1/32 A-1H Skyraider U.S. Navy from Zoukei-mura

[Thomas_M]

Test fit of the cockpit, main fuel tank and radio shelf in the fuselage. So far the parts have an amazing fit with almost no gaps to each other!



Front view of the fuselage with engine mount. The small rivets on the firewall have been almost invisible or looked washy before getting some paint on. But now they are clearly visible. I think about getting them a pin wash later, just for fun!

[Thomas_M]

Made quite some progress assembling the individual wing parts.I didn´t paint anything except the landing gear bays. Primed in white colour, with Gunze gloss white added later. Tried Flory dirt wash the first time on the here, in reality it doesn´t look as strong as it does here on the pictures.



Think about to go over it again to give this wash a little bit more definition. No problem to do this later: these are clay based so I still could rework them in a few months, I guess.

Had some fun playing with the wing parts. I added the outer folding wing parts to the main centre piece here.



Man, this bird will get large! No glue here between the folding wings and the main piece. Stunning!
Hope to add the folding parts to this wing the next days. Can´t wait to see if it works as I expect it to do.

[Thomas_M]

Some views inside the wing centre piece, completely hidden later on the assembled kit with exception of the main gear bays.







a) is a vinyl part to accept a metal rod later. I guess this construction will take care of a smooth wing fold later.

Had some trouble to get the grey plastic retainer part in place due to two angled retainer pieces moulded onto the inside of the main wing part here. This was maybe my fault not reading the instructions carefully, I guess I should have positioned the vinyl part and its plastic retainer the same time as I glued the main wing spars in.

So I got the two angled retainers out (green arrows show their remains) and glued the retainer / vinyl part combination in. To add this some strength I added a piece of scrap plastic as a support (pink arrow).

[Thomas_M]

This is a part of the engines exhaust system to be glued to the rear of the engine later. I have to was this due to sanding dust on it, then I will prime and paint it. The red stuff is Humbrol Maskol masking fluid.

This is a rear view of the engine as I have it assembled so far.



Here the front side of this monster engine.



I gave the cylinders a wash with Mig Dark Wash, that flowed easily into the cavities.

Getting this here together was another moment of pure fun. Exactly what our hobby should be: fun!

Thanks for watching!

[deafpanzer]

That was fantastic update!!!

[DeafStuG]

Good Job - Firewall, Engine and main gear bays painted very neat.

[bullardino]

I must admit: I'm drooling. This is ZM's kit I prefer. I have a soft spot for the skyraider and this is the ultimate kit for that plane.

The results are awesome, this is going to be a masterpiece.

[Thomas_M]

I wouldn´t call it a masterpiece until we see if and how it will be finished...

But I really appreciate your encouraging comments. Thanks a lot, your are awesome! 

[wbill76]

Very nice progress Thomas. Love the look of that engine and the other detail work, even if much is hidden away it's still there!

[nemesis]

There's some excellent progress Thomas, good photos and clear text....nice

Regards from the Swamp

Eth

[sturmbird]

well I'm learning something as I watch the progress of your build almost daily! I have heard the usual comments from the shills that the parts didn't fit all that well and crap like that. But looking at your build I can see upfront that they were idiots first class! Now I was kinda scared off by all the parts, but now I think I'd kinda like one. I'll probably opt for the Airforce bird, as I'd like to do a Brightlight Special op's plane. That kit would probably cost $300 if Tamiya's name was on the box, if not more! Still I'd rather have one in quarter scale!
gary

[Thomas_M]

Time for new pics! In the meantime the new sight from AIMS resin has arrived. So I broke off ZM´s parts and added the new, more detailed and larger resin sight:







A small piece of clear acetate is given to the sight, but AIMS leaves it to the modeller to try to cut an elliptical lens from the sheet that will later fit onto the sight. I wished they would do the complete sight in clear resin or even get the modeller this small clear part ready to be affixed.

The IP will now have to be masked and the sight airbrushed.

[Thomas_M]

The two cockpit consoles got more tiny Eduard PE parts. Don´t try to add these parts with the rest of your family in the house...

As usual I glued them with Gator Glue, but I also used some thick clear lacquer to get PE fuse boards on. Some days later I retouched the tiny levers with Vallejo paints, carefully applied with a fine brush and using my magnifier lamp.








These boards will get a thin coat of semi matte clear to unify the colours.

