Recently picked up a 1/72 Arado Ar68E. Wow! This is going to be a fun project. I will post some progress photos before the week is out (basically a dust storm at my work bench for all the sanding!)
I was wondering if any of you had any tips or pointers. I picked up the March 05 article on Internet Modeller that was very helpful, but any and all input would be appreciated.
October 21
I have the upper wing complete. The lower wings gave me some trouble. As you can see there is a “hump” on the fuselage…there was no way I was going to get the lower wings on without some major surgery…so I cut 'em off [}:)]…
I then used some stock styrene to back the hole, glued my wing in and used resin to fill the gap,
So far so good…I think[X-)]
I thought I was in over my head at first…now I know I am!
As an old vacumform model builder I would say that your choice of the Arado Ar68E is not the best for a beginner. I am assuming it is the Airmodel kit which I built many years ago. No real problem in the kit itself as the fit of all the parts was quoite good. The big problem is that it will be difficult to install and align the main wing. I would recommend that you install the wing to the fuselage center mounting struts and than add the outboard wing struts after checking the alignment of the wing with the fuselage. Use tube glue first and tjen reinforce the strut to fuselage/wing attachment points with superglue after assuring that everything is properly aligned. I always use children’s modeling clay to hold components in position on a solid board. The clay is not greasy and can be manipulated as required to meet the correct wing to fuselage alignment.
My personal recommendation is to staert with a single engine low wing aircraft from a good company. I would recommend Rareplanes, Eagle Talon, and Wings for starting models.
If you have any other questions on vacuymform modeling drop me a line at mats.man@cox.net
Mats.man I will shoot you an email. The kit is the Wings Arado. I have the upper wing about 1/3 finished. Not too bad, the lower wings look as if they could go to pig’s breakfast in the blink of an eye…
My favorite way to get parts off the backing sheets is to cut them out as best you can with scissors, then (to get the final shape) sand the bejeezus out of the back until all that remains of the backing sheet is gone. You SHOULD be left with the correct shaped piece, if it’s done right.
Thanks. I used a scribing technique I saw on ARC. Using a scratch tool I picked up at the local art shop I got real tight to the parts. SHOULD is going to be the word for this build for certain. The most frustrating thing is the lack of readily available reference information. I am going to do a very simple cockpit. Since no decals came with the kit I am considering doing this as an entry in the “My Own Flying Circus Build”.
Looks like you have a pretty good handle on the build. Best advice I can offer is take your time and plan each step in advance. Once you master a vacuform kit it will open an entirely new world of modeling to you.
Jurgen, I picked up the resin at my LHS. The package is from Alumalite. Cost about $35 US.
Swanny you’re absolutely correct. The types of aircraft available with vac forms is HUGE and certainly unique.
I have closed up the fuselage and have a good bit of sanding and rescribing to do. I figure this wll be done within the next couple of weeks. Plan to do a Condor Legion version to include painting on the markings…(insert hysterical laughter here)…
The wing braces and supprts I may cast in resin rather than using the vac’d stuff…WOW are they fragile!
One of the most frustrating things about the unique types a vac offers is the dearth of research information. I vary what I do and can not justify picking up a $75 book for just the Luftwaffe paint schemes (even though the book is probably fantastic)
Great start. My first ever vac was a Pfalz D.III in 1/72, and the feeling I had once it was completed was quite incredible. It’s a major milestone in a modeling ‘career’, I’d think!
Now, it may just be your pic, but it looks like your trailing edge is still quite thick. It is really hard to know when to stop sanding, particularly on your first vac project… We all have slightly different techniques: for instance, I use to run a indelible black felt-tip marker on all useable parts, at the point where they meet the flat plastic. Then I cut around each piece quite loosely, making sure to leave at least a few mm of white flat plastic attached. Then I sand on a flat surface, making sure my hands and fingers do not always press on the same points. For hard to hold parts, such as wings, I attach some tape onto the upper surface and that provides me with some kind of ‘handle’. When you reach the blackened plastic, it’s time to stop!
She is a bit “thick”. I too used the black line technique. This is my first vac form and realy, while I am trying to do the right things, it is a “test bed”.
Believe me I will be proud of it when it is done and it has helped my other skills, not just sanding, but rescribing some minor scratchbuilding and some “advanced” techniques like using the resin to fill LARGE gaps. The next thing will be rigging this little monster.
I look forward to sharing more with you all for sure…by the way I love the Yosemite Sam, is that your work?
I will agree with the fact that the trailing edge looks a bit thick, but then again, it does on my first vac project, too. Honestly, from the pics I see your progress is awesome. I’ve only built one vac kit to date, but I can say that I enjoy them. It almost forces you to slow down and do a good job. I have the tendacy to rush injection kits, with quality suffering. With vacs, you have to go nice and slow if you want anything done at all.
My whole point? Vacuform kits are just as fine as injection-molded ones. Just in a different way.
Instead of molding your struts out of resin (they’ll be very brittle), Aeroclub produces tow strut material packages which are available -ASTZ01 Strutz, a selection of several sizes of preformed brass strut material and CON001, five sizes of 300 mm long styrene strut material. I got mine a while back from Rollmodels.
As to thick trailing edges, I have seen this on several vac kits and find that you need to keep that in mind when sanding. What’s even tougher though is thinning the rudder trailing edge. You want a realistic look but can’t take so much off that you narrow the fuselage and create other fit problems. I ran into this exact problem when building my Tupolev SB-2.
On rescribing, I have recently been working with the Bare Metal Foil ‘Experts Choice’ scribing tool and find it to be vastly superior to anything I’ve used before. For $10 it is a great investment.
I’m building my first vacuum form kit as well. It’s a Welsh Models Breguet Deux Ponts.
I’m cleaning up the wings at the moment and I’ve been replacing the trailing edge with Evergreen strip after glueing the halves together. Then I sand it back to a fine edge. Fiddly, but it’s looking good.
Quincy, good looking out on the struts, I will look for them…'sphere, I considered the stips as well, but the lower wing has ribbing and rather than replace that as well I just said Bollocks and forged ahead (can we say bollocks on the forum? OOPS, just did twice[}:)])
Qmiester’s suggestion is worth gold, Joe. I have some of those struts and have used to replace the struts from vacs and injected kits for over 20 years! Get them. Here’s a pic of a new project of mine, Azur’s Dewoitine D371, where I replaced all the kit’s struts with the Aeroclub product. So much neater!
Re-creating a razor-edge trailing edge is a good idea too, though time consuming…
Keep up the good work, Joe.
Oh yes, that Yosemite Sam and the Sneezing Dragon are mine. [:)]
