Thunnus Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 16 hours ago, dodgem37 said: Very nice, John. Sincerely, Mark Thank you Mark! I appreciate the comments, as always! 12 hours ago, Nighthawk Calling 1 said: Looks great, coming together nicely. Thank you very much! 5 hours ago, Troy Molitor said: Some terrific efforts going on inside that pit. Thanks Troy! Finally got some fishing dates for July!!! 3 hours ago, Sturmbock said: The details literally jump out at you. Looks very lively and real! Really good. Lutz Thanks Lutz! That detail is about to get sucked into the black hole once the cockpit is assembled! 3 hours ago, Citadelgrad said: Your detail painting is really spot on, John. Thats really a nice result. open canopy? Thank you Bill! I elected not to pre-shade this cockpit with black since the RLM 66 is so dark. So all of the essential visual impact is going to come from the detail painting. And yes, I'm thinking about an open canopy on this one. Moving on with the cockpit construction, I am ready to put together the HGW seatbelts. You'll notice the packaging says Me262B... I like to buy Luftwaffe seat harnesses for the two seater because you get two sets of belts instead of one for a similar price. Most Luftwaffe fighters used the same type of harnesses. The mask set? Well, that's all they had in stock. HGW uses some sort of microfiber paper for the belt material and photoetched metal for the buckles. Some people report leaving the buckles on the photoetch frame for easier handling but I like to cut the buckles off and carefully trim off sprue attachment stubs. Remember to take off the backing from the harnesses! Per HGW recommendations, I like to crumple the harnesses before using. It helps loosen the material up a bit and also introduces some random folds and wrinkles. These effects are most noticeable on the longer pieces and sometimes I don't bother crumpling the shorter sections. I use PVA glue to secure the harness folds that hold the buckles in place. You could also use CA glue but the PVA allows better alignment of the folds. The sticky side of a Post-It is convenient for holding the crinkled harnesses down flat to verify consistent lengths and buckle spacing. After the shoulder straps are measured against the seat, they are finalized. The lap belts are constructed next. I've left off the attachment tabs on the seat end because (a) they can't bee seen anyway and (b) they would likely interfere with the already tight fit of the seat into the cockpit tub. The lap belts are glued into place onto the seat using CA glue. The shoulder belts are temporarily affixed to a Post-It. One interesting aspect about the HGW fabric material is that there is some subtle stitching details that have been depressed into the fabric. They are not as consistent as rivets on plastic but additional detail can be highlighted with a wash. So I am giving the belts a gloss coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss) and then a pastel wash of dark brown. Be advised that the crumpling step CAN mar the surface of the fabric so that the pastel wash can leave permanent stains. I'm ok with this. I can now start assembling the cockpit. The seat and control stick are glued into place using CA glue. I've added an oxygen tube per the directions on the Eagle Editions cockpit. The sidewalls and rear cockpit sill are next to be glued into place, again using CA glue. The foot pedals are glued into the roof, which is left completely unpainted because it will not be visible at all. The roof holding the foot pedals cap off the cockpit tub. Remember all of the careful painting including the bright yellow electrical wiring? Most of it disappears after the boxing in of the cockpit. The main instrument panel is glued into the front cockpit hood, along with the shelf for the Revi 16B gun sight. The cockpit stage is complete and we can verify the fit of the resin cockpit into the fuselage sides. daHeld, Paul in Napier, Greg W and 23 others 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Andrus Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Always a pleasure to watch a Master at work. Cheers, Damian Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stambaugh Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Following these expert builds is not only educational but also inspiring to try and do better with my own work. And not to beat a dead horse but I must say that IMHO it would be a crime to close the canopy on this pit. Thunnus and scvrobeson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Great looking cockpit, but a real shame to see all the detail disappear. I was quite amazed by that, especially the yellow wiring, what with yellow being such a hard colour to get decent coverage. Whose yellow did you use? Cheers, Michael Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 4 hours ago, D.B. Andrus said: Always a pleasure to watch a Master at work. Cheers, Damian Thanks Damian! 2 hours ago, John Stambaugh said: Following these expert builds is not only educational but also inspiring to try and do better with my own work. And not to beat a dead horse but I must say that IMHO it would be a crime to close the canopy on this pit. Thanks John! Well, I'm guilty most of the time then because I usually prefer my builds all buttoned up, including canopy. That Tempest build with the exposed engine must've set a precedent. 1 hour ago, Dpgsbody55 said: Great looking cockpit, but a real shame to see all the detail disappear. I was quite amazed by that, especially the yellow wiring, what with yellow being such a hard colour to get decent coverage. Whose yellow did you use? Cheers, Michael Thanks Michael! Ha ha... I'm quite familiar with this kit so I knew what was going to happen. The yellow wiring was Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow. I find Tamiya primary colors (red, yellow, blue, green) to be difficult to apply, whether by airbrush or paintbrush due to their lack opacity. When brush painting, I use the lid of the paint jar as my palette and add a couple of drops of 90% iso alcohol to act as a retarder. It seems to help the paint flow off the brush better. With the yellow, I had to build up the color using multiple strokes. The cockpit seems to fit into the fuselage without issue. I have some work to do before I can think of gluing the fuselage halves together. duke_, Madmax, Dpgsbody55 and 21 others 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citadelgrad Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Despite the tiny opening, what can be seen is really convincing. Looks very busy and realistic. Thunnus and Dpgsbody55 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Amazing work John, lovely looking cockpit. Regards. Andy Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Thanks for the iso alcohol tip, John. Must try that. I've been using Mr Hobby acrylic yellows lately which seem to cover better, but still require multiple applications. Cheers, Michael Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted June 20, 2022 Author Share Posted June 20, 2022 On 6/18/2022 at 11:28 PM, Citadelgrad said: Despite the tiny opening, what can be seen is really convincing. Looks very busy and realistic. Thanks Bill! I like to document the work that will be eventually hidden so I usually take a lot of photos of the cockpit. On 6/19/2022 at 5:55 AM, monthebiff said: Amazing work John, lovely looking cockpit. Regards. Andy Thanks Andy! Appreciate you looking in! On 6/19/2022 at 9:16 AM, Dpgsbody55 said: Thanks for the iso alcohol tip, John. Must try that. I've been using Mr Hobby acrylic yellows lately which seem to cover better, but still require multiple applications. Cheers, Michael I've learned to live with the need to build up certain colors like yellow with multiple coats. It helps to have a good sable brush. Unlike the Fw190A, the Dora had an open wheel well that allowed part of the Jumo 213 engine to be visible. Hasegawa provides a partial representation of the engine. Assembled, it provides a reasonable representation of the bottom rear of the engine including some ducts and also the ammo cannisters for the MG131 cannon mounted above the engine. I am going to add some more wiring in this area. Not going for accuracy here but I want to make it more believably busy, if that makes sense. Notice that the chutes coming out of the ammo cannisters have solid ends. The Eduard exterior set that I have includes brass replacements for the chutes. In order to make use of these hollow chutes, the openings on the bottom of the wings need to be opened up first. The plastic chutes are cut off and the replacement brass chutes are glued into the interior side of the wing bottom piece. Before the next round of dry-fitting, I glued the backings for the exhausts into place. Here is what the engine area looks like with the brass ammo chutes added. duke_, LSP_Kevin, scvrobeson and 23 others 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageEagle Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 The cockpit looks amazing John. Couldn't be done any better. Great work! What did you use for the oxygen tube connector? Was that part included as a resin part in the aftermarket cockpit? Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 Very nice. I like that connecting tube for the well wiring. Nice detail. Sincerely, Mark rafju, John Stambaugh, scvrobeson and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted June 22, 2022 Author Share Posted June 22, 2022 9 hours ago, VintageEagle said: The cockpit looks amazing John. Couldn't be done any better. Great work! What did you use for the oxygen tube connector? Was that part included as a resin part in the aftermarket cockpit? Thank you Roger! I capped the end of the oxygen tube with an Anyz line connector resin part. 7 hours ago, dodgem37 said: Very nice. I like that connecting tube for the well wiring. Nice detail. Sincerely, Mark Thank Mark! It's one of those things you notice after working on this kit multiple times! At some point, I think it was after my second build, I decided to extend the wheel wiring into the engine opening to provide visual continuity to that wiring run. A minor update showing the beautiful composite landing gear by Strategic Ordnance Works compared to the kit landing gear. These are resin over metal so they offer both strength and great detail. The Eduard exterior set has a pair of oleo scissors so I took a look and folded them up. However, I think I like the kit plastic parts better, which I've added some bolt detail using small punched discs of plastic. Another small detail that I want to address is the landing gear cover. The Hasegawa main landing gear cover has a noticeable gap at the base. In actuality, this cover extends into the wheel well. Due to the lack of spacing, I can't make that happen but I can reduce that gap visibly using pieces of sheet styrene. LSP_Kevin, HB252, Paul in Napier and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke_ Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 On 6/19/2022 at 8:59 AM, Thunnus said: Thanks Damian! Thanks John! Well, I'm guilty most of the time then because I usually prefer my builds all buttoned up, including canopy. That Tempest build with the exposed engine must've set a precedent. Thanks Michael! Ha ha... I'm quite familiar with this kit so I knew what was going to happen. The yellow wiring was Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow. I find Tamiya primary colors (red, yellow, blue, green) to be difficult to apply, whether by airbrush or paintbrush due to their lack opacity. When brush painting, I use the lid of the paint jar as my palette and add a couple of drops of 90% iso alcohol to act as a retarder. It seems to help the paint flow off the brush better. With the yellow, I had to build up the color using multiple strokes. The cockpit seems to fit into the fuselage without issue. I have some work to do before I can think of gluing the fuselage halves together. beautiful work John! amazing details! i like how you treated the instrument panel dials S. Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Smith Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 Nice work! Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaconroot Posted June 26, 2022 Share Posted June 26, 2022 Beautiful work as always John! Again thanks for sharing your work with the rest of us. It is appreciated. Jim Root Thunnus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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