Hi friends! I am back with another update!
I've kind of ran into a roadblock in the past days, every guide and build log I could find points towards products I could not get access to where I live. Instead, I had to get creative.
The cockpit is also finished! I will start there.
The crooked seat is fixed after the photo
After these photos were taken, bracing wires were also added to the commander's 'Kanzel' as well as cables connecting the bomb release controls seen on the reference photos provided by WnW in the instructions. The bracing wires were painted silver and the control cables were left black.
The front part of the inside of the fuselage was painted with wooden texture first then green-grey color, I did a little bit of chipping around where I imagine maintenance would rub some paint off, as well as the areas behind the struts. In my head, the commander would've been thrown around a bit during combat, he would've struggled to hold on to things, sometimes scratching the fuselage wall a bit. And lastly, light sprinkles of dust along the bottom to help the sides blend well with the dusty floors.
This is when I ran into my first problem - everybody is recommending the incredible Aviattic decals, unfortunately, I cannot get my hands on them so I'll have to settle with the kit decals. They are completely fine, but not as translucent as the Aviattic ones, and the color seems to be a bit different as well. Which means a lot of experiment must be done to make sure I can get the same result of shading and color matching of the nose portion of the plane. It's coming along, but no more work on the fuselage until I can find a combination I'm satisfied with.
So I started on the engines instead, this time without the upgrade kit everyone else was recommending. That's hardly a problem though, the kit engine is very nicely detailed, the only thing I want to improve is the valve springs and spark plugs, they are not too difficult to build, and a welcome diversion from gluing kit parts together.
I drilled holes where the kit springs used to be and replaced them with 0.5mm tubes
Then made the springs with 0.2mm copper wires by wrapping them around a barbecue stick, 48 times.
Overall, pretty happy with the end result
You can see I've started making the spark plugs as well - 0.3mm tube is glued inside 0.5mm tube then having a 0.1mm wire thread through the center. I ran out of tubings so all progress is on hold till new supplies get to my door in a few days.
It's a welcomed break, especially since Lance told me the engine supporting structures are probably the most challenging part of the build, I think I will move onto a different project for a bit before coming back to it with a clear head! I got a handsome little kit of FE 2b, maybe I will get started on the cockpit of that one first! can't decide which scheme I want to do though...
Anyways, hope I can wrap up the engines soon and find a good solution for the decals and shading! It's shaping up to be a detailed and BIG plane! Can't wait to share more!
