Crimea_River
Marshal
You're moving along very well Jelmer. It's looking pretty nice so far!
1/48 Trumpeter MiG 3 (early)
- Thread starter jjp_nl
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- #22
Sofar it has been a real joy to build it, even though it certainly has it's challanges and specific points that need a little extra attention. Lately I've had a lot of kits on the workbench I just couldn't make and headway on for one reason or another, so it's a relieve this one is coming along nicely
N4521U
Colonel
I've said it before, I just like them little Mig3's.......
What you're doing makes me want to build one as well....
Beeeauty
What you're doing makes me want to build one as well....
Beeeauty
- Thread starter
- #25
What can I say, if you manage to get your hands on one of 'em little Trumpy kits you won't be disappointed. While it certainly has points that need a little extra attention or fixing, it is indeed a very cleverly engineerded kit if assembled in the right order (which isn't necessarily the order the instructions suggest) I've done other Trumpy kits that were a bit of a let down not only in terms of quality but also in terms of value for money, but this one is absolutely great sofar and a lot of fun to build (which is also very important) all this for a very neat price. What more can we ask for.
woljags
Staff Sergeant
nice work,makes me want to do my revell Mig 3 kit in 1/72nd
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Looks good Jelmer and with all that brilliant info you have a sound footing for a great build.
- Thread starter
- #29
Work continues on the MiG 3
Starting with the wings. The uppers parts that is. If at all possible I like to go about it this way as it enables you to prevent serious ridges from forming on the wingsroots, even if a little work is needed to fill a small gap. A ridge or difference in height on the wingroot to my mind mind is a lot more difficult to fix (at the cost of a lot more details that will disappear during heavy sanding) then a gap in any other place that is the result of doing it this way (leading edges of a wing for example).
While alignment of the wings to the fuselage is very good small gaps do remain on the wingsroots that wil require filling.
Which brings me to the next, step. Filling the gaps. The wingsroots show a gap that needs work. In addition an area running from the front end of the lower cowling to about the leading edges of the wing did show some fit issues which will need work in terms of filling. Some Tamiya tape was used to lay out the areas that need putty and prevent excess putty from ending up in places I don't want it. It also helps ensure that a good ridge of filler forms that can be sanded down nicely. The good thing is it's in the area that is least visible, so losing a rivet here or there through sanding shouldn't degrade the overall result too much.
Last but not least. I'm thinking about doing a scheme inspired by this profile drawing. Need to look in the spares box if some suitable numbers can be found, and if not..I'll use the kit decals and work something out that gets close to this in terms of registration. I know this is a late model of the MiG but I like the colors just too much to skip on it and do a regular green one or something.
Starting with the wings. The uppers parts that is. If at all possible I like to go about it this way as it enables you to prevent serious ridges from forming on the wingsroots, even if a little work is needed to fill a small gap. A ridge or difference in height on the wingroot to my mind mind is a lot more difficult to fix (at the cost of a lot more details that will disappear during heavy sanding) then a gap in any other place that is the result of doing it this way (leading edges of a wing for example).
While alignment of the wings to the fuselage is very good small gaps do remain on the wingsroots that wil require filling.
Which brings me to the next, step. Filling the gaps. The wingsroots show a gap that needs work. In addition an area running from the front end of the lower cowling to about the leading edges of the wing did show some fit issues which will need work in terms of filling. Some Tamiya tape was used to lay out the areas that need putty and prevent excess putty from ending up in places I don't want it. It also helps ensure that a good ridge of filler forms that can be sanded down nicely. The good thing is it's in the area that is least visible, so losing a rivet here or there through sanding shouldn't degrade the overall result too much.
Last but not least. I'm thinking about doing a scheme inspired by this profile drawing. Need to look in the spares box if some suitable numbers can be found, and if not..I'll use the kit decals and work something out that gets close to this in terms of registration. I know this is a late model of the MiG but I like the colors just too much to skip on it and do a regular green one or something.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Coming along great guns but that's an awful lot of filler needed.
Unfortunately we haven't seen these gaps without the applied putty. It's possible the SuperGlue might have been better as the filler. However all is looking good. Now some of work ahead you. Looking forward to a few pictures showing the final effect of the work.
- Thread starter
- #32
I may have overdone it slightly on the amount of filler 
although if anything the lower cowling area is the absolute weak point on this kit. So I did get rid of some of the excess filler by wiping it down with a cotton-bud loaded with nail-polish remover.
I did consider CA-glue Wurger, but as these gaps are mostly hidden in curves (not on otherwise straight surfaces such as a leading edge of a wing) I opted for regular putty. Working superglue into a smooth surface has to be done fast before it has completely cured. On the other hand working around curves like in the lower cowling area takes time. Had I used super-glue, I feared that about twenty minutes into a sanding session the superglue would have cured up to reinforced-concrete like strenght and would have taken a very very long time to work into a smooth surface. Therefore I did it with regular putty. If need be I can always touch a spot up with a little Mr.Surfacer 500 or a extra bead of putty that can be sanded down a second time fairly easy.
although if anything the lower cowling area is the absolute weak point on this kit. So I did get rid of some of the excess filler by wiping it down with a cotton-bud loaded with nail-polish remover.I did consider CA-glue Wurger, but as these gaps are mostly hidden in curves (not on otherwise straight surfaces such as a leading edge of a wing) I opted for regular putty. Working superglue into a smooth surface has to be done fast before it has completely cured. On the other hand working around curves like in the lower cowling area takes time. Had I used super-glue, I feared that about twenty minutes into a sanding session the superglue would have cured up to reinforced-concrete like strenght and would have taken a very very long time to work into a smooth surface. Therefore I did it with regular putty. If need be I can always touch a spot up with a little Mr.Surfacer 500 or a extra bead of putty that can be sanded down a second time fairly easy.
