North American T6G Texan

[One-Two]

Hy Guys.

Probably you know that feeling when you just can't stop yourself from starting a new project.

Well, that's what happened to me with this one.

I just wanted something nice and colorful.

Enter Italeri (ex-Occidental, me thinks) 1/48 T6G Texan.

Soft plastic, but with nice details on the exterior. Not so nice for the interior, which is somehow sparce.

In order to improve a little bit the interior (especially the cockpit and wheel bays/flaps) I will use the eduard zoom etch for this kit and some scratch here and there.

The transparencies are clear enough but too thick in order to depict the canopy in open position. As I didn't found any vac replacement for this kit, I will have use the original pieces, although I would like to be able to see the interior.

My intention is to depict a Guantanamo Bay machine, pretty much the same with the one from the attached pic.

Anyway, here are the mandatory box contents pics:

Edited May 13, 2015 by One-Two

[PaulT 876]

Hi

I have made this kit loads of times, I like it a lot.

You all so need to do the gun mound on top of the cowling in front of the wind screen and mod the cowling ring.

The kit does not have this, it is the no gun version.

If you can get the parts from a Monogram kit its quicker than scratch building it.

Look at the photo just in front of the screen you can see the mound and look at the cowling along the back bit you can see the grove in it for the gun.

This one looks like there is a blanking plate, so no barrel.

The a/c in the photo is a SNJ-5 there are other small different things that you will have to do as the kit is a T-6G.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Edited May 13, 2015 by PaulT 876

[One-Two]

Hi

I have made this kit loads of times, I like it a lot.

You all so need to do the gun mound on top of the cowling in front of the wind screen and mod the cowling ring.

The kit does not have this, it is the no gun version.

If you can get the parts from a Monogram kit its quicker than scratch building it.

Look at the photo just in front of the screen you can see the mound and look at the cowling along the back bit you can see the grove in it for the gun.

This one looks like there is a blanking plate, so no barrel.

The a/c in the photo is a SNJ-5 there are other small different things that you will have to do as the kit is a T-6G.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Hi PaulT and thank you very much for pointing me those differences.

In my rush, I choose the Gitmo plane whithout noticing that this one is a SNJ5 and I have a AT6 in the box.

So now I have to reconsider my options for the machine I'm bulding.

The problem is that I don't have serious reference material for AT6/SNJ5 and I don't know if I can correctly depict all the differences between these airframes. I don't have the Monogram kit either.

On the other hand...from the registration variants offered by Italeri, I really prefer the Gitmo machine...I'll see, I have to rethink my strategy I guess

In the meantime, the work begins...with the wings, of course. Some of the detail in the wheel bay area is way too thick...so I'm trying to reduce the thickness of some panels here and there.

Also, the inside of the fuselage is completely bare...so I just made some structure from evergreen strips.

Hope it will be visible from the cockpit..

[PaulT 876]

Hi

That's fine just did not want you to start and find later that you cannot do that one.

The Guantanamo Bay machine dose look smart and no weathering to boot, could be on my list to do mined I mostly do French and Canadian and NZ and try to stay of the USA a/c.

I have done the gun mods to this kit as aim doing Harvard’s IIIs from NZ that's a long time building project some day I will finish them about 3/4 done so far.

You have the S-S-P 94 T-6 Texan book I see that's a good book to work from mines well used.

Keep going and enjoy the kit.

Paul

[One-Two]

Some work was done to the seats.

OOB, they were way too thick...so I just thinned them using a file.

Also I added some detail to the seats...using as referente the instructions of the much bigger and better detailed 1/32 Kitty Hawk kit of the Texan.

[One-Two]

Hello Gringos.

Trying to bring this project back to life....I re-started with the cockpit parts...not a great level of detail in there as you may see.

I removed the original rudder pedals as they were much too under-represented. I will make some new ones, I'll see how.

Also I chopped off some pieces from the right-hand side panel...they will be repositioned later.

For the IP's, I made new backing parts from plastic sheet, instead of using the original ones.

Then I sprayed some acrylic black on the main cockpit parts, as a base/primer for the interior green that will follow...

[One-Two]

Some scratch items here and there and finally I put some color on the cockpit parts.

The pilot seats and IP's are still in work.

