HubertB

She’s looking good, Scott 👍 ! Funny, my only knowledge of the Aleutian Tigers P-40s was the box-art of the venerable 1/32 Revell kit. I had a memory of a fierce-looking tiger, when this one looks only half awake with its strange eyes 😂 ! Anyway, great-looking P-40 ! Hubert

Resuming operations ... in slow motion ... Now that I have finished my entry in the Sandbox GB, and my small interlude with the Rutan Quickie, back to finishing the Cutlass. I had left it on a frustration, i.e. the wing slats area... The way Fisher has chosn to represent them makes modellers' life a bit difficult. Part of the slats' "recess" on the wings is molded integrally with the wings, and then you have to glue an insert including the slats' arms in a slot in this area. It would be all good if the parts - the wings on one hand and the part-fairings with slats' arms on the other hand - were closely matched, with little adjustment, sanding and filling necessary. Alas, this is not the case (it may also be partly because I started the kit 10 years ago, and the resin has continued to evolve, and shrink in some places). So you end up with at best some nasty seams to fill and sand, and at worst with a step betwen the two parts, that needs to be filled, than sanded. and all of this with the slats' arms in the way 😡 ! In the end, I decided to go for a more radical solution, in three steps : 1) remove the slats' arms, sand and fill to have a smooth base 2) redo the slats openings in the smoothed leading edges. I had a bit of operator's error in their placement, so had to re-fill and re-do some ... 3) design and print some new slats, integral with their actuating arms ... Here is the result of this work. It does not look nice, but is in fact very smooth with only very minor blemishes still to fil and sand The small fairings on the top of the wing, that match IRL some slots in the slats, have been re-done with some plastic strip and smoothed with the wings' upper surface. The slats recesses were also accentuated to have a more visible separation with the wing's upper surface. It was a tedious job to scrape them whilst keeping a straight line ... And the newly-designed and printed slats, already primed and sanded to achieve a smoother finish than the raw printed appearance. Whilst I was in the surface treatment phase, I decided to do some extra work, which then pushed me in slow motion because I am definitely, with hindsight, not a fan of it : redo the structure lines which have been sanded away here and there, and then add some rivets ! I will go for a VA-83 NMF finish, and the rivets are sometimes faintly discernible. Fisher's resin is very hard (probably also because it has had 10+ years to cure some more) and riveting with a pounce wheel requires a significant amount of pressure to achieve even a small impression. I soon found out that holding a ruler with one hand, and applying pressure on the pounce wheel with the other hand was just too impractical : you need to move slowly to impress the resin, and the rule slips, or does not hold when taped in situ. So in the end, all the riveting was done free-hand. Some lines are totally straight, but then close examination of the pictures showed that it was also the case with the 1:1 aircrafts. There was no CNC machining back in the early 50's ! Anyway, some samples of the riveting work. It will be attenuated when I prepare the surface with steel wool for priming. Only time will tell - and show - if the hours spent were woth the aggravation ... When this was done, came the time to finally match the nose and main fuselage ! The fit of the Fisher kit is this area is challenging, and trials showed that some pressure would be needed to ensure that the fuselage parts matched both on the top - that was relatively easy - and the bottom, where there was a gap to eliminate with brute force But nothing that epoxy and a heavy duty clamp can't address : When the clamp was removed after a few hours for the epoxy to really set; the top had a small joint and minor step that was easily filed away (here with some Mr Surfacer 500 to better see what remains to be sanded and smoothed : On the bottom however, there was still a step between the front fuselage and the rear one (but no seam / chasm to fill) As the front fuselage has the front LG bay going to its end, the step has to be filled on the rear fuselage, rather than filed on the front fuselage. And as I will need to reinstate some panle lines and rivets, I wanted a hard surface. So, after afew minutes with CA glue and Colle 21 "magic dust", the main of the step has been filled, and the profile roughly re-established. Here as well, I have slathered some Mr Surfacer 500, so the pic is still ugly, but the bulk of the correction xork is done, and now it is just a question of sanding and finishing ... And that is all for now. I should be able to move forward with a brisker pace, now that the essential part of the tedious jobs is behind me. Hubert

So it’s going to be in the « off » position (like in 1=on, 2=off) ? Hubert, who knows zilch nada rien nothing about video games consoles …

Nothing against 1/16 … but really - and definitely - irritated by the use of a bastard scale for aircrafts and helos. You can certainly call me a scale snob, but 1/35 does not make any sense in a modelling world … Ok, it’s already bad enough that it became a « standard » scale for armour - when it was made up as an afterthought to justify a (bad) box-scale representation of the Panther, but why apply it to flying things ? As for modern kits of aircrafts, it’s just an incredibly badly thought-out attempt at trying to find a distinctive feature for one’s new range. Having been a marketing man for a few decades, that is a recommendation where I would definitely have sent the product manager putting it forward back to some more thorough market analysis and thinking, with a strong reminder (well dressing-down is probably an apter word) that product quality is first and foremost to making a real market impression, before trying any supposed « smart » side trick … Just my two cents, of course … Hubert

