1/72 Airfix Rotodyne

[woody37]

Nigel, I'm exhausted after reading your fight with Alclad, I was sat on the edge of the seat by the end. I hope you win because it's looking fantastic

[Nigel Heath]

Guys,

Thanks for all the encouraging comments.

I think I will win. I looked again at the decals and decided that they were a bit yellowed so gave them a dose of intense solar radiation. A rare thing to find in Scotland but we seem to be having plenty of it for the next few days.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Caerbannog]

Puh - thats pretty fast building - and very nice one too

[Nigel Heath]

I don't hang about when I get going.

[72linerlover]

Hi, Nigel.

First of all: fantastic job on that fascinating Rotodyne!!

Don't give up using Alclad. There probably is some problem in the base coat before the aluminum.

Polished and Airframe Aluminum (Hi Shine Alclad) need a black gloss base to give the best results. I guess you used a black enamel.

Besides this, while regular Alclad shades can be masked and oversprayed, Hi Shine ones cannot.

To avoid any risk, is better to plan the masking and painting process, keeping in mind the few Alclad rules you find on their website.

I encourage you to keep on using Alclad in the future and you will get wonderful results.

This is what I have on the way.

Best Regards

Eugenio

[Nigel Heath]

That looks nice. I used Alclad's black primer as per their instructions on the bottle for airframe aluminium. I wish I had used their grey primer as show through would not be nearly as bad - I have no idea why they recommend using their black primer. I will certainly continue to use Alclad products as they are essentially peerless for the finish they provide.

[Nigel Heath]

I would have touched it up with Humbrol & a brush

I sometimes do touch up with a brush but in this case that would look pants so I went the extra mile..

Edited July 17, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Jessica]

That looks nice. I used Alclad's black primer as per their instructions on the bottle for airframe aluminium. I wish I had used their grey primer as show through would not be nearly as bad - I have no idea why they recommend using their black primer. I will certainly continue to use Alclad products as they are essentially peerless for the finish they provide.

They recommend the black primer because it affects the final look of the finish. The black gives depth to the aluminium finish colour. Try a test next time you're spraying a test model. Paint one part with the black primer and one with another primer, then spray the Alclad overtop both. You'd be amazed at the difference in the final finish. You can exploit this to give a variegated panel finish such as can be seen in many bare metal aircraft.

[Martian]

I find that Tamiya gloss black works every bit as well as the Alclad gloss black, it's cheaper as well.

Martin

[The Turf Burner]

Interesting YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlOfpCw8aE gives some of the history and why this project was cancelled.

[Jessica]

Interesting YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlOfpCw8aE gives some of the history and why this project was cancelled.

That's part 4. The others are:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

[Nigel Heath]

I had not seen these before, absolutely facinating. I thought it was an incredible machine before but have a renewed respect for it now. It should never have been cancelled.

[Work In Progress]

Why not?

It's not as if it was killed for political reasons against the wishes of customers dying to get their hands on it, the way the TSR-2 was, and the CF-105 Arrow.. It was cancelled because although it was a great technical success the two largest originally hoped-for customers made it clear that they had no intention of buying it.

The RAF, being in those days primarily concerned with big runways, supersonic fighters and V-bombers, saw no need for the big Z version. BEA realised the inherent noise problems of a tip-jet rotor would make it impossible to use around most major cities.

John Farley, the Harrier test pilot put it well enough, quoted in "Empire of the Clouds" (which I've just bought - good book by the way):

"From two miles away it would stop a conversation. I mean, the noise of those little jets on the tips of the rotor was just indescribable. So what have we got? The noisiest hovering vehicle the world has yet come up with and you're going to stick it in the middle of a city?"

Edited July 17, 2013 by Work In Progress

[Nigel Heath]

I think the noise issues could have been solved with some more engineering. There were customer orders for it and I think it would have been an incredibly useful and capable machine if given half a chance. I just needed a bit more faith and confidence but it came from a time when Britain was losing those qualities.

[Nigel Heath]

Yesterday I think I had the most difficult and frustrating modelling session I have ever known. Please alow me to enlighten you.

I put on the masking for the semi-matt aluminium:

While applying this, a blob of Alclad drips from my airbrush and goes through this hole, causing some damage to the finishes under the wing:

I have no more Alclad Airframe Aluminium so I spend the next three or four hours trying to locate a source. In the end I get a bottle from a fellow modeller at my club. I reapply this followed by the polished aluminium on the wing tips, when I demask this I get this:

I will sort this out at a later date, I decide to crack on with the decals. I apply the first tail fin stripe without too many issues. Then well, you know I said the decals were tough, I then found out this is not always the case:

I think it is still worth carrying on and then the thing starts to break up:

I will post these for now as I have to be elsewhere.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Martian]

Oh bugger! I think is the correct term here. Don't panic, polish the blemish with micro mesh and carefully airbrush the area in question until it disappears. Next get a good coating of Tamiya gloss or Klear and let it cure thoroughly . You might get a better effect with the cheat lines by painting them anyway. As for the Fairey logos, get a good couple of coats of Microscale Liquid Decal Film on them. They should be good to go then.