Also the piece that is closing the cockpit, situated behind the seat from the back pilot station.

This item is quite under-represented and I am still thinking how to make it better.

All the best guys,

[One-Two]

The pilots seats.

I still have to assemble and paint the PE seatbelts...to apply a wash and then a clear flat...

[One-Two]

Slow progress...I'm still struggling with the cockpit.

Pilot seats ready and installed.

After consulting some reference photos, I decided to install some connection bars between the rudder pedals. I don't think that they will be seen in the completed model, but anyway, at least I know they're there.

Now I'm pretty close to closing the cockpit structure.

Some work is still necessary in the rear area of the cockpit and also with some hydraulic pipes and electric cables on the sides...but these can be done after closing the cockpit...

[galgos]

You're making a good job of this one-two, impressive detailing. My only query, and you may have refs to confirm it, is the shape of the joystick in the rear cockpit. The one that I flew in had a straight one, but I was surprised just how "agricultural" all the cockpit interior was especially the rudder pedals.

Max

[One-Two]

You're making a good job of this one-two, impressive detailing. My only query, and you may have refs to confirm it, is the shape of the joystick in the rear cockpit. The one that I flew in had a straight one, but I was surprised just how "agricultural" all the cockpit interior was especially the rudder pedals.

Max

Hi galgos and thanks for the interest.

Regarding the shape of the stick from the rear cockpit...I have these two sketches belonging, apparently, to the T6G:

Rear cockpit:

This one is showing a bent stick for the backseat guy.

However I'm not convinced that this was the universal truth for all the Texan and Harvard sub-variants....indeed I saw some of them with a straight stick in the rear cockpit.

Also the Italeri assembly notes are showing the a bent stick in the rear...although I would not consider them a reliable source in any way

However, based on these drawings I decided to go for a bent stick for the rear cockpit.

Front cockpit drawing, apparently showing a straight joystick:

[One-Two]

Not so much time for the Texan.

I made some modest progress with the engine.

The only thing is that the Eduard wiring for the engine cannot be mounted on the exterior of the engine crankcase, as shown in the related instructions...it just doesn't fit due to the shape of the plastic piece.

So I was forced to assemble it on the inside of the engine crankcase...which I think is not such a big problem, because I saw some pictures where it was mounted like this also on the real thing....although this seems to be rather an exception than the rule...

Regards,

[One-Two]

Ok so after a very long inactivity, I'm trying to comeback to the plastic world.

Started with this T6...I just closed the cockpit cage...installed the structure from the back...with some scratched radio set and rear bulkhead.

The next step is to install some piping and wiring on the cockpit sides...and then I can think about closing the fuselage.

 

Regards,

 

[One-Two]

Hello Gringos,

 

Cockpit cage finished and ready to install in the fuselage.

While taking the pictures, I noticed a fingerprint on the right-hand side of the rear IP...of  course it was etched in the clear cote...I remove it following some soft sanding.

The front IP is a separate piece that will be installed only after I close the fuselage.

 

Have a nice week guys,

[One-Two]

Ok, last night I managed to close the fuselage.

Also mounted the front IP to the front fuselage coaming...

 

Regards,

[One-Two]

Slowly moving ahead with this one.

Very slowly:)

I installed the front IP and coaming, so now the fuselage is more or less complete.

I also separated the elevators from the horizontal stabilizers...because I saw in some pictures that Texans' elevators are in dropped position when parked on the ground.

However, only after this surgery, I realized that this dropped position of the elevators should be correlated with a stick forward attitude in the cockpit. Which is not the case, as I glued the sticks in neutral position.

So...it seems that I cannot drop the elevators too much...only a little bit...so much for my dynamic positioned controls  

 

[One-Two]

Horizontal stabilizers, engine air intakes and part of the canopy installed.

Masking the windscreen and the back-end part of the canopy was fun...and even more is coming...

I improved a little the engine air intakes, by adding some plastic bits ...leaving them as they were was not an option, because they were incomplete. 

 

Regards,

 

 

[One-Two]

Main components of the wings glued together.

I made some landing lights from small pieces of plastic and installed them in the wing...couldn't just let them as they were, only some empty holes in the leading edge.

