SPA Modeler

Interesting! Before you make any corrections, I think I'd have to first ask, what are we basing our corrections on? Here are a couple of scale drawings of the K-4 wing.

The first is from a Japanese publication (Model Art) that I have...


The second is from the 109Lair website. Disregarding the rivet detail, there are two additional panel lines that aren't shown in the Model Art drawing.


Not having access to blueprints or an actual K-4 to measure from, I don't know how accurate these are. Comparing the two, it seems like the main panel lines on the wings are in almost the same place in both drawings. The 109Lair drawing has those two additional panel lines but let's disregard those... no need to complicate things.


Now let's look at the Heller wing. Using a photo that Bruce posted, I've highlighted the panel lines and numbered them.


Superimposing the Model Art drawing onto the Heller wing, we can sort of see how things line up, considering the fair amount of error in trying to line up a photograph to a line drawing.


My suggestions would be, assuming that we trust the Model Art drawing to be somewhat accurate: delete panel line #1 (I feel pretty safe in saying that this panel line is fictional) and remove and relocate panel line #2. Panel lines #3 and #4 look close enough, in my book.

John:

Thank you so much! This was simply an extraordinary step by step comparison of the upper wings between the kit and actual plans. Here is what I independently produced based on my 13 x 13 mm Insignia-sized Post-It’s with some additional graphics as an overlay. The lines should stop and start the way your illustration samples do. I think in the end these are fairly close. Obviously I missed the panel line (marked 1 in your diagram) completely, my mistake. I didn’t even think about it. You’re right—should not be there. You are also right to use the plans. I used one photo you gave me which shows the Insignia is aligned from the innermost panel on the original aircraft. Finding that panel line I guess I worked backwards by setting the insignia square down slightly covering the panel lines marked in red, then I had the blue location. I also removed the red paint, but I need to still polish out the engraved panel lines before I touch up the gray. Again, I cannot thank you enough. Here’s my attempt at figuring this out:



Corrected marking lines:



What is super cool is seeing how we arrive at our conclusions!!! Again thank you so much!!!

Tonight’s List-

MG Guns corrected and added; Done

Two of three ammo chutes drilled out and shaped; Done

Wing paneling flossed and gray touch up completed. Done

Tomorrow’s List-

Paint the propellor assembly;

Build the armored cockpit shield;

Fuselage assembly and seam cleanup;

Upper wing insignia painting.

Love that checklist Bruce! Goals met, and new ones to be met! And that photo... wow! Those are some interesting looking stencil devices that they had.

Thanks, buddy! My mantra comes from my buddy Joe, ex-Beverly Hills Prosecutor, ex-Fireman and now Paramedic: “Keep on trucking... and take no prisoners.”

Tonight’s List-

MG Guns corrected and added; Done

Two of three ammo chutes drilled out and shaped; Done

Wing paneling flossed and gray touch up completed. Done

Tomorrow’s List- Today so far-

Paint the propellor assembly; Done

What a bear, for whatever reason. I chose IJN Nakajima M3 Green and mixed it a little too thin, which led to bleed through underneath the masks and on the Off-White underneath. Three times I went ‘round the Horn doing this and now I am here:



I didn’t enjoy doing painting these parts so some joy points went away. I need to do something else for the evening then return to my list with a clear approach.

Moving right along Bruce. So that's how they painted the crosses always wondered but never looked it up.

Welcome to the world of Just Get Er Done! Sometimes we have to accept imperfect results for the sake of the overall project and that is not a bad thing at all.

Thanks, gents. I appreciate your comments so much. At this point there are 7 days left in the GB, so I plan to concentrate on painting as much as possible with the fuselage today. After I took a break last night I listed all of the steps I need to carry out on the fuselage painting, and realized I was going to have to sacrifice making new belts this time around and concentrate instead on the camouflage in three sections (however in typical aircraft modeling fashion, work does not begin sequentially).

Section 1 is the upper cowling which is gray with a green stripe crossing diagonally over it;

Section 2 is the center fuselage with a narrow upper band of brown and green;

Section 3 is the tail which is gray with green spots.

Last night I finally hit the “Building Button,” and assembled the cockpit, IP with gunsight, control stick and fuselage halves together. Everything went together easily however the two halves underneath have a slight step, which I missed before. I addressed this by masking the areas and sanding the halves flat, then adding small amounts of Mr Surfacer 500 to correctly level out any of the small stuff. I followed this up by painting on a thin layer of CA to give me a hard surface to paint. I may address the center line by scribing but that may be wishful thinking. I will see how things are once the “Sky” is painted over the RLM 65.

Yay! Slingin' glue at last on the major assemblies! Keep in mind this is a fun, take-your-mind-off-thins' build.

What you have done so far looks great.