Ralph Haus
Tech Sergeant
Going stir crazy waiting for GB57 to start. Have not cut a spru or glued for more than a week.
I have had this kit, Special Hobby - BV 155B V-1, on the shelf for more than a year. The 155, as far as I can determine, never saw action. So it would probably never be eligible for a GB, so I decided to do 'something'
Actually a three fold reason for building.
1) to have something to do for the next 5 days!!!
2) Never having built a Special Hobby kit, I thought I should have a go at this one before I buy any other SH kits (I'm tempted to order some unique ones that I have been seeing lately).
3) And finally, to 'test' my eyesight for close up work(GB57!!). I did have cataracts removed from both eyes, having 'adaptive' lenses installed. The right eye is like I'm 20 years old again - 20/20; near and far. The left, well they installed an incorrect lens and decided to do LASIX to correct. While doing this, somehow an incorrect setting was made into the computer and a astigmatism was introduced; now I see very little clearly with that eye. I'm told that there has been no permanent damage done to the eye, just need to do a little tweaking with LASIK again, in two months. We'll 'see', pun intended.
The last image is kind if interesting. The 155B compared to its little brother, a Bf 109.
As for the kit and my first impressions. Not impressed. No locator pins/holes. Not a big deal but would help especially since the matching parts are not very accurate. I probably will assemble (glue) the components in the 'taped' assembled mode (see third photo). To many chances of having to add a bunch of filler to missed matches on the seams. The spru attach points are crude and difficult to clean up. Flashing, other than some edge roughness, is tolerable. Gluing (I have tried some small areas) is not as I expected. At least with Tamiya liquid, the material does not seam to want to soften easily. Makes tacking difficult.
One plus, given I expect many gaps to be filled, I will have a chance to try super glue as a filler.
Not sure if and when I'll be doing the 'FINISH' part of this thread, but who knows it may wind up as a 'zombie' candidate for a future GB?
I have had this kit, Special Hobby - BV 155B V-1, on the shelf for more than a year. The 155, as far as I can determine, never saw action. So it would probably never be eligible for a GB, so I decided to do 'something'
Actually a three fold reason for building.
1) to have something to do for the next 5 days!!!
2) Never having built a Special Hobby kit, I thought I should have a go at this one before I buy any other SH kits (I'm tempted to order some unique ones that I have been seeing lately).
3) And finally, to 'test' my eyesight for close up work(GB57!!). I did have cataracts removed from both eyes, having 'adaptive' lenses installed. The right eye is like I'm 20 years old again - 20/20; near and far. The left, well they installed an incorrect lens and decided to do LASIX to correct. While doing this, somehow an incorrect setting was made into the computer and a astigmatism was introduced; now I see very little clearly with that eye. I'm told that there has been no permanent damage done to the eye, just need to do a little tweaking with LASIK again, in two months. We'll 'see', pun intended.
The last image is kind if interesting. The 155B compared to its little brother, a Bf 109.
As for the kit and my first impressions. Not impressed. No locator pins/holes. Not a big deal but would help especially since the matching parts are not very accurate. I probably will assemble (glue) the components in the 'taped' assembled mode (see third photo). To many chances of having to add a bunch of filler to missed matches on the seams. The spru attach points are crude and difficult to clean up. Flashing, other than some edge roughness, is tolerable. Gluing (I have tried some small areas) is not as I expected. At least with Tamiya liquid, the material does not seam to want to soften easily. Makes tacking difficult.
One plus, given I expect many gaps to be filled, I will have a chance to try super glue as a filler.
Not sure if and when I'll be doing the 'FINISH' part of this thread, but who knows it may wind up as a 'zombie' candidate for a future GB?
