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1/32 Zoukei-Mura Ta152H-0 White 7


Thunnus

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Although I'm not posting regularly, regular work is being performed on the Tank fighter.  But it is of the repetitive apply-dry-adjust-apply-dry-adjust cycle that I'm plodding through and not taking a great joy in documenting.  But the work continues.  And the work is starting to finally get somewhere.

 

Here is the work so far on the top side wing roots.  Slowly and surely we are addressing seams, finding new ones, addressing those until the ever-growing list eventually starts to get whittled down.  The giant seams were filled with stretched sprue and those a magnitude smaller were addressed with White Milliput.  Mr Surfacer 1000 was used for the fine fill work and many cycles were repeated as I'm striving to get some consistency on the panel lines.  I can't achieve perfection so my goal is for the panel lines not to call attention to themselves.  The photos are a bit deceiving since re-scribing often digs into the Milliput, which gives an opposite impression when the scriber hits the black plastic.
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Here is the view of the bottom.  This is a significantly more involved piece of work since the severity of the fit issues forced me to do a much more extensive fill operation to get everything on the same level.  The base putty work is just about complete.
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A coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 over the repair area shows how much of the detail has been eradicated.  I'll now start the slow, repetitive process of re-scribing, re-riveting and surface touch-ups that will be required since I'll be re-scribing through a minefield of different materials.
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The need for such extensive cleanup really raises the question what was ZM thinking when they creating the kit. I understand that adding internals make things more complicated but you wouldn’t expect that a the model is so hard to but together... in addition I can’t recall many reviews pointing out these issues or is my memory playing me tricks?

Edited by StefanGebhardt
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Again, I don't blame Z-M for all of this mess.  I think, with much more precision than I was able to muster, and a little luck, these fit problems could be avoided.  I personally am not a builder that incorporates too much internal detail in my builds and I think Z-M is gearing their kits toward those inclined.  It's all good... better to have choices and I applaud Z-M for bringing these subjects to the large scale format.

 

Thanks for all of the supportive comments!  I've needed the encouragement on this build with all of the corrective work that I've had to do.  But I think I've reached a turning point on this build. After a few iterations of leveling out the bottom as much as I could, I've added the detail back onto the surface.  And it wasn't as difficult as I had feared.  The mix of different putties and plastic behaved fairly well under my rescribing tools and rivet wheel.
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It may not look like much but that little area of real estate has set me back about a month or so.  I feel pretty good about where the Tank fighter stands right now and can finally start moving on.

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" that little area of real estate has set me back about a month or so".  

 

........I can believe it ! I've been there many times, I think we all have. it's funny how the smallest things on a build can sometimes just send you through the wringer.

 

I'm glad you made it past your hurdle, looks like the light of " the painting stage " is on the horizon.

All the best,

Cheers,

Pete

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Thanks guys!

 

Moving forward just a little bit, I've glued the mount to the annular radiator to the front of the fuselage.  It took quite a bit of sustained force to get it into place.
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View from the rear shows a significant step that will need to be corrected before I mount the radiator and flaps and front nose ring.  Does the fun never stop on this one???
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The actual radiator has been painted.  Only the inside even though the outside of the ring is fully detailed as well.
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You'll only see a portion of the inside.
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Thanks guys! As if fighting with the kit wasn't enough, my clumsiness almost produced a catastrophic accident and I was very, very lucky to come out of it unscathed.  I spilled a bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin on my work table.  Luckily, neither the Ta152H or G-14 models were within reach of the acid pool.  Two parts were and I quickly plucked them out and set them aside without touching them.  I was hoping that the glue would simply evaporate without too much damage.  And luckily, I was right.  Only some subtle tide marks left by the glue but, for the most part, we escaped without serious injury. WHEW!!!
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The joint between the radiator mount and fuselage has been straightened out. Scraped the step away with a curved x-acto blade and finished it off with some Mr Surfacer.
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Let's see what the radiator cowling pieces look like with some tape to hold things in place.
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At this point, the Henri Daehne prop assembly has been trimmed and ready for assembly so I wanted to dry fit it all on to see if the nose looks proper.  The hub has a lot of detail that will be hidden by the spinner.
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The spinner cone sits pretty nicely on the hub without glue so there may be an option to have it detachable.  Due to the presence of the cannon barrel, I won't be able to employ a micro magnet like I've done previously with a D-9 prop.
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I'm satisfied with the fit of the nose cowling pieces and the HD prop too so no issues foreseen here.  Don't let that top vent piece bother you... it'll sit down nice once the cowl flaps are glued on proper... they are pinching the opening too small for the piece to sit nicely.
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For painting, I was planning on utilizing the black plastic for some black basing but I've done so much corrective work and sanding that I need to double check that work.  I'm also afraid that alot of the rivet holes have been plugged with plastic and putty dust.  So I think I'm going to give the model a coat of grey primer, attend to all of the surface details and then do my customary dark-on-light preshade mottle.

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