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Crimea_River
Marshal
I always like to share this technique as I'm a firm believer in its simplicity and great results:filling without sanding
- Thread starter
- #34
Yup, that's it, although the nail-polish remover I use is just about without acetone (just enough to get the desired results on the putty). The regular nail-polish removers readily available here in The Netherlands have way too much full strength acetone in them to be useful or something. Burns a hole right through your model. It is therefore vital here you ask for remover 'without' acetone (whichs contains just about enough to get the job done) I've found revell Aqua Color Clean also works, albeit a little less effective compared to nailpolish remover (I guess it's some kind of alcohol substance as discribed in the tutorial) Whenever I do use this technique I do tend to work perpendicular to the direction of the join, rather then wipe right over it as discribed in the tutorial as I've found that one quite easily wipes away putty in the gap as well when working in the direction of the join
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I see. But there is a liquid called DEBONDER which is CA glue remover. It is easy to obtain the smooth surface with that without sanding.
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- #36
Never knew there was such thing Wurger! I will look into that for sure! Can it be used in the same manner as nail-polish remover on regular putty? In other words wipe a CA-glue covered area down with a Q-tip dipped in this debonder stuff? I did look it up on zhe interweb but the brands of deboner I've found are not readily available here in The Netherlands so might take a little while to obtain the stuff, but if it makes working CA glue a lot easier it has to worth it
Crimea_River
Marshal
It's also acetone based like nail polish remover. I'ver read that nail polish remover can be used to soften CA so, if you have the stuff that softens the putty, try it on a dried blob of CA and see what it does.
- Thread starter
- #38
Never knew there was such thing Wurger! I will look into that for sure! Can it be used in the same manner as nail-polish remover on regular putty? In other words wipe a CA-glue covered area down with a Q-tip dipped in this debonder stuff? I did look it up on zhe interweb but the brands of deboner I've found are not readily available here in The Netherlands so might take a little while to obtain the stuff, but if it makes working CA glue a lot easier it has to worth it
Yes, it can be used in a such way. Also if you get dirty any surface with a CA glue you can remove the mess with a soft rag dipped into the liquid. But these Q-tips are better. If you apply the Debonder at seams for instance and wait longer you will unglue parts. The liquid is the Czech 'invention'.
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- #40
With a lot of filler to remove and my dislike for anything that involves removing filler I wanted to get the sanding show on the road and get it over with. Here's the first results.
I marked an area near the leading edge of the wingroot in red as this was by far the most critical area of the whole operation. These were little inserts that initially lined up only so so with quite a bit of height difference and a considerable gap. The amount of remaining filler still visible does give this area away as being the one that needs the most attention.
The lower cowling area came out quite alright for a first sanding session, but may need a little touching up. I intend to spray a coat of paint over it to see how it sits and to be able to pick out the area's that need a little more work. I wanted to do this yesterday, but my airbrush had some problems, so I had to take it apart and run it through my ultrasonic cleaner.
Wingroot came out fine.
Elevators have been installed too. Did show a little gap along the join, but the filler + nail-polish remover took care of that. I read through the tutorial Crimea_River posted a link to and went about it a little different. Rather then wait for the filler to dry I went in with nail-polish remover when it was still quite soft and not fully cured/dried. Giving indeed even better results.
A final thing I did was take care of a fairly superficial but quite visible sink-mark on the back of the prop. So I applied a good bead of Mr. Surfacer 500. Need to sand it down ofcourse but the sink-mark will be gone for sure.
One other thing I also did yesterday was to dip the clearparts (which look amazing BTW) in future. This was a mess. The formula of future appears to have changed slightly making working it somewhat tricky, also paired with fairly warm weather yesterday, which made the future coat dry into sticky substance quite fast rather then let it flow across the surface nicely made for a real mess. Bottomline...the clearparts have been sitting in oven-cleaner for the night. Hope to be able to further clean the clearparts after work and give it another go with a different brand of future that seems to work better for me.
I marked an area near the leading edge of the wingroot in red as this was by far the most critical area of the whole operation. These were little inserts that initially lined up only so so with quite a bit of height difference and a considerable gap. The amount of remaining filler still visible does give this area away as being the one that needs the most attention.
The lower cowling area came out quite alright for a first sanding session, but may need a little touching up. I intend to spray a coat of paint over it to see how it sits and to be able to pick out the area's that need a little more work. I wanted to do this yesterday, but my airbrush had some problems, so I had to take it apart and run it through my ultrasonic cleaner.
Wingroot came out fine.
Elevators have been installed too. Did show a little gap along the join, but the filler + nail-polish remover took care of that. I read through the tutorial Crimea_River posted a link to and went about it a little different. Rather then wait for the filler to dry I went in with nail-polish remover when it was still quite soft and not fully cured/dried. Giving indeed even better results.
A final thing I did was take care of a fairly superficial but quite visible sink-mark on the back of the prop. So I applied a good bead of Mr. Surfacer 500. Need to sand it down ofcourse but the sink-mark will be gone for sure.
One other thing I also did yesterday was to dip the clearparts (which look amazing BTW) in future. This was a mess. The formula of future appears to have changed slightly making working it somewhat tricky, also paired with fairly warm weather yesterday, which made the future coat dry into sticky substance quite fast rather then let it flow across the surface nicely made for a real mess. Bottomline...the clearparts have been sitting in oven-cleaner for the night. Hope to be able to further clean the clearparts after work and give it another go with a different brand of future that seems to work better for me.
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