CANicoll

Gary, I use a very fine-tooth razor saw to remove the clear parts from the sprue - 72 teeth or better. I get a flush cut and no stress cracks. Cockpit is looking GOOD and I am very envious of those seatbelts. I never can get the stitching or lettering to come out so clearly. Chris

Peter, Looks terrific and the color research always adds a big positive in my mind. "Why is this color used, and not that one" is usually an interesting exercise (thinking of the Lou IV Mustang pictures and the ongoing debate of are the colors blue or green). It is also what makes following your builds so interesting. Very happy to see (and hear) that the chemo effects are lessening, and that you are able to adjust and continue the high-quality work you are well known and respected for. Also very happy to see that no one is immune to the 'I wish I had done this first' phenomena. One thing I do follow is your build strategy which has helped me in the past to avoid certain problems. The light band on this aircraft just gave you time to continue your masking skills! I can't remember an aircraft where I painted the light band, masked over it, and continued with the rest of the aircraft. Still working on that one! The Whirlwind is one of those iconic designs and I'm delighted you are doing the build. Looking great! Chris

Catching this late, but have a question, I have not heard mention anyone using a primer underneath the AK paints. Does the AK paint have such amazing adhesion to the plastic that it can withstand masking without lifting, without using a primer base? Like Peter, I'm very happy to skip steps if I can. I'm currently using the Vallejo Model Air paints which I find very strong, over a primer base. Huge caveat there. But very unhappy at the color accuracy. Love the MRP paints, esp that I don't have to thin them and their coverage is terrific. I have gotten to the point where I use a primer as a matter of course. Thank you for a very detailed review! Chris

Me too.

Folks, I'm on the SB site and needing to replenish my tape supplies. The ZM tape is incredibly cheap so I wonder how the tape compares to the Tamiya tape? Has anyone tried the ZM tape? Chris

This review was very helpful! And SprueBrothers does now carry the complete Artscale line. Can't wait for my new blades to arrive. Chris

Rob, Thanks and I noticed that I missed adding in the armored glass which likely would have raised the windscreen slightly. A victim of me doing multiple builds at the same time, I thought the armored glass was for my other build. This build has gone on for so long I've lost track of where I was and where various parts were. I'm usually much better organized than this! I spent most of yesterday on the decals, which went on quite well and settled into the panel lines very easily with a little bit of MicroSet. Taking stock of all of the stencils for this aircraft - there are a LOT! Today will spray a clear coat and get started on the weathering. Chris

Peter, let me know and I can post some to you, of each of the diameters. I'm sure I have more than I can possibly use.

Peter, I have the Uschi .001, .003 and .005 thicknesses. Just SOOO easy to use. And it...STRETCHES!!!! Seriously, I bang into the antennas so many times. This saves me from breaking antennas or the lines.

Monofilament I have as well, but the Uschi is great because it stretches when I inevitably smack my hand or finger across it... And that only happens 5 or 6 times during a build!

Thank you all! I need to get better at navigating through the site rather than just jumping to topics, as I just saw this. Wonderful to be part of such a terrific community and thanks for letting me be a part of it! Chris

A bit of progress this afternoon. The windscreen actually faired in pretty easily, and then I added some of the camo to it on the plane. The fit isn't fantastic as you can tell - there is a bit of a step. Added the OOB radar antenna's which attached a lot easier than I expected. Still kind of amazed at how close to the firing arc of the nose guns these antenna are (thanks Martin for the pics!). Taped the radio antenna cable onto the tail temporarily until the adhesive completely dries from the tail to the antenna mast. Using the Uschi .005 flexible thread for the radio antenna, and will use the .001 for the canopy retaining cables. I prefer the Uschi over EZ Line as the latter is flat (which does have its uses). It also doesn't seem to have an outer sheath - I have cut EZ Line only to have the center separate from the outer part. That's it for tonight. Hope everyone in the Eastern US is safe after the storm. Chris

Who knew something as simple as 'razor blades' would be so bloody complicated? I use #11 and #3 blades primarily, in soft handles that won't roll when I put them down. The #3s are like 2/3rd size #11s, which come in very handy sometimes.

