Latest progress shots on my What-If Hughes/Kaiser PBK-1 Tarpon:
Nacelles pretty much completed, this will probably be the most labor intensive part of this build. Lots of putty-sand-repeat-putty-sand-repeat. Never had to do this much PSR on a 1/144 build before. One of the outboard nacelles is out of alignment and I didn't notice it until I shot these pictures. Oh well. It'll look good enough at arm's length. I rattle-bombed it with some dark gray to make it easier on my Mark one eyeballs where some touch up putty-sand-repeat is needed.
Top side view of the wings. I toed out each nacelle slightly figuring this would help with any asymmetric engine conditions.
With the props in place it's looking better. The props came from the Minicraft Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser kit and the Minicraft KC-97 kit. The prop discs believe it or not don't overlap. It was a tight squeeze but the prop discs are also staggered slightly. Were I to do this over again, I'd have put the outermost engine nacelles a bit further out. It was "fun" sanding around the base of the nacelles and not ding the flap actuator fairings which are moulded into the lower wings. Hello, needle files.
Top side view with the props in place, you can better see which engine nacelle is out of alignment. I'm sorta sick of putty-sand-repeat so I'll live with it.
Started work now on the fuselage. Wow, this thing fits like hell. I'll have an easier time fitting a pair of sea urchins into a Speedo. The easiest way is to work from the tail forward in increments and sling Squadron White at any gaps. I may need to use some internal shims to get the forward fuselage to match up. I can assure you that when the time comes to put the wing assembly on, there's gonna be gaps fore and aft of the wings. Some dry fitting out of curiosity tells me I may also need to use some styrene shims to get the wing to sit right on the fuselage.
