Hobby Boss IL-2M3 (*DONE* and more pics added to Pg.7!)

[Guest]

BAM !looks easy enough........Harv 

[dennismcc]

Nice fix, in the memory bank bank for future reference.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[EmperorKai]

Nice work John! Just getting caught up with your build, and thought I'd mention that the cockpit bulkhead issue I ran into was with the 2 piece eduard bulkhead. If you're using the kit part, you probably won't have any issues.

 

Hang in there!

 

Kai

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks for the input, Kai. Since I'm not using the full interior (just the basic set), I probably dodged a bullet, then.

 

Right now I'm working through the Eduard parts for the radiator. Just the front side armor flaps left to do, but had to take a break after finishing the rear. This stuff is so tiny, fragile and fiddly that it borders on ridiculous. I'm just hoping everything stays in place through the painting phase. I'm afraid to blow any air in there, for fear that everything will come apart. I'll post some pics when I get the lower wing/center section done and installed. I won't be doing the weapon bays open, so it's just the wheel wells and whatever else, after the radiator.

 

John

[mywifehatesmodels]

Not a lot of progress today, but I had a lot going on and these PE parts are quite tedious. I really hate small PE stuff, so it's hard to stay motivated at this stage. I'm at least going to try everything in the set, but there are a few key features that I really want to use, so when I get to them it will probably feel more worthwhile.

 

Here's the radiator work. Front, then back:

 

 

 

They're still not quite level, but I think I can move them around a little bit to adjust. I'll wait until everything is ready for paint, though.

 

Next up is the wheel wells. I got one side done, so far. The instructions are a little confusing (the kit and the Eduard set, but especially the PE). The kit instructions also seem to have the numbers on the wells reversed, compared to how they fit in the kit. Or, maybe my head is on backwards, I don't know. Anyway, I have one side ready to attach the blister style fairings. I just hope I can keep from breaking anything until I get the other side done and the rest of this area assembled.

 

 

I probably won't get anything done tomorrow, with an early Thanksgiving on the schedule, but I need a break, anyway. My back is killing me from being hunched over my bench, working with all these ridiculously small, fragile parts and trying not the lose them!

 

Cheers,

 

John

Edited November 23, 2014 by mywifehatesmodels

[EmperorKai]

Looks great John!  This is bringing back some memories...  when you say ridiculously tiny, you ain't kidding.  The only way I got through it was with Opti-visors (which I definitely recommend anyway), and I still cheated on a few of the parts...  If you're doing this with just the Mk 1 eyeball, then you have the patience of a saint.  

 

Kai

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks, Kai!

 

I think the worst part is over (those tiny little corner brackets on all the radiator flap parts. Yuck!). I need to start looking at photos of the real thing, with special attention on all of the small access panels on the wings. These are all represented in the Eduard set (a ton of them). However, I'm not so sure how many of them should actually be raised from the surface of the wing. The effect would be nice, but I may pick and choose exactly which ones I use, for this reason. I couldn't sleep last night, so I knocked out the other wheel well and started assembling the doors for the weapon bays. I got two of them done and in place before calling it a night and I also managed to get the upper wing panels on and a dry fit of everything to the fuselage. Looks pretty good, so far. I'll post more pictures in the next couple days, as I forgot to take more last night.

 

John

[EmperorKai]

I'll be interesting to see what you decide on the panels.  I thought they looked a little weird too, raised up like little boiler plates stapled all over the wing,  and I ended up not using them.  I also felt that they would visually compete too much with the reinforcing strap on the wing, which really was raised and cool looking.

 

Sounds like you're past the worst of it.  I dreaded the bomb bays, and be absolutely definitely NOT doing those on the next Sturmovik build

 

Kai

[Old Dog]

Hi John, looks like you are making good progress, your issue with the exhaust stacks piqued my curiosity as I didn't remember having any issues in that area. I pulled the model out of my display cabinet and checked and mine came out even on both sides, measured out at exactly 1/8". I don't recall doing anything out of the ordinary in that area but I'm glad to see you overcame the issue.

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks, guys.

 

OD,

 

I'm beginning to think that it was just an alignment error on my part. In any case, you won't be able to see the engine and what I did works, so that's all that really matters to me.

