Peterpools

SUB ASSEMBLY PROGRESS 10/10/21 Tamiya 1/32 Aircraft kits are a maze of beautifully molded and intricate parts/sub-assemblies. Care needs to be taken with constant referral to the instructions and construction sequence, or you will walk the plank – I needed to be fished out twice this week, all of my own doing. The Big P&W R2800 – tinkered a bit and added six light washes of an acrylic bluish gray wash to bring the crankcase closer to the right color. The problem is, so many engine photos are of restored aircraft, the engine crankcase color is all over the place. It’s now as done as it needs to be. Fuselage – Working on the multi piece cowl and cowl flaps, required lots of attention, ungluing, gluing on parts and then ungluing again and then I’m now where I am presently. Study the instructions and just keep test fitting until your mind thinks like Papa Tamiya. I’m going with the cowl flaps closed as opposed to them being open and that means loads of different parts are used. The cowl parts and support rings all are glued to the R2800 for the first stage and with all Tamiya kits, the tolerances are so close, all the paint where parts are attached has to be removed or there will be fit issues. Finally, everything was glued into place and looking good, the center wing section needs to be added first or it won’t fit as the three lower cowl flaps will not allow the wing to fit into place. The offending parts put up a good fight but I finally was able to remove them and test fit the center wing assembly carefully, which is just being test fitted right now. The instructions show the cowl flaps added first but I just couldn’t get the wing center section to fit with this sequence. I walked the plank on this one! Prior to finishing up the center wing assembly, the following sub-assemblies needed to be built; Inboard wing flaps – a sub assembly unto themselves with a good amount of Tamiya PE used and I this case, being stainless steel was a plus. Oil cooler assemblies were completed plus it’s required PE. All the remaining parts were added, painted and the upper and lower wing skins glued together. Much like ZM, the majority of these parts will never be seen. Outer Wings: Ailerons and outboard flaps built up and all required PE added as well. Parts N58 and N51 as the boxes the wing spars slide into to support the outer wing panels and there is a note not to glue them in place. Of course, my brain must have bee3n asleep at the switch and I took it that the spare isn’t to be glued into the spar box and glued the spar box in place. What a nightmare, as I now had to carefully sand the spars down until they would snuggly fit as the boxes were designed to float inside the outer wings. I walked the plank on this one! At this point, there still is a lot of parts to be added and then all the leading edges for entire wing assembly needs some filler and TLC; the focus of next week’s work. The rudder and vertical stabilizer is still float loose, I managed to knock off the headrest and these two small items need attention. I still haven’t decided what to do on the gear yet, as it’s the same color as the underside and wheel wells bit between doing the oleos and detail painting but my instinct tells me to follow my plan and not the instructions and add them after the Corsair is through the paint shop. The front canopy is just resting in place and the fit is tremendous – just might add it as with the gear, after the paint shop visit is done. Thanks for checking it. Keep ‘em comin Peter Parts N51 & N58 should only be place in position and allowed to float, In my infinite wisdom, I glued them in place and then had to do a lot of fancy sanding on the spars to fit when test fitting.

Mark Nice progress for sure and looking at the instructions, it's part 66 that's the issue. and it sure looks like you're right in reversing the order of construction. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Craig The ignition lines were a bit testy but in the end, all wells that ends well! I've since applied a few light blue gray washes to the crankcase the darken the crankcase a bit and making nice progress on the kit. Keep 'em comin Peter

Mike Fantastic progress and right with Harv. I 've used the Quinta 3D decals a few times and I just can't say enough good things about them. Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Well said and I completely agree, you can never have enough techniques in the build shed. Just can't wait to see your next update with the fuselage done in oils. Keep 'em comin Peter

Phil WOW - looking fantastic - cammo is perfect - my money is riding on just light 'in use' weathering. Keep 'em comin Peter

Carl Nice progress on the Hornet and absolutely the right way ( in my humble opinion) on how to tackle the paint work on the LERX Looking mighty good Keep 'em comin Peter

John Let the paint fly - amazing progress. Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Nice work on some open filed running with switching primers as Tamiya Ratttlecan Primer is no longer available on your island. I've tried Mr Surfacer 12000 thinned with Self Leveling Thinners, which worked very well. Before switching to Mr Surfacer, I tried MRP Fine Surface Gray Primer (MRP-084) and just love it. If you can get it on the island, give it a try. I'm eating up your oil painting technique and not only find it fascinating and it seems to a be a fantastic painting technique equal to the good old air brush and ahead of it when it comes to painting and weathering in one procedure. Can't wait to see how it works on the fuselage smooth skin as compared to the corrugated aluminum wings. Fantastic progress.👍 Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Brilliant work and your progress is amazing. Nice work on the wheel struts and love the idea of opening up the panels open at the end of the build. Just a gem in the making Keep 'em comin Peter

Mark Neat and perfect decal work on the uppers and I'm sure the underside will be the same Keep 'em comin Peter

Mark Fantastic progress and your front office - brilliant work Keep 'em comin Peter

John Just astounded at the progress you're making and yet, the it's up to your high standards as always. Looking so good Keep 'em comin Peter

martin You amaze me - your research photographs are fantastic. Keep 'em comin Peter

Mark Right with Kai - awesome decal work and looking mighty good. Keep 'em comin Peter

JOhn Amazing progress -perfectly done. Keep 'em comin Peter

Tamiya F4U-1 Birdcage I found these two photographs of my Tamiya Birdcage build from many moons ago. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Mark Making progress and I should hopefully have another update this weekend. Just love your Viggen build thread and I'm patiently waiting for my kit to arrive by Christmas(?). Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Rob I'm finding loads of details and surprises as I progress through the build. Tamiya did a terrific job replicating the Big P&W and if I was going to have the cowl panels open, I would have added a few more of the missing details which would have been seen. I'm not sure why the crankcase gray is as light in the pics as it appears but it's darker on the model as well on my exported JPEG Files uploaded to Image Shack. I'm still planing on adding a light bluish wash to add the missing bluish tint to the crankcase. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Kai - very much appreciated and that's the plan - wings extended and flaps dropped. Love your Corsair and the dio is awesome as it portrays both time and place. Keep 'em comin

Thanks Gaz and completely agree. My first Corsair had the wings folded and this bad boy is going to have them fully extended. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Martin, much appreciated. I know I always lean towards clean aircraft but I may just give the Big Bent Wing Bird a bit of weathering as I go. See what happens. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Now that's my kind of kit for sure Keep 'em comin Peter

John Nice progress on the front office and prop - looking mighty good. Keep 'em comin Peter

Harv Nice seeing you back in action and feeling so much better. Keep 'em comin Peter