Yokosuka K5Y2 (Willow) IJN – 1/72 Valom

[Dazey]

22 hours ago, Gav G said:

 

Great work on this so far...and listen....if you can make that engine look so pretty, fix those floats and re-scribe all the vents....well, rigging will be a piece of cake!  

 

Another one to watch with a keen eye...

 

22 hours ago, Gav G said:

 

Great work David

 

Love the idea of recycling the old screws as weights. I can't help but think the opening the vents, scribing and rivet working is just a shocking display of showing off that your eyesight is a damn sight better than the rest of us !  

 

cheers Pat

 

22 hours ago, Gav G said:

I think the reaction with the lead will continue.  You'll either need to bin the floats or disassemble them and remove the lead.

 

Hi Jaime, John and Pat,

 

Thanks for the kind words! Pat, my eyes aren’t great, and there’s a lot I don’t see until I take a photo and enlarge it on a monitor. One thing that helped me, was when I got my last pair of reading glasses, I asked the optometrist for a second pair that were also prescription but with a higher magnification. These are great for modelling – much better than my regular reading glasses – although they do have a shorter focal distance.

 

Hi Gav, Thanks for the advice! As there’s only seven weeks left, I need to get the lead out, figuratively and literally – so, I’ve hacked open the old floats (I do like the look of the original ones from the Valom kit, so hopefully will resurrect them):

 

 

Removed the offending element, and will allow the halves to air:

 

I’ve also cleaned up the back-up kit floats (Arii kit):

 

Preparing the seated figure in the cockpit. As the fit was going to be difficult, it seemed reasonable to force the figure into shape, and then build the cockpit around him. This involved cutting the cockpit floor in half (he is in the back). These figures are very difficult to work with, and model cement is useless, so it’s CA. Also, the plastic tends to go back to the original shape after bending, so I’ve secured him and his limbs with short pieces of metal rod into pin vice-drilled holes.

 

 

 

After some dry-fitting, I realised i had to move his right arm too. I have filled-in with Tamiya putty (talk about body sculpting…). It looks rough, but after some PE harnesses and paint, it should be OK:

 

 

I will leave the front seat empty (thank heavens), and use the kit’s PE and resin parts there. However, the kit seat is ordinary (see post above for image of Willow seat):

 

I set about scratch-building a more accurate one using styrene sheet and a PE template. I also added some “ribbing”. Unsure of how all the belts/harnesses are to be attached…

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

David

Edited November 19, 2017 by Dazey

[JOCKNEY]

34 minutes ago, Dazey said:

 

Hi Jaime, John and Pat,

 

Thanks for the kind words! Pat, my eyes aren’t great, and there’s a lot I don’t see until I take a photo and enlarge it on a monitor. One thing that helped me, was when I got my last pair of reading glasses, I asked the optometrist for a second pair that were also prescription but with a higher magnification. These are great for modelling – much better than my regular reading glasses – although they do have a shorter focal distance.

 

Hi Gav, Thanks for the advice! As there’s only seven weeks left, I need to get the lead out, figuratively and literally – so, I’ve hacked open the old floats (I do like the look of the original ones from the Valom kit, so hopefully will resurrect them):

 

 

Removed the offending element, and will allow the halves to air:

 

I’ve also cleaned up the back-up kit floats (Arii kit):

 

Preparing the seated figure in the cockpit. As the fit was going to be difficult, it seemed reasonable to force the figure into shape, and then build the cockpit around him. This involved cutting the cockpit floor in half (he is in the back). These figures are very difficult to work with, and model cement is useless, so it’s CA. Also, the plastic tends to go back to the original shape after bending, so I’ve secured him and his limbs with short pieces of metal rod into pin vice-drilled holes.

 

 

 

After some dry-fitting, I realised i had to move his right arm too. I have filled-in with Tamiya putty (talk about body sculpting…). It looks rough, but after some PE harnesses and paint, it should be OK:

 

 

I will leave the front seat empty (thank heavens), and use the kit’s PE and resin parts there. However, the kit seat is ordinary (see post above for image of Willow seat):

 

I set about scratch-building a more accurate one using styrene sheet and a PE template. I also added some “ribbing”. Unsure of how all the belts/harnesses are to be attached…

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

David

Stroll on David, what happened to your crewman he looks like you either dipped him in acid or the willows been on fire 🔥 ?

