Kittyhawk 1/32 T-6G Texan

[LSP_Kevin]

I think it's really not that bad. QC could be better, and Hubert also suggested that the injection-moulding machine used for these sprues might not be up to snuff, implying that if a better one had been used, some of the moulding issues might not be present. Heck, they could even be down to the formulation of the plastic used, which I'm sure is completely in the hands of the moulding contractor. The only thing that's defeated me so far are the engine mounts, and it turns out they're not really required anyway unless you're exposing the area behind the engine.

 

Anyway, let's have a look at some progress with the wing centre section. I decided that the short-shot sections could only really be dealt with by modelling the flaps in the closed position. Out of the box they're designed to be posed open, so I removed the alignment tabs from the centre flap and cemented it into place:

 

 

The slots for the tabs expose themselves as very slight cut-outs along the trailing edge of the wing piece. These wouldn't be noticeable if the flaps were fitted unmodified and as intended. The fit along the trailing edge is actually better than it appears in the photo; the reason for the visible gap here is because I had to push the trailing edge of the flap piece toward the trailing edges of the upper wing pieces, and this pulled the two long edges away from each other slightly.

 

I didn't glue the trailing edges immediately however, as there's about a 1mm gap between them when the flap is fitted properly. This was dealt with in several stages, clamping the two edges together with my fingers, 5mm at a time, and running liquid cement into the join. I had to clamp it with my bare hands, as all my mechanical clamps kept pinging off the wedge-shaped assembly. Over the course of a couple of hours - and some cramped fingers! - I had something resembling an acceptable join:

 

 

I think next time I would glue the trailing edges together first, and once they were nice and secure, I'd do the long inboard edge. In other words, reverse the procedure I used here. I think that would work better. Also, had I known I was going down this path, I wouldn't have bothered to paint the interior of the flap sections, as that only interferes with the glue bonds.

 

So, that leaves me with some clean-up and repair work:

 

 

I'll detail my approach for that in the next update.

 

Kev

[Guest Peterpools]

Kev

Following your progress on the Texan and taking notes on how you have been overcoming the numerous small obstacles that seems like at nearly every step. Nice work on the center wing section hoping the trailing edge repair will go quickly. I purchased the Kitty Hawk 1/48 Sea Sprite and have only tinkered with the kit. From the reviews and looking at the parts, a lot of mistakes are creeping including the instructions. Just seems that QC should have been a lot better.

Keep 'em coming

 

Peter

[dennismcc]

Sounds like all those 1970's Revell kits were a good training ground then Kev !

 

Cheers

 

Den

[LSP_Kevin]

Sounds like all those 1970's Revell kits were a good training ground then Kev !

 

Cheers

 

Den

 

Indeed Den...and plenty more of 'em in the stash too!

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

OK, so here's the fix for the trailing edges. First, I squared things up as best I could with a sanding stick. Next, I cut 2 sections out of the smallest styrene rod I had in stock - in this case .020"/0.5mm. Even smaller would have been better, and if your sprue-stretching technique is good, you can go down that route too. Once I had my pieces, I glued them to the trailing edges with Tamiya Extra Thin:

 

 

Why round stock instead of square? The main reason is that it doesn't have a bias. If square strip droops while welding in place, it changes the shape of the entire trailing edge repair, top and bottom. The round stuff is not only less likely to droop due to not having a bias, but it can afford to do so by small amounts and not drastically affect the outcome.

 

Once the rod had welded nice and solid, I back-filled the area between the rod's curvature and the kit parts with a mix of CA and talc:

 

 

This of course also includes filling in the missing plastic in the short-shot areas. Give it about 30 minutes to harden sufficiently, and then set about it with some sanding sticks and sponges:

 

 

 

Now, I realise that this technique actually extends the trailing edges by half an millimetre, and as such it's more suited to full-width edges than it is to something like this that has a break along its length. However, I wanted to demonstrate the utility of this technique, and I think it won't be an issue on the assembled model. Simply using the CA/talc mix without the styrene rod will work too, but this approach gives an assured straight, thin trailing edge:

 

 

Now I can join the centre wing section to the fuselage!

 

Kev

[Loic]

Nice job on the trailing edge dude !

