maltadefender Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 (edited) Right then, obviously I'm playing catch-up a little here but the kit is due to arrive tomorrow and I think I've got all the paints and kit that I need... except an airbrush. I've never owned, used or tried one and at the moment I've got neither the time or money to initiate myself, so I'm falling back on the old horsehair and a Tamiya rattlecan that has somehow survived the passage of time. I figure I've had some reasonable results over the past 30-odd years by going this route, so looking forward to cracking on. The bigger considerations are how to present it for the build and how to keep it one piece when we (hopefully) move house in a couple of months. This particular aircraft was based on the Philippines, and from looking at Osprey's American Night Fighter Aces it would seem that the landscape on which the Bat's Eye unit found itself was fairly flat and sandy. So not a thrilling diorama, really! The temptation to a Tamiya US Navy Pilot set was strong until I realised that they would cost more than the aircraft, so I guess she'll have to be presented 'au naturel'. Meanwhile it looks like the Trumpeter 276mm x 316mm display case is going to be the best way of preserving her once she's done, so that's next week's pocket money taken care of! I'm not very experienced with weathering and there seems to be precious little on show in the 1:1 examples in the book, save a few oily stains on the cowling and dust on the leading edges and thrown up by the undercarriage. All the better for me, then... I'll get a bit more adventurous with the Battle of Britain GB Hurricane. So all set and ready, just waiting for this to drop through the door... Edited September 2, 2010 by maltadefender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted May 25, 2010 Author Share Posted May 25, 2010 Oh cack. Wake up this morning to find an email from the model shop telling me this kit is out of stock and it will be 5-10 days before they receive new supplies, provided there are no delays. I suppose I should think positive and do something about the presentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_H_ Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 It's a great kit mate. I finished mine only the other week and it pretty much fell together! Sure you'll enjoy it....when it finally arrives!! Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted May 26, 2010 Author Share Posted May 26, 2010 Thanks Howard - looking forward to it, I must admit. Model shop mailed again this morning, confident that stoacks are high with his supplier and no extra delays expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 And... confirmation emailed today that the model has shipped. Woo-hoo! Talk about last of the late brakers! I think she's going to be wheels up, guns armed and out there looking for trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 She's arrived. Time to go to work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Right then, she's finally underway after a couple of confidence-building 1/72s this week to get my eye in. Actually they didn't build much confidence, but I took the plunge anyway. Well the idea that with Eduard you can throw the pieces in the air and have a museum-quality model by the time it hits the deck might be a bit far-fetched, but not too much. Certainly it's in another league to a lot of kits I've known and loved. After the washing, rinsing, drying and waiting for an opportunity to crack on (with a bit of Klear application to the clear panels) the interior green bits were painted up using Revell enamel. I put the cockpit together using the photo-etch parts (there is the option not to, but I figured that on a £30 model I'd better give it a go). I used a combination of Super Glue, poly cement and ignorance - seems to have worked! Now... on a bigger scale aircraft I can see the virtue of adding each and every piece of etch, but on 1/48 I lost the will to live a little bit. Assuming that you can see in to the cockpit, will you really be able to see the toggles aren't there? Or aren't straight? Frankly I made the executive decision that life's too short for some of the etched details and got on with the rest of the job. Now then: the terrifying part. I don't know if it's me or whether paints these days are mixed knowing that the vast majority of people buying them are committed hobbyists who are going to use an airbrush but I haven't managed to get a finish I'm really happy with on a brush painted model since I got back into the hobby. Fortunately I still had a Tamiya rattlecan left in US Navy Blue (which kind of decided what I was going to build for me...) so with fingers and toes crossed that it would be enough and that I could get the job done at the first go, off I set. No primer... I wanted a mirror-smooth finish if possible... and the results are... OK!!! I can live with it and loved the painting process as the colour changes shade with each application from real Pacific glue to a darker glowing tone and finally the full-on Navy with the third coat. It's as smooth as I'd hoped and means that I can put the fuselage halves together and get on with the fiddly bits over the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 Very nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_H_ Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 Looking tasty! Cockpit has come out well and I know what you mean on the cockpit etch. Fiddly and annoying are two mild words for it. Paint has come out great hasn't it! I await the next installment. