dnl42 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 (edited) My next project is going to be the Mirage 1/48 PZL P.11c. Mirage makes three boxings of this aircraft; this is the "wersja myśliwska" (fighter), there's also a "wersja z bombami" (bomber) and "Rumuńskie Siły Powietrzne" (Romanian Air Force). The prototype P.11 flew in 1931. The P.11c prototype first flew in 1934, with the production aircraft built through 1936. I have three references: Kagero Topshots PZL P.11c, Mushroom Yellow Series PZL P.11c, and 2-volumes from AJ-Press PZL P.11 (36 & 37). I'm going to do this one OOB. As you can see, it does include a small PE fret and a resin radiator. The PE seems a little thick, but it's only 8 thou, v. the 5.5 thou Eduard I just used on Horbaczewski's FB-387 Mustang III. I have the Part S48-105 along with a Vector Bristol Mercury that I'll use on the bomber. I ended up doing number "9" from 132 Eskadry Myśliwskiej (Fighter Squadron). Edited August 22, 2012 by David N Lombard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 Looking at the PE fret more carefully, I see that the extra thickness enables some fairly deep relief in some of the parts, like the seatbelt buckels and grommets, floor plates, gunsights, and access panels. Looks quite dimensional. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Here are the fuselage interior bits. The cockpit frame is actually a darker silver--specifically Alclad's "Steel"--but it appears quite dark in the photos. Mirage suggested plastic sprue for the rudder pedal guards, but I cut and bent some Eduard PE sprue. Certain instruments on Polish aircraft have standard colored faces. I tried to show that using the kit's black instrument panel faces and Tamiya's clear colors. It's kind-of-almost-sort-of-OK, especially the brown (blue + orange) oil temperature gages below and left of the red boost pressure gage. I'll print new instrument faces in the proper colors when I do the other two boxings. Finally, I just noticed the tail skid is backward. I'll saw it off at the bottom of the leg and flip it around. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 She's assembled and almost ready for painting. The instructions tell you to install 4 access panels (PE8), yet there are only three on the fret. Looking at Kagero's PZL P.11c, the panel on the wing upper surface looked less like the PE then the others (see the 2 tail access panels below); as seen above, I punched a plastic disc for that panel. The tail skid took some work to fill in a missing bit of plastic (the white bit), to reshape one side of the strut attached to the fuselage--odd, one side was nicely shaped, and the other was quite chunky. The other part of the tail skid (12B) also needed reshaping. It's better, but I'll completely redo this on the other two P.11c variants I'll build. Also visible is the fit of the stab in the fueslage. That slot is actually larger than the stab on the aircraft, so the joint isn't that strong as it only attaches at the forward and aft ends of the slot. On the other two P.11c's I build, I may paint the stab halves and install once the fuselage is also painted. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Dang! I did OK with the tri-color Lublin camo, but the fighter colors are much trickier. Poland used a Khaki color that is a brown color. I've tried the various ODs and they're too green, even late OD, which is really brown to my eye. I do have one precious tin of Humbrol 142, "Matt Field Drab", but I'm not ready to consume it for this OOB build. Surprisingly, Vallejo's "Dark Rust" appears to be a good match. :wacko: The Light Blue Grey is equally hard. MM Acryl Duck Egg Blue is not bad for the later version (it could be bluer), but too light for the early version. Lichblau RLM76, is too dark, less blue. I could break down and order the Agama colors from Jadar, but I'd like to find a locally available good match... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 I tried the Lichtblau RLM76 and I'm much happier with it on the wing than it appeared on my test sample... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Fresh out of the paint shop, ready for finishing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Finished! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Fantastic JOB! Why don't I just send you my kit and you send me this finished one? You know I'll help you add space to your shelf! :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jester292 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Wow! Thanks for sharing! Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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