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1/72 Revell Arado Ar(E)555 - Finished!!


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As alluded to in @Thom216's thread, after the nightmare I had the last session on the Hercules, I pulled this out of the stash last Monday as something I could work on and (hopefully) finish fairly quickly, as everything else was waiting on paint. Now that the painting backlog is dealt with, I’m dropping the first 3 instalments of this in one go…

 

Something a little different, after the frustrations of the Hercules. I like the “odd” subjects and Luft ’46 stuff (the engineer in me loves the madcap technological leaps they were trying to make), so this is right up my street. I also have a bit of a thing for this particular aeroplane, I *ahem* may have three of them in the stash *cough*. I’ve got two of the original 1998 boxings, as well as one of the 2012 reissue. This is the most recently acquired of them, bought from a US seller on a well-known auction site at the end of March. I went for this one as unlike the other two this one wasn’t boxed, and also unlike the other two, this one doesn’t seem too badly affected by the visible ejector marks on the exterior of the parts which seem to be a feature of this kit.

 

Sprue shots:

 

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There’s some really nice detail on the parts:

 

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Clear parts are generally very good, just a bit of flash and a couple of areas that might benefit from some Micromesh:

 

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Finally, a lovely set of decals. Printed in Italy, so possible Cartograph?

 

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I first found this place by stumbling on Nigel Heath’s Dalek thread, and his thread on building this kit is what made me aware of it. I’ll therefore be using his WIP thread here as a reference for any pitfalls and ideas for extra detailing. I don’t think I’ll produce as good a result as Nigel, but I’ll certainly be trying!

 

Enough waffle, on to the build! The cockpit tub, pilot/bombardier’s seat backs, and the gunner’s seat were all removed from their sprues:

 

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The moulded-in belts need to go, and the main seat bases need some filler to deal with the sink marks. I’ve got some Kitsworld 3d printed seatbelts to try out for this:

 

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The worst of the belts on the backrests were removed with a knife, no need to be absolutely perfect as the 3d belts are wider than the moulded ones:

 

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Being forewarned about the nose gear being inserted very early in the build, I followed Nigel’s example and modified mine so it can be installed after painting:

 

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I’ll also be following Nigel’s lead and replacing the braces with rod, but I’ll have to order some as I don’t have anything suitable. I did a bit on the nose wheel well, adding some ribs (more to be added next session), as well as a couple of fillets of plasticard to close off the back of the original nose gear mounting points ready for filler:

 

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Deciding on the exact colour scheme for this one has been a hard choice. It was always going to be one I’ve designed myself, but the (dis)advantage of being a CAD-monkey for the day job is that I have the ability to create far too many options for myself (and the indecision over the scheme and the number of kits I own may be related…). I finally decided on a night bomber scheme, with a 3-colour splinter top surface:

 

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Unfortunately the jpg compression seems to have hosed the fidelity, I can assure you it’s nowhere near that fuzzy when printed on paper and that the glazing is very well defined! I knocked up the basic outline by tracing over an image in CAD, then tried out hundreds of colour/camo combinations. I’ve also got different schemes to try for the other two, as well as another I’d really like to build, so I may have to hunt out a 4th kit one day.

 

Until next time

 

James

 

Session 2 of work on this commenced with finishing off the ribbing in the nose wheel well. Blu Tack was invaluable during this as it allowed me to stabilise the part exactly where I wanted it while I added the ribs. Nothing was measured, I eyeballed in where it looked “right” down one side, then aligned the other to it:

 

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I still need to finish trimming and sanding the ends flush with the kit part, but I’m leaving that for the next session as I really want to ensure they’re firmly stuck down. I also put the first round of filler in to hide the side mounting locations from the nose leg but figured that wasn’t worth a photo.

 

I removed all of the bombs from the sprues, cleaned them up a touch, then assembled the main bodies. I’ll deal with the seams once the glue’s fully dry there and then add the respective tails for them after that:

 

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Speaking of sprues, I’ve already dispatched two of them. It’s not often you can dispense with 2/3rds of the sprues by removing only half a dozen parts! The one that’s left has all of the smaller/fiddly parts on it, so that requires some careful handling.

 

I removed the components from the engine pack, but only photographed one of the exhausts. I was hoping there was a way I could paint the exhausts before assembly and add them after everything else was painted, but sadly there just isn’t a way of doing that with the way the engine pack is designed. Difficult masking in my future then. The reason I photographed the exhaust was to show these awkward gates:

 

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Clean-up on these is tricky with the proximity of the detailing, but 10-15 minutes with my micro chisel left me with something reasonable looking. I also drilled out the nozzle:

 

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I drilled out the nozzles on the rest but left the clean-up to another night when it wasn’t so late. I’m planning to paint the aluminium on the insides of the intakes prior to assembling the engine pack in the hopes that it makes it less tricky to mask that. Once they’re painted and masked, I’ll assemble the engines.

