SLOEGIN BUILDS - LUFTWAFFE ?

[sloegin57]

2nd MAY 2009

PAINTING AND DETAILING – THE COCKPIT
Once the practice session was over with the new equipment, which, despite an initial nervousness, I found quite easy to use, once I had digested the instructions for both, I sprayed the cockpit tub RLM 66 and then it was time to consider how much “dressing” would be required in the cockpit to give it that “busy”, “untidy” look. Hitler’s Luftwaffe used colour codes for various bits of plumbing: - yellow for fuel, brown for oil, green for coolant, blue for air and oxygen and red for fire extinguisher pipe works. Checking the photographs of the restored aircraft at Silver Hill, I noted that although very few of the colour coded pipes were visible in the cockpit, the cables for the instruments were and a sort of fawn colour. In my collection of bits and pieces picked up over the years “maybe useful for something”, I had a roll of very thin electrical wire which seemed to fit the bill nicely. I figured that using different coloured wires, different coloured only to break up a monotonous black, twisted together at one end and secured with superglue, I could secure the twisted end out of sight under the open end of the left console and, teasing the wires apart, secure each one to the back of an instrument. I could do a similar thing with the periscope this time tucking the twisted end under the box. What I was trying to make is what is called in 1:1 aircraft engineering, a Loom.

My first attempt at making a loom turned into a complete disaster. I have no idea what the outer coloured sheath on the wire is made of but superglue will not touch it. I even tried tying the twisted ends together with Lycra thread and when that failed – ordinary cotton and then super gluing. That didn’t work as when I did a trial fit in the cockpit, everything came apart. I then figured that if I bared the ends of the wires by stripping off the outer sheath, superglue would surely stick to copper. Now I have no idea what the outer sheath is made of, but it is as tough as old boots and yet the wire is less than .5mm thick. I’ll have to come back to that problem.

So I decided to do some decaling whilst the little grey cells sorted out the loom problem in the background. It was then that I realised that I had made a boo-boo!


The Instructions clearly state, through drawings and words, that the Cockpit tub, Part T13, should be painted, detailed and decaled BEFORE it is attached to the forward lower fuselage shells. I hadn’t and with all the fiddly bits and pieces in place, control column, seat etc it became apparent that I was going to have the devils own job getting the decals in place particularly with the lip of the lower fuselage in the way. Luck must have smiled at least three times on me as, with the control column and seat getting in the way, I managed to get the two side console decals and the decal on to part T7, the vertical instrument panel, without breaking anything off. After that getting the tiny decal on to the centre boss of the control column seemed a breeze. If you’ll take my advice when building this model – follow the damned instructions!! Fortunately, the decals provided are very thin and they are also very tough. From all the fiddling around with a scalpel tip, a fine brush and tweezers to get them in place, not one tear resulted. Furthermore, the decal on the left console, the console with not one, but two sets of throttles, snuggled down very nicely without the use of decal setting solution.


The decals that go on to the serrated instrument panel, Part T9 are tiny, less that 1mm square. They have, in common with the rest of the decals on the sheet quite a large varnish overlay. This has to be trimmed away in order that it will fit the instrument panel without surplus varnish over hanging the edges. I used a curved scalpel and, with the decal on the kitchen tile, I carefully “rolled” the blade across the edges of the decal. They also have a white backing and putting them in place is where the 5X magnifying glass comes into its own.

Whilst the decals were drying, I touched up a couple of details. The seat straps I gave a thin wash of Flat Dark Tan (FS30219) and the arm rest leathers I gave a couple of coats of Flat Light Earth (FS30117) both from my Pactra Acrylics range.

