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A Quick One or Two for Father Christmas - comparing Bulldogs


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OK, so now it is Tarangus' turn to get the glue - plus dry fitted canopy to see how she looks:

31453696533_3f6479e022_b.jpg

 

And then some of that wing action:

31453696223_f27f62f8ae_b.jpg

31453696023_87881c4cc7_b.jpg

 

[Too much dihedral here; since corrected]

 

And finally for this morning, a comparison of two Bulldogs flying a tad too close together:

32263967435_a21ddbabb5_h.jpg

 

Only now that I am basking in the smug-itude of having made such progress.... do I notice the rear wall of the Tarangus cockpit smiling expectantly at me, still on the sprue.

 

Amazingly, thanks to the tapered design of the fuselage, I have managed to fit it.  It's slightly too far aft for the purist, but anyone who points that out will be asked to investigate sex and travel!

 

Now I really must get on with some job applications!

 

Crisp

 

[Autocorrect doesn't believe in the existence of Tarangus; it keeps on wanting to replace it with "harangues".  If I miss any, now you understand why my Eenglish, she not so special, no?... despite being a native speaker.

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Mostly trick of light / distortion introduced by iPhone lens.  The Heritage cowling is a fraction more skinny than Tarangus - but only a teeny bit.  There are some differences, but I suspect that most of them are because of different approaches to engineering - i.e. once everything is in place and painted, they will look pretty similar.  We'll see, eh?

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OK, so now we really do have a difference:

32151012671_72ce2e19ab_b.jpg

 

The whole Tarangus prop is noticeably larger than its Heritage equivalent, but particularly the spinner, which is a great deal fatter (just a swift look to check I haven't missed a backing plate off the Heritage one, and I haven't).

 

Balanced in a rather wobbly manner on their respective aircraft, they both look decent enough...

32151012151_872abe0ecb_b.jpg

32151011741_c42438a1d8_h.jpg

 

...but I'd say that a glance at the real thing suggests that Heritage is under-sized (and Tarangus maybe a little over-sized):

32151011351_a9ac674a90_h.jpg

 

I said OOB builds, so OOB it will be, but this is the first difference that is really significant.

 

More soon

 

Crisp

 

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It looks to me as if they are both wrong, one too big and t'other elsewise

 

I'd have to fiddle with one of them to make it right then mould off it to make t'other right too

 

 

:nodding:

 

 

 

But in all honesty I'd advise 

 

"Get paint on 'em both and get back to the Sea Kings"

 

You know it makes s.....

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20 hours ago, perdu said:

But in all honesty I'd advise 

 

"Get paint on 'em both and get back to the Sea Kings"

 

You know it makes s.....

 

Bill, I haven't stopped working on the Sea King - I just think there is a limit to the number of photographs of rivets that you guys want to see.

 

Besides, building something different is good for the mojo.  Neither of these kits is a shake & bake, but I will  be at the painting stage in a few days here, I reckon...  By my standards, this is incredibly fast building!

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Marti(a)n, I agree about the Heritage nose - I think the whole thing is too skinny from about the cockpit forward.  Lovely kit in many ways, though.

 

However, I have been working on the other one today.  Basically I am trying to complete it to the point where I can get some paint on - and since it will be a pretty shiny and well-maintained surface, that means I need to get the surface to a high standard before I even prime, or risk each blemish showing up.  I think I have said before that the Tarangus plastic is not the nicest to work with, and it certainly needs primer every bit as much as the Heritage resin.

 

Anyway, today has been a fair amount of adding little detailed parts; there are now only about half a dozen left on the sprue.

 

Tarangus' level of detail is not bad at all, but occasionally you are presented with unmissable evidence that you are firmly in Short Run Land, like this doozy of an ejector pin mark on a poor innocent UHF aerial:

31498494913_5301c99a30_b.jpg

 

Here the same piece after clean up:

31498493483_6dc277457a_b.jpg

 

You can also see where I have reinstated a few panel lines in that phot - the ones that were obliterated during sanding ops to sort out the spine join.

 

To continue the Short Run theme, this piece is a torque link for the nose oleo:

32270097866_c14ebb4ac8_b.jpg

 

Hmm.  Needs work (though I might have a spare PE torque link left over from the Vixen).

 

Not all the challenges are the fault of the manufacturer, however; somehow I succeeded in losing inside the wing a perfectly good piece of styrene representing the landing lamps - a feat I could not have managed if I'd actually wanted it to happen.  So I have had to break my OOB rule and scratch build a replacement, thus:

32159719572_55b24f4e22_b.jpg

 

You will have noted the masking of the rear windows; the only piece of after market I had from the start is a set of Maestro Models laser cut masks, and very good they are too.  Masking the canopy was a doddle, which I don't think would have been the case left on my own:

32189862771_ac84e3a778_b.jpg

 

Because the main purpose of all this activity is to get as seamless a finish as I can muster, that means that the Bulldog's characteristic fixed undercarriage legs have to go on at this point;

31498493123_8efb03afd2_b.jpg

 

