Madmax
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Posts posted by Madmax
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The level of craftsmanship displayed here is a joy to behold. Lovely to see your approach to essentially the same subject that has been occupying my attention for close on a year now. It seems different observers focus on different things and it will be fun to compare the completed builds.
As they might still say in the military, 'Carry on...'
Sean
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1 hour ago, Uncarina said:
Sean, I had two questions that I hope doesn’t interfered with the flow of your awesome build:
—what paint(s) did you use for the dark dull green in the cockpit?
—what specific reference do you have for the SAM aircraft drawings? I’m also interested in riveting my build.
Thanks! Tom
Hi Tom,
As it is I'm busy creating trouble for myself with masks lifting the Alclad, so I am going to sit on my hands until the mess dries properly.
The plans were published in SAM Volume 10, Issue 3 (March 2004) - drawn by Richard Caruna. PM me if you can't find them. The Dull Dark Green was my own eyeball mix, and I'm afraid I didn't record the recipe
. What I can tell you is that Tamiya XF-5 is supposed to be a good approximation, but I couldn't find a bottle at the time I painted the cockpit. Container was stuck in a harbour somewhere.
Cheers,
Sean
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Only once I had sprayed the Olive Drab anti-glare upper surfaces did it dawn on me - I'd forgotten the black undercoat for the windshield frame. Aargh! I Peeled the masking back and peeked inside to see if one could live with it being silver instead, but the answer was quite simply: no. Ah, well, what's another hour?
Then I got down to one or two detailing projects I enjoy, as a distraction from the inevitable stuff-ups. The weapon pylons in the Ferris painting looked odd to me, given they had no sway braces, but then I found reference photo's that show fairings over the draggy bits when not in use. Easy mod, as well as one more set of supports on the back of the central canopy rail, and a more pronounced fuel tank brace arm at the back of the pylon.
Then all the detached bits got a coat of AS-12.
With that complete, I turned my attention to the national insignia, the 'stars and bars'. I have a set of Montex masks for this exact purpose and the only quandary I had was the sequence in which to paint the colours. At least in this case, it is only blue and white. I have however seen all sorts of variations on the theme and it can become unnecessarily complex. The desire to paint white first is an obvious modelling consideration where too many layers of white are required to get an opaque coat over a dark colour like Insignia Blue. This makes the mask placement pretty tricky in my opinion. So, what did the spray painters do in the 1940's?
The Aircorps site is a wealth of information. https://www.aircorpsart.com/blog/how-to-paint-a-world-war-ii-aircraft-insignia/
As one may have guessed, they painted the blue first! The question was, how many layers of white will it take with Tamiya Acrylic? The answer is: three...
So, with that doable in my mind, this is how it went: outer mask in place (good luck finding accurate placement of the wing insignia) and spray insignia blue.
Leave the outer mask in place and lightly buff the matt blue surface to improve the seating of the next mask. Soapy water to slide everything into position. The tape around the edges was to prevent bleed trough on the outline, but probably an overkill. Spray three coats of white.
Voila!
The fuselage was a bit trickier due to the supercharger intakes, but a bit of careful planning of cuts makes it all doable. All in all, a far better result than decals!
Now to mask these closed again so the Alclad can turn the toy-like surface into metal. Alchemy - simple stuff...
Cheers,
Sean
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On 1/9/2023 at 10:23 PM, LSP_Kevin said:
Fantastic progress, Sean!
Kev
Thanks Kev!
On 1/10/2023 at 12:03 AM, Citadelgrad said:Looking mighty fine. That's some extra scratch/detail work on the canopy that I see?
Hi Bill, it is indeed. I would like to say it's your fault for adding the fiddly canopy jettison mechanism to your build, but there are earlier scapegoats. John1 added the same to his P-47D, but the seed was planted (like so many others) by JayW when he first 'Heavy' modified the 20th Century P-47 till it looked like an instructional airframe for Republic Aviation engineers!
On 1/10/2023 at 5:44 AM, Uncarina said:Sean, I just got caught up. I must have set a personal record for the numbers of reference photos I saved in one reading! I have a Hasegawa kit on the way for a prospective P-47M build, and I have you, Thunnus, and John1 to thank for this. I’m also honored that you used one of my go-to practices!
