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fjaweijfopi4j48

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Everything posted by fjaweijfopi4j48

  1. fjaweijfopi4j48
    A little bit of sun out for a brief moment, so another batch with better light:
  2. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Finished model here in Britmodeller:
  3. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Thanks everybody for your kindness. It was a fun project of a not well-known type that has charm. Cheers
  4. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Hi Stuart Still as WiP threads are the Mitsubishi SM-1 (converted K3M3) and the Caproni C.310, both in civil guise. The Caproni is just waiting for its decals, which should be arriving in a couple weeks, the Mitsubishi is in the priming/rigging floats stage. But in a couple days I will be hopefully uploading the Barkley-Grow T8P-1 Execuform vacufomed 1/72 WiP. We'll see.
  5. fjaweijfopi4j48
    The long road to convert this kit into a somewhat decent model was nevertheless fun to walk. The step-by-step build is here in Britmodeller: In the world of vacuum-formed kits -as in any other-, there are good things and no so good things. This kit tends to belong to the latter category. But hey, it is a kit of a civil plane! not much of those abound! However, I appreciated the opportunity to flex the modeling muscle provided by the gift of fellow modeler Luis Santos, to whom I once again express my gratitude. You can see all about the making of model using the link provided above. Arctic Decals made the necessary items to finish this model (this kit has no decals). This was a plane that was adapted as an experimental machine, carrying instruments and external probes; and it can be seen in photos with two or four main wheels, and slight variations of the rigs it wore about it. Thanks to Peter in the Netherlands from Britmodeller who provided the color clue as dark blue. I am really surprised that no good kits of the Fokker F.II and F.III do exist, while there are hundreds of arch-known iterations of the same-old-same-old. F.II and F.III were very significant transports used by many countries and airlines, and could be released in almost infinite variations changing just noses and window arrangements. They are simple enough and just by doing an Internet search you could fill volumes. The liveries are invariably attractive, from elegant to showy. What else could you ask for? Any adventurous manufacturer out there?
  6. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Oh my, oh my... Here a view of the struttery and landing gear elements on the kit. NOTICE SOMETHING??: Yeap, there are two left fore struts (and no, there not two right fore struts): How would I like that some manufactures would build their own kits, just to try them, I mean, to see if thinks work, just saying.... Sigh.... Now I will have to brake one of them and re-position the part in the opposite angle. No big deal, agreed, but it happens to be on an area that will carry a lot of stress, plus the additional weight of the resin floats, plus the additional struts associated with the floats. Hey, aftermarket entrepreneurs, stuff your pockets with money fabricating the "other" strut. Lotsa kitsa outa there. P/S: thought of modifying just the faired joint, chopping and reversing its nose and cone, didn't yah? no can't do, the narrower strut will need to be re-positioned anyway, since it is sided, aligned with the leading edge of the main strut.
  7. fjaweijfopi4j48
    In reality, the plane had an adjustable (floating) stabilizer, and the fin was "pinned" through it, so this was replicated on the model. Prop and engine can be seen now making progress too. Metal control horns were added to the control surfaces:
  8. fjaweijfopi4j48
    The reworking of an aftermarket engine to fit the version needed here is done, included exhausts (that were rigged with the engine temporarily in place). A base black color is sprayed and the -also reworked- prop from spares is painted at this time too:
  9. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Nice!!!!
  10. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Primer is applied to see if some parts that have been modified or reworked may need touch-ups:
  11. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Fuselage seams are puttied, and the detail on top erased, as it's not applicable to this version. The conversion of an after-market engine to proper configuration has started:
  12. fjaweijfopi4j48
    My wife was also born in Yorkshire (aka the Third World, according to the M. Pythons) and has quite a lot of family there (Middlesbrough area) We visited there a few years ago, I was delighted with her family (I write this in case it happens that you are a relative) and the landscape. We went also to the Lake District. I recall it rained every day of our month-long visit.
