Trumpeter SM-79 Sparviero

[digger303]

Loving it. The PE work is so fiddly and you've got it down pat.
What you were saying about Eduard got me to thinking that they spent all that time designing the torpedo brackets which are underneath the plane and the viewer will hardly see and they don't bother with the little torpedo spinners which are right in your face.

[Tomcat64]

It's amazing how much time PE sucks up during a session at the bench - you're doing a great job sticking with it and getting everything into place.

As to what difference it makes, that's a decision you need to make whether the extra detail is worth the time and swearing it'll take to get it in place especially at this scale with the smaller bits.

It's all taking shape nicely though & glad to hear you're over your head cold

[RangerNeil]

Thanks for the kind words guys - really are much appreciated and a good mojo booster!!

Good news is the PE is now 99% complete. All I have left to do are the sights on the upper forward machine gun and the struts on the undercarriage doors.
This is the completed torpedo set up - just needs priming and painting.




This is what I mean by Edouards rather lacking instructions:


And this is the part(#12) that needs to be folded into that shape:




Also the instructions only say that the right side parts are symmetrical with the left. So I've taken that as literal and the right has been installed as a mirror image of the left rather than a clone of the left. Whether thats right or wrong I guess is immaterial because, as Digger observed, it will all be invisible once the SM-79 is sat on its wheels with the torpeo's mounted.

[RangerNeil]

Well - for those who wanted to see it - the colour is starting to go on!! HOORAY!!!!

The engines, cockpit, upper fuselage etc. have had a coat of the sand (I forget the correct name) and the undercarriage doors have a base coat of Italian Light Blue.


The underside is now primed - once that is dried it can be flipped and the top primed. I might - just - have enough of the Tamiya Surface Primer left to do it.


So far - so good. But this is where things went haywire...
Spraying the torpedoes in Gunmetal the first one went OK - apart from it pinging out of the clamp which took the prop off the front resulting in a frantic half-hour search of the floor. I did find it so alls well there. However the second one something went wrong with the paint and it came out thick and horrible. I think I'm going to need to rub it down when dried thoroughly and do it again.


The good one


The bad one

[digger303]

Shame about the second torp. Did you let the brush sit a while while you sorted out the clamp problem ? The thinner might have flashed off if your using a lacquer based metallic.
Wouldn't be modelling if we didn't have problems I guess.

[RangerNeil]

Shame about the second torp. Did you let the brush sit a while while you sorted out the clamp problem ? The thinner might have flashed off if your using a lacquer based metallic.
Wouldn't be modelling if we didn't have problems I guess.

Could be along those lines Digger. It was Tamiya acrylic, thinned down as it had gone treacly. It was left in the brush, cap on the pot, whilst I hunted for the pinged off nose prop.....

[RangerNeil]

Work now suspended until I can get another can of Grey Fine Surface Primer delivered (it's on order).
Seems I had far less than I thought, barely enough for 1 wing, and need to coat the entire plane before adding the base colours.
Meantime if anyone has recommendations for creating that odd cammo pattern - I am all ears 'cos its giving me a headache trying to work out a way of doing it!!!

[digger303]

Work now suspended until I can get another can of Grey Fine Surface Primer delivered (it's on order).
Seems I had far less than I thought, barely enough for 1 wing, and need to coat the entire plane before adding the base colours.
Meantime if anyone has recommendations for creating that odd cammo pattern - I am all ears 'cos its giving me a headache trying to work out a way of doing it!!!

One recommendation is don't drink and paint...
If you have access to one of those vinyl cutter machines you could get it to cut out the pattern.

Best of luck

[RangerNeil]

The two tins of Tamiya Primer arrived today so the fuselage is now primed and drying overnight. The slats, wind turbine and outer surface of the door were also primed. Tomorrow will be adding the base colours of blue underside and sand uppers.




After that - the dreaded cammo pattern......

[digger303]

Lovely smooth primer base.

[RangerNeil]

First colour is on!!!!
Underside blue first - then the undercarriage can be fitted which will make painting the upper surfaces a lot easier.....

[digger303]

Lovely
I really like those soft blues and cockpit greens.

[RangerNeil]

And the second coat is on!!! Upper fuselage, engines, canopy, door and slats. Letting that dry as some dog hairs managed to settle whilst wet so a quick rub tomorrow and and another blow-over to get rid of the marks.

Again - Photobucket isn't playing ball so photos will follow as and when.

[digger303]

And the second coat is on!!! Upper fuselage, engines, canopy, door and slats. Letting that dry as some dog hairs managed to settle whilst wet so a quick rub tomorrow and and another blow-over to get rid of the marks.

Again - Photobucket isn't playing ball so photos will follow as and when.

I find Imgur easy to use when pasting links than Photobucket.

[RangerNeil]

And the second coat is on!!! Upper fuselage, engines, canopy, door and slats. Letting that dry as some dog hairs managed to settle whilst wet so a quick rub tomorrow and and another blow-over to get rid of the marks.

Again - Photobucket isn't playing ball so photos will follow as and when.

I find Imgur easy to use when pasting links than Photobucket.

My goof - its not "Photobucket", it should have read "Postimage". Usually its good but once in a while the server connection is so slow it times out. Yesterday was one such time!

Anyways - its working now so here are the photos of the days progress:








Once the issues with Greyhound hairs is sorted the next job will be masking up and painting the broad white band immediately aft of the beam gun ports and the red bands around the engine cowlings.
Then its the dreaded cammo job. I had a look on YouTube and a guy on there used refillable paint pens to create a similar pattern on a Luftwaffe machine. Unfortunately he never mentions the make/supplier of the pens and nothing I've found online looks like what he used.....

