Smeg’s Arado Ar196A-3 (Peter’s Planes)

[smeg1959]

Another model that didn’t make it to completion by the end of a Group Build … bit of a pattern, I’m afraid. This one stalled early, thanks to the absence of suitable struts for the floats.

Upon Peter Hawkins' suggestion, I did order and receive some material from John at Aeroscale. Unfortunately, what arrived was a number of lengths of round section brass rod, similar to the Albion Alloys’ ones already in my bits and pieces box. John stated that the “Strutz” Peter had used in the past was no longer available as the press used to flatten the rod was sold off after the sad passing of the founder of Aeroscale. OK, so I have to devise some method for fabricating the struts (plastic rod and strip doesn't have enough rigidity to support the model). On the positive side, I found a little template that Don Schmenk had supplied with his resin Ar196 which I purchased ages ago. This appears in the photo above.

[pbhawkin]

Greg,
PM me your address and I will send you the PE fret for the Arado which has the struts along with a number of other items to allow you to super detail it! I do suggest using putty to fill in the panel lines as they are overdone.

[smeg1959]

Many thanks, Peter. Not sure how far I'll go with the superdetailing but the PE struts will be exactly what the doctor ordered ... and supplied!

Re: the panel lines, I have to agree. Indeed, it's probably the only regret I've got with my Beaufort; I did try to tone them down a bit with surfacer but filling should have been the way to go. In contrast, I do think your Spitty Mk XIV is considerably more subtle in the width and depth of the lines. As is the Walrus which WILL be on the 2016 Build Schedule.

[smeg1959]

Another victim of failing to meet a Group Build deadline, only this one dates back a helluva lot further than the Spitfires and Zero from GB4. Embarrassingly, I see my last Ar196 posting in the Shelf of Shame harks back to December 2015 ... so much for a 12-week commitment to "get it off the Shelf". I'm beginning to know how Gary Hatcher feels, Merlin.

Anyway, with the current biplanes GB and slow but steady progress on the CR42, I'm moving this one back onto the workbench. Hey, it has struts, so why not? I had forgotten all about Peter's offer of the ShelfOddity PE, which was demonstrated so beautifully in Peter's own Ar196 build. Well, I got onto Peter a couple of days ago and, despite Australia Post usually being slower than an asthmatic ant with a heavy load of shopping (thanks, Captain Edmund Blackadder), it arrived today. I'll put my hand up and say I've never played around with PE before, so I'm looking forward to this build for a number of reasons.

PS. And no, my previous post lied. The Walrus did not make it into the 2016 schedule.

[TonyG2]

My "shelf" of shame is pretty much now a "room" of shame (damn, that sounds bad for all the wrong reasons). However I have at least begun to manage it properly. In the not too distant past, part built models were often...well not so much abandoned and ejected because I had left them so long that parts had gone astray, instruction sheets lost etc.

Thanks however the a bulk buy of "Really Useful" (that's the brand name, sure others are available) stackable click lock store boxes, all existing (stalled) projects have been boxed away with all parts, instructions, decals and the main box art cut out so at least it is all in one place to be rediscovered. Granted I have had to build a completely new set of shelves to hold them all but at least the prospects of one day finishing them has improved.

Did a quick count up of projects on hold:

Revell Mig 1.44 Flatpack
Trumpeter Sukhoi Berkut
Trumpeter YF-23 Black Widow
Café Reo BV-138
Pit Road F-35C
J-Wings A-4 Skyhawk
J-Wings AV8B Harrier II
Café Reo TSR2
Pit Road TSR2
Bandai Mk1 Spitfire
Eduard MkV Spitfire
Sweet Mk1 Hurricane
F-Toys MkV Spitfire
Algernon Westland Wyvern
F-Toys FRMk18 Spitfire
F-Toys Beaufighter
Zvesda IL2 Stormovik
Zvesda PO2
??? Se5A and Fokker Triplane white metal models
F-Toys Aerospatiale Dauphin
Dragon "Stealth" Blackhawk
Zvesda Black Swan pirate ship (1/350)
Zvesda Revenge (Drakes flagship) (1/350)
Hobby Boss I-401 Submarine (1/700)
Hobby Boss USS Radford (1/1250)
Hobby Boss USS Kidd (1/1250)
Revell USS Iowa (1/1200)
Airfix HMS Cossack (1/1200)
Lindberg USS Essex (1/1200)
Revell USS Hornet (1/1200)
Hat Bengal Lancers (1/72)

[smeg1959]

With "only" 5 aircraft on the Shelf, I'm not as bad as I thought I was. And, notwithstanding that SWMBO has returned with relatives in tow for the next 7 days (school hols here), that number will actually fall by one before the close of the weekend. And it isn't the Arado.

Postscript: Yes, it was the Zero from GB4.

[smeg1959]

Still committed to eventually finishing this one, despite the news that F-Toys will be releasing the Ar196 in the not-too-distant.