Floats and Boats GB 2022, extended to end of 2023

lostagain, the Curtiss looks fantastic!

That does help, Brandon. Thank you.

Alright guys I got my antanae attached and painted up the area where I glued (many thin layers of white glus and then added some fume residue behind the exhausts. I am sure I am missing something but I feel like this is the end of this build for me. Here are my completed pics. I appreciate you letting me jump in for my first real build back on the beanch after some time off. I will keep watching everyones progress!

Simply awesome Jack. Love the base.

Dodgy

Nice work, Jack, very nice. The base really looks like it is alive and moving. Very well done build. I will update the front page. Which pic do you want posted there?

BK

Thanks Brandon and Dodgy! Let's go with Pic #1 please.

Sorry guys, I haven't been building lately. I am in a bit of a slump with building right now so I've stepped away for the bench for a bit. I will get back on it soon. I am still checking the forums daily so keep going.

BK

Brandon,

With your permission, I would like to participate in your GB. The model I'm choosing is the 1/32 Revell Arado Ar 196B.

HISTORY:

The Arado Ar 196 was a shipboard reconnaissance low-wing monoplane aircraft built by the German firm of Arado starting in 1936. The next year it was selected as the winner of a design contest and became the standard aircraft of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) throughout World War II.

The Ar 196 prototypes were all delivered in summer 1937, V1 (which flew in May) and V2 with twin floats as A models, and V3 and V4 on a single float as B models. Both versions demonstrated excellent water handling and there seemed to be little to decide, one over the other. Since there was a possibility of the smaller outrigger floats on the B models "digging in", the twin-float A model was ordered into production. A single additional prototype, V5, was produced in November 1938 to test final changes. Ten A-0s were delivered in November and December 1938, with a single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine gun at the rear seat for defence. Five similarly equipped B-0s (single center float) were also delivered to land-based squadrons. Overall, 541 Ar 196s (15 prototypes and 526 production models) were built before production ended in August 1944, about 100 of these from SNCA and Fokker plants. The Ar 196C was a proposed aerodynamically-refined version, but the project was cancelled in 1941.

Used initially as a reconnaissance aircraft, it was later incorporated for submarine hunting and attacking smaller ships in the European theaters until the end of the war. The very robust aircraft with it's air-cooled BMW 9 cylinder radial engine and low altitude compressor proved to be quite outstanding. The Ar 196B variants were used exclusively for testing or assigned to land based operations. One of the last airworthy machines were used by the Naval Forces of Romania until 1950. During 1944-45, Soviet forces captured many Arados along the Baltic coast of Poland and Germany. At Dassow a spare parts depot was recovered also. After repairs, thirty-seven Arado Ar 196 aircraft fitted with Soviet radio equipment were integrated into the aviation element of the Soviet Border Guard. They were sent to Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific coastal areas, serving until 1955.

General Characteristics:

Crew: two (pilot and observer)
Length: 11 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 12.4 m (40 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.45 m (14 ft 7 in)
Wing area: 28.4 m2 (306 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,990 kg (6,592 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 3,720 kg (8,201 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × BMW 132W 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 782 kW (1,050 hp)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 332 km/h (206 mph, 179 kn)
Range: 1,080 km (670 mi, 580 nmi)
Service ceiling: 7,010 m (23,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 6 m/s (1,200 ft/min)
Wing loading: 98.2 kg/m2 (20.1 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.235 kW/kg ( 0.143 hp/lb)

Armament:

Guns: * 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 81Z machine gun
1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 17 machine gun
2 × 20 mm (0.787 in) MG FF/M cannon
Bombs: * 2 x 50 kg (110.231 lb) bombs
(Finnish model) 4 x 100 kg (220.462 lb) bombs

The Model Kit: (Instructions)

The first page of the 16 page instruction booklet starts off with a photo of the completed model, a basic history of the aircraft, and general technical data written in both German and English. 



The second and third pages are the normal pre-build instructions and suggestions along with and explanation of the Symbology used within the instructions. Page four is a list of the colors used throughout the build. One thing of note on this page is the lack of any paint code callouts such a RLM or manufacturer paint codes. There is a number to the right side of the German verbiage but I do not know if or what they refer to(?).   



Then page five shows an illustration of the parts laid out while on the sprue. Another thing to mention here is the kit comes with it's own separate tubular airframe and circular plastic display base. nice job Revell.   



We finally get to the actual assembly instructions, Step # 1 on page 6. 



More next update...

