Revell A310 1:144 (Part 1) TAP Portugal 2005 livery

[supergru]

&lt;b&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;b&gt;This first post is all f***ed up - &amp;nbsp;I tried to fix it several times, reported &amp;nbsp;to mods, but nothing- so just skip it ...&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Poll removed!&lt;/b&gt; alt="&lt;img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/soapbox.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="<img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/soapbox.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="<img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/soapbox.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="">">"&gt;" &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I said I would upload my A310 when I'm finished with chop-shop phase, but I got stuck with(in) it and I think it's about time to involve you ladies and gen's out there ...[br][br]&lt;strike&gt;THE POLL: &lt;/strike&gt;The general idea for this project was to install (build, whatever) a construction to be able to detach wings from fuselage and attach them back, over and over again. Why? If you look an airliner from above you can see it fills an imaginary square box, meaning you'll need a big box for a model (for transport, safe keeping, etc.) - length of the fuselage vs. wingspan. &lt;i&gt;Sometimes it's hard to find a decent box.&lt;/i&gt; But, if you could detach wings as, and when you wish, I'm sure you'll need maybe even half of that same box for kit.[br]&lt;i&gt;I saw something similar (maybe even here?!) .. One of our colleagues "shortened" Tu-160's wingspan (1/72, Trumpeter) by installing brass tubes inside the wing. Of course, wing variable geometry was no longer available, but this wasn't his/hers goal because the flaps were down.&lt;/i&gt;[br]So, I went to the hardware shop (not local, for sure) and found some small brass L- and square shaped struts (beams) and tubes. Why not alluminium? I couldn't find any struts that are so small to fit inside the wing. Else, I would take it for sure. Ad I didn't want to use plastic of any kind, because it would be glued somewhere I don't want to be glued, for sure.[br]Without any technical drawing I started to cut (saw) brass and glue it back with two component epoxy glue. [br]Two pieces would be joined to the wings and they would slide over L-shaped pieces which form a "triangle", and are attached to the fuselage. Additional pieces of thick steel wire (tubing) would serve as a guide, for stability, dihedral control etc.&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/Clipboard01.jpg"&gt; &lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/Clipboard02.jpg"&gt; &lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/Clipboard03.jpg"&gt; &lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/Clipboard05.jpg"&gt; &lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/Clipboard06.jpg"&gt;&lt;br&gt;It ended in something like this (pics from yesterday) ...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/IMG_6491.jpg"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src="http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx57/supergru/ARC_A310_TAP/IMG_6492.jpg"&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;So, at this moment the "brass construction" is half done, and my question is&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;1) Should I give it up - I can remove the triangle and glue wings and fuselage as per instructions, as if nothing happened: [br][br][blockquote]- because... It's my first project after many years[br]- because... It's 1/144 scale (small models)[br]- because... It's Revell A310 (checked some other airliner kits I have, seems that this particular kit is not such a good kit to experiment because of wing-fuselage joint looked from below) [/blockquote][br][br]This is actually my real problem: where to cut the damn wing???&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;nbsp;alt="&lt;img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/monketdance4.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="<img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/monketdance4.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="<img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/monketdance4.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="">">"&gt;"&lt;br&gt; From above it's obvious - no cutting needed ... From below, main wheel bay gives me the creeps ... &lt;i&gt;Maybe to assemble the kit with gears up?&lt;/i&gt; I must admit that most of the Extratech's PE set (see next post) is for wheels and wheelbays, meaning IF gear goes up, it would be surpluss.[br][br]2) Go for it ... I have already a better idea of not-so-complex triangle construction - it would be a straight C-shaped beam... I'll explain it later, if you vote for this solution...[br][br][blockquote]- because.. I'll probably need this for bigger kits (A340, A380, B747, B777,...), maybe even for some 1/72 projects ...&lt;br&gt;- because... I can't build a model without problems ... &lt;i&gt;If there aren't any, I'll find them somewhere&lt;/i&gt;. KISS principle, which is in aerospace works not so good for me.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;- because... I have nothing else to write here...[br][/blockquote][br]3) Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about ... Explained &lt;i&gt;per se&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strike&gt;Think till Sunday 12:00 AM (Eastern) or 6:00 PM (CET) you'll have enough time to read, think and vote.&lt;/strike&gt;[br][br]2010/02/12: Recently I found how to edit thread description, etc.. so I removed the poll, too. I think there's no need to change this text ...&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; alt="&lt;img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/monketdance4.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="<img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/monketdance4.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="<img src="http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/public/style_emoticons/default/monketdance4.gif" class="bbc_emoticon" alt="">">"&gt;" [br][br]My next post: &lt;i&gt;What else have I done in the meantime...&lt;/i&gt;

