Scratchbuilt 1/72 Bellanca 28/92 trimotor racer

(The finished model is here:)
http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2012/12/scratchbuilt-bellanca-trimotor-completed.html

The Valiant Fight with the Three-Headed Hydra:
The Bellanca 28/92 is indeed an example of how unusual a particular product of a fairly traditional designer family can be. If you consider the other, more known Bellanca types, you would have never guessed this plane descends from the same ADN strand.  The only other Bellanca type that trumps the 28/92 in rarity is the very peculiar Bellanca TES Tandem, which I really hope I’ll be able to build one day too. The 28/92 has many similarities with the preceding, more conventional 28/90 racer design.
This glamorous trimotor started life as the result of a request for a long-distance flight plane. It was supposed to be flown by Alex Papana, who in 1937 clumsily managed to break it, to have a tantrum, and to leave the plane unpaid. The plane was entered in the 1938 Bendix piloted by Frank Cordova, but had to abandon. It then placed second in the 1939 Bendix at the hands of Art Bussy. The plane eventually found an obscure end being shipped to Latin America, where it was lost, after being bought by a military representative. What a sad end for such beautiful machine.
I have seen models of this plane that have the colored areas on the nose and nacelles painted in red, black, blue and other colors. That seems not to be the case. So far I have found written evidence of it being aluminum overall with the mentioned colored areas in matt green. I would have really liked red or blue instead.
The flowing lines and the three engines make this plane very appealing, with a stance similar to those racers flown by the heroes of the comics.
So when a request came from a fellow enthusiast to build this beauty, I was indeed pleased.
Incidentally, this will be my 100th scratchbuilt model. May be an occasion that will require some sort of celebration.
As you can see in the photos I approached construction as a multimedia endeavor. Fuselage is wood, partially covered in styrene sheet; engine nacelles also made of wood but used as masters to vac copies. Flying surfaces in styrene sheet. I found a few parts to start with in my spares bin to facilitate the build that came from Khee-Kha kits, like wheels and props. The particular lines of this plane made construction a little bit more complex that usual. Generally and for much simpler shapes -like some of the ones presented previously in this blog- you cut two fuselage sided slabs, a couple of formers, and cover top and bottom. For constant-chord wings you wrap some styrene in a simple sandwich. But not in this case, where every shape, including the engine gondolas, requires a specific approach given the compound curves. Nevertheless the extra work is worth it.

 Nope, I'm not making a bomber, far from it. I'm giving those a much better chance to be useful, using them to make spinners:

Vacuformed engine nacelles. A spare was made just in case:

The engine gondolas  halves have been joined. The cut outs for the wheels done and some air scoops added.

A supplementary bulkhead (the third) was also added to hold the wheel fork. The engine fronts have been glued to the nacelles' faces.

Meanwhile the wings are ready to be glued to the fuselage and spar.

Decals printed, karmans are in place and so are engine gondolas.Now some refining will ensue.

Oleo struts were fabricated:

 

Spinners and props ready, more work on the LG, some blending of the wings and nacelles and fuselage; the latter a sort of lengthy process with sanding, filling, more sanding, more filling, etc.

First coat of primer:

Oil cooler installed and exhaust holes drilled:

Nav lights from the CMK set: 

The Horror...the Horror

or

Disaster Strikes!

As you all well know, there is this modeling saying that goes "If you want to try something new, do it in your almost-finished masterpiece".
On my defense, I tried first on the props seen here with perfect results:

I needed to apply a second color over the aluminum non-buffing Modelmaster Metalizer finish, so I used as a top coat an artists clear enamel.

Results, very artistic indeed:

I See Sanding in Your Future... (the Greek oracle)  

 Model sanded down:

 and new primer coat applied. So far so good:

First coat of aluminum paint, no problem: 

A few touch-ups: 

 And another coat: