Brett M

Rapid Prototyping, eh? The term means relative to making the thing from first principles, where instead of a week, you'd be looking at a month! None of these printing processes are very fast, especially if you want quantities of more than one. But they are FANTASTIC!  And to make the most of them, learn some CAD and do your own designs.  And none of that whiney ' Ooo, I can't' nonsense !! You are modellers!  Download some free CAD software and give it a go. You might surprise yourselves. You won't surprise me!  
 
NOW! Go On! Git downloading and looking out some tutorials!! What are you waiting for?!
 
Tim

It's still alive, if moving slowly! Pastel wash applied, a few decals for stencils here and there (another Archer release!)and Alclad dullcoat on. Getting closer to adding the final few details. I wasn't going for a worn out, beat up look....more just slightly dusty from (assumed) land based dirt strips. Hopefully, it's not overblown. A bit of polishing to do on the canopies and hopefully some light dust removal on the inside, but, overall they look pretty good. I've yet to tackle the bombs, so I should probably jump on those so I can get them underneath sooner than later. 
 
Let me know what you think!
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Albert, appreciate it.
Love it! Haha
Thanks Spyro!
Thank you Iain!

Thanks Woody! You made this really pop with your rivet work, can’t thank you enough for that!
Thanks Turbo, glad you like it!
Thanks Tom. I try to make sure the images are clear and useful for everyone!
Thanks Chuck! I don’t think you have to worry about competing against me anytime, your work blows me away every time!
Thanks Ron, they learned their lesson ha!
 
Happy New Year to all!

December 31/20
 
Happy New Year!  Let’s hope 2021 is a LOT better than 2020, which isn’t saying much!
 
A quick update as you get your hair done with sparkles for tonight’s big party plans.  No party plans?  Me either, so let’s do a quick modeling update instead!
 
As indicated a few times above, I have been concerned about the fact that when you close up the main fuselage halves, all landing gear is hanging down and exposed to damage, because it is integrated into the gear bays.  I have faced this problem on many builds before and always found a way to alter the parts a bit, allowing me to attach the landing gear at the end like usual.  This allows me to focus on the gear as separate assemblies and prevents inevitable damage as they hang out and get caught on everything.  I read in a few builds of this kit that it can’t be done without strength problems later, which motivates me even more to find a way!
 
First, here is what the main gear, part B20, looks like before clean-up.  I’ve experienced a lot of seam lines on landing gear before, but this is crazy and will take a long time to clean up, while having those outside actuators already attached to the gear is just asking for breakage if the gear is installed early as instructed.  All the more reason to find a way to attach them at the end of the build, rather than half way through.
 
 

 
 
Here is why they are installed early.  Gear Part B20 is locked into place with cross member A6, which in turn is locked into place with front bulkhead A21 and rear bulkhead A20 using interlocking tabs.  With the fuselage halves glued together, you can't remove A6.
 
 

 
 
After thinking about things for a while, I found a solution that will not affect the strength or the integrity of the assembly.  By cutting a slot at the top of bulkhead A21, I can insert cross member A6 and B20 later.
 
 

 
 
So here is how it looks with the front fuselage part C9 left off- and how I will leave it until the end of the build with the gear bay painted.  Since landing gear doors will cover much of this, I'm not going crazy with wiring and other details.  The open hole on the right will be masked off along with the gear bay before painting.
 
 

 
 
At the end, I will add the landing gear and cross member.  I can even glue the front of the cross member from behind.
 
 

 
 
Followed by fuselage part C9, which I will make sure is a clean drop in and tight fit, likely using some styrene as backing, so that I won’t have glue marks on a painted surface.  Only downside is that while the panel line on the far right exists, it doesn’t through the arrow shaped tip in the middle.  Since it is very small and on the bottom, I may or may not try to fix it later.  Yeah, I know, I probably will anyway….
 
 

 
 
The front landing gear is a much different problem, because the gear is attached at the very bottom of the assembly and is quite thin and fragile.  Cutting the gear leg and inserting a pin would work, but it has a high chance of being crooked and you will lose length with the cut.
 
 

 
 
Then a lightbulb popped on in my head.  Here is the far gear well wall, Part C2 before modification.
 
