Orlik PBJ-1H Mitchell

[peter taft]

Brilliant nacelle work Mike - the way you look at the real deal and apply what you see to your model is outstanding

[Bomarc]

Thanks guys, your kind words keep me trudging along. Probably would have jettisoned this kit in a New York Nano-second if it weren't for you mugs checking in now and again.

But I started this mess, dag-nabit, and I'm a gonna finish it.....(spits in spittoon)

Originally Posted by peter taft

Brilliant nacelle work Mike - the way you look at the real deal and apply what you see to your model is outstanding

Peter, that's one of the joys/challenges of scale modeling. However, I'm pushing this kit only so far to make it believable, not nearly an exact representation by any stretch. Copious amounts of liberties have been taken sir.

But a point I wish to make is that I'm trying to be consistent throughout the entire build. It's one thing to build a kit OOB, or "Out Of the Booklet" (HA! Your IPMSer's out there thought I was going to write "Out Of the Box" huh?), using the parts exactly as given, no detours, just a straight build. That would be a perfectly fine model when done, and some true masterpeices have been seen on this forum built that way. But because I started this kit with an entirely too long session on wizbang engines, I've pretty much laid down my path for the rest of this build, and not to keep it up to the very end, well, that would be cheating (to recall back to another thread I started).

OK, let me get down off my soapbox here, and figure out what I need to do next.

Mike

[Bomarc]

OK, pretty much done with trying to make this nacelle look like it’s part of the wing, not just slid over it. I’ve come to realized in mixing up paints and trying match colors that no two sheets of this kit are the same, and if I could, I would revise my review of it to say as much. Each page has anywhere from a slight to gross difference in tone (memo to Orlik: Fire your printer company), so trying to get everything to match everything else is a lost cause. I’m going to have to settle on finding a general color and use sleight of hand to help things along.

I suppose “Phase III” was just filling in the gaps along the upper spine. I had picture of the real thing somewhere, but the reality of it is, that the spine “hump” just meets the wing skins. So using some Aleene’s, I just filled in the gaps, then painted some “panels” with the compromise color to “blend” it in. Also, you can see the outboard leading edge fillet in place (the third picture is under incandescent light):





Another reason why matching colors is a black art; different lighting yields different results. I was thinking to draw back in some lines and rivets, add a little clear matt spray at the end, who knows, maybe it will all come together then. Also blended in the lower areas to match Orlik’s camouflage:






Just for fun:



No doubt, and typically, the right wing/nacelle will be better….

Mike

[B-Manic]

The wing / nacelle union looks great. The way you have painted it, it looks like just another colour that was used in the kit. Good stuff!

cheers
~Douglas

[Bomarc]

Thanks Douglas. Just to give you an idea why I need to add fillets, etc., and what gaps I'm talking about, here's the right wing/nacelle before I get started on it:



Some mighty fine model crafting there boy! You can hear your echo in that gulch.

HELLO....hello....hello.....hello........

Mike

[Don Boose]

Definitely world class modeling, Mike.

Don

[flying rasta]

Good....I can now sleep in peace...the color issue has for the most part is most satisfactory...

The joints look as if to be deliberately there...

This thread must be archived for future builders...

Cheers...

[Retired_for_now]

Re: the paint. Drop by your friendly neighborhood Army/Air Force/Navy/Marine flight line for an open house and look around. The kids pulling 12-hour shifts on the flight line don't worry too much about color-matching when the birds go into corrosion control for a wash/blast/paint session.

Like the oil-canning, just a bit more fidelity built into the model - well done!

Yogi

[GreMir]

Great work Mike!
It's amazing that designers do not provide fillets in those locations. I went through exactly the same issue in my Ki-45 bulit. Wait, this is the same designer so maybe it's something typical for him....

[Bomarc]

Thanks guys….it’s always an adventure.

Yogi, to piggy-back on your above post, there’s a great story I remember reading on some modeling forum about a Navy aviation type who worked at Oceana NAS as a mechanic on F-14’s (must have been in the late ‘80’s early ‘90’s). When that base had an Open House to the public, he would pull duty and would have to man whatever F-14 was on display to answer any questions the public might have. On one such event, a gaggle of guys (obvious modeler types) come up to the display F-14 of this mechanic. They had Federal Standard paint cards in tow, and started to try and match the gray color of the plane with their fandeck cards, and having heated arguments in the process as to which color it was. Overhearing all this, our intrepid mechanic didn’t have the heart to tell them that the gray in question was actually Sears automotive primer procured in a “midnight run” outside of the base……

Had a little weirdness when I glued the left nacelle to the left wing. For some reason the last two thirds of the upper wing skin started to collapse on either side of the nacelle spine. It didn’t do this when I dry fitted the parts together, but for whatever reason, it was doing it now, now that glue was involved. I couldn’t take the nacelle off anymore thanks to the glue, so I had a large gap and sunken upper wing surface. WTF?!! Didn’t take any pictures at the time as I was in full panic mode, but here’s what I ended up doing after the fact. Perhaps this will be useful to somebody someday.

I fashioned a tool from a large paper clip. Behold the “Puller, Skin, Model M-1”:



Then I punctured a small hole at the root of where the wing and nacelle meet on either side. I actually used the Mini-Rolystyk for this, being wickedly sharp. Into the holes went the tool, and I pulled the skin up against the nacelle and held it there until the Aleene’s I laid in the gap could grab hold:




It was just a matter of plugging the holes back up with more Aleene’s, like it never happened:



It’s always something.

On a happier note, I was doing an inventory of what I have left for parts, as I plan to move on to the fuselage after this wing is done, and I can happily report that I’m pretty much at the fifty percent mark, having consumed about six sheets worth of parts out the kits twelve. Huraaaay!



It’s the little things that keep one going….

Mike