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1/72 Special Hobby CAC CA-13 Boomerang


Knight_Flyer

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What with everything going on in life namely diy again, finally managed to get back to the hobby and do the sanding and painting I really want to do... but don't tell wifey as she thinks I did house up with enthusiasm :viking:

 

So here's my entry and hopefully be totally focused right through to the end, probably done in time for Christmas. Good chance I'll mess up the camo colours as I really don't know much about them. Oh well, you can only try your best :giles:

 

45105367852_4af218c813_b.jpg

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I'll be following this. I also extremely dislike DIY home improvements, especially painting. At least now my wife realizes this so I only have to help with set-up and take-down. I don't have to do the actual painting.

 

 

Chris

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Yes, these were great planes for searching out the Japanese in the jungle. They were mentioned in the book I was just reading. They were operating around Rabaul helping the Australians force the Japanese back. 

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welcome aboard with your awesome wee plane!!! :thumbsup:

 

I was wondering if someone was going to build one of these, so glad you've decided to. I built their 1/48th version, a nice model but it really needed some attention in that scale. If I could have found the Alley Cat 1/32nd beast then that's the one I would have built.

 

I've added a link to the one I built, I ended up having to do quite a lot on her to correct issues. If you need any help just let me know as I have all sorts of info squirrelled away.

Good luck with the build, I look forward to following this one.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/10/2018 at 11:05 PM, trickyrich said:

welcome aboard with your awesome wee plane!!! :thumbsup:

I've added a link to the one I built, I ended up having to do quite a lot on her to correct issues. If you need any help just let me know as I have all sorts of info squirrelled away.

Good luck with the build, I look forward to following this one.

Thanks for the link, wee plane is right - I almost think if the pilot were to stand up in cockpit he could touch the tail fin with his arm out :lol: You've done a great job on your build. I probably wont go as far, as my model is 1/72 and any "errors" less noticeable.

 

The kit itself already has the look and feel of a short East European one and I already identified a number of fit issues. Suddenly the nightmare of doing the AZmodel Hurricane comes flooding back :giles: Anyway I shall persevere as I do need to have a Boomerang in the collection. So far I'm still on the cockpit area as even in basic form there are quite a number of parts to be fitted and the lower wing section doesn't fit precisely either. May be able to do a bit of sanding and filling to at least an acceptable result.

 

45567254302_e2eac8315a_b.jpg

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unfortunately build quality seems to be an issue with all the Boomerangs available, no matter the scale (though I think the Alley Cats resin one should be ok). We really need a nice updated model, the Airfix one is pretty ancient now.

 

But at least she looks the part!

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Fuselage halves closed and boy was it a lot of work :work:

 

Both the cockpit and the engine needed to be sandwiched between the halves and naturally none of if will fit :devil: A lot of sanding later it got better however the halves will not meet easily and here's the plan what was done. Firstly dry fit the fuselage halves with the engine, adjust accordingly to get the best install. Next on one fuselage half only, run liquid superglue along the join of the engine part. Prise apart the halves then install the cockpit but do not glue. Fit both fuselage halves and only glue on the rear part and clamp. Then adjust the cockpit to get the best fit. Some brute force was required and fortunately I superglued all of the cockpit parts beforehand hence no part can be accidentally knocked off. After cockpit fit is sorted, run superglue in the join/seam of the forward fuselage and then clamp together. This last part is tricky as only a small window to adjust the fit before the superglue bonds.

 

After all that, hopefully fitting the wings will be less hassle :viking:

 

45586691172_c2b0ac0e97_b.jpg

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I seem to remember I had to add a spacer between fuselage sections on mine to get the shape right!

 

You had a bit of a struggle it sounds like to get everything all square and sorted, hopefully it all turned out nicely.

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5 hours ago, trickyrich said:

I seem to remember I had to add a spacer between fuselage sections on mine to get the shape right!

Could explain why I was struggling to get the forward fuselage to meet. There's still a bit of a gap although on the lower half it just needs filling.

 

Wings are on with only a little bit more hassle. Looking more boomerang now, just need to add the tail planes and then comes the arduous task of filling the numerous gaps as well as some filing :chef:

44732249435_cfdc52f27f_b.jpg

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8 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

maybe Special Hobby just scaled up or down the moulds, which would explain why the same issues occur in both scales

That sounds plausible. I am aware of other brands such as Tamiya scaling down some of their excellent 1/48 kits to 1/72.

