depressed lemur Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Hi Guys, I picked up a couple of these from Asda a few weeks ago. My plan is to try to improve the overall look of the kit by doing a bit of scratch building. I am going to try a few new things here so hopefully it will all work out in the end. I have set my target as putting this on the branch table at Telford so - no pressure then. Just to make life a little more interesting, I am teaching my son how to do this at the same time, his build log should appear on here in due course. Obligatory box shot And a shot of the contents. This is not a new mould, but the parts have little or no flash. One big plus of this over the Hawk 120 is that at least the undercarriage doors appear the right size. Looking at photos of parked Hawks, the all seem to have dropped flaps, so this is the first port of call. All will be scratch built as funds and time are limited, so materials will basically be plastic card, bits of wire and streched sprue. Further considerations will be given to improving the cockpit, airbrake area and if time permits, I may open a panel in the nose. One thing which may need a closer look is the undercarriage legs as I haven't worked out yet if they depict the correct sit for a loaded airframe on the deck. Today I made the first cuts on the wings as I thought this would be the easiest starting point. Nice and simple, just a cople of passes with the razor saw. this does create a heck of a poor looking flap, so on with a bit of sanding to create a better airfoil section. One of the problems here was that I had to remove a chunk of the upper wing where it covers the flap, so this was built back up with 5 thou card stock cut to the correct size and blended into the upper surface. I will scribe them in the future, this is something I have never done before, so I am doing the obvious thing, and putting it off. Moving slightly on, I have split the fairings and attached them to one of the wings, these are going to be left to dry before I see what I need to do to get a good fit when I drop them. To aid in this job, I have taken advantage of the fantasic walk arounds on this site, thanks guys for some great photos. Thanks for looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 if your doing parked a/c, UK Hawks are always parked with flaps down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy K Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 if your doing parked a/c, UK Hawks are always parked with flaps down. Any particular reason for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 (edited) Yes, the flap hydraulic jack has a shuttle valve within it's body, thIs valve shifts to allow high 3000psi pressure nitrogen into the down side of the jack when the emergency flap down 'blowdown' is operated, if the flaps are left up they tend to droop when hyd pressure is removed or someone leans on the flap surface, & this can unseat the shuttle valve which can allow hyd fluid to creep down the pipework to the 'blowdown' valve & the fluid starts to drip from the valve drain pipe or body, causing us engineers more work that can be avoided by staying to the operating procedures. Edited October 14, 2012 by Hawkkeeper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy K Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Interesting......Thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Update number 1: The flaps turned out to be a bit trickier than expected due to a small aerofoil section just ahead of the flap. From an aerodynamical point of view, I can see why it is there, but it has taken me a couple of days to work out a way of replicating this. My starting point was a section of thick card. To aid in plastic removal I coloured one side and the edges black, and attacked it with the old metal file. In this shot you can see what I mean with "one I made earlier" but buggered up the dimensions. After separating and profiling, I attached them to the flaps. I don't know if they are 100% accurate with regards scale, but I think they give the right impression. ( I would appreciate your view Hawkkeeper) Tomorrow night I get a bit of free time, so I am going to start trying to make an Airfix cockpit look a little more Hawkish. Thanks for looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 (edited) the upper section goes to the inboard end of main flap & stops short of the outboard end as shown in http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71778 good photo's of the red arrows flaps in this link, all UK T1 hawks have the same flaps flap outer end the upper vane outer end is almost in=line with the centreline of the outer hinge bracket/fairing Edited October 17, 2012 by Hawkkeeper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Thanks, my reference shows the upper section stopping short outboard, but appears to end inboard just under the root fillet. Hopefully when the flap is fitted this will tie up. For the moment I have left a step at the inner face of the flap to remind me, just have to remember to fill it at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 (edited) Not much progress to report so today. Having made myself satisfied as to how the flaps turned out I decided to look at the cockpit. Airfix have suplied a couple of reasonable seats, which I will use ( though add some detail to) and a stepped floor which is the total representaion of the entire cockpit. As you can see, this looks so accurate it blows the mind. Now, I am in no way claiming to be anywhere near as good as some of you guys, but thought I would have a bash at trying to improve this. So, I added sides from plastic card to better represent the pit, and have laminated some detail onto the rear cockpit side walls and added a throttle. I have used photos from the walkarounds again for insparation, but I am happy with this result so far. Next step is to change a flat piece of plastic into an instrument panel. I have a couple of ideas, but I think I will go with creating a thin laminate out of 5 thou card with holes for the major instruments and blag the rest with paint. Here is a view of how the pit fits at the moment. Hopefully I will have made some decent progress tomorrow and be able to post the results. My target now is to have the fuselage buttoned up by Friday. Thanks for looking Edited October 20, 2012 by depressed lemur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 (edited) left hand side panel stops short of the rear cockpit bulkhead, in that area is the anti g valve & pipes, my walkaround Edited October 20, 2012 by Hawkkeeper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 I have no pic of this area so was a bit of guess work and artistic license Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Thanks to HawkKeeper I have received some useful photos of the rear cockpit which I didn't have before. As a result I have had to modify the left console slightly. I still need to tidy up of of the loops and am waiting for some very fine wire to replicate some piping in this area. Moving onto the rear console I have laminated some card stock and given the impression of instruments. Not rivet counter accurate, but a massive improvement over the airfix blank plate. A bit of pint and varnish and it starts to look a bit more convincing. I think I need to give my eyes a rest now (but not the liver) before I move on to the front office. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Hi guys (and girls), after a man-flu induced delay, I have made some more progress on the office. First of all I would like to say thanks to Ralph for providing some stunning shots which show more detail than I could ever expect to manage in this scale with my failing eyesight and aged fingers. First of all here is the instrument panels compared to the originals. I know that they are nowhere ear as good as some I have seen, but I am quite happy with the way they turned out. Of the two methods used, I think the rear panel looks better, but my technique needs refining. next up is the tub. There is so much more I wish I could add, but I think that once everything is buttoned up it will look pretty convincing. I am hoping to do better next time (possibly in a bigger scale though). Next step is to see what I can manage to do with the seats, and then the nose wheel bay. I was thinking of opening the nose electronics bay but decided against this when I realised I would have no-where to put any nose weight! Thanks for looking 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 glad the photo's helped, looking good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 glad the photo's helped, looking good so far. The photo have been a blessing and a curse. Why a curse? Because now I have to get a bigger scale to try to improve my scratchbuilding skills Still hoping to get this on the table at Telford though, hopefully with a colour scheme which is not too common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I get hands on with 14 real ones every day & do engine starts/full power ground runs, not much glue in the full size version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 I get hands on with 14 real ones every day & do engine starts/full power ground runs, not much glue in the full size version. Not much filler needed either i bet One question: I have started to scratch the nose undercarriage bay but for the life of me I can't see how the damn wheel would ever fit. this neans either the real aircraft does something fancy during the retraction sequence, or the kit items are overscale by about 20%. I suspect it is the latter, but I do not have time to do anything about this. Hopefully this will not be too obvious when it is finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 no fancy method of retraction, it just goes up with the wheel in line & the leg is fully extended as the a/c weight comes off it during takeoff, the retraction jack is on the stbd side of u/c leg fairly near the top just above the leg casting pivot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 no fancy method of retraction, it just goes up with the wheel in line & the leg is fully extended as the a/c weight comes off it during takeoff, the retraction jack is on the stbd side of u/c leg fairly near the top just above the leg casting pivot point. I take it that is the pale green looking thing in your photos. This looks so obvious I think it will have to be added, probably from card stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Ooh. Real great work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) I take it that is the pale green looking thing in your photos. This looks so obvious I think it will have to be added, probably from card stock. the primer yellow rod is from door latch to the door operating cross tube & rods at the forward end of the doors, the fescalised pin on the leg lower stbd just below the 2nd rivet head from top of stbd door rear end & outboard of the u/c locked down light picks up the door hlatch mouth when the leg is moving to the up position. the retraction jack ran end is upper stbd above the thick part of the upper casing directly above the bolt head. hope that helps explain a bit clearer, Edited October 26, 2012 by Hawkkeeper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 Thanks mate, I thought it looked a bit weedy, now it makes more sense. Don't think I will be counting the rivets in 72 scale though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 More progress has been made today, namely the front undercarriage bay. I would show you what is provided in the kit, but this is a bit fat nothing. I sort of assumed that the front was open, like to nose bay in the Gloster Meteor, but I have found that actually, there is a boxed in bay. Therefore, out with the card stock and scalpel and let battle commence. the biggest challenge was to get it all to fit in the nose without looking too shallow. As you can see, this is looking a bit pinched, but it will line up well with the kit opening, what does stand out (pun intended) is the amazing seam down the middle of the undercarriage. One rather obvious piece of equipment in the bay is the retraction jack alluded to by HawkKeeper in the photo above. With only a bit of fuse wire and plastic I think that I have managed to replicate this. A little gloss white in the bay (and a rather sickly green retraction system) and I think that it is looking a bit better. Time is now starting to press on, so I think that I will need to start closing up the fuselage next, and finish fitting out the cockpit. I think I will leave the seats till later and try to make a bit of headway in getting the main sections together. Thanks for looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkkeeper Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 looking good, nice job so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 (edited) This is coming along very nicely. Good work..keep us posted( excuse the pun). WAY TO GO, Edited October 28, 2012 by HOUSTON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now