Revell 1:72 supermarine walrus

[S5 modeller]

Hi chaps.

Made a start on my group build entry today.

Building the mk1 super marine walrus as seen attached to hms victorious in the British pacific fleet, Japan 1945.

This is my first serious attempt at a kit, so bear with me.

As I am not as proficient as most of the modellers on here, this is going to be a simple out of the box build.

This is the kit in question, a modelzone sale item reduced to £2.99. A good cheap kit to practice on.

As far as I know, this is the matchbox version.

So far I have detached the 2 main fuselage sections off the sprues, and cleaned them up ready for the pilots.

I have cut the observation windows into them, as it looks a bit naff with black rectangular decals.

I have given the insides a coat of olive drab, maybe not the correct colour, but it's what I wanted to use.

The pilot, copilot and gunner seats have also been painted the same.

Also I have started the wheels and engine assembly.

Not too keen how sloppy the wheels look, might re do them.

I have also painted the 3 figures, but am unsure if I will use them or not.

So far I have brush painted everything with humbrol enamels, but only doing this for the smaller parts. The rest will be painted with my airbrush.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, but I had trouble getting the lighting right to get a good pic with my iPad camera.

All comments are welcome, please feel free to slate my very amateurish attempts.

Matt.

Edited May 12, 2013 by S5 modeller

[CliffB]

Hi Matt and welcome to the GB.

Good luck with your first build - it's looking great so far (I for one, struggle to paint wheels as neatly as yours!)

Cheers

Cliff

[S5 modeller]

Thanks for the compliment, but if you got a close look at them, you would see how crap I did them. The join between the tyre and the hub is a bit waves.

[Doug Rogers]

Hi Matt, welcome to the GB.

What I do sometimes for that hub/tyre join is make up a tiny amount of 'wash', a drop of white spirit with a small amount of black in it, and just place a small drop on that point where they join and let it 'wick' around the edge of the hub. Get's rid of any waviness and gives it a grubby look at the same time.

[S5 modeller]

Just a quick question. Tried dipping the canopy in klear the other day. Let it dry then re dipped it. Doesn't seem to have worked, as it doesn't seem very clear, and a bit cloudy. What am I doing wrong?

[Doug Rogers]

Hmm, Is it better or worse than before you dipped it?

Is it in a cold place, I've heard sometimes that like any wax it can go a bit cloudy if it's cold when wet.

You could try cleaning it off with a glass cleaner, and try again.

Others may know more though.

[S5 modeller]

Cheers for the advice doug, will try cleaning it off and having another go. To be honest I think it looks worse than before I dipped it. Is it best to dip it before I mask it to paint or after? Had a look for a guide on here, but couldn't find owt.

This is my first time using klear.

[perry]

Matt, leave the canopy to soak in Klear overnight and that will strip the Klear off. Wipe it clean with a soft dry cloth. Instead of dipping clear parts, I use a soft brush to paint the Klear on. Then mask and paint the frame. If you muck the painting up and get paint on the canopy, just soak the part overnight again and the Klear will strip the old coat off along with the paint.

HTH

[S5 modeller]

Thanks for that perry, will give it a try and report back tomorrow.

Bit of a learning curve all of this, only used to stick the kits together before (badly) and get gluey fingerprints on them!

[AnonymousDFB1]

I dip canopies before painting. After dipping I live covered with a pot or a lid in a warm place to dry.

[S5 modeller]

Update time.

Been working on the fuselage. On dry fitting I noticed that no matter what I tried, there was a height mis-match between the two halves. Glued them together as best I could, then used humbrol filler to try to minimise the difference.

The area just above the cockpit was quite bad, as it joined well at the edges, but sank in towards the centre join.

On the under side, the story was pretty much the same.

So this is how it looks now.

Going to give it a coat of alclad grey primer with micro filler now, to see how it looks.

Might need a bit more work yet.

All comments are s ever welcome.

Matt.

