Jim B Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 Your P40 is coming along nicely. I suppose if you want a spinning prop look, there's always these: http://www.propblur.com/store/p11/1%2F48th_Scale_PropBlurs.html Here they are on my 1/144 Macchi C200AS (ok, so it's not exactly the same):
atomicholiday Posted March 8, 2015 Author Posted March 8, 2015 Got the dihedral angle of the wings set today. I used Tamiya extra thin cement and it seems to have filled most of the gaps pretty well. Also knocked one of the exhausts loose while I was handling it. That should be fun to fix...
mustang1989 Posted March 8, 2015 Posted March 8, 2015 (edited) Awesome work Jeremy!! Man I can just see the shark mouth on the front of that thing now!! BTW---Drooling smiley emoticon you were wondering about- Edited March 8, 2015 by mustang1989
atomicholiday Posted March 9, 2015 Author Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks Snake & Joe! It's getting there. Slowly but surely.
atomicholiday Posted March 16, 2015 Author Posted March 16, 2015 Sorry I'm taking so long between updates. I'm only doing a little here & there when I get time. Also, I don't want to rush thru it and not be happy with my results. I'm not in any hurry. Just a small update. Got the wing-root gaps filled & sanded. Really didn't go as nearly bad as I had expected. I'm just about ready for primer now.
mustang1989 Posted March 21, 2015 Posted March 21, 2015 Looks like you're doing one helluva job there Jeremy. The wing roots look great from here. Can't wait to see some paint on this puppy! Are you going with the kit decals or AM?
atomicholiday Posted March 21, 2015 Author Posted March 21, 2015 (edited) I keep thinking I'm almost ready for primer and then I realize something else needs done first! I'm gonna stick with the kit decals. I hear they're not 100% accurate, but I want to keep the price of this one down. Next project maybe I'll dress up a little more. We'll see. Anyway, got a question for ya. Actually I want an opinion on a few things. Should I try to fix the panel lines I erased while fixing seams, or not bother? If yes, can I get away with just scribing them (the rest are raised)? Or should I attempt to build up raised lines with the tape & paint method? I guess this one comes down to how much of it will show after paint? Should I attach the landing gear panels before I paint this thing? I know it's my call in the end. Just looking for a little input from the experts! Edited March 22, 2015 by atomicholiday
mustang1989 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 I hear you on keeping the cost of the build down there Jeremy. It seems the AM world has dug its hooks into the talent that comes from the detailer in a lot of the builders and its a "pay if you wanna play" type atmosphere in the modeling world. The more I do this it seems the more I rely on scratchbuilding skills and OOB parts. I mean I still go out and buy AM stuff but I find myself paying more attention to the overall cost of a build these days. I don't consider myself an "expert" by any means but I'll offer my take on your questions. There are a couple of methods for re-applying the panel lines but the one I'm most familiar with is using stretched sprue to about the thickness of a human hair to fix the problem. You could get by without it but the missing panel lines are noticeable and are worth the effort to replace if you went through the trouble of getting rid of the midline seam. I've never tried the paint and tape method but see where it would work if you applied enough paint. The trick I could foresee there would be knowing how much paint to call enough before removing the masking. I could see getting practice with either method before actually putting them into use but will say that in the end you will definitely be glad you re-applied the panel lines. As far as the landing gear doors: some folks paint the doors with 'em installed and some paint them separately. I paint them separately and use tightly wadded up pieces of toilet or facial tissue stuffed into the landing gear / wheel well areas. It's easy to remove the tissue after painting and to me I get more coverage on the panels painting them separately and don't "fight the process" near as much. Hope this helps you out bud.
Roadrunner Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 At this point I have to ask (and I'm not trying to be snotty), why do the exhausts look like that? I've never seen a P-40B that had exhausts like that before.
mustang1989 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 He's got 'em taped up for masking good brutha Kevin.
atomicholiday Posted March 23, 2015 Author Posted March 23, 2015 He's got 'em taped up for masking good brutha Kevin. Yup!
