Azgaron

Thanks Troy - it's a pleasure.
 
 
Thank you Håkan. Yes, they are quite tiny aren't they! My photo is magnified so much and I think it's a testament of how good they are that they still look realistic.
 
 
Cheers Paul. Yeah, I went with green as a 'balance of probability' thing.. and it made a change from painting a Spitfire seat 'bakelite red' !!
 
I'm probably in the minority, but I do prefer a good moulded on belt option. I can just never make PE belts look right and as for the fabric type ones - my modelling life is too short to fiddle with them!

I continued with metal parts, here is the engine, its very detailed out of the box, I just added spark plug wiring later, it doesn't appear in this picture.
 
 

 
for the metal parts I primed them with black base from AK Xtreme Metal colors. Later I airbrushed AK Xtreme Metal Aluminium and then used chipping fluid technique on the colors. I don't want to varnish this parts so the metal chips keep their shine in contrast with paint roughness
 

 
 

 

 

 
hope you like it
 
Diego

Continuing with the fokker, I made the MGs with the photoetched cover and finished the cockpit:
 


 
I tried to make a circular polished effect on the ammo case with AK true metal, not really convincing but it will be not much visible inside the cockpit.
 

 
Next was the cockpit weathering, I made some dust effects due to this aircraft flew from grass airfields.
 

 


 
Then I started assembling the engine, its really well detailed, I primed it with mr surfacer 1500 but later I airbrushed another coat of AK Xtreme metal Black base.
 

 
 

Welcome to LSP!
Love it so far!
Yes, as Kev mentioned your English is far superior to my Spanish.
 
Indeed, a very nice kit that has very few nigles, save the warped wings and delicate usually broken when you get the kit middle wing cockpit surround.
 
I completed mine a few years back as Vosses machine and had a fun time building it for sure.
I really liked the kit. I did however make my own masks for the cowl face.
 

 
Looking forward to seeing more!

Hello guys, after many time looking at your wip topics and much learning from them, I just decided to post my first 1/32 aircraft model. Its the Meng Fokker dr.I as its not a big aircraft and my space on the shelves is limited.
 

 
As far as I have seen, its a nice model with some issues such as the upwards curved wings that I could easily fix with hot water and some bending. Fit is really good so I will paint all wings and many other parts separately from the main fuselage. I decided to do the Goering Scheme from the kit instructions, as my last finished model was already too red (a Tamiya 1/12 Ducati 888)
 

 
I am usually a very slow modeller, mostly due to my job where I usually am away from home several days per week, so this time I'm trying to make a fast build and decided not to add any 3d printed detail. Usually I like to add self modelled 3d printed parts.
 
 
 

 
I tried painting some plywood effects on the cockpit sides and floor, in the end this is not really visible but I could practise a bit. The cockpit side planks were painted red so later I covered the painted plywood with transparent layers of brown-red.
 
After that I painted the seat, cushion and belts. Everything was done with acrilic paints and acrilic washes made by mixing sepia Ink, gloss barnish (similar to future) and water.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Hope you like it and sorry for my english, I may be writing with some grammatical errors.

Have been very slow with this build, spending too much time out fishing due to an early spring, ice came off about a month early.
   Have the Jag finished and we will have the Mk II buttoned up ready for paint in a few days, and of course you know Kotare is re-releasing the Mk 1, you can pre-order now, shipping in May.     thanks fer looking.
 
 

You're right, fixed it ,  thanks.
 
 

Had some time to work on it, finally,   switching cockpit to Mk II  April 1941.   Big changes from the MkI,  not getting too over the top with it, just Spitfire-ish.
  1939 Jag 100S coming along.  Kotare Spitfire?  It is a lovely kit.      
 

Just seems to be a trend, hate to be left out, will be doing a simple quick conversion on this,
      1st Canadian Division, sky blue spinner and Fus. band 
 
 

I’ve sprayed some of the MRP neutral grey 43 here, just to check my work in this area (probably should have used primer instead, as I have a ton of that). Despite what I’d thought were my best efforts, the seam still shows! I’ll continue the work to get it as decent as I can.
 

Waiting for yet more putty to dry on the wings, I turned my attention to the tail area. There were some minor gaps under the tail planes, but Vallejo acrylic putty fixed them up quite nicely. I love that stuff. (Still needs to be rubbed out with alcohol or thinner.)
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks

A little progress over the last week - a mix of Airfix kit, Airscale and Quinta.
 
Photos have flagged up a few things I need to improve - but bear in mind most of these images will be showing at larger than life-size.
 

 

 

 

 
And with the seat section dry-fitted.
 

 
Now working on the seat - and the next two formers (partially drilled out).
 

