Thanks for the kudos Matt. This is the last update for the day. Just finished shooting the paint on the fuselage and wings. Will let this dry overnight, maybe longer as the green is a Humbrol color and those take a while longer to dry. I shot everything initially with Armory white primer. I like this stuff as it is the same consistency as Tamiya's primer at about 1/2 the cost and I get 12.oz. worth. The green is Humbrol 75 which is a really close match to what I was looking for. Only drawback is it is a flat and I need a gloss. Easy fix once everything is dry. All masking was done using Tamiya tape. Can't beat this stuff for masking IMO. After a long day at the bench I'm going to go have a beer. More to follow soon. "Q"

Hi Matthew,
Congrats to your high speed build! Did you get some magic potion on New Years‘ Eve?
Looks great already!

I‘ve just received two copies of the Turbo Porter kit - the schemes are so tempting.

The Tempelhof bird is on my short list as well. Thanks for your detailed building log - your hints are very helpful. Keep going!

Cheers
Matt

Hey Matt, and Matt!

the tamiya masking tape is awesome stuff! i go through heaps of it when masking camo. Easy to trim too!

Hi Matt looking superb, great way of creating the windows, thanks for the tutorial.
All the best.
tim

Thanks Tim. How goes your build? I checked my window experiment out this afternoon and found I had more bubbles in it that I initially thought. I guess I needed to get in a little closer for a better look, but it worked so I am confident I could do this with other builds and get all the bubbles removed. I also discovered I need to go back and paint my landing gear struts white. That is going to be fun masking all of that area again Oh well...live and learn. I should be going into final assembly and decals in the next day or two. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks again for the kudos. "Q"

Well, another snag has made itself known. While going over the kit trying to figure out my plan of attack for decals and finishing, I looked at the decals. Decals 46,47 & 48 run the length of the fuselage and separate the white from the dark olive green. Well, take a look at the scan I made of those particular decals. Notice anything out of place...off...out of register? with them?? Luckily I have a couple sheets of stripes on hand from Xtra-Decal that will fit the bill. Will just be a bit more labor intensive as I have to double them up. Something to keep in mind should you decided to do this particular bird. I have repainted the landing gear legs too and they came out fine. I had to do some touch up with the Humbrol #75 though. I have never brush painted with that stuff, but I was impressed. Not a brush mark to be seen. It laid down as smooth as silk.

I also attached the horizontal stab(s). It fit snug enough after painting I didn't need to glue it.

Repainted landing gear legs...

Wheels, exhausts, and prop painted and ready for install...

Doors ready for gloss coating, decals and then install...

Won't be long now. Thanks for following along..."Q"

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed Matt. That being said, what's the problem with decals 46,47 and 48?

Hermon

Hi Hermon, They are way out of register. There are two sets of decals, one for each side. One set it fine, but the other is all jacked up. One color laid directly over the other with hardly any separation between the black and the yellow bands. "Q"

Most impressive! Thank you for the fine job you are doing. I believe Roden will be most pleased.

Thanks Stephen, much appreciated. I hope they don't get offended with this next installment... I moved on to decaling today. As I pointed out earlier, the fuselage stripes were out of register so they were of no use. The sheets of Xtradecal striping I had on hand worked like a charm though and made short work of the job.


I added the national insignia, but it too was out of register. I couldn't see it while on the decal sheet, but once removed I saw it. A quick trip through the spares box provided some spares from an F-105 build that were the same size I needed. They were a wee bit transparent with the black and yellow strips behind, but not so much that you can see them easily.

I had forgot about the actuator arm for the trim tab, but figured out a quick fix to get the decal around it. I used a new #11 blade and popped the rod off where it met the tail. I then held the rod up, and slid the decal underneath and into position. A few passes with some Solvaset and all was good. No need to try and reglue the free end as it sits flush with the tail. The decal on the tail had the yellow stripes top and bottom, but they were different in color to the striping I was using so I cut them off and replaced them with more of my on hand supply.

