Modelling the O-2A Cessna Skymaster, Italeri 1/48

[rtfoe]

Hi, you've seen what it looks like made up so now you see what I went through getting it done. I have already mentioned how I liked these weird FAC planes of the Vietnam era so I was lucky to land an old Testors reboxed Italeri kit of the O-2A Skymaster. The box had seen better days and just as it was starting to disintegrate I decided to put it together. Lets start with the box...



Now the customary sprue shots. The sprue trees were missing and parts were swimming in the open plastic bag. I was fearing there would be missing parts.



Everything was there but the destruction sheet and one clear part. I wasn't too worried as the parts count was very small so finding where they should go and fit wasn't a problem. The missing clear part was a problem because it was for a curved area down the side of the fuselage. I'll come to that later.



One look and I knew the twin boom connection to the wing would need lots of filler and sanding. Rivets peppered the whole surface of the kit. I decided at this point to engrave the raised panel lines and sand down the rivets to be less prominent.



Apart from the brittle plastic, it was ready to build. Surgery starts next...

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Hi,
Now the first part to take care of are the right side observation windows that are missing on the kits right fuselage and passenger door.



I found some images of the military version and used a profile shot, enlarged it to scale measurements and traced out the windows...





I was contemplating to cut a squared out clear acetate and mask the window shape but decided on using the one available kit part and cutting another to shape and fit in situ. Basically the decision was because there was too little room for this.



The cutting had to be made painstakingly slow with scraping and sanding in between placing the clear part to see if it fits. I only wanted a touch of glue and no filler for the fit.



The process for the other window was the opposite where I cut the hole first and heat formed a clear perspex for the curve and cut to fit.



Masking with a broad Tamiya tape to protect from accidents I used a fresh new blade to remove tape a fraction from the edge of the glued outline.



That's the observation window taken care off. The interior was the next headache.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

Nice work, fitting windows like those can’t be an easy job …

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Jakko's right. A very difficult thing to scratch. Looking neat and nicely done.
Jim

[scottie3158]

Richard,

Lovely work.

[rtfoe]

Thanks Jakko, Jim and Scottie for stopping by and commenting.

I didn't have pictures showing the process but one of the things I had to do was pre-drill a number of holes along the cut area before slicing the part out. This prevents any cracking and splitting around the edge.

Before the interior I had to straighten the warped rear undercarriage legs..



I made restraints with thick brass wire and dipped the part into boiling water for a few minutes and then under cool tap water...



The result turned out ok...the curvature downward would level with the weight of the aircraft.



Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

I didn't have pictures showing the process but one of the things I had to do was pre-drill a number of holes along the cut area before slicing the part out. This prevents any cracking and splitting around the edge.

Though I’ve not done this on an aircraft kit, I usually use a fretsaw to cut major holes in models, especially if they have irregular shapes. Far easier than the method usually recommended by modelling books etc. of drilling holes all around the circumference and connecting them with a knife.

[rtfoe]

I have a jewelers saw similar to a fretsaw but I felt using my drill bit to travel from hole to hole a little more convenient as I didn't have an area or clamp ideal to hold the the part steady. It was quite therapeutic in a way and didn't have to change tools.

The interior configuration comes like this with 4 seats that are to be glued with two in the front and two at the back with square stumps to raise them from the floor. To fit the radio equipment and for the pilot to see across through the observation windows some shuffling was done.



I remove two of the rear stumps and moved the front passenger seat back and covered the holes with putty.



After the putty hardened I sanded it down and glued the instrument dashboard plus added a bit more to the floor board in the rear.



I roughly cut a thin piece of card for a firewall between the cockpit and rear engine. I had also filled the rear of the seats with putty.



Cheers,
Richard

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
The alterations are well thought out and you do them well. Not as hard as mules and arabs but need skill anyway.
Jim

[rtfoe]

Thanks Jim, they're just two different set of skills...one for nature and the other for still life.

Here's an example of simple gizmology done with a bit of help from some blurred reference pictures of the stack of radio equipment in the back of the cockpit.



I made this whole assembly with plastic strips, blocks, rod and wire.



I wasn't sure how much would be seen through the windows so I couldn't cut corners but still maintained as much detail. The radio stack was positioned just in front of the bulkhead of the engine compartment. The seats weren't stuck yet, later I temporarily closed the fuselage and added weights to counter all this added stuff at the back.



Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Hi,
To get an idea of the amount of weight I needed up front to get the nose down, I dry assembled most of the main body sub assemblies together including the interior with the radio stack and bulkhead.
At this point you can see I had already scribbed the panel lines which is visible by the dust in the grooves. The twin booms assembled and puttied.



It was a tail sitter alright and needed a hefty amount of lead to keep the nose down...



The only compartment that allowed the weights since the whole cockpit would be visible was the space between the instrument panel and the nose propeller tip. I used rolled up lead strips, pressed them into the contours of the space and covered the bottom of the instrument panel with plastic strip as it can be seen through the observation windows from the side.



My only worry was whether the front nose undercarriage could take the weight. Notice on the side wall at the edge of the floor board there's a deep indentation...well it was a sink mark for the wing support attachment points. I filled that up with two part putty and smoothed that down with a wet finger.

Cheers,
Richard

[Mini Me]

My, my........you have been busy Richard. With the rivets smoothed down she ought to fly 10 knots faster.
Looking forward to the next update. :thumb2:
Rick H.

[rtfoe]

Rick...with a gloss coat add another 2 knots. :tears-of-joy:

Richard

[rtfoe]

As the picture says below...



...and it's done however I didn't dare enlarge the aperture to the edge as the wing spar hull mounts didn't allow it.



I made quilt ceiling covers from two part putty...the imprint made with the back of a blade...same was done for the firewall.



Testing the balance with a wooden dowel showed there was more than enough weight for the nose.



I created quilting for the inside of the cockpit doors and fuselage as well. Reference showed some were just flat tarpaulin fastened with press buttons.



The cockpit was painted in insignia green and quilts olive drab with white added into the mix for dry brushing the highlights.



I made the sight ledge and extra instrumentation with plastic strip and rod.



Cheers,
Richard

[Mini Me]

Hi Richard, Nice mods to the upper structure for the observers windows.......not quite a "bubble" canopy but you are getting close . Keep it coming sir. Rick H.