After a long and hot summer with almost no modelling-related activities, I'm finally back for the autumn season. There are other things i ought to be working on but when this one turned up it had my name on it ("EXPERT Set") and my friend Anders had one and I didn't want to be left behind in the PZL-race. You NEVER want to be left behind in the PZL-race as the old saying goes...

Also, Arma Hobby has announced a Hurricane and the P.11 should be seen as a warm-up for that one !

Regarding the word "Uwaga", it's Polish and means "Attention". If you go to Poland, you will see it just about everywhere. One of my closest friends was born there and that word has become a kind of a joke between us.

On to the model:


Beautiful box art is always a "+" in my book!


Plastic is really nice and it is limited to only one sprue. I have high hopes for a quick build! Decals are from Cartograf and looks extremely sharp. Add a small but busy etch sheet, a clear sprue for the windscreen and a set of masks and we have a fairly complete package!


Some very nice surface detail...


The four different decal options.

I aim to get this one finished fast, let's see if I succeed!



Magnus

Great to see you back on the bench, Magnus.

And yes, it was a hot summer prevent from plasic work.
The kit looks nice and I'm sure you will pay much Uwaga on it.

following up,
Th mas

Magnus,
Welcome back my friend, it's always a treat for me to have you among us once again.

Looking forward to following one of your build as usual. My only concern being a 1/48 scaler, (and a auto guy these days), are those rather deep & wide recessed panel lines. Any plans on shallowing them up some?

Joel

Looks interesting, i will follow this.

Gr TC

Thomas! I realise that I haven't checked out your finished Mirage. I blame the heat !

Joel! I'll probably accept that surface detail for what it is, I won't do anything special about it. It could have been a bit finer but on the other hand it is far from what Airfix does even on their modern kits nowadays and they have all turned out OK. And yes, I know you're an auto guy for the time being, I've been lurking !

Lars! I'm happy to have you on board!


There are some rather minor and easily fixed sink marks that can be seen after filling in this photo. The "expert set" contains photo etch for the surface detail, I'm curious how it will come out under a coat of paint!


Interior detail, photo etch parts and a pair of nicely moulded machine guns.


Separate cockpit side frames are a nice touch. Lots of etch goes into the cockpit!


Interior painting is simple: most of the interior is silver! I have picked out some detail with other colours and added a wash (that looks rather messy in the photos, sorry!).


Fuselage halves after painting. Machine guns were painted Vallejo "German Grey" (my favourite "almost black" colour) and then brushed with UvdR metal powder. It gave a nice gun metal look but is a bit messy to work with as you can see in the photos. I maintain that the rather smallish cockpit opening will work to my advantage in this case...



Magnus

Magnus,
A most impressive start for sure to the cockpit. Nicely detailed with the PE and washes. Once the framing is installed and the fuselage halves joined up, it will really look quite busy.

So glad that you joined me on my Lotus Type 72E build. I'm finally building what I've always wanted to. But I'm not leaving aircraft. My plans are two cars, then one prop or very early 1st generation jet. After the Lotus crosses the finish line, I'm pretty sure I'll be building Academy's 1/72 scale PBY-5A with some AM.

Joel

I can see another little jewel coming up here, Magnus. Will also follow your build, but more or less silently. Nice to see all the PZL planes built lately. You might have already seen my modest contribution to this Polish "Campaign" recently.

And yes, the summer in Sweden was really hot, when I visited your country in July. Tried to avoid most areas with forest fires but have seen a lot of smoke along the road I travelled - and the smell of burned wood .... Great, that Sweden has got so much help from so many other countries (I have seen both italian water bombers over Leksand). But I have returned home safe.

Torsten

Joel! I look forward to your dive into the 1/72-swamp ! I've seen the Academy PBY built several times with good results. And that Lotus: every now and then I feel that I ought to give a car a try but it always ends in a conflict with my limited modelling time...

Torsten! I usually keep an eye on your production line but I blame the summer for missing this one! The Poles really did some interesting aircraft, it looks rather slender in profile but seen from above, that wing is simply enormous ! Well done Torsten!


All of a sudden it is all buttoned up! I had some trouble closing the fuselage, the interior simply was a bit wide and I don't think I'm the one to blame for once! I simply cut away the lower horizontal members of the side frames, allowing the frames to flex and swallow the width of the cockpit parts. After that, fit was excellent, so good that both stabilizer and fin got glued in the same process! Landing gear is still only dryfitted, I need to get the instrument panel inside before access gets too restricted...


I'm a sucker for attractive packaging... A Polish Airforce 1939-package - just what the doctor ordered. Or rather, I ordered it ! Laquer paint just like my other new paint range, MRP, but I would say slightly less smelly.



Magnus

Magnus
excellent progress for sure. You just fly through these 1/72 scale builds. You'll be done before I finally finish the Lotus Cosworth/gearbox/rear suspension.

If you feel the urge, then go for it.

Joel

Joel! Thinking it over carefully, I stick to the wingy things for the time being! I do however admit that I checked out the Ebbro Lotus on Hannant's and hovered over the order button for a while. And it wasn't as expensive as I had feared either !


