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Redoing old Airfix Demon


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Hi Jason, I've only just found this thread, and I can understand you renovating rather than buying new as I did the same a while back.

I renovated 2 of my models when we came back to the UK to live, I built them before we went overseas (pre 1994), we came back to the UK in 2004, so my modelling had improved a bit, I used to spend ages on the interior and no time at all on the external finish, now the opposite is true.

So both models had all the loose bits removed, paint stripped using brake fluid (the old nasty type), the decals had to be stripped using Brillo pads, they were pretty tough, then they were sanded smooth, all panel lines rescribed, extra external details added and new paint and decals.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process, I hope you have as much fun, it sound like you are.

Cheers

Dennis

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Yes, Dennis so far it's been fun. I'm getting a rather disturbing amount of pleasure out of de-constructing this model. Now the real fun begins when I start to put it all back together again. Below are photographs of the fuselage after spending some time in a brake fluid bath. Once again, it dissolved the silver paint (and decals) nicely, but it didn't seem to affect the glue. I also noticed it didn't seem to affect at all the paint I'd used on the insides. Considering that I painted this model some 40+ years ago I have no idea what paint I'd used, but it appears to have been some sort of marine paint, as it is impervious to all my attempts to strip it! Since I'm going to have to cut off the "seats" on the interior anyway, I'll probably just end up sanding most of it off. Below these photographs is a photograph of the parts my Amodel (ex-Avis mould I believe) Osprey graciously donated to this project. I think I will give the interior struts a go - I've never attempted that before, but there's a first time for everything. Who knows, I may even do the rigging wires on this bird by the time she's done (rigging scares the **** out of me)! Fun, fun, fun!

Regards,

Jason

ExteriorAfterBrakeFluidTreatment.jpg

InteriorAfterBrakeFluidTreatment.jpg

BitsandBobsfromAmodelOsprey.jpg

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You do realise we're all here waiting with our tongues panting in anticipation of this build commencing...? ;)

Actually, I have only just attempted my first biplane rigging as well. So far, it has gone as planed, although I fear mine was a lot simpler that yours will be, but now that I have tried and succeeded, I may try something a little more adventurous next time!

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I'll be following Jason as it's one of the first models I "nearly" built! I was a bit too young, my mum built it for me! She got the struts on right! :D;)

Is go for the turret one! It's different!

John

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I'll be following Jason as it's one of the first models I "nearly" built! I was a bit too young, my mum built it for me! She got the struts on right! :D;)

Is go for the turret one! It's different!

John

MakingModelsAgain, I hope to get started soon. I just found some Evergreen half-round strips so now I have no excuse not to do the struts on the interior (except for the being "bone-idle" bit). John, as you can tell from the first few photographs on this thread, I was also too young to build this kit, but that didn't stop me. The Turret Demon is intriguing for me also, and I have some decent photographs to get the turret right, but I don't know what sort of seating arrangement the gunner had. I would presume some sort of "cradle" but I don't know what it looked like. I'll look through my photographs to try and determine this but if anybody has any idea, please let me know. I'm probably going to do the SAAF Hartwhatever with this rebuild, but I have another Demon kit on its way to me so I might have a go at the Turret Demon with that one. Now that this build is generating some interest, I suppose I need to crack on with it and not do it at my normal glacial pace.

Regards,

Jason

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Some more piccies! I figure I might as well get some photographs in now, as I'm sure I'll soon revert to my snail's pace of modelling where any real progress (and hence photographs) will be few and far between. The below photographs show the exhausts removed and where I've cut off the "seats", preparatory to actually fitting an interior to this kit. Am I correct in thinking the metal and wooden parts should be grey-green, the tubing black, and the fabric-covered portions red dope? If these are all different colours then that puts a damper on my bright idea to glue half-round plastic to the insides for the struts and paint it all at one go. Now it looks like I'll have to do the tubing separately, paint it black, then install it into the painted interior. I can see things are already starting to get out of hand. While I'm doing the cockpit, why not do the entire interior, with all the metal struts, then I can do all the control lines, an entire Kestrel engine, a Very pistol...

