What's on my desk? Part 43.

Hi!

October is almost over. Thursday 31st we celebrate one year of Modelist, so that's something to look forward to!

Meanwhile, I'm making good progress on the Junkers. Right now the plane is sitting at home, having received its first coat of paint.

Last time we saw the seats painted with oils. These have dried over the weekend and I was able to attach the seat belts, then fix the seats into the interior. Next up I installed the windows, and masked them off.

These days you can buy precut paint masks for almost any plane (or any camouflage). But you can make these yourself relatively easy. All you need is some modelling masking tape, a toothpick, and a very sharp knife. Lay down a small piece of tape over a window, press it down in the corners (or against the frame) with a toothpick, then carefully cut the tape along this edge.

The Junkers has 4 windows per side. I masked them one by one, then glued the sidewalls onto the wing base. I dry-fitted the engine in its bay and noticed it would need some work. More on this later. Here's the last clear views of the interior before it all closes up. Miniart provides some nice details like the clock on the back wall, and the curtains on the front bulkhead. The seat belts are photo etch parts, which are a bit fiddly, but look very nice once installed and painted.

You might think all of this will be hidden anyway, but because of the large-ish windows, and the open left side door, most will still be visible later. It will really pay off to give some attention to the interior. Also notice the light fixture on the roof. Another nice detail.

The engine then. This is one area where Miniart didn't pay enough attention. First off, the brackets are a bit finicky, and the locating pegs don't line up properly (but that could be my fault). Then, there are little pegs underneath the mountings of the engine itself, while there are no holes in the brackets. This is pretty easy to cut off, though. Lastly, there's a round thing (the black and silver cylinder; compressor maybe?) on the left side of the engine, which interferes with the left mounting bracket. I cut the offending diagonal and let the engine push it out of the way. It's a tight fit and I'm leaving the engine covers closed, so it will be invisible anyway.

So, with that out of the way, it's on to the wings. These were internally braced, so were quite thick. Miniart provides internal supports to help with construction.

Another nice option from Miniart: you can pose the wings attached (bottom), or detached for ground transport (top). You'll have to paint and detail the wing interior a bit when choosing the second option.

Last thing to do: the landing gear. This is built up out of a central axle + supports, and two sides with shock absorbers. These parts are very thin and vulnerable, but there are spares! Good option to have, because I actually broke one. Once assembled and attached to the plane, they will be quite sturdy, but for now I'll need to be careful.

With all that done, the plane is ready for paint:

So once again, I took it home, masked off the open cockpit, gave it a coat of white Vallejo primer and then airbrushed it with Mr. Hobby RLM04 yellow in two coats. This is how it looks like now:

I'll have to mask off the yellow for the black and red parts, which will be challenging. First off, there's some curves to the black-yellow borders which will need flexible tape and masking putty. Second: the entire plane skin is corrugated. I'll need to make sure the tape is laid down properly to avoid paint getting under it. As the first coat is yellow and the second is black, any bleed-through will be impossible to correct...

Stay tuned!

 

The next project has also arrived in the shop. It's Meng's A39 Tortoise:

I prepared by spraying the wheels and running gear, and am now assembling these, which is frustrating to say the least. Once assembled, they're very sturdy, but the pairs of road wheels are fixed by just one small rod and the whole assembly just falls apart with any handling.

Like here:

So it's slow going, taking many breaks...

I've got four and a half done out of 8 (excluding painting the tires):

That's it.

This Thursday, October 31st, Modelist turns 1 year old! Come by (or order something online) and receive a small gift as thanks for your support over the last 12 months.

See you next week!