojo has deserted me of late, but I have had the beginnings of a return the last couple of days, so fancied doing a bit more to the Stirling. 
 
A while ago I made all the framing for the bomb aimer’s windows from Evergreen, as the kit supplied parts are completely the wrong shape and the plan was/is to add my own glazing. 
 
Thankfully, and despite the incorrect shape, I have been able to use parts of the kit supplied clear parts, carefully measuring and cutting them one by one:
 
 
They were then ‘dropped’ into the framing using Formula 560 canopy glue, with the edges neatened up and sealed with Milliput Black. The end result isn’t too bad and once the whole area has been blended in with a top coat of paint, it should pass muster from 50 yards!
 
 
 
I’m leaving the centre panel right until the end as a means to remove any bits of dust or stray debris - plus I need to make the bomb sight mounts which will be very fragile. 
 
Another job ticked off…
 
More when there’s more. 
Tom

Riding the momentum, I finished riveting the fuselage.  This time I did things a little bit differently.  I taped the fuselage together and drew the vertical rivet lines so that the rivet lines would meet at the seams.

 

Again, the surfaces were sanded and a pastel wash was applied to check the work.



 

There were some errant rivet lines that need to be filled and re-done but I can soon move on to fitting the cockpit into the fuselage and gluing the fuselage halves together.  Just for fun, I taped the riveted components together and took some photos before the parts are cleaned off.











 
 
By the way, the wing to fuselage fit at the wing root looks great doesn't it?

Here's the problem with the double row riveter out of the box.  I want the two wheels to rotate in unison, so I took the tool apart and used CA glue to fuse the two wheels together.  It was a surprisingly fiddly affair trying to get the points on the two wheels lined up.  The photo is obviously BEFORE the modification.

 

After that fix, I was able to get on with the riveting of the upper wings.  The lines I had drawn a few days ago were traced over with either the single Galaxy Tool riveter or the new double line rivet tool.

 

Here are the riveted wings after sanding and a liberal coat of brown pastel wash.





 

A simple tip for those of you that have the Galaxy Tool rivet tool. After gouging countless lines into the model by accident, I finally modified the tool to help prevent this.



 

Oh, and I added shims to the outboard ends of the flaps to eliminate the gaps.

 

Hi Alan! Thanks for the comment!  I use a scrubbing pad to serve as a mask for my mottle pre-shade. A product like this...

 
Out of the package, one piece is too thick to spray through so you have to thin it, which easier said than done.

 
It's a tedious and sloppy process to cut these pads using a combination of scissors and a sharp blade but it gets usable once you start to be able to see through it.

 

If a a Bucker Jungmann or a Me108 sells in plastic I have zero doubt an early 109 will do as well ...

Thank you Alan!
 
 
Thanks Richard!
 
 
The combat flaps were designed to be posed in the open position so some surgery is required if you want to close them.

 

The flap interior sections on the wing bottoms were carefully cut away.

 

The mounting pegs on the flaps themselves also need to be cut off in order for the flaps to sit flush.


The surgery was fairly straight forward and the flaps seem to fit into the openings without too much drama.  I may need to add thin shims to the ends of the flaps to get rid of the gaps.



 

The new tool arrived today.

 

As a riveter, this is something I should have had in my toolbox a long time ago.  Hopefully, I'll be able to make any double row of rivets quicker and more accurately.

 

The scheme I am planning to do was offered as a limited release by Hasegawa...

 

I felt a little compulsion to do some riveting so I did the horizontal tail parts.  The reference drawings are from Kagero Monograph #18 and the riveting tool of choice is the Galaxy Tools 1.00mm rivet wheel.

 
 
The rivet lines are drawn onto the model using a soft lead pencil.

 

The rivet lines are made by rolling the wheel along the lines.  After the rivet holes are done, the lead is wiped off and the surface is sanded to remove the raised mounds of plastic around each hole.

 

The tail planes are then given a dark pastel wash to check the work.



 

Thank Matt!  I'm not sure what grit the sanding stick was but it was on the coarser side.
 
The prop blades and the spinner have been given some salt weathering.  I've also used some pastels to create streak marks on the spinner but they aren't very noticeable in the pics.










 

Thank you Dennis!  I found it important to use soft lead wire and to make sure that glue connection between the ring and the wires was solid.
 
 
Thank you!
 
 
Thanks Matt!  Appreciate the comments!
 
