Hey Jim!

I actually did some test fitting last night and the fuselage is not bad but the wings are a bit warped.. Typical short run kit I suppose.

Regards
Warren

Hello Warren,
If your heart is set on the Zero, I will allow it. I have done for some others that had a small start on a build to go ahead and use them.
I am looking forward to seeing it.
Cheers,
Bruce

As Mr M. Burns would say, "Excellent"..

Will transfer my labours forthwith!!

Regards
Warren

Indeed, I was one that had a part started project. Not by me but nonetheless started. I'll try and get this finished over the next few weeks.

Shot some Xtracrylics Sky. What a disaster. I really can't get on with this paint. Either to get it to spray it needs to be watery thin. Thinning with water or iso doesn't seem to work to0 well, any ideas? Others seem to have great results with this paint.

Let it dry and buffed it back. Put on a coat of Tamiya Sky, much easier to work with.

Might be worth trying with Lacquer Thinner JP, see how it goes. Your big bird there is looking good !!

Hi Everyone.

Perserver JP and all will be well.

Great work from what I can see in the forum.

Here are some progress shots of the Rufe sitting on its beaching dolly (that you can't see in the pictures). It is Trumpeter's 1/24 version that all the boo-birds think is a disaster, but it looks like a Rufe to me!

I left the lens cap off my normal size SLR camera to give an indication of the size of the model.

Not too far to go now..







The fit of this kit with such large chunks of plastic is wonderful. The only problem I had was with the upper wing surfaces being pushed down when I was trying to fit the wing assembly to the fuselage. This was leaving a large step between the wing and the fuselage. In the end I glued some waste sprue pieces beneath the inner parts of the upper wing and it held the surfaces up at the right height. Sorry if that sounds confusing..

Oh, and the trailing part of the same wing assy left a large step between it and the undersurface of the fuselage which I had to glue some plastic sheet into place to partially fill the step, then used Tamiya White Putty to fair it all in. If I had been thinking all I had to do was put a few small tabs in place and they would have held the trailing edge up much more easily.

I also glued all the control surfaces in place so no need to use the dreaded PE hinges.. which I have never really had a problem with anyway..

Nice job that kit is huge cant wait to see the end result.

nice intirior

Thanks Justin and Jim. SHould be finished within the next few days barring any disasters..

You are an irresistible force Warren. My progress is a little more sedate.

The airfix pilots of the sunderland have a tache like mine!

Painted up our moustachioed friends, I'm not sure how to display this, but I'd like to have it on a take-off run, so it needs a crew.

Test fitted the canopy. Bingo! Those Kiwis at Falcon are summat else perfect fit. Now I've got a set that include 2 spits, a lanc, and some trainers. I'll have to get the kits to match them. Hope the Lanc set fits the Revell one.

I digress. Here are some pics.

Hello All,
We have had some great builds done, in the middle and just starting (me), Thanks to all of you that have joined and even built a model.
I also want to thank all of you that have encouraged, given tips and offered advice to others.
As mine has not even started, I have some work to do, at last count I am 8 models behind.

Again, Great job everyone,
Cheers,
Bruce

Im behind the 8-ball right beside you Bruce!..i have been looking around for a vac copy of the canopy for my Stranny, and Im coming up empty.....so it looks like ill have to try "plan B"....pushmolding...so I will try this after I doo some research and shall post pics IF I am successful..cheers guys..JM

Why can't you use the original canopy Jim?

Hmmmm, methinks you took a wrong turn Tim, or are you going to put floaties on this bird ??

I was thinking the same thing... Seaplane doesn't really mean a plane used AT sea, but one that can be used ON the sea with no totally seperate floating device underneath it..

Sorry folks about the Hellcat post, I think I am at sea or away with the Seagulls. Think I need to go to bed.
tim

Nice looking Hellcat though...

Thanks Warren
tim

I can ..absolutely..its just that with all the detailing I put into the cockpit, Id hate to close it up and never see it..its like serving the best wine available for dinner, and then serving a terrible cut of meat to go with it..

lol... You could always do something different and cut out some of the panes of glass and say that the 'bog' holding in the windows needed replacing.. I remember the airframe fitters doing it on certain servicings on the Caribous of 38 and 35SQN in the RAAF.

Ah!! The joys of modelling! I have painted my Rufe, and started putting on the last minute clear thingies I always leave til the end. Get to the last page of the instructions and see one more part to afix, G14. So Warren goes to sprue G but .. wait a sec, the numbers only go up to 13.. I look more closely to see if Trumpeter had made a mistook in their instructions but no, nothing even remotely resembling the afore-mentioned G14. I then went through all the plastic bags etc that came with the model. Nothing. I keep everything to do with a model until it is finished for that very reason.. In case something has dropped off the sprue or is on a miniture sprue all on its own.

So it looks like Trumpeter have neglected to create the part 'G14' for the floatplane version of the Zero.. sigh..

I sent them an email and it will be interesting to see what happens.

"Showanishi!!!", the Warrant Officer yelled. "General Pia is coming for an inspection tomorrow. Get your lazy butt troops out there and spit-polish 118 until it shines." "Yes sir!" yelled Showanishi-san back to his respected Warrant Officer Fujiwara. "Stupid old fool!" he thought to himself as he walked over to the tents to get his troops. "I suppose it will keep them busy for at least today. Lucky 118 is the only one here at the moment or we would have more to clean." "Don't forget the beaching trolley!!" yelled the Warrant Officer from the door of the operations hut at Showanishi's back. Showanishi cringed as he remembered how bad the beaching trolley was. He then had a great idea, "I will get Foocawowa to repaint the trolley in that blue anti-corrosion paint we have so much of after the supply people put one wrong number in the part number code and got 100 gallons of paint instead of 100 litres of oil. Idiots!"

After a few days of sitting in the shade of a palm tree while his troops worked this was the the result..








So here is my Trumpeter 1/24 Nakajima Rufe. To all the boo-birds out there who panned this kit due to the cockpit 'looking' like it was a bit high I ask you, does it look like a Rufe? In my eyes it gets a resounding yes!

Only real problems I had were all self-inflicted. Fit of the kit is outstanding. Decals went on beautifully, although I did spray paint the meatballs on the upper wings as I did not like the chances of the decals settling down over the formation lights there.

Then there was the non-existent 'G14' I am waiting to hear from Trumpeter about, and the other stange call out I have noticed in this and the Corsair I built was the starboard formation light being called out to be blue. Hmmm.. they have been green since time immemorial as far as I know.. SO I painted them green.

The antenna cable looks light in the photos cause I was so eager to photo it for the campaign I forgot to paint it!! Is all nice metallic grey now.

Oh, I almost forgot one more thing.. the beaching trolley.. I did not notice (again) that the paint had not covered the ejector pin mark fills I did, but you will never see them while the Rufe is in place so I will save the paint for another project. Trumpeter called out black for the whole trolley, but I like that Japanese Interior colour so much I just had to paint the trolley that colour as well.



Good luck with your Sunderland JP, and all others trying to get a build finished for the deadline.

Hello Warren,
Great Job on your Rufe.
Make sure you get a photo in the gallery.
Cheers,
Bruce

Good finish very nice model sir.