general melchett Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Afternoon troops...... managed to do a bit more on the old girl this afternoon between those vital jobs such as ironing, shopping and hoovering the old homestead!! Firstly a bit of a marathon sanding and rescribing session ensued to get rid of the bulges and flatten the sides into the characteristic slab sided look of the TSR-2. This being completed in a cloud of sanding dust and shavings it was time to dry fit everything to check for alignment... Upon dry fitting the fuselage together and fitting the nose gear bay tub I discovered that a fair bit of surgery would be needed to fit the thing in snuggly as the fuselage was now a fair bit thinner..( and matched the 1/48th plans I have, perfectly)...so I broke out the power tools and set about the interior locating lugs with a vengeance. Mission accomplished it was now a case of bracing the top panel..(the reason it sits proud is so that it can be rounded to profile once everything is glued together. I've decided to detail the nose gear bay myself as it's not that difficult and I begrudge spending a fortune on resin parts when I could do it just as easily myself...same goes for the cockpit, and as it will be closed on this one I don'rt need to go mad...BAAAAAA!! You could easily part with over £100 worth of resin if you're not careful and to be honest with a bit of forward planning and scratchbuilding skills you can do a lot of it yourself....honestly!! Cheers everyone.. Anyway the pics, Comparing the 2 fuselages....I think that's a big improvement...the top panel is standing proud as it will need to be blended to shape once everything is glued together... Now the whole thing dry fitted together... Another problem area needing surgery is the top plate...the 'prongs' are now well out of line so surgery will be needed to match everything up...not a huge issue really.. The pregnant bulge has now gone and the flowing lines of the aircraft begin to show themselves.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 It's quite the Franken-TSR.2 at the moment, isn't it? Should be fun trying to blend all that in, but if anyone can do it, it'll be you! Seeing as there's a larger gap between the fuselage & the outer edge of the intakes now, does that mean that the whole lot is too wide, or were the kit parts undersized? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Cheers Mike.Yep I discussed this at length with 'Odds and Ordnance' and they confirmed that the rest of the airframe is the correct size, also checking against my plans everything lines up...the problem is that because for some weird reason Airfix decided to bulge the forward fuselage out for reasons known only to themselves, the intakes are now too small and will need bulking out to the correct profile and fit .There is naturally a knock on effect with all this particularly re the nose gear bay which needs fettling to fit correctly.. As they got it spot on with the 1/72nd version and had all the plans they needed, why on earth they did this to it I have no idea....all very strange.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 I've decided to detail the nose gear bay myself as it's not that difficult and I begrudge spending a fortune on resin parts when I could do it just as easily myself... Even easier - stick them on a base & you need never detail an undercarriage bay again...... Some impressive butchering going on there Andy!! Keef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Gibson Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 That is astounding work Andy. I have the kit myself, but I think I will bow to you and build it as is. I know my limitations. Looking forward to seeing future work. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Thanks fellas, Keef, ever helpful !!.......that's a very good idea mate.... . . Seriously though, thanks, a lot more superglue and sanding dust will be spilt before this ones finished......how's the Victor coming on.. .....(great to see you on Sunday btw)!! Dave, thank you, I do a fair bit of scratch building so it's not really new territory , but does require a fair bit of forward planning. Most people will not want to go this route but the inaccuracy is so obvious to me that I knew I really had to do something about it or I would forever notice it... Thanks again for comments, Cheers, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Bit more done tonight, fuselage join now cut out and braced ready for fitting, and the underside panel taped into position ready for alignment.Vital that everything is squared up properly before reattachment. cheers, Andy You can see that the bottom plate needs shaping and blending into the lower fuselage side, which is correct as it should be slightly tapered whereas the kits part is square..... This shows the effect of the bulged fuselage and its impact on the surrounding areas, the top plate will need re cutting and blending......once you start these things it soon spirals.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Another great lesson – thanks!!! Can we get this pinned as a reference for the future by any chance? Superb. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Andy, Inspiring work, and so quickly as well. Looking forward to see it delvelop, makes me want to break mine out (though I will not be doing it 'your way'). Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Thanks men, Nick, by all means pin it...hopefully it will be of use to some of the more adventurous folks..and maybe inspire a few others to join the 'Dark Side'.................. Daniel, thanks, don't be put off by all this, it's a great kit OOB...just go for it!! Cheers all, Andy.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Andy, pretty sure it will be my next build, so if you can keep going please, there might be something I can copy, hoping to detail all the wells etc myself for instance. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Nice work so far Andy. I have one of these in the stash and would like another two for What if's so I'll be watching your builds and mod's with interest Keep up the good work Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 13, 2009 Author Share Posted November 13, 2009 An update ...been a bit busy today but managed to mod the kits cockpit and add some Airwaves seats.. I decided against a resin cockpit set mainly on the grounds that I'd have the cockpit shut and therefoer all that extra detail would be a waste of effort, but now having looked at the kit parts I'm glad I didn't bother...the seats are utter pants but the tub is rather nice with most things where they should be!!...so I decided to add the missing detail myself and when added to the new seats I don't think it falls far short of the resin sets!!....DIY usually pays off. might use the Eduard instrument set to finish it off...have to have the cockpit open now!!! I've also looked closely at the wheel bay sets and to be honest for all that extra cash all that seems to have been added are pipes and a few boxes and a couple of struts!!...so I'll be doing that myself .The only really poor part is the nose gear bay which is all wrong..still I have plenty of pics for that one too, Fitted all the U/C doors, airbrakes and wings in between 2 other builds so progress is quite good on this one, Cheers all, Andy... Just a word, sorry if this is old news to a lot of yopu but it might help those who have yet to start one......it's not a bad idea to brace the gears side doors as they are a poor fit and need all the help they can get!! The pretty sad kit seat........and the excellent Airwaves one... Then the whole lot together....not bad for a non resin set... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Very impressive General Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz greenwood Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Some amazing work there Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Yep, that looks pretty good for out the box tub, looking forward to seeing it painted. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 ......how's the Victor coming on.. .....(great to see you on Sunday btw)!! Still looks good in the box....!! Thanks for the bits, much appreciated. I hope to start it 'sometime in the New Year'!! .....(great to see you on Sunday btw) You too! But doesn't it seem such a long time ago!! (was it only a week back that I'd just finished my first bargain hunt around the hall?!) That 'pit is looking rather good! Keef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kspriss Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 fantastic work there General...AGAIN!! steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 (edited) Interesting thread this one Melchie. I think I'm going to go down the road of having a lot of panels open to break up the outline in some of the more dodgy areas on mine though. My builds have been taking far too long in recent years and chopping the kit up as well won't help redress this. Martin PS: Tried to find you at Telford but without success. Edited November 13, 2009 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 Thanks everyone, Keef, know what you mean, can't believe it was all a week ago...must be getting old, next we'll be talking about coppers cuffing you round the 'earoles and falling over in the playground, grazing your knees and not screaming..'...compensation...lawyers for you', Martin, sorry, I missed several folks due to my ridiculous plan of having stuff on 7 different tables and spending the whole time chasing my ar.......tail !! I think I'm going to go down the road of having a lot of panels open to break up the outline in some of the more dodgy areas on mine though. My builds have been taking far too long in recent years and chopping the kit up as well won't help redress this. Funnily enough, originally I was going to do exactly the same thing on this one!!................then I had a funny turn and this happened.. Cheers all, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 Now then,the fact that the fuselage is now the right width and the intake area correct anyway indicates that the intakes themselves are too small.....I just wonder if this was the reason Airfix did what they did to the fuselage to make up the shortfall.... If there is one image that sums up what is wrong with the Airfix kit is it is this one.....where's the pregnant bulge ??? Just when you think it's safe to go back into the water another glaring inaccuracy rears it's head....and one that explains the discrepancy along the roof line, namely that the bulge from the forward fuselage over and into the wing area is slightly too wide and too rounded...it should be a much more slender shape blending into the top surface as shown in these pictures..........this is going to take a bit longer than I first thought!! Notice also that in the second photo particularly there is a certain amount of taper, but nothing like that present on the kit. The kit part, Now the real thing............see the problem!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPNGROATS Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 MonGeneral: Your penchant for accuracy is legendary...we lesser modelers salute you...SAH!!! Cheers, ggc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Andy, from the picture it looks like the kit bulge,as well as being too wide, doesn't extend back far enough. Would it be possible to correct this problem with filler or am I looking at it too simply? Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 Chaps...afternoon and thanks.....Tony , you're right , Airfix have simplified the fairing and just made it into a fixed definition bulge whereas it should be a blended graduation into the rear wing upper surface. It could be filled but I'm more tempted to just cut it away and sand to the new shape,Milliput then rescribe lightly, as the kit is covered in Matchbox style trenches that all need reducing for realism................I'll deal with this section next, Meanwhile I've been working on the nose gear well and added my own details using card and lead wire, following my own photographs,, some final fine wiring to do, a couple of accumulators to fit and then it's off to the paintshop....next the maingear wells... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 General I finding this built fasinating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now