A Cast of Hawks - well, 2 to be precise - first go at a tandem build!*** COMPLETED ***

[clive_t]

Hi all, I have spent a long time today pondering what to do next - in that time @azureglo has apparently built an entire squadron of Spitfires!

 

I had thought to do a Sword Reggiane 2002 Ariete, but I was confused by the presence of two separate fuselages, also I wasn't happy with the generic decal options (ie no markings for a particular aircraft or squadron or group) - back to the stash for that one!

 

I then looked at a MisterCraft Fairey Fulmar kit, but again I had some indecision around the intended markings which necessitated I start a separate thread on the subject - pending!

 

Finally, I was torn between the Airfix Curtiss Hawk 81-A-2 and the MisterCraft Curtiss P40-E. Eventually, to head off terminal procrastination I decided to do them both as a tandem build - well, they are similar aircraft if not actually identical, also I thought it might be interesting to compare and contrast the progress and problems thrown up by the respective manufacturers.

 

So, let's introduce the contestants! First, iiiin the Red Corner - Airfix:

 

 

 

Not much in the way of decal options - it's 'Flying Tigers' or nothing!

 

Meanwhile, iiiin the Blue Corner - MisterCraft:

 

 

 

Some marking options here (including a Flying Tigers option) which I haven't decided on yet.

 

Well there it is, I've teed it up so no going back now! Let's see how this goes - guaranteed neither of them will be finished this year though

 

[azureglo]

Anil say yes to the Airfix and to the MiserableCraft,

 

 

if you run out of filler, superglue and grinder bits , I can bring a spare cement mixer & jackhammer  down...

[clive_t]

Yes, in my romanticism of doing a tandem build I had forgotten that I have already had dealings with Messrs MisterCraft. That proved to be a fight and a half too, and a singularly poor choice for my first (and only) involvement in a group build!

 

Ah well, fire up the cement mixer, I'm going in!

 

Tally Ho, Yellow!

[azureglo]

Clive, if you want I can recreate the joy one gets, from building a MeisterCrap kit very easily:

• First ask your significant other to repeatedly  slam your living room door while your head is in said doorway
• Now take a fork, dip it the hottest chill sauce she can find and stab you in the eyeballs till you pass out

Granted its not exactly as painful as building a MajorCrud kit but you'll get a taste of that agony...

[clive_t]

57 minutes ago, azureglo said:

Clive, if you want i can recreate the joy one ge, from building a MeisterCrap kit very easily:

• First ask your significant other to repeatedly  slam your living room door while your head is in said doorway
• Now take a fork, dip it the hottest chill sauce she can find and stab you in the eyeballs till you pass out

Granted its not exactly as painful as building a MajorCrud kit but you'll get a taste of that agony...

Sounds uncomfortably close to a normal weekend!

 

OK first hurdle - the colour call-outs on the Airfix kit require a liberal application of Humbrol 81 (pale yellow) to the pit interior - one of many paints I don't have, nor any generally accepted equivalent. So, I foresee a short trip to my MLS tomorrow to attempt a remedy to that.

 

In the meantime, I turned my attention to the MisterCraft side of the house - hmm, another barrier to progress. Although the colour for the interior is 'interior green' - yep, think I can manage that - there is literally no pit detail on the fuselage interior! Given my intention to pose both these aircraft wheels down, canopy open, the alarm bells started. So, out with the scrap styrene and some half-hearted copying of the Airfix moulded interior:

 

 

 

OK not an award-winner in waiting, but once it's painted and dusted with some metalic paint to suggest wear, it will be tons better than it might otherwise have been.

 

I am finding it less and less amusing by the minute that where MisterCraft is concerned there is a yawning chasm between how some of the parts are portrayed in the instructions, and their actual shape and level of detail! The Airfix offering, in respect the pit at least, is already streets ahead!

 

 

[Andwil]

The fuselage/empennage of the Mister Craft P-40 looks more like a K than an E short with a larger rounded tail fin.

 

AW

[72modeler]

Yep- it's definitely a short-tail K- a K-5, IIRC. I was thinking either the box art was wrong, or I was seeing things.

Mike

[JosephLalor]

The MisterCraft kit looks like either a reboxing or a knock-off of the old Vista kit, which also appeared in a Revell box.  Mine got scrapped; definitely not as good as the Fulmar.

