bikerider Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I did this kit / conversion. Slow is better. It's a tough project. You're doing really well and getting much better results than I did. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dadeo911 Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 I did this kit / conversion. Slow is better. It's a tough project. You're doing really well and getting much better results than I did. Thank you for the compliment. Do you have any advice, having completed this bird? Did you do a WIP of your project? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 My link I did a half-wip thread. I started this one way back in Nov. or Dec. 2013. Did a bunch of work, then put it aside as it got really frustrating. Then the Shelf-Queen group build happened here earlier this year, so I hunkered down and finished it. And even then.... I had moments when I nearly gave up. My best advice is seriously, work slow and take time fitting and sanding. Even doing so, get the putty tube ready. As I progressed I found the base Merlin kit parts fit together worse and worse. The assemblies in the early parts of the instruction went well. As more and more steps were completed, the fit and assembly got harder to keep good. The Belcher Bits panels for the fuselage changes take a lot of care, but you probably guessed that already. Taking time I found those steps were not so bad. It was the kit parts themselves that caused me the biggest problems. Admittedly, when I started the project, my skills were probably not what they should have been - certainly based on your photos my skill don't match yours - to take on such a task and do it really really well, so some of the problems I had were certainly my own fault. But I read other build logs (on Britmodeller I think) of people doing the straight Merlin build of the kit having similar problems. In the end the model looks good and I am glad I finished it. I think my modelling skills improved big-time from this one kit, and I'm glad with the end result despite there being some obvious flaws in my finished model. Good luck! ps. I found a guy on Flickr that has some really nice Cormorant pictures that I used for references... unfortunately I didn't save the link. Probably easy to find again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dadeo911 Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 My link I did a half-wip thread. I started this one way back in Nov. or Dec. 2013. Did a bunch of work, then put it aside as it got really frustrating. Then the Shelf-Queen group build happened here earlier this year, so I hunkered down and finished it. And even then.... I had moments when I nearly gave up. My best advice is seriously, work slow and take time fitting and sanding. Even doing so, get the putty tube ready. As I progressed I found the base Merlin kit parts fit together worse and worse. The assemblies in the early parts of the instruction went well. As more and more steps were completed, the fit and assembly got harder to keep good. The Belcher Bits panels for the fuselage changes take a lot of care, but you probably guessed that already. Taking time I found those steps were not so bad. It was the kit parts themselves that caused me the biggest problems. Admittedly, when I started the project, my skills were probably not what they should have been - certainly based on your photos my skill don't match yours - to take on such a task and do it really really well, so some of the problems I had were certainly my own fault. But I read other build logs (on Britmodeller I think) of people doing the straight Merlin build of the kit having similar problems. In the end the model looks good and I am glad I finished it. I think my modelling skills improved big-time from this one kit, and I'm glad with the end result despite there being some obvious flaws in my finished model. Good luck! ps. I found a guy on Flickr that has some really nice Cormorant pictures that I used for references... unfortunately I didn't save the link. Probably easy to find again. Thank you for the link and for the compliment about my skills. I am just getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus. There are a lot of amazing additions that weren't affordable when I was doing this up to about 10 or so years ago. I looked at your build as well as Emil's and as you mentioned above have checked out some other forums to find out more about this kit. Looks like I have some serious work ahead of me. I hope I am up to the challenge. Your finished conversion looks really great. How were the decals that came with the conversion from Belcher's Bits? They look really good. I know I'm still a long way off but still curious. I'm hoping to get some work done over the next couple of nights. Thanks for looking, Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 The Belcher decals work really well. I used them straight on the final paint coat - no extra gloss coat added - and the decal film is barely visible. Even over the black parts, which for me I used a flat black. Overall the Belcher parts were really good. I'm working on a UH-1N to CH-146 Griffon conversion right now (among other things) and again, the Belcher parts are good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dadeo911 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) The Belcher decals work really well. I used them straight on the final paint coat - no extra gloss coat added - and the decal film is barely visible. Even over the black parts, which for me I used a flat black. Overall the Belcher parts were really good. I'm working on a UH-1N to CH-146 Griffon conversion right now (among other things) and again, the Belcher parts are good. I used the Belcher Bits Decal on the loading ramp and they were really good. Very impressed. Chris Edited September 30, 2015 by Dadeo911 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dadeo911 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) Finished the front wheel well. Went to add the landing lights and realized... I had installed the photoetched pieces backwards. Bad words were said. :bandhead2:/> I just can't think of a way of fixing it. Chris Edited September 30, 2015 by Dadeo911 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dadeo911 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 Finished putting the decals on the aft cabin area. Looking at the reference pictures I have I made the unwelcome discovery that the walls of the aft cabin are covered with a quilted insulation. http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/awa01/401-500/awa449-CH-149-Spenard/31.jpg http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/awa01/401-500/awa449-CH-149-Spenard/33.jpg I don't know how I missed that. Well that isn't happening with this model. Oh well... Carrying on: The SAR and Flight Engineer seats turned out OK. All put together: Slowly getting there. Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Did you end up finishing this one Chris? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Wow. It looks great so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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