Cmelak Z-37

1
December 6, 2021
Here some progress on the second plane of this project: the Z-37 Cmelak from Eduard. With everybody praising this kit it was the inspiration for the project. Here most of the cockpit assembled. So far, fit is very snug. As snug that the PE parts sometimes require a dash of modification.
2
December 6, 2021
Masks for all clear parts are provided. Even more perfect would have been, if masks for the inside of the windows would have come with it.
3
December 7, 2021
I want to show tow plane and glider during take off, so I need pilots. Now, this turned out to be easier said than done. Do you know of any glider pilots in scale 1:72? No? Civil pilots maybe? PJ Productions has one, but they are commercial ones. To cut a long story short: I did not find any. So I grabbed a German U-Boat man, broke his legs as he sat too broad legged, severed his right arm and replaced it with one from CMKs assorted hand and head set. And this is where I am now.
4
December 7, 2021
The kit lives up to its reputation with the only problems encountered so far being the guy who builds it and fills seams not to be filled and sands of details not to be sanded off. That notwithstanding this little gem goes togehter very smoothly.
5
December 7, 2021
That was quite an effort to tweak Janek into his seat. Now he is just a tad too tall and will have to shrink one or two millimeters. Then I can bring some color to his live. Anxious to continue with the Cmelak but these figures bog me down.
6
December 12, 2021
Janek is ready and finally takes his seat.
7
December 12, 2021
8
December 12, 2021
With the pilot on board completing basic assembly was quick.
9
December 12, 2021
Only the clear parts needed a bit of adjustment.
10
December 12, 2021
Ready for primer. Then silver. Then yellow.
11
December 13, 2021
Well...
Obviously wasn´t quite ready yet. I added the landing gear to color everything in one go. Some more detailling done (exhausts, brake hoses, handles...)
12
December 13, 2021
Now! Ready for the paint job.
13
December 13, 2021
14
December 14, 2021
Alclad ll gloss primer as a base, then Mr. Color Nr. 8 silver. This time not as a base for weathering but as a foundation for the yellow top coat.
15
December 14, 2021
Unfortunately if not unexpectedly some small blemishes will have to be fixed before the next step.
16
December 18, 2021
Preparing for preshading modulation
17
December 18, 2021
Preshading finished. I started with Tamiya X19 Sky, but contrast was too weak. So I switched to Alclad II gun metal which I like much better
18
December 18, 2021
19
December 18, 2021
Next Step: Yellow
20
December 26, 2021
the pic looks okay but I am not happy with the result.
21
December 26, 2021
22
December 28, 2021
Second round
23
December 28, 2021
No preshading this time. All color variations will be done using postshading techniques.
24
December 28, 2021
Test sample: Yellow (Mr HobbyColor 413 (RLM4)) on a silver (right), white (middle) and pink (left) base.
25
January 3, 2022
Yellow again (you gotta believe me ?). I am much happier with the result. Pitty only that all those layers of color start to soften up the details.
26
January 3, 2022
This is an imagined plane, so I chose a livery to my liking and mixed decors of various models.
27
January 3, 2022
Bit of overspray here and there. I hope I can fix that.
28
January 8, 2022
Decals and stencils are on.
29
January 8, 2022
I just put on what I liked and considered reasonable.
30
January 8, 2022
The Eduard decals were a charm to handle
31
January 8, 2022
32
January 9, 2022
With this being an Eduard kit I wanted to try their technique to remove the decal film. Eduard explained it in their 5/21 newsletter in detail (scroll far down, then you will find it.)
The effect is demonstrated on the black step areas. On the left side the film is removed, on the right side the decal is still covered with it.
33
January 9, 2022
Decal film removed on both sides.
34
January 15, 2022
Now this feels a bit like open heart surgery: I want to mount the plane at take off and with one wheel only touching the ground. So I drilled a hole into the tyres to achieve that. If I would have used my brain, it would have been crystal clear, that the flimsy axle would never been able to support the weight of the whole plane. What to do? Ok. I use the strut, drill it out and insert a metal piece for stability. Said, done, failed. Drilling off alignment ruined the strut. I managed to force the mangled gear strut out of the wing after clipping off the supports. Then I replaced it with a piece of syringe. Now I have to rebuild the landing gear again and paint it. Stay with me, as I will need all the support I can get for this.
35
February 23, 2022
Stability. I need stability. Took me a while to figure this one out. Here is my solution. The styrene axle was drilled out and replaced by a brass rod. As a mused that a blunt superglue bond would not be strong enough (soldering brass on stainless steel requires solder and an appropriate heat source I do not posses), I enforced that with a thin wire which was inserted in axle, the lower part of the strut and the actuator of the landing gear. Here the layout.
36
February 23, 2022
Here assembled.
37
February 23, 2022
That is the way it looks on the plane. Now I only have to detail the strut with brake hose, scissors and metal bands. But the construction is sturdy and I can now progress again.
38
March 5, 2022
39
March 5, 2022
The landing gear is detailed again and the tubes to receive the pins from the gear are inserted into predrilled holes in the base.
40
March 5, 2022
With the metal strut the landing gear is now stable enough to support the plane. I am happy that it worked out that way. Now lets finish this.
41
July 15, 2022
I finally got back to this chap and gave it a dark brown grey wash. I did not want to overdo it, as this tow plane of a glider club should be in decent shape. I think, it turned out ok. Right side is treated, left not yet.
Unfortunately one landing gear disassembled during handling. Need to fix that.