Cheers, Tom
Hey Tom, glad you stumbled across this P-47 amongst all the other Thunderbolt entertainment going on at LSP. That's one of the risks of looking at all the inspiration on display in this forum - the desire to then build one of whatever lit you up. I, for one, would now also like to build an Alouette III, a Beaufighter and an HS. 129 too...
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Ok, party's over! Can't face any more fruit mince pies
Here's that wing fit issue I mentioned last time...
Using the stub spars as the kit was designed leads to the upper part of the wing being 'twisted' below the root faring at the trailing edge, where the flaps sit. I sanded the spars until I could position the upper surface flush with the fairing, but here you can see how that messes with the fit on the bottom of the wing.
Rather there than on top. It was relatively simple to sand the bottom bit flush, although there is still a step on the inside of the flap recess. Notice the little wedge of styrene to fix the rounded edge on the wing T/E.
The step can't be seen with the flap in place, so no need to fiddle any further. I wonder how many other Hasegawa builds encountered the same issue?
In order to get some paint on, I like to glue the windscreen in place first. That meant completing the K-14 gunsight with its reflector glass (cut from leftover clear vacuform canopy sheet), and since I was busy on the canopy, adding the jettison mechanism to the internal frame. Now that everyone else has added this detail, I didn't want to be the odd-one-out!
While checking out the fit of the canopy, I noticed that the kit sills were a bit wide, and trimmed them back a bit, as you can see on the right. I also added a styrene rail for the canopy.
Then it became apparent that the canopy doesn't sit well on the fuselage in the open position, since it is too narrow at the front for the width of the cockpit at the seat. I tried hot water and even a hairdryer to ease the canopy apart since I want it posed in the open position. This is almost always a disaster, and I wouldn't try it if there wasn't a second (closed) canopy in the kit. Here is exhibit A in why not to mess with canopies... See the fine stress cracks in the top canopy? Lucky the bottom one could be cut free of its windshield and is ready for some polish.
All sorted and ready for silver paint. You may notice that I painted black first since the inside of the canopy frames is painted black. This will feature again shortly...
Paint at last! I primed this one, like my previous F-86 build, with Tamiya AS-12 'Bare Metal Silver'. I copied this approach from Tom (Uncarina) and must say that it is great under Alclad topcoats.
Although the AS-12 sticks like glue to the kit styrene, it doesn't sit that well on resin (or I didn't get rid of the release agent properly). The prop shed its paint during my chipping efforts, so now it is going to become a freshly refurbished job - no weathering.
That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I will revisit the canopy frame colour.
Cheers,
Sean
- Antonio Argudo, TAG, D.B. Andrus and 15 others
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On 12/13/2022 at 4:22 PM, TAG said:
Admirable attention to detail complemented by top shelf modeling skills, good on ya Sean, this is going to be one of the best Hasegawa Jugs I've seen by the time you're through with it. Keep up the stellar work!
Cheers,
- Thomaz
Thanks Thomaz, I sure hope I can deliver the goods!
On 12/13/2022 at 5:15 PM, John Stambaugh said:I say those same words"live and learn" on all my builds. Hmm..
But seriously, very nice work going on here.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to say it again too...
On 12/13/2022 at 5:45 PM, D.B. Andrus said:Beautiful work!
Re. the "oil-canning" on the ammo doors - my view is that the armorers regularly walked on them hence the depressions. Plausible?
Cheers,
Damian
Hey Damian, quite plausible indeed. I enjoyed working with many armourers in my military time and remember them as a spirited, naughty bunch. Walking on the wing? Yes sir!
23 hours ago, Dpgsbody55 said:Great work so far. The engine looks good, and all that rivetting will really enhance the model.
Cheers,
Michael
Thanks Michael, I keep reminding myself of the outcome as I clean out rivet number 8725....
21 hours ago, Thunnus said:Ver nice work, Sean and yes, it's very interesting comparing the Trumpeter and Hasegawa kits. Your re-scribed fasteners look great... I was just not able to replicate that uniformity and opted for the tack-on brass pieces.
I saw that - smart move!