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Glad you like her, guys! Okay, closed her up with the rear windows and etched frames stuck in with Klear. Only drama so far was stabbing myself in the thumb while cutting out the hole for the long range fuel tank... d'oh! Oh, and a bit of seepage under the window masks but, heck, what a must-have those are! I don't think I'm ever going to buy another kit unless it comes with them! First job tomorrow is finishing the reflector sight, then it's down to the underside... Good night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 looks really good mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 Very very nice, gloss blue's come out real well. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 That's enough for one weekend... put the Twin Wasp together and put her in place... Then made a horrible mess of my lovely blue paint with my first ever go at weathering. Fortunately the US Navy seems to have been fastidious so there aren't many chips to be seen on the 1:1 photos, and so I textured the exhaust gases with a mix of light grey, dark brown and black all thinned down and scrubbed in, and then just light grey and black on the guns. Not as happy with the guns, but quite pleased with the exhausts: So with the lights in and the tail hook tucked away, she can sit on the shelf and look pretty before the undercarriage, fuel tank and radome go on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Aaaaaaarrrrgh!!! Disaster strikes!!! Picked up on this little beauty again yesterday, hoping to get the build finished to put the decals on today. Fuel tank went on fine, undercarriage went together fine (although, bizarrely, I had a few issues getting the wheels together - the resin inserts both shattered under the knife so I had to resort to the 'spare' plastic ones). Then fitted the undercarriage assemblies and found that somehow between dry-fitting, painting and assembling nothing fitted. I tried to manipulate the pieces together and 'boom' the box inside the wing into which the leg fits popped out and disappeared inside the fuselage. So I've got a Hellcat with a nice photo-etched cockpit and no way of building her with the wheels down. Neither can I build her wheels-up because I've got no pilot (who would stuff up the interior anyway) and all the undercarriage parts have been cemented for gear down. Gutted. Used my last Tamiya rattlecan and spent £30 on what's now a rather abject piece of plastic, and worse I'm now further behind than ever on my first GB!!! Over to Plan B... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Jase Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 DOH! Is there no way to retrieve the loose part with tweezers, move it back into place and glue it again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 DOH! Is there no way to retrieve the loose part with tweezers, move it back into place and glue it again? I don't see how Jase. It's a box to sit inside the wing, can only wriggle it out as far as that and no further. I think it's b****ered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Hi, that's a real bugger to happen so far into your build D0N'T scrap it off though how about downloading a carrier deck section off the net & do her as a belly landing bent props etc UC collapsed, there's quite a few ref pics out there.........don't give up on a lovely build. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted July 3, 2010 Author Share Posted July 3, 2010 She's sulking up in the loft while I build my 12-gun Hurricane and figure out what to do. Inexperience on my part really - the parts were a tight fit when dry-fitting them before paint and I clearly didn't put enough cement in the box to hold it in the wing. You would have thought that a load-bearing piece like this would have some sort of support built into the top half of the wing but them's the breaks! Glad you like her so far though, Andy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denstore Posted July 3, 2010 Share Posted July 3, 2010 Find some way to hold the part. Maybe by drilling a hole in it, and using a screw to hold it. Mix a bit of slow epoxy and smear to the loose part and the surfaces that you can reach. Fix in place, let dry. Remove the screw, plug the hole with a piece of sprue and repaint. A bit of work, but surely a lot less than you have already invested in the kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Thanks for the encouragement guys. While the Hurricane awaits its decals I had another look at the Hellcat. I've rigged up an 'in-flight' display using a length of 2mm tube and an old 10x8 photo frame. I've got a few ideas on making it presentable in time for the end of the GB. Now if anyone has got a 1/48 US Navy pilot going spare I think I'll have a crack at pulling that lovely photo-etch interior apart to squeeze him in!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 (edited) Now if anyone has got a 1/48 US Navy pilot going spare I think I'll have a crack at pulling that lovely photo-etch interior apart to squeeze him in!! PM sent.. Andy. Edited July 6, 2010 by smuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 MEGASTAR!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Looking good, I like the idea of an in flight display Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted August 6, 2010 Author Share Posted August 6, 2010 Oh dear - part 2. I'm afraid that the Hellcat is still without a pilot figure, leaving a 'ghost ship' currently flying on its plinth. I've been holding out for the little chap to arrive and hoping for the time to get him done and rebuild the cockpit around him before decalling but today's the last day. Group Build crash'n'burn - part 2! I will finish the model ASAP and post, but it seems my first GB attempt ends here... Well done to all, and thanks for all the guidance on my first GB. Onward and upward with the BoB GB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Jase Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Sorry to hear that. You've not had much luck with this one. Please still post up pics when you manage to get it finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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