1/48 Smer Piper L4 Cub

[Jessica]

Don't worry too much about gaps at the wing roots, that's completely accurate for Cubs

[sunray]

Thanks Jessica. Next I made the additional wing supports. I used the plastic kit supports as a template, measuring them with my callipers.

Then transferring the measurement to an excellent tool made by Expo which makes cutting the small brass rod easy.



Once the measure is set you tighten the screw just below the Expo logo and open the clamp.



Now you just add the brass rod and ensure it touches the stop.



Then just close the clamp and just add enough pressure to hold the rod in place as too much can dent the rod.



Now its just a case of placing my razor saw in the guide and cutting the rod. With all the pieces cut to size I decided I would have a go at soldering them. Using a scrap piece of MDF and the kit part again as a template, I drew around the part on the MDF in pencil.





Then using Blutac to hold the brass rod I just lined up the tubes to the pencil lines.



All I did next was using my soldering iron a joined the pieces together.





The good thing about using solder is the the joint is strong and cleans up pretty well.





When I tried the small supports against the wings I discovered the were too wide for the large wing supports already attached to the wing. Then I tried the kit parts against the large wing supports and that was the same. My mistake was trusting the kit parts instead of taking the measurements off the wing itself. Oh well here we go again but this time I changed my mind and I decided after checking a few photo's that I would use thinner brass tubing and the Connect O system that I used in the cockpit frame. This time I took the measurements off the wing and I cut the tubing the same way as with the rod but using CA glue to join the brass.







The elevators on both sides are really a loose fit, so to add a bit more strength and to make lining them up easier I drilled a 0.5mm hole through fuselage.



Then I drilled corresponding holes in the elevators.



Then using a 0.5mm diameter copper wire and CA glue I attached it to one of the elevators.



I just cut the copper wire to allow it to pass through the hole in the fuselage and into the other elevator, gluing the copper wire again with CA glue. When I am happy I glued the elevators with Tamiya extra thin. Doing it this way I find it easier to do any adjustment required as the copper is soft enough to allow this but strong enough to hold the elevator in place allowing the Tamiya glue to cure.









I next added some pipework to the engine and the main undercarriage.



My last job tonight was to make the foot rest for the cabin. I could use the kit part but I prefer to make a replacement out of metal as I think they are stronger and I know will not snap off as easily. Also as I am using a scrap piece of copper wire wire for the rest so its cheap. As before I used the kit part as a template and I just bent the copper wire to the right shape gluing with CA glue.

[sunray]

Now for the masking. As you will see there is a lot of glass in a Cub that needs to be masked for painting. To do it I used thin masking tape and Vallejo masking fluid and due to the amount of glass this took a few hours of fun.







That done and its was time for the primer coat.





Now for the base coat. I mixed Vallejo Model Air Sea Gull Grey, 10% thinner and 20% Vallejo Gloss Varnish in my airbrush and sprayed the undersides. I added the gloss varnish to the mix to give the paint a harder finish and protect the grey as I was going to mask off the underside to paint the upper surfaces, which worked quite well. The upper surfaces were painted with Tamiya Olive Drab in a 50/50 mix.





The paint scheme I am doing is for Operation Torch so I had a bit more masking to do before I painted the cowling Tamiya Yellow. I was going to leave it over night before I sealed it but knowing my luck I would knock it or mark the paint so I decided to seal it using Simoniz Clear Acrylic Lacquer from a can. This stuff dries in minutes,gives a rock hard gloss finish and ready for the decals.

[Col.]

Nice to see this one take on some colour. The paintwork looks great Ian.

[sunray]

Thanks Col. I am glad to say the decaling, varnishing and weathering are all done.



















All I have to do now is make the stand.

[gingerbob]

Congratulations!

bob

[sunray]

Congratulations!

bob

Thanks Bob. I have finally made the stand and its finished.

Here is the link to the final reveal thread http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234998492-148-smer-piper-cub-l4/

[bruce bay]

Beautiful... I am planning on making one of these soon - and this thread will be a great help I am sure - though I doubt I will get anything like the result you have managed. One question : I don't have a soldering iron / experience using metal in the way you do. I assume the wings do work with the kit supports - you opted for brass as it looked better and was more secure? 

