Easter holiday in southern Sweden always means a visit to Helsingborg for some shopping, for the male part of the family shopping means Hobby Center... So totally unplanned, I left the shop with an AZ models Bestmann, Sk 25 in Swedish service.


Speedy box-art!


A generous assortment of decal options, there is something for all tastes! I'll do a Swedish one (kits bought at Hobby Center includes an extra Swedish decal sheet since the Swedish decals included in the kit looks a bit odd...) but I must admit that the canary-yellow Egyptian one is a tempting project... I happen to own an old Airmodel vac-form of the Bucker, I'll save the decals for that one !


Original kit decals with two small sheets of extra decals from Hobby Center.

My friend Rickard wondered why I bought this one and not the new übersexy twin-boom J-21R fighter kit from Special Hobby. Simple answer: the J21 doesn't have orange wings!

I never took a photo of the plastic parts but here is a quick description: olive plastic, one sprue, and there is even a few spare parts on that only sprue! This is NOT what I would call a complicated build...


Aiming for a quick holiday project, here is the result of this evening's work!



Magnus

Some more filling and sanding and the fin glued in place.


This certainly isn't a big model!



Magnus

Wings are on!



I have seen kits that are more symmetrical and some location tabs for the wings wouldn't have hurt either...



Magnus

One thing I have learnt from building 1/144 is being careful with the putty! Just a trifle needed between wing and fuselage.


Some of the decal options can be seen in this photo, considering that it is easter I maybe should have gone for the all-yellow Egyptian one...



Magnus

A bit of sanding tonight, now the airframe is ready for priming


The canopy is make-it or break-it. This is the usual AZ break-it canopy... Note that it is slightly narrow as well as generally ill-fitting. And thick and foggy... I'll figure out what to do with it tomorrow...



Magnus

Primer time! I'll have to make sure that the white is a really solid white since I don't expect the orange paint for the wings to cover that well...


I have kept the stabilisers separate to facilitate masking and painting. I'm sure I'll regret that later...



Magnus

Hi Magnus,

Build threads are sadly quiet around here, aren't they?

A real pity about the clear parts, as they are very prominent on this little plane. The kit's four marking options look quite good though. Very good of Hobby Center to include new markings- i can't imagine a British shop adding corrected decals to a kit. Was the price higher from Hobby Center than elsewhere?


What kind of filler are you using- Tamiya white? I have only been using Squadron green, and thinning it with liquid poly (only way to get it smooth)- I find it needs a thick coat or two of primer to stop it having a porous appearance, and also it is so sticky to the plastic (i.e. it is melting the surface of the plastic), that it is hard to work with- it stays where you first put it.

Looking forward to seeing the bright orange wings- good luck with the rest of the build.

Ben! I'm glad you found your way here since I felt a bit lonely ! On the other hand, I am not the most active when it comes to commenting in other's build threads so I am probably part of the problem myself .




I did an AZ Spitfire Mk I two years ago that I finally binned because I couldn't fix the canopy. So yes, I think AZ has a canopy problem that they need to solve before I can get overly enthusiastic over their otherwise very interesting offerings!

Tomas at Hobby Center is a bit special (in a positive way!). He is the guy who pestered Heller until they did a run of their Tunnan, Lansen and Safir-kits. Tomas bought them all, made a simple packaging and distributed them all over Sweden. Simply said: an enthusiast! In this case the Swedish national insignia are wrong in their proportions (size of the crowns and the thin yellow ring), he felt that this kind of product was impossible to sell to expectant Swedish modellers. And no, I don't think he charges extra for them !




I use this:

This is an acrylic body putty for automotive use. Compared to Squadron green putty it is a lot less porous and it contains less solvent being a bit less aggressive on the plastic. I also think it shrinks less, probably goes hand-in-hand with containing less solvent. I went from Squadron green, using Milliput for over a decade and then to this putty a few years ago. I still use Milliput (or Tamiya two-component epoxy putty) where large amounts are needed but for everyday-use this is the thing! For minor scratches Tamiyas liquid surface primer (or Gunze Mr Surfacer) comes in handy! I am sure that you can find something equivalent from the automotive sector in the UK (try Halfords!).




Me too! I have bought red, orange and yellow from Tamiya, I ought to be able to mix something that looks right from them !



