The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Wow! Thanks, ShaunW! I'll have to try it.

I assume this means you could make small windows on an aircraft after the fuselage has been closed up and painted. That would be great, as it would save a lot of masking, and the hazard of (as I have done!) accidentally pushing the window inside the fuselage to be lost forever.

Canuck2016 wrote:Wow! Thanks, ShaunW! I'll have to try it.

I assume this means you could make small windows on an aircraft after the fuselage has been closed up and painted. That would be great, as it would save a lot of masking, and the hazard of (as I have done!) accidentally pushing the window inside the fuselage to be lost forever.

Yes indeed, Fred. I used it for the first time for making windows on an Airfix Lancaster after painting and made replacement windows in the nose positions either side of the bombardier's blister window and also in the upper fuselage near the cockpit glazing. I took a chance to save masking and it worked a treat - ditto to make lower fuselage windows on a Frog Swordfish. I've also used it to glaze the window apertures on an Airfix railway station ticket office - again after the model had been painted - as the kit did not provide any clear parts for the purpose.

Thanks, ShawnW! I'll definitely give it a try!

Pressing on with the Arado: got the final, sliding portion of the canopy done. Below are some photos of the work in progress. As mentioned, the moulding of the clear parts is very crisp, so the frames make a nice, clear impression through the masking tape. I pressed the tape into the corners using a toothpick to get a more positive line, then traced around the frame with a sharp blade. Since the parts are flat, it wasn't always clear at a glance which was the inside and which was the outside surface, so once I figured it out, I marked them "I" or "O" as appropriate. That's why the second photo looks like a very low-scoring round of Scrabble. Then I painted the inside of the frame dark yellow, and the outside dark green.

It was so frustrating to build the previous section of canopy that I resolved to make a simple jig this time to help alignment. I measured the width of the canopy rail, which is 2.7 cm. Then I stuck two rows of pins into a block of styrofoam the same distance apart, and built up the three pieces (top and two sides) between the pins. This beat the heck out of trying to do it on the model, and once the glue had set, the section of canopy fit onto the airframe quite well. Yay!

After that, it was a matter of adding a dizzying array of little greeblies to the outside of the aircraft: pitot tube, mass balances, antenna mast, canopy handles, landing light, etc. The antenna mast broke my previous record for the shortest time a part has been on one of my models before I knocked it off while handling it. About one minute! The attachment point for this piece is necessarily very tiny, and I hold no hope for it withstanding the strain of the antenna wire. Anyway, I intend to order some 1:32 scale turnbuckles for the rigging, and until those arrive, I am happy to call this build done! On to the catapult tomorrow, I hope!

P.S. In the last photo, the plane is sitting on a turntable which my good lady gave to me. She got it from a craft store, and it's intended for cake decorating, but it's ideal for spinning a model around when touching up paint or adding small parts. Recommended!

Cheers, all!

Good day all!

With the Arado more or less done, I now get to turn my attention to the catapult! This kit is from HPH in the Czech Republic. I've never built one of their models before, but they have an excellent reputation for making good quality, large-scale resin kits. The parts are very well packaged in a strong cardboard box with plenty of bubble wrap inside. There are also some nice promotional brochures for other HPH products (including a 1:32 scale Catalina!) and, in an endearing company tradition, a Belgian chocolate (the small package in the centre of the second photo)! I've decided I will eat this to celebrate the completion of the kit, probably some months from now!

I'm feeling some trepidation as I've never built an all-resin kit before. Still, I'm excited to see how it will turn out. Can't wait to get started!

A beautiful fall day here in Canada, and I hope the same for everyone here (well, a beautiful SPRING day for those south of the equator). Have a great weekend!

Canuck2016 wrote:I've decided I will eat this to celebrate the completion of the kit, probably some months from now!

How long does chocolate last?

Seriously though, the Arado is looking soooo cool that it deserves a catapult to sit on. Keep the pics coming.

Old_Tonto wrote:

Canuck2016 wrote:I've decided I will eat this to celebrate the completion of the kit, probably some months from now!

