1/48 Bulgarian PZL P.24B - Mirage Hobby ***FINISHED***

[Franz75]

Ray,

Inside the cockpit, stringers, struts, bulkheads were painted the same color, silver or blue. 

[Ray_W]

7 hours ago, Franz75 said:

Inside the cockpit, stringers, struts, bulkheads were painted the same color, silver or blue. 

 

Thanks Franz, 

 

I was planning to do the cockpit area in blue. The unseen areas forward of the IP and aft of the seat bulkhead in aluminium. All going well, I should get some paint on today.

 

Do you have any thoughts on those angled side panels? Function? Were they actually fitted? I plan to paint them blue. 

 

 

Ray

[Franz75]

16 hours ago, Ray_W said:

 

 

 

Do you have any thoughts on those angled side panels? Function? Were they actually fitted? I plan to paint them blue. 

 

 

No ida Ray

I cannot see it on the blue print, check it out your self.

[Ray_W]

6 hours ago, Franz75 said:

I cannot see it on the blue print, check it out your self.

 

Thank you Franz, I have these drawings and agree not shown or not clearly visible.

 

I did find this thread on BM:

 

 

It includes some frame photos towards the end of the thread clearly showing the angled side panels on a P.7 and the another of the P.24/IAR80 fuselage development. Good enough for me. I have included the side panels. 

 

One thing I note is the variation of the headrest sometimes including that semi-circular plate. I wondered if this modification was made with the introduction of some rear seat armour plate on Turkish aircraft. This is just a guess. Could be a simple cover plate. I am happy with my mod which looks more like the Bulgarian version. Now, it is time to paint and reveal my interpretation.

 

Ray

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ray_W]

The cockpit is largely finished with the exception of the instrumentation. I'll treat them as a mini project next. Not much anyway - a small instrument panel and some dials on the s'board side wall.

 

 

I fit and glue in place each sub assembly as I go. In this case, the starboard side only using gel CA. Dry fit the fuselage halves, get the alignment correct in the port side, let the glue set for a for a few minutes and then break it apart ready for the next sub-assembly. In that way I know everything already aligns with the port fuselage half with no issues and no surprises such as the fuselage halves do not close. It also avoids trying to align and glue multiple bits and pieces when it comes time to join the fuselage halves. This kit has no positive alignment for these pieces.

 

I scratch built the forward bulkhead (I hesitate in calling it a firewall) from my limited references to close off the front end. It is visible beyond the rudder pedals, even in this small cockpit, so it is worth the effort. The ejection pin marks are not easily visible so I left them as is.

 

 

Port side

 

 

The kit radial engine turned out OK. Much is not seen but again it is a case of being worth the effort. Also, good to save some money with no aftermarket.

 

 

 

I should have those fuselage halves together and wings in place real soon.

 

Ray

[modelling minion]

Great work on the cockpit Ray, it looks really impressive.

The engine has turned out great too, very nicely painted.

[Greg Law]

Ray that is looking absolutely superb. This will be a big help for me when I get to it.

[CliffB]

Beautiful work so far Ray 

[Ray_W]

7 hours ago, Greg Law said:

This will be a big help for me when I get to it.

 

Thanks Greg,

 

It is seriously worth considering the Kagero title if you have an interest in these aircraft. I find myself having to do a number of educated guesses as I work my way through the build.

 

I have read that the supplied PE harness was stiff. I did not find this to be the case. You could anneal it a little more if you wish. Painted it up with Vallejo Model Color (my favourite paints for brush painting) and then weathered the harness with brown Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color.

 

Ray

[Greg Law]

Ray how does Tamiya masking tape work on Vallejo paint. Does it lift it? I'm doing a Malta Beaufighter using Vallejo paint. 

[Ray_W]

7 minutes ago, Greg Law said:

how does Tamiya masking tape work on Vallejo paint

 

Unfortunately, I have no experience with that. I expect it is fragile. I use Vallejo where masking is typically not used like detail painting or  figure painting.

[Greg Law]

Thanks Ray I think I will clear coat it between colours.

[Ray_W]

I am finding this build one of those testing little builds where due to a lack of location devices you need to spend quite some time on alignment of wings, fin, tail plane, and fuselage. Seems like a lot of bench time for little progress. I now have all the major components together. 

 

 

One thing to note is that the kit tail plane has a noticeable gap at the fin root. 

 

  

This gap is quite appropriate for an early P.24. In fact, you could open it up even more.

 

 

However, the Bulgarian and Turkish versions have this faired in. 

 

 

So I closed the gap. One advantage of doing this is that by putting a shim of plastic card under the tail plane results in a positive glued joint and minimal filler. If you're building a gap at the fin root you will need to be a little more innovative with your location device.

 

 

I filled the large gun sight holes on the main wing with some tapered stretched sprue to re-drill a more appropriate size.  I relocated the panel lines for that centre section slightly closer to the centre line so filled the old lines with CA/talc. Seen here filled but not sanded.

 

  

The reason for moving the panel lines is I needed to fill a gap between the wing and cowling. You can see the filler (white Milliput Fine/ grey Mr Surfacer 500) in this image. This provided a better panel line alignment with the wing join to cowling.

 

 

I am trying to achieve that nice smooth, flushed in look of the actual aircraft.

 

 

Sanded, re-scribed and pilot drilled. All ready for an overall check and tidy up. You're right, that harness strap has lifted. Not a bad outcome considering I dropped the joined fuselage on the floor

 

 

Ray

 

[modelling minion]

Well I think you have achieved quite a lot Ray.

Considering the nature of the kit getting all the major parts fitted and properly aligned is a big step, and on top of that you are making corrections and adding details along the way, you should be pleased with your results.

[Ray_W]

2 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

you should be pleased with your results.

 

Hi Craig,

 

Quite correct, a pleasing result thus far. It is a very nice kit. A bit of a feel of a limited run kit and yet, I must say, better than that.

 

If I built this kit again, I would spend more time on the trailing edges. I did sand the inside surfaces to sharpen the trailing edges yet I could of taken off a little more. As is, it does not detract, just something to keep in mind if you're building this kit. Besides, you cannot doing anything with the tail plane unless you want to lose the corrugated surface detail. 

 

Ray

[dnl42]

Excellent work! 

 

Ah, I was aware of the gap on the P.11--painfully so as I naively filled it in when I built one and had to remove all that work. I had assumed the same for the P.24; I'm glad you pointed this difference out. I'll hopefully remember this when I get around to my build.

[Ray_W]

49 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Ah, I was aware of the gap on the P.11--painfully so as I naively filled it in when I built one and had to remove all that work. I had assumed the same for the P.24; I'm glad you pointed this difference out. I'll hopefully remember this when I get around to my build.

 

I suspect it was a change from controlling pitch trim by using the whole horizontal stabiliser to elevator trim tabs. I know the later P.24's had elevator trim tabs and images of earlier versions do not.  My Mirage Hobby P.24B boxing  has trim tabs on the elevators.

 

Still there seems to be some variation - check your references. The Bulgarian aircraft may still have a small gap allowing a much reduced horizontal stabiliser adjustment possibly by aircraft fitters, while in flight is controlled by the elevator tabs. Hard to pick from my references. Original photos may show more clearly. Here is a Turkish P.24B that seems to have the smallest of gaps similar to the Bulgarian aircraft. So I closed the gap and finished the fuselage perpendicular to the tail plane without a fillet radius and all is good. 

 

 

 

Ray

 

[Segursky]

Fantastic 

 

I love bulgarian airforce history and aircrafts!

 

 

[Ray_W]

On 9/4/2021 at 12:50 PM, Segursky said:

Fantastic 

 

I love Bulgarian airforce history and aircrafts!

