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Airfix 1:48 Dassault Étendard IVP


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I can't quite believe I'm doing this as I'm a terrible modeller and a rather lazy one too. However, you don't see many of these stuck together so I thought I'd post a WIP for this build attempt.

So, it's an interesting kit, old-ish but boasts recessed panel lines. Some quite unusual design features around the fuselage construction and these are proving rather tricky, for me at least.

I started messing with it a couple of nights ago, so this is the best I can manage as a box and sprue shot.

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The first step of assembly was trying to glue the base of the cockpit to the base of the fuselage. You may be able to see that it sits ina kind of square 'U' shape. Pretty much a butt-joint and it require a lot of dexterity to try and keep everything aligned and avoid troublesome steps. Seemed to go fairly well with only a small area that'll need filling. Very little sanding is needed too.

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The trickiest bit so far and probably in the whole build is fitting the splitter plates. They are supposed to sit into a small grove in the bottom of the fuselage and rest against the side of the lower half of the cockpit. It was immediately obvious that doing this would be impossible to get right so that when dropping the top part onto it it all lined up. So, I have chopped a little off the top back corners after I realised that by doing that I could inset them after joining the top and bottom halves. There's no way that anyone will ever peep down into the intakes and see anything is amiss. And there's naff all else in there anyway and I'm a long way off the ability or inclination to do anything about it.

Here's how it's supposed to be glued in place.

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And here's a soft focus image of the reduced plate that will now slide into the intake and be much easier to position correctly.

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That'll do for now as I'm now going to check on the parts I attacked with Halfords grey primer a little earlier and to plot the next assembly step.

I'm also trying to pick up a TR-1 I started in a GB several months ago so I might see if there's a way of resurrecting that build thread in here. Yay, I'm modelling again at last and largely because I was planning on selling half my stash!!

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Thanks for taking a look guys but I don't think you'll learn a lot in here - apart from what not to do.

So, I assembled the stunningly plain cockpit parts and seat (pretty much what you'd expect from an Airfix kit of this vintage). I haven't done anything elaborate, just a splash of typical cockpit colours. Also got the 'glass' in the camera nose which was a bit of a struggle due to tiny parts of only approximately matching shape with the holes. Then masked them off but will revisit this before painting.

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Next I got the top and bottom halves joined with the lower wing section sandwiched in between. Lined up nicely with minimal gaps an thus minimal filling needed. Most of that was done by the displaced melted plastic when the parts were pressed together. Made a start of the tail parts that are clamped and drying at the back.

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With the main fuselage section assembled and other parts taped in place, I did a quick balance test and it looked a close run thing. So to be safe a few fishing weights were dropped into a convenient space in front of the cockpit front and where the nose will attach. Then liberally covered in PVA glue - being careful not to later obstruct the nose attachment. Sorry the pic is poorly focused.

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Last job this evening was fixing the upper wings to the lower wings / fuselage. This was tricky in that the thickness of the wing is notably less than that of the wing root(?)I recalled reading on here how some people attach to the fuselage rather than to lower wing and figured that would be a good idea here. And it kind of worked. Pretty flush on the top where it's mainly looked at and then I can worry about the seldom viewed underside later. I did the first wing (pictured) with super glue as I wanted it to set fast but it didn't really and just resulted in a rather messy join. Should clean up easily enough though. I did the other wing with poly cement from both a tube and a jar of Mr Hobby's thin stuff. Worked much better. But this is all a learning curve.

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Second wing picture shows how the wing is thinner (less deep?) than the wing root section(?) - if you squint at it. Must take better photos and learn the correct terminology for aircraft parts!

That'll do till tomorrow when it's intakes, nose and maybe the tail on followed by the horrid task of canopy masking. Maybe then a complete prime coat?

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I've been plodding on with this today and generally it's going well but, apart from the normal issues I have got a tricky problem of my own making.

I've managed to chip a tiny piece off from the right wing. And I'm really flummoxed as to how to repair it. Obviously the broken piece has long gone. I did it while pressing the nose cone on and somehow smacked the wing into the desk and crack!

Here it is with the folding part added (badly). No idea why they bothered with the folding option as it fits poorly either up or down and lacks any detail for being folded. Some advice on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

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Also, I still need to do something about the various steps at the front of the underside of the wing joints. Any suggestions for the best way to tackle them would be appreciated too.

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Sorry about the dodgy photo.

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Thanks for taking a look guys but I don't think you'll learn a lot in here - apart from what not to do.

I don't want to sound philosophical here, but you always learn something!

apart from that, it is nice to see people still building these according to today's standard not too perfect kits!

please keep on posting!

will it be in the old paint scheme with the white undersides or the more recent (up to 1999?) camouflage?

:)

cheers, Werner

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Not quite decided on the scheme yet but, erring towards the camo version as per the box art. So many plain jets it's good to get the practice at painting camo when the opportunity arises.

Still need to do the dreaded canopy masking and that's next up while I think about out how to fix the wing issues.

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As I continued to stumble through this build on and off today I am still a wee bit off the primer stage. I always like that part as it's the moment that it looks like an aircraft and where you can check nobody is looking and 'fly' it around your modelling area.

So apart from cutting a hedge, taking up a garden path and calling at Halfords for more of their primer, I have polished and then dipped the canopy parts in Klear and fixed my chipped wing. Some other filling and sanding was done too.

