"I am the Eggman", or a modellers journey to gain his Mojo back...

[Chief Cohiba]

2 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Hats off to Airfix for the level of detail on the interior

Colin, honestly that's just it; Airfix did such a great job in this kit, that it really takes only some basic set of techniques to build a wonderful model.

 

As for your mentions; I build a Grumman Duck a while ago, and while this was a nice model as well, it simple didn't had this overall, wonderful care for detail and quality. Thinking of a Catalina in 1/48 - I did once Revells 1/48 Catalina, which is a quite nice kit in my memory as well (but as this was some 20 years ago, time might prove me wrong), but man, was this huge. I remember splashing tons of yellow Tamiya paint on the wings, and never really finishing it. My modelling skills where rather basic as well, I must admit, more close to tinkering together some Matchbox Kits without any paint, rather than use Photo Etch or Resin. 

 

Ah, being young again... 😉

[Chief Cohiba]

The floor section is complete and mounted, and I'm really impressed how good the fit is. While in the rear some more pressure was required, in the front it was really stick-and-fit.

 

 

The weathering looks a bit overdone on the pictures, but is much more decent in reality. Btw, my secret weapon for applying some dirt and light washing are these Aquarell Pens (technically they're prefilled brushes). I bought a set online cheap, and they are really helpful and easy to use.

 

 

In this kit I use some black, for accentuating rivets and seams, some brown, as in rust and general dirt, and green to blend in things with the interiour green of the kit.

[Chief Cohiba]

Not really necessary, but adding a few random wires and cables to add some live.

 

[The Spadgent]

This is looking fantastic. I have this very kit and will watch your work closely. You’re doing a great job. The wood effect you have done is amazing. How did you do it? Oils?  Regardless I’m impressed. I’m thinking of doing a similar build myself next. Something nice and light. Not this kit but Airfix new tool for sure. 
Looking forward to more of this. 😀

 

 Johnny.

[Chief Cohiba]

20 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

You’re doing a great job.

Well thank you sir!

 

21 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

wood effect you have done

It's quite easy; painted some middle-brownish paint as a base colour, then I put some spots of darker brown on top and smeared it a bit. I used one of the brown water-colour pens shown earlier. 

 

Let it dry (of course) and then I added a little bit of dry brushing with oil paint around the corners, some dark brown ( in this case burn Umber). Again, let it dry, just a few minutes, and then wipe it away. It will leave a few stains, the longer you wait the more it will stain. And then I put Uschi van der Rostens Wood grain decal on top, which gives a nice shine and adds another layer of grain.

 

Now that I read it it does sound complicated, but it's not (given all is at hand). It took me about 20 minutes, all together (time for drying and cleaning the airbrush excluded). 

38 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

but Airfix new tool for sure

This really is a joy to build, perfect to do something rewarding without any (or at least too much) scratchbuilding. I definitely consider getting another one soon, the Buccaneer is definitely on my list.

 

What are you thinking of?

[Chief Cohiba]

Lots of parts to be painted green:

 

 

In the meantime I started to work on the pilot post, and finally managed to replace the wires I cut off to drill the weight relief holes:

 

[Chief Cohiba]

Sorry for being away a bit, but last week was rather stuffed and kept me away from my bench, at least for the bigger parts of the build. But not only work, also some private tasks hat do be taken care off.

 

 

Not that I did fly too much - there was a joke once, as if a car was a PC: it would ask you if you are really sure that the airbag should open, and even if you would manage to agree and accept the terms & conditions fast enough, the airbag would open on the passenger side, because by accident you installed the uk driver instead the continental one. 😉

 

It's a bit like that here, a lot of mapping and configuration - think of driving a car, you turn the steering left and it turns right, because with the last update by accident the "axis inverted" box got ticket. But let's not get distracted.

Back to the Walrus!

[Chief Cohiba]

But I did manage to at least install most interiour pieces here:

 

 

 

 

Again, nothing to complain, engineering is good as is fit, it all went in quite fine. Only some minimal weathering, bit of drybrushing and washing here and there, and the expected effect comes out fine thanks for the fine moulds. Nice and easy, and the modelling mojo slowly comes out from it's hideaway.