Comments

42 6 December 2021, 12:29

Robert Podkoński
First row seat! 🙂

7 December 2021, 17:42

Michael Kohl
Reserved for you Robert. 🙂

7 December 2021, 19:28

Gordon Sørensen
Nice work so far, Michael! Great job on the tow pilot.

12 December 2021, 04:04

Robert Podkoński
Looks good already, Michael. Waiting for more!

12 December 2021, 07:54

Harry Eder
Great! I like this dio idea! 👍

12 December 2021, 07:59

Michael Kohl
Hi Gordon and Harry. Nice to have you on board.
@ Gordon: Thanx for the compliment. I am still evolving my technique for painting small scale figures. This pilot is the first whose body I almost exclusively airbrushed (black primer, dark basic color and two highlight colors sprayed from top. Then a bit of dry brushing.) This procedure is rather quick and I quite like the outcome so far.
@ Harry: I have to start my dio layout yet. Showing both planes at takeoff will be a challenge.

14 December 2021, 08:00

Alex K
Waiting for the dio with anticipation... 👍

14 December 2021, 19:20

Thomas Kolb
Lovely! You are doing a great job on the Bumblebee, I am really curious about the Blaník.

25 December 2021, 23:45

Michael Kohl
Hi Alex and Thomas. Wellcome to this build.

26 December 2021, 23:24

Michael Kohl
Puuh. It is not that I was not warned, but I obviously still underestimated what kind of bi**h Yellow is as a color. I really liked my preshading, but having chosen silver as base and not white the shades sucked all the brightness out of the yellow coat. Pity that the pics neither show my efforts in pre- and postshading nor do they support my argument as they actually look quite ok. So, you gotta believe me - or not 😉.
Now what? Slash on more color and hope for more brightness without drowning the details? Go for white as a base and thus start all over again?
Having it put aside for a few days I finally made up my mind: Back to square one: white it will be. Postshading it will be.
Deep breath and I will go for it. Again what learned 😉

26 December 2021, 23:29

Robert Podkoński
Keep calm and carry on, Thomas! (I know the pain...once I painted yellow wings of Testors Ryan trainer after giving the NMF to the whole assembly...at first seemed to be easier this way 😉 )

27 December 2021, 06:44

Thomas Kolb
Michael, I second your decision to restart the paintjob. For red and yellow, the best primer I have tried is Ultimate Primer White (UMP). You need to mist it on (unthinned, straight from the bottle) with a 0.5 mm needle at 30 PSI until you start to see the paint slowly build up and then continue with heavier coats. It will then self-level to a beautiful satin gloss white undercoat that will make yellow pop like magic.

27 December 2021, 08:41

Łukasz Gliński
Joining y'all here

27 December 2021, 08:47

Francky
I am preparing for painting a SF-260 Marchetti in yellow. This conversation really does not give me the comfort I need to start that process 🙂

I will use Humbrol (of course) on a grey base coat. Is that ok?