[Thomas_M]

The engine has been finished so far. This is the most beautiful and clever designed model engine I have build so far in my life! Zoukei-mura did an amazing job on this replication of the real engine!

To be honest I had some "respect" when having to add all those exhaust pipes. But with some care and looking close to the instructions and the build in ZM´s Concept Note book all went fine in the end. The exhaust pipes have been airbrushed with LifeColor´s Burnt Black while still on the sprue with some Tamiya pastels added later after having the pipes attached to the engine. This engine is a kit in itself, I stand in awe looking at this jewel!













All exhaust pipes have been drilled out. I also added a small P&W logo decal to the gear box. I won´t be seen later, but... You get the picture.

Hope you like it!

[wbill76]

Very nice update and progress Thomas! The pit details are stunning as is that engine, looks like it could fire up at any moment.

[fightnjoe]

the engine is stunning.



joe

[Thomas_M]

Thanks a lot, my friends! I really had a lot of fun building the engine alone. Most of it will be hidden later, but I learned a lot on how such an engine looks like by assembling it.

Doing the outer wings on one of those tiny pegs broke loose. The wing is still folding, albeit not as "guided" as it could have been. Waiting for a reply on this from Japan and thinking about how to fix this.

[Leon]

WOW ,Thomas that is an awesome update buddy.That is some excellent top notch work on the engine and pit.Keep it coming.

[venom1]

Fantastic work Thomas!

Some great updates and magnificent work on the engine! It looks amazing!

Cheers,

Sam

[Thomas_M]

Wow! Thank you!!

[BezoulaBuilds]

Beautiful work and summary Thomas, no surprise. Watching this with great interest.

Those ZM kits are filled with incredible engineering.

[tigrazor]

Thomas as usual... More to say?! Nope!

[deafpanzer]

HOLY COW! Great work!

[Thomas_M]

Thank you, my friends! Glad you like this here!

Working on the huge wings and the folding mechanism a small pin from the rear spar broke off. This pin was moulded with only the half of its diameter to the rear spar, obviously this was not strong enough when working to get the folding outer wing to the centre piece.

A short email to Zoukei-mura and my little problem was solved very fast and exemplary: about a week later I received a parcel from Japan. In there was a lot of protective paper and a plastic bag with the rear spar. Very careful packaging and stunningly fast delivery! Thanks a lot, Zoukei-mura!

Yesterday I spend some time doing the repair job on the wing fold:









I made some few test folds this morning after the glue had enough time to harden. So far all seems to be ok again. Phew...

[Thomas_M]

I also did some detail work on other parts. The grip of the control column has been replaced by a visibly larger resin part from AIMS Resin. Some black colour brushed on and tiny dots of white and red and I call it a day on this one.



Re-painted the seat belts because I did not like the look of them when painted in grey. Maybe it´s not really correct but I like this here better:



Applied some Flory Models Grime to the wheel rims to get them some definition. Works great on a glossy surface. Like it!



That´s all for today! Back to work!

[tigrazor]

Wundervoll...

[wbill76]

Nice progress Thomas and kudos to ZM for the prompt service for the repair!

[Thomas_M]

The propeller has got a new coat of "Deep Cockpit" from LifeColor after having sanded the Future and some paint off. After this I airbrushed a coat of Johnson´s Klear (the British Future) and this time it went on smooth.

Two decals have been applied and did dry over night. Any remains of the decals glue or Microscale Sol (I do not use Microscale Set over Future!) have been washed off with water.

Then I added three more coats of Klear. This will now dry until I have decided how to go on with this.

All warning stripes have been masked and airbrushed. Because the front and back stripes are of different length I had to do each side on its own.





Zoukei-mura´s decals are very crisp and sharp, even the stencils on the prop blades are legible:

[Thomas_M]

This piece, ZM calls it the "anti-drag ring", will be applied to the back of the front part of the engine cowling. I doubt it will be seen later, but I like the detail here and therefore painted and washed it.



One the interior parts for the three moveable air brakes. Painted in red and given two coats of Future, ready for a wash. The macro shot makes this look much more bumpy than it is in reality.

[Thomas_M]

Here we have the oil cooler intake below the engine. Again this one has been primed with Alclad Grey Primer and then airbrushed with Gunze acrylics.



Also the two large drop tanks have got the first three thin coats of the underside colour.