The epitome of bug smashers..

[F-27pax]

Looking excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

Leigh

[Cap'n Wannabe]

More progress, albiet slow. Actually lightning fast for me - might have this one done in time for expo! Don't hold your breath, but..
Fuselage assembled and primed. In a world first for me, I managed *not* to get a step between the two fuselage halves. There are a few sink holes on the fuselage that need attention, and a little work on the seams. Getting better with them
I made the command decision to remove the rivets...in hindsight, I probably should have done this first thing, but it's a lesson for the next one. I reckon this kit was a joint venture between ESCI, Airfix and Matchbox...the rivet detail is horrible and inconsistent, especially on the lower fuselage, and one of my kids fell into a panel line last night. Had to fish her out with a bit of string..
Anyhow, some pics..
The fuselage and wing. On the port wing, I've removed the rivet detail from the top surface...missed a few, so I'll have to go back and do it again. The tail was also subjected to the 1000 grit wet/dry treatment.

You can see the difference between the wings here..

I call this photo "Bloody Rivets"

"No Bloody Rivets"...well, still a few to get rid of..

[hrtpaul]

Looking great old boy. Nice work so far

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Cheers mate.....but Gawd I hate rivets!

[tor lives]

She be looking fine Damo.
Yep.....I hate rivets also. Unless it's a really large scale, they just seem so unnecessary.
TOR

[Adam the Akrodude]

Only if I could swap the smooth finish of my two Yaks for your Cessna rivet finish - ARGH! Yaks are covered with large domed rivets and of course my two kits don't show any . Wish this 60's/70's "trend" in model finish had been used on my Yaks. If it was 32nd scale, I'd consider using those paste on rivets (Archer?), but 48 scale is a little too small to bother with.

How's this for rivets! Yaks are covered in 'em!





Granted the rivets on your little Cessna are a bit over the top and wrong for a Cessna which has flush rivets of course - not like the big and tough Russkie Yaks! Gimmie your rivets comrade!

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Dunno what's worse.....removing rivets, or adding them.
Interesting to note that the new tool Minicraft 172 has engraved rivets. It looks like a nice kit - at least on the outside. The interior leaves a bit to be desired, specifically the complete lack of trim panels. A couple of other disappointing features on the Minicraft kit are the prop blades being too paddle-like, and the prop is tooled such that it can only be mounted with the blades horizontal. In my experience, it's pretty rare for a C172 prop to come to rest in that position! The instrument panel is mounted at an angle rather than near-vertical, too. Oh, and I can't forget that pretty much the entire landing gear sprue on my kit was short-shot. There are about 3 useful parts on it..
Overall, I think I'd take the ESCI kit over the Minicraft. ESCI really did well with theirs, Bloody Rivets notwithstanding. It does look, however, as if Minicraft used the ESCI kit as a starting point for their tooling....there are some very distinct similarities.

[Adam the Akrodude]

What will you do about those panel "trenches"?

[Cap'n Wannabe]

What will you do about those panel "trenches"?

I think on this build, I'll leave 'em. They'll get somewhat filled by the myriad of primer coats, especially on the fuselage. When I do VH-ABW, she'll get the Royal Treatement. Thinking either fill them all in and draw them on with pencil afterwards, or..well, I dunno!
I tells ya, it's soul-destroying work getting rid of them bloody rivets!

[Cap'n Wannabe]

Thanks to Adam's comments re the "trenches", I've been thinking about them all day. A couple of builds on the interwebz highlights the depth of some of the panel lines....so I put together a little experiment.

This is a spare wing....I glued a piece of 0.03" dia styrene rod into one of the panel lines, the idea being that it won't shrink like putty, and will be easier to rescribe should I decide to. On the other hand, only having the control surface and door/hatch joints visible might be a good look, so she might end up baby-butt smooth.....which would go well with a baby-poo brown interior typical of so many Cessnas......*sigh*...I dunno. This is rapidly turning into a mega-project rather than a quick build..