Iain Ogilvie

Looks great! I'd be seriously tempted by one in 1:32 - perhaps FDM print using HIPS (with details resin printed) in 1:32? Iain

Crikey - have just seen this! 1:32 you say? Yes please! Iain

Hi Mike, I've just read this - and opened the kit I bought in 2014 - and, guess what, I'm missing that sprue!! Don't suppose you still have the 'spare' do you? Happy to exchange for beer/plastic vouchers... Iain

I'm mirroring the build thread from Large Scale Planes here on Britmodeller too: Iain

Hi Matt, Long time, no speak! The 'kit' includes pre-cut 'windows' in a thin, clear, material (along with frames in white plastic). I could have used those as patterns - but easier to mark and cut new ones to fit as the openings have been sanded to remove print texture and this way, I know they fit perfectly. I've gone for thicker material so they end up as optically 'flat' as I can get them - and blended in with surrounding fuselage. It's no biggie! Iain

Yes - recess is really useful. Needs cleaning up and deepening a little - but I'll be skinning with 0.25mm PETG before masking the windows. Corrected tail is still out IMHO - and I'd still be cutting up as I have so far (I have one of the corrected prints). Iain

With a fresh supply of 1.5mm clear HIPS sheet I thought I'd take a break from sanding/cutting/reinforcing big chunks of ABS and have a play with a glazing - to see if this particular cunning plan was going to work. I'll let you guys be the judge by the end of this post. The quality of clear parts can make, or break, a model and so I usually spend a lot of time on a project trying to get these as good as I can get them. I try to use the most suitable material for any given purpose. The fuselage windows I'm going to do as a single strip each side - so wanted a clear, non-yellowing, plastic that would easily conform to the single curve of the fuselage - and could be glued to the ABS fuselage prints with solvent. So - 0.25mm UV Stabilised PETG sheet will be used. For the cockpit windows I wanted something absolutely flat and distortion free - and something I could use wet and dry followed by polishing with Novus Plastic Polish. PETG doesn't like sanding/polishing at all - but HIPS does - and at 1.5 mm thick substantial enough for shaping and to hold it's flat shape on fitment. Add to that the trick of 'edging' the clear part with a permanent marker that I've been using for years to make neat edges, as well as create the impression of thinner 'glass', I thought I might have the tools to make a go of these. Cutting the first window: An oversize section was laid over the window aperture and the edges marked on the surface with a new scalpel blade. The section was then trimmed back using Tamiya side-cutters to within about 1mm - then the edges taken back with the T-Bar sander - bit by bit, with lots of trial and error - as well as corner rounding, until it fitted absobl**dy perfectly - even if I do say so myself! Here it is just press fitted in position - took about an hour - but hopefully looks OK! Final bonding will be with a little solvent touched into the corners and into the joint - followed by a polish. So, I think there's another challenge sorted, perhaps... Blue skies! Iain

Just a few bits and bobs - I've been mainly trying to find reference material on the interior AEO's position in the E3 Variant - as well as any more tailplane detail - and still drawing a few blanks. I think I'm getting there with the tailplane - with the various elements/angles/interfaces now making sense, after some surgery and scratch-building: And some filler-primer on the interior of the tail: Another update to follow in a mo... Iain

Hiya John! Yes - she'll be an E.Mk 3 of 115 Squadron - late '80s as we used to see them a lot: Iain

I'm loving my 1:32 Andover project... It turned out to be far better than I expected - and I think Toshihiko is getting some really good print results - I was very pleased. I'm looking at mine as a canvas - a basis rather than an end in itself. Yes, lots of sanding, but easier than a vac, or resin, kit IMHO - and surprisingly light as most parts are printed hollow. I'm really pleased that I bit the bullet and ordered one - I never, ever, expected to be building a 1:32 Andover! There already a link to my project above, but I also published a 'review' over on Large Scale Planes. I'm with MB - haven't worked on a project that's been so rewarding for ages - but it does/will take a lot of work. Iain

OK - I was planning to put this away this afternoon, but got sidetracked and ended up following more of Baldricks 'cunning plan' and creating more parts by cutting up existing ones! The tailpane... The sections of elevator were removed from both the inner sections of tailplane (removed from the fuselage tail earlier) and the separate tailplane sections themselves. This was really hard work on the inner sections as the 'skin' is quite thin here - and I had to do some re-bonding of broken sections afterwards. The outer sections were an absolute walk in the park as they are printed mostly separated along the hinge line and so the main cuts have to be made to the hinges. So, more parts: And then, well, I had to glue something back together - so I now have mostly complete port and starboard tailplanes and separate elevators - to be left for a few days to harden off: Deffo taking a break now... Iain

A little more progress bubbling away this week - but I'm going to take a break from sanding for a few days and pick up on some other projects for a few days... More primer on the tail - and a start made on opening up the slots for the tail door hinges: And yet more sanding of detail areas on the tail interior - with home-made 240 grit sanding sticks to get into nooks and crannies: Interior fuselage sections after initial clean-up and a coat of primer - can see what I'm doing now! Note - these are photographed upside down so I could capture more of the relevant detail: All external aerial details, along with external hinges and rain channels have been removed - to be replaced with finer detail later in the build. And getting ready to remove the internal sections - to be re-arranged later: And, whilst everything out, I couldn't resist a quick fuselage shot! Too big to fit on the photo background I normally use at home: Oh, and after a bit of a search, a stock of 0.25mm/10 thou clear PETG sheet has arrived - more on this to follow... Have fun! Iain

Hi gang, Apologies for lack of posts - a bit more progress: Several areas I'm keen to find info at present, as well as anything that might help with the tail area, the most immediately required was to confirm the internal Layout for the E3/E3A conversions as it looked like there was a second console added next to the navigator's position for the AEO that managed the approach calibration equipment. To that end, Ebay came up with some help, for very little outlay, in the form of three old period publications from the 70s/80s: Most useful for the Calibration E3 versions was the following: Unfortunately the quality of magazine photographs/print has improve hugely over the years, and many of these images are a little grainy, but they do help! The latter article certainly confirms the different internal layout on the 115 Sqn airframes - if not the specific details. I've just joined the 115 Sqn association page on Facebook to see if any ex. members have any suitable details. But - it is progress, as I've made some decisions regarding the internal sections as printed - and need to get some fresh scalpel blades out for more cutting. Iain

Indeed - and a very distinctive sound those Darts made! Have you seen the 1:72 verion that One Man Model are selling? Iain

Hopefully it'll end up somewhere worthwhile! Reason for posting here, as well as a British subject (last of the Avro's?), I'm sure there will be a few members of this parish that will have acquired the 1:72 and 1:48 versions - so any challenges/issues will be very similar. Iain