Airfix 1/24 scale Hellcat.

[Nicko]

Barry, as a relative newcomer I echo Jim's comments. You are putting a lot of effort into your posts for our benefit. Thanks.

Nick.

[dave]

Brilliant explanation so far, thank you.

[Ian M]

Have seen a few of these as a finished build but never a complete build thread. Also it will be refreshing to see one that is not Blue and shiny!

Looks like my coffee breaks have just gotten more interesting!!!

[stona]

Great stuff Barry, and thanks for taking the time and making the effort to provide such a comprehensive description of your techniques.

I think that releasing parts from the sprue (we'll call them that Jakko ) is one of the most important things we do, and it is easy to get it wrong. I use a pair of very fine electronic side cutters rather than a purpose built sprue cutter, but it's essentially the same thing. Like you I will use a sharp blade or very fine saw if necessary. The typically brittle plastic of clear parts is sometimes a subject for the saw. Most important, whatever you use, is to cut the parts from the sprue, not break them off, which almost invariably damages the plastic in areas you don't want it damaged! With a very fine part I take a moment to think how I will release it. Whatever you do will stress the part in some way, but sometimes thinking of the order in which you will cut the attachments will reduce over stressing and breaking the weakest part of the piece. I find this particularly useful when releasing long or very thin parts, like pipework or hoses.

I can comment on your 'coloured' cement because a few years ago the idea that colour in the cement would help with seams gained considerable traction. I was one of many who tinted my thin cement with the addition of a drop or two of black paint. The tint worked but I never found any benefit to it. Of course, others may have a different opinion, but it's not something I bother with anymore.

Keep it going! It doesn't matter how experienced someone thinks they are, it's always interesting to watch how someone else does it and there is always something to learn.

Cheers

Steve

[BarryW]

Thanks all....

I grabbed some time at the bench today...
I cemented in some bulkheads...


Below only the rear bulkhead is being cemented, the front one is just there to help make sure the rear one is correctly positioned with a flat piece sat between them.


here is the result


you will see a fair few ejector pin marks, fortunately they will not be seen so I left them alone.

Next I come to the first real build issues I have had.

the parts below are meant to fit between the fuselage sides. You would have no hope of the matching up correctly to both sides if you added them at a later stage. So i tried to do so now, with the sides dry fitted until the cement was dry on one side of the part I am inserting But... they did not fit and held the fuselage sides apart.


so I tried trimming and sanding them to get a fit.


You can see above how it looked once I positioned the sides, I then reached in with a long tool to push the drooping side up and ease it into position while parting the sides slightly. I spent a while at it without luck. In the end I just decided to leave these parts out, they won’t be seen after all. Airfix simply did not engineer this well enough, even Trumpeter have done a lot better with parts like that, a good solid location in one side is all that’s really needed, plus a good fit of course.

Next issue....

Look at the gap at the bottom....


That is while pressing the sides hard together.

but that’s nothing


This awful soft plastic is very prone to warping and shrinkage which is the issue above.. Quite simply it is not suitable for large kits.

A lot of sanding and cutting is needed to correct the first matter while the front will just have to be forced together at the appropriate time.

This demonstrates the need for test fitting. Better to do the correction now than later. I had a fair bit of plastic removal to do and even then a lot of force is needed to hold the sideS together. I will do more dry fitting later in the build once the other bulkheads are in place.

Then yet another problem....
Look at the tail hook. The only way the hook fits into the housing as shown is in the fully extended position as if the aircraft was coming In to land. In fact I think the intention of Airfix was to have the hook retractable. No chance of that, it’s not just the tight fit, there is a bit of a curve involved, the hook does not have a straight line to follow.....


My solution, not to mess around thinning and bending the piece, but to cut the end off and glue it in.



The other side then fits fine and then the assembly goes perfectly into the fuselage side.



None of the issues above are a massive problem, though the fuselage fit takes a lot of work, but this really is idiotic, what on earth are Airfix thinking, they are getting so much right with this kit and then to do that....

Another oddity, not a problem as such.

Here are the instrument panel pieces.

I do appreciate them providing the option of a panel that has instrument detail inscribed on it for painting plus an option to put decals on another that just has empty round dials with individual decals for each dial. But why do they bother with clear plastic? It is pointless. If you are using the inscribed one you will need to paint it black then paint the dial details. If you are using (as I will) the plain one with decals again you need to paint it black, apply the decals and in both cases glue on the face panel, itself painted black. Glass dials can be represented by varnish or something similar. There is no way there is any use for clear plastic. I do wonder what goes through the mind of the kit designers at times...

Anyway, I am now ready to paint prior to joining the fuselage sides and need to sort out a painting order.

Below are the parts where I will first be spraying a tan for seatbelts.

Note the bulkhead, it is the V shaped bit, clearly being the back of the seatbelts as they turn over behind the seat and they will be visable. The instructions say paint them Interior Green with the rest of the bulkhead! Clearly the painting instructions cannot be trusted.

parts below will be sprayed black


Aluminium - will spray this first, then the tan with the bit on the bulkhead first....


I will mask up the aluminium painted part above to leave the straps to ready tobe painted I will also mask the tan seatbelts on the bulkhead at the same time. Yes, MRP does dry that quick....
these two parts are then sprayed interior green alongside this lot...


