Aktuelles

Nicolas
Following.

Robert Podkoński
Good job so far. Keep it up!

Max Otten Autor
This is a kit I got for free. Actually two, a P and an R version but incomplete (only one set of clear parts and PE). So I can build only one. I wanted the reconnaissance version over Alexandria (Egypt). The P version box has this as a P-1 (bomber) but the unit is Aufkl. (reconnaissance) so I am building it as a P-2. Don't know if the markings are correct for that Bu I could no information.
The cockpit is incredibly detailed with lots of very small PE parts. I did my best but lost some handles. Construction-wise it is a nightmare because there i no easy way to fit things together (a common failing with PE parts).
The tabs on the outer wings are flimsy so I added pins inside, with styrene strips so the outer wings are aligned with the inner ones. The tail-planes had the same problem so there is a pin as well. In this case bronze so it can be bent to have the tail-planes on straight.

Max Otten Autor
The fit of the nose canopy was indifferent. First some sanding needed to get it in, then styrene inserts for the major gaps. Remaining gaps yet to be filled with Humbrol ClearFix. Top canopy required only a little sanding, no gaps.

Max Otten Autor
The ailerons and flaps are on. And what a dreadful job that was! I lost count of the number of times I knocked one of the PE parts off and - miraculously - found it again. I don't understand why the producers of these PE parts never give us a few spares of critical parts. And the construction would have been a lot easier and more robust if the PE hinges would have been a bit larger so they could be inserted in slots.

Clement
Impressive work, well done!

Max Otten Autor
Thank you all.

Max Otten Autor
I started this build a couple of years ago. I added some detail to the fuselage interior.
I then had terrible problems getting the fuselage connected to the wings with the struts. You need at least six hands to keep things in place and connections are almost non-existent. By the time I was done (with lots of damage to the struts) I could not find some of the holes I had drilled for the rigging as they were filled in with superglue. I gave up for a while. Last year I managed to buy another kit so I could replace the cockpit canopy, struts and the plate underneath the nacelle where the struts connect.
So I restarted. This time I did not fix the plate underneath the nacelle to the wings until later (not having to handle the wings makes life much easier). I also added lots of pins to the top and bottom of the struts so when they popped out of the holes they would not fly all over the place. Instead of fishing line I used 0.mm bronze rod for the rigging between fuselage and wings. I only added the wings after this part was all done, praying that the wing would go on straight. On the side struts the wire is 0.16mm fishing line. There was a real difference in thickness on the plane so that is ok.
I finally managed to get that done. Next the red sunburst on the top wing. Lots of problems because the sharp tips of all the rays on the starboard wing getting together in one point. The port wing was easier as the ? oil cooler doesn't have the tips. I had problems as Humbrol 19 red didn't give good coverage but stayed partly transparent. In the end I had to overspray with Humbrol 60 with some yellow mixed in. Still the colour is a little too dark to my liking. And then I noticed that on the port wing the 2nd ray from the leading edge is too thin. So that required a lot of fixing as well.

Max Otten Autor
Picture 8. Some idiot at Italeri thought that scratches on the control surfaces in the mold running roughly (very roughly) diagonal made it look like an authentic fabric surface. It doesn't. Makes it just look like 'an idiot at Italeri...' In fact even at 1:1 the weave of fabric is nearly invisible, especially after treatment with dope. Showing anything at 1:72 is ridiculous.

Rui S
Very nice diferent model 👍

Max Otten Autor
My take on the Seafire III with folded wings, the Special Hobby kit with Airwaves PE wing fold. Much more difficult than the styrene folded wings of the Seafire XV, XVII and 47 I did before. Fit of the PE is poor. I figure from the instructions that the PE parts need to be against the cut of the wings, not recessed as it should be. Also the shape of the Special Hobby-kit wings apparently is different from the Airfix kit. Nonetheless the wing-tip fold is too wide (PE 3.1mm, Airfix 2.8, Special Hobby and spare parts 2.2). So lots of careful sanding required.
I put a bent piece of 0.5mm bronze rod in the wing fold to support the upturned wings. I was afraid the wing-tip fold PE would succumb to fatigue during all the handling so I put a blob of superglue inside the hinge. Later I could remove it as it all came through undamaged.
Somehow I lost one of the inner upper wings. I could replace both with Airfix Seafire XVII left-overs with some surface detail removed. Very late (after painting) I discovered I had double sets of flap actuator panels. On the early Seafires these are outboard of the wing fold, on the late ones inboard. So that needed fixing.

Max Otten Autor
In progress for a diorama. Model finished, with feathered port propeller, oil leaks, exposed engine and radiator part. CMK radiator not very useful. The back of the real thing is open with lots of bars (for engine control). CMK put pipes on top but they pointed in the wrong direction - towards the fuselage instead of the engine. I had to redo a lot there. Also I added the radar antennas in the starboard wing (above and below) which are missing from the kit.

Rui S
NIcelly done clean work & Great photos 👍

Max Otten Autor
Painted with MRP paints. Note there is preshading, no wash. The MRP doesn't seem to go into the panel lines so you get a nicely muted wash effect. The serial number on the wing bottom is difficult. I wanted to mask and spray but the angles of the 'W' are so sharp that mask got distorted too much. It took quite some trouble to get rid of the silvering of the decal. Same with the 155 on fuselage which I should have masked and painted.

Desert Marlin
Beautiful work!

Rob
Excellent work!

Max Otten Autor
What Airfix gives you is too far removed from the complexity of the real thing so I added as best as I could. Still simpler but especially the hydraulic lines are very complicated.

Max Otten Autor
Fw 200C-4 displayed at the HistoramaWereld Museum. Transparent top of front upper gun turret was missing and replaced with a homemade part. Not perfect but I did my best and it will have to do. In most pictures the turret is blanked off. Only visible in picture 2, in the museum.

Spanjaard
congratulations, on getting a fantastic result, and on getting your model in a museum

Max Otten Autor
Thank you.

Max Otten Autor
A couple of Horsas. They are tail-sitters as I didn't add a nose weight because they will be shown flying in above a 1:35 Market Garden diorama (not mine) at the museum (HistoramaWereld at Best, the Netherlands). The 1:72 scale will give a (false) perspective of them being further away.
Creating the figures was a dreadful job. The kit figures are quite unsuitable as pilots in flight so a lot of plastic butchery was needed.
The cockpit canopy was painted in two stages.

Max Otten Autor
A couple of Horsas. They are tail-sitters as I didn't add a nose weight because they will be shown flying in above a 1:35 Market Garden diorama (not mine) at the museum (HistoramaWereld at Best, the Netherlands). The 1:72 scale will give a (false) perspective of them being further away.
Creating the figures was a dreadful job. The kit figures are quite unsuitable as pilots in flight so a lot of plastic butchery was needed.
The cockpit canopy was painted in two stages.

Ray Loch
Watching this one. Have this one in the stash along with a wing fold so interested in this build.