Retired In Kalifornia's Italian Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

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RetiredInKalifornia
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eBay Has Xotic-72 FIAT RS.14 Kit For Sale...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:42 pm

...yes indeed: eBay 1/72 Xotic 72 Fiat RS-14, gazillion moons since I'd seen any up for sale on the Internet. One am building - and will be done with tomorrow July 23rd - cost well over U.S. $50 when I'd bought it c.2012, two years spent searching for the bugger, this beauty is going for a cool $100 though no bidders yet, auction closes this Saturday July 27th. Ain't gonna buy this nor any other Aviation USK-ish RS.14 kit, if a new-tooled 1/72 scale one came out that's another matter altogether.

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Xotic-72 FIAT RS.14

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:40 pm

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Re: Retired In Kalifornia's Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

Post by Editor » Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:56 pm

Nice job Richard, send in a short article.

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Yes...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:11 pm

Editor wrote:
Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:56 pm
Nice job Richard, send in a short article.
...will get to it along with those you'd asked for earlier in this discussion thread next month. Another heat wave underway, too hot for a big kit build but staring the "what if" five-cannon SUPERMODEL FIAT G.55 one tomorrow for posting on Beyond The Sprues website. The Piaggio P.108A/B/T kits builds will take up rest of 2019, first up the Cunarmodel P.108T resin conversion, starting on it next month also.
Last edited by RetiredInKalifornia on Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Retired In Kalifornia's Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

Post by Vincent Fiore » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:24 am

Beautifully done. Is this a vac-form or injected?

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Thanks...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Wed Jul 24, 2019 4:30 am

Vincent Fiore wrote:
Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:24 am
Beautifully done. Is this a vac-form or injected?
...injected with clear vacuform & etched brass parts.

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Cunarmodel+Special Hobby Piaggio P.108T Build In Progress

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:00 pm

Build Progress Reports Will Be Continuously Posted Here, Photos Of The Built Model Will Be In A Separate Posting

The Piaggio P.108B (Bombardieri) was wartime Italy's only operational strategic four-engine bomber, 23 constructed including one prototype. In addition, one P.108A Artigliere ("Gunner") variant armed with a nose-mounted 90mm Cannon da 90/53 was constructed well as one P.108C (Civile), ten P.108T (Transporti) featuring cargo carrying fuselages somewhat similar in profile to the American built Boeing 307 Stratoliner but of an entirely original design..

The 1/72 scale Cunardmodel P.108T resin kit with clear vacuform window parts is the only one available of this Italian transport in any scale it requiring a Special Hobby P.108A/B injection molded one as a parts donor. The kit is large well as potentially difficult to build so will take up to a month in doing so, below is a photo of the open-box kits:

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July 31, 2019

- > Separated fuselage halves from sprue nibs, broke off fuselage edges whilst pulling some nibs off :x successfully glued them back on :thumbup:

- > Large one-piece interior part & pass-through mainwing weight bearing spar successfully separated from sprue nibs, test-fitting shown below:

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- > Photo also shows ALL other kit parts in bags, ALL kit assembly instructions are on the single paper sheet!

- > The kit comes with a 14-page two-sided copied supplement published by CMPR of all Piaggio P.108 variants including period photographs & profile line drawings, will employ it along with my Ali d'Italia No.15 P.108 for the build.

August 1, 2019

- > Port fuselage halve window openings & keel edges trimmed, filed & sanded, spot puttying necessary around & over some sprue nib cuts.

August 2, 2019

- > Starboard fuselage halve window openings & keel edges trimmed, filed & sanded, spot puttying necessary around & over sprue nib cuts.

- > Single-piece flight deck & cargo hold floor trimmed, filed & sanded, large additional rectangular cargo hold floor piece glued in place.

- > Fuselage halve, interior parts dry fitting OK, top fit good, keel fit uneven, extensive puttying necessary after fuselage halves are glue joined.

- > Fuselage halve gluing will be difficult, evaluating ways to make it "least painful" as possible.

August 3, 2019

- > Fuselage halve opening rims painted Testors Flat Black & White "special mix", viewing aesthetics better than painting them a light color or not at all.

- > Twelve cargo cabin vacuform windows cut & glued in place on fuselage halves, others will be placed later.

August 4, 2019

- > All remaining fuselage windows cut & glued in place on fuselage halves good results; kit lacked clear vacuform parts for all windows, fabricated these from clear plastic sheet styrene.

- > Spray paint masking now commences for the windows, fuselage halve interior side ones first, tedious work but necessary!

