Well - I just wanted to build this unique-looking bird, and what I had in the stash was a VERY OLD Frog kit. I was thinking OOB, but from the moment I opened the box, things started happening... I was thinking I'd not add any interior details - just open up air scoops and stuff like that. Looking at the canopy, it's one loooong piece of glass, and pretty thick and full of raised framing lines. I did a quick search to see if I could find a replacement (didn't), but found a set of canopy masks for it, and decided I could sand off the framing and polish it, then use the masks, and end up with a more clear greenhouse. That led me to thinking that you might actually be able to see some of the detail, and it is just one big empty cavern! So.... The only 2 pieces of the below photos that are part of the kit-supplied interior are the two grey floor sections (with holes in them for the seats) - one for the pilot and one for the gunner. There were also 2 seats, but nothing for the observer/navigator. I added the bulkheads, stringers, decking and radio from styrene, snagged a seat from my spares box for the observer, built the swiveling gun mount from a couple of landing gear legs (spares box) and some wire. The extra magazines for the rear gun came from a set of engine dolly wheels sanded down in diameter and thickness. Below is the twin gun piece I found in my spares box as a framework to build out the guns. I used another two of the modified engine dolly wheels on the gun, along with styrene and some more parts from the spares box to create the guns. And as usual, since I'm building wheels-up, I had to totally replace the gear doors, as they did not fit AT ALL. I mentioned that I cut down the rear deck area to depict the gun cover open and slid along the back of the fuselage. I'll glue down a piece of thin styrene to depict the cover pushed back. I also had to then cut the rear canopy section that tilts open (like on the Dauntless, it just pivots back into the section in front of it), so that the gunner can get at his guns and do his thing. I used an engraving tool to depict the rail area where the panel slides open/closed. So then - I bit the bullet - and decided to sand off all the raised panel detail and rescribe everything. I found a good diagram on the-blueprints.com to help me in that task. I wish I had made this decision prior to building out all the interior detail so I would have less hassle sanding and scribing - but oh well! I had recently purchased a Valom Blackburn Firebrand kit, which contained a multi-media torpedo. I decided the Firebrand is cool enough looking without the fish, so stole it for the Barracuda build. The torpedo trunk is resin, the horizontal fin is styrene, the propellors, propellor guards and vertical fins are PE (did I mention I hate PE...?). I'll have to manufacture some shackles for the torp. More pics to come as I progress.
From the dry fit at this distance there is not much to show that there are fit issues here as well.
It looks rather good from here too. This is going to be a rather large beastie.
The issue stems from the top part of the forward fuselage. The part is about 2 mm shorter than the bottom causing either the panel lines from the top part and the bottom to be misaligned or the gap seen here.
The step here can be pushed around a bit to get it to come into alignment and as for the bottom side the gap there will have to be filled in with some plastic card and body filler. Sanding away all the excess if one is not careful will eradicate all the detail.
This is the aft section of the fuse. The top part has areas where the fit is flush horizontaly but there are areas that are recessed in the other part. This gap is the result and will need plastic card and filler to make right. Another area that requires care when sanding so there wont be any damage to the raised detail.
Here is another issue. The panel is to be painted a light gray and all the bezels and other instrument faces painted black. I am hoping that it can be brought out by dry brushing, any help or suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Paul
Looking forward to seeing this build, you may took a look this Tips and tricks article I found are ARC. May be helpful with instrument panel
http://www.arcair.com/tnt1/001-100/TNT033-PE-Painting-Kwikkel/00.shtm
I saw that before, Casey and I will probably apply that before I get any farther. Thanks for the interest/
After I spent most of the day banging out the pit I realized that I was going to try to display this in flight.
So I canned the pit mostly only to keep a few items that may be seen through a tiny pea sized window. In order to get the aft fuse sections assembled I used the aft bulkhead to help keep the form aligned and assembled the halve carefully one bit at a time.
After this was all done I used Tube glue to seal the gap and when that was dried I filled it with body filler.
Carefully sanding it down to avoid damaging the details too much. I got it as smooth as I could and buffed it down to a dull gloss.
It looks better in person that in this pic.. I assembled all of the wings and things , control surfaces and such. Being this is limited run the fit is pretty iffy so Ill need to do some creative sanding and shimming.
Given the time and effort required to make this a good model, it should be impressive..... a 1/32 scale X15!!! Patience and diligence.
I forgot you had this in your WIP.