1/144 Helpful Hints

[Coreyeagle48]

Greetings:

Through my experiences with the little 1/144 birds I have done some things/discovered some things that may help others. So here are some helpful little hints to make those 1/144 birds look a little better.

1.) Many of you have seen the unbalanced landing gear on these aircraft. I have found you can adjust them by bending them. I had a Dauntless I was able to get nearly perfect just through some delicate bending and twisting. Of course, you can't bend them too hard. But they will bend and they are somewhat flexible.

2.) Some of the aircraft I have seen and bought have small what look to be paint scuffs on them. One of the Zeroes I had had a red mark on it. Whatever it is, it may come off by using a pencil eraser. As odd as this sounds it worked for me and don't know why it does. I also found good old soap and water will take off any dirt smudges on the plane from the factory.

3.) I have had some issues with the bombs staying in place (especially the Zero and the Dauntless). What I have found to work well is to place a drop of tacky glue (the craft stuff) in the hole and put the bomb on. This will hold the bomb or drop tank in place but it is also not permanent. If you pull the bomb will come right off if you resell the plane or box it up.

4.) If you got bent wings, those can also be adjusted too in a similar way as the landing gear. Once again, don't pull or bend too hard.

Hope these tips help some of you.

Corey