Cheers Vance

Well, I may hardly ever finish any kits but, my goodness, I can sand straight!

Actually, the parts are commendably even - this certainly isn't a real "old school" short-run kit - but the wings (and definitely the tail!) benefit from thinning.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Well, I've made good progress in some areas and hit minor snags elsewhere.

The good? Well, I've fitted the cockpit sidewalls and given it a basecoat:







I use double-sided tape for jobs like this; it holds perfectly firm, but it's safer than CA allows a wee bit of repositioning. The dark tan colour is a base for WEM's Chamois Colourcoat - a kind of pre-shading, but it'll avoid the greenish tinge that black or dark grey would give.

The bad? Well, the wings and tail have all gone together without a hitch, but the floats must have overheard me predicting trouble ahead with them! I thought lining them up would be the problem, but they actual parts aren't the best fits in the world - "fits where it touches" comes to mind in places, but it's all part of the fun.





Now, I'd better say that I'm building this totally without references, so please make allowances for any howlers you spot along the way.

More tomorrow, all the best

Rowan

Thought i'd best post an update on my build.

It is a classic (an in difficult to build!) limited-run kit of the Dewoitine D.501 by Hi-Tech in 1/48th scale.

The fuselage is finally nearing completion.

the cockpit was a lot of work (mostly photo etch that was too thin to really represent the objects - very 2 dimensional - also will have to replace the kit seat with something else later). I also has to add internal bulkhead to take out twist and warp. the resin plug for the lower fuselage was complete hell.

getting the wings together was a chore too - had to sand the halves flat before mating (to not have huge gaps all around the wing edges), and then put them on flat surface with books on top after gluing to make them reasonably straight (2 large books were required before they would submit to flatness!)

But it is finally coming together and looking ok - better than i thought it would:

Hi Vance

Hi Tech's D.501 is a kit I've often almost bought... but somehow never have. Warped wings? That sounds familiar - their Sopwith Snipe that I reviewed a few years ago had wings doing an impersonation of bananas...

Still, all your hard work will be worth it - you'll have a very attractive model that few others can boast.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Time for a quick update. I've got the basic colours on the cockpit. This afternoon's job will be to dry-brush and weather everything to give a bit of definition, make and fit some windows and then, hopefully, close up the fuselage...





The beastly floats are cemented together. I'm glad I started them early, because they'll need a lot more work to look presentable. The side of one float wasn't fully formed, and there are pretty large gaps elsewhere, so it'll be the perfect job for some CA+Talc "Supafilla":







One thing is becoming clear - this was a huge plane for a single, not particularly powerful, engine! The kit is rapidly filling my workspace. More anon...

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Well, just about on target - I will get the fuselage closed up tonight. I'll leave the seats out until later to give a chance to check everything's lined up:



All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan,

I'm impressed both by the quality and the speed of your build!

Jean-Luc

Hi you staff buddies

Ja, verteilt mal schon das Fell des Bären, bevor er erlegt ist ... Rowan showed more than once that he is very good at start .. but he never finishes anything.

Think I should use a larger stick for poking you Great progress mate!

cheers

Steffen
P.S. somehow I produced a double post .. fat fingers I guess

Thanks Jean-Luc

No-one's more surprised than me that I'm kind of on target!

And, no Steffen - I think you're mistaking me for the old Rowan who lived in London!

I guess I'd better repeat my earlier caution for the benefit of anyone that stumbles onto my build; the kit's instructions are vague and I haven't any references, so this interpretation of the cockpit is purely guesswork on my part - I've no idea if things like the first-aid box are correct, but they look reasonable and help busy up the "office".

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Well, I have to say I don't trust the way the exhausts "fit" at all...



They seem almost guaranteed to break lose as soon as it's impossible to reinstall them. I'm definitely going to add some extra support. I don't know what yet - maybe some Milliput.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Pheww! I made it! The fuselage's is closed up and it's time for bed!



Shock, horror! This might actually start to look like an airplane before the weekend's over...

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Surprise, surprise - it is still there in the cold clear light of day! So, I didn't just dream it!





It needed a shim of styrene behind the torpedo-bay but, overall, the fit wasn't too bad at all. Talking of the torpedo-bay - depending how much is visible with the weapon in place, I'll have to invent some sort of structure inside - it does look very empty...