 

What is a bit of an issue, though, and I am sure has been adressed before; Airfix notorious habit of giving only the Humbrol paint code, while understandable from a business point of view, is from the modellers perspective just a real pain in the backside. So I painted one square thing on the bottom black, because I thought it is some kind of seating, when I later found out it should be painted wooden brown, indicating it should be some kind of box. (I didn't do that much research due the the claim this being an easy mojo build. Well, should have). But I was admiring the Tamiya quality of manuals, where it is stated what you are working on in the various steps.

 

So, this thing at the bottom is painted black instead of brown. Well. Not that much of an issue for me.  

[Chief Cohiba]

Preparing the next steps. Here's the upper hull part, where the inner bracing has to be removed. Clever engineering, but let's see how good and stable it will turn out, once it's thoroughly dried. I'll better give it a longer time, I guess.

 

 

So, on to something fun; Eduards dashboard. See, I'm quite a buff for nice dashboards, and here it works fine - that's what I bought the PE set for. For the other parts I was rather conservative, for once I didn't to run into those killjoy pieces, where my old trembling hands couldn't properly mount these tiny tiny bitsies, or spring away and leaving me crawl on the floor on my weary knees. But also, I felt a bit unsure about some pieces, if they really would add in terms of appearance and the correct look. 

 

But for the dashboard: that's what Eduards PE is about:

 

 

This was easy and definitely will look good, once installed. I might give it a slight wash, to done it down a bit though, once it's dried.

[Chief Cohiba]

Sorry guys, but this has to rest a bit.

 

For a change this time not due to my usual mixture of real life issues and home-grown laziness, but I caught a nasty infection on my hand (no worries, I won't go into further details). Nothings serious, and hopefully rather a matter of days than weeks, but tight now it forces me to keep away from the usual liquids that come with our hobby, and this might be for some time until it's properly cured.

 

So, I'll read and sometimes comment your work a bit, but will keep quiet on my own stuff. I'll try not to be to Waldorf-and-Statler-ish!

 

 

All the best in the meantime, Guenther

 

[georgeusa]

Sorry to read about your hand issues.  I just spent some marvelous time on this Good Friday enjoying your build of a kit I have in my stash.  Your work on it is great and it looks like your "mojo" is becoming major again.  I look forward to your next post when your hands get up to building.

[Chief Cohiba]

15 hours ago, georgeusa said:

enjoying your build of a kit I have in my stash

Well, many thanks, Sir. And you definitely can look forward to it; it's big fun and definitely is the right kit to get back on track again. I started to close the halves right before this thing started, so it rests right now in a bit of a vulnerable state on my bench.

 

Will post more when I'm back to full scale modelling capacity. (In the meantime I focus on another aspect of our hobby, finding myself lurking around in online hobby stores much to often...)

 

🙂

[Chief Cohiba]

Guys, back again, at least at a limited scale; after a few weeks off the shelf I continued to nail the halves again.

 

And at least one half is mounted: I wanted to share a few pictures from the inside, before I close it and all of this beauty will be hidden forever. At least most of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This really turned out beautiful, Airfix made a very rewarding kit here. Also the few Eduard pieces add in a useful manner and turn out very fine.

 

Here's the other side, which I didn't mount yet, but wanted to show as I find it has a few very nice pieces as well, especially the canvas roll in the  rear.

 

 

 

The interior is really a gem in this kit, opposite to my usual manner I will keep as much as possible open here, and Airfix does include some options to show the inside here.

 

[Chief Cohiba]

Some small pieces prepared for the next step, after it's closed.

 

Here's the dashboard with the Eduard brass mounted, and the anchor winch:

 

 

 

 

It's quite tiny, as one can see, so sorry for the poor pictures.

[Chief Cohiba]

Now for the drawbacks here. The lush interior makes it a bit difficult to mount the fuselage piece absolutely flush, at least I didn't manage to do so. Consequently it required a bit of filling and sanding, to close the quite visible gap. Of course there's a severe chance to destroy some of the delicate structures, mostly raised rivets. But it can be done by covering them with some Kabuki tape, so, I managed to keep most of it. 