Regards,

Jason

ExteriorAfterRemovalofExhausts.jpg

InteriorAfterRemovalofSeats.jpg

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Just for grins and giggles, here's a photograph of the poor chaps whose home I so wantonly destroyed. The pilot looks like he's wearing a wet suit, but I rather like the cheerful yellow socks I gave the gunner. Lucky thing I didn't give them eyes or they'd have been able to see the terrible job I did on the original model. Oh well, into the parts box for you lot!

Regards,

Jason

Crewmen.jpg

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Good to see this old kit out for an airing! I personally suggest keeping it as a normal Demon. If one is feeling lazy, then there's no conversion required, but the main reason is the fabulously colourful schemes available. I mean, just look at the airworthy K8203 with the 64 sqdn blue and red zigzags all over it!

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-phot...0/1/1971101.jpg

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Good to see this old kit out for an airing! I personally suggest keeping it as a normal Demon. If one is feeling lazy, then there's no conversion required, but the main reason is the fabulously colourful schemes available. I mean, just look at the airworthy K8203 with the 64 sqdn blue and red zigzags all over it!

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-phot...0/1/1971101.jpg

Great photograph, Phil! Thank you for the link! Is that the RAAF Demon that was recently restored? Or is it a British one? Reading the Mushroom book it sounded like there were a number of restorations going on, some of which aimed to make the aeroplane flyable. Even though the markings on that particular Demon are very colourful indeed, I tend more towards camouflaged aircraft, especially ones that have seen combat. That's why I'm probably going to do the Hartebeest (that's the spelling I'm going with today; there are about seven different spellings so it's take your pick). Nonetheless I am always open to suggestions as I'm nowhere near painting this kit (I'm still cleaning it up!). The only proviso is that it be a variant with the angled gunner's position (with the exception of the Turret Demon, which I would have to redo whichever gunner's position the original kit had) and the Kestrel engine. The radial-engined versions I'm basing on the AZ Models Swedish Hart - ready to build I already have the Swedish Hart B.4 in Finnish markings, the Persian Audax with the P&W Hornet (which is going to look like the unholy union of the Hart and the biplane Vought Corsair!), and the Panther-engined Egyptian Audax.

Regards,

Jason

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Here are some more photographs to show that work is proceeding, albeit at that snail's pace I promised (threatened?). Basically I'm still trying to prepare the surfaces. I've sanded down the seats on the interior and I'm busy scraping and sanding down all the glue deposits around the strut openings in the wings. Not easy, but since the glue doesn't seem to want to go away easily I've no choice. The dark spots are where I've applied fresh glue as a filler as a way of getting rid of the ejector pin marks (I'll sand down the glue to make everything nice and flush - that's the plan at any rate). The fuselage is pretty well cleaned-up, as is the lower port wing, but as you can see, the lower part of the upper wing still needs quite a bit of work. I'm thinking of using blasting caps for that one particularly nasty spot of glue you can see on the fourth photograph. Enjoy!

Regards,

Jason

InteriorwithSeatsSandedDown.jpg

WingsandTailwithEjectionMarksGluedIn.jpg

LowerPartofUpperWing.jpg

LowerPartofUpperWing-Detail.jpg

FuselageExteriorwithEvenMoreWorkDone.jpg

PortLowerWing.jpg

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Making good progress as you say Jason

Speed isn't my thing these days, unlike the olden days when I might put three models a month on the competition tables. I am about 4 slow months into my next Westland Wessex model, with another month's worth to go...

I don't know if you have tried it but when I used glue as a filling medium back in the day I would "pack it out" with a little talc powder too, which reduced its agressiveness on bare plastic, and made a better medium to sand down afterwards.

I haven't found any chemical answer to removing old glue globules though, the trusty needle file is my tool of choice for that task.

bill

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Making good progress as you say Jason

Speed isn't my thing these days, unlike the olden days when I might put three models a month on the competition tables. I am about 4 slow months into my next Westland Wessex model, with another month's worth to go...

