Jakko’s 1:48 Tamiya Brewster B-339 Buffalo

[Jakko]

Looks like your having your work cut out with this one

Isn’t it always like that? Advanced modeller syndrome, really … Once that cockpit is done, the rest of the plane should be a quick and easy job, I think.

Wait, that’s not entirely true. I just remembered that I will also need to sand down the back of the resin engine I showed at the start, because there’s a pour plug about a millimetre thick on it that means it won’t fit correctly in the cowling. A task I’m not looking forward to, let me tell you. I might end up taking that wall inside the fuselage out instead.

 

[Lee Drennen]

Jakko. Nice progress

 

[SimonT]

It looks like they made each piece in isolation and never tried assembling them!

You would expect someone to have actually built it before they released it to the market

1mm pour block will soon sand off - bit of wet and dry on a flat surface and just move the part in circles turning it as you sand to keep things even

 

[Jakko]

It looks like they made each piece in isolation and never tried assembling them!

That’s a very good thought … it does indeed almost look that way, that they only fitted individual parts to the Tamiya kit but never the whole thing put together.

1mm pour block will soon sand off - bit of wet and dry on a flat surface and just move the part in circles turning it as you sand to keep things even

That’s what I intend to try first, but I’m not sure it’ll work all that well due to the size of the part. It’s an almost-round shape of about 25 mm × 30 mm and the plug (on measuring) turns out to be 1.5 mm thick. If I don’t see much progress I’ll just remove the fuselage wall and glue in some blocks just behind it to support the engine.

Now, where did I leave that piece of MDF I glued a sheet of wet-and-dry sandpaper to …?

 

[SimonT]

Hi Jakko,

Another method is to scrape with the side of a straight blade, as you would with plastic

I use this method quite a lot - removes material quite rapidly and without creating dust, just shavings

You can always scrape then finish of with a light sand at the end

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Advanced modeller syndrome, really … Once that cockpit is done, the rest of the plane should be a quick and easy job, I think.

I agree with you on that Jakko, the pit seems to take an age, painting bits, fiting bits, painting other bits, detailing & weathering. Once that's all done the rest of the build part seems to go quite quickly.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Despite all the issues you're making good progress. I'm sure it will look good and be worth the effort and hopefully the frustration.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

Another method is to scrape with the side of a straight blade, as you would with plastic

I’m under the impression that the shape and size I’m talking about, isn’t quite coming across Here’s a photo of the part and its pour plug:



Removing pour plugs with a knife by cutting, scoring and scraping is my normal method for all but large and wide plugs, exactly because it doesn’t create dust. Here, though, I don’t really see that as a viable option I also appear to have misplaced my sanding board. Despite looking for it this afternoon I can’t find it anywhere.

I agree with you on that Jakko, the pit seems to take an age, painting bits, fiting bits, painting other bits, detailing & weathering. Once that's all done the rest of the build part seems to go quite quickly.

Exactly, it’s a lot of fiddly stuff that seems to take forever and you’ll never see most of it

Despite all the issues

It’s all just minor things, really. It appears a lot worse than it actually is for the reason I just mentioned. The True Details cockpit set is pretty good, but it could have done with slightly more thought being put into it and its instructions.

frustration

Nothing frustrating about this one so far Just little things that are all easy enough to solve. I still kind of intend to buy a Kitty Hawk OV-10 Bronco to see if it really is as frustrating as has been claimed on this forum …

 

[SimonT]

Perfectly doable Jakko - no cutting or scoring required

Just scrape - if blade doesn’t go right across use a slight angle and take it down in a shallow cone shape

I have even been known to use the edge of a steel rule - bit of a misuse of tools but it works

 

[Ian M]

Having built a good few aircraft with a heap of resin cockpits and seats, I too am wondering about my sanity along with that of the people that produce these sets.
Some of the casting blocks are crazy to get off of thined down enough to work.
As good as the it looks when done, you close up the fuselage and think, (well I do), that was a wast of time. An enjoyable one though.
You are doing a great job so far so keep plugging away at it.

