Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement.
The Grumman design on these flying boats is simple but beautiful and Dumas has made a kit that is very true to that design. I liked the Ranger version but prefer the look of radials. I have to say this model turned out better than I expected even though I did commit a couple of unforced errors.
I wont point them out but they are there.
This kit has a lot of plastic accessories. Figuring out how to adapt them for use on my model is an interesting challenge as is having this much additional effort required on just the fuselage assembly.
both wings are framed and I have begun the infill process on the port wing. The fuselage has most of its plastic appendages attached with the exception of the rear
gunner's canopy. That part cannot be installed until the rear stabilizer is attached.
The green color applied is the interior green that will show as the interior trim color on the clear parts IE: the canopy and bombardier stations window framing. The aircraft will be painted as a Marine
PBJ-1 in the tricolor dark blue over medium blue over white.
not much to report - other work has slowed this project a bit but I have completed the infill process on the left and right wings. Still have to add the plastic parts, cowl, nacelles, air scoops, ailerons, landing gear, etc..
pictures soon..
lots of filling and sanding yet to be done on the wings but the major components are attached.
I have to say I prefer the Dumas approach to engine nacelles...I think building them up out of balsa makes for a much easier assembly and a much cleaner look with less than half the work.
Fitting together large preformed plastic shells and then fitting them to the wing's airfoil is problematic. They are preformed and therefore unforgiving. So much trimming and filling and flexing and so on..
Whereas with balsa the process is simple and the fitting is unnecessary and the attachments rendered seamless with relative ease.
That said here we are and much remains to be done to get these plastic parts fared in and smooth in transition to each other and to the respective wings
Working on the landing gear next..then the tail assemblies. Once the tail is built up I can begin the final assembly. Then the Marine PBJ-1 paint scheme can be applied. Almost to the stretch.
so the next step is to add the panel lines, then the small details like landing gear doors, propellers, antenna, machine gun barrels, yada yada...
then the decals - then the clear coats of semi gloss..then I can peel the tape off the windows and see what's what
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