1/32 Aichi D3A1 (type 99) Val. (Infinity Models) Final bits.

[Clunkmeister]

11 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Great to hear that the resin bits fit properly without needed major surgery. 

And great looking engine too, 

Haha Carl. That engine looks like it was merrily alight.  But, I fixed it and it looks much better now. 😂

[Clunkmeister]

A bit of an update here.  I’ve been pulling a “Martin” and have gotten deeper into reading up on these aircraft than I ever have on any aircraft, other than my FM-104 Lanc and Helldiver builds. 
Also, I’m Blessed in that world renowned and respected a Japanese aircraft expert Ryan Toews and I have exchanged a few emails, and he’s pointed out a few things to me.  Apparently the kit is generally accurate but the wing fold is representative of one of the first 46 Vals produced. After 46, it was modified.

Plus, I have a big issue with the green scheme as shown in the instructions.  Apparently, that scheme is accurate for that exact aircraft, but not until 1942. 
At Pearl Harbor, that aircraft was the “flamed Val”, which sported a rather wild scheme… maybe an assembly ship?  
 

 

And finally, what I consider one of the earliest takes on Bl-231 and her mystery flame scheme.  This famous aircraft sure got around.

[Clunkmeister]

This Saskatchewan boy kinda likes to know that a Manitoba boy is THE Japanese aircraft guru out there.  A bit of homeland pride, maybe? 

[Clunkmeister]

Well here we are again. Still a press-fit, but a bit better engine look, IMHO.

Nothing a few minutes of airbrush time and a steady hand couldn’t fix.  I’m really liking my new Grex.  
 

[Clunkmeister]

Well, the fun continues.

When you build this kit, it quickly becomes apparent that the designers and engineers have put a lot of thought into this kit, and it’s assembly method.

The engine plugs into the firewall, as does the multiple component oil cooler and it’s housing.  The cowl then plugs into the oil cooler, and allows the builder to adjust the cowl angle precisely.  The instruction drawings seem to suggest that you attach the engine into the cowl first, and then mount it as an assembly. DON’T DO THAT.  
Instead, first attach the oil cooler to the fuselage bottom.  
Then, attach the complete engine.  
After that is on correctly and two your satisfaction, finally mount the cowl TO THE OIL COOLER HOUSING, NOT ThE ENGINE.
******  Take the time to make sure the engine is sitting correctly and with a proper thrust line by slightly sanding the keyed ring mount on the rear of the accessory section as necessary. Don’t assume anything, because that firewall may not be 100% in line. It’s completely invisible afterwards and simply serves as an engine mount. 
If you follow my way, and I’m ASSUMING that you’re test fitting the entire time here, (right?), you’ll have a very precise assembly with absolutely perfect alignment, in one of the most visible areas of the model.  
This preciseness can be a real rarity for short run kits without the intrepid builder embarking on a boatload of extra curricular work.   
The assembly sequence I mentioned to follow is too dang easy, almost Tamiya precise, which, for sadists like me, truly sucks. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yes, a couple of the pics are old, taken during test fitting, and the cowl lip has since been cleaned up.

[Clunkmeister]

If you look here, you can see how the oil cooler comes together on the fuselage bottom, you can see how this front bottom area is critical.  Mine is nowhere near perfect, Athena there are plenty of gaps between the firewall and the fuselage sides, which resulted from me goobering up the first firewall.  😡 Totally due to me getting ahead of myself and cementing it into place slightly out of line. That in turn cocks up the engine, and borks the oil cooler alignment.  
(I hate autocorrect, it autocorrected to Culo, not cool for all y’all Spanish speakers.) How does Apple get Culo from Cooler? 😵‍💫   
Me partí el culo cuando me contaron el chiste.

You can see how important it is to take the time to assure the wing bottom and firewall all line up.  Maybe consider attaching the firewall when you do the wing. It may save you from my almost trainwreck.

And a close up inside, as seen through the exhaust openings, where you can see how it slips in, right up to its lip. 

 

 

[Clunkmeister]

OK, now, the other nicely done thing I found today. Take the time to fit, sand and fiddle with the stabilizer halves. They need a bit of thinning, and some clean up, but the method of attachment is brilliant. A stub spar is glued into the fuselage. The instructions have you mount it during fuselage assembly, but you CAN save it for after it’s together. One less thing to get in the way when aligning the halves. I found this out when I dutifully inserted it into one half, slipped the other half over it, and then, while taping the halves in alignment, it dutifully gravity dutifully slid it out to plop down on to my bench. 😙

The fuselage has some nice scale-like flange fillets between the fuselage and stabilizers. The stab halves fit INSIDE the fillets, AND, if you carefully fit them on, they’ll butt up against the flanges, giving a wonderful scale effect.  
Of course ai went a bit far in a couple spots, and will gently and very carefully fill with Evergreen.

