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This is the Collect-Aire
resin kit built as an F3D-2 night fighter of the US Marine Corps VFM(N)-513
operating out of K6 Airbase at Pyong Taek in Korea circa 1953.
This is the second resin kit that I have attempted (the first being Magna
Model's Blackburn Firebrand) and was similar in that there are relatively few
components. The wings and tail surfaces are solid resin castings and the
fuselage is split vertically into two halves. The cockpit, seats, wheels
and other details are in resin, whilst the undercarriage legs are in a soft
metal - possibly pewter. All the parts need to be washed with detergent to
remove mould release oils etc.
The fuselage halves are quite thick - 4 to 5mm in places - and I had to remove a
lot of material to get the cockpit tub and engine intakes to fit. The halves did
not match up in that their depths differed at mid fuselage, so I lined up the
top edges and filled the undersurface to get a smooth join. I used cyan
glue throughout and Humbrol grey filler which worked quite well on the resin
material. I reinforced the wing to fuselage joints with steel wire located
in holes that I drilled into the resin parts. The metal undercarriage
units were too soft to carry the weight of the solid resin and so I reinforced
them with hard steel rod, the source for which were steel map pins with the
heads and points clipped off. Two vac-formed clear canopies are provided
and one was painted and then secured in place with tape whilst diluted white
glue was run around the join with a small brush. Left overnight for the
glue to cure the canopy was secured and the advantage of this method is that if
you are not happy you can peel off the canopy, remove the glue and start again
with no damage to the kit or paintwork.
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Click on
images below to see larger images
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I primed the model
with grey acrylic auto paint sprayed on from a can and then gave it a few coats
of satin black auto paint. The excellent kit decals were used and sealed
in with Johnson's Clear (similar to Future). The whole aircraft was then given a
matt finish to complete the job. I refrained from heavy weathering
(chipped paint etc) as I think this detracts and distracts one from the final
appearance (if you disagree, head for the
discussion forum).
Darius
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