The loom problem was eventually solved by the simple expediency of very carefully and whilst holding my breath, drilling four small holes in the forward face of the periscope “box”. I was initially going to use black covered cable but in order to provide a bit of colour, used deep orange. Four bits were cut and pushed into the holes. The other ends were then pushed under the box and out of the way. It didn’t matter if they were visible as that would simulate a “run” of cable going back to somewhere else on the aircraft. I had noticed whilst looking through the Monogram book, that the restoration had light grey plugs at the ends of the cables and pipe work. To seal the ends of the cables and simulate the plugs I applied, with the point of a very fine brush, fairly thick acrylic light grey paint. Similarly, the pipe work and cables running from the instrument panel to underneath the console were, as I have said, a fawn colour and appeared to be of the flexible armoured type. This was simulated by use of a tan thread sealed with a Matt varnish to prevent the threads from showing and fixed to the back of the instruments with super glue. A small dab of thick light grey paint to simulate the plugs again, was applied and it also serves the useful purpose of covering the joint.

A dab of Matt Black paint to the end of the periscope to simulate the rubber eye piece and applied elsewhere to tidy up a few bits and pieces and that was it. I was not going to fiddle with it any more. I had two more simple jobs to do before packing it in for the day and that would be it.


The instrument panel, part T9 that I had painted and decaled earlier fits into the nose glazing, Part V4. Once that was glued into place using “Glue n’ Glaze” I could consider the day quite successful. I was also going to put some bezels on to a few of the instruments that were easy to get to.


But Lady Luck, so helpful with the decaling and wiring in the past had, by this time, definitely gone walkabout. On opening the packet containing Sprue V, which contains the main cockpit glazing, I immediately noticed that Part V4 has a line running down from top to bottom. So precisely in the centre of V4 is this line that I initially thought that it must be a panel line. A couple of hours going through the reference material have now convinced me that it should not be there. If it had been on the inside then I would have left it and waffled my way through if anyone had queried it. But it’s on the outside and it’s going to have to come off.

I am not looking forward to that.

[Julien]

Looking good!

Julien

[Paul Senter]

Looks absolutely stunning - dont know how you can cope with 1/72. I have enough problems with 1/48. What paints you using?

Paul

[sloegin57]

Julien,
thanks for that - hopefully when finished will look even better - PS this is one aircraft that I don't have any photos of !!

Paul,
Sorry to disillusion you but the kit is the new Hasegawa C-3 in 1/48th with bits in for a C-4. Even so, the parts are tiny. As regards doing one in 72nd - like you I would struggle, unlike you, I would not even attempt it !!. Paints used are Lifecolour plus my old faithful Pactra Acrylics that must be at least 12 years old but still thoroughly useable.

Popeye
Rolf - PM inbound - sorry for the delay.

All,
Write up in the PC, pix taken - Attending a Model Railway Exhibition this weekend with the Club and after Scots Nats at Perth and a trip to Dundee - the Debit Card is staying at home :-

(unless I see something that I really must have, but did not know it until I see it !!).

Next write up - Monday - please note that I have not said which one !!

Dennis

[Paul Senter]

Kit

Have a look at the attached link - just updated the thread with details of the 234V7 you were after.

ipmsuk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pr&action=display&thread=3075

Hope the link works - if not its the 'Ar234 Trolley' thread

Paul

[sloegin57]

10TH MAY 2009

CAMERAS AND CAMERA BAY, MAIN LANDING GEAR AND GEAR BAYS

CAMERAS AND THE CAMERA BAY
The camera installation consists of some 16 parts, including the bulkhead, most of which are on Sprue K. Some of the parts are tiny and I found it imperative to follow the Instructions exactly as each piece is slightly different. Once assembled, the camera installation was sprayed RLM 02 and when dry the whole was lightly weathered. I did not install the camera lens at this time.

Hasegawa call for RLM 02 to be applied to the sidewalls of the camera bay, which I did initially but looking at the few photos of the bay and from what I know of other aircrafts camera bays, I decided to spray the walls Matt Black. Not satisfied with the resulting “bland” appearance of the bay with the cameras temporarily fitted, I washed as much of the paint of as I could – leaving a bit of a mess. With the cameras temporarily installed it became obvious that the bay need a bit more detailing as there was quite a large empty gap around them. From thin strips of plastic card I cut stringers and glued them in place. A spray of matt black and the whole thing looked a lot better. The only other detailing I added were two red “electrical cables” to remotely operate the cameras which ran from the front bulkhead to what looked like a “socket” on the camera body. As with the cockpit, the “plugs” were painted Dark Grey. The camera “pack” was then mounted into the fuselage half, a bit of tweaking being required to get all the struts into the holes.



