Colin W Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 (edited) Hi Chaps, I'm a bit late starting to document this build but I have been chipping away since the start of the GB. My build sequence is pretty shot this year as the A-4K for the Skyhawk GB was built in ANZAC build, while the Fletcher planned for the ANZAC build is almost done in the 'Anything but Injection' so this, which was planned for the 'Anything but Injection' build, is going to get done here. The E Type Jag planned for this GB got built along the way before this GB opened. Chaos! Anyway on to the action.. This is my first 3D kit so its a bit of a learning curve. Most time so far has been spent in parts preparation. No box pic as it's a brown carton labeled 'Suntory Drinking Water'. Here's some of what is included in the box. Note no instructions as these are downloadable from the internet, but brass rod, plastic strip and bamboo rods are included. Options include open and closed access doors and cargo ramp as well as standing and kneeling main under carriage legs. Most parts have a rough sheen to them but the worst are the propellers which are quite lumpy! The kit includes some 120 wet and Dry as well as 240, 400 and 800 so I took the hint and things got messy. Not since the days of building Dynavector vacforms have I had so much fun with 120 grit wet and dry! Tail and fuselage after first sanding Cockpit, navigation station, floor and fuselage Interior all in 1(white) piece! Here the engine front/wing leading edge are being joined together (Grey). The nose (Green) is at the bottom with the nose undercarriage bay (blue) already fitted. This colour coding makes parts identification much easier than the average resin kit and reminds me of the old Matchbox kits. The navigators and cockpit instrument panels are separate as are the seats and control columns. Detail inside the fuselage is excellent, note the 'jump lights' over the paratroop door! Most of the main parts have been sanded and sprayed with Halfords grey primer a few times so are ready to be assembled into a model. The nose as above but now sanded and painted grey. All the parts have locating holes and brass rod is supplied to assist in alignment. Interior painted in Mr Color 308 bluey grey for the cockpit and as a base for the interior colours. The part at the bottom is the instrument panel, coaming and central controls. While I started this in great trepidation its actually going quite well and not as challenging as the Unicraft Fletcher! Colin Edited June 8, 2021 by Colin W pictures not loading from Flickr 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janneman36 Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 Looking good sofar, despite being these kits 3D printed they look fine after some sanding and priming.. cheers, Jan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 That's pretty cool, welcome along. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Nice start 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 I'll be watching with interest Colin, I have the OMM HS-748 in the same scale. I had contemplated starting it here but chickened out and went resin! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 41 minutes ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: have the OMM HS-748 in the same scale. I had contemplated starting it here but chickened out and went resin! The 2 kits must be very similar, the moulding of the rear fuselage as a separate section gives it away. This kit has the paratrooper folding seats so I assume you have the airliner seats? Most pictures of the RNZAF ones show a mixed seat configuration but that's not possible so I'll go with the kit layout. The hardest part so far has been taking the plunge and starting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 6 minutes ago, Colin W said: The 2 kits must be very similar, the moulding of the rear fuselage as a separate section gives it away. This kit has the paratrooper folding seats so I assume you have the airliner seats? Most pictures of the RNZAF ones show a mixed seat configuration but that's not possible so I'll go with the kit layout. I actually have the 1/72 kit, for some reason I saw 1/72 in your title Anyway, yes similar to yours with different rear section and it has the normal pax seats as well as the rear VIP compartment lounge chairs. Not much of it will be seen when it is closed up though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted May 9, 2021 Author Share Posted May 9, 2021 (edited) On 5/7/2021 at 8:01 AM, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: I saw 1/72 in your title This is definately 1/48! This kit is an excellent package as it includes all the masks to cover the floor squares. I decided that is was easier to paint the aluminium and then mask the strips and paint the non slip areas later. Aluminium painted and masked below. With the floor done in 125 'cowling colour' and the ceiling in 69 'off white'. Cabin interior fitments in Mr Colour 115 RLM Light Blue. Floor in silver 8. In the RNZAF the cockpit floor looks to be almost a cork colour. I used Tamiya XF59 'dessert yellow'. Most of the interior is now complete. Note the toilet compatrment has been added to the stbd interior. This includes a 1/48 scale toilet which is a first for me in in 50 years of modelling! Not that it can be seen I'm sure! Colin Edited May 13, 2021 by Colin W pictures not loading from Flickr 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 That interior is looking great Colin. I might have to bust mine out and have another look at it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 This is one of those builds where progress seems to be slow but actually there's a lot going on. The cockpit is now completed with just the instrument panel to glue into place. The rib effect is left alone as its joined to the fuselage. A full paratroop