Salamanders
1
February 20, 20232
February 20, 20233
February 20, 2023FROG's dark green color is difficult to photograph4
February 23, 2023Left is Lindberg's figure, right one is FROG.5
February 20, 2023Just two figures6
February 20, 2023Planet Models and Hobby Boss both had almost ready fuselage block.7
February 20, 2023Resin is laborious8
February 20, 2023Some bubble filling with plastic rods and CA-glue9
February 23, 2023Checking the fit of upper cockpit and canopy for Planet Models.10
February 20, 202311
February 23, 2023Wings for Hobby Boss12
February 23, 2023Black primer. Also checked the wing assembly for Planet Models.13
February 20, 2023Short-run kit needs a lot of work... Reminds me from Bell X-2 with similar cockpit construction14
February 20, 2023Parts need lots of fitting15
February 20, 202316
February 20, 2023Fuselage needs lots of cleansing17
February 20, 2023Landing gear had to be checked.18
February 20, 2023More assembly and fitting before painting and putting fuselage parts together.19
February 23, 2023Made all four AZ models' instrument panels because they were using decals.20
February 23, 2023Parts for three remaining AZ models Salamanders' interior.21
February 23, 202322
February 23, 2023First AZ model Salamander (becoming A-2 variant) ready for closing fuselage.23
February 23, 2023Planet Models and Hobby Boss cockpits painted. Hobby Boss doesn't shine with details.24
February 23, 2023Lots of fixing is needed for the bad fit.25
February 23, 2023AZ model cockpit is acceptable but not perfect.26
February 24, 2023Pilots for Revell/FROG and Lindberg ready!27
February 24, 2023SH kit fuselage fits exactly the best available drawing by MBI Publications (c) Michal Bratáč 200328
February 24, 202329
February 24, 2023FROG fuselage fits well to the shape of older He-162 drawing.30
February 24, 2023Raised panel lines are a big minus.31
February 24, 2023Dragon kit's fuselage doesn't fit well on anything. It is closer to the older drawing.32
February 24, 2023Panel lines follow the older drawing exactly.33
February 24, 2023Lindberg's fuselage seems to have the length right and most proportions, but it is higher than should be.34
February 24, 2023Many panel lines seems to be improvised +the raised rivets!35
February 24, 2023AZ Model kit seems to have the worst shape.36
February 24, 202337
February 24, 2023SH and AZ38
February 24, 2023SH and AZ39
February 24, 2023SH and FROG40
February 24, 2023SH and FROG. Notice the curved main landing gear bay hole!41
February 24, 2023SH and Lindberg
42
February 24, 2023SH and Lindberg43
February 24, 2023SH and Dragon44
February 24, 2023SH and Dragon45
February 24, 2023SH and Dragon46
February 24, 2023FROG's engine inlet being smoothed before gluing.47
February 24, 2023FROG kit is lacking the compressor of the engine, so I casted a new one from an AZ kit part. Mold made using Blue Stuff.48
February 25, 2023Planet models' cockpit is so good but lacking gunsight, so I scratched that quickly. Also it should be sanded smooth now.49
February 25, 2023Lindberg and FROG are gettin color inside. Also lead weights added.50
February 25, 2023Lindberg fuselage and wings joined.51
February 25, 202352
February 25, 2023FROG fuselage halves joined53
February 25, 2023Dragon kit's cockpit started. Nice details, but the plastic is very soft.54
February 26, 2023Planet models got its canopy installled.55
February 26, 2023I had to make main landing gear bay comparison. AZ kit has identical (probably copied) parts from Dragon kit.56
February 26, 202357
February 26, 2023Dragon's landing gears are tricky.58
February 26, 202359
March 19, 2023AZ-model's left inner "gun barrel" is not lined well with outside muzzle hole.60
March 19, 2023Three other AZ-models (versions A-9, C and D) progressing simultaneously.61
March 19, 2023fixing nozzle seam line.62
March 19, 202363
March 19, 2023AZ-kits need a lot of putty.64
March 19, 2023The landing gear bay of Dragon kit is too narrow for the fuselage65
March 19, 2023Fit in SH-kit is pretty good.66
