bianfuxia Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 (edited) Hello all, I hope to give this thing a shot. It was a "why not?" cheap e-bay pick up and turns out to have come with a big decal sheet. Probably a good thing, because my experience of old school KP decals is not good! I don't know if I will try rigging - we shall see. But it's a neat looking plane and I've found a couple of old airfix or matchbox WW2 pilots to sit in it. Sorry the picture is upside down! Edited November 28, 2021 by bianfuxia 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Welcome aboard sir. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted August 29, 2021 Share Posted August 29, 2021 Welcome from me too! As you say, it's a nice bonus having that decal sheet. Should be good. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted August 29, 2021 Share Posted August 29, 2021 I've got one of those down in the stash. I'll be watching this, as I've never seen one built before. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted September 9, 2021 Author Share Posted September 9, 2021 Here is the kit. I opened it tonight - and it's actually pretty good for a KP kit. Apparently this one came out in the 1980s. So it's also pretty good for an 80s kit. You can see the original and probably exceptionally crappy KP decals above. And below, the random decal sheet that came with the ebay score. The brand of that sheet is "Blue Rider" and it's copyrighted 1992 - so anybody's guess on whether they work too. I found this profile online: [link] And I spent the night (well, the modeling part of it) trying out this green. It looks very bright in the pic, but it's German Camouflage bright green RAL 6025 by Vallejo (70.833). Not sure it's quite right, but I'll give it a chance. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 I've used Blue Rider decals in the past; I found them very thick -- if my failing memory serves, I dipped them in Klear to apply them to the model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 It's nice to see this one under way - it looks like it's going to be very colourful . As @Procopius says, Blue Rider decals can be rather thick but otherwise you should have no problems with them. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehed Posted September 11, 2021 Share Posted September 11, 2021 Be careful with the cabane struts. I got them wrong. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 8, 2021 Author Share Posted November 8, 2021 On 9/12/2021 at 5:46 AM, stevehed said: Be careful with the cabane struts. I got them wrong. What's a cabane strut? Here's where I am up to - it's been slow going with this one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehed Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 Parts 18 and 21 are the cabanes. They sit on top of 19 and 20. If memory serves me right if you get the angle wrong they won't be in alignment with the location holes in the top wing. HTH, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 12 hours ago, stevehed said: Parts 18 and 21 are the cabanes. They sit on top of 19 and 20. If memory serves me right if you get the angle wrong they won't be in alignment with the location holes in the top wing. HTH, Steve thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 Not sure I will get this done by the end of the GB but I'm still working on it. The cockpit area can't really be seen because I put pilots in - not sure where these guys came from. But it fits together quite well and now looks like the beginnings of an aeroplane. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 The crew figures look really nice. Much better than the average blob Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 I did this last night. Man, it was tricky getting that wing to stay there...this was the result of my first effort: the whole thing just fell apart. The plastic doesn't seem to like to be glued, that's for sure. Anyway, I also did some decals, and as predicted above by a few of you, they are very thick and really not very good. The sheet is very old too. This is where I got to in the end after some really messy efforts. It's not pretty, that's for sure. And I fully expect it will fall apart as soon as I pick it up this morning. Alignment is not perfect but it's the best I could manage: 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 I can see why the wings would have been a challenge (even if the glue had worked) - there's not a right-angle to be found! It's going to be a veery distinctive model though, given its large size and unusual markings Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 16 hours ago, CliffB said: I can see why the wings would have been a challenge (even if the glue had worked) - there's not a right-angle to be found! It's going to be a veery distinctive model though, given its large size and unusual markings Cheers Thanks! Yeah it's actually a big plane. When I bought it, I figured it would be small like maybe a Spitfire or something, but it's a decent bit bigger than that. Happy to report it appears to have stuck together ok. I very gingerly put it through some mild aerobatics - couple of barrel rolls - and the wing happily did not fall off. Since then I have assembled the tail, so actually now it's nearly done. Some touch up paint, add the wheels and propeller and windows, and then decide whether to try to rig it using this EZ Line stuff I bought. I had figured this plane would be a test-bed for that, because I have a few biplanes I want to do a nice job of later on. If there's time between now and the end of the GB I might give it a quick try. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 24, 2021 Author Share Posted November 24, 2021 Well, so far so good, from this angle at least: I added the tail last night and painted it this morning during a boring conference call. But then I flipped things over and discovered one of the markings was skewiff. I have NO IDEA how that happened. I am not the world's best modeller by any stretch of the imagination but this is not something I've ever done. So then I painted over it (because scratching it off didn't work) and that just made an even bigger mess. So given the way this build is turning out, I think I'm just going to leave it. What's under the model can't be seen... If the underside was another colour that would have probably worked. So I just have to keep in mind that this is a test-bed for learning how to do a biplane... tonight I will attempt the undercarriage. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 6 hours ago, bianfuxia said: Well, so far so good, from this angle at least: I added the tail last night and painted it this morning during a boring conference call. But then I flipped things over and discovered one of the markings was skewiff. I have NO IDEA how that happened. I am not the world's best modeller by any stretch of the imagination but this is not something I've ever done. So then I painted over it (because scratching it off didn't work) and that just made an even bigger mess. So given the way this build is turning out, I think I'm just going to leave it. What's under the model can't be seen... If the underside was another colour that would have probably worked. So I just have to keep in mind that this is a test-bed for learning how to do a biplane... tonight I will attempt the undercarriage. No worries you should see me try n rig one. Ive about given up on the idea of ever successfully mastering the Devils own art of rigging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 This thing is about as finished as it's gonna be. I can't find the little windscreen parts - lost on my desk somewhere. Other than that, here's how it played out to the end. I used EZ Line to do the rigging - my first time with that product and I really made an unholy mess of it. There was super glue all over the place, and the little strings are mostly attached at the wrong places. It certainly takes some practice, that stuff. Then came the wheels. The instructions were a bit unclear, and the attachment points that did exist didn't seem to have much purpose. So in the end I just did what seemed about right and mashed it all together with superglue. And then I did a ton of touch up paint to cover the various blotches of superglue, and here is where it is at now. All I need to do is a few more decals. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Looking at the finished result, you'd never know the grief that you've had! Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 7 hours ago, CliffB said: Looking at the finished result, you'd never know the grief that you've had! Cheers thanks! the advantage of taking pics with a cell-phone I guess 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 well, I'm calling this one done. Since my last update, I did the last decals - the two tail markings and the fuselage numbers. In theory there should be a yellow band around there, but after contemplating bodging something up with some HobbyBoss decals from a Sabre kit (those ones with the Korean War era yellow fuselage stripe) I decided to use poetic licence. Probably there are few people on Earth alive today who have the level of expertise to know whether these things always had the yellow stripe - those who do are most certainly not going to visit my mancave! The S-22 markings were very milky, but I discovered that because the film is so thick, I could safely scrub that milky residue off with my finger tip. This made the decals vastly clearer. I also put a new one over that lopsided one on the underside. So all that remains is to stick on the little plastic windscreen if and when I find it. Pics in the gallery but here too, including one next to a Spitfire as a size comparison. I always thought of these pre-war biplanes as fairly small but actually this one was quite hefty. Thanks for watching and for all the comments! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 What's that bright stuff? Sunshine? It makes your Aero look even more colourful Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Well done Happy to see this cross the line. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 14 hours ago, CliffB said: What's that bright stuff? Sunshine? It makes your Aero look even more colourful Cheers haha yeah - hi from summer in Australia! 14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Well done Happy to see this cross the line. thank you! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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