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

[Thomas_M/]

Some of the wing pylons have been primed and airbrushed in U.S. Navy Glossy Sea Blue. The instructions ask to have these in black, but I follow another modeller here.

Each of the twelve pylons got two decals on each side. That´s forty-eight (48) decals for those pylons alone! Again the stencilling is legible!



Super close-up:



One such pylon is 25 millimetres wide...

[Thomas_M/]

About an hour ago I finally closed and glued the fuselage! To me this is a major step in building this great kit. But, of course, I did some pictures of the cockpit before closing the fuselage.



Here we see the new hand grip done in resin by AIMS Resin. This is noticeable larger than the kit supplied grip.

[Thomas_M/]

The map drawer and the new AIMS Resin visor are good to see here.

[Thomas_M/]

[Thomas_M/]

I added a small decal to the visor to add some visual interest. Note the tiny levers on the cockpit side boards!



The clear lens of the visor has to be made by the modeller. AIMS Resin just gives you a piece of clear acetate but leaves it on you to estimate and cut the shape.

This all is now close up into the fuselage. More to follow!

[deafpanzer]

Great updates! I have to say the interior looks stunning!

[wbill76]

Very nice progress Thomas, looking sharp.

[Thomas_M/]

Thank you, my friends! I take my time on this build but I love doing this kit a lot! Fuselage is no closed and drying, did some airbrushing on the rudders with Gunze Gloss White this morning.

[406 Silverado]

wow that is a lot of detailing in this kit, especially the painting.

[Thomas_M/]

Thank you, Rob! More airbrushing of Gloss White this morning than a sanding job on the fuselage.

[Deleted]

Lovin this build!

[Deleted]

Dint know how I missed this one!    Superb build, looks to be a great, if somewhat over engineered kit   Anyhow, your making a beautiful job of her   

[Deleted]

Have the ERTL 1:48 kit and it doesn't even come close to this.

[BezoulaBuilds]

Beautiful and stunning work on this Thomas.  I love how you problem solved the folding wing mechanism, bravo!

Waiting for more!

[Thomas_M/]

Aug 28, 2013 18:00:18 GMT -5 @dogfish7 said:

Have the ERTL 1:48 kit and it doesn't even come close to this.

Maybe because of the smaller scale and about 30 years between both kits?

[Thomas_M/]

Aug 30, 2013 4:01:17 GMT -5 BezoulaBuilds said:

Beautiful and stunning work on this Thomas.  I love how you problem solved the folding wing mechanism, bravo!

Waiting for more!

Nick, thank you so much! You are a so much better modeller than me, so I am going blush here!

Sorry for droppin´in here this late, but I no longer seem to get any notifications on new posts?!?

[thug626]

Hello Thomas,
That shot of the cockpit reminds me more of a couch. That office is HUGE! You have got some very nice looking work here, keep it up.

Dave

[bbd468]

WOW!!!   Thomas, this is fantastic works fella! Cockpit is SHAWEET! Very nice indeed.

[bullardino]

This could stand in a museum, gorgeous looking wingie.

[BezoulaBuilds]

Aug 31, 2013 0:41:05 GMT -5 Thomas_M/ said:

Aug 30, 2013 4:01:17 GMT -5 BezoulaBuilds said:

Beautiful and stunning work on this Thomas.  I love how you problem solved the folding wing mechanism, bravo!

Waiting for more!

Nick, thank you so much! You are a so much better modeller than me, so I am going blush here!

Sorry for droppin´in here this late, but I no longer seem to get any notifications on new posts?!?

thanks for the kudos Thomas.  however I must disagree. 

my post notify has stopped as well.

Rick

[venom1]

That is some fantastic work on that office Thomas! Looks the bees knees, can't wait for the ol' girl to come together!

Cheers,

Sam

[Thomas_M/]

Time to get this here updated! Hard to keep up with all that keeps me busy these days...

So, here it is now. The wings have been firmly glued to the fuselage. Zoukei-mura found a very positive and strong fit between these large subassemblies.



You also see my "creative" way to mask the open cockpit...

The left and right dive brakes have been added to the fuselage, too. It was fun to discover their way to work during building and painting them. They also are working so far, but I think I will leave them alone and will not try to play around with them. The very small hinges are prone to breakage, so I will leave them closed after having taken the following pictures.







