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1/48 "Weekend Wings Series"


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A topic thread for the Bandai/Minicraft offerings that have been issued throughout the years.

I thought I was done buying kits, but I see Minicraft has come out with a straight tail version of the Beech Bonanza. It says it is new tooling for the tail section but I seen somewhere it had already been issued long ago.

The detail in my opinion is pretty darn good, and the fit of the parts are good also if one is careful about it.

The only disappointment for me are the windows. Very disheartening considering how nicely things are engraved on the inside and the detail that could be added.

I have tried scavenging vacuum formed packages for some of the windshield bubbles but would really like to go full route and build a vacuum former and go through the whole process with each.

Lighting them with blinking navigational lights have also crossed my mind. The base can hold a few watch batteries. I think it would be fun to play with some fiber optics inside also. Backlighted panel gauges and such. I've never attempted any projects like I've just mentioned but feel capable of pulling off a decent job if I tried, so all of this should be fun for me. A person can get lost with imagination with every trick that's out there these days.

I love aircraft, but civilian aircraft is my favorite but so few kits. I guess this is a good aspect if your a collector like I became with the kits.

Please add whatever you can to the thread where to find aftermarket windows for these, or past build threads or another large topic that involves these kits.

I tried to contact Minicraft for any decals but they replied I would have to wait for the next run which was left open ended by them. If anyone has a set of decals they do not see in the Instruction and Decal links, post it for me if you could. I will clean it up and repost it for anyone who would like to try scanning a set. It is something I will have to face when it is time for myself. The scans are retouched, and some of the sheets in the collection are pretty ratty. I need the original Mooney Mark 21 and the Cessna 150 decals to match the original Bandai box art. If anyone has a sheet of these, I could sure use a scan of them.

Has there been any aftermarket detail offered for these at all?

I put together all the box tops of the kits in my collection and not quite sure if this is all that this collection contained when they were first offered, or any that have been added.

Minicraft also now is offering the Piper Cherokee 140 on floats. Not sure if the "New Tooling" on the box means the whole plane or just the floats or if standard gear still comes with it.

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Edited by gluefinger
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The Bonanza I have started and stopped on until I can resolve the window issue.

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I started this kit when I was just beginning to get back into plastic models after many years. I had built a car or two before this so I used flocking, chrome foil and wiring so I threw it in with my imagination. I did all the work without any kind of scale reference before I got my computer so I doubt the landing lights are correct. The epoxy wingtip lights came out okay but vac-formed lenses are always better.

Edited by gluefinger
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The Mooney is a rare bird in this series. I know what you mean about ebay prices. This kit usually goes over 40 dollars. I had a lucky day and found a newly listed/buy it now for $15. Best day in a long time. If it wasn't for that, I would still be watching and hoping.

Edited by gluefinger
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:pray: Probably about ten knots faster than a high wing is all. That's the first thing I thought of too, Dr. is how much fun that would be to land. It just doesn't look right. Don't float planes also have an extra fin installed under the fuse tail to help keep them straight also? I don't see anything like that to help it, either.

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Edited by gluefinger
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Interesting thread below on flying a Cherokee on floats - worth going through all three pages.

Cherokee on floats

Nice work on the Bonanza especially the flocking on the interior and the stand - how do you do that?

I have a few of the Bandai/Minicraft GA birds in the stash including the Mooney. Waiting for the new Minicraft Debonair to arrive in the UK - as it is a "new tool" I hope they have sorted out the awful windscreen of the older V-tail kit.

:cheers:

Darius

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The base was sprayed with texture paint. It's like a regular spray can only the paint is mixed with fibers and it spatters up a layer that dries semi-hard. Sealing it with its recommended clear coat helps make it durable, but takes away that dead flat powdery chipped stone look to more of a smoother semi gloss surface. You'll see if you try the stuff. Painting it with a hammertone paint at this stage would be interesting. I almost went with my old favorite black crinkle paint that is common on telescopes and cameras but thought a stone base would be a nice change and it is.

Hammertone Images on Google

I first sanded the base. Actually, took a coarse file to it and knocked down all of the corners to make it all look more rounded. I replaced or added a section of brass tubing to receive the joiner wire from the plane and added modelers clay to the hollow bottom leaving room for a pour of epoxy over it to seal. Then I just sanded a few high spots off after that so it would sit well.

Krylon Fleck-Stone Spray Paint

I have to decide what I want to do with navigational lighting before I go ahead with making anymore bases.

The Beechcraft badge is from the kit. I chrome foiled the lettering, added clear red and blue for some color plus a smoke wash after that, painted the black and then epoxy coated it twice with 45 minute epoxy.

The flocking comes from the car box. I think Detail Master made what I used but there's others. Simply ladle on a good coat of slightly thinned Elmer's water glue and use a salt shaker or a sifting sieve of the flocking. It's relatively inexpensive and there's every color plus some.

Detail Master Flocking

I would be anxious also to see your kit that you have coming. Windows. I truly feel if there's any hope on being able to show off any of the interior, vacuformed windows are going to be necessary, or at least acetate side windows. The fit it also a major problem. Huge gaps.

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That article is a trip. I like how they moved it on that trailer late at night down public streets. The whole article sounds like they just found a float plane and was going to just "take her up!", and they did..LOL.

Edited by gluefinger
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Yah, I want that Cherokee on floats kit now. Just not 24 bucks worth, arrg.

..Hey, ever build the Nichimo 1/20 Skyhawk? or any of the 1/72 ARII General aviation stuff? I did the ARII Cessna 337, tough build, but looked nice when finished.

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Being my age (50's now) it is hard for me to want to buy anything over five dollars. It's hard to pay knowing that's about what these kits went for, and for a long time.

Cheap kits makes me want to experiment and stray away from being careful and safe with the parts so it's a constraint for me staying all box stock with the build. Price does take it's share of the fun now.

The generic base was easy to give into with the modification and the paint. Their system of attaching the plane to the base is crazy and easy to pitch into the garbage. A simple piece of wire and an small hole in the bottom of the plane is enough of an idea for me. Something a bit heavier than clay would have been nice but I don't see any balance problems happening anyway.

I've only learned of the Nichimo stuff the last couple of years and all I can say is drool. Another kit I would love to have, but hate to pay for.

These are the first civilian planes I have bought. I really like them. Primarily because they include the engine and removable hood, optional landing gears and fairly decent engraving. Enough to help get me started on cleaning them up and making my own scribings to complete them around the seams.

The instrument panel detail varies from being almost toy like in appearance to decent. The seats in all of them are clunky. I put some stress relief in the leather pads on the Beechcraft just to give it some character.

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..57 here. We have the same policy about the double-or-higher cost of kits, especially old tooling that came out before high school. I have a huge stash and yet I still am jonesin' for new kits. Isn't going to happen at these prices. Bein' po' keeps me honest.

Bad eyesight and no need to enter model shows allows me to step back from being a Checkbook Modeler. I'm regressing back to the simpler "Scratchbuild with sprue and plastic card" school of things. As The Crusty The Clown Seal Of Approval goes, "It's not just good, it's good enough!"

That aside, good job on the flocking and the seat cushions. Outside of a good coat of Future, it might be time to make a vacuform box and take over the Mrs's oven and vaccum when she's out shopping.. :thumbsup:

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Vacforming is something I'm going to have to brush up on or inquire about. Not the forming itself but going about how to make the right kind of plug decently. I am starting from square one on learning about this. Simply forming over the stock kit parts would not seem to be any advantage and my thoughts are to fill the interior and sand the outside down to shape, then form over that. I'm lost.

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I have a 1960s vintage Mattell vac-former that I used to make a clear canopy for a very old 1:48 Olin/Lindberg Ryan Navion kit that had a solid canopy molded with the fuselage.

1:48 Ryan Navion

I would be happy to vac-form some clear canopies for you if you provide the master - it would need to be no larger than 3 inches by 1 inch on plan and ideally not more than 0.5 inches high.

:cheers:

Darius

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I got a brand new Mattel under the Christmas tree one year. Had fun with it for a few more years after that. It was never kept but handed down to the nephews. Never knew I would want it back at this age.

Thanks for your offer about forming whatever I have but building and forming isn't the stumbling block for me, it is how I should approach making the plugs.

I've built 1/43 resin race cars which have vacuum formed windscreens and windows and have an idea of where to go from there so I guess its both feet first. :wacko:

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For the Navion I used the cut off solid canopy parts to make the vac form master. I sanded the mating surfaces of each half down so they would be narrower than the fuselage by a tad less than two thicknesses of the clear a vac form sheet. I also added extra depth to the solid canopy master. That way the clear canopy had the correct width to match the fuselage and also had some "trimming" room at the base. I have also filled the internal cavity of the similar canopy masters with plaster of Paris to give it rigidity and also act as a heat sink if multiple vac forms are to be made.

