Thom216 Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) So, after some searching back and forth among my kit stash, I've decided the next kit to build will be an Axis aircraft. This being Tamiya's 1/48 Ki46 III, command recon plane. I have to say that it is a beautiful airplane. I love the way the cockpit glass extends almost all the way to the nose, stretches back along the hump in the fuselage and ends at that gorgeous tail! Couple that with some nice big nacelles and you one have one sexy bird! A bird that needs a lot of paint! There are more than twenty paint call outs, which was a lot more that I had on hand, so it took some time before I could make a hobby shop run to get my preferred Tamiya paints. In the meantime, I started on the easy bits, such as the wheels and drop tank. And the wheel bays. Sadly, even though this is an older kit, no one has yet to do a resin wheel bay set. And I think it could use it. Rather than molding the walls and floors separately, Tamiya did them straight down the middle, which results in an unsightly seem. Not so hard to get rid of on the flat surfaces, but it also goes into the wheel well itself which would be a beeotch to sand! So for that I'm applying and then wiping away several applications of Mr. Dissolved Putty to blend it away. They'll require a little more work, such as hydraulic lines and such. A question about them to my fellow glue-fume junkies though... That is it for the supplied wheel bay parts. There are no front or rear bulkheads, so when placed into the wing, you can see the inner blank area behind the engine and back into the empty flap area of the wings. The question is, were these open on the actual aircraft, or were there front and rear bulkheads for the gear bay? I can easily use blank styrene to close them up or put misc detail for the engine firewall, just in case someone looks up into there. So, which should it be? Edited March 21, 2017 by Thom216 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Lovely looking aircraft. This build should prove to be interesting! Martian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) Well, I think I've decided to go without a forward bulkhead in the wheel bays. I found this picture, and from the looks of it, there is no bulkhead between the bay and the ancillary parts for the engine. On that idea, I'm modifying some wheel well engine parts from a couple of resin FW190 detail sets. They may not be perfect, but I'll look busy and 'industrial' in there. I'm also using the pic to put some wire in for hydraulic lines. I'll post more pics tomorrow, including the engines. Excelsior! Edited October 26, 2016 by Thom216 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 lovely will be tracking your build as I have the same kit in the stash and might want to get at it soon myself. Rgds Mr B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 26, 2016 Author Share Posted October 26, 2016 (edited) I'm a busy bee tonight! Deciding to go with an open front to the wheel well, I needed some filler. I was thinking through my misc stash, when I remembered some resin sets I bought for a couple as yet unbuilt FW-190 D9s. Designed to go up inside the wheel well and look like ancillary parts behind the engine, I figured they could be used here just as well. This seems to fit here just fine. I did have to thin it though as it was taking up too much room from the bay insert and keeping the wings from closing up. And dressed up with a resin carburetor bought from a hobby store some fifteen years ago on a whim. The 'pipes' are thin wire from dead ear buds kept just for some purpose such as this! Not exact I'm sure, but it looks good tucked up into there! Need to add a little more piping into it, but that's about it for the wheel wells. Except for the gear of course. Edited October 26, 2016 by Thom216 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 26, 2016 Author Share Posted October 26, 2016 On to other bits, such as wiring up the interior and making some frames from styrene. And yes, the preshade is a bit too shiny... Can't see much because of it. But, I've mixed the interior color as suggested. That should tie it all in. Then I'll start on the PE parts. The rear gear doors are molded integrally with the fuselage halves. I would rather they came separate, but since I can't have that, I used a pin in a vise to deepen the crease, so it looks more like a separate piece. And I've gone ahead and taken out the wing tip 'lights.' they will of course be replaced with clear styene, painted in clear colors. And now it's back to work, so updates may be a little slow for a couple of days... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 29, 2016 Author Share Posted October 29, 2016 (edited) Some more work done on the Dinah. I've finished the interior. At least before paint. All the colored PE will be going on after the interior color is laid down, so what's on there now is the base parts and some styrene, for when folding the tiny boxes was just too tough for my meat hands! Rather fold the teany, tiny flaps, I'd just cut the styrene to the right shape and call that done. I used pictures of PE sets found on-line to fashion some of the framing, as well as the table. The floor and bulkheads are just fitted together as yet. There are even teenier parts that go on the throttle that I may or may not try to put on. There's so small! The levers of course will go on, but again not until after paint. In the pics found, there are also bags that hang on either side of the interior. Having some mesh from an HO PE set and Tamiya tape, I made a couple of those too. I neatened the tape(bags) on those. A good camera can reveal the little errors that feeble eyes miss... And I've done the engines. I made a dark aluminum color then sprayed them and then painted the push rods silver. They are only three parts each, that being the cylinder banks, the polly caps and the prop gear housings. I think it's a lot of good detail there, with very little need for extra work. Except for the wiring. I drilled a hole into each cylinder near the top and then another at the base and threaded thin wire through, anchoring them at the back with super glue. Then a black panel line accent was dabbed at the base of each cylinder, as well as MIG fresh engine oil. Shame much can't be seen past the small opening in the cowls. Anyway, hopefully onto interior paint tomorrow and final PE. Hope to get the fuselage closed up this weekend. HooWaa! Edited October 29, 2016 by Thom216 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Millman Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 On 26 October 2016 at 0:58 AM, Thom216 said: Well, I think I've decided to go without a forward bulkhead in the wheel bays. I found this picture, and from the looks of it, there is no bulkhead between the bay and the ancillary parts for the engine. On that idea, I'm modifying some wheel well engine parts from a couple of resin FW190 detail sets. They may not be perfect, but I'll look busy and 'industrial' in there. I'm also using the pic to put some wire in for hydraulic lines. I'll post more pics tomorrow, including the engines. Excelsior! Don't copy that colour though! PM me with your email address for a colour photo showing the original wheel bay before restoration and the interior front of the nacelle in more detail. Can't post here for copyright reasons. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madhatter Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 What an unusual subject Thom. Great to see something a bit different! I'll be tuning in for sure, although I can't offer any advice what so ever because I know nothing about it. nice detailing so far BTW Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 Thanks for the great words, Gents! And thanks to Millman for the pic, it's come in real handy. I've just about finished redoing the detail for the engine firewall. I can't do all of it but I can do the major parts. I'll post the pics when it fin! Thom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 PIC! Again, parts are from a resin detail set for a pair of 1/48 FW-190-D9s.Just rearranged with a bit of spru stuck in the center. I may have to add to those pipes going off the sides and they will need some wiring. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 And done with those! They look a lot better than what I had before! Thank you again Millman! In place. It's just dry fit for now. Glue will come after paint. The white rectangle at the bottom represents an air duct coming from a small scoop under the cowl. It looks better from the bottom... The hash marks are to keep me from getting the two confused. And in situ. Going on. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 (edited) Since I'm doing the front of the wheel bays I decided the rear needed a little something too. If you happen to look up into there, pretty much all you see is an empty cavity. So I cut some styrene to act as detail for the inner flaps. I cut them down some, worried about fit of the rear wing edges - and also realized that I should glue them into the lower wing... I also built half walls for the rear, laminating two pieces of styrene, one with circles cut out and one without. They need to be weathered even more. I'm using artists chalks ground from a file and brushed on for grunge. And the completed bulkheads. I actually had a bit of a fit issue, which happens when you add parts to already engineered spaces. The front of the wheel bays were hitting the added pipes and thus keeping the back of the wheel bay housing too high and in turn keeping the wing trailing edges from closing. I trimmed some off the front of the bay housing and got rid of some wires that were just in the way. As well bending the 'pipes' forward toward the firewall. With that done, I'm now confident it will all fit! And yes, in the background there you can see most of the PE has been installed into the fuselage. Just the little levers left to do and then give it a brush with the powders. More to do. Edited November 1, 2016 by Thom216 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 1, 2016 Author Share Posted November 1, 2016 (edited) Here's a pic of the completed dash. And some pretty much done interior shots. Those throttles were bee-otch! And they're not all there!! I still need to do some paint touch up, and hit them with a dull coat to get the shine off the PE. then maybe a little more wear... Edited November 1, 2016 by Thom216 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Okay, not too much of a big update. I finished up the camera, laying tape over the top to mimic a cloth cover which I've seen some have and I put some extra PE around the the front. And I've put the interior pieces into the fuselage sides. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Moon Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 This is a wonderful build. Great work so far! The cockpit weathering and those little tape & mesh bags are particularly impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Millman Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 On 30 October 2016 at 1:13 AM, Thom216 said: And thanks to Millman for the pic, it's come in real handy. Thom You are most welcome but I do have a first name which might sound a bit friendlier! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 4, 2016 Author Share Posted November 4, 2016 Thank you very much! It's actually more work than I thought I was going to put into it. It looks busy but is still pretty simple to do. The most tedious part of course was the PE. I think I went a little too heavy on the weathering though. Thankfully, it's not so stark in person. The flash brings it out. The fuselage is going together now, which means I'm about half done! Woo hoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 4, 2016 Author Share Posted November 4, 2016 Some pics of the fuse going together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinetree_fella Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 This looks great, I have the same aircraft in my pile of doom awaiting more mojo... I would be very keen to get those photos or details of colour for wheel wells if at all possible please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 PM sent Pine! And of course, I finally start looking after I've closed everything up! Hope they help anyone else building the kit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 A little more progress has been made. Looking at that diagram pic, I'm sure it reads optional fuel tank or camera in the nose. Although it does say camera hatch. But why have a hatch for a camera that is never there..? And I had started to make a fuel tank, cutting off the blunt tip of an old super glue container, the kind that a small tube of glue would be stored in and I was going to do straps made from thin cut Tamiya tape. But then I'm thinking, I'm not in a rush, and since I had decided not to use the hand-held camera in the back I'll just use it in the front. There is a small window under the nose, so you could see either nothing or something, so I'm going with something. It has to be mounted though. Good think I have spare styrene... It won't be accurate but I think it'll do the job. Now I just have to paint it up and mount it to the bulkhead! Huzzah! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 And mounted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted November 11, 2016 Author Share Posted November 11, 2016 (edited) Got a little more work done this week. I finished the nose camera and its paint. The cylinder to the side is just cut sprue with a rounded bottom and on the other side is a 1/72 VF-1 nose wheel. I'm sure it's not perfect, but the window to look through and see it is pretty small anyway. Next I had to do a little rework after test fitting the wings. The frames to either side of the belly camera were too large and causing interference, so they had to be replaced. Another test fit and the wings seat in. Though not without some gaps. Such as along the wing/fuselage join. Not big but noticeable. So I cut some sprue and widened the fuselage just enough for a snug fit. However that little fix I think caused another little problem. Now there's a slight step at the front join and a slight down step at the wing roots. I could remove the spreader, but I would rather keep the wing joins as clean and as possible, especially as they are the most visible. I'll just gently putty and sand after the wings are in place. Next was getting the wings together which would end up being a leetle problematic. I put the wheel wells in, trying to make sure they were fully seated, but still straight. Don't won't any wonky gear! Then the wings were glued together and taped, and that leetle problem crept in. If I do this again, I'm going to make sure firewall detail at the front of each wheel bay is as thin as possible to leave enough room for the well boxes. They stick up just slightly too far and it was something I didn't notice until after the first wing was glued. I tell yah, it looked fine, but then I turned around and noticed this! Yep, a slight step along most of the leading edge. Now it fit before and the trailing edge is right on, and the only difference is the wheel bay boxes now being in place. And in fact that pale dot on the rear of the nacelle is made from one corner of the wheel bay pressing into the plastic. It's barely a bump at all and just visible as a color change. A swipe of sanding stick should fix it - as well as the step there on the front edge. I just have to make sure to keep it straight and roll it around the bottom. And that's where I am now. The wings are glued and taped and drying, then they'll be sanded to shape and presented to the fuselage. Edited November 11, 2016 by Thom216 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomthounaojam Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 wow just wow!!! looking forward to it, had some history with this aircraft and where i was born, few were shot down as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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