August 5, 2019

- > Spray paint masking done, fuselage halve interiors painted Humbrol 78 Matt Cockpit Green + Testors Flat White 50/50 mix + 36% Flat White shading enamels replicating Verde Anticorrosine, good results :thumbup:

August 6, 2019

- > Several sheet plastic strips cut, sanded, glued & backsides painted Verde Anticorrosine along fuselage halve edges as "hot spots" to join with styrene liquid glue instead of cyanoacrylate gels, doing so hopefully will allow more drying time whilst aligning the halves well as not crazing resin surfaces along the join.

August 7, 2019

- > Large fight deck/cargo hold floor interior & mainwings weight support & bracing part base painted Verde Anticorrosione, pilot & copilot seats base painted Testors Flat Aluminum enamel.

August 8, 2019

- > Cockpit flight deck parts painted & assembled; kit parts throughout, rudder bars were fabricated from sheet plastic:

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- > Spacious fuselage interior lends itself to super-detailing, time & expense beyond my desire in doing so never mind lacking photos & pertinent information in doing so.

August 9, 2019

- > German aerial machine gun mounts fabricated & painted Testors Flat Aluminum enamel glued in place:

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- > Final cockpit/cargo deck part on fuselage halve interiors dry fit tests followed by halve glue joining tomorrow, praying all goes well!

August 10, 2019

- > Fuselage halves glue joined, seams puttied, got good results :thumbup:

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- > Dorsal joins came off OK, issues with ventral, i.e. two sets of fuselage interior glue nibs broke off whilst gluing them together :evil: salvaged situation striping on superglue gel along seams, squeezing them together with taught masking tape.

- > Masking tape was applied parallel to glue joins to contain putty whilst filling the joins in, began using this technique recently with other model builds, wish had done so with past builds :(

- > Fuselage set aside till tomorrow for putty to dry, gluing on rudder sail well as masking transparencies for painting comes next.

UPDATE:

- > One-piece rudder & sail glued on fuselage & puttied:

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August 11, 2019

- > Special Hobby P.108A kit tailplanes glued on fuselage, putty filled, filed & sanded:

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- > Plastic sheet extenders glued on tailplane-fuselage rear fairings,

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August 12, 2019

- > Fuselage assembly topsides spray painted Humbrol 91 Matt Black Green + 36% Testors Flat White enamels replicating Verde Oliva Scuro 2:

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August 13, 2019

- > Mainwing & engine nacelle components glued together:

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- > Outer nacelle gun turret holes plugged with trimmed & sanded curved styrene plastic parts saved from a previous Italian model kit build, near perfect fits :thumbup:

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August 14, 2019

- > Fuselage assembly undersides painted Testors Model Master 1726 Light Gull Grey + 36% Testors Flat White enamels replicating Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1:

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August 15, 2019

- > Engine nacelles painted, assembled, glued on mainwings they test fitted with fuselage:

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August 16, 2019

- > Mainwing topsides spray painted Verde Oliva Scuro 2, set aside to dry till Sunday.

- > Image last several days Image again today, taking rest of day off from model building :|

August 17, 2019

- > Engine nacelles & main landing gear doors trimmed & sanded, insides painted Verde Anticorrosione, nacelle exteriors base painted Verde Oliva Scuro 2.

- > Disc-shaped engine part crankcases painted Testors Model Master 2105 Dark Blue Grey other areas Testors Flat Black & White "special mix" enamels.

- > Four propellers assembled from injected plastic blades & resin hubs; two sets of blades & hubs glued together in clockwise & counterclockwise directions per wartime P.108T photos, blades spray painted "special mix" with Testors Flat Yellow enamel tips, painting hubs Monday.

- > Main landing gear wheels assembled, filed & sanded, hubs spray painted Testors Flat Aluminum, tires Testors Flat Rubber, Black & White "special mix" enamels.

- > Main landing gear struts & retraction bars trimmed & sanded spray painted aluminum.

August 18, 2019

- Mainwing undersides, landing gear door outsides & engine nacelle lower halves spray painted Testors Model Master 1726 Light Gull Grey + 36% Testors Flat White enamels replicating Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1, set aside to dry till Tuesday.

August 19, 2019

- > Propeller hubs spray painted Testors Flat Aluminum enamel.

- > More Verde Oliva Scruo 2 needed to be spray painted lower on engine nacelles & cowlings per period photos, placing inside-curve cut tapes below mainwing leading edges vexing :evil:

- > Paint weathering work commences tomorrow, may take up to three days :roll:

August 20, 2019

- > Fuselage topsides weathered with out-of-tin Humbrol 91 Matt Black Green replicating "Verde Oliva Scuro 2 along panel seam lines, vertical seam forward edges masked, feather spray painted rearwards, good results, fuselage undersides weathered tomorrow.