 

best,

 

Bruce

 

[heloman1]

SMER ain't what they used to be, this looks like a really nice/good kit. Like the idea of adding the crew even if major surgery was required and the addition of the struts inthe cabin roof area. Looking good...

 

Colin

[sunray]

On 02/01/2018 at 3:30 PM, heloman1 said:

SMER ain't what they used to be, this looks like a really nice/good kit. Like the idea of adding the crew even if major surgery was required and the addition of the struts inthe cabin roof area. Looking good...

 

Colin

Thanks Colin.  I thought this was going to be a quick build and easy build but I got that wrong.  As for the kit it wasn't too bad.  As you can see the parts counts isn't big.  The only problem was the canopy as its in four parts and I was worried if it had the strength to take the wings.  That was one of the reasons of using the brass, to support the wings.

[Otakar]

I like this model. I have four of them that I wish to build in different configurations. The main thing that bothers me about this model is that it is closer to 1/50 scale than 1/48. The span is 1/4" (6.3mm) too short. Otherwise, considering that it is a 40 year old model, it is very nice. I plan on building one US Marines aircraft and the rest Czech. Two military and one police. My main dilemma is trying to find out the interior colors of the Czech aircraft. The US aircraft had the same color on the interior as on the exterior. So that is not a problem. The Marine Corps aircraft were NOT Blue but original Army Olive Drab. Even though the Marines used mostly the Stinson L-5, they did have a few cubs which were used as air ambulances. The L-4s were borrowed from the Army in New Guinea and left in the OE Army paint just had the USMC added to the tail. The DK Decals available for this aircraft are WRONG. The Stateside Cubs used by the USMC glider program were all silver. The three Czech aircraft that I wish to do are, All Silver for the first military one. The second military one is painted the same colors as the European US Army ones were and the police one is silver with red highlights. The framework inside the cockpit was actually completely covered so the detail is actually quite sparse. I was very lucky to find an old Eduard Photo etch set for this kit, but I will use that on one that I plan on building with the side door open. Here are some good photos of the interior detail. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=piper+cub+cockpit&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CVc5iRN0OECTIjg9n7A60y52WmTBX9Y0Kt9m2wK7k7XiRqXWfdAe8WEQJCfq6Kiivv3UoXy4GQsUtajcLwa4nD-AmyoSCT2fsDrTLnZaERkZt5ttlQ8LKhIJZMFf1jQq32YRW5FzpzOIFnQqEgnbAruTteJGpRFv8Qzwz3q8ESoSCdZ90B7xYRAkEVO_1QtPnkSk2KhIJJ-roqKK-_1dQRbBKEEJZ_1ILsqEgmhfLgZCxS1qBHFeKrZOWa9MyoSCdwvBricP4CbEeLfZa1wHpRB&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1uMyTseziAhXuY98KHd4XDFUQ9C96BAgBEBs&biw=1440&bih=789&dpr=1

Edited June 16, 2019 by Otakar
Update information which was not correct.

[malpaso]

Otokar - it is 1/50 scale as that's the size Heller made the moulds years ago!  It seemed an odd scale at the time when i built it back in the day but makes some sense in metric system, I suppose.

Smer have just relabelled it as 1/48 so they could actually sell it to somebody?...anybody?..pleeeease?.......

[_frequentflyer_]

Dear @Otakar

 

I'm planning to get the same aircraft in USMC colors with code 43-30170 by recent decal sheet done in Czech Rep. I'm fairly sure decals producer saw photo below, probably the only one available on the net. According to you, color of interiors is quite close to the exterior one?

