1/48 Eduard P-400 WIP

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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Be kind folks! My first build in about 3 years and was hoping to finish it in a week or two over the holidays (so definitely did NOT go with the Prof-pak this time!). Well, completely forgot how long paint (and Future) coats take to dry. At this point I’m just about done decaling (last night) and finally painted the yellow tail and spinner. Tonight adding a few remaining bits and sealing it all up with Future again then off to start weathering.

Love to start with the cockpit. just a little paint, clear on some dials, and a white drafting pencil to do the outlines. No PE to fuss with.

Skipping ahead a bit, after getting the fuselage together, dropped in the nose weight. It is a TIGHT FIT. probably more so than it needs to be, so between some sanding inside the nose and the weight itself, finally got it all to fit. I found that a coarse emery board will take off some of the metal (and I don’t know if its lead or not, so use a mask when sanding it!)

Interesting thing about the landing light in the wing: there is a tab attached that I would normally remove, but I kept it on to make handling it easier as well as painting (the bulb) and dipping into Future. Well, actually Eduard uses the tab has its own little dimple in the wing to help locate it, and I used it as an extra gluing point to keep it from getting pushed into the wing when I eventually take off the mask. We will see if that strategy pans out in the end.

Sorry to keep skipping steps on you… I attached the lower wing first, sprayed the bottom color, then separately painted the upper halves to make it easier to show the line on the front of the wing. Works better when the halves are exactly aligned! (Something I will do a better job of on the next kit!). But worked well enough here, for this build anyway. I’m suddenly remembering all of the tricks and such I have forgotten since not building for the past three years. Sigh…

The nice fine lines of the Eduard kit really come through in this photo. Love a good airbrush being able to lay down a nice, thin coat over everything! I use the Iwata HP-CS with a Badger 180-1 compressor set at about 18psi for most of the spraying I do.

Skipping ahead further, after some decaling over Future, we are now caught up to where I am now. The spinner is just on for show, but the decals show a decent draw into the panel lines. Mostly thanks to nice decals from Eduard, MicroSol and MicroSet and some scribing with a new #11 blade.

On the next photo, notice the Eduard masks curing up? The ‘frame outline’ masks worked exactly as advertised. I then used the center parts as ‘fill in’ masks and after hearing stories of the masks curling, I went over the edges with blue liquid mask. These forums as SO helpful with tips that save the day!

And the tail, someone can’t spell ‘transmitter’ very well…

and a look at the air frame from the pilots’s side, so far.

There are dozens and dozens of stencils on P-400s, so not sure how many more I will do. Did most of the topside (Most, yes, am missing a ton, I know!) but few of the bottom side except on the landing gear doors. This is my ‘reentry’ model so I’m taking a few liberties - also saving a ton of time!

Sealing it up with Future tonight, then attaching the landing gear, and starting the weathering I hope tomorrow night. My ‘holiday build’ is now taking a month… oh well!

Comments welcomed!

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Your making a nice comeback after 3 years. Good work. I’ve never had problems with Eduard masks lifting up if they are burnished down good with a toothpick or one of those small modeling cotton tips.

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Thanks Nathan! I have never had problems with Eduard’s masks, either, but technically, I’m using part of the mask material that was not intended to be used on the kit. The rest of the masks look like they are working perfectly. We’ll know in a few days!

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Looks awesome so far ,would’nt know you’ve been away at all by the looks of things. Looking forward to seeing those masks come off! cheers Trey

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Looks good! Where are the doors?

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Ok, here she is ALMOST finished. I still have not applied the wing-walks yet, and I over did it on the exhaust stains, but overall it was a reasonably quick build (about three weeks) and more importantly, it was a lot of fun. I love the subject matter, resisted the urge to do PE in the cockpit ( I actually did find a near-complete P-39 PE cockpit set in my stuff…) and despite making more than few rookie mistakes on things, I’m pretty happy with it.

The masks turned out to work just perfectly, with one very small smudge I cleaned up. And after tracing around the edge with a new knife blade, they came of easily and cleanly. I HAVE to find the masks for the HE 111 I’m doing next, for sure…

I just love the nose on these airplanes, and especially how well the Eduard decals snuggle down into the panel lines so nicely. The Model Master Flat Coat really flattened everything out, and its kind of hard to see in these photos, but I went over the flat coat with an old 6000 grit sanding pad which was full of plastic powder, and it imparted a nice uneven white coat to the plane.

