AC130H - Closing time

Again a quick progress report, before we attempt to close the hull and start the gruesome process of trying to eliminate those ugly seams that will scar the top of the model. I'm gonna be less fussy about the seam on the belly, as I will not allow people to pick it up and turn it over :-).

The engine's housings didn't fit very neatly, but after some careful sanding, it's starting to look better. Again, the top is better than the bottom. The way they fit against the wing also leaves much to be desired, but - as is quickly become a pattern in this build - I paid attention so the topside sits almost flush with the wing, sacrificing the fit at the bottom. If you can't make it perfect, focus on the parts with the highest visibility. You'd be amazed how many car or armour models have unfinished bellies and interiors.

The interior details have been painted and in the next report, we should have a closed up model.

For some reason, the building instructions have switched the positions of the 50-mm cannon and 105-mm Howitzer, even though they do not fit through the openings like that and no existing plane has that configuration. Not the only place where the instructions are showing shortcomings.

 

Sprue Cutters Union #35 - Eye for detail

Damnit, almost missed this month's topic. I haven't missed an assignment in 2 years (Yes, the Union has been going strong for over TWO years already) and I'll be damned if I miss this one. I'll start paying attention on the beginning of the month.

- Do you bother with details that will not be seen in the finished product or do you pour your heart and soul into each nook and cranny of the build? -

Putting effort and what precious little time I have into making something nobody will ever see? Noooo, nope, nah-ah!!

If I make something, I want to show it off. I'm lucky to be an IPMS member, so all finished models are seen, commented upn, looked at in detail and peered over by 15-20 people before they go into a display cabinet at home. Who else will see these models? The occasional friend that can be persuaded to come and have a look (and fake an interest, if it's a real friend). And of course: the photo's on this blog and Facebook, so that's at least 20 (!!) more people.

I mean, there's nothing wrong if someone ELSE wants to superdetail something that will NEVER be seen, or only a tiny little bit, but to me it's just a waste of time. "Knowing it's there" doesn't cut it for me.

Even if it IS visible, but only barely - like a really big cockpit or the interior of a cargo plane - I will not go all-out, because with the lack of light, all the little details are nigh invisible anyway.

On my current build (well, one of them) I'm experimenting with low-detail, high-contrast interior. Using lighter colours than I should, and using high-contrasting colours for picking out details, I hope it will give the right impression, when it's all closed up and you're looking into the model through the rear hatch.

AC130H progress

I've added all the necessary pieces to the interior - except for the guns - so I could start the painting process with a layer of grey primer. I've learned from previous kits not to fuss too much over the interior. I'm going to leave the loading ramp open, so you can see inside, but it's gonna be hard to see much detail in there.

I chose the grey primer, instead of the darker grey recommended, so it might trick the viewer's eye into seeing as much as possible. I'll be using flashy colour accents to further enhance this effect.

Part E42 (ammo storage rack for the big canon) is a bit of a let-down once in place (left picture below), but a minimal effort with sheet styrene helps a lot.

I can't close it up yet (not looking forward to it either, as the seams seem promising :-)), but trying to see if it's a tailsitter or not, and we can indeed confirm it to be just that.
It requires about the weight of one of my bigger clamps to rectify, so I'll just have to figure out what will be heavy enough, but small enough to fit in the nose. I often see modellers that use (lead) fishing weights, but I have no such thing in possession, so I'll just see if I can find a heavy (short) screw or something from my toolbox.

The instructions state plain light grey for the overall plane, but I've seen pictures of more interesting 2-tone versions. Not sure if the H-variant exists in those colours, or just the more recent U-variant, but I'm gonna go with it anyway.

Some experimenting with available Vallejo colours yielded the combination I'm gonna use : 005 (Intermediate blue) and 046 (Pale blue grey).

Sprue Cutters Union 34 : The stash!

The Sprue cutters union is like an old friend. Life and work keep you away from hanging out for months on end, but once in a while, you get together and it feels like no time has passed at all.

As the mythical Phoenix, the Union has once again risen with a monthly topic for us to discuss :

- The stash -

In my first run as a scale modeller (age 10 to 20-something), I had no stash at all. I hadn't even encountered the concept. Remember, back in the days, we had no internet, and I didn't know anyone else who did scale modelling until much later.

