Cessna O-2A `Jade 07' The man meets the model.

[Anthony in NZ]

I just love following your Work Eric....always inspiring!

[ericg]

Back to work on the O-2. 

 

The intake and ring at the front of the cowling needs some work. The way that Roden have designed it is quite see through and needs a bit of beefing up. This is best attempted whilst you have the cowls off. I had everything buttoned up and then decided that I didn't like the look of it so I had to mess around a bit to get it to work.

 

You shouldn't be able to see from one side to the other here. The inside of the cowl is much more chunky and I reckon it will affect the look of the finished model if left.

 

 

 

 

I found some suitable diameter styrene tube and cut it in half and adjusted it to fit inside the ring of the cowling, then filled and sanded it to make it smooth. Again, would have been much easier if the cowl was off, so be warned!

 

 

Next up was the seatbelts. I rather like the RB Productions belts so decided to go with 3 sets of them. There are no belts depicted in the kit so it will need something.

 

 

Once assembled and glued, I clear coated them and then used enamel wash to give them depth.

 

 

They look quite convincing. Still a little tidying up to do but this is a WIP after all.I have the right seat pushed all the way back as I believe the pilot may have left it for easy access to the pilot seat.

 

Also noticeable in this pic is the small flap that I have scribed into the side window with its associated hinge made from some PETG sheet (also on the left side). It was a detail that is not in the kit but my eye was drawn to it in reference pics. 

 

 

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Great to see this one back on the front page!

[dodgem37]

Nice.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Out2gtcha]

Great work Eric. I'll definitely be referring to this when I get around to my own O-2.

[Fancherello]

This is is some lovely work, and details such as the asymetric seat positionning definetly bring life in the cockpit.

I love this !

[ericg]

Thanks guys.

 

Some more work. A big issue with the kit is the poor fit of the windscreen. It is slightly too big and will require some rectification. Hopefully I have devised a very easy fix for it that will help those building this kit. 

 

Here is is the problem. I have squeezed it in so that the edges fit along the sides but then the front pops up!

 

 

the easiest way to make the part smaller Is to cut the windscreen in two, right though the centre frame. A light scribe followed by a careful cut with a JLC razor saw will do it nicely, the part can then be sanded at each edge to reduce its width. I then joined it back up with some Tamiya extra fine glue.

 

 

The part now fits significantly better. I have sanded the part with a sanding sponge and have since polished it up crystal clear with cutting paste and my dremel. Notice the sanding dust that has accumulated along the bottom edge. This is what I wanted to see as the real windscreen should sit under this panel, not flush. 

 

 

I could see in my reference pics that the small cabin air intakes were mostly open. The kit depicts these as an engraved rectangle and I thought this would be a nice detail to add. I dug out the rectangle with my chisels and then glued a small piece of suitably shaped plastic card to pop the vents open on both sides. Also visible in this pic is the small rescue panel that I had to scribe under the new pilots window that was present in this later model.

 

 

I could see that the horizontal aerial rail that sits on top of the roof at the front of the cabin would get easily broken. It is fairly flimsy and could do with some extra strength. All it will take is for the model to be picked up incorrectly and a misplaced thumb will break it in two.

 

I lightly cut a straight line across the top of the part with my razor saw and then deepened it with the back edge of a .5mm drill bit.

 

 

I used the same drill bit to put a hole either side

 

 

Pre bent some very strong music wire

 

 

Super glued it into position and then sanded smooth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LSP_Ron]

Wow, I am amazed you didn't break it just doing that mod.

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Super work, Eric!

 

Kev

[ericg]

I have been doing some work on the rather poorly defined bottom of the fuselage. This area will need some work if you wish to better depict the fact that this is a retractable undercarriage aircraft as Roden have done a terrible job of both the main and nose gear doors.

 

The nose gear doors were very shallow and in some areas non existant.

 

Before:

 

 

 

I shaped some thin aluminium strip in the shape of one half of the gear doors to use a template to re-scribe one door, then turned it over to to scribe the other side. I ran my JLC razor saw down the middle.

 

After:

 

 

The rear section of the fuselage requires the most work with the gear doors not even depicted at all.

 

Before:

 

 

After. I also carved out he small vent facing aft. I also added brake lines and scratchbuilt the small flipper doors that cover the gap in the fuselage once the legs are up and out of the way.

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by ericg

[TorbenD]

Very smart scribing Eric... coming together extremely tidily

 

Torben

[Shawn M]

well done, Im still  amazed at the total lack of rear door panel lines in the kit

so much so I had to do some digging to make sure they were in fact retractable lol

[Out2gtcha]

Great work! I'll have to remember that gear door re-scribe and windshield fix

[Jack]

OMG, this is sooooo inspiring, thanks for sharing Eric

[ericg]

I finally have this model in Primer. 

 

 

This has enabled me to uncover numerous flaws, due to the rough nature of the kit surface, some workmanship issues and the terrible fit of the side windows which will require a fair bit of effort to fix! As per usual, I highlight where fixes are required with a lead pencil.