21 hours ago, Cheetah11 said:Nice one Sean, this is going to be a stunning model. A pity the build is going so slowly
Nick, you are a very funny guy!
12 hours ago, scvrobeson said:Beautiful work on the surface detail. Never knew that there was Yugoslavian P-47s. Your build is going to be absolutely stunning once paint hits it.
Matt
Thanks Matt, I didn't know that was a Yugoslav roundel till you pointed it out!
6 hours ago, Woody V said:I was an airframe repairman in the USAF and the bulged skin between rivet rows is caused by the riveting process. You're literally pounding the rivet with a rivet gun and as a consequence the skin gets compressed causing the skin to "grow" for lack of better term. All that now excess aluminum has to go somewhere so it forms that oil canning appearance.
The skin on aircraft varies in thickness and thinner material has less resistance to being deformed. You're less likely to find oil canning on thicker material.That's exactly the insight I was hoping for Woody! Thank you very much.
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Looking very good Nick! I really like this colour scheme, and your research is uncovering some interesting aspects of the Mk IX e's: the roundels are much closer to the wing tip than I imagined, and somehow I thought this one might have been polished aluminium. You are also one of the few ex-airline guys I know who can afford aftermarket stuff from the LHS. Must be secretly pawning some of your stash?
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Thanks Nick and Craig, this 'tin canning' thing is pretty addictive but very time consuming! I think my next build is going to be a jet that puts on anti-wrinkle cream at night.
On 11/22/2022 at 7:23 AM, Thunnus said:Glad to see this one back in action! Lots of good technical information on the Jug, which I am now interested in!
Hi John, I'm afraid this is going so slowly that it is actually me gaining information from your build as you overtake my progress!
It is interesting to be able to compare the two kits and see the strengths or weaknesses in differing aspects of their designs.
Here is a more detailed view of the riveting on top of the left hand wing. I filled in a panel that doesn't appear to be there in my reference pics. The heavy riveting on the inboard section of the wing is quite characteristic, and reflects the amounts of 'stringers' inside the wheel well. My rivet tally might look a bit overdone, but only represents about half of what is actually there! This was an incredibly rugged design and I imagine everything was riveted in place, including the standby-compass correction card.
After much polishing with a micromesh cloth, this is a slightly more subtle result than the right hand wing.
The bottom of the wings only got rivets, no skin texture. You can see where all the rivets on top of the wheel wells come from...
Many of the fittings and interior surfaces are treated with zinc-chromate. I decided to do these now, as the masking gets too tricky if they are painted after the silver NMF (because the high shine ALCLAD's don't like masking tape too much).
Then it was time to tackle the engine and cowling placement. The four-piece cowling design in the Hasegawa kit appears to be a turn-off for some prospective builders, but it isn't actually too much of a problem. The forward internal frame (to which the engine is attached) and the frame of the cowl-flaps are the key to getting the shape right.
The first problems I encountered were associated with the resin engine, since it is clearly not the same dimensions as the kit engine. By attaching one cowl at a time, I was able to trim the locating tabs inside the cowl to accommodate the rocker covers.
You may recall that I cut out the forward cowl fasteners, since they appear split once the cowl is joined (unless you get it absolutely perfect, and fill the tiny join line). Here, the styrene 'fasteners' are glued in prior to trimming and sanding.
The Quickboost engine does look good - all snug in the cowling - but then the unknown variables started to catch up with me.
There was a resin baseplate or 'backplate' that came with the engine, and I binned it. Mistake? Probably, since the attachment of the engine to the fuselage became an exercise in sheer guesswork and advanced cussing. You might want to hang onto the Quickboost part if you ever tackle this kit and engine combination.
Here is the result of my folly... (btw: It doesn't help adding fiddly in-the-way details like the oil cooler hoses).
Ah well, live and learn. Using the closed cowl-flaps to align things, it was eventually possible to get the entire power plant assembly approximately in place. At least from this side. I'll just glue the prop in skew to compensate for any other misalignments!
John (aka Thunnus), I also had to re-scribe the cowling fasteners, that had become too vague after sanding the cowl joins. They sure do get skew in a hurry, no matter how hard you concentrate! Free hand scribing, even in shallow kit grooves, is a dark art.
