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Pilatus PC-21 - ++ FINISHED ++


nimrod54

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I have built up the undercarriage legs which were every bit as fiddly as @Pete in Lincs had warned and required a careful juggling act to fit the lower arm. Future builders may find it useful to know that, in this boxing, the numbers for the lower arms (parts 40 & 41) had been transposed in the instructions, and should be fixed on the opposite side to that shown.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The joint on the fin has had a final sand and checked with a coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, there is just a little spot on the rudder to fill. The tailplanes and nose parts were last additions made to the mainframe, and once I have finished tidying those up I will add the seats and canopy.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

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I knew there was something else about the undercarriage but had forgotten about the mixed up numbers.

Looking good. It's a nice looking Aeroplane, in the metal. Looks a lot more modern than the PC-9.

I left Saudi as they were coming into service and never really touched one.

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17 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

It's a nice looking Aeroplane, in the metal. Looks a lot more modern than the PC-9.

I left Saudi as they were coming into service and never really touched one.

 

I agree Pete, it is a sleek looking aircraft and the sweep lines on the fuselage accentuate that. It seems to have been well received among the Gulf States, with a quick online search turning up this photo of a couple of  Saudi PC-21's, looking resplendent in blue, and as a contrast this  UAE Air Force camo job. Both would make for different looking models, but mine will be one of the box offerings.

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  • 1 month later...

Work on the Pilatus has been sluggish of late, but in the past 24hrs I have moved things on a bit. The single piece canopy has been fitted and masked up, then I painted the frames black and primed the model using Tamiya's Fine Surface Primer. I have also ordered a set of Matterhorn Circle's decals for the PC-21, not that there is anything wrong with the kit decals,, but there are a few more details on the Matterhorn sheet.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

46817296915_3fd4ee6cca_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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Looking good. some slight restoring of the panelline at the nose, but otherwise it seems as smooth as a babybum.. When not confident and you have a microsaw (or PE saw) at your disposal... perfect tool for that

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11 hours ago, Silenoz said:

Looking good. some slight restoring of the panelline at the nose, but otherwise it seems as smooth as a babybum.. When not confident and you have a microsaw (or PE saw) at your disposal... perfect tool for that

Thanks @Silenoz. I had re-scribed the lines across the nose but they were not quite deep enough. I have taken your advice and gone over them lightly with a razor saw, which has improved their appearance.

 

 

Work has continued on the smaller details and I have tried to improve the solid exhausts by hollowing out the ends. I then painted them with some satin black as a base for Vallejo's Exhaust Manifold from their Metal Color range of paints.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Then it was time to add some red the airframe.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

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Looking good John. Can't help thinking though that there's something about the PC-21 that doesn't quite look right. It somehow seems a bit wrongly proportioned.

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On 02/05/2019 at 23:42, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Nice paint John, I really need to find one of these kits. I have RAAF decals but no plastic at the moment.

Thanks Ray. Funnily enough I looked for a set of RAAF Roulettes decals, but it was proving difficult find the set I was after, so I went for this set from Matterhorn Circle which has a few extra details such as the cooling grills at the back of the aircraft. It also comes with a set of vinyl masks for the white stripes should you wish to paint those.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

On 03/05/2019 at 10:05, AdrianMF said:

It's looking very sleek in red. Nice one. Looks like short run kits aren't what they used to be (and hooray for that).

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks very much Adrian. It is a very nice kit to put together, with scope for improvement by adding the missing details such as the wing nav-lights and the mesh cooling grills mentioned above.  In my kit, the plastic seemed a little grainy, but a light sand and some Tamiya Primer really smoothed things out.

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On 04/05/2019 at 11:39, zebra said:

Looking good John. Can't help thinking though that there's something about the PC-21 that doesn't quite look right. It somehow seems a bit wrongly proportioned.

Cheers Julian. Your comment re proportions is not one that I had considered before, and looking at it again, the length of the fuselage does seem disproportionate to the wingspan, the propeller offset gives it an odd look too. But I still think that it is quite a sleek looking aircraft, especially when viewed from side on. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I started adding the decals to the Pilatus last night and was able to get most of the main markings on. Once that I have added the underwing roundels it will be on with the stencils and then the final details can be sorted and it's job done

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

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10 hours ago, Col. said:

The white decals look to have good opacity with no evidence of the red showing through :thumbsup:

 

They are really nice decals Colin, very thin, they settle down well and there is no hint of any red showing through the white.

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I think that the next update should see this one done. I finished adding the stencils to the main airframe last night and sealed those in with some clear today. The last decaling job is addition of the manufacturers markings to the prop. I fixed the undercarriage and exhausts once the clear coats had dried, I will have to make the aerials from scratch, leaving the fit of those and the nose doors as the last jobs.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

48000937591_42287bc62c_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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I managed to get this one finished today. I made all of the aerials from plastic strip and sheet this morning fixed them in place with canopy glue this afternoon. One thing that has been bugging me since I started this project was the look of the prop blades, as they are in the kit they seem to curve more on the back edge, so I removed each blade and glued them on the other way round which I feel has improved the propeller appearance as a whole - check the previous images against those below to see what I mean. After that I finished adding the decals and undercarriage doors to complete this build and my entries for the group build.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Thanks to all who dropped by or passed comment in both builds, I have had a lot of fun I hope that you have enjoyed watching too.

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Thanks for the comments gents, I have really enjoyed building this kit. It went together very well with little filler required, and where it was needed is probably down to my ham-fisted assembly. :)

 

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