[ericg]

Sounds like all those 1970's Revell kits were a good training ground then Kev !

 

Cheers

 

Den

 

Very well said sir! 

 

Eric.

[Guest Peterpools]

Kev

Nice work on repairing the trailing edges - just feel this is work you shouldn't have to be doing.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Progress! Wing centre section and tailplanes are now in place:

 

 

The fix for the trailing edges has left the .5mm extension quite obvious, so I'm going to reduce that to a minimum, as I think it ruins the look:

 

 

 

On the bottom section I've used Vallejo Plastic Putty for the first time to reduce the gap where the flap meets the wing. It's great stuff and very easy to use, but you have to work quickly when smoothing it out, as it sets up quite fast. I'll get some primer on to see if I need to reinstate the join line or not.

 

Here's a shot of the wheel bays, which gave me a bit of bother:

 

 

The right side is fine, but I couldn't get the left (port) side to meet up properly, so there's an ugly join to deal with there. Consequently the top of this join isn't the best either. I'm starting to doubt my choice of a natural metal finish!

 

Kev

[Guest Peterpools]

Kev

Nice progress as you're beating back the gremlins for sure. This could just be one of those kits that are possessed.

Keep 'em comoing

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Well folks, lurching into the next disaster, I figured I'd further test the kit decals by applying the large stars-and-stripes decoration to the cowling. This is one large decal that is meant to cover the entire cowling, so if you're using this scheme then there is ostensibly no need to apply any paint to its exterior. I did apply a couple of light coats of Mr Surfacer however. I'll let the results speak for themselves:

 

 

 

 

These decals are very strange indeed. Once they land on the model, there is almost no opportunity to move them into position - they simply tear, crease or fold. And once they fold up on themselves, there's almost no opportunity to unfold them, as they stick to each other in a fashion best described as permanent.

 

There's no recovering from this, and while I could mask and paint the red, white and blue parts, the stars are out of the question. And that pretty much kills this scheme for this build, which is a shame because I reckon it looks terrific. Anyway, I've now opted for one of the SNJ schemes:

 

 

I'm hoping the darker scheme will help hide a few of my scenes, and will be easier to pull off than NMF. I'm gonna have to conquer these kit decals along the way however, or there won't be much point at all. Luckily, I've just received three sets of Texan decals from Red Pegasus to review, so I can always fall back to those if required. The problem of course is all the different lumps and bumps each version and scheme requires, so changing at the last minute isn't always that simple!

 

Kev

[xmh53wrench]

.......

These decals are very strange indeed. Once they land on the model, there is almost no opportunity to move them into position - they simply tear, crease or fold. And once they fold up on themselves, there's almost no opportunity to unfold them, as they stick to each other in a fashion best described as permanent.

 

Kev

 

 

Awww this is too bad Kevin.  This sounds EXACTLY like the decal sets that I am currently using on my Bandai build.  Mine were kit decals from the Airfix P-51D/K boxing.  And look exactly like that.  Though wonderfully thin they are extremely delicate and do not respond very well to Micro Sol.  I had the same problem, no manuvering and tears and wrinkles.  Warm water and a very close trim seemed to get me the best results.

 

I understand this is modeling, and there are going to be issues with assembly and we all have our own build style, but I do believe kit parts should at least fit.  Thanks for enlightening us on all of this and sticking with it.   I still believe the end result will be nice, but how much "extra" work should that take....

[Guest Peterpools]

Kev

So far the Texan has been anything but a well thought out and engineered kit. I'm really starting to have my doubts. Nice choice of he SNJ scheme.

I've been tinkering with their 48th scale Sea Sprite and all isn't without it's problems as well.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks fellas. If anybody else has actually built this kit already and has conquered the kit decals, please let me know how you did it. For the record, I used room-temperature water, and some MicroSol as a wetting agent. I let the decal float on the water for about 30 seconds, after which I could slide it off the backing sheet without much fuss. Once on the model, they suck down and stick into place almost immediate. On a small decal it's easy to compensate for this with a lot of water, but not a large wraparound one like this.

 

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Oh, and if I were to do it again, I'd cut the decal into its constituent panels and apply them individually. I was tempted to do that at the outset to be honest, but I wanted to see if they'd perform as is for the record.

 

Kev