[clive_t]

9 hours ago, Andwil said:

The fuselage/empennage of the Mister Craft P-40 looks more like a K than an E short with a larger rounded tail fin.

 

AW

 

6 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Yep- it's definitely a short-tail K- a K-5, IIRC. I was thinking either the box art was wrong, or I was seeing things.

Mike

Now that you've both pointed that out, I see what you mean!

 

5 hours ago, JosephLalor said:

The MisterCraft kit looks like either a reboxing or a knock-off of the old Vista kit, which also appeared in a Revell box.  Mine got scrapped; definitely not as good as the Fulmar.

I've had that feeling about it being a knock-off too - where there are locating pins on one side of the fuselage, there is no receiving 'hole' for the pin to go into.

 

OK, so not the straightforward stress-free build I was hoping for then! So, with the MisterCraft job I am somewhat at a crossroads - do I try and hack it into a P40E or do I continue with it as a P40K? I shall ponder that a while.

 

But thank you all for your comments, much appreciated.

[Courageous]

Having never purchased or built a MisterCraft, I think I'll give them a wide birth. 

Unfortunately, you have made your bed, so grit your teeth and beat it into submission. 

 It should be entertaining if nothing else and remember, it is the season to be jolly. 

 

Stuart

[clive_t]

Entertaining... Yes, that's the word... For everyone else of course!

 

I will give it my best shot though, and pray that it's not a complete disaster come the end. On the plus side, it's not in my stash any more!

[72modeler]

12 hours ago, JosephLalor said:

The MisterCraft kit looks like either a reboxing or a knock-off of the old Vista kit, which also appeared in a Revell box.  Mine got scrapped; definitely not as good as the Fulmar.

That's why it looked so familiar to me! You are right about the Vista Fulmar- it was a very nice kit, but the way they engineered the canopy was a little weird, IIRC. I dumped the P-40K right after I got it and kept one of the two Vista  Fulmars I had  when the Special Hobby kits came out.

Mike

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

7 hours ago, clive_t said:

do I try and hack it into a P40E or do I continue with it as a P40K? I shall ponder that a while.

I say “K” less work leaving the tail alone rather than hacking, shaping, and rescribing. 

 

Dennis

[clive_t]

Absolutely, I was going to post the same later but you beat me to it!

 

I have been looking round for some alternative decals for a P40K and it appears that Hannants have a big selection. So, any Christmas money I get will probably go straight into their coffers!

[clive_t]

So, what actual progress today? Well...

 

I got the Tamiya XF-4 for the Airfix interior - Yaay!

But, now I can't get to my spray booth as my cave is doubling up as Santa's Grotto - Boooo!

But, I can still get to the bench and do some minor improvements to some parts prior to painting - Yaay!

 

 

It's an emotional roller-coaster ride here, is it not!

[Courageous]

3 hours ago, clive_t said:

I got the Tamiya XF-4 for the Airfix interior - Yaay!

But, now I can't get to my spray booth as my cave is doubling up as Santa's Grotto - Boooo!

But, I can still get to the bench and do some minor improvements to some parts prior to painting - Yaay!

Must be Panto time...Humbug I say!

 

Stuart

[corsaircorp]

Hello Clive,

On with the P-40 !!

There are some nice paint scheme for the K one !

And second my cousin ! It's far easier to change your mind than to change the kit !

Now, I feel eager to start a pair or a trio of P-40B....

If you need some weird idea... I'm here !!

Ok, if you don't mind, I take a seat near the bar and follow your thread !

Sincerely.

CC

[clive_t]

Hi all, back again with some faltering steps along the path to enlightenment - or embarrassment!

 

Today I made a start on the Airfix - which progress was abruptly halted by a strange phenomenon. Apparently the northernmost point of the Bermuda Triangle is now over Portsmouth. That's the only explanation I can come up with for the disappearance without trace of the joystick that I cut from its sprue gates! It didn't 'ping' off into the ether, it literally dropped through my fingers as I attempted to prevent it falling to the floor. Twenty minutes of fruitless searching, in conjunction with some appropriate phrases from my Anglo Saxon phrase book, yielded nothing! I had to improvise with a short bit of styrene rod, bent slightly at the top. I replaced the nondescript lump of styrene sticking out of the floor plate, an idea I cribbed from a couple of threads describing builds of this very model. From those, I learned that this was intended to be the manual landing gear deployment lever. I also added some belts made from narrow strips of aluminium foil - not particularly realistic, but I figured something was better than nothing, given that it is my intention to pose this model with the canopy open:

