toadwbg Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 (edited) Buttoned up the engine mount forward of the cockpit, again everything clicks like clockwork. Here you can see the provision made for rotating the working gear at those wing cut-outs. Not a fan of having them as separate removable features. I'll decide more after some trial fit this week. Edited March 27, 2016 by toadwbg mywifehatesmodels 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 I would try and do a little more to eliminate the seam at the top of thr gear legs though. The seams stand out a bit compared to the rest of the overall construction. Just a suggestion............ Cheers, Wolf Your right, they stand out in the photo a bit, just the way the flash and camera capture the light. Probably going to leave them be. When parked and under the aircraft they may not be as noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 (edited) Been working on this just a little bit when time allows. Turkey hunting season is coming up and but want to finish this first! Lots of focus on the engine, this is a mini-kit itself and worthy of being displayed. Seems like the only thing missing are ignition wires, not sure if I'm going to add them by scratch or not yet. I have a few references on the colors of the cylinders, seems some are all silver/aluminum some are black. I went with aluminum and did a nice dark wash of black, looks good in-scale to me. Edited April 9, 2016 by toadwbg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 (edited) Landing gear is one of my modeling nemesis! Usually its saved to last because it's so fragile and frustrating. Tamiya makes the landing gear on this kit interesting and robust however with metal legs, screws to hold them in, and the retraction mechanism which actually works well. Very complex but the instructions walk you thru it well. To top it off, it all fits splendidly in the closed position- no need to mask! Love it. There maybe is a small misfit in the closed position on one side. TIP: Had I put the gear doors on AFTER I put the closed gear in I think this would have solved it. [/url] Edited April 9, 2016 by toadwbg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 Next are the covers over the guns/landing gear mechanism Tamiya has. They provide a tool for this but I found you can pry out the gear legs on their own once assembled also, so not sure you need these covers removable. I hate to have removable covers as with most kits they don't fit flush and stand out. However, as you can see below, they fit FLAWLESSLY on the Tamiya kit. Amazing engineering. Not sure if I'm going to glue them shut or not. Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 Minor disaster- I washed the model to prep for painting and got water into the gear and flap bays that are the Aotoke color. The Lifecolor did NOT like getting wet and started to bubble and peel! NO! Some of it scratched off to the touch. I tried to avoid panic and let everything dry overnight. Viola! looked like new again in the morning except the areas I touched. I will just have to touch up some areas and I should be good to go again. Lesson learned, try not to let Lifecolor paint get water-wet again on the model surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Thanks for sharing your build here. I am really inspired by what you are doing. Tamiya really spoiled us with these new generation 32nd kits didn't they. I have got the final answers to some questions for my 32ns A6M3-22 conversion and can now press on to completion. Thanks again for the tips, stuff like that is most helpful. Cheers Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fooesboy Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 My next aircraft build will most likely be a Zero so I am reading everything I find. Your build is coming along great, thanks for the heads-up regarding the Lifecolour paint, the shade looks spot-on. How is the Aero Detail book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Nice update! Be careful with that landing gear, though. I thought the same as you, and used it in the closed position to mask the gear bays for painting. All that opening and closing of the landing gear snapped the locking piece in short order, however. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 10, 2016 Author Share Posted April 10, 2016 . How is the Aero Detail book? Great detailedbook, I'd highly recommended it. I have yet to be dissapointed in any Aero Detail book. I pick them up on Ebay when I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 10, 2016 Author Share Posted April 10, 2016 (edited) Minor Disaster.... Got time to put in the exhaust tubes on the engine and they do not line up! Something is completely wonky and I think I know what it is. The multi-piece engine is "keyed" so each and every piece is clocked into the right position. I got to putting on the rear case and found it would not fit correctly, it was 90-degress out of phase. I knew something was up and as I tried the first 2 exhaust stacks with a lot of dry-fitting I figured out something smelled really bad. So I tried back-tracking and pulling the engine apart, but we all know this doesn't work well once everything has been glued, bonded and painted. Total FUBAR. I need a new engine. Actually what i need is completely a new engine sprue, so I am trying to contact Tamiya USA customer service. Used my Google-Fu and got a web page and E-mail address only to get a post-master reply that that address no longer exists! UH.... If anyone has tips on where to reach Tamiya USA customer service, please help! By chance, I should be headed over to Japan for Work next month, maybe I'd have better luck getting a spare sprue from Tamiya in Japan? Edited April 10, 2016 by toadwbg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 No work completed in the last couple of weeksbecause Spring has finally sprung here in Iowa! Camping on the weekends, Turkey hunting, and daddy day-care while the wife has been traveling for work. Hoping for some bad weather so I can get some modeling done! I did contact Tamiya USA and ordered a replacement engine sprue so I can take another swing at getting it right. Sprue was like $14 with shipping, not too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 (edited) Tamiya USA: (800) 826-4922 OOps. Saw that you found them AFTER I posted this... Edited April 23, 2016 by Bill_S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted May 1, 2016 Author Share Posted May 1, 2016 Tamiya USA came thru and I got the replacement Sprue D in the mail last week. Turkey hunting has been a bust so far and it rained most the day yesterday pretty hard, so back to work! This time I just assembled the engine per instructions without painting. Build first, paint second. I did some test fitting with the exhaust tubes and Viola- everything fits great this time! Painting: Should I paint the entire engine assembly Aluminum first than pick off black details, or Black first and pick off Aluminum details? I've done it both ways before and decided this time on Aluminum as it is the dominant color. I than gave it a good wash of black to fill all the recesses, add shadow and a hint of weathering. I will pick off the black details next: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadwbg Posted May 1, 2016 Author Share Posted May 1, 2016 (edited) Completed some detail painting on the radial engine and added the exhaust stacks, went together with no problems this time. There is a very thin ring, part C1, that goes on the back of the engine which supports the exhaust stack routing - careful with this part! Mine broke in 3 places and I had to mend and convince it back into shape. It did all work out with some luck. I got some more weathering to do back here, and paint touch-ups yet. Edited May 1, 2016 by toadwbg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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