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Azur 1/72 Morane-Saulnier MS406C "Battle of France"


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Morning All!

Great progress Stew - looking really good (and nothing like a Spitfire now even if I squint!) :D

Some brilliant scratching going on here - that gunsight looks just right!

Good luck with the bus and for Tuesday!

I had a look at Alclad Grey primer to see if it was smelly (it is, isn't it?) and Models-R-Go says "spray at 15 psi for best results" - HTH

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I had a look at Alclad Grey primer to see if it was smelly (it is, isn't it?)

On a scale of one to trapped in an elevator with a woman wearing too much perfume, I give it a five.

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On a scale of one to trapped in an elevator with a woman wearing too much perfume, I give it a five.

Hey, that's my dream :coolio:

Thanks very much Jon, Ced :D

Yep, Alclad primer is one of those industrial sort of smelling mixes, probably noxious, if you spent the whole day smelling it you'd probably be completely off your face by lunchtime and dead by afternoon teabreak :lol:

Cheers,

Stew

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I applied the second coats of the uppersurface camouflage:

DSCN3480.jpg

... and left them most of the day to cure; yesterday evening I applied a generous coat of Klear:

DSCN3487.jpg

So a bit of detail painting to go this weekend and hopefully I'll get the transfers on too... :D

Cheers,

Stew

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Yep, Alclad primer is one of those industrial sort of smelling mixes, probably noxious, if you spent the whole day smelling it you'd probably be completely off your face by lunchtime and dead by afternoon teabreak :lol:

I've spent my entire working life in situations like that. It hasn't done me any harm... :wacko::who-let-rip:

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Morning Stew! Looking good and an interesting camo pattern! Tres bon! :)

Morning Ced, and thank you very much :D

Tres Bon indeed!

Thanks very much Jon :D

Looking very nice Stew :coolio:

Rob.

Thanks very much Rob :D

I've spent my entire working life in situations like that. It hasn't done me any harm... :wacko::who-let-rip:

No, it's not really a problem Mitch, so long as the fluorescent skeletal vampire bats don't get you smiley-scared007.gif:frantic:

Cheers,

Stew

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No, it's not really a problem Mitch, so long as the fluorescent skeletal vampire bats don't get you smiley-scared007.gif:frantic:

Cheers,

Stew

I've had a few of cross the PM table in my time! :evil_laugh:

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I've had a few of cross the PM table in my time! :evil_laugh:

Ah Mitch, clearly you are an inadvertent substance abuser after my own heart :lol:

I completed the assembly yesterday, with the exception of the retractable underwing landing light which will be added last of all:

DSCN3489.jpg

Of course the version I chose to model had to be the only one of the options provided that wore the large and complex Bronzavia flame-damper exhausts <_< - four pieces of resin per side, plus you have to guesstimate a piece of wire and join them up with that - note the scrap view of the exhaust arrangement in the instructions is not to scale so don't use that as your guide. After a certain amount of faff I used another piece of brass tube:

DSCN3492.jpg

However in the way that modelling is sometimes tangentially educational, I discovered from the instruction sheet that the Czech word for 'wire' is 'drat' which my brain subsequently echoed to me in the voice of Dick Dastardly every time I fumbled the exhaust pieces, so I had a slightly more entertaining afternoon than I had anticipated :lol:

I have started applying the transfers, and the rudder stripes have already caused a whole series of "Drat and double-drats!" so far, though the Aviaprint decals are very thin, remarkably strong (up to a point at least) and quite flexible... well; rudder stripes, innit? Need I say more? :D

Cheers,

Stew

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+1. You deserve a medal for that Stew. Oh, no sorry, that was Muttley (snarf snarf snarf). :D

PC "The French had really weird ideas" period!

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The French had really weird ideas about what spinner sizes vis a vis the fuselage were aesthetically pleasing, didn't they?

It is a bit odd, since you mention it; the Hispano engine series used in the MS.406 and the D.520 have a similar cross-sectional size to the Merlin, but the size of the spinners of both aircraft compared to the Spitfire or the Hurricane covers about half the area; like trying to streamline a brick by glueing a split-pea onto the front before throwing it :lol:

Of course that does rely on my assumption that the purpose of the spinner is streamlining; the French call it a casserole d'hélice so perhaps it doubles as a cooking pot or something :D

Apologies French forum-mates; I mock, gently, to hide my own ignorance :shutup::whistle:

Jon, Ced, thank you - in fact it isn't difficult to do that sort of thing as long as you have the right tools and materials; I can do it but generally I would rather the kit manufacturers did it for me :lol:

Cheers,

Stew

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PC "The French had really weird ideas" period!

Correction: The French still have and always will have very weird ideas... Period!

This having been confirmed, what's wrong with the size of the French "casseroles"? Subtle and delicate are the key words... Look at the French sexy lingerie and you'll understand the underlying idea.

Then do the same in countries with big spinners...

Great job on that 406 Stew!

Keep on having fun!

JR

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...This having been confirmed, what's wrong with the size of the French "casseroles"? Subtle and delicate are the key words... Look at the French sexy lingerie and you'll understand the underlying idea.

Then do the same in countries with big spinners...

Great job on that 406 Stew!

Keep on having fun!

JR

Merci JR, I agree that under certain circumstances "less is more" and certainly an obsession with the size of one's spinner is a sign of infantile insecurity :lol:

Let us speak of it no more :D

I have finished applying the transfers:

DSCN3495.jpg

Those rudder stripes still need some attention though. I'll have a fiddle with them and then give it another coat of Klear to seal the decals, tomorrow hopefully I can get the matt varnish coat on and do what weathering and detail painting remains - hopefully I can get this polished off before the bank holiday weekend finishes...

Cheers,

Stew

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Looks smashing Stew :coolio:

How did the decals behave, if I may ask, just for reference, as I have not built an Azur/RS Model kit before. I have no experience with the decals supplied and was wondering if the rudder decal may be tricky for instance.

Cheers,

Rob.

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Hey Rob :)

The transfers are very nice, they are very thin and floppy though so are best slid off the backing paper onto a pre-wetted surface with a paintbrush... they're quite strong and can take a fair bit of moving about; when you are happy with the positioning blot it down and it will suck right down onto the surface sweet as you like :D

However the rudder stripes are une vache, to adopt the vernacular, they are oversized and will crumple where they overlap the edge of the rudder, I may have been clumsy and/or unlucky though, and in the end I think I might have got away with it.

Are the RS Models transfers done by Aviagraphics as well? I seem to remember I liked the RS Models transfers but it was a while ago and I don't remember the details...

HTH,

Cheers,

Stew

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The transfers are very nice, they are very thin and floppy though so are best slid off the backing paper onto a pre-wetted surface with a paintbrush... they're quite strong and can take a fair bit of moving about; when you are happy with the positioning blot it down and it will suck right down onto the surface sweet as you like :D

Score at least 2, fnaar fnaar (and yes, I have had wine!)

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