Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Ah A Model.  You tempt with your subject matter and then...
Yak 28R WIP 17-10-17 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
...and just to prove you can put a round part in a square hole.
Yak 28R WIP 17-10-17 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Having finished off the 'phoon I started on the Hun's fiddly bits.  The front undercarriage leg as supplied by Hasegawa is incredibly fragile and the axles for the twin wheels were at different heights.  So I scratchbuilt a replacement.  It should really be ribbed but will do the job.
Scratchbuilt Nose Leg 17-10-17 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[TheChronicOne]

Looks glorious to me! You could almost thicken up some paint and run beads around it to get the riblets. 

So, if you're on the fiddly bits it must mean we're getting close to seeing the Glamour Shotz(tm) . 

[zenrat]

Not long Brad C.
I've got to make a decision about what to hang off her though.  The kit has (unusually for Hasegawa) a full load of tanks, sidewinders, Bullpups and some rather odd looking rocket pods (possibly odd looking because they have streamlined nose and tail cowlings on them).
I rarely put 'winders on aircraft so I'll prolly use them and the big wing tanks and the smaller central tank.

[zenrat]

Some progress on the Yak.
I have adjusted the rear undercart bay bulkheads so the fuselage halves could close.  I then glued the front bay in place and added the cockpit interior.  This will need trimming before the fuselage halves will close again so I added some reinforcing braces underneath from scrap plastic.  Hopefully I can now sand the floor without it coming loose.
I also got a nacelle together.  This still need the spikey intake thingo shock cone fitting but as it needs adjusting I figured it would be easier to do so and then drop it down inside through the hole left where the wing attaches.
This is certainly not a quick build.
Yak 28 WIP 18-10-17 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Other than that I painted some of the Hun's fiddly bits and did some car modelling.

I am resisting very hard the urge to start something else before the Floaty McBoatplane GB starts.  Telling myself it is better to get on with the Yak and finish off the annoyingly time consuming and very poorly fitting MPM Me 262 Mistel (currently fighting with the rocket propelled launching trolley - kit wheels have been rejected in favour of Airfix AEC Matador wheels as they have the advantage of being round).

[scooter]

and some rather odd looking rocket pods (possibly odd looking because they have streamlined nose and tail cowlings on them).

They're probably LAU pods with fairings-

[zenrat]

They could well be Scoot.  Hasegawa just call them Rocket Pods.  They look similar.

[zenrat]

Oh the irony of sitting here about to write about the Hun when Hogan's Heroes is on the idiots lantern.

The Hun is up on her feet now.  Got the legs on and started painting doors and munitions and probe(s - or is one of them an in flight refuelling thingo? I know nothing).
Here she is trying on her tanks for size.
Hun WIP 20-10-17 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

In other news I finally figured out a plan for progressing with the Me 262 Mistel.  I realised I have to treat it like a car rather than a tank and paint parts before sticking it together.  So i've painted the wheels and the rear suspension bits into which the wheels fit and a few other parts.  I can't face the thought of all the PSR that would be required to build the MPM 262 to sit on top and haven't been able to find a new Airfix one here yet (although that would put the "bomb" and the trolley to shame).  I have therefore decided to use a Hasegawa FW 190D.  This doesn't count as starting another kit as the 262 I am now not building is part of a kit I have already started and so it only counts as changing parts.

And finally, more progress on the A (for Atrocious) Model Yak 28.  One nacelle is now complete and undergoing stage 1 PSR.  Work has started on the wing to which this engine mounts.  There will be some rather large gaps when I combine the two.
The second nacelle is clamped while the glue dries while the fuselage is now fettled so it closes as well as it is going to and has had painting started on the interior.

[NARSES2]

Hun's looking good

[Old Wombat]

I really like that scheme!

[DogfighterZen]

Hun's looking good

Very good indeed!

[ericr]

extremely green

[zenrat]

Thanks blokes.

I painted the Huns tankage metal today using car paint.  Due to the solvent the green colour of the plastic has come through slightly giving them an interesting finish.  Not really anodised but a definite green tinge to the NMF look.
A locally applied anti corrosion finish maybe...

The A Model Yak now has two nacelles together.  It would have been nice if they were both the same shape  but looking at the intakes they are both oval - one in the vertical axis and one in the horizontal...
Still, Per Ardua Ad Astra as the dedication plaque on the park where I grew up says.  I am finishing off the paint in the interior and while some was drying I rubber banded the halves together and tried the clear parts for size.  Amazingly they look like they they will fit.  Wow.  They are crystal clear and not massively thick but did have attachment points in obvious places so I am going to have to get the metal polish out.

Also, more painting of the Me 262 Mistel rocket propelled go kart launching trolley.  I never remember how much better a lick of paint can make some models look.  The main body of this was looking rather poor to my eye but now it's all over RLM02 it looks much better.
Nowhere near as good as Kit's beaching trolley but still better than it did.

And some more bodywork on a car model - You think PSR for planes is a chore?  It's worse when you are putting shiny paint over the top which will show up every imperfection.

[PR19_Kit]

Nowhere near as good as Kit's beaching trolley but still better than it did.

We could be well on the way for a Trolley GB next year then? 

[zenrat]

Quite a few entries in the Floaty McBoatplane GB could need trolleys I suspect.  We could add a sub-class for them...

[NARSES2]

It is amazing at times how much a simple lick of paint can improve a model. Also sometimes putting the transfers on can bring a previously almost discarded project to life