1:72 Lioré & Olivier LeO 451

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I have not yet found the perfect scribing tool. I think I'm hung up on the fact that ALL moulded panel lines, no matter how fine, tend to be overdone to start with IMO. Paul Budzik talks about this and suggests that the most realistic effect would be to simply cut a fine line in the paint with a sharp knife or scalpel.
 
I have not yet found the perfect scribing tool. I think I'm hung up on the fact that ALL moulded panel lines, no matter how fine, tend to be overdone to start with IMO. Paul Budzik talks about this and suggests that the most realistic effect would be to simply cut a fine line in the paint with a sharp knife or scalpel.
I agree with you knowing how hard is to find the right tool that works well. The above video is in my collection since years and I learned from it (among other things) how to make a guiding edge from 2-3 layers of paper tape rather than using a dymo-tape.
I also liked the idea of scribing lines in the primer and even tried it at some point, but there is no chance (for me) to scribe a line in the primer and not touch the plastic. o_O
 
Great work, Yves; a less familiar type for us Antipodeans, so learning something from this.
Actually many of the "French beauties" incl. LeO 451 have been shot down, captured or destroyed on the ground by the "Antipodeans":
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I believe the last 2 photos are of one and the same LeO (note the bent propeller). And this is the description:

Three unidentified Australian ground crew members from No 3 Squadron RAAF, standing on the starboard wing of a damaged Vichy French Air Force, Liore et Olivier 451 twin engined light bomber at the Rayak airfield, Syria. The remains of three other Dewoitine D520 fighters can be seen in the background (left). Rows of abandoned French trucks and other vehicles are parked in the background behind the three Australians and there is a camouflaged hangar (right) which appears to be relatively undamaged. Rayak aerodrome was first attacked by British Blenheim bombers on 18-19 May 1941 and again on 8 June 1941 (the morning of the Invasion of Syria) by P40 Tomahawks of No 3 Squadron, RAAF, where six Vichy French aircraft were damaged on the ground. After its capture, No 3 Squadron RAAF occupied Rayak aerodrome until 3 September 1941 when it transferred back to the Western Desert.
Photos copied from Australian War Memorial.
 
Finished the "panelizing" (re-scribing panel lines) of the 2 wing undersides. Inconclusive drawings again:oops:. After comparing with photos of real planes, there were several differences so I did my own template and added or deleted some lines.
1. There is a very distinctive panel/strip over the connection joint of the outer and inner wing part. On the model it's flat.
oov8hNY.jpg

The arrow points toward the joint and was made by the ebay-seller not by me ;) (check the same photo in Schnautzer's collection of ebay photos of LeO 45).
2. In the above photo and in the next one the hinges of the aileron are very prominent as well. On the model they are just flat with the wing surface.
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3. There are a few panel lines outside of the engines which were not on the model and not in the drawings. I added them as per the photo below:
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The small black rectangles are some miniature revision openings which I omitted, but added the 2 round ones on the outside of the wing bomb bays. Yes, this bird had wing bomb bays in addition to the main one and could carry in them up to 2x500kg bombs. It was almost never done as per the historical reviews and materials I'm reading, because the fuel quantity had to be reduced.
Here are the 2 wing bomb bays with bulged doors:
ZhBmEoE.jpg

The fuselage bomb bay is placed asymmetrically to the left side - there is a walkway from the front to the back of the a/c on the right side. Bomb bay doors are seen behind the dark oval, which is the bottom of the retracting turret.
And here is my rendition of the wing.
1. Original underside (before re-scribing and changes):
zf8FVaO.jpg

2. Modified underside (after re-scribing and with added new cover of the wing joint, new aileron hinges etc.):
pcjSVnZ.jpg

The panel lines are black because I went trough all of them with a very soft pencil to check them.
That's all for today.
Cheers!
 
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Where's the fun in that then? :lol:
Now this is old school talking: how to scratch-build 1001 parts for my model, vintage 1966 and have fun.
And there comes Santa (just hypothetically speaking) with a Zoukei-Mura's super-duper-high-tech-ultra-detailed Shinden in 1/32 with 252 parts(+ extra pilot figure, metal machine guns and struts, PE-parts and whatnot) and I'll say: No, that's not fun at all!
N-a-a.....
 
Doing a great job on this bird.
Thanks guys!
Got stuck with the model around the Holidays - it's on my desk but nothing moves further.
I think I've chosen the exact historical period and "livery" for my bird - an a/c from the first squadron of GB I/31 in Lebanon/Syria, June-July of 1941.
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Cheers!
 

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