Revell/Monogram 1:48 P-40B Flying Tiger AVG (Complete)

Wow, what a great build!  I love the engine and the detailing you're adding under the hood, Britt!  You've got great skills for scratchbuilding.  This kit is one of my all-time favorites, and the additions you're making make it a real jewel.

You mentioned about using Milliput.  I recommend it, especially if you haven't worked with 2-part putties.  It is relatively simple to work with, and is good for filling seams or for sculpting.  It comes in two logs, one of putty and the other of the catalyst, and you just mix equal parts by kneading, then use it for whatever application.  It can be smoothed with water while you work it--water applied with your fingertip, or with a brush-and when it sets, it takes sanding very well.  A box will also keep for a long time, though over time, the logs can start to dry out, forming a skin.  I've had a batch for over 20 years, and I can still use it, but I have to shave away the outer skin, to get to the good part.  I have that batch so long, because I moved to epoxy putties, settling on Aves Apoxie Sculp.

There are also different grades of Milliput, based on the fineness of the grain.  Anyway, you should get yourself some and see what you think.  From the rest of the work in this build, I suspect you'll pick up working with putty and become a master in no time.

Best regards,

Brad

Oh, I remembered one more thing about this kit, but I don't think it will be an issue for you, because you're adding the engine.  I noticed that the front edge of the fuselage is sometimes a little pinched, compared to the back side of the nose piece.  It can cause a visible step where the three kit pieces meet.  I've made spacers to push the sides of the fuselage out enough, to try to correct it, or at least, make it as invisible as I can.

Brad, thank you so much for everything packed into that post!  I long for helpful tips and methods of treating some of the trickier parts of scale model making.  I may stay in the dark about dealing with some particular snafu for quite a while until I stop being lazy and look for a better way to tackle it.  So it's posts like these that I'm only too happy to see.

I checked out the milliput site and was very happy about what I saw. This is exactly what I've been looking for.  Too many times I've thought how I wasn't happy with the shape something made and my only solution was to sand it down since I couldn't build it up proper.  So this will come in quite handy in the future.  I just needed to know where to look.  =]

And thanks again for the encouragement.  I'm afraid I might have bit off more than I can chew this time.  That ticking clock might get me! =P

They'll be more to come soon.

You're very welcome!  If anything I can add is helpful, I'm glad.  I'm looking forward to your next installment.

Last quick update here for a little while.  Honest! ;)

Started looking more at the wheel bay just so I don't have any surprises later on when I'm ready to get the wings together.  I realize the wheels will cover mostly everything, but since I'm going the distance already I figured I'd do a little something for all visible areas.  Didn't want to over do it and find issues with the fit so i settled for this:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Still going to fix up the landing gear here.  This is a stopping point for now.  Anybody else out there who's tackled the Warhawk have any input...hit me.  

Okay. I'm back with a quick update before the weekend starts.  Made a little progress towards getting the engine wired, hosed, and probed so she can be installed onto the engine mounts ASAP.   Hope to get her finished by Tuesday.  I am very wary of where I will locate the magnets in order to pop the panel on and off for viewing.  If anybody out there has had experience with this sort of thing...I'm all ears. =]

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Happy 4th everyone.  =]

Wow, that looks fantasic.  

Now I hafta learn how an aircraft engine works to become a better modeler....LOL

Thanks Jay Jay.  I'd also recommend grabbing some extra patience at the store and perhaps some kind of means of holding/securing what you're working on so that once you complete a job and move on...you don't break five other things off while working on something next to it.  =[

I exercised every four letter word I know and made up some new ones too.  I've had to redo everything you see above.  The tricky part after this is all completed will be to get it installed without breaking anything else.

I usually seem to avoid breaking off the fiddly parts.  My biggest downfall is having glue blobs appear at the joining of the parts which ruins the whole look.   I haven't been able to resolve that problem yet,  any advice ?