UPDATE:

- > Fuselage undersides weathered with out-of-bottle Testors Model Master 1726 Light Gull Grey replicating Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1 along panel seam lines, vertical seam forward edges masked, feather spray painted rearwards, good results, photos below of entire fuselage:

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August 21, 2019

- > Mainwing topsides weathered then lightly over sprayed with Verde Oliva Scuro 2 base paint:

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- > Fuselage topside weathering also lightly over sprayed with Verde Oliva Scuro 2 base paint (didn't like its appearance):

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August 22, 2019

- > Mainwing undersides weathered with out-of-bottle Testors Model Master 1726 Light Gull Grey replicating Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1.

- > Mainwing landing lights spray painted on with Testors Silver, navigation lights at wing tips Testors Flat Green & Model Master Insignia Red enamels.

- > Mainwing oil cooler vents spray painted, engine cowling oil cooling inlets hand painted with Testors Flat Black & White special mix enamels.

- > Resin macaroni-shaped engine exhaust pipes spray painted with Testors Flat Rust & Steel spot mix, interiors hand painted with Testors Flat Black & White special mix enamels.

- > Resin German Maschinengewehr 15 & 131 guns trimmed then spray painted Testors Flat Black & White special mix enamels.

- > Tail landing gear parts painted Testors Flat Aluminum, tires Testors Flat Rubber, Black & White "special mix" enamels, assembling & gluing them on fuselage later.

- > Resin fuselage Maschinengewehr 15 beam port cover part insides spray painted Humbrol 78 Matt Cockpit Green + Testors Flat White 50/50 mix + 36% Flat White shading enamels replicating Verde Anticorrosine outsides Humbrol 91 Matt Black Green + 36% Testors Flat White enamels replicating Verde Oliva Scuro 2, parts won't be glued on though Luftwaffe aircraft code letters may be applied on their outsides per period photo references.

- > Yellow Luftwaffe identification band painted aft of rear fuselage Maschinengewehr 15 beam ports with Testors Flat White base & Yellow top coat enamels; exasperating work getting good masking line alignments :crazy: "weathering" the band tomorrow.

- > Techmod Luftwaffe Balkenkreuzes haven't arrived in mail yet though orded them 16 days ago :evil: working on other aircraft assembly items meantime till they arrive.

August 23, 2019

- > Yellow Luftwaffe identification band "weathered" (darkened) with sprayed on Testors Flat Yellow, White & Black spot mix then lightly over sprayed with yellow.

- > Entire fuselage sprayed (sealed) with Testors Clear Semi-Gloss Lacquer, masking tape over transparent parts removed, some spot re-gluing of them necessary.

- > Transparency insides cleaned & re-smeared with clear machine oil wherever possible, works wonders for appearances, doing so is akin to putting model ships in bottle :crazy:

- > Additional main wing weight bracings fabricated & glued on fuselage:

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- > Subsequent mainwing-fuselage root test fits good, underside root gaps somehow need to be filled, more on this later:

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August 24, 2019

- > Engine nacelles, upper mainwing oil cooling exhaust vents, forward portions of main landing gear doors spray painted Poly Scale flat black & white "grime" mix acrylics replicating blow-by.

- > Grime mix hand painted along engine cowling seams & cooling gill slats well as feather trailing fuel filler caps.

- > Engine cowlings mounted on mainwing engine nacelles; fabricated & glued on plastic sheet scratch-built cowling mounts similar to the mainwing bracings on forward nacelle caps (see August 23rd photos).

- > Additional spray painting necessary on port engine cowlings, forgot to paint more Verde Oliva Scuro 2 on them :x

- > Exhaust pipes glued on engine nacelle caps.

- > Mainwings sprayed (sealed) with Testors Clear Semi-Gloss Lacquer.

- > Painted & clear sealed major assembled model components shown below:

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- > Fuselage-mainwing root trailing edges built-up with glued on sheet plastic, will file shape & sand them tomorrow, test fittings OK will glue mainwings on fuselage, must do that before putty filling root trailing edges.

August 25, 2019

- > Fuselage-mainwing root trailing edges file shaped, sanded & painted ready for gluing on mainwings.

- > Lufttransportstaffel 5 cum Lufttransportstaffel 290 "J4 + HH" Cunarmodel kit decals applied along Special Hobby P.108A decal sheets from two kits approximating those of Real McCoy period photographs; Techmod Bakinkreuz decals still haven't arrived :evil: applied simplified under mainwing black/white Balkinkreuzes on fuselage instead.

