Introduction
Modelers have their own reason for the subjects
they choose. It may be a particular aircraft itself. Maybe it’s an
idea or technique to be tried, like wanting to do a natural metal
finish for the first time. Many times it’s the markings are the
deciding factor. This project was more or less a combination of all
those reasons. I bought the model because I have always loved the
D-9 and I got the kit at a great price. I choose the markings based
on the 1/48 version I had completed fairly recently. After seeing
the1/48 conversion, Bob Stephenson, the Würger Mechanic, gave me
some pointers on how to more accurately accomplish the big tail. I
immediately decided to make another attempt at this and do this
model in the same markings.
The Model
Several reviews have been written about this
model written by people with more knowledge and experienced with
this aircraft than me so I won’t try adding comments about kit
accuracy. As one of the reviews said some of the issues will be
deemed acceptable by some modelers and was certainly the case for
me.
Except for one thing, I did not discover any
difficulties with regards to construction that were not already
documented. The hardest thing to get used to with this kit was the
softness of the plastic. This is only build #10 of my return to
modeling and all kits to this point have been either Tamiya or
Hasegawa. You take some things for granted after awhile. I had to
make some adjustments to technique when it came to sanding and
shaping parts when needed. It seemed sometimes that the plastic was
being more scratched than sanded. Always wet sanding and starting
with a finer grit than I would have normally would have took care of
that.
Fit was pretty good and most of the attention
was directed at fixing a few things and making improvement to the
more glaring errors or deficiencies.
Improvements
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The Verlinden resin cockpit and
PE detail set was used. The PE fret had buckles but no belts
and no instructions at all on placement. The belts were made
from lead foil and 1/48 Eduard belts were used as a guide. The
instructions sheet overall was barley adequate and I ended up
using the Eduard sheet from my 1/48 model as a reference for
most of the cockpit detail placement. The instruments are from
Mike Grant’s 1/48 sheet. I had to use the biggest ones from the
sheet to “fill” the instrument face, then a drop of Krystal
Klear to simulate the glass. |
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New cowl flaps were made from
strip styrene to take care of the thickness issue and the gaps
between the individual flaps. |
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The tail wheel was pretty bad,
looking more like a flattened bagel than a wheel. Some 1/48
P-51 hubs from the parts box, selected for the spokes, were
chucked in Dremel, sanded down to reduce the diameter, a new rim
added with strip styrene and glued into holes drilled in the
kits wheel. That assembly was put back in the Dremel and some
of the roundness of the tread taken down a little. |
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Some engine detail was removed,
the soft plastic made chiseling easier, and detailed with solder
of different sizes. |
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Hatch doors were too thick and
new ones were made from sheet styrene with interior detail from
the Verlinden set. |
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Landing gear doors had the
fictitious ribbing on the interior replaced (I had to do it
twice to get it right) and the spring was added to the struts
along with brake lines. |
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Welds added to the exhausts with
stretched sprue softened with Tenax then textured with a hobby
knife blade. |
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Curved hinge on the engine cowl
straightened. |
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All flap detail removed and
redone. The kit flaps had just some rudimentary ribs but with
the added bonus of ejector pin holes and rough areas as if there
were big gouges in the molds. New details made from strips and
sheet styrene. The rivets are added using and old dart from my
“arrow chucking” days. It makes a great riveter. |
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The guard over the exhaust for
the super charger intake was fabricated from some extra brass
sheet from the PE fret. |
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4mm was taken off the back of the
vertical stab and about 8 degrees of slope added to the front
with a plastic spline and Milliput. |
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Antenna is a single strand of
copper wire from a lamp cord darkened with Blacken-It. |
Decals
Not much available in the way of after market
stuff for this model but there aren’t any decals at all. HobbyDecal
makes a nice dry transfer stencil sheet that was used. I had to
make all of the fuselage markings. My first attempt at printing my
own decal did not do my receding hair line any good. I printed them
with an inkjet printer and the yellow was clear like a piece of
stained glass.
The mottling showed through. Next I tried
printing on white paper, trimming real close, and the same thing. I
applied a set of decals to some tape to cut out a stencil to spray
some white as an underlay and found it too hard to position.
The decals were sort of thick so stacking was
out of the question. I know because I tried and the mottling was
still visible anyway. After telling this to a friend he tells me he
has an Alps printer and he would print them for me. The yellow was
a bit grainy but they were super thin and opaque so they made a
perfect bottom layer for 2 stacked decals.
Painting
All Model Master enamels with the RLM “84”
being mixed. The NMF is Model Master Metalizer buffing aluminum.
2 coats of Future and a wash of pastels powder,
water and some liquid dish soap. 2 coats MM flat lacquer then some
post shading with pastels and a stiff brush.
I think I need to complete the set with 1/72
and 1/32 scale versions of this aircraft.
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