AMP 1/72 Victory 357 Hawk Ekranoplan

Well, here's what you get in the box. The PE and masks were a nice addition. Not sure you'll actually get to see the instrument panel when it's all done, though! You also get to play "Guess The Part Number" as the numbers are not stamped on the sprues. There is a parts call-out on page 2 of the instructions, but there are errors in the instuctions (e.g. in step 2 part 7E should read 5E and 5E should read 5D). On the positive side, not one ejector pin mark. On the downside, plenty of mould lines to clean up. Should be fun on the really tiny parts. No locating pins either. A lot of the surface detail shown on the cockpit interior floor & bulkheads is missing from the actual parts. The locating slot for the centre console has also gone AWOL. And finally, the instrument panel decal goes on the instrument panel BEFORE the PE fascia, not after as the instructions say!

I decided to experiment with chrome finishes in the cockpit. It it all goes wrong, it won't be very visible as there is not much glass in this bird. The product I settled on for this is Molotow Liquid Chrome Mirror Effect. I bought a 30ml refill, which is a dropper like many paint containers. It's an alcohol-based ink, so you'll need some alcohol for cleaning up afterwards.

I used a black base coat on this & brushed it on. This is the second coat.

It's not a perfect finish, but that is because the base coat was probably a bit rough. I think a quick pass with a finishing stick before painting would have made an improvement.

All things considered, it is already better than "chrome" paint!

A pair of rather worn chrome framed seats! I did add a bit of dirt to the cockpit floor, but it's not really showing in the photo.

I think I'll be using this Molotow stuff again! Important note: Don't touch the Molotow painted parts. It will ruin the finish.

Cockpit elements almost ready for assembly. The colour call out for the centre console is grey, but I thought I'd do it in black for a bit of variety. It's a completely fictional vehicle, so I can't really get it wrong!

This shot was taken in natural light and show the chrome effect well. You can even see my reflection in the edge of the closest seat.

Cockpit items laid out before final assembly. I've had to enlarge the holes in the floor for the bench legs as they're too small once the legs have paint on them. The instructions show more detail moulded on the floor pate and rear wall than actually exists. I expect they omitted it as it simply won't be visible once the thing is assembled. The two bench seats rest against the two fuselage sides, with a couple of supports below them on each fuselage half. This means one of them will be easy to install and the other a total nighmare as it will only be fittted as you put the two fuselage halves together. I'm a bit puzzled as to how the pilots were supposed to get into their seats. There doesn't look to be room to get around either side of them or even over the top of them!

The instrument panel is the typical sandwich of plastic, decal & PE front. I've still got to detail it up. Might try my Gundam markers for that. Might need the magnifier for that too.

The instructions don't show the windows being added until the final assembly step. DO NOT leave it that late! You will be in a world of pain if you do as the windows seem to be designed to install from the inside. The fuselage needs the window holes enlarging as much as you dare. Then you will have to file down the transparent parts to fit as they are all too large. As you can see, I've still got a little tidying up to do here as I'm letting the cockpit glue set overnight.

The top & bottom halves of the wings are a terrible fit along the trailing edge. Sand, fill, sand, repeat until happy. That's the second lot of liquid putty waiting to dry. I've also tried test fitting the nacelles to the wings. The wing ends and the part of the nacelles where they are supposed to fit are not even close in profile! That shape moulded on the end of the wing is supposed to fit into a corresponding slot in the nacelle. You can see daylight between them, the fit is that bad. I'll have to have a good think about that one before proceeding.

That's better! Trailing edges of undersurfaces of wings are now blended together. It took 3 applications of liquid putty. No doubt priming will find every imperfection that's currently hiding.

Starboard interior of fuselage. The locating rib for the front cockpit bulkhead (leftmost) is too close to the ends of the horizontal ribs. I decided to notch the bulkhead as it can't be seen once assembled. You can see the poor fit of the windows quite clearly.

Port interior of fuselage. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have done all the fitting & fettling of the cockpit floor and bulkheads before even contemplating building the interior fittings. It's not that difficult at this later stage, but I'm always wary of damaging any of the fragile parts or paintwork. I have noted that the corners of the backs of the seats will almost be touching the roof as it curves above them!

