One of Zumbach's BoB
An inauspicious start to my first Heller kit. Either it’s the wrong instructions or the wrong sprue in the box.
One sprue in the box but enough flash for three! At least I’ll get some practice in.
One clear sprue needs a bath and polish.
Lovely on the outside but the office is empty, not even a control panel or column just the pilot’s seat. Luckily Eduard will come to the rescue.
PE was for a Hasegawa kit so a tight fit. But given there’s no cockpit floor in the kit, I’ve bent the oversized panels inwards to support the PE floor. My PE bending skills are still a little messy though.
Doing a bit of a dry fit. It’s a tight squeeze even without the Yahu panel. But I’ll go with it. Panel folding skills also a bit awry. I’ll fix that before installation I may have to not fold and butt up the upper and lower sections to fit.
Taking a break, my ‘on hold’ Wellington in the background (I demolished the front turret and waiting for a replacement.) Coal overseeing activity; he’s a bit clumsy so I have to supervise.
The Yahu panel suggests a match to Humbrol 77. Unfortunately the only colour not on the rack when I got to the shop. So I bodged it- it might be a bit dark. It’s a long way from your standards but this may be my best bit of tiny PE work to date.
Meant to say I’m not sanding off the Heller/ Smer logos for fear of doing some damage somehow. They’ll be inside and invisible anyway.
Close up of closed cockpit. A bit rough around the edges and had to bend the head rest back a bit for the canopy. Danger for a novice of scratching in a pe kit that doesn’t belong.
Bit wider and again challenges of fit. It’s so dark and tight in there I guess when the canopy is in it’ll all disappear anyway.
Same again. I put a brown leather strip down the seat (seen in a reference photo) But it was too thick. Reverted to paint but not too convincingly.
Preshading. Looking at the lines I must have and a few by then 🙂
Prop in flat black. I’ve tried scratching up the leading edges a bit but don’t come through well in the photo.
The shame. A photo from War Thunder but an idea for weathering and chipping up. Too much?
Underside preshaded and first coat of Gris Bleu Clair. Happy to see the shading adds depth.
Underside decals after further coats and some gloss. Scratched up decals for Zumbach’s chariot. Had to create three from a seven and five, and the four from and ‘n’. Not happy but will it do? Then I found a set of French markings in my stash that I should of used with a perfect 3&4. Question is do I remove and replace? Bigger question is how? Advice?
Gris bleu fonce as the base layer of the three colour camo design. Then used Humbrol masking fluid as a trial to add french khaki to the scheme. Research shows it was always pretty irregular in design.
Then a coat of gloss followed by masking fluid again for the brown ‘Tierre de Sienna’. I’m using the Hataka red line and the set comes with a much more green green ‘Vert’ and brown brown ‘Brun Fonce’ but wasn’t sure if they’d be too dark. I’ll probably try those on the Hawk 75 that follows in this journey. Or the Arsenal VG33 haven’t decided yet.
So the Maskol is off and it’s not too bad in comparison with the template. A bit of tidying up to do around the brown/green overlap. I think I probably should have used the darker tones for this plane but moving on now.
Zumbach’s main 406 arrived with the markings from the CIC Chartres and were not covered at GC1/55. Some flew with a rather distinctive white drift and prominent red 12 shadowed in black. Here’s my first go at printing my own decals. Had a bit of an issue with ink running but I’m learning.
Коментарі
15 6 September 2020, 21:48
Andy BallGreat start Gary- looks like you're immersing yourself into "challenging construction" already! Love the narrative too!
6 September 2020, 22:07
Gary KitchenCheers Andy. I'll try and keep the narrative going. I'm loving my little research journey through the Jan Zumbach years. Pity I wasn't ready for the Hurricane build, the work you guys did there was superb. If I can get to even a third of the way to yours and others skills, I'll be happy.
7 September 2020, 14:20
MickyHi Gary, nice pre-shading! Regarding your question about decals the 3 & 4 looks good. With some washes at the end they will be ok. If you want to take them out (if the paint is not clear coated) will be tough not to damage the paint, even for acrylic paint. If the paint is protected with clear varnish before application, with a brush and water you can do it. cheers
21 October 2020, 03:20
Gary KitchenCheers Micky. I've learnt my trade on this forum and so definitely clear glossed before hand. I'm still debating in my mind what to do. Thanks for the encouraging comment. 👍
21 October 2020, 11:12
MickyGreat, with acrylic paint plus clear gloss you can do it, very careful waiting for the decal to separate(the decal will be destroyed of course) . At the end maybe the gloss coat will be gone but the paint should stay.
Anyway IMO the numbers are pretty good, if you cover them with another gloss coat then you can apply a black and brown wash, let it dry for a couple of hours and remove it with a kitchen paper and the result will be fine. Looking forward for the result of this interesting Heller kit of a French Morane! cheers
21 October 2020, 12:51
Gary KitchenThanks Pierre. Almost there. Had to print some of my own decals which slowed me down and then horror of horrors I gloss varnished for panel wash and stupidLy did not protect the canopy which has clouded up as a result. So I'm a bit cross with myself. Pressing on though as I've already started the Hawk 75 cockpit for Zumbach's next plane. I'll try and get final pics up this week.
17 November 2020, 09:51