 
I'm waiting for a new rivet tool to arrive on Monday before I start that particular adventure.  So filling in the days with minor work.  Like fabricating a new pitot tube using 1.0mm, 0.8mm and 0.6mm brass tubing.




The short section of 0.8mm tubing will simply be a sleeve so that the 0.6mm slides into the 1.0mm without play and therefore straight.




The ends of the both tubes are beveled by chucking the pieces into my rotary tool and lightly grinding the tip at the appropriate angle on a sanding stick.





Instead of using the kit-supplied decals for the yellow markings on the prop blades, I've made a custom mask to paint them.  The yellow is a 4:1 mix of Tamiya Yellow and Tamiya Orange.




The spinner and blades were painted in the same green color, which was a 4:1 mix of Mr Hobby Aqueous RLM82 Light Green and Tamiya Flat White.  Both the spinner and blades have been lightly chipped.  I've added an additional joint on the spinner along with some rivets.  Painting is done but the weathering is not.

 

Thank you sir!  Attention to detail is easier when I do things really slow and this build is going slow, due to other distractions at home.
 
 
I use Bob Smith Industries (BSI) IC-2000 Tire Glue.
 
 
Thank you Kevin!
 
 
Thanks Dennis!  I try to be neat and tidy, especially when presenting progress on my builds.
 
 
 
Thanks John!  Sometimes I'll build and paint stuff that ultimately gets covered.  Sometimes I don't.  Depends on how I feel!
 
 
See above!  
 
 
Thank you!  No dramas on this build, which speaks to the quality of this Hasegawa kit.  Can't really go wrong with any of the Hasegawa WW2 Japanese 1/32 subjects.
 
 
Thanks Tom!
 
I worked on the engine this week. It's a not super-detailed out of the box but decent enough given the limited visibility from the front. The only thing I'm adding here is a hydraulic line at the bottom of the crankcase and some ignition wiring. In actuality, the 18-cylinder Homare engine had 36 ignition leads, two for each cylinder. I decided to forgo the leads that attach to the back of the cylinders.  Oh yeah, and I've added some spark plug connectors from Anyz to the front of each cylinder.

 

The engine components were painted separately.

 

After painting, the engine was glued together.



 

The wiring was carefully bent and attached to the spark plug connectors.

 

 

Even though the wires (which were lead) were primed with Mr Primer Surfacer, lots of paint cracked off during the bending process so the wires were touched up with paint.

 

Here is the view of the completed engine within the cowling.

 

Engine's done so I can now move on to something else.

 

Friends,
 
As some of you may know, I'm currently running a build log here on the forum for the Lukgraph Oeffag D.III. I’ve always lived by the principle: one model on the bench at a time. Well… not this time.
 
When Lukgraph invited me to take part in this extraordinary project, I knew from the start I wanted to be a part of it. Although my interests lie far from American flying boats of the 1930s, the “Duck” is more than just another aircraft to me. It’s a memory from childhood — one of the first aviation films I ever watched with my dad. Peter O'Toole in the lead role, scene by scene experienced together... The emotions of those evenings and the image of the Duck have stayed with me ever since. This aircraft has soul and character. It's one of a kind. There is only one Duck.
 

 
I also knew that the person responsible for designing this model — someone I truly admire — had gone to great lengths to achieve fidelity, detail, and accuracy. The entire Lukgraph team deserves recognition for the tremendous work they put into releasing this miniature. Being a part of this project is also my way of honoring that effort.
So here we are. I’ve become the first person on this planet to receive a production J2F-5 kit from Lukgraph. I will be sharing with you the build of this impressive miniature — a fully 3D-printed behemoth with a massive float and — thank goodness — two wings.
 

 
 
That means we’re launching a new build log. I also want to take a moment to apologize to all of you who have been following the progress of my Cooper, Corsi, and their Oeffags. I solemnly promise: once the J2F-5 is completed, we will return to our heroes from the Polish-Bolshevik War.
In the meantime, I invite you to follow along as I tackle this build. What are my goals? First and foremost — I will build this kit straight from the box. I may add some wiring in the cockpit and around the engine, but everything else will come directly from what the manufacturer provides. The paint scheme will also be “out of the box,” which is quite rare for me, but the box art by Piotr Forkasiewicz — and the scheme itself — is just too beautiful to pass up. It represents the aircraft with side number 3, assigned to the Fleet Air Photographic Unit Atlantic. So yes — this will be a Duck straight from the box. But don’t let that fool you — I plan to go all-in with painting and weathering. My build will depict a well-worn airframe from late 1941 to early 1942, exposed to the harsh conditions of the Atlantic.
 

