Archer Fine Transfers

I wasn't aware of that. I once shipped a small retail order right after shipping a dealer order and forgot to change the declared value and the poor guy had to go to the Post Office to pick it up and they told him he had to pay something like £120, but he was cool about it so we just reshipped it..... and we're still waiting for the original to be returned. All this talk about a Global Economy and this is what it's like in the real world.

Every retail order we ship internationally is valued at $7.90. Dealer orders are different depending on how "nice" they are.

See, that's what model building on your level is all about - problem solving! Our largest dealer in the UK (who shall remain nameless) doesn't carry everything. They told me I have too many products to carry them all. The good news is that we always have plenty in stock and shipping to the UK is under $10 even though it costs close to $14! We tried charging $10 and sales took a big hit. Shipping costs are insane and we lose a little with everything we ship internationally. Woody

Hi Les, Geez, 18 inches... That does pose a challenge. Early in testing the aircraft rivets we started with black "guides" and found out real fast it wasn't going to work. In the case of the Wildcat the pencil lines only indicate where the panel lines are. If you're just putting guide lines on a smooth surface, you could try sharpening the point of a mechanical pencil to a chisel point and lay down a VERY thin line and lay the rivets down so they just touch the edge of the line. That way you'll be able to see any deviations by watching how far the rivets are from the line. Have you already bought the rivets? If so, what's the part number in case I can suggest an alternative/free exchange if necessary. MDF will make the clear film thicker and "easier" to handle but it also increases the chances that the edge of the film will show. BTW, clear lacquer in the aerosol does the same thing, and it's a LOT less expensive. The clear film is lacquer. HOWEVER, if you're handling issue is that the line of rivets is breaking apart it's possible the clear film is defective. The rivets are on Microscale clear film and we have had a few issues where the clear was applied too thin by them, something we have no control over. If this is the case, everything Archer has ever sold is covered by our Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee and will be replaced at no charge. Hope that helps, but if not email me at help@archertransfers.com Woody

DAMN! I swear I Googled the hell out of this and came up nada. Thanks for all the great leads!

I've searched but I've not been able to find a STANDING navy pilot suitable for a planned vignette with my 1/32 Trumpeter Wildcat on Wake Island, 1941. I'd even consider a later war pilot, if there is such a thing. Lots of "sitting in cockpit" options, but none simply standing. Any help is appreciated.

Haven’t had much time to work on it, what with year end tax aggravations to be done so that ate up an entire weekend, but I have managed to get the landing gear assembly installed being careful that the plane fits squarely on the tires. I didn’t have to do any adjusting - it all “fell” in place. The fit between assembly and fuselage isn’t the best, especially considering the fact that all the engineering is CAD based. This is probably a result of the kit being revised over shape issues. Sorry, I didn’t get any photos. Next I got the fuselage buttoned up, seams filled, sanded and panel lines re-scribed. Only issue here was a slight gap at the cockpit, but some tape held it together while I glued it. Fuselage glued. Those black lines on the wing ammo access panels are our piano hinge Surface Details. The ones on the kit just looked way oversized. Fuselage glued, seams filled and sanded. Also re-scribed the panel lines. Of course, the ones on the bottom came out perfect, but I may have to do some tuning up one on the top. I usually fill my seams with a mix of sprue dissolved in Tamiya Xtra Thin but this time I used Tamiya putty. That will be the last time I do that because the putty just does not take scribing like styrene. I also like to do a little "chemical sanding" by running a little Xtra Thin over scribing (note the gloss around the panel lines) to soften the edge of the scribed line which doesn’t work over the putty. Left side. The thing to note here is that despite all the handling not one rivet has been lost. That’s it for today. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the horizontal stabs and control surfaces on and finish up the riveting next weekend.

