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Amodel Shavrov Sh-2 in 1/72


Willy_N

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  • 1 month later...

Progress on the little flying kayak has been slow and frustrating, but it haven't crashed and burned yet.. As I mentioned in the acrylic paint test, I have been experiencing a lot of problems with some of my Vallejo paints, specifically some lighter shades. I ended up mixing a tan-tinted white colour, and mixing it 50/50 with floor polish. It worked out well, but I am constantly finding particles in the paint and I can't figure out where they come from. At least the floor polish added to the paint enabled me to polish out most of the blemishes, but the the hard to reach nooks and crannies are a long way from perfect. Ah well. 

 

I got the decals on without any major hitches, they are slightly on the thick side and stick like there's no tomorrow! I ended up wetting the surface of the model with water before application, adding more water if I needed to move the decal around. This called for some careful poking and prodding with a cotton stick to get water and air out from underneath the decals before I could hit them with some Micro Sol. The red crosses for the tail and fuselage seem to be a bit undersized compared to period photos, but they do look ok on the model. 

 

In two different reviews of this kit, reviews mentioned that the wheels were the wrong type, and should be spoked instead of solid. Also they had some issues re. the engine and propeller. Looking at the various photos I found on the great interwebs, I realized that there seems to have been a fair bit of variations regarding these things, I also found pictures showing what seemed to be a different rear canopy than the options included in the kit. I even found at least two different pictures of what I believe is the plane I'm modeling in different configurations. I decided to keep it simple and just follow the instructions.

 

Which led me straight into my next problem. There are four wing struts that are supposed to be identical. In my sample, I was treated to four struts of different length. They don't seem to be broken or damaged, so I believe they are short shot. I made an attempt to scratch build new ones using styrene strip and copper wire. I think it worked out ok, but I won't know for sure until final assembly. Which might take a little while yet. Anyway, here is how it looks today:

 

shavrov_1_zpshfvrau08.jpg

shavrov_2_zpscs88gpov.jpg

Edited by Willy_N
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Guest Jessie_C

Which led me straight into my next problem. There are four wing struts that are supposed to be identical. In my sample, I was treated to four struts of different length. They don't seem to be broken or damaged, so I believe they are short shot.

That's very much par for the course with Amodel kits. Smaller details like that (and sometimes not-so-small details) need to be tweaked, improved or outright replaced. But once you're done, you've got something on your display shelf that nobody else has :)

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That's very much par for the course with Amodel kits. Smaller details like that (and sometimes not-so-small details) need to be tweaked, improved or outright replaced. But once you're done, you've got something on your display shelf that nobody else has :)

 

This kit reminds me of some of the early Czech kits that way - high maintenance but eventually worth the effort!

 

Edit: The Amodel IAR-80 I bult last year had no such issues at all, it was just really nice all around :)

Edited by Willy_N
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Thanks guys:)

 

Test fitting the new struts confirms that they seem to work out well. I wasn't able to completely duplicate the airfoil shape of the original parts, but I'm not sure how I could have done that and still retain some structural integrity without casting them or something. Painted and test fitted on the model, the look close enough. 

 

Test fitting also made me realize a previous blonde moment on my part, I had mistakenly re-drilled the rear mounting holes for the N-struts too low on the fuselage sides. Not a lot of fun to fix with each being approximately 1mm from a decal, but it turned out ok :)

 

RL is keeping me quite busy these days, so I have only managed to paint the remaining small parts this week, and almost finishing them. Good thing I'm not in a hurry :) 

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