Achtung- Huckbein!, Building AmTech's little What-If fighter... Options

[chukw]

Let's build a model airplane, shall we? Here are some in-progress shots of my AmTech Ta-183 in glorious 1/48 scale.


Here's the back of the IP, plumbed with various bits of wire and solder. Out-of-the-Bx? What's all that about?

Man, this seemed a lot easier when I was 15! Danged reading glasses combined with a magnifying glass nowadays... Can any late-war enthusiasts tell me what kind of glass goes on this gunsight? Thanks!

I drilled out an opening for the belts, dinged up and creased the cushions and added the grab handles on the seat. Here it is after and before.

Ach, der shtick! Mit der Wire beadden-onnen...

Here's the tub with base color enhanced by dark and light shading.



Here it is after Future, a dark oil wash, flat coat, drybrushing with pale tan and details barbarically hacked in with a housepainting brush.

Black makes nice paint chips, dontcha think? Silver is too harsh, and unpainted metal oxidizes and darkens quickly. I'll hit it with some pencil graphite later, tho...

[chukw]

I've got the RLM 02 parts mostly ready to go as well. Those colorful bottles in the gear bays need some love, and here and there colors and various touches need to be worked in. I'll keep you posted.

[Aggressor Suppor...]

This is looking good. keep it up.

[Arseny]

nice pics!
I'd add a small drops of Future to the instrument panel.

[chukw]

Thanks, guys! Arseny, I'll do that and more- gotta add a throttle, belts, brake lines, etc... I'll post pics when I get there!

[chukw]

Life and work have been keeping me pretty busy as of late, but I've been able to sneak in some modeling here and there. It feels like it's been forever since I've glued two pieces together!

I was kind of surprised at the niumber of subtle sink marks on this particular pressing of the kit- guess I'm just lucky. I don't mind, though- there's something theraputic about filling, sanding and enjoying the satisfaction of a nice, smooth fuselage.

It was an easy job to separtate the ailerons and such- cover the gaps, some bits of styrene for hinges...

... and voila! Nicely animated flying surfaces. The Ta-183 was intended to be flown by the rudder and ailerons, with the elevators being used mostly as trim surfaces- fascinating! That said...

...I dropped the elevators a bit as well. I sanded the elevators and wings to have sharper trailing edges.

That big, fat rudder got the treatment as well. I glued a length of styrene rod to it's leading edge and faired it in with putty, and thinned the vertical fin inners to fit. On a side note, I've been using Tamiya Light-Curing Putty- it works pretty well. Apply putty (quickly, mind you) and put it in direct sunight or right up close to a good fluorescent tube. Hardens up in two minutes max, just a swipe of laquer thinner and you're good to sand.

Here's the port gear bay in place, with some Mr. Surfacer 500 yet to be smoothed in back on the butt end of things.

I had some old fashioned, unpainted Eduard seat belts left over so I screwed up my nerve and painted them myself.

[chukw]

Here's how it looks in place.

I had some rudder pedals left over as well- you can just see 'em in in finished 'pit.

The landing gear are coming along- I added a torque link to the front strut, and may add a sway brace as well. The main gear still need brake lines, but they'll get 'em.

Tomorrow's Christmas Eve- if I get my wish I'll have some more modeling time. I hope you all enjoy peaceful and joyous holidays, wherever you be!

[Aggressor Suppor...]

Looking good! The details in the wheel bay is impressive as is the cockpit. Keep it up.

This post has been edited by Raptor Supporter: Dec 24 2006, 01:22 PM

[chukw]

Progress! Assembly went well, and I got the basic camo laid down in an afternoon. The camo colors are the old PollyS range with the eagle on the bottle. New PollyS airbrush thinner caused an amusing chemical reaction with the paint, resulting in an expanded. clotty mass gunking up the airbrush. Tamiya thinner worked perfectly, allowing for a nice, smooth application.
Since it's a Focke Wulf, I'm painting it much like an FW 190 with a late war 76/75/83 scheme. I haven't done mottling in twenty years! I've got a tip for my fellow airbrushers who are sick of paint building up on the needle: apply a little Rain-X. Rain-X id the US brand name for a silicone windshield treatment that makes rain roll right off the glass, and darned if it doesn't make paint roll right off the needle! I applied the grauviolet mottle with an untreated needle and had to constantly unscrew the tip and clean it with a damp cotton swab. I pulled the needle and added a tiny bit of Rain-X, wiped it dry and reassembled to apply the 83 lichtgrun. There was a marked improvement, and no ill effects with the paint. You'll want to try this one- trust me!


Here's a shot of the rudder- I scribed some new inspection panels here and there to try out my new Mission Models scribers. I can report that they worked beautifully. Another tip- I shaved off the raised ridges around newly-scribed lines with an old-fashioned double-edged razor- the blue-steel kind- snapped in two down the middle. This allowed for a lot less sanding and rescribing. The flexibity of the blade allows it to conform to curved surfaces without digging into the model.

[chukw]

A yellow beak (Tamiya Flat Yellow)seemed appropriate, although black might be better for a raven...

I opted for only two external stores racks.

The mottling was applied with very thin paint sprayed at low pressure with an Iwata Custom Micron B.

The Defence of the Reich ID bad was masked off and sprayed with Tamiya Flat Blue, lightened a bit with white. Next comes weathering- this bird will have seen some action by the time I'm through it! I'll probably give it a coat of Future later this afternoon to protect the finish so far. Stay tuned!

[Thundervett]

Superior paint job! What air brush are you using. i also love the plane.
Good job keep it up.

Trevor M

[cemical]

Good job man Great pain job

[ScottD]

I have to try your rain-X idea! I just had a bottle of a knock off brand that I think I threw out..I have to see if I did or not...

[chukw]

Thanks, Thundervett- I love my Iwata Custom Micron B.
Cemical- thanks- the fun part comes next- weathering!
ScottD- you won't be disappointed- it's a real frustration-buster! Good on the car windows, too...

[WW2nut]

Nice work so far...great looking camo!

Joe

[chukw]

Back in gear! I put her aside while I built my B-25H for review on Modeling Madness. I decided to go all-out with the decals- this is just for fun, right? I also decided to try a bunch of new things- like really cutting away all the clear film on a decal. Here's how crazy people do it:

I used Microset and Microsol, followed by a hit of Solvaset to get the decal down into the panel lines. That gooey look is just a little damage to the Future coat and will disappear after another coat.

For the lower wing crosses I thought I'd try cutting my own masks.

A quick spray...

...and viola! Air Superiority Grey, 1946 style!

Here's an overall shot- all are kit decals (very nice) except for the 8's. These were from the Tamiya FW190 A-8/R2 kit.



I was worried thate checkers would be difficult, but when on quite easily. They really "snuggled down" under the Solvaset- but shrunk a bit in the process. nothing I can't touch up easily...

Next: weathering begins! Stay tuned...

[erwin]

Nice paintwork !

[ChernayaAkula]

That looks nice! Marvellous work!

[Guest_LITTLE BIRD 117_*]

Great job!!! I really like how you got rid of the glossy decal stuff. Can't wait to see the finnish!


Jake

[Ivan T.]

This is one great looking kit!



Ivan