Whilst the cockpit assembly sets, I started taking a look at how to attach the floats at the correct angle. Neccesity is the mother of invention (or Frank Zappa, I forget which). After much digging through drawers, I found a pack of pencils which were just the job for building this jig.

I'm hoping to get a good idea of exactly how the fuselage bottom is supposed to sit across the floats, which should be upright and not splayed.

Nobody sneeze!

You can just see that the profile of the float and the end of the wing have little in common shape-wise.

Mind the gap!

I'm thinking that doing both ends at once might be the way to go with this. It will allow me to adjust the whole assembly in one go.

The almost complete cockpit installed in the fuselage. In case you are worried, yes, I did say the magical incantation "Well, that's not going anywhere!". Next step will be fitting the bench seats and the instrument panel.

The cockpit is now installed in the fuselage. One bench is test fitted and the legs still won't quite fit in the holes in the deck which I opened up earlier. This means that the bench doesn't quite sit on the two supports that can just be seen below the seat. Funny, it did fit before! Not the end of the world.

Having done a quick test fit of the other half of the fuselage, I have found that it will be best to shave a little off the width of the cockpit as there are significant gaps between the fuselage halves otherwise. Still not quite sure how best to fit the second bench seat. Maybe shorten the legs a little and then fix it inside the other fuselage half? Given the poor transparency of the windows, i don't think I'll have to worry about anyone seeing the interior!

Here's a rough dry fit of the major parts. Filing down the cockpit seems to do the trick. As you can see, the gap is not too bad (honest).

There's going to be a bit of fettling to be done around the nose in order to get the grill to sit right. It does look like a diesel engine from this angle.

The bandages are off and the patient is looking good! There will be some filling & sanding to do, but less than I was expecting. I used a round backed file to remove the shaped protrusion on the end of the wings, then reshaped the mating surface as best I could.

The resin grille has been stuck to the front end.

The engine nozzles were a nightmare. all three of the central spikes had massive sink marks and misalignment of the mould halves. Much filling and filing was required to get something vaguely circular and pointy!

Test fit the tail section BEFORE joining the fuselage halves. The slots in the fuselage are too small for the tabs that are supposed to go in them. Also note that the tabs are thicker at the front end than the rear, so the hole must be opened up accordingly! As two of the sprue gates are on the surface that mates to the fuselage, you will also have to do a bit of shaping there too. Be careful you don't overdo it and either see daylight through a gap or alter the dihedral angle of the tailplanes. I seem to have dislodged this one whilst positioning it for the photo.

The rudder sections have a couple of small holes which mate to two pegs on the tailplane end. I found the holes tended to be poorly moulded and needed cleaning out. You may have to carefully scrape the diameter and length of the pegs down a little too. They are not the best fit. Again, take care not to upset the angle between the tailplanes and rudders, which are not vertical. There is a forward view of the craft in the instructions which shows the angles well enough. I use Plastic Weld as my thin cement. This dissolves the surface of the plastic, which can help overcome poor fitting parts a little.

i find a DVD marking pen useful for distinguishing similar parts. If you mark the part number before cutting them off the sprue, you can't go wrong. I would recommend putting the number where it's least likely to show as even Mr Surfacer can struggle to cover the mark. Shouldn't be a problem in this case as it will have a good black base coat before the metallic base goes on. You can see that the details are quite nicely done on this kit. The rear edge of the tailplane is so thin that the light shines through it - so be careful with it!

After an enforced break due to illness, I've discovered that the instrument panel is a complete disaster! Thanks to the unhelpful instructions, I discovered that i had assembled the instrument panel on the wrong side of the plastic! However, by sawing through the plastic along the angle of the meeting of the two planes, I could then bend the PE frontpiece to the correct angle. This resulted in significant damage to the paint job. In trying to repair it, it has become a bit of a mess. The lighter grey areas were done with a wetted watercolour pencil. I think a second application in a day or so might improve things. If all else fails, I'll just have to console myself with the thought that once it's sealed inside the fuselage, it's all but invisible!

I spent most of this evening fitting the windscreen, which required quite a bit of carving of the fuselage to get it to sit low enough. After that, I couldn't resist a quick dry fit.

Well, it's not that bad so far. Getting the wings to fit properly on the fuselage will be a bit of work, but I've been expecting that.

How much of the interior can be seen? Not a lot. The instrument panel is not visible at all by the look of it.

