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Letov S.16 - KP 1/72 (95p) - Finished


AdrianMF

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I was waiting for the Po-2 to set before I start painting, and I couldn’t resist this little beauty from eBay, which arrived this morning:

C1124373-4480-49-BF-AE74-02-CE56-A5-EC90

 

It is a bagged kit, with photocopied instructions and decals from a MIG 21.

 

It has an interesting case of 3D flash:

3-F83-F51-E-4-D72-4-C8-E-BD1-D-8-ACBEE62

 

…some of which is 0.2mm thick, so 10 thou card thick:

FD88-F2-B5-DDA4-4089-9-C04-904-E69109-EC

 

The interior builds up nicely:

0963-A37-F-9754-453-B-8-CDC-77-E00-D1693

 

And I’ve used a piece of flash for the front bulkhead:

8-F78-EDB6-6-C37-4929-A68-F-21-E2672-A23

 

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Surely 95p has to be the cheapest model in the GB?

From what I can see of the sprues she looks like an elongated suitcase with two sets of wings, but being as she is a Czech built aircraft I am sure that KP will have done a pretty good job accuracy wise.

Nice of them to give you some free card stock with the kit and good to see you putting it to use already.

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Wow!! You are a machine!! Another one underway already........and cheap!! Great bargain! Lovely work in the cockpit! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

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Well the fuselage went together with no need for filler. I’ve given the join a light scraping and I’ve got the wings glued on in a “no dihedral” jig fashioned from some sanding sticks and weights:

39-F13317-A876-4-D03-A8-EA-83069-A3-CB95
 

What a great way to put my cutting board out of action :(.

 

In the front left, the centre section cum cabane struts. The one on the right I cut out when I first got the kit. The one on the left has been crushed and broken, which must have been me! Oh well.

 

And I’m currently working my way through some spare scalpel blades bought by my late Dad, which means they are 30+ years old. They are all systematically breaking rather quickly just above the front of the blade support. I wonder if Swann-Morton did a subtle redesign somewhere since that time?

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

[edit] I can use the time while it dries to sort myself out a Blitzbuild entry!

 

[edit #2] Just remembered, I have a “new” cutting board bought at SMW2018!

68786-A48-4-EAD-4994-B67-C-48714-C27-BF7

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Well it’s a very flashy kit and mould alignment is nothing to write home about, and I’ve been trimming and scraping down all the parts:

08-BD66-A8-27-A9-4-A9-D-87-BE-04-BE1-DDB
 

And my next scalpel blade has broken too. Same place.

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I love the re-cycling of the flash and sprue parts. Any time building a model makes me smile is a good thing in my book.

 

This GB seems to be bringing out a few obscure Eastern Block models. A whole new world of modelling opens up from nowhere, at least as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

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The struts that I hadn’t squashed and broken didn’t really fit, let alone the ones I had, so I’ve just done the whole lot out of 1mm rod:

5-FFCA9-B4-4671-4-D4-C-94-FD-AD516-FEC53
 

I will let that set for a lo-o-o-ng time and then add the diagonals.

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2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

fragile scalpel blades

I’ve got a whole box of 100 new ones, just thought I’d use these up. I can’t see any visible difference between old and new designs in the intervening 30-40 years.

2 hours ago, TonyW said:

re-cycling of the flash

Rude not to!

2 hours ago, TonyW said:

obscure Eastern Block

KP are pretty solid and nice kits. I got my first one as a freebie from an eBay seller with a couple of Heller Dewoitines and I’ve picked up a few more since. My VEB Plastikart Mi-4 from last year was a different kettle of fish altogether (still shuddering at the memory!).

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Another fine choice Adrian. I whiffed one into the SCW and found the build straight forward except for the cabanes which Whifland allowed me to modify. Plenty of bombs too which have proved useful to other projects.

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I have to say that was a bit of a kerfuffle, but I’ve got the diagonal braces on:

017-CEE78-C429-41-A7-81-CD-DAF79-F0-CE8-
 

Bomb racks and undercarriage next. I think I need a new centre brace for the undercarriage because the kit part looks to be a bit too short.

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I expected the undercarriage to put up more of a fight, but I got the kit parts to work after a bit of judicious trimming:

C2393286-5-E5-D-48-C3-BE02-86081-B7359-E

 

 It looks like the Lorraine-Dietrich engine was a three-banker like the Napier Lion, so maybe I need to replace those bumps (eight this side and four the other) with larger exhaust pipes too.

