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Roden Super VC10 - East African


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Dont recall one of these on WIP or RFI so heres my effort. Waited for this when it was first runoured and thought that the Airfix and Frog VC10s of 50 years vintage would be awash in ebay! I still have a regular Airfuc VC10 BA and their RAF tanker version and will build both one day but the Roden kit looked to be a quick build. No sprue shots - presumed they have been seen before but what I can say is that there was a suprising amount of flash. No problem but took a while to prepare the main parts for assemebly. But the parts are finely detailed with fine recessed panel lines, so a big leap forward from Airfix. I intend building this out of the box in the East African scheme supplied.

Heres some pictures on progress so far

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Fuselage, tail and engines glues together with reference material to hand

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Close up of nose with glazing glues in and nose cone stuck on and thin coat of primer. You get window mask for the kit too!

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RR Conway engines represented quite nicely. Windows again have some flash which isnt helpful!

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Tail cone needed some filler and 'adjustment'! to get it right!

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Looks right to me

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Fuselage seam reasonably prepared and wings showing the fine panel lines

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Engines baffling a wee bit - bump on one side but not on the other! A bit of work required to tidy these up

More to follow - now swithering about getting some BOAC decals!

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Yep, off to a good start.

On my pair, one of them has a broken off wing tip trailing edge corner (I noticed the same thing on a set of sprue shots I saw elsewhere) and a slightly mis-moulded trailing edge to one of its horizontal stabilisers, but other than those I think it's a lovely model. Both of mine are East African. I'm thinking of making a few standard conversions but don't want to start hacking away at the model as it's so nice, that and the rear fuselage shortening involves a tricky cutting job.

Jeff

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Yep, off to a good start.

On my pair, one of them has a broken off wing tip trailing edge corner (I noticed the same thing on a set of sprue shots I saw elsewhere) and a slightly mis-moulded trailing edge to one of its horizontal stabilisers, but other than those I think it's a lovely model. Both of mine are East African. I'm thinking of making a few standard conversions but don't want to start hacking away at the model as it's so nice, that and the rear fuselage shortening involves a tricky cutting job.

Jeff

Jeff thanks. Yes mine is a bit iffy on the wingtips, but otherwise sound. I was wondering whether Roden would be bringing us a standard before butchering a perfectly good kit! The Roden East African decals are a little bit 'soft' I thought and the titling itself is too 'fat' - dont want to spoil a great kit build with average decals. Kit looks great with wings and tail on.

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Looking forward to seeing more of your build.

I've nearly finished my Roden Super and I also had a few misaligned parts. Nothing too major though.

The missing bump on the left hand engine pair is correct by the way.

I love the kit too and will be getting quite a few more I'm sure.

Classic-airlines.com have released an EAA Super which looks like it's been designed to fit the Roden kit. That's the decal I'm using when I build an EAA machine.

Cheers,

Ian

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If you're talking about the "tear drop" bulge fwd of the reverser on No4 engine. Its only on the right side. Do a google picture search for ZA147,148,149 and 150.All are the original East African Frames.

The kit looks great,fin panel,plank and access panel lines are a bit big but how would they be able to show lines,some of which can be narrower than 50 thou (1/20" ) wide?

Edited by bzn20
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Not too sure about Roden bringing out a standard. I recall reading here or elsewhere that they *probably* wouldn't as they're not a sufficiently affluent company to provide the money to do so. But if we all buy enough Supers to make all the BOAC and EAA and all the RAF aircraft then we may just help them on their way.

Crikey!! I'm even thinking of buying a couple of K tanker versions when they're released.

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That row of 5 small oval panels on the fin,right side, just behind the long fin leading edge fairing don't exist,no idea what they are or why they added them to the mould.

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Looking forward to this immensely. Got the obligatory two of these, and have procured some after market East African decals, but waiting on 26 decals to reprint the BOAC version. Been out of stock for a while now.

Than of course the existing standard VC10s can be converted over to other liveries - gonna be a VC10 kinda year.

Cheers,

Mike

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Looking forward to seeing more of your build.

I've nearly finished my Roden Super and I also had a few misaligned parts. Nothing too major though.

The missing bump on the left hand engine pair is correct by the way.

I love the kit too and will be getting quite a few more I'm sure.

Classic-airlines.com have released an EAA Super which looks like it's been designed to fit the Roden kit. That's the decal I'm using when I build an EAA machine.

Cheers,

Ian

Ian, Yeah I checked the photos I could find and the 'bump' on the engines is one side only. I guess I better replace my EAA decals too then! Agree, very nice kit.

If you're talking about the "tear drop" bulge fwd of the reverser on No4 engine. Its only on the right side. Do a google picture search for ZA147,148,149 and 150.All are the original East African Frames.

The kit looks great,fin panel,plank and access panel lines are a bit big but how would they be able to show lines,some of which can be narrower than 50 thou (1/20" ) wide?