 

The last bit I turned my attention to was the top gun turret. Nigel modified the turret on his build to allow him to add the guns to it after painting, which seems like a good plan. I’m taking a slightly different approach as my plan is to trim the retaining ring from the bottom of the turret so the whole thing can be removed/refitted at will, not just the guns as Nigel did. I removed the bits from the sprue to test my theory before I make irreversible mods and it looks feasible. Unfortunately, when I went to remove the guns, this happened:

 

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That happened as I clipped the first attachment point, as seen still attached in the photo. No idea what caused the gun to shear off, however I had been planning on replacing the barrels with tube anyway. I just hadn’t planned on replacing the section that joins the pivot as well! Out came the drill and I cut a length of 1.0mm tube for the outer and 0.8mm tube for the inner barrel. It looks off with the spacing in this picture, but I centred the hole on the mark left by the snapped off barrel:

 

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A bit more work later, and I had a matching pair:

 

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The barrels aren’t quite parallel with each other, but I have a plan to straighten them with some 0.5mm rod pushed down them to prevent kinking. I just wasn’t going to attempt that at 1:30am.

 

Until next time

 

James

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Session 3 happened on Thursday night, and things are really moving on apace. Aside from the clear parts, this is all that’s now left on the sprues:

 

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This lot all got the clean-up treatment, with all but the engine intake and exhausts removed from the sprue as well:

 

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A note for any future builders of this kit, regarding the bottom of the gunner’s periscope (the T-shaped thing top left in the photo above); the two little bits sticking out of the top of the T that look like flash aren’t, they’re supposed to represent the shaping to fit around the eyes. Shame I trimmed them off before I realised that.

 

The fins were joined and got the first bits of filler on the seams. I’ll be using some filler on all of the control surfaces on this aircraft, the “fabric” effect Revell have used is awful and needs to go. The minor sink marks on the engine pack got some filler as well:

 

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As with all of the sink marks or ejector marks pointed out in Nigel’s thread that I linked in post 1, none of these were as bad as those on his kit, or the other two I have in the stash.

 

The rudder pedals were glued into the lower fuselage. These are very fiddly and have almost no positive location, hence the Blu Tack support in the photo. They’d fallen out the first 5 times I tried gluing them (and have since fallen off again after I thought it was safe to remove the Blu Tack!):

 

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The nose wheel well got another round of filler. I’m hopeful that this may be the last round on that, pictures when I’ve had a chance to clean it up.

 

Until next time

 

James

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8 hours ago, TallBlondJohn said:

Beautiful camo scheme - if I ever get round to this kit that might get borrowed (the sincerest form of flattery)

Thank you. It's somewhat of a hybrid of a number of ideas I've seen on other builds of this kit, plus a few changes on my part to make it slightly more "mine"

 

6 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Awesome start! And those new gun barrels looks great. I'm going to have to play catch-up!😁

Thanks Thom. TBH I'd say you look like you're ahead of me!

 

James

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It definitely does, Adam. I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out the Vulcan designers got their eyes on some of the plans from Arado after the war

 

James

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Just a small update, I've found a better way of producing a .jpg now, with much finer details. I've also updated the image to include the codes I'm planning to use for the aircraft, subtly varied from the kit options. Still the 6N of KG100 (I rather like the viking boat logo), but replacing the EK of the kit decals with JC as that’s my initials. The J will be blue to tie in with the RLM 24 rudders and engine fronts. Clear decal paper and some liquid decal film have been ordered.

 

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James

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10 hours ago, 81-er said:

It definitely does, Adam. I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out the Vulcan designers got their eyes on some of the plans from Arado after the war

 

James

I think they did get the Delta from German research... and Handley Page's crescent wing as well

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Thank you, Col. After realising the Hercules was completely the wrong choice for this (well, any!) GB and needed a decent stretch of time, I figured I'd committed to two builds for this GB and it gave me the excuse to start on this…

 

James

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Thanks Pat, me too! :) More work has happened tonight, however I want to take a few more snaps in the morning to fully document before reporting.

 

James

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For a change from sticking minute bits of PE onto the Heinkel, I did a bit of work on this last night. First point of action was the braces on the nose leg, which were removed and replaced with 0.5mm diameter rod:

 

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Taking that photo, I spotted the sink mark where the leg meets the base, which has now been filled & sanded back.