March 19, 2023Dragon kit cockpit was lacking side panels, so I scratched them. Forgot to take the picture before painting...67
March 19, 2023Special Hobby and Dragon kits' interiors painted and varnished.68
March 22, 2023I suddenly remembered that the gun barrels need to be improved.69
March 22, 2023Dragon got the Master's brass barrels. For the SH-kit I used injection needles.70
March 22, 2023Dragon got Eduard's photo-etched pre-painted belts while SH got its own decal belts. SH-kit didn't have nose gear window so I drilled a hole for it and filled it with Micro Kristal Klear.71
March 23, 2023Dragon fuselage halves finally joined.72
March 23, 2023Special Hobby fuselage halves finally joined.73
March 26, 2023Some cockpits are not completed yet, but at least all are taking shape with joined fuselages.74
April 4, 2023After smoothing the seams the panel lines needs to be scribed again on AZ model kits.75
April 4, 2023Dragon's model will have an open canopy. The clear part is a bit too wide, or I squeezed the fuselage too narrow.76
April 4, 2023SH got Eduard's masks while AZ model's mask is self-made.77
April 4, 2023Planet models' Jumo 004 -jet.78
April 4, 2023Pretty bad fit. Lots of thin black CA glue.79
April 4, 2023HobbyBoss' BMW 003 -jet80
April 4, 2023Dragon got this lower part that imitates cartridge ejecting holes.81
April 4, 202382
April 5, 2023Hobbyboss' jet intake needs some black CA-glue to fill gaps.83
April 5, 2023Now all AZ models have a canopy.84
April 11, 2023HobbyBoss' Salamander got its jet85
April 11, 2023Dragon's engine parts on the left and SH's on the right. SH's parts are more accurate.86
April 11, 2023These two cooling air intake scoops looked bad due the molding restrictions...87
April 11, 2023... so I made new ones from a styrene sheet.88
April 11, 2023Dragon's BMW 003 will be visible (open cowling) while SH's engine is basic closed. I figured to add wires for exhaust temperature sensors from 0,2mm lead wire.89
April 11, 2023FROG's wings coming up. Two-piece wings needed lots of putty.90
April 11, 2023AZ-model's A-2 got its wings, but the trailing edge has a huge gap.91
April 11, 202392
April 11, 202393
April 12, 2023Engines take some time so I started to add wings.94
April 16, 2023Dragon's BMW got its exhaust nozzle...95
April 16, 2023...that had huge gaps between the nozzle and the engine frame. It is fixed now with 0,2mm styrene sheet.96
April 16, 202397
April 16, 2023AZ's C-variant's wings don't have excellent fit.98
April 16, 2023AZ's D-variant has good enough fit , but aligning of the wings is mediocore.99
April 16, 2023Just realized that wings should be added before engine. Fortunately the SH-kit has so good fit that I could add the engine lastly.100
April 16, 2023Everyone has wings101
April 23, 2023Dragon's elevator's span is too wide so I got an idea of using AZ Model kit's elevator, that is almost direct copy but has correct span.102
April 23, 2023AZ Model's A-2 got also its H-tail. It was very laborious.103
April 23, 2023C-model got the first V-tail.104
April 23, 2023Special Hobby's H-tail was the easiest and the most accurate. 5/5. No need for any putty.105
April 23, 2023Tail comparison.106
May 1, 2023Plastic strips added to the AZ kits.107
May 1, 2023Simple cardboard stands for every model.108
May 1, 2023109
May 19, 2023Lindberg110
May 19, 2023Dragon111
May 19, 2023FROG/Revell112
May 19, 2023HobbyBoss113
May 19, 2023Planet Models A-8114
May 19, 2023Special Hobby115
May 19, 2023AZ model A-2116
May 19, 2023AZ model A-9117
May 19, 2023AZ model C-version118
May 19, 2023AZ model D-version119
May 19, 2023HobbyBoss will be painted first as a practice. Here pre-shading.120
May 19, 2023I'm painting it French and testing AK's 3rd gen paint. Putting some dark yellow on "wooden" parts was a mistake.121
May 19, 20234 layers of blue and brush-painted black on the engine.122
May 20, 2023Few details painted, first protective varnish layer and decals.123
