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

[NARSES2]

Well the Caproni has her nose glazing on 

The I-16 is basically done as I got the undercarriage sorted last night and this morning. There's more parts to this then the rest of the kit put together, right complicated little assembly (it was in real life, so I blame Polikarpov not Hasegawa  ). My eye caused a bit of a problem with the starboard side in particular but Hasegawa have engineered it very well and it has some neat, firm location holes and pins. These old Hasegawa kits are a delight if you got them at the original price. Now the price is just plain daft 

Hopefully prime the I-16 and Caproni over the weekend

[zenrat]

...These old Hasegawa kits are a delight...

I like the box design.  Not just the artwork but the whole thing including the fonts just seems to me to work really well.

[NARSES2]

Very much so with the box art. It really did scream "buy me" at you 

[zenrat]

Need to pick your brains Chris.
In your expert opinion, would it be possible to join the halves of the Caproni fuselage and then slide in the side glazing later after PSR & painting?
Bear in mind that there will be no bomb rack in the way in mine, just a couple of rows of seats.

[NARSES2]

Need to pick your brains Chris.
In your expert opinion, would it be possible to join the halves of the Caproni fuselage and then slide in the side glazing later after PSR & painting?
Bear in mind that there will be no bomb rack in the way in mine, just a couple of rows of seats.

Bomb racks ? Seats ? Am I missing something ? Mine's cupboard is bare.

Right as for the Caproni you could probably slide the cabin windows in after assembly and painting, providing of course you haven't fitted the nose glazing. It might try your patience a tad ?

However you would still have to install the glazing around the doors before assembly as I honestly can't see how you'd get that in otherwise. I used Maskol on all the side windows on mine and good old Tamiya tape on the nose glazing.

Said Caproni and I-16 are now primed. Surprisingly the Caproni is   but the little Poli needs some work at the wing roots  

[zenrat]

Having searched your posts and finding no definite proof I was assuming you are building, as I am, an Italeri 1/72 Caproni Ca 311.
This kit has a large interior bomb racking mechanism that sits behind the pilots.  As I am converting mine into an "Executive Prop"
I have left the bombs out and will be installing half a dozen seats in their place.
I think i'll tape up the fuselage and have a dry run to see how practical sliding in the windows is.

Thanks.

[NARSES2]

Ah mystery solved. I'm building the Italeri 313/314 kit, which is a very old tooling and has no interior at all other then the pilot/co-pilot position. I haven't seen a Ca 311 by Italeri although I have both the Special Hobby 310 and 311 which come with full masks, both interior and exterior. 30 odd years difference in tooling and it shows BUT the Itaieri kit is still an enjoyable build and so far has gone together very well.

I like the idea of an executive prop job. It would look good as a 1930's short haul airliner as well

[zenrat]

Ah, that explains it.  The construction sounds similar (nacelles that slide over the wings for example) which is what confused me.
I did some experimentation today and have found that I can get all the glazing in through the nose before sliding in the floor.  So i've bitten the bullet and glued the fuselage halves together.
I like the look of the Special Hobby kits but a bagged Italeri one came along at a good price so it would have been rude to say no.

[NARSES2]

Got some painting done on the I-16 and Caproni.  Started to mask the Invader

[NARSES2]

Some progress.

On the downside the Invader continues to irritate. The transparencies continue the tradition set by the rest of the kit and are very sloppy fits. To be honest she very nearly got binned yesterday and I have never done that before with a kit. Sure some got binned as a kid but only after after numerous dogfights and even then they would have had a Viking funeral involving hot needles for battle damage and in Oct/Nov perhaps mild explosives  . Others since have been shelved for latter but not actually binned. I will finish her but I'm not going to waste to much more time on her. Sorry if that disappoints some but this is a hobby I do for fun and I know my limits.

On the upside both the I-16 and Caproni have had their undersides painted. I used White Ensign enamel on the I-16 as they do (or did) a nice range of Soviet colours. Good coverage and dry in about the same time as Humbrol. Just glad they will be continuing after the demise of White Ensign themselves.  The Caproni used a rattle can and although Halfords recommended grey primer I think that was only because you used more yellow ! Should have primed in white  . Should get the undersides of both of these masked off tomorrow then I can start on the upper surfaces.

[JayBee]

Chris,

At the Perth show was a trader called Sovereign Hobbies.

They are based in Turriff in Aberdeenshire.

Their website is not quite up and ready yet for ordering on-line but it should be soon.

www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk

So what is the point of this? Well they have bought the rights to the White Ensign paint range (original formulation), and called Colourcoats.
They actually had all of the range on sale at Perth.

Jim

[NARSES2]

Thanks Jim. Thorvic had advised me they were planning on do the range so it's nice to know it's actually happened and the website is duly noted   I really can recommend them as the range includes authentic Soviet, French and Italian colours  

I got the undersides of the Caproni and the I-16 masked this morning (the Caproni has more masking material then plastic I think  ) and the Invader has been primed. Needs some work on the upper wing roots but that's about it.

I wonder how Sovereign Models will deal with the postage ? RM can be iffy with paints ? White Ensign ignored them and just posted them in a Jiffy Bag. Still cross that bridge when we come to it along with any Customs duties that might come about  

[Captain Canada]

Love those boxes myself !

Ya, the paint issue is here as well. The supply at my LHS has almost completely dried up. Crazy.

[Thorvic]

Love those boxes myself !

Ya, the paint issue is here as well. The supply at my LHS has almost completely dried up. Crazy.

Tell em to put the lids back on then 

[Captain Canada]

LOL Guess I walked right into that one eh ? I think my LHS guy has been having trouble with White Ensign, as the UK Postal service knows what's in the box before it arrives...probably have them for sale at a car boot sale  And with whatever is going on with the Hornby Headache he's having.