CANT Z506b Airone-Alpha Flight resin, 1/48

Started by Bryan W. Bernart · 7 · 1 year ago · 1/48, Alpha Flight, CANT Z506b Airone, float plane, trimotor
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    Bryan W. Bernart said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    This is probably the best resin kit I've tackled, despite my limited experience in that realm. It did, however have some issues like warping, twisting and air bubbles-all of which were minor and fairly easy to remedy. My best friend has turned out to be a 12" x12" tile with 220 grit sandpaper stuck to it. Great for flattening join areas.

    The inclusion of PE is both a blessing and a curse. Big parts look good, but oversized-the little ones, in most cases were ignored for the sake of sanity.

    I joined the wing, floats and fuselage halves by carefully lining them up after hours of dry fitting, strapping the halves with tape and using a "spot weld" of CA between tape stripes, eventually filling the seams with the appropriate goop. All considered, surprisingly little putty was required.

    I haven't mentioned the interior, which was sparse and definitely not helped by what I consider the worst instruction sheet known to man, particularly at this price point. I did what you could see in rudimentary fashion, but was uninspired to do much more. Who knows whether what I did was accurate or not...? The internet was of little help.

    I managed to over-cut the leading edges of the engine cowlings-so I buried my mistake with Evergreen sheet tortured into shape. Looks OK now, but primer may (will) tell a different story.

    I'm ready to begin some priming and pre-shading after staring at it for two weeks.

    8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    Amazing entry and superb job so far, my friend @plasticslave!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    Great entry and ditto progress, Bryan @plasticslave

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    Tom Cleaver said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    Not one you see every day, for sure. Alpha Flight has a horrid reputation for poor casting - twisted parts, etc. That have gotten this result so far is definitely a victory persistence and talent over kit.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    Looks great, Bryan @plasticslave. I have never actually seen a 100% resin kit built, so I am looking forward to following yours.

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    Bryan W. Bernart said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    Thanks, George.
    There are many photos/videos of resin builds that will be far more instructional than anything I can relate. Since there was nothing special inside I didn't bother with the visuals. This is a straight out of the box effort.

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    Bryan W. Bernart said 1 year, 6 months ago:

    I'm attempting to reply to individuals, but they appear as comments, so in response to Tom Cleaver, it's the small parts that suffer. De-gassed during cure or not, they are extremely fragile. In the future I may coat the itty bitties with thin CA in an attempt to fill and strengthen them. The wings and fuselage needed torsion, compression and a load of sanding and dry fitting. Big surprise was the cockpit fit was perfect-except the PE panel was far too wide.