  13. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Yes, somewhere there is a closed fuselage as the glue sets:
  14. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Hi John The almost identical twin plane, named Kamikaze (no relation to the later war connotation, being Kami a spiritual entity and Kaze wind) was officially denominated Karigane I. It reached London in 1937 from Japan in a very publicized flight for the ceremonies of the coronation of King George. It was the first Japanese plane to reach Europe! Asakaze (Morning Breeze) the model I made, is almost identical, but the blue nose starts at the leading edge of the wing, and not midway between leading edge and Townend ring as in Kamikaze. They many times flew together to air shows and events, and in the Net there are a number of photos of both. The Ki-15s were refined and "modern" planes for their time, and their performance was excellent. The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, owned both. I posted recently here another Mitsubishi Karigane (a II type, though, long cowl) J-BACL, also owned by a newspaper. Several other Japanese newspapers bought top of the line planes with great handling and speed, and used them as couriers. Their decorations are usually attractive. They used Japanese as well as foreign planes, and I would like to build, among others, a Lockheed Sirius I saw that is a feast for the eyes. We know a lot about war aviation in Japan, but usually very little about its interesting and creative origins and its civil aviation. There is a great book -alas, only in Japanese-: J-BIRD. It is fully loaded with images of very beautiful but arcane types, but again, no information unfortunately can be extracted from it if you don't read Japanese. Civil aviation history is such a rich field, and it is very rewarding to expand the scope of our interests (if you feel like), since you will find extraordinary types you never heard of or saw before, that eventually can help to create an interesting and diverse model collection, or at least to get acquainted with wondrous flying machines from all corners of the world.
  15. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Indeed Mr T! On the other hand, we have five seasons in Southern California, the most important and longer of them is drought, then follows wildfires, mudslides, earthquake and Oscars
  16. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Thanks everybody for their great kindness. Cheers
  17. fjaweijfopi4j48
    The frame of the left front window is painted, since it will have to be masked to protect the "glass", which is glued from inside: The interior is prepared:
  18. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Mike, Joachim, David, Corsairfox Thanks all for your kindness.
  19. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Hi David You may get the ARII release with those decals, as I did. You will need to paint or make the white/red small bands for the prop tips, which were included in the civil Hasegawa release (not easy to get now) but not in ARII's. As pointed out above somewhere, the ARII fuselage and wing banners need the red outline trimmed off. Other than that, the decals were superb. Regards For those interested in the completed model here at Britmodeller, here is the link to that post:
  20. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Basic colors are applied to the interior that, as usual, will be barely seen after closing the fuselage:
  21. fjaweijfopi4j48
  22. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Here is J-BAAL, Asakaze (morning breeze), twin plane of the better publicized J-BAAI Kamikaze (spirit wind). The step-by-step building article is here also in Britmodeller: I went for it given that the registration most frequently represented is the latter (flew to London from Japan in a much reported feat). Photos show changes in time on the paint scheme of J-BAAL. One is the same in general as J-BAAI, nose, top and part of the wheel pants blue (with of course different lettering), but there is another where the blue painted area is restricted to the fuselage nose, has hinomaru, and also the characters are different (and two instead of four) This Mania model as I mentioned during construction is using the decals from the ARII kit (which cover the two versions -but do not have two complete set of decals). The quality of this "old" Mania/Hasegawa kit is remarkable (Scalemates states that the kit is from 1974!) , its finesse commendable, and certainly puts to shame a lot of much more recent kit releases. Pity that the standards of this kit were not more widely imitated or achieved. The pattern makers and other people involved in the creation of this kit should be very proud. This old kit (44 years old as I write this!) is a real pleasure to build; it has a more sophisticated interior than the ARII kit, but I like better ARII's canopy and main landing gear legs, with separate wheels, and detailed landing light (blank in the Mania kit). Between the Ki-15 I and II (both released by Mania/Hasegawa and LS/ARII) there are a number of civil versions to build. I still have three more boxes! A nice kit, for a convenient price, for which the passing of time is nothing.
  23. fjaweijfopi4j48
    I put the broken antenna mast where nothing could happen to it. Even that I could happen to find it. So I had to make a brass one, which is good, since they tend to be knocked off and brake, and sometimes the plastic buckles under the antenna wire tension. As you can see, this is the lesser-seen J-BAAL -a reg. dreaded by some distinguished members of this hospitable site- instead of the more commonly represented J-BAAI:
  24. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Starting decaling:
  25. fjaweijfopi4j48
    Wing glued on and details started to be added: four of the six wing struts, aileron horns and control leads, and the varied gizmos that adorn the exterior of this experimental machine (like the one seen here on the stab leading edge and in preparation on the foreground):
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