Walrus (Airfix 1/48), NeOmega Catapult, and HMS Albatross (Niko 1/700) by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

8 hours ago, DocRob said:

Lots of extra work Mike, with all these ejector pin buggers. I have the same kit in stash and was shaking my head, while examining the fuselage parts. When I build mine, I will check, what will be in sight and only correct these. I also own a Special Hobby Walrus and I think, as I only will build one, I will take some of the resin parts, specially the engine and kit bash a little.

Cheers Rob

Rob, when you get to yours, let me know if you need pictures of what you can actually see inside.  My guess is I could have just used the scrapers I have from UMM or even left them be, as I heard from @Clunkmeister that the 1/32 HpH kit (which I also have) has a ton of interior details that just aren't visible. It was a couple hours of work that probably could have been better spent elsewhere.  Ejector marks are usually a pain, but here 10x harder given that they are inside very tight areas!!  Good practice learning how to address them I guess.

I'm curious what the Special Hobby kit is like.  I see SH is releasing the Sea Otter, which is the successor to the Walrus in 1/72.  If I didn't have the HpH kit, I'd consider getting the SH kit.

For the engine, I picked up the Vector engine set 48118 (Pegasus engine I believe), which I think is specifically designed with the Walrus in mind.  Given how prominent the engine is on this plane, I figured I'd try an upgraded engine.  I haven't used Vector before, but heard good things.

5 hours ago, PanzerWomble said:

& this is a new tool from 2017 .....? It's a real shame to me that Airfix don't go the extra 25 yards , because they clearly thought about providing some inside details. I also don't believe that their moulding company in India hasn't access to decent tooling designers , so whats going on ? 

 

Rant over -  you are are far better man than I, Mike to fill all that in.

I had a look around the Walrus at the FAA museum last year , they were really interesting aircraft. 

Good questions PW!  It is what it is I guess.  I am hoping this isn't a sign of things to come.  I don't recall seeing this on the other sprues, but who knows.  Thanks very much for the pictures!  It is a cool looking plane, in an odd looking way.  I tend to like quirky though.  Thanks for looking in and again for the pics!

[DocRob]

17 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Rob, when you get to yours, let me know if you need pictures of what you can actually see inside.  My guess is I could have just used the scrapers I have from UMM or even left them be, as I heard from @Clunkmeister that the 1/32 HpH kit (which I also have) has a ton of interior details that just aren't visible. It was a couple hours of work that probably could have been better spent elsewhere.  Ejector marks are usually a pain, but here 10x harder given that they are inside very tight areas!!  Good practice learning how to address them I guess.

I'm curious what the Special Hobby kit is like.  I see SH is releasing the Sea Otter, which is the successor to the Walrus in 1/72.  If I didn't have the HpH kit, I'd consider getting the SH kit.

For the engine, I picked up the Vector engine set 48118 (Pegasus engine I believe), which I think is specifically designed with the Walrus in mind.  Given how prominent the engine is on this plane, I figured I'd try an upgraded engine.  I haven't used Vector before, but heard good things.

Thanks for the offer Mike, I can't wait to see, how you are proceeding with the interior and all the added detail like the vector engine. The 48 scale Walrus was my firs thought for the GB, as I really like the bird / fish? and I am eager to reproduce some acrylic water and bought some figures to man the Walrus and add a resin dinghy with three downed pilots in it.
I haven't looked too deep into the SH box, but I guess the kit is decent, but not easy to build, but maybe easier than the HPH offering. There is a lot of resin included and I will see what fits into the Airfix's frame.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Mike

Nice to see you working on the Walrus kit and enjoying filling in all those ejector pin holes. a poor job on Airfix producing a kit these days with that amount on injection pin marks.

[Landlubber Mike]

6 hours ago, DocRob said:

Thanks for the offer Mike, I can't wait to see, how you are proceeding with the interior and all the added detail like the vector engine. The 48 scale Walrus was my firs thought for the GB, as I really like the bird / fish? and I am eager to reproduce some acrylic water and bought some figures to man the Walrus and add a resin dinghy with three downed pilots in it.
I haven't looked too deep into the SH box, but I guess the kit is decent, but not easy to build, but maybe easier than the HPH offering. There is a lot of resin included and I will see what fits into the Airfix's frame.