 

 

 

Thanks for the kind words. I now have the P.24B back on the bench having just finished a series of Bulgarian Bf-109's in the STGB. If you're interested you can see the full series here:

 

Ray

[John Masters]

This is a beautiful aircraft to begin with and your improvements just raise the bar quite  a few meters.  I have  no doubt will succeed with the difficult decals.  Please add the spats...they really go a long way to 'fancy-ing up' the aircraft!  So stylish...

[Ray_W]

10 hours ago, John Masters said:

This is a beautiful aircraft to begin with and your improvements just raise the bar quite  a few meters.  I have  no doubt will succeed with the difficult decals.  Please add the spats...they really go a long way to 'fancy-ing up' the aircraft!  So stylish...

 

Hi John, 

 

I'm back to the High_Wing GB after completing my final 109 in the STGB, a little like you, knocking out Bf-109's like sausages or should we say würst. 

 

You will be pleased to know that I am doing the spats. In fact, got some bench time on the spats today assembled with some CA/talc to smooth the seams and sink marks. 

 

 

 

I am going to use them as a first up test for masks and colours. I have decided not to use the decals.

 

 

The kit provides some PE to represent the front cowling support frame that mounts at the back of the front disc.

 

 

Probably effective, although not strictly correct for the Bulgarian P.24B as the struts should fit into those holes in the front disc like so:

 

 

As usual, I decided to modify. I first tried to modify the PE by cutting out the internal disc to allow the struts forward. In the end it did not really work. Two dimensional and not what I wanted.

 

 

 

So I scratch built the struts from some tinned copper wire and achieved a much more satisfying result. They are a more dominant visible item than the engine pushrod tubes.

 

 

 

I intend to keep working on the motor and cowling assembly and finish it, put it aside ready to glue in place for when the rest of the build is complete. I now need some red paint on that front disc so I can assemble the engine in the cowling halves.

 

Ray

[modelling minion]

More great work Ray, your scratch built assembly looks far more convincing than the original etched part. 

[CliffB]

Nice work Ray! 

[Ray_W]

12 hours ago, modelling minion said:

your scratch built assembly looks far more convincing than the original etched part. 

 

Much is hidden but I think it worth the effort as it is quite visible.

 

51 minutes ago, CliffB said:

Nice work Ray

 

Thanks Cliff, another enjoyable little project.

[Ray_W]

Selected the red I intend to use. I went through various options before deciding on Mr Color 327 FS11136. Wheel spats ready for masking:

 

 

It was a nervous stage getting that motor cowled. In the end it was not too bad and the result was pleasing. I am glad I swapped out the PE cowling struts for the wire frame. 

 

 

Cowling glued and ready for sanding and a re-scribing of the join line. Mirage provide some PE for the latches which are welcome. What's there will be sanded off.  I used a combination of my favourite glues for this; Gel CA to glue the motor in the bottom cowling, Tamiya Extra Thin for the cowling halves join, thin CA to wick in and attach the motor to the top cowl and CA/talc for any gaps. 

 

 

Now it is time to start playing with the exhaust manifold. A fair degree of fitting and adjustment is needed. Originally the kit offered this part in resin, my boxing has it in white metal. I have no issue with multi-media, but white metal is my least favourite material. No use complaining. Let's see what I can do with it. A job for the weekend.

 

This is one of those kits that does not have a high parts count and yet requires a serious time commitment. Let's call it a value for money kit. Nothing fundamentally wrong. Just rewarding to spend some extra time like I have done getting that front windscreen right and that shape around the wing trailing edge at the root. The black is me checking for defects, not the best colour for this job, simply convenient as it was already loaded in the air brush.

 

 

Mirage provides the top canopy section only. It is a little hazy in the following image as I have thinned it and it still requires a polish. 

 

 

Typically the Bulgarians completely removed the rear canopy sections providing an open cockpit or, alternatively, it was enclosed with the front glazing removed for ventilation. I intend to replicate the latter version which will required fabricating the framing and rear glazing like so: 

 

 

 

I have no clear hobby material, and the panel is slightly curved matching the spline shape. Hopefully, I can find something in this lot.

 

 

Another weekend coming up, expecting some good progress.

 

Ray