Kayaba "Ha-Go" (O-Go) Model 1

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Nope, while they looked just like decals on the sheet they're actually some sort of very fine vinyl (at a guess), printed on one side and very slightly tacky on the back.....Here's what you can see with the fuselage closed up:

Definitely worth it IMHO, doddle to use, look the business.....£4 well spent.

PS - Forgot to say, got 'em from MJW Models.....Thanks MJW for dealing with a tiny order with just the same care and efficiency as a big one.

[Nigel Heath]

Its coming along nicely.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Resculpted the cockpit coamings with Milliput and added the sticky-up thing (not a technical term):

Still needs a lot more tidying up, but it has to cure some more first.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Sorted out the wonky nose and drilled the cowling ready for some better exhausts:

In the end I didn't actually use any Milliput here, I just took the coarse rasp to it and outline be damned.....It is what it is!

Was hoping to fit the tail, but it was covered in flash and needed a lot of clean-up:

Getting it all out of the miniscule hand-holds neatly and without breaking anything was just a bundle of joy!

[moaning dolphin]

Very nice progress on this, it seems to clean up quite nicely with a bit of effort! Hopefully you'll have time to finish it off

Thought it might be of interest to show you the figures I picked up for this:

Can't help thinking that the pilots in the top photo are acting a bit too jovial towards their more unfortunate brethren in the bottom photo (or would that be relief?), where as the mechanic is thinking 'you get one scratch on my baby and you will regret it'!

Bob

[Sgt.Squarehead]

As you know I've tried quite a few novel things in this build (like building something with rotors for a start).....Here's the latest, Perfect Plastic Putty:

Based on my first impressions:

With no sanding whatsoever:

I'd describe it as a wonder-product, matched only by Klear or Milliput.....Amazing stuff, if you haven't done so already, buy some!

PS - I've cleaned up the panel line under the tail and various specks of putty already.....Using my camera, via my monitor, I can actually see 'em!

PPS - This stuff is so good I'm going to have a go at the seam under the tail-wheel, I was afraid of the clean-up involved had I done it with Milliput (when I did the coamings), but PPP fills me with a new confidence (expect broken tailwheel parts in the near future).

[Nigel Heath]

I'd describe it as a wonder-product

I have to agree, its marvelous stuff. Another great product in the modelling arsenal. Like AlexN says you can never have too many clamps (or fillers).

Nice looking work there.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Cheers Nige.....It's going to be getting another workout very shortly, the fit of the tail struts is shocking!

Camera's dead, but I hope to have the model on its legs and ready for some primer by end of play today.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

The brilliant fit extends to the landing gear legs.....Four hours fettling just to get the parts cleaned up and touching each other, I'm still not even close to getting them onto the model!

I'll be lucky if I ever get this thing sat squarely on its legs, let alone getting it done tonight.

I'm tired, p****d off and getting a serious headache from eyestrain, but I have to complete the assembly before the glue cures.

My five-point plan for the future of Finemolds would look something like this:

1 - Learn to use a ruler.

2 - Get better people in quality control.

3 - Get someone who has actually built the kit to check the instructions.

4 - Include multilingual instructions or stop exporting your kits.

5 - Change your name, the current one just makes you look stupid.

Based on my experiences here, I would never buy another Finemolds kit under any circumstances.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Sometimes a damned good rant can be thoroughly therapeutic.

Whirlypest has finally got the message and started to cooperate:

One down.....One to go!

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Very rarely have I disliked a kit quite as much as I do this one right now:

No way is that structure square.....I've done my best with it, but it looks rubbish.

That is the inevitable consequence of attempting to build a framework with small struts from misaligned moulds.

PS - And I keep spotting more tiny seams that I've missed!

[CliffB]

I know this is not going to be any consolation Sarge, but from here that undercarriage looks just fine

With the rotors and other stuff in place it will look even better!

Cheers

Cliff

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Cheers Cliff.....Sadly I have a feeling that the more bits I add the more the overall wonkiness will become apparent.

The alignment of the v-shaped strut halves was out by a fraction of a degree meaning I had to sand each edge to get a best average.....Never really going to be a satisfactory solution for this sort of structure.

If I were Nige I'd probably just have crafted some new struts from raw unobtanium. Unfortunately I ain't so, as I'm apparently becoming quite fond of saying.....It is what it is.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

On a brighter note, I really cannot overstate how impressed I am with PPP:

I really cannot think of another product or technique that would have made filling around this lot any easier.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

TBH it is looking a little bit better than I expected:

The perspective of the second picture is weird.....It looks like the teardrop on the starbard leg is seriously toed-in, I just rushed to the model in a panic (I've used CA on it), but in actuality it's not toed-in at all. I suspect what you are seeing may be the distorted profile from the misaligned moulds.

[Nigel Heath]

The undercarriage looks fine to me.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Put it this way, anyone caught approaching this model with spirit-level, square or protractors will need to be able to outrun a pair of Lurchers.

[moaning dolphin]

Looking mighty fine, looks like its all falling together quite sweetly! On another note is PPP really that good? Off to my LHS tomorrow and may need to think about replacing my Humbrol stuff.

Keep up the smashing work, not long now!

Bob

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Yes.....PPP is the best 'new thing' I've found since Klear.

Squirt a tiny dot of PPP straight out of the tube onto a palette of some kind (tatty bit of paper in my case), arm yourself with cocktail sticks & cotton buds, almost all of your normal filling woes will be gone in an instant. It took longer to type this than it did to fill and clean-up the seams under the tail of my Whirlypest (how it will look under primer remains to be seen, but nevertheless).

[Smudge]

Shame that little kit is giving you such problems. Still, you seem to have the measure of it.

Have to agree about the PPP, great stuff. really is so easy to clean up and blend in, and so much less damage to surrounding panel lines etc.

Looking good.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I think a significant part of my irritation is that I can see what a nice kit it could be with better QC and a little more knowledge on my part.....The latter I'm kinda used to by now, but the former is (IMHO) unacceptable in a company who market themselves as 'Finemolds'.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Got all excited about another new thing (Halfords Primer) and dived right in.....Guess who forgot to fit the exhausts first?

It is nice primer though:

I'll tidy up and finish this off in the next few days.....Sorry I couldn't get a bit more done, my self inflicted late start did me no favours.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

For such a tiny little thing this seems to have an enormous surface area.....Most of it covered in tiny seams that will show up like a sore thumb under an oil-wash.

I've spent much of this afternoon doing battle with the seam where the horizontal tail crosses the top of the fuselage.....PPP is not quite as good for removing shallow surface imperfections as Mr Surfacer, but it's very, very close and it's about about ten times quicker!

Assuming I've finally got all the seams sorted, I'll give it a final light squirt of Halfords' finest and a good buffing with Micromesh, then it's time for the Tamiyas.....For once I think I actually have the right colours on hand.