1/48 Hasegawa Arado 234-Completed Build-Page 12

Finally got the nose/ gondola/ cockpit assy installed and worked in. All I can say is WOW!! And I do mean me some WOW!! Utterly ridiculous how Hasegawa designed this kit in terms of assembly. I got it though.

It took me a while to get it all sorted out with an approach to this but I think I found one that worked for me. I had glossed the entire aircraft, applied the decals and then adhered the cockpit assy to the front of the aircraft and masked it off. From there I filled the huge lip that was on the top of the fuselage to cockpit join and worked it all in together by sanding and yet more filling. This resulted in the seam not disappearing from the top of the fuselage at the cockpit join so I added a seam in the name of uniformity. It's not "correct" but it looks uniform. After that I black based the entire sanded and filled area, applied the irregular gray pattern and went back over it in RLM 82. Here it is with a little touch up painting to do on the starboard side of the affected area.

And here it is with the flat coat with fading effect applied. No fading on the sides but some on the upper surfaces of the bird. I'm hoping I didn't go too far. icon_hmm_zps07rcoppf

Currently working on the main and nose wheel part of the landing gear and painting up the landing gear doors. I didn't like how flimsy the main landing gear was so I braced it against the outside of the fuselage on both sides where the landing gear doors will cover it so as to conceal the braces. Still truckin' along......

Thanks you guys for all the good comments.

FINALLY...………...I've got this bird on wheels. One of the inherent weaknesses of this kit lies in the main landing gear. Really flimsy parts and allow excessive "wobble" when loaded with the weight of the aircraft. I fixed this by putting a hidden shim between each main landing gear strut and the fuselage opening for the gear bays. I just cut a small square piece of styrene and slipped it between the strut and the rear bay wall. Can't even see it but it worked like a charm in making the main gear ALOT more sturdy. Gear doors have to be painted and installed and some touch ups are needed on the gear after gluing into place as well as a little weathering on the tires but the wheels are now down.

Folks I never thought I'd get this far with this plane. I consider it a small milestone in getting back to aircraft building as it was really hard to break away from the automotive stuff but I'm feel like I'm finally getting back in a groove to where I can at least have an aircraft build going while working on the auto subjects.

N E wayz…..Today's update:

Sorry for the absence around here as of late but I've been spending ALOT of time at the bench trying to get this one finished. I'm down to the REALLY short list on getting the base aircraft finished so I can move on to the engine assembly and detailing. Only a few things left like main gear doors and struts, aerial antenna, painting the rivets on the cockpit framing and installing the pitot tube. I mean I've got a little clean up to do here and there but this part of the build is just about to a close. Really stoked about displaying the engine though.

Overall, I've got some mixed feelings about this kit here because of fit issues but mostly because it has now moved into the most difficult kit that I've ever built category. Just really don't care for it even though it's supposed to be the best 234 kit out there. No worries however, I'm saddling up and moving forward and have learned a lot from this build.

Here's where we're at now...…….close.....real close.