Model Fleet: Update 9/7/08: Crew & Exterior Fittings

Update 9/7/08: Crew & Exterior Fittings

Posted by Matty on December 27, 2008, 22:05:09, in reply to "NELL: Nemesis of Force "Z""
4.235.207.144

-- Originally Posted 9/7/08 --

Preparatory to buttoning-up the fuselage for painting, the aircrew - all 7 of them - were scavenged from the parts box, posed/modified, painted and installed:

Click on Image to EnlargeSome with goggles pushed back, others with them pulled down; the large gray object held by the navigator (in the small dome, forward) is a scratchbuilt little pair of binoculars (see below). These views also show well the pair of scratchbuilt ordnance shackles, mounted on the belly centerline.

I like the look of these shackles almost too much to hide them behind the aerial torpedo - but of course I will:

Click on Image to EnlargeThis kit having been sold to me without a torpedo (Thanks Jeff! ), I am replicating one borrowed from another LS kit (black; at top); splicing together pieces from torpedoes of the Revell 1/72 PT-boat kit (gray) - as well as the tip of a bomb (yellow-painted) from the Revell 1/72 B-17 (and some new fins, not yet shown).

The torpedo, of course, need not go on before fuselage painting - but several other fittings do:

Click on Image to EnlargeNotably the pitot tube (top) and radio antenna aerials (bottom) - both repaired from breakage inevitably attending all the delays in this build. Also shown at bottom is the first application of Tamiya Gloss Aluminum (adopted as the "bare-metal" base finish, after its success in the concurrent test of the "Latex Spattering" painting technique); painted in the areas to be enclosed under the gunners' domes.

Also as part of this prep, painting of the engines was completed:

Click on Image to EnlargeA thinned wash of black to flood the depressions in the Pactra Indy Silver-painted engines, producing the appearance shown at top. At bottom, note a closer look also at the navigator's tiny binocs (by now painted flat black, with silver highlights drybrushed).

And, though not yet attched, I couldn't help but take some looks as her with several of the canopies dry-fitted:

Click on Image to EnlargeAgain, these are the phenomenally clear heat-formed replacements created by Don Czech (Thanks, Don!) and myself, lo these many months ago.

I know I've said this many times before, but - slowly but surely - she's getting there... (Right? )

Cheers,

-Matty