Avanti!
Comments
2 14 January 2018, 20:02
Łukasz GlińskiCurrently the side windows are drying (because of Micro Kristal Klear). Unfortunately some of of them already show they won't be as transparent as I expect...
2 February 2018, 20:10
Oleg Bogoleii have some problems with windows on my amodels falcon-10 as well..
2 February 2018, 20:51
Łukasz GlińskiWell, hopefully nobody will be able to see interior any other way than throught the windscreen
2 February 2018, 21:00
Burkhard DAh, I got stuck at the same stage. Kristal Clear won't work due to the curvature. I'll try to cast windows in situ using clear cast. If that doesn't work, inserting the individual windows will be a challenge, but appears doable.
I assembled the interior end-to-end in one piece. There is little guidance inside the fuselage halves, so it would be difficult to align everything individually.
2 February 2018, 21:01
Gordon SørensenInterior looks really good, Lukasz! Always thought the Avanti was a cool looking aircraft...
3 February 2018, 03:54
Łukasz GlińskiCurrent state: added the seatbelts from EC-135, finishing the details of the cockpit (the wire will be used for headphones hanging on the wall behind the pilots) and filling/sanding the gaps between fuselage halves after gluing them together.
23 February 2018, 20:54
Łukasz GlińskiCockpit has been finished, but the fit of the canopy is disappointing...
18 March 2018, 17:42
Kees KleijwegtFollowing!
A very cool plane with a unique sound. You can hear it's the Avanti from miles away
18 March 2018, 18:07
Łukasz GlińskiStarted to sculpt the engines, as you can see the fit is typically amodellish 🙁
9 April 2018, 20:19
GlennThe fit of the parts looks really bad. This is so disappointing for a modern kit. Plenty of filler and a angle grinder needed 🙂
10 April 2018, 00:13
Bart GoesaertEnjoy sanding... A-model quality, but in the end you have A special Model
12 April 2018, 08:09
Łukasz GlińskiThanks gentlemen, didn't start yet, hopefully I will start it during the incoming weekend
12 April 2018, 09:04
Łukasz GlińskiAfter making the engines look acceptable, I spotted the right one is not straight. I have to think what to do now - ignore, break down the engine again or play with the wings...
24 April 2018, 19:50
Gordon SørensenUnfortunately, you know you won't be happy unless you correct the engine position. If you can get a blade between the wing and the nacelle, it might come up not to bad...
25 April 2018, 04:42
Burkhard DUnfortunately, there is no positive guidance for the nacelle position relative to the wing and fuselage. Amodel kits require extensive rigging to assure correct alignment.
27 April 2018, 15:58
Łukasz GlińskiTrue story Burkhard. Anyway I started the surgery 2 days ago, currently the nacelle has much better position (used kind of wedge/blade tchnique - thx Gordon for the inspiration). Currently extensive sanding takes place. But tomorrow I depart to the land of Orange for a week, will continue the updates afterwards.
27 April 2018, 18:25
Łukasz GlińskiHopefully it looks better now - just reattached the right wing to the rest
12 May 2018, 20:45
Gordon SørensenLooks better, Lukasz! Did you just butt-join the wing sections, or put in a pin of some sort?
14 May 2018, 01:43
Ray SeppalaInteresting project Lukasz. I have just started an AModel Learjet and am having similar issues with no locating pins or tabs.
14 May 2018, 04:36
Łukasz GlińskiThanks guys.
Gordon, I used pins cut accordingly, otherwise it was very difficult to get a proper alignment.
Markus & Ray, I confirm that, but I just had to have few of their unique topics, like this one 🙂
14 May 2018, 06:11
Bart Goesaertnice work... I agree, A-model is a pain, but they have intriguing models...
14 May 2018, 07:10
Burkhard DFinished their Beech Starship and have both the Avanti and the Learfan in progress. A thorough dry-fitting exercise... 🙂
14 May 2018, 12:50
Łukasz GlińskiDid the most tricky part last weekend - spraying the red between the lower fuselage fins. First caasualties here - when tried to mask, I ripped off part of the decal and the painting ended up with a lot of overspray. Hint for the future Avanti builders: you'd better brushpaint the missing red part, it's on the belly anyway. Now time to cover the overspray with few layers of white by brush 🙂
14 August 2018, 06:15
Łukasz GlińskiThanks, but I regret painting it with Vallejo white - it's not meant to be polished, polishing results in lots of small pieces of dried paint everywhere...
14 August 2018, 09:58
Łukasz GlińskiThanks, that's much smarter approach than mine, I should've thought about it earlier on 🙂
14 August 2018, 12:34
Łukasz GlińskiTrying to correct the red lines after masking attempt. Currently the state of the build is hopeless - my hands are to shaky to get straight lines, the crappy Vallejo white gets sticky after few minutes of holding the kit and the white paint is already dirty all over the place...