May 20, 2023I made a small mistake with Print scale decal sheet No. 72-247. It has French decals but only for the gray/bare metal No.1. The blue Salamander that I wanted to paint was No. 3. As a solution I printed myself these rudder text.124
May 20, 2023Lindberg got black primer. For FROG I wanted to test gray primer, that I made mixing black and white. I'm using Vallejo's Acrylic-Polyurethane primers.125
May 26, 2023Adding fuel dumping nozzle on Dragon.126
May 26, 2023Adding fuel dumping nozzle on SH kit.127
May 26, 2023Lindberg getting color.128
May 26, 2023Splitter camo.129
May 26, 2023Masks off130
May 27, 2023FROG is being painted with A.MIG🤔 paints...131
May 27, 2023Literal violet brown.132
June 11, 2023Stall strips added on Dragon kit. SH-kit already has them.133
June 11, 2023RLM76 under the AZ model A-2134
June 11, 2023Masking upside and painting.135
June 11, 2023AZ Models's A-2 painted with AK's acrylics. Maybe best RLM81 compared to Vallejo and especially A.mig.136
June 17, 2023Dragon's BMW 003 engine needed more details and I wanted to be careful with the pipes. I took a picture of the model part, compared to the real engine and drew missing parts.137
June 17, 2023Some small plastic parts added and some metal ones.138
June 17, 20231/3 of the wiring done.139
July 6, 2023I wanted some heavy weathering with a dot filter. I'm using white, yellow and green.140
July 6, 2023Landing gears in their places.141
July 6, 2023Removing masks were not so simple as it usually is, because my liquid mask got stuck like a contact glue. After some quick research I tried to remove it with blue tack and it worked! No need for any solvents.142
July 6, 2023Just when I thought the model would be ready it turned out to be tail heavy... My "quick" fix was to add tungsten balls into front wheel bay and the cockpit. The total weight of the balls was approx 2,5 grams.143
July 6, 2023Canopy back in place and the Hobby Boss Volksjäger is ready!144
July 6, 2023145
July 6, 2023146
July 14, 2023Lindberg is ready soon! Decals applied from Printscale sheet.147
July 14, 2023I'm pushing this forward by weathering the landing gear after they have been glued in place.148
July 15, 2023This model already had some lead weights in the nose, but it wasn't enough! >🙁 I had to add two tungsten balls into the nose gear bay.149
July 15, 2023Lindberg Volksjäger is ready!150
July 15, 2023151
July 15, 2023152
July 18, 2023Frog got decals from Printscale ark.153
July 18, 2023I forgot that Frog's own decal sheet was decent with stencils so I added them,154
July 18, 2023AZ model A-2 variant got its own decals.155
August 7, 2023Similarly to Lindberg I just added black panel liner, then matt varnish and lastly removed masks.156
August 7, 2023157
August 7, 2023158
August 25, 2023AZ-model's landing gear coming up. The main landing gear struts were removed from the sprue, smoothed and then glued into a sprue for easier painting.159
August 25, 2023Planet models is getting more paint. Aluminium surfaces were masked with tape and Revell's liquid mask.160
August 25, 2023I took a gamble and painted the AZ model A-9 with new AK's acrylic primer. It seems to be mask proof but it easily scratches.161
August 25, 2023Added Vallejo's primers and preshading.162
August 26, 2023AZ model's landing gears are very tricky.163
August 26, 2023164
August 26, 2023Blue tack supporting the glueing of the landing gear doors.165
August 26, 2023AZ Model A-9 is getting wild colors.166
August 26, 2023Some yellow in A-9.167
August 26, 2023Planet model's A-8 got its main colors and the masks were removed (not from canopy ofcourse).168
August 26, 2023"Seam line putty" added with brush onto A-8.169
August 28, 2023AZ model A-2 is completed!170
August 28, 2023171
August 28, 2023172
August 27, 2023This Whiffie He 162 A-9 will have box-art look like it belonged to JV44.173
August 28, 20231mm tapes placed using blue tape as a gauge.174
August 28, 2023Masks off after airbrushing red.175
August 28, 2023176
August 29, 2023Planet Models' landing gear is a straight copy from Dragon's kit.177