 

 
 
Rather than cut a vertical slot as I did with the main gear, I cut a short horizontal one, being very careful to not cut into the hole for the gear leg which has a backing.  This allows the gear leg to swing into the hole later, with a styrene block to fill the gap.  Again, the strength and integrity of the assembly has not been compromised and with the block so small (painted of course), on a vertical wall and on the bottom, you will never see it later without a flashlight.
 
 

 
 
So here is how it will look before final assembly.  The gear leg just swings into place and even clicks into the hole.  Cool!
 
 

 
 
With small styrene block inserted, which will be painted.  The fit is so tight, I may not even glue it.  If I did this again, I would have made the slot slightly smaller, because it ultimately didn’t need to be quite as long.
 
 

 
 
So there you have it, with 2 small slots cut, I can build this model without landing gear getting in the way after all, which will make assembly a LOT easier!
 
Happy New Year again boys.  After being stalled on the cockpit for so long, this build is finally gaining some momentum. 
 
Cheers,
Chuck

I've been working to smooth out the glue joints on the engine nacelles this week.  It's been a tedious process and honestly, I've been staying out of the hobby room because of it.  But slowly, the layers of Mr Surfacer 1000 have been leveling off and I've gotten to a point where I could start re-scribing.

 
 
Riveting was next.  The rivet lines were sketched on using flexible white Tamiya tape.

 
 
During the riveting, I could hear many a seam pop and crack.  :headbang: I felt I had no choice but to seep some Tamiya Extra Thin cement into the seams to re-establish some structural integrity to the nacelles.  So the primer with the pastel wash routine to check the scribing and riveting work will have to wait.



 

Thanks guys!  I really enjoy the conversations!
 
Thanks Vincent!  That makes total sense to me!
 
 
 
Thanks Kirby!  References are key and I was lucky to have had lots of references thrown my way during this build!
 
 
 
Thanks Alan!  I love your rendition of Red 10!  Since I have a Silhouette Portrait, I make my own masks.  I've already designed a set for this build and have tested them out on my paint mule when I was trying a light-on-dark mottle technique.
 

Hello everyone, since sometimes they come back, here I am to present my "PROJECT".
As the title suggests, I am working on one of the latest Airfix products, which for my part was much awaited.
It is my wife's gift for Christmas 2019 for which I have been holding the kit for a year.
I must admit that I was rather disappointed especially with regard to the level of detail which, given the scale and the price, I find unacceptable, I do not want to get into the usual modeling talk regarding this topic so I will limit myself to exposing the various improvements.
First of all here are the various aftermarket that I found for this model, I think I will add something else but I want to design and print the various pieces with my resin 3D printer (Anycubic Photon 3D for those interested).
THE KIT AND AFTERMARKET
ANYZ upgrade for the engine (power cables, spark plugs and various line connectors) of excellent workmanship, brass pipes from MASTER, seatbelts from HGW (fantastic is an understatement), Decal from AEROCRAFT MODELS to be integrated with those of the kit(maybe  cockpit detail fromAIRSCALE.

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Now the comparison between the various pieces of the kit and the one I printed in resin  they are not the definitive pieces as over the past few months I have refined the details, so be satisfied with the quality of the prints and photos made with flash and in hurry
 

 
Here's what I mean by poor quality of the kit, ok the limits of plastic, but here they are not wasted (even if looking at the presentation videos it seemed that they had done a superlative job.
 

 
Front and rear cylinders; I gave it a coat of paint as I am using a black resin so the details remain a little more visible
 

 
The evolution of the main body of the engine, at the bottom the one proposed by the kit completely wrong as a size in fact it does not enter the cylinder ring so you have to reduce it by at least 1.5 mm even here I do not understand how they could have been so wrong. The one on the top right is the semi-final shape as it lacks the housing holes for the cylinders
 

 

 
detail absent in the kit
 

 

 

 
Crank case reduction in comparison

 
distributors

 

 

 
Bendix magneto
 
Now some renderings of the morore with all the pieces already designed and some images of the pieces ready for resin printing
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
All this is the result of hundreds of photos found on the net, technical drawings, maintenance and overhaul manuals of the Pratt & withney R2800-10W, tests and retries both in 3D and in print to arrive at a more acceptable detail result as the scale 1 : 24 does not forgive and risks making everything very toy. That's all for now, any help with photos, documents etc. is always welcome.

