Life and work have been keeping me pretty busy as of late, but I've been able to sneak in some modeling here and there. It feels like it's been forever since I've glued two pieces together!
I was kind of surprised at the niumber of subtle sink marks on this particular pressing of the kit- guess I'm just lucky. I don't mind, though- there's something theraputic about filling, sanding and enjoying the satisfaction of a nice, smooth fuselage.
It was an easy job to separtate the ailerons and such- cover the gaps, some bits of styrene for hinges...
... and voila! Nicely animated flying surfaces. The Ta-183 was intended to be flown by the rudder and ailerons, with the elevators being used mostly as trim surfaces- fascinating! That said...
...I dropped the elevators a bit as well. I sanded the elevators and wings to have sharper trailing edges.
That big, fat rudder got the treatment as well. I glued a length of styrene rod to it's leading edge and faired it in with putty, and thinned the vertical fin inners to fit. On a side note, I've been using Tamiya Light-Curing Putty- it works pretty well. Apply putty (quickly, mind you) and put it in direct sunight or right up close to a good fluorescent tube. Hardens up in two minutes max, just a swipe of laquer thinner and you're good to sand.
Here's the port gear bay in place, with some Mr. Surfacer 500 yet to be smoothed in back on the butt end of things.
I had some old fashioned,
unpainted Eduard seat belts left over so I screwed up my nerve and painted them myself. :whistle:
Here's how it looks in place.
I had some rudder pedals left over as well- you can just see 'em in in finished 'pit.
The landing gear are coming along- I added a torque link to the front strut, and may add a sway brace as well. The main gear still need brake lines, but they'll get 'em. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve- if I get my wish I'll have some more modeling time. I hope you all enjoy peaceful and joyous holidays, wherever you be!