- Thread starter
- #141
Crimea_River
Marshal
OK, here we go with a big update. May get this done Sunday after all.
First of all, we got us some undercarriage now. I'm too lazy to restore the block tread pattern on the tires after filing the seam away and will argue that the tires are worn! Yeah, that's it...
Next we have the neat inner door details. The doors come complete with half of the wheel well spine and the associate pipes all moulded in. The door is painted with Alclad II Aluminum and the rub strip is Polished Aluminum. The weird surface pattern is really noticeable with this triple zoom - it's moulded in and not something I did.
The door assembly was then glued in place after shaving off some material. Once again the fit is much too tight. The separate actuators help to line up the doors properly - no uneven sagging here.
Next it was on to the checkers. This side view shows how the decal doesn't form a straight line around the nose as it approaches the chin scoop. A look at the side photo on page 1 shows that the band should be of even width all the way down.
I decided to straighten out the band by masking and hand painting the checkers. Here we have the vinyl mask on where the edge should be:
After attempting to match the blue, and not making a good job of it, I painted the extensions of the checks.
Pulling the mask off revealed a bit of a mess as the paint bled under the mask in a couple of spots. In the below pic, the bits around the chin scoop were fixed a little more with additional white.
When the paint dried, I masked again, this time on the decal side and sprayed the Alclad on to get rid of the bleeding. The checks will receive a clear coat which should help to blend the colours a bit.
And now, this is how the checker band looks. Much better, though the pic reveals some more bleeding of the white which I missed. I think a bit of hand touch up and weathering will take care of that. God, I just noticed the yellow, too. Damned close-ups!
With the aluminum paint in the cup, I also resprayed the wing root, whose paint vamoosed on me yesterday. You can also see that I stuck the drop tanks on. Also, the anti-glare panel was gloss-coated last night to allow the stencil decals to go on without any silvering, I hope.
A better look at the drop tank. The sway braces are quite nicely done though they are hard to see in the pic. B the way, Airfix flattened the tires and provided slots and tabs to line up the wheel and strut. The alignment is spot on - nicely done Airfix.
The fact that I had a hard time matching the blue on the checks for the fixes above was a concern in that the spinner needs to get two painted bands of a matching blue. It dawned on me that I had some enamels stashed away, a square-bottle Testors plain blue and two 50 year old tins of Humbrol blues, Gloss 15 and Matte 25. The Humbrols were still good - man I liked those old paints. I made up a test swatch using the unused flap from the kit to compare the colours with the checks. The best match from the swatch is the Humbrol Matte 25.
With the colour chosen, I laid out and masked the bands on the spinner. The inner one was easy as it just follows the seam where the spinner pieces come together. The other edge was carefully measured and masked with the vinyl stretchy tape and then the parts were painted (the white was actually laid down a couple of days ago). The edge came out pretty good, though there is one part with a slight wave in it. I'll spin the prop accordingly for the finished pics, cough, cough. Now, the colour looks a bit pale but it's under a direct light and also keep in mind that it's a matte finish that will darken once I spray on the same clear coat that I'll spray on the checker decal.
So thats where she stands now. I'll spray a gloss coat on the spinner tomorrow night to darken the blue. If all goes to plan then Sunday will see the prop assembled and the matte coats applied to the spinner, checks, and the anti-glare panel. I was also hoping to add the radio wires before getting the canopy on and presenting this thing as finished. Oh and then I have to paint the exhaust stubs, and weather, and add the fiddly bits, and - yeah it ain't gonna be done Sunday. We'll see how it goes.
Sorry for the epistle here and thanks for continuing to follow this build.
First of all, we got us some undercarriage now. I'm too lazy to restore the block tread pattern on the tires after filing the seam away and will argue that the tires are worn! Yeah, that's it...
Next we have the neat inner door details. The doors come complete with half of the wheel well spine and the associate pipes all moulded in. The door is painted with Alclad II Aluminum and the rub strip is Polished Aluminum. The weird surface pattern is really noticeable with this triple zoom - it's moulded in and not something I did.
The door assembly was then glued in place after shaving off some material. Once again the fit is much too tight. The separate actuators help to line up the doors properly - no uneven sagging here.
Next it was on to the checkers. This side view shows how the decal doesn't form a straight line around the nose as it approaches the chin scoop. A look at the side photo on page 1 shows that the band should be of even width all the way down.
I decided to straighten out the band by masking and hand painting the checkers. Here we have the vinyl mask on where the edge should be:
After attempting to match the blue, and not making a good job of it, I painted the extensions of the checks.
Pulling the mask off revealed a bit of a mess as the paint bled under the mask in a couple of spots. In the below pic, the bits around the chin scoop were fixed a little more with additional white.
When the paint dried, I masked again, this time on the decal side and sprayed the Alclad on to get rid of the bleeding. The checks will receive a clear coat which should help to blend the colours a bit.
And now, this is how the checker band looks. Much better, though the pic reveals some more bleeding of the white which I missed. I think a bit of hand touch up and weathering will take care of that. God, I just noticed the yellow, too. Damned close-ups!
With the aluminum paint in the cup, I also resprayed the wing root, whose paint vamoosed on me yesterday. You can also see that I stuck the drop tanks on. Also, the anti-glare panel was gloss-coated last night to allow the stencil decals to go on without any silvering, I hope.
A better look at the drop tank. The sway braces are quite nicely done though they are hard to see in the pic. B the way, Airfix flattened the tires and provided slots and tabs to line up the wheel and strut. The alignment is spot on - nicely done Airfix.
The fact that I had a hard time matching the blue on the checks for the fixes above was a concern in that the spinner needs to get two painted bands of a matching blue. It dawned on me that I had some enamels stashed away, a square-bottle Testors plain blue and two 50 year old tins of Humbrol blues, Gloss 15 and Matte 25. The Humbrols were still good - man I liked those old paints. I made up a test swatch using the unused flap from the kit to compare the colours with the checks. The best match from the swatch is the Humbrol Matte 25.
With the colour chosen, I laid out and masked the bands on the spinner. The inner one was easy as it just follows the seam where the spinner pieces come together. The other edge was carefully measured and masked with the vinyl stretchy tape and then the parts were painted (the white was actually laid down a couple of days ago). The edge came out pretty good, though there is one part with a slight wave in it. I'll spin the prop accordingly for the finished pics, cough, cough. Now, the colour looks a bit pale but it's under a direct light and also keep in mind that it's a matte finish that will darken once I spray on the same clear coat that I'll spray on the checker decal.
So thats where she stands now. I'll spray a gloss coat on the spinner tomorrow night to darken the blue. If all goes to plan then Sunday will see the prop assembled and the matte coats applied to the spinner, checks, and the anti-glare panel. I was also hoping to add the radio wires before getting the canopy on and presenting this thing as finished. Oh and then I have to paint the exhaust stubs, and weather, and add the fiddly bits, and - yeah it ain't gonna be done Sunday. We'll see how it goes.
Sorry for the epistle here and thanks for continuing to follow this build.
