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rkranias

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  1. rkranias
    nice work, thanks for sharing.
  2. rkranias
    Beautiful work Doug!
  3. rkranias
    For some reason I have always had good luck with Green Putty. However, after using Tamiya putty and 3M Red Acryl it's quite possible I will never use Green Putty again.
  4. rkranias
    Finished! Go to Finished Work for final pics. Revell Bf109G6, Eric Hartmann I./JG53, February 1945.
  5. rkranias
    Made new hinges on the Erla Hood using scrap Photo Etch pieces. Aerial lines attached on tail and fuselage. These will be last thing I do on this. Eduards Brass Bf109G6 legs came out just in time. Beautiful detail on the legs and covers. EZ install is basic plug in. Exhaust detail. Yeah, the radiator scoop is hideous. It was a field repair, yeah...that's the ticket. Overall top view. MiG pigments added on exhaust, tail wheel and gun ports. Some light silver prisma color pencil near cockpit tub. More MiG pigments on tyres, wings and tail wheel area. Will finish laynard, grab bars on windscreen and mount aerial wires
  6. rkranias
    Painting became a lesson in so many many ways. I stayed with my "old school" tactics. Remember, I am a "rookie" coming back to this hobby. No Pre-shade (apply weather wash after paint) Paint like I am painting a house, no layer painting to build up finish Heavy coverage Tamiya IJN Grey applied undersides then masked using putty snakes then Tamiya IJN Green applied to topsides. Note wing floats in background are painted. Dusting issues from painting too heavy, not thinned well and psi too high. Took a 6000 grit sandpaper lightly over finish. Maketar Hinomaru masks used. Alex also created custom tail number masks for me. Alex and Maketar were a pleasure to work with. Masks set and ready to go. White base applied. Hinomaru is a mix of Vallejo Air Color: Red (RLM23) 20 parts + Vallejo Air Color: Fire Red 1 part. Masks removed, there will be some light 6000 grit sanding on these. Underside Hinomaru masks set. Wing ID, Tail Number and Float Warning/Dolly locator stripes set a base of white. Wing ID Vallejo Air Color: Yellow 5 parts + Vallejo Model Color: Bright Orange 1 part and Float Stripes are Vallejo Air Color: Red (RLM23). Gloss applied, stencil decals applied. Engine, cowling and prop attached. Final coat of gloss, wing floats attached. Thinned wash of brown black applied.
  7. rkranias
    Canopy masked and Mr. Surfacer 1200 primer applied. Note wing floats not attached. The beach dolloy works well to safely hold plane. Save the wheels until al work is done with plane.
  8. rkranias
    Main float struts are attached just aft of main float center. After test fitting these spars I realized the locator holes were off by about 2mm. My solution was to remove the locator pin on the spar which meets the wing. I trimmed off the locator pin. NOTE: THERE IS A LEFT AND RIGHT FLOAT SPAR. PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THIS. Locator pin on top removed. Locator pin on bottom removed. Ready to place in position on main float. Painting will be next step and I strongly urge these important points: 1) Give at least a full 48 hours for all float/glue to cure. 2) Do not handle plane by float. Sometimes you must for positioning during painting, if you must be gentle and use care. 3) Install wing floats last otherwise they will hinder handling during paint and finish and will break. The wing floats can be seen on the left with the bombs and pilot. These will be assembled, painted and weathered before secured to the wing. I recommend you not be concerned with mounting the spars on the wing using locator pins. I do recommend you drill the holes as noted during the wing assembly. This will give you a "target" to generally locate the spar to the wing. Before the slow cure CA sets on the spar attached to main float place a medium CA where the spar meets the wing. This worked for me. Feel free to PM me with any questions.
  9. rkranias
    Mike, When you find that "miriacle tool" please do not keep it a secret.
  10. rkranias
    Winter wash on Prop Boss. Blades added with a little help from my UMM-USA PropMaster. Gloss varnish the prop boss, tulip, chevron and heart area, then some weathering fun with Florys. Prop test fit, I'm happy. Over-spray on prop blades near the boss is intentional. Have a feeling I will need to keep a pic of Hartmann's plane handy.
