Next steps on the Vega: the extended range fuel tank, the cockpit floor and control column are all in.

Then closed up with seams being closed progressively to hopefully give a nice solid bond, then the seams were covered.

Next I have opened the bag on my Huma Arado Ar68. It was going to be a cross with the Junkers GB (Jumo engine), but no sign of Bish.

First impresssions are a nice little kit but no locating keys and the fuselage has flattened out a bit over the years. The nose comes as a separate pieces to cover a number of variants, so I thought I would be clever and add the nose bits on early for a better fit, but the flat fuselage means that is not a good idea - the cowling top doesn't fit that way.

68GT

Thanks, but this kit is a real turd!  Hope I didnt pay a lot for this thing.

 

Hahahaha, ugh, yes we have all had that feeling 68GT.

Let's see how you go polishing this one!

Thanks, but this kit is a real turd!  Hope I didnt pay a lot for this thing.

Piers: Looking forward to more when you get back from holiday.

69GT: Ohhhh looks cool! 

Sorry folks been away from the bench and the computer for a couple of weeks. I have the two wing assemblies on the Heracles completed and ready for installation, but have decided to install a basic interior. This will have to be completed before closing up the fuselage and installing the wings, so not a lot of progress.

Piers your Vega is looking good. Taking of the cowl and reattaching it will be a challenge, but I reckon it will pay dividends.

Gamera, the Japanese tank is coming along nicely. Love the detail.

68GT, that Stuka looks like a very nice kit. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Dodgy

Pretty basic but thats standard MPM.  Probably going to spend most of my time with the Vac canopy.

Thanks Cliff, there been a lot of faffing about on this, and it will continue when I get home from this trip. There is the big fuel tank to go in the cabin and th windows, then it can be closed up.

Thanks Piers- it is a neat little kit.

Great work there on the Vega! I've tried woodgrain decals for stuff like that but they don't work that well around curves and decals. I think you've got the right idea there.

Cliff, that is some fine detail there on your type 89! I have a couple of Fine Molds Kit, from Giblhi films, and seeing the details in yours, I look forward to building them.

I am moving forward with the Vega. I have done some painting inside the fuselage, trying to recreate the plywood interior. I have detailed the IP and chucked a few bits on the walls. Now I have to decide whether I want to keep the cowling on and just cut out the front of it, or cut it off and work out how to stick it back on with the cowling rear properly defined.

Piers: Wow, nice improvement to the kit! Never thought of having to modify the thing. 

Dodgy: Looks cool, neat looking aircraft. 

I haven't been feeling well so instead of dragging out the airbrush for a dozen other projects I NEED to get done I sat down and worked on the Type 89 here. 

My hat's off to FineMolds for modeling the running gear in such detail though most of it will be covered up by the shield on the side. Still, I'm glad the Japanese switched to the bell crank running gear for later tanks- much less work on me...

Looking forward to your build too Ferg.

Now - the Vega has proved interesting. It didn't look right the way it was, the wing seemed too far back. So got a set of drawings from 'Models by Wylam' , and it looks pretty good, though the canopy is several mm back from where it should be - there should not be a space between the back of the cowl and the canopy. This was pushing the wing back. So I now have hacked into the canopy area to fit the wing in the right spot.

Now I have tested and trimmed the interior parts. Pretty basic, I will add several other bits that will be invisible once it is closed up. There will also be a big petrol tank in there too.

Then I put in the windows. The model has spots for 5 window on each side, each shown as a raised rectangle. For Winnie mae only one window was required on each side To outline it properly, the raised area was first outlined with a sharpie, then sanded back to remove anything on the raised area. Then a hole on each corner and the in between cut out then tidied up. Lastly sanded to remove the sharpie marks that show through the white paint.

lostagain

Dodgy, one of each! Were you planning to build both of them?  Interesting that the new box is that much bigger. Did the new boxing have the bits in bags?

