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My son thought this would be a good subject for me to build and bought this for my birthday a few months ago, so this will be he's Xmas present if I can finish it in time?


Whats interesting is this mould was produced early 2000's long before the real one first flew - its a fairly accurate representation from what I can figure?. This Lufthansa version of the kit came out in 2010.

Qantas got delivery of theirs in 2008, Tony Bay Decals do a set of the Qantas livery so decided I'd go Aussie for a change, their colours are not too complicated, white with a red tail - Tamiya rattle cans Pure White & Italian Red



Have never seen an A380 in real life but from the pics I can see the only visible difference from Qanats VH-OQB is that there is one window less at the back in both rows so these have been filled.

The dry fit seemed ok and the build looked straight forward with only the landing gear and engines to be considered in the planning stage. Was hoping to install the landing gear right at the end of the build but the wheel wells had to be assembled around the multi-part landing gear and installed in the fuselage before glueing the fuselage halves together. So the landing gear was assembled and wheel wells installed - research revealed the kit does not show the correct position of the doors when the gear is down and I have corrected this. The kit would have all the doors open but it would appear they are multi-part doors which open to let the gear down then partially close

The inevitable happened and the nose gear broke before getting the fuselage halves together, so some micro surgery will be required at the end of the build. I don't expect the others to last the distance either?

The doors and fuselage when glued into position didn't fit as flush as when dry tested so some sanding and filling was required. This is a big kit


Lots of wheels to paint


The engines have been assembled and installed, some tight masking will be required for the main paint job


The wings went together ok but the next challenge is the colours, airbus grey and coroguard? Xtracolour does the grey but they're out of business so Ive resorted to photos which are difficult at the best of time with different lighting and getting a picture from directly below or above? Many different suggestions from other forums but I did my own tests and opted for either Humbrol 166 or Tamiya XF19. Alclad grey primer was laid down a few weeks ago and yesterday airbrushed the H166 with my Iwata which kept clogging so I had to use more thinner which eventually attacked the primer - Im not satisfied with the colour anyway, its too brown, so some cleaning up to do once cured, will then try XF19 or a shaded version.

Been sanding the wheel doors today and should have the primer on the fuselage soon, will try out the Tamiya Fine Surface rattle can. Still a lot to do before Xmas ....

Should look great in Qantas livery.

When Airfix did that, their B747 ended up missing the wing fairings, I read.

That'll suck up some cabinet space!! looking good so far

Yeah, how are you going to display this one? Good to see some new movements in Other Builds.

PS. I started with your AV-8B NeedBeer. Will post pics soon.

The idea is once built my son can have it.....

S7 - did you find a canopy?

Just when I thought I was on a roll! S*#@ ....!


The idea of user a primer (in this case Alclad Grey Primer Microfiller) is to make the paint stick to the surface ....? not the first time this has happened with Alclad and Tamiya paints

Might have to start again on the wings, will keep you posted.

The rattle can Tamiya Fine Surface Primer has gone on the fuselage very nicely

Sorry to see that, had that problem with both my present Ar234 builds.
Could the reason be that there was some unseen mould release on the plastic?

With my hate of painting wheels I will not be getting that kit any time soon


T

Might be a silly question but did you give the kit a wash before the build started....? A real pity you could not complete by Xmas Day.

Ouch. Hopefully the rest will go ok. That Tamiya Primer is pretty good stuff.

_________________
I love the smell of cyano in the morning.

Yep, did the wash before.... Son is away for a few weeks so I have time, XMAS was always wishful thinking at my pace, still a lot to do...

The fuselage has been primed now with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer from a can - very nice product, went on beautifully. Had to do it outside because of the excessive overspray and fumes, fashioned a stand/handle out of a wire coat hanger through the wing slots and placed in a large cardboard box, was then at the mercy of the prevailing wind which kept moving the box, fortunately only a couple of minor scratches resolved by some sanding and a second coat.



Am not happy with my fitting of the wheel bays doors, the primer has exposed the bad fits, so have had to do a lot of sanding, filling and replacing panel lines. Have resorted to superglue to fill some of the gaps, just waiting for this to cure then will sand down



Engine mountings first coat of "Airbus" grey

Wings now repaired after the masking lifted the paint & primer. Used masking tape only in the tight spots other post it notes to prevent lifting



Well almost, removing the last mask, then this ...


No big deal, easy fix, now on to the leading edges, coroguard on control surfaces, will use Alclad white aluminium - anyone know how Alcad will react to Tamiya Enamel paint? Done it the other way round on the P-47 no problem?

So it is not just me that have darn hiccups with lifting paint from masking..

Had the same problem just recently on one build. Just when you think everything is going dandy then,...!!!!

Good recovery though NeedBeer. I'm looking forward to seeing this beast finished.

I have had that problem on both my Ar234 builds, on my present Bf109 build. Did not happen to my recent Fw190 build.
In each case it involves Acrylic Model Master paint that I picked up in error.
With my Bf109, I mask the top, paint the bottom, remove the top making and paint peels.
Mask the bottom, paint the missing paint area's on the top, remove the bottom masking and paint has peeled off.
mask the top..................................................................
Till it is all covered, just have to bear the pain.

Hoping to show my progress this weekend here. Last week gave the fuselage a light and wet sanding to smooth the gloss before the final coat. Tamiya rattle cans don't go far on this beast, apart from its size there's a lot of excess spray and wastage with the rattle can I have used a can of fine surface primer 100+ml and another of pure white 100ml so far, convenient but not cheap!

I have bought another can now but will decant and use the airbrush this time, hopefully get some more mileage, should have some pics soon

Haven't worked on this for a while but here is where I'm at. Used Tony Bay Decals from Italy for the Qantas livery. After applying the decals the model fell off my desk, hitting the floor it cracked open the fuselage seams, so haven't had the heart to start all over with the glueing, filling,sanding, painting, patience ...... Also the paint lifting on the wings when removing the masking has been frustrating, tried to free hand with the AB but its looking weathered and not the look I want so having a timely rethink on how best to finish off this beautiful monster