greggles.w

Thanks Chris, I should indeed focus on the success … & on reflection I’m mighty lucky the tape lifted a white-only area of paint … thankfully it didn’t pull up red/white stripes, stars or text! Nice to hear from you again Adrian, thanks for your support, perhaps the setback was worth it just for your pun … Thanks Richie, I hope you’re right about ease of repair … I’m lucky this is a smooth-skinned racer, without extensive surface detail to sacrifice in repeated preparation & repainting! Thanks Malc, I must follow your lead & pull my eyes of that error ..! I’m going to take a day or two to consolidate my approach before picking it up again … hopefully progress to report before too long. Thanks again for your support.

Thanks @bigbadbadge ... well here's the reveal ... Teeny tiny little bits of overspray & edges to tidy up, all as good as one could hope for ... BUT .. ... how's about that masking tape peeling the white off the nose .. (sigh!) urgh ...

Time to apply the registration! Here using the same learned technique as applied for the upper wing stripes ... A print of the text on adhesive label, over Tamiya tape, over silicone paper. The linework is extended so I can better get my steel rule aligned for each cut ... only the D to go when this image was taken ... Then overlay this magical Siser vinyl 'release tape' ... ... cut & lift off the silicone paper backing ... ... this is the back sticky-side of the Tamiya tape ... ... then position on the fuselage ... ... & carefully peel off the top two layers - vinyl release tape + printed label - to leave the mask behind! ... finish the mummifying ... ... then successive coats of clear; then red-oxide primer; then orange top coats ... One hour to wait ...then time to carefully unpeel ... next post will be either triumphal or traumatic ...

Hi Malc, well, reasonable question, this update might address that for you ... Basically into this little cockpit opening ... I needed to: Mask & paint that headrest same red as wing stripes ... with spray cans!; & Install an instrument panel; & (re)install the windscreen; & Fit that pilot seen in the background which 'locks' in from below. All of which seemed hard work if done before base painting - especially that headrest painting. On the flipside, the kit join-line between upper & lower fuselage very thoughtfully follows a distinct demarcation between metal skin (upper) & fabric skin (lower) so a residual joint line after assembly would be just fine. So item 1 was done. Item 2, instruments, needed to be scratch built. One of the plans helpful provided by another modeler online gave the instrument layout, and that seemed good enough authority for me, so with that under a thin piece of clear packaging offcut I laid out Airscale instrument bezels of suitable size & drilled openings ... ... then painted using an interesting technique shown by someone online, involving mixing 4B graphite pencil shaving into the paint & buffing with a cotton tip afterwards .. seemed to work .. ... & some Airscale decals behind ... no comments please from qualified pilots - decals selected at random for size & look only!! So with that done, next item 3, (re)install the windscreen. I got frustrated with the compromised over-sprayed & bodgily repaired initial one, so pulled it off & set about refabricating another Albion special ... 2nd method failed ... third good enough, & installed with help of a jig ... Final item 4, our pilot. Plane owner & pilot, Don Fairbanks, WWII B-24 tail gunner. Here is his bust amongst the kit smalls ... And look what the internet provided - this image of Don in period appropriate 'racing stripes' jumpsuit!! Hard to resist that look, however I decided that a white plane + white helmet + white jumpsuit was all getting a bit monochromatic, & so I was very happy to find this image of him manly wearing this alternate bright orange outfit ... (note too the early 'frameless' windscreen - I used this as post-justification for my replacement - and the cockpit so tight that to get in he's had to take the door off its hinges!) ... & so a nice contrast to precision masking, some messy, mushy brush painting: And with all that done, time to start bringing it all together. Well, the joke's on me re that instrument panel .. ha, ha .. installed = disappeared from view!! Seen here with new windscreen now fixed in place ... And here @Malc2 you can see how the pilot is wedged in from below to lock it all in place ... With that done there was a very satisfying leap as the two fuselage halves could be brought together & then into the jig to hold alignment while fixing the nose ... (if you squint / go cross-eyed enough you can just see the engine in there!!) Such that today we've progressed to here !! ... although, full disclosure, this progression followed some painful regression ... that undercarriage in the background is currently under repair, after an earlier fumble-fingers 'hard landing' (sigh!) Getting close to done - hurrah!

