WHOA! I can't believe it's been 9 months since I fondled this plastic! Well, I'm back with some progress to share. Another project that I was working on hit an unexpected roadblock, so I figured I'd get back to this beast...
First, thanks for the feedback on the sanding. It looked a lot worse than it really was. You'll see in the pictures that it wasn't that bad.
When I last posted, the fuselage halves were just about to go together. I got the fuselage and sponsons pieces glued together. Unfortunately, the fit wasn't perfect. I had to use some Mr. Surfacer to smooth things out. Then, when sanding to get a flush finish, I lost some of the raised surface detail. I tried to use some tape to protect some of the raised detail on the sponsons. Some creative masking and thick layers of Mr. Surfacer replaced some of the lost detail on the top of the fuselage.
After the fuselage went together, I attached and masked the clear parts.
I was also able to start on the painting. This is a simple kit and I'm doing it OOB, but I really wanted to focus on my painting skills. I wanted to try to replicate a patchy, worn paint job. The camo was free-handed. I hope it looks alright. Let me know if the demarcation lines should be "tighter" or if it looks OK as is. In the following pictures, everything is just dry-fitted together.
With most of the big pieces ready to go together, I started looking at some of the smaller stuff. One assembly I needed to tackle was the recue winch. The instructions were really vague about its attachment point, and the whole assembly was super-fiddly with just butt-joints to hold it all together.
So, I decided, I'd just eliminate the kit attachment parts and use some wire.
Two simple holes in the winch with corresponding holes in the fuselage give me a much stronger bond.
With the engine assembly's in place, you don't even notice the difference. Once everything is assembled and painted, things will look just fine.
Anyway, that's where things stand now. Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Feel free to share your comments, criticisms, and questions.
Cheers,
-O