Avia S.199 - 1/48 Hobbycraft kit - complete

Kit decals look fine:


The sprues:






Glass is actually better than I remember, but not perfect. With all that resin going into the cockpit I'll be leaving the canopy open anyway...


Cannon gondolas - have soft detail & one barrel has already snapped. Most pics I've seen show these installed but I'll look around some more. I may see if I can scavenge replacements from that Academy kit I have.

So, the cockpit situation:





Decent raised detail.


Hey, I've seen worse.



BUT, the Aires set:


PLUS all sorts of PE bits, AND acetate instrument dials.

WHY did I do a wash on sidewall details that I will need to scrape out to make room for the Aires detail set?



Cuz I was bored but too tired to do anything else, that's why. (I'm also thinking this will actually give me a better shot of getting my detail removal down to a consistent level.)

Wing unit assembled after a dry-fit reveals that it's a near-perfect fit. Various attachment point holes have been drilled out, BUT I realized after the fact that I didn't cut out what appears to be a landing light in the wing? I was NOT looking for that on this Czech-built bird.



Dipped the clear parts in a bath of Future cut with isopropyl alcohol… VERY nice result, smoother than usual & super-clear. (I've been using the same bottle of Future for at least a decade. I only open the big bottle long enough to re-stock my small bottle, so it hasn't gone off, but I suppose, inevitably, it has gotten a little thicker?)


So, the cannon gondolas… barrels were separated from the pod while on the sprue, the only parts damage I came across.


I may be able to steal a fresh pair from an Academy kit I have in the stash, orrrrr, cut/slice/drill out...


and prep some brass tubing. Slightly thicker than the styrene, but it'll have the tube cross-section.




Cockpit assembly, mostly assembled.


Assembled & washed, a few touchups to do & need to add a little paintwork to the fuel line.

Vance,

I couldn't get my  tail strips to adhere and conform like you did.  Good job, I just finished one OTB for the 109 build.  Yours looks better.

Internal fiddlybits gathered up. Gave the cockpit a little more weathering/dust before tucking it into the fuselage, but:



~BAMM!!!~



Took me an inordinate amount of time to get alignments confirmed & commit to the superglue, but, happy with the final result.



Glad I put the work into it - in 1/48 that cockpit set is visible.



Guns not quite done, was more concerned with alignments at the time. Now in place & set up, need to add a little more CA or putty, smooth out that shape around the barrel before priming.



Dry-fit...

Inspection time - paint shade is approved by Agent 003.



The tail area got another light coat last night, a couple of touchups at the leading edge wingroots too. Landing gear tires were hit with another darker coat of "rubber", much better now. Cannon gondolas were also painted, think they need a little touchup at the cannon barrel though.

So, dropped by ANOTHER dollar store last night looking for the elusive cheap plastic toothbrush. No luck. Started wandering around looking for tooth-pick-ish options and found....



Tips have a point of course, there are some other shapes that can be hacked off of these as well. Could be useful after all.


Certainly hope it works, because I've gone & sliced up the wingtips.


LOVE that Humbrol flat red enamel.


Wheels need a few washes & weathering etc., but pretty close now.

Decal issues! Test decal broke up last night, so out came the Microscale liquid decal film. Gave it a coat & let it sit overnight. First two this morning went alright, third (topside wing) cracked in two. Anchored the larger piece while keeping the smaller piece wet, then slid that smaller piece into place & quickly set it.

Second round of decal film has been applied.

So the prop needed a bit of work. Hobbycraft provides a spindle with several ridges in it. You are supposed to trap one end of it between the fuselage halves, then assemble the prop hub around the other end, so it'll spin? The holes were too big on both ends of that equation. So I used those holes as a starting point & opened them up to match a length of styrene tube.



Annnnnd a little progress was made last night with the last of the fiddlybits, as I watched the big hockey game. Looks like I managed to open up the hole on the fuselage a little too much though. A quick wrap of masking tape on the rod will snug it up some.

A few more panel line wash sessions over the past few days, did some dot-filtering this morning too. (craft acrylics cut with dish soap, not oils) Subtle, but you CAN see a little difference in person. May show better in properly-lit final pics, but figured I'd snap these now as I was headed out for coffee +wifi anyway...

So the drinky-swords are a little awkward to deal with, shape-wise. I think next time I might try to get that 90º corner by sanding instead of slicing? Anyway, coloured lights are in place, need to sand & shape them tonight.






Funny, how HUGE that notch looks when you take a chunk out of the wing with an Exacto knife, but the lights seem so tiny when trying to place them!

Side note - just for kicks I tried the ol' sprue-stretching method on these hunks of plastic - it works, super-easy. I'm thinking, nav lights for 1/72 could use a piece of the stretched version as the "bulb", then have a drop of CA or Future added on top?

Armour plate section one… 5PE parts


How small ARE these parts? The little brackets with the "fingers" on them:
[img]http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af250/VanceCrozier/Avia%20S199/IMG_8974sm_zpscbxhrers.jpg[img]



I managed to bungle up the fold on those lower connection points so they've been omitted in favour of more CA along the bottom of the plate!

modelcrazy

Vance,

I couldn't get my  tail strips to adhere and conform like you did.  Good job, I just finished one OTB for the 109 build.  Yours looks better.

Modelcrazy!! Thanks man. Did you use the box decals as well? I needed a couple layers of Liquid Decal Film just to make sure they didn't break up to start with. Then I did one side of the rudder on one night, using MicroSol on it, and spent a fair amount of time pushing the over-hanging edges into place. Once that was done & set & dry, I actually used some sandpaper to get rid of the overhanging piece of the decal, then sealed it up with white glue. Two days later, I repeated the process. And after THAT was done, I did some touchups with red and white paint!

I like it a lot Vance!  Neat subject too, early Israeli airpower was certainly interesting...and sometimes somewhat ironic too.    You did a great job on this kit!

Gary

VanceCrozier

I did one side of the rudder on one night, using MicroSol on it, and spent a fair amount of time pushing the over-hanging edges into place. Once that was done & set & dry, I actually used some sandpaper to get rid of the overhanging piece of the decal, then sealed it up with white glue. Two days later, I repeated the process. And after THAT was done, I did some touchups with red and white paint!

Mine way over hung the rudder, and just came apart as I was maneuvering them. I was going to paint the stripes, but I figured, what the heck, the only people who will know the deference are the ones familiar with the subject. This does not include anybody at my home where it will be displayed. The rest of the decals gave me fits but started to behave after several coats of MicroSol.

Additional kudos for that build, Vance !!

Would be a good reason to celebrate by opening a fresh bottle of Manischewitz wine.

.

.....and maybe some catnip for Agent 003

I can guarantee the catnip.... I may swap the Manischewitz for a good cup of coffee though.  ;)