And lower wing, stars to go with the stripes above .. .. and a precariously balanced test fit: .. moving on! Engine done & fitted to nose; pilot near to done; his instrument panel started today; undercarriage lagging behind a bit.

Wet weather passed, supplies delivered, snap lock-down 'prepping' gauntlet run, this means time - at last - to get back to this! I've painted all sub-assemblies bar one in layered top coat of lovely creamy Tamiya 'Racing White'. And today, after equal parts preparation, anticipation & trepidation I set about introducing the tomato-orange-red to the upper wing! Now given I have a kit without decals, this means masking. After tooling about too long on the interweb I settled on a method to try, one outlined, helpfully, in quite some detail by a Mr Dennis Friesel. While seemingly a worthy approach it did send me back to tooling around the interweb trying to source the various materials at anything under industrial quantities, for fair outlay & timely local delivery. Several parcels later, I was ready ... So let's layer it up! 1- First layer is slippery 'silicone coated paper', the type that is peeled from the back of a sticker (first challenge was how to keep that held down on the cutting mat!); 2- Next layer is a band of wide Tamiya tape ... 3- Then the design for the mask is printed onto Avery 'removable A4 label' printer paper & laid down as the third layer over the Tamiya tape. The openings are punched & cut. I elected to extend the guide lines as far as practicable to help get the angles just-so ... 4- Fourth layer is a clear vinyl Siser 'Transfer Tape'. This stuff has a grid for alignment & allows lifting the mask off the silicone paper base, as I show here, removed & flipped over (sticky side up for Tamiya Tape) ... ... and then align through the 'window' & place the mask in position on the wing ... Then the un-peeling! - Siser off first; - Avery label next; - Leaving Tamiya tape behind! Next, from left to right: a dust coat of clear to seal the mask; an oxide primer base coat + 3x orange top coats ... ... And an hour later, oh-so-carefully remove the mask ... & I'm a happy fella! Just a little overspray on the underside & some trailing edge clean-up required, but, otherwise - hurrah! And who can resist a test fit!! And what did we learn from all this? Dennis seems to know what he's talking about & next time, think carefully re purchasing that kit without decals!!

Go right ahead Malc! Like most things it was inspired by others … I’d see these exhibition displays online from Spain, Portugal, Italy - where historical figures seems to be a most popular genre - and they’re often a bust elevated over a fine timber plinth. Seemed opportune way to give an aircraft speed at altitude!

Miserable damp, cold weather persisting here, so that’s brought my painting work to a hold. In the interim, some work on a base. Here a sketch to think out an arrangement… Dimensions sent to Jim’s Bases, who crafted this up in short time .. An adhesive ‘blur’ base from Coastal Kits on the top surface, chosen to suggest a dry Reno air-racing climate, then mark out a slot & get stuck into it with some larger-than-usual hobby tools … A $2 store acrylic picture frame provided sheet to shape into the stand .. … scribed, snapped, ground, sanded & much polished!! Yet to be epoxied in permanently, but an impatient trial fit looks promising … Note here the upper wing showing ‘Racing White’ top coat applied before the foul weather set in. A subtly warmer tone than the stark cold white primer on the rest … So that’s all to report for now .. I blame the rain gods!

@Alan P @bigbadbadge @Malc2 sincere thank you to each for your prompt & considered advice! It’s allowed me to take prompt action.. I thought I ought not throw away the effort invested in this scratchbuilt windscreen, at least not without trying these other suggestions. Happily I can report that a bit of ‘all the above’ has done the trick: toothpicks, pointed cotton buds, polishing compounds, & the very last drops of my isopropyl supply (COVID concerns have led to a run on supplies at the local hardware). I don’t claim it’s a Leica lens, but it’s OK for me! Very glad to not be going backwards & redoing all that. Again, thanks for the advice, most appreciated.