interior components are now pretty much complete. The pictures dont show any seat belts but there must have been some. I think or the hours I spent scratch building the interior in my Hercules! This kit provides it all. The rear cargo doors assembled in the open position using kit supplied brass rod and locating holes. These will need to be removed and tidied up before painting. The kit provides 2 sets of main undercarriage for the normal and 'kneeled' positions. This is excellent but there are 2 sets of wheels to allow both sets to be built and interchanged on the finished model. How cool is that! I'm still working on a good solution to the windows which will allow me to assemble the fuselage. Colin 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 Wow! This looks very good. I have seen OMM kits mentioned before and he has picked some wonderful subjects. I think this is the first time I have seen one being built (recollections may vary) and I am amazed at the interior detailing. It is great work so fay, on a fabulous subject. Ray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted May 29, 2021 Author Share Posted May 29, 2021 (edited) Many thanks Ray. It's been a while since I did an update but this has been due to the windows. The kit provides stickers for the windows which I figured would look poor in this scale. I decided to cast the windows in situ in resin. This sounded easy until I tried it but after nearly 2 weeks of trying I finally managed to get it to work. I used plexi glass for the cockpit for added clarity. With the windows done I can get back to the rest of the build. Fortunately while the resin has been drying I managed to complete a lot of the small components which should speed up the build somewhat. Colin Edited May 29, 2021 by Colin W pictures not loading from Flickr 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Well I did say this was well advanced despite the apparent lack of progress! Interior is now completed and paratroop seats added Fuselage assembled and cable tied together. Note the bamboo wing spars protruding from the roots. Inner wings and engines recieving some serious clamping. I've left the nose off incase it needs more nose weight with that huge tail! Mind you even the real plane had a prop under the tail (which is actually included in the kit) Looks like the tail can go on next Colin 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 This is looking rather nice Colin, what type of resin did you use for the cabin windows? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Nice work on those windows! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 Thanks guys, Those windows whew! I tried a number of ideas bt this is clear casting resin. The cockpit is acrylic sheet. Out with the sash cramp to fit the tail. 3x 1.2 mm brass pins are provided to locate and secure the joint. The nose packed with lead and secured to more lead glued to the rear of the instrument panel. Wheels are temproarily fitted to check the balance. Im running out of sub assemblies to work on while the glue dries. Here are the lumpy and overly thick propellers after a first going over with a file. Real progress now. I'm running out of sprue to mix paint etc so I might have to build an injection moulded kit next! Colin Colin 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Impressive work here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 Fuselage assembled and undercarriage clipped on. At least she sits on the nose! Wings experimentally fitted on 2 brass pins each. It's a bit big. Colin 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 That looks stunning. I am very impressed with the kit and the way you are getting the best out of it! All the best, Ray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 How do you deal with the texture? I found that this is the main problem with these kits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 This is coming along nicely! I see you like those big clamps! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 On 6/14/2021 at 6:27 PM, Pin said: How do you deal with the texture? I f Lots and lots of sanding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Looking rathe nice now Colin, glad I only grabbed a 1/72 748 when I got mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted June 20, 2021 Author Share Posted June 20, 2021 Thanks @Romeo Alpha Yankee. I'm not sure whether this would be easier in the smaller scale or not. While in 1/72 there's less of it, the level of finish would have to be much better. Wellafter many coats of grey I switched to white to start building up the finalfinish. This revealed a lot of spilled clear resin along the port side so a bit more sanding needed. Another coat of white got me to here. It wont actually fit into my spray booth so the final camouflage might be tricky. Does anyone confirm whether the 'stone and brown over black' sheme was mid stone and dark earth? Thanks Colin 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) I've painted the stone for the final scheme but after looking for the RNZAF stickers (masks) I finally realised I could not find them, so emailed Toshihiko to ask for some new ones. His reply was recieved in 55 mins! Hows that for customer service! 'I include one of 2 versions, RAF OR RNZAF ver. Not both versions. Shipping address is UK so I made RAF version stickers as those who wants RNZAF ver. resides in Australia or New Zealand usually." A fair assumption but as a New Zealander living in the UK I got sent the wrong set. So be aware if you are in the UK and want an Antipodean macine in the UK. Estimate for delivery of RNZAF stickers is 2 weeks. Here's where I am until the new stickers (masks) arrive. Stone broke? Colin Edited June 25, 2021 by Colin W update 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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