 

Yes. Another difference between the boxing's was the sprue arrangements. In the older boxing the sprues had been cut to fit the box. In the new boxing they are as they came out of the mold. I have no plans to build the original. I have a few old Airfix, Frog and Aurora kits still in their boxes and have them on display as a bit of a nostalgia thing.

Dodgy

Dodgy, one of each! Were you planning to build both of them?  Interesting that the new box is that much bigger. Did the new boxing have the bits in bags?

Some interesting comparisons between the new release and the original. The box is twice the size for the same kit. The new plastic seems much softer and has several pin marks and flash, which the original does not have.

Dodgy.

Gary: Sorry to hear that, she was coming along so well. 

Pat: And yeah, thanks for the run-down, looks like a complex kit. 

lostagain

...

Pat, Thanks for the detailed rundown - sounds like the model is still in pretty good order for its age. And it looks with your careful approach to the wings has worked out well. Would you advise Dodgy and others following you to glue on and clean up the lower wing rather than assemble the whole wing and glue it on after?

Hi,

I couldn't say for certain which is the best approach, but I would siggest "giving some thought" to the two different approaches and then going with whichever they decide works best for them 

Sorry to hear about your paint issue Gary, it happens to the best of us mate. Love your attitude though!

Thanks for the great rundown Pat, it's going to be very useful.The kit arrived yesterday and it's very interesting comparing the original with the current version.

Great work on the Vega Piers. Very much looking forward to seeing the final result.

Dodgy

Gary, that's no good. There's always that point where you have to assess whether it is worth to carry on - sorry you got to that point. I do like your positivity - you have come out wiser at least! Look forward to your return with another offering.

Pat, Thanks for the detailed rundown - sounds like the model is still in pretty good order for its age. And it looks with your careful approach to the wings has worked out well. Would you advise Dodgy and others following you to glue on and clean up the lower wing rather than assemble the whole wing and glue it on after?

Piers,

I'm going to have to withdraw the DC-3 for now.  I really screwed the paint scheme up, and try as I might there's no fixing it.  The plastic is soft, so removing it might cause more damage than its worth.  I may try it, but not right now.  I'll just have to order another one and start again... a sadder and a wiser man.

Gary

Thanks for the rundown, Pat.

lostagain

Looks great Pat, how did you find the build of the kit? How was the fit? Was there much filling to be done on the build, given the age of the kit - it's older than me...

Lostagain and Dodgy,

Thanks for the feedback.  Overall, considering the age of the kit, and its relatively small scale (1/144) I kind of like the kit and think that its not too bad.

Since the fuselage appears to be at least partially corregated, and the wings appear to be cloth covered, the level of detail isn't too bad and does not look too out of place.  And surprisingly some of the parts were fairly finely made (like the propeller blades) but still look pretty good, even though the molds used are fairly old.

For me the only real shortcomings of the kit are that the clear parts are thick, and end up not looking too clear (I appears that there might be some sink marks in them).  As such, since the plane doesn;t have any interior I ended up painting the inside of the clear parts Black, so that there still have a glossy outer appearance.

As far as fot an finnish, I thnik that there were two sink mark on the lower surface of the tail, and I needed a little putty around the join of the tail and fuselage, as well as the upper and lower seem between the fuselage halves, and also just a little around the fron of the engine nacelles.

Two things that I noticed, that I maybe would do different if I did it again, are that;

- I wasn't carful enough in mounting the tail to the fuselage, so that it ended up a little crooked

- in the instructions the wings aren't installed to late in the process, which results in a visible seem at the front and back join of the lower wing to the fuselage.  I saw a video on YouTube where someone else who was building this kit suggested gluing the lower wing to the fuselage first, before attaching the upper wing, so that it would be easier to try and clean up these joins between the lower wing and the fuselage.

Other than that I actually found that attaching the upper and lower wings together took a little care but wasn't as bad as I feared it could be.  Because many of the struts are molded together in large "W" sections I was able to glue them to the bottom wing and let them glue dry enough that they stayed in place, but still had a little give.  The wings are molded with locater holes or depressions in the wings that align very well with theses struts, making attaching them not a big problem.