Edited May 17, 2013 by S5 modeller

[AnonymousDFB1]

That's coming together Matt

[S5 modeller]

Thanks mish.

It is indeed starting to come together now.

While waiting on some more filler to dry, I have assembled the top wing centre support and one of the top wing sections.

The fit wasn't perfect, so more filler!

Also assembled and filled the engine housing, and waiting for the glue to dry on the second top wing section, then there can be a union of the parts.

Going to get the airbrush out later, and shoot some primer, when I get home.

Visiting relatives certainly eats into my modelling time!

More updates to follow over the weekend(assuming I don't loose interest)

[Natter]

Hi Matt, that is coming together really well. I had the same problems closing up the fuselage on mine and ended up doing it one small section at a time, using extra thin cyano run in to the join at each stage. I haven't got any dips along the way so may get away with a light sanding and just a touch of filler here and there.

You'll have the wings on well before me, and I can't wait to see how that goes - I am dreading that stage more than any other!

Doug's hint for getting decent tyre/rim edges is a good one too, I do the same.

[S5 modeller]

Thanks natter, but I think yours will be done before mine, and to a much better standard!

[S5 modeller]

Update time.

Disaster!!!

Fitted the lower wings to the fuselage, and hey have some dehidral angle on them.

Upswept by a few degrees.

The top wing has assembled flat as per the instructions.

They don't match up.

I couldn't fit the lower wings flat, they were moulded to be upswept in my kit.

What can I do now?

Do I try to detach the lower wings and correct the angle, or try to correct the upper wings to match the up sweep of the lower wings?

Any ideas?

Only other option is to go back to modelzone, and look for another cheap kit to replace it with.

[Doug Rogers]

Hi Matt, I'm assuming from your description that the struts are now too long to fit between the wings in the outboard locations, yes?

I'd say you've got two choices;

1) Attach the top wing in the middle, let it dry, then trim and fit the outboard struts in the correct location, or

2) As you say, try and wiggle the bottom wings out and let the top wing dictate the lower dihedral.

Are you happy with the dihedral on the lower wings? Can you show us a head on pic?

If you are happy, I'd probably go with option 1 as option 2 could be fraught with problems if the fuselage seperates while you're wiggling, or the locating tabs snap off (fixable though).

[Natter]

Hi Matt, there is a third choice if you have a razor saw. Make partial cuts in the underside of the upper wing joins, between the centre section and the mainplanes. Then 'adjust' to add the required dihedral and refill the gap with superglue. If that is too much of a faff, Doug's option 1 is probably the safest option.

[S5 modeller]

Cheers guys.

A head on shot, as requested.

If I fit the upper wing now, the tips nearly touch.

Tried waggling the lower wings loose, and the fuselage did split down the middle on the top.

[Natter]

Got it....

Lower wing dihedral 3^o Upper wing dihedral 1^o

If the blurb where I found this diagram is correct this is the manufacturer's diagram which you can just about read.

[S5 modeller]

I did look look at that image earlier, and noticed the angle difference between the top and bottom wing, but it looks worse than that on mine.

I noticed the other couple of builds of the same kit, yours included natter, don't seem to be plagued by the same faults as mine.

Perhaps I just got a bad one.

I might try the suggestion of cutting the bottom of the wing join, and closing the gap.

Not got a razor saw, but do you think a junior hacksaw will work as well?

Still tempted to go to modelzone and see if they have another of these kits in for £2.99, can then rebuild the top wing from the new kit to match the main wing.

[Natter]

Hi Matt, a junior hacksaw would work, but will leave a large gap to fill. You might need to back-fill with plasticard or thick stretched sprue. 1mm in 72nd will be equivalent to about 3 inches. Over the length of the wing outer sections (about 90mm) the tips of the lower wing tips only need to be raised about 4mm for a 3^o dihedral; the upper wing tips about 1.5mm for a 1^o dihedral. Good luck whichever way you go.