1/72 Jet Provosts - Finished

[Cheshiretaurus]

Very nice work

[sidewinder1]

Hi Steve. I'm building Fly's 1/48 Jet Provost mk5 and I've reached the stage where I'm about to fit the lamps and the clear cover in the nose. May I ask where you purchased the 'Little Lenses' from as these look just the ticket for th jp lights. Many thanks. Martin.

[Col.]

Perhaps I have a low entertainment threshold when it comes to watching talented modellers bring old kits to life but it's always a pleasure to see another update on this one.

[perdu]

I'm S T I L L enjoying this Steve

it is worth the wait

And for info yes dr_gn did exhibit at Huddyfield and won a few prizes, I hope Woody did too

didnt go myself though I think a couple of Brum IPMS guys did, 'cos they werent at t'club on Sunday.

[Fritag]

Hi Steve. I'm building Fly's 1/48 Jet Provost mk5 and I've reached the stage where I'm about to fit the lamps and the clear cover in the nose. May I ask where you purchased the 'Little Lenses' from as these look just the ticket for th jp lights. Many thanks. Martin.

Martin,

I got them from little-cars.co.uk. I got a pack of clear lenses in each size from 1mm, 1.5mm etc through to 3mm - just to be sure. I too think they'll be just the ticket. Hope the Fly clear cover is more optically true than the Airfix one. That's my main problem.

Cheers

Steve

[HammerUK9]

It's been a while since I've checked in on this build, but they're looking really tidy now Steve!

Almost into the home stretch - what can possibly go wrong?

Tim

[sidewinder1]

Martin,

I got them from little-cars.co.uk. I got a pack of clear lenses in each size from 1mm, 1.5mm etc through to 3mm - just to be sure. I too think they'll be just the ticket. Hope the Fly clear cover is more optically true than the Airfix one. That's my main problem.

Cheers

Steve

[Neil AS]

Worth the wait Steve, looking good.

[sidewinder1]

Thanks for that Steve. I'll definitely have to invest in some of these as the little lamps should look pretty convincing when they are in place. As for the clear lamp cover on the nose of the 1/48 Fly JP, I think it looks a little on the small side when compared to photos of the real aircraft. If you've got one these kits in the stash Steve, have a look and see what you think. Thanks again. Martin.

[Fritag]

We've all got issues that unreasonably bug us - right? One of mine is that I struggle to get the corners of ailerons or flaps nice and crisp and square. They just seem to get rounded off as I work on the kit. I think I probably micro-mesh it too often. You can see what I mean in the photo below, Even though I reinforced the inside end of the aileron with plastic card in an effort to get a nice crisp edge - both corners have ended up getting rounded off. It's a small thing perhaps but it really draws my eye as the corners on the real thing will always be really sharp.

I think I've found a solution by building up the corners with blobs of thick cyano:

And then gently sanding them back square with medium and fine sanding sticks:

I 'spect it's a well known trick - but it hadn't made it's way to my quiet backwater of North Yorkshire. The good thing is that it takes only a few moments and I can endlessly repeat the trick until the painting stage.

I'm becoming a real fan of cyano as a quick and easily smoothed (as long as you smooth it soon after it sets) filler for these sort of small jobs. I can't think of anything else that works so quickly and well.

Gonna try and work on the flaps today. I'm working from home - and enthusiasm for the world of work is not running high - I sense some migration from office to hobby room may occur......

Steve

[keefr22]

I 'spect it's a well known trick - but it hadn't made it's way to my quiet backwater of North Yorkshire. The good thing is that it takes only a few moments and I can endlessly repeat the trick until the painting stage.

I'm becoming a real fan of cyano as a quick and easily smoothed (as long as you smooth it soon after it sets) filler for these sort of small jobs. I can't think of anything else that works so quickly and well.

I beIieve I mentioned using cyano as a filler when you started the resin kit Steve.....!! Instead of using multiple layers you can also build it up with bicarb of soda - which sets it hard enough for sanding instantly as well...

