Quick question regarding Eduard's WWII aircraft

[Sturmovik]

Before I start, I apologise for spamming so much this category, I'll try to reduce my posting here from now on.

 

I've bought from abroad my first Eduard kit, a Bf 109G-14 in 48, but I noticed that it and many other Eduard 1:48 aircraft models don't have fuselage locating pins, should I expect to have issues when trying to align both fuselage halves, or does the cockpit serve as an alignment tool? Does Eduard have fuselage warping issues on their kits?

 

Kind regards,

Francisco.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Francisco ... Ive built a few eduard kits. What i do is make my own tabs. I use 1/8-1/4 inch or 3-6mm flat plastic strip. I cut it about 1 to 1.5 cm in length. You can glue it one fuselage half leaving a little over hang, wait for it to dry and glue the fuselage halves together. Been doing that even on kits with tabs for years. 

 

Dennis

[Sturmovik]

That's a good option to think about, but I don't see it working for me since those tabs wouldn't lock both fuselage halves between each other.

Did your parts have warping?

[gingerbob]

I don't think I've noticed any warping on the Eduard kits I've had the chance to ogle.  I don't think you'll have much to worry about- just test-fit as usual and use a bit of tape etc if necessary.

[Sturmovik]

1 hour ago, gingerbob said:

I don't think I've noticed any warping on the Eduard kits I've had the chance to ogle.  I don't think you'll have much to worry about- just test-fit as usual and use a bit of tape etc if necessary.

Those are good news. I ask about the warping because my first kit without locating pins was an ICM one, and it had warped fuselage halves, and an ill-fitting cockpit.

[Sonoran]

Cut the parts off the sprue and toss a little glue in the box, shake it, and they build themselves.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

6 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

That's a good option to think about, but I don't see it working for me since those tabs wouldn't lock both fuselage halves between each other.

Did your parts have warping?

No they weren't warped. I will post some photo’s of what im trying to describe later tonight. Im no where near my office. 

[Sturmovik]

Thank you kindly @Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Francisco @Sturmovik ... Ok hopefully this will help explain what i was trying to describe earlier. I will use the Academy Tempest as my example. I currently don't have any eduard kits in the stash. This technique can be used on any kit, with or without locating pins. 

Kit fuselage halves & 1/8” plastic strip, 

and some form of strong glue. I recommend tube type cement either standard glue or gel type C/A. Tamiya extra thin is to brittle for this connection. Sometimes you may have to flex the strips when joining the fuselage.   

Take your strip and cut into various lengths. 

Then using the glue place the strips parallel to the center line but overlapping on the inside of the kit. It should look like some thing like this. 

 

These strips will act like the pin locators on kits. On larger kits you can glue several more at a perpindicular angle to the centerline of the aircraft. Something like this.

 

Then once these are dry you just glue the fuselage as normal. These act like glue location points just like the pins. When done should look like something like this ?

 

I use the tube cement on the plastic strips. and Tamiya extra thin on the kit fuelage join. This combination has worked fine for me for several years. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you still need help. 

 

Dennis

Edited November 7, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Sturmovik]

Now I see what you mean, if I don't find it, I'll sand parts of the sprue and use that. Does the plastic you use have an specific name?

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Evergreen plastic or plastruct are two common names in the hobby. Currently i use evergreen but have used both. Most hobbyshops carry something like this. It comes on a vertical rack sometimes near the railroad area as its mostly used by Model railroad builders for scratchbuilding and adding to buildings.  

Edited November 7, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Holzhamer]

I’ve built 3 Eduard 109 Gs and am still building an F-4 and never had any trouble at all getting the fuselage perfectly aligned. It’s just a matter of do some dry run testing and then apply some glue at the extremities, join them and use liquid glue along the joint lines to further strengthen the bond. Easy and effective, at least to me.