1/48 CA-13 Boomerang - One Final Detail!

Thanks John

Good work on the radial.

If this model has taught me anything, it is that Mr Dremel is your friend! There were a lot of fit issues with the engine and cockpit (though to be fair I wasn't using the kit engine) which meant a lot of work with the Dremel removing plastic from the inside of the fuselage. Finally managed to get it together though.

As others have said, you're doing a really spiffy job on this aircraft.

I'm looking forward to the next installments and am curious about how the wings fit on the fuselage. Looks like it's engineered so that most common wing root problems won't arise.

Thanks guys!

I'm currently using plastic strip to fill the gaps between the upper wings and the fuselage. These gaps are not very big, but I wanted to avoid using filler as far as possible, as it is supposed to be a joint. I've made the mistake in the past (and seen it on the models of others too) of filling the joint and then rubbing it down so the joint dissappears when in fact that joint is quite visible on the real aircraft. I've stuck the plastic along the edges of the upper wings, and I'm in the process of rubbing it down a little at a time until I get a good fit with the fuselge. This will also make it easier to rescribe the panel lines where necessary than with filler.

I've also needed to use the Dremel on the inside of the wing fillet on the fuselage from the rear third of the wing back to thin it down to get a good fit so it won't stand proud of the upper wing. I'm really liking my Dremel right now!!! This would be a sod of a kit without it.

Finally got the wings on! Now for the cleaning up of joints and panel lines, which is not going to be a quick job, but could have been a lot worse without the Dremel.

The second shot shows some of the bits and pieces in the wheel wells and up into the accessories bay behind the engine firewall. There should be more pipes and cables, but I'll probably just leave it as is. You can see where the lower fuselage behind the wing didn't quite line up right, even though the panel lines did! Soon fix that though

Now ;

 Since you've finished the model , What is next ? Are you going to build something to hide all that beautiful work in ? Darn . T.B.

Oh My !

 That's a nice job there .You've got a little oil stain on the bottom cylinder though ,Lol!

Thanks T.B.

Hey Chris

Completely missed that this came back. Great to see this moving forward! Engine and wheel wells look really good. (Gotta fix that fillet, as you said)

Excited for whatever's next

-J

Thanks Johnny. Got that fillet fixed. Glued in a piece of plasticard and shaped it down - it was too bad a fit to just use filler. Sorted the wing to fuselage joins and rescribed panel lines. Tailplane going on now, then I have a bit of a dilema with the cowl flaps to sort. Don't you just love challenging kits?????

The cowl flaps are a real pain to fit correctly, so I came up with this method. The picture shows a masking tape "sausage" formed by folding over one edge of the tape a few times for about half its width. The other half holds it in position. This holds the rear edge of the flaps in the correct position while you press the front edge into place. Then VERY CAREFULLY (!) remove the tape and voila!

DesTROYer, if you intend modelling the Boomerang you must get a copy of "The CAC Boomerang" by Richard A Franks. Amongst it's many pages of useful information, it lists all kits and accessories avilable at the time of publication. It also has a three page review of the AlleyCat 1/32 CA-12/13/19 Boomerang, kit no. ACRK32-11. This apparently was an updated reissue in mid- 2013. There is also the FM Models vac kit if you can find it.

ChrisJH666

...I'm currently using plastic strip to fill the gaps between the upper wings and the fuselage. These gaps are not very big, but I wanted to avoid using filler as far as possible, as it is supposed to be a joint...

I like doing that, too-either styrene card scrap, or stretched sprue, all sealed in place with styrene cement.  I like the idea of a homogeneous piece-like material to like, for a stronger finish.

Ok, a little more progress. I included this shot to show where it is necessary to modify the window behind the cockpit. The panel it is attached to should frame the glazing on all sides, but in the kit this is not the case. I scored a line in the glazing and filled the join so the new "framing" becomes a continuous part of the panel.