 

cheers Pat

 

 

[Brandy]

Having looked up Tamiya putty on their website it states that it can be dissolved with lacquer thinners. I would guess from that that the problem is you used so much putty that the solvent in the putty itself is melting the plastic from the inside. I have also seen pics of kits built over 5 years ago, where CA has reacted with the lead over time and caused a reaction which has literally burst the seams on the model! I would NOT recommend using CA to fit lead weights! I'd stick to Miliput myself, but fortunately their are very few WWI aircraft that use nosewheels! 

 Having said that, she's coming along nicely!

 

Ian

[jrlx]

Great work on the scratch built seat!

 

I agree with Ian above regarding the problems with mixing lead and CA. I also use milliput to fit lead.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Dazey]

On 11/20/2017 at 1:42 AM, JOCKNEY said:

Stroll on David, what happened to your crewman he looks like you either dipped him in acid or the willows been on fire 🔥 ?

 

cheers Pat

Ha! Yes, he has seen better days, but he will (at least partly) be revived. I'm sure I'll have better luck on the figures outside the plane!

 

Dear Ian and Jaime,

Thanks for the pointer. I've heard of Milliput, and gather it's a kind of two-pack epoxy resin? Anyway, unless I build a real "tail-sitter" that needs something dense in the nose, I won't be using lead any more.

 

Regards,

David

 

 

[Brandy]

Milliput is a two-part putty. It can be made very smooth before it sets by using a wet finger or brush, and when it's hard it can be sanded and drilled. I used it on my Donnet-Leveque build here to correct the shape of the nose (smoothed wet) and the rear fuselage (filed down when set). Good stuff!

 

Ian

[JWM]

I found 10 minutes epoxy glue the best for cementing lead bobs in model. Hardering of epoxy  is a chemical induced polimerization and esulting polymer is very stable and chemically resistent. The CA glue is not chemicaly neutral and can react with bare lead. The putty is the most bad option since it get fix due to evaporation of organic solvent. If you close the volume the evaporation is very slow due to saturation of vapours inside closed space of float -  since there is no way for vapours to escape from this closed space. The solvent vapurs attacks styren and makes it soft. The putty is not hardering as well. 

Akterate the white liquid wood cements are good , since the polimerization goes there by water eveporation. And water does not attack styrene. However the space cannot be closed to enable vaporization of water. So it is not suitable inside float or it is suitable but one have to wait with glueing floats together. 

Cheers

J-W

 

[Dazey]

4 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Milliput is a two-part putty. It can be made very smooth before it sets by using a wet finger or brush, and when it's hard it can be sanded and drilled. I used it on my Donnet-Leveque build here to correct the shape of the nose (smoothed wet) and the rear fuselage (filed down when set). Good stuff!

 

Ian

Hi Ian and Jerzy,

 

Thanks for the information. I think this chemistry experiment could be expanded to include lead combined with other products around the house – silicone sealant, acrylic caulking compound, polyester resin etc. Just not on the Willow!

 

Ian

I remember seeing your bodywork on the GB build, and was impressed (along with the wood finish and scratch-built parts), but didn't give much thought to the type of filler. I use Tamiya putty for most things, in addition to the above-mentioned problems, I find it sets/dries too quickly... I've looked on the website for a model store here, and they have five different types of Milliput – do you recommend going for the Standard Yellow-Grey Putty?

 

Regards,

David

[Brandy]

That's the one I have, I have no idea what the difference is between them other than colour..... I don't use it as a filler though, I have started using Perfect Plastic Putty for that, or Squadron putty for larger areas - but the Squadron stuff also seems to set a little too quickly for me.

 

 

Ian

Edited November 24, 2017 by limeypilot

[Dazey]

On 11/24/2017 at 11:11 PM, limeypilot said:

That's the one I have, I have no idea what the difference is between them other than colour..... I don't use it as a filler though, I have started using Perfect Plastic Putty for that, or Squadron putty for larger areas - but the Squadron stuff also seems to set a little too quickly for me.

 

 

Ian

Edited Friday at 11:12 PM by limeypilot

OK, that's the one I'll add to my online shopping cart when I next order.  

 

Regards,

David

[Dazey]

Hi all,

 

I have been making some progress, but been a little slack about uploading photos and updates (I've also been a bit busy finishing off an F4F-3 Wildcat project...).