Cheers Rob

I was originally thinking about modeling mine in a water scene as well, but once I found the catapult and later added the 1/700 Albatros, I think that idea went out the window.  I have other boat planes that I can model in a water scene, so I can scratch that itch in another build.

The SH kit looks nice - maybe a bit fewer parts than the Airfix kit, but those resin and PE details look really great.  There's a ton of parts in the Airfix kit as you know, which was a bit surprising to me given how small the model actually is.  

[Landlubber Mike]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

Mike

Nice to see you working on the Walrus kit and enjoying filling in all those ejector pin holes. a poor job on Airfix producing a kit these days with that amount on injection pin marks.

I have to say I was a bit shocked myself Peter!  I had heard that the fuselage halves in particular had a lot of pin marks, but I really cringed when I opened mine up.  I mostly used these chisels from UMM to get into the small spaces to clean them up.  First a few passes with the chisel, then added a bit of Tamiya filler, then used a combination of the chisel and sanding sticks/folded sandpaper to finalize them.  The chisels made the job much, much easier than it could have been getting into those small spaces.  If I didn't have them, I probably wouldn't have bothered with filling them.

[Landlubber Mike]

Made some progress on the Walrus this weekend.  After cleaning up the ejector marks on the bottom and sides, I installed various pieces into the bottom which included some Eduard PE.  After being annoyed about the quality of the kit from the many ejector marks, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pieces are fitting together.  Test fitted the fuselage sides as well, and everything matches up well.  I worried about the orientation of the first bulkhead as you only attach it along the bottom of this stage, but its angle is locked into place perfectly by the two floor pieces on either side.  So, kudos to Airfix on this step - big redemption from the ejection pin fiasco 👍

The two main PE assemblies in the picture above are molded by Airfix as pretty much flat, non-descript platforms similar to the rest of the floor pieces.  The Eduard PE ends up being quite complicated/detailed assemblies for these replacement details.  Who knows if they will be seen when the fuselage is buttoned up, but it was fun making them.

[Peterpools]

Mike

Looking mighty good and the Eduard PE - holy cow - incredible.

I have a nice three piece chisel set from Trumpeter for a number of years and agreed, they work wonders getting into those small places.

[CANicoll]

Mike, TEN builds???  I've gotten TWO builds confused, and you have other wood builds too.  How do you keep them organized??  The walrus will be a very interesting build.

BTW, those aren't ejector pin marks, its styrene acne.    That's just terrible engineering these days.  How much will you see from the outside?  The windows look as small as the ones on the Catalina - hence can't see anything except through the blisters.

You certainly have a wide range of interests!!  I have two submarine kits and am not even to the point of THINKING about cracking them open.  

Chris

 

[KevinM]

9 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Made some progress on the Walrus this weekend.  After cleaning up the ejector marks on the bottom and sides, I installed various pieces into the bottom which included some Eduard PE.  After being annoyed about the quality of the kit from the many ejector marks, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pieces are fitting together.  Test fitted the fuselage sides as well, and everything matches up well.  I worried about the orientation of the first bulkhead as you only attach it along the bottom of this stage, but its angle is locked into place perfectly by the two floor pieces on either side.  So, kudos to Airfix on this step - big redemption from the ejection pin fiasco 👍

The two main PE assemblies in the picture above are molded by Airfix as pretty much flat, non-descript platforms similar to the rest of the floor pieces.  The Eduard PE ends up being quite complicated/detailed assemblies for these replacement details.  Who knows if they will be seen when the fuselage is buttoned up, but it was fun making them.

Mike do you know the purpose of the PE pieces first though was compass?

[Landlubber Mike]

3 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Mike

Looking mighty good and the Eduard PE - holy cow - incredible.

I have a nice three piece chisel set from Trumpeter for a number of years and agreed, they work wonders getting into those small places.

Thanks Peter!  Chisels are a godsend for sure.  I use mine a lot.

1 hour ago, CANicoll said:

Mike, TEN builds???  I've gotten TWO builds confused, and you have other wood builds too.  How do you keep them organized??  The walrus will be a very interesting build.

BTW, those aren't ejector pin marks, its styrene acne.    That's just terrible engineering these days.  How much will you see from the outside?  The windows look as small as the ones on the Catalina - hence can't see anything except through the blisters.

