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1:48 Rat Bird (kit bash)


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This is a really cool idea.

I've never seen those Christian Pearce drawings before, let alone see someone actually build one from different kits.

I'm very curious what the result will be. Excellent work so far!

 

Dolf

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48271491566_4f942c7075.jpg

 

Everything for cockpit was given a coat of aqua-gloss and then I used Tamiya black panel liner to make the details pop.

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The kit decals were used for the instrument panel.

Tamiya decals are notoriously thick, so I used a new knife blade to cut away most of the carrier film and to cut holes for the switches. Micro set was used to settle the decal and after approx. 10 minutes I added some Solvaset to really bed them down. Once the decals had fully dried, I left them overnight as it was getting late when I finished applying the decals, I added a drop of Micro Krystal Klear to each of the dials to simulate glass

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After dry-fitting the cockpit sides I found that it looks as if the rear of the IP will be visible so I’ve decided to add some wiring.

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This was then given a coat of black and the wires were painted with vallejo 70.801 brass

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Everything apart from the IP was given a coat of vallejo acrylic matt varnish and then the pieces were then assembled

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I couldn’t resist chucking in the pilot just to see if he fits.

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Next I’ll be attempting to paint a ‘realistic’ pilot.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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On 7/20/2019 at 6:46 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

I found these pictures a while ago but had forgotten them. There are others out there too.

Yes, this does sound like fun and the purists will hate it.

Of course, you'll end up with parts for a straight wing Corsair. Got any old floats to go with it?

Straight wings Corsair ???

That's an heresy !! :rofl2:

I'll follow if you don't mind it !!

Sincerely.

CC

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Now I see the pics !

Pfiuuuu, A gull winged Thunderbolt is better for the little sanity left in my head !!🤣

Real nice and tidy job SC !!

Sincerely.

CC

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48307241647_f6698fb29a.jpg

 

The pilot came from the “spares box”, I think  he’s from an Airfix Mk.1 Spitfire but I’m not completely sure.

 

His body and arms were given a coat of UMP/Stynylrez black primer and then I used the following for a ‘base’

 

Paints used…

Tamiya XF-15 - face

Tamiya XF-55 - seatbelt harness

vallejo 71.065 steel - harness buckles

Alkan BS:450 - flying helmet & gloves

Tamiya XF-64 - leather jacket

Tamiya XF-57 - dry brush jacket

Tamiya XF-49 - trousers

Alkan Black-Grey - shoes & oxygen mask

 

As I want to give him a leather jacket and flying helmet so I first gave them a coat of Tamiya XF-64 red brown, then Tamiya XF-57 was used to dry brush the leather to give it highlights and slightly worn look.

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After a couple of coat of aqua gloss, Tamiya panel line dark brown was applied to give the appearance of dirt and shadows. He was then given a coat of vallejo matt acrylic varnish, his goggles were given a coat of aqua gloss

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After dry-fitting I’ve decided that the arms will be attached after his body has been placed in his seat.

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As I plan to keep him out of the aircraft until after the main painting of the aircraft has been completed, easier for masking, so he’ll be put to one side, and probably lost?

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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48322988721_1a90906038.jpg

 

Before joining the fuselage halves you have to build a sub-assembly, to support the cockpit and wings?, and add the turbine to the lower rear fuselage.

 

The rear turbine was first painted with vallejo 70.814 burnt red and then overpainted with 77.723 exhaust manifold.

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The front bulkhead and turbine inlets were given a coat of XF-4 and 77.723

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The fuselage halves were then joined

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Next I’ll be attacking the fuselage to cutout the section for the gull wings, wish me luck.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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48323158407_4c44c4cabe.jpg

 

I managed to get some 'bench time' today, it was time to cut out the opening where the gull wings will fit.

The ‘hole’ was marked out with tape and I used a knife to score the opening.

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A razor saw was then used to cut the bulk of the material, I deliberately make the whole slightly smaller than needed as I intended to ‘fine-tune’ the size of the whole to ensure as good a fit as I could get.

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I added styrene stripes to support the ‘wing spars’ as I need to cut them flush to allow the lower wing to sit properly.

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The moulded wing roots were then removed, the resulting holes will be covered with “new” panels once the lower wing has been fixed in place.

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As a temporary measure I fixed the lower wing with some masking tape just to get an idea on how she’ll look and what else I need to do.

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Next I’ll be making panels to cover the damage caused by removing the moulded wing roots.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Impressive amount of work there. For the replacement panels, as least some of that area will be covered by the exhaust pipes.

 

It may be a few steps ahead, but how are you handling the triangular cowl?

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Well this is all a bit nutty! Couple pointers: The P-47 had a much darker cockpit, it was almost a bronze-green... wait a sec, wrong thread! 🤣😂

 

Your pilot looks good, you hit the shadows well. Now, you may want to try to give him a dry brush on his face of a lighter color to hit the high spots.

 

Also, if you haven’t glued the wings together, it might be good to drill the pylon holes out, just in case you want to use them. Should be easy enough to fill if you want to go a different route.

 

Glad to see you’re having fun here, that’s what this hobby is all about, right?! Thanks for sharing this wacky adventure!

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Lovin' this! What a refreshing change! It's so easy to be sucked into taking modelling soooo seriously. This is such a pleasant change in direction.

 

And some extremely good modelling and painting going on. I especially like your dry brushed cockpit parts - they look excellent.