 

Some priming, painting and detailing of parts before major assembly. I've coated the following with a gloss coat ready for some oil washes:

 

 

 

 

 

...and the instructor (seated) and learner-driver:

 

 

After removing the lead and Tamiya putty from the kit floats, allowed them to air dry and cleaned them up a bit, re-glued with metal screws for weight, puttied, re-scribed and re-rivetted. Not a perfect shape, but hopefully that shape won't get worse. Here we go again...  

 

 

 

 

I've also been working on the ground crew (waders) with their stay-dry/overalls. These are modified figures from the IJN and IJA ground crew sets, so I've had to add their overalls by strips of paper and white glue. It has been pretty slow going, as you need to let one batch dry before forcing the next set of strips into place. Not perfect, but is should be OK, especially as they'll be waist-deep in resin water.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Regards,

David

[JOCKNEY]

Looks the business, your photography skills are blooming good as well ! 

 

cheers Pat

[jrlx]

Good progress and great save on the floats again!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Dazey]

On 12/11/2017 at 2:03 AM, jrlx said:

Good progress and great save on the floats again!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

On 12/10/2017 at 11:23 PM, JOCKNEY said:

Looks the business, your photography skills are blooming good as well ! 

 

cheers Pat

 

Hi Pat and Jaime,

Thanks for the kind words. 

 

Pat, nothing fancy about the photography – I use an older, inexpensive digital camera with the macro lens setting. In addition, lighting is from an external source (LED desk lamp!), some judicious cropping and adjustment of levels in Photoshop. 

 

I've finished moulding, painting and clear-coating the ground crew:

 

https://flic.kr/p/HRVHAg

 

I've opted for summer whites (the only other option would have been a winter navy blue?). Best guess for the overalls – grey, blue, black, brown or green? I opted for RLM black-green, and I defy anyone to prove I'm wrong 

 

The exhausts have been drilled-out and painted:

 

https://flic.kr/p/HRVHiH

 

These parts are ready for some oil washes, as are the cockpit parts and fuselage interior.  I then really need to start gluing pieces together... 

 

Thanks for looking, and I hope everyone has a Happy Christmas/Holiday season,

David 

Edited December 24, 2017 by Dazey
hmm, photos not embedding from flickr

[jrlx]

Nice to see some work going on! Well done!

 

I also wish you a Merry Christmas!

 

Jaime

 

 

[Dazey]

Hello all,

 

I was a bit distracted with finishing my Wildcat before year's end (self-imposed deadline for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea), but have been back working on the Willow. An update:

 

I somehow managed to get everything jammed into the cockpit (it took a bit of adjusting), and the halves glued together. The wings required a "special setup" to achieve the 3° dihedral:

 

 

 

I was unhappy about the way the kit dealt with the tail, so I built up some of the rear fuselage with some card. I also scored where the elevators attach to the stabilisers, and bent them to droop to give the finished product a bit more interest:

 

 

The upper wing has some prominent handles above the cockpit to help young aviators get in, but is absent from the kit... so some scratch-built ones from bent wire CAed in place:

 

 

 

 

And while I was making handles, I added some to the tail rather than using the PE or the plastic options from the kit (both being wildly over-sized):

 

 

It's fantastic to be gluing plastic together, but I also have to consider the base. This is what I have in mind, along with the rough layout with the ground crew:

 

 

I am going to shave down the walls of the box so they're about knee– or waist-high. This will be at the level of the water. My plan is to embed the crew (and floats?) in the resin I plan to use for the water. I envisage using a two-pack polyester resin and adding it gradually in thin layers (this stuff can get really hot, and I don't want to destroy what's in the box!). If clear doesn't work too well, I do have some blue, green (and red) tints for subsequent layers. Regardless, finishing off the surface so it's not perfectly smooth is going to be tricky, and I am wondering whether a stack of white glue on top of the resin may allow me to get a suitable finish. I'm not sure how this will work out, and am a bit nervous about it, so if anyone has suggestions on how to get a nice "water" finish, they would be most appreciated!

 

OK, not much time left for this GB, and I've allowed myself to get bogged down in minutiae and am now paying the price (and still discovering other details that ought to be scratch-built).

 

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

David

Edited December 31, 2017 by Dazey

[jrlx]

Good progress and interesting plans for the base. Curious to see how you do it and how it turns out, as I still have to make my first vignette / diorama.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Dazey]

Thanks, Jaime!