  11. rkranias
    Pre shade done. Hopefully will show through the camo and winter wash. This will be my first attempt at a winter wash the possibility of a fail does exist. RLM 04 Yellow added for fuselage band, chin and Hungarian theater "V" on lower port wing. After a 72 hr cure will mask off yellow and begin the camo fun. Chin ID Yellow and fuselage band masked. This is my first attempt at mottle, well...am happy this is getting a winter wash. Decals are EagleCals #36-32 The Blond Knight, Eric Hartmann and used throughout this build. Some skill-sets learned and need improving, have future Luftwaffe builds on deck, yikes! Underside detail, Hungarian Theater band masked and painted. Liquid mask the Balkenkreuz (upper and fuselage) and Hooked Cross then give her a nice winter wash. Winter wash complete: 4:6 (Tamiya Flat White FX-2:Thinner) painted each panel separately, about 3 passes. Next step will be gloss, apply Tulip, Heart and Chevron decals then another gloss. Weathering...am anxious to see results when I apply the Flory's wash on topsides. Cowling chin, fuselage band and Hungarian Theater painted RLM 04 Vallejo Model AIr 71.078 Gold Yellow. Liquid mask was used on Balkenkreuz (wings, fuselage) and Hooked Cross.
  12. rkranias
    Wing assembly is done before fit on to wing spar/fuselage. This allow me to make sure all seams lined up. The wheel wells is a multi-part highly detailed affair. I actually used the locator points inside the wing as a jig to get the wheel well detail parts set really nice. Test fit to be sure you hit all areas with paint (RLM02), especially near the landing gear strut/wing root area. Nice wheel well detail. Multipart wing assembly required care. I built up my wings to get nice tight fit before attaching to fuselage. Once wings attached to fuselage I carefully ran tape wing tip to wing tip over fuselage top to assure dihedral. Heavy stabilizer detail sanded down and trim tabs removed and replaced with plastic card. Quick Boost Revi mount had to be extended using plastic channel, brass rod and CA glue to make room for armored windscreen. NOTE: Instructions call for armour windscreen to be placed outside. The G6's had armour windscreen placed inside. You will have to adjust (extend) the Revi sight to accommodate the armour windscreen. All primed up. Prop boss painted RLM 70. WIndscreen fit well. FYI, windscreen got a shot of black before gray primer. Pre shade next. Undersides ready for pre-shade. Stabilizer trim tabs need slight tidy up work and we're good to go with pre-shade.
  13. rkranias
    Rear bulkhead of the Erla Hood is flush with fuselage. See pic above - thank you Matt. I want canopy displayed open so a little surgery is needed. Extra windscreen taped on and pit opening masked to protect during surgery. Carefully cut at base of rear bulkhead and remove bulkhead. Then... using .05mm styrene card I traced shape of bulkhead. After sanding fuselage where new bulkhead would nest to accommodate the thickness of the styrene card I glued the new bulkhead in place. After glue cure I trimmed and sanded flush to fuselage. Battery cover and canopy opening rods will be added later. Cockpit sidewall and rear bulkhead seams filled with Mr Dissolved Putty, I love this stuff! Care not to damage pit is critical. Wings and tail are next then sand and scribe.
  14. rkranias
    Using Quick Boost 109 exhausts will require some surgery as these are to fit the Hasegawa Bf109. With a little work QB exhausts will fit. Carefully remove the kit exhaust mount. Sanding complete, now on to the cowling panel. Carefully scrape/shave (like scraping a seam) the top and bottom openings to make room for the QB Exhaust. Not much is needed, just a little smoothing. Test fit looks good. Cowling side panels added before fuselage fit. After fuselage buttoned up balance of cowling mount braces are removed. Test fit showed these braces helped with challenging fit. Nose cut out to allow exhaust insert after paint. Top panel added and beules installed. Removing the cowling braces allowed a nice fit and will keep filling, sanding at a minimum.
  15. rkranias
    PM sent!
  16. rkranias
    been meaning to do this for a long time. hope many will find helpful.
  17. rkranias
    Buttoning up the pit. I used the fuselage as a jig the front & rear bulkheads and seat glued and nested. Glue is cured and Fuel Line added. Sidewalls ready for glue and place in fuselage. Fuselage closed and being used a jig for sidewalls of pit.
