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Vac form start-up, what would sell well?


Scratchbuilder

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Radders,

I would only do 1/32nd scale once I feel confident with 1/48th scale. It is tempting as I make so much stuff for slot racing in that scale.

The bizjet? It's British.

(Taps side of nose)

Martin

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An awesome subject I'd like to see in ANY kind of kit, 1/48 scale, could be the Fairey Seafox floatplane. It wouldn't be too much difficlut to develop in vacuform kit, plus lots of detail parts could be obtained from commercial kits....It's a pity that such an important plane has been forgotten in quarter scale by all minstream manufacturers......

Cheers

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Murdo,

I think you're right there. I'm amazed how few there are. In fact my thread about vehicles that go with aircraft came up with the same thoughts.

They would have to be in w/m or resin because of the detail, so would be a bit pricey, but certainly worth looking into.

Martin

Martiin

I posted this in another thread,but is relevant here

There is this place

http://www.asam.co.uk/

they do pretty much everything, but at a price....

http://www.asam.co.uk/plpage22.html

Note, lowest is £46....

HTH

T

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For the Dove, kev, I would make an exception to my "no airliner" rule!

Big job and one for later.

Thanks,

Martin

And I would certainly buy it, my favourite all time aircraft, as a kid watching these fly out and into RAF Northolt

Edited by kev67
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Troy,

Smiths have been making quality commercial vehicle kits in w/m for decades, although I see they are in a reconstituted format.

And they were never cheap.

Mostly a bit modern for me, but always of excellent quality.

Thanks,

Martin

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Hi all,

for the guys who suggested American subjects, about which I know little, how would a Waco Custom Cabin do? Maybe with the options of floats and skis?

I have a gentleman who has given so fully of his time and help with these that it would be rude not to! (Thanks, Lars, of Khee Ka)

And I think they're rather sweet. Canadian Mailplane version looks good. And maybe US Coast Guard?

Martin

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For many years I demonstrated vacform techniques at the IPMS Nationals along with other specialist technique people like Ted Taylor, until a club monopolised the demo area and put in their own people and Vac demos no longer featured.

As Kev rightly says the cutting out is so easy and I used to demonstrate scoring out two fuselage (or wing) halves then literally snapping them out with discernable force off the sheet in seconds.

I think some people have the "rabbitt in the headlights" syndrome when confronted with a sheet of plastic they have just paid good money for. You can't make a cake without breaking eggs. I always tell people to pick a simple subject for a first practice and also get some plasticard and score some odd shapes and then practice breaking them out. Read my 'Vacforms, a new approach' as well as looking at other peoples way of doing things and find a way that suits you.

I know you want to add a four engined Scruggs Wonderplane to your collection but it's not a good subject to start with Keep It Simple for a start. and remember modern vacs don't have the very difficult small parts as they are usually replaced by other cast materials.

Don't just look at it, become a modeller.

John

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John, as a much better known and respected chap than I, you will, I hope, have just doubled the number of vac-form fans with that one post!

I couldn't agree more with all you said. I use 30 thou styrene offcuts as templates when carving complex model car patterns and all I do is pencil in a guess of the shape, run a scalpel round the line once and then snap. Clean up with an oval section Swiss file and/or the scalpel in either shear or scrape mode, whatever suits the shape and hey presto, nice clean styrene template for tother side of the centre line. Same thing for wheel arch profiles, create shape one side, score and snap styrene replicas, place and scribe tother side.

It is ridiculously easy.

Cheers,

Martin

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I think if you are planning to do a vac form kit of some sort, I think you may need to include resin/white metal wheels and propellers if it a prop plane that is, these two in my honest opinion are the stumbling blocks when people make vac kits, but saying all that modeling has progressed so much that after market products such as Aeroclub does cater for these, and may be a good set of decals as not everyone has a large stash of deals to use

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Any clues as to what?

Just a thought too, what about 32nd scale Yak-52, Yak-18 (all variants)...although I'm probably on my own there?

No, I would also be keen on a big Yak-50 or -52. I would not think a 1/32 Yak-18 worth doing because of the Trumpeter kit.

I would also buy a Dove / Devon or the FD2.

Edited by Work In Progress
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I have an (irrational?) aversion to vac forms, but I've not wanted a subject only made as a vac yet.

If you would consider a 1/24 scale Heston Type 5, I might be tempted...

Napier-Heston_racer.jpg

There have been a resin (Dujin) and short-run injection (Merlin) kits in 1/72, and there is the Heritage 1/48 resin one, but the aircraft would really use the advantages of vac-forming, as the radiator air flow ducts would be ideally represented. The radiator out-flow is around the rudder. Aerotech are promising one is 1/32, but the aircraft was not so big as to make 1/24 a real problem for storage....

Edit: Oh, I meant to say, I can offer a lot of reference material for this aircraft, if you were to like the idea.

Edited by ben_m
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I have been quietly working on some 1/48 interwar and just postwar light a/c patterns purely for my own pleasure and it's these and research which keeps my interest these days as I get rather fed up with churning out the popular subjects. As I mentioned I do have a large number of drawings prepared for some lovely subjects in my areas of interest. Intelligently designed vacs just don't have one constant thickness of plastic sheet. Fuselages need one thickness due to the depth of draw and wings a thinner gauge sheet so that the trailing edges do not require too much plastic removed. I always scrape with a Stanley type blade and I never use the old rub the whole lot down on a sheet of sandpaper which is where all the fit and mismatch problems come from. Wings if large enough can be stiffened on the inside surface with styrene tube just as stringers do on the fullsize thing.

John

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Ben,

if it weren't for the Heritage model in 1/ 48th scale, I could be tempted as that is my cup of tea, but there would be no point in duplicating a model in current production...bit of a hobby horse of mine. But if you have info on other, similar aircraft, I would be very interested, thanks.

John, would you mind if I PM'd you for any info you might have but don't intend using?

I agree on the use of different thickness plastics which would work if it weren't for the need to get as much of the model on one sheet as possible to save on plastic. But I would do that wherever possible.

Chaps, no Yaks, sorry, not my thing.

Kev, I would of course, include correct props and wheels, tyres,exhausts, etc. in white metal. It could hardly be called an aeroplane without them

Cheers,

Martin

Edited by Scratchbuilder
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I have been quietly working on some 1/48 interwar and just postwar light a/c patterns purely for my own pleasure

Mew Gull John! Please! Vega Gull, DH 71, any of the Miles Hawk series, any Schneider. And an Avian for those who have a web full of trained spiders. Do 'em for our pleasure as well please!

Regards and living in hope

Dave

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I'll be getting back to Martin asap but I have no plans to do an S.4 and I only plan my light types in 1/48, my London and the barely started Singapore are in 1/72. I've spent some (what little I get) of my non commercial time preparing drawings and in some cases gathering together the already mastered bits of some started types such as the Pussmoth and Foxmoth. I have drawings for all the Miles, DH and Percival types with a few odd types like the BA.Eagle GA Cygnet and Avian which were boyhood favourites and a whole load more. My letter decal range fits these types as well.

John

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