 

I'm curious to see how the base turns out too...

 

OK, full steam ahead on this. Finishing off the tail. Added some strips of styrene for the rudder hinges:

 

 

Clipped and sanded off, and adding some ruddy rudder actuators and the first part of the rigging ("invisible" thread for this)

 

 

Main wing pieces glued:

 

 

The PE for the external steps is also over-sized, so I may go with my scratch-built ones

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

David

[JOCKNEY]

Great progress David

 

Keep up the good work, looking forward to the ORANGE moment !

 

cheers Pat

[Dazey]

Thanks Pat,

 

I'm also looking forward to the Orange moment (thankfully I don't have to worry about a complicated camo scheme). 

 

At least my model now has all the wings attached. The parts breakdown made it very easy to attach the upper wings, but left some difficult areas that required filling. Also with the nylon thread CAed in place at one anchor point:

 

 

The other end is weighted, and the remaining hole CAed:

 

 

Once CA is set, the line is trimmed on the other side of the wing. Then the other side's turn:

 

 

After trimming, filling and sanding (although looking at the photos, I need to continue sanding with some finer grained paper):

 

 

Still plenty to do!

 

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

David

 

 

 

 

[jrlx]

Great progress, looking very good! The rigging is turning out very well!

 

Will you paint with an airbrush or paintbrushes?

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

[Dazey]

1 hour ago, jrlx said:

Great progress, looking very good! The rigging is turning out very well!

 

Will you paint with an airbrush or paintbrushes?

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

Hi Jaime,

Thanks for that. I'll use an airbrush (just as well, it will dry faster and I'm running out of time ).

 

I'm still getting used to using an airbrush – there have been times when I've had to carefully sand afterwards to get a reasonable finish. I've been trying Vallejo acrylics, and I think that's been going OK. Not perfect by any stretch, but OK. I'll be using Lifecolor for the orange (mix of orange and yellow) for the Willow. These are the last two examples, primarily using Vallejo (the Wildcat is the main reason I'm running behind on the GB):

 

 

 

Regards,

David

 

[Dazey]

Hi again,

 

Progress: scratch-built footsteps added, and the floats have been attached:

 

 

 

Just need to finish the final bit of rigging, do a small amount of masking (the job I dread most), and I'll be ready to paint. Hopefully get to it tonight. Was planning on Vallejo grey primer, but I know these take a little while to cure.

 

And a trial run for the base. The old and yellowing resin may need a bit more blue tint and hardener:

 

 

I am feeling a little better about making the deadline, but I'll still have to pass on some mods that will have to be done afterwards.

 

Regards,

David 

[jrlx]

Good progress, taking shape very well! Looking forward to see how the painting phase turns out. Won't it be a bit difficult to paint by airbrush with the wings assembled and the rigging applied?

 

By the way, your other two builds are very good! I've already commented on their respective threads. Thanks for sharing!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Dazey]

22 hours ago, jrlx said:

Won't it be a bit difficult to paint by airbrush with the wings assembled and the rigging applied?

 

Ah, probably?? It was going to be difficult for me either way. I thought that since it was all orange, I would spray everything first, and then pick out details, rigging etc. in a different colour by brush. That seemed easier than doing the rigging afterwards, and then sanding and touching up the finish.

 

That said, I had a bit of disaster with painting the orange last night. The Vallejo grey primer sprayed on well, but when it came time to the Lifecolor gloss orange (FS 12246), there were all manner of problems:

 

 

 

Will need to wait for it to completely dry, sand and try again. The foil and tissues were to protect the model from being dissolved while sitting in the resin (see below).

 

Other progress: Prop painted for timber with metal leading edge. I was happy enough with the "timber" finish, so it's a pity that I think it's the wrong type for the Willow (maybe OK for Tachikawa Ki-9?);

 

 

 

Getting the base ready: guys fixed in place with pins and CA so they don't drown and melt in resin:

 

 

...and resin added. I added too much blue tint, but can probably deal with that by applying some washes over the top (if possible, and if there's time);

 

 

I'll need to tidy up the area around the floats, and then use PVA to embed the Willow. Will also consider PVA on the surface of the resin (if it cures in time), which should also tone down the blueness.

 

Thanks heavens for the week extension, otherwise I'd be doing this:

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/57jCA8l

 

Regards,

David

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by Dazey