perdu Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Just thought I'd let you know how much I'm enjoying this, massive pleasure Even if it is in the scale that shall never say.... Hmfssfg 9fpi apa. aargh! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Starboard tail boom now fixed - just needs a smear of putty and a little fairing in, but essentially it is done. The flap is just held in place with blu tac to test fit; it won't actually be glued in place for ages yet. I have also glued the starboard main U/C door in place. Since the photos I have polished out the ejector pin marks inside the flap housing in the wing. Bit of tidying up to do once everything has dried, and then for the other side. We're away for the weekend, so this might be it until next week. Crisp Edited February 4, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Hmmm. I need some advice from someone with more experience of resin than me. The AlleyCat conversion is really excellent, but as it goes together it's become apparent that one if the tail booms is a bit warped. Hard to photograph, but you might be able to get it from this: The photo makes it look as though the port boom is higher than the starboard (remember that we're looking at it nose-on, so that's right boom higher than left, as we look), but actually that's because the starboard boom is slightly warped to the left (right as we look), so it's pushing the tail & other boom upwards - they're both only dry fitted (i.e. Only the starboard boom is glued). Initially I thought I'd fitted the starboard boom wrong, but then I realised that the wing surface fits perfectly, so at least I can stop beating myself up about it! Even in this pic it is just about visible if you look closely enough: You can easily make it sit right by manually gently twisting the starboard tail so that the top of it is a millimetre or two further outboard. That makes the two tails parallel again (which they aren't quite at present - parallax means it's impossible to tell that from the photo, but trust me it's true). So, the advice. The instructions talk about how you can adjust slight warping or imperfctions like this by putting the parts in hot water to make the resin slightly soft. This fills me with dread - I have a mental picture of my lovely Vixen tail boom ending up looking like a melted ice cream! But I know it can be done... So how hot the water? Put it in for how long? Anything else I should look out for? Do you just then gently coax it into shape with your hands? And if not, then what? I think this isn't a disaster and is eminently fixable... But I'll be a lot happier if someone could talk me through it in advance...! Edited February 4, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 The water doesn't need to be boiling, I've found that hot water from a tap is usually sufficient, but if its a relatively thick part it needs to soak to allow the part to get to a pretty even temperature throughout. I used to have a Magna Models 1/72 Supermarine Attacker, after a period of time the wing tips would droop, a quick dip in a sink full of hot water and I'd be able to straighten them out, once realigned you could dip them in cold water to set them to the new shape. The secret is not to force it, the hot water should make it pliable but still fairly rigid, if you force it it may still snap as resin can be quite brittle. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Av8fan Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Skip to around 40 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5hrFXzQNBg I've seen some vids where they recommend boiling water, but, I'd rather play it safe and not use boiling water. Hope that this helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 That video pretty much puts into pictures what I was trying to explain, cheers AV8fan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I would if possible, make some kind of jig to hold the part in it's true position, and fit that before it goes in the water. In fact if you can fit the jig to the boom while still on the a/c so you know everything is true relative to each other, so much the better - then remove the boom/jig, submerge and then cool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Thanks, everyone. These are pretty chunky pieces of resin, so I guess they will need to be immersed for a while. Before I start, I think I have a couple of photos that illustrate the problem a bit better... but the bad news is that I think BOTH booms are slightly out - both out in the same direction (skewed to the right in the photos you are about to see, which means one is toed in and one toed out when fitted to the aircraft). 1. The starboard fin / tail as it sits naturally at present 2. The starboard fin / tail with some gentle manual pressure applied to the port fin to make the whole tail assembly sit true: I mean it; it really was gentle pressure, so I think this can be done. Anyway, that's enough displacement activity... there's only one way to find out. Wish me luck; I'm going in! Edited February 4, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 Oh. My. God. That was scary! I tried it with the hottest water I could coax out of the tap at first; I couldn't hold my hand in it for more than a few seconds, but it had no effect. So I boiled a kettle, let it cool for 30 seconds or so to take it down a tad from boiling, and poured it into the basin. It worked! But not before the port tail went visibly floppy on me and I had visions of the entire thing turning into the very wobbly jelly that I feared in the first place. The only thing that kept me from panic was the guy in the video, who said that resin "wants to return to its original shape". I reckoned that Ali would have produced something that was right, and any warpage would only have occurred afterwards. Anyway... you want to see it, don't you? Starboard boom: Port boom: 3. Whole aircraft from as near dead centre ahead as I can manage with an iPhone and still shaking hands! Port boom and tail dry fitted only. Lesson learned; it can be done, but it's not for the faint hearted! Another notch in the returning modeller's task book is complete. Now I need a stiff drink! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 After that I think I'd better have one or two too Good catch though, well done for having (and holding) the nerve to do it b 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Excellent result, it is nerve wracking though, I can remember the first time I tried it, it does work on polystyrene to some degree too, but be warned I tried it once with boiling water on an Airfix Vigilante, it became an ex-Vigilante during the process 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 great news - I am really pleased it all worked out for you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Thanks! All good for the confidence in future builds; this is my first use if big bits of resin - bigger than some cockpit or wheel well detail. I have at least 3 completely resin aircraft in my stash, though... Dragonfly (the early helicopter, not the later fixed wing), Chipmunk & Bulldog... so this gives me that little bit more confidence that I can sort resin problems if they arise Edited February 4, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Good save and a great few posts Crisp. I think I'll feel a bit less panicky if and when I have to deal with warped resin in future thanks to your example 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Good save and a great few posts Crisp. I think I'll feel a bit less panicky if and when I have to deal with warped resin in future thanks to your example The work is looking good and you are doing fine on what, after all is a big conversion even with conversion parts and in a medium that can be tricky to work with. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that you are going to end up with an impressive looking model. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) This might not look much different, but now it is glued in place... There will now be a phase of tidying everything up (filling a couple of gaps between tail boom & wing, fixing the port tail boom / flap gap, which is even worse than the other one, & so on), before starting on the nose in earnest. Edited February 9, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I admit to the world that resin is kinda scary Crisp, but you are giving me confidence to consider tackling it even if it is 'spawn of the devil' kind of stuff Looking extremely beaten now after the way it thought it was in charge Huh, that'll larn it. Yessir! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 You are a brave man, getting a twin boom tail to line up with undistorted plastic is hard enough! I hope that mine has straight booms, I havn't had the courage to look closely after seeing your trials and tribulations. Good work John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Looks good to me! david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 (edited) Don't we all just love the seemingly endless business of sanding resin? Not. Real life has been preventing me from getting much done on the modelling front of late, but I managed to grab a couple of hours this afternoon, so set about making the nose fit - only to find that the AlleyCat nose fits perfectly when it has no cockpit inside it... but that the Aires cockpit tub still needed a lot of sanding. So sanding is what I have been mostly up to today. Still, I think we're pretty much there, so I couldn't resist a few dry fit / taped shots just to see her starting to really look like a Vixen: Pilot and his seat not yet fitted, but you can see the poor Looker stuck in his coal hole! Hope to see some of you at Yeovilton next weekend! Crisp P.S. ...and another one showing the starboard intake in place (again, dry fitted). I have to say Ali did a stunning job with this conversion; it fits very very well. Edited February 15, 2015 by Ex-FAAWAFU 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Looks good. Out of interest where did you get the jig you are using from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 The jig is made by a Czech company called JH Models; they do 5 versions - 1/72 monoplane & biplane, 1/48 monoplane & biplane, and (new) a 1/32 monoplane. It's made of balsa wood and is highly recommended. Now you're going to ask me where I got it.... and I cannot be certain, but I am 95% certain I got it from Little Cars. Worth every penny. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 The jig is made by a Czech company called JH Models; they do 5 versions - 1/72 monoplane & biplane, 1/48 monoplane & biplane, and (new) a 1/32 monoplane. It's made of balsa wood and is highly recommended. Now you're going to ask me where I got it.... and I cannot be certain, but I am 95% certain I got it from Little Cars. Worth every penny. Thanks Crisp, one of these chaps then: http://www.modellingtools.co.uk/airplane-jigs-92-c.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 That's the boy, yes. One more photo, just because I love this aircraft; what a stonking machine (and it hasn't even got any wings yet)! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Great work you're doing on the Sea Vixen. I agree - it is a stunner of an aircraft. Always one of my favourite aeroplanes. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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