Of course! What you need to get to fix that is one of those extender tips that stretches out real long.  There's a couple of different styles of tips.  Most come around one to three inches long.  You can cut them to whatever size you prefer but the trick is that the opening is maybe only 1mm wide.  That will allow you much greater control over how much CA glue you deliver at one time.  =]

I used to have similar issues when I first picked up modeling scale aircraft in college.  Actually, I was 8 when my dad did most of the work on a 1:72 F-15C.  I always thought to myself..."one day..."  and then it was one day at the end of a long semester I had plenty of time off to try one.  It would be three more years before I walked into an actual hobby shop that was stocked with all the goodies one would need to go to work.  I was amazed on what I had been missing out on.  =D  So if you haven't yet...I would recommend you taking a stroll through your local hobby shop and peek at what they've got.  You'll no doubt find a few more goodies to make life easier for you.

Great progress!

As far as applicators go, I use toothpicks or straight pins, toothpicks definitely for styrene glue, and either one for CA or epoxy.

Baron, now I remember.  It was you that mentioned the Milliput.  Cannot thank you enough for mentioning that stuff.  Tried it out just recently on the spinners for that Academy P-38 and it worked like a charm.  Can't wait to use it here to smooth out and reshape the carb intake and gun ports along the cowl.

....whenever that part gets here... =[  lol

But definitely Baron.  Much love.

Ty for the advice on glue-ing

I have tried the extender tips for CA and found they work well for about 3 drops then clog up.  I keep a jar of acetone handy and drop the tips in it when they clog. the next day, I then retrieve the 6 or so tips from the jar and begin again.  So, it's glue a part or two, remove the tip, drop it into the acetone, replace the tip...etc..  All the while wasting the CA that's left in the clogged tip,and the CA that drips out when removing it, which considering the length of the tip, is 10 times more glue than I actually use.  There must be a better,less messy way.

I like the idea of using a small puddle on a post it note and diping the needle/toothpick in.   I think more practice is in order for me to deposit the right amount of glue where I want it.   That must be all pretty basic to you pros but I'm determined to get past this hurdle and with your excellent advice, I will. Thanks again.

Jay, I'd say that's a fairly common issue with the extender tips.  Even when you handle it properly and return it to it's upright position...=] ...it'll probably still happen.  When that occurs I just give it a little nip with my handy clips for removing kit parts of the sprues/PE parts.  That ought to work more often that not.  That other method is certainly handy as well and it may just depend on what you're working with and how fast you're glueing things.

But definitely don't fool with trying to remove the tip until it's totally used up or when it's just time to change it out.  You probably will go and waste more glue that way.

I was just talking to mlh owner about not getting glue to through my extended fine tips mine at home didn't work.

so k purchased some new ones. It took some extra pressure to get it through the tip I thought the hole tip would blow off. Made some tiny dots. Took the tip off cleared the end and left stood up to see if would back drain. When I get home ill check if it worked.

I also use miput and love it its great for wing root seems.

just checked its off the glue over night it dryd at the tip abd was wet in the it worked by trimming the tip back.

good idea Bvallot,  TY

Always worked for me.  =]  Glad to help.

That Allison is looking fantastic Bvallot.  That landing gear detail looks great too...

Joe

Thanks for the motivation everyone.  I think I've got this Allison back on course. I have had to be very patient for things to set up before moving on.  Everything is so tiny at this scale. But.. I'm back on DEFCON 5...so crisis averted.  =P

I had hoped to be a little further than this so I can move this along and get her off my bench before the deadline of the P-40 GB. Here's where I'm at now:

I've put all this back together and finally made a few more additions.  Also, I was able to marry the Allison to the mounting brackets.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Just a few more odds and ends and I'll have the .50 cals back reinstalled, then I can finally put this part to rest and move on to the fun part...painting!  =D

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Good Lord.  After lots of cleaning and wedding preparation, I still feel as though I didn't get anything done today.  I tried my best to get this engine mounted, but someone kept finding more and more things that needed my attention.  

I did manage this today:

I got the .50 MGs matched up to the gun ports.  It's very hard to see here (I am sorry about that but there's not much to see.)  I ended up making a shim for the shelf they sit on.  I misaligned the shelf by about 3mm which put the barrels off.  So now they are back on.  The one thing I did accomplish here.  The nickel tube you see I have left long to keep the barrel true while it was setting up from the CA and epoxy. (not screwing around here on this part. =] )  I'll cut this tube to the appropriate size for the the .50 barrels.  The left side I believe I will leave removable.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here are some brass sheets I cut to make the riveting frame for the panels.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to match them up and glue them in yet.  

