DMC

Spent some time mulling over just how I could make a clear cover for the wing root landing lights. Plunging the cover was not much of a problem but getting the shape right and then painting the frame around it was really going to tax my vision a bit. So, I plunged an opaque leading edge and trimmed a section of it to fit just the opening, with no overlap. I fixed that to the clear leading edge I had previously plunged with a dot of liquid mask. After that set for a minute I misted a little Tamiya grey primer on the piece and then a light coat of Halfords’ aluminium. Top right photo shows the mask I actually used and the plunge I cut it from. For this demo I made another one with a scrap of styrene cemented to it which made it much easier to handle. Should have done it the first time. Cut the painted ‘cover’ from the plunge and carefully trimmed around it with very sharp nail clippers until it looked about right. I’m going to hold off cementing it to the wing(s) until they are on the fuselage. Pleased with the results and now that got the ‘how to do it’ worked out I think the next one will be easier. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

Hi Rob, Not that familer with the Ventura, but I like this......and you could foil it, which you seem to enjoy doing. Dennis bingapis.com photo

Heck, Ced, just go ahead and plunge one. Dennis

Sometimes I suppose, Rob, time to problem solve, which is what I enjoy most. This airliner lark is all new to me and I’ve learned a thing or two about the 727 which is useful as I’ve two more to get on with. Yes, the Tristar build is really good. Learning a couple of things about how to do complicated flaps. I have a punch and have used it for punching out very shiny foil that I’d cemented to styrene sheet....just to experiment. Looks good on your Caravelle (doh! Not a Caravel!). And thanks for the bump. Dennis

Managed to get a few things done over the holidays but just bone idleness prevented me from doing more. Re-scribing or rather scribing full stop as the panel lines were of the raised variety to begin with. First tried scribing into the primer only which worked very well but I ended priming over them again a couple of times and had to refresh the scribing after I’d applied the (Halfords) aluminium. But I’m pretty satisfied with the results and am hoping to improve as I do more. Incidentally, some of the scribing was done directly into the aluminium top coat, over Tamiya primer, and I find that works even better and avoids having to do two scribings. After reading up a little on ‘Corogard’, I went ahead and sprayed Vallejo U S Grey which I think is close enough based on what I’v seen in a few photos. It is, apparently, a clear carrier with powdered(?) aluminium mixed in. Close up ‘again apparently’ the infusion of the aluminium is obvious but from a distance it appears greyish. I noticed a slight film of aluminium on my fingers from handling the painted wing and I rubbed it lightly on the grey which imparted a slight sheen to the ‘Corogard’ for, ha!, authenticity. I also redid the landing lights using the Little Cars lenses. Two mm for the largest one and one and a half for the smaller. The wingtip lamp is only half a mm. Really strained my vision on that one. Working out now how best to fashion the lense covers. The reference photo is from the BM 727 Walk Around. And here’s another way to do the lights: http://floatingmid.com/LL.htm Bottom photo is of the Revell (top) wing and the Airfix wing. The large gaps run the entire length of both wings but really should only be between the outer and inner ailerons. Where the flaps join up should only be a fine line (BM Walk Around again). Missed filling the gaps on the Revell kit but I’ve added a bit of styrene rod to fill the gaps in on the Airfix wing. I’ll scribe the separation line in after painting the wing. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

Loving it! Threads such as this, and your other one, help make my transition from war and war machines that much smoother. Dennis

Hi Rob, This is the stuff to get: no craze, no haze, as you can see on the canopy. Available on the auction site for around £4, free postage. Biggest problem I have with it is getting the pin-stopper back in the nozzle (tired old eyes). Cheers Dennis

The level of detail is staggering in its complexity. Not even sure I believe what I’m looking at. Simply amazing! Dennis

