Nakajima Ki-201

[Gondor]

What is the purpose/reason for the curved cut?

That is a very good question, one I would like the answer to myself.

  

Does it cut better or differently?

Yes

[Gondor]

While looking at the kit earlier today, I realised that the decals supplied with the kit do not match the artwork on the box. An email has been sent to RS in the hope of receiving a set of the correct decals. 

[jcf]

A curved cut is often used for filing soft materials, the extreme example being the autobody
files used for filing, shaping and smoothing bog. Some of the old files used for shaping the
lead of the old days are similar but finer. The curved teeth direct the cut material out to the
side rather than building up on the face and being dragged along, which is why they're also
called "scratchless" files.

A shear cut file is a double cut file with a combination of a straight cut and a curved cut, it's
most often used for filing and smoothing plastics because plastic actually shreds as material
is removed. The tooth created where the cuts cross does this more smoothly and again the
curved cut moves material away more efficiently to reduce clogging.

[Gondor]

 

Said far better than Google did when I asked it.

[Rick Lowe]

Interesting to know, thanks Jon. 
Might have to look for one or two.

[Gondor]

Interesting to know, thanks Jon. 
Might have to look for one or two.

They are not exactly cheap, but as Jon said, they are easier to clean than normal files.

[Rick Lowe]

Interesting to know, thanks Jon. 
Might have to look for one or two.

They are not exactly cheap, but as Jon said, they are easier to clean than normal files.

Yeesss.... I could bore you tell you stories about files and milliput...

[Gondor]

Working on the intakes between painting the interior. For that, I am using Mr Hobby c127, which is labelled Cockpit colour (Nakajima).

Anyway, back to the engines. I painted the parts for the intakes and exhaust rings, which I had previously seen. The front and rear parts of the engine were also painted, the rear ones after they had both parts assembled for each. That was yesterday, today I went to glue the front and rear parts into their respective rings. The rings had been identical until I painted them. It was then that I found a problem I had been expecting. Two of the rings were offset, one half higher than the other, on both of them, and both of them for the rear of the engines. Only one thing to do, split the rings and assemble them differently. Each mating surface was given a quick swipe with a file, then one half was glued onto each engine rear.



I probably should have done this to start with, same for the front, but I went with the instructions, which showed the rings being glued together, then fitted to their respective ends.



Not perfect, but then it is 1/72 scale, and it's not going into any competition, so it will do.

Next up was glueing the parts into the engines. Before removing them from the sprue/runner/tree*, I had written the part number on the inside of each part to avoid glueing the outside or inside parts to each other.



I was using tube glue for this stage, where I had used brush glue for the earlier stages of assembling the engines.



The parts are now drying, so later I will be fitting them onto the wings.

*delete as required

[The Wooksta!]

I have their earlier resin incarnation of the Ki 201, bought when their products were entirely resin.  They were one of the better Czech manufacturers, although their Speed Spitfire kit and DB60 Spitfire conversion both used the Hasegawa mk Ia as a master, as opposed to the far superior Airfix mk Ia.

[Gondor]

It's fighting back! I have had to almost completely dismantle the left engine. The front and rear engine faces have come out, and the front duct nearly did as well, however with a few knife cuts along seams and copious amounts of glue, I have managed to rescue the situation.



As you can see, filler has also been applied to the lower part of the port engine pod; it has since also been added to the starboard pod in the same place as well.

What had happened was that in the few hours since I had glued the parts and fitted them together, I had not been able to keep my eye on them, those that make up the starboard engine pod, and a slight misalignment grew. It's a setback, not a big one, and the model is not on any deadline, so it takes as long as it takes, which I hope is not long, as I really need to shift a few of the thirteen hundred kits I have in my stash 

[Gondor]

After not doing much of anything with this for about a month, I decided it was time that I got this thing built! I had removed the tubing for the intakes and exhausts for one engine because they were an absolute mess. I had managed to get the halves of both tubes to be crooked, so they were removed, and the engine faces were also taken off to help get the intake and exhaust tubes lined up. Earlier today, after smoothing both tubes, I fitted the exhaust part of the engine. No problem, making progress. Now, where is the front of the engine? 
After about an hour of searching the modelling bench, the floor, the computer desk, the modelling bench, the floor, the modelling desk and the floor again, no sign.   
Put away paint and reorganise the bench. Check the bench again and the floor. Still no missing part.    Found the kit's instructions and wings, big help, can't build the kit without at least one of those, then check the floor again. Always a good idea to check the floor, it can't fall any further than that. So check the bench and the floor yet again. Then I pondered if the cat would be able to help, decided if it was a Magpie that would be better as one side of the missing part is shiny. I was checking the floor, again, when I turned round and spied something bright at the other end of the open carpet space. BINGO! Part found! and now glued in place as well!

This is the offending item.



The distance between the 31 and the 32 is one centimetre, so each graduation is one millimetre. As you can see, it's not that big. I will be able to sleep tonight now that I have found it, and the build can progress as well.

[Gondor]

I will be putting the fuselage together later this week. Does anyone have an idea how much "weight" as it says in the instructions to add?

[The Wooksta!]

Tape it up and balance it at the main gear attachment point.  Then weight it on the nose with pennies until it drops nose first.  Add an extra for luck, then weigh the pennies.

[Gondor]

Tape it up and balance it at the main gear attachment point.  Then weight it on the nose with pennies until it drops nose first.  Add an extra for luck, then weigh the pennies.

I was hoping to go straight to measuring out the weight rather than all the faf.

[Gondor]

Well, the fuselage is together, the area around the engine/wing joints has filler applied as well. All I need to do now is get the mojo together enough to tackle the seams and any other errors before the wings and fuselage are mated together.