Had fun with this great little kit! Took me a while of on-and-off building but finally wrapped her up today.
Only thing is I am waiting on a replacement wing strut from Minicraft - will paint that up, weather it to match, then stick it on.
I am VERY happy with how this turned out! It’s a little rough around the edges in some places, the weathering came off too heavy, and theres a couple of other issues I will correct in future builds.
I will definitely be buying more of these kits - I plan on building a copy of every 172 I have flown (I think I have had about 15-20 of them under my belt). Thought about making a little bit of an airport diorama to fit an entire shelf if I am going to be building that many.
On to the fun stuff… pictures!
P.S. Thanks to those of you who had some advice for using foam core boards for photo backdrops!
I intend to order the new 150 kit to accompany my 172. I am hoping the new 150 is the same quality as the 172. I intend to also do another 172. This time, for both planes I intend mounting them on bases so I can detail the engine compartments and not add any lead weights in those areas.
I noticed that one in Hobby Lobby as well as in the New Products section of FSM… is this a new tool? If so, I will probably make a run over to HL and get it because I have a couple of hours in 150’s/152’s so they would be a part of my “flying history” lineup.
I should give them a call and see if they have plans for doing a new tool of the Cherokee… here’s to hoping that they do!! I don’t have as many individual Cherokees to build (Only four, off the top of my head, versus probably 20 Cessnas) but those are what I did all of my flight training in. I have made a couple of attempts a few years ago but they both ended up being scrapped.
I hear ya on the nose weight - I barely got mine right. It sits on the nose fine but very easily tips back. These things are very dependent on a massive chunk of engine up front and were VERY light aft of the wings so it’s no surprise how easy it is to under-weight the nose on the kits.
Like I said I am thinking about doing a large-size diorama of an airport parking ramp able to display several of these planes, so if I do that I will probably mount them. Thinking about doing tiny brass rod in the base to insert into the bottoms of the wheels - probably curve the nosewheel one so you “hook” the nosewheel down onto the rod which holds the nose down.
Very nice build. I admire your masking skills The weathering looks like many Alaska bush planes. I have several of these kits waiting in line that may end up in a seaplane base diorama.
The gear is definitely mounted wrong. I broke both of them and I set them too narrow when I reinstalled them. I may look into cutting them off and reinstalling correctly since it really does sit far too high - can’t believe I didn’t check that earlier in the build. I have to install the missing wing strut when Minicraft sends it out to me, so I may fix the gear at that time. Real 172’s actually sit quite low sometimes, especially with a fully charged nosewheel strut (raises the nose and puts the tail down closer to the ground). In this case, my 04H sits all around too high - 04H always had a mid-charge on the nose strut so the whole aircraft sat pretty level and lower than some of the other birds I’ve flown.
heepey - the weathering actually came off too heavy-handed for me on the white portions. Next time I will use a light gray instead of a brown wash. The brown was not only too dark but gave the aircraft a truly dirty appearance, which is not what I really wanted - I just wanted to accent the panel lines and rivets. Shouldve used the brown for fluid leaks/streaking and nothing else.
Oh well… I’m learning as I go along. Every plane I build these days I am trying out new things. For example, this is only my second aircraft with this kind of a wash done. The first was my Stang Evil P-51. I’ve only got 5 aircraft under my airbrush too… so a lot of stuff I am doing is new to me.
On the main gear thing, I had the opposite problem with mine. I put so much weight on the nose to get it to not sit on the tail that the whole aircraft is quite heavy (engine compartment nearly full of lead weight. So when I set it down, the gear splays out like it is seriously overloaded (which it is!).
Not unlike some real world flights, then! I have flown a couple of overloaded aircraft and they can really bring that tail down, especially on Cherokees!
Long ago on my check ride for my private ticket in a 150, the examiner was huge. The tanks were full, and it was well over gross with passengers. I asked the examiner if he wanted me to have the line boy offload some fuel. He said no, we could just go. I was afraid it was a trap, and worried the whole flight, fearing he’d ping me for taking off in an overgross aircraft. However, he didn’t even mention it in the debrief and signed off on my license.
Planes can often fly surprisingly overloaded if loaded correctly, CG-wise, and in favorable conditions. I know of a Cherokee that flew, legally and FAA-sanctioned, with a huge fuel tank for an overseas ferry flight - records show it was nearly 1,000 pounds over limits! I have flown Cherokees with about 150-pounds extra and they can do it without a problem but it really does need to be loaded correctly, needs to be cold, and need to have a good, long runway at both ends of the flight.
Oh and for all your info, I updated the post with new pictures - same white backdrop but this time using a proper digital camera with correct settings. Still tweaking some settings but the pictures are MUCH better and the plane doesn’t look so grimy anymore - more like what it really does look like in person. Really brings out details too, like the shine that I am really proud of [;)]
That gear is bad though haha… I really did overdo it with tucking them in too narrow after breaking them a couple times… EACH. You can quite clearly see the main wheels having a pretty decent angle to them. Surprised I let it slip by me with it being that pitiful but like I said, when I get the new strut from Minicraft I will probably have a go at fixing the gear.
Speaking of over-gross, a good friend of mine was hauling freight in Cessna 402s back in the early-mid '70s. He picked up a load of what was supposed to be aluminum pierced planking, like PSP but made of aluminum. About 2500 lbs., IIRC… anyway, when it was loaded, he noticed the tires looked low, so they aired the tires. He then noticed it took more power than usual to taxi. on takeoff, it ate a lot of runway, he figured those engine were really sick and needed looking at. Upon climbout, anything less than full power, the stall warning came on. when finally at altitude and cruise, anything less than climb power the stall warning came on and it just wasn’t flying right. When he got to his destination, and the planks were offloaded, the problem was discovered, it was PSP, yes, steel, NOT aluminum and weighed in at well over 4000 lbs.! we always said it was the ‘bumblebee syndrome’. No one knew how overweight it was, so it flew anyway.
Very nice, like your custom paint job. Great job on the stripes!
Don, that is a strange and dangerous example for an examiner to set. I’ve have been worried about a trap the whole checkride too. Ever wonder what he’d have done if you had refused to go over gross?
I can’t believe an examiner would allow that. Sets a poor example. I know a couple of examiners who would not have allowed it and would have busted the student. An examiner my late dad used to use would walk out and hop in the airplane expecting the student to follow suit, failing to do a pre-flight. Busted!
This guy, Ivan, was a real grouch, and I believed he was a bit sensitive to his weight. So I went along with it. Fortunately he didn’t ask me to do anything that would put much stress on the plane, and the runways were very long for a 150. I was sure worried, though. That 150 was really almost a 1 1/2 seater rather than a two-place
The weathering looks like many Alaska bush planes. I have several of these kits waiting in line that may end up in a seaplane base diorama.
I have flown a couple of overloaded aircraft and they can really bring that tail down, especially on Cherokees!