Another Hasegawa T bolt Bubbletop, my first LSP. November 12, 2022, It is DONE at last!!!!!!!!

[Citadelgrad]

This weekend i sealed up the cockpit paints, chips, and wash with some gloss, then clear flat, and i even put the HGW seatbelts on.  I started working on the fuselage to prepare it for closing up.

 

i present the best cockpit i have ever completed, by a long shot.  I am still not happy with the lap belts, they are very stiff and dont want to realistically hang to the seat contours.   I will probably tack them down with some gator glue. 
 

 

 

 

cheers, and thanks much for looking. 

[Citadelgrad]

I am looking forward to finishing the cockpit and moving on to the larger assemblies, but am taking my time because this is so much fun.

 

i fully admit that the Yahu instrument panel is a marvel, but if i had it to do again, i would try painting the nice Hasegawa panel.  I sanded off that wonderful detail, but in looking at some other kits in my stash, like a Trumpeter 109 G, it has a strange clear panel with a decal.  I wosh i had painted the Jug panel, and then would use a Yahu on the 109.  Oh, well, live and learn. 
 

some photos as i near completion of the cockpit. Pardon the unpainted and incomplete gunsight and shroud, and i havent cabled the back of the ip yet, either.  Baby steps.  On to the photos

 

this is my first LSP since i was a kid.  I am really glad i spent some time with armor and figures, the painting is not so daunting now. 
 

 

 

 

[Thunnus]

Cockpit is looking excellent, Bill!  I haven't used the Yahu panels myself but they look like they have a little more definition than the pre-painted Eduard PE IP's.  I usually use dots of CA glue to secure the HGW harnesses to the seat.  If you give the harnesses a clear coat and a dark wash, you can retrieve some nifty stitching detail out of them.

[Alex]

That Yahu panel looks great - a nice centerpiece to a nice cockpit.  For the HGW transfers, if straight water on a Q-tip won't get rid of the "ghosting" of the transfer film outline, you can try rubbing alcohol.  If you are working with acrylic paints, I would test that out on some scrap first to be sure your dried paint will resist the rubbing alcohol.  

 

What are you using to wet the area that the transfer goes down on?  I've tried both MicroSet and MicroSol, and now I use the former 99% of the time - it tends to leave much less of a mark on the paint.

[Citadelgrad]

2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Cockpit is looking excellent, Bill!  I haven't used the Yahu panels myself but they look like they have a little more definition than the pre-painted Eduard PE IP's.  I usually use dots of CA glue to secure the HGW harnesses to the seat.  If you give the harnesses a clear coat and a dark wash, you can retrieve some nifty stitching detail out of them.

Thanks, John.  I like the look of the Yaho, but the detail I sanded off the panel looked excellent, too.  It was probably the best panel in my stash, but I had the Yahu, so I used it.  I will try to tack the belts down and give them a wash.  

1 hour ago, Alex said:

That Yahu panel looks great - a nice centerpiece to a nice cockpit.  For the HGW transfers, if straight water on a Q-tip won't get rid of the "ghosting" of the transfer film outline, you can try rubbing alcohol.  If you are working with acrylic paints, I would test that out on some scrap first to be sure your dried paint will resist the rubbing alcohol.  

 

What are you using to wet the area that the transfer goes down on?  I've tried both MicroSet and MicroSol, and now I use the former 99% of the time - it tends to leave much less of a mark on the paint.

Thanks, Alex.  I can't remember which Mr. Mark I used, but it was the one HGW said to use in the sparse instructions.  I think it was the set.  

[Citadelgrad]

Baby steps.  I have tacked down the lap belts, and will seal them with a clear coat and try a wash.  Pretty happy with them, but I need to trim the threads caused when I was wrestling with them.  

 

I started wiring the back of the panel, as it is just able to be seen, right now it looks like spaghetti.  I used very thin lead wire and Gator grip glue, hopefully I can tease them straight and shoot them with some black.  I didnt want them to look overscale. 

 

 

More in a day or so.  Thanks all for the kind comments.

 

[Citadelgrad]

More minor progress.   I sorted out the wiring behind the gauges and painted them, i painted the combing or whatever it is called that holds the sight, and i shot some clear gloss on the seatbelts to permit me to put a wash on them without dying them brown.  
 

i like how the gunsight is coming out, its not finished yet, i still need to add both lenses, and paint the circle under the bottom lens some agreeable color, but i like the look so far.  I left the sight box and the combing black, but painted the mount part dark green for contrast, and i painted the pad a leather brown. Im still not sure how to tame the wire mess, maybe a hole in the front panel to thread them through?
 

anyway, photos of tonight’s minor progress.  I am really having fun taking my time and getting everything as right as i am capable of doing.  

 

 

 

thanks for following along with me.  This is so gratifying.  I remember slamming kits together as fast as possible as a kid, now the process is what i enjoy, i get a lot of relaxation time in a kit, this thread is over a year old, sure, there are times when i cant get to the work for long periods of time, but now that i am in the groove, i am really enjoying this build.  

[Jeff T]

Looking good!

 

Excellent work on that Cockpit, looks superb.

 

Cheer's,

Jeff.

 

 

[Citadelgrad]

11 hours ago, JT68 said:

Looking good!

 

Excellent work on that Cockpit, looks superb.

 

Cheer's,

Jeff.

 

 

Thanks much, Jeff!  I am having a blast on this build.  

[Citadelgrad]

I managed to add a dark brown wash to the seatbelts, and man does that make the stitching pop.

 

 

 

 

[Citadelgrad]

I could not resist a few natural light shots.  I know its not up to the amazing ability of many of our contributors, but for me, this is the pinnacle of my present abilities.  
 