27 December 2021, 11:14

Thomas Kolb
@Francky, I would strongly suggest to use only pure white under yellow. The same for red BTW. Yellow paint is called "weak", which means that it is translucent to some extent, no matter how many layers you apply. With multiple layers, you will start covering up the details, but the "vibrancy" will always be lacking.

27 December 2021, 11:24

Łukasz Gliński
Yeah, grey is not the best base for the yellow/red stuff, go for either white or some sort of alu/silver base.

27 December 2021, 12:10

Gordon Sørensen
I built/painted an Airfix Chipmunk yellow with a Testors spray can. Just sprayed on the bare grey plastic and it took many, many! coats to get a solid colour.

27 December 2021, 12:53

Michael Kohl
I can only second Thomas. If you have a few days patience, I can share my experience after switching to white too, but I am quite sure: if you want to be on the safe side - go white first.

27 December 2021, 13:19

Robert Podkoński
Certain mates say that pale pink (yes!) is even better base for yellow and red:
AREA 88: F11F-1 Tiger (Gary MacBurn) | Album by strobez (1:72)
I have never tried it yet, but I am going to 😉

27 December 2021, 13:36

Michael Kohl
Hi Robert, although I know from mine that pics can be misleading, the result on your linked build looks convincing.

27 December 2021, 13:46

Robert Podkoński
That's why I intend to try pink primer one day, Michael 😉 I have heard about its effectiveness from few unrelated sources.

27 December 2021, 13:49

Michael Kohl
Max send me a private note pretty much in line with this reasoning. The question is: will I be brave enough to really really try pink?

27 December 2021, 13:52

Spanjaard
Test on picture 24 certainly vindicates pink advisors. Pink is certainly the way to go

29 December 2021, 00:03

Robert Podkoński
Testing has been a good idea, Thomas...And I do agree with Spanjaard here: pink primer seems to be the best 😉 Especially since yellow on Cmelaks has this deeper hue.

29 December 2021, 06:41

Greg Baker
I didn't believe it at first either. Guaranteed pink is the best undercoat for yellow. You usually only need one coat. Given how many yellow Tintin planes and trains I've built, I just wished I knew about it earlier. 😉

29 December 2021, 07:11

Michael Kohl
Eduard provides color charts (and the corresponding decals, of course) for two different kinds of yellow paint: one with a more orange hue, the other more on the plain yellow side. As I intend to go for the latter one, I will choose white as base. But keeping pink in mind for future projects. A pink base might be especially useful if the yellow on your shelf lacks an orange/red hue.

29 December 2021, 11:48

Michael Kohl
@Thomas: the Ultimate primer you recommend seems hard to come by in Germany, as is the original Bagder primer from which it seems to be a rebottleing. Rumor has it that Ammo of Mig One Shot Primer is a throttle of the Badger primer too. So I will try that one on future projects.

29 December 2021, 11:51

Michael Kohl
throttle = rebottleing

4 January 2022, 19:42

Michael Kohl
Decal carrier film removal from Eduard decals: my two cents on that (thanx to bughunter for pointing it out in one of his builds). It is a nice feature that helps achieving the wanted painted on-look, but lifting off the first corner of the decal has every chance to mar the paint. One thing that helped in my case was to cut the outer perimeter of the film. The film seems to get thinner at the edges and I found this thin part of the film to be much harder to peel off the surface without scratching the paint. So my recommendation is to cut out the decal as you probably would with conventional decals anyhow - only that you do not have to be as precise.
Be aware that the film usually does not peel of in one go.
Maybe this elaboration helps a little bit. If you have any more tips or experiences to share - I am all ears.

9 January 2022, 23:16

Francky
coming back to this conversation: WHITE it will be. Tahnks a lot for the very helpfull information.

or pink maybe 🙂

10 January 2022, 14:33

Michael Kohl
Ho Francky: if you want to the yellow to look as it does in the bottle, choose white as a base, if you aim for a more orange hue go for pink.

11 January 2022, 12:18

Robert Podkoński
Good work with that undercarriage leg, Michael. I am impressed with your perseverance here... Keep it up!

15 January 2022, 18:57