This is Lockheed Vega 5, that i’ve recently finished. It is limited run kit, so no locating pins and such. But even for inexperienced modeler as myself, it does not have many hidden vices. Actually there are only few points to be avare of:
wing placement is left entirely to modeler and canopy must be attached first
engine cowling is attached directly to engine but has slightly oval shape, so it actually touches only few cylinders
some care is needed to align undercarriage properly (i think my wheel covers’ rear ends sit slightly too low)
Construction went smooth up to the painting stage. Since i choose to depict one of a kind machine in which Feliksas Vaitkus made second lithuanian (and only sixth at all) transatlantic flight, there was no decals. So i had to mask all these letters and stripes. Disaster struck when it came to removing masks - masking tape went off with some paint. I decided against stripping paint entirely and going through all that masking again. Instead i used unthinned paint to cover offending areas then sanding them, painting, sanding and so on… As a result engine cowling and wheel covers are entirely hand painted. Flags, small lettering and some digits of aircraft number on tail are also hand painted, which is rather obvious. After all these failures i was more happy about the fact that it’s finished than worried about its looks. I know it’s not the prettiest model out there and some areas are rather crude, but from some distance it looks… well… good. Anyway, here are the pictures:
