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Vulcan - Three Out of Five Seats


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I've been messing about building some PE parts for a Vulcan project that's going to be in a book soon (hopefully), and thought you guys might like to see some of it. It's going to be about a build of a Vulcan that has a lot of aftermarket thrown at it, and will have the bomb bay, wheel bays, cockpit and so forth updated with resin and PE parts.

The list of parts so far includes the following:

  • Airfix kit (of course)
  • WEM Cockpit PE
  • WEM Bomb Bay PE
  • WEM Exterior PE
  • Wolfpack Intakes
  • Wolfpack Gear Bays
  • Wolfpack Correction Set
  • Freightdog Gods of Sea & Fire Decals

I might also be using some of the Flightpath Vulcan set, but that remains to be seen so far. It's unlikely I'll be using a whole lot of the WEM exterior set on this build, as the Wolfpack resin does most of that set's work, but I have another Vulcan knocking about that should benefit from the left-overs at some point. Whether I put bombs in the bays or not remains to be seen, but I'll probably put the bomb-hangers in for a little extra detail :)

The PE cockpit is taking shape at the moment, after I did the main parts of the bomb bay PE, using liquid solder to ease the way. Here's a quick pic of the rear seats as they were built up from the instructions. The rear cockpit is still in sections at present, waiting for priming, painting and then the addition of some rather nice acetate instrument panels to give it a bit of life. The front cockpit is also pretty much done, but the seat bases were a bit wide, so I had to fabricate my own from styrene stock. There are no seats in any of the aftermarket sets I have, and the kit seats are nothing short of horrible, so I've pulled out some parts from Aeroclub to replace them, which I've just finished cleaning up and building.

I'll be posting a few pics as I go along, but there will be more in the book as and when it comes along.

seats1.jpg

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Those do look good Mike. Guess this will be the last we see of them once added to the cockpit though :(

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Thanks for the encouragement :) Liquid solder is just that, a thick gooey paste that contains solder & flux in one viscous liquid. You smear a bit onto the work in hand, and then apply heat either from a soldering iron, or one of those wind-proof jet lighters. The grey paste beads into droplets of solder, and when you get it hot enough, that then wicks into the joints. It's handy, as it kind of gives you a spare hand to work with, rather than having to hold a length of soldering wire :coolio:

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Mike, that liquid solder....

Have you got a link or manufacturer I can search for please? Thanks in advance!

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It's made by a company called EFD Solder, EDIT: here's the website Link. It's called Solderplus, and it comes in a tube that looks like it's meant for a dispensing gun, but I don't have that. I just shove something narrow up the back-end and push :)IIRC, I bought it from RS-Components a few years back... maybe 5 years? :blush:


Just do a Google of "solder paste" and you get a few links coming up :)

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Popcorn out for this one Mike. As much as you're doing a great job on that other thing that is an insult to be categorised as aviation, I just can't warm to it !!!!!

Have you got a phobia with window masking ? lol

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ah, its reflow solder for surface mount electronics, normally you have a vinyl mask with holes for where you want your solder.... squeegy a fine layer over the mask and onto your PCB, remove mask, then plop your surface mount components down and pop the whole lot in a low temp oven.

Not thought of trying the stuff for PE parts and I have two whole aircraft that are PE only to do so this might be a great time to give it a whirl!

Thanks mike for passing this tip.

by the way the seats are looking good so far, looking forward to the rest of the build.

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:wow:You sure can build photo etch! :goodjob:

As good as those look, it's a shame to bury them.

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Thanks for the comments guys :)

Let me know when you go to press and I will pick a copy up of your book to support your good cause

It's not my book, I'm just a contributor - I'll let you know nearer the time when it's coming out of course :)

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Here's a quick shot of the cockpits. The side consoles in the pilots' area were a bit of a nightmare, as the instrument panels were etched straight, but the elevated front section required them to be kicked left or right, so that they would sit straight when folded. They're also sitting too wide at the nose end if you place them on the etched line that's proivided on the cockpit floor. The document slots also foul the seat bases, which were already too wide, so they were replaced by styrene blocks, as already mentioned. You can see some reinforcement blocks within unseen areas of the consoles and at the rear section of the cockpit, as there are plain butt-joints everywhere, which are too delicate for me to solder (YMMV), and would be too weak to hold using CA on those tiny contact patches. The centre console and instrument panel are just placed in for the photos, as the IP still needs its acetate instrument dials adding. The rear panel is also incomplete, as there are a substantial number of relief parts that also have acetate dials to be added, so they are currently taped to a tongue-depresser awaiting painting. :)

cockpit1.jpg

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Too good, Sir -just too good! Still in duffo mode, but do I understand from your 1st post that you scratched the p/e rear seats...? I love the stuff, but those perches take it to a different level.

I'll be having a go at the liquid solder method for my next big p/e venture too, thanks for the link.

Flying Badger, I'd love to know what your all-brass projects are -I'm guessing Eduard or Jasmine? :thumbsup:

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Noooo... I didn't scratch build the rear seats - they're part of the WEM cockpit set we reviewed here a wee while ago. The pilot seats are going to be Aeroclub issue, as the kit seats are a bit wobbly. I'm surprised that the WEM set doesn't include seats, or mention where you can get some decent resin or white metal alternatives, as it would be sacrelige to put those plastic clunkers in a brand new PE cockpit :shrug:

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Thanks chaps - I'll be chucking some Mr Metal Primer at some of the parts once I've got the X-47B out of the spray booth, where it's having a couple of coats of Alclad Aqua Gloss :)

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