ccoyle

Is this a scratch build? If so, we need to move your log to the correct subforum.

Slowly the empennage is coming together. Horizontal and vertical stabilizers + elevators completed (sans control horns for the time being), rudder pieces cut out and edge colored.

Quick shot of the finished windscreens.

Skinning the Engine Compartment The front end of the Tiger Moth is kind of busy -- the fuselage sides may be flat, but the nose has plenty of curves going in different directions. Pre-shaping the two forward skins is important. I had to do some surgery to get one side to fit, but I think it turned out okay on that side . . . . . . and on the other side . . . . . . and finally from aft looking forward, which gives a sense of the flared nose panels. Next up are the two windscreens, after which the fuselage will be set aside until all the sub-assemblies are ready to go together.

I ordered a supply of bits many years ago from Widget Supply and haven't run out of them yet.

Mark, I'm so very sad to hear your news. I will be praying for you to fight on or finish well, whichever way things may turn out. I hope that perhaps someone can be found who might be able to complete this beautiful project for you. Heartfelt regards, Chris

Doug, I missed the conclusion of your build. I offer my belated congratulations -- she turned out very nice!

Tomek, I think the sculptures look perfectly acceptable, and surely they will appeal to that segment of the card modeling population who like to make as much of a model as possible out of paper rather than other media.

Just remember, first planking is only an underlayment, so aesthetics is not necessarily a prime indicator of how well you did the job.

There is one small wrinkle if you know where to look. 😮 It smoothed out well enough. Interesting side note: I always assumed the Oscar was a small aircraft. 🤔

Fuselage Skinned This next step was a bit scary because of the large surface area that needed to be glued. More on that in a bit. First, here's the fuselage skeleton and the single-piece upper skin prior to cutting out. First task after cutting was to do some pre-shaping. This wasn't too difficult, since the sides are flat -- only the curved dorsal surface needed some shaping. This aircraft is tiny, and the cockpits will be tight spaces once everything is glued up, so some work needed doing before gluing on the skin. This consisted of some inner skins, a bulkhead that separates the front and rear cockpits, and two instrument panels. The panels are "glazed" with cellophane tape, covered by an optional second panel layer. Each panel will later have a compass (at least I think it's a compass -- I haven't looked closely), but they can go on after skinning, otherwise those items will be too easy to knock loose during the skinning process. Now we're ready for the big operation! 😮 First, I glued the port side with contact cement. It makes a quick, strong bond, but of course positioning is critical and must be done precisely. Once that side was done, the pre-shaped skin didn't allow much room for slopping on contact cement, so I switched over to Aleen's Clear applied with a brush, which allows for some working time. Overall, I'm very happy with the result. There are only a couple of small glue smudges to clean up, along with a minimal amount of touch-up. I had to sand one bulkhead a bit to get the skin on correctly, but for the most part the fit of this kit has been very, very good. You might notice that the starboard cockpit sides look lower than the port sides. That's because I've chosen to show the starboard doors in their open positions. This required cutting away the door portions of the outer and inner skins and setting them aside till later. They will probably go on last, because otherwise they will be prime candidates for knocking loose once it's time to install all the various control cables. Onward!

And of course spell check didn't catch that. Fixed now.

Dave, have you seen this video?

Superb trick for the steps!

Great job on the track links and weathering the blade! Tracks are the particular reason why I have never attempted any armor builds in card stock. 😬

Welcome, Dave. Scales vary widely amongst kit manufacturers, but we can nonetheless make some generalizations. First, for wooden kits in particular, larger scales are easier to work with, because often a lot of parts shaping is needed, unlike in a plastic kit. The dividing line between "large" and "small" scales is somewhat subjective, but I'd say that 1/64 and up (remembering that smaller numbers = larger scales) is large, while 1/72 and smaller are considered small. Anything equal to or smaller than 1/192 is considered miniature in the wooden world (though that would be considered large for a plastic kit). Common kit scales include 1/48, 1/64, 1/72, and 1/96. Some manufacturers stick pretty much to one scale (e.g. Vanguard Models produces kits in 1/64), others can be all over the scale map. Some manufacturers have, at one time or another right down into the present day, produced kits in what are called "box scales," i.e. a kit produced in a scale that will allow it to fit into a certain-sized box; this is how we wind up with kits in weird scales like 1/51. Cutters, like Lady Nelson, are good first kits, just be advised that some manufacturers have really stepped up their instructions-writing game in recent years, if instructions are something that is important to you. Chris Watton, who designed the Amati kit, has produced a similar kit of Alert for his own company, Vanguard Models, and the instructions are incrementally better than in the older kit. Either, though, will produce a great finished model. Cheers!

I agree. Long ago, when I wrote a review of KK's first Po-2 kit, I mentioned that KK appeared to be a real player in the card model industry. Their production values are first-rate, with excellent printing and plenty of diagrams. Their kits are a step down from Halinski in terms of detail, but that just makes them a touch easier to complete for the average builder, while still being plenty challenging. The only knock I have against them (a minor one) is that they do not offer kit-specific molded canopies for their designs. I like them enough to have recently snapped up three more of their kits! P.S. I haven't posted an update over the past few days because of the ongoing work with the upper fuselage skin. Unlike most fuselages, which are built as a series of conic sections, the upper skin in this kit is a single piece, and there are a number of cockpit elements that must be built and attached to it before it is glued to the frames.

That makes sense, now that I think back on the coasters I have known. EDIT: After checking out the specs sheet for PankaDisc, it reinforces what I wrote elsewhere about double-checking the thickness of card parts laminated onto frames -- the thickness tolerance on the manufactured board is +/- 5%.

@0Seahorse might know the answer. Tomek, what do you guys call the material that is used for laser-cut frames in card model kits? The closest thing I can come up with in English is mat board, but I don't that is actually what it is.

It's Kartonowa Kolekcja's second issue. Makes a very nice completed model, but I don't know when (or even if) I'll get around to it. The problem with collecting (hoarding?) kits is that I now always have lots of options for next builds. It's simultaneously a blessing and a curse. 😬 Here's the kit cover. And a finished example.

I just received an A6M2 kit in the mail yesterday. Card model, though.

Welcome aboard! The true test of a great wife is if she still thinks your models are special when you have run out of display space in your home. Hopefully that day is still a long ways off for you! Cheers!

Both exceptionally nice-looking subjects. Congrats to you and James -- what a great team!

I think dimes were smaller back when I worked in 1/72 scale. 🤔

Not what's known as fiberboard in the U.S., which is made out of wood fiber instead of wood pulp.