Tintin 1/72 - Udet U-12 Flamingo... from scratch. FINISHED!

[strobez]

As my B-1 build was winding down, I decided I wanted to get another entry in my Tintin project going - something experimental this time... building a plastic model using a paper model as a guide.  I tried this to some good outcome with my Tintin rocket, but the challenge was really in the difference of how plastic behaves differently than paper on round or curved objects.  So I thought, maybe if I try something a little more "box like" I could make this work.

Anyway, the fact that the one and only known Udet U-12 Flamingo kit in 1/72 is extremely rare made me think it was a prime candidate for this experiment. I mean there's no real point in trying this out on a subject that you can easily find an injection moulded kit for, right?

So, without further ado... off to the races!

Here's a shot of the "sprues"...



I used a gluestick to temporarily marry up the paper and the plastic for cutting out the main shapes.



A bit of glue and voila~ it's a thing!~



And the paper and glue come off without a hitch.



Added the top of the fuselage (minus the crew compartments... I'm saving those until later) and cut out the tail.



Tail looks good... and I cut out a piece for the cockpit.



Just a tiny bit of putty to close up the seam....



Lots of sanding... and I started cutting out the wings...



More sanding and I added a floor.



Added some thickness and reinforcement to the wings.



Lots of sanding later, and the shape of the wing is coming along, but still needs some more work...



More sanding... I also added some CA glue to stiffen it up and cover some of the low spots.  Sanding looks good.



I glued the paper back on and marked the lines for the ribbing.



Glued lots of little strips of styrene over the lines... the details are starting to come together...

[loupgarou]

Very interesting technique. And it's coming out very well.
BTW, there is an 1/87 plastic kit of the Udet Flamingo too, by Roskopf. But that too it's getting rare.

[Tophe]

scratch is a courageous way, congratulations! (I am a little jealous: if I had such skills I could create great twin-boomers... )

[Dizzyfugu]

Lovely! Excellent work. 

[zenrat]

Scratchbuilt wings.  Very impressive.

[NARSES2]

Scratchbuilt wings.  Very impressive.

Indeed 

[strobez]

Thanks guys!  The wings are indeed creating a lot of work.  Endless PSR to get the subtle ripple effect, but I think I've got it now...



Started working on the cockpit. Cutting out the circles from paper was too fiddly, so I used a bit of styrene pipe to create the cockpit holes and then sanded them down to fit.



I'm much too lazy to want to try and scribe some panel lines into this Frankenstein monster, so instead I decided to glue them on.  I'll fill one side and sand it flush.  This is a technique I've used well before, so here's hoping!



Added a bit of wire to hold the wings in place...



Look at that, it's starting to look like an actual airplane....



Used a bit of blue tack just to make sure... yep.. it's starting to look like something now...

[NARSES2]

It's when you see the cocktail stick and modelling knife you go 

Super work

[Old Wombat]

 

[strobez]

Another quick update...

I gave it a quick coat of brown just to see what else needed to be PSRed into submission....



Looks pretty good so this seemed like the right time to add the cockpit... holes?



Got the tail ribs glued on and the tail cemented into place.



Drilled some holes and dry fit the upper wing in place.  I cheated a bit here. Instead of using the more triangular struts on a real U-12, I just used some wire.  It's bendy and a lot more forgiving in terms of placement, something which is very import on a less than precisely accurate scratchbuilt fuselage.



Geez, it actually looks like a U-12, now don't it?

[Old Wombat]

Hope you're going to do some dry-brushing to highlight that ribbing.

[strobez]

Yeah, I will. Since this is a Tintin plane - and one featured in "In the Congo" a very early adventure - it's lighter on the details than a regular U-12.  No external engine, no complicated landing gear, no rigging.

I debated wether I should go "as accurate as possible" (which is what it would've been in a later adventure) or "as true to the artwork as possible" and basically settled on a middle of the road solution.  I'll keep the engine internal and add the vents on the side of the cowling, and the landing gear will be two legs with spats, but I added the ribbing.  I am still uncertain about if I should add a bit of rigging... I do need the practice.

[Rick Lowe]

That's come out really well - nicely done.

My most recent project was exactly that - using a paper model as a template for a styrene version. Although as it was a Stargate F-302, it was mostly flat plates and a whole lot easier than yours!

Something 'old school' for making wing ribs, is to make chord-wise scores on the back of a piece of 10 thou, then you glue it over a shaped former and they appear on the correct side of the wing surface.
Not sure if it'll ever come in handy for you, but 'knowledge not shared is knowledge lost', as someone once said.

[strobez]

Thanks Rick, but I'm not sure I follow you. Piece of 10 thou? Chord-wise?

I like learning old school techniques. Given most of my projects are a bit off the beaten track, they come in handy.

[PR19_Kit]

Rick's not on-line just now so I hope he'll forgive me if I answer your question.

'10 thou' refers to thin styrene sheet 10 thousandths of an inch thick, generally the thinnest practical thickness in the Imperial system, 5 thou is so fragile it's almost unusable! The equivalent in Metric thickness would be 0.25 mm stuff.

The 'chord wise scores' means lightly scoring the inner side of a piece of suitably shaped '10 thou' to form rib marks on the other side, and these run fore and aft on the wing surface at suitable intervals to look like ribs.