Nice work on the aileron ends. I suspect that that is something that will bug me to death now as well - have managed 'not to notice' the problem before!!

Keith

[Fritag]

I beIieve I mentioned using cyano as a filler when you started the resin kit Steve.....!! Instead of using multiple layers you can also build it up with bicarb of soda - which sets it hard enough for sanding instantly as well...

Nice work on the aileron ends. I suspect that that is something that will bug me to death now as well - have managed 'not to notice' the problem before!!

Keith

Yeh - you did Keith I think that was what set me off using it first to correct my cack-handed panel line scribing and then I gradually started using it for other tasks as well. Gratefully hoovered up lots of tips from you and Perdu (and others as well) over the course of my chippie and JP builds. One of the best things about sticking my efforts on BM actually.

I haven't tried the bicarb trick - basically cos I haven't got any bicarb........I did get some proprietary stuff in a model shop - cos it was there - but didn't get on with that as it was crystalline and the grain was too coarse. It just wasn't fine enough to do the job neatly in 1/72 scale - also it set rock hard too quickly and was difficult to work with.

I suppose bicarb doesn't have these problems? and I s'spect it's cheaper too. Should a listened to you shouldn't I..........

Edited February 19, 2014 by Fritag

[keefr22]

Should a listened to you shouldn't I..........

Dunno why, nobody else ever does....!!

Bicarb is very fine & gives a nice smooth finish. It will set as hard as granite, but takes a while to do so - I used some on the underside of the Vampire I'm working on on Sunday, but forgot to sand it down until yesterday - it was still manageable, but by today I reckon it would have been a bit of a struggle! It's sometimes difficult to get even coverage if you're using it along a whole joinline or such - I tend to get pinholes along them, but as you're finding, it takes a matter of moments to refill & sand it down. Ask the wife if she has any bicarb in the kitchen cupboard. Mine did, but uses it so infrequently that when she checked she found that it was well over its sell by date- so I got a big pot that will last me for years for nowt...!!

[SmashedGlass]

That is exactly the method I use to deal with not-sharp corners and edges myself, Fritag. In some cases I've also had to cut a chamfer out of the area in question and cyano in a chunk of plastic (from the kit parts or runners--works better than Evergreen or Plastruct material as they are a bit 'soft'), if the 'roundness' is too large an area.

[Fritag]

That is exactly the method I use to deal with not-sharp corners and edges myself, Fritag. In some cases I've also had to cut a chamfer out of the area in question and cyano in a chunk of plastic (from the kit parts or runners--works better than Evergreen or Plastruct material as they are a bit 'soft'), if the 'roundness' is too large an area.

This is the first time I've tried it. It seems pretty durable though and the result is a lot harder and crisper than the kit plastic - which is pretty soft itself with this moulding.

[perdu]

Me I use ornery talcum powder to fill cyano with, but as I haven't tried bicarb I cant confirm which does it best.

Now granddaughter is older she isn't here for bath time often so the Johnson & Johnson's is kind of surplus to reqs.

Muist give the bicarb the test

soonish

The JP looks rather fine (at the extremities) too, looking good Steve

[keefr22]

Muist give the bicarb the test

soonish

Likewise I shall try some of the talcum powder from one of the numerous pots the missus has strewn around the house! Might be even smoother than bicarb...(may end up smoother then the proverbial babies bu.....!!)

[perdu]

I have been using talc as a supplementary "stiffener" since the days of Alan Hall and dope/talc mix to smooth over carved balsa conversion pieces. Dear OLD Airfix magazine, Alan and the boys taught me lots of 'wot I do' in the sixties.

Seemed sensible to try it with cyano too, and it seems to work OK even if the cyano does get very hard to file.

I will be trying bicarb though, it may be a tad softer to the tooling.

b

[Cheshiretaurus]

Tried using talc with CA last week and found It didn't have the instant setting properties of bicarb, but just made a thick goo. But it was some Nivia stuff that was on special offer, not sure if nivia is any different,

Edited February 19, 2014 by Cheshiretaurus

[keefr22]

Don't know if she's got Nivia stuff, but if she has I'll not steal that then...!!