Great looking Dauntless, Brett!  The positive riveting came out wonderful!

I am a gluten for punishment.  Having put the Albatros on hold due to an error on my behalf, being sorted by the great generosity of LSP members, I broke out my Growler and have cut some plastic, modified some bits and got it underway.
 
I plan to make it into an RAAF 6 Squadron jet.
 
Little did I know that all of the aftermarket for this kit is way out of production and not available anywhere. Hence my requests on the Traders Board. I am desperately seeking the Eduard Growler phot-etch to cut up for the cockpit and the Steel Beach resin with the Satellite antenna on the top of the fuselage spine.
 
Enough growling at myself - here is the kit so far.
 
I've cut the kit ECS vents out and added the QB resin. Finally got to use my Proxon drill stand. Just added a bit of Tamiya White filler around the edges.
 

 
New vents under the outlets on the LEX just rear of the cockpit. Looks like I need to adjust the one on the far left. Just editing the post after noticing how thick the top of the vent is. I will rip it all of and sand down that thick edge.
 

 
Modified the WSO's IP cover but still need to add a little bit more detail.
 

 
Sanded off the hugely oversize fin mounted formation lights from both sides of each fin. My new David Union sander was mighty for this job. Just paid for itself I reckon.
 
First pic is the original outside of one fin and the second is the clean skin. It will be easy to add some detail under the lights that is not as drag producing.
 

 
This is the inside of the port fin.
 

 
Filled in the gun vents under the nose - the Growler doesn't have a gun. Looks pretty smooth but final work will be done once the forward fuselage bits are joined.
 
Closed up the avionics bays on both sides. I'm not a fan of open panels. Discovered an uneven surface all the way along the panel line not only along the bottom edge of the door but all the way along that line to the rear of the part. One side was slightly higher than the other on both sides of the fuselage. Definitely not there on the real McCoy.
 

 
I've got Harold's ECM pods to replace the absolute rubbish that the kit provides.
 
Still lots of little fiddly bits to go and of course keeping my fingers crossed some kind modellers has some spare parts that they won't be using, otherwise some serious scratch building will be in my future. Reid Air Publications updated Super Hornet Guide is my main reference along with some photos of the RAAF jets from various sources, including some of my own photos from Avalon International Air Show in early 2019. I should have taken some more.
 
Happy modelling in the new year folks.

Thanks Albert, appreciate it.
Love it! Haha
Thanks Spyro!
Thank you Iain!

Thanks Woody! You made this really pop with your rivet work, can’t thank you enough for that!
Thanks Turbo, glad you like it!
Thanks Tom. I try to make sure the images are clear and useful for everyone!
Thanks Chuck! I don’t think you have to worry about competing against me anytime, your work blows me away every time!
Thanks Ron, they learned their lesson ha!
 
Happy New Year to all!

Thanks Albert, appreciate it.
Love it! Haha
Thanks Spyro!
Thank you Iain!

Thanks Woody! You made this really pop with your rivet work, can’t thank you enough for that!
Thanks Turbo, glad you like it!
Thanks Tom. I try to make sure the images are clear and useful for everyone!
Thanks Chuck! I don’t think you have to worry about competing against me anytime, your work blows me away every time!
Thanks Ron, they learned their lesson ha!
 
Happy New Year to all!

Hi all,
The 'Aviattic' supplied wood effect fuselage and tail unit decals have now been applied.
Not too easily carried out as the decals need to be accurately cut out from their sheets as they're not 'cookie' cut.
They've all been gloss coated as the next step is to apply the 'HGW Models' nail head decals.
Then it'll be adding the remaining decals and all of the photo-etch details,
 
Mike
 

Hi all,
Just a few progress shots of the internals of the fuselage.
There's still a lot to do yet.
Control rods and some wiring, seat harness, machine guns, engine fit, oil tank, gun synchronisation gear etc.
Also the final finish and weathering.
 
