**** DONE: GB-36 1/48 Macchi C.202 Folgore - Axis Manufactured Aircraft of WWII

[fubar57]

Beauty

 

[Airframes]

With all.

 

[turbo]

Thanks very much guys. As predicted, the wires I'd added to the control stick to represent the firing cables broke off during installation so I did what I should have done in the first place and drilled a 0.3 mm hole through the stick and threaded 0.25 mm wire through. The PE footplates and rudder pedals were painted Ironbreaker and installed. PE straps were added to the pedals, painted, and then everything given a final oil wash.

Final PE bits and pieces were added to the sidewalls, painted, and given a final oil wash.

Finished up the IP too by adding the magnetic compass and various knobs and handles which were hand painted.

So, I'm getting towards the end of Robopit. I must admit it's been extremely fiddly in 1/48 and an exercise in patience. I'm not sure I'd be keen to do another pit with so much PE in this scale again any time soon! I'm also going to have to be extremely careful handling it during installation, so just mulling the best way to approach that...

 

[JKim]

Cockpit work looks beautiful Kirby. I agree about having trouble with the size of 1/48 cockpit add-ons. Especially when jumping between 1/32 and 1/48 scale builds,,, 1/48 seems so small.

 

[rochie]

Very nice Kirby

 

[Crimea_River]

Really liking the look of that Kirby.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice work Kirby.

 

[fubar57]

Very nice Kirby. Agree about the P.E. and also now thinking about resin in future projects; lovely to look at during the build but invisible when completed. I've got a few sets left but from now on I'll be checking other finished builds on the net to see how much will be visible before making any more purchases.

 

[Airframes]

That's looking the bog's dollocks !

 

[turbo]

Thanks very much chaps!

Last element of robopit to come together is the seat. It was painted Ironbreaker and then PE bits added including the rather complicated Italian harness affair. This assembly will receive further painting and weathering once installed and the harness buckle attached to the backing plate.

So with all the pit elements done it was time to turn my attention to the fuselage halves. First up, there are several features that are not present on a II Serie 202.

Here it is after surgery, sanding, and rescribing.

So here's where I ran into the first problem - can you see it?

Yeah, kind of obvious warping! The halves could possibly simply come together by gluing, but I didn't want to put pressure on the seams and risk cracking later on so decided to try and straighten them out. The first step was to soften the plastic in hot tap water and then immediately clamp the fuselage down on a flat surface - my cutting mat was handy.

I then made several passes over the plastic with my daughter's hairdryer set to hot. A bit like airbrushing, you need to keep moving and be careful not to dwell in any one place or you risk melting the plastic. I then shoved the whole mat in the fridge for 5 or 10 min to rapidly cool. Et voila!

Not perfect but I can now safely join the fuselage halves without putting pressure on the seams. Thanks for stopping by and next update I'll wrestle with getting robopit to fit into the fuselage...

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff, especially the 're-moulding' !

 

[Wurger]

 

[javlin]

Nice work Kirby on the innards.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good tip there. Me being me, I probably would have left it and trusted the glue. Hair dryer and plastic sounds like a bad mix.

 

[turbo]

Hair dryer and plastic sounds like a bad mix

I did approach it with some trepidation!

 

[parsifal]

You have far more skill and courage than me Kirby. Well done

 

[Wayne Little]

Nicely done man....

 

[turbo]

Thanks very much guys. Cobbling the pit together, hopefully an update tomorrow...

 

[fubar57]

Nicely done removing the warpage. Both of my fuselages fit together smoothly

EDIT: Was just painting my seat Runefang Steel and was wondering if you have tried to spray Citadel paints. The searches I've done are just about split 50-50.....sprays great or sucks for airbrushes