Of course, as a kid, a stash would have been a financial disaster. But even when I got a job, my exposure to new models was limited. I mainly bought Science-Fiction at a once-a-year convention. The most I ever bought at the same time was 3 models (Star Trek's Voyager, Maquis ship and Kazon raider), but I build them in the same order before I considered buying new kits.

Fast forward about 15 years later.

Now, I have limited time to do scale modelling, a giant amount of ambitious ideas and the financial stability to "invest in the future", which is probably the worst excuse for a stash you'll ever hear.

I had no intention of building a stash, and just keep it to 4-5 maximum. When this number got to 21 in only one year, I had to make a very conscious (and surprisingly hard) effort to stop it from growing further. Knowing I finish about 4 models a year, you can extrapolate how bad this would get if I just continue like this for another 30 years.

I even bought a batch of second-hand kits, knowing fully well that half of them would never get build, because the subjects hold little interest to me.
I intended to trade these unwanted kits away, but actually rarely do so. Luckily, our local IPMS chapter has a New Year tradition of giving random gifts (usually old kits from big stashes) and for two years in a row, this has given me the opportunity to a) get rid of an unwanted model, and b) encounter a kit I would probably never have noticed otherwise.

There is no model car, plane or tank out there that particularly strikes my interest, so I am never actively looking for any specific kit. But then, once a year, I'll visit a convention or hobby shop and there it is : the model kit I never knew I *HAD* to have. My main reason for buying it then and there is the (probably irrational) fear of never finding it again. The chance of - one day - deciding to want to build it and not find it for sale anywhere.
When I recognized this growing pattern, after buying 4 kits in the range of €75 and higher, I called a halt to this kind of spending before it got out of hand, having seen the results of this in fellow modellers' attics.

Call me a scale model addict that managed to shake (most of) his Stashing-habbit and intends to build what he has. The only kits that will get added to the stash will be gifts and insane sales-promotions (and even then, within certain limits as to the number of kits).

I will allow myself ONE impulse-purchase per year. And maybe one when on vacation, as they might have kits not available over here. Or maybe just TWO then? ...

---

Part of being in the Sprue Cutters Union, is sharing links to one another.
Read up on my fellow Union members view on their stash (or lack thereof) :

• The Combat Workshop
• Ninetalis Scale Models
• Kermit's Bench
• The Museum Modeler
• Scale Model Soup
• Commonplace Modeler
• Shutterace's Blog
• Will Pattison's (video)

Lost and found

         - Great service! Garbled communication.

Grab a snack and sit down for my latest horror-story, with a happy ending!

About 6 weeks ago, the airbrush broke down on me. The trigger was no longer moving the needle. In the past, that was caused by the needle being stuck in the nozzle, but this time something was stuck in the interior of the airbrush, conveniently placed in an unreachable place. (the needle-thingie in the second picture).

I managed to soak it up a bit and clean out the worst, to get it moving again for one more session. A week later however, there was no more persuading it to move.

So, I was faced with a dilemma : 1) break it open, voiding the warrant, and potentially screw up, or 2) send it accross the Atlantic, potentially never seeing it again. (The trust in postal services is strong in this one).

Even though I bought it second-hand, Testors support (now "Rust-Oleum Product Support") said the lifetime warranty was still applicable and I could just send it to them for clean-up or replacement. Sending it accross the world in a secure way costs about twice what the airbrush is worth, so I opted to send via regular mail, but with Track-and-Trace. Yeah right, track ... no trace.

The first and last "trace" on the tracking page was the package leaving Brussels. Then ... nothing. 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks ... starting to worry now. Contacted postal services, who confirmed something had gone wrong with the processing of the tracking numbers, but they would fix it. A couple of hours later, it shows up as "Return to sender. Address unknown." (can't get this song out of my head now :-)). I was sweating all sorts by then, but luckily - 2 days later - it showed up as "Delivered".

I contacted Testors .... nothing recieved, sorry. Back to postal services. And ping-pong from there.
It's now 3 weeks after the supposed arrival of the package, nothing from Testors, postal services are "looking into it", so I was starting to become convinced I was one of the lucky ones with another "cool story" about the horror of postal services. If only I had just cracked it open and cleaned it myself...

WHEN SUDDENLY!

A package arrived, with my thoroughly cleaned, good as new airbrush. I will be giving it a test-run tomorrow. I sent a message to Testors, thanking them for their service and asking how the hell they got it this clean, unless there's a secret to cracking it open without voiding the warranty?