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Hi Knight Flyer,

 

Might be a bit late for you but I wrote up a few tips on this kit a while ago on 72nd scale aircraft forum

 

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/72nd_aircraft/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6337&p=37789&hilit=boomerang#p37789

 

As just mentioned by trickyrich, maybe a spacer might be the go as without it, you'll end up with a canopy which is too wide.

 

The Red Roo enhancement set I mentioned is available here:

 

https://www.redroomodels.com/red-roo-resin-172/red-roo-boomerang-enhancement-set-172/

 

The key part here is the rear quarter window covers. Without them you'll need to scratch your own othewise you'll end up with a very non prototypical see through effect.

 

Best of luck with the rest of the build

 

Michael

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 11/1/2018 at 1:24 AM, Michael louey said:

Hi Knight Flyer,

 

Might be a bit late for you but I wrote up a few tips on this kit a while ago on 72nd scale aircraft forum

 

Thanks for that, I may have gotten away with the canopy fit as the fuselage halves didn't come together properly leaving a gap.  Fortunately the upper fuselage is covered by the intake that is a separate part. Will need to have a think about the quarter window covers. It always baffles me how the manufacturers can make such a glaring omission.

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Not a lot of progress I'm afraid. What with Christmas and all, time isn't in abundance. I've gone as far as attaching the gear legs and the tail planes. That was a task in itself as none of the parts fitted properly. At least it's done and should be able to progress onto painting the airframe.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had a bit of a disaster. Canopy was all masked off and thought I'll paint that first. Never did like painting canopy frames and wanted it out of the way. Partway through I noticed paint seeping through and immediately stopped. Anxious about the damage, I removed the masking and set about cleaning up the over-spill. So, not the neatest of paint jobs and probably need to do some more cleaning up.

 

As you can see, I managed to scratch build covers for the quarter light and model looks a lot better. Oh yes, the canopy was a right pig to fit and required a lot of careful sanding. Cannons and pitot also fitted and yup all of them required work to get them on.

 

I noticed the gear legs were angled inwards and they should be straight... had to break and re-position. Handy tip here. Use the smallest amount of cement to position the leg and leave to set when at correct angle. Then carefully run a tiny amount of liquid superglue around the join. The gear legs now feel as strong as steel. Well perhaps not that strong, they are sturdy though :viking:

 

Primer has revealed some gaps and those need to be filled in. Hopefully can get back to painting soon after :penguin:

 

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canopies can and are a real pain sometimes to paint. A tooth pick and either enamel thinners or alcohol (depending on paint used) are the best way to fix errant paint!

 

I do the super glue trick as well for the U/c, saves a lot of time and stress.

 

wee dramas aside she's coming along nicely.

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21 hours ago, trickyrich said:

wee dramas aside she's coming along nicely.

Thanks :penguin:I'm making more progress now with the painting. First coat always looks horrible and a case of building up the layers until a relatively good result is reached... just need to be patient and basically that's the plan. The other bits such as the gear wheel and doors I'm leaving till last. Landing lights could prove to be trouble, not unexpected considering how much the kit has been :boxing: I sometimes why I bother with these short run East Europeans - why not have an easier time with the shake and bake Japanese kits :chef:

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pressure is on now. With Christmas festivities going on, will be away for a while... last min shopping, visiting relatives etc In theory it is possible I can complete the build with what available time there is... but there will be none to spare for any delays. I've already put a memo by my workbench - "in future, do not do GB over the Christmas period" 👮‍♂️

 

Here it is as the model currently stands. Wheels are on as well as more coats of paint. In reality, the colours are rather light and should darken more after varnish goes on it.

 

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she looks great, hopefully the colours won't aren up too much, the flying surfaces and upper parts of the fuselage did fade a bit in the intense tropical sun, so some variation in the camouflage will be noticeable.

 

I think we'll all agree with you on the Christmas thing....I know modelling time/actual progress has dropped off quite a bit here.

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Finally it is complete and my last model build of 2018 :rambo: Needless to say, the remaining parts of landing lights, gear doors and prop did not fit at all well. The gear doors mainly because there wasn't anything to attach them to apart from the wheel. SH really did make a mess in this area, the top arc of the gear leg doesn't extend far enough to attach door and the torsion linkage has been missed out. I managed to improvise as time was running out. A lot of stencil data is included on the decal sheet however, after staring at countless period photos I really can't see any of the stencils showing on the plane. Perhaps on 1/48 it's more appropriate but for 1/72 I decided best to omit them altogether and just have the main markings. Weathering kept to a minimal as if the plane was just seeing combat.

 

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