Assembling the wings was pretty straightforward until I made the mistake of using the PE parts for the flaps and ailerons. What a mess. I didn’t intend to make anything movable, so I just used the PE without the rods thinking the hinge would look good. Nothing lined up even after some gentle bending and twisting. The best I got were parts that kinda’ fit and needed serious coaxing, clamping a cursing to get the gaps even. I’ll never try that again. It would be easier to either scratchbuild the hinges from card stock than work with the PE. Engineering fail. I also had problems getting the gun barrels in the center of the wing ports. With the gun receivers on the bottom of the wing halves, and the ports in the top half, dry fitting was just too difficult so I opened up the kit ports and added styrene tube. The tube is drilled out so the gun barrels are a slip fit and the openings are drilled larger so the barrels are centered in the ports without touching. At least that’s the plan. NOTE: There is a slight amount of lengthwise play in the wing halves so be sure you fit them so that the wing root, rather than the wing tip, is properly aligned. Otherwise the wing to fuselage fit is going to require filling, and we all know how much we hate that. I chose to leave the gun bays closed and glued them in place from the underside. Do not use Extra Thin for this because it will flow into the seam and bridge the gap, ruining it. I used a few tiny drops of Testors glue in the black dispenser, part number #8872. I use that stuff a lot and like the built in applicator needle. Continuing with my “I wonder what would happen if I did this” approach I also decided to fill the kit rivet holes, but not completely. I used a white artist pigment and lacquer thinner mix only which doesn’t fill the kit rivets completely in hopes the slight indentations will more realistically represent a flush riveted wing. Again, no idea what this will look like when painted. Wing assembled showing partially filled kit rivets and tube stock gun ports. Then it was time to dry fit the wings to the fuselage. It took me a while to figure out that the slot in the fuselage need to be opened up a bit so the tab on the wing would fit without forcing it. The way it is, it’s nearly impossible to check the fit, top and bottom, while just holding the parts together so I came up with this brain storm. First I opened up the slot in the fuselage so the wing tab was slightly loose in the slot. Then I drilled a small hole in the center of tab on the wing, cobbled out a square of thick card stock and used a very small threaded eyelet to pull the wing tight against the fuselage. Now I could check the wing root fit, top and bottom, and have the wing pulled tightly in place. The only downside of this is the fact that you have to install the wings before gluing the fuselage halves together. NOTE: The wing root is actually longer than the fillet on the fuselage, and I had to make the slot longer so that the leading edge lined up. Unfortunately when the leading edge is correct the trailing edge of the wing extends past the end of the fillet, but I just decided to live with it. At this point I’m not going to spend time correcting the length of the fairing and it’s way too late to sand the trailing edge. You may want to fix this if you’re so inclined. Detail shot of how the wing is clamped in place. For some reason I decided to fill the indentation with some card stock, but unless you intend to detail the inside of the wheel well, this is pointless. Then I taped the fuselage halves together to check the dihedral before I glued the wings. Surprisingly the seam was perfect all the way around and the dihedral was spot on. Using a carpenters square and low tack to hold the fuselage in place I measured the distance from the wing tip to the matt to check dihedral. I then glued the wings on with a bead of Extra Thin around the wing root seam, let that dry overnight and then ran a bead of Testors glue around the seam on the inside of the fuselage. I forgot to mention that I painted the cockpit area before attaching the wings and attached the pouches and panel in place. I had to laugh because none of these things are visible without a flashlight and inspection mirror once the fuselage is buttoned up. But I know it’s there and that counts for something, right? At this point I installed the cockpit assemble dry, Taped the fuselage halves together and glued the the cockpit assembly to half the fuselage only. I managed this by using a brush with Extra Thin to reach a few contact points just to tack it in place. Once this was dry, I separated the fuselage halves and did a more thorough gluing. Doing it this way will allow me to fiddle with the fit of the landing gear assembly to be sure the plane sits square which seems to be an issue with building this kit. I had already dry fit the part and it looked pretty good but mounting the landing gear on a circular base is a recipe for disaster so I’m going to spend a little more time to be sure it’s right. Hopefully I’ll be back in a week with an update.

Quick update. In my opinion, the control surface ribs on this kit look more like what you would get on an old WWI aircraft kit so I decided to “see what would happen if I tried this” Notice how smooth the fabric is as compared to the prominent ribs on the kit. I sanded the ribs down to where I could barely detect a bump then drew on guides with a pencil to help me see where to put the rib stitching. Actually, this is just a quick “fix”. I guess if you really want to go full OCD you’d have to fill it all in and sand it down to make it completely smooth but this will do. I used the 1/48 rib stitching from our WWI rib tape and stitching sheet to replicate the look of the actual aircraft. Not sure how this will look, might be a bit too thick but if so I’ll sand them down a little after I get a coat of primer on. This will probably be my last post applying the Surface Details. Time to move on and get this thing buttoned up.

Originally I was going to build it OOTB with rivets but it turned into a “I wonder what would happen if I did this?” build and then it became a test mule for some of our products. Since we have Dzus fasteners I decided to upgrade the kit’s poorly represented cowl fasteners. How ever they decided to just represent them with holes instead of the excellent ones on the gun access (despite so many are missing) I decided to “fix” that too. Just filling the kit holes and laying the fasteners on top of the skin isn’t going to help so I used a .035” (#65) drill to open the kit locations up to the diameter of our Dzus fasteners so they would sit flush with the skin. In reality these fasteners do not appear flush like flush riveting, but rather have a somewhat distinct recess around them which is the result of the skin being “dimpled” for more bearing surface than if it had been countersunk. First I drilled down just far enough to open the kit hole up to the diameter of the drill. Do not drill deeper, you just want the surface to be the diameter of the drill. Next I put a tiny drop of Tamiya Extra Thin in the hole to soften the plastic just enough to take the sharp edge of the hole off, creating a slight radius. At this point I would suggest applying a white wash into the holes to help aligning the fasteners correctly. When applying the fasteners, I first put a small drop of Mr. MarkSetter in the hole, maneuvered the fastener into position and then used a couple coats of Solvaset to get the clear film to bond to the plastic. Setting solutions soften the film to a jelly-like consistency and becomes a coat of clear lacquer. I then applied each fastener individually doing my best to keep the slots parallel to the panel line. I made a little tool from a cocktail stick and a pin to align and rotate the fasteners, a task not easily accomplished. I had to add some here and used dividers to mark off the locations. All except one is what I’m working to get. The second from the bottom right is in too far. Helps to have the area somewhat level so the setting solution doesn’t run down the side. I did this side first and found out a white wash would make locating the fasteners easier on my old eyes. Way too many fasteners on the kit cowling so I filled every other one. Even at that, there are over 90 fasteners in the nose cowl alone. I have no idea how all this is going to look painted but it’s been interesting so far.