1/380 then … or wait ! 1/320 ! Now THAT’s an idea ! Hubert

It does not say the scale … mmmmh …. Border ? … 1/35 ! (Or, if it’s a ship scale 1/224.5, just because ) Hubert

Great result, Gus ! And welcome to the « resin bug » club 😀 ! Beware though that the HPH kits, whilst great and with unique subjects, are less easy to deal with than Jetmads or Iconicair. The big frustration with them is the « wafer » in which the detailing parts are molded, and separating and sanding them is a real PITA… As for Iconicair, their subjects were far too exotic to warrant enough demand and the brand is defunct AFAIK. Hubert

Not to belittle Jeroen’s exceptional work, but 3D design can be mastered. You need to just think in basic shapes. In this case, the sight is (mostly) a series of boxes and rounds … I’d venture it’s a good candidate for a first trial with a 3D-software like Fusion, which offers a free licence for hobbyists. Keep it coming, Jeroen Hubert

I do not know much about Corsairs, but my guess would be that a Corsair in Guadalcanal in 1943 would have taken a lot of beating … So I do not think it’s overdone (yet ?) Hubert

Try Tamiya PINK primer as an undercoat … Hubert

Looking good Mike, even more when one knows where you started from … Hubert

Very nice - and fast, of course - build, John, and great result ! (It is also very (olive) drab for my own liking, but that is just my taste when it comes to aircrafts, so disregard ) Kudos to you for another nice model 👍 ! Hubert

Thank you Kevin. It does fly, and flies well, on top of it. It is a testament of Rutan's genius that it still looks revolutionary to this day, when the first flight of the Quickie was more than 47 years ago ... In terms of time-span in aviation, 47 years is what separates the Wright Flyer from the first flight of the MiG-17 (the F-86 and Mig-15 were already in service 47 years after the flight of the Wright Flyer) Hubert

Thank you Paul. I started this one before Marcin. We exchanged about it, and at some stage, Marcin was convinced the Paris Air Show machine had a G&R Mistral, not the Bristol Mercury of the later models. So I designed a G&R Mistral in 1/32 . But then, on closer look at the pictures, we confirmed it was indeed a Mercury engine. So now I need to design an airframe to go around the Mistral (like a Morane Saulnier 225) 🤣 ! Given its Polish origin, I trust Marcin’s research more than mine, but I still differ with him on the choice of the wheels, which for Marcin - and not me - were larger than the later standard models. Hubert

Looking forward to follow the build thread ! My build is on hold ATM, but I shall resume it this year. As I do not like drab khaki aircrafts, mine will be finished as the Paris Air Show 1934 prototype, in red and white livery. Although it will never reach the level achieved by Marcin Matejko on the same subject … If it’s any consolation, I struggled with the assembly of the seat, just like you … Hubert

Thank you Kevin and Rob. @ Kevin : the compliment is really more than the part deserves. I see a number of small discrepancies that the 3D-printing process alleviates, by definition. @ Rob : it’s very satisfying to work with metal. One thing I have learned in this work : I need to buy a more precise vise / clamp for my Proxxon XY table, under the press-drill. The one I have is not up to precision tasks, and has resulted is slightly out of true (plane-wise) drillings, which impact the assembly. I also need to train a lot more to master soldering. My soldering attempts all too often result in messes I need to clean up afterwards. On this part, I was definitely concerned that the thick skid part would have far too different thermal responses to the other, thin, ones, and I just generally fail miserably to place properly the heat sinks that will allow to avoid problems. Anyway, after a lazy day off the bench yesterday, today is about priming, painting, weathering, and replacing the resin part. Hubert

Lots of prep work going on, Rob. If it’s any consolation, the fit of the body panels of the original Cobra was not that great, when you look at period pictures. Hubert

I’ve never tried basket weaving, but that should not be too difficult 🤣😂🤣 ! Thank you guys. This metal work is just about being patient and taking your time. And I avoided soldering, which always makes my life far more complicated. So I have relied on some mechanical links on top of CA … Hubert

Agreed ! Hubert

Afterword : back to metalsmith works and Good Ol' Scratchbuilding Well, afetr having spent so much time worrying about the weight of the finished kit, and how to avoid potential problems, I have been caught up by my lack of oversight ... To be honest, when I completed the design of the Messier tailskid, and then installed it at the end of the build, I asked myself whether it would be up to the task of holding its share of the kit's weight. It was designed as a scale-accurate contraption, but I was not sure about the ultimate mechanical resistance of the 3D-printed resin. I now have my answer, after three weeks of static display. The resin may be nice for fine details, but one should not expect it to have a significant mechanical resistance, especially when printed in relatively thin sections. When displaying my finished Rutan Quickie next to the Potez, I noticed that the tail skid had collapsed under the weight of the kit. Truth is that, even if the bulk of the kit's weight is borne by the main wheels, a portion of it will be transferred, logically, to the tail skid. My maths are too rusty to calculate it using the precise formulas, but I estilmate it is about 20 / 25 % of the total kit's weight, and that amounts to at least 70 grams (whicj should have been the real total scale weight of the Potez) ... So, as for the main landing gear struts, and the lower sesquiplane, some metal reinfocement was needed. I toyed with the idea of cheating and inserting a brass rod to hold the skid in position, but finally voted for coming back to some good ol' metal scratchbuilding, and building a new tail-skid out of brass. I have a good supply of various rods, tubes, sheets, plus some Scale Hardware nuts and bolts, so that was theoretically possible. And, having designed the scale-representation of the Messier tial skid in 3D, I had a good idea of its breakdown. So, after a few hours of work, here is the result of my efforts, next to a spare 3D-printed part I had kept "just in case". Not nearly as perfect as the 3d-printed part, and some of the smallest details have been omitted, or represented slightly overscale, but overall, "good enough for govenment's work" as the saying goes ... Now, to paint it, rermove the old broken one and glue the new tail skid in place ... THE END Hubert