Magnus

agree with Ben, build threads are few and far between at the moment..and always nice to see Magnus' work

I use Squadron Green putty - you can thin and smooth it with nail polish remover for a decent finish, also avoids sanding

shame about the canopy - I've held off buying this one for that reason...as it's slightly under-sized plunge-moulding a new one might be an option perhaps,

Thanks Neil, just what I wanted to hear on a Sunday evening !



I think this one is salvageable... Making a new canopy (at least making one that is better than the original one ) is quite a lot of work and I am not prepared putting that work inte this project.



Magnus

Some more minor things fixed!


Swedish aircraft (maybe others too!) had a landing light in the left wing leading edge. A length of 2 mm round stock forms the basis for this!



Magnus

Cockpit finished!


Nothing more than what comes in the box...


...except for the tape belts...


...made from my favourite Jammydog masking tape!


One thing that can be seen on photos is the net behind the seats, probably there to avoid baggage items flying around in the cockpit. I have polished the canopy and it looks a great deal better now than it did from the beginning. I have also seen one built (no matter how fast you are there is always someone who is faster...) and that one looks good with the original canopy so I suppose I should be able to handle it as well...


The netting came from one of these and was glued with Clearfix. Good stuff, thanks to my wife who brought this trendy tea home !



Magnus

With the help of liberal amounts of violence and glue, the canopy is finally in place.


I don't look forward to blending it in with the fuselage...



Magnus

I think I made it...


Filling around the canopy using Tamiya two-component putty...


...after sanding using 400-grit sandpaper...


...and after going through 800, 1200, 2000 and then all the Micromesh cloths... I'll finish it using Bare Metal plastic polish tomorrow. Looking closer there are some scratches, I might have to do the Micromesh procedure once more. Well, I can live with that!



Magnus

I think I'll do a modern jet for my next project, their canopies are so much easier to mask


I am using Jammydog tape to mark up all the framing, 0,5 mm for the narrow parts and 1 mm for the wider ones. I will then use these strips as "rulers" to apply the real masking to the canopy panels. The reason for doing this in two steps is that I need something to follow to be able to get straight and narrow frames in their correct positions when I have sanded away the cast (and rather heavy!) frames in the canopy. This is the easy part by the way, the windscreen consists of a million of irregularly shaped little glass panes .



Magnus

Magnus, Your giving us a highly educational posting in this thread. Very well done . Looking forward to see how the canopy masking works for you.

Guy! Thanks!

I'm slowly applying the "real" masking, cutting thin strips of Bare Metal foil using a new scalpel blade and a steel ruler. I attach them to the canopy and manipulate them and burnish them down using a toothpick. Excess length is then trimmed away cautiously with the scalpel.







Magnus

Hmmmm... Very interesting masking method! Thanks for sharing!

This illustrates exactly why I like to use strips of decal to do a birdcage canopy : )

Your subjects are always interesting and I usually learn a new technique too!
Good going Magnus!

Wonderful stuff, Magnus- cheers! I've been quietly peeping in on this essay and enjoying it greatly. Your methodical work on the canopy masking will yield great results, I'm sure.

Arseny, Kenneth and Chuck! Thanks! I don't know if I would recommend the method though, it's a bit tedious !

Jessica! I have never really gotten along very well with the decal strips. They don't obey me and then I am always nervous that they will curl up and fall off after some time ! It might be time to try again though...


Some more foil in place. What I like the most is that it is extremely thin and also that it seals very effectively against paint seepage.



Magnus

Masking is finally finished, I only need to fill in the middle of the panels with Maskol and that ought to be the easy part of it all (hopefully...)









Magnus

Every model I build usually has a feature or two that I really look forward to do (and some that I loathe but let's keep this on the positive side. after all it is Saturday ). This one has orange wings!





Paint is Tamiya X-6 straight from the bottle, looks like a good match to me. And it also reveals the rather uneven engraving of the wings, another AZ model perk...

It'll need another few light coats to cover well, with some careful sanding in between!

With a bit of luck I might get to see a full scale flying one tomorrow at Västerås.



Magnus

I've had trouble with the strips lifting off so I learned to seal them down with Future or any other clear gloss. I just live with the difference when they're a little more glossy than the rest of the model.

Too bad you got this far with the AZ kit before you discovered the Airmodel canopy problem.

J