DBMK 1/32 Sea Fury FB.11

[LSP_Kevin]

47 minutes ago, geedubelyer said:

I'm confident you'll bring the cockpit to life Kev. 

On this pre-production version the printed IP decals appear to show subtle longitudinal lines in the black. 

Are they visible to the mk1 eyeball?

 

Not really. I lightened the photo and increased the contrast to bring out the detail a little better. There's some visible texture in the printed PE, but it's not as strident as shown in my photo. A clear flat coat should help subdue it further.

 

47 minutes ago, geedubelyer said:

 

Of course you have another decision later in the build Kev, wings folded or extended? 

 

That's easy: extended! Not really a folded wing guy, Guy.

Kev

[Greif8]

Cockpit parts look quite nice Kev!  Your build is progressing nicely.

 

Ernest

[LSP_Kevin]

1 hour ago, scimitarf1 said:

Love it Kevin. It is designed to be enjoyed like a fine single malt! 

I’m feeling tipsy already!

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Geez, shunted back to Page 3 after only a few days! I was hoping to do daily updates to this one, but along with the usual interruptions from daily life, I've also found the cockpit to be quite a bit of work to put together. Let's have a look at how I got on.

 

Firstly, here's the (almost) finished instrument panel, after a flat coat and some UV gel in the dial holes:

 

 

 

Sadly, you can't see the effect of the gel from this angle, and the PE prints lines are still visible in the photos. Happily, you can't really see it at normal viewing distances, and even less so in situ within the cockpit. Next time, though, I'll definitely use the kit decals on the stock plastic part (additional reasons will be outlined below).

 

Here are the two cockpit sidewalls:

 

 

 

These were painted with Tamiya's LP-65 Rubber Black, and then drybrushed with Vallejo's Neutral Grey. I picked out a few switches with either white paint or a silver pencil, and added a placard decal from an airscale set. The levers are all from the kit's pre-coloured photo-etch fret, and I really struggled with them. I lost a few to the ether while I was trying to install them, and a few more pinged off when I dropped one of the parts onto the floor. I was able to find a couple of those, but what you see here is not the full complement.

 

Here's the main floor and rear bulkhead, complete with rudder pedal assembly and compass:

 

 

The kit's PE seat belts are very cleverly engineered to slot into a pair of grooves moulded into the rear bulkhead, which secures them very nicely, and you almost don't need glue! In order to facilitate painting, I deviated from the kit's instructions, which have you adding the seat belts first, and then the two separate rails are mounted over them. I found it easier to simply glue the rails in place prior to painting, and then feed the belts through them afterwards.

 

While the moulding and detail on the seat is terrific, the padding looks like kitchen tiles, so I did my best to invoke more of a 3D feel using paint alone:

 

 

You can see the kit PE lap belts have been installed also. Kudos to DBMK for moulding in little mounting brackets for these on each side of the seat!

 

 

The paint itself consists of a base coat of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow, brush painted with the help of Tamiya's acrylic retarder. I then lightened it with some white, and tried to paint the top-left corner of each diamond to simulate a 'pillowy' effect. I'm not convinced I pulled it off, but it does at least add a lot of visual interest. The final step was a sludge wash of Tamiya's Dark Brown panel liner.

 

And in situ, with seat belts finished:

 

 

This angle shows the compass and rudder pedal assembly better:

 

 

The compass decal is from an airscale 1/48 set, and as such, is a little undersized. The 1/32 example was too big, sadly. I sealed it in with a layer of clear UV gel.

 

The kit instructions ask you to install the instrument panel next, but opted to go with the sidewalls:

 

 

And at this point you start to get an inkling of just how little will be visible in the final result! But with the sidewalls in place, it's much easier to locate the instrument panel accurately:

 

 

Note that I've also attached the gun sight to the instrument panel, as directed by the instructions. But thanks to my imperfect positioning of the PE instrument pieces, along with the PE attachment 'holes' for the gun sight being far too shallow compared to the ones in the kit plastic, I managed to install it at a slight angle:

 

 

Initially I didn't think this would matter, but it turns out that the 'arms' on each side of the sight are supposed to align with slots moulded into the underside of the coaming, and with the starboard one now being too high, the coaming didn't fit into place any more. Sigh! I tried to remove and reinstall it correctly, but was getting nowhere, and creating quite a mess. And then I have a brain wave: just install it directly into the coaming!