Agent G Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 What if you stretched some sprue real thin and used that to replace the raised panel lines? G
mustang1989 Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 There's Wayne! Another true believer in the stretched sprue method.
atomicholiday Posted March 24, 2015 Author Posted March 24, 2015 I'll give it a shot, but what do you use to glue the stretched sprue on to areas that are already primered? Liquid cement? I'm mainly thinking of the cowl area.
Snake45 Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 I wouldn't waste time with the stretched screw bidness. Just rescribe the lines in using a semi-sharp (i.e., not BRAND-new) #11 blade. If you do it right, this throws up a little ridge on either side of the cut. After paint, it looks pretty convincing. That's what I usually do. Another thing you can do is, AFTER paint, just draw the panel lines back on with a very SHARP pencil. This can also look convincing.
Roadrunner Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 Yup! OK, thanks. That makes sense. I've viewed this several times, and debated asking, but my curiosity finally got the better of me. I think the suggestion Richard has made, is about as simple as it gets. I have a fairly large stash of mechanical drawing pencils here, with leads graded from 4H to B, so I can always find something that will work. Also, as it turns out, I'm quite an avid (some might say rabid), aviation nut, with gobs of aviation references. If you should need specific photo references, please don't hesitate to ask, and I'll try to help out if I can.
atomicholiday Posted March 24, 2015 Author Posted March 24, 2015 Awesome. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions guys! Since this whole thing is basically an experiment, I might actually try a little of each suggestion and see which method I like best. Kevin - That tape is actually just plain white paper strips about an inch or so long. I folded it over the exhaust tips before I cemented them in place, and just left the excess sticking inside the fuselage. Then after paint I can just pull the paper slips out. Easier than trying to tape over them after they're glued on there. And thanks for the offer of more pics. I will certainly take you up on that sometime. This definitely won't be my last warbird. Now I just need more time to work on this thing...
atomicholiday Posted March 25, 2015 Author Posted March 25, 2015 I started experimenting with stretching sprue last night. Pretty cool technique! After about 30 minutes of playing around with it and burning my fingertips, I got a piece to stretch out as far as my arms would reach! It was a fairly thick piece when I started and I got it down to about .005". Still a bit thick to match the panel lines on the p40-B though. Tonight I'll try it with a thinner piece of sprue and see what I end up with. I also tried my hand a re-scribing panel lines. I can see that's gonna take some practice too. So while I was screwing around with it last night, I dropped the plane and broke a stabilizer off . Got it glued back on but now I'll need to fill that seem again. Man, I REALLY want to start painting this thing!
mustang1989 Posted March 25, 2015 Posted March 25, 2015 Cool bit on the sprue Jeremy! I hear you on wanting to paint it and just get on with the build. Be careful from here on out as this is where a lot of us tend to see the downhill side of the mountain and want to finish. Stay patient and continue to take your time with the build and it'll turn out a winner chief!
Agent G Posted March 25, 2015 Posted March 25, 2015 Sorry for the delay. My work schedule is a B right now. Yes, glue that stuff right to the primered areas with a small amount of liquid cement. I too wish to see paint! G
atomicholiday Posted April 21, 2015 Author Posted April 21, 2015 I finally got this bird in primer! It's only been a little over a month... It hasn't been sitting idle the whole time though. Took me a while (and a few tries) to figure out what to do about those panel lines around the cowl. I ended up using stretched sprue for the lines in hard-to-reach places and scribing the rest. They all came out better than I expected, but I think they'll continue to improve as I get more practice. Once that was done, I shot it with Mr. Surfacer 1500 mixed 50/50 with leveling thinner. Next step: pre-shade the panel lines. I may start practicing shooting fine lines on scrap tonight .
Roadrunner Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 Looks good. Spraying camo (or any paint really) is a favorite task for me.
mustang1989 Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 Man don't she look all purdy primed up and ready to go? Great work Jeremy!
atomicholiday Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 Thanks guys! Gonna pick up some food coloring this weekend and practice shooting fine lines with the A/B before I pre-shade the panel lines.
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