Build Photos: XH-26 Jet Jeep
Starting the build!
Cyclic painted and glued 90 degrees to lengthwise piece
Glued to cockpit bottom plate (don't worry about visible glue; it will get covered by the seat soon.
Collective painted, positioned, and glued down with Tamiya Extra Thin cement
Blue tape holds the small pieces to be painted
Interior of body painted with windows masked. Canopies show the included masks. There are masks for the large windows but I just made my own. And yes. That's a 1 inch grid. This thing is tiny!
Fitting front and back windows required a lot of sanding and cutting. There is a gap in the roof that I hope I can seal up with some cement when the halves come together.
Photo etched legs added to seat
Seat added to cockpit
Cyclic and collective handle painted for added realism (not in instructions)
Control panel assembly in process...
Landing gear being prepared...
Gluing a leg onto the landing gear. The handle of the pliers is the jig. See a completed one in the foreground.
Wheels glued and drying
Tiny pieces glued vertically onto stabilizer (itself glued)
Gluing the front landing gear (creating space with a toothpick)
Body assembled and glued with back window installed (view 1)
Body assembled and glued with back window installed (view 2). Note gap to be filled with putty.
All windows installed
Puttying to fill gaps and smooth edges. Frustrating that the model wasn't produced correctly for an easy fitting.
Comments
27 16 July 2021, 15:28
David R. MeizosoWow, this is a funny machine! You're right about the small pieces, maybe using a photoetch saw will help separating some of them from the sprue. I found this tutorial to be really helpful for beginners:
dqscaleworks.blogspo..-by-ricardo.html?m=1
16 July 2021, 17:25
Florian H.Count me in, have this kit twice in stash, for both versions, tell us how it is to assemble 🙂
16 July 2021, 18:47
Robert PodkońskiGood work so far, Peter! (it is a pity - and strange - that there are such flaws in the mouldings... for me it is always surprising that no one on the side of producer checked that when preparing the kit...)
25 July 2021, 12:44
Michael KohlI am building a Fa330 Bachstelze (sandpiper), so I think I have an idea of what you have gone through 😉 . Nice result of the little bugger.
1 February 2022, 15:13
Peter GThanks, all. It was a challenge and I learned a lot. I haven't made many models in my life so this was very much akin to being thrown into the deep end. Luckily any mistakes can be passed off as "weathering" 😉
1 February 2022, 19:26