August 29, 2023A-8 and A-9 both got decals. In the background the AZ model's C-model had black primer and aluminium paint. It will be a bit similar to A-8.178
September 9, 2023Now I noticed that the landing gear doors of AZ model don't fit in their place.179
September 9, 2023As a resin kit Planet Models' A-8 is very tail heavy even though I added some lead weight into the nose gear bay...180
September 9, 2023C-type progressing and I'm planning some templates for plywood decals.181
September 9, 2023AZ model C-type getting a lot of masking for a reason.182
September 9, 2023Most mask off for C-type.183
September 10, 2023Planet Models' A-8 is ready!184
September 10, 2023185
September 10, 2023186
September 12, 2023AZ model D-type got grey primer that was a mix of Vallejo's black and white primer.187
September 12, 2023C-type was painted, then gloss varnish and then experimental plywood decals.188
September 12, 2023189
September 12, 2023190
September 12, 2023191
September 17, 2023All plywood decals in place. Fit wasn't always perfect.192
September 17, 2023AZ model D-type being masked.193
September 17, 2023Some experimental pre-shading.194
September 17, 2023C-type got its decals and D-type is getting more colors.195
September 17, 2023A-9 getting its under carriage.196
September 17, 2023197
September 18, 2023D-type mostly painted and masks removed.198
September 18, 2023I messed up with C-type. I had applied "filter" on top of plywood decals and then I put masking tape on them for some minor fix. Decals are intack but the "filter" got peeled off.199
September 20, 2023AZ model A-9 is ready!200
September 20, 2023201
September 20, 2023202
September 23, 2023AZ model C- and D-type getting their landing gears. Hopefully these will be finished tomorrow.203
September 24, 2023AZ model C- and D-type are completed!204
September 24, 2023205
September 24, 2023All AZ model's Salamanders in the same picture.206
September 24, 2023207
October 19, 2023SH and Dragon got Mr.Surfacer 1000 sanded and then some preshading.208
October 19, 2023RLM76 underside
209
October 19, 2023Masking with tape and Revell's liquid mask.210
211
October 20, 2023212
October 20, 2023Masking SH kit213
October 20, 2023I was suspicious towards the idea of using decals for the nose stripes, so I painted them. I sacrificed one Printscale's stripe decal for mask making.214
October 25, 2023More misuse of decals as masks 😄215
October 25, 2023Most decals added. Stencils are mostly missing. Decals are mix of SH's, Dragon's and Printscale decals.216
October 25, 2023Awful and strange disaster happened, when Humbrol Decalfix stripped some paint. It is fixed now.217
October 28, 2023BMW 003 for Dragon kit has progressed.218
October 30, 2023Left is Dragon kit's front landing gear, right one is Special Hobby's.219
October 30, 2023Weathering ongoing and SH's model is getting landing gears. They fit nicely.220
October 30, 2023Brake cable is added lead wire.221
November 3, 2023Again the model was too backweighted, but luckily I could add some tungsten weights from the engine hole..222
November 3, 2023Dragon's model also needed more nose weight. I could add some tungsten weights inside to the nose before adding the nose gear.223
November 3, 2023On top there is the landing gear door from Dragon's kit and below the SH's one.224
November 3, 2023Landing gears are in place225
November 3, 2023Landing gears are in place, weathering is done and also matt varnish applied. So it is time for engine installation.226
November 3, 2023Dragon's canopy masking worked well.227
November 3, 2023Canopy support rod was stolen from SH kit because the Dragon's PE-part was too flimsy.228
November 3, 2023Special Hobby's and Dragon's Volksjägers are completed!229
November 3, 2023230
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November 6, 2023239
November 6, 2023All together
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6 July 2024, 05:17 -
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