 

 

 

This gave me perfect positioning and no gluey mess. And it's funny how, when I was painting them, the gunsight lenses looked perfect! I might revisit them before final assembly if I get brave enough. But this is another reason to use the stock plastic instrument panel I feel, as it has proper mounting holes for the gunsight.

 

With the firewall in place, I can now test-fit the completed assembly into the fuselage:

 

 

Perfect! It all just clicks into place like Lego. And now with the coaming piece and gunsight:

 

 

Also perfect!

 

Apart from my battles with tiny PE levers, this has been a blast so far, and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the build - well, maybe except for the rest of the PE...

 

More soon!

Kev

[mozart]

Good progress Kev, well done and also for the heads up with the “issues” you have encountered so far. I must admit my first impression of the seat was that it looked a bit too perfect, it didn’t have the  “used” feel to it that Peter’s Typhoon one has. 

[quang]

30 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Firstly, here's the (almost) finished instrument panel, after a flat coat and some UV gel in the dial holes:

 

 

 

Sadly, you can't see the effect of the gel from this angle…

 

It’s the very reason I stopped adding clear varnish or UV gel to the instrument bezels.
As the glass protecting the instruments is vertical, you need to put your eyes at the same level as those of a 1/32 pilot sitting in the cockpit in order to see the effect.

Not only you won’t see the reflection of the light on the glass but the clear varnish will blur your vision and reduce the crispness of the details on your IP.

[geedubelyer]

Thanks for taking a "warts and all" approach to the build Kev. 

Following threads where small issues are illuminated proves very useful for those that follow. 

The paint effects improve the 2D appearance of the quilting on my screen 

I suspect that's an area where I may also have to attempt an improvement. It's about the only bit clearly visible in the coal hole of the cockpit opening 

 

Keep at it 

 

[RCPlym]

Looking good, but I agree it would have been better to use the plastic instrument panel. 

From what I have had and seen so far, all of these 3D printed panels look 'blocky' closeup almost like the print resolution is not quite high enough (yet no doubt!).

 

[LSP_Kevin]

13 minutes ago, RCPlym said:

Looking good, but I agree it would have been better to use the plastic instrument panel. 

From what I have had and seen so far, all of these 3D printed panels look 'blocky' closeup almost like the print resolution is not quite high enough (yet no doubt!).

 

 

This one is not a 3D-printed panel, though - just the (now) traditional set of flat, pre-coloured photo-etch pieces. This type of instrument panel is a bit of an Eduard specialty, so it's no surprise that they've provided the set in this kit, too.

 

Kev

[Uncarina]

Thanks for showing the way Kev!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Greif8]

Very nice work on the cockpit Kev.  You are doing a fine job on what looks to be a rather challenging build.

 

Ernest 

[alaninaustria]

Nice start! I’m very glad I ordered two kits already!

Cheers

Alan

[Out2gtcha]

Nice one Kev!

Looking great so far

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks for all your comments, fellas. This is not really a difficult build at all, and my own struggles have centred around my dislike of, and inability to get good results with, photo-etch—and especially the pre-coloured kind. The fit of the main parts, however, is astounding, as we will see in subsequent photos. If I had any criticism to level at the kit so far, it would be that I think some of the sub-assemblies have too many tiny parts, and this not only increases the complexity of the build, but is also a bit of a challenge for aging eyes like mine! Of course, it's done this way to maximise the level of detail on offer, so it's not without its benefits, but as we'll see below, there are times when this complexity can cause the odd issue.

 

Anyway, on with the photos! Continuing with the cockpit, the final element to add is the rear decking:

 

 

This is comprised of 3 separate parts, but the fit is outstanding! The instructions have you tack it onto the back of the headrest, for which there is an appropriate tab and slot arrangement. Knowing that the trailing piece then had to fit into a narrow slit in the fuselage, and that it was also bent on the sprue, I figured I should use the fuselage itself as an alignment jig while the glue dries. Check out this fit!

