Curtiss BF 2C-1 by CDW - FINISHED - Hasegawa - 1:32 scale

[Egilman]

49 minutes ago, CDW said:

I'm sure kits like these from Japan made Revell and Monogram stand up and take notice back then.

And that's why it had a 3.39 dollar price tag on it as well... {chuckle}

[DocRob]

On 5/16/2023 at 6:35 PM, CDW said:

I've been looking everywhere for this set of decals but cannot find any in stock. According to my regular suppliers, the particular set is out of production.

 

Hannants in the UK has them available:

Yellow Wings Aircraft decals - YW32008 | Hannants

 

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

On 5/19/2023 at 4:51 AM, DocRob said:

 

Hannants in the UK has them available:

Yellow Wings Aircraft decals - YW32008 | Hannants

 

Cheers Rob

 

Edit - Update Already!:

Just got this email from Yellow Wings - Good News!

 

"Hello Craig,

YES, we're still in business and have been continuously since 2003 without
interruption. Tell whoever is spreading those rumors that we're out of business.
to check out our website.
Your order was shipped out on 5/19/2023, you should have received it by now
if not shortly.

Thank you and best wishes,

Wayne Tevlin 

Yellow-Wings Decals
10781 State Route 706
Montrose, PA 18801
U.S.A.
570-278-9776
yellow-wingsdecals.com
yellow-wingsdecals@att.net"
 

Edited May 25, 2023 by CDW

[CDW]

Look how weird this is. Hasegawa added some detail on one inside of a fuselage half and absolutely none on the other. The more I think about it, the less inclined I am to spend too much time trying to improve this old kit. I will probably be happier just taking care assembling it, giving it a decent paint job with a fresh set of decals and calling it a day. I have so many other projects I want to focus attention on.

[CDW]

Don't know if it's the age of the kit or just the way plastic was made back then but the kit plastic seems very hard and brittle. I snapped one of the push rods so easily while cleaning them of flash. Got to be real gentle with this old girl or she is going to wind up in lots of fractured pieces but will glue them back together as needed.

[davec]

I ordered from yellow wings last month.  No automated response or update to my order.  I emailed to inquire.  I got a nice, quick response that the decals had been shipped. The decals arrived the same day, 8-9 days after the original order.

[Landlubber Mike]

Is Yellow Wings still in business?  I thought I had read they were shutting down, but maybe I’m mistaken.

[CDW]

4 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Is Yellow Wings still in business?  I thought I had read they were shutting down, but maybe I’m mistaken.

Don’t know for sure but will find out soon. I have an order in with them. Their website remains open and seemingly functional.

 

edit: look at the post above yours. As of last month they were operational.

Edited May 22, 2023 by CDW

[Landlubber Mike]

Someone on LSM mentioned back in January that they had closed shop.  Maybe they had bad information.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Landlubber Mike

[davec]

they shipped me decals 2 weeks ago and responded to my email.  they seemed very open

[CDW]

On 5/22/2023 at 8:22 PM, davec said:

they shipped me decals 2 weeks ago and responded to my email.  they seemed very open

 

Update:

 

Edit - Update Already!:

Just got this email from Yellow Wings - Good News!

 

"Hello Craig,

YES, we're still in business and have been continuously since 2003 without
interruption. Tell whoever is spreading those rumors that we're out of business.
to check out our website.
Your order was shipped out on 5/19/2023, you should have received it by now
if not shortly.

Thank you and best wishes,

Wayne Tevlin 

Yellow-Wings Decals
10781 State Route 706
Montrose, PA 18801
U.S.A.
570-278-9776
yellow-wingsdecals.com
yellow-wingsdecals@att.net"

Edited May 25, 2023 by CDW

[CDW]

Meanwhile, I’ve had my kit stock decals taped to my kitchen window where it faces east and the morning sun. This has helped remove most but not all of the yellowing of the clear decal film. Along with a coat of Microscale liquid decal film there is a chance the old decals could be saved although my own personal experience has been rather low chances. Once that liquid film is applied and it dries, all the decals must be cut carefully around each and every one as they are all connected with the film.

[CDW]

Ask and you shall receive. Got some Yellow Wings decals in the mail this afternoon.

[realworkingsailor]

29 minutes ago, CDW said:

Ask and you shall receive. Got some Yellow Wings decals in the mail this afternoon.

Glad things (Wings?) worked out for you! Those decals look great. I’ve heard of others restoring old yellowed decals using a UV light (followed by a coating of liquid film as you mentioned earlier). Hopefully the rest of the kit doesn’t cause you any further issues!

 

Andy

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice!  I have some of their decals - they are very nice.  Glad they are still around!

[popeye the sailor]

hey there!  good to see others enjoying old kits    I built the Monogram kit when I was a teenager.   there are some kits that have been reproduced by other manufacturers.......the 1:72 stukas I posted a while back is a good example.  molds travel.  I've made my own decals from time to time............it would be hard to do your though due to the white areas.  you could use white decal paper,  but cutting them out is a drag!  I bookmarked that site that was mentioned.......can't have too many avenues    look foreward in seeing more!

