Floats and Boats: Amphibious Aircraft Group Build

I'll be watching this one for sure.  I'm thinking something similar for my Arado 196 but moored to a wooden dock.  The water will be quite similar since my aircraft will be from a unit near Krete in the Southern Aegean Sea.  Great start!  I might "borrow" a few of your design ideas.  But credit will be given to whom its deserved of course!

Thanks PJ. I hope so too. Being a new method, I'm sure I will have some teething issues.

LOL, confusing with two Brandons BD and BK both have excellent results as usual.

Steve

You need to be renamed the "water king". Man that U Boat is a stunner and can't wait to see what you do with this Rufe. I hope my Jake comes out half way decent in that water setting I want to do.

modelcrazy

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My thought here is to display it tied to a beach similar to this photo using resin which will be a new technique for me.

 

Steve

 

Lol , i used the same picture as reference for my Rufe and wishing too to complete with a beach diorama. As i'm not used in diorama will follow with attention :)

Steve - Thanks for the advice on the oil. I'll have to pick up some of that. Yeah, it's the Trumpeter Mig-3 (early version). I'm thinking of adding it to the 1941 Group Build.

BrandonK - Thanks! I have been looking forward to this build since you first posted the feeler, so it was my first priority when the year started.

MoparMadness - Thanks!

Jack - I just have the Trumpeter ponce wheel with four wheels you can switch out (pic below). As for the colors, the framework is a light grey color, and the inside of the fuselage I painted with buff and added a filter to make it look like doped fabric. The floor itself was wood, and I was going for a dirty wood look. I don't believe there was steel on this plane outside of the engine and weaponry.

Now I'm off to the bench to hopefullt get the instrument cluster sorted and the fuselage halves together.

-BD-

Brandon, both the pontoons (need to get a shot of ponce wheel in the photo) and cockpit look pro.  I would never of thought of using a rust colour inside there, but I'm probably wrong to think all cockpits were made of aluminum.

regards,

Jack

Fantastic cockpit!

BD, that looks really killer. The PE pit is awesome. You're really flying on this one.

Steve, as expected the water looks stunning. You may motivate me yet.

BK

BD,

Is that the 1/48 Trump Mig 3? Mine gave me fits when I built it earlier last year.

As far as the woodgrain, I always had luck with some thin brush strokes of Burnt Umber oil, thinned slightly with Turpenoid.

Steve

I was working on the Lublin last night and got the floats where I wanted them to be, primed them and went to add the braces. There were some minor fit issues, and one problem with the rear bracing being warped.

I decided to cut the struts and re-glue them. I used solvent glue to melt them together, then super glue to strengthen the joint. Test fitting the the fuselage looks good at this point. Some cleanup will be needed on the lower attachment points, but hopefully not too bad.

Next up was finishing the cockpit. These had wooden floors, and I've never painted one before. I painted the whle thing Tamiya buff, then came back with Tamiya flat brown brushed on really thin, leaving brush strokes to hopefully simulate wood grain. I'm ok with where it is, but it's no work of art or anything.

I have to say, switching to Micro Kristal Klear as an adhesive to PE changed my life. This cockpit went together really easily. The Part PE fret didn't include belts, but I am assuming there was some sort of lap belts on these, so I added some from an Eduard set I have.

Now all that's left in the pit is mounting the instrument panel and putting it in the fuselage.

-BD-

Steve - thanks for the tip on the PPP. I started toying with my Trumpeter Mig-3 last night, and it looks like it is going to have some wing root issues. I will definitely try that method on it. Your Rufe is looking good. Can't wait to see some paint on it.

BK - Really nice job on that cockpit. I'm envious of the skill in that.

-BD-

I'm making progress on the Pete. I have the pit completed and the fuselage is now closed.

I painted the pit a mix of XF-61 and XF-71 1:1 ratio of make a close estimate of Mitsubishi cockpit color as I don't have any yet. I then hand painted the rest of the pit and added the decals for the instruments. I then used a new technique with pastels in the pit. I want it to be nice, but still somewhat used, but not worn badly.