A couple of other details have been added. The cannon and wing leading edges were drilled to accept a length of brass rod to reinforce the joint. Getting near to paint time 

Finally ready for masking and paint!

Very impressed with my Montex masks...... NOT! The ones for the outside of the canopy are ok, but the inside ones are wrong, as are the upper/lower wing roundels, and there are none for the fuselage roundels and fin flashes. Can anyone suggest a suitable material for making my own masks that will not rip off the paint or leave a sticky residue?

Thanks

Ok here's my rather Japanese looking Boomerang! For the fist time when building aircraft kits I sprayed it with Tamiya primer, which fortunately is white. Photo's show much of the paintwork on this plane to have been very faded, so the light base will help. The black nose will give a dark base as the cowlings and access panel immediately behind where the "Sinbad II" cartoon sits were much darker and slightly shiny due to groundcrew wiping away oil residues. The green around the gun ports is because, according to the information I have, before doping new patches over the gun ports, the old residue would be removed using acetone, which is not very paint friendly, meaning you got a discoloured area where the primer showed through, and sometimes even bare metal.

Right, now for the fun bit! Markings and camo!

Ok, so here's the issue. Here we have probably the best known Boomerang, and colour schemes for this aircraft published by Aeromaster Decals, "The CAC Boomerang" by Richard A Franks, and the example which sits at the foot of my posts. Then there is the pic of the actual aircraft. Anyone notice a problem?

As things have come to a grinding halt while I unravel the last piece of the puzzle that is Boomerang camoflage, I decided to sort some of the bits and pieces, such as the prop. I replaced the kit one with a whitemetal one from Tasman's CAC CA13/19 Boomerang Engine Accessory Set. It needed a fair bit of cleaning up, but it came out ok. In addition, information I have is that the spinners were prone to cracking around the backplate mounts, so a field mod was introduced to rivet a strip of aluminium along the back edge of the spinner as a strengthener. This is visible in photo's and often misinterpreted as a join line. On some aircraft this appears to be a different colour or possibly bare metal, but I am assured it was painted. Possibly not very well though as a few pics show this coming away. I glued a thin strip of microstrip around the rear edge, and then rubbed it down as thin as I dared, before painting it aluminium and then dry brushing the spinner colour over the top to give a peeled paint look (sort of!). The whole thing was painted using Humbrol enamels, and then sprayed with a coat of Tamiya flat clear acrylic with just a spot of dark earth and medium grey mixed in, just to tone everything down very slightly. When I'm ready to fit it, I'll remove the shaft from the back and drill it to accept the engine shaft.

Very nice work Chris. How did you go with the camouflage? Did you get it sorted out?

Look forward to another build instalment in the near future.

Damian

Thanks. Still one issue to figure out before committing paint to plastic for the camo.

Finally we have paint on plastic. Clearly there was a bit of bleed through in a couple of places, and there is some touching up and a lot of weathering, etc, to do, but seeing as it is the first time I've ever used an airbrush to paint one of my model aircraft, it could have come out a whole lot worse!

For your first time painting an airplane model with an airbrush, it looks pretty darned good!

Bleed-through can be resolved with chipping

Excellent!

Thanks guys!

At the decal stage, and currently applying stencils. I decided to use the set from Red Roo rather than the kit stencils, as they are much finer, much more legible, and much less obtrusive. That's the upside. The downside is they are incredibly fragile! If you are buying a set of these, buy two! They are only A$5 a set. The instructions say to use a setting solution. DON'T! I did initially, and the first two broke apart almost immediately. After that, water only. Even then, the important word is gently. I used a set of tweezers to hold each one under water for about 20 seconds, then placed it on the model near where it was needed. Then use a wet brush to gently tease it from the backing. Do not try to force it. Wait until it virtually wants to jump off the backing itself. Then use the brush to tease it into position, using more water if reluctant to move. I know this might be teaching folks to suck eggs, but I cannot overemphasise the fragility of these decals. They look great once they are on though!

Looking really good, Chris.