I will sleep better this night!

Better pictures

I'm getting (slightly) better at taking pictures of my models. Bear in mind, when reading the following, I'm an absolute photography noob. Feel free to weigh in (semi-)expert opinions :-).
I use a simple compact camera, but have been playing around with the following parameters:

• No more handheld photos. I bought a cheap tripod (€4.50), about 15cm high.
• Remove all artificial light sources. They gave me unrealistic shadows anyway. I shot the pictures below on the floor of the spare bedroom, on a big white sheet of wallpaper. The only light source was indirect sunlight, the lights were turned off.
• Play around with camera settings on manual. Mine has an M-mode ("manual"), allowing to control diaphragm (lens opening) and shutter speed (i.e. exposure time = time the lens is open).
• put diaphragm as high as it goes, so you have focus in the front AND in the back (and not just on one point of the model), or at least as much as you're camera will allow (mine goes from 5.4 to 8.0, not a wide range)
• increase exposure time as high as needed, until the picture is clear enough. Normally this will be around 1/30 or 1/80 or much lower (the higher the fraction number, the lower the exposure time) for well-lit scenes. I set it to 1/1, i.e. 1 second. This is where the tripod is an absolute must-have.

Chinook - Finished

This one was as good as finished in september 2014, but kept sitting on the bench, because I wanted to add some finishing touches. I wanted to tone down the overall colours with some fine dusting and also add some staining behind the exhausts.

I used AK Interactive "Dust effects", diluted with white spirit and applied with the airbrush. It could have been more carefully applied, and managed to creep under some of the decals, actually accentuating the carrier film. Oh well ...
For the exhaust stains I used black oil paint and earth-coloured pigments. Not entirely to my satisfaction, but if you don't go too close, it looks as intended.

Kit : CH-47D Chinook HC.Mk1
Scale : 1/72
Manufacturer : Revell
Price : around €10 (second-hand)
Number of parts : 126
Time spent : 32.5 hours
Project completion time : 14 months

Paint : (Vallejo)

• Black primer
• Pale grey blue (71.046) - Base coat
• Gunship green (71.014) - Green "stripes"
• US Grey (71.046) - Interior
• Scarlet red (71.003) - Outside + seats
• Black grey (71.056) - Rotor blades (better than black)

Other products :

• Alclad II klear kote (semi-matte) as varnish
• AK Interactive "Dust effects"
• AK Interactive "Dark earth" & "European earth" pigments
• Mig productions Abteilung 502 "Starship filth"
• Evergreen styrene strips and rods, Tamiya masking tape for scratch-building the interior seats.

Findings or issues?

A beautiful model of an impressive machine. Fit issues when closing the hull and later the bottom, but nothing a modeller with a few models under his belt shouldn't be able to solve through patient filling and sanding. The cockpit needed major surgery to close.

I didn't dare use the provided decals for the large black&red strips, so painted them instead.

AB cleaner eats Future

I've made a small discovery. Well, "discovery" is the wrong word, because it's actually completely logical, but let's stick with that word.

I've been trying to paint this mini Rubik's cube for years (literally!). It's been a pain cleaning it's surface of whatever dirty glue they used to keep the stickers on and when I finally got it clean enough, no paint would stick to it. In fact, the paint just peels of again.

Anyhow. Once every few months, I manage to build up the courage to paint ONE side, then let dry and treat it with multiple layers of "Future" (Currently: Pledge's "Floor care - Tile & Vinyl Floor finish"). It's the only product so far that keeps the paint on the plastic.

So, what did you discover !?
I had just painted the third side bright red. After removing the masking tape, I saw some of the red paint had creeped under the tape and stained the blue side. I would normally clean up with thinner, but couldn't find the thinner right away, so opted for Vallejo's Airbrush cleaner. I though it'd be safe, since the blue was already under multiple layers of Future.

Guess again! The cleaner ate the future AND the blue paint. Now, this shouldn't be THAT surprising, since Future is also an acrylic and therefor a bad protection against an acrylic product cleaner.

It immediately made me think of a technique I recently read, namely Mike Rinaldi's alternative for the hairspray technique (or chipping fluid). He calls it "Lacquer thinner dry-brushing".
Basically, once you have multiple layers of paint on your model (like camouflage on top of red primer, or just several different shades of Olive Drab), you wet a fine brush with lacquer thinner (only slightly moist) and softly start working on the surface. Little flakes (let's call them "chips"?) of the paint will start to come loose, just like when you're using the hairspray technique, except that this does not depend on any intermediate product to be applied beforehand.

