Peterpools

John Looking so good.

The Interior Seats With medical issues and my wife’s upcoming procedures this coming week, bench time has been in short supply, as it should be. I decided to follow Oliver’s suggestion of using Werner’s Wings interior upgrade set, as KH’s rendition needs some help. AM sets ordered. Knowing I would be waiting most likely a month plus, I decided to keep moving forward on what I could accomplish on the interior components until the need for the AM parts would put a halt on this area of the build and I would then start working on some of the exterior assemblies. Of course, deciding I would now use some AM parts, I could no longer compete in the OOB category and instead would enter in the all-inclusive Helicopter category. The seats I removed the major parts for both the pilot and co-pilots seats and as with the weapon officer’s seat, the same rear seat frames for all three seats were slightly twisted and some ends bent in the same spots on all three seats frames. Guessing, most likely the damage was the result of either how the frets were removed from the molds or handled in packing them in the clear ‘protective’ bags. Side frame supports are ‘tender and delicate’, and of course, I broke the first one without even knowing it. I don’t think anyone could have designed a more frustrating assembling procedure if they tried. Add in the poor instructions, coming up way short of helping the builder achieve a clear understanding of the part orientation and correct attachment location. After struggling with the first seat, I finally figured it out and moved on. Of course, the seat cushions for all three were a bit too wide, needed sanding to actually fit. Not a biggie, but come on, just seems there was a lack of caring. To add insult to injury, the instruction calls for the first three seats built to use seat cushions HE19. Of course, there were only two HE19 cushions provided and I substituted HE20, another cushion that looked nearly identical. Come on KH, did anyone ever check to see if the number of parts needed matched what is in the box? Maybe the error lay with the instructions, for being incorrect again, who knows? I built up the remaining three seats, six in total, all suffered from the instructions just not being clear enough on how the parts go together and with the correct orientation for assembly. Injector pin marks needed to be filled in and surely the seat backs for the rear two cabin seats, could have been reversed in design so the injector pin marks would have been on the back and remained unseen. Just not enough care in how the parts were designed. I started to test fit the bulkheads and partitions in the interior cabin and some of the other larger parts and part fit is sloppy, with much needed precise locating pins being completely absent. You need to hunt and look through the instructions to find a clue as to what the proper part location should be. Better instructions with precise part locations would have been a huge help but just not to be. Next up is painting and lightly weathering the seats. So far, the kit has fallen below my expectations and seems to follow the reputation Kitty Hawk had earned. As John b says: a high cuss factor for sure. Just a few images to where I am and no indication of the amount of work and frustration to reach this point.

Thanks John Very much appreciated. Fingers crossed for sure, as the procedure is tomorrow morning.

Oliver Amazing work - the oil tank are looking so good.

Ernie Thanks for posting the photos - some mighty good-looking work. IPMS contests as long as I can remember, have always been based on the quality of the build - least number of flaws and errors. Detailing and the type of kit only come into play after the initial cuts, based on the quality and execution of the build. There are no points for the difficulty of a build, type of kit (per category), corrections and detailing until later in the judging round where the models in that category are now equal to each other being close to flaw free. Now the judges take into account the difficulty of the kit, the difficulty of the extra work and type of kit and how well the extra work was accomplished. The old argument has always been, if a builder tackles a very difficult kit, adds loads of details and corrections, why aren't some building flaws accepted because of the work done. The answer has always been, the winners are the best/closest to flawless builds on the table and that is what the contest is all about and not difficulty. What seems like a million moons ago, I was a contest judge and contest chairman at every level: club, regional and national. It's the only way to make the competition fair, which is based on quality of work and not difficulty.

Kev Got ya 👍

Smitty Very much appreciated all the contest images. Absolutely top notch modeling.

