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Czech Model 1/48 Grumman Goose


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I'm going t build the Czech Model 1/48 Grumman Goose

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I really like this USAAC scheme!

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Anybody willing to sell an offset print copy of the Ginter's Grumman Goose Flying Boat (Naval Fighters)?

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Various build reviews have described molding divots. They're bigguns!

This will be a PITA to fix

goose-turds0_zpsbkm8qpys.jpg

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy

goose-turds1_zpsqiq6vuwi.jpg

This one looks like they left a piece of tape on the master when they molded it

goose-turds2_zps4yerjqxz.jpg

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With some filing and Perfect Plastic Putty, that bulkhead cleaned up nicely

goose-clean0_zps5j5qnrzq.jpg

Here's a plastic bulkhead before and after

goose-turds3_zpsukbb6xmr.jpg

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Online builds here and here have pointed to problems with the wheel well placement, so I'm dry fitting the floor, bulkheads, and wells

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Here are those wheel well gaps

goose-fitting1_zpsio8imzls.jpg

I'm going to reshape the bottom to a better contour and then fill any remaining gap as determined by the alignment of the wheel wells with the deck.

The instructions claim Interior Green for most interior surfaces. That doesn't match what I know about Grumman's use of Interior Green. Dull Dark Green, as used in the F4F would be way too dark. Based USAF Albatross photos, I've decided to paint the deck Grumman Gray with black non-skid and then use chromate green for the bulkheads &etc.

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Those wheel wells weren't that bad to clean up after all. Took out the divots with my Mission Models Micro-Chisel and then scribed some grooves to make it look more like the molding

goose-clean3_zpss5912mhy.jpg

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Got the starboard wheel well cleaned up. Here's the original gap

goose-clean2_zpssvs2uri0.jpg

And this is after some contouring work :)

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Still a gap, but the well can't go any lower without causing misalignment of the deck. I'll put some strip stock on the bottom and continue contouring while maintaining the current position.

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Found a picture of this aircraft at hawaii.gov. Two contradictions of the kit's marking instructions stand out.

First, the cowls are not the same color as the wings and tail:

goose-cowls_zpspbpd3ccw.jpg

Next, the wing appears to be in two colors

goose-wing_zpses7hbc10.jpg

Sadly, I have no clue, yet, what those cowl and 2nd wing colors are. :blink:

At least it's clear to me that the wheel wells are the same color as the lower fuselage, which I'll accept as black. The kit claims the wheel wells are interior green--which I knew was wrong...

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Next, the wing appears to be in two colors

goose-wing_zpses7hbc10.jpg

The back half of the wing is fabric covered so the colour is going to be slghtly different than the wing. The wing would have been painted while the fabric doped. It could be a case of the dope being a slightly different shade as the paint, or the dope faded differently than the paint and you get a slight mixmacth.

The easiest way to do this is paint the wings yellow, then lighten the colour slightly, mask and mist the fabric with this lighter colour.

You cans see an example of this on my corsair build below. Its a little extreme in this case

072.jpg

but you can also see on this wing from my Canso where the metal was left unpainted and the fabric would have used aluminium dope

134.jpg

hope this helps.

Sean

Edited by martin_sam_2000
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The back half of the wing is fabric covered so the colour is going to be slghtly different than the wing. The wing would have been painted while the fabric doped. It could be a case of the dope being a slightly different shade as the paint, or the dope faded differently than the paint and you get a slight mixmacth.

...

hope this helps.

Sean

Ah! Looking at the wing, I can clearly see the aluminum leading edge and fabric trailing edge. That's exactly what I needed, THANKS!

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With a fair amount of filing and contouring, I got the bulkheads trimmed down so the fuselage now closes.

More research caused me to change my color plans to bronze green for the cockpit, zinc chromate green for the cabin, and flat black for the wheel wells; the instructions wanted them all interior green. I just free-handed the demarcation between the two greens as the bulkhead will cover that line. I still plan on doing the cabin deck Grumman gray with a flat-black walkway.

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Also visible is some sheet stock I used as a space between the aft cabin bulkhead and the frame whence the tail wheel is mounted.

Not sure what I'll use for the passenger seats. Perhaps black leather on ZCG frames...

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Just noticed another issue with the kit because of that photo.

Here's what the starboard hatch should look like

goose-door_zpsbpfanabk.jpg

And here's the kit

goose-kitdoor_zpswo5dv7yz.jpg

I need to find more photos of this aircraft to see what else is going on.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got some good build time in this weekend, but still didn't button up the fuselage

The IP is supposed to have this odd combo of injected panel and wheels, but resin shafts for the wheels. :blink:

Replaced the resin with Albion 1.5mm brass tube; perhaps not surprisingly, the starboard control was a little too close to the side, so I fixed that, too.

goose-ip_zps4hymvuoq.jpg

Next I redid the starboard hatch to reduce its size and make it solid. I'm also trying a new approach with masking the fuselage side windows. I've prepainted the fuselage around the windows. The theory is I can just mask the whole window area instead of each individual window. We'll all see how that goes for me.