 

 

Moving forward along the fuselage, we have the first of the nose panels, behind which you glue the exhaust parts:

 

 

 

The holes look more convincing in person than they do in this greatly enlarged view, but I may still drill them out some more. The idea of a multi-part nose and cowling assembly would normally fill me with dread, however—especially given what I've experienced with some other brands. But have no fear, for DBMK is here:

 

 

You can barely even tell it's a separate panel, and it's just hanging there with a bit of tape holding it on. Combined with the top cover—again, just loosely fitted:

 

 

No worries, mate. The only thing that caused me to wrinkle my nose a bit is the way the rear fastener detail is sliced through by the panel line. I'll be endeavouring to make them look more like the forward pair when the time comes.

 

On the inside of the fuselage, there's an insert for each side that forms the curved lip of one of the panels behind the exhausts. They fit beautifully, and create this barely-visible detail much better than trying to mould it in situ would have:

 

 

DBMK would have you glue the "exhaust panels" on at this stage, as a simple butt-join to the rest of the fuselage. The fit is fine, as we've already seen, but this struck me as an odd build sequence, given that there is a large insert to go on the inside of each fuselage half in this area, which would help align and support the panels. So I chose to add those first, but since their main function is to block your view into the empty interior, I painted the inside of each in Rubber Black:

 

 

 

I've been making great use of AK Interactive's paint markers for jobs like this. I was a bit sceptical of them at first, but they work a treat for small or out of the way parts, and are much more convenient than breaking out the airbrush, or even the hairy stick (with apologies to everyone who is offended by that term). For larger areas, it's difficult to eliminate the visible stroke marks they produce, but they're still handy has heck, and I really need to get some more colours.

 

The kit-supplied engine is little more than a dummy place holder, but is perfectly adequate given you'll see almost none of it on the finished model:

 

 

I believe a 3D-printed full engine set will be available as an upgrade if you want to open up the cowl panels and show it off.

 

Moving rearwards, the final task prior to being able to bring the fuselage halves together is to assemble and insert the tail wheel bay assembly. This is one area where I think the kit's ambitions get a little ahead of its execution. Firstly, the tail wheel yoke, which consists of three separate parts, one of which is a tiny little pin that you're meant to sandwich between the main yoke and the separate fork. I could barely see where it was supposed to go, and I'm pretty sure I put it in backwards! Still, as long as it holds the back end of the model up, it's not a problem:

 

 

Then we come to the wheel bay itself, and I must firstly applaud DBMK for providing an authentic assembly here. But, I don't think it's quite as well engineered as the rest of the kit that I've experienced so far.

 

 

 

There are six separate parts in that assembly, and not all of them have authoritative locating arrangements. Hoping I'd got it all correct, I proceeded to install the assembly into the very crisply moulded recesses provided for it in the fuselage halves:

 

 

If you look very closely at the area where the bottom of the forward bulkhead meets the bottom of the fuselage interior, you might notice that something looks a little off. Test-fitting confirmed that this was indeed the case:

 

 

With a bit of effort, I found that I could force this gap closed, but I knew where the problem was, so I tried removing a bit of plastic from the non-glued side in the hope that this would allow it to slot into its groove properly:

 

 

And so it did:

 

 

Again, just a loose test-fit here, but it pushes closed without any effort. So the tail wheel bay assembly is a little temperamental, and I screwed it up just slightly enough to create a fit issue. Solved now, but something for prospective builders to watch out for.

 

That's it for this update. I need to settle on a paint scheme soon, and I've now received a draft painting guide from Will, and was surprised to find three RAN options being offered. I think I might go with this one:

 

 

Not fully confirmed yet, but I need to decide before I can join the fuselage together, as apparently the colour of the tail wheel bay depends on which scheme you choose. The DSG over Sky scheme is certainly iconic, however...

 

Kev

 

 

[alaninaustria]

Coming along very nicely indeed! I am very much looking forward to receiving my order and beginning the build!

Cheers

Alan