Jump to content

That large Sharkmouthed Typhoon from Airfix (update 2016-08-22, Gun bay repainted, Build complet, RFI next!)


Recommended Posts

You al know how it is. Once in a while, it doesn't matter that the stash is filled to the brim, that there's no more room on the shelf of doom, and the modelling table is filled with 1,2,3 - many ongoing subjects, sometimes you just need to clear everything, and take the latest and greatest purchase and go with the flow.
In my case this happened with the enormous Typhoon.
I've never built anything in larger scale than 1/48 before, and there was nothing in the stash of that sort either, but it didn't matter. I needed it, badly.
It wasn't possible to resist a view like:
P1030419_zpseee8f058.jpg

Trying to battle the AMS didn't work either, which is why I've got the Airscale instrument decals and some Eduard goodies
P1030459_zps6b7f9f71.jpg

Let's make a start at it then! what could possible go wrong?
Well, since my previous attempts at building Typhoons has been less than successful, my track record might not be the best, and its a BIG model!

P1030437_zpsed672081.jpg
No matter, I'm filled with cheerful optimism, and neither the dreaded crack in the hood (got a new clear sprue from Airfix last week, which was as good as one can hope), or a rather nasty short-shot:20141122_135426_zpsade4bfe7.jpg
will stop me this time. Everything is possible!
Lets cut off a few pieces, clean them up!
20141119_210751_zps9822c934.jpg
Rear spar is a little bent:
20141119_211011_zpsf4030501.jpg
vingbalk_zps4298d419.jpg
Some heavy persuasion with brute force and glue should sort that out later on. I hope :-)
Also decided to drill out the holes in the rear form(imf=er, just because I could.
20141119_190940_zps6019ef92.jpg

Edit: ARRGH! It's post preview one should click on, nothing else!

Story continues:

Well, all parts were cleaned up an glued together, and after a quick coat of Vallejo black primer, it looks quite ok actually.
20141122_171825_zps95ee7ae1.jpg
Quite a lot of parts was left out of the initial assembly, but also primed
P1030445_zps7950073d.jpg
Citadel chainmail was sprayed next
P1030444_zps775507a9.jpg
and I hoped that all ejector pin marks on the engine firewall is hidden later on...
On to some other fun stuff. The floor boards were drybrushed and received a couple of washes:
P1030447_zps62f2a0b8.jpg
P1030451_zps1baa4668.jpg

Main instrument panel was painted too, and prepared for a long session of small small decals from Airscale.
P1030448_zpscb3cfa5f.jpg
A really large sinkmark in the middle of the compass was a cause for concern:
20141123_161721_zpsf13b203b.jpg
but since it will all be painted anywway it was filled and sanded flat.
After half of the decals had been added it started to look nice!
20141202_214322_zpsml3higm9.jpg
Finally, all was installed in the cockpit
20141202_214322_zpsml3higm9.jpg
P1030480_zps6821f65b.jpg

And there we are!
I've started the most challenging build ever, but I'm having so much fun!
Luckily, I have 3 weeks of christmas vacation coming up and hopefully I'll be able to sneak of to the modelling den more than once, so even with my usual geological modelling pace continues, some progress is expected!

//Christer

Edited by Christer A
  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is looking good. My main gripe about the kit was mold seam linrs on most parts and the injection marks in very visible places. I look forward to the rest of your build. Now off to do sme more sanding on the front cowl and engine parts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Small update today!
Trimwheel is installed, together with some prettification from Eduard
P1030482_zps4e5b0bbd.jpg
Also managed to repair the short-shot part
P1030483_zps76947f41.jpg

Now, time to ponder over that darn control stick. It doesn't look to pretty now:
P1030481_zps96fd2112.jpg

Cheers until next time!
//Christer

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, that old Chainmail is working mighty fine!

Too bad that they have replaced all apaint with a new formula, that is a little bit different compared to thes ones.

Oh well.

The control column is now finished!
P1030535_zpsfe2670f1.jpg
On the right side panel, I started o use lots of Eduard Etch

P1030485_zps535bc6ba.jpg

Can't really say that I agree on what Eduard calls black, so I primed everything with Vallejo black primer anyway :P.

