Fuji FA-200, 1/20 Nichimo

[KiwiZac]

Such a gorgeous finish, and the engine looks great too!

[mgbooyv8]

Hi Zac, Thanks!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[mozart]

Wonderful progress since I last dropped in Peter, all's looking very splendid! 

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks, Max!

 

I continued drawing the Martinair logo on the tail in the Silhouette software.

A useful side view of another Fuji was found which I could use to adapt and my logo.

Here is the screen dump of the Silhouette software which illustrates my approach:

 

I traced the surround of the model's fin,  scanned it (top left) and traced it (top right).

Next, I sized the picture to ensure the fins more or less matched.

Then I copied the previously drawn loge into this worksheet and squashed it until it matched the picture (bottom right).

Then I enlarged the loge again to tidy it on the mesh (top centre).

finally I reduced its size to check it on the picture (bottom centre).

 

It looks like the logo is OK and a mask can be cut to check on the model.

There is one other hurdle: the corrugations in the fin, that can be tricky to mask. I will have to think about it.

 

To be continued.

 

cheers,

 

Peter

[Alain Gadbois]

Excellent work Peter! This project is coming along very well!

I like the added baffles in the engine, which are often missing in models.

 

Alain

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks, Alain! 

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

The masks have been cut this morning and were OK.

Now I had to mask thee red line on the fuselage.

For this I also had to tape together the engine cowlings.

 

Maybe you remember that my engine came out a little too wide? 

I always thought this was going to haunt me later and indeed it was.

A final test fit confirmed I had to widen the inside of the forward cowling a bit to ensure the baffle plates fitted easily inside.

 

So out came the El Cheapo Dremel:

 

The plastic was thick enough not to worry to grind through the plastic.

The carburettor intake was also modified. The plate with the rectangular hole was widened to the sides and closed on top.

The rectangular hole will be covered with an air filter, which is in the kit.

Behind it a rectangular funnel will have to be made, being the cold air inlet to the carburettor.

The round hole on the left will be connected to an air hose, leading to the heat shroud of the left exhaust pipe, to provide heated air to the carburettor.

 

The cowlings were taped together and taped to the fuselage.

Next followed a lot of measuring and looking to pictures to obtain the right position and size of the red stripes with masking:

 

And here,the primary masking of the stripes is finished:

 

The other side is masked as well. I'm done for today.

Before I can spray anything I have to add the logo masks on the fin and cover the rest of the airframe.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Looking good! 

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks, Brian!

 

Today, I had a masking mojo:

 

In the end, I decided to just stick on the home made vinyl mask over the corrugations on the fin and hoping for the best.

Corrections will be inevitable there, that's for sure!

By the way, this is the Mk.2 masking, I had to make small corrections on the line sticking below the Martinair logo.

 

After a survey of many red paints in my collection, it appeared that  Humbrol 132 was almost the right colour, being orangy-red.

Being enamel paint, I can correct it easily with a cotton bud and a cocktail stick, soaked in white spirit, because the final layer of white is Tamiya acryl paint.

 

This is the result after demasking:

 

 

Not bad from a distance!

 

However...

 

 

As was expected, much paint bleed under the vinyl mask on this surface.

I foersee some quality time with a cotton bud, cocktail stick and maybe a hairy stick.

The biggest bleed spots have already been cleaned with a cotton bud with a bit of white spirit.

 

This was  unexpected:

 

Well, it shows that even with a lot of experience and a good clean of the model before painting, paint lift can still happen.

Anyway, nothing a hairy stick and some polishing cannot fix.

It has to be done before I can spray the registration on the fuselage.

 

The canopy came out almost OK:

 

 

It is clear, the Fuji will not be finished when this group build ends, but I made swift progress.

And that was the whole idea by entering the Fuji in the group build.

After 28 February, I will ask Kev to move this thread back to Work in Progress and continue there.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by mgbooyv8
Added canopy pictures

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

I spent some quality time correcting and touching up.

Here is the logo on the fin:

 

 

It is already much better, but I'm not there yet.

I let the paint harden for a couple of days before continuing.

 

The area where the paint lifted has been filled in with several layers of paint by brush, followed by light sanding:

 

That's why there is white dust on the red stripe.

After a final sprayed coat of Tamiya white, I can touch-up the red stripe.

So this area is also not there yet.

 

Moving to the nose, I sprayed the ant-glare panel. For this I used Humbrol 85 satin coal black:

 

I'll let this coat also harden for a couple of days, before making small corrections where the tape lifted.

 

The nose wheel strut was assembled.

Like the main lainding gear, It also has metal parts, a spring and a vinyl torque link and consists of these parts:

 

The plastic nose wheel fork on the left has two ridges which are probably used to mount the wheel spat.

The PH-MBK doesn't have wheelspats nor the ridges, so they were removed.

The assembled nose wheel strut looks like this, ready for painting:

 

Well, today 28 February, the group build ends.

Thanks for having a great goup build!

Nice subjects have been completed.

I was able to make swift progress with the Fuji, which was the goal for me within this group build.

 

Ofcourse, this build does not end.

I like to ask kindly to Kev or one of the other mods to move this thread to Work in Progress. TIA!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

[LSP_Kevin]

42 minutes ago, mgbooyv8 said:

 

 

 

I like to ask kindly to Kev or one of the other mods to move this thread to Work in Progress. TIA!

 

 

Done!

 

Kev

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks, Kev! 

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

A very small update this time.

I decided to touch-up the outer sides of the logo on the fin by lightly spraying white paint while protecting the edges with an old business card.

Unfortunately I ruined the logo on port side by squirting too much paint, so I had to remask and respray it.

 

Here it is remasked, this time with tape instead of a vinyl mask and ready for spraying:

 

I found a suitable box to support the model on its side.

 

Here, the masks are removed:

 

Just a little bit of overspray and small patches of paint lifting.

Nothing serious, I'm a happy bunny.

 

To be continued.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

This weekend I sprayed the registration using my own masks made with my Silhouette cutter.

The centres of the P and the B were tacked with scrap pieces of vinyl before transferring the mask to the model:

You can draw on the Oramask 810 vinyl, which is very convenient.

I have drawn on some lines to help with alignment of the letters with the red line.

 

This is the other side of the fuselage with additional masking:

 

And here is the underside of the left wing:

 

You can see from the air pockets below the vinyl that it doesn't like raised rivets that much.

Before I sprayed every letter, I carefully pressed down the vinyl to minimize overspray.

You cannot avoid it completely though...

 

Revell 302 black enamel was used. It covers well and overspray is easily removed with a cocktail stick immersed in white spirit.

This is the result:

 

 

And the wing:

 

There is a little bit of overspray and paint lift, but it will be easy to correct.

That will be the next job after the paint has hardened.

 

To be continued.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Excellent work, Peter!

 

Kev