Here's a better view of the nose being dry fitted for those who were worried.

I've not yet stuck the fuselage halves together, so it is a very rough test.

The fit should be okay when the halves are joined and the end face has had a bit of work done on it.

This is the rig I cobbled together to hold the second bench in place whild the glue sets.

This maybe the last time the interior is ever seen by the human eye. Next step, sticking the fuselage halves together.

Well, maybe a few more looks, then. The bench has stuck in place okay.

Now that it's all in place, I'm feeling a bit better about it.

The fit between the fuselage and wing assemblies needs some work. Due to the fact that the trailing egdes of the wing roots butt up against the moulded band around the fuselage, I had to file down the front edge of the lower fuselage until it would sit flush with the rest of the underside.

This results in there still being a gap between the trailing edge of the lower fuselage and the aft end of the wing assembly. Add to this a mismatch in the ends of the band around the fuselage and it starts to get a bit fiddly. Oddly, the band ends are a better match on the topside. There is a small gap to fill just in front of each wing root too, but that should be easy.

The topside band. Not a perfect match, but close enough to easily fix.

A general view of the top. I've treated the fuselage joints with sanding sticks & Mr Hobby liquid putty. There are still a couple of places which need a bit more attention.

As you can see here, there is a gap just behind the windshield that still needs filling. However, there is a part to fit just above the forward part of the cockpit. This consists of two tiny PE parts which have to be glued back to back and then stuck upright in a slot on top of the cabin, like a fin on a fish. Needless to say, the slot doesn't exist, so I'll have to improvise. The other thing to note is that the assembly instructions and the decal placement instructions disagree on which way round this fin should mount!

A closer view of the nose shows what a bad mismatch there is between the fuselage halves in the area between the windshield and the headlamp casing. There was a definite step to begin with. The tiny triangular raised part right where the fuselage joint butts up against the windshield is different sizes on each fuselage half. The starboard half seems to have a gouge in it right along the bottom of the windshield too. It's a very awkward place to do repairs as there are three structures all very close together and everything you do to correct one affects the others. The joint along the headlight casing needed a lot of filling too. The curve where it blends into the nose was different on each side too. Another thing to correct. I have done a bit of initial fitting of the nose grill too. I had to flatten the curve of the fuselage front right in front of the headlight as the grill rocked from side to side to begin with.

I found I had to make a bit of a compromise when fitting the wing and fuselage assemblies. If I had adjusted the fit until the wings fitted fully into the depressions in the side of the fuselage, there would have been quite a step in the bottom of the fuselage along the front join. I decided it was best to have the fuselage joint smooth and fill along the wing root where needed. The rear join had quite a gap, but not too big to fill.

I only needed to put filler along one side. I used several applications of Plastic Weld cement before, which melts the surface of the plastic and minimises the amount of filling needed. There will be a transparent part to fit at the forward wing root later on.

A general top view. I'm thinking that it will be best to slide the windshield into place first, then VERY carefully apply thin cement to fix it in place. Putting the cement on first is not an option! The small PE fin is also visible here. The depression you can see just by the hatch is a fixing point for the external ladder. Apparently they weren't too worried about aerodynamics.

A look at the front end, now stuck on and with the the fixing lugs attached. They are very small and fiddly to sand, but I didn't drop them on the floor or have them spring out of the tweezers for once. You can still see that the fuselage just in front of the windshield is higher on one side than the other! I will have to have a think about that.

DISASTER!!!! I was test fitting the windshield, which I had done before, so it should have just slotted in place, when it snapped in two. I'm trying a repair with Micro Kristal Klear, but I doubt if that will hold it. I wonder if I can get a replacement from AMP?

Returning soon to the modelling bench!

If you thought you heard a sudden brief gust of wind this evening, that was my huge sigh of relief when I finally got the windshield in place and intact! Due to the amount of carving I had to do to get it in, there are noticable gaps around it. None that a few doses of Kristal Klear can't deal with, though. I did have to rip out the fin first. I'll put that back when I am satisfied with the filling around the windshield.

The profile mismatch either side of the centre line still bugs me.

Given that there is a bulkhead that fills the whole fuselage just forward of the windshield, you would think such a difference was all but impossible. It does look a little better with the windshield in place. Maybe that is exerting a little corrective pressure in the right place.