Thanks Alan, great to have enthusiasm reciprocated! Today, from me, it’s an embarrassed confession, a foolish error! In attending to the primed fuselage I belatedly realised that while I had thoroughly masked off the windscreen from above .. I had completely neglected to mask the underside!! Top masking has been removed to reveal the damage … Hmmmmmm …. How to recover from this? .. some sort of chemical removal, one which will attack the overspray - Mr Finishing Surfacer - but won’t craze the clear plastic? Might need experiment with Mr Levelling Thinner?? .. mechanical removal? But it’s such an awkward tiny space to access .. .. pull it off & scratchbuild & install a replacement .. urgh!!

Thanks for the enthusiasm! Agreed, I'm really impressed with the kit: the overall form is quite shapely; the detail is fine but not excessive; the assembly is well thought through; & it just has such a weighty authority! And there must be some credit for the metallurgy, given it's been sitting around in that box for 40yrs & with just a minimal once over with steel wool & it's gleaming like a trophy - no corroding impurities. For all that I have only one other LDM kit: a Caudron C.460, yet to be built. Certainly can't hold your breath waiting for them to pop up for sale - especially at a sensible price - you've done well to locate those three. Thanks for the interest Chris, no not soldering. So far the few bits I have joined I've used CA glue, a bit of fast-set Tamiya & slow-set Zap, although for embedding that internal reinforcement I used gloopy 2xpart epoxy, a type of Araldite which won't 'fog' the clear acrylic stand (even though it should be well cured by then). I'm considering also using that stuff for fixing the main assemblies together towards the end. Hmmm, I thought I'd turned the audio off ... must check my IT settings ... Yes they are nice, but I agree there are some smarty-pants sellers who over-inflate the pricing. I saw a few listed on eBay not long ago for starting price £75 - too much for me! With this Knight Twister I was lucky to see it pass me by online from Japan of all places for a nominal AU$25ish (about £10?). Couldn't say no at that price, could I? Of course the postage & buyers-proxy fees quickly turned it into an 'investment' purchase!

Initial primer coat - such a stark white! A few issue to attend to but on the whole heading in the right direction ...

And to finish tonight, a last indulgent dry-fit with an awkward finger holding that undercart in place ...

So the last remaining significant part is the undercarriage. Given this is fixed I haven't been able to avoid it by choosing to display in-flight. As with most parts of the real machine the undercarriage evolved over time: From an early wide format, shown left below, with top of fairing extending from wing leading edge to back of cowl; To a latter narrow format, shown right. The kit part is closest to the former, and this was a large decider in electing to freeze the model at an early moment in the plane's development. The kit part as received is shown in this one photo only, & while the angle is not ideal, even so the bow-legged banana struts are apparent - and this is with no load applied! No wonder yours gave up @Malc2 the odds were against you. I have found these parts particularly soft & have worked to limit handling them as doing so seems to always reshape them. However, if this is to be the early undercart, one detail missing is this pair of additional inner tubular struts: These seem to offer an opportunity to help hold the whole assembly in shape - so to scratch-build them! Nested brass tube, with a music wire core (bad idea) was heated over the gas stove, then slow-cooled to soften, and bent around a nail in this jig: The bent brass then reheated & quenched in cold water to reharden: That music wire core made for hard work trimming the hardened parts - blunted my tired old hobby razor saw! Some more cardboard-jiggery, the one on the left to set out the desired geometry for the assembly, the one on the right to guide trimming the (hard) rod to length & mitred ends: About as good as I could get it, so commit to CA glue! Then some slight sanding down of the brass to make it ever-so-slightly ovoid in cross-section, some general clean-up & some effort with a steel kitchen skewer tip to scribe some definition between wheel edge & spats: It has at least stabilised! (rudder fitted now too) That's it for pre-paint construction of sub-assemblies! Just a little more raised decal ribbing to the lower wing under where those bulldog clips are, some miscellaneous ongoing Mr Surfacing, polish windscreen & then time to prime!

Hello there, Cabane struts have been fitted ... with quite some effort! A tiny gap. But credit to the master of the kit: when everything was positioned in the jig these pieces aligned just fine ... Just a little bit of Mr Surfacing to be done at the junction ...