Scale Model Shop

Collapse

Zoukie-Mura - 1:32 Skyraider build

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • BarryW
    SMF Supporters
    • Jul 2011
    • 6027

    #1

    Zoukie-Mura - 1:32 Skyraider build

    I am going to do my first photo-build and managed to start 'cutting plastic' on Sunday. So here are some initial impressions and a couple of photos.

    This is going be be an out of the box build with the addition of the weapons set. Skyraiders really have to be dripping with weapons!!

    So far I have been working mostly with the silver coloured plastic that makes up the interior. This plastic really is quite soft. which is not all negative. but I wonder if the detail loses some crispness as a result. Don't get me wrong, detail is excellent by almost any standards but it lacks some of that Tammy Mustang crispness. One word of warning - I would not use some of the more 'aggressive' plastic weld cements on this soft plastic and take care than usual with normal liquid cements. I ended up with a blob of that soft plastic to clean up early on which was not a great problem and that was with Mr S Cement, if I was using a plastic weld things would have been more difficult.

    For the record, the transparent plastic is not only crystal clear but is also of a softer type, its not as soft as the silver plastic though - I actually preferred the clear plastic in this kit to the Tammy transparencies. The grey plastic is of the hard brittle type while the black is a very hard, solid type of plastic.

    Fit so far has been very good but in dry fitting the communications equipment to the rack it looks as if some trimming will be needed, again I suspect the soft silver plastic is the problem rather than the engineering - its not a big deal and nothing to worry about.

    There is some minor flash but again nothing to worry about and is easily corrected.

    What I do like is the options they provide - one being a clear instrument panel to which you need to mask the dials, paint and the apply a decal to the back. When the masking is removed the detail is revealed. I have not seen this before and I think its an interesting was to do this. They also provide a normal panel that can just be painted. I intend to try to clear/decal approach but have also cleaned up the other part and will prep it in case the clear one does not work for me.

    Another option is to have a seat with seat belts moulded in and they provide an alternative without. I am going to use the one with moulded seat belts to see how they look and then decide whether to get some photo etch instead.

    Pictured here is the interior ready to take a primer coat and some other interior parts likewise prepped - not masked the instruments yet.

    Tonight I will fit the communication and other equipment and prepare the fuselage halves as well.

    I need to decide whether to paint all that nice detail that will not be seen!!!!

    I will post again when I have painted the detail of the cockpit and before I close up the fuselage.

    [ATTACH]43898.IPB[/ATTACH]

    [ATTACH]43899.IPB[/ATTACH]



    Attached Files
  • stona
    SMF Supporters
    • Jul 2008
    • 9889

    #2
    Good on you Barry. I'm very interested to see how this progresses having built a Z-M kit myself.

    I found the use of the different plastics a bit odd. I've no idea why they do that. I didn't find it a problem either,unlike at least one reviewer who had trouble with the silver stuff.

    Good to hear that you've not got too much flash as well. I had a couple of sprues which needed quite a bit of cleaning up.

    keep up the good work,this will make a very impressive model.

    Cheers

    Steve

    Comment

    • Guest

      #3
      This looks very interesting Barry, and I'll be watching to see how it turns out.

      Good luck!

      Patrick

      Comment

      • Guest

        #4
        i like detailing and this has it in bucket loads awasome so far

        i`m watching mobear

        Comment

        • papa 695
          Moderator
          • May 2011
          • 22770

          #5
          Will watch this with interest many thanks for shareing Barry

          Comment

          • yak face
            Moderator
            • Jun 2009
            • 13841
            • Tony
            • Sheffield

            #6
            Looking good barry , a sandy in 1/32 , thats going to be a big old beast! cheers tony

            Comment

            • Swagman 070
              • May 2011
              • 144

              #7
              Looks good Barry, great detail in the cockpit, cant wait to see more!

              Steve

              Comment

              • BarryW
                SMF Supporters
                • Jul 2011
                • 6027

                #8
                Well I have made some progress over the last week. Not a lot, my fault not the kits, not had as much time as normal for this with a new lady in my life as well!

                Anyway a few observations:

                ...Once painted I found the soft silver plastic's detail was crisper than I first thought it would be, very nice indeed.

                ...There have been some minor fit issues, usually some of the smaller parts but all the major parts have been a perfect fit.

                ...Using the clear instrument panel in the method ZM suggest, masking the dials before painting and applying the decal to the back so the instruments will show when the masking is removed did not work for me. For one thing, unlike the Tammy Mustang, the decal glue is on the back of the decal, the wrong side to apply it the way they said. Not a great problem using MiscoSet to the front of the decal then washing the glue from the back. That was fine but cleanly removing the mask (I used Maskol) was not as easy as I thought it might be. I was not happy with the result at all. So I used the solid 'silver' instrument panel which has crisper detailing than the other and that turned out to be much better when painted.

                ...I decided to use the seat with the seatbelts molded in. They look OK painted up. I may regret that later but I did decide to make this an out of the box...

                Having just finished the Tammy Mustang I can't help but to compare this ZM kit with the Tammy. This is not as refined as the Tammy but I am enjoying it a lot more. I cannot pin down why this is. Since coming back to modelling 8 months ago I have found myself preferring the painting/finishing process but this kit really has revived my love of the build process. It is a joy.