I rather be using the airscale decals than the Eduard prepainted stuff..

After what felt like a long long struggle, i finally came to a poin where it looked good enough to post here.
P1030523_zps9abb7e3c.jpg

After installation
P1030530_zps2e884964.jpg
Next up, engine panel stuff and those scary looking HGW Fabric belts

//Christer

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, that's a very impressive cockpit, will you leave any of it exposed because it would be a shame to hide it.

Looking forward to the HGW harness.

John

The Eduard parts make a big difference John, they look really good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hello!
It was clubnight a little while back and I needed something to do, so I brought sprue C along and made a start of that impressive Napier Sabre engine.

Since designing engines is what I do as my day job (although that's truck diesel engines with only 6 cylinders) this is something that I'm looking forward a lot to!

It takes quite a few hours just to close the base engine parts (cylinder block, head and reduction gear housing) due to all part cleaning that one needs to do.

P1030542_zpse9d15226.jpg

Still, it's a massive beast when all the parts are falling in place.

Did anyone besides me feel a need for putty between the cylinder block and cylinder heads?

P1030544_zpsaa50e714.jpg

I've got some big gaps there, but the were filled and sanded smooth.

Then, the base engine and supercharger were primed using Vallejo black primer

P1030548_zps3f0b309e.jpg

I seem to be using that primer as not just primer but also primary color for all black parts more and more. Since I got the hang of how to airbrush the stuff I'm finding it simple irresistible to use, and it levels out nice too :)

Cheers until next time!

//Christer

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Intermission:

Someone over at the WWII threads claims that all seats were unpainted aluminium.

What's a unknowledgable guy like me do about that?

Repaint the seat off course!

P1030575_zpsa7e6c7de.jpg

Sometimes it's good to have a choice! Had I finished the belts i wouldn't been able to do this.

On to the engine then.

I tried to fit it but it proved hard to do without chamfering the locating lugs here and there. All of a sudden it jumped into place!

P1030603_zpsdf619fe9.jpg

Engine was finally painted with Tamiya NATO black and drybrushed with graphite from a pencil. Detailing up the engine takes a while, since the engine sprue C has a lot of mold lines and even som flash on my example.

See the ignition harness here:

P1030573_zps5be67aa8.jpg

That took a while too neaten!

But then, it looks very nice once in place.

P1030654_zps1hj79q3b.jpg

The distributors on top of the engine was also installed. The need to attach on the centerpice as well as both the ignition harnesses proved quite tricky but i got it done in the end. Brute force overcomes everything!

P1030657_zps8n3wdy2j.jpg

Then my attention gazed upon the Coffman starter magazine

P1030643_zpssezolpud.jpg

It's supposed to be made up from large chambers for the cartridges, and some support rods to keep it together.

I cut away the centerpice and replaced the whole lot with some plastic rods.

P1030656_zps3gquaets.jpg

Hopefuly it will look good under a coat of paint or four....and that noone complains too loudly that it only has 4 chambers in the revolver magazine instead of 5.

Let's just imagine that is a special coffman starter that's for late engines that was a lot more easy to start than the lder one...

BR

//Christer

Edited by Christer A
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A small post-Easter update.
Redocorating the hallway, parents in-law staying over and other wordly matters takes it's toll on my modelling time. Some progress have been made though!

But first, I discovered that the oil pipe from the tank to the oil pan was supposed to be installed before the engine. Oops!
P1030668_zpslvtilzj9.jpg
Fortunately, the plastic is soft, and bends easily, so I was able to muscle it to the right spot:
P1030669_zpsm9arm7mz.jpg
Progress then went on to installing magnetos and oil pump
P1030671_zpsoissuag7.jpg
The oil pumps got some Citadel Nuln oil as a wash, but more oilspill needs to be added! Even though the lifetime of a Sabre engine is only measured in tens of hours, my guess is that they got very dirty very quickly.

Then, onto the Coffman-starter!
P1030673_zps5mtg5bbs.jpg
It also has a pipe that isn't mentioned on the instructions, but the part is there!

