I.A.R. 80 early Florian Budu

Steffen Arndt
I want to build aircraft number 17 when Florian Budu hit a pothole when taxiing to a combat mission on 20th July 1941 at Birlad airfield (Picture 1 from the book). The aircraft is on the decal sheed but at an earlier stage in its life so I will have to adjust the camouflage and markings to make it fit the photograph.

To replicate this early production model the kit needs some fuselage refinement, i.e. removing some re-enforcement plates on the fuselage aft of the cockpit. Of course no model is a perfect replication of the original, but I did not like that the u/c bays almost touch each other, so I cut two rectangles along a stringer inside the bay. shortened these and inserted a good mm sheet styrene in the middle. Afterwards some sanding is necessary.

Compared to the drawings from Radu Brinzans book it is still not correct but better. Also the ejection chutes are a little too far out boards now. But this way it looks much better to my eye. I will have to shorten the u/c legs too.

Steffen Arndt
I started this kit when it came out somewhere 2016/17 but I'll take today as the project start

Juergen Klinglhuber
Da bin ich gespannt - following,...

Steffen Arndt
Danke, ich auch 🙂 Hab erst mal mit dem Cockpit begonnen, was mir nicht so viel Spaß macht.

Steffen Arndt
So i have started with the cockpit. Seatbelts are included in teh kit. First I glued these as per instructions but checking Radu Brinzans superior book I noticed this is the very late seat belt arrangement. Earlier models had a different style so I cut the shoulder belts and sanded the head rest smooth. Looks a bit rough at the moment but will be improved.

I have the Vahu set for the instrument panels, these will be added after painting. According to the book the first aircraft had a silver interior like the prototype but later got the underside color (light blue) .. .so I will go with a metal interior.

Steffen Arndt
I glued in the plastic instrument panel holder and sawed it off leaving just the frame to complete the stringer at the side and leaving a glueing point for the Jahu part. I airbrushed the interior silver and gave it a black wash after it was dry. Next will be some detail painting to make it look more interesting.

Steffen Arndt
I did a bit more work in the cockpit. I have added the Yahu instrument panel in front of the pedals and did a first step on making the head cushion a bit more beefy (it still looks like a mess, but this will be improved) The original cockpit does not provide much color so I just added some with the yellow knobs and the blue oxygen bottle with brass connectors. I will close up the pit so there is no need for superdetailing here.

Steffen Arndt
So with most of teh cockpit deep down inside the fuselage done, I could proceed a bit completing the fuselage and wings .. my favourite part of the build. I still need to adjust a few things but it already looks the part. Next will be engine and instrument panel but I cannot build over the week end so more progress next week ... (otoh I do not have the feeling anyone is watching, probably all are busy buying noodles and toilet paper)

Wim van der Luijt
Following with great interest, one of my favorite machines of all times. I have the old Ltd kit in my stash and was really looking forward to the hobby boss, looking forward to see what you make of it

Steffen Arndt
Cheers Wim! Thanks for watching! I do have the Icaero Design IAR-81C which is far superior in detail but a resin kit .... OTOH the Hobby Boss is not that bad from a building point of view.

Today I worked a bit on the engine, nothing to show yet and it also is rather simple. Still you will not see much of it inside the cowling so it is probably good enough.

Again, I am happy that at least someone is with me on this build, so I try to keep focussed

Juergen Klinglhuber
you are not alone ! 😉 watching too,....

Steffen Arndt
Danke Juergen! I have completed the engine and glued it to the airframe. The fit is not particularily good in this area, but little will be seen, so I am not going to add more details. I just airbrushed it black and it will get a silver drybrush. The cowling is also a wobbly fit, but this gives me some adjustment space to get the spinner centred.

Steffen Arndt
Today I have added the silver drybrush and I have experimented with a bit of colour...

Wim van der Luijt
Still watching, hope you will be able to make the cowling fit

Steffen Arndt
Fit is o.k, but I need to sand the seams and I fear the cowl will come loose again as there is only a tiny attachment surface. I also did a bit of surgery but I will show that tomorrow... not sure yet if it is a good idea😉

Steffen Arndt
O.K. here we go, the cowling is on and needs some sanding and probably a tiny bit of filler too. I need to attache the lower intake as a third fixing point or else it will come loose again. Now it only is glued on with two tiny brackets where the exhausts are.

I totally misjudged the size of the IP holder. I thought I could fix this in when everything is together, but there is no chance ... especially as I glued in stripes from the plastic piece which I thought would hold the PE part. Man was I wrong.... so some surgery was necessary. First I thought it was sufficient to take out the panel in front of the windscreen but it was also necessary to saw off the windscreen panel. (still attached in the pix) I still had to enforce the fuselage to open for the PE Part. All Instrument panels came loos eof course. The discolouration on the centre panel is from gripping it with tweezers (it is just the flat coat I airbrushed on so I rubbed it off and will add a slight layer after finishing.

This evening I have built the side IPs in and now need to wait for the glue to dry. I also closed up the fuselage in front of the pit which still needs some TLC ... even though it was a stupid mistake I had a lot of fun fixing it ... call me crazy

Steffen Arndt
In case you wonder what spongy thing is in the opening: I drilled though the air scoop in the wing leading edge (pic 15) and glued some Eduard packing stuff in to avoid light coming through via the cockpit opening

Steffen Arndt
I have just added 2 pix of the current state

Wim van der Luijt
wow....that is a lot of extra work, good to see you made it through and got it looking like a plane again....hang in there!

