Dave Wilson Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Don't know if anyone has had experience of this but on the tailplane there are two sets of supporting struts for each side of the tailplane. The front set are straightforward, two seperate struts with the holes to go into. The rear struts are in one piece and appear on the instructions to go through holes in the fuselage. There aren't any holes and the piece isn't long enough anyway to reach both sides of the tailplane. Is this a known about issue and should I just scratch build the struts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmcclure Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 I built this a couple of years ago and I ditched the struts in favour of something scratchbuilt. The kit struts are pretty horrible and by the time you've cleaned them up you may as well make your own. I used some fine brass tubing I had in the drawer but stretched sprue sanded to the right profile would be a good option. Good luck with the build, it's a handful to knock into shape but does come out looking the part with some effort. Cheers, Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 Thanks Roger, I've dry fitted the main bits and it doesn't look too bad if you squint a bit...but the rear struts really had me scratching my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Hi Dave, sounds like you have a newer mould of the kit, it hasn't fared well over the years. Take a look at a comparison shot I took for my Nimrod conversion, the silver plastic is an older kit and the pale grey one of the recent kits, the difference is obvious: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 That's it Ant. The problem is obvious now. I'll just make up a couple of struts and drill a small hole where your oblong one is. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 That's nasty. As the disappearance of the small metal blocks in the moulds on both sides can hardly be down to wear or an accident, I wonder why they were removed. Possibly someone noticed the mould neeed some care and update (the "slotted in" struts can hardly have been an ideal solution, fitwise), but the process was abandoned ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Anyone give me a pointer to engine compartment and cockpit sidewall colour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Fabric areas of the cockpit wall ought to be a sort of brick red glazed with buff (iron oxide dope showing through unbleached linen). Personally. I think a medium grey most likely for metal panels in the cockpit walls, but late production or refurbished machines could have had the grey-green. Frame elements should be black, and stringers varnished wood. No idea about inside the cowling panels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Thanks OM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmcclure Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Not wishing to hijack your thread at all but here's a shot of the version that I built a little while ago. You can see what I did with the struts under the tailplane with fine brass rod and I used Alclad Polished Chrome for the NMF panels. From memory, the exhaust stubs were horrible, malformed little blobs of plastic so I just did away with them completely. Hope this helps a little. Cheers, Roger 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 I'm liking that a lot Roger, very nice colour scheme. I have my brass rod at the ready. Did you glue the cowling down or is it removable? Looks a very neat join if it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmcclure Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I'm liking that a lot Roger, very nice colour scheme. I have my brass rod at the ready. Did you glue the cowling down or is it removable? Looks a very neat join if it is. Blimey it's a while ago so I don't remember exactly what parts went where. The cowling isn't removable and is one of the areas where the kit needs a lot of filler, sanding and general effort to get it to fit. There's nothing to see inside the engine bay anyway, unless you want to scratch an engine. I don't remember what the kit decals were like but they weren't the scheme I wanted anyway so I had some masks made. You can make a fine model from the kit but the moulds really are showing their age pretty badly - I'd love a new tool version. In fact any new-tool 1/48 pre-war RAF aeroplanes would be great! Cheers, Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Ah, must be a slightly different kit, mine has the engine and what have you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmcclure Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Now you mention it there may have been an engine but I was never going to finish the model with panels open so I just didn't bother with it. It would actually make a fascinating little diorama if you've a mind to super detail it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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