Merry Christmas all. Waiting for things to start happening around here so time for a quick post. The scribing on the wings came out pretty good. They could have used another good coat of primer as I got into the plastic in a few places where it was too thin. However, scribing into the primer works best for me, I just have to make sure there’s enough of it on the area to be scribed. I’ll use Vallejo black wash to make it stand out a bit more. I used Halfords’ aluminium on the wings and that certainly brought home to me the need to be extra careful with the primer finish as many file marks and scratches not noticed before really popped out. I reshaped the wingtips a little and cut out a notch for the nav lights. I’ve seen some builds where a the modellers used a bit of clear plastic (toothbrush?) faired and polished into the wing to good effect. Being something of a plunge moulding devotee, however, I thought I’d give that method a try before heading out to hunt down a suitable toothbrush. First few few tries weren’t very successful even though I was using the correct plastic for vacuum forming and plunge moulding (PETG). At .020 it was just too thick and I was about ready admit defeat but found a thin bit of scrap vacuum formed packaging that I had squirreled away previously. I had an “eureka” moment when it didn’t fog when heated and the plunge was successful. I had also reshaped the mould so that I would get both “lenses” with one plunge. Somewhat elated with with my nav light success I reshaped the wing root landing light I had previously done, lined it with black styrene and plunged, using the same plastic, a lense cover to fit the wing leadin edge. For the lamps themselves I’ll use these very handy ones I bought from Modelling Tools. Now all I have to do fit these tiny pieces without sacrificing them to that ravenous carpet monster that lurks under my bench. Thanks for for your interest Dennis

Thanks @Whofan and @sinnerboy. There was a thread in “chat” a while back on this book and I made a note to self to read it some day. My recent interest in the VC-10 served to remind me so I bought a copy. Looking forward to reading it. Cheers Dennis

Hi Bill, I’ve had a couple of the Small Stuff rotaries and they are indeed small. Since you have three exhaust set-ups to make probably the easiest way to go about would be to make a master and cast three out of resin. Not all that easy I realise but it would save you the bother of piecing together a dozen or more minute pieces of styrene rod and doing it three times. If if you choose to do each one separately you might try wrapping the appropriate size rod around a dowel, pencil size?, and setting it with boiling water. This would give you the necessary curves you’ll need to piece the manifolds together. Either method would require a jig a jig of some sort. Can’t think of any other way to go about it if I had to do it. Perhaps a more experienced modeller might be able to suggest another way. Good luck Dennis

I’ve been wanting to read this book for some time now hoping to gain some insight into the reasons for the decline of Great Britain’s aircraft industry. Finally finished my last book (The Feather Thief) and treated myself to an early Christmas present. Dennis

Ditto, quite good I thought and had me looking up Concorde kits on eBay. Dennis

After spending countless hours plunging, fitting and painting the exhaust cones, but sans thrust reversers, for the pods I wrote what I had done off and started over. Plunged new cones, cut out the reverser openings and cemented inserts to close off the openings. I sprayed the cones with black primer, taped off the reverser openings and then sprayed them with Halfords’ aluminium. Few of the cones in the online photos I looked at were that shiney. Most were three or four shades of dull grey with, perhaps, the tip of the cone polished. I tried to duplicate that look. The, very small, mesh insert was cut from one of those little bags often handed out as party or weddings favours. This is about the best I can do with these cones and having spent too much time on them already I am ready to move on. Too scribe or not to scribe in 1/144 seems to be a matter of personal choice. Easy to overdo things in such a small scale and end up with the dreaded “trenches”. Rather than scribe directly into the plastic, I took a leaf from Paul Budzik’s book and scribed into the primer coat only. I used the back of a new Xacto blade and three thicknesses of tape has guides. A few of the lines strayed “off piste” but are difficult to see as the scribing is very fine. After the colour coat the “panel lines” will be barely discernible. Pleased with the way the scribing turned out. Thanks for for your interest. Dennis Excellent scuribing tutorial from Paul Budzik.

Terrific! and doesn’t it look good sitting on that base. Dennis