Seriously considering throwing this kit away or buying another Caracal set and painting it from scratch. I'm definitely not good with white planes...
15 September 2018, 21:05
Bart GoesaertJust try to cover the white and red with some clear or varnish as a protection. Should make it easier to clean. Vallejo imho is good for brushpainting, but for the airbrush... Nah
16 September 2018, 08:21
Łukasz GlińskiThx Bart, I did it before masking at it wasn't good enough. Now I know to avoid the Vallejos in the airbrush, but this was one of my lessons (the other being X-29). I'm considering overpainting the red bands with white a bit, then spray the red using the Aizu tape, which used to be quite delicate...
16 September 2018, 08:25
CuajeteI'm sorry for what just happened, Łukasz. At this point, maybe you should paint first white, then protect with varnish and then paint in red, after masking with Aizu. Good luck!
16 September 2018, 12:04
Burkhard DTo remove red overspray on white, I'd try remove the overspray with micromesh or a razor blade and then overspray with white as needed. Red is nasty - will likely shine through.
16 September 2018, 13:32
Łukasz GlińskiNo way! Must be this one (of course 🙂 )
I did use Aizu today, sprayed the red once again. It is a bit better, though I probably wanted too much😉 and it wasn't perfect.
Currently I corrected the lines well enough I think (will upload more pics tomorrow), time for the belly corrections - the crazy idea from Caracal's designer to let builder paint the belly part seems still ridiculous to me 🙁
16 September 2018, 19:27
Łukasz GlińskiFound a bug in the Avanti decal set by Caracal: the leaflet asks the user to use decal 18 to have double white stripes on each propeller. The problem is there are 6 decals for 10 propellers... How hard can it be? 🙁
21 September 2018, 20:58
Łukasz GlińskiSo you won't be dissapointed and won't have to clean the propellers to repaint them😉
22 September 2018, 14:35
Łukasz GlińskiSpent last couple of weeks correcting the nose stripes (the decals are simply straight and the nose ... well, it's not!). What did I use? Brush and hands😉 I consider it good enough (pics 34&35) and will move to the propellers next. In the meantime the white Vallejo colour got a bit dirty here and there, so I have to paint it over, but this time I'm gonna use the brush and Vallejo white.
12 November 2018, 21:08
Flop_SeIn my opinion valejo white is not the best choice for large areas! But i'm confident you'll make a good job! 🙂
12 November 2018, 21:13
Łukasz GlińskiOrdered the white stripes from Xtradecal to finish the rear finally, putting this on hold until the delivery.
19 November 2018, 12:50
Łukasz GlińskiThanks, would've been even better should I have avoided using Vallejo white... 🙁
19 November 2018, 15:05
Łukasz GlińskiDecided to wash off the Vallejo's goo (almost finished, except for the panel lines), ordered second set of Caracal decals. While they are being deliverd I'll paint the kit again using GX white paint around Xmas.
Anybody wanting to buy a spare Caracal set without Polish decals?
20 December 2018, 12:30
Nathan DempseyVery interesting aircraft. The air ambulance makes it even more interesting!I always have problems with Gloss White and have sometimes resorted to painting everything in matte then adding several coats of gloss finish. As far as Vallejo goes, I've had several bottles that refuse to be airbrushed. It happened enough to put me off the brand...
20 December 2018, 12:48
Łukasz GlińskiThanks Oleg, doing my best, currently it looks a bit like your Hammerhead😉 (that's the Citadel's grey primer actually)
27 December 2018, 15:07
Felipe Belalcazarwow love it! theres an avanti based here in YYZ and the sound is unmistakable. im new to airbrushing and use vallejo (i actually love it - never had problems) but i read alot about the paints being lousy - what is it exacly? what should I be looking out for? I have two colour sets and the metallic paints. im also fairly new so not nearly you guys' level of execution here. cheers!
27 December 2018, 15:09
Łukasz GlińskiThx Felipe 🙂 The problem (difference?) is, that the Vallejo paints are kind of 'wall paint', the acrylic cleaner is unable to dissolve them, only makes them soft enough to be peeled off. Forget any polishing. And as I use 0,2mm airbrush nozzle it's extremely hard to brush smoothly longer than 1-2 minutes - then it starts to clog the nozzle (and it's hard to clean the nozzle without dissolving the paint).
I understand people use it, cause it doesn;t smell, but I prefer lacquer based paints, they dry quickly, you don't have to clean the airbrush completely every few minutes and just in case you can polish the surface after all.