I used a rust orange color and heavily dusted whole pit and then blew it off and brushed the remainder away. I then used a green similar to the pit color and toned that down some. Again, I blew it off and brushed away the remainder. I then used a cotton bud and twist wiped the whole thing. This slightly polished the flat areas and high points while leaving dust in the resesses. I like how it turned out and it changed the color just tad to a more rust tone, more befitting a water bound aircraft. More to come later.

BK

Here you can see the before and after effects of the pastels.

BD, there is no simple way around filling in those panel lines. Putty, fill, sand, repeat most likely. Looks like you have a handle on it now. That is gonna be a nice kit.

Steve, I too, am interested in how your chipping works out. I've used the HS method with good results, but never the AK way. Please let us know.

BK

BD

You can apply PPP and let it dry completely, usualy about an hour or less. Then take a damp paper towel and gently run it across the panel lines. This will remove most of the PPP and a little sanding will complete the surgery. Along curvrd areas such as wing to fuselage joints i slop on the PPP and let it dry. Then come back with a damp Q Tip and no sanding is necessary. You have better control when the PPP is dry than when still wet.

Steve

I will be interested to see if you try the AK Interactive product for the weathering as opossed to the hair spray method. I think they are about the same thing as far as the chipping effect goes but just curious.

Nice work BD, yikes what a mess that started out.

Well, this is where I'm at with the Rufe. It's going together as expected, pretty easely. Low part count, the only tought part will be the painting.

Steve

Well, I got some work done on the floats. These things have huge panel lines that you could hide a 1/48 rifle in. All my reference photos show them being pretty smooth, with rivets more than panel lines. So I decided to slather the putty on them, fill them, then run my new ponce wheel over the putty.

I was more than a bit heavy-handed in applying the Perfect Plastic Putty.

But after sanding and the ponce wheel treatment, they came out like this. They're currently drying after being sprayed with primer.

The floats are bare aluminum, so I will most likely need to do a little more seam cleanup on top, since they were a little rough.

-BD-

Thanks for the kind words, guys. The PE stuff has become a lot less frustrating since I started using Micro Krystal Klear as an adhesive (ditched super glue).

Steve - that looks like a fun build, and that's a great inspirational photo for it. Can't wait to see it come along.

-BD-

modelcrazy

 

 

RunwayOneSixRight

I am actually a paper modeler...if that would be alright.

 

 

RW16R

Brandon is the host, I'm just the co-host so I'll ask, but he has the final word, but personally I'm OK with it.
I know you are an airline guy, so which one are you leaning toward?

 

If we are talking about a paper float or boat, sure, that'd be pretty epic. Heck, even if you made one out of iron as long as the build fits the floats or boats theme. It's all good here.

BK

BK,

Yes, I do plan on making the weathering similar to the photo.

Bish,

I will be posting plenty of pics. I also have a WIP thread in the AC section.

Ye, off to a nice start Steve, and i wil be wathcing this as well. I won't be doing anything like this with the Dornier, but i recently got the BV 222 and would not mind having it going into water. So i hope you will be posting plenty of pics.

Thanks Jack for that link. I had it at one time and lost it at some point. The watercolor paper method has never worked for me, although the guys that can make it work really do well.

RunwayOneSixRight

I am actually a paper modeler...if that would be alright.

RW16R

Brandon is the host, I'm just the co-host so I'll ask, but he has the final word, but personally I'm OK with it.
I know you are an airline guy, so which one are you leaning toward?

Guys, good looking starts, and some very ambitious projects projected too.

For making I water, I found this site quite helpful:

http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/tips&tricks/tips&tricks.htm

regards,

Jack

Me too. I've been thinking about a beach scene for my kits also. We'll see what happens.

Nice work on the pit, Steve. Are you planning a chipped scheme?

BK

Off to a great start Steve. I will be watching this one as i want to do the same theme with my Jake and have never modeled water.

This should be a pretty quick build. I will also be trying AK Interactive Worn Effects for the weathering for the first time.

So with that being said, here I go. I just have the office completed.

Steve

I think I am just as excited as you on this one. It is a great subject and I can't wait to see it build up. 

BK

I opened the box and looked at everything I got in order to start this build.  I have another two builds planned ahead of this one but may start on it sooner than expected because it looks like too much fun to wait for.  It does look like a nice kit based on the reviews I have read. I have had plans to put it in a diorama setting, such as it moored dockside.  Dog might be optional.