You might be able to make out the fact that I have drilled the exhaust pipes, though they have had to come off again since this phot. You will see that the nose oleo is temporarily fitted here, because I was unconvinced whether there was enough nose weight - and sure enough I need to find the space to add a fair amount yet - probably, as with the Heritage version, in the space behind the IP where the pilot's feet would be.  My original plan was to add the IP only after the paint job, but if I need more Liquid Gravity then it needs fitting now, so the masking had to come off again, and after a little sanding to get it narrow enough, the prominent IP now fits nicely:

32189862561_be7d4447df_b.jpg

 

...as, indeed, does the canopy over the top of the IP:

32189862431_460f54bb65_b.jpg

32189862291_3e4e326d63_b.jpg

 

Besides the nose weight, the only thing that still needs to be resolved is the nose oleo.  This is the worst aspect of this kit, I think; getting any kind of strength into the leg join the way they have designed it is a real issue.  However, trial and error shows that it would be possible to build a much longer leg that buts up against the upper skin of the nose; that will also give me much more confidence that the nose leg will stand all the extra weight needed to stop this thing from sitting firmly on its tail.  

 

So tomorrow's job is to add the extra weight and then install a much stronger nose oleo.

 

Coming along nicely, I think; both versions are now looking very Bulldog-ish.

 

More tomorrow

 

Crisp

 

P.S More weight now added, and there is room for yet more underneath the IP itself, if necessary.

31932971230_2ccd3f2fbf_b.jpg

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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coming along very nicely. I think I need to follow your lead and do something OOTB throwing accuracy and any scratch building to the wind

 

 

 

 

 

it should be noted that I am beginning to suffer from SK rivet withdrawal syndrome

Edited by hendie
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More detail work to get the Tarangus cab up to speed, but today I have had to make a momentous decision.  I am building both versions for fun, but plan to end up with only one in my display case in the end, and have been trying to decide which one will be taken all the way to full stencils etc.  Finally, and not without some reluctance, Tarangus has won, mostly because despite putting as much nose weight inside the Heritage fuselage as physically possible, it still...

31952262080_bee44a4412_b.jpg

 

I am also, as discussed yesterday, not completely convinced about the Heritage nose shape / dimensions.

 

There simply is nowhere else to add lead balls (f'narr).  Tarangus it is, then - which helps, because I can use some of the more refined Heritage aerials.  I will still finish Heritage, but it may eventually be destined to be a resin paint mule.

 

Mind you, the Tarangus cab is still going to need yet more weight to make it secure; even now it sits precariously ready to sigh backwards at the slightest provocation.  (And yet neither set of instructions even hints at the need for maybe a little weight inside the nose...)

 

Anyhoo, now almost everything is on: landing lights scratched to replace the perfectly respectable kit part which now lives inside the wing for ever:

32328980015_cec8600d50_b.jpg

 

All the flap hinges added - they are tiny separate pieces on this kit, which is a bonkers piece of design:

32328980265_52977c203a_b.jpg

 

And, as mentioned yesterday, the nose u/c leg given a hefty great extension to try to get it to attach with some degree of stability (all the more necessary since this aircraft now eight a fair amount with all the blooming' lead!).  Here the component parts:

32328979655_7de8752160_b.jpg

 

...and here the completed leg:

32328979275_e3304fa39e_b.jpg

 

...and dry fitted in situ:

32328978985_cce81d2357_b.jpg

 

Airscrew sprayed back on the rear face, then masked, and now sprayed white everywhere else, ready for masking tomorrow:

32328978685_9abf80c976_b.jpg

 

And yet more tests of CofG:

32328978455_f0eeca01c7_b.jpg

32328978125_849deb320b_b.jpg

 

Believe it or not, with the canopy in place it is touch and go, so I am going to have to add yet more...

 

None the less, once the CofG issue is fixed, I am very close to blasting the whole thing with a layer of Mr Surfacer to act as primer ready for first coat of gloss white.

 

More soon

 

Crisp 

 

 

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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A thought, if I may....

A small circle of Perspex/plastic

painted concrete colour. Add chocks.

Add model and glue it down!

 

BTW, do you still call three greens

on finals on a fixed u/c aircraft?

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17 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

BTW, do you still call three greens

on finals on a fixed u/c aircraft?

 

Nope, you just call finals although when we had Trappers in one called 'Finals, undercarraige down and welded'!

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20 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

A thought, if I may....

A small circle of Perspex/plastic

painted concrete colour. Add chocks.

Add model and glue it down!

 

BTW, do you still call three greens

on finals on a fixed u/c aircraft?

 

That's probably exactly what i will do.  

 

The concept of fixed undercarriage used to fox ATC just about as much as the idea of hover taxi-ing in a Lynx.  A Lynx can taxi, line up, marshall etc just like any aircraft, but don't be asking it to do so by rolling around on the ground.  Many a tower has got all snotty with a Lynx that lifted into a 10' hover when cleared to taxi.  Mind you, I never used to enjoy ground saying in a Sea King; you use the rotor disk just as you do when flying, which means tilting it forwards etc without lifting - even with 1500 hours on type it still made me feel uneasy and worry about hitting the tail if I slowed down etc.