I then went through one by one gluing the upper attachments of each "W" section to the wing, and letting the glue dry before going to the next "W" section.  That way there was enough "give" in aligning the tops of the struts to the upper wing to get everything to fall into there correct locator hole positions.  Once the glue for everything is dried, the combine top and bottom wing unit ended up being fairly strong and robust.

One mistake that I did make though in putting together the model, was that I inadvertantly put the left lower engine nacelle on the right side and vice versa.  Overall it wasn;t a big mistake, though I had to fill one locater hole on each nacelle and trim one set of struts, since one locater hole was on the wrong side of each nacelle, now. 

Pat

Gary & Pat: Those are going great guys!

Piers: All that work sanding is paying off!

Dodgy: The Heracles sounds cool!

Looks great Pat, how did you find the build of the kit? How was the fit? Was there much filling to be done on the build, given the age of the kit - it's older than me...

Ferg, happy with either build, I like the sound of both of them.

The Vega has got to the first stage - the sanding of all the main bits is done. The lower wings particularly took a lot of sanding. I nearly sanded through the first one, but got better on the second.

And as you can see from the two tail pieces, there is a lot to be removed to get it as thin as it needs to be.

So all the pieces are sanded to shape, it almost looks like a kit....

Well not really, time work out how to put it together. Strangely, it starts with the canopy - I have to make sure it fits properly to the fuselage and then everything goes from there

PFJN2

Hi,

Sorry that I haven't gotten around to posting many in-process pictures, but I'm close to done on my HP 42 airplane build.  I still need to add the framing to the front windscreen, do some clean up, then clear coat it and ass decals 

Pat

 

That is looking awesome PFJN2. I have always wanted to build this kit and have just ordered one for this GB. I hope mine is half as good as yours. (I have one in the original Airfix boxing but can't bring myself to build it. I also have a 24th scale vacform, but I think I'm going to have to add a new room to the house to hold it).

Well Piers, as you've probably worked out I'm changing my entry again. Looking closely at the Morris, I was not satisfied that there was enough difference between pre war/WWII. So I'm going with the HP Heracles.

Dodgy

Hi,

Sorry that I haven't gotten around to posting many in-process pictures, but I'm close to done on my HP 42 airplane build.  I still need to add the framing to the front windscreen, do some clean up, then clear coat it and ass decals 

Pat

Lots of work in front of you Piers old mate. And the Morris will definitely be pre 39. Not that there was much difference.

Dodgy

Hi Ferg, I like the look of that one, as long as it is finished the way it was before September '39. I still want to see the SSK finished though

Gary that is a tiny little thing! Looking good with it though.

Though I have to say, I think I will win the sanding stakes. With the vacform, there is plenty of sanding to do. This is how it goes - lots of sanding on a piece of a wet and dry taped to a piece of glass. Trying to get it consistently flat takes plenty of attantion as it gets closer to the edges marked with the sharpie. You can see how much gets taken off on the two tail pieces, bottom left. Takes a while to get through it all, especially when trying to get a razor thin trailing edge.

Piers if this is acceptable it will be the replacement for the Matchbox SSK. I believe this particular version of the Morris truck went into production in 1936. Funnily enough, whilst looking for a tuna boat kit for TB, I found the rest of the SSK, but it's a lot further along than I remember. I'm going to finish it anyway and if it's ok I'll post some pics here, but it won't be my entry as the construction is more than half complete.

Dodgy

Gamera

Looks great Gary- love how you're doing the windows!

I can't take credit for that.  MrKeck did that in the C-47/DC-3 GB.  Wonder what happened to him?

lostagain

How small is the model?

About 4 1/2 to 5 inches, as you can see by the image next to a Model Master and old Testor's bottle.

Meanwhile, the wings are on and the engine cowlings in place.  Time for some putty and sanding.  My favorite part! 

Gary

Looks great Gary- love how you're doing the windows!