You certainly have a wide range of interests!!  I have two submarine kits and am not even to the point of THINKING about cracking them open.  

Chris

 

I doubt anyone will see much of anything from the outside.  The windows are pretty tiny, and the inside is really crowded with the seat, bulkheads, tables, etc.  I just like to push myself on the PE as my 1/350 and 1/700 ship models typically have fairly extensive PE sets, so it's good practice.

To be honest, I'm probably down to 10 builds now with the Wildcat and Buffalo done.  I just get bored, or in the case of the wooden ship builds where you have dozens (if not more) repetitive tasks to perform, burned out.  Rather than take a long break from modeling, I just pick something else up.  I found that with my first wooden ship build, I would take long breaks of six months or more away from the workbench.  More recently, I was working on one of my current wooden ship models and spent an inordinate amount of time over a 2-3 week period trying to square things up on the hull because my keel was slightly warped as well as frame a dozen gunports on each side.  That was over a year ago, and I haven't had the inclination to pick the kit up since!  Will need to wait until the PTSD lessens.

To keep them organized, I just keep the models together in the kit box or a bigger container or just somewhere where they can be safely stored.  Having a build log tends to remind me where I was with the build.  And I usually annotate the instructions to remind me of tasks I need to do.  One good thing about putting the model away for a spell is that it gives me time to consciously or subconsciously work out how to tackle things when I'm stuck, rather than try to just get through things to keep progressing when I lack the motivation to do so.  Some probably would say all this is a clear symptom of severe attention deficit disorder - yet, I think I've said this before, but for me it's the journey and not the destination that interests me.  I don't care about completing builds all that much, I just like to keep busy building.  

21 minutes ago, KevinM said:

Mike do you know the purpose of the PE pieces first though was compass?

I assume it's a compass.  I just build what my Eduard overlords tell me to build...

[GazzaS]

Nice work, Kevin!

[DocRob]

Good to hear, that you still have fun with the PE . I'm a bit worn about brass tin origami at the moment, but yours look great. It looks like a compass to me, I think, there is a resin part in the SH offering for that, I have to check.

Last year I bought a chisel and now can't think off, how I could have done modeling without it, it's such a versatile tool. At least half of the plastic removal with my USS Arizona build was done with it. I have only a 3 mm wide one, but will add other sizes as well. If kept sharp and pushed square, they produce nearly finished surfaces. Actually the chisel was my personal tool of the year in 2022 with some harsh competition, but won easily.

Cheers Rob 

[Landlubber Mike]

4 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Nice work, Kevin!

I'm Mike!

 

[Landlubber Mike]

1 hour ago, DocRob said:

Good to hear, that you still have fun with the PE . I'm a bit worn about brass tin origami at the moment, but yours look great. It looks like a compass to me, I think, there is a resin part in the SH offering for that, I have to check.

Last year I bought a chisel and now can't think off, how I could have done modeling without it, it's such a versatile tool. At least half of the plastic removal with my USS Arizona build was done with it. I have only a 3 mm wide one, but will add other sizes as well. If kept sharp and pushed square, they produce nearly finished surfaces. Actually the chisel was my personal tool of the year in 2022 with some harsh competition, but won easily.

Cheers Rob 

Yeah the chisel is so great - I have a few different sizes and even shapes from UMM, with some square faced and some oval faced.  I just picked up some other tools from UMM a few months ago that included a set of reamers that have already come in handy.  

I'm kind of a tool junky and like to try new things out.  Of course, some people can just use a #11 blade, some sandpaper and tube cement and build pristine models.   It's like on the wooden ship model side.  There are so many tools you can buy, including power tools, to make work easier and more accurate.  Then there are those that are using a few basic tools that are creating museum quality pieces lol

[CANicoll]

Mike,

A build log!  Great idea.  I've also annotated the instructions but since I don't (usually) build in order, I can miss my notes.  So a build log makes an awful lot of sense!  I get you on maintaining the mojo.  But I usually just have two builds going so I can switch back and forth.  How you keep up the amazing work after so long is amazing.  Great job!