Edited September 20, 2011 by supergru

[supergru]

Revell A310-300 in 1/144

Part one: TAP Portugal (2005 livery), reg. no CS-TEI, „Fernão de Magalhães“, c/n 495

For the start, a bit of history:

Fernão de Magalhães was a Portuguese navigator and explorer. He was the first European to sail across the Pacific Ocean, and the first person to circumnavigate the globe. He discovered and gave his name to the Strait of Magellan in 1520. History lesson ended.

CS-TEI had a c/n 495 and was delivered to TAP on April 6th, 1989 and “left” on May 3rd, 2008. All A310 fleet is replaced by A330.

As I said in my intro topic, I'm starting with A310. Better to say, I've started, 2 months ago. But, the real „start“ was some three years ago, when I saw a commercial in local newspapers with a very beautiful plane. After a little bit research on the net, I've found out that it was A310 from TAP. In the meantime, I bought:

Revell 04205 A310 Interflug/Luftwaffe

Extratech 14405 A310 PE set

I've also bought another Revell A310, just in case I go mad with the first one ... If not, it will be PIA, probably one of those colourful „Indus Valley civilization“ liveries (F-SILK, thank you for aftermarket decals). OK, I have already plans for the third A310, but let's go back to the first one. First things first, right?

As for the decals, I'll use a combination of:

- original decals from Revell kit (those intended for Luftwaffe are very good for doors, engines, etc...)

- new TwoSix and old Carpena for TAP 2005 livery, as a reference mostly (yet to be ordered)

- Skyline engine spinners (also to be ordered, and to be used for future airliners)

- self made (for vertical tail, registration, etc .. because there are some errors and/or some decals are missing on those aftermarket sheets, since I want this particular plane)

The Revell kit is an old one, moulds are from mid 80's, meaning (correct me if I’m wrong):

- raised panels

- not true details (some of them are missing/wrong, and some are very simplified)

- no sharp edges

- fitting is not good (won't say bad, 'cause I've seen worse from Revell, like the AWACS I've made OOB a few years back)

- it's out of production for years, with a few reissues with different decals thru the years. On eBay it's sold for about 30-40 Euros now.

- there is no alternative (this is the only kit available in 1/144 scale)

- Extratech PE set is a must (engine fan, wheels and wheel bays, some antennas...)

- in my opinion, the windows on the kit are too small (checked with the photos). I’ll fix this with decals.

- there are many sink marks, seam lines are bad, and the trailing edges (on the rudder, flaps, ...) are way too thick.

In June I've made some decals in Illustrator with a help from airliners.net photos... As you can see, the decals for vertical tail are missing... I'll get to this back later... I know, I know, CS-TDI had simplified 2005 scheme, I’ll add this later, too. I needed about 3 days for the work you see below.

For those of you who are well in vector graphics and are lazy (like me, from time to time) a little hint: go to the Wikipedia and search, for example for TAP Portugal, then load their logo on the right side, it’s already in SVG (scalable vector graphics, I think), meaning you just have to scale ‘em up. In the same way I found the Portuguese flag, Airbus logo, ... Only thing I had to made myself from scratch was a Star Alliance logo (Wiki has only a PNG file).

“Dry fitting” with scotch tape...

I’ve thinned down all trailing edges on the wing, horizontal and vertical tail with sanding paper 600 and 1000.