I have a 1:48 Lindbergh/Olin Ercoupe with a solid canopy with which I intend to use the same technique.

:cheers:

Darius

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Thanks for explaining your plugs. I read somewhere also before starting with your choice of thickness of the canopy (I don't know the norm) to form a very thin sheet and leave it on there to help smooth. Not sure what kind of trouble this would cause if any.

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Very nice work. It appears that AIM of the UK is going to be releasing a Cessna 310 "Blue Canoe" in their resin line in both 1/72 and 1/48. They just released a CASA 212 light transport aircraft also in both scales.

AIM72

AZ was supposed to make some new 1/72 general aviation aircraft (Cessna 180, 185) but still no signs of them on their website.

I would love to see a Cirrus SR22, Cessna 182, or Columbia 400 (Cessna TT Corvalis) in any scale.

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I stumbled across a cheap, two dollar play toy with a flashing LED unit inside and thought I would see if it could fit inside a fuselage.

It looks promising as a flasher unit to build from to add flashing navigational lights. I'm studying the kits now and gathering lighting information on each plane.

I asked in the general forum about lighting these and received some good pointers here.

I've discected the instructions for each to work from

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I was using collected pictures of the box tops for the wings series from the net, not all were very clear. I do not have but two Bandai released box tops to copy, so I made my own.

Each one carries the original Bandai kit number in the small weekened wings series logo.

Now I have clean copies for folder covers and a place to keep the kit number for reference.

Let me know if you would like copies, I'll send them as individual box top images.

It is also the only place the wingspan is stated.

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Edited by gluefinger
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Cool...I thought I was the only one who liked these kits.

I have the Piper Cub, the Cherokee 140, Cessna 150, Bonanza and recently finished the Mooney M20...all in the "Weekend Wings" Bandai boxings. I think they are great kits and for the time frame that they first came out, the molding and details are excellent. The later releases from Minicraft, etc. lost some of the "crispness" in the tooling. I have the Aero Subaru in the Revell box, still nicely molded.

The only trouble spots are the old decals and the clear parts.

I like the figures that come with them...especially the painting guide for the "civilians".

Edited by 82Whitey51
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Great to see your reply, Andrew. I found a reference to help supplement the people painting guide. :lol:

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Here's the famous painting guide those out of the circle.

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The windows are a BIG drawback. If used, there's not much sense on spending too much time on the interior. I've even thought of just gluing the windows into all of them, putty the seams and paint them blue like you see on all the mahogany wood models.

Decals are a problem, but now Minicraft re-issued a couple so that helps. The problem is with the older kits (Mooney and Aero Subaru) that we probably will not see new decals come along. I scanned the Mooney and the Aero Subaru decals and cleaned them up with a photoshop program thinking I might try printing them.

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In all my searching of thousands of pictures, I've only found one picture that represents the color scheme included in any of the kits and its the Beech.

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Here's a few of pics of the Mooney. I made up the paint scheme, just basing it off of pics I found online. I wanted to paint the tail in that Mooney fashion of outlining the tail in white.

The "N" number is made up of decal letters from DRAW Decals. I wish there were after market decals for this, painting the scheme was an exercise in masking and the fine recessed panel lines caused a lot of paint bleed that I had to go back and fix.

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Doc, Thanks for that link. It is good to see an aftermarket company offer something for these. That might come in handy. Whitey used the registration numbers sheet. Those are handy, especially with these.

Getting back to painting the figures, I had saved a three part series on how to paint figures if anyone is interested. I'm not sure if I'll paint any people for mine but who knows. I started to study figure painting because of my car building. I have an F1 pit crew set from Tamiya I'll be having to paint. I haven't painted with a brush for a long time so maybe it will be fun.

The Mooney looks great. I like the paint scheme you chose, Whitey. That bleed under problem can be cured by brushing a coat of Future floor wax down first. It's clear so let it bleed under if it wants to, it is only sealing for the paint. Masking over panel lines is always iffy on the outcome. Either way, yours turned out fine. People looking do not realize how small these planes are to have to work with. A 1/48 warplane seems three times the size of these.

Edited by gluefinger
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