ccoyle

First of all, "moistening" in this case means very lightly wetted -- only enough to cause the paper to slightly curl. There are times when I purposely want card parts to delaminate, but when forming parts, if the card starts to delaminate, then it has gotten too wet. And yes, I do use a variety of "tools" to form parts. Some are actual tools, but most are just whatever cylindrical object is handy: knife handles, paint bottles, dowels of various diameters, etc. The side of a Titebond glue bottle happens to be perfect for many of the oval cross-sections of a fuselage.

Ah, memories! This was my first POB kit. Be advised, there are some issues with the instructions, unless they have been subsequently fixed. The biggest issue, as I recall, is that the instructions describe a single-planked construction, when the kit is in fact double-planked. I'll have to root around and see if I saved my construction notes somewhere (this was 20+ years ago). Cheers!

Cockpit area skinned. I joined the three sections together before adding the framed assembly. The fit was actually quite loose -- to offset this, I only tacked the outer skins on in a few spots, no forcing or squishing things together. I am quite pleased with the result -- the seams are snug, the panel lines align perfectly, and I didn't get any glue globs or smears anywhere. Everything is good to this point.

Moving forward with the outer skins. The first two sections have been joined together, but not yet to the inner cockpit skin; before the final placement of this shell, I will make sure that the first three sections, which will cover the length of the cockpit framing, align perfectly (or nearly so) and will fit the frames without any forcing. Each skin is slightly moistened, to weaken the paper fibers, then carefully formed into the correct shape -- it will hold its shape once the paper dries. Most of the sections will be butted together with the aid of a joiner strip; the flat piece in the photo has had its joiner strip attached and is now waiting for the glue to set before shaping can begin.

Once the inner cockpit skin is applied, the visual value of a tidy cockpit is somewhat lessened. BTW, another minor knock against this kit -- on the port-side interior of the cockpit (not visible in this image) is a cylinder of some sort, perhaps an oxygen cylinder or fire extinguisher. There are no location markings for the cylinder on the cockpit skin. The cylinder is shown in two different diagram views, but its location is different in each view. Thus, in the absence of corroborating evidence from other sources, the correct location for the cylinder is a bit of a guess. This lack of specificity in the diagrams was something I wrestled with during the Mohawk build.

Seat installed. After I finished the bottom portion of the seat, which consists of two layers of card, I discovered I had put it together incorrectly, with the outside layer on the inside and vice versa. Oops. 🙄 I thought it wasn't going together very easily -- now I know why. A thing to keep in mind as a builder when fretting over cockpits is that viewers like you, dear MSW member, are seeing this from an angle that will be quite impossible once the skins are on.

Okay, for all those who are interested, here's a lesson in card model error creep. In this first photo, I have used my incredibly expensive and precise calipers to measure the width of a slot in one of the wing spars. As you can see, this slot is about 0.4 - 0.5 mm wide. The billet that contains the part that will fit into that slot is also about 0.4 - 0.5 mm wide, which of course means that the part should fit snugly into the slot -- no problem. Now before we go further, we must keep in mind that a card model kit is designed and printed so that it can be built without after-market laser-cut frame sets. Normally, the internal frames would be glued onto either chipboard or laminated sheets of card and then cut out. It's up to the builder to make sure that the cardboard + printed parts + glue (this last part is often overlooked) comes out to the desired thickness, or about 0.4 - 0.5 mm in this instance. In many instances, if a laser-cut replacement part is used, the printed part is simply omitted from the construction. But what if a printed part has color on it, i.e. it's supposed to be visible after construction? Take a look at this next photo -- here I've measured the thickness of an internal bulkhead. It's a laser-cut part + printed part + glue. Notice it is now about 0.6 mm thick, not 0.4 - 0.5 mm. That's because of the added thickness of the printed part (printed on bond paper) and glue; it would be even thicker if the part were printed on card stock. We're only talking about 0.1 mm of error here, but the key word in error creep is creep -- little errors can add up to irksome headaches in precision kits. The solution in this case was to cut off and use only the colored portion of the printed part, thus avoiding the extra 0.1 mm that would have been added to the end of the floor piece if the entire printed part had been used. Will this reduce error creep in this model? We hope so! Stay tuned to find out if it worked. 🙂

Nearly every card model goes through a beta build, so somebody was able to build it correctly! Error creep can happen in several different ways, improper cutting and gluing being one such way. Another has to do with the tolerances built into laser-cut parts; sometimes, a colored part laminated onto a laser-cut part can make the part too thick. I'll try to get some photos to illustrate this later.

