Mitsubishi F1M2 Model 11 Pete

[thug626]

With the 109 safely across the finish line and now in the display case. A point worth noting, the original styrene pitot tube is intact and was NEVER shear/snapped off.
I've have this kit is the stash for a few years now. It's Hasegawa's offering in 1/48 scale. I picked up the proprietary PE set to go with it at the time.

[panzerjager2]

Nice choice.... 
Me and lil buddy will be watching

[thug626]

Thank you! You and THE Great Washington Jackelope? Outstanding!

Assembly has begun...kind of. The upper and lower wing halves are joined together.
Here the lower wing and fuselage are simply dry fitted to each other. So far, it looks as though very little if any filler will be needed. The wings themselves are really quite elegant in their shape and span.

Lovely detail on the wings.

Detail shot of the starboard fuselage forward of the pilot.

Here is why assembly has kind of begun. This is simply step one. The rest are not as bad as this. It just takes some careful planning, that's all.

[Leon]

Off to a good start Dave! That sure is a lot of parts for step one.

[thug626]

Leon, Lots of parts and arrows. Sweet weapin' Jebus...all of the arrows

I figured that while I'm waiting for the IJN and IJA paints to arrive, I may as well get some building done. Bit by bit, step 1 is getting sorted out.

The front office sans side panels. No point putting those on until I can lay down the colors.

The rear office with the side panels dry fitted. The head on view show just how "cozy" it was back there.


Front and rear offices dry fitted together along with most of the side panels.

The main pontoon is made up of upper and lower halves. There is about 30g of weight in the nose for counter weight. I dry fitted the fuselage to it, before gluing the pontoon together, and, got a nice surprise. The fuselage pretty much snaps into place .

The cradle is a nice alternative way of displaying the beastie, instead of building up a water scene. Hmmm, there is a bit of a step aft of the nose on the pontoon. Looks like my work is cut out for me.

[panzerjager2]

Talk abooot off to the races.......... Great start.. 
PJ2

[thug626]

Good evening PJ2. Thank you kindly buddy. That cradle is going to get a nice rusty weathering.

[Leon]

Nice progress on the office and pontoon and cradle Dave.
That rear office sure is a cramped space.

[dierk]

Love floaty wingies - I'll be watching.
Nice progress on the offices and stuff.

[thug626]

Leon Thank you kindly mate. It was nice the cradle was included in the kit.
Dierk Thank you very much for the compliment mate.

It turns out that I may be able to get started on the CP paint sooner than planned. I was perusing my Tamiya paints and, waaaaaay in the back was XF-71....IJN Cockpit Green. Wooooo Hooooo.

[TRM]

Off to a fine start there Dave! Lovely details on this kit...enjoy the journey!

[sturmbird]

This is one of my all-time favorite airframes. I suspect I have a half dozen Pete's in 1/72 and 1/48th (plus one in 1/50th). I have two of the Hasegawa's, and both need the P.E. Next to impossible to find. The Fujimi Pete is very nice, and in 1/72 scale. Just ripe for a cat launce!

I love float planes! Just wish somebody would do a 1/32 Pete.
gary

[thug626]

Good afternoon everyone.
TRM, Thank you kindly mate. Details on the kit are nice....There are some alignment issues (i.e. there is a bit of a gap between the left forward CP panel and the fuselage half) nothing that can't be cured with some patience and styrene.

Gary, It really is an attractive aircraft. Starting the build, I knew next to nothing about it. A 1/32 Pete would be a great kit to see.

A bunch of work on the CP today. The replacement PE instrument panels are mounted.

The center panel and the one to the right are PE replacement parts.

This is the left panel for the pilots office.

These are the panels for the rear office.

This wasn't the paint call out for this area. I wanted to play with the new IJN and IJA paints that arrived yesterday. This is the Atoke translucent blue.

I went out of sequence with the build. It calls for the pontoon to be mounted after the wings are in place.

Rear pontoon braces.

[Leon]

This is looking really good Dave! CP is looking great.

[panzerjager2]

Frickin' awesome work...NICE super-detailing 
PJ2

[jpc1968]

Nice CP bro!

[thug626]

Leon, Thank you kindly my good man.
PJ2, Thank you as always for having a gander and for the compliment.
JPC1968. Thank you kindly bro.

The struts and beginnings of the PE rigging are mounted.

