SPA Modeler

That works out great

The details man....the details. I just can't get over all of the forethought and execution of those thoughts that you bring to the table with your builds John. You sure put on a good show bro.

Thanks guys! Just throwing in a lot of fixes that I've done in the past.

The trimming on the inside surfaces of the fuselage to accommodate the resin cockpit has begun by removing the raised stuff first.



There will be a short pause here because the thinning process is a bit tedious and I sometimes procrastinate when I get to these points in the build. Also, I am starting on the paint process on the Tempest so this is a good transition to jump over to that build for now.

I'm with you on procrastinating. Any time I have that much work ahead of me on any given project, I tend to stall a bit myself. Looking forward to more bro.

I've gone through a few iterations of heavy sanding on the fuselage sides, each time cleaning the sanding dust off at the kitchen sink, taping the fuselage together and dry-fitting the cockpit tub into place. The cockpit tub itself is being temporarily held together using masking tape. Have you guys ever noticed that the yellow Tamiya tape doesn't stick well to resin?


The inside of the instrument panel hood is nicely detailed but you won't get to see much of it once it is installed.


I'm very close to having the fuselage sides thin enough to accommodate the resin cockpit tub without having to forced the fuselage sides closed. Taking into account the thickness of the masking tape, I'm probably just about there.



Checking to see if the instrument panel hood fits ok. Forget my previous work on the armor decking behind the seat. For some reason, I forgot that it does NOT seat on the original rails on the fuselage but within the resin rails, which are spaced narrower. After using this resin set twice before, that I would remember this. I pulled the armor decking from a second cockpit set and used the kit hatch on it. I'll have to salvage the erroneously modified deck later.



With the windscreen and canopy in place.



I am toying with the idea of posing the canopy open on this build.

Here is the Eagle Editions resin tail wheel. All of the parts have been removed from the casting blocks. Unfortunately, the wrong type of tire was included in my set. It will be corrected soon, thanks to Judy at Eagle Editions.


The locating ribs on the inner surface of the tail halves need to be removed. Also, the edges of the tail wheel opening can be thinned down.

Your attention to detail makes all the difference!

I’m in awe in all your builds, John.

Thanks for the comments!

Continuing on with the tail wheel assembly... the Ta152H tail is slightly different from the D-9. The tail wheel assembly will definitely work but some minor adjustments need to be made to the L-shaped base part like chamfering the corner to accommodate the horizontal tail plane tab and thinning the aft end.


To make the connections more solid and to ease the construction process, I usually modify the kit parts with brass tubing. A very fine brass tube is used to make an axle for the tail wheel. This will allow attachment of the wheel at the end of the build and the flat spot can be dialed in exactly as well. A larger diameter brass tube is used to help positively connect the tail wheel yoke to the strut.


Like the kit part, the EE tail wheel's unmodified position is very extended. Too much so for my tastes, based on photos of aircraft in service.


This height is easily adjusted by simply shortening the oleo.


No thinning of the walls was necessary to accommodate the tail wheel unit into the Ta152H tail.

That really looks good John, what size tubing are you using and how are you cutting it?