Update: 28 August 2005
Been a bit slow with the web updates, but I have been chipping at the model.
Its almost at the painting stage now. Construction has been realativley
trouble free with perhaps the exception of the wing to fuselage join (see
Figures 44/45). The pilots are finished and waiting patiently to be housed
in their cockpit. |
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Figure 31 A simple enhancement can be made by replacing the navigation light embedded
in the leading edge of the vertical fin. Here the molded plastic section
has been cut out. |
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Figure 32 A suitably trimmed section of clear sprue was glued in place and sanded
to shape. |
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Figure 33 A coat of Humbrol clear red has been applied to the clear section and
will be masked prior to final painting. Note also that the plastic pitot
above the light has been replaced with steel tube. |
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Figure 34 With the upper fusleage join cleaned and saned, its time to replace the
panel details removed as part of the sanding. This is a scribing template
from Eduard and is made from brass. This I have found makes it very flexible
and unlike the spring steel offerings from Verlinden etc, conforms very
nicely to complex surfaces. I use a compass needle mounted in an Exacto
knife handle to scribe the lines. |
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Figure 35 Basic painting of the pilots is complete. They have received a coat of future in prep for washing. |
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Figure 36 The harness between the pilots shoulder and seat is made from lead foil.
The emergency torch is made from plastic rod.. |
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Figure 37 The RIO has received a similar treatment.. |
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Figure 38 Like most Hasegasa kits, the attachment point for the horizontal stabilisers
is in-adequate. Here I have filled the kit hole with plastic rod and used
28 thou brass rod instead. |
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Figure 39 With the fuselage complete, the intakes are next. Here you can see the
right intake has been assembled (masking was done prior to assembly). |
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Figure 40 Closer examination of the intakes once dry fitted to the fuselage showed
a very visible gap on the interior face of the splitter plate. |
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Figure 41 A quick and easy solution to the intake problem was to skin the inside
surface with 5 thou card. |
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Figure 42 The completed pilot figure. Note the addition of the map to his left leg.
The pull handles are from the kit. |
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Figure 43 The kit antenna found on the parachute housing where removed during sanding.
Here plasticcard replacements have been manufactured. Note the as-yet unsanded
putty which is to fill the incorrect panel line. |
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Figure 44 The joining of the wing and fuselage assemblies resulted in a nasty step
on the bottom fuselage and intakes. To remove this is was filled and blended
with super glue. Unfortunately this resulted in some detail being lost. |
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Figure 45 With the blending complete, new panel lines were scribed and here we see
the result after a coat of primer. The most noticable loss is the vent
in the center fuselage section. |
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