Sino-Japanese War A6M2a | Hasegawa
Vallejo Interior Grey Green for the cockpit base layer.
Finished the cockpit and assembled the fuselage halves.
Sakae 12 finished. Could've used more details but I'm otherwise content. Cylinders were airbrushed with Tamiya Metallic Gray and drybrushed with Chrome Silver.
Machine gun covers and horizontal stabilizers affixed.
Canopy masked.
Some last shots of the cockpit before it's forever sealed away.
I since pressed the hanging sides of the front part of the canopy closer to the fuselage and applied some more glue so that the two pieces are flush.
Wings and landing gear bay assembled.
Wheel wells painted and masked, and the external fuel tank glued and puttied.
Blackbased and ready to be marbled.
I obviously have a lot of room left to improve, but seeing as how this was my first attempt at marbling I'm not terribly upset. It was surprisingly tricky trying to find a good distance and air pressure for my airbrush, as can be seen by the numerous examples of spiderwebbing and splattering.
Some of the fine folks on /smg/ offered some marbling technique advice. Went back again and did my best to marble a greater percentage of each panel, and to minimize the garish effect of the spiderwebbing.
Progress...
Thinking I'm about done with the main coats of the wings and fuselage.
That's a wrap on pre-varnish painting. Really pleased with the masks I used on the wheels.
Went to glue the engine cowling onto the fuselage when I realize there was a massive crack on the bottom of it. It did seem like a very snug fit after all...
very disappointing, possibly even discouraging, but I shall persevere. Already quite close to the finish line. Can't really say too many nice things about mid-90s Hasegawa tooling.
very disappointing, possibly even discouraging, but I shall persevere. Already quite close to the finish line. Can't really say too many nice things about mid-90s Hasegawa tooling.
Some good news, at least. Despite some minor water staining and paint overspray, the wheel bay masks held up and did their job. Will do some retouching in the meantime while I still think about the cowling question.
Varnished, decal'd, weathered (sort of -- I still need lots of practice with panel lining and so forth), and varnished again.
She's finished! Not great by any means but it was a real relief to see the cockpit hadn't fogged. Again, the fit was terrible. I definitely could've done things a bit differently, but this was only my second monoplane. Overall a rewarding, if sometimes frustrating, experience. If I've learned ONE thing: "just because a seam looks smooth, and feels smooth, doesn't actually mean it's smooth." Please ignore the seam lines at the leading edge of the wings...
I'm not much of a photographer and I lack the means to have nice photogenic shots of my models in a near-studio setting, so here's the best I can do.
More seam issues at the wing roots and on the cockpit glass. More notes being taken for future builds.
Comments
21 1 November 2021, 22:48
RuiWow that crack must be so disheartening. Call it battle damage and have some oil stains around it or something. 🙂
9 December 2021, 06:54
Robin (WhiteGlint)That's a setback. But it looks like you can fix it with putty and a lot of sanding.
9 December 2021, 08:54
NeilI agree. All these old kits I build are crap (usually!) in fit. I think it would be such a shame not to finish this. Your efforts so far look outstanding. It's shaping up to be a very fine build indeed! 🙂 Keep going! 👍
9 December 2021, 09:10
SpeglordThank you all. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of masking everything off, going in with putty, and doing my best; or, on the other hand, just marching on. I'll make a decision within the next few days, hopefully.
9 December 2021, 18:47
Gary VictoryJustin, shame about the cowling damage. Would it be better to remove it and see if anything is causing a fit issue? Also the repair would potentially be easier with gluing the cowling back together and have a smaller clean up job rather than lots of filler. Im sure either way you will find a way to make good the repair.
Keep up the good work. 👍
10 December 2021, 07:40
SpeglordThanks for the encouraging comments Gary (and everyone else)! Unfortunately I only discovered it was cracked *after* it was glued on. A very unfortunate mistake. I think I've come to the decision to simply let it go; I'm still a new modeler and it can be something of an interesting little story to tell. I'm also simply just not confident enough in some of my puttying/re-scribing abilities to do this without making a serious mistake this late in the build. Luckily enough, the crack also isn't really that noticeable in person. I'll see about maybe covering it up somehow with some oils or pigments during the weathering part of the build. In any event, I have begun varnishing and will look to start the decal process sometime today or tomorrow.
10 December 2021, 19:43
Gary VictoryNo worries Justin 👍.
One potential simple solution is to cut some thin plastic card (if you have it..? if not it is worth investing in some which can be found on amazon/e-bay or your local hobby shop) into the shape and glue it on. It will cut done on the amount of filler required and sanding.
Has modellers we all have our cock-ups....and we are always learning.😉
13 December 2021, 07:40
Jim JNice work! Sorry about the crack in the cowling at this stage of the game. Every build is a learning experience for me.
17 December 2021, 22:18
AndreasKI would suggest to do some chipping effects around the crack and claim this is due to some hard action in battle. 🙂
Otherwise, the model looks great!
18 December 2021, 14:00
Album info
Should be a fun build. I intend to use some marbling techniques for the first time.