 

I've been pouring back through my reference photos, as well as Kai's build (very inspiring and informative!). I came to the conclusion that I probably won't be using most of the small access panels from the Eduard set. One could certainly make the case that some of them are, in fact, raised from the surface of the wings (especially on the bottom of the wings). However, I think that it may end up looking over scale and kind of "chunky" if I put them all on. The reinforcing straps, as Kai mentioned, will certainly be used, however. They are a prominent feature that the kit doesn't capture as well as the Eduard set does.

 

I've made just a little more progress. I tried to attach the PE ring that's supposed to go behind the spinner and it has three rectangular pieces that are supposed to attach to the sides and bottom, to go inside the intake scoops in those locations. However, after bending the tabs to connect them, two broke off immediately and I'm also having trouble getting CA to hold anything place. This is one huge beef I have with PE stuff (okay, two beefs!); if it's so fragile that it breaks trying to put it into position ONCE, what the hell good is it? Second, am I expected to solder all these microscopic pieces together, to keep them from falling apart?  PE parts certainly have their uses, but I'm starting to remember why I hate them so much. They should cut the cost by about 75% by leaving out a proportionate amount of useless crap!

 

I got the rest of the work done on the lower center section and am now ready to work on the landing gear and paint the wheel well areas before attaching the "blister" fairings around everything. The weapon bay doors were actually pretty easy to get seated. They're not perfectly fit, but neither were the originals. In fact, I'd say the kit parts fit better than the real thing, from what I've seen in some photos.

 

 

On another note, I just realized that I did not fill in the panel lines and rivets on the vertical stabilizer and I should have done so. It appears that this was made of wood, also. So, more putty/sanding in my future. Plenty more to do. I'll keep cracking away at it.

 

Thanks for following and for all the comments.

 

John
 

[mywifehatesmodels]

A little more progress this afternoon. I managed to get the wheel wells painted and an oil wash applied. Then, I started fitting the wheel well/landing gear "blisters". As some of you guys who have already built this kit have noted, this is one of the worst fitting parts of the kit, so far. For the back end, you can see the gap that will be present from the cut-out that's apparently supposed to act as a locator for the housing?

 

 

Even though this won't be really visible, I wanted to fill it in. I started by just adding a blob of putty to the area. After it had started to dry a bit (maybe 15 minutes, as it was still somewhat pliable), I set up the fairings and pushed them into place, just slightly displacing some of the putty. This will have to be cleaned up and perhaps a little more filling done, once everything is glued together, but at least the biggest part of the holes are filled in.

 

 

On the front end of the fairings, there was one tiny little feature that seemed to be holding things up. It's a very small triangular tooth, of sorts, that's apparently supposed to key into another point, just inside of the wing's leading edge. This is supposed to happen inside, where it won't be seen, but the problem is that they really don't fit together, at all. So, I cut this offending bit out, which took all of about five seconds. I've circled it here in the photo.

 

 

With those gone, the fairing fit about as good as they are going to. There's still a small gap at the top front, but that should be easy enough to fill once everything is together.

 

 

I was going to do the landing gear, next, but I think I may make resin replacement wheels, first, since the tires are vinyl and I'm not crazy about that feature. So, tonight I'll have to pour a mold, then I'll start working on the gear legs, themselves.

 

John

[mywifehatesmodels]

Got the landing gear and fairings attached and ready for the wheels.

 

 

 

I'm also getting a little more control over the oil paints and really starting to like them. A lot of advantages over the watercolors that I was using before.

 

Hope to make more progress tomorrow.

 

John

Edited November 25, 2014 by mywifehatesmodels

[mark31]

Nice work so far.

Keep the pics coming

 

Mark

[Guest Peterpools]

John

Excellent progress and terrific work on the engine problem/solution. YUp, nothing like spending hour after hour working with tiny PE parts and hoping none are fed to the carpet monster.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks, guys!

 

Last night, before going to bed, I made a mold of the main wheel/tire. While having my first cup of coffee, this morning, I unboxed the mold and poured my first test shot. It's curing right now. I also took a sample of each vinyl ammo belt and made a mold of those, as well. I thought that it may be easier to get paint to stick to a resin belt, rather than that slippery rubber stuff they use. The mold is flat and thin. So, if I'm careful, I may be able to bend it while the resin is curing and get some examples that have some curvature to them, if needed. Just a brainstorming idea that I had last night. Sounds good in theory, but we'll see how it goes in practice. I have a lot of things to do today, but hope to have more to post by tonight.

 

Thanks again,

 

John