Richard's Dragon 1/72 He 219 A-0 UHU Night Fighter

[rtfoe]

I have a standard way of making my own seatbelts with masking tape. In this scale it's masking tape all the way.

The lap and shoulder belts were basically made up of 5 pieces each...



Painted them with khaki for the dark wash tones and white for the belt and highlights. Final touch of silver for the buckles.



Finally attached to the seats. I didn't even use any glue as the adhesive on the masking tape was still strong enough to tack them down.



The contrast of colors will make the cockpit look busy through the closed canopy and soften the rough detailing.

Now I can get on with gluing the fuselage and correcting the panel lines.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

Convincing looking belts Richard, thanks for showing us how you make them.

[Guest]

Working the usual magic I see Richard!

[rtfoe]

Andy and Peter, thanks for the kind comments. I share as much as I can...there is another belt scratch on my Lightning build. They're easier and straight forward unlike the German lap belts which come with extra padding.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

I'm another that's impressed with the belts Richard.
As for all that lead think safety footwear is a must around your bench :smiling2:

[BattleshipBob]

Lovely work Richard, never tried re scribing so hoping to see how you do it! Cheeky i know

[Si Benson]

Hiya Richard,

That cockpit looks very nice but I’m Seriously blown away with those homemade seatbelts:thumb2::smiling4:

[flyjoe180]

Nice belts Richard. I hope the landing gear is strong!

[rtfoe]

Thanks fellas, John, Bob, Si and Joe...

I wear a pair of Caterpillars John :smiling6:
Bob for you I will try a SBS
Si, I have some laser cut belts and since they need to be put together why not cut some paper and try it out. All you need it is tweezers, steel ruler, sharp tipped blade and a good pair of eyes for scale. And of course you need to put aside some accuracies. :smiling2:
I hope the landing gear is strong too Joe :smiling6:


Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Hi guys, did a bit today gluing the fuselage, underbelly pack and gun ports, tailplane and the wedge or spacer at the back of the cockpit.

The wedge or spacer was kind of undersized and created a noticeable step for the canopy and fuselage top. For the canopy to fit snugly I had to sand down the front hood slant.



The extra plastic strip shims helped elevate the spacer to reduce the step and gap.



Once the glue has hardened I'll slice off the extra plastic, apply a bit of filler and sand smooth.



Some shims were used too for the other joints in the belly and tail assembly. I have yet to attach the bullet proof windshield above the dash board to see if it fits with the canopy on. The distortion from the canopy makes the interior look a little better. :smiling6:

Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Cockpit looks great. Very nicely done seatbelts. There seem to be a few fit problems but nothing you can't correct.
Jim

[rtfoe]

Thanks Jim, homemade always has that different satisfaction. Was expecting minor fit problems for one of Dragons early kits but coming along fine. Have puttied now waiting to put on the second layer.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Ok for Bob...let me introduce you to my new scriber aptly named...



It cuts very fine which means a few repeat runs to get the right depth and thickness of the groove. Besides this I also use an etch saw. For this particular scribing process of lines not joining where they're supposed to, its good to decide which half of the lines need filling and rescribing.



I like to add liberal layers of putty and let them cure for a day or two. This lessens the refilling of shrunk putty.



Everything that looks like a seam line was puttied.



Next to sand when fully cured.

Cheers,
Richard

[BattleshipBob]

Excellent and many thanks Richard

bob

[Ian M]

Nice work on sorting those panel lines.
I like the look of the UHU. I have been tempted a few times...