Body and Suspension and Tires - Oh My!

Today I finally got to start putting parts together, always the fun portion of the project... Started with attaching the suspension to the lower half of the body. 

Once the super glue dried I continued with the tires. I unfortunately broke a pin which was to hold a back wheel because the super glue dried to fast for me to properly manipulate the part. I had to eyeball it and hold the part steady while the glue dried. I'm sure the Germans won't mind my almost perfect alignment.

Have a Seat

After the tires I completed touching up the chairs with the painted black leather using Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black. Using toothpicks glued temporarily with hot glue sure makes painting easy.

Tires

Just finished repainting the five tires black after having to airbrush the Schwimmwagen since the rims had to change color.

Airbrushing Session

Today the weather was perfect, the kids were taking a midway snooze so I got to enjoy a much needed airbrushing session! The Schwimmwagen in Tamiya Dark Yellow is sure looking nice.

Airbrush Prep Work

I have decided to change the main color from Tamiya German Grey XF-63 to Tamiya Dark Yellow XF-60 since I already have a Tamiya 1/35 German 6x4 Truck Krupp Protze in German Grey in my scale model collection. In general I prefer German Grey but I want to diversify the colors used in my collection and the Dark Yellow fits the bill nicely. Tonight I prepared everything that will be airbrushed as soon as I get a chance.

Tamya 1/35 scale WWII German Schwimmwagen

Today I took out an old kit from my stash, a Tamiya 1/35 scale WWII German Schwimmwagen Type 166. Purchased sometime between 2000-2002, I had started the kit by spraying the it with white primer then airbrushing it German grey. I was starting my first job after studying and time was lacking. Scale modelling was put aside for a few years while focusing on getting started in life... I've decided that now is a good time to get back to this kit...

Below I've attached several parts to the upper hull of the vehicle.

Casey the Red Baron

I wonder if Casey's birthday gift had anything to do with his choice of fighter plane at the amusement park?

Happy Birthday Casey!

For Casey's 5th birthday, I finally presented to him his WWI Red Baron Fokker DR-1 Triplane.

He sure liked it, especially the turning propeller!

Happy Birthday Casey!

Touch Ups!

Today’s the day and at the last minute I had to repaint the nose section since the propeller rubbed on the white section when I was adjusting it with a paper clip back on July 14th. A lot of masking and a can of spray paint did the job and all looks good (had a bit of a panic with family due to arrive shortly). 

Tonight’s the night to present the gift, hope this unique present will please Casey...

According to my notes, it took me 35 hours to build not counting any research time.

Complete!

My goal was to complete the project for Casey’s 5th birthday which is on July 18th.  My wife kept telling me I it would be close and with only 4 days left (technically 3 days since his party is on the 17th) and tonight I am very glad to have competed it. It wasn’t an easy build but was lots of fun and it will sure look great hanging from his ceiling. I had some difficulties making the propeller spin properly but got it to work thanks to a paper-clip and the machine guns look menacing! Can’t wait to present it to him at the party!

Iron Crosses

Tonight I finally got to place the iron crosses on the tri-plane! I’ve been waiting a long time to get to this point and find that it has added a lot of personality to the aircraft.

Fixing Old Wounds...

After a long delay I finally found the right moment to go outside when there was no wind, not too hot, not too cold and the family was quiet. I painted the repairs from the January crash and completed the white areas, everything is looking good!

Casey’s First Kit

Today I had Casey assist in assembling the parts to the shuttle. Despite the beginner level even I had some difficulties joining some parts together. Together we completed the assembly and placed the stickers, I choose Discovery since it is my favorite shuttle and also an appropriate name. It’s a small little project that will be proudly displayed by its new owner in his room. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new past time for him…

Got Paint?

With a bit of disappointment I found out that the kit is all in white plastic when I thought that the black markings were painted or separate pieces of plastic. It’s the first time I buy a snap kit and was not aware of this. Since Casey who is 4 ½ is too young to paint such details I decided to go ahead and paint the shuttle black sections and accessories. Nothing fancy but just enough to give it a nice appeal, two coats of flat black should do the trick!

Space Shuttle

While in a toy store with my 4 year old son Casey we checked out the scale model aisle and the Snap Tite Space Shuttle caught my attention. We had built a rocket out of cardboard weeks earlier and Casey is really into rocketry. It was only 10 bucks so I decided to pick it up and hopefully start an interest in scale modelling for him. It also reminded me of when I was young and my father built me the same model, it was the first model I every had and so it will also be the first model for Casey (with his help of course).

I might as well fix it...

Since I will have to add new tissue to the damaged sections I decided to correct another issue with the wings which I was not happy with.

The two white sections on the top of the wings had been painted flat white and unfortunately underneath was a gloss red coat which created an undesired cracking effect. It was light but noticeable so I went ahead and removed the sections so that I can add new tissue and repaint it with a gloss white.

Examining the Damage...

Well, after yesterdays nightmare event I examined in detail and started the process of determining the repairs that will be needed. I removed the damaged sections as can be seen in the photo below.

Crash!!!

Tonight I wanted to pick up where I had left off several months ago and continue work on the tri-plane. While setting up the plane and getting some cardboard to commence spray painting some red I knocked over the plane it took a 3 foot nose dive and it crashed into the floor!!! My wife who was upstairs heard a few curses and came running down to see what happened. The only damage was to the top wing bit it was major. The struts broke and pierced the top tissue and the wing fell off. I glued it back on and will analyse tomorrow what tissue needs to be replaced (lets just say I'm not in the best of moods).