I got the wings glossed and added the US ARMY markings and a light coat of Solvaset to help them snuggle down into the panel lines.

Should be able to move into final assembly soon. Thanks for looking. "Q"

She's really starting to look good in that scheme Q. As a former President once said, "I feel your pain" with those decals. I'm having the same problem on a current build of mine but I have no back up plans in the spares box.

I can understand what you're talking about with the decals now, but with my eyes and this computer screen it's hard to tell much of a difference.

As a side note, while looking at your pic's I noticed the the replicated springs on the landing gear struts. Looks awful close in scale to the springs found in ball point pens.


Hermon

Great work Matt. It's great to see all of the improvements and care you're putting in to the build! Gonna look great!

Mark

Thanks for the kudos Hermon and Mark.

I thought the same thing, but I think it would be easier to just wrap fine wire around that portion of the strut after sanding off the molded on detail, then cover it with a few layers of paint to fill in the low areas. I might actually do that on my next one. Thanks again for the comments guys. "Q"

Hey Q
thats a superb job on this mate I never knew there was a kit of this A/C .
A PC-6 was the first plane I ever flew in ,and I jumped out of it!!!!!! I think I made 14 Porter flights and never landed once(in the plane!) I'll never forget that smell from the engine.... MMMMMMMM.... .
I'll get this kit now and put it next to all the other A/C I fell out of!!
Cheers
Andy

Looks good, Matt. I like that OD and White scheme better than I thought I would… Nice job, sir.

Hi all.
Looking excellent Matt, and well done for sticking to your guns with the paint scheme. The finish is superb.
I am really enjoying the build so far, just wish I had more time. I have noticed that my kit is the version with the Garrett TPE 331-101F turboprop engine resulting in a completely different nose to Matt's Porter. Anyway progress pics so far.







If you have the chance to acquire one of these kits, take it.
All the best.
tim

Looking good Tim. Keep at it. Thanks for the kudos on the paint scheme. It has proven to a bit tricky to paint, but I'm getting through it. I'll have to break out my Air America one now and look it over to see where I need to pay more attention. Thanks for the heads up. "Q"

I'm sticking a fork in mine and calling it done. While this isn't my best work, it did come out considerably better than I thought it would. There are some minor issues with the construction, but they can be overcome with some pre-planning. One last issue I had was attaching the right wing. The flap actuator that is closest to the fuselage fouls on the sliding door tracks. it will either have to be removed or a notch made in the tracks to accommodate it. I already had my wing in place with CA before I noticed it. I didn't want to chance screwing up the paint so I left it in place and will chalk it up to a learning experience. Therefore the wing root on the right has a slightly larger seam line than the left. The angled wing supports fit great as did just about everything else. After building this one, I'm looking forward to building my Air America version, and one of the Aussie birds. Thanks for following along with my build...Tim, it's all yours from here out buddy! "Q"

Very cool build. I like it a lot

Thanks Dirk. Glad you like it. "Q"

Most impressive build! I have linked your build to the review.

Very cool. Thanks for the assist Stephen. "Q"

@Q, for nice build Sir! There were quiet a few different camo styles used on the Australian Porters. Which one will you be using?

@ Matt, hope you are going to show images when your Army bird is done. I am not sure how accurate the camo illustrated on the box is though. Which is YOUR local LHS?

I just found an AU-23 online and ordered it along with some resin goodies for it; nose, exhaust and prop from Quickboost. Not sure what scheme I will do with this one, but I want to find another of the camouflaged offerings like this one I just did. More to follow. "Q"

Hi all
Not taken any progress pictures for a while mainly as my camera faied just after new year. Here is were I am upto at the moment. Windscreen and wheels are dry fitted at the moment . This is a great kit. Some of the parts need a bit of refining before attaching, but nothing to taxing. As I say a very enjoyable build. A highly recommended kit.