I don't know if you have tried it but when I used glue as a filling medium back in the day I would "pack it out" with a little talc powder too, which reduced its agressiveness on bare plastic, and made a better medium to sand down afterwards.

I haven't found any chemical answer to removing old glue globules though, the trusty needle file is my tool of choice for that task.

bill

Thank you Bill for the advice on the glue and talc powder! I'll have to try it. And yes I am using my needle files (of which I have around ten different styles), a sharp No.11 blade, curved "sabre" blade, several different grades of sand paper, and sanding sticks (my whole arsenal, as it where). I'm slowly winning the battle, but battle it is.

Regards,

Jason

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Well progress is progress mate and I'm finding it interesting! Be good to see this old kit revamped! About the dope fabric on the insides of the fuz, I did my Swordfish mid stone then stippled some brick red onto that. It gives a good representation mate.

John

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Well progress is progress mate and I'm finding it interesting! Be good to see this old kit revamped! About the dope fabric on the insides of the fuz, I did my Swordfish mid stone then stippled some brick red onto that. It gives a good representation mate.

John

Thank you, John! The suggestion about the interior sounds like it would work, but I may just get (Okay, not get, I'm always) lazy and paint it all grey-green. I can justify this at least partially because I am doing a WWII example, the SAAF Hartebeest as used in Kenya in 1941. Unfortunately the pictures in the Mushroom book are only of the exterior, not the interior of this particular aeroplane, and it was restored in the 1960's so the paint is not original (at least not completely). At any rate, I don't want to spend too much time on the interior as I'm more especially interested in getting the exterior correct, like maybe getting the wing alignment correct this time!

Regards,

Jason

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Great photograph, Phil! Thank you for the link! Is that the RAAF Demon that was recently restored? Or is it a British one? Reading the Mushroom book it sounded like there were a number of restorations going on, some of which aimed to make the aeroplane flyable.

Jason,

As I understand it, the Australian one was restored to airworthy spec but never really intended to be flown, it's displayed at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

The picture I posted is of the UK flier K8203, which was a composite restoration from a pile of bits, but is in my opinion one of the most beautiful aircraft flying in the country, it's currently based at Old Warden in Bedfordshire. I was lucky to see it and the ex-Afghan Hind do a dual display last summer. What a sight and sound! By way of inspiration, here's it being put through its paces at Old Warden:

Looking forward to whatever scheme you decide to complete this kit in!

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Thank you for the information on the Hartbees, John! From what I've read in the Mushroom book (and books are never wrong!), the name appeared in about every possible variant in SAAF documents. Does this mean, however, that you're going to be doing a Hartbees in 1/48th scale to give your lovely Demon some company? I may just have to violate my self-imposed rule against buying 1/48th scale kits (the problem is I was buying them, but never building them - at least with 1/72nd scale I would build a few).

Phil, great footage of that Demon! I've started to fall in love with those zig-zag squadron markings, and as luck would have it I actually have two versions of the markings (one from the AZ Demon kit and one from the ModelDecal Hart Variants set). It looks like I may just have to build that version after all. I mean, at least one of my Hart variants has to be pre-war RAF with the silver paint scheme and the colourful squadron markings.

Regards,

Jason

Edited by Learstang
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Well I've finally started on the fuselage interior. I'll probably go with an all grey-green interior so I've started to glue the tubing directly to the fuselage halves. One thing I did whilst sanding down the insides was to open up the spent cartridge openings since I'd almost sanded through to them anyway. I have a couple of Vickers' breeches I'll glue in the appropriate places near them. In these photographs you can see me go from the fuselage ready for adding the tubing, to the upper tubing being added, and finally the lower tubing. It may not be exactly 100% accurate but looking at it from the cockpit openings with the fuselage closed, I think they'll do the trick. After this it's on to adding the cross bracing. This is actually turning out to be easier than I thought (I can't often say that in modelling). Just as a note, you can see the difference between taking pictures by artificial light (the top two photographs) and natural light (the bottom photograph). The natural light photograph looks better, but since I do most of my modelling at night, that's when I take the pictures.

