- Thread starter
- #81
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Thanks Mike and Hugh, glad you like it so far.
A bit more to show, but not much for around 8 hours' work !
Before any painting can be done, some work needed to be completed in preparation for fitting the cannon gondolas and drop tank, once the model has been painted. Fitting these later avoids damage during handling and painting, and it also makes it easier when actually spraying.
First thing to do was to prepare the Tamiya drop tank rack to accept the Eduard tank, and alter the sway brace points accordingly. The tank was used to check alignment of the sway brace pads in relation to the braces themselves, and also to measure the distance between the sway brace mounting 'tubes' ,and the tank pads, as these need to be longer than those on the Tamiya rack.
The alignment was simple, it just needed the locating hole in the rack elongated slightly. I had intended to use brass rod for the braces themselves, but this proved to be unsuitable, as the 'tubes' needed to be drilled-out to accept the rod, with not much leeway without destroying the 'tubes', and trimming the rod to final length would have been tricky to do accurately.
Therefore, stretched sprue will be used instead, and one brace was made as a trial, to check spacing, before removing this, as it would only get broken during handling.
More explanations in the pic captions below.
PIC 1. The locating hole in the center of the rack was elongated, and the sway braces removed from the 'tubes', which were then drilled out. As can be seen, the 'walls' of the once solid 'tubes' have started to collapse, but by using stretched sprue for the braces, slotted in to the drilled holes, the walls can be repaired by melting the plastic around the braces using extra thin liquid cement.
PIC 2. The representation of the support strap on the tank has been improved slightly, by drilling through and then opening the hole, with the work underway in this pic.
PIC 3. The Eduard tank assembled, and the rather heavy joint seam removed and sanded smooth. The support strap has been engraved along its edges, to emphasise the appearance, and a tensioning turnbuckle added from stretched sprue, although the engraved detail in the latter is difficult to see due to the flash photo. To add some 'character' to the tank, a dent has been melted, filed and sanded, under the nose. Holes have also been drilled in the top of the tank, for the fuel and pressure lines..
PICS 4 and 5. The assembled cannon gondolas were fitted temporarily, and their outlines lightly etched onto the wings. With the tanks removed, the etched lines were pencilled-in, to allow them to be visible beneath the masking tape, which was laid over the area and trimmed to approximate shape, using the pencil lines as a guide. This will allow a clean, un-painted surface to attach the gondolas to, after painting the model.
PIC 6. One of the kit cannon gondolas, with the 'solid' barrel removed. The ejector port (red arrow) is in the wrong place, and needed to be filled. The blister shown (yellow arrow), is in the approximate location of the bulge and deflector immediately below where the empty shell case and link ejector ports should be, and had to be removed.
PIC 7. Work underway on the modifications to the gondola, with the empty case ejector port cut, the original port filled with melted stretched sprue, and the bulged deflector and link ejector port in the process of being shaped. This has been built up using plastic strip and stretched sprue, and will be carved and sanded to shape.
PIC 8. A tube cutting jig and saw were used to cut some 0.75 mm alloy tube for the cannon barrels.
PIC 9. One of the gondolas almost finished, with just a bit of tidying and polishing to do. The alloy tube 'barrel' has been slotted into the housing and fixed with CA. Although not very visible here, more CA has been built-up around the joint, to represent the canvas gaiter around the barrel. The smaller notch beneath the empty case ejector port represents the link ejector port, and will be enhanced by painting, once the gondola and barrel are painted.
With luck, I should get the gondolas finished tomorrow, and then start on the painting process - so back then !
A bit more to show, but not much for around 8 hours' work !
Before any painting can be done, some work needed to be completed in preparation for fitting the cannon gondolas and drop tank, once the model has been painted. Fitting these later avoids damage during handling and painting, and it also makes it easier when actually spraying.
First thing to do was to prepare the Tamiya drop tank rack to accept the Eduard tank, and alter the sway brace points accordingly. The tank was used to check alignment of the sway brace pads in relation to the braces themselves, and also to measure the distance between the sway brace mounting 'tubes' ,and the tank pads, as these need to be longer than those on the Tamiya rack.
The alignment was simple, it just needed the locating hole in the rack elongated slightly. I had intended to use brass rod for the braces themselves, but this proved to be unsuitable, as the 'tubes' needed to be drilled-out to accept the rod, with not much leeway without destroying the 'tubes', and trimming the rod to final length would have been tricky to do accurately.
Therefore, stretched sprue will be used instead, and one brace was made as a trial, to check spacing, before removing this, as it would only get broken during handling.
More explanations in the pic captions below.
PIC 1. The locating hole in the center of the rack was elongated, and the sway braces removed from the 'tubes', which were then drilled out. As can be seen, the 'walls' of the once solid 'tubes' have started to collapse, but by using stretched sprue for the braces, slotted in to the drilled holes, the walls can be repaired by melting the plastic around the braces using extra thin liquid cement.
PIC 2. The representation of the support strap on the tank has been improved slightly, by drilling through and then opening the hole, with the work underway in this pic.
PIC 3. The Eduard tank assembled, and the rather heavy joint seam removed and sanded smooth. The support strap has been engraved along its edges, to emphasise the appearance, and a tensioning turnbuckle added from stretched sprue, although the engraved detail in the latter is difficult to see due to the flash photo. To add some 'character' to the tank, a dent has been melted, filed and sanded, under the nose. Holes have also been drilled in the top of the tank, for the fuel and pressure lines..
PICS 4 and 5. The assembled cannon gondolas were fitted temporarily, and their outlines lightly etched onto the wings. With the tanks removed, the etched lines were pencilled-in, to allow them to be visible beneath the masking tape, which was laid over the area and trimmed to approximate shape, using the pencil lines as a guide. This will allow a clean, un-painted surface to attach the gondolas to, after painting the model.
PIC 6. One of the kit cannon gondolas, with the 'solid' barrel removed. The ejector port (red arrow) is in the wrong place, and needed to be filled. The blister shown (yellow arrow), is in the approximate location of the bulge and deflector immediately below where the empty shell case and link ejector ports should be, and had to be removed.
PIC 7. Work underway on the modifications to the gondola, with the empty case ejector port cut, the original port filled with melted stretched sprue, and the bulged deflector and link ejector port in the process of being shaped. This has been built up using plastic strip and stretched sprue, and will be carved and sanded to shape.
PIC 8. A tube cutting jig and saw were used to cut some 0.75 mm alloy tube for the cannon barrels.
PIC 9. One of the gondolas almost finished, with just a bit of tidying and polishing to do. The alloy tube 'barrel' has been slotted into the housing and fixed with CA. Although not very visible here, more CA has been built-up around the joint, to represent the canvas gaiter around the barrel. The smaller notch beneath the empty case ejector port represents the link ejector port, and will be enhanced by painting, once the gondola and barrel are painted.
With luck, I should get the gondolas finished tomorrow, and then start on the painting process - so back then !