The plastic brace is very fragile, (I managed to break the one for the bomb while it was still on the sprue), but managed to survive the entire building process. One leg does not quite connect with the bottom and if it was PE I would just bend it, but for this build I’m fine.

Overall it was a fun kit, thanks for the comments everyone, much appreciated!

Now, starting the 1/48 Monogram HE 111 and can’t wait for the Tamiya 1/32 P-51D Mustang to show up in a few days!

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Nice work! I do agree the exhaust is a bit heavy for my tastes but the rest of it looks superb!

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Thanks, Eric. Yeah, I decided it bothered me too much, so since I had not sealed in the exhaust yet, I took a sanding pad and removed a lot of it. I definitely like the effect better, but the sanding also kind of ‘polished’ the exhaust area so have to hit it with a bit of clear flat.

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Really a superb effort,the panel lines really show up nicely. I like the overall paint work too! I’ve gotten heavy handed with the exhaust stains as well,its easy to do . Looking forward to seeing how it finishes out.cheers Trey

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Ahh, I like your modifications to the exhaust staining. Looks much better!!

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Looks real nice! I should add one to the stash…

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makes me want an airacobra…

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Wow thats a really cool build…i like the weathering alot

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Thanks for everyone’s comments, this has been really great and I appreciate you all taking the time and adding your thoughts. So I learned a few things: the people here are great, most things can be fixed, and when the instructions on Doc’s Weathering Powders says ‘put down newspaper before you start’ PUT DOWN NEWSPAPER BEFORE YOU START!. More on that in just a minute.

So in going through my hobby stuff cleaning it up after the P-400 build, I noticed this box in one of my drawers that I have literally never opened in five + years. Its a box from MicroMark of Doc’s Weathering Powders. I thought they might be easier to control than the airbrush, so gave that a go. YES, much easier to control than the airbrush, but OMG, the powder is so fine that just the act of (gently) opening one of the little jars leaves the dust EVERYWHERE. DON’T use it where you have any sort of breeze (like from a fan) blowing. I used the white and black dusts, and had no idea how insidious the dust was until I put my hand down on my (black topped) hobby desk and my hand came away completely black. Lesson learned! I hope you like the effect. It is actually much subtler than before, even if the photos don’t quite show it.

The black actually got washed out a bit in the photo, its actually a little bit darker than it shows here. The interesting thing about sanding some of the airbrushed exhaust off and using the dust is the panel lines come through a bit nicer I think. The sprayed exhaust just covered up the detail more than was shown in my reference photos. I have to remember about these powders (and the mess!).

What looks like a dark horizontal line through the white is a photographic shadow due to the lighting I was using (overhead). The P-400 fuselage is actually rounded there. Drove me crazy for a couple of minutes trying to remove the shadow with the brush and dust. Doh!! The last picture also shows off a bit better the overall whitish haze on the paint. I like the effect, and it was super easy to achieve (and by mistake no less)

I really do appreciate all of the kind comments (and the agreement the original exhaust was too heavy, that got me thinking of remedies!) and look forward to seeing your work as well. Thanks everyone!

Next up: Monogram 1/48 HE 111

Being delivered: Tamiya 1/32 P-51D with lots of extra goodies coming too. (Because I only have about 25 kits in my closet that still need to be built)

Contemplated… 1/48 Eduard P-39Q ProfiPack or 1/72 Revell ProModeler B-17G

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Very nice work!! Gotta get one of these now. Looking forward to see what you do with the HE-111!!

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Looks great. Never heard of Docs powders before. I use chalk pastels scraped off with a knife, then apply them with a small paint brush, then work them into flat paint with a wider make-up applicator. But I’m still learning how to use these, as I often use an airbrush for shading and fading, as well as exhaust stains.

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Nice build, interesting exhaust staining. I think I like it.

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Great build!

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Thanks, Swanny, I’m a long-time fan of your site. Great stuff there!

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I have the chalk sticks too and they come in a wider assortment of colors but you have the idea already. I used brushes for this kit, but also use the makeup applicators with the bit of sponge on the end. Handy. You can find the powders at MicroMark, but other places have them too, I’m sure. They seem to be big with Railroad modelers and people who build with wood, but I know they have a pretty good plastic model following (tanks in particular). It is amazing stuff, but a little goes a looong way…

I just need a lot more practice with the airbrush…