jrlx Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi again, The Eduard PE set for the Defiant comes with a fret full of exterior details (grids, wheel well and undercarriage detail and some other bits). Here it is, with some parts already off: IMAG5615 The missing parts were grids for the radiators: IMAG5602 IMAG5603 These parts with grids go inside the radiator housing (plastic part C1). The radiator flap in plastic should be replaced by PE parts 50 and 43: IMAG5604 First, I marked the cut lines with a nº 11 blade: IMAG5605 This area of the part was cut off with a mini-saw. The PE parts were also cut off the fret and bent to shape: IMAG5607 The parts of the inner mechanism of the gun turret were glued together and the corresponding PE detail for the gunner's seat was cut of the fret: IMAG5645 Result: IMGA5646 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi again, A lot of the PE detail goes in the wheel wells, to improve their walls: IMAG5617 It should be noted that the instructions show PE parts 44 and 45 wrongly positioned. These parts should be glued with their tapering following the tapering of the well walls, so the narrower end goes near the gear leg and the holes on the parts go near the area where the wheel gets stored: Parts 54 and 55 are also shown upside down, as shown in this picture (look for the 4 screw heads on the bottom of the panel, just above the well door): Here are the front panels already glued in place: IMAG5618 The side panels: IMAG5620 Here's the tool I used to bend the curved parts. These parts were first roughly bent to shape and then glued by sections in order to get the final shape: IMAG5621 IMAG5623 The straight panels were are glued in place: IMAG5624 The mechanisms to be installed on these straight panels are made up of a PE part like this: IMAG5625 This part was bent to shape in two steps, as shown in the following two pictures: IMAG5626 IMAG5627 Finally, the parts were glued to the panels: IMAG5628 The work on the wells was concluded with the bits around the gear legs: IMAG5629 IMAG5630 The gear legs are not glued in place yet and still need to be cleaned from moulding marks and excess plastic from the sprue gates. I finished this phase of the build by carving away plastic from the wing edge were the step board recoiled: IMAG5631 The corresponding PE part will be painted on the fret and glued in place in the end. To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi again, Continuing with the updates. The transparent parts for the wing lights were bathed in Aqua Gloss, to improve brilliance and transparency and left to dry for a few days: IMAG5601 Then, they were painted silver in the back and interior green on the sides: IMAG5639 This was done so to simulate the real thing that can be seen in this photo: The transparent parts were glued in place. Fit is not too bad: IMAG5640 There are PE parts to install around the lights: IMAG5643 These PE parts were bent to shape and glued in place: IMAG5644 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi again, This post should bring the thread up to date. The kit has no detail for the navigation lights on the tips of the wing. However, these are quite prominent features, as shown in the following picture: The inside seems to be silver or aluminium clad and the lights are green on the starboard tip and red on the port tip. To simulate these lights, I decided to use a technique I first used in my Bf 109 G10 build, a few years ago, which consists on using pieces of transparent sprue shaped appropriately. First step, was cutting off the tips of the wings, along the navigation light panel lines. This was accomplished with a nº 11 blade: IMAG5632 Next, pieces of sprue were roughly cut using a mini saw: IMAG5633 I happened to choose a thick piece of transparent sprue, so I carved away part of the transparent plastic with a nº 11 blade: IMAG5634 As shown in the following picture, the pieces were still a bit large compared to the plastic pieces that had been removed from the wing tips: IMAG5635 So, I reduced them further, sawing them to about half the size using a mini saw. The resulting pieces had now an appropriate dimension to fit on the wing tips and still have enough material to be safely filed and sanded to shape. But before that, it was necessary to simulate the navigation lamps. For that, I drilled small holes on the mating surfaces using a 0.5mm drill: IMAG5636 These holes were filled in with transparent red and transparent green, using a nº 0 detail brush: IMAG5637 Next, the mating surfaces were painted silver and the parts were allowed to dry: IMAG5638 I used slow CA to glue the parts in place: IMAG5641 IMAG5642 The parts were, then, filed and sanded to shape using, first, a small straight metal file and, then, sanding sticks of increasingly finer grain. Work proceeded slowly and carefully to ensure the proper shape was achieved. The following pictures show the results: IMAG5651 IMAG5652 IMAG5653 IMAG5654 The parts still had to be polished to become transparent. For this I used a set of micromesh pads of increasingly finer grain, and finished with a polishing fluid. Here's the end result: IMAG5655 IMAG5656 The wing can now be glued to the fuselage and the seams and joins can be taken care of. That's all for now. Thanks for looking. Jaime 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Nice work Jaime That PE certainly adds some finer detail and those scratched nav lights look 'the business'. Good job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Stunning work on display here Jaime. I've just had a catch up & much enjoyed it. Your wee curved mini saw intrigues me, whose is that? I can see a need developing there. Steve. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 9 hours ago, CedB said: Nice work Jaime That PE certainly adds some finer detail and those scratched nav lights look 'the business'. Good job! 7 hours ago, stevehnz said: Stunning work on display here Jaime. I've just had a catch up & much enjoyed it. Your wee curved mini saw intrigues me, whose is that? I can see a need developing there. Steve. Ced, Steve, Thank you very much for your interest and kind words The micro saw comes in a set of PE saws by RB productions: http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_112&products_id=358 They're really good. I bought them on a recommendation by Ced Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 40 minutes ago, jrlx said: They're really good. I bought them on a recommendation by Ced Say no more. Thanks Jaime,on my shopping list. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Some really nice detail Jaime. You've put a lot of work into your Defiant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 4 hours ago, Fatboydim said: Some really nice detail Jaime. You've put a lot of work into your Defiant. Thanks a lot, Joe! Your kind words are always very much welcome Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 Hi again, I don't think I'll finish this build in time for this GB but I've been progressing and here's an update. I finally glued the wing and fuselage together. The aircraft was left for a few days while the glue cured: IMAG5666 IMAG5667 In the meantime, I did some work on the main undercarriage legs, as there were some PE parts to add. The PE parts are nº 55 and 61 in the fret. A bit on the left leg has already been cut off for installation of PE part nº 61: IMAG5663 PE parts nº 61 glued in place: IMAG5664 The legs ready. The break line will be installed in the end: IMAG5665 A few days later, the clamps were removed and here was the model: IMAG5668 IMAG5669 There were some joins and gaps requiring attention. The wing root on the port wing was a bit recessed from the fuselage: IMAG5670 The root of the starboard wing was better: IMAG5671 There were some considerable gaps on the front of the wing-to-fuselage join: IMAG5672 IMAG5673 The back of the wing-to-fuselage join also needs some work: IMAG5674 Before starting to work on these joins, I glued the rudder in place: IMAG5675 and the horizontal stabilisers: IMAG5676 The alignment of tail fin and horizontal stabilisers is perfect out of the box: IMAG5677 Here's a top view of the model as it was at this point in time: IMAG5679 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Nice Jaime. Your work with tiny PE continues to impress 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I just tried the wing to fuselage fit on my Hurricane today and it looks about the same as your Defiant. I tried a bit of sanding but it didn't help much. Looks like I'll be using some more Mr. Surfacer 1000, unless you have a different, better plan. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 2 hours ago, CedB said: Nice Jaime. Your work with tiny PE continues to impress Thanks Ced! The PE fret also includes replacement wheel well doors! 2 hours ago, dogsbody said: I just tried the wing to fuselage fit on my Hurricane today and it looks about the same as your Defiant. I tried a bit of sanding but it didn't help much. Looks like I'll be using some more Mr. Surfacer 1000, unless you have a different, better plan. Chris Sorry to know about that, Chris. I used thick CA followed by Perfect Plastic Putty to fill in the gaps. Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 8 minutes ago, jrlx said: Thanks Ced! The PE fret also includes replacement wheel well doors! Sorry to know about that, Chris. I used thick CA followed by Perfect Plastic Putty to fill in the gaps. Cheers Jaime All I have right now is the Mr. Surfacer 1000. Hopefully soon, I'll get down to Edmonton and have time to peruse the hobbyshops to see what else is there for thin putty/filler. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Nice progress Jaime. The undercarriage looks very detailed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 6 hours ago, Fatboydim said: Nice progress Jaime. The undercarriage looks very detailed. Thanks Joe! Yes, the PE bits from the Eduard sets improve the detail of the model considerably. Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Hi again, The gaps between wing and fuselage shown previously were first filled in with thick CA. Next, I filed and sanded the problematic joins, including the wing roots. In the following case, I had to glue a bit of sprue to repair some damage I did to the wing leading edge while filing and sanding the wing root: IMAG5681 It was roughly shaped with a nº 11 blade and later finished with sanding sticks: IMAG5682 After a lot of filing and sanding, I filled in the remaining gaps and scraps with PPP: IMAG5683 IMAG5684 IMAG5685 I allowed the filler to dry for a few days. Then, it was removed using an old paintbrush moistened in water. This avoided further sanding and damage to the plastic but I had to be careful to avoid completely removing the filler from the gaps and scraps. Next, I rescribed the panel lines that were not aligned across the fuselage and wing halves. I'll show, as an example of the technique used, the rescribing of the front panel line around the nose of the plane. The misaligned panel lines had been first filled in with PPP: IMAG5686 Now I used Tamiya's 2 mm contour tape as a guide for rescribing: IMAG5687 After rescribing and removing the tape, the edges of the new panel line are a bit rough: IMAG5688 To smooth the edges and clean the line, I used a bit of Tamiya's Extra Thin glue, as suggested in a recent build by Giorgio ( @giemme ) IMAG5689 In the end, this is how the model turned out: IMAG5691 IMAG5692 Some details of the problematic joins and gaps after all this effort: Port wing root IMAG5693 Starboard wing root: IMAG5694 Front wing-to-fuselage join: starboard side: IMAG5695 Front wing-to-fuselage join: port side: IMAG5696 Back wing-to-fuselage join IMAG5697 Leading edges of wing around the fuselage. The vertical panel lines and the curve shaped panel lines on the wing roots were completely rescribed. IMAG5698 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Nice filling Jaime, looking much smoother 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 3 hours ago, CedB said: Nice filling Jaime, looking much smoother Thanks, Ced! Filing and sanding joins and seams is always a very boring phase of the build but all work invested here results in a better looking model. Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Hi again, As usual, this thread is again way behind the present state of the build and, of course, wasn't finished before the deadline of the RAF Anniversary GB. I'll try to bring it up to date in these and the following posts. After taking care of all the seams and joins, I did some work on the remaining small parts. The propeller parts were removed from the sprues: IMAG5699 and glued together: IMAG5700 The following parts are used in the interior of the gun turret: IMAG5701 The raised detail on part 9 had to be removed, Later, it will be replaced by a PE detailing bit: IMAG5702 The guns were improved by drilling holes on the tips: IMAG5680 The same was done on the exhausts: IMAG5703 Next, I had to add some detail to the port wing trailing edge, near the wing root, where the step board recoiled. The following picture shows a slight indentation on the edge: This is the result after cutting some plastic: IMAG5704 IMAG5705 Next, the instrument panel was glued in place (again, as it was knocked off in the previous handling phases), as well as the wind shield and fixed part of the canopy behind the cockpit. IMAG5706 IMAG5707 There were still a few PE bits to add before starting the main painting. First, two plates for the port wing (nº 40 and 41 in the picture): IMAG5708 Here they are, glued in place: IMAG5711 And also PE part 60: IMAG5709 which goes on the leading edge of the starboard horizontal stabilizer: IMAG5710 I decided to paint the PE wheel well door parts still in the fret, to avoid any risk of accidental bending, but there were some small parts that could be glued before painting. One of those can be seen just below the PE doors, ready for gluing: IMAG5714 These small parts were glued in the center of the inner faces of the wheel doors, as shown here: IMAG5715 I still had some masking to do. I applied masking tape to the mating faces of the radiator and carburetor housings and the underside of the wing: IMAG5712 IMAG5713 Cockpit and turret openings were also masked: IMAG5717 IMAG5720 A last small detail that I added was a metal shaft on the port side of the fuselage, between the cockpit and turret, which can be seen in the following original picture and was used to help the gunner climb to the turret: I did it with a piece of 0.5 mm evergreen rod, slightly filed on one of the tips: IMAG5719 Finally, all the small parts were readied for painting: IMAG5718 To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 I can see a stunna in progress, nice work there Jaime. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 14 minutes ago, stevehnz said: I can see a stunna in progress, nice work there Jaime. Steve. Thanks, Steve! I hope it lives up to the expectations! Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 Hi again, Continuing with updating this thread. I was ready for starting the main painting phase. I took some decisions regarding colours and weathering which determined the primers to use. First, the propeller has yellow blade tips, the rotor cone is mainly white with a black ring nearer to the fuselage and the blades are black. So, I decided to use Alclad's white primer as the first coat (as white for the cone and base primer for the yellow tips) and Alclad's black primer for the black areas. The black primer will be used for almost all other small parts and the model, in order to provide some form of pre-shading, so it spares me the need of using matte black paint for the propeller. The only other exception will be the main gear leg parts and pitot tube. As I intend to use Alclad Chrome, which is a high-shine tone, for the "olios" and pitot tube, I'll have to use Alclad's gloss black primer instead of the regular Alclad black primer. So, here's the propeller after application of white primer and yellow on the tips: IMAG5721 The cone and tips were masked: IMAG5723 The black primer was applied and the masking removed: IMAG5724 Before applying the black primer to almost everything, I applied gloss black primer to the gear leg parts and pitot tube: IMAG5722 The regular black primer, as said before, was applied to the model: IMAG5725 IMAG5726 to the PE fret, on both sides: IMAG5727 IMAG5728 and to all other small parts. Here we can also see chrome already applied to the gear legs and pitot tube: IMAG5729 The following pictures show how the joins and seams turned out, as revealed by the black primer. Port wing root: IMAG5730 Starboard wing root: IMAG5731 Front joins between fuselage and wing: IMAG5732 IMAG5733 Back joins between fuselage and wing: IMAG5735 It seems all the effort I put in taking care of the seams and joins and re-scribing misaligned panel lines paid off. To be continued. Thanks for looking. Jaime 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Very nice work as always Jaime. All looking really good, especially the prop - good job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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