Hello everyone!
You must believe me, that this model is not perfect – this is too strong word for it. Unfortunately it has some drawbacks which the next time I’ll try to avoid. Learning never ends…
Ok, first things first. It took me about seven months to complete it. I was building it only in the late evenings, when all may family was already sleeping. I guess it is normal when You are a Dad and have some responsibilities. So, lets say two hours during most of the evenings – and You have a model ready. I must say, that this hobby is one of the best ways for giving my mind some relaxation.
The riveting – well, this is one of the most tiring things to do. To make it, I use a tool (on the picture) built from cut medical needle (0,45 x 12mm), piece of antenna and something which was previously used for cutting cork. So, before cutting all the parts of the model from the sheet I press (not too much) each of the rivet on model’s surface. Another thing that I do with the surface are the lines and different panels. To mark them I use a pin in Excel handle. The key thing in making these things is to paint all the sheets before with transparent varnish. I use water varnish (used mostly for wood), painting the sheets from both sides 4 to 5 times. This protects the paper from destroying during modeling parts and lets You to make really small marks on the surface, which will be still visible after final airbrushing with clear mat paint. One more thing, rivets and lines have to be done on hard surface under the sheet, otherwise You risk destroying paper. And that’s it. To do riveting I was trying to use some different tools which You can buy – similar to toothed wheels form watches, but these things makes small wholes which is not right. Cut needle is the best, because in this way You get a circle, which is more similar to real grinded rivet (in my opinion of course). I think, that this whole work is worth doing, because You gets interesting surface of a paper model, especially when You look at it from a specific angles.
I’m afraid I will not be able to provide more pictures from construction, I wasn’t doing pictures that time except cockpit. I usually don’t do it, because I don’t have enough time for it.
I hope I explained these few things You were asking. If something is unclear or anything else You would like to know - just ask, but please be patient, because I have no permanent access to Internet.