Hasegawa provide two parts to fit over the ventral camera bay. A solid, Part U1 with two rearward facing guns, for use if the basic kit is modelled as a C-3 variant and a transparent one Part M4, for use with the C-4 version. The latter was removed from the man Sprue and with a small tab of Sprue remaining to hold in the tweezers; the camera ports were masked on both the inside of the transparency and on the outside. The part was then given a good spray of Matt Black followed, when dry by a spray of RLM 76 Light Blue. Once cured, the masking on the inside of Part M4 was removed.




LANDING GEAR AND LANDING GEAR BAYS
The landing gear bays in the kit look like scaled down versions of the full sized article. It is a pity therefore that most of the detail is hidden, when looked at from the outside, by the small wheel well.
The main landing gear bay on the restored example at Silver Hill has a tannish colour. This had been found during the restoration and faithfully matched. I did the two main landing gear bays a similar colour by mixing Tan, Red and Black until it looked sort of right, the legs and struts were sprayed RLM02 which, in the event, provided a nice contrast. All were given a thin wash of acrylic dark grey followed by dry brushing black and silver. In fact, I “dirtied” the bay rather that “weathered” it. The oleo portion of the legs were represented by strips of kitchen foil cut to size and secured by superglue at one end, the strip then being wrapped around the leg a couple of times and finally secured again with superglue. The Ar234 had hydraulic brakes, the pipe work for which ran down the front of the leg. I simulated this with a piece of thin wire super glued to the top of the leg and run down to the axle. To represent the “clamps” that held the pipe to the leg, I tied three pieces of cotton black thread, treated with bees wax to prevent fraying, around the leg and the pipe work. The resulting knot in the thread was positioned inboard to keep it clear of “public view”. The lower part of the pipe that went over the anti-shimmy links was carefully painted matt black to represent it being flexible and made of rubber. The landing gear bays have locating pips and holes on the inside faces so care must be taken to align the bays correctly when fitting them in to their respective fuselage halves. This was accomplished with a bit of a fiddle to get the legs through the relatively small holes in the fuselage halves.



With the cameras and landing gear legs fitted the last thing to do was to fit some weight in the front of the fuselage halves to prevent a “tail sitter”. Hasegawa suggest 20g. I just chopped up some spare lead from a roof repair and Araldited the bits in place.

Twenty four hours later, with the Araldite cured the fuselage halves were put together and glued. I have notice that the fit of the parts in this kit is, to say the least, exemplary, particularly as the cross section of the fuselage is squareish but, and if care is taken, very little cleaning up will be required. So Far, the only complaint that I have with this kit is the fact that the parts are scattered throughout the sprues. No doubt there is a very valid moulding/production reason for this – but it is a little bit annoying.

WHEELS
I treated these as I normally do. Once the two halves are stuck together, each wheel is mounted on a cocktail stick and chucked in my Dremel tool. I should point out here that I operate the Dremel from a small Step Down Transformer giving me 112 Volts as opposed to the hefty 220V in the UK. This was a trick that I learned whilst working in the Middle East where the mains systems are all 112 Volts. I found, and find to this day, that the Dremel is much more controllable at lower voltages. Anyway – each wheel was spun up and the joint sanded with 600 grade. I left the sanding marks on to simulate tyre wear and sprayed each wheel matt black overall. The following morning, when the paint had cured, I once again mounted each wheel in the Dremel tool and, with the tool rotating quite slowly and by using a cut down soft brush I keep for the purpose, I “polished” the wheel hubs. As only the raised surfaces were “polished” with lower areas still matt black this gave the hub “depth” and it required no further treatment. Whilst the wheel was still rotating I loaded a small soft brush with grey chalk powder and applied this to the tyre area. Whilst still rotating, the tyres were finished off by applying brown chalk powder to the “tread” of the tyre, i.e. the area in contact with the ground during normal operations. On some wheels in the past, I have applied small amounts of green chalk powder to simulate grass picked up whilst taxiing. I have no problem with the chalk dust coming off when handling the wheels, as the action of the brush loaded with dust effectively “grinds” the chalk dust into the painted surface. Finally, a small loop of black wire was super glued onto the inside of the hub to represent the brake line. The wheels will not be fitted until the model is completed but the nose wheel was fitted to its leg – one job less.