Parts on sticks, as usual! Cleaned up and ready for primer!


This is a very cleverly designed model! The engine is part of the forward fuselage and is just stuck in place temporarily.




More clever design! The landing gear is moulded together with part of the fuselage. If it hadn't, they would have been record flimsy! Also, with a bit of care, just about everything is self-aligning.

I've had a bit of a cold for the last few days, as soon as it clears I'll be up and running with the airbrush!



Magnus

I'm really pleased to see such nice work from Arma on this kit. I had my eye on it. Now it's a must buy! Thanks.

Magnus
Sorry to read that you've been somewhat under the weather of late. Sure hope that you're back to full health ASAP.

You're making great progress for sure. the molding decisions that you've pointed out certainly seem to be a most positive approach to the build.

Joel

Wiggus! It is a nice kit of an aircraft that does look a bit unlike anything else. And as the old saying goes, never risk being left behind in the PZL-race !

Joel! Just an ordinary virus, unpleasant and tedious but nothing dangerous! I missed the MTB-competition this weekend, which annoys me a bit...


Main airframe parts primed and most of the other parts have gotten their final paintcoat.


While I were at it, I painted the blue lower surface colour as well.


And one day later, I prepare the for the light blue ID-stripes, I don't want to use the decals for these. First a coat of white...


...and then some light blue. Let's leave this to dry until tomorrow before masking over it!



Magnus

Magnus,
Looking real good. I keep on forgetting it's 1/72 scale. The picture with the PZL on a stick really puts it into perspective for me. In that context, those panels lines look a lot better.

Joel

Hi Magnus
I have the Azur kit with similar markings, going to to pull it out and compare the sprues. Also a bit late but your Bf 110 G4 and Lancaster BII both turned out fantastic.
Phil.

Phumbles! Thanks for your kind comments, that Lanc can't be mine though since it sits here staring at me, still mostly unbuilt! "Shrimpman" has finished a very nice one for the bombers campaign, could be his that you have seen!


Masking the stripes! Note that the stripe on the fin should be just on the starbord side.


A bit of green!


And then some unmasking! Quite snappy I think!

I've yet to decide if I need a clearcoat before decalling. All those life-and-death decisions we need to handle...



Magnus

Magnus,
The paint scheme looks fantastic. As for gloss coating prior to decaling, I've stopped using that method. What I do now is a wet light rubbing out of the paint using Tamiya 3,000 sponge. the surface just becomes silky smooth, and that's all you need. I did all the various body panels on the Lotus Type 72E that way, without any issues.

BTW, my next update hopefully will be this weekend.

Joel

Joel! Ulrika (my wife) has already figured this one out: it is absolutely pointless giving me advice because I never listen (or read) ! I gave it a glosscoat anyway...

I am usually a fan of your method, polishing the paintwork, but in this case the surface has a corrugated structure ensuring that I would go through the rather thin paintjob into the plastic if I was to try polishing.


Cartograf decals performing flawlessly. I probably should have cut masks for the numbers since they are geometrically very simple but decided to go old-school full decals on this one!



Magnus

Magnus,
Your decaling came out flawless. Looks like they were painted on.

I'd say your wife is one very smart Lady for sure.

Joel

Very nice so far Magnus Loo king forward on the next up-date





Terri

Joel! It does take a bit of work (decal solution ) and patience (multiple applications ) to get the decals to sink into the surface structure, almost there though!

Terri! Thanks! Trying to keep the project going!





A few more applications of Micro Sol and then it is time to seal the decals!



Magnus

Magnus,
Like I said, the decals look like they were painted on.
Joel

Fantastic progress on that little bird, Magnus! Your paint job looks again flawless and as Joel already mentioned, the decals look like they're painted on. What brand are they?

As you use Hataka paints on this build I would like to know how satisfied you are with the handling of them. I've heard good and bad things about Hataka. At the expo in Basel last weekend I saw sets of Hataka paints for the Swedish Air Force and the Finnish Army and wanted to buy them but I didn't do it. I'm still not sure how they "behave" when masking them. You know what I mean - swedish/finnish splinter camo ....

Torsten

Torsten! Decals are Cartograf, at least in the "Expert"-boxings. A friend of mine has the "Junior"-boxing and in that one there are decals from Techmod. Cartograf are the gold standard when it comes to decals and well worth the extra money!

Regarding the paints, these are from the Hataka "orange line" meaning that they are laquer acrylics. If you don't mind working with laquer thinner they are a good choice, they performed very well in the airbrush and dried into a nice surface. They also seem to harden solidly, they weren't affected by my rather liberal use of decal setting solutions!

I wouldn't hesitate using them again, especially if Hataka has a good set of colours that I can't get out-of-the-bottle from my current (rather substantial) stock of Gunze and MRP-bottles!



Magnus

Finally the decal work is finished!




After a coat of MRP Semi-Gloss...


...it was time for a wash to pop out some detail both on the upper surfaces...


...and on the lower ones...

Lots of contrast in the photos, it doesn't look that dominant in real life.



Magnus