swbailey Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 My first build for the GB will be the Mitsubishi Mu-2A from the SAR wing at Niigata air base. I've always liked the look of this aircraft and it happened to be on the top of the pile of Anniversary aircraft so it's getting built. The molds are not new and it shows. There is a bit of flash here and there, but the overall impression is good. There is no interior beyond the cockpit and I don't plan to add anything because you really can't see beyond the front office. (And to me, the build is more about the anniversary color scheme than anything else.) There is an extra sprue in the kit for all the parts that convert the Mu-2 to the Mu-2A including the larger 95 gallon tip tanks, the bulged SAR observation windows and the various antennas for the radios on the SAR birds. I started with the interior, painting it a medium gray, with cobalt blue seats. This is according to the instructions, as I have yet to find any good cockpit pictures of the military Mu-2s that would indicate color. The seat backs were a little tall, so I cut them down to a more realistic height, and I will be adding seat belts and shoulder harnesses in the next step. I added a roller bearing and a chunk of lead to the nose for weight. The instructions don't say how much to add, so I just winged it. While waiting for the paint to dry on the interior, I started into the wings. The fit is wonderful, and there are no points that need filler. Because the aft end of the engine nacelles looks like open holes, I felt I had to do something, and added in some brass tubing for the exhausts. It may not be 100% accurate, but it looks better that seeing into the end of the nacelles. So far, so good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Off to a good start! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 (edited) Made some more progress on the interior but also encountered a problem... Added seatbelts made out of medical tape, then decaled the instrument panel and added the control wheels. Unfortunately, when I went to install the cockpit assembly, I found that it's too narrow. If you install it the way the instructions have it, it would not be centered in the fuselage. So, I made a pair of shelves out of sheet styrene on either side to support it. When it's all dry, I will align the cockpit assembly and seal the fuselage. All in all, this one is moving along well. Edited July 6, 2014 by swbailey Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kingoalie Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Awesome! Glad to see another Mu-2 being built. I plan to build one as well, but in the 3-tone grey scheme. I just found an old Koku Fan that has some Mu-2 interior shots. Unfortunately, they are in black and white. Cheers, John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 Awesome! Glad to see another Mu-2 being built. I plan to build one as well, but in the 3-tone grey scheme. I just found an old Koku Fan that has some Mu-2 interior shots. Unfortunately, they are in black and white. Cheers, John John- Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing your build as well, since I have not seen the Mu-2 in the three-tone gray scheme. (Not that I'm any sort of expert on Mu-2s). But I think the gray scheme is a neat counterpoint to the flashy yellow and white birds. I'm also curious to see if you run into the same issues that I do (or will). All the best, Stewart Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 (edited) Got a little more done... The fuselage is all together and the windows are in place. I started painting on the wings and horizontal stabilizers which, because of all the fiddly-bits in the masking, I chose to paint before installation. After a coat of Tamiya white primer, they got painted with Tamiya gloss white, followed by Model Master Chrome Yellow on the engines and wing tanks. I then shot Model Master Florescent Red-Orange over the yellow on the tanks, laying it in in a rather patchy manner to simulate the fading that happens so quickly with florescent paints in the sunlight. Next I masked and sprayed the anti-glare panels under the wings and on the inside of the tip tanks. I didn't like Hasegawas suggestion of FS34079 Dark Green for the anti-glare, as it just seemed too bright and too green. I chose instead to use RLM 70 Schwarz Grau which seemed to be blacker and less green. Looks good to me, which in the end, is the standard I build to... Wings are just dry fitted in place. I'll have to repaint the white as I was not happy with the way it came out; mostly because our recent spate of hot, humid weather kept it from drying completely, and even after three days of drying time, it picked up the texture from the tape during masking. Once I've primed the fuselage, I will install the wings, do the filling and repaint the upper surfaces where it blends into the fuselage. It's still a fun build, and moving along fairly quickly! Edited July 13, 2014 by swbailey Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Nice work so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RKic Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Nice mu! I read that you are using model master paint for your finish, but would you think that tamiya yellow with a drop or two of orange would work for the bright SAR yellow? Does the fading you describe for the florescent orange similarly impact the yellow? