@Q that's some awesome detail in that cockpit for 1/72 WOW


Well so much for being finished by Tuesday ... started scratchbuilding the tailboom missile warning sensors ... added the "towel rack" antenae ... found some areas that needed cleaning up and fixed them ... TADS&PNVS are done just need to add a bit of detail behind the PNVS ... still need to wire the main and tail rotors.

Made some progress on the little Hind cockpit tonight after dinner. Still a bit more to do as far as painting and weathering on this one. The two-tone paint was a challenge. More to follow. Thanks, "Q"

Q: I'm looking forward to seeing how that kit turns out, I've been thinking about buying one for some time now.

Nice choice of kit, Simon.

I also have the HS 129B kit in my stash and will follow your build with interest. Strange how some of the decals seem to be of register while the underwing crosses all to the right seem to be in register.

Good luck with the panel lines.

I got the cockpit assembled this morning. Don't mind the dust in the pics.. Will take care of that once the pit goes in the fuselage. Currently waiting on the troop compartment to dry so I can assemble and install the whole thing. There are some pretty prominent knock out marks on the inside of the fuselage in the troop area that I will have to deal with. More to follow soon. "Q"

nice work Q

@ Simon- good to hear that you're doing well, looking forward to seeing the Hs-129 build.

@ Matthew Q- That hind cockpit looks superb, especially as it's 1/72. What paint did you use for the cockpit interior??? Soviet cockpit interiors especially Cold War era always bamboozle me!

Eoin

Thanks for the kudos guys. The paint I used was Model Master Russian Aircraft Interior Green, Vallejo thinned with Windex for the black areas. All the details were picked out using various Vallejo acrylics. I think it should be more blue based on references I found online, but I'm happy with it. As the canopy is closed it will be kind of hard to see all the detail...but I'll know it's there! Thanks again for the kudos. "Q"

Have always loved the Hind "Q" and it seems to be coming along very nicely. Looking forward to seeing more of it.

I dont think Simon will be on here again for awhile. At the moment Brisbane is heading under water at a great rate of knots, with most of the city cut off from electricity. Hope the rest of the Cane toads on here are doing well and keeping high and dry.

My entry for this campaign. This is Academy Ju-87G-1 in 1/72 scale.













And finish.

Thanks Nick. Hope you and the gang down under got your waders handy. Have been watching that on the news. Not good any way you look at it. Hang in there.

I've gotten most of the interior painted. The knock out marks on the fuselage were pretty deep and I didn't have a punch close enough to make a disc for, and still too deep for just putty. I settled on some "boxes" to cover them. And, once the fuselage is closed up, they are rather hard to see. Pretty much a wash anyway I look at it. The landing gear on this thing is small and complex. Enough so that it took me several minutes trying to figure out how the pieces went in correlation to one another. Finally figured it out, got them assembled and painted and they are now drying. Will hit them with a gloss coat and some washes to bring out the details better once everything is dry. The nose gear has to be installed prior to closing things up as it is trapped by the bottom of the fuselage. Will need to be careful once that takes place.
More to follow soon. Thanks, "Q"

@ Ayhan: nice Stuka.

@ Matt: what color are you using for the interior and would that be the same for the Mig 17's interior?

Bob

VERY nice everyone!...wishing I had time to model for myself here!

Hi Bob, I'm using Model Master Russian Interior blue/green. Based on what I know and have found on the Mig-17, you should be good to go with that.
Hope that helps, "Q"

Thanks Matt, I will check it out.

Bob

Ayhan, how did you manage that great weathered whitewash effect? looks awesome!

I spoke too soon about Brisbane avoiding the floods. Luckily we live a few kilometres from the river, so our house is unaffected although I think everyone in Queensland is feeling bad about what is happening in our state and will be working hard to clean up.

Simon

More progress on the miniature Hind. Fuselage is assembled, rotor head and blades assembled, wheels cleaned and assembled, wings and pylons assembled, weapons assembled and ready for paint and gear door interiors painted. A quick test fit and everything is looking good. Should be moving to the paint booth before too long. "Q"

Matt, does the kits blades come with a droop or did you alter them?

Bob

That Hind is looking good Q, you've just about got me convinced enough to buy one for myself

The kit blades come flat. It's easy to get them to droop. I held the rotor end, and then pulled them over a Model Master paint bottle a few times while holding the blade against it. The MM bottle is about the right diameter to give the droop I was looking for. The blades are keyed and fit onto the rotor hub nice and snug. About the only thing lacking is some control lines from the hub to the attachment points.

Glad you like it Jeremy. It is a pretty nice little kit. I had to use some putty here and there, but nothing significant. The fit of the cockpit is exceptional. All the major pieces are keyed with large tabs instead of the normal pins. Makes for a really nice snug fit.

She is ready for the paint booth tomorrow. I need to mask the canopy and tape up the windows on the inside. I will temporarily install the troop doors for paint, then remove them for decals/final display. Thanks, "Q"

Q, I just picked one of those kits up and will continue following and learning from your build here.

Looking really good Q, love the size of those rotors. For a little kit it will take up muchos floor area !!

Thanks guys. I stayed up late, well...late for me anyway, last night and got the canopy masked and shot the black undercoat on that. Still drying this morning. I used Humbrol enamel and with the high oil content it takes awhile. I will be painting this backwards from my normal routine. I usually paint the lightest color first, in this case the light blue bottom. But, if I do that, masking will be a lot more tedious...so, I will paint the camouflage pattern first, then mask that and paint the bottom.
Here's a is tip for you in regards to masking the canopy Jeremy. First, dunk the whole thing in future and set it aside before you do any building on the kit. This will give the future some really good time to cure rock hard while you work on the rest of the kit. When it is time to mask the canopy, attach it to the bird...permanently. Makes it considerably easier to handle and no finger prints on the inside. As there a lot of rounded corners on this things canopy, use a punch and some Tamiya tape. Punch accordingly sized discs that match the curve of the corner and lay them in. When you are done, your canopy should look like it has the measles. Now, cut thin strips of Tamiya tape and connect the dots along the straight runs. I used larger discs for the faces of the canopy. Now larger pieces can be used to fill in the fields of the canopy. Using the discs is a lot easier than trying to cut tape thin enough to follow the contour or using liquid mask. Hope this helps.

The troop doors are semi attached with white glue for painting, and the troop area is stuffed with some Kleenex. Once the black on the canopy dries, she'll be ready to receive her colors. Trying to wrap this up before next Friday. I'm leaving on vacation and don't want to leave this one hanging... More to follow soon. "Q"

She's getting closer to being complete by the day. The Humbrol colors I was going to use were too light so I switched them out for some White Ensign Models colors that were closer to what I was looking for. She should be ready for a good gloss coat tomorrow and some decals. Going to shoot the main rotor and tail rotor after posting this. Shouldn't be long now. Thanks, "Q"