Adding some Cork

Using cork from a wine bottle I cut a piece off and drilled a hole in the middle to allow a metal shaft to be inserted. I then hot glued the cork into the interior on the radial engine which will allow me to add the center piece of the propeller which I will glue to the wooden rod that has a metal tack glued to the other end so that it would not slide out. 

Radial Engine Detailing

After quite a bit of work I have completed detailing the radial engine.After having some issues weathering the metal parts of the engine and repainting the whole part twice I think I got a pretty good result.

Initially I painted the engine parts aluminum color with acrylic paint but put a flat clear which made it completely dull looking and not the desired effect I was looking for. Once I repainted and put a gloss coat I tried some new Mig weathering products which gave it a nice look. I then added extra wiring to represent fuel lines using copper wiring.

Lots of Putty!

Using my respiratory mask as this putty smells very bad and protective gloves I managed to put a first coat of putty and do some initial sanding. As you can see its not bad but more work will need to be done. I sure wish Guillow had not made it necessary to cut it out this way...

Radial Engine

This kit offers several choices as far as the radial engine is concerned. For a static display I had the choice of the engine being integrated with the engine housing or cut it out and use a more realistic one. I decided to go with the latter and cut out the engine. Although I debated the pros and cons I realized that the extra detail had a cost as cutting out the original engine would leave a nasty half circle marks all around the interior of the engine housing. Looks like I'll be having some fun with putty and sanding!

Pilot in the Cockpit

The pilot is now seated and I installed the cardboard dials. Several instruments are sticking outside of the airframe silhouette so I created boxes to better represent how he should look. The challenging part was to fill in some gaps in the cockpit seat which were visible from certain angles... 

Primer on the Fuselage

Gave the fuselage a nice coat of primer to make the tissue opaque and uniform in my garage using my new air filtering mask.

Airframe Spray Painting for Canopy Area

Over the past few days I have taken the airframe to my garage to spray paint it. After masking off the cockpit area I started by spraying it with a few coats of Krylon Clear to make the tissue stronger.

A day later I tried to paint on top of the instrument panel area black which I need to do before placing the canopy over it but it would not set properly. To my frustration I could see through the paint even after a second coat! I then realized that I need to spray it with a primer which I did a few days later and after wards the black went on perfectly with just a single coat. I decided to spray a second coat of black just to ensure that everything was covered properly.

Canopy Masking Part 2

Yesterday I started masking the canopy with a new curved masking tape. While it was great I planned to use it sparingly and tonight used standard Tamiya masking tape to fill in the rest of the areas to be protected.

Canopy Masking Part 1

Back in August I saw a YouTube video demoing a new type of Tamiya masking tape designed for curves which I found potentially interesting so I ordered a 3mm wide roll on eBay which I received in September. I was not sure when I would use it or on what subject which made it hard to choose a width but as I started to plan masking the canopy I realized that this product would be perfect. I went ahead and outlined the areas to be masked with this new tape which has a plastic feel to it and it went very well. As usual I am satisfied with this Tamiya product.

Lung Protection

Spray painting more than usual recently I have been thinking about the health inpacts of such activities especially as I start to get older. I have already used those cheap dust masks but I suspect there effectiveness to be minimal at best...

A few weeks ago it was my 38th birthday and I received a $50 gift card at Home Depot. I had initially intended to buy some lumber for a shelf project but the idea got "shelved". But then I got the idea to get myself a high end air mask as seen in the photo.

The first time I tried it I could smell nothing while painting in my garage so I was curious and just made a crack between the mask and my face and what a strong smell of paint! So this 3M mask really works well and will hopefully extend my model making activities while breathing a bit easier...