Scale32 Posted May 4, 2023 Share Posted May 4, 2023 Milestone achieved. Looks terrific Kev, what paints are you planning on using? Cheers Bevan LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 4, 2023 Author Share Posted May 4, 2023 52 minutes ago, Scale32 said: Milestone achieved. Looks terrific Kev, what paints are you planning on using? Cheers Bevan That's more than 15 minutes ahead of me, so I haven't actually given it a thought yet! Probably whatever I have to hand, and if that's nothing, then I'll see what's in the SMS range. This plane will be wearing similar colours to the Kitty Hawk P-39 I built a few years back, so if I still have them (and they're any good), I'll just use those. Kev zaxos345, JayW and MikeC 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 16, 2023 Author Share Posted May 16, 2023 Pushing forward with this one, as I'm still trying to rid myself of all the ghost seams and improperly filled joins. I got sick of trying with the semi-circular section immediately behind the cockpit, so I added some token canopy rails instead - partly to help hide the joint problems in that area, and partly because it's very plain, and will be highly visible with the canopy slid back. The other thing I decided to do is something I should have tackled way earlier in the build, and probably prior to assembling the fuselage: represent the AN/APS-13 tail warning radar antenna on the fin. I figured this wouldn't be much of a problem...until I tried to do it! My initial idea was to simply drill holes on each side at the appropriate locations, and insert suitably sized wires to do the job. I'll spare you the gory details, but after a long series of ham-fisted mishaps, this approach proved to be an abject failure, and mostly due to poor planning and execution on my part. Suffice to say I broke a good half-dozen micro drill bits in the attempt. And then I had a bright idea! (Anybody worried, yet?) The Tamiya kit has this antenna array as a single piece of photo-etched stainless steel, so I thought I might be able to use it here on this build, and save me some pain. So I set about joining up my ill-fated holes to form a pair of slots, into which I could insert the Tamiya photo-etched part: I secured it initially with a liberal dose of Mr. Cement S, which melted the plastic to the tiny PE and grabbed it nicely. I then flooded the area with some thin CA. So far, so good! The next step was to pack out the nasty gouges on each side with some Milliput: It was really difficult working around the installed antenna, and I haven't achieved much more than making a bit of a mess. No idea how I'm going to clean it up and blend it in, so it could all end in tears. Stay tuned to find out! Kev denders, JayW, Jim Barry and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayW Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Bold modeling Kevin! Good luck with the tail radar. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Now that looks fiddley Kev, but it will look more authentic when finished. Cheers Dennis LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 I'm afraid I would turn that into a mangled mess before I was done. Here is hoping you do a better job than I could! LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Good recovery Kev. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyrosjzmichos Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Nice progress Kev! LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 16, 2023 Author Share Posted May 16, 2023 Thanks, fellas. I have a long-standing habit of making things difficult for myself when it comes to my builds, so this is nothing new. If this feature wasn't so prominent on this airframe ("Butch Baby" appears to have the surrounding area on the fin unpainted), I'd probably ignore it. I just hope I can get the wounds I created to blend in acceptably - something I have grave doubts about! But I'm on a mission to raise my game and build better models, and you can't make an omelette without wrecking a few tail fins. Kev dennismcc, Out2gtcha, Shoggz and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 No update just yet, but a question for the cognoscenti if I may. Below is an image of the aircraft I'm depicting: This shows one of those funky improvised car-style rear view mirrors mounted on the windscreen. Can anyone point me in the direction of finding one? I read a build suggesting there was one in the Tamiya kit, but I've been all over mind and can't seem to find it. I don't really even have a clear enough view of it to scratch-build one - and I'd prefer to avoid that anyway! Kev baffozac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 And to add to my bemusement, Brett Green's review of the Tamiya kit states the following: Quote Three different styles of sliding canopy are included, as are four styles of rear vision mirror. The problem is, I can only find one, which is the one called out in the instructions (and a different style to the one I need). Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Kev I will check my kit and I will let you know in a couple of hours!!! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furie Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 18 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: Thanks, fellas. I have a long-standing habit of making things difficult for myself when it comes to my builds, so this is nothing new. If this feature wasn't so prominent on this airframe ("Butch Baby" appears to have the surrounding area on the fin unpainted), I'd probably ignore it. I just hope I can get the wounds I created to blend in acceptably - something I have grave doubts about! But I'm on a mission to raise my game and build better models, and you can't make an omelette without wrecking a few tail fins. Kev The devil is in the details... Kev, I’m sure you’ll do something very good. I think it’ll just waste you a little time, but in the end we won’t see anything. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 4 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: The problem is, I can only find one... The Part numbers are P1, N1 and M1, and all 3 canopies are included in all 3 boxings of the P-51D kit (at least originally). If you got the kit second-hand, the first owner(s) might have removed the other two canopies from the kit. If I have time later, I'll scour the parts trees for the mirrors. Hopefully, someone will beat me to it. HTH, D LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Bellis Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 5 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: ...there was one in the Tamiya kit, but I've been all over mind and can't seem to find it. There are actually 5 mirrors in the Tamiya kit. Sprue B (horizontal stabilizers), parts 16 through 20: It looks to me as though you need part 18 for Butch Baby. HTH, D LSP_Kevin, zaxos345, JayW and 1 other 4 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