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Painted the passenger seats with their seatbelts and the cockpit seats without, and the bulkhead. I'll probably make harnesses from masking tape and wire. Not shown here, but I also painted the cockpit sidewalls, which I somehow missed in the box for a little bit.

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I need to get the wing glued up to see what to do with the bulkhead. Note the fuselage forward of the cockpit. Little bit of a misalignment...

goose-bulkhead_zps7gx4kjgs.jpg

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Well, it took a lot of scraping and sanding to get the wing leading and trailing edges to join well. My implements of destruction are shown with the pile of plastic scrapings

goose-wings_zps5ujjifny.jpg

Visible below, the engine nacelles didn't quite join well. Hm...had the identical problem with Amodel's 1/144 Albatross.

With the wings joined, I was able to trim the fuselage sides until the wing join was as good as it's going to get. I then trimmed the fuselage so the two-part cockpit glass seated well. Those two clear parts now needs some serious buffing and future love.

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With all that done, I can now get the fuselage bulkhead trimmed to proper size. Getting the IP into place could get interesting. I'll deal with the fuselage top edge betwixt the IP and the cockpit glass at that time, too.

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OK fuselage is glued up. I gave up on the pre-painted sides, stripped the paint, and masked the side windows. Also added masking tape harnesses. The bulkhead is only glued at the bottom, as the wings need to put the fuselage top together.

goose-fuselage0_zpsshvbyxsw.jpg

The passenger compartment is a little barren

goose-fuselage1_zpsamgcjttv.jpg

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I tried Micro Kristal Klear for the first time. I think I might have been a little heavy handed.

goose-mkk0_zpsfgsdilea.jpg

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The wings are glued on and the gaps filled. Not too much at the fuselage top, but did need a full-length putty fillet along the sides. Tamiya putty and a thinner-dipped swab finished the joint nicely.

The canopy plastic halves have been dipped in Future and are now safely ensconced in a container while they dry.

Edited by dnl42
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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the cockpit glass glued in. Did a little more filing to get them to fit properly; then added and filed Evergreen strip to fill the gaps. I'm really happy with the fit now and it's all glued up

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In finishing up the fuselage, used more Evergreen strip to fill the gaps in the nacelles. Yes, I did forget to paint that bright white Evergreen strip that will be visible in the starboard-side cockpit :bandhead2:

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I then found this little divot

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My round-tip chisel did a reasonable job in removing it

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Cleaned up and glued the cowl halves together and thinned to trailing edges (left) v. the original (right).

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I still need to fill in the poor plastic flow on one of the cowl lips

goose-cowl1_zpski0rdyai.jpg

Thanks for looking!

Edited by dnl42
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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the spray rail and step done.

Here's the initial spray rail v. the fuselage. More like rough hewing than fine shaping. It should be no surprise that there aren't any locating pins, slots, or anything else to help locate this.

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And this is after a suitable amount of shaping and studying of photographs to see how it should fit.

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Here's the step, which is a notable feature of the Goose. I also notice here that the wheel stow proud of the fuselage sides. I was a little concerned about that, as both the injected and resin wheels are larger than the wheel well. I was beginning to worry about what I'd do about that...

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Here are the step parts. Oddly enough the resin side parts don't replace injected parts, well-formed or not.

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I drilled out the holes in the aft edge and then some careful filing got to this

goose-step1_zpsdyd8leom.jpg

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More cleanup. What is with this kit and all these blobs? :bandhead2:

goose-scoop0_zpsleoobx3v.jpggoose-scoop1_zpscedcstec.jpg

Anyway, these scoops go on the port side of each cowl. I meant to attach them before I primed and painted, but, well, I suffer from CRS and they're still not on...

I'll prime them separately and attach/fill before I apply the blue, FS35109...we'll see.

I primed her, fixed some previously missed gaps, and now the Chrome Yellow is on. The instructions claimed FS13432, but I found out that FS13538 is the right color.

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I'm not sure which color is harder to apply, white or yellow. Fortunately, I've learned how to apply white, so this was more of the same. Lots of patience misting the yellow until I got good coverage. I left the fabric portions of the wing and the elevators more varied as I'll mist some slightly tinted Chrome Yellow on those portions next.

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Got the both metal and fabric Chrome Yellow on. Am about to mask for blue, but I need to figure out the cowling color. That Wheeler Field photo appears to clearly show the cowls are some other color than Chrome Yellow (wing and tail), Blue (fuselage), or flat black (lower fuselage). Any clues what that color might be?

goose-tail_zpsthzbb9zt.jpggoose-cowls_zpspbpd3ccw.jpg

Edited by dnl42
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