I'm trying very hard to do this kit justice and make everything as neat as possible. The first real test of the build's success will be seeing if the inner cockpit skin fits correctly (it should -- I've already cut it out and have test-fitted it). You may recall that the inner cockpit skin was where the Curtiss Mohawk build started to go sour.

Slowly adding cockpit elements. I am not adhering strictly to the numbered parts sequence. Instead, I'm working from fore to aft and keeping an eye out for build steps that might create tight spots for bits that are supposed to be placed later.

Congratulations on the launch of your launch!

Nicely done! Congratulations!

Don't get me wrong -- if I had the skills and the $$$, I'd be all over it ... but I have neither. 😆

I have a soft spot for the Tribals ever since I built Revell's old Ark Royal + Ashanti combo way, waaaaay back in the day!

Yikes. This is one reason why I stick to card models. 😬

I agree. Each method of construction has its own particular learning curve. I started with POB and have attempted two solid hulls, neither of which I was entirely happy with (never finished either model). One of our members, Chuck Passaro, has written a couple of practicums based on Model Shipways solid-hull kits -- here's a link to the one based on Sultana. You might find some useful tips in there. Over the years, a couple of MSW members have finished Smuggler. It makes a very handsome finished model, so I hope you will press on through the difficult patches. Cheers!

Outstanding work, Greg!

Sadly, it doesn't take a whole lot of manhandling to make it quite a bit less rigid!

First night's construction.

I buy most of my models direct from the publishers in Poland, with the exception of HMV kits which I can purchase here in the US through Amazon (or through this website). I have purchased through WAK, Orlik, and Halinski, all without any problems.

Yesterday I stumbled across a card model site that is new to me, called Kartonowki. As the name suggests, it's a Polish site, and there is no option for viewing it in English (unless your web browser can do so). I have always said that the Poles must have a gene that makes them natural-born card model masters, and this site's gallery (nearly 5000 entries) supports my theory. Check it out if you have time -- you'll be amazed!

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement. Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua. See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet. Cheers!

I'm on a bit of a personal roll here, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts. For my next project, I'm going to take on the 1/33 scale Ki-43-I Hei published by Orlik of Poland. This is another Lukasz Fuczek design -- you might recall that he designed the Curtiss Hawk 75 kit I gave up on a while back. Nevertheless, having finished one of Lukasz's other designs (Yak-3), I have decided to give him another go. This kit ticks several boxes for me: I have the laser-cut frames set and a canopy. I don't yet have any completed models of Japanese aircraft. It's a monoplane -- no complicated rigging (I need a break from rigging, whether ships or planes). It has only a few colors needing to be matched for edge coloring. The Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) was the Japanese Army Air Force's primary fighter at the onset of hostilities with the west in 1941, having replaced Nakajima's earlier Ki-27 (Allied code name "Nate"). The Ki-43 was built for maneuverability, which it excelled at, but had no armor or self-sealing fuel tanks and was armed with only a pair of machine guns. Once Allied pilots learned not to get into turning engagements with an Oscar and to instead use boom-and-zoom tactics against them (and other nimble Japanese types), the Oscar's days as a premier fighter were numbered. Despite this, it was produced right up until 1945. Many were expended in kamikaze attacks. 5919 of all marks were built; the Ki-43-I Hei variant was the first to carry two 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) machine guns. (By Stumanusa - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9430904Photo courtesy of Wikimedia) So, there's your intro. Construction to start soon -- stay tuned!

Okay, here she is! I had a few issues: I started with the port-side laser-cut railings, and it shows. The starboard side looks better. The awning is optional; I chose to add it. I like awnings, and this is the first kit I've done that actually includes the awning, not just its supports. You'll note that the mast has no rigging. I meant well -- even had all of the relevant lines attached to the mast. But then came trying to belay them. Yeah, that was an absolute booger, and I decided that for the sake of my mental health, this was a detail I could live without. Sorry! You antipodean purists may notice that the bell is on the wrong side of the mast. There simply wasn't enough room between the mast and the forward vent, so this captain had his crew shift the bell aft. Here's some pictures -- my little cell phone camera is not the best at taking close-ups of tiny subjects. Hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the card modeling world. Now, off to think about my next project!

The only one I regularly check out is papermodelers.com. A number of MSW members are also members there. There are also quite a few over in Europe, as you may well imagine; some of them welcome posts in English, even if that isn't the official language of the forum. I don't visit these except for when I'm looking for information on a specific kit, 'cause hey, there are only so many hours in a day!