Clunkmeister

Gonna follow along, John! This really is a nice kit. Too bad it's OOP. I still have three in the stash and really want to finish another. Maybe as a racer?

Personally, I'd flatten them out a bit. I did the same thing on one of mine and it improved the appearance 100 fold

Tony, one thing to watch on this is the canopy. The kit totally missed the unique rollers and lifts for the greenhouses. The canopy sections Lift and expand on the front edges. The hydraulic rams are actually molded into the cockpit sills. I just fabbed a few official looking brackets and faked it in there. The first time, I got them too high. So cut them down and they’re good. Also, front and rear hoods are always open exactly the same amount. They’re hydraulic and it’s a peculiarity of the type. So the front can’t be cracked and the rear slid all the way back. And notice the flaps. They have steps built in for the crew. That’s the only way they can access the cockpit. The flaps are always down when at rest. Actually past full down. There’s a dump on the side of the fuselage to dump the flaps down if the previous hero to fly it neglected to drop the flaps. Then they’d drop to past the full down position. You can see that in the last two pics.

hey Tony, does the pitch look a bit coarse on that prop, or is it just the angle of the pic?

She’s a beautiful brute

Yep, she is, Rog. But I need to finish many long term SOD projects, and this one qualifies. And there’s little but final finishing left, anyway

I’ve been occasionally dating this lady on and off over the last several months. Maybe it’s time to push her through for a dance.

Please do a review, Hubert. I have absolutely NO time. And it’s pretty much a French aircraft, so you have more knowledge than I. The only thing I ask is, “What were they thinking, moulding the slats CLOSED? Handley-Page flaps are always open at rest.

There's a tiny bit of laser marks to give a sense of that, but in 1/64, I'm concerned with it being too much. I like 1/64 for ships. It's like 1/72 for aircraft. Too small for small vessels, but almost too big for the larger ones. A 74 in 1/64 would be amazing. A 44 gun frigate equally so.

The laser cur deck on this kit has the nail holes, edge lines, etc, but I’ve seen others not like the look and just plank it instead. Nits certainly more of a chore, but nothing looks nicer than a hand laid deck. Models always seem to be more artistic than realistic when it comes to planking, deckwork, etc. the wood decks are always highly polished, brand new and glowing, where most decades old real decks are almost a white from millions of pairs of feet, equipment, and being cleaned, scraped, scrubbed, and maintained.

It’s about right, but it has bobs upon gobs of dihedral

The F-84 is a nice build, but like you I sometimes have a hard time getting excited about it. There is the Black Widow, though... When I get in a funk I often break out a Hasegawa kit and stick it together, saving my effort for the finishing of it.

I actually thought about that, Hubert, but it's a very small hull and the first layer is thick and lays down nicely with no ripples. There is plenty of meat to fair it nicely. I've run a few test planks up and down the hull, and as of now, I see no bumps or lumps. But I may fair in a bit around the bow and stern with balsa blocks as you mention. It's certainly good practice when you're looking for good form. The coppering process should be interesting, but not too horrible, as we're all well used to working with PE. And yes, I'm looking to use a clear urethane on the second pearwood planking, which will, I think, look amazing, but the main wale need to be black. The kit comes with a gorgeous lazer cut deck which I expect will light up beautifully with a clear urethane finish.

Tony,I’m surprised you’re having so many problems with wing fit. On every one of my builds, they were the best fit of the entire model and literally plugged into the fuselage without even so much as a hairline gap. Its a tough-ish kit, not Tamiya, but not early SH, either. You need to work for it, but it will give you love if you keep at it. Oh, add more noseweight! If there’s room, add more. I’m talking, make it gamma ray proof with so much lead.

Mind blowing work there!

Carl, it's a beautiful kit.

OH BOY!!! Wumm, a couple of us here off site were talking about the Ki-45 and how we need to stick a few together. I built the pair of engines. That's as far as I got. For now.

Thanks Lothar! It's a definite fun build for me that's a huge departure from our IT MUST BE EXACT aircraft and armor builds. So I'll work on this as the notion hits me, and right now, it's hit me. I'll definitely try to plank the hull and maybe copper the bottom before taking much of a break, but we'll see. It depends on how badly I mess it up.

Smitty, it's a cool little distraction for a bit. I'm incredibly stressed out these days and so is Joy. The less paint fumes in the house right now, the better

The first planking looks to be a no brainer. Just make sure the hull form is fair with no lumps or bumps and after steaming, the planks should lay right down. The trick is making sure the individual planks are cut down to match the narrowing and curve of the hull at the ends. I don't have that skill yet, although many can almost eyeball it. Trial and error will work for me, but this is a cool side project for me.

I always thought they looked OK with the original V-8, but they look spectacular with a nicely cowled Lycoming or Continental flat 6. plus, it gives the underpowered 108 a real horsepower boost as well.

No, not really. I expect it’s an acquired taste. I don’t find it particularly attractive, but it’s certainly historical, and if you ever see one, they’re certainly unique. It’s a mid 30s light 4-5 seat general aviation craft that was decades ahead of its time when released to the public. It’s claim to fame being that it was a very competent cruiser at the time new aircraft looked like WACos and Beech model 17s. Oh, and it also fathered the 109. It was such a good design that it was produced for years in France after the war, with various engine installations. I believe there have also been several halfhearted attempts to restart production using modern American engine and propeller combinations, but that has gone nowhere. Today, it’s just an led airplane design that has been eclipsed by many others over the years. Half the issues for me are that people painting them up to look like 109s, and in that form, they’re downright ugly. But as built, they ain’t bad.

And then, plenty of sanding, followed by shaping the gunport patterns. I still need to suck it in on the bottom edge.

Then attach the stern counter.

Once in awhile, someone catches me unawares. BiggTim has, on occasion, chastised me for not, every now and then, building in wood. Then, during one of my infrequent sojourns into the drunken bliss of homemade corn whiskey, a member here dared me to actually build a meaningful model of an historic ship..... in wood. Any other time, I would have blurted out “get stuffed” or something similar, at that moment of reduced faculty, I agreed. Three weeks later, this is sitting on my doorstep. Game on.