Anthony, Email me at help@archertransfers.com so we can discuss this. Woody

I read a couple build reviews before I started and made sure the alignment was correct. The way the landing gear is mounted to a circular assembly is a recipe for disaster. Basic assembly before anything else.

After all the handling not one came off. Unless you pick at them with your fingernail or something else they're not going anywhere. I'm aware of the wheel well alignment issue and both the cockpit and wheel well has been test fitted and will be checked before gluing.

Hello everyone, my name is Woody and I’m a rivet counter. Before we get started, a little more about myself. I started building models “seriously” in the late 80s, but building a business doesn’t leave time for much else so the last time I actually finished one was back in 1996. Keeping in mind that I’m now 72 with cataracts developing (surgery is scheduled) and hands that are slowly turning into boxing gloves - onto the build. The Wildcat would never have been something I would choose to build, but in the course of developing our line of aircraft rivet sets I figured it would be a good choice for no other reason than it’s small. My opinion of the F4F was probably typical of what most people who know little about them thought, but after I started researching the plane my opinion changed considerably. That fighter, and the pilots who flew them during the darkest days of WWII proved to be up to the task of holding the line until the Corsairs and Hellcats became operational. The Wildcat’s contribution to victory in the Pacific may be a footnote but it’s a BIG footnote. I always start with the engine and promptly screwed up my first attempt so bad I had to buy another kit, which is usually the case for me - for that very reason. Regardless, I got that together without any major disasters and even wired it with .010” lead wire used for wrapping fishing lures and stuck one of our generic placards (not visible in this picture) on the case. Exhaust is Ammo Track Wash over AK Extreme Metal Steel. Not sure about the gloss black…. things like this happen when you use “restored” aircraft pictures for reference. Having survived that, it was on to the cockpit and wheel well. Since I had already gone off my original intent of building OOTB by wiring the engine I decided to make a set of cockpit placards and instruments which we now sell. I guess it turned out okay especially since almost none of this is visible once installed, but I developed a serious dislike of acrylics in the process. I’ve always used enamels and found out the hard way that my technique for chipping and weathering simply doesn’t work with acrylics. Okay, lesson learned and more on that later. Ignore that "interior green" on the instruction sheet, the correct color is bronze green. Then it was on to riveting the fuselage. First order of business was filling the recessed kit rivets which slowed down my progress considerably. At first my plan was to use diluted Tamiya putty. Thinking this would be quick and easy I thinned it out and filled every rivet hole. I was feeling pretty sure of myself until I started sanding and realized no one in their right mind could ever suffer through this mind numbing process. I had to find a better way so it was back to the “lab” where I came up with a way to fill the kit rivets with minimal to no sanding. For the sake of brevity, I’m not going to go into details on the process of making the filler or the actual process of filling the kit rivets here - it’s all outlined in our manual which you can download HERE. You have to break eggs if you want to make an omelette. Some tests. With the kit rivets filled in I highlighted the panel lines with a #2 pencil sharpened to a chisel point. This is a great help getting the rivets on straight and an even distance from the panel lines. Once that was done I shot a coat of Aqua Gloss over the parts, but I’m not sure this is entirely necessary. Kit rivets filled and panel lines highlighted. At this point I figured that it would be a lot easier to rivet the kit parts prior to assembly leaving off the ones where I would be sanding. As of this writing I don’t know if this is a good idea or not, but I can honestly tell you that during the entire process the rivets never gave any hint of coming off. I also learned about Gunze Mr. Mark Setter… this stuff is outstanding because it has adhesive properties. To avoid having to keep it mixed by shaking it frequently I just put some in a paint palette. You don’t need much; I use a micro brush to put a series of small drops along where the rivets will go to keep it from puddling and running. As for setting solutions, I use MicroSol, Solvaset and Mr. Mark Softer and can see no obvious difference between them. Don’t be stingy with the setting solution - slather it on. I started at the bottom of the fuselage halves to get the feel of working with the rivets figuring these would least likely to be seen and by the time I got to the more visible areas my skills would have improved, which they did. Frankly, applying the rivets is surprisingly easy - much easier than working with PE. Yea, it’s tedious as hell but other than that it’s just a matter of time. Call it therapy. Again, for the sake of brevity here, detailed rivet application instructions are in the manual which you can download HERE. Starting to apply rivets Both sides finished. (Ignore the turn lock fasteners on the cowling for now, we’ll get to those in the next installment.) I started with the longest continuous runs and I think that works best. After I had all those laid in I filled in the gaps with individual pieces rather than long pieces over the others which would result in rivets on top of rivets and irregular spacings at the intersections. I also ignored much of the kit rivet placement for several reasons too technical to get into here. Let’s just say that my four years in the USAF as an Airframe Repairman is a curse. We can stop here for now so if you have comments or questions we can deal with those before proceeding.

My sentiments exactly.