A26B Invader - Italeri 1/72

[CedB]

Pressing on while the canopies dry, the next trial is the wing assembly.

 

The mouldings look nice with 'hidden' trailing edges and prominent hinges.

Trouble is there's excess plastic on the hinges and 'a few' seem to be misaligned.

That said, they go together OK:

 

 

Now then, the nacelles.

John_W warned back here that the kit's not designed to be wheels up but, as he said, that's never stopped me before.

Here we go:

 

 

Some flex in the nacelle halves need care but an initial fit of the doors showed that the hinges could be cut off at an angle leaving a little nub to support the doors:

 

 

Not the worse I've seen.

It has strengthened my view though that this isn't going to be perfect and, as it's not really my theme, I can go for 'good enough for the ceiling' and relax a bit.

A bit.

[AdrianMF]

You might want to run some liquid cement over the bits that fit there and use something like Clearfix or glue’n’glaze to fill the gaps without just falling through. It will still show the edges of the doors so no need to rescribe!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Cookenbacher]

It's coming together nicely Ced, and as always, I admire your dedication to wheels up.

[perdu]

Ced you might consider filling the wheely bit area with Milliput as it's closed doors are setting, let it seep through the holes and apertures and smooth the excess away with a wet finger.

 

Minimal worry about big gaps that way.

As Cookie notes it is coming together nicely.

[hendie]

or have it just coming in to land?

[Biggles87]

Even though it looked like it was going to be an easy build at the start, I can see it still has a few challenges for you. The Milliput idea sounds good to me.

 

John

[CedB]

17 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

You might want to run some liquid cement over the bits that fit there and use something like Clearfix or glue’n’glaze to fill the gaps without just falling through. It will still show the edges of the doors so no need to rescribe!

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks Adrian  

Good idea but I needed something more structural so I could scribe afterwards (see below). 

You did prompt me to use some ClearFix to fill in the gaps around the canopies though - thanks.

 

16 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

It's coming together nicely Ced, and as always, I admire your dedication to wheels up.

Thanks Cookie  Better looking on the ceiling! Pity though as there are some nice flat tyres in the kit.

 

15 hours ago, perdu said:

Ced you might consider filling the wheely bit area with Milliput as it's closed doors are setting, let it seep through the holes and apertures and smooth the excess away with a wet finger.

 

Minimal worry about big gaps that way.

As Cookie notes it is coming together nicely.

Thanks Bill  

Do you mean fill the bays with Milliput and squish the doors in? A good idea and I'll store that for later.

 

11 hours ago, hendie said:

or have it just coming in to land?

Could do, could do, although the ceiling's quite high  

 

4 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Even though it looked like it was going to be an easy build at the start, I can see it still has a few challenges for you. The Milliput idea sounds good to me.

 

John

Thanks John  I think I'm over most of the problems now (famous last words)

 

 

I'm having  break from sanding and fettling to post progress so far.

Yesterday I brushed some sprue gloop into the gaps to provide strength and a scribeable medium:

 

 

What a mess. Perhaps I should have used Humbrol filler.

Left to dry overnight they've been sanded and re-scribed this morning:

 

 

Good enough for the ceiling.

 

The fuselage around the front bay is flat so I though I could support the closed doors with some spare-sprue pillars:

 

 

Gradually sanded the pillars and shaped the doors - took ages - but after clamping a bit they're done:

 

 

I'll fill and sand those as part of the fuselage clean up.

 

The nacelles were fitted forced into place and I now have the major parts together:

 

 

The props have been cleaned up, the engines painted and cowlings prepared:

 

 

I just need to find some 'Military Green' in my stash and check the gearbox colour.

Later.

[Cookenbacher]

Sprue gloop; pulling out all the stops.

Turned out great Ced.

[CedB]

Thanks Cookie  

 

 

The links Mike gave me back here came in handy (as did the rest of the A-26 pictures there) - dark grey gearboxes they are:

 

 

Oh no! There's another turret on the bottom!

