Scratcher Posted August 15, 2012 Author Share Posted August 15, 2012 (edited) The first task I'm tackling is the centre section. First, the wheel wells were tidied up and a channel cut to give a sliding fit for the 1/4" aluminium rod, then plastic card was used to box in the well. The general has found that the channels marked on the wells are a little to far forward and need to be cut 2-3 mm further aft than I've done with the example below. The fuselage centre sections were cleaned up The rear end joints should look like this: The wheel wells were fouling slightly against the top half of the fuselage, so a little sanding on the inside of the fuselage half was required to allow the top and bottom to mate together. Next job is to paint the wheel wells and join the fuselage halves together. A brief pause till tomorrow while I go and buy some US Ghost Grey... Edited September 3, 2012 by Scratcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Wow, watching every move you make! Don't mind me, I'll be the one in the back drooling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noeyedears Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 wow thats crazy!! ill be watching with open mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcos Borges Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Very impressive!! I will follow this build for sure. Cheers, Marcos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 (edited) After painting the wheel wells US Ghost Grey and the jet pipes Aluminium sprayed with a dash of soot, the wells were fixed to the bottom of the fuselage. This part needed a little reshaping with hot water to ensure that the profile matched exactly the contact edges on the wells and to get it to match the width of the top half properly. Note the area circled in red – it’s intentional as on the real thing there appears to be a gap there where cables are routed through - plenty of scope for superdetailing here! To get the wells in the correct position fore and aft, the aluminium rod was temporarily slid through the channels previously cut and the rod matched against the gap in the brass wing root profile. The rod should fit through, just touching the front angled corner of the brass wing root when the root is matched up against the bottom fuselage half. The wells should end up with the front edge a millimetre or so forward of the hole in the fuselage half. I also thinned the edges of the hole and the fuselage wing root edges where they bear against the brass component. The top and bottom fuselage halves were then fixed together, being careful to ensure that the thickness of the wing root matches the brass profile - I had to add 1mm of plasticard shim to one joint where I must have been overenthusiastic cleaning up the fuselage halves. Matching the wing root thickness to the brass profile The two halves were joined in 4 operations, cementing one joint at a time instead of trying to align all the joints simultaneously. The main points to watch out for are 1) aligning the wheel wells fore and aft. 2) Being careful to ensure the wing root thickness matches the brass profile. The resin edges will be squared off at a later stage, before the folding mechanism is scratched and the brass parts added. Edited August 17, 2012 by Scratcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 This looks superb. 10/10 for turning your masters into such a great looking kit. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughgos hobby bench Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Please set one aside for me Scratcher...Something nice for Christmas the Wife said!!!! We shall see...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHAR67 Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Will they be ready for sale by the time it comes to my B'day 5/9/12 if so how much will one cost? Thanks Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 Will they be ready for sale by the time it comes to my B'day 5/9/12 if so how much will one cost? Thanks Clive The good news is that I hope to be ready to take orders in the next 2-3 weeks. The not so good news is that they'll be £130 plus p&p. I want to do them on a first come first served basis - a customer places an order, joins the queue (now that's presumptuous!) and when their parts are boxed and ready to post, then I'll ask for money - no deposits.That way I get to keep my sanity and not stress myself that I've got somebodys money. PLEASE don't try and ask for one yet as I want to wait until this build is substantially done and documented. That way, both I and the customer can be sure that they know what they're taking on. I may be asking questions too - Have you read the build thread? Do you have the patience of Job? Have you read the Generals assessment? etc. By the way, there are no decals, pylons or things to dangle from them. Apart from that, there are a few bits the customer will have to scratch, which will become apparent as this WIP progresses. Intakes for a MK1 will also be forthcoming at some point... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 (edited) After spending several hours wondering why my airbrush was blowing bubbles today, I got a jewellers loupe and discovered a split in the nozzle. So I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. Anyway... Working on the nose, I lapped the edges of the two halves with 120 grit on a flat surface until the flash began to fall off and the cockpit tub was a snug fit when the halves are dry fitted. There are tabs on the cockpit sides to locate the tub. The row of holes along the inside of the cockpit rail are redundant - there's a PE part to fit there. And at this stage, I'm not worried about the tip of the nose. I alway seem to blunt it on something, so much later in the build I'll make a small hole there and insert a pin to give it a sharp tip, and smooth it into shape with a dab of filler. There are an assortment of parts to fit into the cockpit and a few decals for instrument panels etc. The rear bulkhead fits as above - there are a few ribbed protuberances on the bulkhead (connector blocks or circuit breakers I presume) and where the arrow is they need to be reduced a little or they'll foul the cockpit tub. The bulkhead needed a little sanded off the width between the indents which go around the cockpit rails. The width between these indents should be 14.5mm. The overall width inside the front of the canopy rails hould be 27mm. There is a cylinder on the bulkhead which may need to be shortened by a couple of mil, if extra detailing is added to the seats. The next sequence of events will be to cement the parts above to the cockpit sides and paint them, paint the cockpit tub and bulkhead and fix them in to one side. The nose halves will then be joined. I ignore the rest of the cockpit interior at this stage. Same for the nose gear well which will be scratched and slotted in later. Off for a beer now... Edited August 19, 2012 by Scratcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksdad Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 The only thing I'm struggling with is what scheme to do. Old school camo is looming likely at the moment. Obviously it would have to be Lossie based. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper-30 Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Guinness girl for me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-VIZZ Flyer Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 That is AWESOME I want one!! Keep up the great work, amazing to watch, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) Cockpit side components, left and right The cockpit tub was temporarily positioned (leaving room behind it for the rear bulkhead) and used as a guide to cement the cockpit side components into the nose halves. The tub is 48mm wide at it's widest point - important when it comes to mating the nose halves. After fixing the side components, the whole was sprayed with Upol hi build primer (acrylic seems to like it) and painted with Humbrol Acrylic US Ghost Grey, red on the fire extinguisher and black. The cockpit decals supplied with the model were applied to the side panels, along with a few odd instruments from the spares box. The throttle levers were scratched from plasticard and tubing. The tub and rear bulkhead were fixed to the nose port side and the two halves joined A I said earlier, I'm ignoring the tip of the nose for the moment. Note too, in the right hand photo there is a 2.5mm gap in the joint at the top, at the fuselage spine. This is fine, and it still matches OK with the spine on the fuselage centre section. Next thing is to clean up the nose and fix the intakes. Edited August 20, 2012 by Scratcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 I've cleaned up the centre section and the nose, filling where necessary. I use car body filler mostly, as it's ready to sand in 30 minutes and the green stuff for very small blemishes. The main thing here is to ensure the mating surfaces are square in all planes. Once they were trued up, the nose was dry fitted and the intakes trimmed in length to fit into the recess in the nose. This is the first dry fit of all 4 parts. I'll cement the intakes to the nose tomorrow and if needed, I'll use hot water and gentle persuasion to reshape the front of the centre section to get a fit that'll need the least filling and sanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksdad Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Thats starting to look really good Stuart. Its also great that you are showing us how to build the kit in the best way possible. I can't wait to see it finished. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windy Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Loving the build so far and just amazed at the kit. I think if I can get my grubby mits on one of your kits I will do a Royal Navy bird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHAR67 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 watching with interest nice build so far. Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) The air intakes were cemented to the nose section (vents to the underside), after a little sanding to get a close fit. The joints were filled with car body filler and sanded smooth. The only awkward bit was filling the small gap between the front of the intake lip and the fairings on the nose - it was such a small gap I used a toothpick to get the filler in. After sanding the joints, being careful to avoid the intake lip, the nose was sprayed with Upol hi build primer to show up any blemishes in the surface - I was pleased to see there were none! I don't do any scribing at this stage as there will stilll be issues to fix on joining the nose to the centre section. The nose is now ready to join but first, I'll sort out the back end. Now would be a good time to put the Spey compressors in place. They sit around 2" back from the lip of the intake. I'll scratch and insert the wheel well at some point... Edited September 2, 2012 by Scratcher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 The cast of the 'Coke bottle' rear section had a couple of mishapen areas to deal with - one 'dent' can be seen in the photo below as a shadow on the right side of the rear section. I marked out the cut-out for the hook/tailskid recess. The recess was cut out with a hack saw blade and finished off with a Dremel. The back end of the hook recess should sit flush with the end of the rear section. I was a little surprised at how thick I'd made the cast... The hook recess was cemented in position, and again, car body filler was used to fill the joints and to fill the flaws in the rear section - the area hatched with pencil lines. An orbital sander is a very handy tool at this stage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) Having sorted out the rear fuselage, the next stage was to match it to the centre section. There was a lip, 2- 3mm between the two, where the join was both over and undersize as below: So, some bracing was temporarily fixed in the centre section to hold a closer match with the rear end, and then dunked in hot water to fix the shape. DON'T be tempted to use spring clamps to hold a shape while using hot water - I did this once and the clamps distorted the part as the heat softened it. If the part won't flex far enough or is liable to snap, I heat it in water and then use gentle pressure to alter the shape and while keeping the pressure on, dunk it in cold water to fix the shape. It may take a couple of goes to get it right, but gently does it. After joining the two, filling and sanding, I ended up with this Edited August 23, 2012 by Scratcher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksdad Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) Coming along nicely Stuart. Seems like a rather nice build. Steve Edited August 22, 2012 by jacksdad64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 As Steve said, Looks great! Can't wait to see/own one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratcher Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) The next job was to fit the jetpipe fairings. Externally they are undersized and will need filling to blend them in to the centre section They should be fitted to angle downwqards slightly, with the tip of the heatshield following a line from the centre of the pipe as in the photo below. Fixed and filled, much the same on the other side - the fairings aren't handed by the way, they're both the same parts. After sanding And where I am now I'll add the bulbous weapons bay and spray the rear section with Upol primer to highlight any blemishes that might need working on, then join the nose section tomorrow... Edited August 23, 2012 by Scratcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksdad Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I can't wait to get my hands on one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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