I’m currently still working on converting a Revell Cabin Cruiser model into a Yacht right now, but going has been a little slow. So I decided to take a short break and mess around with a small 1/72 scale
Airfix airplane kit that I bought recently. I really like 1930s era aircraft, so when I saw the Airfiz Hs-123A-1 kit at a local store I decided to pick it up. However, since I decided to to use it to mess around with practicing painting and other techniques, I also decide to try and alter its nose to make it look like it had an inline engine.
I’m still doing a little sanding and cleaning, but it has been a fairly quick build so far.
That’s a nice little kit, and the best biplane of all, IIRC - no rigging[:D]! I think I painted mine in 2-tone green splinter camo, the box art version was way beyond me then (1970s) - and possibly still is!
How are you going to reshape the nose?
edit - ignore the question, I managed to open your photos (didn’t work for me first time) - good work!
Hi,
I think the lack of extensive rigging was one of the things that caught my eye too [:D].
Sorry about the links. Up till about a couple weeks ago I used to be able to directly attach images from my webpage, but it suddenly stopped, and now only gives a link [:O].
Anyway, for the nose, I mostly took a 9.5mm diameter Evergreen plastic tube and tried to taper it a bit, then played around with layering on different types of putty. I figured I could use this kit to practice a bit with the different types that I have to see which worked best in different circumstances.
The reddish brown stuff is actually automotive glazing putty that I bought from an Auto Parts store and is fairly fast drying, and seems to work very well for large areas, especially if I apply it in relativelt thin layers, that I allow to dry in between coats. I have also found that since it seems to dry from the outer surface inward, that I can do a little “reshaping” to it while it is still only partially dry. I have also had very good luck using Mr Hobby’s Mr Dissolved Putty over it, to help fair it into the rest of a model. Sometimes I will apply botht he glazing putty and Mr Dissolved putty with an old brushand they seem to react and behave well together in allowing you to smooth each other out.
I also have some Vallejo Plastic Putty and Tamiya White putty, both of which seems to take longer to dry. I tend to use them for smaller touch ups, especially for filling in dings and dents. I think that I have had good luck brushing the Vallejo stuff, but, if I am remembering correctly, the Tamiya putty is fairly tacky and de=oesn’t seem to like to be brushed, buy is still very useful, especially for areas that I intend to paint a light color.
I thnk that I also have some Perfect Plastic Putty somewhere, but I think I must have gotten a bad batch, because I found it very hard to squeeze out of the tube and not easy to work with, which others have told me shouldn’t be the case [:O]. As such, I may give it a try again later.
After using this I kinda squeeze it back a bit into it’s container and wipe the threads with a damp napkin. Just run a bit of water into the cap and give it a shake then screw the cap back on.
My Perfect Plastic is still Perfect over a year later.