The dive brakes fit very good into their recesses in the fuselage with the sound of a click. No need to glue them in so far. Nice fit, Zoukei-mura!

[Thomas_M/]

Some preparations have been done to mask the wheel bays. Lots of wet tissue and some Humbrol Maskol masking fluid.



There are some visible gaps between the upper wings and the fuselage. Despite trying to adjust the fit several times I did not get it better than you see here. Having a closer look at the builds in the Concept Note book I could see such gaps in the builds there, too.





Thinking over how to deal with those gaps I decided to make use of my wax spatula device again. This is a tool a friend of mine has developed and is selling, among other modelling stuff.


IMHO it is a very useful device to fill any gaps and even model small details that might be missing. The temperature is steeplessly variable, but I ususally set the temperature close to point 4.

This device is heating the metal spatula seen above. Using this spatula you pick up a small amount of dental wax and apply this molten wax into the gap to be filled. By capillary action the wax flows into the gap.





Within a second after taking the heated spatula away the molten wax gets solid again. No need to wait for hours for a putty to dry. This is what I call time saving!

In the next picture you see the lump of wax I got with my device. I own this tool for so many years now and still have plenty of wax left.
Below there are some tools I use to work and clean the wax puttied area with. Excessive wax that has been scribed away can be re-used again by simply picking it up with the heated spatula again. Not bad, eh?



The postman just rang (once...), so I am now having a break browsing some nice modelling literature he brought me.

Hope you enjoy!

[wbill76]

Nice to see some progress here Thomas! That's a cool way to fill gaps quickly and easily. How well does the dental wax hold up over time? Any potential issues with shrinkage or susceptibility to humidity/changing temps?

[Deleted]

Nice to see you back here Thomas,and good progress on the 'Spad',so far!!.....Have to say though,although the ZM kits have a lot of detail,it looks like the fit ain't so good in some areas??....I have the Trumpy kit on the go at the moment,and that seems to nearly 'clip' together at this same stage?

[bullardino]

Dental wax looks promising, Thomas.

The kit fit issues are a bit unexpected, given the high price and praise...

Looking forward to seeing some paint on it

[Thomas_M/]

Dec 8, 2013 12:50:00 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

...Yer wax application device looks very cool.....although I do prefer my dials to go all the way up to 11!

Dialling the device up to 11 is no good idea: this could cut your British electrical power supply for months...
Setting it up to 10 it would probably just melt through my desk... So, about 4 should be enough!

[Thomas_M/]

Dec 8, 2013 18:45:38 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Nice to see some progress here Thomas! That's a cool way to fill gaps quickly and easily. How well does the dental wax hold up over time? Any potential issues with shrinkage or susceptibility to humidity/changing temps?

Thanks, Bill!

I once replaced a missing detail on a 1/35 scale Panther II kit from Dragon using exactly this wax. No signs of any damage so far. But it is a wax, so having the model placed at the rear window shelf in a hot summer might possible have some influence not only on the integrity of the wax but the model itself...

The wax don´t shrink at all. Also humidity has no influence on it. It´s a dental wax.
It can be worked or shaped whenever you like, the next minute or in a year. Just like a candle.

One important advantage is that it doesn´t damage the surface it has been applied too. No etching, nothing. I usually apply a little more than needed and when cool I work it back to the shape or gap I want it to hide. Fine stuff!

[Thomas_M/]

Dec 8, 2013 19:57:08 GMT -5 @chrisb said:

Nice to see you back here Thomas,and good progress on the 'Spad',so far!!.....Have to say though,although the ZM kits have a lot of detail,it looks like the fit ain't so good in some areas??....I have the Trumpy kit on the go at the moment,and that seems to nearly 'clip' together at this same stage?

Now, the gap between the wing and the fuselage might have its origin in the design of the model, or in my inability to get a better fit. I don´t know. Also this has been the first "serious" mismatch I encountered, so I am pretty happy with this build so far.

This is no Tamiya shake and bake kit. But it surely is a fine but demanding kit. What´s the saying: Measure twice, cut once!

[Thomas_M/]

Dec 9, 2013 11:50:56 GMT -5 bullardino said:

Looking forward to seeing some paint on it

Mate, me too!!!