 

Down and welded was a common call from Lynx crews asked to check 3 greens.  Mind you, it ought to be 4 greens in a Naval aircraft....  

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I'd heard the 'down and welded' call before.

I wondered if anyone else had though.

 

Riyadh, the RSAF academy, lines of shiny

trainers under the shelters, then some muppet

would hover taxi a Huey past and cover them

all in sand! Cue angry phonecalls and lineys

out with rags etc. Again!

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Muppet?  Shouldn't leave your shiny aircraft near a taxyway, should you?   I bet you wouldn't call a Plankwing pilot who blows sand all over a beautiful helicopter by running up his engines up-wind a "Muppet".  Pah!  Anti-rotary-wing bias, I tell you!

 

[Remind me to tell the dit about sand-blasting Maggie Thatcher from my Lynx sometime...]

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...and the first bit of proper (i.e. top coat) paint - some Tamiya rattle can TS-63 NATO Black, which is my scale black of choice.  A little bit of bleed under the masking, which I have partially cleaned up with a trusty cocktail stick, but nothing too horrible.

 

32371186575_46460b26ef_b.jpg

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Part from this, I have spent the majority of my limited modelling time today (I am also searching for a job, and painting the dining room, so time at the bench is rationed, like most of us) concocting my home brew RAF Blue Grey for the Sea King.  But that's a different thread altogether!

 

More soon - red next, I think.

 

Crisp

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On 12/01/2017 at 10:52 AM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Flying out of balance as usual, Crisp!  {I try to have at least one control surface deflected on my models - I think it gives them a little more life].

 

Hmmm, memory is failing, but wasn't 'insert control lock' part of post shutdown checks? If it was contribution to squadron beer fund required methinks...!! :P

 

I don't know how I've managed to arrive so late to a thread where there's not just one, but two models, of a little aeroplane that will forever be close to my heart being built so well! Cracking work as usual Crisp!

 

Bit disappointed to hear your thoughts on the Heritage's nose, as that's the one I have in stock. Guess I'll have to live with it as I'm not allowing myself to make any more additions to the stash (famous last words!) And unlike Dr Evil I'm also disappointed Heritage gives us the later IP...!!

 

Keith

 

PS one of my instructors would have been well chuffed to hear you say you'd painted the 'airscrew' - it was a pet peeve of his to hear it referred to as a 'propeller'!

 

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I doubt I would have thought the Heritage nose was an issue if I hadn't been building the Tarangus version alongside it; it's pretty marginal (and I suspect that the real nose lies somewhere between the two versions).  It definitely doesn't make the Heritage kit "unbuildable", or any nonsense like that - as many threads on this site demonstrate, no kit is unbuildable with enough effort and skill.  In many ways the Heritage kit is the better of the two - more refined detail (especially in the cockpit, which is pretty bare even in a real Bullfrog).  The reason I have decided against it as my primary final version is the nose weight issue; I warn you now, cram everything possible into every conceivable orifice forward of the main wheels, and then find room for some more.  If you can find a way of making a lead nose wheel - I seriously considered this at one point - then do it.  But it's a lovely piece of work - it has certainly convinced me to build the Chipmunk from the same stable (my first solo was on a Chippy, during grading; Bulldog was merely first on type).

 

So Keith, you can approach the Heritage version with confidence.   Perhaps these two shots will convince you that the nose difference is marginal:

32345381686_fe89eb4673_h.jpg

 

32345382066_9483fd79b7_b.jpg

 

There is no great difference in either wingspan or dihedral; those are distortions in the camera.

 

I guess my reference to an airscrew comes from my roots as a Fish-Head; most professional sailors will tell you that ships have screws, not propellors.  Mind you, I bet even your instructor shouted "Clear prop" during start-up...

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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"Mummy, are those Bulldogs making baby Bulldogs?":wicked:

 

Cracking builds and thanks for explaining the excess angle-of-dangle!

 

Christian, who soloed in a Bulldog

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A day of horribly complicated masking...

 

First, the airscrew, since this bit has actually been painted as well:

32239024112_61f309794f_b.jpg

 

A little bit of bleed in a couple of places, but nothing that cannot be sorted out.  The spinner was especially challenging to get masked; not for the first time, i found myself praising the day Aizu thin tape was invented.  It has been a complete life-saver on Ark Royal's deck (in its 1mm & 0.7mm form; this time I used some 1.5mm; it goes round corners way better than ordinary masking tape, which you can then use to fill in the gaps.

 

Speaking of which... 

 

I love the Bulldog scheme, but it has to be said that it's not the simplest to paint.  Still, as soon as I finish this post I'm going to flash up the old compressor and add some red to this, so here is a chance to look at it post-masking.  Taken me about 3 hours to do this, so let's hope it works properly!

32011914960_3307016215_b.jpg

32011914750_a4d56d4b59_b.jpg

 

More soon, probably with a decidedly red tinge to it.

 

Crisp

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