This is a VERY nice bit of design engineering that I can happily applaud. And, if done as I say, not as I did, it’ll thrill you with its precise scale accuracy.  
But remember, you’re still working with thick Short Run plastic, so make sure you thin the edges as normal.  That goes for all flying surface edges.  Edge thickness is often way over scale, but can be a bit wavy on the mating edges. 
I try to always always keep a full sheet of 220 taped to my bench for sanding big parts. 

[Clunkmeister]

And last but not least for tonight.  One of the D3A Val’s signature features: those huge wheel spats attached below that gorgeous elliptical wing. 
The Aichi Type 99 was designed and developed using the exact same aerodynamic theories and formulae that Reginald J. Mitchell used when designing what would become the Spitfire.  
The prevailing thought at the time was that a smooth elliptical wing designed to a set curvature would give maximum lift, least drag, and allow for decent wing area and extremely high maneuverability.  
The Spitfire achieved all of that, as did the Type 99.  The Japanese aircraft obviously wasn’t designed for speed, but it proved to be extremely nimble, and surprised more than a few unsuspecting Allied pilots who got drawn in by the mild looking plodding bomber.  Given the availability more power to allow for up gunning and up armoring, the D3A was seriously considered as what could have been a very nasty fighter bomber.  But as built, it would have needed a lot of work to make mud moving a survivable affair. The plane just wasn’t built for it.

The wheel spats, with some careful edge cleanup sanding and wheel opening thinning, went together great. But a bit of putty was needed in the seams as I didn’t want to thin myself into an Evergreen outward expansion. 
But even with the putty, no panel lines were harmed in the production of this exposé

[Clunkmeister]

What I’m going to explore in a future build is making some open cowl flaps.  But I expect the aftermarket may be well on their way already. 

[Clunkmeister]

Ok, one more little tidbit tonight.  Several days ago, I assembled the controllable pitch prop hub. It’s a two piece affair, with a barrel added afterwards. 
I thinned and carefully trued the mating surfaces to give circular blade openings, and lined up the clamps and NBW moldings before committing to glue. 
It came out marvelous, especially after adding the very prominent hub barrel on the front end. 
The prop blades needed sanding, thinning, and edge clean up, but to me, look more or less correct for the D3A1 variant. The very last A1s and all the improved A2s used a prop spinner to hide oth oh-so-Golden-Age looking Hamilton controllable pitch hub unit.

I SIMPLY PRESS FIT THE BLADES IN PLACE FOR THESE PHOTOS  

My thoughts on the hub are as such:  I didn’t have a lot of hope here, as styrene can only do so much.  Tamiya, Kotare, or ICM high pressure molding could certainly achieve a much better result, but for Short Run, this is pretty bloody decent. 
The three hub clamps with their respective NBW hardware actually look decent. As long as you carefully clean up the flash and then true the mating surfaces. 
The mechanisms bob weights  are a bit of a miss. The representation is there as simple discs, but al look at any of our gorgeous Golden Age racers, especially ships like the Northrop Gamma will show you that there is much more to be achieved here. 
I’m going to valiantly attempt to procure a miracle courtesy of my #11 blade, a jewelers loupe, (ok, my Optivisor), a couple good pictures, and a solid set of my tongue. 
Failing that, I’ll try some brass. 
This is one area where a resin cast multiple part assembled unit will absolutely SHINE.  And maybe PE bobweights?  To me, the prop hub is one of the coolest parts of this plane.  It completely fits with those beautiful elliptical surfaces. 
Don’t get me wrong, the kit part looks great from 4 ft away, and will work perfectly fine for a shelf display model, but I’m a true Golden Age Racer guy at heart, (My first short run kit was a Williams Bros. Wendell Williams that I super detailed back in the late 70s) and to me, these links to an earlier era need to be see, hopefully up close and in all their glory.  That’s precisely why I used the resin extra cost kit for that glorious 14 cylinder radial and exhaust, even though the kit parts would be kinda OK, even though everything from the sides and rear will be invisible. 

[KevinM]

I am liking it Ernie and the tail stabilizers look really Nice in fit and presentation.

