Vickers Valiant B.1

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I have sadly been rather busy and lost a little enthusiasm for modelling the past month. Partly that's also because I have lost my big lever arch binder full of decals which contains the sheet of swastikas I need to finish my Stuka WIP. It's here somewhere, but I am suffering from man-vision where things sat right in front of me are invisible.

Anyway, I went to the Aberdeen Modellers' Society meet on Tuesday as I try to do every month since I restarted going, and spotted this little white box sat in a pile of unloved kits.

 

 

When I were a lad, there was a man named Steve (who also goes to the AMS meets now) who used to run a stall at a Sunday market nearby. The market was rubbish, frankly. My parents used to drag me along. It was full of tcheuchter tat and music vendors specialising in Danny O'Donnell cassettes and sometimes CDs. Steve's little stall however sold, as far as I can remember, pretty much only Welsh Models kits. In exchange for my good behaviour, my dad would usually buy me a one of the simpler vacform kits. Hence in my teenage years I built a surprising number of vacuum formed kits. Mostly these were Welsh Models things such as the SA Twinpin, Valetta, Hs748, Beverley, Boeing 757 and so on. I also conquered (although in retrospec, it wasn't the masterpiece I thought it was at the time) the 1:72 BAe Nimrod from Formaplane?? (the fuselage was split behind the wing - Aircraft In Miniature I think re-did it with a one-piece fuselage - I have one in the stash) and some 1:72 prototypes including the Republic Thunderscreech supersonic turboprop and de Havilland DH.110.

I saw the Valiant and decided I really, really wanted it. I haven't built anything in this scale in a long time. It's cute, and it really appeals. I am hoping to get this finished quickly.

I'm absolutely not about to claim to be any sort of authority on making vacuum formed models, but since some fellow modellers have not yet had the satisfaction and seem reluctant to try, I've taken a few snaps along the way to show how I do it, if only to show that it really isn't a dark art and they are surprisingly satisfying to build in an age where kits generally fall together and somehow I personally am still never content with what I produce.

So, what's inside?

 

 

It says it has resin wings and tail on the box, but I didn't read that. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the sanding would be limited to the fuselage. The resin castings are of good quality.

To work with vacuum formed parts, I like most start by drawing around the parts with a permanent marker, such as a Sharpie pen.

 

 

Next, I use a fresh scalpel blade and score around the part around 1~2mm away from the part. The surrounding styrene can be cleanly snapped away.

 

 

 

To prepare the mating surfaces, I use a fresh piece of fairly coarse (180grit) wet and dry paper on a hard flat surface, used wet. I rub the part against the paper.

 

 

This is why you want the paper wet - imagine the dust and clogged paper otherwise!

 

 

When the pen can be seen through the reverse side of the plastic, you're almost there, and the 1~2mm surround left just peels away.

 

 

 

That's pretty much all there is to it.

I tacked the wings on with a small blob of medium CA.

 

This revealed that the wing roots moulded on to the fuselage are not symmetrical. Not a big issue really, but best prepared for now rather than later.

 

 

 

The under camber of the resin wings also doesn't match the aerofoil on the fuselage:

 

 

I made a tool (a cleverer person would just buy one) to sand the cockpit and bomb aimer's fairings:

 

 

 

The tail castings are nice but the tailplane sat slightly too far forward on the fin. This was easily rectified by filing the backs of the slots slightly to let them engage deeper.

 

 

 

The acid test where you get to see if your fuselage sanding was correct - this is good enough for me !

 

 

Also, the panel lines on the resin wings are assymetric, so the offending line was filled, the jet pipe fairings adjusted to suit and a new line scribed.

 

 

 

 

To address the wing root issue, I backed the roots with Milliput, inserted the kit supplied fuselage formers (I changed their positions to suit my preferences) and taped it up to harden whilst I went out to lunch. It's not often I get a day off my day job so thought lunch with my wife was in order.

