***PLEASE NOTE: I'm new here, so if this isn't the correct subforum for a work in progress, let me know and I'll post it in the correct area***

Hi Everyone,

After a modelling hiatus, I'm starting a build of Eduard's nice little Avia B-534. The kit is very nice and has some great surface detail. Unfortunately, mine came with some molding errors, and the wings and fuselage halves had some very nasty marks on them. I spent a lot of time sanding to get rid of the marks without damaging the delicate surface detail, and so far I think I've managed to get rid of most of it. If I come across more marks, I'll have to address them.

So far I've cleaned up some of the cockpit, assembled some of the fiddly bits, and worked on assembling and aligning the fragile parts for the underside. Because a lot of the interior is visible after the fuselage halves are closed, I'm putting a lot of effort into getting everything just right. I hope to begin priming soon, and will be using Model Master Metalizer for the first time to get the effect of painted aluminum that was applied to the real thing. I've done a lot of test fitting, and I can see there will be a few spots that are difficult to get just right. So far it's been a fun build to plan out, and I hope to have some more substantial updates soon. Thanks for looking!

First off Michael, Welcome aboard ! Here we are building instead of watching the Packers in the Super Bowl
I normally build armor but on occasion will do a wing thing as a change of pace. This is one of the things I have in my stash so will be following along with great interest.
You'll enjoy being a member of the Kit Maker network. Lots of great building going on here. And lots of knowledgeable, helpful folks here.
Please keep us up to date on your little Avia and thanks for sharing !
Tom

Tom, I sadly know exactly what you mean about the Packers. Still, I'm happy the Pats knocked off the Seahawks, can't stand them haha.

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm excited to get more progress on the Avia, I hope to have something to share soon!

Well, progress has been a little slow, but I got the cockpit parts primed with my favorite primer Mr. Surfacer 1500, and tried Model Master Metalizers for the first time. I wanted to simulate the metallic paint used on the real plane, but using something like Tamiya Aluminum still looks like model paint, so to give the scale appearance of painted-on metal (kind of confusing!) I opted for non-buffing aluminum to avoid the sheen of buffed aluminum or Alclad II. While I definitely have things that I want to try differently next time, I liked the appearance of the paint and how it responded to airbrushing.

With that paint dry, I began detail painting and gluing together sub-assemblies. I've got quite a bit more to do and some photo-etch to add, but I like how it's progressing so far. I'll post a better picture of the cockpit parts once they're together and weathered, but for now, the last pic shows my progress at the moment. Thanks for looking!

Hi Michael and welcome to the forums! Your build is looking very good so far. I have built several Eduard models and generally the production quality, if not the fit accuracy at times, is pretty good. You must have gotten one of the first ones out of the molds on a Monday morning. You did a good job given the interior an aluminum look.

Sincerely,
Ernest