A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Aircraft in colorful, bright & cheery schemes.
Runs December 1st to 31st; GBL: jRatz.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: A Colorful Moth

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I have the top wing on and the glue curing overnight.

Image

The center section struts are so thin, the whole thing is a bit dicey, but seems to work. I did open up the holes in the wings to make a better shot at getting the tabs in.

I followed the instructions and first glued the top wing (with center section struts) to the fuselage. It's a bit tricky to hold lined up with the indentation and the hole, but I did that and didn't worry too much that the wing seemed twisted. When that was fully dry/cured, I glued the outer struts to the lower wing and just held the upright until pretty dry. Then I turned it over on the upper wing and gently rotated/pushed to get the struts aligned into the holes in the underside of the upper wing and held it all while the glue set.

A bit tricky but it seems fine. I'll snip out the strut-shape-holders tomorrow, clean as best I can, and touch up paint. Then perhaps another shot of gloss coat over all before I do windscreens, tires, and rigging.

None of this was helped by the guy in a Bobcat grading the lot next door who took out our power line. Fortunately a electric company turck was in the area and showed up in less than 20 minutes, so a couple hours later we had power again. Happy New Year !
John Ratzenberger :???:
It's my model and I'll do what I want with it.
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Migrant
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Re: A Colorful Moth

Post by Migrant »

Looks good John! HNY to you too.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: A Colorful Moth

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Well, the thin dicey struts proved out. While trying to cut out the "shapers" between the main struts, one broke and two came loose. It is just too hard to cut the shapers out and sand them down without breaking something.

Having said that, I simply kept track of what broke where and set about fixing it all. After I got it all fixed and re-aligned, I used a very light dab of thin superglue to lock everything in place.

Looks good, I've touched up the paint job on the struts; another gloss coat tomorrow ... then on to the final bits.
John Ratzenberger :???:
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: A Colorful Moth

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Bringing up the rear ....

Image

Yes, I skipped rigging. It's not important for the purpose, unless I had painted it some bright & cheery color. I learned enough from this build to have a better approach and result when I get to my other kits.

Image

The coloring is my own, a combo of examples from the Xtradecal Civvie sheet and probably the ol' 'tween wars Grumman Gulfhawks. Paint was Vallejo and I had trouble with the orange which I tried to bury under gloss coat.

Image

As to the kit, it is nice, and no real difficulty until one gets to the struts, both center- and main-. The struts are scale thin and soft plastic, lots of opportunities for something to go wrong - and it generally did. I was able to overcome, but I sure wouldn't hand this off to a new modeler.

The Eduard PE set 73502 has nice, but not mandatory, IPs and seatbelts; the rest is unnecessary. The Xtradecal sheet 72204 is as expected - in register, good colors, interesting options, etc.

I enjoyed this and look forward to the couple-three new-tool Tiggies still in stash.
John Ratzenberger :???:
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TobyC
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Re: A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Post by TobyC »

I think that fulfills the bight and cheery criteria very ably. Lovely little build.
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PaulBradley
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Re: A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Post by PaulBradley »

Nice one, John! Very bright...! Some good tips for when I tackle my Tiggie, too.
Paul

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iggie
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Re: A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Post by iggie »

Lovely colours!
Very tidy finish and certainly fits the GB theme
Best wishes

Jim
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AndrewR
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Re: A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Post by AndrewR »

Perfect for the Bright and Cheery Theme. :)
Up in the Great White North
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Migrant
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Re: A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Post by Migrant »

Looks superb John. I still think it's worth rigging, though.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: A Colorful Moth ** Finished **

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

You are right and it may down the pike a bit ....
John Ratzenberger :???:
It's my model and I'll do what I want with it.
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