Regards,

Jason

FuselageReadyforTubing.jpg

Fuselage-StartedTubing.jpg

Fuselage-LowerTubingAdded.jpg

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And now for something completely the same! More photographs! The top photograph shows a few of the cross-brace struts added and the bottom photograph shows them all added. Really not all that hard. I shall add a few fiddly bits such as the gun breeches, ammo drums, and maybe a leather pouch or some such to the sides. Now if only I can find a decent Testors enamel equivalent to their acrylic RAF Interior Gray-Green - I hate using acrylics with an airbrush. It seems like you have to be an alchemist to come up with the proper mix of acrylics and various thinners to get them to work properly, and then to clean out the mess they leave in the airbrush.

Regards,

Jason

Fuselage-CrossTubingStarted.jpg

Fuselage-TubingFinished.jpg

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Thank you Mish! I'm going to prime all the surfaces (wings, interior, exterior) now with Light Ghost Gray to see where I need to re-sand/refill. Hopefully by the time I finish that, I'll have the Interior Green problem sorted out.

Regards,

Jason

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I have done some further work on my SAAF HB (that's what I'm going to call it from now on instead of Hartbeeste, Hartebeest, Hartbeest, etc.). I've sanded down the surfaces and removed the glue so I've now primed the surfaces with my trusty Testors MM Light Ghost Gray, then redone whatever I thought needed redoing. This is the result. Not too bad. Next comes the interior paint which I've decided I will do in overall Testors MM RAF Interior Green (flat enamel). I can't be sure that this is the only paint used on the interior for this particular aeroplane, but it's good enough for me. I will do some weathering of the interior which will show off the aluminium parts and even some of the red fabric dope but one overall colour is obviously the easiest way to go (I didn't fancy trying to paint the tubing black, or aluminium, without getting the colour on the interior walls). I'll post some pictures of the primed fuselage interior and interior parts such as the "floor", seat, etc. tomorrow - exciting stuff, what!

Regards,

Jason

FuselageInteriorsPrimed.jpg

StarboardInteriorPrimed.jpg

PortInteriorPrimed.jpg

LowerPartofUpperWingPrimed.jpg

UpperPartofUpperWingPrimed-1.jpg

UpperPartofLowerWingsPrimed-1.jpg

LowerPartofLowerWingsPrimed-1.jpg

FuselageExteriorsPrimed-1.jpg

PortExteriorPrimed-1.jpg

StarboardExteriorPrimed-1.jpg

Edited by Learstang
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As promised (threatened?), here are some interior photographs after painting with the Interior Green. I plan on opening up the centres of the rudder pedals (hopefully without breaking them), and painting the straps a leather colour. I also wonder if the seat shouldn't be aluminium - any ideas? Obviously everything is going to be weathered and certain parts painted differently, but the interior's starting to come together.

Regards,

Jason

InteriorPaintedRAFGreen.jpg

InteriorPartsPaintedRAFGreen.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

As an answer to a question that nobody has asked, I am still working on my SAAF HB rebuild of the old Airfix Demon. I've weathered the interior now - not too bad, and I even remembered to use black on the weathered internal tube framework, as this was apparently originally finished in a "japanned" black enamel finish. I've also done some more work on the interior parts, having glued the seat to the "floor", added the control column, and the rudder pedals (and although it's hard to tell from the photograph, I did open up the pedals). One question I do have - does anyone have any ideas about whether I should paint the seat as if it has a leather covering? As always, any help is greatly appreciated! Another question - would I be remiss in adding a few flecks of red to the wooden area around the cockpit (analogous to the "doghouse" on the Hurricane.) I may still add a little red to the fabric-covered portions to show the red dope weathering through. I don't want to go too overboard on the interior, but I do want to make it look reasonably good as you can see quite a bit of it through the two open cockpits.

Regards,

Jason

FuselageInteriorsWeathered.jpg

SeatandFloorPaintedandWeathered.jpg

Edited by Learstang
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