I have decided to have a crack at the new Copper State Models 1:48 scale injection moulded FK.8 mid version. A full build log of this kit can be found on my website but i will post as much as possible here on the forum as well.
The kit gives a choice of a resin engine or a plastic engine. I opted for the plastic engine even though the resin engine is quite nice. The engine went together very well, the first thing I did was to open up the gap between the cylinders, I did this with a razor saw, it was quite an easy exercise and gives a much beter appearance. The first two images show three of the cylinders having been cut away, I ran a piece of wet and dry paper between the cut cylinders to give a smooth finish.
The rocker arms are supplied as a solid lump of plastic so to make them look a little more like the real thing I hollowed them out ginving them a nice 3D appearance. I firstly drilled several holes through the bottom of the rocker arms then removed the excess plastic using a fine jewellers file. I also added the two magnets to the front of the engine, I drilled six 0.3mm holes into the front of each magneto to take the ignition leads. I also fitted the kit supplied plumbing which fits on top of the cylinders.
I spayed the cylinders using the copper MRP paint, this paint sprays beautifully but does require at least three coats to obtain a good coverage. The rocker arms were brush painted with Mr Metal Color Stainless and lightly buffed once dry. The crank caes were brush painted with Mr Metal Color Chrome Silver, this was also lightly buffed once dry.
These next photos show one side of the engine nearly completed, I added a lot of extra plumbing using 0.24 brass wire, the throttle cables were made from 0.12 copper wire painted with Mr Metal Color Dark Iron. The ignition leads were made from 0.09mm copper wire and once fitted were painted with Humbrol No.94.
This next picture shows the engine sitting on the instruction booklet, the comparison between the instructions and the built engine show the amount of extra detail I have added, a bit time consuming but well worth the effort. Please bear in mind that my preferred scale is 1:32 so building this 1:48 scale engine is way out of my comfort zone, also, due to my wife being ill I have not built a model for 9 months so I am a little rusty.
Des.