[Tomcat64]

Well the first two coats have laid down really nicely - even with the pup's help

For the camo pattern I think I might be tempted to resort back to using a hairy stick if you can't find masks...

I know it's different subject matter but that's how I tackled the camo on these two...




It does take a while and I had to do these over several sessions but I just wasn't confident in being able to mask & spray them... just a thought

[RangerNeil]

Well the first two coats have laid down really nicely - even with the pup's help

For the camo pattern I think I might be tempted to resort back to using a hairy stick if you can't find masks...

I know it's different subject matter but that's how I tackled the camo on these two...




It does take a while and I had to do these over several sessions but I just wasn't confident in being able to mask & spray them... just a thought

Cheers (other) Neil!!
Hairy sticking is the fall-back plan. I don't feel anywhere near confident enough to tackle this one with an airbrush.
This is the video I found on using paint pens - in theory its a lot easier. But theory rately translates well into practice where I am concerned at least.....

[RangerNeil]

Masked up the engine cowls today - there is a ring of colour around the front of each cowl. The Trumpeter instructions call for Gunze Mr Color "Steel Red". Checking the colour match app nearest match was Tamiya Bronze so thats what I used. Annoyingly though there was a fair bit of bleed under the tape around the front so some remedial work to do tomorrow.

[digger303]

The props look nice and sharply defined and the engine behind it looks suitably busy.

[Quax]

Hi Neil
Think this was me with the pen - if you look in my portfolio at the He177 is that what you mean? If so if you google Montana acrylic pen 2mm or look on Amazon you’ll find it

Paul

[RangerNeil]

Hi Neil
Think this was me with the pen - if you look in my portfolio at the He177 is that what you mean? If so if you google Montana acrylic pen 2mm or look on Amazon you’ll find it

Paul

Cheers Paul - had a look through your portfolio at the He-177 and its very similar to what I need to do - just think of filling in the random shapes with green and brown. I'll have a nose on Amazon for that pen as it do seem what I need.

Meantime work progressed today - steps forward - and back. I got the broad white band onto the fuselage OK, had to finangle the masking tape around the open clamshells for the lower rear gunner but it went well.


Also gave the prop spinners another coat of white as I wasn't happy with the finish.

So a first glimpse at how an almost complete SM-79 will look.






Take a good look at the interior - it won't be seen much longer!!








Unfortunately there was a step back - even though they were primed and keyed, when I removed the tape from one of the cowlings after adressing the issue of the bronze bleed last night it took a chunk of paint off. So more remedial work to do.... <sigh>

[digger303]

Now that looks nice. Very neat,sharp and a smooth paint job.

[RangerNeil]

Today was closing-up day!! Take a good look at the interior folks, its pretty much the last time you'll see it!






And now the canopy and upper fuselage section is on. I thinks theres more filling and sanding required.....

[Parker]

great build.

[digger303]

Need to get my canopy fitting skills up a notch or two. So I'm watching keenly.

[RangerNeil]

Started filling the canopy gaps today - and ran out of filler!! I had two unopened boxes in the drawer - when I opened them both had gone rock-hard. So I got some done but now will have to wait for a new supply to arrive. I suspect the Mil 12 will consume prodigous amounts of it.....

[Tomcat64]

That's coming along really nicely even with the hiccups it's creating!

Hopefully you'll still be able to see plenty of that interior though the greenhouse when it's unpeeled

[RangerNeil]

Work on the Mil is stalled until I can figure out how to secure that fuselage lining. So I went back to the swordfish as a quick finish - and the 0.2mm drill promptly snapped!

So its back to the SM-79..... Engines are on and I've tried making a start on that cammo pattern. Its going to be a loooong old job but I think the colours are OK.

[digger303]

Your probably right.

[RangerNeil]

Didn't realize this had been sitting on the shelf for over a year now. And had something heavy dropped on it ' cos one of the engine cowlings was off and split in two..
So I cracked on today and got the green segments of the cammo on:




And the engine cowling is completely repaired:

[digger303]

I had forgotten about this, glad you pulled it out. I like this type of aircraft plus it's always good to finish something.

[RangerNeil]

Upper surfaces finished and the is top gloss coated ready for decals. I'll do the underside tomorrow and then the decals can go on followed by a matt coat to.finish. Then comes the fun of pulling all the masking off thats been on for over a year now!!!!

[digger303]

Ohh I like that pretty camo

[Stokesy44]

Ohh I like that pretty camo

Same here. Looks amazing

[RangerNeil]

Thanks folks All done freehand with a hairy stick....

[RangerNeil]

So - good news and bad news tonight.
Good news is the decals are on. Oddly for a kit this size there weren't many - 10 in total. No stencilling, just the main markings.












Note that the props are dry-fit only hence the droopy look to them.
And with the torpedoes dry-fitted:


The bad news is I've mislaid the waist and rear cockpit M/G's and the D/F loop aerial. I've put them away somewhere so safe they cannot be found!!!
I can - probably - make a new D/F aerial but the MG's are a different question. I may have to contact Trumpeter and see if I can buy spares.....

[RangerNeil]

Engage childish mode>
I found the missing parts, I found the missing parts!!!
Disengage childish mode<

Went looking for something else torally unrelated today - and found the missing guns & D/F loop! So, having fitted them, the props, torpedoes and door I'm calling this done!! At last......














Just need, sometime in the future when I've sorted a good way of doing it, to add an aerial wire.

[digger303]

Glad you found your guns, I'm still missing my brake hub and now a muzzle break, dunno where they go to.
Love those tri motors after all why have 2 engines when ya can slap another one on in the middle