Aussie Jeff Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 This is another of my recent vintage purchases from eBay. I just had to have this as it was one weird, ungainly looking aircraft/media/tinymce_upload/801c4355106ad331f048ba9188d3fa0a.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/3277e0822c4cdbb974ac033a5ca1bafc.jpgContents were in a zip lock bag so I was a bit concerned about whether all the parts were there, particularly as a few had separated from the old fish one frames. Thankfully I was able to check everything off. Decals are pretty light on but that's okay too. Assembly instructions run to a single A4 sheet with two b/w paint schemes. I'll be doing the early version./media/tinymce_upload/401c95b1e87b016513550af7d712b29d.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/d026742801affb7d48ae414997a529fb.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/c0da568379e6040b7b42b602a14835f4.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/3d4ccbe864fdba703c67f648d3eb58cb.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/063676efd5cb09c115d03fe8c0811efa.jpgI assembled the cockpit parts and then airbrushed the entire assembly in interior green and then sat the two crew figures in their respective seats. The poor guy at the back was one of the torso-only ones. I was pretty happy how they painted up./media/tinymce_upload/88c60bb25ea8a9de697c860d0b543599.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/369fbfb842ea99f6edf66b60f79ac2f4.jpgThe next assembly stage was the propeller and engine. There was a bit of flash on the prop but some gentle sanding dealt with that and these parts also painted up well with the airbrush. The cowling will be painted later./media/tinymce_upload/23ea97821cf85e0d4cf9a386f9fd8f15.jpgNext up will be the fuselage which will be covered in my next post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 For some reason I have the urge to watch 'Murphy's War' again!Looking forward to seeing this build, good start so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Jeff Posted July 17, 2020 Author Share Posted July 17, 2020 I'm using Vallejo Model Air paints for this build and finding them very good for airbrushing and regular brush painting when required. The insides of each fuselage half were airbrushed with Interior Grey Green and the cockpit assembly was easy to fit with positive location assured with slots and pegs to support it. A small instrument panel with a decal also went in. There were two windows that needed to be glued in place from the inside before the halves could be glued together. They were a pretty good fit but needed to be clamped together while the cement cured. Just a small amount of filing was required along the seams before painting.Painting was pretty easy. Wheel wells were done with the Interior Green and then stuffed with tissue paper to mask off while the underside of the 'hull' was airbrushed with Insignia White. Once this was dry the rest of the fuselage was airbrushed with Intermediate Blue without masking except for the cockpit area. Then most of the assembly was masked leaving the top of the fuselage and top of the front section of the 'hull and then airbrushed with USN Sea Blue. This will match the topsides of the wings - but they come later.The clear parts for the canopy were not the best mouldings I've seen with lots of flash that needed removal. The frames of these were first painted (brushed by hand, no masking) with Interior Green and followed up with the USN Sea Blue. A machine gun was installed for the rear gunner position before the canopy parts were fitted using ClearFix. Here's the end product - it is obvious this is from the 'raised rivet' period of Airfix's history./media/tinymce_upload/638a0019dadcd0fcea34f7fa3708da6a.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/7a5a77d0fc66e0fa59bb8264fbd981e8.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/32b13c71aa2f8c47623f2d6fc60ba812.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/7af437d38b8264e026fb5c45fc511642.jpgNext step will be the wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Jeff Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 While I was waiting for the above post to be approved I was able to complete this model and I am quite pleased with it.The wings were painted up before assembly (as I have found necessary for biplanes) the lower surfaces in Insignia White and the uppers in USN Sea Blue and coated with Long Life Floor Polish (Aus equiv of Klear) as the paint call out wanted the upper blue mixed with satin varnish. Then there was the difficult task of painting the scalloped leading edge all the flying surfaces. I tried various masking attempts but all were failures so I ended up doing it by hand. Not perfect but good enough for me./media/tinymce_upload/61a9522ba73b6ad8d64b8c49803f5475.jpgYou will notice there is some rigging done for the cabane struts as I decided I had to do a full rigging job on this to make the best of it. This took a bit of planning. Fitting the wings was a task in itself as the lower wings are only located with tabs and slots and have some serious dihedral and the upper wing had nine (!) location points to line up with all the struts. I got there in the end./media/tinymce_upload/34b7d36baedada23a646ced1e1a139e9.