Post by nicely11b on Sept 1, 2020 7:09:19 GMT -5
It's been a long time since I've been active on any forums, but I decided to try to get back into it and share the progress on my AMT A-20B. I've been building this for two reasons - the reddit r/modelmakers North Africa groupbuild, and my nephew asked me to build him a model for Christmas.
Because it's going to my nephew and it'll be hanging in his bedroom, I decided to try some new things. I've been following Paul Budzik's videos religiously and I really wanted to focus on my construction while still giving the model a finish that looks good. Dr. Budzik is a master craftsman but I find his finishes lacking. I mean they're perfect, just not my style. I really like to dirty my builds up and make them look used. Anyway I really focused on my construction here and making things fit the way they are supposed to. I think it's gone well.
To get caught up to where I am, this post is going to be a bit long, so I apologize for that but I hope you can follow along.
The test fit of the major assemblies showed that the kit was actually going to fit rather well. Quite surprising to me for being an older AMT kit.
Actual construction started on the engine nacelles. Fit was good but I needed a bit of filler around the landing gear doors, which I closed up since this will be an in-flight build. I used CA and acrylic powder to fill the gaps, as well as on the inside of the nacelle to add some strength to the door/nacelle connection. I obliterated most of the recessed lines when I sanded everything so I rescribed all of that detail back in.
I primed the nacelles with a quick coat of lacquer primer and then test fit them to the wings. A few small gaps but nothing major. Quite easy to clean up.
There was quite a gap, however, on top of the wing where it met the nacelle on the back end. Again, I filled with CA/acrylic powder and sanded everything smooth.
The one area where the kit is lacking is the interior detail. I used Vector's awesome cockpit and navigator compartment to really boost the most visible parts of the interior. Not only are the parts gorgeous, they basically drop into place in the kit. Again, I primed with a lacquer primer and painted with Ammo acrylics.
The cockpit and gunner compartment were situated in the fuselage and secured with MEK, my solvent glue of choice. I used CA/acrylic powder again to add some strength around the joints. At this point, I also installed the closed bomb bay doors. To do this, I separated them and attached each door to their respective fuselage half. I added a small styrene tab to give the doors something to hold onto.
After everything was setup, I closed the fuselage halves. They closed up about as well as they possibly could.
There was an inevitable gap between the bomb doors that, again, I filled with CA/acrylic powder.
Next up were the wings. I joined them to the fuselage with MEK but also ran some brass rod through the fuselage to both wings as added support. I didn't want to take any chances knowing that the plane would be hanging. I secured the brass with CA/acrylic.
As I said earlier, the Vector resin fit beautifully and it wasn't much different with the nose. There was a small step between the nose compartment and fuselage but my CA/acrylic mix blended the two sections together.
I gave a quick primer coat to the R-2600s and painted them with MRP's White Aluminum lacquer. After that, I did some detail painting with Ammo acrylics. A quick wash with black oil paint made the cylinder heads pop.
Finally caught up now and I'm getting close to paint. I installed the engines in the cowl and situated the assembly on the nacelle last night. I had to sand a little bit away from the starboard cowl to get it to sit flush with the nacelle, but it was no big deal. I'll have a small bit of filling to do this evening before moving onto the canopy and navigator greenhouse glass.
Because it's going to my nephew and it'll be hanging in his bedroom, I decided to try some new things. I've been following Paul Budzik's videos religiously and I really wanted to focus on my construction while still giving the model a finish that looks good. Dr. Budzik is a master craftsman but I find his finishes lacking. I mean they're perfect, just not my style. I really like to dirty my builds up and make them look used. Anyway I really focused on my construction here and making things fit the way they are supposed to. I think it's gone well.
To get caught up to where I am, this post is going to be a bit long, so I apologize for that but I hope you can follow along.
The test fit of the major assemblies showed that the kit was actually going to fit rather well. Quite surprising to me for being an older AMT kit.
Actual construction started on the engine nacelles. Fit was good but I needed a bit of filler around the landing gear doors, which I closed up since this will be an in-flight build. I used CA and acrylic powder to fill the gaps, as well as on the inside of the nacelle to add some strength to the door/nacelle connection. I obliterated most of the recessed lines when I sanded everything so I rescribed all of that detail back in.
I primed the nacelles with a quick coat of lacquer primer and then test fit them to the wings. A few small gaps but nothing major. Quite easy to clean up.
There was quite a gap, however, on top of the wing where it met the nacelle on the back end. Again, I filled with CA/acrylic powder and sanded everything smooth.
The one area where the kit is lacking is the interior detail. I used Vector's awesome cockpit and navigator compartment to really boost the most visible parts of the interior. Not only are the parts gorgeous, they basically drop into place in the kit. Again, I primed with a lacquer primer and painted with Ammo acrylics.
The cockpit and gunner compartment were situated in the fuselage and secured with MEK, my solvent glue of choice. I used CA/acrylic powder again to add some strength around the joints. At this point, I also installed the closed bomb bay doors. To do this, I separated them and attached each door to their respective fuselage half. I added a small styrene tab to give the doors something to hold onto.
After everything was setup, I closed the fuselage halves. They closed up about as well as they possibly could.
There was an inevitable gap between the bomb doors that, again, I filled with CA/acrylic powder.
Next up were the wings. I joined them to the fuselage with MEK but also ran some brass rod through the fuselage to both wings as added support. I didn't want to take any chances knowing that the plane would be hanging. I secured the brass with CA/acrylic.
As I said earlier, the Vector resin fit beautifully and it wasn't much different with the nose. There was a small step between the nose compartment and fuselage but my CA/acrylic mix blended the two sections together.
I gave a quick primer coat to the R-2600s and painted them with MRP's White Aluminum lacquer. After that, I did some detail painting with Ammo acrylics. A quick wash with black oil paint made the cylinder heads pop.
Finally caught up now and I'm getting close to paint. I installed the engines in the cowl and situated the assembly on the nacelle last night. I had to sand a little bit away from the starboard cowl to get it to sit flush with the nacelle, but it was no big deal. I'll have a small bit of filling to do this evening before moving onto the canopy and navigator greenhouse glass.
