An old Walrus coming to life...Matchbox 1/72 kit.

[rtfoe]

More details...as mentioned the engine had to be given attention first so even paint was applied. It will be easier to touch up then paint when the fuselage and wings are joined.



The rigging was secured with super glue or cyno and extra bits cut off.



From this angle you will see how tight the working area is so pre-planning helped.



Cheers,
Richard

 

[Lee Drennen]

Richard
I’m enjoying this build a lot very nice work

 

[colin m]

I have a bit of a soft spot for old Matchbox kits. So, to see one being built is always pleasing. But to see this level of detail being added is something else. I built the same Matchbox kit some years ago, it's a nice kit, but do seem to remember the engine is off set, or was that only the real thing ?

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Lee and Colin. Glad you both like it.

Colin, Matchbox got it right on this one by having the engine offset by a few degrees. The four propeller blades creates quite a torque so the offset was to counter this. The plans on the sea planes site show this and mentions it as well.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Now you see why this was tackled first. It would have been difficult to add the rigging once the wings are in place.



All was needed now was to mask it while I continued with the rest of the plane.



Canopy fit tested after the filling was sanded. Plans were underway to slide it open in all three sides.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

I concentrated on the right wing next and did the rigging attaching them to the bottom half of the upper wing...



Once tension was achieved I super glued them down and attached the top of the wing...



Then it was mainly to glue the right wing onto the fuselage. My mistake here was not to pay attention to the plans as the Walrus upper wing did not have a dehydral. It should have been straight. The bottom wing does have a dehydral.



Didn't correct it as having done so would need to re-rig the lines.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Really making this old kit into something special. Fastening off the rigging between the top and bottom wing parts is excellent forward planning. Was that approach in the instructions?
Jim

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Great work on the rigging Richard .

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Ralph and Jim,

Hi Richard
Really making this old kit into something special. Fastening off the rigging between the top and bottom wing parts is excellent forward planning. Was that approach in the instructions?
Jim

I wish Jim...if only aircraft instruction sheets with rigging are like sailing ship kits that pre instruct how the rigging should go.

Here's more of the build...before I proceeded with the folding wing mechanism I deepened the hinge notches on the wing tip flaps.



The wing folds were operated by levers that released the lock. I drew these on the computer and printed them out as tracings for the cut outs from plastic sheet. I drilled the holes first before cutting them.



These were fastened to the edges and secured with a short piece of rod. Pre-drilled holes and plastic strip made up the rest of the detail.



A close up but not very clear shot of the assembly.



The wingroot joint recieved a thin lip and hollowed tubing plus the drilled hole. The hole is for the wire that would hold the wings together and form the main hinge.



The main hinge were two quarter moon shaped discs sandwiching the exposed bent wire.



You can see on the upper wing the piece of plastic strip covering the slot for the wing connection.
The levers were pulled down when the wings were in place for flight. Here they are in the open position. Thanks for looking in guys.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

...if only aircraft instruction sheets with rigging are like sailing ship kits that pre instruct how the rigging should go.

I thought that.
The hinge is a wonderful bit of scratching.
Jim

 

[Lee Drennen]

Very impressive Rigging your doing this guy justice Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Lee and Jim, I'm glad you like the hinge and rigging progress.

Some extra detail went into the rear or gunners hatch. The kit part came solid so I cut it and added clear perspex for the window. It also had resting latch I made from thin copper wire.



I extended the back of the hatch with part of the slide rail mount. I created the continous lip on the perspex and masked it .



The hatch dry fitted onto the rail.



Earlier on I did the flap thinking it was a working part but found that it only had hinges to fold it up when the wings were folded for stowage. If it wasn't folded it would prevent the wing from closing. I punched the copper strips with a steel needle to simulate screws.



I cut the wing leading edge to make forward lights with a piece of clear sprue. Sanded it flush, polished and masked it. This step should have been done before assembling the wings so it wasn't an easy task cuttin and shaping.



The solid tail section of the rudder tail wheel was cut and replaced with sprue and plastic strip.



The clear canopy cut outs were replaced with clear perspex and masked. The corner guide rails were two equal length strips glued at right angles along the edge. You will notice a drilled hole on the wheel hub...this would be access to the tire nipple valve.



I think most of the exterior details are done apart from the wing lights that still needs sanding which we will now proceed to priming.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Hi, just before the priming, necessary masking of the individual areas of concern were done with masking tape and wet tissue.
A layer of interior green was applied to the clear parts to assimilate painted frame work in the cockpit.



Then Gunze 1200 grey primer was sprayed in one thin coat just enough to to get an all round even tone and for paint to bite in later.



I sprayed over the zinc chromate as the reference showed the lower wing root on the fuselage was the same color as the body.



Everything else was covered with primer





All was set aside as I mixed up a batch of extra thinned Gunze black for pre-shading. Basically 10 to 20 percent paint and the rest is thinner.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Pre-shading...boring...but necessary and more controllable than post shading.



Extra black remaining was used to paint the wheels, engine block and propeller hub.



The effests of the pre-shading is apparent and subtle under a coat of paint in this case I used thin layers of Tamiya Sky.



Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Blu tac masking like worms...Walrus mummy...



Cheers,
Richard

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Doing a super job with this Richard .

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Ralph, appreciate your comments. I believe the Walrus isn't a fast jet or the kit isn't the latest but it has its own character and the build challenging. I hope many would try these old kits as they're quite fun to build.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[JR]

Beautiful !

 

[colin m]

Looking very nice Richard. I'm very interested in your rigging method. I've always rigged after spraying, which can cause problems as sometimes the CA glue can mark the paint. Your method avoids that problem nicely.

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks John and Colin,
The rigging process works best if you have wing halves...when you don't it's best to secure from the top down so you can touch up after it exits the bottom wing which is less visible and the paint is always one color.

With the wormy mask removed the camo is revealed. I must have mixed up the paint lids as I swore the green was supposed to be darker.



Anyway it's done...just checking the wing fold fit again



I also removed the masking for the canopy top which is posed sled back. The front canopy top had some paint creeping in but settled with a sharp tooth pick.



Fitted the radial engine and propeller. You can see the shade difference of the two blacks...gloss for the engine hub and matt for the propeller.



Everything looking good so far...at this point I wished It was a 1/48 scaled kit because the defence armament would have been more detailed.

Cheers,
Richard