Hi everyone

This blog is going to test a theory. The theory is that paint is more important than plastic. In other words an average kit can be made to look great with a decent paint job, plus some care and skill in assembly and a little scratch building. It’s not necessary to buy lots of highly detailed after market goodies to end up with a very pleasing and detailed looking end result.

Of course in an ideal world there’d be no need to choose — yes, I’ll have all the aftermarket goodies as well as spending time on construction and painting. However, I don't live in an ideal world. I’m a part-time single dad with a demanding job and a limited budget, so I have to make choices about where I put my time, effort and money, and I’m focusing firmly on applying skill.

The kit I’ve chosen for this self-imposed craziness is Hasegawa’s 1/48 scale A7E Corsair II. I know the kit itself isn't up to modern standards. You’ll see below in the opening mini-review, that it has some old fashioned problems to overcome. That’s where the challenge comes in!

On the way I’m going to share my tips and techniques, my triumphs and tragedies, and experiment a little (and there’s been one near tragedy already).

I hope to learn from your experience and ideas too. After at least forty years of building model kits I have a way of doing things now — that could translate as great experience or stuck in my ways. I certainly know there’s more than one way to approach model making and I’m very interested in how you might tackle the problems and opportunities this kit throws up. All ideas thoughts and criticisms are welcome, except “Buy an after market part”!

Finally, just a word of warning about the speed of progress. Some er… patience may be required if you follow along, as I hope you will.

So, that’s the why. Now here’s the what…

Hasegawa’s A7E has been reviewed many times so I won’t go over old territory, except to point out some of the obvious highs and lows of the kit as they present opportunities or problems in the context of this blog. The highs are nice panel lines, some great detail and a relatively good price now. The lows are some really bad ejector pin marks, flash, soft detail in some places and a lack of ordinance. I’ve tried to capture some of the best and worst below. We’ll see how she goes together as I progress.

There are well defined panel lines and rivet detail that look like they will hold a pin wash well



And some well detailed parts



Along with detailed avionics bays



However, my kit came with a broken canopy part



A scratched canopy



Some very awkward ejector pin marks



And a fair amount of flash



So, it is going to be fun and challenging build. More soon (including that near disaster)

All the best

Steve

There's nothing in that kit that "some modelling skills required" cannot solve. Once you've warmed up with this one, let's see a similar attack on a Lindberg kit, or perhaps a Revell kit from back in the mists of time

Meanwhile, I'm anxiously awaiting the results of your build.

Hi Steve,

I'll be following along with interest.

Chris

Hi Jessica and Chris

Welcome aboard! I'll post more this week, and any advice you have along the way is very welcome.

Hmm yes, I can see some other kits would be an even bigger challenge. Let me see how I get on with this one first.

All the best, and thanks again for looking in.

Steve

Steve,
You can sign me up, as I'll be following your build to it's conclusion with great interest.

For starters, you're modeling philosophy is very similar to what mine has evolved into these days; Build the perfect OOB model (ok with some detailing here and there). It's all about the final presentation. While perfect paint and decaling is very important, so is a perfect build.

There is nothing worse to the over all presentation of a finished model then glue stains, missed seams, putty showing, and misaligned parts under that perfect paint and decal effort. The opposite is also true, a near perfect builds with just a so so paint and decaling effort.

To the careful observer's eyes, it's the combination of both "camps" that makes or breaks the overall presentation of any model, whether mine or someone else's that I'm viewing.

Joel

Hi Joel

Welcome aboard! I'm very happy to have you along for the journey, and of course any hints, tips and views you have are very welcome.

I hope you enjoy the build and the philosophy behind it.

All the best

Steve

Kewl, I received this kit a number of years ago as a 'parting gift' for my coworkers. Never managed to get to it. The A7 is one of my favorites, my Dad worked on them bat in the '70s. Since my flavor is close to 16 years old, I hope it doesn't have the flash and ejector problems you showed.

Hi everyone

So work has started, but almost before blade had touched plastic disaster struck. Here's what happened...

