Citroen 2CV - FPW Model - 3D-printed

Bought as an airplane diorama accessory, it came out pretty nice. It was the first car I owned, back beyond in the mist of time.

This 3D-printed "kit" comes in just a few parts. I added home-made lenses to the lights and the rolled back roof. 

The building sequence can be found here:

 https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2026/09/ciroen-2cv-fpw-model-3d-printed.html

I wish the manufacturers of this type of 3D-printe accessories would think more like a modeler, and provide interior and body as separate parts, even separate interior parts like seats and steering wheel, besides wheels and hubs, etc. in order to greatly facilitate painting. 

 

Consolidated Fleetster - Dekno Models 1/72nd scale full 3D-printed kit

 

Dekno Models 

https://deknomodels.com/en/ 

is one of the kit manufacturers that experienced a fantastic and rapid evolution. Currently many of their kits are completely 3D-printed in great definition. Their line of products is wonderful, offering civil planes from the Golden Age and a line of accessories. I was so happy when the Consolidated arrived! Here are the contents, protected and well-packed:

The quality is very good:

Very nice internal and external detail:

The fit is excellent:

And now with their new transparencies:

A closer look:

The wings are printed hollowed to save weight and avoid distortions:

Even very small parts are perfectly printed:

Since I was at it, I also bought some of their accessories for my scratchbuilding projects:

Parts impeccably separated, an ease enough task due to the intelligent design of the cradles, but care is required:

After some light sanding the parts are washed and let to dry:

Some priming and a bit of base colors:

The Fleetster came in two civil types, 17 and 20 (the latter being a high wing parasol, similar to the Lockheed Air Express, in the same way that the 17 resembles a Vega) These in turn came in diverse sub-types, with changes in the window arrangement, door position, seating and power plant aimed to diverse functions (mail carrier, etc.).

 Some more color:

The seats are prepared. For what I read, some NYRBA fleetsters were modified with what is called "bench seats", two of them for three people each. Not being sure of which airframes had these or how were they disposed (one after the other, facing opposite to each other?) I didn't go for that. This was done apparently to allow some cargo, always needed in the South American routes:

Getting ready for final assembly:

The clear parts are bathed in acrylic, that helps level some remaining inkling of the printing process:

Long ago I made a batch of "lights", so I will be using those, but the kit's are perfectly ok if you use "metal" paint on one side:

As the tailwheel was fixed and faired (i.e. not being able to swing), other Fleetsters (but not the NYRBA ones) had some metal rack "handles" that allowed the crew to lift and swing the fuselage:

Windows are in after only the slightest adjustments. The clear parts come now 3D-printed, and some faint ridges can be seen under certain lights, so a little of clear acrylic is brushed over them inside and out:

With the interior almost complete (lacking only the control wheel) the time to close the fuselage is near. The exhausts are glued to the engine, good fit. The extensions will be added later on to facilitate assembly and painting. I would advise to sand a little the width of instrument panel, which seemed to hinder the closing on my sample, and be sure that the seat, control wheel and pedals rest in the middle but at the right angles, not precluding the other fuselage half to be added:

 Fuselage closed and ready to proceed:

The wing parts are epoxied together:

 

To be continued...

MACK AC Bulldog Airport Tanker - RPM 1/72nd scale and Arctic Decals set

https://www.arcticdecals.com/products.html?id=33921/1293797

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1572185228041174&set=a.542663430993364

It's not easy to find adequate 1/72nd scale diorama vehicles for your Golden Age airplane models, and when you do, often have to convert them from military kits and find or produce decals. This Arctic Decals set solves the problem providing detailed marks for a readily existing kit: 

There is also a PE set you can get to enhance your model: 

Some sub-assemblies are started. The fit in general is good after the cursory cleanup:

There is a mistake in the instructions, the pip goes ahead of the tab, not after as the arrows point:

Unclear here. The parts goes over the tab:

What the P.E. set has to offer. A lot. But many parts are for the military version, so not applicable. In some cases, due to the difficult of assembly, very fiddly nature and/or minuscule size of the P.E. parts, I will just use the kit's parts instead:

More sub-assemblies in progress. I will keep some separated to facilitate painting and dry-brushing:

Needless to say you have to really pay attention to the instructions with this one. 

It actually feels as if you were assembling a real life vehicle or machine (for those of us that experienced that). It's fun! and the detail is good. Some may think the kit is over-engineered, perhaps for some modelers may feel like that, but I am enjoying it. 

 

A number of parts are being prepared for priming and painting:

Be sure as you build the model to include what is needed for this version (following Arctic decals art) and not to include what it isn't pertinent.
 

The other, not so practical side of having a myriad of parts, many of them extremely small, is painting. This is further complicated because in order for RPM to add so many detail parts, they ended up having to arrange the assembly sequence in steps that often do not make any sense. 

As an example: in some cases manufacturers allow for the completely assembled body of the "cockpit" to be able to be painted apart and then slide over the already painted and detailed interior. Not in this case, which makes things a pain in the butt, as you are only being able to partially assemble the body, and very uncomfortably having to add several detail parts to the interior and around it, and then finish closing the body with already painted parts (roof and windscreen in the case), risking marring the finish. 

Painting the individual parts that can't yet be assembled -as they are different colors or will benefit from careful drybrushing to make the detail pop up- can be quite the task, as you may see here:
 

The more simple -yet effective- approach of ACE with their Ford truck is more practical in that regard:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/12/ford-truck-1936-ace-172nd.html 

 There is a mistake in the instructions. The part doesn't go where the thin arrows point, but to the middle of the suspension (red arrows):

 

 

Not sure why the manufacturer would go through the work of depicting the brake drums, only to cover them with another part. I guess you could do a repair/maintenance diorama (likewise, the hood also covers a well-depicted engine):

Different colors and metal hues are airbrushed:

The engine sub-assembly is ready:

 

 

 

 

To be continued...