VH-DIN RAAF Air Cadets

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

        Hello everyone … Finally able to start working again after two months. My contribution will be VH-DIN a Cessna 172 used by the RAAF Air Cadets in the later 1970’s and early 1980’s.

 

 http://www.adf-serials.com.au/cessna172.htm

 

For this build I will be using the new tool Minicraft Cessna 172 in 1/48.

 

 

The decals and codes will come from spares. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

Dennis

[dnl42]

That's a cool scheme!

 

I've been curious about the Minicraft civil aircraft; I'd love to do a bush version. Looking forward to seeing this

[CliffB]

Welcome back Dennis 

[Toryu]

Oh nice - now we have a Cessna 150 and a 172!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

        Morning everybody … Finally able to get a start on this one tonight. I painted up the interior and got it started towards assembly. 
Using a cream tan base and will go over it with a light grey. I have a few photo’s of the inside of DIN taken by a student back in the day. I wish I could post them but they requested the photo’s stay private so will respect their wishes. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

 

Dennis

[CliffB]

It's nice to see this one underway Dennis and good that you've been able to get some useful reference photos 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

        Good morning everyone … Well DIN is built up just need to add the wind screen, fill, sand, and polish the plane up and shes off to paint. This plane doesn't have the oblong skylights so they will be filled and sanded smooth. I also need to create & install a L/E lamp in the port wing
As you can see I blank off the openings. Minicraft supply a 4 cylinder Horizontally opposed engine but since im not showing it and want some weight to make sure shes not a tail dragger. 

I will spray some black inside the cowling and also the blanked off spaces when painting comes around. I finished painting the interior and built it up before closing. But darned if I forgot to take a photo. 

 

 

 

 

Last thing to do will be to add the Main wheel strut legs before painting as they’re yellow like the fuselage. Nose gear will be aluminum. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

[CliffB]

 

On 8/30/2021 at 8:59 AM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I have a few photo’s of the inside of DIN taken by a student back in the day. I wish I could post them but they requested the photo’s stay private so will respect their wishes.

 

54 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I finished painting the interior and built it up before closing. But darned if I forgot to take a photo. 

 

I'm not normally one for conspiracy theories, but it is slightly suspicious that we're never quite allowed to see photographs of this aircraft's interior 

 

Cheers

[Wulfman]

Don’t see many Cessna’s, looking forward to seeing this one finished !

 

Wulfman

[Toryu]

This is coming along well Dennis. Good job on the windows!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

10 hours ago, CliffB said:

 

 

 

I'm not normally one for conspiracy theories, but it is slightly suspicious that we're never quite allowed to see photographs of this aircraft's interior 

 

Cheers

Sorry Cliff I wish I could but sadly cant, the original owner has a copyright on the photo’s. Though there is a possibility they may wind up on ADF Serials at some point in the future. 

[Greg Law]

Looking good so far.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, Greg Law said:

Looking good so far.

Thanks Greg sanding is going good should be in paint by Monday or Tuesday. Ive cutout and added the landing light in the L/E.  I took a piece of clear sprue drilled out to holes in one side flattened it out and glued it in. 
Realized after the fact that I should have waited on the rear windows. So will be polishing those back to. 

 

 

Ive started shaping and polishing the light also. 
 

Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

           Morning everybody … Sorry cant say it was/is a good one. I went to paint this tonight and I truly believe it was THE worst painting session I’ve ever had. I attempted to use this the new Tamiya lacquer Yellow. 

I had base-coated the entire model in Tamiya lacquer aluminum, the same color used on my double P-47 build which went flawlessly. Again the Aluminum sprayed like butter and dried within minutes to a nice sheen. After it was set for awhile I started spraying the yellow. Thats when everything turned left on me. The entire plane became Pea green ! The yellow literally turned into Zinc Chromate before my eyes. So I had to strip the entire model down to raw plastic. When I strip I use straight lacquer thinner followed by water to neutralize it before painting again. 
        What was left over was green in every panel line and rivet hole. Which if I do say actually gives it a dirty look. So once the plane was stripped I re-sprayed the yellow. Now you’d think so far was bad enough. But no it only gets worse from here. The second spray session of yellow and the paint grew hair ! Little hair like bits started growing over the wings and other locations. I can only assume it was some kind of reaction again. So out comes the thinner and I strip the plane down yet again.
        Now we’re into spray attempt #3 and I finally get zero reactions and its looking pretty good, not great but good enough. So just as Im done painting the plane, it slips out of my hand and lands on the carpet. Well you can imagine the new language I created at this moment in time. The paint was tacky enough to have no issue with said carpet. But you can guess that with all the dog hair and other stuff on the floor. That yes you guessed it … I had to strip about 60% of it again. I decided that Id give it one more go, if not she was going in the bin.
        So last but not least was attempt #4. I sprayed the yellow and get a satisfactory coat and set the plane aside to clean up. Now though after its cured about 2 hours, the yellow is too lemon colored. So Im going to have to let it cure fir a few days, and go over it with Tamiya XF-3 yellow. That should tone it down a bit. 

