Whilst waiting for the primer to cure on the Arrowhead I made a start on this AZ kit. 36 softish grey plastic parts, some of which won't be used as they're for other versions which are also mentioned in the instructions, an option of two clear canopies and a resin cockpit tub. The latter was washed and has been primed followed by making a start on cleaning up the kit parts as with it being a short run kit some flash and knockout stubs need removing. The box rear and decals show markings for two aircraft with the one flown from HMS Eagle being my choice as I already have a/c from that Carrier in my builds and three more to follow from her. The enigma re the kit box is it states it's from Czechoslovakia but a lot of the info on the sides is in Japanese Kanji!!
You must have got some sea legs for Christmas.
This will be nice to see to go with your Wyvern.
Watching with interest.
An unusual kit Chris.
The resin cockpit has been painted up along with various other bits and pieces. The intake/cockpit sides and instrument panel have been fitted and the wing halves joined after sanding the trailing edges down a little.
Good progress with this one, Chris.
Reading through onlne builds one of the (many) problems with this kit was the fact that the fuselage sides wouldn't meet when the resin cockpit tub was inserted. True to form a test fit showed this was the case so I proceeded to thin the sides of the tub, as others had, and also scraped away some of the intake walls. Still no joy, then it occured to me the instructions are wrong. The parts don't fit inside the cockpit as per the instructions, see the top fuselage half in the photo, but sit further back in the fuselage, re the bottom fuselage half. An hour or so I won't get back but at least I believe I've solved the problem. Now to repair what's been damaged during the process. Apparently the exhaust pipe also has fit issues so on we go.........
With the cockpit tub glued to one side of the fuselage the two halves were then taped together to see if I could fit the exhaust after the main painting to save masking and it is possible so that's a bonus. The wings, tailplanes and rudder were added next initially held with Contacta and then reinforced with Plastic Weld. No matter which way I tried to fit the tailplanes I couldn't get the panel lines to match those on the painting guide. After the intake lips had been applied and all was cured I masked off certain areas to protect the detail before applying PPP to the gaps.
Next job Chris will be HMS Eagle - maybe yoho yoho yoho ::) ::) ::)
Quote from: MSea on January 13, 2026, 05:08:43 PMNext job Chris will be HMS Eagle - maybe yoho yoho yoho ::) ::) ::)
In 1/72nd of course.
Quote from: chriswil42 on January 14, 2026, 03:19:49 PMQuote from: MSea on January 13, 2026, 05:08:43 PMNext job Chris will be HMS Eagle - maybe yoho yoho yoho ::) ::) ::)
In 1/72nd of course.
Does Tracy know she will be sharing her home with it?
Perhaps I could paint the kitchen table as a flight deck? There's been lots of filling and sanding, plus some re-scribing, so far followed by more primer. As mentioned online there was a step under the fuselage when the halves were joined so this has taken a lot of work to smooth out. In my haste to prime I forgot to paint the canopy frame black to represent the inside of it so had to chip away as best as with a cocktail stick before rectifying where I could.
Painting underway with Tamiya Sky Type 'S' sprayed on. I'd previously hand painted the undercarriage doors the same colour whilst working on other parts. The u/c bays were then repainted Vallejo Steel to cover any overspray.
That new spray booth is being put to good use............
Topside painted Extra Dark Sea Grey then a coat of Klear applied before the decals. I forgot to position the underwing serials before fixing the undercarriage so they had to be carefully cut. The roundels look too bright to me but I haven't any spare 'D' ones of that size so I've gone with what's provided. I initially put the two 'T' shaped pitots under the nose where the instructions indicated only to find out that's the wrong place so new holes were drilled, the old ones filled and repainted and they were repostioned. The aerial(?) on the nose is a brush bristle. At the end of it all I'm quite happy with the result.
Looks every inch an Attacker Chris.
I maybe could help you out with some roundels if you let me know what size.
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Looking very nice Chris.
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Thanks Kev, I'll DM you the size.