The canopy work was interesting as I polished it using the 3 grades of Tamiya polishing compound and was pretty impressed with the results. I then decided I would go with the Klear dipping as it is a very popular technique. However, while it did end up very shiny, it also has some very fine particles or possibly bubbles in it now. I figured the Klearing would help protect it when the masking and unmasking were done but I'm not so sure I did the right thing now.

I dipped it in fresh Klear, using tweezers, carefully placed it in kitcen tissue to wick away any excess and immediately covered it with a Tupperware box. Anyway, here it is;

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The wing fix went pretty well. I glued a small piece of the thinnest Evergreen to the underside to give a base to then place a slightly thicker triangular wedge piece of Evergreen into. This was then glued in place and left for ages to set. I was then able to remove the supporting piece with a new scalpel blade and finally sand smooth. Once I get the primer on I reckon you'd never know I'd chipped a piece off.

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Tomorrow, I am sure I'll get the primer on - hopefully.

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  • 2 weeks later...

These wing joints are very hard to fix. The SUE in 1/72 has the same problem, and even after a lot of putty and sandpaper (I was forced to use up to 150 sandpaper), you can still see a shade of the joint line. The same problem occurs at the jet nozzle area. Nightmare !!

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Thanks for the encouragement fellas but, you're quite right, this is not an easy kit - certainly not in fit at least. I haven't given up just yet but I came mighty close. And maybe as a result I have rushed it little.

The top wing joint is just about there but the bottom was nearly impossible and so I have quit while only miles behind. I don't know about 150 grit - I was thinking of breaking out a belt sander!

So with the wings nearly called adequate I gave it a coat of Halfords grey rattle can primer. Oh, and I also used a sewing needle to replace the pitot that I eventually knocked off the tail on the umpteenth attempt. That was another nice opportunity to try something new though. Creating a hole in the leading edge of the tail fin was tricky and chopping the end off the sewing needle was lethal!

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You can see in this picture that I did lose the battle with the bottom wing joint. But hey, I'll just glue it to a base so nobody can see its underside.

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I must use a better camera in future. These are all taken with an ancient snappy Nikon thing, yet I have a Canon D7 and an iPhone knocking around.

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G'day Filler,

Great to see this kit being built. It seems like a typical Heller (also re-boxed by Airfix) kit with lovely shapes but with some dodgy fit and poorly detailed areas as well.

Here is how mine ended up,

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top.jpg

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To properly eliminate the wing root join I traced around the catapult bridle re-enforcing plates (the rounded plates along the wing seam that the hooked parts glue into) and aggressively sanded the seam with 150 grit wet'n'dry, then worked up through finer grades to polish back the surface. The sanding obliterated the original plate detail so, using the traced outlines, I scratched up new plates using some 10 thou styrene card

The tailplanes on these jets seem to droop once hydraulics are applied, but the kit only allows the neutral position to be displayed so in a similar approach, I traced around the scuff plates and sanded off the moulded detail and made new ones. This allowed me to glue the tailplanes to a drooped position.

My kit decals were rubbish as they appeared badly out of register and I opted to use some Carpena decals. These were very thin and conformed to all panel lines easily when applied in conjunction with Micro Sol/Set,

Hopefully that gives you some ideas, apologies if I have hijacked your thread ( I'll remove this if you wish), now back to Filler,

cheers,

Pappy

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No problem Pappy, it's a good addition to the thread as anyone else planning on building this who finds this thread will greatly benefit from your input.

I take my hat off to your efforts to properly deal with the wing fit problem and you've certainly nailed it. The whole model is excellent. Maybe I'll have another go in time and I'll definitely copy your solution. I assume that in my case I have the tailplanes correct in that mine is supposed to be shut down?

Despite the rather poor finish on the underside in particular, I will probably just crack on with some painting next.

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No problem Pappy, it's a good addition to the thread as anyone else planning on building this who finds this thread will greatly benefit from your input.

I take my hat off to your efforts to properly deal with the wing fit problem and you've certainly nailed it. The whole model is excellent. Maybe I'll have another go in time and I'll definitely copy your solution. I assume that in my case I have the tailplanes correct in that mine is supposed to be shut down?

Despite the rather poor finish on the underside in particular, I will probably just crack on with some painting next.

G'day Filler,

Firstly, don't put yourself down, I think you are doing a great job on what many would agree is a poorly fitting kit by modern standards. As for the tailplanes, they should be angled trailing edge down (or leading edge up!) to depict a jet with no hydraulic power, the kit depicts a jet with hydraulic power applied (ie neutral), but it is up to individual taste as to whether this requires correction.

Have a look at post #5 in this thread:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/14067-dassault-etendard-ivm/

You can also google pictures for lots more examples.

I only stuck a pilot figure in mine as I wanted to hide the poorly detailed cockpit. It was before Neomega produced a nice resin cockpit. If I were to build another I think I would use the resin cockpit and leave the pilot out, but I would correct the tailplane as that is my preference.

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Thanks for your vote of confidence in my efforts Pappy. I must admit now that I approached this a little halfheartedly in terms of realism. I did cotton onto the undercarriage doors being closed after cycling but I totally failed to see the tailplane position and probably a fair few other things. And it'd be fair to say that I wish I'd seen it now and done something about it. Next time for sure and I will have a look round for the resin cockpit too.

I was all for calling it quits with the wing joints but I might have to give them just a little more attention now. Although I think they're too far gone to ever be perfect now.

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