She is looking really good Dennis. Knowing the difficulties with the build, and your hand operation, you can justifiably be proud of you 👍 ! Hubert

And another neat Corsair from you John 👍 ! Well done ! Hubert

I bought this one on impulse, as it was so much in my areas of interest, being off-beat, civilian, and resin I started it (mostly filling the many pinholes in the resin fuselage) some time ago, then shelved it, and restarted mid-December 2024. It is essentially OOB, but I redid the dashboard and its very visible rear face, and the seat-padding using Evergreen strips. Below are the pics of the finished bird, with its pilot, a very nice figure from Reedoak (civilian pilot). I had a blast painting the Hawain shirt on the pilot, and scratching some Aviator glasses for him, with fine wire and blue-green-tinted (what else ?) transparent sheet The base is a simple frame I bought in one of the many Chinese shops you can find everywhere in Portugal, with AK Asphalt paste for the runway, and some added grass for ineterest. I hope you like it. Hubert

Finished ! Ok, I can call this one done. And that brings my tally for 2024 to two finished kits (plus a restoration of Columbia, plus the pilot of my Fisher Ryan ST-M). I can call this year a record one for me in decades. And, yes, being retired and with a mind free of the family worries of the beginning of the year makes a big difference ! I had some sweaty minutes until the last moment; especially with the canopy. I have to admit these were self-inflicted woes. When removing the masks from the canopy, the tape glue left a hazy residue. Ok, this could be cleaned with a paper rag dipped in lighter fluid. But then I felt I could be even more transparent. There is a saying in France that says "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" (literally, "The better is the enemy of the good"), and I should have remembered it, especially as the canopy was looking good after some polishing with Tamiya polishing paste. But, anyhow, I decided an extra layer of X22 would do well. I have mentioned in the previous thread that I had some issues when laying the Tamiya X22. I am using for fine airbrushing a Chinese knock-off of soem well-known brand, and it has worked extremely well so far. But, for laying even coats like varnish, it reaches its limitations simply by the fact that is has an 0.2 mm needle, and the paint flow is limited. The X22 varnish tended to dry quickly and produce an uneven finish. No problem, I have an Iwata Neo with an 0.5 mm needle, and that will do the X22 work fine ... (by the way, I re-discovered very recently that at some time in the last years I had bought a H&S Infinity ). But my control of the Neo was such that I emptied the cup of the airbursh without even having covered the whole Quickie. So, yesterday, morning, back to the "usual" airbrush. Open the needle, and have multiple passes for a "wet" look with the X-22. Needless to say that did not turn well. My canopy ended with marks, ridges, and a general unevenness, and it was mostly on the inside ! After trying to recover a smooth finish with Micro-mesh and 000 steel wool, the canopy still looked like crap yesterday evening. A cheating attempt by dipping it in Future just highlighted more of the issues 😡 ! In despair, yesterday evening, I brushed some lacquer thinner on the transparent part of the canopy, and then the modlling gods turned on my side. Not only the white paint stayed, but the damned uneven varnish coats went away. Yessss ! This morning, I had a new attempt at polishing the canopy. All good ! But hey, what if I added another layer of X-22 ? Being dumb once is not enough for the brave dumbasses ! So I dipped my canopy directly in the X-22 jar, let the extra varnish flow back in the jar, and put it to dry under a cover... Then I missed one or two heartbeats : whe drying, my canopy was looking foggy and like an old gate-guard canopy ! Fortunately, when it dried further, the full transparency came back, and a last round of polishing allowed me to move to the last roller-coaster attempt : fixing the canopy to the fuselage In the meantime, I had decalled the Quickie, broken the Neo again for another round of X-22 (but being very careful with how I handled the trigger), added the finihsing touches like the exhaust tubes, the wheels, and the rear tailwheel. The prop boss and tips were covered with aluminium foil. All in all, I have managed to finsh the Quickie before the year ends ! And here it is, next to the Potez 25, under the bowsprit of Columbia … More pics in the RFI section, here : And a Happy New year to all my LSM buddies ! Hubert

Me 5 ! (Jumped 2 to 4, given the supply stock ) Hubert