[Cheshiretaurus]

Don't know if she's got Nivia stuff, but if she has I'll not steal that then...!!

Looks like I might need to try another brand then.

[SmashedGlass]

Graphite from pencil lead also works, will have the cyano set hard but easy to sand within a moment. Not as quick as a true cyano accelerator (like zip kicker) but still quick. Added bonus is you can see better where it has filled than just plain cyano.

[Fritag]

I am humbled that my little thread has enable my esteemed colleagues to debate the merits of baking soda and talcum powder fearlessly and without embarrassment

I confess that I have not myself had a conversation on the merits of either substance in my 50 years on this earth and now feel that my conversational content has been somewhat restricted.

Now is the time, I think, to confess that baking soda is a substance unknown in the Fritag household as neither I nor my wife profess any baking skills. I should also say that I am unaware of talcum powder having touched the Fritag person since last my mother powdered my behind (for the avoidance of doubt this was nearly 50 years ago). If my wife has any talcum powder i have failed to notice it over the last 25 years

I am relieved that SmashedGlass has introduced the matter of graphite to the debate. I say this because otherwise I feared I was indeed going to have to buy baking powder or (even worse) talcum powder. I think now I may be able to avoid such an event

Isn't model making - and discussing model making fun

Edited February 20, 2014 by Fritag

[Fritag]

My iPhone 4 died on me yesterday - the relevance if this being that I use it to take all my photos for the WIP - and a decent job it does too.

On my iPhone 4 dying I quickly abandoned all pretence of work (gladly) and hope of skiving by modelling (not so gladly) and trotted into Harrogate to see what could be done.

The answer it seems was nothing! My iPhone was out of warranty (I knew that) and I was told that I was one day too soon (on my contract) to be able to upgrade to the iPhone 5 for free. Yes just one day.

I was gravely informed that they couldn't do anything for me and I would have to pay for a new phone if I wanted anything done.

I suggested that surely some discretion could be exercised for the matter of a single day and that T-mobile shouldn’t feel short changed if I upgraded for free one day early should it?

But I was met by puzzled frowns as if I had suggested something rude. I decided not to argue and slunk away feeling vaguely emasculated.

The upshot is that the little progress I eventually managed is only poorly to be seen in these photos as I took them on my old iPhone 3 (sorry):

Anyways:

I've now added some plastic card to be trimmed and sanded to make the flap/fuselage junction nice and crisp:

And I've filed and shaped and sanded the flaps (cut from the wings sometime ago).

I used a black marker pen on the dyes to be filed and sanded as as a guide to get the shaping consistent. The one on the left is before filing and sanding and the one on the right is after:

This time the one of the right is before filing and sanding and the one on the left after!:

And here we are - ready to attach:

Only - I've now realised that I don't know what angle the flaps should be at in the half/take-off position on a JP.

Lots of googling has failed to elicit anything definitive.

I have found an old journalists article about a trip in a Strikemaster which says that take off flap is 30 degrees - and that sounds credible given that half flap/take off flap is IIRC designed to give more lift than drag whereas landing flap gives more drag than lift - so take off flap shouldn’t be at too great an angle.

Anyone who’s seen a picture of a Spitfire with flaps down should know what I mean. The flaps were for landing only and that hand seemingly almost at 90 degrees. I seem to remember that when the Malta-bound spitfires flew off the carriers they inserted chocks into the flaps to force them down into an intermediate - take off - position to eak out a bit more lift over the flaps up position. They’d never have got airborne with the flaps in the usual down position.

Anyways. Hopefully be iPhone 5 equipped over the weekend.

Edit. The truth is that this tiny bit of progress wasn't really worth posting was it? I only used it an an excuse to whinge about the loss of my iPhone 4. - Sorry Moderators and all who feel short changed having stopped by to see some proper WIP........

Steve

Edited February 20, 2014 by Fritag

[Carius]

FANTASTIC work