Infinity Models Aichi D3A1 Val

[AlexM]

On 6/11/2023 at 8:20 AM, Borsos said:

Nice! You‘re not the only one using such a digital microscope for detail work. Thinking about dipping my tooth into that water, too. So you can coordinate the work of your hands well when you deal with the actual piece(s) but only see a digitally enlarged picture on a screen from a slightly (?) different angle?

Andreas

 

Hi Andreas. The digital microscope is indeed very usefull when it comes to tiny precise drilling. I wouldn't be able to open gun barrels otherwiese. If you place the microscope direcly in front of you, showing to the object more or less the same angle as your view (so you don't actually see the object you want to drill, since it is hidden behind the microscope), the movement of your hands are more ore less the same as it is shown on screen.

 

I made some progress with the engines, and glued together the main landing gear. The exhausts are quite challenging, consisting of several parts. But it seems to have been successful so far. Not sure about the grey color of the forward engine part. I painted it with some grey color which tourned out very similar as the actually styrene of the kit , so maybe I'll repaint it with something lighter/less blue.

 

For the landing gear, there are corresponding recesses on the wings. They aren't very deep, so I glued styrene parts in the middle of the recesses. They are not high enough for the landing gear to be plugged on without glue, but at least they will give the glue a bit more area to melt together the landing gear with the wings.

 

Cheers

Alex

 

 

[MikeMaben]

8 hours ago, AlexM said:

           They aren't very deep, so I glued styrene parts in the middle of the recesses.

 

[AlexM]

Time for another update. I painted the propeller with Alclad II aluminium:

 

Just afterwards, I decided to add some styrene to dress up the propeller hub a little bit :

 

 

The back of the propellers still needs to be painted brown.

 

So here we are at the moment. Engine and cowling currently are only loosely stuck/taped on (sorry for the picture quality. It's getting dark outside):

 

 

 

Cheers

Alex

 

 

 

[Jim Barry]

Looking great! 

[Hans]

It does indeed! It also almost falls together. Hardly any filling or sanding. 

[dennismcc]

This is going together very nicely, looking good.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[AlexM]

Thanks guys. I have been on holiday in South Tyrol for the last few days, which is why this project has been on hold.

 

On 6/19/2023 at 7:08 AM, Hans said:

It does indeed! It also almost falls together. Hardly any filling or sanding. 

 

This is probably due to the poor photo quality

Since I wanted a more or less sharp trailing edge, there was a rather large step from the upper wing to the wing root fairing which required some filling and sanding. The surface details of the wing roots have suffered.

 

 

 

That was before I went on holiday. Today, I sprayed some grey paint on the area. I guess it could be worse  We'll see if I can be bothered to restore some of the surface detail.

 

 

Cheers

Alex

Edited June 25, 2023 by AlexM

[Thunnus]

Very nice work, Alex!  I love your additions to the prop hub!  Did gluing on the small extension tubes to the exhaust work out better than gluing the tubes onto the engine backs?

[MikeMaben]

             Welcome back Alex  

[AlexM]

7 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

             Welcome back Alex  

Hi Mike, thanks for stopping by

[AlexM]

16 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Very nice work, Alex!  I love your additions to the prop hub!  Did gluing on the small extension tubes to the exhaust work out better than gluing the tubes onto the engine backs?

I'm not sure which approach is better.
Gluing all the different exhaust parts together and aligning them was quite a hassle. But in the end you can hardly see anything of it, as it is mostly covered by the engine cowling. I think it would even work if you just glued the exhaust to the bulkhead and didn't bother with attaching it to the engine.

 

The hollow two-half end piece must be attached to the exhaust. The raised "nub" onto which the end piece was to be attached was not exactly a perfect fit. So I removed the nub and just glued and aligned the end piece with my Mk1 eyeball. I did not take a photo of this, so I made this highly accurate drawing:

 

[Thunnus]

Thanks Alex!  Yes, I also discovered that the exhaust tips did not fit well.  In addition to removing the raised portion that you highlighted in red, I also drilled out a hole there to better give the impression of hollowness.

[Thunnus]

Another question, Alex... what does the cowling attach to?  The engine?  Or the bottom fuselage near the exhaust stacks? I'm still bogged down in the tedious removal of rivets... there's LOTS of them!

Edited June 28, 2023 by Thunnus

[AlexM]

2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Another question, Alex... what does the cowling attach to?  The engine?  Or the bottom fuselage near the exhaust stacks? I'm still bogged down in the tedious removal of rivets... there's LOTS of them!

Contrary to what is somehow indicated in the instructions, the cowling does not seem to be connected to the fuselage via the engine, but only via the radiator.

 

Talking about the radiator, which consists of several parts and forms some kind of unusual V-shape when viewed from the front, i got two very noticeable seams. I don't know how the real thing looked like on close-up, but I decided to fill the seams with some styrene (radiator and cowling just plugged to the fuselage without glue at the moment):

 

 

 

[Gazzas]

Enjoying your build, Alex.  The detail added to the prop spinner is awesome!