[Clunkmeister]

I found this interesting article online, and it may be a simple way to tart that hub up, at least until a good resin replacement part comes along. 
https://airplanes3d.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/modeling-hamilton-standard-counterweight-propeller/

[Clunkmeister]

5 minutes ago, KevinM said:

I am liking it Ernie and the tail stabilizers look really Nice in fit and presentation.

Thanks, Kevin. I’m loving this kit more and more every day.  Infinity has a real winner here, and as long as the loudmouths who love to bash on short run kits get ignored, this kit will do great.

I’m going to say that this may be one of the easiest building short run kits out there. The worst part being the wing to fuselage joint, but if you take your time and don’t allow the fuselage bulkheads to expand anything, this won’t give anyone with a few kits under their belts any issues at all. 

[Fran]

Enjoying this quite a lot!

 

I will need to get myself a Val!  

[KevinM]

2 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Infinity has a real winner here, and as long as the loudmouths who love to bash on short run kits get ignored, this kit will do great.

I hear ya Ernie I am enjoying the SH Tempest myself seems to be a few SOD for that kit but all goes well thus far.Keep plugging away you may convince me to get an Infinity kit after all.I am really temped to go after the SH Whirlwind though?

[Clunkmeister]

Everything’s a bit of a battle, but a great reward awaits.

notice the convenient handhold for priming?

[Peterpools]

Ernie

been following your progress and you've made some mighty awesome progress on the Val. I'm still not sure the manufactures actually test build a few pre -production and production kits using the instructions and their build sequence o see how it goes. Just the way the engine is shown to attach to the cowl and then the fuselage, seems more then odd and swimming upstream against convention - why reinvent the wheel?  

Kudos to Infinity for their great idea of short carry through spar for the horizontal stabilizers - absolutely insures they are straight and true.

Looking mighty good

 

 

 

[Irishman1]

Following your builds is always a pleasure, very informative and such attention to detail. They show a builder like me how to do so much, thanks!!

[Clunkmeister]

12 hours ago, Irishman1 said:

Following your builds is always a pleasure, very informative and such attention to detail. They show a builder like me how to do so much, thanks!!

I thank you greatly for that comment. Sincerely.   I’m glad some people enjoy it  

I try to write stuff a little differently than most, in other words, I ramble on. As an ex professional aviator, I have a passion for aircraft, especially oddball aircraft.

I truly love adding a bit of historical fact, and even if the absolute facts are a bit murky, I’ll fudge the difference and state what was most likely.

The absolute fact that the design team of what became the Aichi Type 99 or D3A followed the same engineering research papers as were used by Reginald Mitchell for what became the Spitfire is incredibly fascinating, and is an absolute fact. And very few people know that. The two types have much in common with each other despite being developed on the other side of the world from each other, and for quite opposite uses.

I urge you to try one of these kits.  It’s a fun build so far. My attention to detail is a bit odd.  I firmly go by “if you can’t see it, it doesn’t matter” train of thought.  
I build closed up, ready for flight.  I’ll open canopies, attach weapons, load belts into gun breeches, etc, but the access panels are closed.  Mr Zoukei Mura must hate me 😂. I build what I can see, and ignore what I can’t. 

[Clunkmeister]

A bit of picking away at this kit. 

[Clunkmeister]

[Clunkmeister]

I’m thinking ol’ Ernie’s gonna have several RFI threads in June or early July

[Martinnfb]

Busy table. Amazing work as always.👍

[Clunkmeister]

I’m thinking of waiting until the new decal sets from Art Scale arrive on the market within a few weeks. Mike Swinburne is developing a new 3D prop hub for this as well.

I think this will go on a table at the IPMS USA Nationals, along with my Lanc and Helldiver, Hurricane, and possibly either a Devastator or Wapiti in the Display Category. 

[Clunkmeister]

I see the front of the wing root filler is cracking.  Oh Milliput!  Where are you? 
 

update:  rolled an itty bitty string of Milliput into the front wing roots, and jammed it in as far as it’ll go. Today, I sand and smooth, then repaint those tiny areas. Then a bit of a lighter faded highlighting a few areas, high points, and panels, and after some streaking and general light mucking up, we see about decals. Maybe mask and spray the Hinumaru areas, and see what gives.

Imhave all the respect in the world for those who went to war in these aircraft.  They were apparently a delightful and responsive machine in the air, but so is a Beech Bonanza, and this machine has about as much battle damage protection as the Bonanza.  😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

No wonder they were so easy to flame when the incendiary rounds started flying.