SPA Modeler

Very nice! One day I'll get my washes and weathering to look that good.

That is fantastic work John - your pre and post painting work look superb.

There is a lot of fine modeling happening here!

Thanks gents! Still in a holding pattern on this build but there is some movement on the latch decals. Hopefully, I'll them soon. In the meantime, I've decided to start on some of the post-shading...

Magnificent. I saw this a few hours ago and I am still thinking about it! Absolutely gorgeous work! You, sir, are an artist.

speedgraflex wrote:Magnificent. I saw this a few hours ago and I am still thinking about it! Absolutely gorgeous work! You, sir, are an artist.

I try to absorb as much information that I can from each of your builds.

That's just awesome!

Thanks guys! Finally some movement on this build. As you recall, the wing bottom on this H-1 kit was extensively modified to backdate this to an H-0. This included large access panels, which I made scribing templates for. I initially thought that I could scribe the small latches using two circles as a basis for each latch.


After struggling to make one messy latch, it was obvious that trying to repeat the process consistently 12 times was not going to work. So I shelved the idea of showing the latches on the panels. As I progressed through the build, I became aware of another modeler who was working on the Z-M Ta152H-0 kit that had sanded off his access panel latches while getting the wing panels to fit (similar struggles as me). He posted his dilemma at LSP and Woody from Archer Fine Transfers said that he could develop some latch transfers. A couple of other people chimed in, including myself and so I put the build on hold as I waited for the transfers to be developed.

What I received were raised transfers, similar to Archer's rivets. These were intended to applied and painted over, creating a raised detail that could be highlighted with a wash. I tried it out and found that I could not get a dark wash to hold due to the small size/height of the transfer.


So I reported my test findings back to Woody and requested decals showing the latches as outlines. After a short wait, I received the outline decals.


Here is the access panel without latches...


Access panels with the latches added. I added latches to the smaller rectangular hatch as well.


With this issue resolved, I can move on with the weathering of White 7.

Wow. Goggle-eyed. Slack-jawed. Dumbfounded. Speechless. Astounding. Amazing. And Shazaam, John. That is nice.

Thanks Lyle! The funny thing is that I could've avoided all of this extra work if I had bought the Zoukei Mura Ta152H-0 kit when it was available instead of modifying the Ta152H-1 kit. The H-0 kit has the correct wings already but it was out of production and unavailable when I began this project.