 

 

 

 

Any suggestions to handle the spaghetti of cables i have created?  They are just shoved out of the way for now.  I might bundle them at the front panel and run them down and out of sight. 
 

on to the bigger assemblies, wish me luck!!

[Citadelgrad]

I’ve turned my attention from the cockpit, which i still havent glued the sides to (as i am not totally certain i am finished, but i AM certain that if i add the sides and front/back, i am not going to be able to reach anything in there.) the fuselage. 
 

So far this has been limited to comparing the Eduard replacement inlet door covers and the kit parts. Despite the great detail in the cockpit and gear mechanisms, the parts that are supposed to be thin sheet metal louvers are, probably due to limitations on molding, super thick parts.  I am guestimating that the parts that make up the double louvers at the lower rear part of the cowl are at least as think as a 1/35 figure’s hand.  Similarly, the sliding louver over the mid fuselage door is about as think.  These are so prominent, i decided to use the Eduard  parts.  The front double louvers are a bit fiddly, nothing too crazy after those HGW seatbelts, but the mid fuselage doors were a handful.  First, a ton of plastic that aligns the plastic part needed to go, then i had to carefully bevel the fuselage wall from the inside so that the door blends in and doesnt appear overly recessed. 
 

that went pretty well, but the Eduard instructions are...vague.  Nothing about putting any curve in the part to match the fuselage contour, so i bent the first one into a 3 sided box, which, of course, makes it rigid and not want to take a curve.  After a test fit confirmed that it needs a gentle curve, i semi annealed the part with some choice salty language.  The other one went more smoothly. 
 

the front louvers are glued in place.  I am really enjoying Gator Grip glue, it looks like pva and cleans up with water, but it seems perfect for gluing PE parts. It doesnt get brittle like CA.

 

the larger doors mid fuselage are just dry fit for now, but i was looking at some walkaround photos and the fit looks pretty good.  
 

on to the photos!

This first shot is from the inside of the fuselage.  The area to the right used to be a chunky, raised keyway to align the kit plastic door.  That semi vertical right edge is what needed to get beveled, but care must be taken, the edge of the panel needs to stay a straight line, and the panel itself is curved.  Slow and steady wins the race. 

here is the left side door, that line in the PE will be aligned just under the plastic when it is cemented in place. This one fits tightly without any glue. 

Here is the right side door, this is the one that i tried to impart the curve to after i had made the sides, its got a tiny bit of a peak, but i cant get rid of it now. This one needs to be held in place manually until i get some glue on it, but the fit looks just like the photos i have found 

 

my decision as to which door goes on which side boiled down to the kill marker side is going to draw the eye, so i will put this door on the other side. 
 

one last shot, from the rear quarter, this is why i decided to go with the PE instead of trying to thin the kit part.  It was really hard to get a shot where you can appreciate the thinness of the part and still be able to see what it is. 

 

in the next few days i will bite the bullet and glue up the cockpit, glue that to the big H shaped spar, and close up the fuselage.  
 

Oops, forgot the front louvers, here they are

 

thanks for looking!  I am having a blast with this one. 
 

Bill

Edited March 23, 2021 by Citadelgrad

[Jeff T]

Nice Bill!......I should have got these for my build, would have saved me sanding the kit parts, and these look much better.

 

Cheer's,

Jeff.

[JayW]

On 3/20/2021 at 4:30 PM, Citadelgrad said:

Any suggestions to handle the spaghetti of cables i have created?  They are just shoved out of the way for now.  I might bundle them at the front panel and run them down and out of sight. 

 

There is a stout beam below the IP that the rudder pedals mount onto.  I don't know if your cockpit has this part, as it is largely hidden.  But in real life this beam has a couple of angles attached to it that serve as manifolds of a sort, gathering up the various pneumatic lines coming off the backs of the instruments. 

 

This instrument panel assembly drawing shows the back side with lines running every which way, , including from one instrument to another, but doesn't show where they terminate on the angles:  

 

 

On my 1/18 P-47 effort, I worked very hard to get all that right, only to find (not surprisingly) that you can't really see in that far.  I think if you just gather them up and trend them toward the centerline under the gun sight, and bond them in place, it will be more than enough.  The lines will be visible where they are supposed to be visible and will look the part.  Let me know if you would like more.  

[JayW]

Bill, the intercooler exit doors (the large ones on the sides of the fuselage) are complicated little buggers - I like what you are doing with them.  They are three sided, as you explain.  But unlike how they are depicted by model manufacturers or the PE kit you have, the side flanges are not simple triangles but are deeper and complex shaped and actually have track roller slots that engage fixed rollers inside the fuselage.  Those slots control the position of the doors as they travel fore or aft - angling out fully in their full forward position, closing flush in their aft most position.  These side flanges (at least the portions with the track roller slots) are hidden - they insert into slots on the top and bottom sides of the fixed aft outlet door.  You could possibly simulate this by putting a small piece of plastic sheet (0.01 thick) along the sides of the opening, to cover the little PE triangular flange.  Pretty sure you can find some picture of this detail if you look hard enough.  I was able to do this on my 1/18 P-47, but at that scale it was easier to do.  Here the track slot flanges are shown (parts catalogue - P-47):

 

 

Here is a pic of what I did with these doors:

 

 

BTW, because those front doors slide fore and aft, this is why we see that characteristic mismatch on the side stars and bars.  The stars and bars are painted onto the aircraft with the doors fully closed in their aft position.  And the mismatch occurs when the doors are open and move forward as well as angling outward.

 

All this information comes via Aircorpslibrary where drawings and manuals galore are available, their collections especially complete for the P-47.  Just amazing! 

Edited March 24, 2021 by JayW