 

 
 
This build log will not focus on historical background — unless something truly fascinating crosses my desk and I decide to share it with you. Why am I setting aside the usual historical deep dive that always accompanies my builds? The answer lies below.
The term “project” in the context of this model refers to more than just a build log. The ultimate goal of this endeavor is a comprehensive, fully illustrated modeling guide that I’m creating together with Lukgraph. It will be dedicated to building 3D-printed aircraft models, using the J2F-5 as an example. Hard cover, glossy paper, tons of photos, descriptions of modeling techniques, tools and materials, 3D design insights, base construction tips, and a history of the Duck aircraft family. We sincerely hope to have it in your hands later this year.
 
 
As a warm-up, today I’m sharing the first modules that will be used to build the cockpit. This is just a preview of what this kit has to offer — even at this early stage, the level of detail makes it clear this will be a very special project.
 

 

 

 
 
And finally, a few words on references and research. The main sources I’ll be using throughout this build include:
 
Grumman JF/J2F Duck – Naval Fighters, Steve Ginter
Grumman J2F Duck – Legends of Warfare, David Doyle
Grumman G.15, G.20 & J3F Duck – Serie Aeronaval No. 15, Jorge F. Nunez Padin
J2F-6 Airplane – Pilot’s Handbook of Flight Operating Instructions
Grumman JF Duck – Squadron/Signal No. 7, Timothy Hosek
Grumman JF/J2F Duck – Monografie Lotnicze, Adam Jarski
 
Special thanks to Tomek Gronczewski for his patience and generous help in resolving numerous technical questions related to the particular airframe I’m building.
 

 
I also warmly invite you to follow my social media accounts — Facebook and Instagram: Aces in Scale — where I’ll be sharing additional content, build updates, close-up photos, and plenty of reels. You can already watch the unboxing video of the kit there!
 
That’s it for today. More soon!
 
Regards,
Lukasz

Thank you for stopping by, Troy!
 
 
Thank you!  Hope you didn't wait too long!
 
 
Thanks Mike!  Be that as it may, I am electing to keep the right hand electrical box in place.  Not only was it a pain in the butt to hand paint but I didn't think the comments in  Aero Detail 24 rules it out conclusively.  It says, "The electrical box visible to the lower right of the panel, as well as the foot bar, are not original equipment."  If we assume that there was some sort of foot bar on the original aircraft, we can also assume that an electrical box may have been there also. 
 
 
Thanks Matt!  The sidewalls pinch in from bottom to top so view into the cockpit will be somewhat limited..
 
 After the passing the milestone of getting the cockpit painted, I've kinda stalled on the build, not looking forward to the next major step, which would be applying rivets.  Unlike German aircraft, Japanese aircraft seem to have a more complicated and random pattern to their rivet lines.  I'll get there eventually but it takes some discipline and momentum to get that done.  So... in the meantime, I've been fiddling with little things here and there.


The four prop blades are separate and plug into a prop hub that houses a plastic grommet to hold the prop in place.  The surface of the prop blades had some irregularities and needed some sanding.



The attachment peg of the blades is keyed so the pitch angle of each blade is uniform.



The back of the some of the blades had a sink mark that needed to be filled with black CA glue.



Looking forward to the Homare radial engine, I'm looking at the view into the engine from the front.  The Eduard Exterior set has a bunch of detail parts but the majority of them are on the top of the cylinders and I don't think these additions will be visible so I'm leaning towards leaving those off.



The view into the engine compartment is even more limited with the prop in place.  I may simplify things further by only doing half of the ignition wires (to the fronts of each cylinder only).



The barrel openings for the engine mounted guns are deep depressions (not actual holes).



I decided to drill out the openings and place short sections of brass tubing to represent the gun barrels.



Next I jumped over to the landing gear.  The Eduard Exterior provides etched faces for the interior sides of the landing gear covers.  Probably won't be very visible but its a very easy addition.




The exterior sides have been riveted.  I blew out a hole in one of the covers trying to restore a circular fastener, which has since been repaired.



The inner landing gear doors has a similar PE option.



But I decided to keep the molded detail in place and just add the u-channels to the kit part.



The Eduard Exterior set also includes brake lines for the landing gear legs but being flat PE pieces, I doubt that I could get an acceptable result.  Instead, I made my own brake lines using copper wire attached to the leg using little sections of brass tubing and thin strips of aluminum tape.



