1/72 Revell Arado Ar (E) 555

[Tomoshenko]

Yep I add my voice to what the oher posters said, lovely work. Must say those errant ejector marks are a bit of a pain, but you've got that in hand. As for the trawler netting, well I'm with Hendie and a nice Classical mosaic will look just fine...erm well if the Roman Empire had jet bombers - pushing it for a whatif I spose. Ah well they did provide provide a certain god of fire's namesake for a certain British bomber at least... On a serious note though, and forgive my ignorance, but what is that effect supposed to replicate? Surley not a canvas or corregated iron effect...

[tank152]

Blimey you'll soon be painting the thing! Great work going on with your usual up grade of parts, can I suggest something? How about removing the rudders and repositioning them in a different pose.

[Space Ranger]

If I were you I'd use my drill skill to turn that sink mark on the engine nacelle unit into an auxiliary intake. Who's gonna say it's wrong? Certainly not me!

[Nigel Heath]

Surely not a canvas or corrugated iron effect...

I think it is supposed to represent fabric covered control surfaces, there is a similar effect on the ailerons:

Good idea about moving the rudders, I have had a quick look and it looks like it would be tricky but I will give it more thought.

Cheers,

Nigel

[tank152]

Good idea about moving the rudders, I have had a quick look and it looks like it would be tricky but I will give it more thought.

Cheers,

Nigel

Maybe best leaving them alone then, I'd hate to feel responsible for you ruining all your previous work.

Tim.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Yeah.....That's my job!

[Nigel Heath]

I seem to recall that having to build a fuel pump for a gravity fed tanker and cross kitting Airfix and Hasegawa GMC trucks to make a fuel tanker were also your ideas. You have much to answer for.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Tell me you don't love that model!

[Nigel Heath]

'Corse I do, I probably haven't mentioned that it has won a few awards:

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Thoroughly well deserved!

[Max Headroom]

Blimey how have I missed this "Nigel Makes Another Masterpiece"?

I really must pay more attention.

Trevor the impressed (again)

[Nigel Heath]

Too kind Sir.

Back to the matter in hand, not the easiest thing to photograph but each fin had more or less the same five defective areas - marked here with indelible marker:

The one with the pen on it is the one that has already been tidied up.

Here they are after some filling, sanding, scribing and drilling:

Again not easy to take a good picture, you may have to take my word that the work has been done.

I then removed the pen marks with some IPA:

I am really not sure about repositioning the rudders, I can see this thin top part twisting or doing something else nasty:

This hinge detail would also be difficult to deal with:

I still like the idea though as such things do give movement and dynamism to a model.

This model really demands an imaginative scheme, one source of inspiration I have in this issue of SAM (Scale Aircraft Modelling not surface to air missile - silly Britmodeller) from December 2012 with an attractive winter camo scheme:

I was however upset to read this:

"To describe the entire assembly sequence would be pointless and to point out any minor foibles would be a matter of focusing on the boring minutiae"

WHAT!!!

This is what Nigey builds do...

What am I doing here??

Then I was much relieved to see this (superb) model was made by a young whipper-snapper, what does he know?

Confidence restored I will carry on with my build.

Turning over the page of said magazine thought there was this lovely article by Chris Fleet from our model club:

I have seen this in the flesh, its a beauty and partially responsible for my own flying pancake build.

I might have to get that Special Hobby kit.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[jrlx]

Nigel,

I'm following your build with great interest. I plan to build one of these Arado bombers, just don't know when...

Your attention to detail is remarkable. I'm bookmarking this thread for future reference.

Cheers,

Jaime

[hairystick]

Then I was much relieved to see this (superb) model was made by a young whipper-snapper, what does he know?

How to apply some superb camouflage!

What an impressive approach. I like it a lot.

The magazine article photo shows a considerable bomb bay, plus wheel wells. This begs the question... with 6 engines to feed, where does all the fuel go? ;-)

[pinky coffeeboat]

I would have thought it would be stored in the outer wing section and in around the fuselage? Were all six engines needed for flight or for just take off?