 

 

BTW, the periscope keeps getting pushed back in from the bottom so I've glued it.

 

Fuselage clean up next. Oh joy…

[giemme]

Progressing at Ced's pace  

 

Those seams will put another dent in your patience bar, I reckon

 

Ciao

 

 

[Harley John]

Great progress Ced you're rattling through this build.

[VT Red Sox Fan]

CedB— awesome work so far & I love Invaders—just joining—your interior looks stunning—to demo I actually read your entire build so far 😎, I noted ur stunning B-24–was that really painted?  Will be following with interest!  Best, Erwin

[Marklo]

Ripping ahead @cedb. Much to my surprise I already have a big bottle of W&N satin varnish so this thread won’t cost me anything  

[CedB]

2 hours ago, giemme said:

Progressing at Ced's pace  

 

Those seams will put another dent in your patience bar, I reckon

 

Ciao

 

Thanks Giorgio - putting it off doing this post!  

 

44 minutes ago, Harley John said:

Great progress Ced you're rattling through this build.

Thanks John  Yep. It's one of those builds that play on your mind… 'How am I going to do that? Perhaps I could…' etc. No peace until the problems are sorted.

 

12 minutes ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

CedB— awesome work so far & I love Invaders—just joining—your interior looks stunning—to demo I actually read your entire build so far 😎, I noted ur stunning B-24–was that really painted?  Will be following with interest!  Best, Erwin

Thanks Erwin, very kind  

The B-24 wasn't painted as such - it's AK True Metal paste, as we'll see later.

 

2 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Ripping ahead @cedb. Much to my surprise I already have a big bottle of W&N satin varnish so this thread won’t cost me anything  

Thanks Mark  Good news! But do you have any AK True Metal?

 

 

Avoiding the fuselage for a few minutes I checked to see if I had primed before using the paste before. No is the answer.

 

Not on the Airacuda in 2016:

 

 

Nor the Liberator in July 2016:

 

 

Nor the P-47D where I tried aluminium repair tape (ART) and Bare Metal Foil then reverted to the paste:

 

 

 

Oooh look, riveted ART around the canopy.

 

Nor the shiny P-38 Lightning in April 2019:

 

 

 

Right then, no primer, but that means I have to do the 'other colour' bits first.

 

Fuselage seam now, has to be done.

[hendie]

more paste in haste than repaint at leisure then?

 

 

coming along nicely Mtr. B

[CedB]

Thanks Hendie  Indeed!

 

 

I love the way that fellow BMers come to mind while I'm modelling…

 

The Giorgio 'white board marker method' really comes in useful:

 

 

 

 

As does the Fritag recommended Ninja Scraper:

 

 

I remember why I like the Touch-N-Flow so much; if you squeeze the join a bit you get these little bobbles that are easily knocked off with the Ninja - result!

 

I thought of Bill when I saw this:

 

 

Although I don't think a perdu perfect model will rise from the dust.

 

The lower turret has been fitted glued into rough place and will need filler. Of course.

 

That said, we're getting closer to the finish:

 

 

…and I've just turned over to the last page of the instructions.

[bbudde]

Back from the weekend and ahh: More handicapped in your cabinet!

Btw: Nice work on the internals so far  Ced and yep the bombsight should be saved for another well deserved aircraft.

Have to read a bit now. Cheers

[Marklo]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

But do you have any AK True Metal?

Errrr no. But I’m going to foil my caproni and I’m happy enough with good old humbrol aluminium in a rattle can for my buffalo, don’t think I have any other nmf builds planned ( hmmm there is that Spitfire xiv and the Heinkel 170, but absolutely nothing else)

Edited June 21, 2020 by Marklo

[giemme]

Lovely job on those seams, Ced!

 

That Ninja scraper is just perfect for that kind of job, isn't it?

 

Ciao

[CedB]

15 hours ago, bbudde said:

Back from the weekend and ahh: More handicapped in your cabinet!

