More progress on this, my friends.

First, work was continued on the fuselage.

On examination, some alteration was necessary at the rear of the observer's cockpit and the mating of the fuselage with the turtle-back. I trimmed the area behind the gun ring and added a piece to represent the bearer for the turtle-back stringers (and block much of the view down the rear fuselage). It was necessary to replace the cross-piece here. I sanded away most of the flat pieces at the top of the fuselage in the rear, and replaced these with a fresh sheet of .25mm sheet. I put the turtle-back piece onto this, gave it its final shape, and then put another piece of .25mm sheet on the very rear, to blend in with the rear of the turtle-back.









At this point I discovered I was out of CA gel (the tube I thought I had had in reserve turned out to be the thin liquid type). I am waiting on resupply before fixing the cross-piece behind the pilot's seat, which has got knocked a bit awry. At any rate, without the right glue, I turned to something that needed none, and would bring a bit of color into the Build, and did the upper wing. Wife had a major project and so I was unable to get in progress pictures of this, but ought to be able to when doing the same process on the lower wings. On the upper surface the ribs and 'rib-lets' are marked, the area between are scraped down a bit with the edge of a #10 blade and sand-paper on a dowel. The ribs are covered with 1/64" striping tape. The wing is heavily sprayed with primer (Tamiya White), and then sanded over the ribs with a fine sanding stick till the tapes show through dark. This is repeated a couple of times. Very little will be left of the tape, and ends will come up occasionally and need to be glued back down. When I dared not sand anymore, I gave it a final spray of white primer. On the under-surface, after the white spray, all that is necessary is to mark the rib positions in with a regular pencil. Painting is then done, using PollyScale acrylics heavily cut with Future, with 'Old Concrete' for the undersurface (two coats only necessary), and an RLM 'violet-brown', dosed with red (to represent P.C. 12, which expect was used on this particular aeroplane, as it served out its career in Egypt). On the upper-surface, I painted black and the straight color between the ribs first, then painted over the whole thing with a couple more coats.





Earlier stages of this build can be found here:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/578046/message/1342585105/R.E.+8%2C+with+some+corrections....+%28W.I.P.+2%29

After all the work you have done on the fuselage, I'm glad I decided to start from scratch with my DH-9! The interior looks fantastic though. The wings look good too - all that work is paying off!

Regards,
Adrian

This is a fascinating build that I'm very much enjoying watching. I pull out my Airfix RE8 kit from time to time, only to put it quietly back into the stash. I'm afraid you're setting the bar so high on this one that I'll never have the nerve to build mine!

Stuart

You are really putting in your heart and soul on this one. Nice ribs, great work on the fuselage etc.

Looks like a labor of love. I saw an RE-8 in England and spent about 2 hours taking shots etc. and looking at where all those cables went.

Great job!

I feel like I am making pretty good progress on this, and at least beginning to glimpse the finish line in the distance....

This will surely be very usefull when I ever start mine...

Nice work, love that interior !

* * *
William De Coster / Belgium / Plastic Stories

1/72 - Special Hobby - TT-1 Pinto : Part I (incl Panthers Cup 2012 show report)
1/72 - Airfix/Jo-Han - Mitsubishi Zero/Rufe conversion: Part I
1/72 - Airfix - Douglas Devastator : Part I
1/72 - Airfix - Spitfire Mk.22 & AZ Model - Spitfire Mk.22: Part I (incl Flying Legends 2012 show report) - Part II

Just like the perfect woman doesn't exist, I will never build a perfect model.
Puts me on a par with God

Thanks,
Allan

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

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