t15dja

I agree. You may have spotted earlier in this build log that I said I'd emailed Braz models to see if the rumour was true that they were developing a new front end for this kit. Sadly I never got a response so not sure if that is true or not. My problems were compounded in that my kit's nose cone was damaged and the nose halves were mis-moulded. Filler and hot water respectively more or less sorted those two issues . I do agree, though, even though this kit has numerous problems it still has the graceful lines of the real thing and can build into an impressive addition to anyone's collection. I notice that, for some reason, there have been quite a few for sale on eBay recently, and most at reasonable prices

Right then, moving on.... Engine parts have been glued together, no issues to report with that, and left for a day or two for the glue (Tamiya white top) to set. Then it was a matter of sanding the edge of the engine that butts up against the underside of the wing in order to minimise the step between the top surface of the wing and the back end of the engines. This involved a lot of trial and error and repeated dry fitting. As a reminder, this is what the step was like on both sides before any sanding: There are some photos below of what things looked like after sanding and fitting. Once assembled the engines were individually glued and clamped to the wing and each left overnight to dry. Port: and starboard: There was a little bit of filling required to close a small gap with the starboard engine. I used perfect plastic putty, which is water soluble and therefore easy to smooth. And then it was back to the paint shop for more primer................. Maybe a tiny bit of seam work still required on the engines: This next shot shows that I have (mostly) been able to ensure that the starboard engine is level with the top of the wing. It also shows some of the riveting I've added. Other side looks similar. Here's a couple of shots with the visor just placed (not yet glued) in position: So that's where I'm up to. Next stage is the white top coat from a rattle can (typed with some considerable trepidation!). However that will need to be sprayed outside due to the smell and overspray, and that will probably have to wait a little while now due to the current atrocious weather.....however.....we are now entering the final furlong!

I'm going to try Mr Metalizer Burnt Iron to start off with. It can be buffed quite easily to various degrees of "shinyness" for want of a better word.

Can just see them on this photo....

Marvellous pics, Sheepie, many thanks. I've also added some thin plastic strip to replicate those "things" along the sides of the hot bits, whatever they are!

Its like the old game of spot the difference! I've spotted 9 so far!

Ah, right thanks. At least that's one difference within the fleet that I don't have to worry about.

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, it's also interesting that BOAC in the photo above does not have the small shark-fin shaped aerial (?) on the dorsal surface of the fuselage that BOAE does in the other photo (above the letter H in British). If I'm right that's another difference to be aware of between individual BA Concordes. I wonder if there are any other subtle differences?

So that's the answer then, Neil, thanks........the non-separated decal is for BOAE....F-DCAL obviously thought of that, which I am impressed by! I agree that the speedbird ribbon appears higher in the instructions than on the real thing....however Revell also have it positioned slightly above the line of the windows: I'll need to check my photo references when I finally decide which of the fleet my effort will be.

I've checked the F-DCAL instructions and there is no mention of the second, non-separated tail decals.....see photo below. Bit of a mystery then, really , since they couldn't be used on the model due to the raised rudder actuators. Anyone else got any theories as to why they are supplied?

A bit of judicious sanding on the inboard edge of the engine where it joins the wing surface does seem to make the problem a lot better. OK, the engine profiles are now a tiny bit out but in my opinion that is much better than having that step between the wings and engines, which would have been very noticeable on my attempt at this kit. Mind you, I reckon the fun and games will really start when I start gluing all the bits together whilst at the same time attempting to clamp the engines to the wing and keeping everything aligned.

A quick dry fit of the engines reveals that I have the same problem as Toby i.e. the back part of the engines does not sit flush with the top surface of the wing, as I believe they should do in real life....see picture below: However the engine profile fits the lower wing profile very well thus: Did anyone else have this problem? If so how did you get round it....or did you just live with it. Toby says he got round it with lots of trimming, but I would need to shave off a good couple of millimetres from the engine edges whilst maintaining the profile of the engine nacelle, which will take some doing!

Can I ask a question of those modellers out there that have built this kit... I've nearly finished assembling the engines but am now wondering which is best......either to (1) paint them before attaching them to the kit, then spray the whole airframe minus the engines white and finally attach the engines at the end or (2) attach the painted engines, mask them off very carefully and then spray the whole kit white? Each method has its pitfalls. How did you do it and would you do it any differently in hindsight? Thanks in anticipation.

Engines are coming together....sub-assemblies being constructed, riveted and painted..... I've added some bits of styrene sheet to aid alignment and strengthen the joint

Thanks, Sheepie.....I enjoyed the sim.....must get myself one of those! I have managed to find quite a few photos of the engines on line but more will be very welcome.

Yes, having studied some of the walkaround photos Concorde seems to be covered in rivets! I'll try and replicate as many as I can / are necessary using my Rosie the riveter tool, which is definitely the best riveter tool I've owned. The engines are particularly festooned in the things, as I've tried to recreate above. Not sure about the extra tail decals....I'll look up the instructions to see what they say.

Engine parts primed and riveted, although more riveting still to be done, and visor masked..... Nose section attached, sanded and primed, although I'm not happy with that nose joint just yet so will have another go at it. However, I do feel like its coming together now.....should be rounding the final bend soon!

