1/72 RAAF SP-2H Neptune

[Bell209]

Modified the wheel wells, similarly to @Moggy's efforts but I left the lower wing as-is.

 

 

I used a bit of etch for the front spar detail and will add a few more items after my next trip to HARS and some better detail photos. I copied @Moggy's idea on the interior of the engine nacelle and it's come out nicely.

 

 

For consistency, I built the two together, like this:

 

 

Here's the rear of the assembled wing:

 

 

 

I also glued the canopy halves together (who at Hasegawa thought THAT was a good idea?!) and had to use  the fuselage to try to get it all aligned correctly while it dries.

 

 

I'll take it off once it's dry and add the interior detail. The overhead panel will add some strength to the join, too.

 

I've cut the main gear leg from the trunnion and reattached it further inboard, similarly to @Moggy's work but not moved it as far as it was too hard to get it straight otherwise. The kit gear is centred on the trunnion but the real leg is almost on the end of the inboard part of it, nothing like Hasegawa (or any of the aftermarket sets) represent. Here's what it really looks like:

 

 

Lots more to do...

 

[Bell209]

Work continues. Made some progress on the wheel wells, primarily painting:

 

I painted the wheel hubs while I had the aluminium paint out, too. 

 

I had a good look around the HARS Neptunes last weekend and confirmed the rear part of the main gear roof is actually the lower wing skin, so Hasegawa did do that bit right! The forward well is quite different, though, hence my mods a la @Moggy. I'll put the lot together once I add some detail. Busy building the oil tanks, etc at the moment. I also noted the RAAF Neptunes appear to have had a yellow cover over the front spar in the wheel wells. I'll need to make one of those up (probably from tissue paper and PVA glue).

 

I also revisited the engines. I trial-fitted one to the cowling and realised some grinding was required to make it fit:

 

 

As I need the propeller spinner afterbodies from the kit engines, these were separated from the kit parts:

 

 

A trial fit to the engine to see how it looks:

 

 

A bit of touching up in the spray booth was required, along with the Aeroclub props (which I probably won't use now).

 

 

First engine complete!

 

 

Probably need to remove some of that dust, too!

 

As mentioned earlier, I bought the wrong R3350s for the Neptune. These are earlier ones, as fitted to the B-29 and several other types. The Neptune and Super Constellation use R3350-32W engines, which have three power recovery turbines on the exhaust. I doubt anyone will be able to tell once it's in the nacelle (apart from me!).

 

Second engine is also underway:

 

 

I chopped the prop governor off the reduction gear case so the afterbody fits over it. The magnetos just get glued in the correct spot for the later engine variant, in lieu of where the kit instructions state. The engines are lovely but I'll also need to modify the rear firewall to allow them to fit due to the depth of the rear accessories. One day I'll build a kit OOB...

 

 

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Nice!  I would only suggest doing a dark wash around the seat harness to accentuate them, followed by some dry-brushing and brushed-on clear flat.  Yes, do take care of all that dust!  This needs to be "ship-shape and Bristol fashion."

[Moggy]

You are doing great work!

 

The flaps are specially interesting - I I'm weighing the pros and cons of redoing that.

 

When I started the model there was no aftermarket but the Eduard etch, the Falcon transparencies and and the Pavla cockpit. Then Plus Models produced resin wheels, engines, flaps and pylons.

Aeroclub did propellers but they are very difficult to find and the kit's props are OK.

 

So I intend to have an open cowling with visible engine 🤪

Thankfully it won't take any redoing since I never got that far 😇

 

What painting scheme do you intend to use?

 

Cheers, Moggy

Edited August 8, 2022 by Moggy
error

[Bell209]

On 8/8/2022 at 10:26 PM, Moggy said:

Aeroclub did propellers but they are very difficult to find and the kit's props are OK.

I have a set but I think I prefer the kit versions, actually.

 

So, work progresses slowly. I needed to modify the rear cowl areas a bit so the engine accessories would fit and ended up with this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding one of the exhaust sections gave it ome stability and here's what they look like now:

 

 

Chopping the nose off several 1/72 250 lb WWII era bombs gave me four fire extinguisher bottles.

 

 

Inserted, they look the part.

 

 

 

I think the fuel filter is a bit over-scale in hindsight but it'll do for me. I also glued the overhead panel into the joined canopy halves and made some sunvisors from alfoil.

 

 

Should look pretty good once it's painted from the outside. I still have to add the jet engine throttles to the side of the piston items before closing up.

 

 

 

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Just catching up with the latest updates Rob. Looks great and am loving the extra detail going in. Did you use a replacement cockpit set/update set?

 

🏆

 

[Bell209]

Yes mate; it's the  Pavla set with a couple of details of my own thrown in.

[Bell209]

More progress.

 

Engines glued to the wings now.

 

 

Done with the main gear wells, too:

 

 

I ended up removing the fuel filters and replacing them with something more to scale. Fuel and hyd lines added as well. I'll tidy up the lines at the rear once the undercarriage legs are fitted as there are some brake lines to connect to them anyway.

 

 

Cut down and painted up, we get this:

 

 

The end result looks much better.

 

 

I fitted the canopy but then noticed this:

 

The PVA glue needs to dry first so I can check it is fully transparent, otherwise I'll need to redo the shade on the pilot's side.

 

I did fit the nose transparency after adding the Eduard version of the foot rest, which does look a lot better than the kit part - even if bending it to shape was a challenge!

 

 

Also did some work on the searchlight, which is rather basic and not really accurate out of the box.

