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Hi All, One of my projects started this year (among many others) and one of the main reasons why I still haven't finished my large scale Hien... Azur's Arsenal VG.36 C1 - one of the most beautiful fighters of the WW2 period, unfortunately did not get it's chance in 1940... The kit entered the production in 2000, was refreshed in 2010 – and that's the boxing I have. Typical standard for this period and the brand: a bit “soapy†injection molded parts, much nicer resin, vacuum formed canopy. There are many challenges throughout the building process. Wheel wells (resin castings are much shallower, 2-3 mm, than their corresponding recess in the hull, which would result with a step in the wells), exhaust stacks (must be installed individually and at a correct angle, which requires a lot of patience), fit of the wings to fuselage, horizontal stabilizers have the wrong shape, fit of the inter-cooler housing to the fuselage, fit of the canopy (the main problem is that what we get in the box is a VG.33's fuselage and VG.36's canopy, which doesn't fit at all), and many many other problems, but this is the fun part of our hobby, isn't it?

Due to moving to a new house I haven't been able to post a WIP from my latest project, the Azur MS406 C1. But that didn't stopped me from building it, and having completed this build today I present you the finished aircraft. To be honest, the model has been fighting me. Having read other WIP's I was well aware of the problems this kit has. Inspired by Waroff's build I tackled the incorrect shape of the nose (which is to wide and rectangular). This correction, if proper executed will save you some problems with the canopy later (which is to narrow for the fuselage if you build OOB). I'm reasonably satisfied with the nose job, although my scribing leaves a lot to be desired. Leason 1: take your time and start over if not satisfied. After fitting the cockpit, to the now narrower fuselage, I started to tackle the wings. The transition from wing to fuselage is another point to attend to. There are major gaps and steps which you have to fill and sand. Next I sprayed the entire plane with Mr. Surfacer 1200 and started sanding, scribing, more spraying, sanding, etc, etc. Leason 2: protect the (build and painted) cockpit. I didn't and ended up with numerous small pieces of sanding dust, which are almost impossible to remove. Painting was pretty straight forward and done freehand. I'm not really sure if the real one did have the red nose, but I liked it. It breaks the otherwise dull camouflage and balances with the colored tail. Polishing the canopy brought me some more headaches and I was almost at the point to put the entire project to the shelve of doom… Luckily, I acquired a proper polishing compound which saved the day. With the finish in sight I managed to knock over a bottle of Alclad gunmetal, and offcourse a big drop hit the model. Being Alclad, it immediately started melting the paintjob and plastic !X#$!@). Count to ten, take a deep breath, and back to cleaning, sanding, scribing and painting. Lesson 3: keep your workspace clear. I will not bore you with details of all the breaking parts after that... actually I will, here's a list: - tail skid twice - visor - undercarriage actuator - antenna top - antenna bottom - seatbelt the guns and pitot tube are made of brass rod ;-). Well, all in all, it was another build from which I have learned and in the end I'm happy with it. Next time, i'll try not to be in a hurry! Speaking about next time, those who have paid attention to the forums know what my next project will be. I'll make a WIP thread for this one. It's going to be a wild ride and will stretch my building skills even further, so hang on! Cheers, Wouter