Mike J. Idacavage Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Greetings! This is a really cool GB, and I could not pass up the chance to contribute. I decided to go a slightly different route than many others in this GB and I picked a civilian airshow performer. I plan on building the Pitts used by Sanetaka Yokoyama (Sunny) in 2007 after the first leader of Airock (Rocky) died after a crash ( while training I think). I will be using the Platz release which features this aircraft: It's a great little kit which was first released many years ago by LS. The kit is the basic LS Pitts S-2A and there are some inaccuracies right out of the box. The two most obvious ones are the 3 bladed prop now used by Sunny and the real aircraft is a two seater that is flown from the rear seat under a single bubble canopy. There are also some supports that are missing on the kit. I plan on not worrying about the conversion from a 2 seat to a single seat and the 3 bladed prop. I don't think my scratchbuilding skills in this area are worth the effort! I will add a few additional support rods as needed and plan to rig this little puppy. I am in 3 other GBs at the moment, so this build may be a little slow! Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Good to have you onboard, nice to see something different Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 This should be very neat. Don't see too many Pitts builds here. Watching with interest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted June 15, 2009 Author Share Posted June 15, 2009 Well, I am finally out of the starting gate with my entry! Not much to show right now, but at least I have a start. As you can see by the photo with the small paint tin, it is going to be a tiny model! I decided to not sink a lot of time in the cockpit as it will be barely visible. I used the stock Pitts 'pit painted light gray to match photos. I followed this with a wash using Mr. Detailer and finally a flat coat to bring it all together. I plan on adding a seat harness at the end. Here's how it looks tonight: In the top down photo, you can see the inside of a blanking plate I added to prevent see through from the exhaust area. I also started to drill out the holes for the rigging. You can see one hole about 3/4 up the side of the tail rudder. Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! I WILL be following this one very closely!!!! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Update on the little Pitts? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted July 4, 2009 Author Share Posted July 4, 2009 Update on the little Pitts? Ahhh, glad you asked! My work got in the way of real life for most of June and I ended up being gone for almost 3 weeks out of 4. This put a real crimp in my modeling time! I got back this week and actually managed to squeeze in some modeling time. I put together the main parts of the airframe and did my first pass on filling in the seams. Here is how it looks now: Some things to note: I added a pitot tube made from a pin on the lower wing. I also added blanking plates to the air holes in the front of the cowling. You can see the two large holes on either side of the prop shaft in the frontal view. Now I need to do a little more putty work on some visble seams and then it's ready for the first coat of primer to see where I missed. I have also been working on the prop and the cowling but I'll save that for a future update when I am finished with those steps. Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Awesome update! I can't wait to see more...very nice little bird! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 I'm back with another update on the Pitts! It's been slow going and it does not look like much progress, but there is some to talk about. I had several rounds of putty/primer/sand/repeat since my last post. It's amazing how some small imperfections really seem to show up on a small model! It turns out that trying to clean up a really small model becomes a great way to inflict some damage on another part. When I felt that I had caught the flaws, I added the rest of the small parts that would need a gloss white coat such as the wheel spats,tailplanes and some of the struts. I'll add the others after decaling as they will sit right in the middle of the wing decals. I also added the landing gear struts from plastic rod as they are very visible on the 1:1 Pitts. Here's how the Pitts looks now, ready for it's final primer coat: If the last primer coat looks good, then it's off to the multiple gloss white coats! Have fun modeling! Mike :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Good luck, I hate painting white. Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted July 26, 2009 Author Share Posted July 26, 2009 Julien, I know exactly what you are talking about! White is one of the more challenging colors for me to paint. As it seems most of my modeling subjects need white (I do a lot of airliners & rockets), I just learn to suffer with it. I did run into a problem already with the Pitts paint job, though. The primer coat looked good so it was off to the gloss final paint coats. I had the upper wing supported by a small wire carefully glued into one of the strut slots so that I can give both surfaces a white overcoat at the same time. Guess what happened? Right after I shot the first wet coat of gloss white paint, the wing popped off the wire support and landed in a rather dirty area of my modeling bench! No permanant damage, I just need to let it dry hard, then lightly sand/polish the dirt off of the surface of the wing and reshoot the white. Luckily, the first white coat went on OK for the main fuselage! While I was working on the white coat for the fuselage, I pulled out the canopy and cleaned it up. In the real Airock Pitts, the canopy is a very light clear green. Of course, the kit comes with the standard colorless clear canopy. I took a suggestion from another post on ARC and dyed the canopy a light green using a green food color/Future mix. It's not perfect, but does look a lot like the real canopy now! Here's a photo of the green tinted canopy: Have fun modeling! Mike Good luck, I hate painting white.Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 The canopy looks good from here. Nice job on the build so far. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 Time to add another post in this thread! White (as Julien mentioned) is a real pain to apply with minimum problems . I find that I usually need repeated coats and some light sanding at the end. Well, I have been slogging away with my little free time and have been making some progress on the Pitts. In fact, I decided it was time to move to the decal stage today after my last light sanding/polishing step. Here is how the Pitts now looks: For the first two photos, I balanced the top wing on the supports to see what it would look like. I plan on decaling the top wing seperately in order to have an easier time with the decals. Time to press on to the decal stage! Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 16, 2009 Author Share Posted August 16, 2009 While I am working my way through decaling the Pitts, I thought I would post a photo of my finished prop. The spinner is Alclad shiny aluminum and the prop blades have the kit decals already added. I found this to be one of the more diificult things to photograph in this build! My camere either wanted to focus on everything but the tiny prop or the whole thing was amazingly small in the final photo. BTW, for those in the know, this is not anything like the actually prop used on the full scale Airock Pitts. They use a 3 bladed prop but the kit only comes with a 2 bladed prop. I looked through my stash and could not come up with anything that looked correct in this tiny size. Hopefully, I wont be too dinged on this faux pas! I will be taking a week or so break on this project as I plan to head up to the IPMS Nats Monday morning. I should have something to post on the decal step after I return and make some progress. The decals are good quality (Cartograf), but they are awkward to apply in this small scale and have not fitted well at certail areas. I will need to match the paint and do some repair work when I am done. Right now it is not a pretty sight! :huh: Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Excellent progress! I love it! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 26, 2009 Author Share Posted August 26, 2009 All right, the Pitts has color!!!! After having the tiny all white bird sitting on my bench for way too long, I have managed to finish up the decal step earlier today. I also had to touch up the decals with paint where the different parts did not match. It is now sitting on my bench drying for a few days before I hit it with an overall clear coat. Here's how it looks now: Once I have the clear coat on, then it's forward to the final asembly, detail painting and the rigging. I JUST might get this done by the end of the GB! :D Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 Looking nice there. Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 30, 2009 Author Share Posted August 30, 2009 Thanks Julien! The Pitts is now looking like a real aircraft as I just finished adding the top wing along with the wing struts. This is NOT something one should do after the fourth cup of coffee!! I just shot a few photos of what it looks like as the glue dries. I'll need to tack the struts in a bit better and shoot another light coat of satin finish to repair the glue stains. I will let this sit for a few days,as it is still a bit shakey. Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted September 13, 2009 Author Share Posted September 13, 2009 Finished!!!! I ran into a bunch of little problems and one major one as I approached the finish line. The big problem I had was trying to rig this little bugger! I tried a new aproach with this Pitts, by pre-drilling the holes and then taking very fine steel surgical type wire and inserting it when cut to length. After a few hours I did not have a single line done! I kept kinking the wire while trying to insert it into the holes. I then switched to using fine nylon sewing thread. This was a bit better, but I was unable to get tight rigging wires. I ended up doing each line 2 or 3 times as I would get so far, and then manage to break a wire while trying to handle the very small working area. Oh well, I did try something new! I an happy with the way the tinted canopy came out, though. Here's how the Pitts looks at the finish line: The pitot tube on the left lower wing is made from a straight pin. The exhaust pipes are scratchbuilt from styrene rod. Man, this is one small model! All in all, it was fun and I learned a few tricks that will make my next Pitts a bit beter. Thanks to everyone for the support in this GB, it was a great time! Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Very VERY COOL! Thanks a lot for the in prog.! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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