So, time for a bit of filler and a ponder.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Slightly off-topic, but this has been my first chance to use RB Productions' Scribe-R (Reviewed HERE) "for real" on an actual build rather than a test. It's proved excellent - quick and precise, and the serrated back of the blade is ideal for restoring existing lines over the top of the fuselage etc. where they've been lost in sanding:





Now, I must admit I'm tempted to add soem rivets too - but that might be pushing my luck too far on what's supposed to be a quick build to meet the deadline...

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Well, needless to say, having thought of rivets, I couldn't resist adding them!





With no references to go by, they are just a bit of fun and definitely for effect, rather than any semblance of accuracy, but they were very quick to do with the Rivet-R and good practice for when I need to do some properly. The kit is quite large and they'll add a bit of subtle visual interest on the rather plain colour scheme.

So, it's time to start joining up all the bits! One wing needed a bit of help to match the airfoil at the root:



but it's all gone togethet pretty painlessly and is now sitting a while to set:



Time to start cooking Sunday lunch.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Well, the spuds are on, so I couldn't resist coming back for a peek to seek how the Laté was getting on!

It's all set solid, but getting the dihedral to match the small illustration in the instructions has resulted in some gaps to fill on the underside:





With no floats on, it's quite a elegant aircraft. Picking up the model, there's an unmistakable urge to throw it across the room! Not because it's a bad kit, but because the balance and proportions make it seem like a good flying model - it's a classic "looks right, so it'll fly well" design. But, at the same time, it just increases the respect you have for the crews that flew the real thing because, as a warplane, "sitting" and "duck" are the adjectives that come to mind...

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan,

I'm away for the week-end and your Laté is almost finished...

Wonderful work so far! Again I'm impressed. It seems you are motivated by French subjects!

Jean-Luc

Thanks Jean-Luc

It might be a bit premature to call it almost finished - I think the floats are going to cause a bit of a headache to fit. As Steffen would say, don't go making too many plans for that bear-skin just yet.

All the best

Rowan

I am in deep trouble with the REVELL decals of my Rafale M that I am buildign for this campaign

does anybody have experience with these decals?

I am trying to put these on right now and they simply refuse to stick to the model, despite future and despite microset and microsol

Anybody knows decent replacements decals for a 1/48 Rafale M?

Drabslab! I know very little about 1/48 but one solution independent of scale is to use Gunze Mr. Mark Setter. This is used like Micro Set but also contains some kind of glue making the decals stick like !



Magnus
In decalling mode tonight as well!

Hi Drabslab

You could try HERE - although they're listed as out of print, the note at the top of the page still seems to suggest that you might be able to get them...

All the best

Rowan

http://www.smds.ws/proddetail.php?prod=SMDS48002D

Also check the other goodies there ... too bad it is that expensive stuff ... but probably I will try to get the bomb set and maybe the elevons .. sooner or later

cheers

Steffen

Hai,

Rowan, Steffen thanks for the input.

I have ordered this morning the smds decals. I hope that these things arive before the weekend or i risk missing the deadline of the campaign.

The REVELL decals are really very very very bad.

A few examples: The "Marine" decals at the back of the rafale refuse to stick to the curved fuselage. The Marechal Foch decals on the tail simply fell of once dry.

I never had troubles like this. I wonder whether Revell had an off-day producing these or whether I will have the same difficulties with the eurofighter that I have in my stack.

But, with smds cartograf decals this will all be solved (at the expense of 16 euro )

thanks for the help

Hi Drabslab

By pure coincidence, I was only talking to Mal last night about getting some custom Miracle Masks for a "secret project" involving a Revell kit. I've had so many problems with their decals silvering (even when applying them with Klear as a sort of "decal solution"), I'm afraid I just don't really trust them anymore...

All the best

Rowan

Hai too

I think it is probably just a matter of age. The Rafale M kit is OOP for some time now (I would say 10 years at least, but I am not sure) I just bought a kit from 1993 .. no wonder the decals are crap. Most probably some exposure to humidity made your (and my) decals a POS.

Most decals are nowadays printed by Zanchetti for Revell (also Italy, but not quite the level of Cartograf) . One thing that I always found annoying is that Revell insists to print the decals flat. On your sample I just think the glue has vanished(gone bad) over time ... IMO not directly to blame on Revell. You could have tried to get a replacement sheet, but this normally takes a while (if they still have one)

But I can fully understand your anger wiith only little modelling time one wants everything to act perfectly but Mr. Murphy is just around the corner ... always

cheers

Steffen