Looking forward to this huge transporter, Paul @paulh
The additions will definitely look good on it.

Well, here are a few more photos. I have others showing the work up to this point, but they're on my now-no-longer-properly-functioning mobile phone! That's what happens when it gets accidentally dropped into water... ho-hum :-(.

Everything works fine, except the upload function, so all my photos and a few video clips of this build are currently hostages to misfortune. Once I pay the ransome to the god of mobile phones, thus securing the release of my captive images, I will add them in here... diplomatic manoeuvring is ongoing... :-). So, largely out of necessity, these images only show wing details at this point. The first two photos show the underside of the right wing. The necessary removal of offending lumps of plastic from the moulding process was addressed first. Then the undercarriage bay was added in and sealed round the edges. Small lead fishing weights were added into the lower wing nacelle spaces and secured with super glue, all of the above happening after I removed the control surface sections from both the top and bottom wing pieces. The resultant gap was blocked off using plasic card and any small gaps filled in and sanded smooth. There are several indents in the plasic on the external surfaces, and these too were filled in. Once dry and sanded, I took medium and then fine grade wet and dry paper and lightly sanded the entire assembly as it has an ever-so-slight grainy texture. Some panel lines suffered a little but these have been easy enough to revive with some careful rescribing.

With there being a greater amount of plastic removed from the wing undersides than the uppersurfaces, the control surfaces require to have certain sections reproduced to make them complete again, as I hope to show them deployed, rather than in neutral position. In the fourth image, the wing is viewed from below, and the detached parts are shown laid out in the positions they will eventually fill. The fifth photo shows the interior of two of the pieces, and how the recreated uppersurfaces have been attached at the correct position by using small plastic card inserts to support them. Their leading edges will have filler applied along the length of the piece, then sanded to a curve to finish the process. The final three photos show the opposite wing from beneath, similarly tidied up and then closed up. Its control surfaces were started first, therefore are shown at a slightly more advanced stage.

All in all, the model is progressing slowly but rather well. The left wing is now attached to the fuselage and the model is starting to feel a little bit heavier with the added weights coming into play.

So, that's it for now. I hope I can get the other photos posted soon once the technical difficulties are resolved. Thanks for looking in.

Regards,

Paul

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Solid progress, Paul @paulh
A lot of work done with great result.

A big amount of qualitative and innovative work, my friend @paulh! Thanks for documenting addressing all these issues, will be most helpful upon building mine!

Well, it's seems like ages since I posted into this thread, but in between attending to necessary day to day things, I have been making some lumbering and monotonous progress with the build.

The first issue was with the engine cowlings. The kit pieces are very reminiscent of the old Italeri Do24 flying boat cowlings, and their rear area where the cowling gills are located show these in the open position. But I've never been a fan of their appearance so I decided to substitute them with spares from RS Models' Do17P kit. These look better to me from the front, but the gills at the back are moulded closed. The cowlings for the BMW-Fafnir engines used in the Ar232B variant appear to have no gills as such, but do have raised sections as exhaust outlets. From all of the images of the 'B' variant I have seen, there are none that show good close up detail of the cowlings, so I have had to do some guess work as a result. I bought two very good, and very technical, publications on this aircraft, but almost entirely, they focus on the earlier, twin-engined 'A' version, so in respect of the engine cowlings, they are no use at all.

Anyway, I started off removing the rear strip from Airmodel's vacuform Ar232 kit - they offer the best suggested layout of the rear area, and the curve fits the rear curve on the RS Model's nacelle. However, they are rather flimsy as you might imagine, but I wasn't sure they would look as good as I would like once finished. The first image below shows these pieces while I was trying to match them up.

Ultimately, I discarded that approach. SInce I had spare Do24 cowlings handy, I cut the rear gills off, sliced them up and reattached them at the areas where I felt they should be, as best as possible, raising only the 'open' sections and modifying the other pieces to sit 'flat', as if in closed position and matching the curve of the nacelle. Any small gaps were filled in and sanded smooth. I still have reservations about how good they will look at the end of the day, but I'll only be able tell when I get an undercoat of paint on them.

Turning to the undercarriage, I have started to work out how best to assemble the under-fuselage wheels. As you can see, I have cut dividers from plastic card and numbered them so I know which ones fit best and in which order. Small tabs were cut and attached to the top of each divider. You can see them dry-tested in the images below. The upper tabs will require adjustment to improve the look. The underwing area has had small strips of adhesive tape attached to give some basic sense of the framework in that area.

As you will appreciate, these attempts to adjust and improve are fiddly and time-consuming, not to mention very frustrating at times, but I hope the endeavour will be worth it in the long run.

Thanks for looking in... :-).

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Some great work done on the cowlings and undercarriage, Paul @paulh
It will definitely be worth the time and frustration you put into it.

Guys, thanks for your previous comments. I have some more images for you now. A lot of time recently has been spent seemingly going over and over some parts trying to get them looking good, thinking I'd done that, only to find another issue further along on the same piece... I dare say we all get a little bogged down from time to time.

These few photos show the progress to date. I've added in the pilots' seats, control columns and pedals. One of the seats tried to escape but I managed to retrieve it and will reinsert it at a later point. The engine cowlings are more to my liking now and I sourced better looking engines from the spares box. Intakes on the cowling undersides have been made from plastic card.

Some tentative work has commenced on the main undercarriage items, with replacement wheels and the plastic legs and wheel attachment points being removed and alternatives being fashioned from spare brass parts; the nose wheel leg has been dismembered, keeping only the revised lower section. The upper section has still to be completed; the new 'horseshoe' attachment to fit around the wheel was created from spare plastic from the sprue, gently heated and manipulated into the correct shape before being tidied up with some sanding.

The third and fourth photos show the model from front and rear angles, with the abovementioned pieces and the wing control surfaces alongside. I also removed and reattached the elevators but decided to leave out fighting with the rudders, so they remain in neutral. The engraved detail on the horizontal tailplane was filled in as I didn't think it was particularly accurate; two small access panels were recreated using adhesive tape. A couple of access panels under each wing were also replicated using the same method.

And finally... two thin, all-encompassing applications of paint... thank goodness! I was beginning to think I'd never get to this point. Now that most sections are painted, I feel a sense of better things to come. Yes, there are still some niggling issues to address and the undercoat will have to be reapplied as and where necessary, but I can now see light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to be able to post more photos in the near future, and hope you continue to enjoy these build instalments.

Regards,

Paul

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.