I’ve also filled the windows and doors with putty and sanded again with 600 and 1000 sanding paper. I’ll do the cockpit after I glue the fuselage.

I‘ve modified vertical tail root on the port side. Starboard side will follow after I join fuselage halves (symmetry). I checked other A310’s I could find on ARC: seems like no one bothered with this detail. After that I can finish with revising the decals. The port side decal for vertical tail (for TAP livery) goes exactly over this “extrusion”, as on the most other airliner companies. On the starboards side it’s totally white, means no problemo.

Before ...

After ...

All pics didn't fit ... So, up to the post no.3

Edited September 7, 2009 by supergru

[supergru]

Where did I stop?!

Check this photo ... It shows everything ... Sharp rudder and elevator trailing edge ... smooth & oblique root of the vertical tail ... and what do you think of that tailplane actuator covers (its geometry) ? It looks so strange on the kit...

Click here

I also started with engine assembly. How to install PE fan? My option would be ..

I’ve made some spinners already, but I think I’ll do it again ...

It's 1 AM here, so I'm off for now ...

To be continued ...

[supergru]

People, people, people ... You scared sh** out of me ... What happened? Where are you? In last few days 'bout 100 of you "dropped an eye" here, and there were only 5 (FIVE) votes in total (4 to proceed with brass experiment, and 1 that did not understood anything). Except mine 3 posts, there are no others, meaning, no suggestions, no comments, no questions... no interest?! This topic dropped back to page 5. Maybe I should improve my English?

As for this build, I decided to remove the brass triangle and to close the fuselage, regardless of poll results, since there were only a few votes. I'll try this idea on some further projects.

In the meantime, there were not so many interesting updates - I only twisted the PE fans (pics to follow).

Anyway, I would like to thank everybody for their participation!

[supergru]

To continue with final pics of brass tringle... Shortly after those pics were taken, I've detached the triangle from the lower fuselage-wing joint ...

Some updates ...

I'll start with closing the fuselage ... Revell gave a sort of reinforcement for fuselage (assembly 1), so I made an additional disk from CD box for the rear of the fuselage ..

You can find it already glued on the pictures below. As for balance weight usually I take a big screw or one or two nuts and I "stick" them with putty or modeling clay.

Once I melted the whole nose on a Dragon Su-24 because the putty could not dry itself inside the nose, so the putty "ate" the whole plastic from inside, just like acid would. You could take a wood tooth pick and punch a hole thru the nose. :)

This time I got another idea: I took balls from the ball bearing for bicycles and I glue them with hot glue gun. You have to be careful because on the fuselage right side the heat (about 150 deg C) accidentally melted plastic around forward cargo bay doors.

A bit of OT: I found a good A310 Fedex built on another forum. Does somebody knows why this page cannot be opened anymore?

The author had a good idea how to rescribe the panel lines: he primed white model with grey, so when he cut the line he could see which lines are done (white) and which are still to be rescribed (grey).

[supergru]

This is the final pic before I glued the fuselage ... Those discs, which I've talked about, are a bit far away. I think I'll add another one in the middle. Next time ... ;)

I added the cockpit glass just to fill the cockpit area, but filling with putty was still needed.

Crap ... ;) I displaced the front fuselage while gluing. The right half went up, while left went down. Even more filling and sanding... Since panel lines are also dissappearing, I started with rescribing, too.

That grey area on cargo doors - that's putty I filled the "melted area" with.

For now I'm working on the fuselage only .. Wings, engines, wheels, ... are still to come. I've ordered all the decals, so when they arrive I can finish the cockpit area.

I'm using Italeri putty - (grey) - it doesn't shrink and it's very hard - and Mr White putty - it shrinks a lot and it's porous if added in thick layers.

Since local weather forecast is very good for this week (sunny, 25 deg C) , I hope I might prime the fuselage in the near future ..

[Aigore]

Interesting build there. Fighting you all the way eh?

Keep at it!

Cheers!

[Wayne S]

What is the reason for the Brass? Why not strengthen with styrene then use earth magnets to attach and detach the wing?