Wing to fuselage joins coming up next. I foresee some interesting results based on preliminary dry fitting. Not sure why I haven't read about a problem fit before? Probably because it doesn't exist, till now...
Cheers,
Sean
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Thanks Kev, John, Paolo, and Nick!
Finally got some riveting done on the wings - well one of the wings anyway. I've been looking forward to this, since it really does pose some challenges, not least of which is finding an accurate drawing to refer to. I still haven't found one, but in my search I stumbled across the Scale Aviation Modeller (SAM) 3-view and I believe it to be the closest to the photographic references I have - it certainly helped. Here you can see the pattern taking shape, section by section. There is too much going on to do it in one go. Luckily the Hasegawa panels are accurate, and I only had to scribe one more panel line ahead of the flap cutout.
Once again, I was keen to give the surface some character. I believe the trick is not to bulge every block of aluminium, but rather to see which ones are prominent on the actual aircraft. I don't have the technical specs, but I suspect that the thickness of the aluminium may differ from section to section, or that as the space between ribs and stringers increases, so too does the chance of bulging (pillowing, tin-canning etc).
Here is an interesting thing: it looks to me as if the skin sags (rather than bulges) between the structural components of the ammunition bay door. I'm sure there are engineers out there who can chime in on this, but possibly because the rectangular structure is stressed differently to the wing itself? Note how the leading edge bulges outward between the ribs.
Same here, just less pronounced.
Whatever the reasons, I chose to incorporate some of what I saw on the wing. I may have overdone the ammo bay a little bit.
Same as everyone else, I lowered the engine mount by a millimetre or two. It helps to build the kit years after the pioneers have discovered the problem areas! The wires sticking out of the nose are oil-cooler hoses that are just visible through the open cooling louvres on the back of the cowling.
Fitting the resin engine is a bit of a shot in the dark, so I thought it might be good to keep at least one thing constant - the rear mount from the kit engine. This was trimmed on a trial and error basis till it looks like it might fit. Probably still needs some adjusting once the cowling is assembled.
Here is the fake exhaust painted up in bas-relief. In place, it actually looks quite convincing.
Back to the rivet wheel...
Sean
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2 minutes ago, brahman104 said:
Incredible Sean! I love the in progress pics but they definitely belie the amount of work you've invested to achieve that subtle effect.
Craig
Hey Craig, been away for a while, but still watching your epic build! It does take a lot of time to achieve less, and that's the key. On that note - 101 pages of B-17 - you are getting things just right...
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Been a while. Had to get a back-actor to dig up the thread!
Let's see, where was I? Oh yes... the fin fillet, that didn't go so well. Should you be planning on doing a -40, you might want to sand very carefully when thinning it out. I had to resort to filling it with two part epoxy putty.
Then I took a careful look at how my modified tail wheel looked in its opening. A bit lost would be an understatement. It actually has quite a contraption above the steering shaft, that I assume is some hydraulic steering piston. I made a crude replica of it just to fill the void...
Then it was time to rivet and landscape the fuselage skin. I have accentuated a lovely photograph from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (by Ty Greenlees), so that you can see the bulged portions of the skin around the sides of the cockpit leading up to the firewall. This is a heavily riveted area, and takes a lot of careful riveting to replicate. No wonder the Jug was so tough!
The flaps are finally done too.
And the next challenge awaits - the wings. I have added all the clear portions: nav lights and underwing lights, as well as the gun-port fairing. Then I scraped the raised portions around a well known sink mark on top of the wing, and sanded the surroundings flat. It is now ready for riveting.
As you can see, this may take a while!
Cheers,
Sean
- mc65, Rockie Yarwood, brahman104 and 10 others
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Lovely example of creative problem solving Nick - it sure looks looks Desert Stormy to me! Pity the Elite decals didn't live up to your elite stencils. Would have been nice to see what the nose art looks like... I assume it's a girl in an unusually conservative one-piece swimming costume, riding a bomb, 'Dr Strangelove' style?
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This really is a work of art Tom!