With that, it was time to turn my attention to the top cover for the camera bay and to simulate the access hatches in the “open/removed” position.

[COLIN SHIPTON-KNIGHT]

Dennis,

Well done, marvellous work........

I could watch it all day long.

Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh.

Colin

[sloegin57]

21st MAY 2009


CAMERA HATCH
The top hatch for the camera bay, Part M1 is a transparency and obviously designed by Hasegawa to be fitted as is and used to illustrate the installation. Now transparent polystyrene is usually quite brittle due to its nature and I approached the removing to two “access panels” with a bit of trepidation. I need not have worried as the job went particularly well – so well in fact that I forgot to take photographs of each stage so retrospectively, I have made up a series of sequential diagrams using a photograph of Part M1. I hope I’ve made it clear enough.



The procedure was fairly straightforward. At the corner of each panel but slightly inboard, I drilled a 1mm “pilot “hole". With my scalpel and a straight edge, I then scribed a line diagonally across the panel. Where the lines crossed, I drilled another 1mm “pilot” hole. These “pilot” holes are important as drilling a larger hole could quite easily cause the transparent, hence brittle, panel to crack beyond repair.

I then selected a drill with a diameter such that an arc on the circumference of the drill matched the curved corner of the panel. With the drill in the Dremel Tool and the Tool in a Drill Press and set to a slow speed, I drilled out the four corners and the centre hole. In order to finally line up the holes with the curve of the panel corners, I adjusted the holes by use of a round smooth file.

I then mounted a large tapered burr in the Dremel and with it still in the Drill Press, opened up the centre hole until it just touched the four corner holes. Using the burr as a router I removed as much plastic from the sides of the opening as I dared. It was then some time consuming work with a flat file to take the material back to the straight edges of the opening. Final cleaning up was accomplished by use of a homemade Micromesh file with a strip of Micromesh grade 3200 glued to a stirring stick, a “few” of which I liberated from a local Tesco’s cafe – well – “Every little helps”.

(For those of you reading this in foreign parts such as Europe – that is the current slogan of a UK based Supermarket – the coffee is c**p but the stirring sticks are useful!)

The areas on which panels sit on full sized aircraft are known as “lands” or sometimes “seats”. They normally contain the anchor nuts to which the panel will be screwed and/or a bed of sealant to prevent what is called “chattering” caused by the panel vibrating against the land/structure during flight. This is where you get your oil streaks and general muck coming from – we modellers call it “weathering”.

The “lands”, on which the panels on the model would sit, were made up from thin pieces of plastic card cut slightly oversize so that they could eventually be glued to the inside of Part M1. A square was marked out on the lands 2mm less than the opening in Part M1 giving a 1mm seat for the panels all round. This time the radii in the corners were punched out using my punch and die set. The holes were then joined by several light cuts and the surplus plastic removed. Gentle cleaning up with my home made micromesh “file” almost finished the job. These were then glued in place carefully centring them and left overnight to cure. The final construction job, if you can call it that, and with reference to the Monogram Monarch book, prior to painting, was to drill sixteen .5mm holes in the “lands”, cleaning them up and slightly opening them with the tip of a round file. Unfortunately, the cleaning up with the round file spoilt my nice straight edges.



To make up the access panels, I sandwiched a piece of foil from the top of a coffee tin between two pieces of thin plastic card making up a total depth of 1mm, this being the thickness of the Part M1. I used Evostick to join the sandwich together for two reasons. 1) Evostick remains flexible when cured and I needed the flexibility to shape the panels later and 2), the Evostick together with the metal foil sandwich “filling” would ensure that the panels kept their shape. The panels measured 13mm x 13mm. These were carefully cut out and the corners lightly “clipped”. Rounding off was achieved with a small file and the panels curved by rolling a craft knife handle over them on the kitchen tile. A test fit showed a bit more trimming and filing was required until they dropped into the access holes and produced a flush fit.