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

This last part I thought I measured right, but somehow I managed to lengthen it by twisting it tight to bend at the front of the scoop.  So all this came back off.  But I figured I'd show it anyhow.  This is more or less what I'll end up with.

image by brittvallot, on Flickrimage by brittvallot, on Flickr 

I swear if I don't wrap this part of the build up soon...this thing might actually start flying....

Wow, just wow !!

Incredible detailing on the engine and its compartment!  This is an excellent upgrade to a classic kit.

Thanks Brandon.  I'm certainly doing my best.

Baron, I don't know if you saw it earlier, but I wanted to tell you how I appreciate your suggestion to try out the Milliput putty.  It's definitely going to come in handy here for this build.  

And thanks...though it's still got a ways to go.  =]

Alright!! =] Finally made some headway. I've been a bit anxious about rushing any one part of getting this engine installed before I finished certain necessary steps, but now I think I'm finally rolling with this.  Of course I had to dress this Allison up a little nicer.  I couldn't help myself.  I knew I'd never get every single hose and tube in place at such a tiny scale (especially my first time attempting this) but after I found a beautifully pictured walkaround book on the P-40B/C...I just had to follow through.  And I took a play out of lawdog's playbook and pulled my light box out to film with so these pictures come out better.  But first I wanted share one trick I come up with for working this tiny.  Obviously, some of the detail will be unseen...like origin and insertion points. So here's a photo of what I did when two or more lines were going to the same general location.  The origin gets doubled over which helps to make a tab to anchor it down and allows you to accomplish more with less mess.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

The other trick I used which I can't find a picture of now...was when two lines were next to each other running virtually parallel, I would make a similar tab as outlined above, but here I would hook it onto the the part already in place.  Kind of like threading a needle but instead you're just dropping it onto (the "eye" is just a hook). This helps all this fiddly stuff to be a bit more sturdy.  Hope some finds that useful.

Here's the Allison V-1710-33:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here's a view of the coolant expansion tank/line and the linkage for the carb.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

I touched up the paint here and there as needed.  Weathered a bit more...and painted in some placards.  I'm pretty happy with it.  =]

When they say measure twice, cut once...holy sh!t my father would be so happy. =]  Talk about a tight fit!!  Had to be very careful placing this old girl in there as I have some of the fuselage already glued together.  There is absolutely no play left in this engine area.  Which I suppose is actually a good thing...everything should be snug and in it's place which makes me glad I triple checked the fitting every time I added a new major component to this Allison.  So here it is:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

url=https://flic.kr/p/om1Eiu][/url]image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

So that's that for now.  I have the Dzus railing to put on next, the intake scoops, misc trimmings, and then solve the magnet problem, and then I can move on to fitting the wings to the fuselage.  =]

Comments and suggests are always welcome.  =]

Fantastic work on the engine!  It looks very busy and realistic!

Thanks Fly-n.  =]  It does feel pretty busy to me, but there are a couple more pieces to install before it's completely done.  I just needed to get it into the fuselage and set before moving on.  It was a little maddening trying to keep all this together, but the next time I think it will be easier as I've got over a bit of that learning curve for some of these fiddly bits.

When are you planning on tackling one of these guys?  =]

Not in that scale or that detailed. Amazing. Bob

Well............... I was gonna start my Revell P-40. I think now I'll just push it to the back for awhile cuz this build is gonna make me feel like I'm building with scotch tape and painting with crayons. keep up the good work.

Well, I appreciate that Brandon.  If' it's any consolation, none of this just fell together.  I did fight it a lot at  first.  There was a bit of a learning curve for me for some of this detailing.  Adding some extra detail here and there has never been such an issue, but having so much in such a tight space has proved a little difficult.  I did have to learn some new tricks on the fly to cope with it.  I do my best to outline what I've done so that others can make use of it or improve on some aspect of it.

I hope you find it helpful. And thanks again! =]