discussion SMER kits

[Guest]

Hi all.I found a little 1/72 F4U-1 Corsair kit at my local modelshop. It is a SMER HI-TECK kit.I got it bacause of the low price.

The fit is OK-ish and the detail is not to bad.

This is a totally unknown make to me and I have wondered what you lads know/think of this make.

Interestingly it came with a "sprue" of metal eched pannels,wich I opted to leave off as this is a very simple "fast build"

Thanx

Theuns

 

[Guest]

Not come across the make but there are so many out there. Shame that we tend to stick to the usual ones. Some of the lesser known brands are re boxed higher end kits.

 

[Guest]

Yea, if only we had a list of those cheaper reboxed ones hey?!

Theuns

 

[stona]

SMER are/were based in the Czech Republic. I understand that a lot of their 1/48 kits are from molds for the Merit kits (of late 50s vintage) which came to them via the italian outfit Artiplast. Many of the Merit kits,like the Tiger Moth were copies of the american Aurora kits......confused yet? The 1/72 kits are usually reboxed Heller kits. I think they were French. I've always steered clear of them. I know a couple of people who have built them and neither were very complimentary,though one turned out a nice Walrus. They do do some unusual subjects so for some subjects may be the only game in town.

Steve

 

[Guest]

Yes the problem Ihad with it is that is has raised pannel lines wich I sande away to get a nice fit of parts :-(

I had just finnised priming the plane and sofar I had been able to hide alot of "bobos"

I am personaly a fan of the academy range and have had a few "hardships" with the more "name brand" makes aswell, so it all just depends on how good you are to make it a nice model I recon.

Here is a question for you guys re. the "worm mask" tecnique.

On a 1/72 size corsair that has the 3 tone blue/white collours, approx what size diameter should the prestick worms on the mask edge be to give a semi realistic feather edge?

I am quite keen to try this tecnique on a cheap plane as it will open the way to do other nicer 1/48 Spit tipe planes.I am still using my old "el-cheapo" single action brush.

Theuns

 

[yak face]

hi theuns, steve has got it pretty well covered in his reply on smer kits, like he says most of the 1/72 are ex heller moulds, which apart from the raised panel lines (which i dont mind really)are pretty good kits of unusual subjects. Ive made a few and with a bit of care can be great models(see attached pics). As for the blu tac worms , id say about 3mm diameter should give a fine enough feathered edge. hope this helps cheers tony

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[stona]

At 1/72 scale even a 40mm feather (which is more than was allowed on RAF aircraft) would come out at about 0.5mm. This is going to look like a hard edge. If you want to use some artistic license to simulate a soft edge I think you need to roll your sausages as thin as you can whilst still being able to handle them. You then need to be very careful to spray at right angles to your masks,avoiding spraying into them which will spoil the effect.

I did it on this 1/72 BOB Hurricane with okayish results. Remember that this really isn't my scale!

Cheers

Steve

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[Guest]

Tony, those are some rather unusual subjects you have there, I like the Itallian one.

Steve, I can't see any problems on the Hurri, It looks just about right to me.As you say the spray angle is critical, but on a small plane, it might be a problem to have a 90deg to all the "worms" at once since my brush has a big fan. :-(

I am starting to think that a hard mask will be the only thing to do here.Has anyone ever tried to tear the paper masking tape to give a softer edge?

Guys please have a look at my posting undeg "humbroll cracking" in the paint section.I am having a real bad time with this matt stuff!

Thanx

Theuns