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ICM Bücker Bu 131A & Kokusai Ki-86a/K9W1 "Cypress"


Grunticus

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17 hours ago, hangarrat101 said:

While I don't know for sure about the original German/Japanese aircraft, the post-war Spanish-built aircraft have one door per side, which meet with a fairly narrow central strip under the centre of the cowling. The dark line in the photo is a stiffener on the inside. Quite useful for propping the cowling open.

 

Yes that line would be my choice. I am still in doubt...in the photo of the one sitting on it’s nose the curvature on the lower part of the panel clearly stops much earlier than on the kit part. But where would the narrow stripe be on this one: onder the engine block, or folded on the open upper panel, so to speak like a Fairey Gsnnet’s wing folds? Questions questions. If nothing definitive comes up I will go the Gannet route, twill at least lookinteresting.

 

5 hours ago, mozart said:

Agreed with hangarrat, one door per side. I posted the walk around pictures on the site (and accidentally included a Tiger Moth shot!.....oops) but checking those pictures made me notice that you haven’t included the 4 rigging lines from the nose to underwing Leon. Accident or design? :) They are easy enough to do. 

 

See above Max... still debating. I forgot those four rigging lines on the German, I will see if it can be rectified at this point. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

Incidently, Kokusai is still alive today as the Nissan car company (absorbed in 1946). I am wondering if they would respond to a request for information.

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The top wing lower side has been painted, and all rigging holes have been drilled.

 

f1ptwtP.jpg?1

 

For this one, I prepare better for rigging. I decided to drill holes half-way in to the wing for the top wing, and all the way through for the bottom wing. That way, I start by glueing a rigging line to the top wing, guide it through the hole in the lower wing, pull it tight a bit, and then add a drop of glue just above the hole and lastly pull that tightly gently into the hole. Last step will be filling and sanding the bottom-hole. So I will paint the plane complete, except for the lower wing because of the filling and sanding needed after rigging.

 

I can easily mask off the rest of the model for that job. Fingers crossed, but I tested this method on the German one, where a few rigging lines (the elevator ones) were missing and it went fairly well.

 

Right now, I am awaiting arrival of HGW seatbelts for this one. When they are in I can add the doors and prepare for painting. Here's the idea of things:

 

ghwH3tX.jpg?1

 

Edited by Grunticus
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  • 3 weeks later...

The HGW seatbelts arrived and are in. I opted to use the kit door parts instead of the Quickboost ones, they fit a lot better. I had a stab at engraving a few panel lines and accentuating others. I still have a long long way to go before I even begin to master that.... The one on the nose came out acceptable though.

 

Time for a base coat of MRP white primer followed by my MRP orange-mix.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I managed to do some work on and off. Here's the current state of affairs.

 

The engine looks quite nice built-in. Yes I know the panel lines I engraved are horrible :angry2: Need more practice...

 

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Since it does look good, I went through the trouble of making a new, thinner engine cover, made from a beercan, leftover PE fret, and Evergreen strip. The details on the inside are artistic licence and not accurate (as far as I know).

 

Q2tYOBl.jpg?1

 

The cammo is done too, some minor touching up left to do.

 

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  • 5 months later...

 

This build has been idle for a while due tho this and that. Here's where she stands now. I think ICM are the most promising company as of late. Good subjects, good engineering, great detail level, good fit, good pricepoint. And I love the way their grade of styrene holds up to the various processing steps like sanding, glue, paint, etc.

 

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The gear and finishing up will be next. I am content with the way the rigging-up went using this (to me) new method of drilling though-and-through the lower wing for easy tensioning of the wires, even if it means some extra filling and sanding of holes. Will do the same on the Tiger Moth.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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