Ben / DRUMS01

DRUMS01

On the page listing the colors needed, the number next to the German line is the product number for the paint in Revell's catalog. Revell has put together a paint guide to convert to other brands. Here's the url to get the .pdf : https://www.revell.com/revell-paint-guide/

Thanks! Unfortunately it does not show the conversion codes for Tamiya, Vallejo, MIG, etc. In fact it mostly relates to Testors, ACRL, and Poly Scale series of paints. 

Welcome aboard, Ben. I want that kit so bad. I am stoked someone is building one here.

BK

I take that as your permission to participate in the GB with this kit (smile). I just hope I can do an aircraft justice, we will see.

I got it for under $50 so I couldn't pass it up. Sure wish it came with a flight crew, but that's another discussion for another time.

Ben / DRUMS01

Maybe look at the instructions on scalemates for the 1/48 kits.  Just ordered the Tamiya kit (Italeri)after Seeing your post.  May have the color call outs you're looking for.  Looking forward to your build. 

DRUMS01

Thanks! Unfortunately it does not show the conversion codes for Tamiya, Vallejo, MIG, etc. In fact it mostly relates to Testors, ACRL, and Poly Scale series of paints. 

 

Forgot about that, sorry.

I just remembered the paints referenced as "not Vallejo" since I just use it to get the RAL number to search Scale Hobbyist for the corresponding paint to "RALXXXX"  in the Vallejo catalog. Paint from other lines like Tamiya, MIG, etc also comes up in the search results as well FWIW.

Thanks Mach1, that makes perfect sense. I appreciate the information and will used it.

Thanks for the interest everyone! I noticed during my initial inspection that the circular base is part of the kit, It's designed with slots to fit the main float to make it appear as to hover just above it. I think that was a nice touch by Revell.

I decided to purchase the 16 color WW2 Luftwaffe paint set from Vallejo. I'm getting some experience under my belt with the brand and the paint kit has all the needed colors for this model and more. 

I agree with the colors you mentioned for the cockpit and dash panel. After some research I found that there was an early color and different later color for this planes cockpit, depending on the production years. The fuselage color they call out is actually RLM02 as well (light olive). I don't think I'm going to paint my aircraft that color, but I haven't fully decided just yet. I was even thinking about making it a "what if" scheme like a tropical BF109 fighter, or perhaps a FW190 scheme. It could have an Italian, Swedish, Greek, or Russian scheme with their markings, just to be different, but I think the single float models were only used by Germany and from sore/land, not from ships.

As for the kit I am quickly finding out that this is a very nice model in fit and detail. Originally I was going to build it out of the box, but I just couldn't help myself. When researching for the best paint set for me I identified a few other items I want to add too. Such as the brass machined gun barrels and PE gun sight. The kit does not come with any crew so I purchased a resin Stuka set that will hopefully fit the bill. 

The dash panel is accurately molded with multiple reliefs but has a single large decal. Not sure if anyone else built this in our forum, but I think that with the contours of the mold it would make fitting the decal accurately very difficult. I have several gage decals in my stash I will add individually. Speaking of decals, I also noticed the kit does not have the Swastikas for the tail either, only the white circles so I bought them as well. Another item I purchased to make the cockpit glass painting easier was a mask set. 

Initially I was wanting to build this OOB, but then the lack of detail in a couple areas changed my mind. I was also looking for the WW2 German aircraft paints for the build as I haven't built any WW2 German aircraft for a couple decades. 

So here are the items I purchased in hopes to add something "more" to the OOB build.











I was thinking of the beautiful Quinta cockpit set, but the details overall in the Revell kit are really pretty good. So my thought is if I can do some magic with a brush and add authentic gage dials, it may be good enough. 

So, here we go into page 1, Steps 1-7 of the build. 



Not being an expert on this aircraft I can tell you that the molded in detail on the various parts of the cockpit are very good, IMHO. The only areas I see lacking are the seat belts, specifically incomplete belts with little or no detail. I found that very strange considering the great details on the gage panel, radios, and airframe widgets. So that is why I purchased the seat harness set (above). 

My vision for this build is to represent an aircraft that's in service and "used" but not abused. With that in mind I began looking at a few photos available to determine where to show wear. Looking at the existing build reviews on this model I took some ideas from them as well. 

