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Spitfire F.Mk.XIVe - AZ model 1/72


CedB

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Mhh, I think I heard someone said "Oh scratching that? No. Not me. - Aftermarket? Not me. I'm just bashing kits together. Wheels down? No.   Always wheels up." Welcome to the club. Never say never. Mr. B, soon to be popular advisor of quickboost and every other reliable aftermarket producers around. Cheers:winkgrin::winkgrin:

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11 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Right now he's channelling John Noakes and Peter Purvis...

 

And Lesley Judd. Or, if you're older, don't forget Valerie Singleton.

Edited by Beard
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Thanks guys!

Late and tired... I hope to get the moulding and the Spitfire progressed soon. Once I've stopped thinking about 'channelling Lesley Judd' - fnaar fnaar!

Benedikt you're right, I am veering away from the kit bashing, a bit. Hence the lack of progress!!

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Thanks Benedikt :)

Thanks Cookie :) Orders? Crikey, you haven't seen the results yet - your confidence is touching, thanks very much :blush:

 

Well I thought I was better but I've just tried to stick the cockpit together and all the fiddling just made me cross... I'll try again tomorrow!

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Thanks Benedikt - you do make me laugh! :rofl:

 

Speaking of laughter, Mrs B has gone out tonight (book club) and I got the 'modelling urge' so, not wanting to smash the Spitfire I remembered Rob's words on the putty mould:

 

Hmmm. How to tell without actually moulding something? And I do have the resin...

A quick review of mould showed there was a hole in one of the pilot's bottom (fnaar fnaar):

 

32389589335_04ffc45b6e_n.jpg 32012133440_ed529e94af_n.jpg

 

so I blobbed on some latex glue (Copydex), let it dry and fitted the mould together.

 

32350463896_936e7f3970_n.jpg

 

Then I (gulp) mixed up some resin in one of the 60ml pots. This has 5ml calibrations so I mixed 5+5 = 10ml and spread some inside the mould where I was worried it might not reach (the feet) using the mixing stick. Next time I'll use a pipette (note to self), it got all over the place. Then I pressed the parts together, poured in the resin, tapped it a bit and topped up. I then stirred the remaining 9.95ml of resin and it went hard very quickly and came out in a lump:

 

32269384961_41ef564c0a_n.jpg 32269388621_d6345111d7_n.jpg

 

De-mould time is 15-30 minutes so I went and watched an episode of NCIS. Came back to this:

 

31548100784_a3c5382563_n.jpg

 

It's white! Handy. I thought the best way to share the opening was to do a video:

 

 

Next time I'll try to remember to keep the thing in shot and not look at it closely myself, sorry.

 

So, how did it go?

 

31548166514_109b34c2d5_n.jpg 32351422386_89f4347fab_n.jpg

 

That grey on the right hand one isn't paint - it's the cutting mat showing through his... poor... malformed body :weep:

Here's a close up:

 

32351440926_85fb796d2e_n.jpg 31579672213_2a01fd5217_n.jpg

 

Poor chap, destined for the skeleton crew.

 

The other one's not too bad, although he has a foot missing and a blob in his back:

 

31579804533_b35b318d9c_n.jpg 31579821203_8b6eb0296d_n.jpg

 

but useable, I think. I'm pleased with the detail, not so pleased with the flash, most of which was caused by resin flowing all over the place as I tried to coat the mould.

Every day, in every way, I'll get better and better :sick:

 

'Skeleto' has been given a new home from where he can watch his fellows:

 

31548336274_5975f04398_z.jpg

 

Poor chap, poor chap.

I'll have another go at this having pondered 'the flow' - comments welcome, of course.

 

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34 minutes ago, CedB said:

The other one's not too bad, although he has a foot missing and a blob in his back:

I used to play darts with a guy like that once...

 

My only comment is to :clap2:your brave efforts Ced.

 

I've no doubt each successive casting will get better, until you've got your own 1/72 Matrix:

12+METHODS+TO+UNPLUG+FROM+THE+MATRIX.jpg

Tony

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Looks promising. For the next time maybe a cocktail stick as another tool to press  the resin into the mould or avoiding air bubbles. You can fill the poor guy up with filler from the back. The front seems to be ok.

Anyway :goodjob:for the first time.

