Aloha All,

I've encountered a fit problem with the Trumpeter Aerosan I elected to build for the Trumpeter Campaign. The problem is at the front of the fuselage. Essentially the top plate is wider than the bottom as they meet at the nose.

Is it a better strategy to fill the gaps on the bottom, or to shave down the top?

My other concern is losing the rivet detail, as they are outies and not innies.


Here is the fit of the bottom without the top plate.


Here is the fit of the bottom with the top plate installed


This is the top plate from the top.

Thanks in advance for any guidance on fixing this.

Happy Modeling,
Zon

Probably you have already solved it, but in any case I would fill the gap using Vallejo acrylic putty, which can be removed easily with water before curing. You may need to add a plastic strip if the gap is too large

I would recommend gluing thin Evergreen plastic strips on each side of that wedge shaped nose piece. Then thinning down these strips to make the piece fit properly.

One tip that I would share here: (Maybe it is commonly known, maybe not.)

I use a #11 Xacto blade exclusively, and I will drag it sideways at a 90 degree angle over these glued strips of plastic. Just like a carpenter would use a Wood Plane or a Draw Knife, with each pass a thin shaving of plastic is taken off to finally thin the plastic to the desired measure.

The other great thing about this process is that applying more strokes to one end of a strip (as in the problem posed above) will thin that end more than the other. Rest assured it requires little or no talent to learn the trick of spreading your strokes out to successfully and uniformly taper the glued strip as desired.

Just sharing - worth every penny you paid for it!


p.s. If it were not for the rivets on the top piece I would just shave it down to make it more narrow.

I would split the bottom plate lengthwise,
add reinforcing strips inside to lock down the adjusted, wider, width and then fill the gap with strips, file/sand to follow the contour.

Thank you Carlos, Michael and Robin!

I ended up gluing the bottom on to about 3/4 of the way up, then fixing the top piece and finally, after everything else was set, somewhat forcing the rest of the sides to mate with the top and bottom as much as possible. The gaps ended up quite a bit smaller than i expected and I filled those with putty. Next will be a coat of primer, then more putty if necessary.





Overall I'm pretty pleased with how this is building up.



Happy Modeling,
Zon