Builds

Part I | Part II | PART III | Part IV | Part V

With construction complete and bench time stuck in the interminable hell of filling and sanding, I decided to shift gears on the Trumpeter P-47 and knock out the kit’s Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine.

This proved to be something of an experience.

The Problem(s) With Trumpeter’s Engine

I will give Trumpeter this – the R-2800 they provide with the P-47 is one heck of a detailed piece.

That said, it suffers from three problems.

Problem 1 – It’s not entirely accurate. This isn’t a super-big deal to me, since the engine is all ensconced within the cowl anyway, but several small details appear slightly off. If I were planning to display this monster with the cowl off, that would definitely be a point of frustration.

Problem 2 – It doesn’t all fit. The exhausts and collector ring just don’t fit. Seriously. They just don’t. I seem to remember very early on having them somehow fit perfectly, but when it  came time to revisit the engine, there was no way to get things to line up.

Problem 3 – Trumpeter’s whole engine mounting scheme is a giant middle finger to buildability. Most engines mount to some massive peg on the fuselage assembly, or seat right into the cowl. But that’s not good enough for Trumpeter. No, they would ask the builder to hang the engine by a few flimsy plastic rods doing duty as engine mounts, plus the two tubes of the exhaust collector ring.

This is NOT a secure mount, especially considering the need to stuff thing into the cowl.

Fortunately, I got around all three problems. The first by not caring and the second and third by taking a few shortcuts, since the engine’s going to be stuffed into the cowl and all that really matters is the face of the thing. (more…)

Part I | PART II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

I recently read a review of Quentin Tarantino’s latest, “Django Unchained” (excellent flick by the way), that started off by saying “this movie is a motherf****er”.

Well, Trumpeter’s P-47 is also a motherf****er. It’s big, it’s bad, it’s awesome and it’s a massive pain in the ass all at once, and that becomes glaringly apparent as you move into the main construction process.

So let’s get to it, and you’ll see what I mean. (more…)

For the new year, the Scale Plastic & Rail forums are hosting a Messerschmitt group build that's been gaining some crazy interest. My first thought, as I started pondering which…

Part I | Part II | PART III | Part IV The Swiss 109 has been built, puttied, sanded, primed and made ready for paint. Time to do it to it! Candy…

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