Oliver I'm very intense about photography and it's a passion for me. I still post my photos as I've always done.: From my pc after post work. I upload my images to Image Shack. Then from Image Shack I copy the file and post it on my thread. If you upload your cellphone photos into a folder on your pc, you can copy and paste one image at a time on your build thread. I'm also pretty sure you can also drag and drop the file but I've never done that. Just try coping the file from your cellphone which is a JPEG and you should be able to paste in on your build thread, When the file (photo) is in the folder on your pc, if you right click on it, it will tell you the size/resolution of the file but I really don't think that is the problem.

Hubert WOW, the nose gear bay looks brilliant. Your detailing is so beautifully done.

Carl Awesome progress - your Big Cat is looking fantastic. Yup, amazing the 40 plus year old decal didn't explode when hitting the water. Of course, being part of a Tomcat, it wouldn't dare.🍀

Kriss Nice work cutting out the engine from the runners. Looking mighty good

John Nice steady, meticulous progress as always. Change of name ... no biggie as it's always your call.

Kev Nice work on using the masks - the results look terrific. Guess I'm so very old school, but my preference is still using decals. When I built my ZM 109, I did use some masks and was very pleased with the results. Compared to decaling, way more time consuming and for me at least, way too many more chances of missing the mark. But for numbers and codes, absolutely full proof and no worries about silvering.

Ernie Looking mighty good

Oliver Absolutely awesome. The rope and front end looks brilliant. Photographically, some of your images are loading and some aren't. Resolution would not be the cause, assuming every image was taken with the same camera and none of the images were processed before uploading. For our purposes, resolution is the size of the image (length times width in pixels) and is set by your camera. Once the file (image) has been uploaded to wherever you keep them for either post work or to upload to the forums, you can change the resolution there: picture size. For example, a normal size image; resolution should be: 1024x768 and if you are using for example Image Shack, right before you highlight the file to be copied and pasted, you select the image size. I hope this isn't too confusing. If you are still having problems, send me a PM.

Rob So glad your Sparmax is working like a dream - I've had many compressors over the years and by far, the Sparmax has been the absolute best. WOW, paint work and decaling is spot on the money and looks so good, no, it looks absolutely perfect.🏆

Mark Some might nice progress and the weathering is just right - nice going.

Happy Birthday Carl Enjoy your special day. Just wish I could remember my 52nd birthday - a long time ago (I'm 75 and glad to still be counting) 🍰

Carl Thanks for the update ... looks mighty nice. Seems 1/16th scale is getting more and more popular with armor builders these days.

Tim Thank you for the information, as learning some of kit's history and development, adds to the experience. I'm just a newbie when it comes to the world of helicopter modeling and expect to be making building errors and learning as I go. My early impressions of comparing the kit to the photographic references I've found online so far; there appear to be some inaccuracies and thusly my reason for choosing to add the interior 3D resin detail set. I've been working on the weapons system officer, pilot and copilots seats and there are issues with the seatback framing being bent (all three in the same location) on the frets and not enough of seat cushions (HE-19) for the first three seats. The instructions call for three and there are only two. HE20 looks identical and became my replacement seat cushion. Mistakes in numbering the PE popped up right at the start as well. What has created some frustration at this early point of the build, are the instructions with vague part placement and orientation, the manor of assembly and part fit for the seats and missing locating slots in the cabin floor. Least are some inaccurate color callouts. All of which obviously can be worked around, but you shouldn't have to. So far it seems there has been a lack of QC in checking the instructions, comparing them to the kit parts and of course, how clear and accurate they are as an aid for the builder.

Nice looking IP.

John Absolutely! I wonder if they might be cheaper by the dozen. 😉

Love to see vintage and historic kits find their way onto the work bench. Certainly, your Airfix P-38 had more then it's share of 'Box damage' and some mighty nice work with all the repairs, which were close to monumental. Looking forward to the P-38 crossing the line.

Fran So very nicely done. 🏆

Kriss Outstand work Your G.55Centauro looks awesome and has that vintage look and appeal.