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Moving quickly and looking good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 Nice mu! I read that you are using model master paint for your finish, but would you think that tamiya yellow with a drop or two of orange would work for the bright SAR yellow? Does the fading you describe for the florescent orange similarly impact the yellow? RKic- Thanks! I chose to go with the Model Master Chrome Yellow as it matched the FS number that the instructions gave (although they were way off on the black-green for the anti-glare panels) plus it was what I had on hand. I tend to do that, as I'm an hour away from the nearest hobby shop, so I tend to work with what's on hand. As for the real florescent orange, it seems to have a very short duration in the sun, which I assume is from the florescent pigments. Judging from the photos I've seen, it fades far faster than just about any other color, so whenever I do a florescent panel on a plane or helicopter, I first give it an undercoat of yellow and mist on the florescent orange, making it thinner on the top sides where the sun hits it the most. It appears that this particular Mu-2 got an overall yellow scheme for the anniversary, versus the regular gloss white over yellow so my expectation is that the yellow on the plane would be fairly new, while they probably didn't bother repainting the florescent panels. Of course now, they've gone to a gray scheme like the one John's building... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted October 28, 2014 Author Share Posted October 28, 2014 Well, after several months where I was occupied by work and the illness and passing of my mother, I am back in the game and working on the Mu-2... After masking and priming the fuselage, I found some major fit issues with the front windshield, which necessitated a lot of sanding, filing, priming, sanding, filling, priming, etc. until I got it smoothed out. Then I shot the black for the deicer boots, masked them, shot the yellow, and finally the florescent red-orange for the tail and horizontal tips. At first it looked like I was going to have troubles with orange-peel on the yellow, but an old trick a friend taught me came into use at smoothing out the gloss. He told me that as I go to clean out the airbrush with thinner, take and mist on a coat of thinner that is "dirty" with the color in the cup. It did a great job of smoothing out the surface for a nice gloss. Maybe not up to the standard of the guys who do model cars, but good enough for my purposes. Last night, I attached the wings. Because of the complexity of the masking and the tight spaces under the wings, I had decided to paint them separately, and attach them at this point. I now have some clean up of the seams to do, which will necessitate a repaint of some of the gloss white atop the fuselage, but I figured that would be a minor inconvenience. I may be wrong... time will tell if I made the right decision. After the upper wing is done, I still have to do the anti-glare areas around the nose, and I'll be ready for the fun of decals. At least I won't have to worry about a gloss coat before decaling. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Well, it looks like this one will come up close, but no cigar as there's no way I can finish it in the next couple days. With all the family issues and work, my modeling has definitely taken a back seat over the last few months. I have put most of the decals on the wings, but ran into lots of problems with them trying to break up, even though they aren't that old. I coated them with Microscale Super Film, which helped some, but there have still been a lot of issues with the larger, longer decals. I also have taken the precaution of putting white decal material down everywhere that the Hasegawa decals are to go, since their decals are notoriously translucent. Since the special anniversary stripes are to be red, white and blue, rather than red, yellow and blue, I figured that was prudent. I made a photocopy of the decal sheet, the taped it to a sheet of white decal material and just started cutting with a good supply of very sharp X-acto blades on hand. I then used Solvaset on the homemade white decals, which really helped them to snuggle down and hopefully not show up under the kit decals. It will be fun to see how this works out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spejic Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Keep working and keep posting to this thread even when it moves to the Completed Group Builds section (which will be a few days after Jan 1, I heard). I'd like to see how it turns out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kingoalie Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Any progress on this build? I really like what you've done so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ForestFan Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Keep working on this, looks very nice. FF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 Will do. I'll be posting the as I finish up the decals and final assembly... Thanks for your interest guys! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Nice job with the decals so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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