[supergru]

What is the reason for the Brass? Why not strengthen with styrene then use earth magnets to attach and detach the wing?

Man, where were you a few weeks ago?! Magnets, ... ;) I have some ... Somewhere ... For the next project, maybe, ... There's no turning back now. Still, where to cut the wing on lower side?

[Maker]

People, people, people ... You scared sh** out of me ... What happened? Where are you? In last few days 'bout 100 of you "dropped an eye" here, and there were only 5 (FIVE) votes in total (4 to proceed with brass experiment, and 1 that did not understood anything). Except mine 3 posts, there are no others, meaning, no suggestions, no comments, no questions... no interest?! This topic dropped back to page 5. Maybe I should improve my English?

Your English is fine.

The problem?

1. Way too much to read! Too complicated for a quick decision for a poll.

A simple brief explanation at the beginning would have gotten a much better response for you.

You could then follow that simple description with the more in-depth post.

2. It's an airliner. They just aren't as popular as other models.

In answer to your first question. Don't give up! It looks like a cool project and will look nice with the markings you posted.

As for where to cut the wing? I have no idea.

[supergru]

Just some smaller progress for the past few days ...

I'm playing NFS Shift now or better to say I want to see how my notebook struggles with high end graphics needs ... My 30th birthday was a week ago, too...

Sparmax DH-103 arrived, as did an MAC regulator with quick release coupling, 3m high pressure air hose and in-line moisture filter (see picture above). Bought over eBay and shipped from Hong Kong. My first airbrush was a Revell Student ISB 500 (or something like that), single action, gravity feed ... Very hard to clean ... In those days I used Revell's gas bottles, but now I hope I will buy myself a decent compressor one day. Homemade spraybooth is planned, too. I thought about Iwata, but since I didn't 'brush for years now (10, probably even 13-14) I think it's better to (re)start with a cheap copy, rather that original.

As for A310 ... Well, fuselage rescribing is almost finished, tailcone and vertical tail still undone. Wing rescribing started ... It's much easier to rescribe a wing rather that a fuselage ... As for fuselage, I wanted to rescribe the lines over the original ones, but I ended up with cross checking the A310 photos, because one of the original lines went thru the window, which is, at least to say, very unlikely. Horizontal tail, both on port and starboard side are rescribed, too. The original lines are not correct, but I'll try to correct this on the next A310. As for the tailcone, well, I started just with a rebuilding the APU exhaust (the hole was too big) and ended up with reconstructing new "shoulders" on the upper side of the tailboom. I just couldn't leave it as is ... I hope I can upload some good pics on my next post ... Please look at this picture far aft, between vertical and horizontal tail, the part of the tailcone covered with rivets ... THAT's what I'm talking about, and that's what I'll try to achieve, but without rivets. First tryouts with putty are very promising. Still nothing has been primed. I had some problems with putty: I have two packages from Italeri, and the old one is useless - it falls off the model kit after a few days.

Decals came, too.

Engine spinners from Skyline are awesome. They are printed by Cartograf from Italy. It'a nice to find Cartograf in 1/144 scale.

Russian Knights from Begemot in 1/48, but since they aren't connected in any point with A310, I'll skip them. I'll skip Qatar B777 (silk printed) and TAP A340 (laser printed) in 1/144 scale from Two Six decals for the same reason.

One of PIA's Indus Valley colorful liveries (F-DCAL), silk printed. This would be my next A310. The decals are very good.

TAP 2005 livery for CS-TEX from Colorado/Carpena ...

+ sharp edges

+ very good color match

- for CS-TEX only

- too small window holes (probably same as on Revell model kit)

- decals are under-/oversized when compared with mine, made in Illustrator. For example, check "TAP" on both port and starboard side, and see how they match with the windows.

-- one of the biggest issues is printing. Decals are misplaced - most of them are printed outside the transparent film.

and from Two Six Decals ...