But the Model Air series is awesome when it comes to brush painting 🙂
27 December 2018, 18:14
Martin OostromI always thin Vallejo approx 40-60 with acrylic thinner and a few drops of vallejo flow improver. Works fine for almost every colour, black can be the exception.
For cleaning I use Revell's aqua color clean. Strips Vallejo as well.
Use a Harder & Steenbeck 0.2 Evolution.
Mixing with thinner is trial and error based on humidity, moisture and temperature and pressure. Good luck 👍
Very nice Piaggo Łukasz !!
27 December 2018, 18:32
Łukasz GlińskiVielen Dank Stefan, probably there are so many topics on this site...😉
27 December 2018, 21:16
Felipe BelalcazarThank you for the explanation Lukasz, i'll look more into this - i think my nozzle is wider - i have a badger patriot airbrush and a pasche compressor. Cheers!
28 December 2018, 17:21
Julian Herrero aka YuriI've never been able to airbrush std Vallejo paints properly .... they are vinyl based (rubbery like) and clog the nozzle after a while. Some fellows thin them with plian water ,,,but I have not succeded ...
29 December 2018, 05:28
Łukasz GlińskiFully agree with Yuri, I don't like them for the very same reason. In the meantime, I sprayed the propellers and primed the plane itself. First layer of GX1 is just drying, but I already see few places that need corrections.
1 March 2019, 21:25
Zsolt CzegleGreat work! 👍
Try to use some drying retarder during the airbrushing the acrylic white color.
2 March 2019, 11:37
Łukasz GlińskiThanks, Zsolt. I have to admit, that GX paint + levelling thinner don't seem to need one (so far) 🙂
2 March 2019, 21:19
Łukasz GlińskiToday it was another surgery-day as I found the right engine inlet was definitely lower than the left one. I must have taken the wrong angle at the first operation. Now I'm back on track, only need to get the front fuselage smooth enough as it's still quite bumpy in front of the windscreen.
3 March 2019, 20:11
Łukasz GlińskiAt first I thought you meant 'eternal' 😉, but then I had a quick look into the internets and found this:
"At one stage the pilgrims would take three steps forward and two steps backwards, thus taking five steps in order to advance one; at another stage the pilgrims would repeatedly stop at the sound of the bell donated by Emperor Maximilian, falling to their knees before moving forward a few more steps."
en.wikipedia.org/wik..ession_of_Echternach
That actually sounds very similar to my progress on Avanti 🙂
5 March 2019, 08:03
playtime 222Following. Already reminded not to have too many A-Model kits in the stash unless I have a bathtub of filler 😄
5 March 2019, 08:12
Łukasz Gliński@playtime 222: Welcome, luckily Perfect Plastic Putty makes the filling way easier and faster (still impressed by its behaviour) 🙂
Today it was the decalling day, nose has been corrected after I took the pictures (will upload it soon).
15 March 2019, 21:50
Gordon SørensenI figure being as the fit of Amodel wasn't a jaw-dropping, the decals not being a good fit either is kind of justified...
The picture you have is of SP-MXH, but looks like SP-MXI doesn't have the registration marks on top of the wings eithet...
[img1]
16 March 2019, 23:57
Łukasz GlińskiThank you guys.
@Gordon: Many thanks for that pic, I couldn't find SP-MXI pic from above, so I had to deduce it😉
17 March 2019, 17:02
Łukasz GlińskiShort update - masks removed (of course corrections were needed), red part brushpainted, propellers assembled, started painting all the small details that are not white (antennas, undercarriage, various inlets here and there) and started washing (using light grey wash as Polish Avantis are very clean).
25 March 2019, 19:00
Łukasz GlińskiThank you. I used chrome Alclad instead of polished steel one to make it look more spectacular😉
26 March 2019, 07:45
Bart Goesaertit's becoming a real beauty, and considering the effort you've put into this one, it is well deserved...
26 March 2019, 14:39
Łukasz GlińskiThank you, I do my best not to screw it all again😉
@Oleg: The side windows on the photos are hollow, the Micro Cristal Clear is drying as I write this. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to take pictures of filled ones. Windshield on the other hand is the original one from the sprues, but bit matt due to sanding (as it's original scribing is not symmetric).
26 March 2019, 19:12
Erik De SmetI wonder if the cristal clear will dry transparant. I used 5 second fix UV cured glue some time ago for making windows and the result was quite good.
27 March 2019, 10:24
Łukasz GlińskiWell, it turned out not so bad. My main issue are the bubbles, hence I have to replace two windows unfortunately. I intend to seal them using multiple thin layers GX gloss varnish after all, I already experimented this way on my Plasticarts Yak-40.
