Hasegawa 1/48 Bubbletop Typhoon 'Sharkmouth'.

[Woodshedwings]

Finally cracking on with this build so thought I'd share some progress pics. Building the famous sharkmouth and using the Aviaeology decals. Using the Aeries gunbay set which, after removing the large pour stubs actually fit quite well. Some modification to the mounting points for the cannons had to be made in order for the guns to sit right. I'm also using the Ultracast seat, large tailplanes and 4 bladed prop. The seat paints up nicely but the prop blades are a bit bent so will need the hot water treatment. Scratch built the 'cuckoo door' air filter. Used Airscale decals for the I.P.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rkranias]

One of my favorite WWII ground pounders.  Looking good.

[Woodshedwings]

Next up was to mask and paint the yellow leading edges, wing walks and gun bays. After this was done the model was given a couple of coats of future in preparation for the decals. I hadn't really looked too closely at the decals by Aviaeology, but on closer inspection the colours have a stripey look to them and aren't printed at all well. I thought 'I've come this far' so proceeded to try and apply them. They are so brittle and fragile that the slightest provocation makes them shatter. The sharkmouth became a soggy jig saw puzzle that had to be carefully maneuvered into place with the number of pieces growing as I did so. Much touching up will be needed. trying to get the codes to conform to a vent on the side of the airframe resulted in the same puzzle. Even the roundels, usually the easiest decals to get down, proved tricky. i will not be using any more decals from this manufacturer, which is a shame because they offer some interesting schemes, especially for the PV1, and appear to be well researched. I will persist, but slowly the joy is being sucked out of this project.