The instructions do a good job calling out the paint details. I identified with some images to make the dash panel two main colors; Black Green RLM70 and Black Gray RLM66. The majority of the cockpit could be painted one of two colors depending on when the aircraft was produced (early or late war), I chose the the early war light Grey Blue RLM 84 seaplane scheme versus the late war RLM 02 Gray Green darker color used later in the war. The instructions called out a Gray Green or light olive color for most the cockpit and the same color for the fuselage exterior. I chose the light Grey Blue scheme to add contrast and visual interest against the exterior.

Here is a photo of the dash panel and radio sets prior to detail painting and decals. It also shows some of the individual gage decals and placards I'm looking at using to detail the panels with. Likewise, I cut out some maps from a spare set of Verlinden detail sheet to add to the navigators table. Other WW2 German placards will also be used. 



Here you can see the pilots seat assembly and the poor details of the partial harness previously called out. They will be enhanced with the after-market seat harness already purchased (above). 



This is the left side panel for the internal airframe. You can see the details picked out awaiting final detail painting.



So far in the assembly I have to say the parts fit is very good. When painting the dash panel I used several photos, the instruction callouts, and images of the Quinta detail sets as guides. Here is the cockpit dash panel prior to final details and dull coat.



And here are steps 1-7 coming together (I still need to tone down the floor details and add weathering).



And here is the majority of the assembly with some wear and tear details beginning to take shape. Still need to add the seat harnesses and tone down some detail painting, wiring for dash gages behind the panel, etc. 



Next update I will have a completed photo of the aircraft cockpit and interior details.

Ben / DRUMS01

 

Wow, Ben. Fast progress. The details and paint work is superb. The extra details really make this one stand out. Keep it coming.

BK

I normally like to have a crew in my aircraft builds. I ordered a 1/32 resin crew set on-line from Aerobonus that was made for the Hasegawa Stuka kit. 



I thought that I could lightly modify them to fit in the Arado 196. So the first thing I had to do once they arrived was make a decision between the harnesses or the figures, so at this point I chose the figures. Why you ask?, my response is that most everyone else would simply add the harnesses and not take the time to locate, modify, and add a crew, so I have to be different thus the figures. 

After initial clean-up I noticed the rear seater had a detailed seat molded with the figure so I had to remove the kit pillow seat previously assembled into the airframe. 



So how is the gunner going to be supported in the rear seat slides? I'm going to make a new set of slide guides out of hard wire, bent to shape like this. The rear gunner's seat will sit on top of the guides.



Meanwhile I still was working on the wiring for the cockpit gages. I think that some of it will show after the canopy is attached and having the rear of the gage cluster without wiring would look silly. Here is where I am currently in the wiring. I still have much to do with paint, ties, etc. In this photo you can also see my scratch built gun sight with glass.



The pilot was molded with a seat, but it was different from the Arado, after all, it was for a Stuka. I decided to carefully carve / grind the seat from the figure and then shape his bum with files to fit the seat. Once I had the crew figures to the point I wanted them I began the initial base painting according to the information provided with the figures. 

Here is where I stopped today. The figures are sitting in position unglued just to give you an idea of how they will be presented. 







Still way more to be painted on the figures, wires, harnesses, etc. , heck I still may add the seat harnesses over those molded onto the figures (TBD). Next update I hope to show them completed and in the cockpit. Till then, live, laugh, and love well; and above all model something.

Ben

Excellent work, Ben. Adding figures certainly makes the kit that much better. Your work in impressive. Certainly setting the bar pretty high. Noice.

BK

DRUMS01: Glad you found the info of use. The cockpit is looking great. I agree with Brandon, the figures take it to the next level.

 

JacknewbIII: Sorry for not commenting earlier, but I really like how the base turned out. It really does look like the Cat is landing on the water.  I can only hope my base comes out half as good.

I've been able to make some more progress on the RO.43. Both seats are now completed and installed. Special Hobby would have the seat restraints bent and attached as if there were someone sitting in the seat - like so:

This just didn't seem right, so I reshaped the shoulder harnesses so they lie in the seat like in every other cockpit.

I can live with this. Now I can close up the fuselage and move on to the wings.

Mach1

I've been able to make some more progress on the RO.43. Both seats are now completed and installed. Special Hobby would have the seat restraints bent and attached as if there were someone sitting in the seat - like so:

This just didn't seem right, so I reshaped the shoulder harnesses so they lie in the seat like in every other cockpit.

I can live with this. Now I can close up the fuselage and move on to the wings.

 

Ya, I agree, those belts just didn't look right. Much better now. The pit is looking very nice.

BK

Thanks Brandon, and Mach1... that cockpit of your's is is showing some good modeling skills too. Have to agree with the position of the seat harness as well. 