I had the parts all laid out when a clumsy gesture sent a mug of coffee flying across the desk. I watched in horror as an expanding puddle of dark brown liquid headed for the worst place possible - the transfer (decal) sheet. Aaaaaaarghhh! Joel may have heard my screams in New York. I just about managed to rescue it from the caffeine-rich flood with only minor damage at the edges, and I stopped the slow spread into the backing paper by cutting out the wet sections. I think I got away with it. I have to say when I set myself this challenge I didn't have pools of runaway coffee in mind as part of the problems to overcome.

Please do not attempt this at home...





So, having recovered my wits, and vowing never to have transfers and liquid beverages in slopping distance ever again, I made a start.

My starting point with most kits is to clean up the major components first, so they can be test fitted. Usually if I get this big pieces right the rest follows on well, and once cleaned they can be used to test fit minor components too. I clean off flash using soft strokes with a scalpel blade - first cutting parallel to the piece being cleaned and then gently scraping at ninety degrees. This gets the worst of the excess out of the way.

Then I switch to Tamiya finishing abrasive to smooth out any remaining unwanted plastic. I start with 320 grade then move to 1200 and finally 2000. This gives me a smooth finish. I use Tamiya simply because I've grown used to it over the years. Also I like the paper because when it is soaked for a while in water it softens and then conforms well with the curves of the kit. Backed up by the mark-1 finger, I find this approach tackles just about all all areas except tiny recesses. These I usually tackle with the abrasive paper taped to a paint brush handle or other object that gets me into the offending nook. I sand and scrape gently, making several light passes - its sort of like airbrushing, better to go softly and redo a few times than try and get it all done in one go, and risk damaging the good parts.

I took the same approach with the ejector pin marks in the air intake - starting with a rough grade paper and sanding gently until the mark is gone, then restoring the surface texture with lighter grades. I also try and sand the final layers in a direction sympathetic with the air flow. That at least gives the illusion that any tiny blemishes I miss are part of the wear and tear.

I hope the result is evident in these pictures. Having looked at them myself now, I reckon there is still room for a final polish. I'll leave you with these for now while I go off and make a cup of coffee at a safe distance.

Hi Mark

Welcome aboard, and I hope your kit is in better condition. It would be great to see it if you want to share a few shots? Also if you have any photos from your dad's days working on A7s it would be great to see them.

Great to have you along.

All the best

Steve

Sadly no pics of him working on A-7s at LTV, 68-72. He worked on the hydraulic system, one day he came home with a big red splotch on his back, he's gotten caught in a hydraulic leak. Someone else told me that if the Soviets had perfected a hydraulic fluid seeking missile, the A-7s were doomed.

I may have to dredge my A-7E out, it's in a box around here somewhere...

Hi Mark

Ouch! That sounds like a nasty incident. It puts my coffee spill in perspective!

Sure I'd really like to see some pics if you decide to dig your A7 out of the stash.

All the best

Steve

Steve,
Nice save. I never, ever, keep any liquids or snacks for personal consumption on my workbench. Rather they stay on my computer table which is next to, but 90 at degrees to it, and kept where I have to actually reach for it,so their out of Harms Way. Like you, I've learned that lesson the hard way with instruction sheets and parts.

Decals are left in their protective plastic sleeves, and stored separately till needed, then returned to their protective plastic sleeve, and kept on the bottom of the model box upside down. That way there is no accidental damage done to the decals. I also keep each sprue in their plastic sleeves even after cutting them open. It's double protection both for them and other sprues. More lessons I've learned the hard way.

Those are some really nasty ejection pin marks, but you handled them perfectly.

Joel

All my dad lost was a white shirt and Tee shirt (still wore a white shirt and tie to work everyday back then) They're easily replaced, decals are another story. I haven't had a beverage related spill (yet), but I did manage to knock over a bottle of decal set onto some decals once...

Hey Joel and Mark

Yup, I guess the whole coffee thing falls firmly into the 'learning by my mistakes' category. I'm lucky I got a away with it. The irony is that I thought I put the decals where they would be safe. The coffee had a mind of its own - must have been ground by a former Mig pilot. Needless to say it and all its liquid buddies are now banished from the workbench as you suggest Joel.

Thanks for the kind words about the sanding. Its funny but I actually enjoy this work - its sort of meditative.

I've done a little more work which I'll post next week. I'm about to have a weekend in Amsterdam, and I plan to visit this treasure trove of all things aircraft related:

http://www.aviationmegastore.com

That might lead to an accident with the credit card!