Edited May 14, 2015 by pinky coffeeboat

[Bordfunker]

There were a number of engine and tail configurations planned for E555, see link below.

http://www.luft46.com/arado/are555s.html

Not that I'm trying to give Nigel ideas!

Karl

[pinky coffeeboat]

^ some of those designs look amazing.

[Nigel Heath]

I particularly like the Ar 555-10 variant - looks incredible. There is actually a resin kit see here. I might have to try to get that.

[Norman]

Coming along nicely Nigel

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks Norm,

Tonight I did a little bit of work on the engine assembly, I had a go at taking a picture on the engine intakes - there are nicely detailed blades down there - but I did not have much success:

I checked the depth that those sit at and it is over 10mm, it will be pretty difficult to airbrush any paint down into those intakes I reckon.

I think the whole assembly should be completed before painting as otherwise there would be some gaps and other issues:

Here I am starting to sort out the sink marks:

I then identified the ejector marks that need to be dealt with, only one on the upper surface but many on the underside:

There are a lot of dings and dents on the underside indicating the tool has had a bit of abuse. Gentle sanding action removed most of the problems.

On the ejector marks, here the one on the RHS has been sorted with the other side still to do:

Apologies for the poor photo above but here both sides have been done:

For a little light relief I glued two of the big bombs together:

As has been noted on a few other builds there is some sink marking on the main undercarriage doors:

Nothing too serious in my opinion and can be put down to "stressed metal".

I separated the lower section of the U/C door with a bit of help from my Tamiya scriber:

Here is the first door sorted with a little bit of liquid poly on the hinge line:

The second door was made to match:

All done for today, bye for now,

Nigel

[S5 modeller]

Good work there nigel. Seems to be quite a few areas needing attention.

Will have to watch out for these when I build mine.

Have you tested yet, to see if you have prevented a tail sitter? If so, will have to make a note of how much weight you used.

[CedB]

Great stuff Nigel, as always. Those u/c doors!

"Nothing too serious in my opinion and can be put down to "stressed metal". Good one! I shall add this to my 'literary toolkit' which, along with 'weathering', will help me explain my feeble attempts. Not required for you of course!

[Nigel Heath]

I have made a little bit more progress tonight, starting with an airbrushing session - getting some more leather brown on the seat squabs and some Alclad Aqua Gloss on the seat backs:

My thinking with that is that a glossy finish will work better with the liquid masking I will be using on them.

Next the engine module, I drilled out the back of the exhausts with a 1.3mm drill as that better matches the reality of how they would have looked:

With all the filler and parts cleaned up this was now ready for assembly:

The intakes have to be assembled first, I note this has caught out a few other modellers:

The exhausts can be added after the two halves have been assembled though:

The fit was generally very good but the are one or two joints that will need a touch of filler. That can all harden up overnight anyway.

Next I applied some filler to the big bombs and glued the remaining three small bombs:

Not massive progress but I feel we are getting there and a weekend of building beckons.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[jrlx]

Good progress Nigel. Very useful warning on the proper order of assembly for the engine parts.

[Nigel Heath]

Today I started with the liquid masking on the seat padding. I have not used this masking since I had a nightmare with it on my Rotodyne but I had left it on for months and I'm going to give it another chance. I slightly thinned it with some water before application:

I applied several coats and incorporated some 2mm tape tabs to hopefully aid with removal:

I masked the seat cushions like this and then glued on the control column and navigators console(?):

I added some actuator rods to the rudder pedals and masked the joint lines:

I have seen some builds where this has been left as a big clear light but it is of course the periscope for the rear gunner. It just needs a slightly egg shaped patch of masking over the lens:

That could then be glued in:

The last part required before painting up the cockpit was this overhead instrument panel. I mounted it by drilling a 0.5mm hole and inserting a sharpened cocktail stick:

After some primer I applied some Mr Color RLM 66 and anthracite to the rear instrument boxes and guns:

Now I can crack on with some assembly and a bit of detail painting. I think I will use some decals on the instruments as well.

Bye for now,

Nigel