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


ChuckD

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2 hours ago, Dennis7423 said:

 

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

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

It really is a simple fix and I'll use it on mine , it could've been worse . I still believe that it shouldn't be that way to begin with. I don't know what if anything HKM can do about it . Maybe in future versions have it corrected possibly? They really should know about it to give them a fighting chance. The rest of the kit is bad a$$ !

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Send them an email. I did to tell them how much I liked the A-20, and to suggest they might follow it up with a proper A-26. I received an email quickly from Neil Yan, who I think may be the owner? At any rate, he agreed with me that the A-26 (and the B-26 Marauder) would be good subjects for 1/32nd scale kits. Take that as you will. The point is that he appears to listen, so it might not be a bad idea to drop him a line about the firewall issue. And also let him know how much you'd like kits in 1/32nd scale of the two B-26s, the Invader and Marauder.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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1 hour ago, Learstang said:

 I received an email quickly from Neil Yan, who I think may be the owner? 

 

Neil is very, very receptive to e-mails and feedback. He is a modeler at heart, and wants to produce good products for us builders. He enjoys some dialogue, so messaging him can actually be quite fun! The B-26 has been discussed with him before, and he was originally cooled to the idea, fearing that there are too many variations. Perhaps some dialogue along the lines of how Hasegawa tackled their 1/72 B/C and F/G variants might do the trick.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

Edited by Dennis7423
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Just catching up here Chuck, and whereas before I had no interest in this aircraft for some reason I simply cannot look away! Your build is that good. Thanks for sharing your work here.

 

Cheers,  Tom

Edited by Uncarina
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2 hours ago, Uncarina said:

Just catching up here Chuck, and whereas before I had no interest in this aircraft for some reason I simply cannot look away! Your build isthat good. Thanks for sharing your work here.

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

Tom, go spend some time around the one at Pima. It will whet your appetite to build one!

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

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I'd be very hard pressed to believe they're not aware of how things go together on the right engine.  Maybe I'm naive to the world of injection molded model engineering, but wouldn't they have built a bunch of test kits during the QA processes?  

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3 hours ago, ChuckD said:

I'd be very hard pressed to believe they're not aware of how things go together on the right engine.  Maybe I'm naive to the world of injection molded model engineering, but wouldn't they have built a bunch of test kits during the QA processes?  

You would certainly think so but ya neva know. When someone not too long ago built a test build , I wonder if they ran into the same problem, I haven't heard anything. It's definitely an issue.

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Hello, all.  Just a couple quick updates tonight.  Been busy for the last week or so, and my schedule doesn't show any signs of slowing down, so updates will take a bit longer for the time being.

 

Anyway, the props went together just fine.  The blades are keyed to the hub, but it's a small key and one can still install the blades upside down.  So, go carefully there.  I used the UMM Propmaster jig for the first time and it was handy here, but not required.

 

PXL-20230712-000227437.jpg

 

Here you can see the areas that required filling with epoxy putty.

PXL-20230712-003313829.jpg

 

PXL-20230712-003320735.jpg

 

PXL-20230712-003607017.jpg

 

PXL-20230712-003613166.jpg

 

I shot it all with primer after these photos and cleaned up a few of the rougher spots.  I'll prime again next and, if all looks good glue the wings on!

PXL-20230712-003617902.jpg

 

Here's a neat little trick for masking round engines while still being able to reach the inner edges of the cowl with paint.  Take a circle template and cut a paper circle just larger than the opening of the cowl.  I used the 1 3/8" template here.  Cut a small X in the center and extend one leg of the X all the way to the edge of the circle.  Wiggle into place around the prop shaft, overlapping the cut to achieve perfect fit.  

PXL-20230712-010741156.jpg

 

More to come soon.  

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Hello, all.  Back with another quick update.  

 

Today we reached a new milestone by making the wings permanent.  Technically, I'm only halfway there (insert Bon Jovi reference here) as I have only glued the top join of the wing.

 

Using Tamiya extra thin, I ran a bead along each upper wing root (individually) and gently held the wing level with the root stub.  This approach left a very clean upper join...

PXL-20230718-231302385.jpg
PXL-20230718-231309442.jpg

 

... The bottom however has a gap of maybe a half mm or so.  There's enough give in the lower wing such that I think I can run a bead of ultra thin CA glue and get it to line up okay.  I will wait till tomorrow to try it in order to give the Tamiya cement time to harden.  I don't want to wrench on the lower wing and muck up the upper join.
PXL-20230718-231324553.jpg
PXL-20230718-231328078.jpg
 

If you're in the "close enough" camp, the locking wing provides a decent fit without any glue.  In all, the wing fit is a really solid piece of engineering.

 

I hope to wrap up the remainder of the bills this week and get a little paint on it before the end of the weekend.  My next week is nuts, so progress will continue to remain pokey.

 

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