#21
|
|||
|
|||
Installed the rear cockpit, trimmed some formers and closed up the fuselage halves. Following advice from Neil Colley I used CA glue for this operation as the hold needs to be tight. The wing roots do a satisfactory job of holding the wings in flight position but will tweak these some more.
Next step - adding pilot's seat and sidewalls, wing root fairings, and then painting... |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
I really like the amount of scratch building you've done to this model. It came along quite well.
|
#23
|
|||
|
|||
Well, having got some new acrylics and made some wing root fairings I decided to go ahead and repaint the model. The colours on the pdf look accurate but came out much darker when printed and there is insufficient distinction between the top camo colours, to the point that the registration is unreadable. The underside however seemed oversaturated and was but one interpretation of the elusive RAF 'sky'.
Finding reliable colours and markings for any Fulmar is a hilarious rabbit hole of contradictory paint charts from model kits, completed plastic kits in different lighting conditions, conjectural illustrations, camo schemes that were switched every few months per theatre and a complete absence of any colour photos of the aircraft in service. The sole surviving aircraft in a museum is a mongrel that is currently in a non-typical scheme, so no help. In the end I decided to go with 'what looks right' and mixed up a green, black, brown and grey to make sea grey and sea green shades that matched one or two illustrations. I followed the pattern already on the model, which is completely different to those in the charts (these do mostly agree) so utterly not accurate for the real thing, and also decided the spinner and underside looked better in light grey as seen on some aircraft. The roundels could be mostly avoided and overspill scraped off but I decided to paint over the markings and re-apply these by reprinting them from the kit on thin paper. I will disguise the edges more and tidy up in final touching up. In the process of paint experiement I found a closer match for British Interior Green so that went into the gear wells and the front cockpit. When the paint was dry panel and rivet lines were (re)scribed with a used blade to prevent cutting too deep. A card shim was inserted around the port wing hinge to limit the droop in the folded position. Prop and spinner now on too. |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
awesome build
|
#25
|
|||
|
|||
Nearing completion. The landing gear was a pretty quick and smooth process (literally - it involves shaping and sanding the wheels) and I did my usual toothpick struts, a bit basic but convincing. One thing to watch out for in future is to remove paint before gluing so that the legs are attached to the paper and don't fall off. The mainwheel fairings seem a bit too short for the gear bays but this might have been a design choice to allow them to hinge, and there do appear to be some small hinged fairings at the top.
I was initially a bit skeptical about the exhaust stubs in the kit but in fact they look good when assembled and painted, and with CA glue they stick perfectly tight to the side of the engine cowl. Watered-down marker pen was used for weathering behind the exhausts and gunports, and some brown went on the gear and fluid leaks around the engine and prop. |
Google Adsense |
#26
|
||||
|
||||
Looks great!
Don |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
And we're done! I could add some even smaller details but life is too short...
'Weighs six ton! No rear gun! Damn all to rely on!' This has been a very enjoyable build with few problems and a good testbed for some new techniques. I could still improve the angle of the wings in both flight and folded positions but they do fold successfully! And it wasn't such a bad aircraft in real life. Crank that Merlin and take your mate along to hunt some Eyeties! (provided they stay under 200 mph) |
#28
|
||||
|
||||
I enjoyed watching your build and seeing your methodologies for dealing with the prop-spinner and wing folding assemblies.
Don |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|