- > "J4 + HH" decals had to be individually cut apart & applied on fuselage sides well as over the Maschinengewehr 15 beam port covers per Cunarmodel P.108T print references, extremely tedious work, Cunarmodel decals very thin some torn as well :shock: manage to save all of them though tear on port fuselage side white "H" had to be covered over with unused white decal pieces.

- > Mainwings will be glued on fuselage tomorrow, too Image to do them today!

UPDATE:

- > Mainwings glued on fuselage - braved the heat :clap:

August 26, 2019

- > Fuselage-mainwing underside & leading edge roots putty filled, filed, sanded & re-painted; laborious effort, got good results :esmile:

- > Main landing gear parts assembled & glued on mainwings; long landing gear doors held in place with plastic hangers fabricated from sheet plastic glued on landing gear nacelle edges.

- > Luftwaffe P.108Ts had oleo tail wheel struts, Special Hobby P.108A kit resin strut cut & shaped, sheet plastic replicating oleo retraction spring glued on, assembly painted, plastic tail wheel glued on afterwards.

- > German Maschinengewehr 131 gun glued on ventral mount.

- > Glued-on landing gear units drying overnight on upside down model; thing's bloody heavy, gear units must harden before applying weight on them, puttying around base of tail gear unit needed as well.

- > Pitot tube mast needs to be scratch built, painted, glued on lower forward fuselage below cockpit, small ventral antenna also needs to be fabricated, painted & glued on lower fuselage aft of mainwings, after they're done model will be turned around & laid on landing gear - fingers crossed tail wheel assembly won't break :crazy:

- > Final assembly work includes cutting & shaping the vacuform dorsal turret, gluing in Maschinengewehr 131 gun in it well as Maschinengewehr 15s on fuselage beam port mounts, painting & gluing on the fuselage dorsal radio antenna, applying water decals on propeller blades - fingers crossed can do it all tomorrow otherwise model should be ready for photographing on Wednesday.

August 27, 2019 - MODEL IS DONE

Way too Image right now to take & post photos of it, will do so six or so hours from now after sundown.
Last edited by RetiredInKalifornia on Thu Aug 29, 2019 4:22 pm, edited 66 times in total.

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Re: Retired In Kalifornia's Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

Post by BillShu » Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:49 pm

I look forward to this build.

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Re: Retired In Kalifornia's Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

Post by Editor » Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:33 pm

Great job on the interior.

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Thanks...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Thu Aug 08, 2019 9:11 pm

Editor wrote:
Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:33 pm
Great job on the interior.
Half of it is made up despite having Ali d'Italia 15 P.108 monograph photos to work with though alas not enough. The cockpit deck is grossly inaccurate, pilots would need arms long as their bodies to reach the center flight controls :crazy: Tomorrow will scratch build & paint beam & ventral machine gun mounts, following test fits of the single-piece cockpit & cargo deck will glue the fuselage halves together praying all while no disasters along the way!

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Cunarmodel+Special Hobby Piaggio P.108T Luftwaffe Cargo Transport

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:02 pm

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Taking 19-Day Model Building Hiatus

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Tue Aug 27, 2019 8:15 pm

Near non-stop model building since January has taken its toll :crazy: that along with oppressive heat Image will resume model building September 15th with the out-of-box Special Hobby Piaggio P.108A in Regia Aeronautica Italiana livery.
Last edited by RetiredInKalifornia on Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Retired In Kalifornia's Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

Post by Editor » Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:08 pm

Great Job! Looks fantastic. Send in article.

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Thanks...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:27 pm

Editor wrote:
Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:08 pm
Great Job! Looks fantastic. Send in article.
…not as nightmarish as the SEM Model FIAT G.12T effort but took half-again as long to build. This is the largest model by bulk well as size I'd built since that Airfix Boeing B-29 in 2005, gave it to a 56 year friend of mine in 2015 miraculously surviving a house fire two years later! Rest of this year will build the Special Hobby P.108A & B variants taking up to a month each likely followed by the SEM Model Savoia-Marchetti S.74. The only other four-motor Italian left to build is the BroPlan SM.95 vacuform, won't get to it till next spring; seriously doubt anymore 4-motor Italians are going to come on the market before The Soylent Green Year 2022 when by then I should had retired from scale modeling, apropos considering part of the Democrats "Green New Deal" not so tongue-in-cheek includes "recycling people" :wtf: whatever that means!!!

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Re: Retired In Kalifornia's Aircraft Model Builds In Progress Photos

Post by Editor » Wed Aug 28, 2019 11:52 am

Its an interesting plane in that it doesn't look anything like the bomber or attack variants, the fuselage is considerably wider than the other two planes, the rudder was completely redesigned and you could even be forgiven for thinking it looks like a four-engine jet airliner. But love the look of it and its eastern front markings.

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