fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) The cumbersome and ungainly Hansa seaplanes family has nonetheless some charm and appeal, and I had build so far two on Japanese civil registrations some time ago, if of another Hansa denomination (W.29): Browsing the Net I found some images of a civil machine that flew for the Tiedemann tobacco company. Tiedemann had a very smart marketing department then, and the company owned a number of vehicles that wore the company's colors and symbols in very striking, well-produced and elegant schemes. Here the plane on Flickr: At some point they used for publicity purposes this Hansa W.33 seaplane that they named "Tiger" -that was by the way the company's mascot- that had on the tail the Norwegian colors, and on the fuselage the stripes of the tiger, that cunningly matched the colors of the company land vehicles, painted as "wrapped" on a number of carefully reproduced tobacco leaves of different hues. Looking for a suitable kit candidate I found the Broplan vacuum-formed offer. Broplan kits are not what you call affordable, and their accessories in injected plastic can only be described as crude. No decals either. The struts come molded, but four of the smaller struts are undefined. Broplan doesn't include a diagram with the correct lengths of those parts, vital for alignment. The plan included in the instructions is, for some unfathomable reason, not in 1/72 scale, so no measures or references can be taken from it. Many of those injected parts will be replaced with better parts anyway. On the other hand, the vacuum-formed parts are correctly molded, the plastic has a reasonable and even thickness, and reasonable surface detail is there. But hey, this is no mainstream kit of powerful manufacturer, so you have to make certain allowances, although let it be said: there are very good vacuformed kits, so the media is not an excuse. But enough: res, non verba; let's get at it. Two modifications are needed to convert this kit to the Tiedemann machine: 1) The nose has to be modified as the intended plane had an underslung radiator, a blanked front, another engine, and an open nose top. 2) The aft position was of course "civilianized" and had no scarf ring, therefore it's cleaner on the top following the natural shape of the fuselage, and having a half-round access door on the left side that was hinged at the bottom for the access of the passenger. Other minor changes in detail will apply, like prop and such. The package: Contents of the bag: Instructions: Surface detail on parts: The injected bits: Permanent marked used to trace parts contour. If you think that you may get confused, especially with the smaller parts, you can use the permanent marker to put their numbers (from the instructions sheet) or name on their internal surfaces: Some will need additional cuts from inside: Parts separated from backing sheet: The injected bits plus clear material for windshields: Parts separated: Cleaned up: Although I will not use this engine I will assemble it for the sake of review: Kind of rough: Here is why you need that permanent marker line, to know where to stop sanding: Vacs require careful, measured and extensive sanding to look right: Thin trailing edges are the goal: Sanding of parts up to the marker line completed: The parts: Changes needed here for this version: Some gluing begins: Edited June 14, 2018 by Moa to add additonal material 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Your modelling 'mojo' tank always seems to be full... no lulls. And here comes another interesting build, just wish I had time to something like this but I have enough on my plate as it is. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Looks interesting, and nice start! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 I never could resist a vacform build but tell me, how do you manage to produce the quality and quantity you do in such short a time? Perplexed of Mars 👽 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 Some parts ready. The kit provides a part that acts as a cantilever spar to set the dihedral and help gluing the wings on: 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 3 minutes ago, Martian Hale said: I never could resist a vacform build but tell me, how do you manage to produce the quality and quantity you do in such short a time? Perplexed of Mars 👽 Martian, do you think you are the only extraterrestrial here? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragnarec Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 With a soft spot for early Norwegian civil aviation, I am going to follow this build with great interest! Ragnar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 3 hours ago, ragnarec said: With a soft spot for early Norwegian civil aviation, I am going to follow this build with great interest! Ragnar 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 The scallops on the trailing edges are refined: The rudder is excised to facilitate detail and painting: A modified beautiful engine and propeller from Matías Hagen in Argentina are substituted for the kit's items: The halves of the rudder are glued and a metal control horn inserted: Underslung radiator in progress: Areas needed to be altered for this version are excised, the slots for the spar tongue cut open, the pedestal for the seat (I think on the plane a gas tank, iirc) is assembled: Tongue ready to be inserted for a trial: And this is why dry-runs and trials are mandatory: the fuselage sides won't close, hindered by relief detail on the tongue: And this is why: on normal vac kits the part's edge line is shown to the right, but I guess this kit needs you to cut downward, which is not very smart, since given the nature of the curvature of the heat-molded styrene, this will eventually produce a weak joint, since the contact area is minimal. If you sand it to get a flat contact surface, you remove material and are back to square one. In vacuformed kits this is no issue, since you can glue a styrene strip or sheet to pack more thickness as needed, but it's a drag nonetheless. And by the way, this is not the product of over-sanding, since the permanent marker reference line was absolutely respected: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) And yet, I measured the passenger opening, and it is perfect circle of 9.5 mm, so the fusleage thickness should be right as I cut it?: Another solution (other than packing the fuselage sides) is to slightly trim back the culprit relief on the tongue, where the pencil marks are: In order not to weaken the part, styrene sheet rectangles could be later glued inside those recesses, or alu tube or wire may be glued into those furrows. Anyways, model building -as James Schubert the Pugetian likes to say- is about problem solving: Edited June 15, 2018 by Moa to correct typo 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Nice progress Moa! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 Main body of the new radiator: Reinforcement bits on, just in case: Kit's prop and Matías Hagen's prop: Some detail on the radiator, new fuselage front, passenger section opening excised to correct to needed new shape: 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggles.w Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 I have only relatively recently come across a few of your projects Moa, but already I see a series of very satisfying patterns emerging. You do choose great civil subjects, your progress reports are very instructive (& dizzyingly rapid!) and the outcomes very fine. I do agree that there is pleasure to be had in the problem solving. Having said that, I don’t wish them on you! Following with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 15, 2018 Author Share Posted June 15, 2018 Concocting a somewhat credible interior: 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 18, 2018 Author Share Posted June 18, 2018 Basic paint work starts on some parts: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 18, 2018 Author Share Posted June 18, 2018 Some progress on interior and details: Metal horns for the ailerons: Oil tank and engine exhaust: 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Looks very nice! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 8 hours ago, Moa said: Metal horns for the ailerons: How do you mount these; cut slots or just stick to surface? Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matti64 Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Coming along beautifully 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 11 hours ago, Courageous said: How do you mount these; cut slots or just stick to surface? Stuart Cut slots through, Stuart, and insert one piece that serves both sides (thus securing alignment) Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 The plane I am representing had a different wing cut-off, not diagonal, but roundish and far aft: The diagonal section is excised and a tab glued to support the additions to come: The piece at the bottom surface is glued: The then top. Sanding and shaping will ensue once the glue has set: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 Looking at photos it was realized that there were actually two seats in tandem on the passenger bay, therefore the opening was stretched and the the contour re-established with additional parts (remember this area had the gunner position in the kit): 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 One of the panels had the wrong detail for this version, so it is masked, puttied, and sanded flat: Parts loosely piled together, to get an idea of the overall aspect: 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) And so modifications are made to accommodate the third seat on fuselage and pan: Now the new nose top has to be fashioned, and with that done we can proceed with the painting of the fuselage interior, and hopefully be able to have it whole soon. Edited June 20, 2018 by Moa the photo link didn't work, now it does 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted June 21, 2018 Author Share Posted June 21, 2018 Top of the nose: Miscellaneous parts being painted. This alleviates the final stages, so you have at hand and ready what you need for the last touches: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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