Mike
 

 

 

 

Hi all,
I've been working on the preparation of the fuselage internals.
The fuselage is moulded as a single piece, so has to be worked through the available openings.
The forward bulkhead frame needed to be reduce in width as the front of the fuselage was too wide to fit the photo-etch front frame.
The supplied photo-etch sheet is, to say the least, comprehensive and highly detailed with many tiny components.
Fortunately some parts are also supplied as resin, if you don't want the 'challenge' of building the photo-etch parts.
Fortunately it's not necessary to build the aileron and additional flight controls, as both would be completely hidden under the pilot's seat and can't be seen.
However the engine controls can be seen so need to be built.
The throttle quadrant alone is made up of 15 separate pieces.
This model is definitely not for the photo-etch faint hearted.
 
Anyway, now it's on to the painting phase,
 
Mike
 

 

Hi all,
The web site at 'Aviattic' has a fully detailed build log (in Adobe PDF format) for the 'Balilla', which can be downloaded.
It is extensive and details every part of the build.
I have found a few moulded part numbers that don't match those in the build log, so these will corrected in my own build log.
Section 1 covers the building of the S.P.A 6A engine, which I've now completed.
 
Now onto the internals for the fuselage, which includes many minutely detailed photo-etch components, which will prove interesting to build,
 
Mike
 

 

 

 

It's still alive, if moving slowly! Pastel wash applied, a few decals for stencils here and there (another Archer release!)and Alclad dullcoat on. Getting closer to adding the final few details. I wasn't going for a worn out, beat up look....more just slightly dusty from (assumed) land based dirt strips. Hopefully, it's not overblown. A bit of polishing to do on the canopies and hopefully some light dust removal on the inside, but, overall they look pretty good. I've yet to tackle the bombs, so I should probably jump on those so I can get them underneath sooner than later. 
 
Let me know what you think!
 
 
 
 
 

It's still alive, if moving slowly! Pastel wash applied, a few decals for stencils here and there (another Archer release!)and Alclad dullcoat on. Getting closer to adding the final few details. I wasn't going for a worn out, beat up look....more just slightly dusty from (assumed) land based dirt strips. Hopefully, it's not overblown. A bit of polishing to do on the canopies and hopefully some light dust removal on the inside, but, overall they look pretty good. I've yet to tackle the bombs, so I should probably jump on those so I can get them underneath sooner than later. 
 
Let me know what you think!
 
 
 
 
 

I have them in a jar to keep them safe on my workbench until I install them in the ajar position..so from a jar to ajar.

That is really an awesome SBD! Saving your build for when I do mine!
The current Japanese Fleet is sailing North past Truk now after seeing
this!
 
Happy New Year and cheers! Ron

Hey all-
doors are coming together-

Showstopper.  Glad I'm not up against this at a model contest!  What I like the most is your paint work, with the right balance of everything.
 
Cheers,
Chuck

Every one of your pics is save-worthy Brett. Thanks for showing us interested in building the Dauntless the way to bring it to the next level.
 
Cheers,  Tom

It's still alive, if moving slowly! Pastel wash applied, a few decals for stencils here and there (another Archer release!)and Alclad dullcoat on. Getting closer to adding the final few details. I wasn't going for a worn out, beat up look....more just slightly dusty from (assumed) land based dirt strips. Hopefully, it's not overblown. A bit of polishing to do on the canopies and hopefully some light dust removal on the inside, but, overall they look pretty good. I've yet to tackle the bombs, so I should probably jump on those so I can get them underneath sooner than later. 
 
Let me know what you think!
 
 
 
 
 

It's still alive, if moving slowly! Pastel wash applied, a few decals for stencils here and there (another Archer release!)and Alclad dullcoat on. Getting closer to adding the final few details. I wasn't going for a worn out, beat up look....more just slightly dusty from (assumed) land based dirt strips. Hopefully, it's not overblown. A bit of polishing to do on the canopies and hopefully some light dust removal on the inside, but, overall they look pretty good. I've yet to tackle the bombs, so I should probably jump on those so I can get them underneath sooner than later. 
 
Let me know what you think!