Minicraft 1/48 Cessna 172

[thing]

Crikey there aren't many of us around are there?

This is my first proper model so a steep learning curve is being steeply climbed as I write!

First impressions-there aren't many bits, hurrah! Everything seems neatly moulded, not that I would know the difference but hey ho. I've done out the interior in tan, masking a stripe where the door jamb is. There are six seats for some weird reason, 172's only have four so the two rear ones are getting dumped. There's also a floor mounted compass that doesn't exist in real life. I've done most of the brush painting now. For the other new boys besides myself I used Model Colour for the tan. It's a very thick paint so I put a few drops of thinner in it and it brushed on very well indeed. I did the cockpit floor in Model Air Dark Sea Grey to see if it would brush paint and it did so a treat without any thinning. It's left a beautifully flat and consistent layer. The black was Tamiya XF-1 and there's a noticeable difference in brushability. It's still OK but not as good as the Vallejo.

Because the wheels are in spats on the finished model I cut away one end of the wheels carefully from the sprue leaving the other bit hanging on and painted them. I can hide the non painted bit when it comes off the sprue in the wheel spat.

I'm going to try Paul's dry brush technique on the instrument panel and rudder pedals tomorrow.

Right, I think I deserve a Guinness.

[thing]

Just finished the cockpit and engine. Stuck the two fuselage halfs together and glued the engine mounting on. The drybrushing (I couldn't have done any of this without the great videos on this site. It may look amateurish but for a first shot I'm over the moon, thanks Paul) has worked well and I managed to put some wear on the engine and make the instrument panel stand out.

The kit is superb. Everything fits together without glue, even the two fuselage halfs with the interior in went together with no problem whatsoever. I've had a look at some of my other kits and the transparencies are excellent too, ultra clear plastic. I have a PA28 to do after this one and if it's as good as this I shall be looking for some more Minikraft stuff.

I'm sure something will go disastrously wrong but at least I have some photos from when it was OK...!

[thing]

Ah well. All was going rather well until I sprayed it with gloss varnish. It now looks dreadful. Anyway, points to learn from this build.

1. Don't use masking tape and gloss varnish.

2. Don't have removable panels with decals that go over them. I tried that with the engine cowling and even with a new scalpel blade it made a mess trying to cut the decal. Shan't be doing that again.

3. Gloss varnish in general. Never again.

4. Formula 560 canopy glue takes a long time to dry properly.

5. Don't break the nosewheel leg off then spend an hour trying to fix it and ruin the nosewheel decal at the same time.

6. Glue ruins decals.

Still every day is a learning day and I can't wait to get going on the next one.

[thing]

After some serious work with a drill I managed to reattach the nosewheel. I'm starting to realise that half of the work you spend on a model is rectifying mistakes...

[Daishi12]

Looks good to me mate, think you deserve a Guinness (or 2)

[thing]

Advice taken and repeated.