Agree the bulge is correct. The photos and my light priming accentuate the panel lines, which will really fade back once full primer and finish coats are applied - he said!

Not too sure about Roden bringing out a standard. I recall reading here or elsewhere that they *probably* wouldn't as they're not a sufficiently affluent company to provide the money to do so. But if we all buy enough Supers to make all the BOAC and EAA and all the RAF aircraft then we may just help them on their way.

Crikey!! I'm even thinking of buying a couple of K tanker versions when they're released.

Aye the kit is so nice that you want to buy a few. At least 3 BOAC/BA schemes are worth doing plus a couple of RAF tankers. Will make my 2 Airfix kits to get the 'standards' I guess.

That row of 5 small oval panels on the fin,right side, just behind the long fin leading edge fairing don't exist,no idea what they are or why they added them to the mould.

Will check up the photos. One thing i should have done was to have made the landing lights more realistic than the oval panels at the front of the fuselage - they seem to show up quite prominently in pictures. Next time!

Looking forward to this immensely. Got the obligatory two of these, and have procured some after market East African decals, but waiting on 26 decals to reprint the BOAC version. Been out of stock for a while now.

Than of course the existing standard VC10s can be converted over to other liveries - gonna be a VC10 kinda year.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike - hope my modelling skills can match your anticipation! Yeah I only bought 1 so far, from Poland - £19 delivered I think - should have bought at least 3! Definately a VC10 year and the kit really captures the shapes well I think.

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The Super fin (and RAF C.MK1) is a fuel tank. There are big round ish manhole size access panels and a same size fuel tank vent panel. From memory there are 4 left side and three right.The very bottom row is below ,outside, the tank and there for access to the Fin bolts. I've depanelled the fin so many times but never seen those small oval ones I mentioned on the fin,right side.

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looking nice. The panel lines on the parts you have look heavier than on my example. I made a booboo in joining the tailplane halves mixing them up and luckily separated them before glue had set!

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looking nice. The panel lines on the parts you have look heavier than on my example. I made a booboo in joining the tailplane halves mixing them up and luckily separated them before glue had set!

Paul - I noted above 'the photos and my light priming accentuate the panel lines, which will really fade back once full primer and finish coats are applied - he said!' They are finer than the photos show. I think I blundered with the tailcone - my wife advised that it looked like it was 'upside down'!! Sawed off and stuck back on - easy!

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  • 9 months later...
On 22/05/2016 at 8:53 AM, pinky coffeeboat said:

Yep, off to a good start.

On my pair, one of them has a broken off wing tip trailing edge corner (I noticed the same thing on a set of sprue shots I saw elsewhere) and a slightly mis-moulded trailing edge to one of its horizontal stabilisers, but other than those I think it's a lovely model. Both of mine are East African. I'm thinking of making a few standard conversions but don't want to start hacking away at the model as it's so nice, that and the rear fuselage shortening involves a tricky cutting job.

Jeff

I bought one of those on Sunday and it also has a chunk missing from the lower starboard (I think) wingtip. I have the 26 BOAC sheet for it.

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On ‎23‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 4:05 PM, Jpthedog said:

Paul - I noted above 'the photos and my light priming accentuate the panel lines, which will really fade back once full primer and finish coats are applied - he said!' They are finer than the photos show. I think I blundered with the tailcone - my wife advised that it looked like it was 'upside down'!! Sawed off and stuck back on - easy!

 

The wing plank joints are about 3-4 mm or in Queens English roughly 1/8th" - 5/32nd" on the real thing although there are areas like the wing root join plates where it gets bigger or smaller, slightly thicker than a Stanley Blade than that. Its a hell of a job to mask these off and get sealant to go in to these troughs and some a are quite deep. On the leading edge fairings the gaps vary and like everything else get a visit with sealant .

The sealant was for many years up to the early 90s PR1422 A2 or A half, which is the curing times at set temperatures and humidity and brown. Its then painted to the colour of the wing/surrounding colour match in general across the airframe. So its flush ish and less defined. Quick repairs, fairings removal might not get painted if its a rush job. All the large oval  tank access panels (7 a side)and small round gauging unit panels are sealed in the same way and more or less flush and less defined.

Edited by bzn20
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Funny how manufacturers accent these panels when we go to such lengths to ensure they're fully aero-smoothed and not visible! I usually spend much longer masking the joint than smoothing it - poor smoothing jobs attract huge derision from your workmates!

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On ‎21‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 10:57 PM, Jpthedog said:

Engines baffling a wee bit - bump on one side but not on the other! A bit of work required to tidy these up

 

Yes, just the No4 engine cowling. Think, not 100% that its to do with the Reverser Micro switch connection which is behind/inside , with a small access panel in that bulge. I'm not Engines so no clear idea why No1 hasn't got it too. The only thing I can think of is the No1's is on the inbd side. Pretty sure the reversers weren't handed and could be fitted to either position, Nos1 & 4 engines.

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