Speckled Jim Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome! I've had a little down time from modelling and this GB gives me an opportunity to build an aircraft outwith my normal scale range and away from my normal profile of British or American aircraft. I've had a look through the various aircraft used by the RCAF, the RCAF and the RAF share a lot of historical aircraft so WWII was fairly out as it was just for me what I would build normally. The next option was the popular jets - the CF-18 in Canadian demo colour schemes - and there are some exceptional schemes. Then of course there is the Arrow, the Canadian answer to the TSR-2. Very much bombs and bullets and for coming back into the hobby I wanted something a little off field. So I searched and settled on the Polaris - an airliner turned military jet out with my normal scale, that's a good start. I initially wanted to build the new blue, white and red scheme however there are not yet any decals for it and normally I would ask the very good Mr Park's of Paul Park's decals to run me off a set to make the aircraft however I want to break myself in softly so I will be building the Grey scheme seen below. Simplistic, minimalistic but very smart and military looking, with the very distinctive Transport Command style band. The aircraft I will use will be the Revell 1:144 A310 shaken straight from the box with a custom paint do and some CanMilAir Decals. All to be bought as well as a full new modelling tool-kit, not at home any more so this is also a test of whether of not I can do this remote from my stockpiled bunker of a man cave, in early Jan so watch this space! If anyone has any suggestions, ideas or warnings please let me know! Ta Jim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Have to admit I didn't know what aircraft this was until reading through your post James but that looks rather smart for a grey scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Hi Jim and thank you for coming up with such an original choice for the GB. I'm particularly pleased to see some maple leaves, as I was privately fearing that our Canadian build might end up being a WW2 subject with RAF roundels! Hope all works out OK at your satellite work bench. Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 I didnt know about it either until I was flicking through pictures of CF-18's and I caught it in the background! And I was hooked I hunted her down and decided I wanted to build one! Cliff, there was always going to be maple leaves - no point taking Canada and not flying the flag somewhere! The only down side was that it did rule out many WWII aircraft.... sorry V-RA! Now I am absoloutely terrible with colours, so does anyone one with a sharp eye want to put forth a suggestion on what colours of grey I have - and no dark and light grey dont count! Thanks Guys! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbn Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 First greys which springs to my mind without looking on any paint chips would be gunship grey for the dark tone and ghost grey for the light 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted December 25, 2014 Author Share Posted December 25, 2014 Thanks Henrik, Its a start I'll pick up those paints and see how it goes. Merry Christmas, Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Jet has just been ordered today (as well as all my tools) and should arrive next week. Ive noticed that the kit engines are the CF-5 engines which are incorrect for Polaris. As such its no longer going to be purely OOB as ive ordered a set of resin CF-6 engines. Decals have also been ordered from Canmilair, however ominously the warning from the email states that it can take 4-6 weeks for completion *gulp* so hopefully they will be here sooner rather than later. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 At least the lead time for those decals is still inside the GB timescale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Sorry for keeping you all waiting - Eh. Okay lets start with the obligatories, Cheeky Toe above - dont judge! Next is the kit decals, I wont really be using these very much except from the detail decals, marking door levers, ect, ect Loads of Maple leaves for Cliff! Thats all for the Obligatories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 So I started work tonight as well. So far all I've done tonight is glue the fuselage halves together, taping off around the windows and starting to fill in the Port Windows as these wont be required. The decals include the cheat line (so yes I am cheating on the cheat line) and I have window decals. But pictures go! My only issue of complaint with this kit so far is the flash. Along the seams is an ugly line of flash which I think you can see in this picture. I'll file that off and hopefully that will make a nice smooth clean finished aircraft. And now the slather of filler.... I am not an airliner modeller. So this may be the worst possible way to fill the windows who knows. Kev1n if your reading this. I am Sorry! Thats all Folks 'Eh Jim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Nice to see this underway Jim. I had pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast, just to celebrate (any excuse )! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Great to see this one underway Jim. You've also got a few essential supplies in the background to keep your energy up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) haha thanks Guys... yea a little bit of cheeky product placement, todays is a set of DVLA books and another Bottle of Apple Juice. Let the record show that the Chocolate bar is 1:1 scale Milk Chocolate with Salted Butterscotch, and is quite delightful! So onto the build this morning the Starboard side of the Aircraft got slobbered in filler and left to cure for a good few hours. The Port side had the tape taken off and I went to town on it with my new sanding sticks. The tail plane poses numerous issues. Firstly there are two extra pins left on the joining faces of each part. The instructions warn you that these need sanding but the arrows point all over the place so it could be easy to miss however I had no issue with it and the sanding sticks went to work and made the whole area as smooth as a babies bottom. So I glued both parts together and clamped them and let them set. Now I had no intention of fitting them now as I felt it would make painting and detailing the metallic area around where the tailplane joins the fuselage much easier. However I did want to dry fit the stabilizer to make sure it fit and loan behold it doesnt. More filing to make it fit and well its just a mess..... so they will need to be joined earlier than I wanted and filler stuffed in there to make it all better. The next disaster comes in the way of the Cockpit Glazing.... the sprue was a mess of flash everywhere so that when I took the glazing off I knew this was going to be a disaster. I cleaned up the glazing enough. I have decals to replace it and its really only filling the hole at the front of the jet so I poly cememnted the glazings in place and oh look.... they dont fit.... what a nice buck tooth smile you have. Filler will be deployed soon! And thats it for this week. My paints havent arrived from Wonderland yet, nor my resin engine replacements so I need to wait for them but more importantly as of Tuesday Morning I am RTB-ing so I will be back to the Parent Modelling Station where I have a couple of Abandoned Helicopters who need a little attention. Thanks, Jim Edited January 11, 2015 by Speckled Jim 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 A very interesting subject ! I remember watching these aircrafts operating from Taranto in support of operations over Libya, they look menacing in their grey scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Nice to see someone else here doing Canadian! My pet subject!!! I refurbed my built one and finished it in the earlier scheme without the cheatline and big red "Canada" word mark. By the way the greys you need are: Grey 16175 for the undersides and engines ( same as cheatline) Grey 16099 for all uppers and sides Central areas on wings Elastomeric grey 15099 ( the coroguard areas) Leading edge extremety for fin, wing leading edges and tailplane L/E polished bare metal. Engine exhaust rear ends dark metal colouring. If you like I can scan the paint scheme diagrams from my book and send to you via email. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) Nice to see someone else here doing Canadian! My pet subject!!! I refurbed my built one and finished it in the earlier scheme without the cheatline and big red "Canada" word mark. By the way the greys you need are: Grey 16175 for the undersides and engines ( same as cheatline) Grey 16099 for all uppers and sides Central areas on wings Elastomeric grey 15099 ( the coroguard areas) Leading edge extremety for fin, wing leading edges and tailplane L/E polished bare metal. Engine exhaust rear ends dark metal colouring. If you like I can scan the paint scheme diagrams from my book and send to you via email. Paul, Thank you very much this is most helpful. If you wouldnt mind could I get a scanned copy of the diagrams please? The only issue I have to question is the leading edge of the tail fin. Ive seen plenty of pictures where the edge is catching the sun and has a gleam to it but I've yet to see any images showing a metal leading edge. Ive worked with the A310's big sister the A320 and there isnt one on it either (I know their different but I find that aspects of the same families of aircraft are similar) the best picture of Polaris' tail I can find is this, And again this doesn't show a metal area on the leading edge. I dont suppose you have any images that show this? Thanks Jim. Edited January 12, 2015 by Speckled Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Jim, it looks like the leading edge of the fin is painted and some sort of sealant applied to protect the paint A couple of examples 15005 1 15005 2 And thanks Paul for the colours, I have a CC-150 to build one day with an older set of AHS decals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 Jim, it looks like the leading edge of the fin is painted and some sort of sealant applied to protect the paint A couple of examples 15005 1 15005 2 And thanks Paul for the colours, I have a CC-150 to build one day with an older set of AHS decals. Good stuff Trojan.... Its now an issue of Scale... the colour differentiation is minimal, with a few squares standing out significantly. I'll have a mess around when we get there but painting is a small wander off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Hi Jim. PM me your email and I will send you the scan of the diagrams, and to anyone else who would like a copy. Re the fin, yes, my mistake, there is no bare metal leading edge! I don't know where i got that!! So apologies due. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I made one of these a few years ago using the same route as yourself, and I think that I also had the same problem with the flight deck windscreen. I also got a decal sheet for the corogard on the wings (saved on the masking) and added a couple of refueling pods on the wings, which came from an Airfix VC-10 and may have not been quite as accurate as they were meant to be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 I made one of these a few years ago using the same route as yourself, and I think that I also had the same problem with the flight deck windscreen. I also got a decal sheet for the corogard on the wings (saved on the masking) and added a couple of refueling pods on the wings, which came from an Airfix VC-10 and may have not been quite as accurate as they were meant to be. Jabba do you know if anyone still produces the Corogard decals for the A310? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I still have a set of these markings PM me if you would like them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Alright guys I am back to wage war on Polaris.... and it certainly is a battle. Firstly though on my flight back down south from the Homeland I had a little drink on the plane and had an inspired idea.... But anyways onto model building, progress over the weekend has been slow. However I am on a course this week which finished early each day thus allowing me a little more modelling time in my working week which I otherwise wouldnt have. So we will see how the battle goes through the week. So the first job of the week was sanding down those appalling seams, which once done seemed to work mostly. Along the top seems alright up until the tail root, where I may need to apply a little filler just to hide the seam running up the tail and on the underside will need filler. As the top has molded on bits it would make applying filler to the top execssively difficult so thankfully I am happy with it. I set about filling in the bucktoothed cockpit glazing after the first liberal application of filler and sanding (as shown above) I decided it needed a little more just to fully fill the area and make it flush with its surroundings. Not especially wanting to fight with the Tailplane this weekend I decided to tackle the wings..... boy what a nightmare, flash, ejection marks, fit problems you name it this kits got it! My resin engines arrived last week while I was away as well and I couldn't wait to stick one together and see what it looked like. Ive played a little bit with resin, jumpseats mostly but this is a whole new ball game.... I am currently making ready to fall on my sword here and bugger up the entire aircraft as I have literally no idea how I am going to attach these new engines to the aircraft! Any and all advice welcome chaps! Lastly a big shout out and thanks to Jabba for sending me some Corogard decals, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 With the after market engines you could glue a tab to them the size of the slot in the wing. I would reinforce the join by pinning the tab. Drill a couple of holes in the pylon of the new engine and also the newly made tab (make sure the holes are aligned of course) Insert short lengths of wire, brass or paperclip into the holes, superglue it all in place. Then you can add the engine to the wing using normal or super glue using the newly made tab I hope you a getting my drift. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 So I meant to post two weekends ago... Oops...So why didn't I post last weekend? Well I wasnt in the country, heres a little clue as to where I was; But onto modelling. Two weeks ago I buttoned up the other wing and applied the winglets. Not by any measure ending my continuing battle with the wings of this bird! I went back to the cockpit glazing and applied a second coating of filler and sanded it to get it as smooth as possible so that the decal will sit on it easier later on in the build. I also continued to ponder how to deal with the engines. The resin engine mounts have a curved surface designed to to match the camber of the wing. So the slats idea at the moment is out as I had to fill the slats and the notched area taken out the wing for the kits engines. Before: After: So back onto the wings,I flipped them over and set about closing the doors as I planned to display the model as "In Flight" and according to the kit and instructions the kit parts can be used to do so.... or not. So I set about fixing that.... So while the wings set I moved onto my next job, sticking the second engine together. It went well until I went to take the pictures of the two engines together that I noticed a production defect on one of the engines. It was missing the last ring around the exhaust fans. I had two options I could accept it and cut the ring off the other engine and have both be equal but incorrect or I could attempt to fix the problem somehow. I chose the latter and turned to the kits crude cone to be cut and filed down to replace the broken missing ring. I also got around to adding the tailplane! So next week now I hope to do a little work filling in the last gaps in the engine before applying another few coats of silver on the intake and paint the spinner black and the panels around the interior of the intake white so I can seal if off and fit the engines. Once the engines have been fitted I will be aiming to fit the wings (so far the above is dry fitting) and then progress rapidly onto painting and decalling before getting a stand and mounting this bad girl! Thank you all for stopping by as always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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