The lessons learned, basically, were procedural (I assembled or painted some things second that I should have done first) and detail (I put lots of detail in places that were not visible at all when assembled and didn't detail some places that were visible).
Right now, it's being painted, but here are some process shots.
First is the hollowed out exhaust. It needed it as the original was not very deep. First the basic drilling:
Behind the fuselage, you can see this little guy. It's a hollowed out black sprue.
That's needed to fill the hole, but also add depth. Here, it's glued onto the inside of the fuselage:
Of course, you can't tell the depth from this photo, but it's there.
I also decided to make the control surfaces in non-neutral positions. The ailerons proved impossible, but on all of the photos I checked, they were in the neutral position while the elevators drooped. I didn't have a JLC combo knife so I just used an Xacto. Slowly cutting over and over until the piece came free.
I also decided to put a bit more detail into the wheel wells. Here, I drilled some lightening holes that are in the actual aircraft. I've since added hydraulic lines and a small bulkhead on the airframe.
I also re-worked the rear bulkhead. It was very difficult to find a photo of this section. But, between a few photos of Texans being restored, I managed to get close
Here's a bad shot of the original (those lumps are ammo boxes. Only used on Texans used for bomber gunner training):
and here's the re-built:
I'm really moving slow on this one. Working on my seam filling and other basic stuff. I'd like to get this good enough to take to Valley Con next spring. We'll see. One of the guys in my model club is a very experienced modeler who was a judge at the Nationals this year, so he can pre-judge my work!
Just had a look, you do nice work. I especially like your Bearcat and Corsair. Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to recall reading about some of this stuff on Hyperscale forums or am I wrong about this? Just a couple of critics in regards to the photos.In my opinion photos look the best when they are photographed outside, just make sure not to use a flash.I take mine on my balcony when its cloudy. It's not as pretty as when you take it under sunlight but I feel it reveals the detail better. Plus I discovered that when taking a closeup of a part or model I found it best to take the picture further away so it is in focus and then crop it afterwards on the computer. Especially when dealing with point and shoot cameras. I hope this helps, beautiful workmanship.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about my photography needing work.
ReplyDeleteI've got a good film SLR with a macro lens, but keep putting off shooting my models as I haven't convinced myself they're worth the film.
Good hints on shooting. Next sunny day I'll head out and see what I can get.
And I have been on the HS forums for some things. The disaster with the Siemens-Schuckert came just in time for the 'disasters' theme.
Thanks for the advice and the inspiration.
I watch with bated breath to see what your next project is going to be.
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