To replicate the screw holes, I temporarily taped the panels into their respective positions and partially back drilled them through the holes in the lands just enough to mark the plastic. Drilling through was completed on removal from Part M1.

Just to see how my efforts had turned out I decided to paint the parts in advance of the mass painting spree planned for later. The three parts were given a couple of thin coats of RLM 02 which appears to have been a general interior colour. When dry, the panels were taped again to Part M4 and the interior sprayed Matt Black, Part M4 acting as its own “mask” to the panels to give a bit of variety. Whilst I had Matt Black in the airbrush, I gave the jet pipes a good coating – no use in wasting good paint is there!

(Afterthought: - having looked at the panels in the “cold light of dawn”, I must admit that I am not too happy with them so I may well have another go when I get back from my hols.)

And if anyone suggests that I make 1.48th scale screws to fix them in place - fergit it, I’ve gone fer enough !.


ENGINES



The engine parts are scattered across four different sprues but instead of following the instructions, I elected to remove all the parts from the sprues and laid them out in their positions as per the plan. I am now quite pleased that I did.

I had already decided that the nacelles, the fuselage adjacent to the nacelles and most part of the wing were to be painted prior to final assembly as getting masking tape and more importantly, the airbrush into those areas once the model was complete, was going to be difficult in the extreme. Painting each part prior to assembly may not seem so strange as full size aircraft have it done all the time and, with some notable exceptions, the fit of the parts in the kit is so good that very little cleaning up is required. I glued the two engine nacelle halves together and, once cured, the joints did need a little cleaning up but only with 1500 grade Micromesh.

The “notable exceptions” are the fronts of the engine nacelles and to a lesser degree, the jet pipes. Looking closely at these parts and the wing it seems to me that the moulds and the mouldings were made in a different part of Hasegawa’s Empire. There is a distinct difference in the shade of grey of the plastic used for both. Having said that, the fit of the nacelles to the wings is exemplary and I found it possible to dry fit them together and lifting the wing up without either nacelle falling off.

I dealt with the four intake assemblies first. Each assembly comprises three parts all numbered the same on the plan. The intake trunking (Part U3) contains the intake bullet (Part U8), which I believe on the full sized aircraft contained a starter motor. Once assembled, the intake trunking is the attached to the intake lip, Part U12 and all four slid into the engine nacelles and this is where I came across a bit of a problem.



The resulting holes in the front of the nacelles that take the intake trunking are off centre in the top part of the nacelle, as well as being too small, so that when the intakes are fitted, they are “thrown off to one side. This is compounded by the fact that the intake lips appear to be a tad too small. The holes in the front of the nacelles were easily solved by running the tip of the scalpel around the holes until the trunking was a “loose” fit. All that remained then was to line up the intake lips on the front of the nacelle, glue, and whilst still moveable, adjust the position of the intake until a minimum of cleaning up was required and allowed to cure.

But that was all in the future. Detailing the piece parts that went to make up the four engines came first. After a small thinned drop of black paint was put into the hole on the tip of the intake bullet, it was painted aluminium. Photographs of the full sized object appear to show that the bullet was manufactured first by pressing out the shape and then spinning it in a lathe to obtain the final smooth finish.



To paint all four bullets, I mounted them on cocktail sticks and, as per the wheels, spun them in the Dremel Tool and applied Matt Aluminium Enamel from the Xtracolor range by brush. This gave me an even coating without going to the bother of spraying enamel paint – something I will avoid like the plague if possible. Whilst still in the Dremel Tool and still spinning, SNJ Aluminium powder was applied by brush, the whole being polished up by use of a cotton bud. Klear was then applied in the same manner to seal the whole in place.

