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Eduard 1/72 F6F-5N (Nightfighter)


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I'll be building this kit, once I get some time to start...

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My first time building an Eduard kit, hopefully it will go together well - nicely comes with some PE and masks, so pretty cheap if you're into pimping up your build.

Not too many pieces, 3 sprues in a kind of khaki colour...

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Here's the PE (there's actually another piece for the engine not visible here, on the reverse of the cardboard) and the decals - 4 options, I'm not sure which version I'll go for - one of the US variants, possibly the one on the box cover.

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Clear parts seem nice and erm - clear...

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Instructions are a multi-coloured booklet, hopefully nothing too taxing, there's not really that many bits!

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The only thing extra I might add is a resin pilot, I think I have one somewhere if he'll fit!

Roll on the fretting about realistic colouring!

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Always like seeing a pilot involved to give a sense of scale and human interest within a project :thumbsup:

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So I should have probably finish off one of the other kits on the bench but I couldn't help myself!

 

I started with the interior and engine cowling, since they both needed painting interior green

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The kit appears to contain all the parts for the 'weekend' version too (so optionally could use the decals for the instrument panel).

I chose to attach the decals for the cockpit side controls and PE for the main instrument panels. I didn't fit everything - there were some levers to bend up and fit through parts but that was possibly a little too much fiddling for my patience!

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I did test fit a pilot but it was pretty tight and I wasn't overly happy with his positioning, so he's going to have to find another mount in the future! Unfortunately I couldn't cleanly remove the pedals to test fit him, since they were in the way, they snapped when I pulled them out but hopefully won't be too noticeable once it's all buttoned up.

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So far the fit seems pretty good, the only issue I've had is one of the window masks (for behind the cockpit) didn't want to cleanly come off the sheet). I've decided to go with the '13' markings (as on the box) which comes with the additional windows,

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So that's progress so far, lots of fiddly bits done, though it won't take too Iong to come together by the looks of the rest of it!

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Good progress and as you say the fiddly bits are past now so you'll charge on. Get this one done then we'll pester you into finished those other projects afterwards ;) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So a small update, managed to get the wings built up and attached - very tight / good fit

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Everything is prepped and ready for paint - though I'm a little confused as to what colour the wheel-well interiors should be? Glossy blue or interior-green? I've currently painted them IG and masked them off but I'm now not so sure!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Small update - I've managed to get the body painted up, using AK Real Color 'sea blue'

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Bit of a nasty seam line down the nose, might need a bit of fixing, the antenna got knocked off (typical).

I've just applied the paint direct to the plastic (50:50 mix with self levelling thinners), no primer so hopefully it'll stick but I'm fairly confident - for now!

It may need a second coat, I'll take a good look once I've left it to fully cure.

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So another micro-update...

I gave it another coat of sea-blue, seemed to leave a very 'speckled' appearance (I think from spraying thinly from a distance rather than a 'wet' coat). though that seemed to tone back a bit after drying overnight - I guess the paint was still gassing off.

I masked up the radome and gave it a couple of coats of white - it seemed to 'reactivate' the blue a bit and leave a blue tinge, though the second coat seems a lot better.

As you can see I wasn't taking any chances with overspray (I've been caught out before being too optimistic with my airbrushing!

Trust me, there's a plane in there somewhere!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I've managed to finish another GB!

Brush painted a clear coat of Microscale gloss thinned with Tamiya X20a, it seemed to pick up some of the darker colour which was noticeable when going over the radome (though it could have been from the brush / the palette).

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The decals went on well, though a bit of drama trying to get the curved bar that goes over the lump on the underside to fit, in the end I had to chop off some small piece of the flat version (which you have to remove) and fit these over the top to clean up the ends. 

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With the decals on I added another thin coat of the gloss before spraying everything with a coat of Mr Topcoat semi-gloss (I'd run out of flat and colour is I think supposed to be 'glossy sea blue'.

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Finally a very thin oil wash of Abteilung 'starship filth' (a kind of dark grey with a hint of brown colour) was applied.

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Quite a simple little kit overall that went together nicely, overall a fun and pretty quick build!

 

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