How long does chocolate last?

Seriously though, the Arado is looking soooo cool that it deserves a catapult to sit on. Keep the pics coming.

Ha! Around my house, chocolate doesn't last very long!

Thanks for your comment about the Arado. Looking forward to getting into the catapult soon!

I am looking forward to see how the "Cat" goes together. What a build!

Awesome work and that catapult will be the cherry on the cake.

It certainly will. This could be a slippery slope to building a 32nd scale Kriegsmarine light cruiser to strap it to!

Man that Arado is so good, Fred. The catapult will certainly round off this superb build very nicely indeed. I've never built an all-resin kit either but seeing your work on the Arado, I've every confidence you will make a great job of it

gnomemeansgnome wrote:It certainly will. This could be a slippery slope to building a 32nd scale Kriegsmarine light cruiser to strap it to!

Ha! Very true, Gnomemeansgnome! The subject of this kit flew off the Tirpitz (which carried four of them!) I did the math, and I believe a 1:32 scale model of the ship would be about 25 feet long. My wife has been indulgent about this hobby so far, but I'm sure she has her limits! As it is, the plane and catapult alone will be almost two feet long. I'm going to have to give some thought to where to put it.

ShaunW and PTB11, many thanks for the kind comments!

Got started on the catapult. All's well so far, and I'm gradually getting used to working with resin. Some of the cylindrical parts are made of metal, and they're pretty substantial. They'll add some much-needed weight to the catapult. I've primed the resin and metal parts with automotive primer, and it seems to stick well so far. We'll see what happens with the paint and weathering to follow.

All the best!

Canuck2016 wrote:

gnomemeansgnome wrote:It certainly will. This could be a slippery slope to building a 32nd scale Kriegsmarine light cruiser to strap it to!

Ha! Very true, Gnomemeansgnome! The subject of this kit flew off the Tirpitz (which carried four of them!) I did the math, and I believe a 1:32 scale model of the ship would be about 25 feet long. My wife has been indulgent about this hobby so far, but I'm sure she has her limits!

I have a 34' long narrow boat that could be converted

The question is; would it be easier for you and the aircraft & catapult to come here, or for me to sail over there? Narrow boats have crossed the English Channel but the Atlantic might be a stretch!

iggie wrote:

Canuck2016 wrote:

gnomemeansgnome wrote:It certainly will. This could be a slippery slope to building a 32nd scale Kriegsmarine light cruiser to strap it to!

Ha! Very true, Gnomemeansgnome! The subject of this kit flew off the Tirpitz (which carried four of them!) I did the math, and I believe a 1:32 scale model of the ship would be about 25 feet long. My wife has been indulgent about this hobby so far, but I'm sure she has her limits!

I have a 34' long narrow boat that could be converted

The question is; would it be easier for you and the aircraft & catapult to come here, or for me to sail over there? Narrow boats have crossed the English Channel but the Atlantic might be a stretch!

Sure Iggie, come on over! We're on the east coast, so it wouldn't be such a long trip!

If we did convert your boat, it wouldn't even be the biggest model battleship around. Did you ever see photos of the 1/10 scale model of the Yamato?

Taking a break from the catapult, I'm making some progress on Revell's 1:32 Heinkel 219 (I swear not everything in my stash is German! )

Got the cockpit done pretty much out of the box except for some aftermarket paper seatbelts. The "Simple Work!" claim on the label is not entirely true, as threading the belts through the tiny buckles is a fiddly business, but the end result looks fine. Overall the cockpit was painted Tamiya "Field Grey", then washed with dark brown artist's oil paint. High points were highlighted with a soft graphite pencil. Revell gives you individual decals for the instrument faces, and these look good under a layer of Future.

With that done, I am now building up the courage to glue the fuselage halves together. After that, the rest should go fairly quickly as this is a straightforward kit with no engines and little internal detail.

Cheers all, and have a good rest of the weekend!

Oh heck, another Revell 1/32nd kit to get!
That UHU is looking good so far!