Meikraft RAF BE2c early in 1/72

[Bolman]

Hello Folks,

I'm back again with a project I've been dodging for awhile but need to get done, so I'm hoping that doing a log on it will help me trudge along and actually get it done.
I've been away from the modeling bench for awhile now for no real reason other than I haven't been feeling the creative drive.
So, since I have a short list of customer builds to power through, I am starting with the top of the list.  A RAF BE2c.



This particular build is of a Meikraft kit which is 1 of 3 I acquired. Looking inside, I couldn't help but be disappointed.



Many of them lumps of plastic will be replaced with scratch parts. What bothered me the most, is the scale. The parts are not large enough for 1/72. 

Here, we can see the top wing is quite short compared to the drawing:


Fortunately, my customer is not looking for an exact scale model, nor does he find the value of the build being in the kit, but the finished model. With that in mind, the Datafile drawings will be reference only, and I will use only the parts I have to use to get the project done.

For those of you not familiar with the BE2c, the observer is located in the front seat which provided a particularly challenging aspect to defending the plane due to all of the obstacles to avoid while trying to fire at an attacker.





So, off to my bench to see what I can get done for the next post.
Thanks for looking,
John

[RAGIII]

This will be a very interesting build to watch. I was once into ANY scale that I could get WW1 kits and I owned one of these when released. For the time, and considering it was limited run, I thought it was an excellent kit  I remember the Pfalz DIII, A real beauty shape wise but ejector pins about 1/4" long all through the interior and a slightly rough surface. Still it was better than NO Pfalz at all.
Looking forward to your build!
RAGIII

[IanB]

Great to see you back John, I'm sure you'll make this into a silk purse!

Ian

[Nigel Jackson]

Great to see you back John, I'm sure you'll make this into a silk purse!

Ian

Absolutely!

I'm really looking forward to this build. Good luck.

Best wishes
Nigel

[Jamo]

At least the decals are nice in that kit, for a presentation aircraft marked 'Liverpool', one of the earliest BE2cs to go to France



I have in my stash also.

[ALBATROS1234]

looks like a fun project.

[KiwiZac]

What a great idea for a build! I must say I'd love to give that kit a go, it definitely looks buildable to me.

I'm excited to follow your progress.

[Cajun]

Would love to find one of these kits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I have the Pfalz D.III with the Conversion parts for the D.IIIa.  I may have to start digging for the Be2c!

[Bolman]

Thanks all, I hope to meet or exceed your expectations.

I'm still doing some prep work on the parts and have started some base coat painting, but nothing has been assembled or completed so far making pictures pointless at this point.  I'll keep plugging away at it. The interior isn't going to be much since I won't be detailing in that area. My goal is to do a passable job inside so that it doesn't draw attention from the rest of the plane. Once the two halves are together and the lower wings and tail are assembled, I should be able to get some results posted.
Meanwhile, back to work.

John

[Bolman]

Sorry for the delay in an update, progress has been slow.

What I have done is cobbled together the interior enough to make it look like I put some effort into it but it is strictly OOB with paint.  The issues I had most with were the areas around the cockpit openings in the two fuselage halves. Voids and incorrect shaping were the biggest problems. Trimming out a notch to add plastic borrowed from the sprue and then shaping it took some time. Even now, the cockpit openings aren't perfectly sized, but I think it is less noticeable than before I started.

I have added the bottom wings after doing some delicate drilling all the way through the fuselage and into the ends of the wings in order to add 0.020" brass wire for mounting the wings.  The vertical stabilizer/rudder part was also drilled and 0.012" brass wire was used to pin it to the end of the fuselage completing the tail. I spent some time drilling holes all over the fuselage preparing for the rigging to come.  Several coats of white paint are going on the assemble now to cover the gray plastic color. It will also help the colors of the final finish appear less dark.




So, until the next update, I will be painting white for awhile!

Thanks for looking,

John

[KiwiZac]

I've just done "invasion stripes" on a Korean War-era machine - hand-brushed - and I despise white. Kudos for your efforts! It's great to see this project lives. Although with Airfix's announcement a few weeks back, I'm not so sure I'd track down one of the Meikraft kits anymore!

[radio]

Very good work, John.
Martin

[RAGIII]

John,
You are doing a great job on that old limited run kit! I once owned one of these and although crude by todays standards I thought it was pretty good at the time 
RAGIII

OOps, just realized I had already commented on my original opinion of the kit. again Terrific work!

[Bolman]

I've just done "invasion stripes" on a Korean War-era machine - hand-brushed - and I despise white. Kudos for your efforts! It's great to see this project lives. Although with Airfix's announcement a few weeks back, I'm not so sure I'd track down one of the Meikraft kits anymore!

Thanks. White isn't a fun color to brush paint. Yellow seems to be my least favorite. Some orange paints as well.  I've found painting several thin coats of white is the best approach until you no longer see through it. Then, yellow, and other light colors go on a lot easier. I also add a coat of clear coat before changing colors.

I'm looking forward to the new release myself. I'd love to replace the two additional Meikraft kits I have with them.

John

[Bolman]

Thanks Martin and Rick.

Rick, As much of a pain the kit is, I really dont mind it.  I didn't post pics of my progress until now because I didn't want my blow by blow of what I was fixing and why to come across as a negative review of the kit.  Mom always said, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. From here on, it should be nothing but painting and detailing and rigging until it's done.

John