SPA Modeler

Wow! That panel and the compass look so real!

Thanks guys! It's just the instrument panel I know but it was something small that I could work on that I could finish without having to involve other sub-assemblies.

speedgraflex wrote:The instrument panels are perfectly weathered. Just right. That’s quite a bit of fine scale work to do in so small a space but you did it. I keep thinking in a kind of fear that I sent you down the wrong path by including what Roy wrote about the Special Hobby spinner, and I look forward to seeing the new one very much. Also the Valiant Wings book covers in detail the Special Hobby 1/32 kit. I’ll try to add photos of pages, and if you want to see the book in person let me know and I will send it to you.

Thanks Bruce! Don't worry about sending me down the wrong path. The decision to buy the Barracuda cowling was made days before you even posted that pic and Roy's message. And getting my hands on it did result in Barracuda promising to cast a corrected spinner so that was a big positive for the modeling community in general.

I haven't gotten the new spinner yet so I am working on the two cowlings in parallel, not having made a decision on which one to use. Pluses and minuses to consider for each. I DID start the arduous task of excavating the thick resin on the inside of the Barracuda cowling so that the resin engine would fit. Gouging out the resin is a sloppy and inexact procedure and I am not enjoying it.

An intense round of hacking, gouging and grinding has gotten me really close to getting the resin engine to fit within the Barracuda cowling.


Mounting the Barracuda spinner backplate reveals the remaining issue if I want to go this route: The front of the engine mount will have to be shaved down to meet the backplate, losing some nice detail. I have Archer's raised rivets so I could probably get most of the detail back.



There are some funky things going with the fit with the engine bulkhead in place, which seems to be fine with the kit cowling but I could probably work this out. Happy that I have two viable alternatives now. I received an email from Barracuda that signals that the new spinner might be on its way.


In the meantime, I am futzing around with some some cockpit details. Some of the molded levers have been replaced.

I got nothing but a look of amazement watching this come together.

Thanks Blacksheep!

Family medical situation prevented me from spending too much time in the modeling room. Actually, I had the TIME but the worry that went with the waiting didn't have me in the right frame of mind. The only thing I managed to do on the Tempest build was to look and think about the cockpit components and made some modifications to the cockpit lights. I drilled out the faces, painted them white and then used uv clear epoxy to simulate the lenses. I added a wire to the back of lights to hold them while painting and they can be utilized as the power cables.

Hope the medical issue sorts itself quickly and positively, John. Best wishes!

jeaton01 wrote:Hope the medical issue sorts itself quickly and positively, John. Best wishes!

Hope all works out.

I feel your pain John. The wife's medical issues have slowed down bench time cause I'm just not in the right mood for it.

Thanks guys! My elderly mother-in-law fell down and we had to take her to the emergency room. Broken bones in her neck and sinus plus a 4 inch gash on her head that needed stitches. She's at home recovering now but it was a scary few days for us.

I received a package from Barracuda Studios today. I tried to compare sizes right out of the box but couldn't get a good read based on the interference caused by the casting block.


After I removed the casting block carefully so as not reduce the diameter of the spinner one iota, I made some measurements. According to the digital calipers, this spinner is slightly larger in circumference at the base than the original spinner. Neither of them are perfectly round so the two measurements (approximately 1/2 way between the prop blade openings) are different.

Old: 25.14mm & 25.92mm
New: 25.37mm & 26.07mm

There is an overlap in dimensions and this is reflected in the test fittings of the new spinner on the backplate... better but still smaller than the backplate in some areas. The differences can be reduced/increased by rotating the spinner but not completely eliminated.



It's definitely workable now but I'm a bit disappointed that the spinner was still, in essence, undersized. So... using the Barracuda resin components will need shaving of the backplate to match the spinner and also some shaving of the fuselage to match the backplate since the out-of-round condition on these parts creates gaps.



To make the resin engine fit, the front portion of that engine will need to shaved down to match the reduced radius of the Barracuda spinner. The kit parts fit much better and will require no shaving or adjustments of the kit spinner, backplate, fuselage or engine. However, an insert piece, which forms the ceiling of the large intake is a bad fit and will be some work to cleanly fit that part in. It is incorporated into the Barracuda resin cowling.





So the choice is still not clear. If the spinner was a better fit or even slightly oversized, I think I would've been swayed to go with the resin cowling. I know that there are differences in the intake to consider and my spinner re-shape is still a bit more bulbous than the corrected spinner but I'm still considering the kit parts. I may play with that insert piece and see what issues are involved there before making any decisions.