Have a great weekend, and thanks for checking in.

Hello again

Having dosed up on Prozac and seen a good shrink, I've calmed down from the coffee incident and made some progress. I decided to enhance the cockpit detail, and started with the ejector seat. Equipped with references I set about scratch building a few extra details. My aim here is to create an impression of the main elements missing in the kit parts. I'm not trying to recreate everything in minute detail. In keeping with the challenge I'm going for 'good enough' with the construction and aiming to enhance everything with the paint.

Here's a reference photo, and my interpretation of the main parts is below. So far I've concentrated on giving the cushions some texture and adding the seat belts and that long tube. What is that by the way? In I addition closed up the air intake parts and filled and sanded them.







I used superglue to texture the seat, applying a few drops and then moving a toothpick through the drying liquid being careful not to attach the toothpick to the seat! It hard to see the effect of the transparent super glue here and I hope it will show more when painted.

The seat belts are made from a tomato puree tube which offers great thin and bendable metal after the contents have contributed to a rather good bolognese sauce. The tube tube extending from the seat is made from a piece of brass rod bent into shape.



The pads on the seat are pieces of Tamiya masking tape cut to shape and simply stuck on with their own adhesive. I'll put on a coat of matt varnish to help fix them in place.

And finally the air intake now assembled and sanded. Only the inside will be seen once the kit is complete and so the exterior still look a bit rough and ready.



More soon(ish).

Happy modelling!

Steve

Hi Steve,

Looking forward to your ripening this "grape'.

I think that the 'tube' is the connector for the pilot's 'speed jeans'.

Looking good. I did track down my 1998 vintage kit. The parts are still in the plastic bag, but it looks like the ejector pins were there then but much less pronounced. Makes sense if the tool's been in use for 15 years.

Any tricks for getting the whole intake smoothed out and painted?

Hi Frederick, Jessica and Mark

Thanks all for looking in.

Frederic, yup she's coming along and I hope there will be no pips in the grape!

Jessica, thanks for helping me to identify the 'speed jeans' connector and for introducing a new term into my world. I did look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary, but sadly it's not there. Is this one of those new terms introduced by you North American cousins? ;-) Steady on now, there's only so much newness us old school types can take.

Mark, I use Milliput as the filler. I smooth it into place with the end of a wooden chopstick that is cut and sanded roughly to the profile of the inside of the intake. I like Milliput (and Chinese food) because it dissolves in water prior to drying (er... yes, that applies to the food from my local take-away as well as the Milliput). I go over the filled area a few times with a soft damp paintbrush to help smooth out imperfections and get rid of any unwanted filler. This helps to reduce the sanding by blending the filler to the curve of the surrounding plastic.

Then I use various grades of Tamiya sand paper fixed to the end of a paintbrush to get into the curve. I spend most time with 1500 to 2000 grade so I get a smooth finish. When I fix the sandpaper on I leave a flap protruding so it can gently find its own natural curve in harmony with the piece being sanded (chanting and incense to promote harmony are optional at this stage).

We'll see how well I did when I prime it all.

Yes, this blog is at the cutting edge of 21st century modeling techniques! It may also be the only one to combine cookery, modeling and spiritualism. Hmmm perhaps there's a reason for that?

More shots of the cockpit coming soon.

Happy modeling

S

Steve,
Any build thread that can incorporate Chinese takeout is on the top of my "to follow" list. I love Chinese food. Just as my wife.

Your method for the inside seam is basically what I use, but rather then Milliput, I got hooked on Vallejo putty. It's almost like caulking. Apply, wipe with a damp Qtip,let dry, repeat to level the seam, and you're done. The more I use it, the more uses I find for it.

Joel

Hi everyone

So the scratch building on the ejector seat is now done and I'll be adding some extra detail to the rest of the cockpit interior as I construct it. Here are a few shots to keep you going.

Joel, I like the sound of your filling technique and will be trying it out as soon as I get my hands on some Tamiya putty. No news on Chinese food tonight I'm afraid but it can't be long before temptation wins again.

Happy modelling

S

Just dropped in to see what condition your condition was in. Looks pretty good. Is that just plain old copper wire for the tubing?