 
Blue skies...
 
Iain
 
 
 

Back on the bench - going to try and take a run at it over next few weeks...
 

 
Tally ho...
 
Iain
 
 

Have been busy working on classic cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes of late - but, with the nights drawing in here, I've been back to the bench.
 
A little side-track from working on the interior: I wanted to see how the fitting of the wing spars/gear bays and initial ribs would go, as the instructions are very clear about not gluing anything until you have all of this loosely fitted.
 
The instructions then have you carefully bonding everything in place on the lower wing moulding in one go - being careful not to impart any warp in the lower wing.
 

 
The 'wheel' sections of the undercarriage bays were assembled and bonded to their adjacent rib, before laying everything in place (including main spar) on the lower wing and checking fit.
 
All good, so I bonded everything in place with 'Quick Drying' Tamiya Extra Thin solvent - working out from the wing centreline on each side.
 

 
Whilst everything drying I wanted to check everything was correctly aligned, so removed the upper-wing sections from their sprue and dry-fitted in situ.
 
Fit against the lower wing/wing internals was very good, so happy that the internal structure was straight.
 

 
And I couldn't resist a quick dry fit with the fuselage - just to see something a little 'Spitfire' shaped...
 

 

 
Back soon...
 
Iain

Hi all,
 
In further sidetracking news I've been asked to build in a scale I haven't played with since I was a child - 1:24th.
 
And from a manufacturer who's kits I built in my youth - but that was a loooong time ago.
 
The gentleman I've built the Two-seater Spit IX from the Tamiya kit in 1:32 for has asked me to build one of the new Airfix kits for him - with minimal changes this time - and, well, why not!
 
Only planned changes at this stage are the Airscale Cockpit Interior and Sutton Harness with, perhaps, some aftermarket decals - we'll see!
 
Opening salvo has been some work on the cockpit - nicely rendered by Airfix in my humble opinion.
 
Still early days - and still at almost blank canvas stage, but I'll try and post some semi-regular updates here.
 

 

 
I'm not worrying about the ejector-pin marks - I really don't think they'll be seen!
 

 
And dry fitted in place:
 

 

 
More when there's more I guess...
 
Tally Ho!
 
Iain
 
 
 

Hi @geedubelyer I had to put it away since I was very frustrated removing all the rivets and rescratching all the panel lines. What a p*** in the a** 
 
Currently I am continuing my Mirage III S. But I am sure, I will continue with the Vampi. I just need to find am easier way the remove the reverts, since the Swiss Vampi has almost all reverts cleaned.
 
Stay tuned.
 
Cheers
Carsten

Thank you @Alain Gadbois It was bothering me a lot, so I already started to adjust the nose. hahahaha....
 
First I roughly drew in the panel lines so that I know where I have to "set" the nose. I also needed them to adjust the gun holes.
 

 
Next, I taped off the front part of the nose with Dymo tape and roughly sanded off the unnecessary part with files and sandpaper. Luckily I have enough material to sand. As soon as there is no more material, it becomes difficult to make adjustments. hahaha...
 



 
Here you can still see the transition well. It was a bit difficult with the windscreen.
 

 
Then I sanded down the nose so far that there is still a fine transition to be seen. Finally, I polished it clean and here is the result. I can't get any closer to perfection with my equipment. The next step would be 3D printing.
 
Side view with the "slimmed down" belly:
 

 
Top view:
 

 
Bottom view with the reduced wheel well:
 

 
And here is another view from the top rear, where you can see the transition very minimally:
 

 
Once the panel lines are rescribed and the primer is on, you will see the border more clearly. In addition, I will help a little with pre- and post-shadding.
 
The NOSE IS DONE!  Let's see how many imperfectioins the primer will reveal. Thank you again @Alain Gadbois, @Derek B, @scvrobeson, @Landrotten Highlander and @MikeA for all your support and helpful feedbacks. And a special thanks to @thierry laurent to encourage me to do the conversion and the super tip with the epoxy putt as well as the frame construction. 

Thank you @Hans, but I am not realy happy with it. So, I have reworked the shape again. The upper part is more straight, which leads to a more pointed nose. Here is the result:
 

 
The shape from above is also rather straight. Here is the result from above:
 

 
From the front, you can now see the egg-shaped shilouette better:
 

 
And the nose gear fits in perfectly too.
 

 
Now I am satisfied. It looks pretty good. Now I'm only annoyed by the machine gun holes. The rear one is too far forward and has to be moved back. No problem with epoxy putty.  I know how to do it now.

Today my workplace looked like the Sahara. It was sanding time! First I took off the masking tapes to see how well my borders turned out. I would say not bad at all. 
 

