Ryan Lumb

I'm not sure it can be saved. The damage to the top wing may have gotten worse, as I was trying to save the resin conversion. There's lots of split areas, even the left wing is just about holding on still. I wish that happened to me 😅.

It's all good, I managed to fix the fuselage cut depth difference so that it is all level. All I need now is the new kits wing. It only occurred to me this morning that the valiant had a wing fatigue issue, I do wonder if it was in the area that mine failed 😅

It is a bit of a pain, the good news is I have fixed the fuselage cut depth difference last night. So the kit can be saved, I just have to use another wing and hopefully get it level 🤞

Its all good honestly, this might be the first accident that has resulted in me having to get another kit 😂 thank you though. I absolutely love it when things don't always go to plan 😅 my wallet not so much 😂

Yeah its not ideal, but that's what I love about doing kits. Just a smallish setback 😅 now I know not to over stress the wing to that point 😅

Tis but a scratch...... Hi all, I have had something rather unfortunate happen to the valiant, completely my fault though. So I was trying to bring the right wing down so it was level and well the next sound I heard some time after the super glue dried was a snap. I over stressed the right wing just after the conversion and as you can see the right wing isn't where it should be, plus right next to the fuselage you can see how much stress i put on the kit 😅. So I used debonder and well most of the top wing section came off, I also discovered what was causing the right wing to lift up, my butcher cut on the left side was slightly deeper than the right side 🤦‍♂️ My plan that I am currently doing now is, I have managed to save all of the conversion parts, the next step is wait for the second valiant kit to arrive, thirdly save what I can from this valiant and use it on the new one to save some time ( unless i can fix the difference in the butcher cut deepness to save this one ) Most importantly I have learned what mistakes I did, and to not repeat that on the next valiant which should arrive in a few days. I was rather suspicious that this was going a bit too well without any problems caused by me ( I really shouldn't of said that on the phone to my friend while i was trying to level the wing 😂 ) now that I know what to do, I should be able to get back to where I was in a few days once the other valiant arrives in a few days. If I can fix the level difference before then, and dry test the new wing to make sure it's level, then I can pick up where I left off with this build. I shall keep you all informed as I try to fix my mess.

Hi John I bought the stand off ebay. Type in: Model aircraft berth jig stand holder plane 1/48 1/72 1/144 kit building MPB1. The one sponsored with the meteor is the one I bought. It is a really good stand and quite strong as well. With the butchering I really didn't want to do it but sanding was taking far to long, so I used the saw to speed it up. It now all fits together smoothly which is what I wanted, the next step is trying to work out if the right wing should be going upwards or if it should be level with the intakes 😅 Ryan

Hi all so this is what progress I have made with the valiant so far. Things are going slowly because I had to cut into the fuselage where the top wing with the conversion meets the fuselage, it was stopping the top wing section along the fuselage from joining flush. I have added in some cut up bits of sprue to strengthen that area due to the weight of the conversion ( thanks to Steve for that idea ) It doesn't look to pretty but the good thing is that it is hidden. So after getting the resin conversion to fit nice and comfortably I then drilled out the tail air intake and have filled around it with vallejo filler, some parts I had to re add some filler as I sanded off to much, so I am currently waiting on that drying. I believe I have the tail air intake to be about the right length and height, it took a little longer than i expected because i found out that my hand drill is off center by quite a large amount 🤦‍♂️ ( that's what I get for buying one from ebay for cheap 😂 ) I also have the extra rudder tabs added to the rudder as well, I used bits from a spares/ broken concorde 1/144 lot I bought off ebay to make the tabs. Now that I believe the fuselage is now largely complete, I am just finishing dry fitting the wings before they meet the gluing stage. I did also noticed something rather odd, the wings especially from the front are pointing upwards, now im fairly certain the valiant didn't have wings that go upwards after the engine intakes 😅 So im not sure if gluing the conversion to the wings and then, as tight as I can, glue the underside of the wings to the underside of the conversion, if that will bring and keep the wings down instead of upwards. Because I have dry fitted/ tested bringing the underside of the wing to as close to the conversion as I can. It does look like the wings are level instead of upwards, the down side is I cannot take a photo of that, because the tamiya tape won't hold long enough for me to get a photo 🤦‍♂️ If gluing the underside of the wings to the conversion as tightly as i can does happen to work, then i am hoping that will also close the gap along the leading edge of the wings. ( I am not sure if doing that is a smart idea or not, incase something cracks after the model is finished) I forgot to take a picture last time of the wing tips so here they are. I believe these are now the correct shape. So now the next step is just getting everything ready to be glued , plus double/ triple checking I have everything right before I glue the whole kit together. The next update could very well see this kit all primed, as long as everything behaves and goes to plan 😅 Regards Ryan