 

Happy modelling,

Alex

 

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by _frequentflyer_

[Otakar]

Yes, there in no actual photos I have found that the interior is of different color than the exterior. but one which was Chromate Green. It only makes sense. Zinc Chromate was used for corrosion control on metal surfaces. Since this is entirely fabric covered, just do it all in one color. This is the same decal that I have. I bought it from Hannants. I would have orderd it from my supplier in the Czech Republic for less but I have such a large order already from him that it would have taken too long. It is interesting that you found that picture on the net. I found that aircraft in one of my books and the full description on the Paint and markings. The aircraft was on loan from the US army in New Guinea. The aircraft staid in the original Army paint in every way but the USMC was added to the tail. it was NOT painted BLUE. it was Army Olive Drab.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Otakar

[_frequentflyer_]

Thanks @Otakar

 

but.... see below! It's taken from another source, could it be wrong? Although in b/w picture, it seems to be too dark to be in O/D!

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by _frequentflyer_

[Otakar]

this is a dilemma. According to USMC archives, the aircraft was in OD. If you take a look at the picture here, it is difficult to see a definitive outline on the Stars-N-Bars from the background paint. This would make one think that it was blue. BUT, if you take a look at other black & white pictures of army aircraft, it is also next to impossible to se a demarcation line between the paint and the insignia. Another thing. Yellow lettering was never used on Navy and MC aircraft during the war. Yellow was only used by the Army.  You can definitely tell that the tail letters are yellow if you compare them with the white in the insignia. Another thing is that even the Stinson OY-1 Sentinel which was used by the Marines much more than the Cub was were in OD when used by the Marines. The Navy got theirs in blue when they were delivered to them stateside straight from the factory. If you take a look at most black-n-white pictures from the war, you will notice that the insignia blue is much more visible on the non specular blue than it is on OD. I do not know what the source of this photo is but I am just following the history of the aircraft and markings regulations. If the aircraft was borrowed from the army for the short time it was, I cant see how it would have been possible to repaint it in a war zone. In my opinion, this aircraft was Olive Drab 31 According to regulations and history. Do not use modern rebuilds which are not correct under ANY circumstances. I was the SNCOIC of restorations in Quantico VA. for five years and Studying archives was passion for me. Since the tail Nr. is an Army tail Nr. than it is a borrowed Army aircraft and would not have been re-painted. If it was a Navy/MC aircraft than the tail Nr. would have been in black and very small it also would have a different configuration. This is the info I have.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Otakar

[_frequentflyer_]

I found the same infos about this c/n as ex US Army so that OD could be almost possible. Anyway last picture was scanned by Squadron Signal publication of Grasshoppers, really accurate all the times....

[Otakar]

Be careful, it was not an "ex" US Army aircraft. It was just on loan in the field. If it is in the field it definitely would not get re-painted. Only markings added. Facilities like that did not exist in those conditions. I am 99.9% sure that it was OD 31 (modern FS 34079) top, with  Neutral Gray 43 (modern FS 36134) underneath. I don't know where they got the colors in that caption since the color which is today FS 36173 did not even exist at that time or one that looked like it. Besides, Neutral Gray was never a Navy/USMC color it was an Army color and it was as I mentioned FS 36134.  Squadron Signal screws up a lot of this stuff. Much of the time they just guess because they think it looks good.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Otakar

[_frequentflyer_]

Excellent search! I tell you the truth.... in blue color it wolud be amazing....

 

[Otakar]

You are right, it would look real nice in blue. But in all the info I could find, the marines never had the Cub in blue I believe that all the ones that were issued to the Marines, they were silver. That is the info I found but I will keep on looking.

[_frequentflyer_]

Tell us more when/if you'll find more please!

[Otakar]

The one thing I can tell you for sure that I do know is that the only small observation aircraft that The Marines used during WWII that was issued to them with MARINES markings was the Consolidated / Stinson OY-1 Sentinel and they were BLUE. But even with those a few came from the Army and they were also in standard Army OD/Gray.

[Otakar]

Another thing I will tell you is; Stay off of any fancy sidewall detail in the cabin because the interior framing of these Cubs were all covered. You cant see any of the framework.

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Otakar

[Otakar]

So what I did find out was that even the regular issue Stinson Sentinel OY-1 which the marines had many more of and were actually issued to them for observation, were painted 612 Medium Green and 602 Light Gray. Not until after the war when the new US Insignia with the red stripe came, were they re-painted in blue. So it would make no sense to have the Piper painted in blue.

[_frequentflyer_]

What's a shame!