Aurora Mark Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 You work is absolutely fantastic. I cannot stress enough how impressed I am with the work and detail you are putting into the cockpit. From someone who has a deep enjoyment in building the cockpits more than anything else on the kit, I really appreciate the detail you're sharing with us. I'm really looking forward to this one coming together! Cheers, Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 You work is absolutely fantastic. I cannot stress enough how impressed I am with the work and detail you are putting into the cockpit. From someone who has a deep enjoyment in building the cockpits more than anything else on the kit, I really appreciate the detail you're sharing with us. I'm really looking forward to this one coming together! Cheers, Mark. Thank you so much Mark! I would have to agree, building the cockpit is by far the most fun part of a kit for me as well! Got and update coming shortly! Cheers, Colin :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hello fellow modelers! Guess what? I've actually got a pretty substantial update for you for the first time in like, ever! I've been crazy hard at work building and detailing the radio, the cockpit floor and a whole mess of other stuff! Really been haulin' fool (excuse my language :)/>/>) lately. I've got a competition coming up in october and REALLY want this to be in it. Kinda a pipe dream but I'll give it a go. Gunna try my hand at entering in the "Best of" for aircraft. Just a question to any competition goers out there, can I enter in more than one category? Because I qualify for quite a few. Oh and the thumb is healing well. Was back seeing a hand specialist today, get this, he said and I quote "There will be MINIMAL scarring". How nuts is that!? Oh, and also it's nice and firmly attached, so thats a bonus. Getting the stitches out in about a week or so. Right then, enough chat, onto model stuff! :) So I started today's session by taking the radio for a go. Did the usual thing, cut it off the resin block, marvel at how amazing the moulding is, ya know. Then I turned my attention to the fuel tank that the little bugger sits upon. This was pretty straight forward, just painted NATO Black. This is a shot before paint. If you're curios about the splatters, that's just hairspray I got it off with water and a soft brush. While that was drying I went back to the radio and drilled out the top of what I think is the connector to the battery? In my reference material this was hollow. I then drilled out the holes for all the wiring on the radio. There's a TON. Then I did some detail, attached it to the base, did the wiring (Just string still waiting to get lead wire) and put the barracuda placards on the little monster. It came out O.K. Next I turned my attention to this little dial thing -Sorry, absolutely NO clue what it is- that sits on the floor of the cockpit. I was puzzled to find that there was a huge hole in the thing, so I just filled it with humbrol model filler and sanded it smooth. Then simply painted, decaled, weathered, and washed. After that, I had to put this stupid little thing together. Stupid but essential!! Pretty sure it's either for the gear, flaps, or throttle. My money's on throttle. Oh, and all those little nobbly bits? They ALL broke off while removing it from the resin block. So they had to be recovered from the twilight zone -my carpet- and be painfully superglued back on. That took about 1-2 hours! I then had to put the little thing on the IP. I was really scared to do this because I had to drill holes all over that pretty little dash I worked so hard on. BOY! Was that nerve racking! I attached it with bits of guitar string and plain old black thread. Some REAL fiddly business! I then started assembling all the little pieces. Yeah I know! Me putting the actual parts together! Right? XD I also did some detailing on the cockpit floor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Well, thanks for reading guys, hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll have some stuff to show this weekend. The competition deadline is coming up FAST October 24th, to be specific. So If this thing ain't done by then, I'll have to go with my P-40B and or my P-47 The B-24 Will not be tagging along. Anyway, thanks again. Have a great night! Happy modeling! Cheers, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skystreak80 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Wow Colin such an impressive cockpit and fuel tank area i'm really enjoying your build. I hope your thumb heals ok Cheers Lee. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Wow Colin such an impressive cockpit and fuel tank area i'm really enjoying your build.I hope your thumb heals ok Posted Image Cheers Lee. Thanks so much Lee! I'm glading that you're enjoying it! :) So far so good on the thumb front XD Cheers, Colin :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Colin, Finally got a chance to catch up on your build. You're really making excellent progress. Tons of little bits and pieces coupled with just the right amount of weathering that make a plain Jane plastic cockpit look like what yours does; a miniature 1/32 scale representation. Just don't rush it, as there are always other competitions. I'm amazed that even after having our thumb reattached, you hardly missed a beat in your build. Glad to hear that it's healing nicely. Any positive signs of more feeling then what they said it would be? Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Colin,Finally got a chance to catch up on your build. You're really making excellent progress. Tons of little bits and pieces coupled with just the right amount of weathering that make a plain Jane plastic cockpit look like what yours does; a miniature 1/32 scale representation. Just don't rush it, as there are always other competitions. I'm amazed that even after having our thumb reattached, you hardly missed a beat in your build. Glad to hear that it's healing nicely. Any positive signs of more feeling then what they said it would be? Joel Thanks so much Joel! Loving your build by the way. It's been very tedious work and having a partially functioning thumb has made fiddly bits even fiddilyer (Not really a word XD). No word yet on the whole feeling thing. Had a spine and brain MRI last week, got a follow up this monday with neurology. So hopefully some answers soon! Thanks for stopping by Joel! Cheers, Colin :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 Hey guys! Hope everyone's doing well, Just thought I'd do a quick update before heading off to another bloody hospital. XD When I began this session, I walked over to my bench and just thought "Damn! Is this thing messy!". Usually I give my workspace a good clean after I finish a project so I can start fresh. But for the last three builds I haven't really done a good cleanup and well, here's a shot to show what I mean. Two hours later it was back in pretty good shape. anyways, I've finally bit the bullet and started work on the sidewalls. For some reason I was dreading doing this, but it was actually one of easier things so far! Right then, here we go. Here's what comes in the Barracuda set. I then simply superglued all the little bits together, then attached them to the walls and painted them NATO Green. Then I just picked out the details with citadel acrylics. Right now its in the ugly duckling stage, just too much contrast. After that I started working on placing the multitude of decals from the cockpit placard set. Then I did an oil wash. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 Next, started work on the radiator. This was some pretty fiddly business. There was a heap of photoetch I had to stick on. Oh, I forgot to mention, I bought the missing photoetch fret on Ebay. Funny thing is, it's missing a few bloody pieces too! Ah ebay, always letting me down. XD But I guess some photoetch is better than no photoetch! Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more to show later this week. Thanks for reading and have a great day! Cheers, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Colin, What a huge difference in your workbench. I try to keep mine that clean after every work session. Most of the time I do manage to do it. Just makes the next session that much easier to deal with little pieces and decent grab shots. Nice progress on the radiator assembly. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Coming along nicely! Hehe, you're not alone in getting your build table littered :P I have in fact two tables in my hobby room and I think it's about 0.80m x 3m of work space, tho I usually end up with 15x15 cm workspace because I spread all my stuff over the rest of the tables :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Colin,What a huge difference in your workbench. I try to keep mine that clean after every work session. Most of the time I do manage to do it. Just makes the next session that much easier to deal with little pieces and decent grab shots. Nice progress on the radiator assembly. Joel I totally agree, from now on It's pretty clean all the time :) Cheers, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Coming along nicely! Hehe, you're not alone in getting your build table littered :P I have in fact two tables in my hobby room and I think it's about 0.80m x 3m of work space, tho I usually end up with 15x15 cm workspace because I spread all my stuff over the rest of the tables :P Thanks! That sounds like a pretty big build space! I end up pretty much with the same thing. I work on a desk I built last summer that's 6'x 2'6 but only use about 4'x2'6 because it's covered by a cutting mat. But I end up with about a 10cm x 10cm space. XD :P Cheers, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) Hey guys! Build update time! So since the last update, I've made some pretty good progress. I've got the fuselage halves together and the vertical and horizontal stabilizers all finished. I have to say, I'm loving this kit so far, but I actually had a LOAD of trouble getting the halves to get a good fit. Most likely my own fault with all the resin bits and whatnot. Right then, let's get to it. I started off by finishing off the cockpit sidewalls. All I had to do was another wash and add the oxygen hose. So if anyone's wondering why I haven't really talked about the Packard V-1650-7, I've chosen not to display it with the bonnet open. So I figured there's no real point in detailing something that will never be seen. This is a big change from my usual. If any of you guys read my B-24 you know what I mean. :P/>/> So here's a shot of the two halves together, I had quite a hard time getting everything to fit properly. This resulted in a lot of swearing and frustration and the use of almost an entire roll of electrical tape, but I eventually got the halves to fit snugly. :)/>/> While that was drying I turned my attention to the rudder and elevators. It's kinda neat how Tamiya engineered these. There's wee bits of photoetch inside parts that allow the parts to move. Pretty cool stuff; but kinda fiddly. I also made the exhaust thing that sits behind the radiator. It pretty much a blown up version of the one I did earlier. Definitely easier the second time around. I also put the exhausts in. These were kinda troublesome. They kept popping off... So electrical tape to the rescue! Here's the thing with all the tape off. I was happy to see all the joints held, Nothing flying off this time! The cockpit's looking pretty nice with the walls there to complete it. I started painting the tail gear as well. Went a little overboard with the weathering... But I like it. I did run into some trouble with the canopy though. I was kind of disappointed to see that it had a seam running down the middle of it. Bit of a bummer, But hopefully I'll be able to fix it. Well, that's all for now. I'll probably have some more for you guys tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for reading! All comments and criticisms are welcome. Cheers! Colin :) Edited October 9, 2015 by Banana11000 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Colin, the cockpit looks great, and it's very nicely weathered. Personally, I can't see the need for all that PE and metal rods so that the flying surfaces move. Once in position, just glue them that way as these are display models, and I'm sure that with enough movement, something will break or just pop off. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) Interesting - looks like Tamiya added parts for the tail-warning radar. This was only seen on some late-war Mustangs, many people never even knew that P-51's had this fitting. Great attention to detail by Tamiya for including it. Fantastic job on the cockpit, first class work! John Edited October 9, 2015 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
falcon20driver Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Amazing work on the cockpit. I'm living vicariously through your build, as this is certainly one of my "someday" kits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Colin,the cockpit looks great, and it's very nicely weathered. Personally, I can't see the need for all that PE and metal rods so that the flying surfaces move. Once in position, just glue them that way as these are display models, and I'm sure that with enough movement, something will break or just pop off. Joel Thanks Joel! I'd have to agree with you. I don't think it's really a must have in any kit, but it is interesting to see once and awhile. My thinking is that the PE provides such a snug fit into the slots, that it won't fall off. I've tried pulling with moderate force and it seems to be holding. I'll probably end up glueing them anywhere. Thanks for stopping by! I'm currently taking a page out of your book and working on the landing gear bays. I may have another update tonight! Cheers, Colin :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Amazing work on the cockpit. I'm living vicariously through your build, as this is certainly one of my "someday" kits. Thank you so much! :) I would definitely recommend it! :) Chress, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Interesting - looks like Tamiya added parts for the tail-warning radar. This was only seen on some late-war Mustangs, many people never even knew that P-51's had this fitting. Great attention to detail by Tamiya for including it.Fantastic job on the cockpit, first class work! John John, I totally agree with that. When I saw that Tamiya included it my jaw dropped. I thought I was going to have to scratchbuild one! XD Thanks so much! By far the most fun I've had with a cockpit. Wish there was more I could do with it.. I'm definitely more into the painting then the assembling though. XD Thanks for the comment! Cheers, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 (edited) Hey guys! I've got another update! I know, two in one day! It's bananas!! Right then, Continuing where we left off, I felt it was time to put the bonnet on this thing. I was getting sick of looking at the engine.. It's one of my all time favorites engine wise, but I just couldn't look at it anymore. So I skipped a few steps and added the top and side cowlings. I have to leave the bottom one off till I've got the wings on. I have to say, I was unpleasantly surprised at the fit of the covers! Again probably my own fault, but it was still a huge bummer. So I simply filled it gaps and sanded it flush. I lost a lot of the beautiful surface detail, but just recreated it. Then I thought I'd try my hand at attaching the windscreen. Again... I was surprised with the fit... Look. At. That. Gap. It looks like the bloody part in the Red Sea!! Bit of an issue, but was simply fixed. I just widened the windscreen with a wedge. With a little work I had it fitting much better! More in part 2 Edited October 10, 2015 by Banana11000 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 part 2 Finally to finish off today's monster session I did what has easily been the most tedious and frustrating part of this build. I've never lost my cool or really gotten frustrated while modeling, for me it's just a way to unwind, but boy did this ever push me close. Right then, I spent a good 5 hours doing nothing but working with the landing gear bay. Here's the kit part. Kind of lacking detail.. I had to drill out the holes as they were not just recesses on the "real deal" Here's all the detail I've added so far. It looks kinda like crud in the photo. All of the wires were made with string. This was a huge pain because I had to use superglue to join it to the plastic. For some reason, super glue and string sometimes work and sometimes doesn't. so It took me about 4 hours just to do the wires.. I then painted the thing NATO Green, shaded with some highly thinned NATO Black, then did a dry brushing with a lighted NATO Green. I then picked out some of the details, did some chipping, and some heavy weathering with oil paints. You might notice that the rust streakings look like their running the wrong way, but seeing as the gear bay will be upside down I did the streaking upside down too :) I went a little overboard with the weathering, but eh.. I like em dirty :) Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading! Cheers, Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Banana11000 Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Oh, and just a little teaser of what will be on the bench next. Not a monoplane, not a biplane, but a triplane! heh! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tourist Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Nice job. The ill fitting parts are not "probably" your own fault, they are your own fault. The very precise fit means that skipping steps or improvising may yeld unpleasant surprises. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.