Hi all, sorry for the delay in progress I had a unexpected trip to the hospital and then I caught covid again over Christmas and new years 🤦‍♂️😂. So continuing from where I left off last time, I made a template of WB210's rudder and traced that onto some tamiya tape and then sanded down the rudder to the right shape ( I hope ) Then the next step was joining the two fuselage halfs together. I did have a fit issue with the bombbay, because in the airfix instructions it says to add in a few plugs, but those were stopping the two halfs from closing flush so i didn't add them in. After that was resolved i attached the smaller bombaimers blister and window, thankfully that went together perfectly. ( I did have to ask Steve to make me a couple more bombaimers blister, because I may have split one and made the window hole to big on the second 😅 ) Third times the charm to my delight. thankfully after some help from Steve I managed to get the window in and secure. After that I started work on the under side of the wings with getting the airbrakes filled in and I carefully sawed out the old intakes and exhausts. The next step after that, I then removed the intake lip from from the top section of the wings, and carefully removed the exhausts from the top section. With those parts removed I then dry fitted the resin intakes to the upper wing and fuselage. I accidentally cut a bit to much from the left wing, it's not to bad because I can use filler to fill the gap. The resin intakes and exhausts are a very tight fit to the fuselage so i will have to do some sanding on the fuselage to get a nice fit. ( I am certain the tight fit is due to kit not going together quite right ) I have also removed the wing vortex generators and reshaped the wing tips but i haven't taken any photos as of yet. This conversion that Steve @BritJet has done is amazing. I was incredibly nervous to start sawing into this kit, the way he's made this conversion and his instructions are so easy to follow and to understand. I hope to continue work on this very soon because I am very excited to getting this Valiant finished. I have marked out the landing gear bay and where I need to make some small changed to get the landing gear bay to fit. Until then I will keep working to get everything to fit nice and flush before I glue it all together. Ryan

A lovely looking aircraft, one that I have seen in a video but forgotten its name until now. A fantastic build you have done 😊

I will have to grab myself a set. Other than the victor I have five 1:48 Canberra's that will require some surgery, so anything that will make doing conversions easier I shall definitely get.

Thanks I am hoping it becomes less dramatic, but me being me I will always accidentally find a way to hurt my self 😂 I do have an airfix handley page victor that I want to make the matchbox conversion fit, so once that is figured out I will start on that and share the progress here as well. Do you have any tips or tricks for chopping up kits at all?

So far everything has been going really well, I shall triple check and then cut. Although I do need some scalpel proof gloves because I had a rather unfortunate accident with trying to salvage the cockpit internals from a Canberra b6 kit, so it will be a few days before I can get back to making progress on this kit.

I was surprised as well because I thought I would have to get another kit and cut the intakes off that to make the prototype. It wasn't until I asked someone I think on britmodeller that they then sent me a link to BritJet's build, I asked him out of curiosity if he kept the moulds, then the next thing I know I bought his conversion and now hopefully I can do his conversion some good. I will see if I can find his conversion and post the link here because it looks amazing.

This is absolutely awesome, great work and I love the end product you have made 😊