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Benedick is on the right path there Ced.

What I would do, would be to drill a hole up said pilots Khyber and insert a length of tooth pick or similar.

You could do it to his helmet too Fnar Fnar.

This will allow room for the air to escape and be replaced by resin.

If you look at your sprues/runners or whatever you call them, some of the mouldings have little warts attached to them.

It serves the same purpose.

I worked in the injection moulding trade (with rubber) many years ago , and it was a way around the dreaded air traps, as well as "bumping the mould.

Opening and shutting the mould very quickly several times to expel the trapped air.

 

I hope that gives you an idea .

 

Simon.

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+1 on what Benedikt said Ced. I was also going to suggest filling Skeletor - you could even use some of the leftover resin from your next casting session! Well, I always have left over resin, always mix too much! I'm sure then, with a bit of paint, he'll pass muster when in the wild blue up on the ceiling!

 

Once you make a 'proper' two part mould with your newly aquired rubber you'll soon be casting pukka pilots like there's no tomorrow!

 

Keith

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2 hours ago, CedB said:

So, how did it go?

 

31548166514_109b34c2d5_n.jpg 32351422386_89f4347fab_n.jpg

 

That grey on the right hand one isn't paint - it's the cutting mat showing through his... poor... malformed body :weep:

Here's a close up:

 

32351440926_85fb796d2e_n.jpg 31579672213_2a01fd5217_n.jpg

 

Poor chap, destined for the skeleton crew.

 

The other one's not too bad, although he has a foot missing and a blob in his back:

 

'Skeleto' has been given a new home from where he can watch his fellows:

 

31548336274_5975f04398_z.jpg

 

Poor chap, poor chap.

 

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

 

The other one's not too bad, although he has a foot missing and a blob in his back:

 

I used to play darts with a guy like that once...

 

Honestly nearly had Claret all over the sofa then. :rofl:

 

 

Great work Ced.

Edited by The Spadgent
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 Excellent first attempt: you will improve rapidly :).  You've seen some of my early and totally risible :rofl: 'proper mould' attempts at approximating Swiss cheese: your 'quick and dirty' fnaar fnaar moulds/casts are nothing like as bad. With that particular method used above by your good, I would be applying the Copydex with a cocktail stick (per sage advice above) in both halves of the mould, before squashing 'em together.

 

And expect flash - in this instance it is your friend. The usefulness of transparent Oyukame is that you can see what is going on and adjust the flash (to a limited extent), the thinner the better without starving the mould.

 

Well done :goodjob:.

 

Cheers,

Alex.

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Ced, you are a brave man - and from this first attempt, I'd say you're going to brilliantly succeed! :clap::worthy:

 

Casting is a thing that I keep thinking of, but haven't had the courage to give it a try, yet. I guess I'll have a look at the materials needed for that (I already had plenty of tips from BM mates, BTW) :analintruder: 

 

Ciao

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Thanks guys! I am encouraged by the results and will press on with the attempts - and the Spitfire, hopefully!

 

11 hours ago, TheBaron said:

I used to play darts with a guy like that once...

 

:rofl: Thanks Tony!

 

Thanks Benedikt, Simon and Keith - I certainly need to think about flow and air release (oooh, getting all sciency me!) and I'll post my thoughts later. I need to try the rubber and I think that the small pilots would be OK with one-part moulds (there are no seams on the PJ ones) but the larger ones will need some extra gates...

 

Thanks Jont, Ian, Cookie and Alex, very kind :)

 

Thanks Giorgio. I would give it a try; if I can do it I'm sure you can. I'd suggest you just buy a Sylmaster kit though (as recommended by Keith and Nigel) as I can only find the rubber in 1kg tubs elsewhere and it has a shelf life well beyond our usage. I'm reserving judgement on the Oyumaru until I have another chance to try it, hotter water in a mug this time!

 

I sent a message to my daughter with a picture of the 'good' pilot and she's kindly offered to get me some more silicone putty; I think I'll try the rubber though and save the silicon for 'quick and dirty' parts (of which I have none, fnaar fnaar!)

 

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10 hours ago, limeypilot said:

How did he stick in the dartboard, was his other foot pointed?

Nein. With his prodigious schwanzstucker he was constantly in Annie's Attic.... 

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