Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Our 2nd "Lesser Represented Countries" GB with a slight change to allow any subject, not just aircraft. You must sign up for the specific country and there are no duplicates in this GB and a modeler cannot do the same country(s) as in the previous one.
GB runs 16th May - 19th June and your host is FredK.
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Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
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Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

Hey All

Bit late to the party on this one. Been trying to clear my workspace of a particularly troublesome Matchbox Do18 so I can focus on the group build.

This is what I shall be building - the Petlyakov Pe2 in Czechoslovakian markings.

It is an old red stripe boxing complete with locate and cement instructions. I acquired it from my LMS last year as part of someone's stash clear out. The previous owner had cut the decals up and taped them back together. They were a bit yellowed but a short spell taped to a window seems to have cleared them up a treat. Fingers crossed they work okay!

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I have, in fact, commenced work on the model. As a first for me (being a strictly oob type), I have created some basic interior details; some internal structure and a few miscellaneous boxes. I'm not sure Mr Petlyakov would recognise any of what I've done but it does serve to busy up the interior a bit. I just need to give the internals a dark wash and some dry-brushing to bring out the details and I will upload some pictures of my efforts.

Not sure whether to include the crew yet. Both the pilot and the upper gunner have no legs so would need to be replaced.

Hope to get some more pictures up soon.

Cheers
S
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DavidWomby
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by DavidWomby »

This is a kit I've not seen built, so I'll be interested to see how it goes.

David
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fredk
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by fredk »

Any more progress to share with us?
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
Posts: 282
Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

'Fraid real life got in the way.

Progress so far:

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Few bits and bobs and some internal structure. Also I boxed in the machine gun housing. As I mentioned above, it is not based on anything official but has just been done to busy up the cockpit. Will add some dots of colour to liven up the black panels. Was probably a little heavy-handed with the wash. :oops:

A while ago, I built the old school Airfix Do17e but forget to include the instrument panel decal. It will get used here. :grin:

Also added an armour-plated headrest to the pilot's seat. And some rudder pedals. Needs a bit of detailing and some tape seat belts.

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I have, in fact, also given the fuselage and wings a first coat of Hu116 prior to assembly. This is not some cunning plan, instead it was a result of me knocking over the paint tin when I was painting the turret framing and not wanting to waste the paint. :roll:

Hope to get the fuselage together in the next couple of days.
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DavidWomby
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by DavidWomby »

I like the way the detail added to the cockpit walls is, no offence, home made. Looks good and spices up Airfix's 'blank canvas' in there.

David
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fredk
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by fredk »

Its coming on nicely.
That cockpit detailing is grand.
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
Posts: 282
Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

Thanks fredk, although you're probably being a bit generous! However, I'll take compliments wherever I can get them :-D

Progress has been a lot slower than anticipated, especially compared to some of the others in this GB. BUT, I do have some measurable progress to report. The fuselage has been buttoned up and I have also assembled the wings, including the dive brakes.

I didn't want to use the kit crew who were legless (must be all that vodka :mrgreen: ), but I couldn't get any fully-legged crew to fit (the rudder pedals and the machine gun mount got in the way) so I have decided to leave the crew out. To improve the cockpit further, I added some tape seat belts (which you can't really see in the photos :sad: ), and utilised the IP decal from the old Airfix Do17.

As I mentioned above, I knocked over my tin of 116 when I was painting the canopy framing so I had to slap the spilled paint on the model, hence why I seem to have painted a partially-assembled model. The white line is where I ran a knife blade along the seam. With that said, the fit was pretty good (benefits of an early boxing) and a test fit of the wings didn't indicate any issues. :grin:

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Still hopeful of getting over the finish line in time. Should go a bit quicker now I've got most of the fiddly bits out the way.

Cheers
Springy
Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
Posts: 282
Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

With real life getting in the way, I have only been able to work on this in fits and starts. With a bit of a push this weekend, I have got to this point:

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Paint still needs a few touch ups, here and there.

Issues to note with this kit:
1) Those oval side windows are a real pain. They are just at the point that you would naturally hold the kit for fettling work, etc, with the result that I pushed one in. Luckily I was able to put it back in place via the square upper-fuselage window. Unfortunately, despite my trying to be careful, I then pushed it partially back in so it will need repairing again. :frown: You can't really see in the photos as they are still masked up.
2) A dry fit indicated no real fit issues with the wing to fuselage join. Sadly, someone then swapped the original wings with some different ones which didn't fit as well and required some filling and sanding.
3) The surface detail, particularly on the wings, is grossly overdone. I sanded a lot of it back but it is still too prominent.
4) The instructions tell you to fit the upper gun and turret when you join the fuselage halves. Oddly, they both then fell out as I was turning the model over to fit the undercarriage bays. Since taking the pictures, I have managed to re-fit them but it was a worrying squeeze with the turret. It was so tight, I am not sure how it managed to fall out in the first place. :frown:
5) The nose machine gun is a poor fit (it stands too proud) but is so small it is difficult to trim it to fit.
6) The central section of canopy has rounded corners to the windows making it difficult to mask. I painted it freehand and used a cocktail stick to tidy it up but I'm not overly happy with it.

It does sound a bit like I'm moaning about the kit. I'm not, it has actually been a quite enjoyable build (although I haven't got to the 40-year-old decals yet!) but it's always useful for others to know of any potential issues in advance.

All the canopy framing has been done so that will all be fitted shortly. Undercarriage has been painted up, just needs assembling. Propellers have been painted black, just need to paint the silver tips. Bombs are painted and just need attaching to the shackles. Which is my way of saying, I might sneak over the line with this one :shock:

Cheers
Simon
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Molly-new
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Molly-new »

Looking good from here. One way of getting around the window problem is to use PVA glue to fill the hole once the model is finished, if it is a small enough aperture it should work quite well.
Airfix WWII Aircraft Of The Aces.
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Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
Posts: 282
Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

I think they might be a bit too big to use PVA. You can see the size of the openings in the photos at the top of this thread. Plus there's the curve of the fuselage to contend with.

With that said, if they fall out once I have fixed the upper fuselage square transparency in place, I may have to go down the PVA route . . .
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DavidWomby
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by DavidWomby »

Looking very good. I agree, PVA will have to be a last resort for the oval fuselage windows as it dries into a flat surface. I have managed to build it up to a slight dome once using multiple layers but it was tedious and didn't look very good when done.

David
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fredk
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by fredk »

There is another way; sellotape. Cut carefully and placed it can look ok, the edges of the tape look like raised panel lines.
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
Posts: 282
Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

Thanks guys. At the moment I can still access the oval Windows through the upper fuselage window so it might not be too much of a problem. I fixed them once using a matchstick with a bit of blu-tak on the end. Once they're in place, if I don't handle it too much (and am careful when I do) it shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, in more news, it is now on its legs as I fitted the undercarriage last night.

Cheers
Simon
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fredk
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Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by fredk »

GB end time is now Midnight of Wednesday 22nd.
That gives you an extra 3 full days.
Make the most of it.
GO!
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
Springy67
The Bug Has Well And Truly Bitten
Posts: 282
Joined: May 9th, 2011, 9:54 am

Re: Springy's Czechoslovakian Pe2

Post by Springy67 »

Thanks fredk. I was going to ask you for an extra day so a couple more days is much appreciated! I'll post some pictures later but, current state of play is that construction is complete except for final few details (radio mast and turret vane to be added). Then it's just the decals and she's done! Of course, as the decals are nearly 50 years old, this may be the most challenging part of the whole build :shock:

Cheers
Simon
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