Author Topic: Roden BE12b 1/48 (Read 4587 times)

hrcoleman66 · « **on:** March 12, 2021, 08:03:46 PM »

Now that the Eduard SE5a is complete and the Eduard Nieuport is put away while I find my mojo again, I'll start this thread on the Roden BE12b.

The kit is basically the previously released BE2c with a new sprue containing a new fuselage and the doings for a Hispano Suiza 200 hp V8 (Geared Prop Shaft).
The only real problem is that they didn't redo the tail plane as the BE12 (a and b) both had the horizontal stab and elevator from the BE2e (narrower chord and angled tips. The kit supplied one is easy to modify. More on that later.

This will be principally OOB. The only things I'll be adding will be rigging and possibly using decals from my stash as from memory, the Roden ones are rather difficult.

So I've painted up the interior, Tamiya Deck Tan, and Oils. The seat was decorated with lead foil straps. The instrument dials were scavenged from another Eduard SE5a kit.

Then the Fuselage went together pretty neatly, with filler only needed on the underside just between the panel directly under the engine and just forward of the wing.

More soon.

Cheers,

Hugh

RAGIII · « **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2021, 10:21:19 PM »

Great start on the BE Hugh. The wood tones and rigging look Great!
RAGIII

Alexis · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2021, 01:53:40 AM »

Really nice job on the interior Hugh

Alexis

phil2015 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2021, 04:56:27 AM »

Nice. I'm sorry to hear your ~~SE 5~~ is on hold. I have one of those I hope to start soon.

Nieuport

(sorry, I totally misread that, and now I see your very nice completed SE-5 further down my list of threads)

So, how big is this plane in 1/48? (I guess I could go do the math....)

lone modeller · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2021, 06:51:25 AM »

Good start on this one. This is a type which does not get the attention it deserves - probably because of its role in Home Defence. I will follow along if you do not mind.

Stephen.

Edo · « **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2021, 05:49:56 PM »

i have alwys wanted to build one myself, so i’ll follow you closely
ciao
edo

Bughunter · « **Reply #6 on:** March 14, 2021, 09:16:32 AM »

Oh, I will follow closely since I caught this kit recently. Please report about weak points!
Great work so far.

Cheers,
Frank

hrcoleman66 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 14, 2021, 07:49:25 PM »

Quote from: Bughunter on March 14, 2021, 09:16:32 AM

Oh, I will follow closely since I caught this kit recently. Please report about weak points!
Great work so far.

Cheers,
Frank

Thanks Frank.

One obvious weak point is the attachment of the lower main planes to the fuselage. The two small spigots that adjoin the wing sections to the wing centre section (cockpit floor) are quite flexible and I suspect these could break during the build... SO far they've been OK though.
When I built my BE2c from the Roden Kit many years ago I detatched these at the start of the build and had to build a jig for the reassembly when the time came.

The fit of the "Hisso" engine cowls is a little... Um... NQR, but it goes on OK. I could have spent more time getting a better fit, but this is supposed to be a quick build I didn't spend too much time and effort.

I'll certainly let you know if I find more.

Cheers,

Hugh

hrcoleman66 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 14, 2021, 08:04:52 PM »

So, this has gone together very quickly once the fuselage got closed up. As stated above, the Hisso engine cowl is a bit difficult to fit, and I probably could have spent more time on it, but it's OK.

There was a little filling needed, but not much.

Regarding the Tail Planes, these needed to be narrowed by about 2mm (off the leading edge) and then the tips need to be tapered... I should have taken a before and after shot... But here's the after.

Next, Prime.
Grey all over then Tamiya Deck Tan underneath.

Then I set about masking the wing surfaces for the rib tape... replicating, sorta.
Given how well it worked on the SE5a, I'm going to try the same on this, shade with grey and then spray over again with a deck tan filter.
The upper surfaces will be shaded with Nato Black... They are all going to be PC10.

More soon.

Cheers,

Hugh

Alexis · « **Reply #9 on:** March 14, 2021, 10:20:17 PM »

Moving forward very well with this one Hugh .

What do you use for your primer ?

Alexis

RAGIII · « **Reply #10 on:** March 15, 2021, 12:30:05 AM »

Nice work on re shaping the tail planes Hugh. I am looking forward to seeing the results of all of that masking!
RAGIII

hrcoleman66 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2021, 07:20:15 AM »

Quote from: Alexis on March 14, 2021, 10:20:17 PM

Moving forward very well with this one Hugh .

What do you use for your primer ?

Alexis

Hi Terri,

Thanks.
Tamiya Acrylics. Dark Sea Grey... I've pretty much run out now. But, that means I have an excuse to visit my local hobby shop.

Cheers,

Hugh

Alexis · « **Reply #12 on:** March 15, 2021, 11:04:09 PM »

Thanks for the reply back Hugh

I have tried using Tamiya's Dark Sea Grey , but it's a shade which quickly sells out at the LHS so I started using Neutral Grey instead .

Alexis

hrcoleman66 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 17, 2021, 05:25:46 PM »

So, once again I appear to have forgotten to take photos of the masked and preshaded airframe and wings.

What I do have is photos of the masked, preshaded and then finished and gloss varnished airframe and wings.

As previously discussed, I was going to preshade the underside with the black/deck tan mix, and the upper surfaces with thinned Nato Black.

It appeared that I had thinned the black/deck tan mix a little too much and before I applied the gloss varnish, it was barely visible. What you can see here is how it looks after the gloss.

The Nato Black preshading on the upper surfaces was a terrific success. I suppose I could have used ordinary Tamiya flat black, but that along with flat white seems very scarce in the stores at the moment so I'm conserving what I have left.

After a somewhat random spray of Tamiya Olive Drab (heavily thinned) and yes, I did actually use Olive Drab XF-62 this time (more as an experiment than anything else to see what shade it came out compared to the Khaki Drab XF-51). As Phil2015 pointed out on my SE5a thread, it did come out a lot more green than the Khaki Drab. I actually like it. It might be not quite PC10, but it's an effective colour I think.

The randomness of the coverage of the top coat was very deliberate. I wanted to see a variation in tone across the flying surfaces and I think I achieved that. I am very pleased with the results of this experiment.

Today I went through my stash of decals looking for suitable roundels. But not before I tried the ones Roden provided first. In my previous experience years ago, Roden Decals were very brittle and prone to tearing.

I found the ones that they provided with this kit to be more robust, but absolutely impervious to softener. In the end, I gave up on using them and applied some left over roundels from my SE5a Weekend edition to the top wing and then tried some lower wing roundels (no white border) from the other Eduard SE5a I have in my stash... But these too proved to be impervious to softener (I tried two different types) and so I have given up and am going to mask and spray.

Once that is done, I'll post updates...

Cheers,

Hugh

Alexis · « **Reply #14 on:** March 17, 2021, 09:53:33 PM »

Top surface is a big thumbs up Hugh

The nato black was a perfect choice over using flat black for the shading and will tie in awesome once you have finished the weathering

Alexis