Hi all

I just got this info:



BTW I got my MS 406 yesterday .. the surface is a little rogh, but I fixed that in a minute with steel wool, but during this process and the following try to reduce the "wing bands" the nice rivets got lost ... luckily Rosie resides in my toolbox I also put a little glue on ... more to follow soon

best wishes

Steffen
P.S. I do not know if the Demon and the Firefly are the Grand Phoenix models or new tool!

Hi Steffen

Cool! I'm assuming the Demon and the Firefly must be the Grand Phoenix models - it seems too much of a coincidence to be otherwise. Looking at how AZ Model have updated the surface finish of the M.S. 406, I wonder if they've done anything about the "trench-line" engraving on the Firely...

Which of the '406s did you get. I got the French version and AZ's supplementary decal sheet. I'll post an update review after Eetu's in-depth look at the Finnish one.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

I got confirmation that those kits are the former GP kits ... now I have to find a way to get in contact with Roy Sutherland of Cooper details ... hope the address I have does still work ... they did a lot of AM stuff/corrections for the Libelle ... BTW I do not think there will be any tool changes. Also I assume the resin will be the same as it was already Aires stuff in the GP kits. Maybe some colour PE from Eduard .. but that is all my own guessing ... no hard info on what exactly will be in the kit

I have the French MS 406 kit and the Finnish on order. I will use the very old eduard decals for Edmond La Meslée but first some severe sanding of the cockpit sides will be necessary. The fit of the main components is quite good. I have the wing together end the fuselage halves fit in between ...

cheers

Steffen

[quoteI']ll post an update review after Eetu's in-depth look at the Finnish one. [/quote]
Talking about, I'm almost done with it. I'm done with editing the photos. Now I should just do some final checking on the review itself and write a paragraph about dryfitting the main airfame components.
Should then just I email it directly to someone? (I feel there's less of a change for me to mess up anything than with the submission form. The whole thing zipped is just a little over 2megs.)



I've been doing some dryfitting as well. Looks like the basic airframe components fit together pretty well, although there's still the problem with the fusalage fitting to the wing.
When you line up the rear fuselage with the lower wing, you get a gap at both sides:


If you press the wing against the fuselage, the components meet with little or no gap at the sides, but then there's an ugly step between the fuselage and the wing bottom:

I'd shim the side seams with styrene sheet instead of trying to rebuild the contours of the fuselage bottom.

Check this out:

The resin front radiator left over from MPM's mörkö-morane (that in turn being a slightly modified CA 406) fits quite well to the fuselage...
But that's enough teaser pics, the rest comes with the review.



Unbelievable!
They do all kinds of neat upgrades to the kit, but left this one out.
Well, they added riveted guidelines inside the fuselage for positioning the cockpit, but what's the point, with the grinding & sanding operation looming ahead?
They advice to sand the tops of the wheel wells in the instructions, but don't say a word about the cockpit (assuming it's un-altered).
With MPM's Mörkö, I had to grind down both the wheel well tops and the wing ceilings, and both the cockpit walls and the fuselage halves.
Well, we'll see how it goes together.

Hi Eetu

The sanding refers to the resin parts which have the pouring on their back side (as you surely know) ... I do not think I will have to do major sanding on the fuselage sides ... but we will see

The wheel wells fit qute nicely .. I only ground the corners a little bit .. not even a minute of sanding for both sides
strangely one side fit without problems and the other had to be clamped down...

I think this kit will make some progress, as the La-5 is on halt, because I am waiting for etched parts to arrive (instrument panel and seat belts ... I ordered a set for a La-7)

best wishes

Steffen

Naturally, the pouring blocks need to be taken care of.
I was talking on my experience with the MPM kit. The cockpit sidewalls needed to be sanded paper thin and the fuselage halves grinded as well in order to get them close properly. Same with the wheel wells. (I accidentally sanded through them on a couple of spots)
They might have thinned out the plastic parts, I don't know, but the instructions' advice to sand the tops of the wheel wells made think of the worst.