Thought it was time for another update, this time it is page 2, better known as steps 6-14.



One thing of note regarding these instructions; any step with a question mark (?) is referring to an option for the folded wing(s). Since I added a pilot and gunner I want to make mine appear as in flight or at least preparing for flight. That means steps 9, 11, and 12 will not be done. These instructions are kind of like the Revival build I just finished, one step may have one part and another step could have 10 or more parts to add, no consistancy.

I purchased the brass barrels for the MG's but after looking at the MG in the right side of the fuselage I think it will be fine straight from the kit, especially considering it will not be seen once covered by the fuselage and access panels. All I did was drill out the barrel.

I've noticed that some items have large sprue attachment points and a lot of flash while other parts are cleanly molded. I guess I would say that it is still a big improvement over the 60-90's Revell molds. The parts fit continues to impress. 

After modifying the pilots torso I painted it and attached it to the seat. That way I can use it and the flight stick to identify how to modify his arms. Once they were changed I painted them and finished the assembly. In the photo below you can see the pilot added to the cockpit, wires from the gages, and the fuselage machine gun.



The instructions have you add the airframe to the lower part or belly of the fuselage first before assembling the right and left halves. This step can be a little tricky considering there are many, many seams that need to fit perfect to avoid misalignment. Here are some of the areas of concern;

- front bulkhead to the fuselage
- right or left fuselage to the front of the belly
- right or left fuselage to the wing root
- aligning the fuselage holes with the wing root holes
- lower rear fuselage with belly and rear wing
- rear gunners station to position inside fuselage
- cockpit frame to inside of fuselage
- attaching the second fuselage half to all above and other fuselage simultaneously.

While waiting for the fuselage assembly to dry I jumped ahead to steps 32-35, better known as the float assembly. 



The float fell together easily. One area of note was the forward top seam which needed a little filler, but not too bad really. In step 33, they instruct you to add 50 grams of weight to the front of the float to avoid a back heavy aircraft. Step 34 gives you the option of a stored or deployed rear rudder on the float assembly (nice touch). And here it is sitting on the stand, ready for paint.

As for the fuselage, Revell did a good job with the kits parts and they fell together without much difficulty. All that was needed was a very light sanding on the fuselage halves to erase the seams in most cases. Here are the three fuselage parts assembled and sanded.

After smoothing the seams of the fuselage assembly I wanted to finish the rear gunner. Then I realized one important thing. I need to refrain from adding the gunner until I add the rear gun because of the shell casing discharge chute and I'm not going to add the rear gun station until after the aircraft is painted. So until then, here is a couple pictures of how he will be seated once the aircraft is assembled.





So here I go jumping back and forth to different subassemblies again. After the float assembly was done I was looking forward to building the engine so here goes steps 36 and 37. The parts for this assembly had the worst flash and large sprue attachment points for the delicate parts by far. If you are building this kit I recommend taking the time necessary to clean it up correctly, no shortcuts; especially if your going to display the engine access panels open. I painted the engine according to the instruction call-outs with one exception. They called for the engine cylinder cases to be all alluminum. I chose to paint them flat black then dry brush silver to add depth and bring out the air cooling fins. The only thing I added so far was brass screens to the two air inlets between the top two cylinders, everything else is straight from the box.

The last part of the engine will be the prop shaft, the back, and the exhaust. I ordered the after-market resin exhaust tips because of their detail. Hopefully they will be here soon so I can show them in the next update. 

Thanks for following along, take care, and model something.

Ben / DRUMS01

 

This thing is looking simply outstanding. The parts look to fit pretty well and your added details really make the show. Can't wait to see this in paint.

BK

Outstanding work Ben and Mach1. I need to get moving on the Sopwith, I lost a part to the carpet monster and it went onto the backburner.

Dodgy

After assembling the fuselage the next step (# 16) was to add the nose of the fuselage to the main part. What I didn't expect, since everything else was fitting so well, was a large difference in diameter between the main fuselage (larger) and the nose ring (smaller by more than 1/16 inch). My guess in scale it would be a 4-5 inch difference.   



Continuing the challenge, I also did not anticipate the six large attachment points to the very fragile and delicate tube bracing, as well as two broken spots on the bracing itself. After some very delicate work, Jarrod and I were able to remove the parts from the sprue without any further damage and we did our best to straighten and reassemble them. Here they are attached to the nose cone prior to being added to the main fuselage.



