1to1scale Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Grey matter conversion kit is giving me fits, pun intended. So far, my impression is lukewarm, even though at first glance it looks nice, I have found a lot of trimming, adjusting, sanding, shaping, and adjusting. To me, it seems like the molds are old and there are issues because of it, plus, it really needed some better alignment aids for the chopped up fuselage. Here is one big issue, when you cut the fuselage, it springs, the plastic warps and spreads out. The main nose piece is slightly out of square, so it take a lot of fine trimming, sanding, carving to make it line up close to right. Second, the shape of the resin nose is off, the Has fuselage is wider, therefore, you need to trim the center brace under the windshield, which also means sanding the windshield to fit. Another problem, since the fuselage sprung, all the dozen joints that need to line up within an inch of the forward wing root are all over the place, so I started by putting in three spreader bars, one before and after the cockpit at the bottom, a third across the lower inner cowl. Next glueing the Hasegawa “cheeks” to the nose plug, then gluing the center brace in. Next was the two upper and lower wing roots, then gluing the back wing to fuselage joint, then upper wing edge front the back, clamping the front three parts together in the root area. This is vastly complicated because to fit the grey matter conversion, you had to chop out sections of the wing and fuselage, so what was three pieces of plastic becomes many. Next is the front landing gear “knees” as I call them, then the gun covers. I spent three days doing all this, giving things time to fully cure, before moving to the next joint. I know that there are much worse resin conversions on the market, but there are also better. I have a Fisher kit that is simply perfect. With that said, I am glad I have an F/L version, but I don’t know if I would do another. My nose was out of square, the shape of the nose was off from where it joins the Hasegawa fuselage, and the carb duct underneath was wrong, I had to sand and shape it to look and fit better. Even looking at the pictures above, it Looks close, but with all the parts together, it’s significantly too long. With the Trumpeter P-40F coming, it might be time to retire this mold. however, at this point I’m committed, or need to be. More pics tomorrow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Looks like you're beating it into shape 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 More progress, I actually got it finished to the point I can concentrate on sanding out some of the waves, then throw some primer on it. Excuse the still wet wash, and the nasty spray pattern, I realized too late I was using my Neo with a bent, clogged tip, not my Iwata. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 More work, Mr Surfacer 500 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 12, 2018 Author Share Posted October 12, 2018 Got 3 more fuselages buttoned up tonight, 3 more to go, then lots and lots of sanding seams. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Great progress on this production line. Is it only my old eye playing games or is the plastic spinner slightly bigger then the resin nose? Cheers Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 12, 2018 Author Share Posted October 12, 2018 No tricks, it is bigger, I’m going to have to chuck it up in a drill and sand it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 Two wings left to go! 5 done. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 That's looking promising 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 After everyone went to bed, I finished up the last two wings and attached them. On to the small parts tomorrow, then a LOT of Mr Surfacer 500 work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Amazing progress on the production line. Easily a project most of us would shy away from Keep ‘em comin Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 19, 2018 Author Share Posted October 19, 2018 I have a flock of hawks! I was working on attaching rear transparencies today, except for having to fill non-existant panel lines, they fit amazingly well. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 Lovely job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJTX Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 Looking great Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 I spent a little time today working on all the gun sights, after building 3 PE and acetate sights, the super thick Hasegawa sights look like poop. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Just a quick note, Bregun makes decent set of gun-sights in 32nd scale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Simply Monumental! Keep ‘m comin Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted November 8, 2018 Author Share Posted November 8, 2018 Unfortunately, work has stalled. My back is a wreck, and the Doc didnt want to do surgery to fix it, so they put me on "pain management" where they throw a bunch of drugs at you you that do anything but control pain. Well after two weeks of being in a daze, doing nothing, and not wanting to do anything, I quit the drugs and im back to plain old NSAIDs. the other drugs didnt do a damn thing but mess with my mind and make me twitch like a crack whore all night with no sleep. After being off of them for a few days I am feeling 100% better, still have back pain, but I can at least deal with it. My next step on the P-40s is to start laying down some seam filler, then do a LOT of sanding. So far, only the F/L conversion is ready for primer. This weekend is IPMS Middle Tennessee, so I might also dust off a couple built kits and enter them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 The B is one of the best looking planes ever built IMO. Alas the Trumpy rivets! Looking forward to your completions! Gaz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Sorry to hear about the back, really looking forward to this group wing coming together......... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted November 18, 2018 Administrators Share Posted November 18, 2018 Hope you feel better soon... loving the work so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 I have been resuming work this week, I spent a few hours applying seam putty on all the kits, there is a LOT of seams that need filler. As a rough measurement, I counted about 20 inches of seams that need filler on each plane. 75% of the seams have fine detail and rivets that are extremely close, so I have be really careful sanding. I have fully prepped the F/L conversion for priming, and a single "K" is ready, I am half finished sanding an "E", and then still have to sand a "K" and "E", and then both "N's." It has been taking me about 2 hours per plane to carefully sand each plane, so I probably still have a few weeks work to have all of them ready for primer. Of course, they may require more filling and sanding after. I would be happy to have all of them done by the end of the year, but there is no rush. I plan on taking breaks from the monotony of sanding, so I may bring back a couple kits from the SOL (shelf of limbo). I recently came across a Hasegawa P-47D that I started work on, I pretty much started the cockpit and pre-painted lots of parts on the sprues, including the resin wheels. This is an easy build because I had done a lot of prep work, I really need to assemble the cockpit and close up the fuselage. I also had a Yahu panel, and Fine Molds seat belts. Until last week, I forgot about this plane. I believe I stuffed it on the shelf when I ran into paint problems with my Corsair build. I also want to do a few quick builds on some very old (pre-80's) helicopters, so I will throw some updates on here occasionally, but nobody wants to see sanding videos. Once I get to the primer stage, I'll post a few pictures. Ill also throw some pics up on my other projects. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 Nice to read your feeling a lot better and back at the bench. Just don't push it and go slow. A Jug to for a bit of a diversion .. Looking forward to the build photos as you go. Keep 'em comin Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 State of my workbench report! I have 3 fully sanded, four more to go. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Wow, that is overwhelming , but super neat at the same time.:) Cheers Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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