johnsan Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Ok, finally got moving on this. Bits of the interior have been chopped away to fit Eduards pe in. Still needs a few wires & cables added to the sides. Be careful if you use this pe sheet. Some of the panels on the stbd side are not in the correct position. I've started making a seat. The kit's seat is too bulky and Eduard's not bulky enough. The seat consists of copper wire, paper and a little epoxy putty. It will get the Eduard seat belts. No pictures of this as yet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Hi You have made a good start. I am very interested by your D520 because I am going to make an earlier one within this GB from the same kit. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mikester Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Looking good so far, John. When I get back I'm going to start something esoteric too, maybe a Finemolds 109. :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 Mike, you should. I've heard that's a nice kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 The 520 kit is a bit of an oddity for Hasegawa of this period. Most of their kits had very shallow wheel wells. Their 520 wells actually had some depth. Unfortunately, they possess ribbing not present on the actual plane. Eduard's pe sheet addresses this. Well partially anyway. Here the plastic well top has been carved away, the brass added with some evergreen additions, and a bit of epoxy putty added to the leg wells. The putty needs a bit of smoothing yet. Now it's back to the cockpit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Well, you have made much better wheel wells than the original one. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 18, 2007 Author Share Posted October 18, 2007 Thanks for looking in and for your comments. Been working on the cockpit, well actually only the seat. Last night I soldered up the frame. Tonight the frame received a seat cushion from epoxy putty, the canvas seat back from paper, and the 2 side rails. It still needs the lower framework that attaches to the airframe and the seat height adjustment mechanism. The seat is just under an inch or slightly over 2cm in length on its longest side. It will be trimmed to size when the framework is made. The actual seat looks much cleaner than the photos. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Hi A convincing French seat to fight in. I can see you're good at soldering as well. The most interesting for me is that when I build my D 520 your experience will be usefull. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Great scratchbuilding on that seat, very convincing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mikester Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Last night I soldered up the frame. Guess that 2M school was good for something after all, eh? Great work there, John. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the encouragement. Patrick - I'm not sure you can learn anything from me. Your builds are so very nice. So far the only thing I can specifically warn you about is if you use the Eduard photo etch, the floor is slightly too wide. I had to trim a little over 1mm to get it to fit without bowing. Thom - thanks. It needs some work still. Mike - it's sad that the only thing I use any of that electronics training the Navy gave me is for little soldering projects in my modeling. Sure wish I had a 2M station of my own though. Good to see you are in the GB. I take it you will be heading home soon? Edited October 19, 2007 by johnsan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mikester Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 John, Got back home on Wednesday. Will post some in progress on my 190F later today. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Thanks for the encouragement. Patrick - I'm not sure you can learn anything from me. Your builds are so very nice. So far the only thing I can specifically warn you about is if you use the Eduard photo etch, the floor is slightly too wide. I had to trim a little over 1mm to get it to fit without bowing. Hi I won't use the Eduard set but the Hi-Tech resin set. Nothing for the wheel wells but a very nice cockpit. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 I've had several good hours of modeling this afternoon. I painted the interior, did a small bit of weathering in the cockpit, worked a bit more on the seat. I used Mr Color 14 Navy Blue. I had planned on adding a bit of gray to lighten the color and tone down the blue. This is actually much darker than the color on the model. Looks like I need to get better lighting. A little out of focus here. The details are really much sharper, but the color is closer to true. The bulkhead was added with the though of covering a seam on the molded bulkhead. It's really not necessary as the seat and floor pretty much cover it up. I think I would add one, if using the kit's interior. I boxed in the hole in the floor to give something to glue the control column on. The column got some cables to it and a handle. Another unfocused photo. The base colors are Mr Color 319 FS30219 and Mr Color 316 FS17875 with the same blue for the tubing. Over this is various Citadel inks thinned with alcohol. The ink washes are a little strong here. I decided not to add the mounting rails and the height adjustment mechanism. These just won't be seen and other than bragging rights, I don't think they'll add anything to the model. The seat now has the seat belts added and painted. Again with the same colors and inks. One of the cool things with inks is that they can be gently erased using a paintbrush wetted with alcohol but still leaving a hint of the color desired. I'm not totally happy with the seat belts. This is about ready to add to the port fuselage. Next step will be to add the seat adjustment lever, the instrument panel, and the mounting bracket for the gunsight. Maybe tomorrow... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 HiI won't use the Eduard set but the Hi-Tech resin set. Nothing for the wheel wells but a very nice cockpit. Patrick Patrick, I have this set and plan on using it on a future build. It is nice. I generally like photo etch better in this scale because is appears more to scale. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Stunning looking cockpit. I'll have to look into those citadel inks. Do you know if they can be thinned with acrylic thinner? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Still wonderful ! Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Patrick - I'm not sure you can learn anything from me. I can learn something from anybody. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share Posted October 24, 2007 She's starting to look like an airplane now. The fuselage is together and the wings have been slapped on. This isn't Hasegawa's best fitting kit, but overall the fit isn't too bad. The worst part was the fuselage aft of the cockpit. There was a bit of misalignment at the forward wing to fuselage joint, but that was probably more from jamming the top of the wheel wells in. The pit is in. I had to remove the seat and reposition is as it sat too high. The instrument panel fits well. No bowing, bending or trimming required. It looks a little low here, but it still needs the gun site mount and gun site added. It will look more correct at that point. Doesn't too bad from the side. The fuselage and the nose piece did not quite fit cleanly. But it was nothing a little Mr Surfacer couldn't cure. The worst seam was on the fuselage bottom aft of the wing joint. It was filled with Tamiya putty and covered with Mr Surfacer. Thom - I don't know if acrylic thinner would work with the inks. I haven't tried any with it. Out of the bottle they are very thin. Think water thin. I've thinned them only to cut down the opacity of the color. The only problem I've found so is they tend to bead up like water droplets. The alcohol cut the surface tension enough to solve that, but then they dry very, very quickly. I'm going to try a little soap and water to thin next to see that will help. But the inks are pretty neat. I'll be using them again. I'm curious to see what I can do using them through the airbrush. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mikester Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Looking good, John. I've always liked the lines of that airplane. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VG 33 Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Hi Nice work ! The fitting is not typical from Hasegawa. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thom Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Thom - I don't know if acrylic thinner would work with the inks. I haven't tried any with it. Out of the bottle they are very thin. Think water thin. I've thinned them only to cut down the opacity of the color. The only problem I've found so is they tend to bead up like water droplets. The alcohol cut the surface tension enough to solve that, but then they dry very, very quickly. I'm going to try a little soap and water to thin next to see that will help. But the inks are pretty neat. I'll be using them again. I'm curious to see what I can do using them through the airbrush. Thanks for that. I might well try them out, I think I have a local supplier. I'll experiment with acrylic thinners if I get some and let you know what happens. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 The fitting is not typical from Hasegawa. I agree, but test fitting before installing the cockpit suggested this problem would arise. Irritating but nothing really too awful. In other areas, the was extremely good. Look at how tight the tailplane joint is. The only adjustment made was to cut the sprue attachment nubs and to sand the mold seam around the tailplane. I didn't sand the mold seam at the joint itself. The seam looks this tight upper and lower, left and right sides. Likewise, the radiator tub was cut from the sprue and the nubs carved away. The fit here is really nice. The prop is also exquisite. No photo here as I have to change the hub out. Idiot moi used the wrong one for this particular plane. That's what happens when one follows a profile instead the photo. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Touvdal Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 This is rearly going to be a small master piece, cheers Jes Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnsan Posted October 27, 2007 Author Share Posted October 27, 2007 Out of the paintshop now. With the exception of the white and red, the paints used are floquil enamels. They seem a little light in tone. I've had them for about 15 years, but they sprayed well, but seem a little slow drying. I'd have used Mr Color, but didn't want to mess with mixing. The white & red are Mr Color. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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