Clunkmeister

True sentiment there! Mine still sits in its box, all green with envy. My Paasche VL is positively prehistoric, but I feel comfortable with it and it still churns out some decent paint work, so it stays around as of now..

So, you now have two choices: creative customizing on the kit part through sectioning the canopy at the rails, and narrowing the window dimensions, OR, contacting HPH and asking to order their resin clear set for the resin Helldiver. Or, if not doing that, buy and build the complete resin Helldiver kit. It already comes with all your optional items for the IM kit, with the exception of the folding wing option. Either way you do this, I feel HPH should offer the canopy fix parts to Infinity kit owners and builders. This little tidbit SOLVES one of the glaring weaknesses of the Infinity kit.

Now, JohnB mentioned the front windscreen being too deep, and it required a few minutes with a sanding stick. Here’s the resin HPH part, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s a drop fit as well! Not as big a deal, as the kit part is quite easily worked to make it fit like HPH part.

Now let’s look at them on the model. The Infinity part is grossly oversized, while the HPH part is a PERFECT DROP FIT on the Infinity kit. And the fuselage dimensions are identical between the two models, BTW. My job here is not to criticize and complain, instead it is to find the reason and point out the issue along with potential workarounds and/or fixes.

I’ve been doing some looking, measuring, and checking, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Infinity has simply blown it in regards to the rear canopy dimensions. So, then I say to myself: “Self, you were halfway through an HPH resin Helldiver build when you stopped and took a break. So why not have a quick look at the master kit used as a pattern for the IM Infinity release and see how they compare?” Brilliant, right? Yep…. Here is my comparison between the rear hoods of the two kits. As you can see, the Infinity part has had growth spurts in comparison to the parent HPH canopy. This is very interesting, and to me, it’s a simple blown assignment. They’re not even close, actually.

Yes Scott, that is my thought as well, OR, let’s see what the actual problem is, and see if we can find us a workaround.

Yes, the rear hood is waaay too deep, by, like Hubert said, several mm. The bottom row od windows are too deep, and from what I can see, HPH molded a part of the fuselage that is supposed to be solid and part of the side, as part of the sliding hood. . So the proper fix would be to slightly deepen the fuselage and shorten the hood, although the hood is much worse than the fuselage, and cutting and shortening the hood will get the job done. If you fit the rails on the fuselage to the guides on the rear hood, the top of the hood sits about 5 mm above the fuselage,… a very curious look indeed. Plus, I have a nice, prominent diagonal scratch across one entire side of the hood. Not manufacturer error, storage error by me. I’ll try to buff it and Future if, but I may need to buy a new transparency sprue from HPH.

Gaz, despite everyone’s cautions and warnings, I’m so far really enjoying this build. But, I’m not done, not even close. Just proceeding cautiously, finding issues before they find me. I’m still unsure what I’ll do about that rear greenhouse.

Great job so far, Chris. Your work is always a treat to see. It’s interesting to read about your airbrush choices. Believe it or not, I still use my ancient Paasche VL as my go to airbrush. No mods, nothing, just straight OOB. Just like an old pair of shoes, I’m comfortable with it, I guess. I bought that Greg set a couple years ago, and it still sits in its box, untouched. 😵‍💫. I oughta take y’all’s advice and move into the 21st century. But with that Paasche, it makes Gunze rich. The money I spend on cases of leveling thinner is truly spectacular…

I didn’t mean to pick nits. I’m much too mean to be so nice. 🤣. Seriously though, this is looking very nice indeed. You’re the 109 expert here, and Martin lives and breathes the Butcher Bird, so I’d say we’re pretty well covered for German fighter experten.

VERY nice build! I built one the instant it was released in Poland, using one of my Polish family members to snag one for me long before the kit hit our shores here. It is an amazing kit, and your build shows us all what is achievable with a modern kit, mostly straight out of the box. STUNNING RESULT! The little prewar PZL fighters certainly fought and won in fights far beyond their weight class and showed the true colors and disposition of those Polish fighters determined to beat back the Nazi scourge. Later, they again took the fight to the Nazis, this time from England, flying Hurricanes.

Hey guys, I’m back. I’ve been working on this, getting it ready to join the wing bottoms, then I checked the rear canopy and shook my head, thinking about who must have been smoking what when they screwed up the rear canopy.. Then I looked at one of the accessory sets I had never even glanced at before right now. I’m talking about the eccessory exterior PE set offered by a infinity to enhance the model. One of HPH’s trademarks is to use sheets of PE to accent panels that stand proud on the real aircraft. They’re not 100% necessary, and they demand absolute care when installing them, being absolutely certain to preform them as much as possible to the model’s curves. HPH has given us a set like this for the Helldiver, in the form of an accessory PE set available separately. It’s not 100% necessary, but it adds to the 3D effect of the surface, and also helps hide seams. It also includes full wheel covers for those people modeling an aircraft with covered wheel spokes. I will use select parts from the set to enhance my kit. This is a nice touch I’ve always liked about HPH, and it’ll certainly add greatly to the model. The formed copper sheet is extremely thin and looks great on the surface. I spent 30 seconds rolling this one on a knife handle, and with a bit more fitting, will fit flawlessly.

Oh my my my! Truly spectacular!

Watching a clinic! Tom, you should charge for tickets!

The key is the same as any other short run kit: dry fit dry fit dry fit dry fit. You can make all adjustments as you go, so at the end, it all will fit perfectly. Does anyone happen to know the correct order for the formation lights?

Thank you my friend! I love the Ugly Beast, and I’ll give this one everything I have to make it as right as I can.

Ya know, I dunno. It’s been strange thing that. ARC is like a ghost town. I have zero idea where Gary is. He’s never really been around here much though

Irishman1, Welcome to LSM! What a grand beginning here with that stunning scratchbuild China Clipper. So, in the end, was it finally settled? Catty Sark or Thermopylae? They were both greyhounds of the sea and pretty well matched, coming down in the end to the crewing and blind luck of the weather. They both could and did set a blistering pace on the trades. Those 1/24 scale aircraft are awesome! You need to try the new 1/24 Airfix kits. Their Typhoons and Hellcat are fist class models, and an FAA Hellcat is like catnip to this old boy. Im one of the wooden ship builders on this site, and take much of the blame for sucking Mike into plastic, but Mike sucked me into wooden ships, so we’re even 😀🤣 wood ships are definitely welcome here, although we concentrate more on armor and aircraft. There are a few gifted shipbuilders here and they’ll make myself known

Is that similar to the Sword of Satisfaction? 🤪💩

We’re glad you decided to join us here on Large Scale Modeller. Remember, it’s not just 1/35 and larger aircraft here! We also welcome armor, as well as 1/48 scale. We even are OK with 1/72 if the model is of a very large aircraft. Heck, some here even build ships! Please feel free to dive right in and showcase your builds, but please, take a couple moments and introduce yourselves to us all here. We’re looking forward to having you in our online community of Scale Modelers. WELCOME!

Time to get back at the bench, y’all.

Gaz, just a thought, but if you haven’t secured it yet, maybe thin the front and rear edges of the seat pan to match the pic. I do it on all my builds and it really helps the appearance. It’s looking GREAT!

Yes, and welcome.

I’m seriously LOVING this. That’s one tough looking Jeep