Dazzled's Doggie Double ***DONE***

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Dazzled
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Dazzled's Doggie Double ***DONE***

Post by Dazzled »

This is my entry.

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Acquired at Telford today, courtesy of the Airfix Magazine prize draw.

Better get a wriggle on!
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Dirkpitt289
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dirkpitt289 »

Me too.
.... Dirk

Beware of the DOG's of WAR

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Dazzled
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

Been dithering between "on the stand" or "on the ground".

"on the stand" I think.
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

OK-Time to dive in.

Firstly, let's see "what's in the box".

The P-40.

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Two sprues of light grey plastic plus a clear sprue, thoughtfully separately bagged, and a beautifully printed decal sheet for P-40B Warhawk flown by 2nd Lt George Welch, 47th Pursuit Sqn, 15th Pursuit Grp, Wheeler Field, Oahu, Hawaii. December 7th, 1941. Also on the sheet are the markings forA6M2B-21 flown by Lt. Saburo Shindo, Lead aircraft, Carrier Division 1, Air Superiority Command, 2nd Strike Unit, carrier Akagi, Operation Al. Pearl Harbour, December 7th, 1941. Which leads nicely on to:

The Zero.

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Three grey sprues this time plus, again, a bagged clear sprue.

The detail is excellent:

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with very fine engraved panel lines and a very nice level of moulded in detail.


Looking good from first impressions.
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

Time to start construction.

First, I painted the interior components of the P-40 cockpit in Humbrol 78 - interior green.

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Then the Zero cockpit parts had a coat of Aeromaster Mitsubishi Interior Green:

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The pilots of both aircraft have also received a black acrylic undercoat ready for painting. It's not a good idea to trust the instructions on this as they recommend that the pilots be painted green all over. I'm not sure that Kermit the Frog flew for either side during World War 2 so I think I'll look for some references elsewhere.

While the Zero bits were drying, the P-40 sidewalls etc. had some components picked out in appropriate colours and got a dark brown/black wash and a silver drybrushing to bring out some details.

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Then, with these parts put aside, I returned to the Zero and did something similar. The difference here was to use a slightly lighter wash and a drybrush of pastel green to compliment the darker cockpit colours. Here they are together and assembled, with the P-40 cockpit glued to the lower wing as per the instructions.

Image
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

As I said earlier, I'm going for the "on the stand" option but there's a drawback with this.

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With the Zero, Airfix offers the option of the stand or the fuel tank. I WANT BOTH :frown: . All the Zeros on the raid would have had these tanks fitted in order to have sufficient range for the attack so, first modification, holes to be drilled in the external tank.
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

Unlike the P-40's cockpit, which sits on the lower wing, the Zero follows a more conventional path with it's cockpit being assembled into one fuselage side like so:

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Then the fuselage halves are closed up, the wing lower and upper halves attached and the nose upper deck and gun breeches fitted.

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The major parts aren't a bad fit but, as the picture shows, a little filling and sanding will be required.

Also, the gap between flaps and wings on the underside have a certain "trench" quality about them.

Image
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

The P-40 has also progressed a similar amount. The fuselage went together very nicely with little worry about filling gaps. The aerial mast was removed at this point as it's not required on this variant. Frankly, it's in such a vulnerable position that removal would likely be inevitable.

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The wings didn't fit quite so well. Even with my dodgy photgraphic skills, the photograph clearly shows the misfit around the "bumps at the wing leading edge. This is down to the wing being slightly undersized front to back. Having had to choose the lesser of two evils, I close fitted the wing at the back in order to make the cockpit line up properly. Still, it's only a little bit of filling and sanding. I've had worse from much more expensive Tamegawa offerings. On the bright side, none of the moulded on gun barrels have gone the way of the aerial mast - yet (Evergreen rod on standby).

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To add a little animation to the aircraft, given it's intended flying pose, I repositioned the ailerons correctly into it's bank direction when on the stand. Half an hour with razor saw and sharp scalpel followed by a bit of courageous tweaking soon had the control surfaces playing ball.

Now, just leave everything overnight to dry then a few experiments with Mr Surfacer. Never used it before so I hope it's not as prone to melting plastic as Squadron white putty.
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dirkpitt289 »

You're making some quick work of this one. Keep them coming.
.... Dirk

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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

Brews wrote:
Dazzled wrote:<snip>To add a little animation to the aircraft, given it's intended flying pose, I repositioned the ailerons correctly into it's bank direction when on the stand. <snip>
Just to be pedantic, there's no "right or wrong" position for ailerons in any particular flying attitude. A plane could be banked to the left, but just about to flick over to the right, for example, in which case the ailerons would be in what would look at first glance to be the wrong position. Similarly, the stick could be held dead straight. Any model is a "snapshot" and it's all about context :)

True, but I'm commited to this as I've also applied a little left rudder to allow for secondary control effects. :-D
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

TODAY'S PROGRESS

Time to stick on some of the extraneous bits of both aircraft. Tailplanes, rudders etc went on with little drama. A bit of Mr. surfacer soon sorted out the flap "trench" on the Zero but I had to resort to squadron white putty around the radiator intake on the P-40.

The gaps on the Zero undercarriage doors were a bit big to my eye but Airfix's neat mounting solution, with a lug in the centre of the main door, was a nice touch and removed the need to run cement around the outside, resulting in a nice,neat joint.

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A few tweaks were made to the Zero's wing dihedral and the P-40 upper deck needed a little encouragemant to stay down.

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Also, as you can see, the pilots were mounted on cocktail sticks ready to paint.

I finished off the day by undercoating the Zero all over and the P-40 undersides using the paint supplied with the kit. It goes on quite well when thinned down with a little car screen wash although the Humbrol 128 is a little "satiny" for my liking.

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And finally, for anybody wondering if I'm trying to turn the Zero into a biplane, the uprights are potential replacements for the aileron balance weights that, when dry, will be cut and shaped as per the real thing. The kit originals were horrible when removed from the sprues (delicate parts, thick sprue gates), so I wasn't too bothered when one of them vanished at high speed while I was trying to clean it up.

Hopefully, more progress tomorrow.
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

I've been a bit busy today so not quite as much progress but:

I finished up the Zero's aileron balances with sanding stick and file. Then put a "weight" on the end using Mr Surfacer.

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Mr Surfacer was also used to help hide the trench aroung the main undercarriage doors.

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And, finally, the P-40 got it's first coat of Humbrol 155 acrylic with the hairy stick.

Image
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dazzled »

Today's progress:

The Zero received it's pitot tube and drop tank and another coat of Humbrol 90. It's georgeously moulded engine was given a coat of metalcote steel over it's flat black base.

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The P-40 had even more paint, top and bottom - Humbrols 155 and 128 respectively. The exhausts and wheels were painted on the sprue and the u/c legs readied for attachment in the retracted position. The Humbrol acrylics that came with the set are going on quite well, despite being applied with a brush. Brush painting for a change is quite liberating :)

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And that's it for today. Hopefully I'll manage to find a bit of modelling time tomorrow.
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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by Dirkpitt289 »

nice work so far. I was at LHS today and to my dismay they don't have this kit yet. The good thing is I get to enjoy watching you build yours.
.... Dirk

Beware of the DOG's of WAR

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Re: Dazzled's Doggie Double

Post by bromo »

Great builds so far,cant wait to see them finished on the stand.
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