However, this addition is leading to another problem - now I have to make somehow new transparent covers for the landing lights, because the old ones are horribly thick and now they don't fit anymore over the newly installed landing lights...

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

I am currently building this kit too, and really like it.  But you are making a better job than me. Looking good.

[Wlad]

I have a suggestion for your landing lights cover: thin clear tape, like Scotch tape. I used it on my two T-6 kits. The challenges are to not get your finger prints on the sticky side of the tape and to stick it lightly first so you can trim the excess and peel it off without pulling the paint off. Do the tape thing after you've done the last coat on the model.

 

You can see the results here: http://www.arcair.com/Gal13/12501-12600/gal12525-Texan-Franco-Valias/07.jpg

 

I also noticed a question earlier, the SNJ-5 is the navy's equivalent to the T-6D. Primary difference from the T-6G, from a kit perspective, is the lack of gun on the cowling, which has been pointed out, and the T-6G introduced canopy covers with less framing. I've noticed post war the T-6s could have canopy covers which did not match their original (i.e. T-6D with T-6G canopy), so you may find one in the colour scheme you're looking for and with less framing on the canopy.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

Edited December 22, 2016 by Wlad
additional information

[One-Two]

Thank you Reconciler and Wlad.

@Wlad, I decided anyway to go for the Guantanamo bird, even if it's a T6G and not a SNJ5. I just like it  too much:)

Very interesting idea with clear tape for the landing lights cover. I might give it a try. 

Speaking of landing lights cover, I attached some pictures with the results of my first tentative to represent them.

I used thin sheets of clear plastic....trimmed and cut to fit and glued with Tamiya extra-thin.

I am not happy with the result and I think I will try one more time. Trimming the damn things to fit is very time consuming...

 

I also started to add some details in the wheel well...some cables, piping and stuff...

 

Happy Holydays to you all guys,

 

 

 

 

 

[One-Two]

So finally I managed to glue the fuselage with the wing. Decent fit, only minor adjustments will be necessary.

Now the beautiful shape of the Texan is becoming more apparent:)

 

In the previous posts I was complaining about the landing lights transparent covers and I explained my initial approach on this issue.

I was not very happy with the results. 

Therefore I removed the covers obtained after the first attempt and tried to repeat the process. However I abandoned fast, because the process of crafting by hand such a complex shape is very time consuming and each minor mistake is leading to a compromised piece and a lot of work going directly to the thrash bin.

I should try to make these covers through a molding process - but I don't possess the required technology or know-how. 

 

So, I was forced to turn back to the kit's original transparencies - which I initially refused to use, because of their ridiculous thickness and inadequate shape.

I sanded them heavily on the inside, first using a file and then finer and finer sandpaper - this way I made them a little bit thinner than before. They are no more so thick, but still they are distorting the light when looking through them.

After that, I dipped them in future, and glued them in their places, on the leading edge of the wings. Another sanding session was necessary, this time on the exterior, because they were not conforming the wings' general profile.

 

This is the result - not perfect, but better than before, I think.

 

[lunarhighway]

what i've done to replicate similar lights when the kit part was not up to scratch, is take a piece of cello tape, the clear type, not the frosty one, and just stick it over the entire surounding plate and cut to size... and than carefully mask the glass when it's time to paint, no seems and no optical distortion... just make sure there's no dust or finger prints on the inside,

 

not the best picture but i've used in on a 1/72 hurricane for the landing lights in te leading edge

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

It's lOOking good one-two. Keep going!

[One-Two]

Thank you guys.

@lunarhighway...very interesting suggestion...if in the end I'm not satisfied with these covers, this will be for sure my next approach to the landing lights transparencies.

 

In the meantime, I just added few details on the belly of the rear fuselage. According to drawings&pictures, there should be some kind of hatch or something, followed by three recognition lights...red, green and amber.

But as can be seen in the first picture (I made it before adding the wings), there is nothing like this on the kit parts. 

So I just made some covers for that rear compartment...just that instead of scribing them, I preferred to make them out of some thin plastic sheet.

For the signal lights I made some holes (without going through the fuselage)...painted them with chrome silver...then with clear red, green and amber.

After that, I just covered them with clear plastic covers.

I also made some additional details in the landing gear bay...like missing internal walls &stuff...

 

That's it for now.  

Cheers,

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by One-Two