Chris

[Landlubber Mike]

Finally got through assembling most of the interior.  The Eduard interior PE set is pretty intense with a ton of pieces (close to 100 if not more if I remember correctly).  Probably took a good 3-4 evenings of work to get in, and my guess is 95% won't be seen.  But, good practice I suppose.  I've gotten a little better with some of the types of PE that have vexed me in the past, including circles/rounds.  Had a few to do here with the two gun cockpits, and improved my skills there.  Here are the pieces with the Eduard interior, minus most of the pieces from the colored PE fret that will go on after I paint these interior pieces:

 

That little piece in the middle of the bottom row is actually the ship/boat's anchor - interesting!

After taping the various edges, I ended up priming these pieces and a few other interior pieces this evening.  Then it's onto painting the interior green, adding the remaining Eduard pieces, and a bit of weathering.

Thanks for looking in!

[Peterpools]

Mike

WOW! Incredible work adding all the interior PE.I don't think at this stage, I could actually see all the PE parts on the frets, let alone move and add them to the model.   Of course, most won't be seen but just knowing it's all there and we're witnesses to the all the delicate work.

Looking fasntastic

 

[DocRob]

There went definitely some nice work into the hull? /fuselage? Mike. Like you, I think, most of it will be invisible or you think about lighting and polishing the windows.

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

I think even seeing 5% is going to be fairly generous, with the bulkheads and limited windows.  Probably can see a little with the greenhouse type main canopy I guess, and then you can see a bit into the rear seats through the window.  

Eduard puts out a lot of cool PE interior sets, but if the plane is buttoned up, you never can see the pieces.  I did end up recently getting a 1/72 Kawanishi H2K8 Emily kit with a full Eduard upgrade - I think I'm going to try to model it as a cutaway, with one side fully closed up, and the other open so you can see the interior and various personnel activity in the plane.  Otherwise, a waste of the PE I think.

Eduard's interior PE does have side window frames that you can add in a closed or open position.  If I wasn't modeling the Walrus on the catapult, I'd consider opening one or both windows.  I didn't add the frames in the closed position because they didn't quite fit evenly in window recess in the hull.  They fit perfectly, but the bottom of the frame stuck out a bit and the upper frame did not, so it would have looked a little odd if I included it.

Got these pieces primed and the base coat over the weekend.  I'll add the colored PE in the next couple of days, add a touch of some highlighting and shading, and then button her up.

I was going to try out MRP paints on this as a first build, especially since I found a log that posted the paints used, but instead I'm going to go with Vallejo except for Mr. Surfacer primer on the exterior.  This model is so small it didn't seem to warrant spending the money on MRP paints when I don't have any near term plans to use similar colors.  

[Bomber_County]

Mike, absolutely stunning, as always shame it will not be seen…….

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks B-C!

I saw some Walrus on catapult pics, and it looks like it was not uncommon for various windows in the cockpit and even the ones further back to be open.  So I might actually try to model the Walrus with some of the windows open.  That will help expose more of the interior, and just make things more interesting.

Not sure if I will model the plane with the turrets open and guns set into position in the turrets.  That I haven't seen in pictures, but maybe this model will just show the Walrus with various things open and out, wings folded, on catapult, etc.  Would be more visually interested than just a buttoned up Walrus sitting on the catapult.

[Peterpools]

MIke

Absolutely go for the windows to be open. Even if the Walrus was launched with them open, it's no biggie at the speeds she flies. Of course, digressing, I remember the hot summer days, I flew a J3 with the horizontal door open - just lots of fresh air and a bit more noise - nothing like it.   

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Peter, you've convinced me on the windows!  My thought is that from the pictures, just because a Walrus was on the catapult didn't mean it was about to launch.  Some of the pictures I've seen don't seem to show a sense of urgency or anything in the scene.  Windows are open, pilots are waving, etc.

Now I have to think about the turret openings.  All the pictures I've seen have them closed.  But, there is a lot of cool detail in there with the gun, anchor, framing, etc.  Some other models have put the Walrus on catapults with the turrets opened, so maybe I'll just do that.

[KevinM]

1 minute ago, Peterpools said:

just lots of fresh air and a bit more noise - nothing like it.

Simple things in life make it worth wild for me in the water waist high as the Sun rises in the GOM with a pole.

[Peterpools]

Mike

Go for leaving the turret openings open ... modelers poetic license for sure and always allowed so we can appreciate all the details and hard work.