Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Up next are Model USA and Roden's versions of the venerable little 0-1 Bird Dog.  I spent a couple sessions working on the Model USA kit.  If you are not familiar with this kit, it is the first kit in 1/48 of the O-1 that I am aware of.  It was an ambitious effort that unfortunately fell a little short.  The good points:  The parts have fine recessed panel lines that most of us desire, the looks shape the spot on, a good representation of the interior.  Bad points:  most if not all of the parts have flash and mold misalignment problems, no positive alignment pins and sockets for putting fuselage together, not so clear clear parts, ill fitting clear parts.  I could go on.  Needless to say this kit will require all your modelling skill.  So with that said we will see if I am up to the challenge. I am doing these "out of the box" completely.  This is a training run.  If I were ever to do this kit again I would take a little more time and add more detail to the cockpit.  So I started with the Models USA kit.  I did not get any pictures of the early part of the build.  At this point I have the fuselage and wings assembled and I am contemplating how to get the windscreen and rear windows to look acceptable.  Pictures will help to show the problems.

 

Models USA box top (nice art work!)  These pilots must have been very brave to fly these little planes over hostile enemies at low level totally exposed!

yeoNUnc.jpg

Roden Box Top

lp3ltHo.jpg

 

This is where the I am at currently after much parts clean up and sanding and filling. I chose to close the door up which generally fit with some filling and sanding.  The windows required many iterations of test fitting and sanding and trimming to get them to fit into there openings. 

 

Amp8zHU.jpg

 

A couple shots of the interior.  Not much to see with it all closed up.

PQpCYjG.jpg0vplcch.jpg

 

The windows in the wings need much trimming and sanding to get them to insert into the openings and be almost  flush with the surface of the wings.  I will put some future on these to see if they clear up any when I am done painting.

Jqp6NCs.jpg

 

Rear window, big gap at the top.  Seems it is too short vertically to fit the opening.  I will have to add some plastic either to the top or build up the bottom.

YsRdHpu.jpg

 

Windscreen, yikes!  Way to short vertically doesn't reach the top or the bottom.  I will have to get creative with this. 

ITLmp2W.jpg

 

Well that's all for now.  Hopefully I will have something positive the next time I post.  Maybe I will start the Roden kit to see if it is any better. 

 

Thanks for looking

 

Geoff M 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I built that once, had the same problems and ended up ripping it apart to start over. Not a well fitted kit. But yours does not look as messed up as mine was. In fact apart from the clear fit issues, yours is coming along nice.

Link to post
Share on other sites

In the middle of fixing or making a mess of the clear parts.  I made some curved strips of thin plastic that I could get to wrap around the canopy.  After several attempts I got one that would fit the void in the windscreen pretty close.  I cemented it in place and held secure with some tape.  After it set for a few minutes I gave it a pretty good coating of Tamiya gray surface primer.  Much sanding to take place.  I also wedged some thin plastic strips around the top of the windscreen to fill the gaps.  This is probably going to throw of the profile appearance but I don't know how I can avoid it. 

 

I have also started working on the Roden kit while I wait for the surface primer to firm up.  I will give more details about it in the next post.

 

 

b9IJU0F.jpg

 

w80PM85.jpg

 

5J1yEj5.jpg

 

XaC20qL.jpg

 

hocctSs.jpg

 

Thanks for looking.  Any advice is welcome.

 

Geoff M

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...

I have finally come to a conclusion on these kits.  The front and rear windows on the Model USA kit are real problems which caused me to fill and sand multiple time to get something that looked remotely ok.  I filled with Tamiya surface primer and sanded until I sanded through plastic which caused me to fill the holes with super glue and resand and refill.  I ended up having to basically sand the clear parts to get a smooth transition as you can see in the pictures.  At this point I was just hoping I could polish them back to something clear.  After I spent as much time as wanted at this point I masked up the clear parts. 

 

The Roden kit is not any better with regard to the clear parts although I did not have to do as much filling but the front and rear windows were too large for the opening.  This caused me to wonder if maybe I had switched the parts from the two kits inadvertently.  Too late at this point if I did.  I sanded down the clear parts and got an ok fit.  Both kits were now masked and ready to paint.

 

bWqTqu7.jpga3H6NNY.jpg

 

Here are both kits in the paint booth.  MM aircraft gray sprayed.  Came out nice and glossy for decaling.  This is the Roden kit in the foreground.

0EJsi5i.jpg

 

Roden kit again.

cJvO4mo.jpg

 

Model USa kit.  You can see how I had to build up the cowl area to fill the gap in the windscreen.

hwhEmYi.jpg

Model USA kit

aN5OlQF.jpg

Model USA kit all decaled and finished.  I used the kit decals which were printed by Scalemaster.  They worked well but the sheet is covered by a film of glue that is kind of messy and sticks to the decals

Whe n they were dry I wiped them with some windex to get the excess glue off.

jKPTTTr.jpg

CRNmcZd.jpg

s9csrj7.jpg

You can see the rear windscreen is not very clear.  It will have to do.

oTtssaV.jpg

wek0Z3V.jpg

Roden Kit finished with the kit decals.  This is the first Roden kit I have built and the decals leave much to be desired.  The carrier film on many of the decals is one piece so that

each decal needs to be trimmed out to be able to use it.  The smaller decals have very large area of carrier film around them.  The decals are thin, but they are also very fragile. 

nnmGSP9.jpg

 

sqTuqNN.jpg

x8F1f6P.jpg

7hPCnjX.jpg

My conclusion on these kits.  We are still in need of an up to date molding of this little plane.  It will be along time before we see another kit of this plane.  The Model USA kit is probably from the 90's and it was a solo release from a company trying to get into the model business so I will give it a pass.  Their instructions even mention that things aren't the way they should be with regard to fit. 

The Roden kit looks very nice in the box.  Fine panel lines, full engine, nice interior, etc.  The problem lies again in the clear parts and their bad fit.  Perhaps someone with a little more finesse and technique could do these justice.  In the end I was glad to get these finished and off the workbench.  They will go into my collection as 4 footers  (they look fine from 4 feet away.)

 

Geoff M

Edited by Geoff M
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...