The PE fin has now been reinstated after being split into its two component halves again. The two halves were flattened in my PE bending press as they were a little out of shape after all the messing around with the windscreen. I also managed to scrape off the layer of CA between the two halves. You can see in this view why the windscreen won't slot into place with the fin installed. Pity that the instructions don't mention that fact!

This time, instead of trying to stick the two fin halves together before fitting them to the fuselage, I used a dab of Krystal Klear to hold them in position on the fuselage, then applied CA drop by drop until they were properly fixed in place. I hope. There does look to be a gap between the front of the two halves. There isn't, it's just a trick of the light.

A little gentle pressure with a thumbnail tweaks the fin into the correct upright position. I also gave the area around the fin a quick sand before reinstalling it. I might go around the join with a little liquid putty tomorrow. Now I need to decide what to do about the profile mismatch along the nose...

Three applications of Mr Surfacer liquid putty later. A bit of work with a sanding stick has evened out the mismatch a bit.

I don't think it will ever be perfect, but I think I can live with it.

It's almost as if they had removed insufficient material from the mould on one side or the fuselage. It needs a coat of Mr Surfacer primer to show up any remaining imperfections.

Tail attached, windows masked, ready for priming tomorrow.

I'm almost starting to think this might work. Note the small hole where the Nav light goes on the cockpit side. Must remember to mask that!

Fitting the tail isn't as bad as it may seem. The parts all go together at the correct angles quite naturally.

To the Bat-ekranoplan, Boy Wonder!

Mr Surfacer primer, followed by black base coat

I'm almost tempted to leave it this colour.

Still a little work to do around the nose, though. Nothing shows up the flaws like that first coat of paint!

Seams filled & sanded on the underside...

...and topside. Back to the spray booth. I'm using Army Painter for the black base coat. I think I've just got enough left in the can to do this last bit.

Still in the spray booth, but looking much better! I think I emptied the spray can. Handy tip: When you think the can is empty & just blowing air, try using it in your other hand. Don't ask me why it works, but it always seems to find a bit more paint in there.

The nose job seems to have improved things.

You can still see the gouge by the base of the lamp fairing, though. The grey speckles are overspray from where I did the base of the pontoons. I'll soon get rid of that!

I'm trying to get the burnt effect on the engine nozzles. I've never tried this before. Not sure it's working very well, although it's not finished yet.

It looks better now the violet wash is added.

I think I can live with this.

Humbrol Polished Aluminium coat added.

Once that has dried, it's polishing time

The nose is masked as I'll be using Molotow Liquid Chrome on that.

Not easy to take photos today. There's either too much light or not enough.

Those raised areas on the pylons will be painted a different colour too.

Polished up and masking tape off. The troublesome nose section seems to have come out okay.

The metalcote does give a nice finish once it's given a rub down with a soft cloth.

The grey on the pontoons has come out okay.

I'm starting to think I may salvage this build yet!

While doing my weekly shopping a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a lot of baked goods were packaged in containers like this. I'm thinking that it would make a great substitute for the rather poor side windows in this kit.

It's very thin and clear and also flexible. A knife should be all that's needed to cut it to size. When I build my second one of these - yes, I have another - I'll try this out. Two tasty apple turnovers were sacrificed in the course of this experiment.

Having tried polishing the aluminium finish with a soft cloth and carelessly allowing my fingernail to scratch through to the base coat in one or two place, i had to remask and recoat the paint job. I wasn't too worried about this as I wasn't satisfied with the paint coverage along the sides of the fuselage anyway.

This has now been polished again and gloss coated ready for decals and washes, etc. I'll leave it for 24 hours to cure first.

I've shown it next to a polished aluminium can for comparison. Pretty close, I think. (I have a plan for the can. It involves a brain, wiring and a bit of fibreoptic lighting. Who knows what a Mi-go is?). Those spikes on the tail sections are a constant source of worry, especially when wielding the polishing cloth! One wrong move...

The panels on the pylons have been masked and given a thin coat of Burnt Iron. They'll get a second thin coat tomorrow. The red star on the nose was done by hand. The moulding is not really sharp enough to lend itself to masking.

Current stage next to paint layout. Once the pylon panels are done, I'll get going with a bit of black pin wash to bring out the details. Note the exhausts on the outside of the pylons on the instructions which are missing on the kit.

