**** DONE: 1/72 Morane Saulnier 406 - Pacific Theatre of Operations II

[parsifal]

Thanks yet again and man, that is intersting stuff, but not what I had seen. The phtos I had seen were of a Swiss D3801, and these were not the same as those youve shown. Further research does show the later, smaller exhausts but I guess the flame covers that I saw on the swiss version are not appropriate

 

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent info as always!

 

[mikewint]

Michael, great start. I learned a lot both from your history and choice. Had never even heard of this aircraft before.
Glad you joined in

 

[Totalize]

Michael,

Just had a read through of your build. Very nice and certainly unusual which I like.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Dave.

 

[Wurger]

I guess the flame covers that I saw on the swiss version are not appropriate

Yes Michael these exaust pipes of the Swiss D3801 and later and the Finnish Morko Morrani were different entirely because these planes were powered by different engines. The Swiss planes were powered by engines Saurer YS-2, Saurer YS-3 and didn't need the retractable radiator. Contrary to that Finns replaced the HS 12Y-31 engine with captured Russian Klimov M-105P engine with WISz-61P prop and added the new oil coller taken from Bf 109.

For French MS 406 exhaust pipes were either the Bronzavia ones or the short pipes protruding a little bit from the engine cowling.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Once again Wojtek my friend, you've come up trumps.

 

[Wurger]

THX.

 

[parsifal]

well, its been a few daays since my last diary entry, but I have been busy. Ive put the main bits of the kit together and applied the base coat of the 3 part camo scheme. Masked up, as best i could, in readiness to apply the next colour, brown.

The attached shots show my masking effort, which i hope will hold and not be too ragged. before anything, i will apply a further coat of the blue/grey to try and seal the masking. I may even apply 'maskol" in some places to smooth some edges and ensure no leakage like last time.


The masking loos rough, i admit, but i think it will protect the areas i dont want paited just yet. i will find out soon enough i guess.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good, Michael.

 

[rochie]

Sure does, masking looks very thorough.

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking forward to the paint.

 

[Lucky13]

Looking good buddy....

 

[Rogi]

Looks great

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Masking little fellows like that is not easy, I'm sure it will come out fine though.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Looks good to me!

 

[parsifal]

applied the brown this morning before going to work. its no mid afternoon, enough time for the acrylic to be sry enough to allow the removal of some masking. So far no runs, and no daggy little stringy bits in the camo appplication. Pretty happy.

Next step is to adjust the masking to allow the green layer to be applied. I now have remove the making where the green is to be applied, and cover the brown bits i want to keep. For the moment the masking covering the greay bits I want retained should stay where it is.

But pretty happy so far

 

[Wayne Little]

Hope it works out Michael.

 

[parsifal]

some progress shots of the uncompleted cam scheme. the pictures show the most success i had on a multi colour camo for me do date, with no runs no really big imperfections. it still looks very rough because some of the (now painted) masking is still needed. i need to re-mask some of the surfaces now, including the the brown bits i want to keep. there are some grey bits now exposed that i need to also cover, and finally i can then apply the final element of the schemem being the gree bits.

im going to run some tests first however. some bits to be masked are really fiddly, with mabe 1 to 1.5mm widths to the irregular shape. I think that is going to be very hard to mask over exactly, so im going to run some experiements to see if my liquid masking agent ("maskol") can be applied precisely over the iregular shape, but more importantly, whether the maskol, on its own can provide an effective seal, hopefully the answer is yes

as far as the actual application that i have so far is concerned, i am happy with the texture, and the seal i achieved with the masking, but this is far from perfect. More than i had expected, but falling short of what i had hoped for. i also slightly worried about my colour selection. are these hues right for this aircraft. i think so, but i have these nagging and persistent doubts.....

 

[Wurger]

Michael I must admit your skills get better and better. Great !!!. Keep that up.

 

[le_steph40]