 
And then came sanding, sanding and sanding again.
 
After a good 2 hours of sanding, starting with 140 grit and finishing with 8000 grit, the result is quite respectable.
 
Side view:

 
Front view:

 
Top view:

 
Bottom view:

 
What do you think? 
 
Now that I look at the result on the computer, I still don't like the nose 100%. It needs to be a bit more pointed. If you look at it with the profile view below, I'll probably have to do some touching up.
 

Next step: mask off the transition where the Pinocchio nose should begin or end. To get a clean transition, I moved the whole thing back a bit. Not at the original panel line, as I originally wanted. Here are two photos of it. I also masked the cockpit windscreen, as I want to fill the gap between the clear part and the aircraft fuselage as well.
 

 
I drew the demarcation at the panel line of the gun bay and filled the front gear bay with foam to prevent epoxy putty from running in.
 

 
And now comes the exciting part: modelling the nose. After 90 minutes of modelling and adjusting, I am very happy with the result.
 




 
The shape is 90% right. The rest will be brought into the right shape tomorrow with sanding. I think this was a huge step and I am more than happy with the result. Tomorrow: sanding! 
 

Today I started to shape the Pinocchio nose of the prototype. It was easier than I thought and the result, if you only look at the shape, is pretty good. I'm already taking two learnings with me:
the transition to the fuselage must be improved. I first thought of using the panel line as a border. But I have to go further back with the epoxy putty. This will allow me to model the transition more nicely and softly and I won't have to sand it as much. The challenge here will be the gun bay cover. because there is no loss/shrinkage when dry, I can model the nose into the desired shape even better from the start. I can go right up to the structure. This means I have to sand less and I can see right from the beginning whether I get the desired shape. Here are a few pictures of the current status
 



 
Unfortunately, I ran out of sandpaper today and have to order more. That's why I'm going to start working on the framework for the final kit. Everything is neatly fitted and even the two openings at the nose are prepared with brass tubes.
 




 
Now I just have to figure out the best way to get the transitions right without having to rework too much here. Then I can start with the epoxy putty here too.

While the "Pinocchio nose" was drying, I took care of the rivets again. I didn't really like the result with putty because the rivets are still visible. With the primer it would have been a bit better, but I have to sand again. So I tried a new technique (for me), which I have already read about several times here in the forum, and that is to fill the holes with CA and then sand them. I wasn't sure if this was a good idea and once I had done the first side of the wing I started to panic a bit.


 
After the CA dried, I indulged in my " most favourite activity": sanding. First with 400 grit, then with 800 grit, then with 1200 and 2000 grit and then wet with 4000, 6000 and 8000 grit. It might be a bit of an effort, but since the Vampire gets an alluminium coating that doesn't forgive anything, I wanted to be on the safe side. Then I traced the panel lines and made the panels visible with AK Paneliner (AK2072). I am more than positively surprised.


 
I learned a new technique today, which I will use from now on to trace panel lines. Now I am waiting for the templates from Eduard so that I can trace the maintenance hatches. By hand without a template the whole thing will look a bit shaky.
 
Even with the new technology, it remains a PITA. But the result is much better and I don't need to do as much touch-up work after priming.

Finally I was able to continue working on my project "Pinocchio Nose". After measuring everything as well as I could, I cut out the templates and transferred them to the polystyrene sheets (2mm) and cut them out. Two times each, once for the prototype and once for the real project.
 

 
Next, I glued the templates to my prototypes and discovered the first errors, which I will have to adjust in the final kit. But I am quite happy with it. It's already the third attempt.
 



 
Even the extended front gear bay fits perfectly:
 

 
And then I started modelling with epoxy putty. I felt like I was back in school when we worked with clay.  I roughly modelled the shape and I already like the nose.
 



 
Now I'll let it dry for 24 hours and then I'll sand the nose into the right shape. With the real kit I will still model the two intakes, which you can see well here:
 

 
Thank you @thierry laurent for the hint. It is easyer than I expected and the outcome might look good too. hahahaha...

A short update on the Pinocchio Nose:
 
Today finally the Epoxy Putty arrived:

 
And I was able to take some details from my friends kit:
 


 
The challenge is that the centreline is shifted upwards by 4mm (the outermost curve from the existing fuselage to the outermost curve of the new Pinocchio nose). The good thing is that the new centreline is just below the upper panel line. So the upper panel line is also the reference point for the horizontal template. However, since this pannel line does not go all the way to the effective tip, the template has to be a little smaller. I hope you understand what I mean. I hope my templates are now a bit more accurate than the ones from my second attempt. I will see.
 
Next, starting with modelling the nose on the prototype kit.