Btw: Nice work on the internals so far  Ced and yep the bombsight should be saved for another well deserved aircraft.

Have to read a bit now. Cheers

Thanks Ben - I know, poor chaps, but sometimes you have to do your (footless) duty  

 

15 hours ago, Marklo said:

Errrr no. But I’m going to foil my caproni and I’m happy enough with good old humbrol aluminium in a rattle can for my buffalo, don’t think I have any other nmf builds planned ( hmmm there is that Spitfire xiv and the Heinkel 170, but absolutely nothing else)

Well Mark, see what you think when you see how the paste behaves.

Not that I'm a paste evangelist or anything…  

 

14 hours ago, giemme said:

Lovely job on those seams, Ced!

 

That Ninja scraper is just perfect for that kind of job, isn't it?

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio  

Yep, very effective tool as long as you watch the other 'arms' - if you're not careful, when concentrating on the seam you're fixing the other arms can scratch the model. Ask me how I know…

 

 

Paint before paste.

As we've agreed before this isn't going to work:

 

 

…but at least it's showing me where the demarcation is.

There's a 1mm band of 'the grey' around the fuselage and, luckily for me, it's on a seam.

How can I paint that?

Aha, a recently acquired tool!

 

 

…to apply an initial guidance stripe:

 

 

…edged with more tape and then removed before brushing the whole lot with Hu66:

 

 

You know, the grey 'olive drab'.

Looks OK?

 

I've filled the gun holes on the LE:

 

 

…which will get sanded later.

 

Two coats of Hu24 on the yellow bits:

 

 

That leaves the olive drab anti-glare and the black on the props, around the cowlings and front guns.

 

Once the paint is finished I'll glue on the wings, tail and aerials and clean up any problems.

Then paste, oh yes…

[giemme]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

if you're not careful, when concentrating on the seam you're fixing the other arms can scratch the model. Ask me how I know…

No need, I know that by myself ...    

 

1 hour ago, CedB said:

Then paste, oh yes…

 Looking forward to that

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Thanks Giorgio - any time now  

 

 

Paint complete:

 

 

I'll Micromesh that when it's dry, touch up where necessary and then I can glue everything together.

I'm expecting some filler in the joins 

[Spookytooth]

Bleedin hell Ced, I miss a couple of days and you`re ready to paint.

 

Nice work BTW.

 

Fresh coffee anyone?

 

Simon.

[perdu]

2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Bleedin hell Ced, I miss a couple of days and you`re ready to paint.

 

Nice work BTW.

 

Fresh coffee anyone?

 

Simon.

He don't hang about do he?

 

Coming along a treat Ced

[72modeler]

Late again! Been away from your WIP and just now saw your comments regarding the crankcase cover on the R-2800's on your A-26B. See the linked photo below for a good approximation of the color, which was a semi-gloss grey with a bluish cast. The color seems to have been standard for U.S. radial engines, but the actual shade varied, most likely because different paint suppliers were used. Looks close to ocean grey, but I have always used Testors  GI gray, which comes in the small 1/4 oz glass bottle and add a little dark blue to get close to good color photos of unrestored/restored  engines. Brushpaints very well with a few drops of your favorite paint thinner/mineral spirit.Too late to be of use on your build, most likely- I apologize! (Too bad model builders weren't responsible for taking photos back then, or we'd have a ton of color photos of 'trivial' things like engine crankcases, wheel and bomb bays, and cockpits/interiors- oh, for a time machine!) 

Mike

 

restored engine, but the color is right

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-2800_Double_Wasp#/media/File:Pratt_&_Whitney_R-2800_Engine_1.jpg

 

about the same color

https://wsimag.com/science-and-technology/48873-pratt-and-whitney-r-2800

 

Just a thought- if @Dana Bell sees this and isn't busy, he might know the color or FS equivalent for them. I seem to recall a discussion a while back on the subject and gunship grey FS16118  and engine grey FS 16081 comes to mind, but I think one of them was too dark.

Edited June 22, 2020 by 72modeler
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