 

Moving inside, I reattached the pedals (again), this time using superglue to hold them and then adding some liquid glue for reinforcement. I’ve also added the actuator rods from more of the 0.5mm rod and I’m hoping these will add additional strength and stop the pedals falling off again! Finally, having been made aware that the 32g of weight in the instructions wasn’t enough, I stuck 70g in there:

 

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The gunner’s periscope was added, with a 1.5mm circle of masking from one of my excellent Maketar sets added to give the impression of a lens once the paint is on and the masking removed:

 

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Last, but by no means least, I attached the bomb sight fairing. Again, this is another place where having other people’s builds to reference was extremely useful, as I knew that most of this needs painting and the sink mark in it was therefore not a problem. Again, another 1.5mm circle of masking added to the outside:

 

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I think I’m probably rapidly approaching a point where I’ll be sticking some RLM 66 on the insides of this, then detailing the cockpit up.

 

Until next time

 

James

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Sorry to learn about the Herc, obviously an ambitious project but I'm sure its time will come.

Sure your Arado will prove to be an interesting replacement. You could always have done an RAF one in anti-flash white. :whistle:

 

Good luck

Darryl 

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12 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Sorry to learn about the Herc, obviously an ambitious project but I'm sure its time will come.

Sure your Arado will prove to be an interesting replacement. You could always have done an RAF one in anti-flash white. :whistle:

 

Good luck

Darryl 

 

Thanks Daryyl. The Hercules will definitely get finished, I'm sufficiently annoyed at it to not let it best me. I'm just regrouping first lol. Oddly enough, I found one done like that, with Meteor engines, right here.

 

9 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Nice update! And now I have to think about weight.🤔

 

Thanks Thom. You should be good for weight, the front edges of the wings are cavernous. I kept putting the two halves together as I added weight and there's still a gap between the weights and the underside of the top. The tops of the main gear bays are a reasonable guide as well.

 

I did get a bit more done last night, but no photos at the moment. All of the cockpit parts are now cleaned up and ready for some paint, the filler is cleaned up on all of the engine parts, and I've removed and cleaned up the main gear legs and the bomb bay doors. Aside from the wheels, there's only a few of the smallest & most fragile parts left before the last sprue is cleared. As soon as I get the chance, there'll be some primer happening.

 

James

 

 

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DIY and seeing family have meant that bench time has been limited this weekend, however I have managed to get primer on a whole bunch of parts:

 

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Next steps are some leather on the seats, aluminium down the intakes, and then some RLM 66 on the interior bits. And before anyone asks, yes I do use the en suite as my drying area, as it’s one place I can guarantee is free of cats! 🤣

 

Until next time

 

James

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Not much exciting progress this week as what little time I've had has been spent on cleaning up parts. I have separated the landing gear doors and set the angle on the two main doors:

 

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I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to display this one on an airfield base when it's done, so I grabbed a picture frame that looked about the right size while I was in Ikea:

 

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I'd say that should work nicely. The base won't be something I'll be trying to squeeze into the GB timeframe though ;)

 

James

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On 4/19/2022 at 8:44 AM, 81-er said:

And before anyone asks, yes I do use the en suite as my drying area, as it’s one place I can guarantee is free of cats! 🤣

 

Until next time

 

James

Nice idea, but I don't have one of those and my cats have a fascination with water! When they are not in or on the sink drinking from a running tap, they are waiting for the bathroom door to be opened so they can jump in either the wash basin or the bath. They drink from buckets and the bird bath in the garden, but seem drawn to running water and you can almost see them thinking "how do my pets control the flow from that shiny thing and where does it go down that hole". At least they have stopped going on the toilet rim after one fell in!

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Pete

Edited by PeterB
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Good to see I'm not alone in knowing the joys of being owned by feline overlords. In particular, those two are real cuties, Pat. How old are they?

 

I don't appear to have anything particularly decent on my phone of ours (and absolutely none of the 14-year old), I'll have to try and rectify that later. For now, here's the 1-year-olds. First up is Hex (named after a computer in the Discworld books), in his typical pose "helping" me while working from home:

 

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And here is his brother Mort (also named after a Discworld character). Not the best shot, but taking photos of a black cat on a dark grey carpet under artifical light isn't easy:

 

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Both came to us last June at 8 weeks old, both with dodgy tums that still aren't 100% now, but both are absolutely enormous. Hex is a solid 5kg bruiser, with Mort not far behind. He's significantly bigger than his brother, standing at least an inch taller and has a much longer body. And that tail. More accurately described as a feather duster that follows him along, I'm not sure he realises it's part of him 🤣 Mum was a dinky ~3.6kg tabby housecat who escaped, so dad's an unknown. Their brother (the last of the three) was homed elsewhere, had no health issues, and is a dinky tabby like mum. We do wonder how big these two would be if they hadn't been ill...

 

The house overlord is Bertie (as in Jeeves and Wooster), a 14-year old "pocket cat" tuxedo about the same size as the boy's mum, yet she takes no _____ from these two and is very definitely the boss. We sadly lost her brother Jeeves early last year, and got the kittens as she was obviously bored and lonely. She's definitely not bored any more, but I'm not sure she thinks they're a positive addition to the house

 

James

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