Marek Marathon: 1/50 Shoki

[Don Boose]

Been busy lately with preparations for the summer teaching and other, related tasks, but finally managed to install one wing filet, with mixed results. The fit is good to the rear, but at the front, the way the filet piece wraps around the wing leading edge does not replicate the appearance of the same assembly on the actual airplane.

The close up shot also reveals some unsightly gaps in earlier construction at the wing root leading edge and forward fuselage. These photos really show off my lack of skill and experience, but I am going to press ahead and finish the airplane, learning from the process and hoping that the next will be better.

Now Lil and I are off to Longwood Gardens to see The Pirates of Penzance and to visit Winterthur and the Brandywine Valley Museum. Back tomorrow, when I hope to get the next filet in place and tackle the cowling and undercarriage.

Don

[ruf0us]

The fillet looks great! And enjoy your trip.

Shinji

[gomidefilho]

Great work Don!!! Shoki is fine...

[dansls1]

Good job on the fillet.
It does give me a chance to comment on one of my model designer 'pet peeves' (and this one applies to Halinski as well as just about everybody). I wish the 'cut' markings for curved sections such as this fillet and wing tips would NOT be marked on the actual part. I generally do everything I can to bend / shape these parts without cutting the slots. And whether you are going to cut them or not, if they are marked externally then you won't end up with unsightly black lines on the part that detract from the model coloring.
Don - sorry to bring this up in your thread (what? Dan is going off topic AGAIN?) but seeing this beautiful white / green camo pattern interrupted by the black slit lines reminded me I've been wanting to post my little semi-rant for a while.

[cgutzmer]

I agree there Dan 100%!

Don - your fillet looks better than 99% of the ones I have done!
Chris

[Yu Gyokubun]

Don-sama,
As Dan said fillet on wing often cause me great distress and always struggle with it every time I build airplane that has separate fillet.
Your Shoki's fillet looks good.

Yu

[redhorse]

I've never done a wing filet. This one looks really good though and I especially like how all the camo blobs match up along the joint!

[B-Manic]

The fillet does not look bad at all to me Don. I have certainly found that these parts require an inordinate amount of attention. It is a rare kit that I find have these parts well designed. I assume from this that they are very difficult to design.

I do agree with Dan about the dart markings on parts. I find that I can usually form the part to fit (with time, patience and the invaluable rolystik). Perhaps having two sets of parts, one with darts and one without should be an option. Not only do the dart lines detract from the appearance of the model but if I do use them, then the edge colouring on each side detracts from the appearance.

Reporting live from foggy Halifax, Nova Scotia

[birder]

Hey Don, coming along! Keep at it will be a nice one for your collection!
(Dan, I noticed this especially on the Marek drawings, the markings are stark and spartan, perhaps more so on the 1/50 scale. I think a little photoshop time would do wonders for some of these, could easily minimize lines that otherwise are too visable.)

[Don Boose]

I'm afraid that I will have to call a temporary halt to this build and withdraw it from the contest. Just too busy with the summer teaching.

We just finished our two-week summer resident course for the Army War College students in the Distance Education Program. I had the great pleasure of spending two weeks in the company of some very fine officers. Unlike the one-year resident program, in which the majority of the students are active Army colonels and lieutenant colonels (with a number of equivalent officers of other services, other countries, and civilian agencies), our DEP students are mostly from the Reserve Component (Army National Guard and Army Reserve), with a few Active Army, other service, other nations, and civilians.

Given the way of the world over the past 20 years, most of those Reserve Component officers have had at least one tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, some have had multiple tours, and there are many with experience in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Somalia. In our "new" Seminar 12 that just departed to begin their year of Second Year studies, one officer just returned from Iraq, where she commanded a transportation battalion (she had previous tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, so this was her third stint in the box), one (an agricultural engineer in civilian life) deploys to Iraq in command of an ordnance battalion in September (he also had a previous tour in Afghanistan), and another (a congressional staffer in civilian life) is deputy commander of a National Guard light infantry brigade combat team currently en route to Afghanistan. They have impressive portfolios, both civilian and military, and it will be interesting to see how they fare until they return to graduate next July.

For now, they deserve and will receive my full attention (the Second Resident Course students will be arriving soon for their final two weeks and graduation). Later in the year, when things settle down a bit, I will finish this model and I hope to build many more Mareks and other models.

I will continue to check in on the Forum from time to time.

Best wishes -- as Johnny always used to say: I'll be back.

Don