Some Of My Diecast Redos

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In response to GR's request, I'd like to show some "before" and "after" pictures of diecast aircraft models that I have modified or redone in my ongoing quest for more realistic looking "replicas". Let's start with the most recent effort. This involved a 1:72nd scale DO-335 released by Atlas Editions this year. The model is made for them by Oxford Diecast---via some unknown Chinese factory----and is designed to be "cost effective". In other words, it's a cheap product that uses plastic inserts for much of the under wing surfaces as well as the tail area. In addition, there are ugly screw holes under the plane's fuselage and they didn't bother with a pitot head or a pilot. Also annoying was the decision to use white lettering on the fuselage sides, I assume to render them more visible, rather than the black markings that the real plane----a later mark, by the way---- carried. And those crosses under the wings are just plain wrong for the last stages of the war. Still, a DO-335 is a rare bird for a diecast collector, so I set about making changes. These included a total repaint---to lighten the colors, thereby accounting for the "scale effect", adding a pitot head and pilot, filling in the screw hole, simulating some stenciling , repositioning the fixed props, painting in the landing and navigation lights, marking the doors for the retracted front wheel bay and, finally, adding some weathering/staining touches. The final result, which depicts the markings of a real early mark DO-335, is not perfect, but I like it a lot better than the original. Here are two pictures of the model as I received it and similar shots showing how it looks now:

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Now, a bottom view of the model in its original form:

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Here's how it looks now from the side and front:

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And, finally, here's a bottom shot of the DO-335, following surgery:

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Here's another of my redos, this time of a 1:72nd scale IXO production of a MC-202. Here, again, we have a mass produced item featuring pad printed black panel lines that ruin the look of the model, along with a fairly large gap where the wings are joined to the fuselage. In this case, I filled in the seam gaps and totally redid the model in a North African scheme. The first picture---sorry about the quality----shows the original IXO model sporting an incorrect Russian front scheme. The second picture is how it looks now:

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Here's an "after" shot of the same model:

[grwebster]

Very nice work. I am especially taken with the MC 202.
I have always been bothered, even as a child making those plastic kits over 50 years ago, with the exaggerated gap lines scribed on toys and models between panel lines and the use of monster- sized rivets. Panel lines are not visible from any distance yet for some reason back then and even still today makers insist on them.
Were you not tempted to fill them in along with the obvious assembly gaps you addressed?
If I were talented like you I would also open up the real gaps which could be seen, like between the ailerons, elevators, rudders, trims, and flaps.
Post more, please. Great stuff

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Thanks, GR. I happen to favor somewhat over indented panel lines on diecast models for if they are done to scale----as is Witty's practice-----they are virtually invisible and it's almost impossible to weather the models to any meaningful extent. The problem arises when manufacturers like Corgi go overboard on this aspect, creating virtual "trenches" that would be 3-4 inches deep if they actually existed on some of the larger planes. I'll post some more examples of my handiwork. I hope I'm not boring everyone with this stuff----but it' a lot of fun.

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Here's another example. Over a period of a year, I bought three examples of a Russian made diecast model of the I-153, dating back to the 1970s or early 1980s. These 1:72nd scale "replicas" were extremely crude and toy-like, however I felt that they could be modified and redone in various interesting paint schemes. Again, the appeal was of rarity. As far as I was aware, this famous fighter had not been rendered in diecast form by any other manufacturer. As can be seen in the first picture, the I-153, in its original form was practically coming apart at the seams, with the top and bottom halves of the fuselage barely touching and held by a single loose screw. In addition the supports for the horizontal stabilizers were missing and the tail wheel was a stubby, unsightly affair. Just to make things tougher, one of the models came with its windscreen split open and one leg of its main landing wheels considerably longer than the other. Undaunted, I fixed each model, in several cases using parts cannibalized from kits. The results are shown in the second picture which shows a winter white and a green mottled Soviet I-153 along with a captured one utilized by the Finns: Here's the "before" picture:

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And, now, an "after" shot: