stefanwest Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 Going for another old kit. As you can see the decals cannot be used so I made a new set. One on a clear decal sheet and another on white. We will see how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Oooo....that will be a boatload of work! I look forward to watching your frustration! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Actually, it's a pretty nice kit. Get rid of the rivets, though. It's much prized in the UK (big surprise, right?) The tractor and bomb train is pretty cool all by itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamsof51 Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Nothing like an old airfix kit to get the juices flowing. I love everything except canopy framing on those kits. Making that look good is the part I want to see you do the most. Thanks for taking us along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 I have this same kit somewhere in the stash. I'll be watching this with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Looking over the kit, it looks almost like the Airfix Heinkel He 177 that I did. Same blue plastic and same structure to the build. I will be building it with no moveable parts. The rudder and ailerons will be glued in place along with the turrets. That will allow me to attached the turrets last. Have not decided if I am keeping the bomb bay open or closed. I will put the crew in there since the turret guns are molded partially into the crew figure. Btw, the pilots are the exact same mold as the Heinkel He 177 pilots. Which makes since since both kits were sold at the same time. The instructions are different. There is no control panel decal put you cut out the panel drawing on the instructions and glue it on. Think I am going try painting the dials on the panel and use my cutter for some dial masks. Hope it can cut that small. If not, I'll do it by hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 Before and After of cleaning up pilot figures. Masking cockpit panel. Instructions said to cut out paper panel and glue it on. Test fitting the cockpit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 Some more pictures. I did not like the way the instrument panel was looking so I changed it. I think it looks better. The windows are pretty think with a think flange. So I am sanding it down so they will be flush to the model. I will do this especially to the windows you can see from the cockpit. Here I inserted a sanded down window on the far left. I think this will work pretty well. I also drew some lines and then shaded them in to simulate framing you would normally see inside a plane. Here are couple pictures test fitting the cockpit and getting a general sense on how this would look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Cockpit is done. Doing test fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Funny....without the glass in place it reminds me of a Gotha! Making great progress very quickly! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Funny....without the glass in place it reminds me of a Gotha! Making great progress very quickly! GIL I was thinking the same thing! I like it. I may have to try and find mine to see if I can get it started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewahl Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Your recovery on the yellowed decals from Airfix with your own new ones is great. If I may ask, how did you make the yellow carrier film disappear when you printed your new images on white decal stock? My inkjet printer captures the yellow film perfectly. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 I use adobe photoshop elements and edit the images. I also brighten up the colors. I basically erase the yellow from the images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Are those the kit supplied windows? If so, it looks like you got them in perfectly, quite an achievement for a kit this old. What glue did you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Yes. Those are the kit windows. I sanded down the thick flange on the back so you won't see them. I only did this for the windows inside the cockpit. I also used a progression of grid from 320 to 2500 on the windows. Then I painted a tiny bit of future on the inside. The glue I used is the crystal glue from micro mark. It is what watch makers use. It is strong and dries clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewahl Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 If that's what it takes, I'll have to break down and buy the Photoshop software and learn how to use it. Thanks for your explanation. Your images look great. I noticed you did not bother with the "SHORT STERLING" in the lower right corner of the Airfix sheet. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I tried a program called GIMP 2.8 but photoshop has easier erase tools. They have a tool call magic eraser and it clears out big chunks of the yellow without removing the decal. I scan in at 2400 dpi and then zoom in to do my erasing. What ever the magic eraser does not remove, I switch to paint brush and then paint white around the decal to clear out any yellowing. I also found websites that give the RGB numbers for the different colors used for RAF planes. I enter those numbers and replace the colors that were darkened by the yellow film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 BTW, I wont have to use my replacement decal. Airfix still had some in stock from the last production run and I ordered one. Course once I get them and they are not up to snuff. I will return to my replacement set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Started cleaning up the seams on the main body. Plus here is picture of the tool I made to help me. Got this tip from the recent IPMS competition I attended. Here is my new toothbrush sander. And all of the changeable heads with different grit of sandpaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Interesting! How often do you have to change paper on the heads, and how long will the tool last before you need to recharge? GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Have yet to replace the sandpaper. Battery is about needing to be replaced. Probably invest in rechargeable. I think I had about a total time of 1 hour use over two days. What really works is you can do wet sanding since this is a toothbrush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Been cooking up new idea to replace rivets. Using my cutter I created a mask. So far this looks pretty good. I might be able to create a better panel line using this method. Cutter has open up a lot of new ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 (edited) Rivets, eh? Oh, have I got a product for you. MicroMark makes a sheet of decal rivets. The rivets are raised, but done on decal carrier film. The sheet has different sizes and spacings, even curves and circles. They even include some grids and grills. It's one large sheet of carrier film, so you cut off the rivets in the pattern you want and apply them as you would a regular decal. When you paint over them, they look like, well, rivets. Such a time and hassel saver I haven't found before. I got two 7X9 or so sheets of them in a plastic bag for $15. They bill them as HO scale, but I use them in 1/72 and they look fine. Edited June 17, 2013 by Ron Bell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefanwest Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 I used something similar on my Heinkel 177. They were Archer transfers and they worked ok but were hard to work with. Reason I came up with this soulution is that I could maintain the out of box status of the model. But I will look into micro mark because I do order alot from them. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 I started a new topic over in Tools and Techniques that has some photos of the sheets. It may help you out. Great thing about decals is that you can move them around where dry transfers stay where first put. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts