davecov Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Another contribution of mine to this GB will be the Heller 1/72 Arado Ar 96 (162) Like some of my other GB builds, it will be a no-nonsense OOB build with no aftermarket items. That is all for now Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Can't have enough Arados. Nice choice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Delighted to see another one of these joining the GB. Best of luck Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 Thanks lads! Before I get down to starting the build, here are some pictures of the box contents first. Parts are crisply moulded with almost no flash and no dodgy seams to talk about: The transparency is crisply moulded and the decals are in register and well printed. However, the decals have yellowed so I have put them under a UV lamp to remove the yellowing. There are decals (and optional parts) for Ar 96 B-1 or Ar 96 B-5 machines: The instructions come on a double-sided A4 sheet. First side shows history of the real subject and list of parts on the left. In the centre is an exploded diagram with each part labelled with a paint colour, below which is a grayscale painting profile with details of decal placement. On the right hand side is a description of the sequence of assembly: The reverse side has the instructions and history written in English and German: Parts were removed from the sprues and cleaned up: I noticed from other BMer's builds that the main undercarriage legs have to be glued early in the build, before the wing halves are glued together. I decided that I would do it a different way. I cut the rear locating pin from the legs and they will be fitted at the end of the build. I also reduced the height of the remaining pin slightly to ensure a snug fit: The interior was assembled and fitted to the fuselage, the spinner cap fitted to the prop and the hub had a lot of filler applied: Filler was applied to some large ejector pin marks inside the upper wing halves: The canopy has been masked for painting: All filler has been sanded and I can start on the painting: That is all for now Dave 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 A quick report to say that painting has begun. The interior was given a coat of H31 Matt Slate Grey. Once dry, I won't be adding detailing to the cockpit apart from some painted seatbelts on the seats: Aluminium and Black parts were sprayed with a coat of gloss black base: Hopefully, i will be able to get the fuselage and wings buttoned up tonight. That is all for now Dave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 A bit more progress to report. The seatbelts were painted: Instrument panel dials picked out (badly), a task that should have been done before fitting the cockpit to the fuselage: Fuselage halves joined as were the wings. The fuselage halves weren't a very good fit due to the thickness of the plastic on the left side being thicker than the right in some areas. This was especially true above the instrument panel where the fuselage needed thinning quite a bit: Filler was applied to the fuselage and tailplane fitted. Propellor assembly was painted matt black and the main undercarriage legs painted with Alclad 2 ALC-101 Aluminium: That is all for now Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 Coming along nicely Dave. Not a bad little kit is it? Interested to hear about the disparity in thickness of the fuselage halves in places. Not a problem I had with my build, but it was a later 1980 release. Not sure if that had anything to do with it. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 A little more progress. The wing roots needed plastic card strips each side. Once dry they were trimmed and sanded to shape: The wing roots are ready for the wings now and all remaining filler on the fuselage was sanded. The canopy has been glued to the fuselage and wheels fitted to undercarriage wheels: Wings have been glued to the fuselage: That is all for now Dave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Looking good Dave. Nice to see another Arado coming together. Interesting to note that the "black box" issue that I built had different wheels. What plans have you got for the colour scheme? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 Thanks Steve. 👍 I will be doing the scheme shown on my older kit's box: Dave 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Looking really smart Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 Just a little report to let you know this build hasn't been forgotten. I was away from home for 12 days and only got back to the bench a couple of days ago. When I finally got to work on this build again, I applied some filler around gaps between the fuselage and wings and left it to dry. Last night, I started sanding the filler and the wings made a loud cracking noise and the join on the starboard side broke apart. I glued and clamped the join and I will fill and sand it again tomorrow, hopefully with no further dramas: That is all for now Dave 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Hi Dave I hope you are well, you were going great guns on the arado when we last heard from you, any more progress ? Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 Hi Pat. Thanks for asking! I did make a little more progress with the front of the engine glued on and all filling and sanding is complete. I was then ready to start painting but real-life has got in the way of this build. My modelling den is a tip and I doubt if I will be back modelling again for a little while yet. Whenever that is, the Arado will be finished! Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted April 3, 2021 Author Share Posted April 3, 2021 It has been a while since I last reported in on this build. Unfortunately, other things have got in the way and the GB Gallery being locked about a week before a possible completion, meant that I put it to one side as there was no longer a rush. A couple of days ago I "rediscovered" this build under two other kit boxes that I had been working on and got going again. All joints were sanded, a coat of primer sprayed on, followed by H247 Matt Light Blue and some H31 Matt Slate Grey. I then masked off the yellow sections, painted them white followed by a first coat of yellow: I fitted the undercarriage and removed the masking of the yellow sections. I will paint another coat of yellow before painting the black section under the nose: That is all for now but at least I am finally near to the end. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted April 7, 2021 Author Share Posted April 7, 2021 My final report. Ready for Klearing and decals: Oh, dear! Decals were going to be a problem...: In the end, the "31" numerals had to be PVA'd in place and I used Balkenkreuz and Swastikas from the spares box. Finished: What started off as a nice little build morphed into bit of a nightmare but I got there in the end, albeit too late for the GB Gallery. Perhaps that is just as well. Dave 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted April 7, 2021 Share Posted April 7, 2021 Good end result, well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 Nice result Dave and great to see another Arado 96 finished. It certainly put up a fight though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 Pity about the delays & hassles Dave, the end result doesn't show it though. It looks good, an elegant wee beastie. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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