+ windows have correct size

- although laser printed, they have unsharp edges, as if somebody printed a scanned picture, and the printing resolution is very small, maybe 400 dpi or less

- for CS-TEX only

- some windows are missing

- darker colors than needed

- decals are under-/oversized when compared with mine

- doors are printed with others decals together, but they are way too simple. It's better to use doors given from Revell

- on some places there's a small amount of color (almost as if there is no color) and somewhere decals are overpainted.

Here is the cockpit decals compared with the one from PIA's decal sheet (in red)

As said earlier, I wanted them as for reference only, but now it seems as they are totally useless. I can only hope that I can made/print mine better. If not, I still have the PIA sheet.

[supergru]

Some pics today ...

I've rescribed upper wing halves ... I usually make some guidelines with pencil and then I take the scriber ...

As for cockpit ... When I filled and sanded cockpit windows, they were rounded, when looked from above. So, when the PIA decal sheet came, I made an outline of cockpit decal in Illustrator and printed it. After that, I cut a piece and stick it on the model and redraw the lines with pencil.

After that I filled the windows with pencil, till they were totally black. Then I took a file and sanded black area down, so when you look it from above now, it's "cornered" ...

I've started with rescribing vertical tail, too ...

[TheFlyingDutchman]

Nice A310 you've got there! You really helped me out with your idea of mounting Xtratech's PE fanblades. Intentionally I wanted to create a see-through look but I think that's too complicated for this scale.

[supergru]

Nice A310 you've got there! You really helped me out with your idea of mounting Xtratech's PE fanblades. Intentionally I wanted to create a see-through look but I think that's too complicated for this scale.

I think it's not so complicated in this scale, but for this old model of A310 ... To see through, well I think you have to thin down engine exhaust a lot ... I was thinking 'bout it too, but I'm already taking shortcuts to finish mine till December. Where can we see your progress?

From post no.4: Not perfect, but my first twisted PE fans ..

[TheFlyingDutchman]

Where can we see your progress?

There's no progress to see I started a while ago with adding the PE-parts to the landing gear but I ruined the kit by trying to replace the nose for the A330 nose (Revell). This didn't really work out so I had to buy a new kit.

It waited in its box until a decal manufacturer released decals for Air Transat. Now I heard MASP released them so maybe I'll go on with it soon

[Wayne S]

From post no.4: Not perfect, but my first twisted PE fans ..

Boy!! them must of been fun to make.

Keep it up bud

Edited October 9, 2009 by Wayne S

[Nuno Andresen]

Well, dare may I say that I come from the same land of this colourful livery. :)

And I really have to applause you Super Guru, as your build is going exceptionally well!

I am really thrilled with this model! If I can invite you – here goes a link to a Portuguese Modelling Forum directly linked to the Portuguese civilian airframes. Just in case you want to present there your work. English speaking is normal around there.

http://www.forum.modelismo-na.net/viewforum.php?f=35

Keep your excellent job! Cheers! Beers are on my account tonight!

[supergru]

Some progress update for the past two days...

First... Lower wing-body ... How to call it? Part? Yes, a wing-body part, that is ... Filled and sanded down two-three times already ... And rescribed, where possible...

You can cross-check these pics with the last one from the first post. That wasn't a gap describing the shape of main wheel bay cover on the fuselage. It was the Panama Channel! :)

Very complex shape meaning it was very difficult to fill anything with putty and then to sand with file or sanding paper. Those "covers" still needs to be rescribed.

Rescribed horizontal tail from above. Port and starboard ...

... and from below. This time it's starboard and port side ...

I went thru all almost finished parts that were on my table once again to check if there's still some work to be done (filling, sanding, ...).

Here you have for example an upper wing, port side, finished

I've also started with rescribing vertical tail. Here is unfinished starboard side ..

I'll start a new message to describe new nose ...

[supergru]

Why did my A310 need a new nose?

First, here is a picture of the real thing in profile. Now, if look at it, there's a "bulb" just in front of the cockpit windows.

And before I've "cornered" cockpit windows that bulby nose was still existing (see the last picture in post no. 6). But, then I sanded too much of the nose, so it was almost blended as on new Dreamliner.

