Wryneck - Johan Scherft

[Erik Zwaan]

I find attaching the tail part to the "fuselage" via the insert method always very tricky as it's difficult to find a good grip and sufficient gluing area. A good fit is critical.

Erik

[Kevin WS]

Vinalssergio155 and Don - thanks for the on-going support.

Erik - I agree 100%. We'll see how this one makes up!

[Kevin WS]

PART 1

Time to assemble the body!

Picture 1 – The parts for assembly.

I started the assembly by fitting the neck, but straightaway ran into a problem – the neck was too small for the body. Because the body was tapered, the smaller neck ring would not sit far enough down to match up with the body pattern – leaving an uncoloured ring around the neck.

The problem is probably not the model – more likely I closed the neck too far, or when making the body did not glue a tab or two as far in as I should have.

Fortunately, this has happened to me before when making birds, and I have now learned how to fix the issue easily, and without harming the appearance of the patterns of the feathers, or the bird's shape.

If this happens to you, this is how to go about it…

• The neck is glued onto tabs on the breast, so...
• Starting from the centre of the breast, cut down between the center two of these tabs for a cm or a 1/4 of an inch.
• Repeat once more for the tabs on either side, cutting between the tabs, so that you end up with 3 long slits on the breast.

Pictures 2 and 3 show these slits when the neck is dry-fitted.

• The slits will then allow the neck to slide further down the body, and the neck and body should now match up nicely.
• Note if the slits are long enough, the overlap effect they cause will not cause any major disruption of the feather patterns.
• The neck should now be glued on, A TAB AT A TIME.

• Because this operation is tricky, you need access from the tail - which means the neck needs to be attached BEFORE the tail cone.
• However, the tail cone has to be inserted from the neck in order to get it inside the body for glueing.
• The solution is to simply insert the tail cone into the body through the neck, but NOT glue it in place.
• It is small enough that you can move it aside with your finger to have access to the inside of the neck from the bottom.

• When glueing the neck start at the top of the body and glue the first tab.
• Let it dry.
• Then glue the neck tab and also let it dry.
• Then work alternate tabs, letting each dry, aligning the neck as each tab is glued.
• The end result should be a nice matching of the neck to the body.

Picture 4 – This shows the neck area where the slits were made on the body, after the neck has been attached. The “workaround” is not visible!

Picture 5– This shows the body with neck attached, and the loose tail cone visible inside.

PART 2 below is a continuation of this section of the build.

[Kevin WS]

PART 2

The tail cone is now attached.

• Run glue all around the inside of the rear body.
• Then using tweezers, insert these into the rear of the body, grab the tip of the tail cone, rotate it to the right position and slowly pull it out.
• Ensure it is aligned as you pull it out – the centre join should match up with the centre join on the bottom of the body.
• Continue to pull out the tail until it is aligned and then hold it for the glue to "grab".
• Wipe off any excess glue.
• Use a skewer or dental probe through the neck to ensure the surfaces inside are all touching.

Picture 1 – The body with the tail cone attached.

Lastly, the tail needs to be inserted.

• Carefully wiggle the tail into the body from the end.
• Be patient and do this slowly, flexing the tail as required.
• Once in place, pull the tail back out a bit, apply glue around the edge and then push it back into place.
• Let the glue "grab', and then wipe off any excess.
• Check the alignment and let it dry.

Pictures 2 to 4 – The completed body at this stage.

[gotham]

Loving the build, and theinstructions. This isn't a quick throw together.

[eatcrow2]

Outstanding write-up w/photos of the construction process!

[Don Boose]

The body turned out perfectly.

Don

[SCEtoAUX]

Still looks good.
That method of attaching the tail is how I try to do in similar situations. I use some plastic toothpicks that are flattened at each end to apply glue so I sometimes pry up the outer part and apply glue under it and spread it out a bit. Using Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue helps since you do not have apply pressure to the parts for as long a time before they are secured together. You have to make sure of the positioning, though.

[Kevin WS]

Thanks Neil, Don, Eatcrow.

Doug - your tip on glueing the tail is good. For this, and for applying all my glue in general, I use dental picks as well.

To get positioning right, I dry fit a lot, and one trick I use for anything difficult is to make small pencil marks so I can locate the part accurately when actually glueing. I then quickly remove the marks with a damp earbud while the glue is drying - I vanish all my models before I cut them out, and the varnish makes the pencil marks easy to remove.

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By the way - had a close one today - nearly squashed the body by mistake!

[whulsey]

Excellent work there, Kevin.