Airfix has added a small correction to their homepage, I'll just add it here as well:
A19002_Typhoon_Step67.jpg
The eagle-eyed ones of you will notice that I've forgot to add a big hose before the Coffman-starter was installed. Oh well, let's hope it will have no ill effects later on...

Now, time to figure out which parts to skip on the right side, since I plan to have the covers in place there (and also to cover the entire radiator).

Maybe I should start the radiator first, and then see what happens?

I think I'll do that!

Bye for now!

Edited by Christer A
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are doing a great job on this enormous kit and I`m following you along the way to provide inspiration for my own dabbling with this kit.

Keep up the good work,

Cheers

Tony

Edited by tonyot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Time for another small update!

More engine parts have been installed

P1030759_zpspoufdf5k.jpg

There are still a few of them that's supposed to go on the top side of the engine!

But, I discovered that I made the first (probably of many) slip-up.

P1030760_zpshnrjuul1.jpg

I noticed that there was no corresponding hole to fit the top engine cover bracket on the right side. I did however locate a hole but on the lower cylinder head. Ooops!

I've turned it around.

Bummer.

Well, since this side will have the lower engine covers in place this hickup will not be seen once I'm finished.

One could almost believe that I've planned this all along...

Next up, radiater and lots and lots of tricky pipe routing, in and out of the structure. Sounds fun!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got four of these big boys in my stash and all these WIPs make me want to start building one!Next September I'll be in Prague for the E-Day and would like to bring one of these along!
They're beautifully detailed and apart from some corrections that would require some dedicated scratchbuilding (read the wing cannons/motors assemblies which are cheaply available from Brassin though!) they're so big that brackets,gussets,cables ,wires and other various bits and pieces can be esily replicated and scratchbuilt without recurring to too many AM sets!
I like your build so far and I hope you'll finally build the Tiffy you're after!
Keep us posted!
Cheers
Manu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everone!

How about another update?
P1030768_zps24vixvdi.jpg
A bunch of parts needed for the radiator installation.
Instructions? Pfff, lets ignore those. What could they now that I don't? I'm an CAD engineer, using the same tools that the Airfix lads do, so naturally I know better.

(This can only end in one way...)
P1030773_zps62vm3odf.jpg
Yep, it's STUPID not to follow the instructions to the letter on this page.
P1030771_zpsknsuebbq.jpg
Some oilpipes were routed on both sides of the firewall. No troubles yet!
P1030776_zpswmnhocqq.jpg
Looking good!

Let's put part D12 in there, so that I can test the big airpipe. An glue D12 down while you're at it.

Brilliant!

Now lets see....pipe D01 is supposed to go in here somewhere...

This darn pipe is supposed to connect to the triple pipes on the firewall, clear the main wing spar and supercharger and hit a small hole on the undersida of the cylinder block
From arrow to arrow:
P1030780mod_zps9yqigcyv.jpg
Well...it seems to be impossible to force this pipe in position when the D12 stuff is in there (shutter/throttle for the air intake I guess)
P1030774_zpsk3puknpp.jpg
No amount of force, twisting, turning bending or just plain asking nicely wlil help it seems. To bad I've used Tamiya extra thin on the intake, because it's impossible to remove, and the whole engine installation is creaking ominously during all attempts.
After a while, D01 starts to look quite sad.
P1030777_zpsvbrhiplm.jpg
All right, forget this one. No one will notice, and I do not risk to damage the rest of the build
Besides, some main landing gear walls will be here (roughly), and assorted other covers.
:clown:
Let's do some funnier stuff, like painting the first part Medium Sea Gray!
P1030770_zpsz5l1expt.jpg
Ejector pin mark in the middle will be totally hidden from view by the air intake, so I didn't bother to clean and fill it.

It's very important to clear the mounting points on the main wing spar som that this part comes more rearward.
P1030782_zpsk3aiyaes.jpg
Why?

Well, it has something to do with the biggest plastic piece in the kit: main wing bottom part!
P1030784_zps43shwe3t.jpg
I don't want to use filler here...

But it looks ok for now.

Will the next installment see the installation of the radiator?

Stay tuned!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...