Fore and aft canopies are mounted. The rear one, you are given the option of displaying it open or closed. The closed option is two parts. The open option (what I chose to go with) is a single piece. This meant that I needed to paint the portion that is slid forward under the fore canopy first. So, I painted the exterior color first and then hit it with the interior color last.

Not a lot of the engine detail is visible. That which is, has some pretty decent detail.

The beaching cradle now has its rust primer, getting it ready for the weathering it is to receive.

I painted the forward side of the props and spinner with Vallejo Silver. The red stripes were painted with Vallejo Red. This was all sealed with Vallejo Satin clear coat. Before I did this is was shiny, like polished off the showroom shiny. I figured that since, it was getting late in the war for this bird and it operated in a salt water environment, that "showroom" shiny just wasn't going to do.

The aft side of the props were painted with Vallejo Tyre Black and sealed with a Matt clear coat.

During the masking of the canopies. I dropped this.......

I trapped it between my thighs burying the tips. Resulting in this......


Now that a blood offering has been made, the rest of the build should go smoothly....right?

[panzerjager2]

Awesome work as always...... Glad to know I'm not the only one who's made the"blood offering"... 
PJ2

[M1Carbine]

Holy crap brother awesome job so far. Please stop,stabbing yourself lol

Bob

[wbill76]

Now that's what I call a real commitment to a project Dave! Pete's looking sharper than those tweezers...

[Leon]

Just keeps looking better and better Dave!
Guess we all shed a little blood on one project!

[mrt51]

Yes the tree of modeling must be watered by the blood of masters and beginners from time to time.

Looking good!

[sturmbird]

kind of a dumb question, but need to ask.

What does the Hasegawa photo etch look like? Are the wire rigging flat metal or round? Plus did they do the turn buckles? I have figure out a way to replicate the rigging, and guess they no longer do the photo etch.
gary

[jpc1968]

people don't realize (or appreciate) the "BLOOD, sweat and tears" that go in to our models.

[thug626]

PJ2, Thank you my good man. No, you are certainly not the only one the make the "blood offering". It's been a while since I've done it.
Bob, Thank you as always my brother. OK. If you insist. The shiner from it ended up being larger than a silver dollar.
Bill, Thank you good sir. Commitment?! More like reflexive movement. I've been catching so many little parts in the last few builds, that reflexive movement was all it was.
Leon, Thank you as always for your support buddy. Sometimes it's just necessary.
mrt51, Can't we just get the garden hose and turn on the water! Thank you.
Sturmbird, Not a dumb question. The rigging is flat. Now, I'm not sure if the actual A/C had flat or round. The aerial rigging that comes off the outer main struts and sides of the fuselage back to the horizontal stabilizers is flat with the PE. For this I could have used EZ Line....I still might. The rigging for the wings is one piece per side. I'll get a picture up later today of the PE and the instruction sheet.
jpc1968, My wife knows. A friend of mine buried a #11 blade in his thigh doing the same thing. Suffice it to say, his incident was a true blood letting.

Bench time has been at a premium of late. But, I did get some time yesterday.
The bird is primed for the undercoat of semi-dull aluminum. For this I used Vallejo Gloss Black.

A close up of the catapult hook. Be real careful setting the bird down after you have glued this on. What with all the nose weight it just folds right over.

The next two pics are of the upper wing before and after. The primer picture was tricky to shoot with the gloss black surface and the curvature of the surface itself.

Here is with the Vallejo Semi-Dull Aluminum. The areas masked off on then wing and fuselage are areas that were fabric only. This added complexity to the painting process but, I am thinking it'll pay off well when it comes time for the base coat. I'll be air brushing the yellow leading edges of the wings and weathering/chipping them.

[Leon]

Primer and undercoat look good Dave!

[thug626]

Thank you Leon. I am hoping the shoot the remaining A/C with the aluminum undercoat today.

[wbill76]

Good to see you weren't permanently disabled with the last mishap there Dave. Making good progress on the paint work.

[thug626]

Bill No permanent disfigurement. Thank you kindly.

Sturmbird I hope this can answer your question and provide a solution to the PE set no longer being available. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a line.
Here's the PE parts to be used. The first is the main rigging.

These parts build up the bases of the rigging.

The last two are the instructions on how it all goes together. With a bit of patience, this could be scratch built.

[M1Carbine]

Wow, simply awesome.

Bob