 

Looking at the side view in the painting guide, it looks like I should have joined the cabane struts to the fuselage a bit further back than the whopping great holes KP give you, so that in profile the struts are vertical like the interplane ones, rather than forming an arrow shape:

6-F1-AD596-01-A3-4288-975-F-34432-C2-D3-
 

Ain’t gonna happen now!

 

…although I’m now wondering whether I just had to move the holes a millimetre or two back on the fuselage for the original struts to work.

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Well, KP, I owe you an apology:

F914-B327-269-C-4637-98-F5-EF6-E6253-FEC

 

Almost!

B9-AC208-D-1276-4079-8-A1-E-F8-DA216009-

 

The fuselage holes are now filled and I’ve cut off the pegs at the back of the struts. Should have done that in the first place. And I need to lengthen the back strut. Living and learning…

 

[edit] or I can shim the back strut by 0.5mm or so at the fuselage, which will push the back end out.

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Hi Adrian,

 

Racing along. Sounds like the blades were not tempered correctly, but having said that they seem somewhat "skinnier" than the 10A ones I use. I have managed to snap one or two over the years by applying too much pressure but the extra metal seems to make them quite robust. I initially used a box a friend gave me (no questions asked)  which were actual surgical ones, but now I am on the non sterile versions.

 

Cheers

 

pete

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All back to KP original struts now, slightly shortened in the back lower corner, and not in the fuselage holes:

A4-C730-DD-D8-CD-4847-B68-C-0-AD3-C47-DF
 

The fit is good for the front tops but I’ll be filling the back top holes.

 

And bomb racks:

1737122-F-E564-475-D-82-E9-D35269-B1-F99

 

And centre section struts (and holes to locate them in):

30-E88-C4-F-1-E68-41-D3-A670-4-C7-F6-DC7

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And none more bla… er, olive drab:

A2106-DB3-BB40-45-A0-97-BE-7-FF370-FD306
 

With a silver underside and all those fiddly struts, this has taken a heck of a lot of painting. You wouldn’t think a 450HP engine could haul that much canvas around.

 

I’m struggling to find decent markings of the right size at the moment. I really don’t want to have to paint them!

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Actually, FROG to the rescue. Mid-sized ones from the SB-2 sheets and the little one from the MIG sheet:

7-E87-C30-C-6-D4-A-4-B8-C-AFE1-384270-EA

 

You can see the KP sheet wasn’t really up to it even if it wasn’t yellowed. A white “L1”should be easy enough to make up from some invasion stripes, and the blue checked (czeched?) eagle I can print out as a decal and stick it on a white square. 
 

The roundel (note to self: check orientation multiple times!) outline should be blue on a dark surface, so I have stretch goal of painting out the red on two of them. I have a cunning plan…

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Great choice! Some other options

http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/1438/pics/137_1.jpg

http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/1438/pics/4_1.jpg (machine from flight Prague-Tokyo-Prague)

RIoRz18aLlfEub4_NpLBum9Zl5PUZjAbBPnM9kSi

s-l500.jpg

http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/1438/pics/188_1.jpg

 

Recently I've got Latvian decals for it! (Czech production)

Regards

J-W

 

 

 

 

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Great to see you building this kit…

 

I made it around 17 years ago.

 

in bed!

How I ever got all those struts to line up I will never know.

 

it looks great Adrian you are doing a lovely job. For the radiator it the front, you can make a nice feature if you go for it. Rub a little pencil graphite into it after painting it with metallics.

 

If you would like to see a photo of my dodgy attempt from years ago; think I have one somewhere.

 

Also an unmade ‘AB Model’ with the KP Kit as the base, but resin bits for a different engine; a prototype of some kind.

 

Keep up the good work; it looks smashing so far; that jig is very clever.

 

All the best

 

Tony

 

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23 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

But L1 wins on the basis of ease of making the markings, and the 2nd Regiment/Squadron was apparently an elite unit, so that will do nicely!

Your model, no problem!  :)  I am no sure if above Slovak and German schemes are not what if ones. Maybe not... For sure I am going to do mine one day in Latvian livery.

I have bought my S16 in Spain - it is a KP rebox by some Spanish company in a false Spanish Republicat colors (false I mean - the what if one, since they were not delivered to Spain)...

Regards

J-W

 

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