Martin

[scorpiomikey]

Damn, sometimes a kit will fight back. This one seems to have waited till the last minute to really fight hard.

[Nigel Heath]

I retrieve as many bits as I can from my finger tips, tweezers, cutting mat and carpet etc. and reassemble:

Clearly these decals have issues so I apply Microscale's Decal Film to the lot:

This is the first stripe that, while not without issues, did not give any real indication there were going to be problems. I used this 2mm diameter punch to coax it into the engraved detail:

I have also applied my home made serial number decal:

Unbilieveably the liquid decal film applied to the fractured stripe causes the bits to move around as it dries leaving this result. Oh how I laughed. Clearly I am fighting a losing battle with the forces of entropy here:

Next stop for this is the bin. I am going to have to remove the first stripe and reapply using my blue paint and white decal film. Fortunately I have plenty of the blue left. When I examine the decal sheet against the white decal film I can see that the white on the sheet is quite discoloured and resolve to replace all the supplied stripes with home made ones:

The door decals had lifted at some of the edges so I applied more softener and Krystal Klear to try to glue back:

This lovely photo on Wikepedia is my main reference during the decalling process. You can see that the kit decals are inaccurate in several areas. The white lines are of different widths, narrowest at the top, widest in the middle and intermediate at the bottom. Another good reason for creating my own. There is also a vertical blue bar just behind the rear cockpit wndow which is not on the kit sheet:

I separate these details from the stripes:

This one goes on OK:

I tackle removing the first stripe with sticky tape:

I add that vertical blue bar and try to remove the white stripes with softener and a cocktail stick, they won't budge so I just cover them with new decal stripes:

My first idea is to lay white decal stripes on top of clear decal film to create the side stripes:

But I decide this is too clunky and elect to mask for white paint on the clear decal film:

I use an 0.8mm punch to cut out the radii in masking tape for the ends of the window stripes:

Looking at the newly aquired and applied Alclad it looks to be a completely different colour from the original, more like the polished aluminium, I will have to apply to the other side as well:

I still have to sort out this mess. I think this will end up back to bare plastic:

Well that's my modelling fun over for another day. I will take up the reigns again at the weekend.

Bye for now.

Nigel

Edited July 30, 2013 by Nigel Heath

[Nigel Heath]

Oh bugger! I think is the correct term here. Don't panic, polish the blemish with micro mesh and carefully airbrush the area in question until it disappears. Next get a good coating of Tamiya gloss or Klear and let it cure thoroughly . You might get a better effect with the cheat lines by painting them anyway. As for the Fairey logos, get a good couple of coats of Microscale Liquid Decal Film on them. They should be good to go then.

Hi Martin,

As you will see your advice is pretty much what I did, good old liquid decal film. I did not apply Klear to my repair patches and this was my undoing, I will try to not make that mistake again. I think the Alclad also seems to need a long cure time after initial drying. I did consider painting the cheat lines directly onto the model but I feel going down the clear film decal route will give me more control.

Damn, sometimes a kit will fight back. This one seems to have waited till the last minute to really fight hard.

I don't think the kit wants to be nasty its just such an old girl that its bound to be a bit tempremental.

[Work In Progress]

How frustrating for you. I'm sure you're right that the best approach now is painted decal sheet cut to fit off the aeroplane rather than trying to paint direct on to the model.

You're also wise to take a day or twe before coming back to it, in my experience. Attempts to fix things 'in hot blood' always seem go badly for me, whereas after an interval I can come back to it and it all looks easier.

Coming back to the ongoing aluminium problems: one possibly effective 'cheat' for small area repairs is to airbrush some decal sheet with Alclad and then slice it up into pieces that fit the panel lines around a blemish. It avoids masking the surrounding areas.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Work In Progress

[Nigel Heath]

You're also wise to take a day or twe before coming back to it, in my experience. Attempts to fix things 'in hot blood' always seem go badly for me, whereas after an interval I can come back to it and it all looks easier.

Agreed, a bit of thinking time usually pays dividends.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Holy decaling nightmare!

Edited July 18, 2013 by Sgt.Squarehead

[jaguarfan]

You have the patience of Job, you will get there in the end and come out with a fine result I am sure!

cheers Bob

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks Guys,

As I have to paint the tail plane stripes I am now thinking of painting those on the engine nacelles which Airfix appear to have forgotten about - dare I??

As seen in the Wikipedia picture here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/SFF_002-1055526_Fairey_Rotodyne.jpg

Am I a masochist or what?

[Mike]

Nigel - I feel your pain mate, I really do. All that good work being ruined by accidents and so forth must be galling. I've also just noticed that you've posted it in the civil discussion area too, so I'll move it in a sec

Don't let the bugger beat you!