SPA Modeler

Thanks Gents - It's coming together, I'm getting the internal parts painted up now. I'm not sure how well the nose section is going to go together, it's a five part assembly, none of which fit together very well.

Here's the painting - dry brushing and washes to do, along with the decals.

okay... long past due an update on this one, sorry for not doing so sooner but work has been insane this week.

Word of warning if you ever attempt to build this kit - It's shit. The cockpit assembly is a joke, five parts, including three clear, that don't go together very well. And even when you get them together, all of the major parts have bad fit issues. The main problem basically boils down to Airfix trying to save themselves a few quid and getting both the long nose and short nose versions out of the same kit. This basically requires you to build the fuselage around the wings, which would have worked if this was a Tamiya kit, but it isn't and so it leaves you with fit issues on the nose, the bomb-bay, the wing leading edges and the wing roots. What they should have done was have a separate fuselage moulding for each version, and then built the wings around the fuselage instead.

Anyway, here are some horrid photos - this is not my best work, but the fit of the kit is just awful (To be fair, the cockpit came out okay)











Oh and did I mention that the clear parts are too narrow - look at that step!









Oh and I couldn't avoid getting finger/glue marks on the clear parts - and this is the second round after I polished and futured dipped the parts.



A lot of filling and sanding later, this is where I am now. Strangely, now that I'm over the build of the main parts, the rest of the kit goes together well - the fit of the flaps and u/c was really good.





Cheers!

keavdog wrote: ↑Thu Oct 26, 2023 12:50 pm My thoughts exactly. Plus the awkward turret. So ugly you have to love it.

Ugly, noooh....




- Kari

Way to keep after it! It looks to have been handled very well.

Man, that was an atrocious fit with the canopy, wasn't it? That reminded me of some Monogram fit issues I've seen through the years. But now, you do seem to have her going your way, Stuart! Good show!

Thanks Gents - yeah it's been an 'experience'...

"Calm seas do not a good sailor make"

You dealt with the gaps well enough. I think I would have opted for styrene shims for some of those gaps, but you took care of them Sinatra stye. Well done!

Stuart, I commend you on your persistence and for getting it done and done well. You took this on and did a sensational job beating it into submission.

Thanks Gents - it was worth sticking with to an extent as it's coming along - the painting and decaling are done.