                Anyway here are a few pics of the progress. As you can see I decided to just paint those areas that will be visible, tempted as I was to paint the rest. It will need a little filler on the spine but apart from that it all slotted into place perfectly.

                [ATTACH]44115.IPB[/ATTACH]

                [ATTACH]44116.IPB[/ATTACH]

                [ATTACH]44117.IPB[/ATTACH]

                [ATTACH]44118.IPB[/ATTACH]







                Attached Files

                Comment

                • stona
                  SMF Supporters
                  • Jul 2008
                  • 9889

                  #9
                  Not a lot of progress! What happens when you do make a lot of progress?

                  It looks like a very nice kit and you are clearly enjoying it which,at the end of the day,is most important of all.

                  It's looking very good too. It's going to be a substantial lump when finished!

                  Cheers

                  Steve

                  Comment

                  • BarryW
                    SMF Supporters
                    • Jul 2011
                    • 6027

                    #10
                    Well I have had some distractions just lately but I have made some more progress and have some pics.

                    This really is a Jekyl and Hyde kit, the fit goes from being as good as Tamiya at its best to the worse. It is an absolute delight and can then be a pain in the neck. That said, in spite of this or maybe because of this, I am really enjoying the build - more so than that Tammy Mustang.

                    I particularly like the way they approach a model - it certainly opens up some new options for the more advanced modeller with the potential for 'cut-aways'. I, however, am doing this kit all 'buttoned up', armed and ready.

                    The instructions are generally very good, a few minor flaws, but they do need reading carefully as it is easy to miss something. I missed drilling the inner pylon holes.... I will now have to fit the pylons without the location holes but that is not a real problem.

                    Anyway - some pics.

                    The inner wing construction. It all fitted very nicely though the fit of the front scoop was very vague, was that gap meant to be there!!!

                    Outer wings complete - there was a need for a spot of filler around the joins.

                    ZM made a brave attempt at articulating the outer wing sections but it just does not come off. The strength of then plastic is not up to it so I ended up gluing the outer wings to the inner. This was a more tricky job than you might imagine and it needed to progress in careful stages.

                    The engine gave me a problem too. There was a lack of positive locations and it made lining up the various components a little more difficult. The way this kit is engineered each piece must go together perfectly even more so than a normal kit or you get a small problem magnified later. This was a problem with the engine. I found test fitting that it would fit with a 'scew' down and to the left so I have to do some surgery to correct that. The pipework was not easy, some pieces just did not fit well but as I am going to glue the panels into place I did not worry too much and left those parts off. Fortunately, despite concerns the exhaust pipes were a perfect fit as these will show. They also help to line up the engine. One piece of advice, the 'dual' exhaists are best fitted to the engine first and not fitted to each other (as per instructions) as a lack of good positive location points was a problem.

                    The fit of the completed wing section was tight and some trimming on one side was needed to get it into place. Some Mr Surfacer 500 was needed along the wing/fuselage join as there were some gaps. In fact I ended up using a lot of Mr Surfacer and Dissolved Putty on the wing areas.

                    Some pieces and sub-assemplies all cleaned up now and waiting for a primer coat.

                    Looking at the undercarriage and how it fits I think I am going to have to fit it in situ at a much earlier stage than I would prefer in order to get the right angles and also being load bearing I don't want paint in the way. This is actually a problem with this type of kit construction there are a number of pieces that you have to fit earlier than I would prefer like the arrester hook and tail wheel.

                    There are a lot of vulnerable bits of moulding too that break off and will need replacing with stretched sprue, as on the piece pictured above.

                    Anyway, thats it for now. I will be back when I have made a bit more progress....

                    I have to say, looking at these blown up pics its really good for seeing some extra spots of 'clean-up' needed. They didn't show under my magnifier.

                    [ATTACH]44836.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44837.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44838.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44839.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44840.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44841.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44842.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44843.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44844.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44845.IPB[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]44846.IPB[/ATTACH]





















                    Attached Files

                    Comment

                    • Guest

                      #11
                      very niceeeeee

                      Roman

                      Comment

                      • colin m
                        Moderator
                        • Dec 2008
                        • 8755
                        • Colin
                        • Stafford, UK

                        #12
                        This looks like a very interesting build. The inner pylon mounting points you lost - well, you might (with a bit of luck) be able to see them through the plastic if you shine a torch on the other side of the wing. The mounting points will show up as small lighter coloured dots.

                        Colin M...

                        Comment

                        • BarryW
                          SMF Supporters
                          • Jul 2011
                          • 6027

                          #13
                          Thanks for the tip Colin. I may try that but I think I have found some diagrams that will help me position the pylons accurately. I will try what you say though as well...

                          Comment

                          • Guest

                            #14
                            Barry you is a nutter,this plane looks as complicated as the real thing,can`t wait to see it finished

                            mobear

                            Comment

                            • michaelm
                              • Dec 2011
                              • 437

                              #15
                              Hi Barry, really great thread I'm enjoying this, your doing a super job of taking us through the build, thanks a lot.

                              Comment

                              Working...