 

 

A bit of work with some old etch gives you this:

 

 

Much better!

 

 

I also hit the flap wells with Mr Surfacer White 1000. 

 

 

I was going to paint them white but I actually really like this effect and will leave it as is. I'll just some colour to add to the flap tracks and the electrical cable just visible under the trailing edge.

 

Lots more filling and sanding to do on the engine/wing joins next time and I've also started on the ailerons and horizontal stabilisers. 

[Bell209]

A couple of small updates. 

 

Wingtip tanks and ailerons are fitted.

 

 

I've also fitted the horizontal stabilisers:

 

 

Next step is to mask and spray some Mr Surfacer 1000 on all parts to see what I've missed before fitting the wings.

 

[Bell209]

A little more work completed. I discovered that I hadn't removed the release agent from the flaps before hitting them with Mr Surfacer 1000. This is what happens:

 

 

Fortunately, the filler comes off readily with acetone and a quick wipe with enamel thinners and...

 

 

Ready for paint.

 

As I couldn't really avoid it any longer, I fitted the wings to the fuselage, too.

 

 

It took a bit of mucking about to insert and align them correctly. I finally filed a bit of a ramp on the locating tabs so they could more easily slide over each other and it then went together nicely. Tape ensures the weight is supported until the glue dries fully.

 

I filled the gaps this morning and fitted the window where the upper gun turret was on earlier models of the Neptune. A bit more filling and sanding to go before fitting the various antennae and transparency masks prior to paint. Starting to come along nicely now.

 

[bigbadbadge]

Just catching up, but have to go off to work now so will come back later, great stuff .  I love the idea for the seat mount  using the head of the sidewinder.  

Fantastic work 

Chris

[Brad Cancian]

Loving this one Rob - almost tempted to hunt down one of these kits myself.... keep up the good work!

 

Cheers,

 

Brad

[bigbadbadge]

Caught up, wow  looking very impressive indeed, the flap work and UC bay work and the rest is fantastic. 

Great work

Chris

[Bell209]

Thanks all. Still beavering away and thinking hard about painting now.

[Bell209]

Managed to get some paint on over the weekend.

 

 

Knew the kids' old Duplo bricks would come in useful for something!

 

The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed the two antennae on top of the fuselage are missing. I knocked them off (again!) while touching up a couple of areas. I should've left the moulded versions in place as the etched metal ones are way too fragile - lesson learned! I'll reattach them when painting's done but if they come off again, I'll refit the plastic ones as their glue is stronger than the CA I'm using now. I might try some clear Araldite epoxy in lieu...

 

The white paint is Mr Surfacer White 1000 and coats better than the usual paint. Just spotted ANOTHER run on the forward fuselage I missed yesterday, too! Although I painted the black on first, I've had a change of heart and will paint it all grey and then redo the black as it'll be easier to mask that way.

[Rob K.]

Very nice progress. It’s still a nice kit in my opinion. Built it twice. Yours is much more detailed, but I did use some aftermarket parts by CMR (closed gun nose) and plus model resin flaps. It’s posted here on Britmodeller somewhere. Like the foil sun blinds.

 

nice work 👍

 

Rgds

 

Rob

[Bell209]

19 hours ago, Rob K. said:

It’s still a nice kit in my opinion.

I concur. There's some nice detail in it and it just needs a bit of fettling to make it that bit better. The raised detail is excellent but most of it will disappear under the paint and my sanding. It fits together very well if you don't add your own mods!

[Bell209]

Got some paint on.

 

 

Painted with Humbrol enamels #40. Needed a quick touch-up yesterday but it should now be good for remasking for the black, burnt metal and radome tan. Hopefully, I can do all three in one sitting on Friday or Sunday. I'll hit the prop blades with some metal paint while the airbrush is warm, too.

 

 

[RidgeRunner]

Nice work, mate.

 

just a thought - I think the nosewheel leg is slightly too short. Maybe @Moggy can confirm? 

 

Martin

[Moggy]

2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Nice work, mate.

 

just a thought - I think the nosewheel leg is slightly too short. Maybe @Moggy can confirm? 

 

Martin

 

Indeed - it's 5 mm. too short

 

Before:

 

After:

 

 

 

BTW I might return to my Neptune soon 😜

 

 

Cheers, Moggy

[Bell209]

Yep - thanks to @Moggy's WIP, i was aware of the issues with all of the gear legs but I did it a different way (see near the top of the post). I'm using the Aeroclub nosegear leg, which is slightly longer and adding the Eduard wheel well interior meant I had to drop the mount closer to the fuselage skin, so the end result should be the same.

 

 

[RidgeRunner]

11 hours ago, Moggy said:

BTW I might return to my Neptune soon 😜

 

Excellent! It might encourage me not to sell mine!

[bentwaters81tfw]

Whereas the kit props are very nice, they are also very brittle and the blades break off easily. You might want to re-visit the Aeroclub product.

[Bell209]

8 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

You might want to re-visit the Aeroclub product.

I have painted the spinners and they're still in the box. They're easy to fit in lieu later, if needed.

[Bell209]

Getting close to decalling now.

 

 

I need to touch up a couple of black areas and fit the landing gear before a coat of Futire on the white and flaps prior to adding decals. Managed to knock the Jezebel sniffer off the nose while moving it about, too. I'm actually surprised it lasted this long! I'll refit it with the antennae after decalling.

 

Not sure when I'll next get time, though as Wings Over Illawarra is on this weekend and I'm looking after some 1:1 projects.