The panels have had their second coat of Burnt Iron and the masking is off. I've stuck the engine nozzles in place too. Hopefully the colour banding is visible in these photos.

The Burnt Iron did bleed under the masking tape in one or two places, but it was simple to carefully scrape off as it was over a gloss varnish coat.

I'm thinking it might be decal time before doing another gloss coat then the pin washes. I don't plan on doing much weathering on this one as it's supposed to be a prototype for an electrogravitic propulsion system.

The decals are done. No drama there. Nice thin carrier, went on easily with a drop of Micro Set then Micro Sol a little later. This was followed by a thin gloss coat 24 hours later.

Tomorrow I'll do the pin wash...

...then tidy that up the night after. Then it will be the weekend, when it will get a semi-gloss coat. When that's dried, it will be time to chrome the frame of the windshield, add the windscreen wipers (if I don't lose them in the process - entirely possible). The transparent lights will be next, then, finally, chroming that great big grill at the front end. Oh, and doing the ladder on the side. I'll chrome that too. And the side window frames too, I think. Then I'll set it aside for at least a fortnight for the chrome to fully cure.

Pinwash done. I used Humbrol Black Wash but I'm not very happy with it. It's got a rather flaky consistency and tends to clump unevenly.

I had to have several sessions using thinners & brush to shove the wash around to where I wanted it.

I think i't just about done. I'll try to find a better product in future.

Semi-gloss coat added to seal in the pin wash.

Next Step is to finish the windscreen area, I think.

Then on to the lights and ladder, then finally the grill.

Windscreen masks removed and first Molotow Chrome treatment done. It's a bit tricky to get an even finish with Molotow as you have to dab it on rather than painting in strokes. The mask didn't come away too cleanly either and has left a ragged edge. I'll have to tidy that up later. The masks are off the side windows too. I'll probably chrome the edges of those too.

External ladder drying.

Glasswork chromed too. You can see the poor transparency of the plastic clearly (sorry) in this shot. It has a rather hazy nature.

Things start to look better after a second treatment. The reflection of the masking tape in the chrome tends to make it look worse than it is!

A final coat of chrome for the lights.

The ladder looks to be drying out fairly well, too.

So close to the finish you can almost smell it! I decided not to chrome the side window frames as the moulding for them is a bit hit & miss. Some parts of some windows have a frame and others don't. Instead, I masked around the egde and used a black Gundam marker to give it more of a rubber seal look.

The lights are being left to dry overnight. I'm hoping to get them on tomorrow.

The next challenge is to chrome just the vertical slats of the grill. I need a plan for that!

The lights are fitted, but I'm not very happy with them. Tiny as they are, they're still too big for where they're supposed to mount.

The four eliptical lights are supposed to fit in eliptical depressions on the fuselage and nacelles. They don't fit in the depressions, though. It's not the thickness of the coats of paint either. They would never have fitted with no paint.

Both the wing root lights are oversize and the angle where they but up against the wing & fuselage is completely wrong!

I'm going to try and fill the gap behind them with successive layers of thin CA.

Not good, is it?

The three headlights are another story, though. They've come out pretty well, although I had to carve out the spurs across the opening of the front of each nacelle as they blocked the light from going onto the hole!

I managed to get the wing root light off again and tried reattaching them on a slightly better position. If all else fails, I've got a spare set after the windscreen disaster.

This was followed by a first coat of Molotow on the grill. The bars of the grill were almost dry brushed to leave the black in the gaps.

The second molotow coat is done. It now looks a little brighter.

There are still visible brush strokes, though. I'll have another look at that at the weekend.

I had tried to get the look of a coloured lamp under a clear blister for the small nav lights, but I wasn't happy with the effect. The red & green seemed to bleed from a circle to a shapeless blob. So I've coated the lights with Tamiya translucent paint.

Don't know why I didn't go with this to begin with. It looks much better!

I'm leaving the grill to cure for a bit longer before the final coat. I'm sure the second coat disturbed the first one after only a 24 hour period. These chrome effects seem to be notorious for that. Then there are only the wipers, grill logo & ladder to fit and a bit of final paintwork, (grill fixings, shading round the nav lights, tidying up the edges of the pylon panels).