Notdoneyet Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Here's the obligatory box and bits shot for my (first?) submission for the GB. The observant amongst you will notice the absence of any Aires bits ...........they will be included if/when they arrive ....... Canada Post willing. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentalguru Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Here's the obligatory box and bits shot for my (first?) submission for the GB. The observant amongst you will notice the absence of any Aires bits ...........they will be included if/when they arrive ....... Canada Post willing. Ian As this kit is apparently so difficult to bet hold of of at the mo- does your photo constitute model porn...? :whistling: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 As this kit is apparently so difficult to bet hold of of at the mo- does your photo constitute model porn...? :whistling: If it does, then I'm guilty as charged, as I have one of each kit. Nige has shedloads! And him a policeman too! Glad to have you in the GB Ian... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cop Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Oh yeh, I must be a proper pimp if it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 What markings are you doing your F3 in ????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 What markings are you doing your F3 in ????? Bill, I intend doing my F3 in 56 sqn markings (XP746/K to be precise) in the fetching red chequered tail and NMF of 1965. Here's a linky to a pic. Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Bill,I intend doing my F3 in 56 sqn markings (XP746/K to be precise) in the fetching red chequered tail and NMF of 1965. Here's a linky to a pic. Cheers, Ian Whoa! you'd never miss that one in the car park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 That tail, that broad arrow - classic Lightning Looking forward to this one too! (Note to self - why are these great aircraft missing from my stash? Damn, I'll have to buy some more kits) cheers Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Bill,I intend doing my F3 in 56 sqn markings (XP746/K to be precise) in the fetching red chequered tail and NMF of 1965. Here's a linky to a pic. Cheers, Ian An excellent choice!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cop Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Any further upgates Ian? We only have 3 months you know . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted May 9, 2007 Author Share Posted May 9, 2007 Well Nigel my last Lightning took me 3 months so I might just squeek this one past the finish line in time!! Progress is slow for 2 reasons :- 1) It is now 28 celcius outside and I have an (overwhelming) urge to sit in the garden and drink beer. 2) I'm waiting for the delivery of the Aires undercarriage and exhaust bits before butchering the wings and fuselage. However, I have made some progress. Blanking plates and airbrakes have been added and sanded to shape and various intakes and exhausts have been added from card and drinking straws. Curiously all of the intakes and exhaust bits that I've added to this F3 were present on the F6 moulding. There is also a tubular duct on the spine just aft of the cockpit on the port side which I cannot see on any of my F3 references, so unless someone can persuade me otherwise it will be meeting Mr Micro Chisel fairly soon ....... I've also given the cockpit bits a coat of dark sea grey and fitted the instrument film to the IP. Next will be the detail painting, assembly, washing, drybrushing and weathering of the cockpit. Hopefully by the time I'm done with that the Aires bits will have arrived. If not I'll just have to sit in the garden and drink more beer!! Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Well Nigel my last Lightning took me 3 months so I might just squeek this one past the finish line in time!! Progress is slow for 2 reasons :- 1) It is now 28 celcius outside and I have an (overwhelming) urge to sit in the garden and drink beer. 2) I'm waiting for the delivery of the Aires undercarriage and exhaust bits before butchering the wings and fuselage. Hi Ian, You're going to live interesting times when you fit any resin wheel well in the wings. I fought CMK wheel wells, and I had to grind both wing parts and the resin bits to get them to (quite poorly) fit on my Lightning T4. The wheel well "roof" is actually the upper surface of the wing. Keep some beer for that moment... Cheers, S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted May 13, 2007 Author Share Posted May 13, 2007 Sebastien, I know what you mean - I used the CMK undercarriage/wheel well set on the Lightning F6 I completed in March. As you say getting it to fit in between the top and bottom wing "skins" is a bit of a challenge ............... So my Aires bits arrived on Friday and I opened up the wheel well package ............. first impression "these are works of art". They are gorgeous, the detail is incredible and I would recommend them to anyone .......however ......Second impression ....OMG!!! The main undercarriage bays are taller than the CMK ones So I have spent the last 24 hours (minus some time for kip, food and drink) Dremmelling (is that a word ?) away at the inner wing surfaces trying to thin them down so that the Aires bays will fit. It is a pretty close thing - the Airfix parts have to be thinned to a translucency close to transparency!! There is very little margin for error !! Here are some pics to show what I mean - I hope they will be helpful to anyone contemplating a similar build :- Here's a before and after shot of the inner surfaces of the wings. 1 to 1.5 mm must be removed from both top and bottom wing halves. Without a Dremmel this would be very tricky and extremely labourious. In addition the top of the resin wheel wells have to be thinned by 1-2 mm after the casting blocks have been removed :- I also hacked the intake trunking about to fit the nosewheel bay. Contrary to the Aires instructions the front "prongs" on the intake trunking must be completely removed to ensure correct alignment with the fuselage nose wheel bay opening. The above photo also shows some of the detail in the Aires wheel bays - well worth all of the effort IMHO (provided I don't screw things up in the glueing/painting stage .......). Hopefully I should have the cockpit painting finished and the fuselage closed up by the end of the weekend. Another update then. Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil @ Flory Models Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Good work Ian, It must be a Airfix thing, I still get flashback of trying to get the wheel wells in the 1/48 Hawk for the first time. Keep up the great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 So I have spent the last 24 hours (minus some time for kip, food and drink) Dremmelling (is that a word ?) away at the inner wing surfaces trying to thin them down so that the Aires bays will fit. It is a pretty close thing - the Airfix parts have to be thinned to a translucency close to transparency!! There is very little margin for error !! Here are some pics to show what I mean - I hope they will be helpful to anyone contemplating a similar build :-Here's a before and after shot of the inner surfaces of the wings. Wow. Don't sneeze too close to your wing, you'd rip it apart! I need to find a way of reducing my Dremel speed. At 10,000 rpm (lowest speed setting), the wing would melt... S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Just a thought - would it make sense to use the roof of the resin as the wing upper surface? I know it would be a bit of filling and sanding which is always interesting for a bare metal finish, but it might make it easier to adapt the wheelwells? Great work though - I have a Lightning in the stash with the intention of building it some day. Will make mental notes. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nev Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Wow, those wheel wells really show up the Airfix ones don't they? A lot of work though for something that will not be seen.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted May 17, 2007 Author Share Posted May 17, 2007 Sebastien - on a whim a couple of months ago I bought a Dremmel Stylus which has variable speed the lowest of which is suitable for grinding/cutting plastic without melting if you are careful ...... jens - I guess you could use the roof of the resin wheel wells as the wing surface but you would still need to thin the lower wing. Just the thought of cutting the hole in the upper wing and sanding everything down to match the upper wing surface gives me nightmares - too risky for me!! So, trailing along in the wake of Bill's lightning progress (sorry!!) I've made some headway over the last day or so. At last I finished the 'pit :- I added a radar controller and throttle lever to the port sidewall - both are missing from the CMK parts. As you can see, the fuselage is now closed up too, after having carefully sprayed the intake tunnel and fan face Alclad airframe aluminium - not that it's visible without a torch and mini borscope Wings and tail fin are now installed and joints filled and rubbed down in preparation for priming. The fin is already primed as I was tempted to mask and spray the checkered patten before fitting ....... but I decided against it. That will be first on the list after priming. You will notice the black patches on the upper wings - they are the result of spraying the wheel wells gloss black - shows how thin the upper wing panels need to be to fit the wheel bays. Next update should have her all primed and with a red spine and checkered tail ........ Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Ian, Lovely job so far, although the Aires parts are not for the faint-hearted! With such thin surfaces, did you stiffen the wing upper sufaces at all? Was thinking you could sneak some thin CA inside and bond the wheelwell roof to the wing or maybe even some slow setting epoxy? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Was thinking you could sneak some thin CA inside and bond the wheelwell roof to the wing or maybe even some slow setting epoxy? I'd be quite careful with the CA, as the heat it releases when curing could melt the styrene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 I'd be quite careful with the CA, as the heat it releases when curing could melt the styrene. Crikey - I've never had this happen before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Crikey - I've never had this happen before! I had it happen on my Canberra T17, but it's my fault (too much CA, nothing to cool it down and dolphin shaped holes in the plastic). With plastic as thin as the wing here, I'd be extra careful (looking at it with too much intensity could melt it anyway). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted May 18, 2007 Author Share Posted May 18, 2007 I didn't use any CA to bond the top of the wheel wells to the upper surface of the wings. Although the surface above the wells is thin the skin is still quite rigid and doesn't deform to the touch. You're getting me worried though - I'm now having visions of the wings disintegrating as I spray the primer coat tonight I've just given the wheel wells a coat of Alclad dull aluminium - they really do look good - I'll post some photos later, hopefully with some shots of the F3 in a primer coat and with the spine and tail painted..........well that's the plan anyway ..... Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Nice job on those wells... those wing uppers look SERIOUSLY thin though... I'd be very worried about them deforming with the slightest finger pressure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted May 19, 2007 Author Share Posted May 19, 2007 Made some progress today, giving the wheel wells a coat of Alclad Dull Aluminium :- One of the wing wells :- The nose wheel well :- I then used a rattle can of Krylon Flat White acrylic paint as a primer - this is amazing stuff - smoother than Tamiya Fine primer yet fills imperfections just as well ....oh and a huge can costs cdn$3. After the priming I set about masking the tail with 22 sqares ................during which I questioned my sanity for not using a decal. Anyway after an "interesting" hour or two, when the masking tape wasn't the only thing that was blue, I got the tail all masked up :- After which it was out with the airbrush once more and the tail and spine were sprayed red. I couldn't wait to see how it looked and, fearing a catastrophe, I unmasked the tail................. It didn't turn out too bad - there are a few squares where the red has bled under the tape but nothing that can't be fixed later. So after a few bits of clean up it will be time for more masking and the gloss black ............... Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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