Scale aviation modeller international

assembly, except for a small gap

just behind the nose wheel, which

was filled with some stretched

sprue and then sanded smooth.

The only problematic area

I came across was the clear

nose section, which consists of

two side parts and the top roof.

Unfortunately, the fit in this area

was quite poor and involved lots of

sanding to produce a good finish.

Surprisingly, the half-shell clear

part of the lower nose caused no

issues at all, and fitted perfectly.

The original aircraft had

additional armour panels on each

cockpit side, partially obscuring

the nose art on the left. I cut

small pieces from plastic acetate

to represent this armour and

added some rivets along the edge,

before attaching them in place.

I now made a mistake by

blindly following Hasegawa’s

instructions, and fixed the wrong

side windows. My references show

I should have used the bulged

ones, instead of the plain ones

suggested by Hasegawa. This

goes to show you should always

double check the instructions,

even from manufacturers

with big reputations!

WING ASSEMBLY

Eduard’s Exterior Set (72492) is

included in the Big Ed package, and

it has photo-etch parts to beef up

the wheel wells and landing gear. To

add stability and for easier handling

during assembly, my plan was to

strengthen the wheel bay roof part

with plastic sheet. Unfortunately,

I found myself unable to glue the

brass cross-braces in place – they

always slipped out of the shallow

depression, either tilting away

laterally or on their longitudinal

axis. In a last futile attempt, I tried

to glue thin stretched sprue lines

along the grooves to stabilize the

attachments, but instead

made more of a horrible

mess with Cyanoacrylate.

In the end, I had to discard

the photo-etch pieces in

favour of the original kit

parts. To be honest, they don’t

look bad either, and because they

are not the main focus points

of my model, I am more than

happy with this compromise.

If you want to play it safe, the

Scale Aircraft Conversion metal

legs are a good investment. The

parts are flawlessly cast and

fit into their respective slots

without any modification. I

didn’t even paint them; I just

added an artist’s oil wash and

some brake lines from stretched

sprue. Eduard’s Exterior Set does

include these brake lines, but

they are flat and difficult to drape

realistically around the gear leg.

After painting and attaching

the photo-etch gear doors, I could

do a dry run to see if I could attach

the wings to the fuselage after

painting. This makes sense when

working on bigger models, as it

makes for easier handling. The

test fit revealed a small gap on the

wing/fuselage joint, which was

easily resolved by sanding down

a small amount from the upper

end of the wing spar with a needle

file. Next, the Pratt & Whitney

radial engines were detailed with

ignition wires, then painted dark

steel, but as they can hardly be

seen on the finished model, it’s

probably not worth spending

too much time in this area.

INTO THE PAINT SHOP

Now the model was ready for the

first coat of primer. I use Tamiya

Grey Surface Primer from the rattle

can for larger areas, whereas for

finer work the paint is decanted

into my airbrush. It’s common

for me to find irregularities on

Fit issues with the wings were resolved by

reducing the upper ends of the wing spars.

One of the few parts from CMK’s bomb bay set

that actually proved useful: the sidewalls, seen

here in comparison with the original kit parts.

Painting the code letter “E”, using paper masks.

Model primed and painted Tamiya TS-14 Gloss

Black, ready for the application of Alclad II

metallic lacquers.

Interior work completed and bombs in place. A lot of weight will have to be added

in every available space to avoid a tail-sitter.

Pilot’s office with pre-painted photo-etch items

by Eduard.

Original period photograph of “The Shack”.

I accidentally splashed some lacquer on the surface, which ate through the paint right into the

plastic, and involved more sanding sessions to solve the problem.

A fake bulkhead was added to the nose wheel

section to make more room for adding weight.

18 • JANUARY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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