So, here comes putty ...

Sanded down .. (don't look at the color, it's putty, look at the shape!)

As you can see, the Moon surface is flatter than this one. And somewhere putty just fall off everytime.

So I took CA glue to even the surface. This is the finished nose. It was sanded down with 600, 1000 and 2000 grid paper.

I've also repaired some panel lines on the fuselage (too wide or too deep or not in a line). In the end, I've sanded whole fuselage in front of the wing with 1000 and 2000 grid paper. The surface is not as original, but it's already very smooth and shining a little bit ...

Now to hit that tailcone!

[supergru]

A small update before the tailcone ...

I've added Extratech parts no.25 and rescribed those main wheel fuselage covers ...

[supergru]

Well... For this build its over 1000 viewers and still counting... Thank you all for your interest....

Still.. I'm missing some "in-progress" comments. :blink:

Hope you're not scared of commenting an airliner here. Because I am scared of this build from time to time. There are so many "should I..", "could I...", "what if...", "maybe","if only", first time for this 'n' that ... And there's still nothing primed... I think this will change in the near future, too.

Back to the tailcone ...

First I sanded down those tailplane actuator covers (see first pic in post no.3) and added a lot of putty ... both port and starboard side ...

Then I took the pencil and draw freehanded some characteristic lines and panel lines on the tailcone. I used a.net pics as a reference. Those lines defined just how much putty needed to be sanded down, were are the panel lines etc...

,

I've started back down at 240 grid sanding paper (a lot of putty needed to be removed), then 400 and finally 600.

This is not a final state, more like a 80 %, with a big hole on the starboard side ...

So what do you see at the picture below, or should be able to see at least:

-new, reshaped and smaller APU exhaust (hole is smaller)

-rescribed vertical tail and tailcone (starboard only at some 90% over)

-new tailcone shoulders

-new root extension on the vertical tail

-trailing edges thinned down, and starboard vertical tail was thinned, because there was a big step from fin to rudder, etc.

Some extra details will be added soon. This is a dry fit with horizontal stabs.

Remember, this is how the original kit parts look like (another A310, dry fitted with h. stabs from current project)

As i said earlier, there's no way I could leave it as is as it was... I'm very happy with the results...

Some additional pics of original A310 kit parts for reference ...

More pics to come! B)

I wanted to post this on Thursday, but there was some problems here on ARC. Never mind ...

[supergru]

Now we have page no.2 ... Some more pics regarding the new tailcone. Nothing has been changed as from the last post, its just because the kit is white so its a bit hard to take pics under artificial light.

That's all for now... Keep those comments coming! :blink:

[Ajed1]

As a complete novice I can't really comment BUT I will say that watching you overcome

problems as they arise is adding vastly to my understanding of "how to do".

Please continue the good work - I have so much to learn about modern methods.

Thank You

Ajed1

Who Dares Wins

[supergru]

Some updates from past few days ... Since I made an error while gluing (a step between fuselage halves), I got a step inside the front wheelbay, too.

Sanding is almost impossible here, so I just changed OLFA knives and removed the problem ...

I started with main wheels ... First the seam between two halves is awful ...

I sanded with 400 and 600 grid sanding paper and then started with gluing PE parts from Extratech ...

As for those rings no.2, I didn't took them. They are very small and thin, meaning if I managed to detach them from PE sheet and removed surpluss material they were not rounded any more. I got something more like a 3D elipse. This was my mistake, because I used only a rounded OLFA knife for this at that moment.

Differences between wheels with and without PE are clearly visible

Later I did the front wheels, too.

But this time I was more careful with the rings (no. 2 for the front wheels) and managed to glue them both inside and outside, as per instructions. The clue was: to detach them I spinned rings while they were still on the sheet and then I sanded excess material with 400 grid sanding paper.

Sorry for the picture quality, as I said, it's white model under artificial light.

All of them prepared for priming ...

[Atlant]

Wow! Nice work! Will monitor this thread.

Your work is very inspiring!