The Atom Furnace: Nippers and Files and Saws - Oh My! 1/48 scale LTD Models IAR-80A

I came by this model unexpectedly in an online search for a Douglas Dauntless. I had not heard of this aircraft or the company, but I liked the looks and the price was right (oh, and I bought the SBD too!). I put out my question on this kit and the aircraft and received a lot of input and questions so I figured I should (again) memorialize my experience. I can't explain this kit or company any better than the owner, himself,

Here is an example of what Jerry Campbell calls "Heavy Sprue". The removing of parts requires care and patience so as not to destroy the parts in the process - hence the title of this post. Little xacto saw blades, regular xacto blades, micro files and a nipper are all necessary to remove and shape the parts into what they need to be so things fit together.

On the other hand there is some surprising detail that has been incorporated into the molds that don't appear in some big company kits.

Even recessed panel lines - not deep - but they are there.

Another cool feature is the sheet of decals - I just hope they slide off without much problem.

A bonus for me was that Lenny (the seller) has purchased one piece resin replacement wheels.

To the build itself. Careful removal of parts followed by cleaning and shaping and some painting of the light gray, per the instructions, continued with a bit of weathering and some of my own DIY. I had some wine bottle foil (real foil, not the plastic stuff) and was able to craft a pilot seat harness. There is a control lever, stick and rudder peddles and a flaps lever on the fuselage.

There was supposed to be a throttle on the sprue, but it was missing.

I went back to the foil and made one of my own.

I trimmed up the control panel and painted it including the dials and gauges as best I could.

Both platforms are installed and now I can close up the fuselage - or so I thought!

Truer words have not been printed. It took me all of a half an hour of careful filing down of the seat back and instrument panel to get the port half of the fuselage to close without seam gaps.

BUT.........

.........I finally got it done.

After trimming, attachment of the bottom wing half was easy, but note what looks like a small wing within the wing. It is a separate piece that has structural molding similar to the inside of the fuselage. Another nice touch in this rough kit. I painted it dark gray and cemented it to the wing then attached the assembly to the fuselage. What follows is the result on the underside!

Upper wing halves trimmed up and "thin" cemented to the bottom half. That was the easy part. The tail/elevators were another issue that required a bit os trimming as well as drilling into the vertical stabilizer, but again, I got it done and sealed up seams with window glue. Looking like an airplane!

I mixed up some Black and Aluminum to accent the most obvious and well defined panel lines etc.

I moved on to the two piece cowl and tried to match the chrome yellow of the decals.

Mixing Testors yellow and brown works well enough.

Then some more detailing before a final yellow mix coat.

I only mix small capfuls at a time so I quick masked the fuselage and got the stripe on as well as a coat on the cowl.

Two vac-u-form canopies are supplied in order that the cockpit can be shown closed or open.

Since I did some DIY detail in the cockpit I opted for an open canopy. A bit risky since I have to cut both canopies apart so they each have a frame. I only get one shot.

All is well and the windscreen is attached with a couple of drops of cyano and then window glue. I will mask and paint later. Now on to the motor.

Another example of the "heavy" sprue and trimming necessary. It took half an hour to get the cylinders off the sprue and trimmed up using both the xacto saw blade and the knife.

This blade is absolutely essential to remove parts without destroying them. If you compare the two photos you can see the trimming done while parts are still on the sprue. There are fourteen parts in all that make up the assembly and once everything is trimmed to fit, painted and assembled I can see why comments on the kit are that it builds up nicely.

Let's brush the cylinders with flat black and then copper!

Here is the layout of the assembly - no order and no instruction, but it did not look like the prop is supposed to turn. LittleBro confirmed this but advised to do my Engineer Thing. Ok, I got out the pin vise drill, a piece of 22 gauge wire, a piece of flat styrene and the cyano glue.

The prop will now not be static. It won't "spin" but it will turn😁

I mixed brown, black and a little copper to get the called for "Exhaust Brown" for the exhaust ring and exhaust tubes. A bit of trimming needed but in all - not bad.

With the exhaust ring in I could now glue the motor assembly to the fuselage and paint the spinner. Next I tried fitting the cowl halves - hoo boy, lots of work to do to get them to close up. I had to file down the exhaust ring both top and bottom. After several attempts the cowl halves almost close - I will be forced to do a little filling, but the edges are close enough that my window glue should close up the gap. I will then touch up and dullcoat will take care of the rest.

The cowl ia secured and I did add window glue to the seams, but is not too bad. Serious painting is begun including the windscreen framing.

Following the camo paint guide. I had Dark Tan, but bought a new green and added black to make a jar of Dark Green.

I going to use the resin wheels - no mold lines and they even are flat with side bulges - I need some air! I have to be careful installing these. The gear and tail skid have to be installed and then I can add the wheels to get the flat spot at the correct angle. Next I work on the underside, but I have the light blue mix already isnce I just used it on my Me109E.

Starting the blue with my fine tip brush.

Blue is brushed in with two coats except on the ailerons (I thought being fabric covered the blue might look a bit different). Obviously I started the decals. Actually these were the last applied. It's a two part application (if you don't count the piece of the cross that broke off). The red circles are applied on top of the crosses.

All decals are applied.

I used the markings for plane No. 109 flown by adjutant aviator Pomut of
Grupul 5, Escadrila 53 vinatoare during the summer of 1943. Credited with 7 victories Pomut was killed on the Eastern front in 1944. Now for a dullcoat before I muck things up.

I found this interesting. The instructions show a symbol for "removing" - a knife symbol. The strut cover components are molded as a single piece that has to be cut apart. The saw is again a critical tool.

I got it done and put the landing gear together.

I painted the resin tires a 4-1 mix of black to white for a "scale" tire gray.

I think could use a little air!

Finally the canopy and radio antenna can be attached.

The radio wire - my trusty monofilament - is tied and glued (I drilled and placed a small wire in the rudder to attach the wire).

The underside shows a little soot and gun fire. Also note that aileron counter weights are attached.

This shows that the pitot tube has been attached and painted. The instructions require a hole drilled in the wing edge to accept the tube. Now for a few finals.