Another little rough but otherwise fun kit. It had no cockpit to speak of so I scratchbuilt it out of sheet styrene. Everything else is out of the kit. Tried to do a decent green and brown camouflage paint scheme, but it came out less than optimal. But it will have to do. Original decals were WAY too old and far gone. I ordered a set of aftermarket decals and they too were old and disintegrating. I ended up trying to use them anyway and was mostly successful with applying them. They were decent enough to use in the end, and I needed to only touch up a few spots with paint. Landing gear has been glued in. Props are still off so I can more easily manhandle it. The original canopy is too small to go over my new cockpit so I will try to vacuform it. This way I can also open the canopy to show the cockpit.
Not terrible but not as good as I was hoping it'd turn out.
I might use these blunt needles for guns or possibly some other small hollow tips. Still looking.
I've been looking for a base to have this Whirlwind live on and decided on this base. I could have used a smaller one that barely fit the landing gear, but I never like using such small bases for planes. I always have felt that the dimensions of a plane should fit comfortably inside the dimensions of the base. Leaving no portion overhanging. So to fill this gap I bought an Ace Models 1/72 TOURER 8HP British Staff Car to put with it.
Things still to do:
- Add Seatbelts, Detail, and Weathering to Cockpit
Add Yellow Bands on Leading Edges of Wing
Weather & Flat Clear Coat
Paint Tailwheel Gear Bay
Add Blunt Needle Tips for Guns
Vauform, Cut, Paint, and Clear Coat Canopy
Add Antenna Mast on Tail
Add wire
Final Assembly