Pete's Eurocopter

[stillp]

It's certainly not shake and bake Ian. I'm wondering what to do about the canopy/windshield. Being frameless, the edges where it meets the body are going to show. Should I paint the edges interior colour, or exterior colour, or black, to look like a rubber seal? Thankfully the fit doesn't look too bad.
I'm at the stage where I'm going to have to ignore the sequence of the instructions and try to work out how I'm going to paint the thing. It'll have all the doors closed to make the masking a bit easier.

[Steve Brodie]

Seeing the hassle with this, not sure i am even going to get this out of its box, may just 'move it on' :angry::sad:
[ATTACH]296004[/ATTACH]

[papa 695]

It's certainly not shake and bake Ian. I'm wondering what to do about the canopy/windshield. Being frameless, the edges where it meets the body are going to show. Should I paint the edges interior colour, or exterior colour, or black, to look like a rubber seal? Thankfully the fit doesn't look too bad.
I'm at the stage where I'm going to have to ignore the sequence of the instructions and try to work out how I'm going to paint the thing. It'll have all the doors closed to make the masking a bit easier.

I would mask the canopy leaving a 1mm gap at the edges, then when you fit it fill the gaps you can sand it smooth, or use something like Vallejo white putty which you can smooth with a damp cloth or cotton bud then just paint it.

[papa 695]

Seeing the hassle with this, not sure i am even going to get this out of its box, may just 'move it on' :angry::sad:
[ATTACH]296004[/ATTACH]

It could be just a bad kit that Peter's got Steve.:rolling:

[stillp]

Seeing the hassle with this, not sure i am even going to get this out of its box, may just 'move it on' :angry::sad:

Steve, I'm sure a more experienced modeller than me wouldn't make such heavy weather of it.

Pete

[stillp]

I would mask the canopy leaving a 1mm gap at the edges, then when you fit it fill the gaps you can sand it smooth, or use something like Vallejo white putty which you can smooth with a damp cloth or cotton bud then just paint it.

You mean to 'lose' the joint in the body colour Ian? Interesting idea, I'll have a think about that.

Pete

[stillp]

It could be just a bad kit that Peter's got Steve.:rolling:

It certainly hadn't been stored well, when I bought it it had been in the sun on a baking hot day for a few hours. Some of the problems are just bad design though.

Pete

[stillp]

Two steps forward, one step back...
I'm sure nobody will be surprised to learn that the side doors don't fit. Well, they didn't, but a few hours of sanding sorted them out. However, the sanding dust, perhaps mixed with a little sweat, sunk into the Clear I'd dipped the windows in and left them looking like a frosted bathroom window.:angry:
I've just finished cleaning them up with IPA on a cotton bud, but they'll need a bit of a polish, and of course the paint now needs touching up.
[ATTACH]296223[/ATTACH][ATTACH]296224[/ATTACH][ATTACH]296225[/ATTACH]
But to look on the bright side, they fit now!
[ATTACH]296226[/ATTACH]
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Pete

[flyjoe180]

It's fighting you Pete, but you're making great progress on this.

[stillp]

Thanks Joe.
I'm pleased to report some good progress today. The windows responded nicely to a quick polish with the stuff I use on my 1:1's windscreen - Autoglym glass polish.
They're now as clear as their maker intended:
[ATTACH]296272[/ATTACH]
Next task was to apply two decals that fit inside the pointy bit at the front of the roof, between and above the seats. You might be able to make out the switch panel in these photos, but I doubt if you can see the other one - white test, about 3mm square, in front of it! These were a real struggle to get into the right place.
[ATTACH]296273[/ATTACH]
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To give credit where it's due, these decals are really good, surviving all sorts of abuse - the switch panel decal was removed and refitted about 4 times, and the small text decal was snatched from my tweezers by the carpet monster after soaking, yet when I found it, after a quick rinse to remove the cat hair, it stuck well!
The decals had a dose of Microset/Microsol, and while that was drying I thought I'd get all the windows masked. First a surprise - the rear doors actually fit! I was so surprised I forgot to take a photo, but will later when they're glued in.
Here's the masking so far:
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[ATTACH]296276[/ATTACH]
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Just the two windows to fit and mask below the pilots' feet, and then the big one - the windscreen :thinking::worried:
I'll give the interior a good blow out to remove any remaining dust from all the sanding, and then fit the doors. Then I need to work out how many of the little fiddly bits can be left off until after the painting. Anyone any experience of Tamiya gloss white?

Pete

[papa 695]

Looking good Pete and some nice fixes.

[flyjoe180]

Nice work on polishing those windows. I've used headlight polish compounds before for similar work.

[stillp]

Thanks Joe. To be honest they didn't need much polishing, it was more a case of cleaning off the residue of the clear. Came of with little more than a wipe then a quick buff with a clean cloth.

Pete

[stillp]

Had a long day in London doing some of the worky thing (I'm retired, but still do a bit occasionally) so didn't feel like doing much, but those tricky decals for the roof switch panel have had a coat of Galeria matt.
Remember I was asking if anybody could understand the instructions saying to place some decals inside, some outside? Here they are (well, the inside ones):
[ATTACH]296366[/ATTACH]
Small aren't they!
And here they are in place:
[ATTACH]296367[/ATTACH]
They can dry overnight and tomorrow I might fit these doors. I'm tempted to pose them open, but the masking will be easier with them closed.

Pete

[stillp]

Hadn't realised it had been so long since I posted - I've been a bit distracted by helping an old schoolmate with some genealogy. Some progress on the Eurocopter, although not all as I'd like.
You won't be surprised to hear that the windscreen didn't fit! It needed squeezing in at the lower rear corners, and pressing down at the top. All curved surfaces so nothing for clamps to grip. Tried to reshape it a little after soaking in hot water, which helped a little. After a lot of attempts I managed to get it somewhere close with tape and rubber bands:
[ATTACH]297425[/ATTACH]
After taking the tape off I found that the windscreen was sitting a bit proud of the fuselage, so after fitting all the doors first to keep the sanding dust out I sanded it down to be nearer to a flush fit, then micromeshed and polished it back to a reasonable semblance of clarity. I'm still not satisfied with the fit, but to be honest I'm getting demotivated by this kit - it has some lovely detail, but the fit of some of the major parts is terrible. I'm not going to take that windscreen out again, so it'll have to do.
Maybe it'll look better with a coat of paint, and I think it's at the stage where if I add any more of the small parts, they'll get broken off anyway, so it's time for a coat of gloss white!
On with the masking:
[ATTACH]297426[/ATTACH]
Underneath:
[ATTACH]297427[/ATTACH]
The intakes have been plugged with foam:
[ATTACH]297428[/ATTACH]
And the exhausts (well, the holes where they fit) protected with some ear plugs:
[ATTACH]297429[/ATTACH]
I've brushed some white primer around the windscreen masking, so the next task is a coat or three of Tamiya gloss white. Wish me luck!

Pete