My lovely F-DCAL decals have arrived....

Me too......has anyone heard about anything in the pipeline?

Only just found this build thread....and I'm now following it with interest. By the way, is it the same mold as this Revell version that I have in my stash?

I certainly can, Sheepie, and that would be very helpful, thanks. I presume you are referring to the Brengun photo etch? I did consider that but it's quite expensive (more than i paid for the kit!), especially given that many of the parts relate to the undercarriage, which isn't relevant for me. I might have a go at doing it myself first and see how I get on.

That's a very useful picture of the engines reflecting the sunlight.....shows up the riveting, which is actually all over the aircraft from the photos I've seen. I'm going to add some of that using my trusty Rosie the riveter.

So, moving back to the front, so to speak, as I said above the nose cone and the two parts of the nose ahead of the cockpit were poorly molded on my example and I'd asked Revell if they had any replacements. Revell duly replied to say they hadn't so I'll need to fix and use the parts that I have. The nose cone has a gouge on its upper surface thus: This will be fixed by filling and sanding. The two parts behind the nose cone are, when glued together, wider than the front fuselage to which they join. These will be fixed by a bit of judicious bending having been dipped in very hot water. All panel lines on these parts are way too deep and a bit irregular, so again I'll be filling and sanding. I used my flexifile to do the sanding - a useful tool since it doesn't create flat spots when sanding curved surfaces. Before: After: This will need further finishing off when joined to the rest of the fuselage. Returning to the cockpit section, all I'd done up to now was to paint and glue the pilots, seats and flight engineer's console. Dry fitting same into the cockpit locating slots reveals that the back of the engineer's console can be seen through the first officer's side window, which isn't correct, as confirmed in the images shared by Sheepie earlier in this build log. Moving the cockpit floor backwards so that the console doesn't show can be easily achieved by removing a bit of plastic in the rear locating slot. Problem was I'd already moved the front instrument panel back about two millimetres from where the kit would have you place it because I'd read about difficulties fitting the windscreen with the panel in its original position. If I moved the cockpit floor back so the engineer's console can't be seen I'd then have too big a gap in front of the instrument panel. There was nothing for it therefore but to move the flight engineer and his console backwards so the latter wouldn't be seen through the window. This was easier said than done because the Tamiya extra thin had well and truly welded those items to the cockpit floor such that removing them brought part of the floor with them! Once removed I therefore had to repair the floor with thin sheet styrene. Once painted the result looks ok though. Here is the repaired cockpit now glued to right hand cockpit wall. Because my masking is rubbish I'll be using the New Ware masks for the inner and outer cockpit glass. Here's the inner glass masked up You can see I've glued a tiny rectangle of thin styrene sheet to the top. This was to aid with positioning of the glass and also to provide something to fill the gap between the glass and the cockpit wall to enable the two to be glued together. After much dry fitting to prove that the canopy would slide over the instrument panel and pilots I glued it to the left hand side of the cockpit thus: The fit isn't too bad but there is a small gap at the lower front of the screen, which will be filled. So now, in the blink of an eye the two rear bulkheads can be added and the two cockpit halves joined together. At this stage I thought it would be easier to also attach the nose section to the cockpit by locating the pins within the holes in each cockpit side as I sealed up the two halves: This decision will be reversed soon! I also wanted to fill and sand the deep panel lines and door outlines as I did with the rest of the fuselage. After initial filling and sanding and adding the small canards: Further finishing off will be required. As I said just above, I also decided it would be easier not to have the nose cone in the way at this stage so, given that it's going to be permanently glued at some point, off it came. I also took the opportunity to see what the gaps around the screen looked like with a quick shot of primer. The answer was.....not too bad. From the early stages of this build I've been wondering what to do with that rather large and noticeable void under the visor. I'm building Concorde in flight so there is no need to have a working nose droop mechanism. I couldn't find too many photos of what is under the visor. Probably the most useful image I've found is this: I think this shows some sort of curtain-like structure with a shallow fold down the middle and strengtheners placed at irregular intervals. This is what I'll try to replicate. I used a paper template to work out the rough size and then cut out the shape from thin styrene sheet. I then added the strengtheners from very small triangular section styrene rod placed in a similar fashion to what I could see in the above photo of the real Concorde. Then painted, dry brushed and glued to the front end. I also sprayed the front window area in gloss white. Although the gloss white I used ( Revell acrylic) looks decidedly off-white to me and will need to be over-painted. A quick trial fit of cockpit, nose and (as yet unmasked) visor. Not looking too bad although will need quite a bit of finishing. So, the time had come to join the cockpit section to the rest of the plane. Dry fitting revealed that the profile of the two sections does not match! This is always a danger when building sections of a tube separately, which is why I joined the tail sections to the fuselage before joining the halves together. However I didn't think I could do this with the cockpit section, given all the work that would have to go into it with the canopy and the shroud under the visor, therefore I just had to bite the bullet and get the flexifile out again. More primer had also been added to check the joints and panel lines. Quite a bit of sanding was required and more is still to come, that's for sure. Anyway, the cockpit was duly glued to the fuselage, which gets me to here: Loads more sanding to do and then on to the engines. To be continued......

Any more info on that e.g. where from and would it include a new rear canopy part?

Ahh....right. Thanks