AdrianMF Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 I’m waiting for my Pfalz fuselage to dry and it strikes me I haven’t built a simple low-wing monoplane fighter this year! To remedy that I have this: I bought it for the Blitzbuild but didn’t have time in the end. I don’t fancy either of the colour schemes so I will use the transfers from a second-hand FROG kit which I built as a paint mule. If you are familiar with my builds, you will know that my tolerance for bad kits is quite high - the FROG 406 beat me before I even got the parts off the sprues! The Hobbyboss kit, on the other hand, is lovely. I haven’t compared it to any plans and don’t intend to. Anyhow, tape belts and different scheme/stickers, otherwise OOB - I mean it this time! 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 Well, it IS an "easy assembly" kit, so it shouldn't be too hard to build it OOB. 😆 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 29, 2022 Author Share Posted May 29, 2022 Well, OOB didn’t last long. If you look at the aircraft in the paint scheme, you can see that the undercarriage doors are on back to front: If you assemble as instructed the door doesn’t fit in the slot in the wing or over the two pins on the legs. Thank goodness I dry fit! It doesn’t fit the other way either, so you have to cut off the topmost pin on the undercarriage and the two leg alignment stubs on the back of the doors. Then the swapped door fits the right way round in the slot in the wing and over the lower leg pin, and it’s the right way around. While you are there, you might as well swap the legs over (they hang perpendicularly) so that the marginally more detailed face of the retraction strut faces forwards. I do try!! 8 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 That still counts as "OOB" (if I recall the IPMS rules correctly). Keep up the good work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 29, 2022 Author Share Posted May 29, 2022 Getting there, underside and base top colour painted: 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 Looks good, I was going to say kudos to the manufacturer for doing an easy kit, but the u/c doors might put a new or very young modeller over the edge!!! Great save on those BTW. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 Camouflage is done, canopy just resting in position: 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 Well the old FROG decals were - er - not the best: I’ve covered them in Decalfix and Decalsoft and I’m hoping that this will persuade them to settle down, so I can then touch up the white crescents on the roundels and the yellow outline on the donkey… 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 Decal disaster: Maybe I should have gone for the Future puddle method - too late now! I will be raiding the spares box and doing some painting later… 6 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunny Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Adrian, That was quick! Shame about the decals - looking lovely otherwise! Cheers Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Nice build shame about the decals. Decals from old kits and disintegrating ( and Roden kits) decals are always a problem. I’ve had a bottle of micro scale liquid decals for ages and only finally used it on some old avro 504k decals which started to disintegrate on me and amazingly once dried the decals worked perfectly. It’s going to be my go to for old decal sheets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 16 hours ago, AdrianMF said: I haven’t compared it to any plans and don’t intend to. Nice going so far. I use Testors Decal Bond spray on all old decals. Against plans it compares quite well. it's believed to be based on the Hase kit but tidied up a bit. I think I remember it needed a pitot tube and an aerial and that's about it. You need to buy a few more to justify an after-market decal sheeet or if you just want one, APC make one https://www.hobbyshop.cz/shop/en/1-72-decals-air/17334-apcr72034-morane-saulnier-ms-406-1-72-decal.html 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ngantek Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Hard luck on the decals, but nice progress. The camouflage scheme looks very nice, particuarly given the lightning fast speed in which it's been applied! I'm tempted to get a few of these kits and force myself to just have fun, rather than getting bogged down for weeks endlessly filling and tinkering. I suspect I'd learn a fair amount about which operations lie on necessary and unnecessary sides of the border between good enough finish and just-a-little-too-slapdash. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 The decals didn't break up. They simply refused to lie flat. Hey-ho. 24 minutes ago, Ed Russell said: if you just want one, APC make one Thanks Ed, I've used their stuff before, but this is going to get done today out of the spares box. 1 minute ago, Ngantek said: force myself to just have fun That's what this was all about (until the decals! ). Still, I've got some spares that I can make work, and it WILL be finished before bedtime today! Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliGauld Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Nice quick build until..... It was all going too well. Still if it means this thread goes on a bit I can live with that. Cheers, Alistair 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 A little diversion in between tasks today: I will find some more roundels, paint the fin stripes, print the text for the fin markings and repair the logos and the 6-ball. Well, that’s the current plan (I’m on plan B now I guess) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 Roundels sorted courtesy of Heller Simoun and MPM Blenheim, with backup from FROG Bearcat: All sizes approximate, may require some touch up! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Bloomin' decals, spoiling it for everyone else... Grrr! Still, at this rate you'll be done by the time I've eaten my tea tonight. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 Sadly the forces of work, true love, cooking and booking travel for my daughter to get home have conspired to push this out until tomorrow! So I’m looking at the wimpy three day option here… [edit: We don’t know how lucky we are with the RAF roundel; types A to D with bright and dark red/blue options*. French roundels (or at least the ones they put in kits) seem to have an endless parade of ratios and shades of blue in them!] [* until some nameless time in the 1980s(?) when they all went lo-vis…] 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 14 hours ago, Ed Russell said: a pitot tube and an aerial Both, somewhat ironically, provided in the FROG kit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 Back on the horse that bit me: MPM and Heller roundels. I will need to retouch the fuselage roundel with the lighter blue and possibly a larger central disk, and carry that over to the fin flash. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 The fuselage roundel dot was smaller and darker than the wing ones. The wing ones were about 1/3 of the overall diameter (5/15mm) and so the fuselage centre dot needed to be 4mm out of 12. I stuck some masking tape over the 4mm hole in my scribing template and cut out the inner circle, applied it to the model and then painted 50:50 of Hu 247 and 248 (RLM 76 & 78 I think). Happy with that: [edit] I was going to get a shower and bed before midnight, but somehow I’ve ended up masking and painting the rudder instead: 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 Looking vert smart now. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattheCat Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 A good save. To my eye your revised roundels and painting of the rudder look better than mere decals would. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 Some time with PowerPoint, fonts (Bahnschrift and Goldana) and Word and I’ve now got some laser printed decals: Just the six ball and donkey to repair now, then I can get on and finish it. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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