The intake trunking, Part U3 was given a simple wash of light grey which when it had settled and dried emphasised the turbine blades deep within the recess. Getting Part U8, the intake bullet, into Part U3 poses a problem as the trunking is about twice as deep as the bullet is long. Dropping it in does not work as it leans off to one side. Fitting it was achieved by a small amount of blu-tak on the end of a cocktail stick attached to the nose of the bullet, a drop of superglue on the other end and sliding the bullet into the intake trunking and wriggling it into place before the superglue “grabs” hold. Four times that needed to be done and four times I was lucky.



The tail cones of the four engines comprise seven parts each, the two turbine outlets, Part S4, being one moulding to which the parts for two engines are attached. The outlet cones (Part R5) which, on the full sized aircraft I understand controlled the thrust, are really the only parts visible sticking out, as they do, from the tail cone (Part T1). The turbine area, Part S4 and Parts S£ were brush painted dull aluminium. I treated the exhaust cones, Parts R5, the same as the intake cone with the exception that these were spun in the Dremel and painted matt black followed by brown, green and aluminium chalk powder ground in by brush and polished with a cotton bud. Klear sealed the whole.
Once assembled, the outlet cones were masked with kitchen foil and the jet pipes sprayed Matt Black.

Assembling the intakes was as described above. Some filler was eventually required, right in positions I did not want it but careful cleaning up and final polishing produced an acceptable result.

With the camera hatch and the engines assembled, it was time to think about painting the major assemblies. Due to the excellence of the mouldings, apart from the afore mentioned nacelles, very little cleaning up will be required when they are joined. The areas adjacent to the joints will not be painted until after final assembly.

Before that, however, it is time to check back through the Sprues and see if I have missed anything. Already, and only because I scanned the engine assembly into the computer, I have missed four tiny parts for the nacelles. Once done, I am going on my hols – to the depths of deepest Lincolnshire not far from Spalding - anyone know of a Model Shop there??

See you in June.

[COLIN SHIPTON-KNIGHT]

Dennis,

I am in awe of this.....

Superb work.

Look forward to next episode, and the day when we get to see the model in the flesh......

Good Hols...

Colin

[sloegin57]

May 21, 2009 19:45:19 GMT COLIN SHIPTON-KNIGHT said:

Dennis,

I am in awe of this.....

Superb work.

Look forward to next episode, and the day when we get to see the model in the flesh......

Good Hols...

Colin

Thanks Colin,

Appreciate your comments. First outing will be Telford - I intend to make it this year plus a couple of PR9's et al. Busy retirement this modelling lark!!!. - d**n good fun though !!

Dennis.

[popeye]

Dennis,

- amazing, rivetting and inspiring -
made me pull the Dragon 1/72nd kit from the stash just to check again and imagine when I might start with it !

Have a nice holiday.

Rolf

[Paul Senter]

Dennis

Completely engrossed. Really cant wait to start my V7. Looking forward to the next installment.

Paul

[popeye]

Dennis,

still holidaying

Don' tell me - I know we retirees are short on time but it's been a long time since the last step on the 234 .......

pondering if I should challenge you with another build report

Rolf

[sloegin57]

Jul 2, 2009 9:39:12 GMT popeye said:

Dennis,

still holidaying

Don' tell me - I know we retirees are short on time but it's been a long time since the last step on the 234 .......

pondering if I should challenge you with another build report

Rolf

Apologies All - spent an extra week in Lincs which has thrown the schedule out a tad.

Next epistle, in draft, will be a long sorry tale based on "Sods Law" which states if something can go wrong it will go wrong and that if it will go wrong it will go wrong at the most inopportune time.

Briefly:-
1 The cockpit don't fit
2 I've stripped the wing of paint three times
3 I have a PR9 mainplane partly painted RLM 81 Braunviolette.

I will explain................... (once I've taken the L i t t l e P i n k P i l l s)

[foxy]

Great work there sloegin57.

As always theres a problem along the line with most kits, but this is great stuff you are showing and building.

Hope the canopies do not deter a very very good article on how to go about building one of these contraptions.

Your explanation on how you are going about the inside and out are not only good for this kit you are building but for many others too.

I to hope to see this model when finished.