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Fireball XL5 - The legendary Airfix kit + Resin copy FINISHED AT LAST


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At the risk of being trampled in the stampede...

'The man' put two more Fireballs onto the bay last night.

I know another BM'er got one of them, so that leaves

another just floating out there in space.....

Or rather, it did. I can't see it now.

There is a Comet miniatures one there though,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIREBALL-XL5-UNMADE-KIT-/112423450770?hash=item1a2cf5b892:g:eYoAAOSw9OFZLAxR

 

Enjoy

Pete

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Second verse, not same as the first

 

Way out in space together

Conquerors of the sky

My heart would be a fireball,

A fireball,, like Fireball XL-5

 

Ah, the memories of a mispent youth 🙄

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2 hours ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

 

No, it was the Monsters in Motion kit.

 

Thomo.

 

Pete has already said it was the Comet Miniatures kit, so I'm assuming he'd know what it was he owned back in the day...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Aaaand we're back!

I've had this week off work and finally got the new mancave finished. (Plus other assorted DIY).

Today I actually got the time to do a bit on the XL5.

I got the filler rubbed down and a coat of white primer on the main fuselage.

Hung it up to dry and when it fell off a wing pod broke off. Bummer!

So that will need fixing, the primer will probably need rubbing down.

And then there's the little matter of a new photo hosting site.

I'll get around to it, sometime. Got a busy weekend planned for me.

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Hullo late to the party (been at Baron's place!)

 

Do you have the earlier photos in the thread for public consumption?

 

Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. The perfect trio!!

 

Trevor

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I was banned from the house today while Her indoors

was in a cleaning frenzy. So, after I'd cleaned (mucked out)

and washed M'lady's car, I was free to carry on with the XL5.

 

Repaired and re-glued the errant wingtip pod and did more

rubbing down of the joints as the primer (as usual) showed

that more work needed doing. (What did we do before primer?).

 

Right, this left me time to do a bit to Fireball Junior. Now remember that

this is basically a modified radar nose cone. Junior has four fins that go

between the thrusters at the rear. I have two of these to do as  the old

original Fireball didn't come with one, and I still have to start the resin kit

I have been given.

 

The fins come moulded in resin on a little resin square so will need to be cut off.

I found a piece of wood with square edges and placed the fins on it,

One by one, flat side to the wood.  Then  I used a Stanley knife to score each side

of the fin bases until I could snap them off.

Now, they need to be glued onto Junior, equidistant between the thrusters.

I came up with this method to get the spacing right.

On the cutting mat, Draw a cross, then draw another at 45 degree angles so

you have a Union jack. Place Junior on the cross, line up the thrusters with

the horizontal and vertical lines. Mark Junior where the oblique lines appear.

So now how to carry those lines forward so that the fins will be parallel on Junior?

 

I have a plastic template full of holes. The 23mm one fits Junior just forward of the thrusters.

Draw around it. Fit Junior into the 22mm hole, do the same. Then the 20mm hole.

You now have three circles around Junior. I found that these helped tremendously in

enabling me to draw forward the mounting lines for the fins. (It must be a visual thing).

 

Now you can superglue the fins on. Place Junior on the mat, glue fins on. Right? Not quite.

Junior has a flange on the back that fits inside the main fuselage. So the back of the fins

must not touch the mat when you glue them on. Otherwise Junior will not fit into 'Mother'.

Ask me how I know.

I fixed a small hole in one of the fins with superglue and resin shavings.

Everything can now sit awhile until the glue is well set.

 

If you are building the resin version then you may find your own methods of doing the fins etc.

Hopefully though, something in the above waffle might help you.

And, I'm not so sure that pictures would have helped that much in understanding said waffle.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Another small update, sorry, still no pictures.

(Another busy week at work and a busy weekend too)

 

I found a can of Ford silver in the garage the other weekend

and used it to spray the (original) Fireball. mistake. It spattered

rather a lot and made a mess. So that had to be rubbed down.

I think I will give it some more micromesh action yet though.

 

The Weekend before last I started assembly of the resin Fireball instead.

The round windows on the centre fuselage section have been filled,

also the hole on the fwd top for the transparent section got filled.

I'll use decals for the round windows and the top hole is not required.

The rear fuselage comes in left and right sections. Tape them together,

and check the diameter is good when offered up to the centre fuselage section.

I just glued them together after a quick check and later found the rear slightly smaller at the joint.

I've had to correct it with milliput but there's not much surface detail to lose anyway.

The rear rocket section is also slightly bigger than the rear fuselage section it joins onto.

This was a problem I found on the original model. Line it up as best you can and add milliput to

the cone shapes on the rear fuselage as required. I found a few of the outer rocket nozzles

on the rear section were damaged by my handling/sanding. I drilled them ALL out and replaced

them with plastic tube. Much stronger.

All of the above got a good rubbing down last weekend, had the week to dry, and today

I added smears of Humbrol filler where necessary.

 

Also still to do is add the 'wings' and pods, fit the fin (mine is slightly bent at the front)

do a temporary fit of 'Junior' and find the cg before I drill a hole for a stand.

Then I need to let it dry out, get rubbed down and primed before I fire up the airbrush.

but I doubt that will be before next weekend. We're off out tomorrow. (tsk)

 

I hope that some of the above is of help and/or interest to someone out there.

Pete

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On ‎05‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 8:39 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Pete

I keep forgetting to ask..... Do I like your Owl? :think: where is it, whats it mean?

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Do you like our Owl?

 

It's a line from Bladerunner.

One of my favourite films.

Sean Youngs' character asks

the question of Deckard, Harrison Ford.

 

There being no wild animals remaining

on the planet, the Owl is artificial.

 

Based on the book, Do androids dream of electric sheep?

 

But of course, you knew all that.

 

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20 hours ago, bzn20 said:

Thought it was some Sheffield Wednesday thing !

That would be a football connection.

Way outside my frame of reference.

I gave up all that nonsense aged ten.

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  • 4 months later...

Get one quickly before Santa snaps them all up.

 

Latest news on my two. I finished the Kreiger build I was doing the other weekend

and found a few minutes since to glue the resin Fireball together with epoxy. 

I've had to use some filler in various places such as the base of the fin and the

wing/fuselage joint, especially where I accidentally made a hole.

That was a couple of weekends ago so it should be dry by now, and, when and if

I get time this weekend I can get it rubbed down. I also have to sort out a base for it.

I still didn't have time to rub down the paint on the juniors.

And I still haven't sorted out a photo host. (Obviously). Not really much to see though.

I do have a week off in January so maybe things will come together then. I hope so.

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