The landing gear components were then given a coat of primer (Mr Primer Surfacer 1000).  Although I had a couple of resin options for the main wheels (MasterCasters and Kopecky), I thought the kit wheels looked the best so I went with them.



You can see the repaired hole on the exterior side, which have been riveted.

Thank you!  Yes, I like the look of detailed cockpit set after a primer coat.  It really highlights the detail and prepares me for the painting stage.
 
 
Thanks Dennis!  The Aires set is really nice and the trouble-free fit is a bonus!
 
 
Thanks Troy!  I just got a June date for bass fishing at my favorite lake so we are on the same wavelength!
 
 
Never enough aftermarket!  Seriously though... it IS quite a lot and none of it of my choosing.  It was all included in the purchase price of this used kit.  If I had my choice, I would've picked up lots of this stuff but not all.
 
 
Thanks Martin!
 
 
Yes, the cockpit set is very nicely detailed.  
 
 
Thanks Tom!

Kinda busy with other things but I've plodding along with the Hayate build when I have the free time.  Most of the work has been centered around the painting of the cockpit parts.  Here are the cannon bodies and wing gun tips painted in Mr Metal Color Iron and then buffed. The cooling holes on gun barrels were drilled out.

 

The reflector glass for the gun sight was cut from acetate sheet.  The edges of the front element were tinted with clear blue/green.  The circular optical element was drilled out with a small drill bit, painted and then filled with a drop UV resin.

 

The interior color of Japanese aircraft is a mysterious subject and after a bit of reading and no conclusive choice for the interior color of the Hayate, I went with Mr Color C217 Cockpit Color (Nakajima), which is an interesting yellow green shade.

 

After some hairspray chipping on the cockpit floor and front bulkhead, I brush painted the details as best as I could.

 

After painting, I started posing the components together. After the foot pedals were glued into place, I ran a couple of lines of EZ thread to represent the rudder cables.

 







 

So very happy with myself getting the upper wings fitted I then turned my attention to what was beneath 
 
First up was a dry fit of the port lower wing and all very nice
 

 
With an equally nice wing root joint
 

 
So far and all very good and now let's look at the Starboard wing
 

 
Nowhere near and a huge gap to close up so probably the best thing to do is get the wheel bay spars fitted first which I had already prepped and drilled out the various lightening holes
 

 
Once off the sprue they need trimming and adjusting to fit one by one
 

 
Will leave those to dry properly and then adjust as necessary to get the lower wing to fit, a few more bits to be fitted as well but let's get one area at a time adjusted to fit to not confuse what's going on as I get the wing halves together.
 
Regards. Andy
 
 
 
 

Hell yess, im glad your back with this build...

Thanks Wayne!  The box art is very nice scheme but I've not yet decided on a specific aircraft yet.  Stay tuned!
 
 
Thanks John!  I'm assuming the Ki-84 is like the other Hasegawa 1/32 Japanese subjects... very well done with no major issues.
 
 
Thanks Matt!  Starting a new build is always fun so I'm trying to use this to gain some momentum that can be applied to my unfinished builds eventually.
 
 
Thanks Dennis!  I have bookmarked your build for reference!
 
 
Thank you sir!  Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of my experiences with Aires products have been good fit-wise.  Lucky!
 
 
 
Thanks guys!
 
 
A little more cockpit work done this weekend as I've been hobbled a bit with cold symptoms after my international trip.  I was a bit too aggressive with the razor and took out part of the bottom of the Aires resin seat.

 

Won't be a problem if I use the included seat cushion. Although I've got a few more seat options including an Eduard PE seat and another resin seat by MasterCasters, I will probably use the Aires seat since it is designed to be used with the other Aires components.

 

Speaking of options, I've taken a closer look at two of the instrument panels.  One is the super OG unpainted PE and printed acetate version supplied with the Aires cockpit set.  You spray the back of the printed acetate with white, which fills in the instrument dials.

 

The other option is the slightly more contemporary painted PE from the Eduard Interior set.  I'll typically put the Eduard pre-painted stuff at the end of the queue.  There are some things that I personally don't like about this approach including that weird purple/blue that Eduard uses to color EVERY instrument panel face and the noticeable texture of the printed color itself.

 

Both approaches use a sandwich approach to stack two (or more) layers to produce the final instrument panel.  For this comparison, I chose to repaint the Eduard panel the same color as the Aires panel (Tamiya Nato Black XF-69).

 

To add missing color to the Aires panel, I punched one instrument from the Hasegawa decal sheet.  Both options are pretty good but I'm going with the Aires.