SPA Modeler

That’s gonna end up being a lovely-looking engine!

The early 1/32 kits by Hasegawa are nothing to pass by. They may not be as fancy as today’s kits, but they can hold their own quite well, and with a little extra effort...

BASIC ENGINE ASSEMBLY

Thanks, gents. You are right, Carlos. It is so nice to have an hour of modeling fun instead of sweat and pain assembling the basic engine minus the piping — exhausts, etc. Some seams to finesse.

For 35 years ago (or so) I got an old 1:32 scale P-51B Mustang from a friend of mine.
His dad had built the plane some years earlier, using some weird glue that did not keep the parts together after some time. So my friend asked if I wanted it and I said yes I do. I had big plans then, to reglue, paint etc the bird. That did not happen... Instead the bird was put in a box, along other birds and was forgotten.

A few years ago, while visiting my parents place, my mother reminded me of all my boxes full of planes and some tanks, figures and cars, taking a lot of space from my parents cellar. I opened all the boxes, took pictures of all builds "as they were" and then did a difficult decision (no options) to throw them away.

But I wonder if the kit I had was also an old Hasegawa ?




Anyone recognizing ?

- Kari

speedgraflex wrote:BASIC ENGINE ASSEMBLY

Thanks, gents. You are right, Carlos. It is so nice to have an hour of modeling fun instead of sweat and pain assembling the basic engine minus the piping — exhausts, etc. Some seams to finesse.

Say Bruce, when you’re dealing with seams like that on smaller pieces, what’s your preferred method for dealing with them? I’ve been just taping a small strip over the end of that I believe is a small cheese knife which I conscripted from out of the drawer in the kitchen. Kind of a small, homemade sanding stick. I use that to sand the small stufft and it works okay, but I’ve been wanting to explore more precise methods and tools...

I'm glad some have a liking for these older kits. Looking at the sprues reminds me of the model kits from my childhood. Kari... I believe that P-51B kit is by Revell since the Trumpeter kit isn't close to being 35 years old. Only 1/32 scale P-51B's that I know of. The best thing about this kit was the artwork on the box...

jkim wrote:I'm glad some have a liking for these older kits. Looking at the sprues reminds me of the model kits from my childhood. Kari... I believe that P-51B kit is by Revell since the Trumpeter kit isn't close to being 35 years old. Only 1/32 scale P-51B's that I know of. The best thing about this kit was the artwork on the box...

That's the one! Many thanks John! Looking at the cover art, I remember how the decaling had been done, just directly on the plastics, most of them dropping off.. But remember suddenly very clearly that red-white chessboard pattern! Or what was left of it, due to bad adherent...
This was really nice, thanks John once more!

- Kari

A SHORT PICTORIAL ABOUT SEAMS

1. Last night, when I assembled the supercharger, the halves were misaligned; one seemed smaller than the other. I cut the interior alignment pins since sometimes this helps working out a poor fit. I ended up with a center seam which I could not sand or polish through the thickness of the plastic, so I brought out Mr White Putty, which is somewhat more viscous than Tamiya White Putty, and added two layers.



2. First coat of primer reveals all: the feathered edges in particular. I use Mr Surfacer 1200. I debated using Taniya White Fine Surface Priner, but I was feeling the grey.



3. A short sanding session. 1,000 grit Tamiya paper.



4. Second squirt of Mr Surfacer 1200.



5. Add back Mr White to the lower seam which was partially back filled earlier.



6. Final squirt of Mr Surfacer 1200.



7. Color coat—Gunze Silver.

How'd you do that?