 

 

I was then ready for some air-brushing of the interior, using my newly-acquired Tamiya Green-Yellow (XF-4), followed by a sepia wash:

 

 

The IP/foot-pedal part was somewhat challenging, as with it installed on the floor plate there was clear daylight around it when the fuselage halves were dry-fitted to the wing. So I took an executive decision, and parted the foot-pedals from the rest of the IP, and fitted those to the floor plate. The top part (which by now had the IP decal on) would be glued to the inside of the fuselage prior to fitting the wing with the rest of the cockpit:

 

 

I then zipped up the fuselage:

 

 

Meanwhile, over in MisterCraft-Land, similar progress was being made on the P-40E P-40K:

 

 

 

 

And yes, I am aware that I haven't fitted the prop yet - I will be doing so in due course!

 

[azureglo]

I'm astounded by the progress on MaxiCrap kit, it looks like a proper P-40,kudos. I see that you have properly adorned the undercarriage sticky up things with red handles, much better than boring black. Little tip on avoiding teeny past going off into carpetland, get some spare tweezers and dip the ends in Maskol and let it dry. You then have tips that are slightly tacky and cushioned, you can recoat for more tack or even take down the tack easily just by touching it to some jeans

 

Cheers

 

Anil

[clive_t]

Thanks Anil, and thanks too for the handy hint about the Maskol

 

I should add that the top of the manual undercarriage handles were very small spheres, the kind one would find by the thousands in a defunct Brita water filter cartridge!

[clive_t]

A bit of 'progress' with the MisterCraft offering - hey Anil, we're gonna need a bigger jack-hammer:

 

 

Oh, and while we're about it, a bigger cement mixer:

 

 

 

As if I didn't have challenges enough with this, I decided on a whim to make the cowl flaps flared, in the same way that the Airfix offering will have - at least Airfix gives me an optional part to portray this! So, off with the moulded 'closed flaps':

 

 

That's as far as I got before real life intervened... damned tax self-assessments!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[azureglo]

5 hours ago, clive_t said:

A bit of 'progress' with the MisterCraft offering - hey Anil, we're gonna need a bigger jack-hammer:

 

Oh, and while we're about it, a bigger cement mixer:

 

 

 

These will ease your pain:

 

Way more useful than a dremel/flexishafts etc

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N2W6UF6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Gods putty

 

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/fillers-preparation/dolphin-glaze

 

May the Tax Gods grant you a refund for the pain MiserCrud have inflicted upon thine soul

 

Anil

 

[clive_t]

Thanks for the links Anil, will look into those!

[clive_t]

Some more progress yesterday and today - first, Airfix. Wings on:

 

 

Not quite as good a fit as I was expecting, however this could easily be attributable to my having hams in lieu of fists!

 

Prior to putting the top cowl on, I fitted a brass tube for the replacement propeller shaft (also brass, and a perfect fit in the tube):

 

 

I then drilled out the apertures for the cowl guns - photos I've seen show the gun muzzles didn't protrude out of the front of the cover, in the way that Airfix had them moulded:

 

 

Then finally I added the modified cowl top to the fuselage:

 

 

So, a bit of cleaning up and filling to do, but nothing major.

 

Now, MisterCraft. Wings on:

 

 

Hmm, yet more fit issues! Not obvious from the photo (I hope!) but the panel lines are totally mismatched between the upper and lower wing halves on one side! Too complicated to fix, so I am leaving it.

 

Next, the wings and fuselage are united - with a fair degree of persuasion it must be said:

 

 

Then finally this morning I drilled out the air intake(?) atop the cowl - again reference pics show this to be open rather than solid, so it seemed a cheap win to just drill it out:

 

 

Obviously the drop tank has taken the opportunity to photo-bomb the fuselage/wing assembly! Don't worry, I have plans for that, which will wipe the smile off its face but quick!

 

[clive_t]

On 1/4/2019 at 6:20 PM, azureglo said:

Gods putty

 

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/fillers-preparation/dolphin-glaze

 

 

OK, so I have now availed myself of what appears to be several lifetimes' supply of this stuff - is there a specific technique to using it? e.g. squeeze a bit onto a scrap bit of card and apply from there, or some other trick? Interestingly, there seems to be a reference on the 'instructions' (such as they are) to adding a hardener - however, nothing else was included?

 

Any and all hints gratefully received!