Scott, you may have already used these folks, but I've had really good luck with the Micro-Mark #11 blades - being super sharp and staying that way for a while. 100 are $21. They also sell a box of 15. I like to use a fairly wide variety of blade styles like the ones found on their site here. Stay safe! Chris

Thanks Peter and Martin. Martin - excellent pictures, wow! I appreciate the pics and will be studying them. I love this very helpful community. Chris

Thanks Carl, I'm hoping for the same but think the windscreen will be ok. I can fudge the camo on the rest of the canopy by leaving it open (it swings way off to the side. Gary - Not too far, but have to work on the wing-root gap still. A bit of CA should close it up nicely. Looking forward to weathering which will also hide all sorts of evils! I saw on Instagram a guy is building a Mustang but doing it all as a polished aircraft - one thing I have not tried yet. That may be my next build.

AHH, now that is a great idea! Never thought of using BlueTacto hold something while the cement sets up... The shape is looking really good. Sometimes these kits just go a little weird on alignment and from what it sounds like, this is fairly common with ZM. I doubt it is some obvious mistake you made. I'd file it away under "stuff-happens". Can't wait to see it with some paint on it now!

Gary, OMG, this is reminiscent of the KH P-39 kit, but this is ZM!! You are doing an AMAZING job with the constant fixes - and not just chucking it all into the bin. Your level of detail is admirable - but overall, your build is going swimmingly well. Don't let these gremlins get you down. I would not have even noticed most of what you are pointing out. Hang in there! Chris

Finally had some energy and some time at the bench. And had one of those 'Uh oh...' moments: I meant to attach the windscreen which also has part of the fuselage attached (its a clear part) before painting the fuselage, and esp the cammo. Opps! Will have to address that this weekend. In the meantime, attached the landing gear - which looks a bit catty-wompy - to me as well as the drop tanks. All black is a bit of a challenge to photograph, esp since it is still a bit glossy (for now). Oh yeah, and since I was not going to open up the nose-gun area, I kind of skipped those build steps. Which means I missed the note to put 15g of weight into the nose. Duh. So I drilled a small hole in the underside of the nose cone and filled it with Liquid Gravity. Naturally ended up with the little balls everywhere, but got the plane mostly balanced onto the nose. Slipped a bit of the flexible weights used in Pinewood Derby cars under the nose gear and that now has the bird sitting pretty firmly on the nose gear. I have two more ME-262s in the closet: The Tamiya 1/48 A-1a and the HobbyBoss A-1a so will try and do better on those builds. And if you want to know why I have two A-1a's to build? I don't know, other than maybe to compare the Tamiya and the HobbyBoss kits... More to come...

Peter, The camo looks terrific - what do you use for your masking? And I see you are using the AK paints - how do they compare to MRP in your opinion? I'm still using an old MicroMark spray booth which is 15x20. I wish the extractor fan was a bit more powerful, but like you I have a flexible hose that I vent through the window when I paint. As usual your painting looks terrific, and I never can see those seams you say need fixing. Great subject! Chris

Loud and clear! What is on the workbench these days?

Late war machines were probably not perfect in their placement or alignment either, so who is to say you don't have it accurate, anyway? 👌

I was wondering about that approach, Peter. Definitely should work. Definitely will take a week out of my life to accomplish! 🤣

Gary, Wow, nice bit of engineering on that fix. Having not built a ZM kit, yet, I was not aware of the gremlins that pop-up on their kits from time to time. Definitely enjoying your build, the photos, and best of all, the commentary. Keep going! Chris

Quick Update: I tried gently wet-sanding the mottling and got an interesting result - an even more faded look to the camo, but not the clean-up I was hoping for. Used a Micro-Mark 8000 grit pad, dipped in a bowl of water. I tried something similar in the past, on a Mustang painted with Model Master Acryl paints, and liked the effect there. But this time, it didn't take away any of the overspray, just made everything a bit more faded. Hmmm... I confined my attempt to a small area on the fuselage but won't continue to the rest of the aircraft as I don't think that was the effect I was looking for. I think I'll paint some camo on my paint mule and give it a try again. I like the worn effect - the challenge is to not make the wear TOO uniform. But something to keep in mind for the future. On the ME-262, it will take a LOT of work - but I may come back to it. I think the effect would work really well if I had a BMF under the camo paint, something to be exposed with the wear. Hopefully more this weekend! Chris