Derek Moss Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 The first step:I sprayed a fine coat of Gunze Mr. surfacer on all the sprues (except for the hidden insides)as a base coat and to cover the red (sorry about the photo quality, the light was low and it appears that my flash is on the blink). I went on to start assembling the cockpit (photos later)and here I ran into a curious problem! I am using the Kuivalainen interior p/e set and discovered that there are only three side panel i/p's not four. The kit has decals for these and there are four of them.I thought this might be particular to Finnish Hawks but I went into the Hannant's website and checked the Eduard and Revell p/e sets and both have only three panels. Can anyone out there help out with this dilemma? The Mr. Surfacer goes on beautifully by the way. I only wish my paints behaved as well! Derek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Hi Derek, I don't think there is much to see on the rear right hand console so that may be why each of the etched sets only gives three parts. See>>here<< taken from this thread over on Britmodeller. Enjoy your build, I look forward to seeing more. Cheers. Edited January 10, 2012 by geedubelyer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bashace Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Looks like your off to a good start, that kit does have a peculiar surface texture, maybe the Mr Surfacer will smooth that out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Hi Derek, I don't think there is much to see on the rear right hand console so that may be why each of the etched sets only gives three parts. See>>here<< taken from this thread over on Britmodeller. Enjoy your build, I look forward to seeing more. Cheers. Thanks!! The photos in the thread are great.As for the i/p I may just use the decal for the one that's "missing" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Ahhh, somebody else who said "Ahh, my eyes!" when he saw the red plastic. ;) Nice work so far. Indeed the rear panel likely doesn't have as much on it, given that the instructor normally sits there (and rear pits tend to be slightly stripped down from front ones, so you might not have arming panels for weapon options possibly). Of course, I have to wonder if Eduard did the photoetch for all three of the sets and might have just made a slight oversight on them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 I was out of the country for a while but have a little progress to report. The cockpit interior with the I/P's is done and I've started the seats (links to photos below). I hope to add photos of the seats and the completed cockpit this week. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 I finally managed to move ahead a bit! The seats are completed and ready for insertion into the cockpit. Here are some pictures of the seats "dressed up" in p/e. I hope to have the whole cockpit finished over the week-end. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Wow nice seats Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Here are the results of the first two steps I posted coming together. The cockpit is now complete and ready for insertion into the fuselage (a job for next week-end). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Some progress at last! How I envy those who can complete kit over a week-end and have it look perfect. Anyway, after the last post I got the cockpit and the nose wheel well located in the one fuselage half and the intake assembleds. This is not the order shown in the instructions but I saw this way described in a forum post or review somewhere and it allows for easier filling of the intake seams. This week-end I managed to get the fuselage halves joined and the rudder added. Gunze Mr. surfacer 500 filled the seams and some have been sanded. Jobs for next week-end are to complete the seam sanding and then on to the wings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 The wings and tail are now attached and I think it is now time to start painting. The red "measels" spots on the plane are where I had to touch up the seam filling and was too lazy to get out the airbrush just for those. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted April 28, 2012 Author Share Posted April 28, 2012 After a bit of a break I finally got down to starting the painting. Got about 2/3 through (I need at least one more coat of paint to get a reasonable overall gloss) when guess what? - I ran out of paint!! The spare bottle I thought I had was just that - a spare bottle but no paint in it. So it will be a bit before I get some in again. Meanwhile this is what it looks like so far (the blue on the wingtip is some light reflection or other). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted May 12, 2012 Author Share Posted May 12, 2012 THE END IS NIGH!! THE END IS NIGH!! I finally managed to move ahead a bit. Got the overall painting finished and have started on the decalling. The first job was the explosive cord decal for the canopy. I decided to try to apply it to the inside of the canopy hoping that this would better simulate the "bonded into the glass" look. On the first attempt I managed the rear part but with my fumble=fingers I totally ruined the forward section. Fortunately in response to a plea on ARC Guy (geedubelyer) came to the rescue with a replacement. Taking a lot more care I actually managed to get the decal on. I leave you to decide whether the desired effect was achieved or not. Since then I have added the main, large decals on the wing tips, the sides of the fuselage and the fin. Still the underside and all the stencilling to go plus all the final details and touch-up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 HOw did those decals go? im planning the exact same thing with mine ! Looks great Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted May 13, 2012 Author Share Posted May 13, 2012 The decals on the canopy went on OK in the end. I used a dish of plain water with a drop or two of washing up liquid in it and wet the area where the decal was to go with that. Did the same for the decals on the wings and fuselage. They are BIG and need something to help move them around to get them in the right place. I used Gunze's Mr Mark Softer afterwards to get them to snuggle down and it worked very well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Hi Derek, Glad the canopy MDC decals arrived safe and sound. They look super and your technique of applying them to the inside of the canopy works really well. Hopefully other big Hawk builders will follow suit. Wow! Those Union flag decals are amazing. :o It must have taken oodles of patience to get them looking that good, great job. This is such an eye catching scheme and a brilliant choice, well done. Cheers, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Almost there! All the decals but one for the canopy are on (including the multitude of stencils). I still have to complete the canopy ( rear view mirrors), add the u/c, the gear doors and a few other small details and some touching up and that's it. I hope to have it completed over the week-end. Meanwhile here are some photos showing the stencils and the large underside decal. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 It took much longer than I expected but the last bits are finally done and I can declare this build complete! Derek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 :D, very nice Hawk there Derek; congratulations on the fantastic finish there mate. Now all you need to do is park the finished model in the parking area. , Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Already done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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