Malc2

Cheers, Nick! So welcome to a rainy Autumn morning, with not much sun in sight, lets go back to a sunnier day! So after futzing around correcting some minor imperfections and adding a couple more coats of primer with vigorous flatting in between. The sun came out so I got the Coral Blue on the parts that needed it. The front wing had already been glued together for the nosectomy, so a coat of primer or two and the end plates were masked for painting. May the force be with you Obi Wan Xwing fighters ahead..... End plates painted – what a terrible angle to show this! SG Black splashed about also, pleased with the lower wishbone mods. Super pleased with the finish on the body Following learning from my Lotus 101, I decided to use mirror glass, it worked reasonably well, next time I will cover the reflective face with masking tape until the mirror is assembled and finished, as cleaning fingerprints off the mirror face left fine scratches in it. The mirrors should be attached to the inside edge of the cockpit surround on little blocks, so the holes in the body were filled (you can just about spot them in previous posts) and the mounting blocks made and painted. Mirror stalks were replaced with 0.5mm wire. The exhaust heat shield was cut from the foil lid of a soft cheese container and epoxied in place as the embossed pattern almost exactly replicates the real thing. The front wing endplates are Coral on the outside faces, the rest of the front wing is black. Due to the complicated profile of the endplate edges this proved a step too far for my masking and painting skillz, so the whole black and coral mess took a swan dive in to the isopropanol. Plan B is to paint the whole element coral and then decal the main plane and inside faces of the endplates with CF. Comments welcome! Malc.

Hi Ron, Looks great, all the added detail really makes a difference. On to the next! Malc.

Marvellous! M.

Wow, nice! Spent all my working life at large OEMs in the R&D dept dealing with prototype cars, it was incredibly interesting, although I now find restoring old cars even more interesting! Malc.

Understand, I thought you owned the restoration business! Its not Dominic Chineas 356 is it? For clear I use Mr Hobby Super Clear UV Cut, which blocks UV reducing paint/decal fade. If spraying over decals do a test first on a spare decal. Malc.

Looking good, always satisfying when the major assemblies come together! M.

Some fantastic metal work on the Stratos, you should post progress on RetroRides! The HA is not bad either! Malc.

This is fantastic! I can not imagine how you manage to keep the parts so clean of dust before you take the pictures! Looking forward to the next update. Malc.

Looking good! Which brand of Oaty biscuit goodness transfers did you go for in the end? Malc.

Thanks, certainly does! Its always interesting to hear how the 'hidden' aspects are tackled. I would never have thought of using double sided tape! M.

Hi Ron, Thats looking great, all the extra details really make it look busy - in a good way of course! What glue do you use to fix the panels in place and do you localy remove the paint to get a plastic to plastic glue joint? Malc.

This should be interesting, I have not seen one of these built before. Malc.

The replica had two 1.3L Suzuki Hayabusa 4 cyl motorbike engines, one driving each prop. One of the original 50B aircraft engines (No7) that was used to design the fuselage around is in the museum at Prescott UK and has never been restored. Also in the Prescott museum is a colour chip (approx 4in x 6in from the wing fabric) donated by Don Lefferts in 1981, from this I assumed that the aircraft was originally painted? But could be from their restoration attempt? Malc.

Hi Chris, yes once seen I can't unsee something like this! The downside is - seeing things stalls a lot of builds............................ M.

Wow, thanks, how did you find those?! However they don't look in great condition - maybe the first release? Holding out hope that the Rotodyne does get re-re-re-released. Malc.

Cheers Ron! Its funny, making the extra details, improving what you get, and indeed making the model as a whole is where I get my pleasure from, once the model is finished and on the shelf, I find I hardly even look at it! Malc.

I have a 2000ish release Rotodyne with no decals, does anyone know if Airfix could be persuaded to sell the transfers separately? Malc.

Afternoon all, heads down for some more progress updates:- You know how this goes, had to do the same on the Lotus 101 and the Tyrrell 006 and no doubt all future resin F1 models I make, clearance had to be made for the drivers gear knob. You don’t want to be chafing your knuckles while shifting your knob at 100mph do you? Position marked After One detail I wanted to capture was the cuffs on the lower wishbone made from Milliput, so blobbed a piece in place and after some careful sanding. In place Different angle Back at the rear, rockers made for the dampers Gearbox painted silver then black then brown. After looking at the photos in F1 Modeling, I found the wing mounts should not have the curve forwards at the bottom, so I extended the gearbox backwards, now the rear wing mounts will have to be remade – again - sigh…. Next up is getting some top coat on the body Comments welcome! Malc.

Wow, looks fantastic! M.

Hi Nick, Does this mean you will have a table at Telford, or will you be on a club stand? Malc.

Interesting! I have had great results from Arctic decals, I send him the art work or a picture and he posts the decals back, but I guess Finland to Oz may be expensive for a few decals! Malc.

Thanks Ian, have to give up on that then! In the last episode of Dominic Chinea on youtube, he visits Bicester scramble on 10th October. At 7.46 mins in there is a stripped Bentley engine on a stand with an Amherst Villiers supercharger on the bench behind! Malc.

Oh goody, an update! Looks great, where did you get the decals from? M.

Thanks! M.

Nice, I will be following this one. Another of my favourite cars, Malc.