Martin's Tante Ju

[Martin R]

Thanks to my Secret Santa (with the S Yorks return address)!

I got my mitts on the kit today. Too excited to wait for Christmas morn, I ripped the wrapping off my pressie, and I was confronted by this!

Cool Adam tooby box art:



Destructions and nice big decal sheet:



Lots of big bits of plastic within. Cool!:



Hmmmm! Lots of corrugations. Could make brush painting a challenge. Also, look at the ejector marks on the wing root. I'll have to see if I can fill those without killing the surrounding surface detail:



Oh-ho. Is that piece a fuse half or a banana? Methinks some straightening will be required to get the best fit between pieces and minimise the inevitable seam clean up.



So, I've got some challenges ahead, but that's OK by me. Thanks again to my SS, who chose well!

The main parts have been degreased with hot water, washing up liquid and a vigorous going over with a toothbrush. I'll let those dry and start tomorrow night. Wings first, I think, followed by trying to get the bend out of that fuse half. Anyone got any ideas?

regards,

Martin

[Mikeew]

Cooo... there's a golden oldie.
That fuselage bend might be able to be pulled into shape when the fuselage goes together, seeing as it is a modular design with a base and a roof etc. If not maybe the hot water and heavy book trick would work?

So...you doing wheels or floats?

[Martin R]

Cooo... there's a golden oldie.
That fuselage bend might be able to be pulled into shape when the fuselage goes together, seeing as it is a modular design with a base and a roof etc. If not maybe the hot water and heavy book trick would work?

So...you doing wheels or floats?

Hi Mike,

I think you may be right on the fuselage. I have de-flashed the floor and have started fitting it to the less bent fuse half. One of the attachment ridges had to be got rid of so it'd sit flush. The rear fuse bulkhead also helped. I'll let the rear section go off and then try to get the front section to match up. Remember, this is the less bent fuse half!

I have also done some cockpit assembly. Normally, I'd add some detail to the interior of such a veteran, but:

1) I have no references for the beast (and no time to research it) and;

2) I am going to have to go a bit to get this finished in the month;

so, it may be built straight out of the box with a dark paint job to hide the lack of interior (I will add Tamiya tape seat belts and fill the large ejector pits in the seats).

My main objective is to try to lose the external seams without removing the corrrugations. I have some confidence that perfect putty may help out with the external pits I pointed out earlier. It's quite soft and with a sharp edge, I should be able to retain some corrugations. We'll see, anyway!

In answer to your question, I'm thinking wheels. The yellow cowlings and control surfaces should add some colour to what is a fairly drab scheme. (Still don't know how I'm going to be able to mask a splinter camo scheme!)

regards,

Martin

[iggie]

Watching with interest as I have one of these to build.....
I just hope mine is not imitating a banana when I eventually get around to it!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Martin,
I don't know the kit and am more familiar with unwarping resin than styrene, but it appears that fuselage has two sides, a top and a bottom on the rear half. That seems to indicate you could only straighten it by the exterior side, which is what I would do just to get the majority of the bend out -- clamp it neatly along a balsa board, hold in almost hot water a minute, then quench in cold water, then let it sit a day, maybe half -- then I'd go with the construction steps and section-by-section gluing you have secribed to get the rest out. You don't want the warped side to pull the straight side out.

FWIW. Good luck.

[Martin R]

Martin,
I don't know the kit and am more familiar with unwarping resin than styrene, but it appears that fuselage has two sides, a top and a bottom on the rear half. That seems to indicate you could only straighten it by the exterior side, which is what I would do just to get the majority of the bend out -- clamp it neatly along a balsa board, hold in almost hot water a minute, then quench in cold water, then let it sit a day, maybe half -- then I'd go with the construction steps and section-by-section gluing you have secribed to get the rest out. You don't want the warped side to pull the straight side out.

FWIW. Good luck.

Thanks, John.

I got most of the warp out by bending and there's some internal structure to help with the rest. It hasn't ended up too bad . . .

regards,

Martin

[Martin R]

Sorry for not posting much this week. I was away Wednesday / Thursday but I have otherwise been busy at the bench (kitchen table). Here's the news:

Firstly, I tried to get rid of those "ejector pits" which, on re-reading the instructions, I realise are actually the seating points for the float support struts. As I was doing wheels, they had to go. So, I applied Perfect Putty liberally on the pits knowing that, once dry, a moist cotton bud would get rid of most of the excess. To get rid of the putty in the corrugations, I moistened a cocktail stick and gradually worked most of it out. In the pic below, I have done as above, then primed to see the damage and then cut back a bit more with a sanding stick. Not too bad, I think:



I then assembled the cockpit interior and started the fuselage. Sorry, no interior detailing this build apart from seat belts. I then glued - in stages - the fuse underside to one of the sides, added the interior and, when all set, added the other side - again in stages. Finally, I put on the fuselage top. Anyway, here's things part of the way through:



I subsequently added Tamiya tape lap belts for the pilot and co-. Apologies. It's my AMS.

Finally, I had the fuselage complete. I then de-flashed the tailfeathers and added those. And here's the current state of play:



regards,

Martin

[Martin R]

Oh yes, almost forgot. I've started to reshape the wing-mounted engine cowlings as I thought they looked a bit 'sharp'. One on the left is the fettled one:



regards,

Martin

[iggie]

That's starting to look more like the real thing!

You need to watch that AMS though.......seat belts indeed! You'll be adding rivits next!

[Arcwelder]

I built this as the floatie version sometime in the late Triassic period.. IIRC adding the roof solved a lot of the warp issues (that and plenty of strong glue!) It's a nice kit, kind of like the Airfix Ar 196: it's old but builds up nicely.

[Martin R]

That's starting to look more like the real thing!

You need to watch that AMS though.......seat belts indeed! You'll be adding rivits next!

[shangos70]

Great work knocking this into shape, my issue has the same bendy fuselage. I binned the floats as they were so bad. The rear bulkhead is missing in mine too.

[Martin R]

Thanks, chaps.

Another session this evening, and the wings are on, followed by the undercarriage legs. I've got little time this week, but next job is to paint up the engines, deflash and reshape the cowlings and get them assembled.

regards,

Martin

[Dirkpitt289]

Very sharp looking aircraft. Martin, your work on this temps me to brake out my minesweeper version of this kit. KUTGW

[Martin R]

Very sharp looking aircraft. Martin, your work on this temps me to brake out my minesweeper version of this kit. KUTGW

Thanks, Dirk.

Nice to hear from you!

regards,

Martin