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Thomas Kolb
While waiting for some paints to arrive in the mail to continue my MiG-23 build project, I decided to do a very quick build of the Eduard L-39 in my stash. This kit is labeled as a "weekend" build, which might be a bit optimistic for me, but should still be a quick progress.

Clement
Great job on that cockpit.
Following with interest.

Łukasz Gliński
Me 2 👍 That cockpit is astonishing 😮

Harry Eder
Great start! I'll watching 3

Clement
Do you already have a plan for the shades you're going to use? I found the L-39 classic camouflage very hard to get right. I hope you'll have more luck with it.

Mr D
Looking good, cockpit green is 👍 nice.
Coming on good 👌

Łukasz Gliński
@Clement: I think I've seen these colours released lately by Mr.Paiint

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat here.

Ekki
Watching too.

Clement
Thanks @Łukasz, well spotted!

MRP-010 Brown Green ČSN 2250
MRP-013 Khaki ČSN 5450
MRP-027 Light Pastel Grey ČSN 1010

For those interested

Nicolas
Joining

Thomas Kolb
For the Hungarian standard camo, MRP has released an entire set, consisting of MRP-351 Brown, MRP-352 Dark Green and MRP-353 Light Blue.

Thomas Kolb
Yesterday I spent some time comparing the hue and tint of the MRP paints with my own mix of Tamiya acrylics (as described in photo 26 above), and found them to be absolutely identical. I also found the MRP paints much too smelly and aggressive and hard to adjust if you want to blend in slightly varying tones in panels etc. The Tamiyas can furthermore be used for extremely diluted thin filter applications, while the MRP are block solid.

Clement
Well done on those paints!
I agree with you, Tamiya paints spray great and don't smell nearly as nasty as MRP's.

Cuajete
I was missing this one.
Well done so far, Thomas! 👍

J35J
Great progress!👍🏻

Łukasz Gliński
I see you mixed too much of this colour and used it on the background 😋
Lovely preshading, sth I don't have enough patience for

István Szücs
Very nice build and paintwork!

Cuajete
Very nice painting job, Thomas. Looks fantastic so far 👍

I recently saw that Edward has released the transparent parts of this kit as "L-39 Revised Canopy":
L-39 Revised Canopy (Eduard 7040Y, 1:72)

Do you know what problem the original transparent parts have?

Guy Rump
Looking great 👍

Thomas Kolb
Cuajete, thank you! No, I wasn't aware of any issues with the canopy. To me, the version provided in the kit is good enough, it certainly looks correct compared with photos.

Nicolas
I'm not sure, but the kit photos show onle the multi part canopy. The revised Canopy kit also has a single peace closed version.

Thomas Kolb
Nicolas, yes, you are right. With the new set you also get a closed canopy so the builder doesn't have to join the separate pieces together. I guess it makes for a simpler build.

gorby
I think you win this weeks prize for most heavy duty modelling tool. 😄
Looks a very interesting conversion.

Lenny Li
I think that kind of set up can tool a real bogie!!

Neuling
Watching .....................

Jakko ‌
> I think you win this weeks prize for most heavy duty modelling tool. 😄

Probably, yeah 🙂 It's a metalworking lathe, so a bit overkill for just turning down the seam on those wheels, but I didn't feel like aching fingers from scraping them down with a knife — I get those even when I hold them in a modelling vice, never mind just between my fingers.

> that kind of set up can tool a real bogie!!

Having seen a disassembled Sherman bogie up close, I must say I think this one is a size too small for that 😉

Ben M
👀 fascinating vehicle.

Mr D
Looking good, weld's coming on nice 👍

Ben M
How did you hold the wheels in the lathe?

Jakko ‌
@Mr D: that's not the welds yet, it's just the filler needed to plug the gaps 🙁 I'm still debating how to add all the weld seams.

@Ben M: An M2 screw, about 2 cm long, through the hole in the wheel, with a nut to tighten it. It needs to be fairly tight else chances are the wheel will stop as soon as the chisel hits it. On Asuka two-piece wheels, you need to do this before assembling the parts, because the hole on the piece to be glued in is smaller than on the part that has the tyre moulded on it.

Ben M
Thank you, I can envision the setup. I have a small lathe and arthritis in my hands, this technique could help me a lot. Thanks!

Mr D
Regarding weld's l have seen super glue used through a fine tip, you need steady hand n move in pattern to create weld.
Sorry l was looking at the resin 🤔🤣.
Good stuff be keeping eye
On progress 👍👍

Jakko ‌
@Ben M: What also works is a modeller's vice. Clamp the wheel in that, scrape down the seam with a straight knife over a third or so of the wheel, then unclamp and turn it, and repeat. If I scrape more than about two or three wheels by hand, my fingers ache enough that I have to stop, so the vice helps a lot. But you also get a lot of plastic scrapings all over your modelling area, so this time, I figured I'd put those in someone else's hobby room instead for a change 😉

@Mr D: Hahaha! The ones on the resin were put there by Resicast 🙂 But I'll now have to make ones that look similar, or at least not out of place next to them. I'm thinking a thin string of two-part epoxy, textured with a sharp tool.

gorby
I've just seen an Uncle Nightshift vid on adding weld seams:
Youtube Video

Jakko ‌
Thanks for that.

Mr D
Good video 👍, the finish on the flat plate work looks authentic, l think it's had better rough cast look from the brush stippling before he added the putty coat.
Good idea on the weld , epoxy putty best as regular epoxy levels out again.

Jakko ‌
I've begun to add the weld seams now — see photo 23 🙂 Basically, Magic Sculp two-part epoxy putty that I mixed up a very small amount of, then took even smaller amounts from that and rolled it as thin as I could in my hand before pressing it into the join between the parts. Getting it to stick there is tricky, especially once I began texturing it with the tip of a knife — it wants to adhere to skin and steel much better than to plastic, unfortunately 🙁 But with a bit of perseverance it does eventually stick.

Pietro De Angelis
Fantastic work, congrats!

David Taylor
really coming along.

Jakko ‌
Thanks 🙂

Robert Podkoński
I see some heavy duty equipment here and a lot of elbow grease... Good job so far, Jakko! Keep it up!

Jakko ‌
Thanks, though this is fairly straightforward. The most difficult part was finding a good way to curve the splash plates, really.

Pepe
Looking

gorby
You're doing some excellent work on this.