afvmodeller Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Following your progress with interest as I am at about the same stage. If I may just comment on the fuselage waistline - I have just spent two solid days work trying to get the sharp edged waistline where the fuselage spine meets the sides. Photo 10 on page 23 of the Aviattic booklet clearly shows this crisp line. regards David Whitey, MikeMaben, Gazzas and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron kootje Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Nice that's it looking good! Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 Hi, Nice progress indeed, I hope it is not to late but regarding your turtle deck of the fuselage I dont know if it is the picture giving the wrong inpression but the line between the fuselage and the top seems to be rounded due to sanding the top and fuselage, this should be a sharp line on the real thing. PS i use Jhonson furure to glue the etching in place on the fuselage afther decaling. Regards Ron Following your progress with interest as I am at about the same stage. If I may just comment on the fuselage waistline - I have just spent two solid days work trying to get the sharp edged waistline where the fuselage spine meets the sides. Photo 10 on page 23 of the Aviattic booklet clearly shows this crisp line. regards David I got so far with the Balilla that I thought it was just about ready to be finished. Here it is decalled with the top wing dry fitted. Based upon the feedback received from both Ron and David, I felt that I had missed one of the key features of the aircraft and that was the sharp line of the top fuselage. I was determined to get it right! Luckily, Richard was able to send me out a new set of decals. I stripped the decals from the fuselage Lets look at the problem. The top part of the fuselage isn't the best of fits and this, combined with the fact that I missed the sharp edge in some of the photos of the real thing combined to result in a rounded join. If you have this kit, then it is worth taking the time to get this right. Here is what I should have done in the first place. I masked off the join Using a sanding stick, I carefully sanded the top part of the fuselage Both the top and side of the fuselage required sanding to get the sharp edge The end result is much better. Wackyracer, Kendzior, Greg W and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seiran01 Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Shame you had to strip it down, but now it's looking perfect to my eyes. Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Fearless work, Eric! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fooesboy Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Respect! Looking good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Nice fix, Eric! And lots of courage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobs Buckles Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 The stripping back, filling and sanding has paid off, BIG STYLE! You have the right-stuff for this modelling game of ours Well done! Von B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted August 11, 2018 Author Share Posted August 11, 2018 (edited) So after spending a bit of time on the shelf of doom I was able to get back into this model with a fresh set of eyes. I think that rather than push on with something and possibly finish it and not be happy with it, giving it a rest for a while and doing other projects pays off. I should be able to get this one finished quite quickly. I simply don’t have time anymore to do in depth build logs, so I am posting pics of completed parts, with the occasional in progress ones. After stripping it back and sorting out the fuselage, I reapplied the wood grain decals. I am very glad that I did this as the important sharp edge is now there. Thanks to Richard for sending me out the new decals. The completed fuel tank which is highly visible on the bottom of the fuselage once fitted. I used a strip of bare metal foil which I burnished around the back of the leather padding behind the pilot. The small air intake which protrudes from the left side of the fuselage was a little thick, so I thinned the mouth of it and drilled it out slightly. Before: After: The kit tailskid was nicely cast in white metal or similar. I found it to be a bit too soft and it quickly bent out of shape once installed and then broke at the tip due to fatigue. Rather than try to fix it, I made a new one with the lower leaf made from a thin strip of brass for strength and then the other three leafs made from aluminium for ease of shaping. The new one is much stronger and gives me a lot more confidence of its longevity. The three piece cowl gave me all sorts of issues and was one of the reasons that I put this model away for a while. I am not a huge fan of having open engine panels as I like to admire the lines of a completed model with everything shut. I will compromise a bit and have the left front cowl in the open position. They are nicely cast but don’t fit too well, with the rear edge of the rear cowl not fitting flush against the fuselage. This required me to thin its edge and then cut gaps along the hinge lines of the access doors to ‘pull’ it tighter over the fuselage. I also had to sand the fasteners off and refine the lower edges. I replaced the fasteners with some Archer raised detail decals. The forward right cowl was then fitted, with approx .5mm shim added to the front edge, to allow it to overlap the radiator slightly. This was then significantly thinned to give it the look of thin sheet metal. Getting there. Edited August 11, 2018 by ericg LSP_Kevin, Whitey, AlexM and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squizzy 78 Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 Amazing work Eric, I know it's a long way off yet, but I hope you bring this one to the next model expo in Melbourne, it looks great in your photos, but I'd love to see up close. Top job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonH Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 Good job Eric! The finish on the engine cowlings is excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 (edited) Thanks guys. On 8/11/2018 at 11:01 PM, Squizzy said: Amazing work Eric, I know it's a long way off yet, but I hope you bring this one to the next model expo in Melbourne, it looks great in your photos, but I'd love to see up close. Top job! Yep, it will be there! Some more build. Even though I rate this kit very highly for its beatififul detail, it is a fairly challenging build that has been quite demanding. Just when I think that I have things right, something else crops up. After getting the forward right side cowl attached, I discovered that the hinge line was significantly off centre. As this model will be primarily viewed from the front and top, I need to fix this. The cowls are not the best of fit unfortunately. Visible is the extension to front edge of the left side cowl that I had to do to neaten things up a bit the solution that I came up with was to carefully cut the hinge line further towards the centre. It it is much better than before. Next up was the prop. Looking at some pics of completed builds and also comparing the prop to various period photos, I felt that the prop as supplied in the kit was a bit short. I consulted Richard and he assured me that it was correctly scaled as per original plans. Armed with this advice, I decided to go it alone and extend each blade by approx 1mm which I think has greatly improved its appearance. Painted in a light wood colour. completed apart from the decal logos. coming together nicely. Edited August 16, 2018 by ericg Tnarg, Kagemusha, monthebiff and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Bery nice and clean work, as per your usual, Eric. Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexM Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Brilliant, especially considering the major surgery with the fuselage! Apparently, the Italians invented the digital camouflage Alex monthebiff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 On 1/25/2018 at 12:35 PM, ericg said: ......Lets look at the problem. The top part of the fuselage isn't the best of fits and this, combined with the fact that I missed the sharp edge in some of the photos of the real thing combined to result in a rounded join. What you mean is then, you just sanded the sharp corner off ?? Whoops!!! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now