uggywuggy Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Hi Guys Started work on my Tornado last week and got to the point of joining the upper and lower halves of the fueselage when - horror of horrors - found the fit is dreadful and very noticeable below the cockpit on one side. Have started the process of filling and sanding and definitely have a good side but wondered if any of you had other tricks that would help me with the 'dark side' ? Also worried that when I come to paint the sanded area will be v. noticeable ! Cheers UggyWuggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 I've not built this one myself, but I believe that the fit of the entire kit is fairly bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 (edited) Welcome to the Airfix Tornado - not a nice one Have you glued the halves together yet or discovered this from a dry fit? Personally I'd rub down to smooth and re-scribe but it all depends if the back end fits ok. If the lower section is wider than the top, you could try cutting a strip of sprue marginally wider than the INTERNAL width of the front fuselage and wedging inside so that it forces the sides out enough to close the gap up. Edited June 29, 2007 by Gary West Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 I'm still working on my Airfix Tornado F-3 - its' fairly hard going. What worked for me when joining the two halves of the fuselage together was to create some more tabe from sheet plastic and use them to pull the fuselage together. Between that and a good bit of filling and sanding you should be able to get them to line up. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeke Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 uggywuggy...what an awesome name!... Lots of filler, sanding down, then do it again...sometimes there's no short quick fixes, sometimes it's just brute force and ignorance that gets the job done... ...not that I'm suggesting that you are either a brute nor ignorant of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 uggywuggy...what an awesome name!... Now make him feel like crap and tell him it's actually your real name - Derek Uggywuggy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike7451 Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 I gave up! The model shop ran out of filler! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 must admit the last 3 airfix kits i built . tornado tsr and buccaneer were crap moulds .. soft see thru plastic ,, hope they go bust as quality is crap , better to wait for a better manufacturer to produce kits , i for one will never return to airfix , i used poly strips glues to upper half to strengthen and straighten fuselages on all the kits ... BYE BYE AIRFIX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 BYE BYE AIRFIX Hello Hornby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 C'mon chaps lets not start a thread that may lead to an Airfix bashing again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cop Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Right the Airfix company bashing stops in this thread right now. Its about somebodys build of a Airfix Tornado. Nothing more nothing less. How you lot have railroaded the thread into Airfix company politics and the like, I'll never know. I'm moving the Airfix debate over to its own topic in a little while and you can continue the debate there. Anybody got any problems with that PM me! Let normal service resume. Oh and by the way your doing a splendid job on a kit that I opened the box lid slowly on and closed quickley. You definitely have a talent for this plastic stuff. Nige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Sorry about the pollution of your thread Uggy... It's all be moved into a new Airfix bashers/lovers thread, so it hopefully won't happen again. Kids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uggywuggy Posted June 30, 2007 Author Share Posted June 30, 2007 Hi Guys Thanks for all the replies. Considered using sprue to wedge the bottom half wider but only thought of this after I'd glued the two together - plus was worried about pushing the other side out ! Two questions - Mike mentioned poly strips glues - hadn't heard of these and Karl (nice build Karl - said with envy!) mentioned sheet plastic - how exactly did you use this ? My old hobby now appears to be tipping into obsession ! Thanks UggyWuggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 hopefully your local hobby shop has these , they are packets of poly sheets about 3" X 2" , can buy different thicknesses , just cut with scalpel or scissors into strips or rectangles etc and just use model cement to fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Thanks guys this is quite useful as I've got 4 F.3s and a GR.4 (all 1/48) from Airfix awaiting their turn to shine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Hi Uggy,I think the idea is that you attach pieces of plastic strip (or strips of plastic card) to the edges of the fuselage halves. This gives more area on which the glue can come into contact, and hence a firmer join. Given the amount of work you need to do to clean up the fuselage joins on the Airfix 1/48 Fin and Bucc, you need the joins to be strong, and all the contact surface you can get. You might also consider removing the locating pins, since they tend to make correct adjustment more difficult, not easier. Cheers, Chris. What Chris said, but you could also use overlapping pieces to act as guides, if you know what I mean (It's late). Glue a piece inside one half, sticking up above the edge, so that you can glue the top part onto that lip, again giving a stronger bond... any additional strength will be useful in the sand-fest that's to come Another option is to glue the fuselage in stages, lining up the edges at each step. If you do a section per day, the other joints should be strong enough to keep them where they should be. As Chris said - you might need to take off some locator pins for that to work, and be prepared with clamps & tape. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Looking good for a bad kit. If you want any detail pics let me know. Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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