I hardly ever get to this section of LSP, but a recent discussion with my preferred printer (Andreas - a wonderfully talented German chap) had me scouring the internet for information about U-510. That's how I stumbled upon your build. The interesting part is that Andreas's father was a submariner... on this very U-boot! He survived the war, which is an incredible feat when one considers the loss rate of the U-boot fleet. I think they were an exceptional, or at least exceptionally lucky crew. Running out of fuel just days before the war ended (and subsequent capture by the Americans) probably helped.
Andreas remembers a saying his dad must have taught him: 'Bedenkt und verlasst euch darauf U-510 taucht immer wieder auf!' which loosely translates to - Reflect and rely on this, the U-510 keeps on popping up (surfacing)!
Cheers,
Sean
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On 6/17/2022 at 7:42 PM, John1 said:
Fascinating approach here. Are you going to do the wings as well?
Yup!
Only some parts of it though John. In this photo you can see where it is most noticeable. There are some other facets that I'll point out when I get there...
On 6/17/2022 at 7:44 PM, Cheetah11 said:Great work again Sean
Thanks Nick!
I will be needing some masks for this, so ignore what I said in John1's F-4 build.
On 6/17/2022 at 10:08 PM, brahman104 said:Your attention to detail is incredible Sean! I know what you mean about rivet line references.... they're almost never correct or at best, contradictory.
Craig
Thanks Craig, I can imagine that B-17 rivet pattern inaccuracies are worthy of a book in itself!
19 hours ago, TAG said:This just keeps getting better and better, some outstanding craftsmanship, Sean, that side by side comparison of the horizontal stabs speaks for itself!
Here's a P-51 build I saw recently on YT where the modeler used a slightly different technique to achieve equally impressive results, except he creates the pillowing and oil canning effect before actually doing the rivet lines. Having never tried this myself, I'm not sure if his way cuts some corners (no more cleaning debris out of the rivets?) or adds to the workload, but he manages to mimic stressed aluminum in an uncanny way, much like yourself. In any case, worth a gander, it all starts around the 10-minute mark.
Can't wait for the next installment of this epic build!
-Thomaz
Hey Thomaz, kind of you to check in on the progress. I enjoyed watching the technique on that P-51 build - probably a quicker way of doing it. I was particularly impressed with the modeller's (Josef Choreñ's) confidence when working the plastic. Good hands!
- TAG, brahman104, scvrobeson and 2 others
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On 6/14/2022 at 2:26 PM, easixpedro said:
Somewhere I've got a circa late 67 photo of an F-4B launching off the Kitty Hawk with a bunch of CBUs on the outboard MERs. Looks like they're dragging on the deck during the stroke. I agree it's crazy how low they hung. (isn't that a NSFW ditty?)
Gotta love this forum! Timmy's subsequent post is equally fantastic...
Excuse the interruption John, I know how distracting it can be when Nick points out detail stuff.
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On 6/12/2022 at 9:27 PM, MARU5137 said:
Sean,
Jou engine ons Stunning om na te kyk.
En jou bouwerk kom pratig aan.
Goeie werk.
Maru, jou kommentaar is baie aanmoedigend - dankie!
On 6/13/2022 at 12:10 AM, LSP_Kevin said:Excellent work, Sean!
Kev
Cheers Kev!
On 6/13/2022 at 2:22 AM, brahman104 said:Loving your work Sean!
Craig
Thanks Craig!
You may recall that when I was busy with the flaps I mentioned giving their surface some treatment - well, I've gone and worked on the horizontal stabs first. I enjoy adding some visual interest to the skin of an aircraft that is typically seen with variations caused by stresses in the aluminium between rivets. In WWII subjects, it mostly bulges slightly outwards between rivet rows, although I must add that the thin skinned Japanese aircraft showed any number of effects. Here is a freshly skinned horizontal stab during one of the big P-47 restorations.
My technique relies on the rivet line to create the effect, so it is important to get that right first. It is difficult to find accurate rivet patterns, and I found these otherwise lovely drawings to be a bit lacking in accuracy. It probably wouldn't be far off, but OCD me wanted a bit more.
If you compare the drawing to the real thing you'll see what I mean. The drawing is too uniformly spaced between ribs - so I worked off the walk-around photo's.
This is how I interpreted the rib spacing etc.
After running the RB rivet wheel down the pencil lines (as close as possible by eyeball
), I then slightly deepen the rivets where the work will occur. This plastic is pretty soft, so I only use folded sandpaper to sand along the rivet line. Not too deep now, the effect is best kept subtle!
Then the important bit: I sand lightly between the rivet lines to create a gentle bulge. This is refined with sanding sponges (1000 and 2000 grit) and eventually polished with micromesh cloth of varying grades. There is a lot of cleaning of the rivet holes while the work happens, otherwise the effect is lost. It is the rivets that cause the 'pillowing' after all!
Go on, try it...
Cheers,
Sean
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On 5/18/2022 at 11:35 AM, quang said:
Keep in mind that WWII seat belts were stiff, much stiffer that the ones we have in our modern cars.
This is a valid point Quang.
For those who don't know about this issue, here is how the cowling fits if the engine mount isn't moved down. It doesn't look too bad in this view, but in the next photo the problematic fit is a bit easier to see.
Maybe Hasegawa based the fit on this restoration?
But I believe the bottom of the cowl should actually be in line with the bottom of the fuselage. Like this:
The problem may also have something to do with the shape of the fuselage where it joins the cowling. I believe it is too 'square' and should be more rounded - leaving a bigger gap around the cowl-flaps when viewed from behind.
I have tried to sand the nose rounder, but beware, the plastic thins out pretty fast. Here is another shape that seems to be wrong - the rounded portion just ahead of the big louvres.
I sanded it off and went with a scribed panel that looks more like this one's belly.
There is a panel line that runs along the join seam on top of the forward fuselage. This caused some headaches as I'm sure many of you have experienced with the spine of a Bf-109. I used super-thin cement to glue the fuselage, and the melted join is tricky to scribe. I think it might have been better to use superglue on this portion. The dark splotches ahead of the panel are where I sanded right through the plastic. Thick cyano to the rescue.
The fin fillet for the -40 is luckily included in the kit, but looks too chunky if used OOB.
Some more high risk sanding to thin it out as you can see by how the light shines through the plastic!
I'm sure you noticed that the rudder got chopped off.
It needs some work to get it into shape, like this beautifully rebuilt one.
It also takes a bit of fettling to place the fittings for the rudder bellcrank and the elevator joining-tube thingy, but it looks way better than the one-piece control surfaces.
The riveting wheel is about to make a couple of revolutions...
Cheers,
Sean
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Awesome - this is the model that just keeps on giving!
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On 5/14/2022 at 6:14 PM, quang said:
Tweezers like these can help.
HTH
Quang
You are quite right Quang - double tweezers did the trick! Only snag is, I can't seem to get the HGW belts to drape nicely. You'll see what I resorted to shortly...
On 5/14/2022 at 6:45 PM, Cheetah11 said:Brilliant work Sean
Thanks Nick! Do we get to see your Corsair at a stage?
On 5/15/2022 at 9:49 AM, MikeMaben said:...that just means I'm keeping a close eye on your work Sean
I don't have the knack of making the micro-fabric belts look realistic on the seat. They seem to levitate in places where I want them to hang.
Lead foil to the rescue! I was able to salvage the buckles; which is the key. I can't imagine cutting them by hand (like Derek B does). Now the belts sit more like gravity would have them do. Only snag of course, is painting them. Maybe someone can tell me the trick with fabric belts?
These photo's were taken in natural light, and you get a better idea of how the Dull Dark Green looks. Maybe a bit too light, but otherwise the detail in the cockpit just disappears. Painting the belts is a bit messy around the buckles - I'll try and neaten it up a bit.
The Yahu IP really is incredible! It does feel like cheating to use one...
And look, I added a magneto selector: the red 'lever' on the bottom left of the panel. That'll take the curse off it!
Just before closing the fuselage, the vents have to be installed. I gave them a little ducting so they look a bit more functional when viewed from the outside.
The intercooler doors are also in need of some ducting if one elects to have them open. Here are the real ducts:
These are my cheapo reproductions.
Time to close her up. Glue please nurse...
Sean
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Looking fantastic Quang - I'm really enjoying the weathering!
Trumpeter 1/32 P-47D Razorback "Eileen"
in Works in Progress
Posted
I agree with you Jay, the kit really does look good, and it seems to go together so effortlessly (in John's capable hands)!