[CDW]

I drilled out all the holes for my rigging lines in the fuselage halves, wing halves, vertical and horizontal stabs. Glued in the rigging lines where appropriate in the fuselage and wing halves, then glued in the simple cockpit/instrument panel assemblies before gluing the fuselage halves together. That's where I stand right now, waiting for the fuselage halves to dry overnight. I chose the option of keeping the cockpit simple and not going overboard with trying to make the old proverbial silk purse from a sow's ear. I had some spare HGW fabric and photo etch lap belts along with a scratch built seat. The stock kit seat just looked so out of scale and clunky, I threw together a seat from sheet styrene. For the instrument panel, I just painted in the dials with a white gel pen after painting it black. All the rest of the cockpit is colored aluminum. In the photos, the radial engine is dry fitted in place as it needs to be removed before finishing and painting the fuselage. For the rigging, I chose to use 2lb test monofilament fishing line.  

[realworkingsailor]

Nice job on the seat! Looks pretty much exactly like the prototype in those photos posted earlier, makes the kit supplied piece look positively clunky.

 

Andy

[Javlin]

Craig you will like it when done colorful scheme and when rigged looks the part I still appreciate mine in the cabinet.

[CDW]

4 minutes ago, Javlin said:

Craig you will like it when done colorful scheme and when rigged looks the part I still appreciate mine in the cabinet.

It would be nice to see some modern kits produced of the in-between-the-wars US fighters and bombers in 1:32 scale. Probably wouldn't be a large market for those I'd guess. The old Hasegawa ones are not all that bad. Wonder if they still have the molds?

[yvesvidal]

2 hours ago, CDW said:

It would be nice to see some modern kits produced of the in-between-the-wars US fighters and bombers in 1:32 scale. Probably wouldn't be a large market for those I'd guess. The old Hasegawa ones are not all that bad. Wonder if they still have the molds?

I agree completely with Craig. The planes developed during that time period were very interesting and full of good and crazy ideas. I would call it the Golden age of aviation around the world, and it is regrettable that so few kits be made available, especially in large scales.

 

And yes, these yellow painted planes and the big Seversky belly planes are just wonderful to assemble and look at.

 

Yves

[CDW]

The cowl/nose ring is split into upper and lower halves. This arrangement must be glued in place around the engine because once it’s glued together, it will not fit over the engine. This becomes an awkward piece to paint. Additionally there is no support for the cowl as it just hangs over the radial engine cylinders.

 

[realworkingsailor]

19 minutes ago, CDW said:

This becomes an awkward piece to paint. Additionally there is no support for the cowl as it just hangs over the radial engine cylinders.

Is it too late to paint the cowl pieces before assembly?

Afterwards you’d only have to mask the whole thing, rather than trying to work around the odd bits.

 

Andy

[Landlubber Mike]

I ran into similar cowl dilemmas on my early-WWII planes.  I'd probably paint the interior of the cowl first, then assemble over the engine, then paint the cowl exterior as a separate paint job from the rest of the plane rather than pre-paint the exterior of the cowl halves and try to then assemble it over the engine.  I found - at least on my kits - that the fit of the cowl pieces can be tricky and less than ideal, so there was clean up required after getting the cowl together.

[CDW]

43 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

Is it too late to paint the cowl pieces before assembly?

Afterwards you’d only have to mask the whole thing, rather than trying to work around the odd bits.

 

Andy

 

23 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I ran into similar cowl dilemmas on my early-WWII planes.  I'd probably paint the interior of the cowl first, then assemble over the engine, then paint the cowl exterior as a separate paint job from the rest of the plane rather than pre-paint the exterior of the cowl halves and try to then assemble it over the engine.  I found - at least on my kits - that the fit of the cowl pieces can be tricky and less than ideal, so there was clean up required after getting the cowl together.

The cowl is just taped together right now. My intention is to paint inside the cowl pieces first, then assemble the cowl halves around the engine, cementing them together, then mask the engine and paint the outside of the cowl. It seems to me the cowl would have separated IRL around the cowl and probably in two pieces, upper and lower, just as it is molded on the model. Only difference is that the real thing would have had brackets the cowl pieces bolted/fastened to.

The nice thing, the join itself will not need to be filled and sanded smooth to look realistic. The Yellow Wings decal markings show two different colors being used on the upper and lower cowl halves, not a single color as the Hasegawa markings have it.

[Landlubber Mike]

Sorry for any confusion - that's what I meant I would do.  Good luck!

[CDW]

There are a few large gaps to fill on the fuselage where an upper and lower panel are positioned. These gaps are best filled with sheet styrene pieces then cut, trimmed and sanded rather than using putty. An aerodynamic ring located at the bottom of the fuselage requires some modification with scrap styrene in order to fit as intended against the bottom fuselage panel. No big deal any of this, just something to be aware of if you own this kit or are thinking of building one yourself.

[CDW]

First of the fuselage colors to go down is a light aircraft gray. Additional colors will be silver, red and green. A colorful bird, it’s part of what I like about the golden age aircraft. The color combinations. 
I wonder if this kit will ever be produced again. Get one now while you can. They sell for very small money on EBay, often $30 or less. Well worth it IMO.

[CDW]

I’m no fan of masking but it IS a very necessary part of finishing a good model. Just this one side of masking took more than an hour this morning. 
The silver paint is AK Xtreme Metal matte aluminum.

[CDW]

Silver is one of the more forgiving paint colors when masking. It almost never creeps under a mask. It feels good when you peel that mask off and it looks okay, like hey, I didn’t waste my time. 😬