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/e48d2e31eec778857ddcb443af3c5605.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/97522fc17de658770ce1c38e5997dfb9.jpgNext up was completing the rigging. It was a tedious and frustrating job at times but I really thing it was worth the effort./media/tinymce_upload/d31b30a4e545391ac9ef514b7ff73674.jpgThen it was on with the wing floats (also rigged on the inner struts), bombs, and engine/prop assembly and decals. The decals presented a big problem as they were very fragile. The ones for the wings were okay but the fuselage ones tore to bits due to their fagility and the raised rivets. Luckily I was able to find suitable replacements limited spares from other models but even these neary destroyrd themselves.Here is the final result./media/tinymce_upload/3af6c0476b10071fb89edddac701228f.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/6d29bbd45b13f41e12e279cd0f3b2520.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/1930fd3cdae7048c3dcbc351de1975a5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/95d504ca6bb75c7ae6d2734c17d4b1c0.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/973ff4e85cc0c45c2f05e98e7d9ef2f5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/685ad5c0d31224d81ef6d5b8e76d7e46.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Jeff Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 While I was waiting for the above post to be approved I was able to complete this model and I am quite pleased with it.The wings were painted up before assembly (as I have found necessary for biplanes) the lower surfaces in Insignia White and the uppers in USN Sea Blue and coated with Long Life Floor Polish (Aus equiv of Klear) as the paint call out wanted the upper blue mixed with satin varnish. Then there was the difficult task of painting the scalloped leading edge all the flying surfaces. I tried various masking attempts but all were failures so I ended up doing it by hand. Not perfect but good enough for me./media/tinymce_upload/61a9522ba73b6ad8d64b8c49803f5475.jpgYou will notice there is some rigging done for the cabane struts as I decided I had to do a full rigging job on this to make the best of it. This took a bit of planning. Fitting the wings was a task in itself as the lower wings are only located with tabs and slots and have some serious dihedral and the upper wing had nine (!) location points to line up with all the struts. I got there in the end./media/tinymce_upload/34b7d36baedada23a646ced1e1a139e9.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/e48d2e31eec778857ddcb443af3c5605.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/97522fc17de658770ce1c38e5997dfb9.jpgNext up was completing the rigging. It was a tedious and frustrating job at times but I really thing it was worth the effort./media/tinymce_upload/d31b30a4e545391ac9ef514b7ff73674.jpgThen it was on with the wing floats (also rigged on the inner struts), bombs, and engine/prop assembly and decals. The decals presented a big problem as they were very fragile. The ones for the wings were okay but the fuselage ones tore to bits due to their fagility and the raised rivets. Luckily I was able to find suitable replacements limited spares from other models but even these neary destroyrd themselves.Here is the final result./media/tinymce_upload/3af6c0476b10071fb89edddac701228f.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/6d29bbd45b13f41e12e279cd0f3b2520.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/1930fd3cdae7048c3dcbc351de1975a5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/95d504ca6bb75c7ae6d2734c17d4b1c0.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/973ff4e85cc0c45c2f05e98e7d9ef2f5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/685ad5c0d31224d81ef6d5b8e76d7e46.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 You've done a great job there Jeff. I quite fancy having a go at one of these old birds myself now. I actually think, raised rivets look quite effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Earth Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 That's very nice Jeff !What a nice finish. And I agree - the rigging was worth the extra effort. Very impressive !Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Earth Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 That's very nice Jeff !What a nice finish. And I agree - the rigging was worth the extra effort. Very impressive !Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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