 

 

I'm now about to attack those wing roots ...

[BlanketStacker]

Beautifully described and photographed. No "black arts here" Looking forward to see how this pans out.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Thank you BlanketStacker

I have addressed the undercamber now, and they're good enough to join the wings. It didn't actually break through the plastic into the Milliput, but I suspect it would be quite wobbly otherwise and with big heavy resin wings some stiffness in the fuselage is a good thing.

 

 

Before joining the fuselage halves I need to add nose weight, add the nose gear bay and since I plan on opening up the windows, it needs painted inside. I won't bother with any interior detailing - it won't be visible.

The nose gear bay is included as a vacformed part, but to my mind it's moulded the wrong way round. The bit you can't see is beautifully crisp and the bit you can is blobby.

 

 

 

It's also a bit smaller than the doors, so I've made a new one from plasticard which is hardening at present.

 

[kev67]

Good stuff, especially as it is a Vickers aircraft

[RMCS]

Superb modelling

[Duncan B]

So let me see if I get this, you have modeller's block so you do the obvious thing and......start a Vacform (that you bought from Steve when you could have bought this from me, it's a snap together kit!!)

or this, it's even easier and doesn't even need enamel paints slapped on it. I think this one is more 'You' anyway.

Oh well never mind, nice work on the vacform/resin combo so far, if you stall again you know who to call.

DB

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I'm eyeing up that Tomcat in quarter (inch paintbrush) scale

To be honest this is your influence in a roundabout way. There is no cockpit detail at all in it!

[snapper_city]

Good job so far

[Duncan B]

I'm eying up the Dornier 215 and the Phantoms and the....oh hang on!

DB

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I've got a 215 in the stash here. A 17Z-2 also. I'm quite looking forward to those

I need some Phantoms I think. One in SEA colours and one in VF-84 colours.

[Duncan B]

A good choice Sir, would you like them delivered (I only take milk in coffee)?

DB

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I'll message you about that Duncan

This morning I glued in the wheel well. I decided to add a cockpit floor. It's not to scale and wasn't intended to be - it's really just to prevent a clear line of sight through the glazings.

 

 

I bought a big box of car wheel balance weights ages ago. I've stuck in a few around the nose to ensure it sits on its wheels.

The nose gear well is deeper than the vacform part. I haven't looked at any reference material and don't plan to. I added a plastic block to the white metal nose gear casting to get the right height from the roof of the well.

 

[Duncan B]

You're cracking on with this right enough.

DB

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

The fuselage halves are joined. As with many limited run injection kits, vacform kits have no locating pins.

I used medium CA in on the fuselage formers that slot in to the Milliput. I applied normal plastic cement to the two formers down the back end and to the cockpit floor mating surface, the offered the two halves up.

Thereafter I went round the seam bit by bit getting a decent fit and bonding with Tamiya extra thin cement as I went.

I'll leave it to harden then fill and sand.

 

I also tried the cockpit teardrop to check the fit. It's quite snug and needs no further fettling besides opening out the windows.

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I'm sure I could glue these on now, but am equally sure that would be making life harder for myself and cost more time in the long run. Still, I'm itching to.

 

<<<IMAGE FORGOTTEN!>>>

[Duncan B]

Why are you not at work/away on holiday/cutting the grass/watching football/selling paint (delete as required)? Sitting round making models all day, anyone would think you've joined the Duncan and Nigel's Club for Ex O & G Workers but I know you haven't paid your dues so can't be a member.

Well at least your making decent progress with this kit (but I know it'll come grinding to a halt, ironically, when it comes to the painting stage). I would have though that the Tamiya Extra Thin was a bit hot for the plastic but obviously not.