 

[JR]

Jakko.
Seeing this I can see why I stick to tanks at least I have mud to help.
There seems to be no quality standards to adhere to for model manufacturer's, I get the impression that " near enough " will do from a lot of these smaller aftermarket suppliers .

 

[Jakko]

I have even been known to use the edge of a steel rule - bit of a misuse of tools but it works

I tried that, and though it gets the edges off (which are of course raised a bit due to capillary action of the liquid resin in the mould) I couldn’t really get beyond that because the engine is very difficult to hold while scraping the back with a steel rule. Still, this made the edges flatter so they’ll fit more easily to replacement supports if I take out the inner wall

Having built a good few aircraft with a heap of resin cockpits and seats, I too am wondering about my sanity along with that of the people that produce these sets.

Same I normally don’t overly bother with detailing cockpits, since little of it will be visible anyway, but for this one I decided to splash out. TBH, I think I would rather have added a bit of detail to the Tamiya parts using the photos of the real cockpit I linked to earlier.

As good as the it looks when done, you close up the fuselage and think, (well I do), that was a wast of time.

And same here too. That’s why I don’t see the point at all for the 1:72 scale aircraft I usually build, but this being 1:48 I thought I’d give it a try. I probably won’t in future, if I build one in this scale again.

Seeing this I can see why I stick to tanks at least I have mud to help.

Luckily, AFVs are my main area too

There seems to be no quality standards to adhere to for model manufacturer's, I get the impression that " near enough " will do from a lot of these smaller aftermarket suppliers .

I have no other experience with cockpit sets, but this is a new experience in resin for me in that it’s both well-executed (good detail, quality casting) and poorly done (fragile parts, unclear instructions and locations) at the same time. Most resin kits or sets I’ve used over the years have either been good or poor overall, not both at the same time.

 

[rtfoe]

Jakko, patience is the key bro. You're doing fine. I would use my sprue cutter to chip away at the thick pouring blocks...then sand the remainder. That part is the back of the engine firewall..if it doesn't interfere with what's inside I would just leave it.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jakko]

The problem is that it does interfere: the engine is supposed to go against an internal wall moulded inside the fuselage, but the 1.5 mm of resin at the back of the part pushes it too far forward. Far enough, in fact, that the front cowling won’t fit properly because its locating pins hit the engine.

 

[rtfoe]

Ooh then its cutting then. Normally these manufacturers have testes their product but just before making the mold they may have added the extra but for easy pouring and access to removing from the mold. Thats where the problem starts.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Jakko]

What it needs is more model methods of casting, I suppose. Of course, that’s more expensive than a simple, open mould, which is probably why they still use it.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hey jakko, do you have a scribing cutter?
If you scribe deep parallel groove s across the surface of the block you can then chisel them away one at a time with a knife

 

[Jakko]

I do, but chipping away at it a bit at a time is going to be far more work than cutting out the fuselage wall Now I just need to get around to doing that …

 

[Jakko]

Here’s the fuselage wall removed:



I just cut into it with cutters and scored along where it joins the outer fuselage, then snapped off the pieces. All that remained was some clean-up.

This revealed that the forward part of the fuselage, in front of the wall, is thinner than behind it, so there’s an automatic ridge to glue the engine to (this is also why I left bits of the wall remaining). Once the engine is in, I plan to add some reinforcing strip or rod behind it.

Talking of the engine:



I drilled a hole for the propeller shaft, but unfortunately it ended up slightly off-centre. Nothing to be done about that, I suppose, so I’ll just have to live with it. The resin part comes without pushrods or wiring. I’ve added the former from 0.5 mm plastic rod, and am still trying to work out how to do the wiring without it being too much work. This is what it should end up looking like:

(Wikipedia)

 

[SimonT]

You could always grind out the rest of the hole to that outer ring and then sleeve it with some tubing to get the hole central again