I will then be ready for detail painting, mostly with the hairy stick.

so, why no primer...

MRP does not need it for adhesion and there are no flaws to worry about internally. I also don’t see the need for preshading either given how limited the view of the interior will be, it won’t be appreciated. That is not to say the interior won’t be weathered, watch this space!

[Neil Merryweather]

I'm really enjoying this, Barry :thumb2: Thanks

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
Great update. Good call with the tail hook. The fit of the fuselage certainly is poor. Luckily the parts causing most problems are not essential. Very interesting to see how well you plan the painting. I have been caught out more than once so your system is noted.
Jim

I do wonder what goes through the mind of the kit designers at times...

Maybe the kit designers don't speak to the kit's test builders :rolling:
Jim

[Gern]

Hi Barry
Great update. Good call with the tail hook. The fit of the fuselage certainly is poor. Luckily the parts causing most problems are not essential. Very interesting to see how well you plan the painting. I have been caught out more than once so your system is noted.
Jim

Maybe the kit designers don't speak to the kit's test builders :rolling:
Jim

Or maybe they're just IT experts who live inside their a***s unless they're talking to a 'puter screen! The world is full of 'em. They get paid a fortune for producing stuff that only they are interested in - then the manufacturer has to try and get his money back so he just loads it into his machines. And us poor guys on the receiving end have to put up with endless issues caused by overloading some poor basic programme or bit of circuitry.

Sorry Barry. Rant over!

[Guest]

But why do they bother with clear plastic? It is pointless. If you are using the inscribed one you will need to paint it black then paint the dial details. If you are using (as I will) the plain one with decals again you need to paint it black, apply the decals and in both cases glue on the face panel, itself painted black. Glass dials can be represented by varnish or something similar. There is no way there is any use for clear plastic.

Not having seen the instructions, I suspect the idea is to put the decals on the back of the clear panel. If they recommend putting the decals on the front, then the clear plastic is just as pointless as for the one with the moulded-in dials.

[BarryW]

Not having seen the instructions, I suspect the idea is to put the decals on the back of the clear panel. If they recommend putting the decals on the front, then the clear plastic is just as pointless as for the one with the moulded-in dials.

There is no mention of that. They are not printed reversed the way Tamiya are which are designed for using the way you describe. You could use a setter on the front to do it that way but, the transparency is thick and the plate over the top is thick as well so it just won’t look right.

[Guest]

Odd. Sounds almost like they kind of lost track of what they were intending to do.

[BarryW]

I had a thought yesterday evening and I am convinced that the whole fuselage sides fit issue relates to warping and not engineering.

Last night I eased the bulkehead away from the side and, after cleaning it up, I loose fitted it and taped the fuselage together around it. I adjusted the position slightly and gently pushed the bottom up and obtained a good bottom join. I then applied some drops of cement to one side of the bulkhead with a long brush and after a few minutes removed the tape and seperated the sides. It is now in the optimal position. I am sure the little bit I removed previously helped a bit though simply because of the very tight tolerances, but doing so I gave myself a little wriggle room to sort it. I will need to adjust my approach to the other bulkheads too when I fit them.

As a result I did not have the time to finish off the initial painting run last night, I will do so tonight and I will get some pictures up tomorrow.

It is a mystery to me how they cocked up the tail hook fit though, not that it was a problem to resolve.

[Komedy]

I'm along for the ride

[BarryW]

I had an unexpected 20 minutes to sneak onto the bench to finish the paint run.

The subs below are ready for decals/weathering


These need detail painting, decals and weathering.

I am also trying out something different to normal.

while the best paints to use for detail painting over lacquer airbrushed paints are water based acrylics, MRP is very glossy and, as such it is not the best surface to take water based paint. I have decided to spray a light semi- matt coat over the subs in the picture below as I think it will take the paint better.



Below is a close up of the bulkhead with the reverse of the seatbelts painted. The masking did it’s job.


Tonight the paint brushes come out....

[BarryW]

update on interior detailing.

These are what I am using:

I have tried out these Posca paint pens for the first time. They are brilliant, I tried this with sharpies before but it did not work but these do. Ideal for applying a drop to a knob, you can work fast and accurately. Plenty of colours, as you can see. Google to find them if you want to try them.

i also supplemented them with the MRP’s water based acrylics. The pens are really good but some paint needs a brush.



There are also quite a few decals for the interior as well. These went down well, no problems and I tried out the MIG decal solutions for the first time. These work very well.


Just a few shots of the result. I applied a semi matt varnish over the whole lot once dried.









Next I need to weather this lot. A combination of washes and drybrushing with pigment. I will be using these washes and pigments applied with a mix of tools.


Below are my applicators. The MIG weathering brush set is great with the long thin brush perfect for applying small amounts of pin wash. The cotton buds and cocktail stick are useful for a controlled application of Uschi metal powder for chipping while I have a hard brush for more general dry brushing.


I do think this cockpit will come together well within the next day or so. I will be applying some varnishes, by brush, a couple of coats of Humbrol enamel gloss where I want a high shine on dials and Aqua Gloss for where i want a more ‘semi gloss’ effect.