Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[Captain Canada]

 

I can see skipping the rigging....I have tried a few different methods and always seem to screw it up !

[NARSES2]

When I got the kit I bought the rigging set as well. It looks very fiddly and in all honesty not sure if it will get done. I'll give it a try, but we'll see.

[NARSES2]

Hit a bit of a brick wall  I'm very, very tired of late which I think is down to a poor sleep pattern both before and for some reason post hospital procedure. On top of that I've obviously eaten something that has disagreed with me and feel extremely "ughhh" and generally worn out.

So I'll get some photos of the AW and Beaufighter up next week before I venture up North for a bit, whilst the Avia et al will be finished upon my return.

[NARSES2]

Well here's the AW with the link to her story




http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,42355.msg731316.html#msg731316

And here's a couple of shots of the new tool Airfix Beaufighter

[DogfighterZen]

Man, that Beau looks excellent!

[NARSES2]

Cheers it's a lovely build. I've a couple more in the stash and am eagerly awaiting the late version with thimble nose and fin fillet due July/Aug.

I'm going to do one as a French aircraft in Indo China post WWII instead of their Mosquito's and the other ? Perhaps Kiwi, perhaps post WWII Italian ?

[DogfighterZen]

Kiwi has my vote!

[NARSES2]

Kiwi has my vote!

Yup probably mine as well. I've some New Zealand Dauntless markings somewhere so probably use those.

Not plastic model related but whilst looking for something yesterday (I should never have tidied things up  ) I found a couple of my old wargames armies ; Battle Honours 15mm Sassanian and a 15mm Austro-Hungarian Malburian army. Not sure who the latter is by, but the infantry are rather nice, whilst the cavalry are by a different manufacture, probably nearer 20mm and look clumsy compared to the infantry. Might dig some rules out and have a look for my other figures ?

[NARSES2]

Some work done on the Stuka. Started to get the transfers on. First time I've used Kora ones. They come off the backing paper very quickly and go on nicely, giving plenty of time for getting them in place. Downside is that they are pricey for what you get. My Stuka pack was for 2 Hungarian aircraft and included 6 Hungarian crosses, 2 individual aircraft markings consisting of 6 transfers and 2 octane triangles. After use you have 2 individual aircraft identifiers left for the spares box. I'll only be going down the Kora route again if no alternatives elsewhere.

[NARSES2]

I always struggle to settle down to modelling after a trip away but got a little bit done.

The Stuka now has all her transfers as I got the Airfix stencils etc on yesterday. Compared to the Kora ones they take an age to come off the backing paper but otherwise are fine  Matt varnish next then canopy and fiddly bits. Finally worked out where the nav lights are after getting my Putnams out, they are not on the kit as far as I can see.

Got the Avia matted as well and guess what ? A flipping interplane strut fell off  This model is determined to be a low wing monoplane. At times I almost feel like letting it, but canopy will go on next and then the top wing and that may well be it. I'm not sure I can face the rigging it's so fragile. Eduard do one in 1/144, I do hope they've not scaled down this 1/72 kit because if they have then may your deity of choice help you with the strut attachment 

[NARSES2]

Right I've done something I've very seldom done in my model making carear and that's raise the white flag  The Avia has finally defeated me  The varnish was refusing to dry properly and was remaining tacky to the touch (it finally dried yesterday morning a week after application) but the real problem came whilst fitting the top wing. You guessed it ; those blasted struts again ! One of the cabane struts snapped in half whilst attempting to get it lined up with the tiny location points. Anyway nice clean break so superglue and accelerator soon fixed that but then when getting the N interplane struts nestled one pinged off into, for all I can tell, a different space/time continuum  After an intense search last night and again today I can't find a trace of it. I've therefore given up. I will return at some date but will have to fashion a pair of N struts. I've found some SE 5a struts in the spares box which will be a decent start as they are the right size, look to be anyway, but I'm leaving it for the time being as I know that as soon as I start making the things, or more likely finish them the missing strut will turn up. So that's it for the time being on this one but I will put a photo of how far I've got here when I take the next set of pics.

To be honest this is a really gorgeous kit with superb detail and fit. However it really does require someone with more skill and less clumsiness then me to get it together, it would also help if you had far more practice with biplanes then I have had recently. The main problem is that the mating points are tiny, the parts to be joined are tiny (probably scale thickness) and it is just difficult to get the struts and undercarriage to mate properly and in the correct places because of the lack of adequate locating points. Oh yes the undercarriage managed to separate it'self from other parts of it'self yesterday as well.

I've not seen a build of this kit in any of the UK modelling magazines and I wonder if the problems I've had are part of the reason ? Maybe we will see some builds but they will be by people with far more skill then me that's for sure.

[NARSES2]

Right as promised here's a pic of the Avia before she went onto the shelf awaiting me scratching some struts.

[NARSES2]

I don't usually post that many pics of my real world stuff but I'll make an exception for the new tool Airfix Stuka. Very nice kit and looks good in this scheme I think.

I'd intended a Hungarian wif in a RLM 61/62/63/65 splinter scheme but then found this real world Hungarian Stuka in the required colours but not in the splinter pattern. It was a training unit based in Veszpren in 1943 and was done in an experimental scheme "probably" using German colours. So she suited the brief perfectly. Not sure if she'd have carried the bomb load in training (did they train with live bombs ?) but I can always say that post Kursk she was rushed to the Front and took part in the third battle of Krakhov.

[NARSES2]

So that's this tranche done. The work bench has been tidied, paints and tools put away, water pots refreshed and tissue paper changed ready for the next group. These will include my Naval GB entry and two US prototypes in service ; one a Planet resin kit and the other a Kora resin conversion where the injection base kit has already been prepared for the resin bits.

[Captain Canada]

Must be a nice feeling ! If only......