<> 1/48 Arado Ar196A - WW1 / WW2 over Water.

[Crimea_River]

Yep. That's the one John uses if I recall. The one you gave me us just fine Terry and the price was right!

No bench time today as yet. I went over to the physio clinic to make an appointment and was able to walk in straight away for some prodding and kneading. Already feels a bit better but I'll need to do more sessions to get this behind me. Always happens at the start of golf season. Hmmmmmm.

 

[Crimea_River]

Well, I'm a bit at a loss now. I'm looking at reference photos of the venerable 1/32 Revell kit and notice a major difference (see below):

And now compare that with this pic from my kit:

Look at the big step in the floor on the Revell kit. The radio set sits much lower than the seat and on my kit, the seat does not make it up to the cockpit sill whereas on the Revell kit it's higher than the sill. This is not an easy fix as the sidewalls, control column, and instrument panel are all moulded to fit the flat floor.

I hate it when things are wrong! Putting this aside until I can figure this out some time on Sunday.

 

[Wurger]

It seems that the pic of your cockpit interior is closer to the A-1 and early A-2 variants. Here a couple shots I found.

And the indicator panel of the A-3 ..

 

[Airframes]

The need for physio is God's way of telling you that golf is non-productive, and modelling comes first !

Going to be a tricky mod if you decide to change things Andy - maybe just improve the look and leave the floor as is. or, build a false floor up front, and raise the seat ?

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Wojtek.

I'm leaning toward the latter Terry but it will mean also modifying the control column, install panel support, and side wall details. Not impossible but just more than I was counting on. The nagging question still though is whether or not raising the floor is correct and I tend to trust the Revell model more than mine.

 

[Airframes]

Yep, I think the Revell 1/32nd scale kit is from Revell Germany, who tend to be very detailed in their research (apart from modern-day seats and lack of back armour in Spitfire kits !), so I'd guess their layout is more accurate.
Difficult choice, but I think I'd be tempted to leave the floor as it is, and maybe improve the radio set-up.

 

[Robert Porter]

To Play Golf is to spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk - H. S. Scrivener

I too would leave the floor as is and work on the radio set. Otherwise it really is looking great!

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far Andy!

 

[parsifal]

FWIW I think the Revell kit is more accurate in terms of how it depicts the detailing of the radio gear. your kit shows a single integrated box for the radio assemble, and the DF loops just don't look tight in your kit. I see less need to alter the flooring arrangements which would be much harder to rectify, plus we dont have too much detail to go one way or the other in this regard. My advice would be to alter or improve that which is obviously in error, realise what isn't yet proven and not important visually anyway, and just go with it.


Of course, knowing you, Andy, you will not be satisfied with 'good enough" so Im expecting a fully working console in about two weeks (he he he)

 

[Crimea_River]

Michael, thanks. I agree with you that the Revell replication is probably the one to go by.

The radio set below the sill is actually not too bad in terms of accuracy. The boxes are essentially correct but the various knobs and dials are slightly off - not enough for me to dismiss the part so I've gone ahead and reused this with some proper painting. Above the boxes, there should a small map table which presumably slides in and out like a drawer. Over the map table, things differ again and I will rebuild all but the panel on the far right. What you refer to as the "DF loops" are actually supposed to be the loops of the two stowed lifting cables (see the diagram in post 44). These too will be discarded and rebuilt.

With that said, no better way to deal with a problem than actually jump in to the point of no return. I therefore removed all the previously attached parts and sawed the floor in two, just behind the pilot's seat support frame. I then built up a step which has yet to be properly adjusted and glued, based on my best estimates of step height and location as shown in pics of the Revell kit:

The radio group has been painted and glued in place, though in hindsight I may need to move this once again after confirming the placement relative to the rear bulkhead.

This was not much to show admittedly but I plan to spend some quality time with this kit tomorrow, having bookmarked several references. Thanks for your interested and help guys. I want to get this pit behind me as the rest of the build should be relatively straight forward, apart from the float issues previously mentioned and the need for a bit of rigging between the float supports. Hopefully I'll be able to post up some more progress shots tomorrow.

 

[parsifal]

man that is very nice work andy. looks great.

 

[Wayne Little]

Taking shape Andy..

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy.
The raised floor looks about right - I had a look at that cutaway drawing again, and it shows the floor about where you've re-located it.

 

[Robert Porter]

Very neat to see! Looking forward to seeing how it all fits in the end!

 

[Crimea_River]

So am I!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Well I scaled the location of the step and radio set as best I could from side views of the Revell kit and found that I was way off with my Mk I eyeball so I started over. This time I used a different approach, deciding to first install the instrument panel and then measuring between it and the rear bulkhead to locate a scratch built bulkhead at the step which will represent the back wall of the radio set. To do this, I first had to cut the V-shaped support off the instrument panel, which was moulded in such a way as to make the IP slope quite noticeably and was not the correct shape in any event. The IP should be in a vertical plane, except for the lower section which slopes up for better viewing by the pilot. I also cut away the post with the rudder pedals for later installation.

In order to use the side walls, I had to cut out the breaker panel, which would be too low now relative to the higher forward floor. I also cut out what appears to be an oxygen tank, which I could not see replicated as such on the Revell and Eduard parts. I also began carving off the structural members as it appears these were covered by flat panels

Here's the starboard side wall part way through the modification. The holes where the above parts have been removed have been plugged with bits of styrene card and filled with CA.

Setting that aside for a bit, I turned to making the bulkhead. After drawing a vertical line at its correct location, I taped the fuselage halves together and made a template of paper which I then transposed onto styrene card to cut out the piece that I will use. Below is the fit after careful filing.

With the bulkhead now glued in place, I cut the side wall and fit the rear section and floor into place. The forward sidewall was cut lengthwise to allow the higher floor to fit correctly.

Tomorrow should see the forward floor placed and some details beginning to be filled in. Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice..!