HISTORY
instructions and here we go. These two schemes are the only
ones out of all offered in the kit that feature identical fuselage bands and no stripes on the vertical tail surfaces. All
markings i.e. identifications, fuselage and tail stripes were
airbrushed The only decals used were the numerals for the
vertical tail surfaces.
The second “mini-blunder” occured after the models were
completed. Vlad Suma was busy taking pictures while the
rest of us was enjoying the models on display at which point
I made a statememt: “Gentlemen, something is wrong…”
As we learned the engine cowlings got swapped. Not only that
but landing gear covers were reversed as well!
In the hurry that followed the propellers, cowlings and landing
gear covers were stripped of the models and glued back on to
correspond to the correct marking. Vlad was very unhappy to
erase the pictures he had taken and start all over. Despite the
hiccup all ended well, we enjoyed the building and I dare to say
that the kit can be basically completed during the weekend.
The total building time, including delays, was 26 hours.
Summary
• Excellent surface details
• Highly detailed cockpit
• Precise gluing is paramout, for example on panel inserts
or completing the engine cowling (very little glue is needed in
fact). The parts‘ fit is amazing to the point that the panel lines
had to be lightly restored at the glued joint.
• One more notice about panel inserts. In Vlad’s case they
were not leveled and had to be adjusted using the file. Without
modification they ended up slightly below the surrounding
surfaces. Some micro flash or edge in the wing cut out could
be blamed. Dry fitting here is a must.
• Careful assembly of the wheel wells. All has to fit tightly
without any gaps otherwise a problem with assembling the
wing and consequent mating with the fuselage can occur. The
sub-assembly is demanding precise and clean work.
• While mating the wing with the fuselage it seemed they will
not fit but squeezing the fuselage in the cockpit area will help
and all fits just perfectly. The same is true about the horizontal
tail surfaces. The fit into the opening is tight but once pushed
in there is no need for glue. The fit of the separate control
surfaces is superb.
• The position lights just love to spring off the tweezers never to be found again. Some spares on the sprue will be certainly welcome. Honza lost the tail light to a carpet monster so
we had to scratch-built it using layers of the UV glue. Otherwise everything fits precisely. Great feature of the navigation
lights to be glued on the wing surface is the rod fitting into the
wing opening. That is superb. Just a tiny drop of glue and push
the part in.
• Cons: one of the fuselage-mounted machine guns featured
short-shot lever of cocking mechanism, gunsight glass on the
clear sprue was short-shot as well. Small sink marks on the
control surfaces parts. Fixing it is not worth the effort though.
• Camouflage color was mixed as per instructions.
Paint used for airbrushing the markings (all GSI Mr.Color):
Hinomaru: C07 + C58 (1:1)
Red band on the fuselage: C07 + C114 (1:1)
Blued band on the fuselage: C72
Yellow stripes on the vertical tail surfaces: C58 + C113 (1:1)
Wing walkways: GX03.
INFO Eduard - December 2021
eduard
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