I’m not letting any grass grow under my feet. Now that the SBD is completed I need to try something more simple and basically an OOB build ( with a little tweeking ). I am going to try the Revell 1/48 AT-6. Now I just spent over an hour looking for a few good color photos of the cockpit but I’m coming up short. I want to paint all of those little gizmos the proper colors but I need to see color photos. Are there any good ones out there?
On the Texans I have painted and been involved with (mostly ex-SAAF planes) the entire interior was green, incl the frame tubes, electric boxes, ect.
The levers for the mixture, pitch throttle ect were the same green, just with the color different on the “knobs” that sat ontop.
The switches were generally black with white markings and these all sat in the electric boxes.
Seat frame also same green, but there are wooden boards or floorplanks usualy just varnished. The rear glare shield over the rear pannel was also green.
IIRC the 1/48 revell kit is the same as the Italeri kit? If so I have done one and have another in the stash and really like them.
If you want a very “bright” scheeme, google “SAAF T-6 Harvard”, they were painfully bright!
The Italeri kit is the Ocidental/Modelcraft/Heller mold. Two different kits. I have both and am working on several. I am planning to switch interior parts between a Revellogram and a Modelcraft harvard soon so that I can have something closer to a MKII model. They are both excellent kits. However, if you want a moveable prop, prepare to modify the hub with the Ocidental mold as they failed to include a prop shaft which will have to be manufactured. Also the Ocidental/ Italeri verticle stabilizer and rudder will require shims to obtain the correct fit and profile. Built straight from the box, the top of the rudder sits to high above the stabilizer.
Ok. This will be fun but I guess I’m still back to my original question of good Interior photos of a T-6. There are a lot of them still flying so I am assuming that there are pictures… SOMEWHERE. I just don’t know where. ( Please not the old black/white photos )
Cant help on the pics but I’ll warn ya, the forward part of the fuselage is a b1tch to get fit properly on the revell kit, I’ve got 2 of them on the go right now, not having fun with that part…
A while back I was fishing around for some Texan pictures too. This is the best I have for cockpit reference, which unfortunately lacks the instrument panel.
Thanks guys. Your thoughts are dulely noted. Yes, I did some trial fitting of the fuselage halves and the front part will ba a real @#$% to fit properly. Also I did see the photos on the above listed link last night. I have a few reservations. I did notice that in those photos the front shroud around the instrument panel is black on both the inside and outside, but the shroud around the rear panel is the interior green on the inside and black on the outside. I wish that I could see more in that set of photos. We’ll keep on digging. I did invest in the Squadron aftermarket canopy for this kit. That may be a worthwhile investment. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… Bob
I have some good news for those of you who are following this thread. There are some respectable cockpit photos on one of my favorite websites. Go to www.maam.org for the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pa. Click on their Museum aircraft and click on their Texan. They offer a virtual tour with some good photos of both the front and rear cockpits. These are the guys doing the all out restoration of the P-61. Let me know what ya’ll think. Later, Bob
I decided to try to improve the appearance a little bit by opening up the exhaust. I think that it will look a little bit more realistic when it’s completed. Also I tried to thin the bottom scoop to get it closer to the real thing. With the air intake I also thinned the walls and drilled it out. I will smooth out the walls before painting. I noticed that the air intake scoop has a screeen in the real thing. I might try to find some scale screen material and glue it in there. ( model RR photoetch has some ). Maybe I can spray some interior green soon. Bob
QUESTION… What is the actual outside diameter of the full scale Texan tail wheel tire? Also what is the approximate outside diameter of the wheel itself? The kit’s tailwheel assembly is very toy like, as some have described it. I will go to the Hardware Store and try to find the correct sized “O” ring and make my own once I get the actual sizes. Thanks for any input that you can offer. Bob
OK It’s feedback time again. I am at the point where I have to do the Instrument Panels. I’m going for a “Recovery simple build”. Has anyone ever used the decals supplied in the kit for the instrument panels? They look like they would be ok. Also if I use them should I sand off the fine raised detail or risk having the instrument decals fall in place with the existing raised details? It sort of looks like the raised details would fit the decals. Plan “B” is to paint the instruments but I’m trying to do a simple reduced stress build… sort of.
10 - 4. I did notice that the front panel is broken up into sections. I’ll make sure that I cut and apply the decal for each section seperately. Thanks for the input. Bob
Ok. Here are the cockpit pieces. I’m trying to keep this thing simple… remember this is supposed to be a “Recovery” build. The Instrument panel decals are discolored in the photo. THey are the kit decals. It took a lot of work to get them to lay down. I used several coats of Solvaset and a number of jabs with a fine sewing needle to allow the Solvaset to work better.
I apologize for the image quality on the Shutterfly link. I would like to use photobucket but it is now out of control. The delay times are so excessive that it will no longer function for me. It worked for the last two years until recently.