  18. rkranias
    A "cart before the horse" project as I posted finished pics before the WIP pics. I started this build in late August, there were no After-Market items available so I missed out on the Eduard and Alley Cat upgrades. There will be some custom fitting of available AM as I proceeded. I was able to connect with some AM stuff such as land gear and canopy masks from Eduard. So far my biggest angst is the way the parts are called out in the instructions. Only part number is given and it would be most helpful if the sprue letter was included in the part call out. Lots of time looking, cross ref, etc. Some enhancements to pedals and future work on the gun cover to come. Detail is really nice and I like the effort on Revell's part to add some fine detail for the pit. Will break out the primer and RLM 66. The Eduard SA/IP G10 is identical to the G6 with exception of a center consol. Careful measure, it'll fit. I'm going in! Sanding finished. Enhanced the pit with some additional wiring. Fine tuned the gun cover. Hope to get some paint laid down tonight. IP done. Eduard PE applied to IP. Center console on IP will be removed. Geeze! Those frackin bezels! Over a dozen! Will apply either Future or Still Water in IP dials. Needs a few more PE placements, details picked out, weathering/wash and HGW belts. Waiting for, QB Revi 16, QB stick. Love HGW belts, just a PITA to cut out.
  19. rkranias
    They are Micro Brushes. Yellow is the Fine Tip. You have 3 sizes to choose from. Regular, Fine and Super Fine. Typically a one use. Sometimes when using CA you might get about 4 or 5 applications. I buy them by the 100's. Multiple uses Micro-Mark Good luck, let me know if you have any questions. Best - Rick
  20. rkranias
    Beautiful build Jeroen!
  21. rkranias
    The Main Float will be mounted with aid of a brass pin and medium CA. Successful contact and adhesion is critical. ZAP brand CA This is the brand I used and have no issues with ZAP products. ZAP CA Be sure to prepare contact surfaces with a 150 grit sandpaper. Allow at least 48 hour cure before handling. Always handle with care and use the Beach Dolly to prop. I had no issues with adhesion during remainder of build.
  22. rkranias
    Before securing the Main Float some work is needed. The rivet detail is soft so with rivet tool in hand the fun begins. The Beach Dolly that was assembled very early will serve well as support when Main Float is attached to plane. Over 1500 rivets needed.
  23. rkranias
    Mask prep for applying putty. I used Squadron Green Putty and was happy with results. At this time my putty knowledge was extremely limited. Looking back, this would be a great use for Milliput or even 3M Acryl Red. BE SURE TO TAPE OVER WING GUN OPENINGS TO KEEP DUST OUT. This lip on the Lower Wing Plug gave me fits on engine cowling alignment. Alignment was spot on with lower engine firewall and leading edge at wing root. I researched to find out exactly what the function on this was on the real aircraft and failed miserably. Boom! It was gone, problem solved. In the end the appearance was not affected. However, the engine cowling issue was solved. This is my FICE approach and I am happy with the decision. Chin completed and putty applied. Lower Wing Plug sanded and rivet detail done for now. Sanding complete. Chin all pretty.
  24. rkranias
    Nice review. This kit is in my stash and is bucking for position for next bench project.
  25. rkranias
    Mounting the wings with lower wing plug and algnment is the most difficult part of this conversion. After many, many test fits and head scratching I felt this would be the best approach. This approach worked best for me. I recommend you digest what I did and modify which works best for you. It's doable, patience is a prime requirement. Good luck! After wings are assembled with guns, ailerons, etc. Glue wing to fuselage. Carefully line up seams at trailing edge and wing root area. Apply glue (Tenax or Tamiya liquid). I cannot place more emphasis on good alignment. DO NOT GLUE LOWER WING PLUG AT THIS TIME. WING PLUG WILL BE GLUED AFTER WING GLUE IS CURED. Wings buttoned up, align the wing plug to leading edge of wing and match lower engine firewall. Tape into position. Gaps can be filled between panel lines. Fixing leading edges will be much more difficult. After glue has cured for main wing attachment it is time to glue the resin wing plug. Double check alignment of wing plug to leading edge, wing root and lower engine firewall. Secure with tape. Remember, do not be concerned with gaps in the panel lines, it is inevitable. Priority is seam alignment with leading edge, wing root and lower engine firewall. Apply CA glue from inside. Main float pylon glued to lower wing plug with thick CA. Will give this a 48 hour cure. Good view where lower engine firewall of the resin wing plug meet with kit lower firewall. Align with one hand then apply CA one small spot at a time working towards leading edge of wing and continue to MG cover. Repeat other side. Main Float Plug is a critical stress point. I recommend roughing the contact surfaces with sandpaper and installing locator pins. Apologizes for no pics of brass locator pins installed on the Main Float Plug. Let this cure for at least 48 hours before continuing. After main float pylon mount is cured it's time to fill some gaps with styrene strips mounted with med CA on resin parts and with Tamiya liquid on styrene parts. After a 48 hour cure putty, sand and scribe action will begin.
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