Toniosky's Cool Stuff Vault

Hi there, It's been a while that I didn't updated you on this project which is more like a side-project for me. Some work on the engine cowling:  Undercarriage covers should be hollow, not full, so I used the original parts as masters and thermoformed them Exhaust manifolds were corrected using brass and plastic card: I removed the original and horribly thick anti-sliding bands by 0.3mm plastic strips. I chose the Shvetsov M-11 engine from Vector, a real beauty that requires quite a lot of work - especially when I had to repair a few rocker arms broken during delivery (Guys at Vector don't know the meaning of the term "customer-service" apparently...). I still need to had cables and other details on the engine. See you in two years for the next update on this project. Antoine

Some pics of the Supermarine Walrus displayed at the RAAF museum, Point Cook, Australia.

Hi, I didnt put aside the build of the Yakovlev but just needed an interlude. This is the very good and easy Tamiya model with the Quickboost bang seat, plus other scratch-built items. As always Tamiya decals are too thick... On the actual He-162 the clear part of the canopy was set on a metal frame and screwed from the outside. To reproduce the particularity, I just painted the frame from the inside. Painting was done using Xtracrylics which, despite very fine pigments, is a pain in the ass to airbrush, clogging the A/B every 5 minutes. The base was made using Paris plaster, balsa strips and a mix of grass mats from Imthurn and Heki. The oil drum comes from Brengun. My build is far from perfect, but let's say that I am finally able to build and paint the way I want without having too many technical limitations.    

Hi, The cockpit is finally done. Not perfect though, but that will do. I made a new Instrument Panel as the one in the box was a bit undersized. I used the drawing from the official manual to print my IP on plastic card. The shape of the new IP is not 100% accurate but at least it fits ok now. I made the instruments with wire and decals. To make it faster, I made a coil out of wire and cut the [i]sausage[/i] in the middle to make plenty of little circles. Just have to choose the roundest ones. Bezels were first glued with Tamiya extra-fluid cement, and later firmly stuck in place by inserting a toothpick impregnated with CA glue into the holes. The instruments were made from spare decals and sealed with Future + transparent acetate sheet. The cockpit now finished: You can notice that the rudder pedals are quite far from the seat. This is explained by Russian pilots having very long legs and wearing stilettos. Saw it too late and couldn't be...

 Hi, Cockpit detailing finally done  ;) As I said before, I had to make a new seat. I added a cushion for the pilot's buttock and scratched the fifth seat belt that goes between the legs. Not sure though if I am going to keep the cushion for the pilot's butt. BTW, the part numbering is total chaos. I used fishing line to simulate the rigging on the cockpit sides and modified the engine controls with 3 throttles (instead of 4 as suggested by Mikro-Mir). The mid cable is intentionally out of the axis. I scratch-made the rudder controls and the stick:

Hi, Finally started some interesting work after a looooot of sanding on the wings and fuselage. But it's ok as I started the fun part of scratch-building the cockpit, and that's fun ! Cockpit The tubular structure of the cockpit needs to be shortened (red line) in order to fit the wings on the fuselage. The seat provided in the box vaguely looks like the original : I made a new seat from scratch using 0.25mm plastic sheet helped with the instruction manual of the UT-2. Of course, I realized later that I misinterpreted the schematics and that (1) reads actually " Shoulder seatbelts ", so no sides on that seat ... More on that on Part 3 of this build. Scratch-built seat with cushion (see Part 3 - for correction) The headrest is too large to be fitted in the fuselage. Here again a lot of sanding. On the picture below, two interesting features that will be added. Firstly, the leather bulge (2) just in front of the pilot; but I...