Head in the clouds.

Are you aware S&M have re-cast their 1/72 Andover, it is in resin and a little pricey so not to everyone's taste. Gary

Welcome back Bill, hope the drive was pleasant, visit anywhere nice? Thank you kindly Bill, I have worked out that scale size is 2.3mm and 1.2mm in chord and I have no idea about the thickness. I whole heartedly agree, it would be nice for someone to step up to the plate, he made some wonderful items that are sorely missed by all. Thank you very much Terry1954 and welcome, I do like planes that are a bit left of centre and this one also has a story to tell so making it all the more interesting. and who does not love an Auster. Gary

Thank you Martian Hale, that was my fear. Back to the drawing board then. From what I understand he certainly made an impact on the hobby, long may his retirement last.

Will someone tell me where the weekend has gone, a BBQ on Saturday and a Fathers day meal today and here we are, Sunday evening an an update is due. Well, guess what I found, yep, the other half of my wheel so a quick repair job ensued; From the jaws of failure the phoenix rose up; The centre hub was was made from an old Frog AIM7 missile body and the 5 spokes made from 0.2 mm copper wire, not the easiest of tasks to set myself but managed it in the end. The next one up for the same treatment is the repaired wheel. In my bouncy way of building kits I now moved on to the wing to fit the cover over the Hydraulic header tank, a few seconds it was on and after a little filler was added and smoothed over the wing was flipped. Attention then turned to the instruments which sit on the underside of the wing centre box, these being to monitor the turbine oil temperature, temperature of the jet pipe,fuel and oil pressure. This was nothing more than a block of plastic and four decals to represent the bank of gauges; Staying with lift and control surfaces I moved to the vertical stabiliser, after looking at my reference material it could be seen that there is a gap in the tail where the all moving horizontal surfaces are connected so I tentatively started hacking away at my home made tail. This turned out to be much more fiddly than I realised, having no one single tool small enough to to the job in one go, so it was a case of many tools doing a nibble at a time. The holes were also drilled to accommodate the horizontal control surfaces. Next item grabbing my attention, and probably the most intricate is the framework that holds the emergency parachute under the tail of the plane; Looking at the two left pictures you can see concerns, especially at this scale. It looks like a typically British Heath Robinson affair but no doubt worked like a dream. To do this I felt there was only one material to use and that was Albion brass rod. Four pieces of Blue Tack were stuck to the metal block and after cutting each piece to size pushed them into the tack and moved them around until I was satisfied with the look and position. Then solder was applied at the junction of the four pieces, this will give a strong joint and allow me to manipulate the size and shape of the units when coming to final fit; That is each side done, now for the base section which was a simple affair just using some masking tape to hold it in position; The canister holding the chute was next, simply cutting a length of tube to length, applying a dab of CA and then sanding to shape gave the desired result. These rather delicate items will be the last items fixed to the fuselage before spraying, they are just begging to be knocked off at every turn and flick of the model. Fingers crossed( and everything else) that it all fits when the time comes. Another little job done, and one that was a bit of a nightmare was the seat belts. NOTE to SELF; next time fit to seat before fitting to cockpit......dummy I now have a nice little collection of sub assemblies so in the next update we should see her starting to look like an MA4 and not a jigsaw puzzle. One item I would like to source is some aerofoil strut, I believe John Aero is the man, I have sent him a PM but had no reply, does he still use this site? Until then, happy finger glueing.

I am with Matian Hale and Corsairfoxuncle....please shout and I will do whatever I can.

One fell out of a Happy meal I bought.

I have just been in the hobby for four years, the last time I built kits was when I was 11 or 12. After getting back into it Thors hammer came crashing down on 2 of my first 5 models and they ended up binned, now I put it to one side, have a cigar and sulk but I will not go back to it until the next day at the earliest. There is a mine of information on this site, use it, we all love passing on our knowledge knowing we may be helping someone. Do not give up, be self critical, we all are but know when to walk. And don't forget, it is a hobby, not open heart surgery so if you make a mistake it can usually be sorted. I hope you win your fight with your demons tweener.

Only just stumbled across this build, I too did not realize there was a kit of the K7 in this scale, I built the AlleyCat kit for the Prototype and Experimental Group build which has lots of shape and detail issues but which I enjoyed building. Hope you have as much joy as I did with what looks like a superb kit. Gary

Superb work General.

Superb CedB, I watched your build with much interest and I hope you are pleased with the end result; I am. It is also nice to see a prototype of a common WWII plane rather than the usual fare, obviously more work is involved but you have tackled it with precision and accuracy. Great job..

Don't you dare Bill it is all food for the brain and most fascinating, I have been racking my brain for weeks trying to find something that is thin yet rigid, so thank you muchly. Now, I have not been idle this weekend, despite a Christening and ensuing frivolity, so onwards we march with a mixed bag of jobs. My thoughts turned to the undercarriage, something else that was completely changed from the original, being stronger and with no fabric covering. It occurred to me early on that I would need some sort of a jig to get the angle correct as it is angled both forward and outward, so I rustled up one of my pictures and drew lines all over it, went out and purchased an angle finder( a fancy protractor) and came to the conclusion that the undercarriage is 24 degrees forward and 30 degrees outward. So I made this; It will sit as seen here under the fusalage ( which will be upside down ) and will give me the correct angle......I hope ! There is much to do on the dangly bits, the two flat items on each wheel strut that looks like a cantilever type of spring look like they will be a challenge in this scale. does anyone know what they are called? Staying on the undercart theme, I wandered over to Perdu's facinating AOP6 WIP to see what he did with the two round pieces of scrap plastic trying to pass off as wheels ( thanks again for reinstating the pics). I decided to do the same but without the plastic tube ( I am still getting my scratchbuild material stock up) and in so doing thought I would make my own tube from sprue. First wheel worked a treat, not so the second; As much as I tried I could not repeat the process and in trying to bully a piece in it split the wheel, and to rub salt into the wound I cannot find the other half So I did what any self respecting modeller would do ( no, the kit is still in one piece ), I went to another room and sulked When I came back I gravitated towards the wing because it looked easier and even I could not hash them up. Having a turbine in the back of what was the passenger space obviously need air and to this end two grills were fitted towards the back of the wing box assembly, one on each side as can be seen in this pleasing air to air study of the MA4; My plan of attack here was to use an old PE grill from another build, cut it into 2 and mark out it's location on the wing. Next, I took hold of my chisel and hacked away to a grand depth of about 1/2 of one millimetre. extra thin CA glue was dropped in the recess, not much mind, and the cut down PE inserted. After applying a little filler to tidy up the edges and a quick sand we had this; Now I know what you are thinking, my right eye is wonky yet my left is OK. Let me assure you that is not correct, it is fact my right hand grill slightly on the proverbial p word. That extra thin does half dry quick bit I am thinking once we have a coat of paint on it will not be so apparent. Also seen in the above picture is a little cover on the port side near where the canopy top meets the airframe, this is the filler point for the hydraulic header tank which was easily fashioned out of some Evergreen half round rod; This is now glued to the wing in it's rightful place. Right, I am off to look for half a wheel, I am still waiting for some material to be delivered so I can finish of the turbine outlet. One job I must not forget is the seat belts, I am thinking a blue colour, does this sound right? Thanks for tuning in. Gary

As I understand, and I am happy to be corrected, the B1 was much smaller than the B2 which I believe the Airfix kit is based, I know it is a basic kit but would a Lindberg Vulcan kit be a viable alternative? I know the scale is different, if you are not rigid on scale maybe worth a thought.

Nice recovery, Winnie would be proud ( Churchill, not the bear) of that success from the jaws of failure, nice work indeed. Looking forward to some scratch building now.

Indeed bhouse you are correct, that is what happens when working from memory I have now measured my orifice and I am looking at 4.5-5.5mm . Most kind Bill, I have exchanged a quantity of the Queens head for some Albion brass, if that turns out unsuitable I will give you a kindly shout. I must be the lucky one, my partner does not know the difference between a TV and a computer...oh how I laugh

Thank you Dennis. Yes, I thought the same as you, straws, pen lids, anything long and hollow but nothing in my home is right so I will see about brass rod, just not sure if I can get it at 8mm dia. A quick search should give me that answer. Again, I have no dimensions just two non technical drawings so size wise it is a best guestimate. Ah, many thanks Bill, I shall be looking this weekend for inspiration. If I can follow your lead and fondle some plastic into shape I shall...much more satisfying than spending money..I think. We all hate PB, it must be the fastest growing club in the world Very true, 71chally has helped in a previous build of mine, who needs computers...we have 71chally. Yes, the tail feathers, thank you. I was having a gentle browse through your RFI picks the other night and I noticed the rigging wire you used on the tail, it looked bang on the money. What did you use as I need something that will be as rigid as possible just to give a little added support to the pins which are only 2mm long and your wire did look nice and taut. Gary