Steffen Arndt
Cheers Wim, well it is actually not that much more work (it is done in a few minutes, all in all maybe an hour) but it is a stupid mistake. Still the IP is not fully correct, maybe I need to rework that again....

Steffen Arndt
Yesterday I have added the lower air intake. Sadly HB only provides the long version with dust filter (?), so I have cut the part in two and sharpened the edges to make them look thinner. Now it became obvious that I would need to make a cover as of course only the rectangular box is the intake. I have added a thin (0.25mm) piece of plasticard cut to shape and melted in form with some (just a little) Tamiya Extra Thin Quick. Looks better than the picture indicates.

Steffen Arndt
This darn clock change always cost me a lot of my daily spare time as I need to get my bio rhythm back to normal (usually takes about 3-4 weeks). Still I did a few things but not as much as I wanted. I have completed the dash which is not perfect but still o.k.. I also ordered a Master set for the P-40B/C with British .303 Brownings and a ring and bead gun sight. not sure where to install the bead as I cannot see it on the picturs but the ring ist definitely aft of the air intake.

Speaking of which I build uzup a new one from the lower intakes leftovers. Looks o.k. and is a bit hollow. I also installed the wind shield which needs some filler due to my surgery but I will first mask the thing. I still need to install the control column before closing the hood. ...

Next will be a test of bravery ... as per instructions the antenna mast shall be installed on the canopy --- in reality it is going through the canopy so I need to drill a hole and to make things easier install a mast before applying the hood (probably from brass as it is prone to be broken )

Juergen Klinglhuber
Hi Steffen - I know what you mean, I feel the same,...as soon as summertime starts, there is a reduction of turnaround times and the progress on the work bench. But - ok.., I try to accept - it will be winter again 🙂

Juergen Klinglhuber
Anyhow - nice progress on your IAR!

Steffen Arndt
Cheers Juergen! (for me it is almost the same when we change back to normal time in October)

Drilling the hole into the windscreen worked out much better than I had expected. I used a 0,5mm drill bit and glued in a 0,45mm steel rod from Albion Alloys. I used Tamiya X-22 to "glue" it. This will not persist against every abuse, but I fills the hole avoiding light breaking at it making it less visible.

I also airbrushed the orange yellow sections of the fuselage and wings. This is a custom mix as I wanted the colour to be light and with an oragne hue. I started with Gunze H3 adding a tiny bit of red and adding more yellow until I was satisfied. It is about as dark as RLM04 but more orange. Personally I would have liked it a bit lighter, but I also needed to approximately match the tone of RB Productions Romanian crosses.

Steffen Arndt
After some masking and painting sessions it is starting to look the part. I have used AK Real Colours as I had some good experiences on my Bf 109D-1 and the RLM 65 (1938) is a nice light blue shade for the underside. I used RLM 71 for the top side but it looks a tad dark at the moment. I hope (and think) the final flat coat will make it look a little brighter.

Next will be a glossy clear coat either Klear (Future) or Tamiya X-22. Tamiya is a bit easier to handle while Klear supports my decal application better. But I will wait at least until today evening or until tomorrow to avoid unpleasant reactions between the paints.

Steffen Arndt
When I started applying the decals I noticed that RB Productions Decal set does not include the rudder stripes. Breaking off the rudder was probably ending in a disaster and airbrushing directly on the kit was a masking nightmare so I decided to airbrush the kits decal with better colours. I masked blue and yellow (one after the other) and airbrushed some proper Gunze paint. The blue looks quite good but I could not fully match the fuselage band colour. Still I think it is close enough. After applying those decals I masked them off again and airbrushed H3 red as final colour. Not stellar but looks the part and is much better than the kits decal.

Wim van der Luijt
It is really starting to look good.....nice save on the rudder!

Steffen Arndt
Cheers Wim, indeed it does. I still need to add a few decals but I progress. I also painted the u/c legs and covers as well as the prop and spinner. But I will leave these off until after my usual wash.

Steffen Arndt
Slow but steady we are getting there. After clear coat and wash I attached the undercarriage and now set it aside to dry

Juergen Klinglhuber
Steady forward....it looks very good.

Steffen Arndt
Thanks Jürgen! Progress is still slim as I needed to wait for several processes to dry, first of all the undercariage as I wanted it to be straight and halfway symmetrical. I have painted the tail skid and added the retraction rods to the main u/c legs. I alos added some paint to the exhausts which look metal in the picture, so I painted it dark alu and added some stippled on brown colour plus a bit of black wash. Looks o.k. to me but is not very visible on the picture

Steffen Arndt
Almost there. I have added the final decals on prop and u/c covers and I gave it a flat coat. The colour looks much better now. I still need to tweak the finish a little before I can remove the masks...

Steffen Arndt
I have added the mass balances (2 on each aileron), the exhaust pipes on the underside - drilled out, painted silver and stippled on rust red The holes got a bit of black - and the pitot from 0.5mm steel tube (Albion Alloys) panted white with black stripes. I also drilled the holes for the ring sight and antenna fuselage entrance. Antenna and Gun sight are the final touches to do.

Steffen Arndt
Ring sight and Antenna added

Steffen Arndt
I painted on the position lights and I call this done. Thanks for watching!

Wim van der Luijt
You call it done, I call it a very good looking IAR 80....thnx for sharing this one

Steffen Arndt
Thank you Wim! Especially for the comments. It is much more fun posting progress when you know someone is watching 🙂

Juergen Klinglhuber
I enjoyed the show. Nice project, cool looking IAR !! 👍

Steffen Arndt
Thank you Juergen!... and again especially for the kind and encouraging comments during the build!