Smer 1/72 LeO 451

[wbk666]

I must be a glutton for punishment, another quirky plane to build :D

Clear sprue isnt the best ive seen but isnt the worst either

Decals look nice, hope they are ok because i dont have any spare french ones

the kit comes on 4 sprues that do have a bit of flash

 

[Vajled]

mmm, very nice choice... following with interest

Roman

 

[wbk666]

its an old Heller kit, its still got the name on the inside of the fuselage LOL

 

[wbk666]

the instructions lead us through quite a few small assemblies that look to make a half decent interior, shame i've no crew to put in it

Was that gun REALLY as big as it looks?

I game all the bits a coat in cockpit green and tucked it into bed for the night, hopefully get the details painted tomorrow.

 

[Kressy13]

Interesting looking aircraft. Watching with interest.

 

[treyzx10r]

That cannon is huge! Looking forward to the next update

 

[wbk666]

a little research tells me it was a 20mm and a very good cannon at that.

In fact the whole craft was supposed to be a decent bird, just didnt get a lot of service for the french in WW2 for obvious reasons but was still being used well into the 50s

 

[yak face]

Nice choice wayne, these old Heller kits are really quite good. For their time the surface detail was always excellent but some of them fall down a bit on the interiors (not this one though) .I did the Breguet 693 and the Amiot 143 and neither one had anything much on the inside!!!! Will be watching this one with interest , cheers tony

 

[mossiepilot]

Interesting and different, I'll follow the build with interest.

Tony.

 

[wbk666]

This kit has quite a bit of glazing, a lot of it very small

the cockpit assemblies have quite a few parts to them too

In fact the whole kit has its fiddly moments

This is part of the undercarriage and theres 4 seperate parts just in this piece

 

[wbk666]

the undercarriage is assembled. 11 pieces in all. certainly the fiddliest i've ever done.

Due to how it fits in i'm having to fit it in the wing before painting which isnt how i'd normally do things

Body all masked up, i hate that job so its probably not the tidiest or most accurate

Everything ready to go together then it will be primed. barring the undercarriage there been no real problems

 

[colin m]

Is there no holding this man back ?? Still, it's looking like a nice build. The detail is looking alright for the scale.

 

[wbk666]

i couldnt leave it like that so i've nipped back before bedtime and glued the wings on, they have some "issues" hence the tape and i had to get the milliput out too.

 

[mossiepilot]

Coming along nicely Wayne.

Tony.

 

[Polux]

Looking very good Wayne!!

Polux

 

[Dave W]

Looking good Wayne.I thought you'd put the fins on upside down,then I looked at the box top photo in your first post!.

 

[wbk666]

theres another set of fins too and look even stranger, those quirky french eh?

Underside sprayed with Vallejo model air light blue.

 

[wbk666]

top side given its first colour, Vallejo's sea grey. seems a little dark to me.

 

[Vajled]

nice so far ... looks like will be great build

please, how you aplly green putty? any special method? and how you clean it off with sanding - acetone?

I got one and I see it's little thicker than tamiya putty..., I have tried mixi it with acetone and aplly... and also cleaning with acetone, I see also it have great reaction with acetone... acetone made it really thinly... and it came after in all gaps

Thx

Roman

 

[wbk666]

the green putty i used here is citadels liquid green stuff with is quite "soft"

I just let it dry and the sand it smooth. no need for acetone with that.