There are two products in the world that I consider to be the work of Satan. One is Styrofoam packing peanuts, the other is photoetched brass parts for scale models. I'm currently working on two models that feature photoetched parts, both of them (surprise, surprise) are Dragon Models kits. Both are long time residents of my "In Progress" stack, too: The much-discussed 1/35 StuG IV and my 1/700 scale model of the Mighty Moo, the USS Cowpens CVL-25.
First, the StuG. Answer me this: why, oh why, did the minds at Dragon decide to use nickel steel for the schurzen parts? Sure, they need to be rigid, but wouldn't brass of a similar thickness work just as well? Not only are the parts hard, they have styrene parts added to them. Even though I cleaned the parts AND scuffed them, the itty bitty plastic parts still pop loose if you jar the part by, oh, dropping them. Yeah, I know, you're not supposed to drop the parts, but let's say someone were to drop one. The bolt heads stay put, but the hanging brackets pop loose. So, you have to clean them up and re-glue them. Even applying a primer beforehand doesn't totally fix the problem–the primer AND the glue peels off. Had they offered the hanging brackets as additional PE parts (and the schurzen in brass vs. steel), soldering would be the way to go. As it is, you can't really solder plastic to steel…
Now, the Mini Mighty Moo: The instructions are altered for the releases that have the full complement of Dragon PE, yet they still tell you to assemble the superstructure with the plastic parts. Now, that's easily dealt with–just don't use the plastic deck and bridge. Now we get to the PE replacement parts–I've been bending PE for a while now, and the trend with Dragon parts is this: unless your bends are millimeter perfect, the folded parts don't always align properly. I've gone the straightedge/razor blade route, and I've used a folding tool (more anon). Neither yield a perfect result without much gnashing of teeth. I did manage to get things more or less correct with the bridge houses, but that tower, hoo boy. No matter how careful I was, the tower would not line up and behave. I finally took matters into my own hands and removed the support structure from the cross structure. I built the cross structure (basically a box) and let the glue cure. Tonight–given that I have time to do so–I'll re-attach the support structure to the sides. Once that is all secure, I can go ahead and add the searchlight platform. But it seems to me that Dragon made it more complicated than it needed to be…
Anyway, I am happy to announce that progress is being made on both projects. The hull and flight deck of the Cowpens has been painted and needs only touch-up, and the StuG got an initial coat of dunkelgelb this week. I need to attach a few parts and fix some glitches, and I can continue with the paint work on the StuG. I still have a bunch of itty bitty anti-aircraft guns and other bits and bobs to paint and install on the Cowpens, but work does continue.
I've also made progress on the 1/72 F-111F Aardvark and 1/48 Macchi C.200. I'm planning a photo shoot tonight, I will try to post photos in the next update.
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I told you I was looking for a photoetch bender. Well, my wonderful wife bought me a Small Shop "Bug" for my birthday. I took it for a test drive on the bridge parts for the Cowpens, and it is one nifty little tool. I still have some playing around to do with it, but it should handily replace the steel straightedge and razor blade method I had been using up to this point. There may still be times when I'll need to resort to that method (like when I don't plan my folds correctly), but I thing my Bug will now be handling 99% of my photoetch bending duties from now on.
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The work front is heating up. We sat for most of the year so far with little to do, but the last few weeks (and the next few weeks, too) have seen more airplanes in the hangar and on the ramp. Surprisingly, I've managed to keep the avionics team to where we're not working killer shifts. Don't know how I managed that, but I'm trying to do the work and not burn either of us out at the same time. So far, so good…
Well, break's over–time to get back on our heads. Be good to one another, thanks for reading, and, as always, I bid you Peace.