 

 

 

 

So the other two sad thing’s about this are one I used 8ml out of the 10ml bottle. Two that no matter how many coats the two covered over skylight windows still show through as greyish because this stuff is so watery. I think it might also have been pre-thinned at the factory because its watery beyond belief. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 

 

 

Dennis

[Andwil]

Sometimes these things are sent to try us, but your perseverance is paying off and I’m sure you will be rewarded with a fine model.

 

AW

[CliffB]

What a nightmare!  Glad to see that it's coming good though.

I'll shortly being using one of these Tamiya Lacquer paints for the first time too (on my Ford Mustang build), so it sounds like I should practice first on something unimportant.

 

Cheers

[Toryu]

Nothing I can see of your mishap on the pictures Dennis. You must have done a great job every time stripping it.

I had no issues with yellow from when I was a youngster until somebody said a few years ago that it's a difficult colour to paint. Ever since I've been having trouble - and there is so much yellow on planes...

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

10 hours ago, CliffB said:

What a nightmare!  Glad to see that it's coming good though.

I'll shortly being using one of these Tamiya Lacquer paints for the first time too (on my Ford Mustang build), so it sounds like I should practice first on something unimportant.

 

Cheers

Hey Cliff thanks for the compliment, my use of the Black and Aluminum lacquers went great they both sprayed so nice and dried glossy smooth. So I think it boils down to the color. Maybe I should have tried a different base other than the aluminum for DIN. 

 

5 hours ago, Toryu said:

Nothing I can see of your mishap on the pictures Dennis. You must have done a great job every time stripping it.

I had no issues with yellow from when I was a youngster until somebody said a few years ago that it's a difficult colour to paint. Ever since I've been having trouble - and there is so much yellow on planes...

Thanks for the compliment, the standard Tamiya XF-3 yellow works great for me, I was running low on it so thought Id try the Lacquer this time. Not going that route again. I have a jar of both white & red thats scaring me now, so will need to test them soon. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

     Good morning everyone… Not much to say but I did add the Anti-Dazzle panel wingtips and landing gear coloration to the plane. 
 

 

 

You can see all the props Ive got going on right now. 

Though oddly enough the Cessna’s isn't here, just realized Ive forgotten to paint it.  Should be doing the decals in a couple of days on this. Just need to gather it all together. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. 
 

 

Dennis

[Toryu]

What a nice prop exhibition! I never thought about collecting props, but now - with your idea in mind - I'm planning to start a wheel collection... 🙃

 

[Andwil]

You could have a bit of fun trying different props on different aircraft!

 

Fancy a Thunderbolt with a tiny two blade prop, or a Cessna with a monster four paddle blade prop (would make it look like an Osprey!)

 

AW

Edited September 15, 2021 by Andwil

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

        Much like Craig @modelling minion, Im just not happy with this build. Though with me its Decals, Decals, & Decals. The kit is decent but as Im having to scratch all the markings the main titles on each side are somewhat of a letdown. I will add the VH-DIN registration codes tonight. 
 

Im off to find out if Australian registration codes are on the upper/lower wings of civilian aircraft ? If anyone knows let me know ? Please feel free to ask questions, pist comment's or thoughts. 

Dennis

 

P.S - now thats this is close and Im catching up on all my builds. I can start my dual PZL’s very soon. 

[CliffB]

Hi Dennis and sorry to hear that you're not happy with your 'Air Cadets'.  I usually put a strip of masking tape on the model to act as a straight edge before applying individual character decals.  Increasingly too, I'm printing my own decals (which overcomes all the alignment issues at a stroke ).  Something like your Air Cadets would be easy to do with an inkjet printer.  I have a set of suitable fonts that I could send you if you fancy having a go!

 

Cheers

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

3 hours ago, CliffB said:

Hi Dennis and sorry to hear that you're not happy with your 'Air Cadets'.  I usually put a strip of masking tape on the model to act as a straight edge before applying individual character decals.  Increasingly too, I'm printing my own decals (which overcomes all the alignment issues at a stroke ).  Something like your Air Cadets would be easy to do with an inkjet printer.  I have a set of suitable fonts that I could send you if you fancy having a go!

 

Cheers

I did the masking tape trick, but these are a mix of waterslide and dry transfer. And they never quite work right. These are all water slide decals and they behaved a bit better. 

The crest is inaccurate but its the closest I had to the real deal. 

 

Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. Next up will be a re-polish of the canopy as the port forward glazing had tape disappear during painting. Then landing gear and prop. 

 

Dennis

Edited October 19, 2021 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[modelling minion]

Getting individual letters to align properly can be a real pain but I think you're doing a pretty good job Dennis. I have done this a couple of times myself with varying results, sometimes decals that you think look the same size suddenly become totally different sizes when you get them onto the model.