So now Jarrod and I had to figure out how to assemble the bracing to the front bulkhead while simultaneously doing our best to align the poorly fitting nose ring with the body of the aircraft. After several fittings we decided to remove the alignment pins from the tubing which would allow us the ability to focus on the nose ring fitment first. You can see the two attachment locations in the photos below.





Prior to attaching the nose ring we had to figure out how to attach the small machine gun fairing to the right fuselage behind the MG barrel so it aligns with the curvature of both the fuselage and the nose ring. The problem was I also had a gap appearing in the bulkhead on the right of the fuselage. Specifically, the bulkhead was extended past the opening by a slight bit. This caused a gap between the machine gun fairing and the rest of the body. You can see the guide ribs on the bulkhead for the fairing in the photo above. Our fix was to remove a small amount of the MG fairing behind the barrel while keeping the exposed trailing edge the original length. This allowed the small MG fairing to fit flush at both points.   



Now Jarrod and I were ready to attach the nose ring. We glued the top of the ring first and then applied pressure attempting to squeeze or flex the fuselage ever so little to minimize the space difference at the bottom. The end result was a small difference at both the top and bottom of the nose ring contact areas on the fuselage. While getting a good fit it also automatically aligned the tube bracing to the bulkhead. The small variations to the top and bottom were reshaped ever so slightly so the top and bottom profiles matched the size of the nose ring and the indentions for the engines exhaust. In review Jarrod and I looked at the various attachment points on the three part fuselage and internal airframe. We could not see anywhere that would've caused the large difference in diameter between the two parts (?).   

Next we began enclosing the holes in the fuselage behind the nose ring with the kits body panels as we will be showing the aircraft in flight. Of course the various fuselage panels did not want to fit well either. I suspect they were tooled to be shown in the open positions, as shown by most builders. Here is an example of a poor fitting body panel.



Another area we found to be poorly fitting was the location between the fuselage halves and the belly pan. The strange thing here is all the other seams on the three parts aligned and fit almost perfectly. Both sides gaps looked so perfectly equal that you would almost assume the kit was designed that way to be covered by the wing after assembly; unfortunately they do not. 





So after adding some thin plastic sheet to the gap along with sprue goo, it was closed. Some light filing made it all but disappear. So, this update took much longer than anticipated due mostly to the fit issues and subsequent corrections. 

As stated in my last remarks, I began working on the various parts of the wings. I can tell you now that they went together much better than what occurred above. Jarrod and I will show you the wings on the next update.

Ben and Jarrod, DRUMS01  

Ben, you are making great progess here. Those parts really are a challange it appears. Looking at the pics this kit looks to have quite thick parts. I have found those thicker parts are from older molds and not quite as precise as todays kits. Is this kit an older rebox or is it a new tool? You are fixing those issues however and I can see this is gonna be stunner when complete.

BK

Wow, Ben. You and Jarrod are progressing quickly. I can't wait to see this in paint.

Time to spread our wings on this one so to speak. These are steps 17 through 29. Once again, some steps cover cementing two parts together while others are 10-15 pieces, go figure. I guess Revell wanted to add additional steps to make the build appear more comprehensive. 

One thing I noticed in steps 21, 22, 23, and 26 is that while the control surfaces are posable, they do not account for the kit opening created in steps 21 and 22. This causes an ugly open gap if you choose to pose the control surface in the lowered position. My solution was to cut a portion off of parts 135 and 140 to fill in that side of the assembly as shown below.

PROBLEM


SOLUTION


The remainder of the main wings fell together easily. Note the recessed panel lines but no rivet detail (?) I do not understand this considering the fuselage does have rivet details. Why only do part of the kit?   



The rear control surfaces are comprised of only four parts making up the upper and lower sections. They also went together easily. The rear section also has a flat rectangular part that keys into the forward section ensuring a tight and correct fit. Once again, no rivet detail on the forward section.





Here they are sitting in the fuselage. They are an excellent fit, but once again, no rivet details on the rudder.



And here is where the build is at this moment. It's been difficult trying to do more with other commitments and taking care of Jarrod who is not feeling well right now. Hopefully soon I will close the remaining panels and attach the wings so it begins to look more like an aircraft. 



Till next update, live, laugh, and move well, and model something! Oh!, feedback and assessments of the build are always welcome. 

Ben and Jarrod (DRUMS01)

Ben, your solution to that problem in great, its looks the part now. As far as more parts to a kit to make it seem more comprehensive never rang with me. I believe there should only be more parts to improve and add detail, not just for the parts count. Perhaps I'm odd. Looks great my friend.

BK