 

Here's the result from the outside:

 

 

Not perfect, but I guess I can live with that and will look good, once covered with some paint.

 

This was also the first time for me using Tamiya's cement instead of my usual Revell - I used Tamyia fine (green) and regular (white) and must admit, this is significant improvement. 

 

One is never to old to learn. 😎

[Dunny]

Stunning work Chief - it reminds me how much I enjoyed my build of an RAAF version a couple of years ago. That detailed interior is a double-edged sword as you say, but it looks soooo good!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Quiet Mike]

Apologies, how did I miss this excellent thread?!  Just caught up now! Great progress so far. Like a lot fo others, I have this waiting patiently in my small stash, as it's one of my favourite aeroplanes.

[AdrianMF]

That interior looks terrific! Airfix have come a long way since their first 1/72 Walrus in 1957. Nicely built and painted.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Markh-75]

Most interesting build, quite beautiful work and detail; its not a model I would have chosen for a Mojo rebuild but we're all different. Airfix have made some very good kits of late and reworked a good few others and I guess they have had to, with the competition from other model manufacturers. Very nice work!😀👍

[heloman1]

OOOH, this is coming together very nicely. I like it  lot...

 

Colin

[Chief Cohiba]

23 hours ago, Dunny said:

That detailed interior is a double-edged sword as you say, but it looks soooo good!

Roger, many thanks. And it's so much fun to build - fit is very good, and it looks astonishing with just a bit of drybrushing and a decent wash.

 

19 hours ago, Quiet Mike said:

Apologies, how did I miss this excellent thread?!

Never mind, there's plenty of seats left. Enjoy and welcome to the WIP.

 

19 hours ago, Quiet Mike said:

I have this waiting patiently in my small stash, as it's one of my favourite aeroplanes.

Look forward to it; it's so much fun.

 

19 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Airfix have come a long way since their first 1/72 Walrus in 1957. Nicely built and painted.

Adrian, many thanks! Airfix makes it really easy. My first Walrus was the venerable PK 105 from Matchbox, dated from 1973 or so, so it's a giant step here as well. I only miss the orange moulded fuselage. 😆

 

18 hours ago, Markh-75 said:

its not a model I would have chosen for a Mojo rebuild but we're all different

 

How come? Too easy, or too complex? I found it just perfect for me, as it tickles a bit my modest skills, just in the perfect amount, and make it easy to achieve a fine result, at least to my standards. Some after market parts might be ok with me, but I wanted to avoid any scratchbuilding. 

But I totally agree with you, that Airfix definitely went a long way and did catch up with some other vendors - better late than never.

 

And many thanks for the praise, I pass it on to Airfix. 😉

 

17 hours ago, heloman1 said:

OOOH, this is coming together very nicely. I like it  lot...

 

Many thanks, Colin, enjoy and follow, if you wish. I enjoy it as well...

[Chief Cohiba]

And having said all this, it's about to nail the hull together. Here's the current state:

 

 

Giving it time to cure...

[Dunny]

Nice work Chief - have you chosen a scheme yet?

[Chief Cohiba]

6 hours ago, Dunny said:

have you chosen a scheme yet?

As someone once said; I never make plans that far ahead. 😉

 

No, honestly I haven't. Currently, as before, it's the scheme depicted from the box, or the one from the FAA Museum, I think it's L2301, but apart from some personal memories is a rather boring neutral scheme. 

 

I want to stick with a FAA-Scheme, but apart from that I'm open for suggestions. 

 

Can*t post pictures right now, as I'm on another PC, but it's right now on the bench, where the bow section is clamped together. Show pictures of explicit content later. 

[Chief Cohiba]

And, as promised, here's a pic of her at the workbench. I really tried to clamp her together in all possible dimesions, but as on the opposite side I think there will be some need for a slight lecture in plastering right after, hoping not to destroy too much of the delicate structure beyond.

 

 

That's the state of yesterday evening, so I guess I can start thinking of removing the ties.

 

Wish me luch, folks.