1/32 Hasegawa Ki-61 Tei Hien

[JayW]

John - you are one of those rare modelers whose work stands up to the electron scanning microscope.  It just amazes me how you can get precision down so small.  It's beautiful.  

 

So rookie question - what is the deal with black CA?  Why?  Is it just like other CA's except black?  Does it come in different viscosities?  BTW - I really like the idea of using a Q-tip soaked in CA debonder.  Good idea, and no doubt alot better than spit (what I use).

Edited April 29, 2023 by JayW

[Troy Molitor]

Hey John,

What are you using with the Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 application?  Is the spray from a can or are you using an airbrush and what type of airbrush?  Just curious.  

I'm in the market for an airbrush upgrade and the reason for my question.  Thanks.   

[Thunnus]

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

 

8 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Hey John, nice work, what grit did you sand the wingtops with ??

Thanks Mike!  For the initial sanding to remove the small mounds of plastic around each rivet hole, I've been using #400.  I follow up with #600 and then check my work using a brown pastel wash.  If any rivets or panel lines have trouble holding a wash, I'll re-rivet or re-scribe as necessary.  The wing tops get scrubbed in the kitchen sink with a soft toothbrush and then I Micromesh the surfaces with #600 and #800 to get the surface ready for paint.

 

 

2 hours ago, JayW said:

John - you are one of those rare modelers whose work stands up to the electron scanning microscope.  It just amazes me how you can get precision down so small.  It's beautiful.  

 

So rookie question - what is the deal with black CA?  Why?  Is it just like other CA's except black?  Does it come in different viscosities?  BTW - I really like the idea of using a Q-tip soaked in CA debonder.  Good idea, and no doubt alot better than spit (what I use).

Thank you Jay!  There is a bit of rubber in the black CA that I use.  It makes the dry CA a little less hard and easier to sand than regular CA.  But still hard enough to feather smoothly and scribe over afterwards.  The black color is helpful to mark the areas that I've filled.  This is the one that I use...

 

2 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

Hey John,

What are you using with the Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 application?  Is the spray from a can or are you using an airbrush and what type of airbrush?  Just curious.  

I'm in the market for an airbrush upgrade and the reason for my question.  Thanks.   

Hi Troy!  I apply the Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 using an airbrush thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner.  I'm shooting it through my normal airbrush, which is an Iwata HP-C Plus.  I find the Iwata (3mm needle) suitable for 95% of my work.  When I want REALLY fine lines, I use a Badger SOTAR, which has a 2mm needle.

[crobinsonh]

Lovely work on what is a very pretty fighter. 

[denders]

John, where are you buying the black CA from?

[MikeMaben]

15 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Thanks Mike!  For the initial sanding to remove the small mounds of plastic around each rivet hole, I've been using #400.  I follow up with #600 and then check my work using a brown pastel wash.  If any rivets or panel lines have trouble holding a wash, I'll re-rivet or re-scribe as necessary.  The wing tops get scrubbed in the kitchen sink with a soft toothbrush and then I Micromesh the surfaces with #600 and #800 to get the surface ready for paint.

Thanks John, wow, it looks finer than that.

 

5 hours ago, denders said:

John, where are you buying the black CA from?

AK makes black CA too. Since it has rubber in it they recommend 'shake well before use'.

 

BSI

 

AK

 

 

[Thunnus]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:38 PM, denders said:

John, where are you buying the black CA from?

 

As Mike pointed out, the BSI black CA is available at Amazon.  I've been buying mine on EBay.  Also recommend getting a good CA glue debonder, if you don't have one already.  It's really helpful cleaning off excess CA glue.

 

[scvrobeson]

8 hours ago, Thunnus said:

As Mike pointed out, the BSI black CA is available at Amazon.  I've been buying mine on EBay. 

 

Burbank House of Hobbies might be easier and closer for you to get black CA.

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Progress is slow because I've not been on the bench as consistently as I have been in the past.  Lots of things on the plate right now so I'm having to squeeze in the bench time whenever I can.

 

In similar fashion to the wing tops, the wing bottoms have been riveted.

 

 

I'll have to pay special attention to the surface of the wing bottoms since natural metal finishes will reveal even the smallest imperfections.

 

 

I've glued the wing spar and the fuselage bottom into place.  The rear joint will be addressed now but I may wait to do the front joint after the wing bottoms are attached.

 

 

The clear parts have been dipped into Future and masked using Eduard masks.

 

 

Before I attach the windscreen and rear canopy, some final shots of the cockpit.  If you remember... I fabricated an oxygen mask from the pilot figure and laid it upon the seat.

 

[JayW]

What a unique build John, and beautiful attention to minute detail.  Where did you get the plans for this Japanese bird (like for the wing rivet patterns)?  

Edited May 4, 2023 by JayW

[Thunnus]

2 hours ago, JayW said:

What a unique build John, and beautiful attention to minute detail.  Where did you get the plans for this Japanese bird (like for the wing rivet patterns)?  

 

Thanks so much Jay!  Glad you are enjoying this little build!  I've got a hold of several older Japanese publications, including Model Art #428, in PDF format.  Model Art #428 has some scale plan and profile drawings, which I used to approximate the rivet patterns I applied on my model.

 

[monthebiff]

Just catching up with your build John, superb as ever and your work on the new nose section has really paid off.

 

Regards. Andy 

[Thunnus]

Thank you very much Andy! The work on the Hien Tei continues slowly.  After painting the interior frames black, the windscreen was glued into place with a combination of Tamiya Extra Thin (plastic-plastic connections) and CA glue (plastic-resin connections).

 

 

The obvious gaps were filled in with White Milliput.  After the windscreen/fuselage joint was cleaned up, the area was sealed with Mr Primer Surfacer 1000.

 

 

The prop blades and spinner components were given a base coat of Tamiya AS-12 Silver (decanted into the airbrush).  Hairspray was applied over the silver before the brown color (2:1 mix of Tamiya XF-79 Deck Brown and Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red).  Rubbing a stiff paint brush moistened with water will disrupt the hairspray layer and create a chipping effect.  The chipping effects were sealed with a gloss coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss).  The yellow stripes near the prop tips were masked and painted.  The yellow data plates are decals from the Wolfpack Flying Swallows Part 2 decal sheet.

 

 

The prop spinner will be two-tone in color and still needs the blue to be masked and painted.

 

[Trak-Tor]

Excellent!

 

Juraj

[mc65]

your works are ultimate, it's really difficult to imagine to do better or at least at same level. in that sense are a little bit frustrating, but either they're terrific and inspirational!