 

Following...

 

SD

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9 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Impressive amount of work there. For the replacement panels, as least some of that area will be covered by the exhaust pipes.

 

It may be a few steps ahead, but how are you handling the triangular cowl?

I had thought of omitting the exhaust pipes however I think they're an integral part of the 'look' so I'll have to find something to use.

 

The cowl will be the kit part, I'm going to have a play with the rear of the cockpit area, I'm not convinced what I've got planned will work but we'll see.

 

thanks for the comment

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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5 hours ago, RadMax8 said:

Well this is all a bit nutty! Couple pointers: The P-47 had a much darker cockpit, it was almost a bronze-green... wait a sec, wrong thread! 🤣😂

 

Your pilot looks good, you hit the shadows well. Now, you may want to try to give him a dry brush on his face of a lighter color to hit the high spots.

 

Also, if you haven’t glued the wings together, it might be good to drill the pylon holes out, just in case you want to use them. Should be easy enough to fill if you want to go a different route.

 

Glad to see you’re having fun here, that’s what this hobby is all about, right?! Thanks for sharing this wacky adventure!

thanks for making me smile with the cockpit colour, I was waiting for someone to mention it.

 

good tip on the pilot, I'm going to take you up on that.

 

I'm not going to have as many bombs as the drawing, but there will be a few, I've got to think how I'm going to attach them to the wing?

 

I must admit I'm enjoying this build far more than I thought I would, its far beyond anything I've done before and I've learnt how to do things differently, perhaps the next one will be easier, either that or I'll choose a more complicated build.

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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2 hours ago, SafetyDad said:

Lovin' this! What a refreshing change! It's so easy to be sucked into taking modelling soooo seriously. This is such a pleasant change in direction.

 

And some extremely good modelling and painting going on. I especially like your dry brushed cockpit parts - they look excellent.

 

Following...

 

SD

thanks SafetyDad

 

so far its been fun, I do see a fare amount of sanding and re-scribing in the future (not my favourite job)

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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48345648647_cb661b7fde.jpg

 

To start fixing the holes I first applied some Tamiya masking tape and traced the curve of the original wing.

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The masking tape template was then attached to some sheet styrene and the shape cut.

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Two of these were made, one for each side, here’s one balanced on the fuselage.

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Rather than have a ‘slab’ of plain styrene, to create some interest I used a scriber to mark out panels.

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Rosie the Riveter was used for extra detail. To see the rivets I used a red permanent marker and then wiped it off.

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When the shapes were fixed to the fuselage I felt they were a little too think so I set about sanding them thinner.

before…

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…and blending them with some putty…

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Next I’ll be making the stand socket and then attaching the wing.

 

until next time

Thanks for all of the encouragement with this build, as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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48371922131_73da24fa7c.jpg

 

I plan to display the aircraft “on-flight” so I need to make a stand and support for her.

I’ll be making a base from a small photo frame and some plastic-card and will be using a square rod as a ‘support*’.

*if you want to read a decent “how to” follow this link for Gary Wickham’s feature…

https://www.scalespot.com/reference/stands/stand.htm

 

The square rod fits into a plastic box which I’ve made by gluing pieces of plastic-card together using the square rod as a former.

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I want the aircraft to appear to be ‘banking’ so I’ve cut an angle at the top of the ‘box’ which will allow me to fix the box to the inside of the fuselage at an angle.

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A hole was cut into the bottom of the Corsair lower wing to allow access to the box…

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…the support box can then be fitted to the lower wing.

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Next the lower wing and support box are attached to the fuselage, I’ve added some thin plastic-card to fill some of the gaps.

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Once they have fully cured I trimmed the ‘box’ flush with the lower wing.

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Here’s a photo showing the angle of the airframe on the ‘stand’

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Next I’ll be filling (and lots of sanding) the gaps.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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7 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I think you should have just left the masking tape on the fuselage sides:frantic:

 

anonymoose

 

 

which ever moose you are I think I agree, still its all a learning curve, thiner plastic-card would have been better, I'll order some for "next time"

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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8 hours ago, Parabat said:

Looking good, great update with plenty of detail.

 

1 hour ago, The Crusty one said:

Looks fantastic mate👍

 

thanks chaps, so far its been fun but there's a long way to go and plenty of scope for me to really stuff it up!

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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John, It's coming along very nicely. You're doing pretty much just what I would have done to it.

8 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I think you should have just left the masking tape on the fuselage sides

If you can source some thin silver tape or bare metal foil he may be onto something here. Repair patches over bullet holes or missing panels?

Keep on with the brainstorming!

Pete

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16 hours ago, shortCummins said:

48371922131_73da24fa7c.jpg

 

I plan to display the aircraft “on-flight” so I need to make a stand and support for her.

I’ll be making a base from a small photo frame and some plastic-card and will be using a square rod as a ‘support*’.

*if you want to read a decent “how to” follow this link for Gary Wickham’s feature…

https://www.scalespot.com/reference/stands/stand.htm

 

Here’s a photo showing the angle of the airframe on the ‘stand’

48373652181_7fc9fdcc73_b.jpg

 

John(shortCummins)

That sight is so odd, it's beautiful!

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17 hours ago, The Crusty one said:

Well P-Dirty eight is underway👍 stand by for a build thread just as soon as my limited brain capacity can figure out how to post pictures 😳

looking forward to your build

 

I hope you have as much fun as I'm having 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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