SPA Modeler

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 01, 2023 1:53 pm Or nip it off and scratch build one.

I thought it was much easier to shape it so I didn't have to go through the trouble of attaching it and then having to smooth the attachment with putty. But that was definitely an option.

Here's the tail with the antenna mast thinned out.


I also thinned the trailing edges of the rudder and the tab.


The instrument panel coaming has been cleaned up and painted. I also added small half hoops of bent wire as attachment points for the shoulder harnesses.


I started painting the main gear legs. The shiny oleo part was given a gloss black base and then Alclad Chrome. The high shine Alclad finishes do not like clear coats of any kind so I'll let this dry 24 hours before I mask it off.


This cockpit side of this bulkhead/firewall just ahead of the foot rests is left unpainted. It will not be visible at all from the outside.


Here's what the inner wing gun components look like. This too will be left upainted with the exception of the bottom, which you'll get a glimpse of through the ejection ports on the wing bottom.



The wheel well components have been painted. These have a base of Alclad Steel and hairspray was used to chip the outer RLM 02 Green Grey. Weathering was topped off with a pastel wash.


After painting of the components, the wheel well area can start to be assembled. First is the rear wall, which also serves as a wing spar.



The cover hiding the engine (which is absent on the many Doras I've built) and a few other components are glued in.




Fit has been really, really good so far... impressed. Here's what wheel well looks like with the upper wings taped into place.

Two ficticious ports have been filled with black CA and Mr Primer Surfacer 1000. A little more complicated than the typical panel fill because the ports were slightly raised.



Border has provided separate brake lines for the landing gear legs. Very delicate and yes, I broke them both trying to clean the mold line from them. But three positive attachment points made the repair fairly easy.


The landing gear legs were painted RLM 02 Green Gray and then given a pastel wash.


The one-piece propeller was also painted.

I can see where the breaks were prior to painting. You made good on it as if it never happened. PE looks to be a bit easier to manage in 1/32 scale than in 1/48 scale.

I may have to look into trying my hand at another 1/32 scale aircraft kit. Perhaps a F4U Corsair or a Nightfighter Hellcat or Wildcat....

Remember... this one is in 1/35, not 1/32. An odd scale for aircraft that only Border is doing at the moment.

I've deviated from the kit instructions and have glued on the wing tops. The instructions would have you install the wing bottoms onto the fuselage and then the wing tops but I wanted to deal with the gun covers at the wing roots prior to attaching to the fuselage.


Fit, again, is very good and I was able to clean up the seams with very little filler. And... the panel lines line up at the joint!



The gun covers have been glued into place.


A check to see if the clear parts fit ok. They do!


The clear parts are given a soak in Future. I like to put them in a covered container to keep the dust off as the Future dries. The paper towel on the bottom helps wick away any excess Future.


The cowling trailing edges at the exhausts are thick and need to be thinned down.



I modified the prop attachment using sections of telescoping brass tubing. Instead of having to trap the prop axle at the front of the engine, the prop is now removable. The brass tubing gives the prop some lateral rigidity so that it doesn't sag in place.

The headrest/armor part has been assembled and painted.


Unlike the Dora, the Anton had a pulley system that kept the aerial line taut when the canopy was slid open. I thought I'd add the wire inside the canopy.




New product! Being lazy and not wanting to mask the clear parts "manually" and lacking my go-to masks from Eduard, I thought I'd give this new company (new to me, anyway) a try.


Mask material is similar to the Eduard stuff and yellow Tamiya tape. The masks pieces have numbers, which is a great idea as it prevents confusion over mask orientation. However, no instructions are included so you have to figure out placement yourself, which is not difficult on a simple canopy like the Fw 190. I found the fit of the masks to be superb with one small exception. The small cut-out for the aerial connection tab was a hair too small.


The painted Revi 16B gun sight is now glued into place. The opening for the gun sight has been enlarged to fit the slightly longer Quickboost version.


Some views of the cockpit before I cover it with the masked clear parts.





The clear parts are secured into place using Tamiya Extra Thin cement.


After a couple of dry-fitting attempts, I found that my decision to glue the inboard wing gun covers into place resulted in them sitting uniformly too low in relations to the fuselage. So I had to add a shim there.


The wings are now glued onto the fuselage. The fit, with the exception of the aforementioned gun cover joint, was very good.


With the major airframe components now secured with glue, I was curious to see how the engine cowling parts would fit. So I put them together using just tape. Again, the fit is excellent. Really impressive.





I am not going to pose any of these panels open. That look just ruins the lines of the aircraft for me personally. But I am thinking about having at least one of the engine panels removable.

Here are the MG17s in place and how the barrels might be too long.


The wheels have been painted and weathered and the masking tape from the oleo section has been removed.

john, stunning as usual! Your work is a treat to look at and your descriptions and narratives are always so helpful.

Beautiful work!

Thank you Lyle and Mike! Appreciate you checking in!

As was pointed out by some sharp-eyed modelers, the A-5/A-6 featured a fuselage extension that affected the position of the MG17 gun barrel ends. They should not protrude as much as the Border kit shows, which is more in-line with an A-4. Also, there were small blisters at forward edge of the gun cowling on the A-5/A-6 to accommodate this lengthening.



So... I have fashioned up some little blisters by cutting up the tips of some rockets from a 1/48 P-38 kit.


Preliminary positioning of the blisters... I have to be careful if I want to trim the leading edge of this gun cowling because that edge seats on the part forward of it.


The tips of the MG17 are sliced off, barrels shortened slightly, and then re-glued onto the barrels.



Here's what the shortened MG17's look like, relative to the cowling openings and new blisters. Concurrent to this work, I've cleaning up the wing root joints with putty and/or black Ca glue.


Although the kit instructions, unfortunately, do not show how the extended landing gear is installed, all of the necessary parts are supplied. I had missed the retraction motor/strut and the small downlock rod previously so I tracked them down on the sprues, added some wiring detail and painted them.

Nice safe with the blisters!