E-2C Hawkeye (WIP)
Preparing the cockpit for paint, some scratch on the seats according to reference photos
Decals settle well but they are not a bit aligned with the plastic relief and they have the most terribly simplified drawings I have ever seen! The yellow was painted by brush with Vallejo, based on pictures of the real cockpit.
Covering ejection holes and imperfections with Evergreen strips
Started adding lead weight - everyone tells me this is a notorious tail sitter
Tail assembled
Fuselage closed, puttied and sanded
All clear part have annoying lines running right through the middle!!! ?
Starting to erase the lines: first sanding and then polishing from Tamiya; a real pain! ?
Work so far
Painting the gold tint with a thin mist of Gunze MMC 217.
Clear parts glued in place; fit is… poor.
Engine nacelles parts pre-painted and ready to assemble
Typical older Kinetic molds fit
Some squeeze needed here
Wings assembled; fit is not great
This is now a huge mess of putty and sanding and it's taking its time...............
Putty, sand paper, putty, sand paper, putty... I believe it is ready now... I think...
Started to apply Gunze H315 (FS16440)
Started to apply Gunze H315 (FS16440)
Lost one of the propeller bases; due to awful support from Kinetic, I had a friend make me a resin copy of the piece
Lost one of the propeller bases; due to awful support from Kinetic, I had a friend make me a resin copy of the piece; filling the bottom with Mr Surfacer to level it
Lost one of the propeller bases; due to awful support from Kinetic, I had a friend make me a resin copy of the piece; filling the bottom with Mr Surfacer to level it
Both propeller are ready
Plane painted with Gunze H315, with some marbling effect
Red going down, Tamiya X-7
Black applied, using MRP-005 and metallic parts of the engine painted using brush Vallejo Gungrey 71.072 (front) and airbrush AK Xtreme Dark Alluminium AK 480 (rear); varnished gloss with Tamiya X-22
Discovered the front decal is too large. so had to mask and paint; in fact, I believe most of the decals for this plane are oversized...............
Moving forward with (oversized) decals
Oversized numbers in the propeller blades
Numbers removed
Moving forward with the numerous stencils; decal quality is very good, but relative sizes and placement instructions are awful
Some brute force needed here
Bits and bobs
Progress so far
Komentáre
50 23 October 2023, 19:02
James C
Looking fantastic 👍
Oversized decals in 1/48 appears to be a common problem with Italeri aircraft kits in 1/48. Despite the printing quality (Cartograph) it appears that Italeri are incapable of accurately measuring them for fit before sending off to Cartograph for printing. I have encountered similar decal fit issues with their 1/48 F-14A, Mirage III, Mig 21, S-3 Viking etc. Given that most (if not all) of their kits released these days are reboxings of older tooled kits; having to replace the decals as well is just a no go for me and so I now avoid the brand completely.
Looking fantastic 👍
Oversized decals in 1/48 appears to be a common problem with Italeri aircraft kits in 1/48. Despite the printing quality (Cartograph) it appears that Italeri are incapable of accurately measuring them for fit before sending off to Cartograph for printing. I have encountered similar decal fit issues with their 1/48 F-14A, Mirage III, Mig 21, S-3 Viking etc. Given that most (if not all) of their kits released these days are reboxings of older tooled kits; having to replace the decals as well is just a no go for me and so I now avoid the brand completely.
19 July, 18:45
bughunter
As you may know I love wooden propellers by I must admit that your propellers looks fantastic 👍
As you may know I love wooden propellers by I must admit that your propellers looks fantastic 👍
19 July, 19:34
Ricardo Reis
@James, I was not aware of this issue; I only started noticing when I started to apply the first decals and looking at the reference photos - there are 2 or 3 photos of this specific aircraft; now it's to late to go back, but I am alert for the future; @bughunter, I love this typo or propeller, like the ones we can see in the A400M, they are very beautiful and elegant and powerful at the same time!
@James, I was not aware of this issue; I only started noticing when I started to apply the first decals and looking at the reference photos - there are 2 or 3 photos of this specific aircraft; now it's to late to go back, but I am alert for the future; @bughunter, I love this typo or propeller, like the ones we can see in the A400M, they are very beautiful and elegant and powerful at the same time!
20 July, 12:02