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Meteor F-8....Vacform!!


sean

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First some background. 

I've always had a liking for the F-8 variant of the Meteor, but could never seem to get one off

the Bay. About a year ago, after being out bid a few times on the Airfix kit, I came across a

auction for double set of Rareplanes F-8s, along with an Xtradecal sheet for foreign F-8s, bidding 

starting at 7 quid. Thinking I'm not getting a injected kit anytime soon, I made a bid. No-one else did,

so I had two F-8s and a decal sheet for 7 quid... result...:D

That's as good as it gets folks.....

 

As I had no idea what the hell I was doing, I quickly asked for advice here on BM, and of course

said help was forthcoming. Armed with my new found knowledge, I set to with gusto aplenty.

 

From the offset I used this as a practise build, knowing I had the second vacform to hopefully

use what I learned on this one. What did I learn?

I'm not very good with vacform...<_<

 

So, after a year of cutting -filler-sanding-painting-sanding-filler-sanding-painting...etc...etc....

I have finally finished, (or as finished as it's going to get), and here it is..........:phew:

Mostly melted sprue and Vallejo filler......

 

29845563986_fd58ca6170_c.jpg

 

29766771702_4a1bb36184_c.jpg

 

29845511586_fb87af5e4c_c.jpg

 

29880346805_88e1d43f85_c.jpg

 

 

I basically used what was on the sheet, just enough to make an inflight model, and added aerials and the cartridge shutes, from

scrap plastic and florist wire. The decals are for a Dutch aircraft.

 

Not the best thing I've ever done, nor the worst. (Yes, I've made worse models than this, a Pucara comes to mind :unsure:)

It does look ok from a distance.....and behind me....out of the light.

 

If you've got this far, fair play to you, and thanks for looking. I'm away to lie down.....

 

Sean

 

*Why the writing has gone blue? *:hmmm:

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looks very good Sean, except for the trailing edges of the wings.

 

did you get pointed in the direction of John Adams 'vacforms - how too'  guide? 

Got asked about recently, 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235008960-vac-formed-kits-does-a-sig-or-gb-exist/&do=findComment&comment=2483861

 

I'm posting my posting as I  really recommend getting a gooseneck scraper.

 

And it does looks like a Meteor and you did finish it!

:goodjob:

 

Edited by Troy Smith
posting glitch
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Very nice, the only vac` form success I`ve had was the front half of a Voodoo, the rest have never made it to the painting stage, so: really well done there Sean:worthy:

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Gentlemen, thank you all, you are too far kind.

 

21 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

looks very good Sean, except for the trailing edges of the wings.

 

did you get pointed in the direction of John Adams 'vacforms - how too'  guide? 

Got asked about recently, 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235008960-vac-formed-kits-does-a-sig-or-gb-exist/&do=findComment&comment=2483861

 

I'm posting my posting as I  really recommend getting a gooseneck scraper.

 

And it does looks like a Meteor and you did finish it!

:goodjob:

 

 

Hi Troy, John Adams how-to was the first thing to get a mention when I posted my inquires about vac-form last year.

As can be seen, I didn't follow everything I read in it. AAhh.. the trailing edges...mostly melted sprue

due to some over enthusiastic sanding.....<_<

A gooseneck scraper...I shall investigate.

 

10 hours ago, viscount806x said:

My first full vac kit around 15 years ago now. They build well as you can see and are surprisingly robust. Great confidence builders aren't they?

 

Nige B

 

Hi Nigel, I must admit to a certain amount of satisfaction from actually finishing it.

 

9 hours ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Excellent Meteor Sean!  How did you get the air intakes so round?

 

 

 

Hi PS, shortly after starting this I got the Xtrakit F-8, and used the spare intake cowlings from that kit.

Which showed how much excessive sanding I'd done. So I had to use lots of melted sprue and Halfords 

primer to get the cowlings and intakes faired in nicely.

The best bit of the entire build for me, really happy how they turned out.

I took a look at your build during mine, no way was I doing mine silver. 

Mine was camouflauged to hide the bumps lumps.

 

3 hours ago, tomprobert said:

The purest form of modelling there is. 

 

Great effort for for your first vac - now treat us to some more!

 

Tom

 

More? It could be a while Tom, I'll have to build up the courage first!

 

2 hours ago, russ c said:

Very nice, the only vac` form success I`ve had was the front half of a Voodoo, the rest have never made it to the painting stage, so: really well done there Sean:worthy:

 

Hi Russ, I'd really like to see that Voodoo finished, I nearly bought one myself, but chickened out at the last minute.

 

Once again, thank you for the positive comments,

 

Sean

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41 minutes ago, russ c said:

Hi Sean, it was the Koster conversion to make an RF-101C that I posted some years back 

Cheers Russ

 

Hi Russ, nice one, and I still like that camoflauge..:thumbsup2:

and it was the Valom Voodoo I was thinking of :doh:, though some would say there's not much

difference between vac form and Valom

 

Sean

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If that's first attempt at vacform you clearly have a future with it, nothing wrong with your build at all, and you completed it, that's further than many who try!!

 

 Good to see the noble art of vacuform modelling alive and kicking in the days of short run resin!

 

 . . . Kes

 

 

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Yep you get a :worthy: for finishing a vac form kit and a :worthy: for how well you have done it. Well worth the effort...........but I'm not ever going to attempt one!

Kind regards,

Stix

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That looks very nice! Getting the flying surface edges thin enough without sanding them away is indeed tricky, and something I certainly didn't get the first time around. But it looks really nice. Now you have done one, the second will be much easier! And you've got all those decals to use up... ;)

 

Regards,

Adrian

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A half-complete vac kit impresses modellers who've never done one.  A completed vac kit looks like any other model. As it should.

To paraphrase Obi Wan Kenobi, "You've taken your first steps in a much larger universe." Now continue your training, my young Padawan. Go thou forth and build vacs :)

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Once again, thank you for all the positive comments and the 

encouragement to do more, it is much appreciated.

I do have a few more in the stash, which were bought 

after the first flush of enjoyment on this build.

Hopefully the next build will take less than a year to complete,

Sean

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