In my case, I went all the way to he plastic of course - which isn't how this technique is intended - but I'm considering giving this one a go in favour of my not-so-successful attempts at the hairspray technique so far. (mostly undocumented yet, so you haven't read much about it)
An in-between layer (e.g. varnish) that does not respond to the cleaner might solve the problem of "going to deep", but Mister Rinaldi is no fan of varnishes. I am however, but it's safe to say his experience and skill outweighs mine by a huge factor.

I'd say "stay tuned for test results", but at the rate I'm currently going, that'll be sometime next year.

Stay tuned anyway, I'm intending to actually finish a few projects rather soon(-ish).

AC130H - Identifying unknown parts

In many model kits, we are often confronted with parts that make us think "What the hell is this part?". We start looking at photos, references, subject documentation, and still find no reason to attach said piece of plastic to the model, especially if it looks weird and out-of-place.

Usually, these are optional parts, but it baffles me how often they are simply omitted from the building instructions, leaving you to wonder why they exist. Old incorrect parts, that were fixed in a re-release? Intended for future kits for a slightly different version? Who knows ...

I had this issue with multiple parts on the Chinook, and simply did not install them. On the AC130H, I now faced the same problem. On page 10, some kind of "box" is supposed to go over each engine. It's exact placement is hard to deduce from the drawing. Is it supposed to fit over or after the engine? What does it do?

On the model, they look a bit weird and not really part of the engine setup.

 You can see straight through it and I have no idea what it's for.

The box-art shows no trace of anything behind the engine (see previous post).

Google is your friend.
I started looking at my reference photos and blueprints and could find no evidence of anything being there. Until suddenly, I started finding photos that did appear to have something box-shaped behind the engines.
It wasn't until I added "engine" and "shield" together to the search terms, that the solution presented itself.

The answer!
Starting with the 130U, IRSS (infra-red suppression system) was added to mask the engine's heat signature, thus reducing it's visibility in the infra-red spectrum, used in sensors and (more importantly) heat-seeking weapons. The 130H appears to have been retro-fitted with the same heat shields.

So, now we know what it is and we have found photographic evidence that it was used on this version, I see no reason not to use these parts.

AC130H Spectre Unboxing

Today we will be opening up ESCI's 1/72 AC130H "Spectre".

It's not a kit that I though I would be building anytime soon. Admittedly, the C130 Hercules (which I though this was after a cursory glance at the box) is a formidable transport plane and I've seen it fly overhead at low altitude a few dozen times (we have a few in our army), but it hadn't quite peeked my interest yet to promote it from the stash to the workbench.

What is it?
The AC130H is no transport plane. It's a gunship, and heavily armed at that. Basically, it's a flying tank, with all the advantages, but without the disadvantages of a tracked vehicle.

Lockheed calls it "A fixed-wing, side-firing aerial gunship that provides close air support, air interdiction and force protection".

During the 1950's, the C130 Hercules was adapted for a variety of missions. This particular version (130H "Spectre II") is the 1973 version. Ten of the previous versions (-E) were converted into this model. In 1986 thirteen more were build, then converted into the 130U "Spooky".

They are highly efficient, but a bit slow. Of the total of 53 planes that were made between 1953 and 1995, 8 were shot down in action, 2 of which were 130H (january '91 and march '94). The remaining 8 of this model are still in service with the 16th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

It's onboard armament consists of :
- 2 x M61 20mm Vulcan cannons (3000 rounds)
- 1 x L60 40mm Bofors cannon (256 rounds)
- 1 x M102 105mm Howitser (100 rounds)

Each wing supports 2 pylons for fuel tanks or missiles.

What's in the box?
On to the contents of the box. 4 sprues contain all the parts we'll need and - at first glance - some extra's. Dry-fitting the 2 fuselage halves tell me I'll be working some extra hours on them. All part of the job ...

Decals appear to be lacking a bit of colour, but I'm glad all those little lines are included and I do not have to paint them.

The building instructions are adequately detailed, but going through it, I already see there will be need for a lot of "guestimation" on some parts' correct placement.

I've already started construction (and postponed posting this entry), so expect part 2 to come really quick.