27 March 2019, 10:30
Łukasz GlińskiAdded promised pics with windows. The starboard side looks bit worse than the other one, I still have to correct the leftovers from masking.
27 March 2019, 19:38
Łukasz GlińskiNice to see the original theme of your build flying overhead sometimes 🙂 (pic #56)
11 April 2019, 19:34
Łukasz GlińskiLast update, hopefully. 🙂 Luckily I bought 2 decal sets, I needed two sets of windows, one was not enough for my agile fingers😉 Wheels on, dischargers added, Micro Cristal Clear has to dry to mimic the fuselage and tail lights and then I only need to seal it all with a varnish.
Update: Ugh, I just found out the canards in the kit are not drooped as they are in the original, I need to think about it tomorrow.
13 April 2019, 19:58
Łukasz GlińskiThanks mate 🙂
Hereby I announce this odyssey finished 🙂 I'll take more pics tomorrow, in the (forecasted) sun.
15 April 2019, 20:10
Gordon SørensenLooks good Lucasz! Seemed like you fought it the entire build but won in the end! Did you bend the forward canards down a little?
16 April 2019, 00:27
Bart Goesaertsplendid work... and a real pleasure to follow... and most of all, you survived and finished an A-model kit
16 April 2019, 06:38
Łukasz GlińskiThank you all, indeed it was my first A-Model ever to be finished 🙂 Please wait for more pics tonight.
@Gordon: yes, I re-glued them at more convincing angle (see pic #61).
16 April 2019, 08:11
Matthew ABrilliant well worth all your effort. I'm surprised the Avanti didn't sell better (that's the real thing not the A-model)
16 April 2019, 10:55
Łukasz GlińskiThank you 🙂 I know it's not perfect, but once somebody prints a decal set for SP-MXH I'll try another one😉
@Matthew: I like its shape too 🙂
16 April 2019, 12:03
Łukasz GlińskiThank you Gentlemen😉
I uploaded pics of Avanti in the spring sun - in close-up (pic #63) you can see I'm still having problems with air pressure in the airbrush, but I think I'm improving and it's better than with Karaś or Yak-3 🙂
Now, it's the hard part - I need to select another project to be started 🙂
16 April 2019, 18:53
Łukasz GlińskiThanks once more. Could've been cleaner, but its shape really stands out on the shelf between Vipers and Hornets 🙂
16 April 2019, 19:27
Łukasz GlińskiMany thanks y'all 🙂 Really glad to see you like it.
@Matthew: Good point, I almost forgot about my Cutlass. So now I have a dilemma: Dakota or Cutlass😉 Škoda's on hold, till I lay my hands on some alco-based Agama paints.
@Bart: I have no more Avantis in my stash😉
17 April 2019, 07:12
Erik De SmetThe Dakota is a piece of cake, even if you are building lights and motors in it, as I do. The Cutlass will be more challenging. Nice use of your famous hangar background, Lukasz.
17 April 2019, 08:31
Łukasz GlińskiThanks guys, I know Dakota should be easy (especially w/o any electric equipment), so I went for it 🙂 Cutlass stays in the queue.
17 April 2019, 19:30
Klaas van der WielenGreat subject. And it's a beautiful little model! Congratulations!
17 April 2019, 19:38
Łukasz GlińskiThanks a lot Klaas, it's not a big one, somewhere between Viper and Hornet (as it shares the shelf with those)
18 April 2019, 17:45
Dmitriy AndreeshchevI love that plane very much. You've really gone through some rough work here, but the result was worth it!
3 June 2019, 11:29
Łukasz GlińskiThank you Gentlemen, appreciate it.
To be honest the windscreen is not as clear as I wanted it to be. In case you dare to build this kit, I recommend making your own vacu copy of the windscreen (Rob Taurus, are you reading that?😉 ).
5 June 2019, 02:08
Slavo HazuchaYou fought a worthy battle with a kit that appears to be more than sub-par in not just one area... The results look truly great when viewed as-finished, but seeing the history provides quite a few "revelations"... Congrats on a rare gem in your collection 👍 🙂
5 June 2019, 12:16
Łukasz GlińskiThank you Slavo, it's a rare topic indeed. It reqired a lot of patience, but unique topics are my favs 🙂
6 June 2019, 02:03
Christian WHoly moly! You did a very good job on this nice plane. I looked through the pictures and really have to say:
I think, if I'd built this, it'll be in the shelf again because of so much issues with the fitting, the decals, the paintjob.... Well done! Very good.
6 June 2019, 04:50
Łukasz GlińskiMany thanks Christian. I have to admit I'm even considering building another one in the future😉
25 June 2019, 12:49
