Detailing the ramp area
Time to give the cargo ramp area some attention, if this was 1:48th scale I would go to town on it for accuracy, however in 1:72 scale a semblance of additional detail would still be of some benefit in what is a very complex and busy place.
We have some photo-etch from the Flightpath set, but a little bit more is needed methinks. First order of the day is cover that gaping hole in the roof and add some roof structures.
I used some styrene H beam sections for the roof structure, it should really be tubular framework, but as I said in this small scale I think it is sufficient. Note the two circular recesses on each side of the airframe, these are for the ramp hydraulic jacks.
The jacks are tubes, from which I will fit the rams inside at the stage of fitting the ramp itself.
They will be cut down when set solid and sanded flush and the ends repainted to the airframe NMF.
The rest of the PE detail and some additional kit-bashed parts can now fit between the frames and the PE frame overlays on top.
The kit supplied ramp is basic to say the least, but once the NMF exterior is dry we can fit the PE deck overlay supplied from Flightpath.
Once painted up it looks a lot better.
The photo-etch ram mounts attach and the underside is built up with a small semicircle of styrene and superglue sanded down to get the domed effect, before painting NMF.
There are two reasons I felt I needed some cargo, to help fill a pretty bland interior and to hide how I intend to fix the ramp in place. Nothing being wasted, the kit part for the loading ramps is turned into a cargo pallet.
The load is a block of ‘Lego’ then covered in some rolled Milliput and trimmed to create a tarpaulin effect. The net and restraining straps are painted 1mm Tamiya tape.
Alan Griffith says
Beautiful rendition of an old kit!
AlanG