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1/72 Blackbird Lincoln Conversion - Masks off!


woody37

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lol,

I wish the missus was as complimentary as you Jason :lol:

I put the windows in firstly, then filled what was left. Sand very lightly as not to let the sanding stick 'dig' into the aperture. Took a few refills with filler to fully hide them, so perhaps the key is initial fill, initial sand, light fill, light sand x 3!

I'm no master, just practised at finishing them :P Hint....hint!!!!!

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Apparently, the Lincoln had split ailerons due to wing flexing and going from pictures, the aileron linkage fairings appear to missing, so added them earlier using plastic strip as well as the trim tabs and some additional panel lines. A little tidying up needed, but looking better for the effort...

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On a roll today!!!!!

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lol,

I wish the missus was as complimentary as you Jason :lol:

I put the windows in firstly, then filled what was left. Sand very lightly as not to let the sanding stick 'dig' into the aperture. Took a few refills with filler to fully hide them, so perhaps the key is initial fill, initial sand, light fill, light sand x 3!

I'm no master, just practised at finishing them :P Hint....hint!!!!!

Thank you for the tip, Neil! Just as I suspected - I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm just not doing it enough times! No wonder I never finish any of these b****y things. I don't normally do New Year's Resolutions, but here's one; I do hereby resolve that I will finish that GR.3 this, the next year of our Lord, Anno Domini 2015, or die trying!

Regards,

Jason

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Woody judging from the photos it seems you have a slight angle along the strengthening plate (in other words it appears not to be straight) there where the conversion insert meets the original fuselage part, I even see it echoing on the fuselage spine.

Just saying, maybe it is only the photo ...

Could it be that either the conversion part ends or the kit cut is not correctly at 90 degree?

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Judging from this photo, the trim tabs may not have been located there: http://forum.warthunder.com/uploads/monthly_05_2014/post-296996-0-37677500-1400504181.jpg

Perhaps it's my imagination, but it almost looks like the tab was moved to the outboard aileron? I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will turn up, this is Britmodeller after all.

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Glad to see a Lincoln will be getting the "woody37" treatment, Neil. I have the Flightpath conversion set, which was designed for the 1980 Airfix kit. The resin looks excellent on this, but with the bob they charge, you'd think they would have provided the cannons and especially the bigger radome. But soft, let us see what Dame Fortune has in store for us with this build!

Regards,

Jason

P.S. I can't believe you're not going to do that beautiful RAAF MR.31 version with the mile-long nose.

Jason

Regarding the price of the conversion I have to factor in a lot of things, as do all manufacturers.

Cost of patterns - using a top pattern maker

Cost of casting - I use Czechmaster due to their high quality

Trade Price - usually 40% off the retail price

Hence resin conversions costing this sort of money

And money from this is going into funding the Manchester conversion and other projects.

At the end of the day modellers want good quality products and I want to produce them and it has to be self funding to some degree. We've all seen issues in past years of companies running away with themselves and then going under.

Glenn

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I hate to add to the workload....

If the ailerons were split, it appears from the

picture that the trim tabs are one piece.

How that would work I have no idea!

I picked up on that too...

Judging from this photo, the trim tabs may not have been located there: http://forum.warthunder.com/uploads/monthly_05_2014/post-296996-0-37677500-1400504181.jpg

Perhaps it's my imagination, but it almost looks like the tab was moved to the outboard aileron? I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will turn up, this is Britmodeller after all.

...I can't really tell from that photo but it would make sense that they were either split themselves or only on one half of the split aileron.

Easy fix though!

Looking good Neil.

Wez

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Woody judging from the photos it seems you have a slight angle along the strengthening plate (in other words it appears not to be straight) there where the conversion insert meets the original fuselage part, I even see it echoing on the fuselage spine.

Just saying, maybe it is only the photo ...

Could it be that either the conversion part ends or the kit cut is not correctly at 90 degree?

I've checked everything over with a straight endge and the cuts are spot on (one cut was on a panel line, the other a partial panel line extended in relation to the other and checked with a set square), but the Airfix fuselage is warped. This coupled with lens distortion could be what's giving the effect on the pictures, they look fine in the flesh..or plastic!

I hate to add to the workload....

If the ailerons were split, it appears from the

picture that the trim tabs are one piece.

How that would work I have no idea!

That confused me, but both drawings (admittedly, only simple profile ones, not detail types) and what I can tell from photographs seem to verify this. Happy to change it if anyone has better information, adding a line on to the tab is certainly one of the easier things on the build :)

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Made some wing spars earlier.

Before doing this, the outer wing spars were cut from the main parts to allow fitment of the wings separately and the gear bay assembly.

The angle was drawn on to a piece of paper first to line the resin wing up with the inner Airfix section then this transferred on to some thick plasticard. The chord of the spars is 6mm (with 25mm length for the Airfix end & 12mm for the Resin ends) although this required the rear one to be reduced. I did this by sanding the underside until it was a tight fit in to the wing. This is where I made a mistake, the gear has to mate to where the new front spar locates, so I had to cut this away to make way for the gear legs. Fortunately, it still leaves 4mm bonded overlap between the two spars which should give plenty of strength when everything is superglued. Here's some pictures for anyone who is planning to build one:

PS...Happy new year everyone :)

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Ensure the spar doesn't cover the front area as my mistake here or else you won't be able to fit the main gear legs!!!!

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25_zps76f7b58e.jpg

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I've checked everything over with a straight endge and the cuts are spot on (one cut was on a panel line, the other a partial panel line extended in relation to the other and checked with a set square), but the Airfix fuselage is warped. This coupled with lens distortion could be what's giving the effect on the pictures, they look fine in the flesh..or plastic!

I see, just couldn't resist to post a warning, sorry for the false alarm.

Beware of any misalignment that only shows when it's too late lol ...

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Thanks mate.

Correction in place, the main gear leg has been fitted and the inner wings glued together. The resin parts are just dry fitted for now, but you get the idea:

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The Airfix part for the front gear bay bulkhead after a slight skim fits nicely in to the resin part:

30_zps35b6f2ca.jpg

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Hi Woody, just joining this thread, apologies for my late start but better late then never eh?

Rather glad I did have a look. First rate work. I'm a big fan of the photography too. While managing to be crystal clear and sharp some of these images have a real CGI feel about them. Very smart.

I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Cheers.

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Jason

Regarding the price of the conversion I have to factor in a lot of things, as do all manufacturers.

Cost of patterns - using a top pattern maker

Cost of casting - I use Czechmaster due to their high quality

Trade Price - usually 40% off the retail price

Hence resin conversions costing this sort of money

And money from this is going into funding the Manchester conversion and other projects.

At the end of the day modellers want good quality products and I want to produce them and it has to be self funding to some degree. We've all seen issues in past years of companies running away with themselves and then going under.

Glenn

Glenn, I'm certainly not telling you how to run your business. If anyone told me how to write my books (other than my editor/publisher, blessings be upon them!), I'd be likely to tell them to b****r off, I know what I'm doing! Your pricing model is your business, but as a modeller of somewhat modest means, I just wish it were a bit cheaper, or I'd buy it in a heartbeat (of course we modellers, being the cheap lot we are, wish everything were free, and just growing from the tree outside). Just my opinion and my circumstances. I do wish you the best of luck, as it does look a lovely conversion indeed! I look forward to your Manchester conversion, also. I hope you do conversions for some of the more esoteric Lancasters, such as the Canadian MR's, especially the one with the extended nose (although that was technically an AR, I believe).

Best Regards,

Jason

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Glenn, I'm certainly not telling you how to run your business. If anyone told me how to write my books (other than my editor/publisher, blessings be upon them!), I'd be likely to tell them to b****r off, I know what I'm doing! Your pricing model is your business, but as a modeller of somewhat modest means, I just wish it were a bit cheaper, or I'd buy it in a heartbeat (of course we modellers, being the cheap lot we are, wish everything were free, and just growing from the tree outside). Just my opinion and my circumstances. I do wish you the best of luck, as it does look a lovely conversion indeed! I look forward to your Manchester conversion, also. I hope you do conversions for some of the more esoteric Lancasters, such as the Canadian MR's, especially the one with the extended nose (although that was technically an AR, I believe).

Best Regards,

Jason

I'd love it to be as cheap as possible and after adding it all up this is about as cheap as we can get it. Something like this can mean an investment by me of a £1,000 to get the thing onto the table and without knowing just how well it will sell. I take an approach as both a modeller but also as a business. So if good sales of the Lincoln, which there have been, fund the Manchester, which I hope we can retail at about £35.00, plus other conversions and decals etc then we all can win. Me as a business, the modeller by getting the subjects they want and also firms like Airfix who will sell a Lancaster kit for each conversion.

I have got a fair number of plans for the next couple of years and am always open to suggestions for conversions etc. But each has to have it's own commercial justification, yes we can slip a little conversion in to see how it goes, but when you're on to bigger ones like this it is a bit of a gamble at times.

I know what you mean about books as I'm an author too.

I'm blown away by the cracking build by Neil and am really looking forward to seeing the finished item.

2015 will see us do some RAAF and Argentine decals too. I was asked at Telford why no decals, if I put an RAF set in then I get asked why no RAAF or Argentine, it would all add to the retail cost, and then you'd have people saying I only want this set of decals so why should I pay for three options.

I've tried to take a sensible approach with pricing and thinking how this compares with other items, say the best part of £90 for a Planet Models Manchester. It's not an easy thing to do but I want to build a range of decals and conversions thatwill stand the test of time and will hold there level of quality.

Glenn

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