DB

[Mike]

Nice to see a vacform being done... far too few of them left that haven't been superseded by styrene, sadly and happily, depending on your POV. I wish we could have a resurgence of Vacform models, but covering the REALLY out-there subjects... I like nutty, ugly aircraft

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On ‎17‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 12:38 PM, Duncan B said:

Why are you not at work/away on holiday/cutting the grass/watching football/selling paint (delete as required)? Sitting round making models all day, anyone would think you've joined the Duncan and Nigel's Club for Ex O & G Workers but I know you haven't paid your dues so can't be a member.

Well at least your making decent progress with this kit (but I know it'll come grinding to a halt, ironically, when it comes to the painting stage). I would have though that the Tamiya Extra Thin was a bit hot for the plastic but obviously not.

DB

Honestly - I haven't had more than 2 days off in a row this year I don't think. I've just been feeling a bit fatigued so took yesterday and today off to faff around and do nothing. Well, modelling, but my wife would say that's nothing. The Tamiya extra thin is fine on the styrene. Usual rules apply though - such as don't get too rough whilst the plastic is semi-molten!

On ‎17‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 1:27 PM, Mike said:

Nice to see a vacform being done... far too few of them left that haven't been superseded by styrene, sadly and happily, depending on your POV. I wish we could have a resurgence of Vacform models, but covering the REALLY out-there subjects... I like nutty, ugly aircraft

I agree Mike. There's something very grass-root-y about vacform kits. I have an Aeroclub vacform Hunter in the stash in 1/48, along with Sanger Shackelton and Sunderland in same scale. The Sanger kits tend to be a lot of work though. The Sunderland fuselage halves are different shapes, for example.

Back to the Valiant though:

While the fuselage had some Squadron green filler drying, I found the old 1953/54? John Wayne film "The High and the Mighty" on the Sky box so I put that on and sat in front of the TV with the cockpit teardrop and bomb aimer's teardrop, and opened out the windows. I just use a drill in a pinvice to start the hole then work outwards with a Number 10A blade in my scalpel.

 

 

I like to wedge the frames from behind to reduce the perceived thickness of the frames when I do this. I've since touched the paint up.

 

 

The newly readied bits were glued on and taped down tight, and the fin and wings were glued on with medium CA.

 

 

The wing roots didn't turn out too bad and filling needed is fairly minimal.

 

 

 

The leading edges of both wings needed some packing with filler to sculpt the right shape later, and of course one needed much more than the other. That's drying now. Gill is downstairs packing orders and I will have to do the school run shortly.

[Duncan B]

You're making this vacform thingy look easy Jamie, I know I haven't got the patience to attempt one.

I haven't work two days after each other this year, I know who's stealing all the work now! (nearly had a job starting tomorrow but it appears to have fallen through)

DB

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Wing roots sanding and filling complete. I've also glued on the tailplane.

 

 

The kit provides white metal wing fences, which is nice. It does require the wing to be sawn through most of its chord though.

 

 

Then the fences slot in nicely:

 

 

And once glued with thin CA, the unwanted slot on the underside can be filled.

 

The bomb bay door detail was raised on the fuselage mouldings. I've rescribed them instead, partly because it looks better but mostly because some of the raised detail died in the fuselage filling and sanding.

 

I've got to wait for that filler to dry before I can prime the model, so I've opened out the two eliptical windows on the fuselage, which concludes the pre-paint building.

[Mike]

Looks good James. Is it my eyes, or does the cockpit teardrop look a little straight-edged and narrow toward the rear where it touches the fuselage. Maybe a bit long too? I've stared at Valiants a LOT over the years, and something about it looks a little y'know?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Dunno? Might be. It looks ok to me, but in the interests of building something I've actively avoided reference material!

It looks quite long and straight here:

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

A light grey priming coat has revealed some shoddy workmanship on my part which needs to be rectified before moving forward to painting.

 

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I've used some dabs of dark grey paint to surface the pin holes. I must gey some proper surfacer at some point, but this works ok

 

[S5 modeller]

Brilliant work. You're getting through this on the hurry up.

Matt