Greg W Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 8 hours ago, CraigH said: Before I could take decent photos but..... Nice work Craig, love it! I have not examined this kit up close but it looks to me that it might be the best of the classic Airfix 1:24 line. Great job! 1 hour ago, D.B. Andrus said: Beautiful windscreen, Greg! Cheers, Damian It is so well engineered Damian, a real pleasure to put together. Peter is making me look good and he did us a real favor by making this. I hope it becomes available in the Airscale product line in the near future. On 2/11/2023 at 1:59 PM, Anthony in NZ said: Oh my that windscreen framing looks superb! Nice clean work! I know, it sure does look great! The center section is something to behold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 (edited) This is the second time I have built this and both kits were plagued by the same issue. Parts 54 and 57 are way to wide, expanding the fuselage halves so much, that the windscreen and cowling do not fit properly. This is corrected by sanding or scraping the areas in red (both sides) of parts 54 and 57 shown below: Test fitting revealed a gap at the bottom of this panel. A piece of .020 x .040 Evergreen strip was perfect for filling it. Edited February 15, 2023 by Greg W Anthony in NZ, albymoore, Landrotten Highlander and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 (edited) In addition to the .020 gap, the bottom of the panel opening was not straight, plus the top of the wing root protruded outwards past the bottom rear corner of the cowl. This issue does not exist on the right side. To fix it, I scraped and sanded back the area where the wing root blended up into the fuselage and cowling, then built up the "floor" of the opening with a mixture of thin super glue and Ammo of Mig gunmetal pigment. The consistency was mixed to a thick paste, then applied to the area needing to be built up. The home brew filler dries instantly with a hit of accelerator, sands easily and the time needed to fill seams or shape built up areas is greatly reduced compared to any other method I have used previously. The edges feather beautifully too. After shaping, the gap is now tight. The arrow is pointing to the area that previously extended outward, far beyond the cowl. Now the gaps and fit of the rear cowling look much better. Edited February 17, 2023 by Greg W jeroen_R90S, Alain Gadbois, Captain Boogaloo and 13 others 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Very useful description of your corrections! Thanks! Alain Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 (edited) For those of you who have seen my other post with these pictures, this is a little redundant but for the continuity of the thread I'm including them here too. This is a venerable old kit which I like but... those exhausts are nothing like the real deal. The most common fix has been to use evergreen square tube which does yield a much better end result. However, we now have aftermarket support to help us out. JP warbirds now offers a 3D printed set, https://www.jpwarbirds.com/plastic-kits/, which Captain Boogaloo mentioned on page one. The model as it comes in the box: I used a RB Productions micro saw to remove the flat panels in the exhaust shroud. The front end was opened up by drilling a hole and then I carved the opening to shape with #11 X-Zacto blade, finishing with a needle file and sandpaper. The printed material is extremely brittle so great care is needed to clean up the prints. Do not snip the supports off with cutters because chunks of material will quite often break away. Instead, carefully cut with a micro saw, slightly away from the exhaust pipe and then sand the remaining nub down. The exhausts loosely placed in the shroud for a test fit. Thank you Jiri for making these available! These look so good and because they come as complete exhaust pipes with a flange at the base, a modeler now has more options for displaying a super detailed engine. Looking at these images, I'm thinking that I would like to make the exhaust shrouds thinner. Not sure yet how I want to do that so I will sleep on it. Cheers friends, thanks for checking out my post. Edited February 24, 2023 by Greg W jeroen_R90S, Anthony in NZ, easixpedro and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 5 hours ago, Alain Gadbois said: Very useful description of your corrections! Thanks! Alain You are most welcome Alain! Are you maybe planning a build of this kit too perhaps? Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 Awesome work on those exhaust pipes! So finely done, lovely Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 20 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: Awesome work on those exhaust pipes! So finely done, lovely Hey man! Yeah, Jiri knocked those out of the park, I love how they look. I just asked him if he would do a control column (Should it be a KG 12 or KG 13 for the E-4? Anybody out there know?), so that might be on the way too. Anthony in NZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) The cockpit details are pretty crude. For the sidewalls, I have tossed aside what comes in the kit in favor of using evergreen sheet/strip stock to flesh out the inner structure. Job 1 is to blank off the big gap where the floor meets the side of the cockpit. .020 sheet is the foundation for the new sidewall. Edited February 19, 2023 by Greg W Captain Boogaloo, airscale, Anthony in NZ and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/17/2023 at 5:52 PM, Greg W said: You are most welcome Alain! Are you maybe planning a build of this kit too perhaps? Yes I am, I have 2 kits in the stash I want to build eventually. I mostly have pictures taken here and there around the internet plus some books. I have researched the gear wells and cockpit mostly. I like the riveting on the kit. I lighly sanded the raised rivets (on a small area to test). The result looks like counter sunk rivets with a small depression around on the skin surface. Quite convincing! Alain Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 I love this kind of build - take the canvas of a great kit and go to town to make something really special you also made an excellent job of that windshield, wonderfully accurate assembly! Peter Greg W and Anthony in NZ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha As Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Great job! Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.B. Andrus Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Master at work, really well done. Cheers, Damian Greg W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg W Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 On 2/19/2023 at 4:08 AM, MikeMaben said: Thank you Mike! On 2/19/2023 at 12:24 PM, Alain Gadbois said: Yes I am, I have 2 kits in the stash I want to build eventually. I mostly have pictures taken here and there around the internet plus some books. I have researched the gear wells and cockpit mostly. I like the riveting on the kit. I lighly sanded the raised rivets (on a small area to test). The result looks like counter sunk rivets with a small depression around on the skin surface. Quite convincing! Alain Really great suggestion for the rivet effect, thanks for mentioning that. I am going to try that too. I have a beading tool set from UMM, that I need to experiment with as well. On 2/19/2023 at 1:46 PM, airscale said: I love this kind of build - take the canvas of a great kit and go to town to make something really special you also made an excellent job of that windshield, wonderfully accurate assembly! Peter Thank you Peter! The etched folding lines in the parts work like a charm. I'm looking forward to detailing the interior of the windscreen when the time comes. The framework is so thin, a realistic representation can easily be done. It is such a beautifully designed set of photoetch! I am so pleased that you have made it and it exceeded the expectations I had after you green lit the project, in terms of ease of use (I knew it would look great!). On 2/20/2023 at 11:07 AM, Sasha As said: Great job! I Thank you sir! On 2/20/2023 at 11:24 AM, D.B. Andrus said: Master at work, really well done. Cheers, Damian Cheers Damian, thank you so much. I would like to get there but I don't feel like one, especially when I start painting my models! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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