Cry (HKM A-20G) Havoc and let the fly the decals of (miniature) war(planes)!

[TimW]

That is just looking beautiful!

 

Now if only they'd speed up getting some PTO decals out there!  Or we'll have to get creative!

 

Cheers,

 

Tim W.

[ChuckD]

Decals schmecals.  A laser printer and a mask cutter and we're off n runnin'.

[ChuckD]

Following hot on the heels of my lighthearted sass above, it's time for another update.

 

I spent quite a bit of time getting the two engines around last night and am almost done with them.  As it stands now, the left is complete, but the right still needs the exhausts installed.

 

I was so interested in answering the question about the cowls that I forgot to take pictures of the completed engine before I glued everything together.  From the bottom of my heart: my bad.

 

The left engine, tucked away safely in the correct cowling.  The decal is a rando from the Airscale cockpit placard set that fit the pad for it.  

 

Here is the back of the engine with the Goldberg-esque exhaust stack setup.  To HKM's credit, they did a very nice job in the instructions of making sense of the huge fustercluck that is the exhaustopus™.  As you can see, I didn't paint the back of the engine as I have only so much sanity and precisely none of it will be visible once everything is together without a dental mirror and x-ray specs.  

 

As you can see, I did spray just a little black around exhaust stacks to begin the soot staining.  Will it be visible once the whole thing is together?  Probably not, but I slept better last night, so that's a win.  Honestly, my recommendation for the exhaust stacks is to cut off the little locator pins that mate the pipe to its respective cylinder head.  They don't always line up just how you want them and it's more of a pain than it's worth.  I'd say I cut the locator pin off 1/3rd of stacks.  I used thin liquid superglue to simply glue the exhaust stacks to the cowl flaps themselves.  Seemed to work just fine and everything is nice and firm.  The whole mess also fits nicely in the nacelle.

 

See also:

 

See also also:

 

With engines dry fit, she's really starting to look the part. 

 

I did have to do some minor surgery to get the right engine to fit properly, but I'll post that in a subsequent update.  Suffice to say the angle of the firewall part on L21 (mentioned extensively on the previous page) did, in fact, lead to some kookiness.


 

We've talked at length about the cowling setup on this beast.  I found this little tidbit to be very very interesting.  Each L sprue (the engine sprue), of which there are two, has eighteen exhaust pipes for each fourteen cylinder engine.  That says to me that they're already gearing up for the early style exhaust/cowl arrangement that has the stacks exiting the cowl individually, rather than through the cowl flaps.  

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by ChuckD

[Learstang]

I'd certainly love to see them do some earlier versions like a 'B' or 'C'. That would take a new fuselage, or at the very least the centre-section needs to be redone for the gunner's position. What I'd really like to see would be a Soviet version with the big UTK-1 turret installed in the original gunner's position. If HKM don't come out with this, then I hope somebody will come out with a conversion for it. That version would look great next to my HB Il-2.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[ChuckD]

I, for one, welcome all models of A-20 Havoc/Boston.  

 

That said, I was in error and let my excitement get the best of me.  The four "extra" pieces left over from assembling the left engine exhaust are actually used in the assembly of the right engine.  There will be four left over pieces from the right.  HKM made all varieties of exhaust pipe shape on both sprues.

 

Sorry for the misinformation.  

Edited July 6, 2023 by ChuckD

[TankBuster]

Those engines look fantastic. Cheers.

[ChuckD]

Okay, this is what I was talking about with the right engine.  The only way the firewall part can slot into the nacelle is at a decent rotational angle.  

 

See here:

 

When I tried to put the engine on, I got to about here before *something* interfered and things came to a halt.

 

It looked like one side of the cowl was hitting the bottom of the wing due to the rotated angle of the engine.  It was clear, however, that the keying of the stub on the firewall piece was preventing the rotation of the engine to the point where it would fit nicely.

 

Sooooo, channeling the subtlety that embodied my recent P-38 build, I got out my trusty exacto blade and made a minor adjustment.

 

 

Aaaand....

Ta da! 

 

Way more better. 

 

I don't know... I don't *think* this one is on me.  I think I got all the right parts in the right places, so I'm very curious to hear the progress and experience of others as they move through the engine install.  

 

Last night I finally fit the control surfaces and they went on without fuss.  I also finished the exhaust on the right engine and then glued both engines to the wing.  Once I get the cowl/wing/nacelle joins cleaned up, I'll glue on the wings, then it's off to the paint booth.

 

Currently, with probably 90% of the parts in place, the nose sits firmly on the wheel, but there is not so much weight on the dime store nose gear assembly that it's at any real risk of falling on its tail.  The only major assembly left to put in place that's aft of the CG is the turret, so I'm pretty confident it won't be a tail squatter.   

 

 

 

 

[CRAZY IVAN5]

Wouldn't L21 be handed too as there are differences between the left and right nacelles, apparently not , hmmmm. I'll have to see how mine pans out ,but I will make a note of it. Your build is very informative , I'm on the edge of my seat! You're also doing a fantastic job in this build very nice work. If only I could do this level of quality work.  

[ChuckD]

Thank you for the compliment.  Yes, I believe L21 would very much benefit from being a handed piece, especially because it is keyed to the nacelle.  But, it's definitely not... So the left side slid right on (once I figured out the cowling issue) and the right was stuck at about the 2/3rds mark.  Please update with what you find.  

[CRAZY IVAN5]

1 hour ago, ChuckD said:

Thank you for the compliment.  Yes, I believe L21 would very much benefit from being a handed piece, especially because it is keyed to the nacelle.  But, it's definitely not... So the left side slid right on (once I figured out the cowling issue) and the right was stuck at about the 2/3rds mark.  Please update with what you find.  

I will kind sir though it may be a little while , in the process of masking the "Nick" , a little more involved than I first thought . I'm gaining on it. I have to clear the bench before I can start the Havoc[ which I'm itching to do].And you're very welcome , you've earned it!

[CRAZY IVAN5]

I just checked my kit and the L 21 are the same and they shouldn't be , the firewalls are part of the nacelles, so the nacelles are handed the firewalls need to be also , I dunno maybe someone can get ahold of Neil at HKM and let him know , it's a little wonky. I will most likely do the same thing that you did to get it together , we shouldn't have to do this[ in a perfect world ,I suppose], You didn't do anything wrong!

[Gazzas]

Great stuff!

[ChuckD]

On 7/8/2023 at 4:34 PM, CRAZY IVAN5 said:

I just checked my kit and the L 21 are the same and they shouldn't be , the firewalls are part of the nacelles, so the nacelles are handed the firewalls need to be also , I dunno maybe someone can get ahold of Neil at HKM and let him know , it's a little wonky. I will most likely do the same thing that you did to get it together , we shouldn't have to do this[ in a perfect world ,I suppose], You didn't do anything wrong!

 

Well, that's comforting in any case.  Glad it wasn't the most common problem - operator error.  What a strange engineering choice.

[CRAZY IVAN5]

13 minutes ago, ChuckD said:

 

Well, that's comforting in any case.  Glad it wasn't the most common problem - operator error.  What a strange engineering choice.

A strange engineering choice ? I'm thinking it was a misfire, I don't think they caught it nor do they know about it. Might have to let them know there's a glitch in the matrix. Really kind of surprised considering how the rest of the kit is laid out.

[Dennis7423]

3 hours ago, CRAZY IVAN5 said:

A strange engineering choice ? I'm thinking it was a misfire, I don't think they caught it nor do they know about it. Might have to let them know there's a glitch in the matrix. Really kind of surprised considering how the rest of the kit is laid out.

 

At least it's a pretty simple fix! Grateful for that.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA