A pair of Airfix Hawks in 1/72. Finished.

[Fritag]

1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I'm confused.  Top Gun was about Naval pilots...

 

Indeed.  If there was ever any doubt the beach volley ball scene is the clincher… 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Fritag
typo

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

"Maverick, marking dip..."

 

[I said Naval pilots, not Naval ASW helicopter pilots; elite, but not the creme de la creme]

 

 

[TheBaron]

I do think your work is so  terribly delicious in the way it accumulates more and yet  more refinements Steve, like having somebody far more knowledgeable than oneself pointing out all those features that combine to make an aircraft so individually distinctive.

On 05/05/2022 at 09:36, Fritag said:

yes 6  - there's 2 Brompton folding bikes behind the 2 road and 2 gravel bikes....)

Look out Orkney, here he comes.....

 

[Brandy]

I'm mightily impressed with the rhinoplasty Steve.

Why is it always the "small adjustments" that seem the hardest to get right, whilst the "make a whole new wing" always seems relatively simple?

 

Ian

[Fritag]

6 hours ago, giemme said:

Job of finesse with those noses, I'm positively impressed!  

 

19 minutes ago, Brandy said:

I'm mightily impressed with the rhinoplasty Steve.

Why is it always the "small adjustments" that seem the hardest to get right, whilst the "make a whole new wing" always seems relatively simple?

 

Thanks G, Ian.

 

I felt very reticent about attempting it actually - for just the reason you say Ian; trying to make subtle changes can end in disaster.

 

The trouble here was that I could feel myself getting increasingly unhappy with the nose contours; to the point where it was stopping me feeling any real satisfaction with the builds.  In the end I really had no choice...

 

[Gondor44]

10 hours ago, Fritag said:

 

Ok so, we're going walking and cycling in the Orkneys for a week (again) next Friday; so the weekend was somewhat taken up with getting the gear together and planning etc.  But I did get a bit of time to continue trying to sort out the nose contours on the Hawks.  And I think I'm more or less there - at least I've probably hit the limits of my ability to get it much better 

 

Well that means you will be missing the Scottish Nationals in Perth at the weekend then.

 

Gondor

[Cookenbacher]

On 5/5/2022 at 2:01 PM, Fritag said:

 He’s still promising me a refund and still not paying up…. My cunning plan for many years has been to make sure he buys me more post-skiing beer than I buy him.  I may even owe him money by now 

Brilliant!

[mark.au]

20 hours ago, Fritag said:

As it is I'm happier with the look of both of em now.

The attention to detail and the elegance of the fix continues to inspire.  Thanks for sharing, it’s a modelling master class for free.

[perdu]

18 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

"Drop a sonobuoy, Goose!"

Coffee thankfully not in hand...

 

13 hours ago, Fritag said:

could feel myself getting increasingly unhappy with the nose contours; to the point where it was stopping me feeling any real satisfaction with the builds.

Explains so, so much...

[perdu]

MEMORANDUM

To m'learned friend

 

Steve I write with reference to this picture.

 

And its associated correspondence, viz making the Miniature Detonating Cord stick invisibly inside a moulded canopy.

 

Stickers

 

No doubt you and the rest of the world have seen if not used self adhesive decals, possibly even to put a sticker onto the bodywork of a motor car or motor cycle.

 

You remove a protective layer and slap the sticker straight where you want it, hopefully not placing it upside down or over an essential access panel.

 

I am postulating you making your own version of the self -adhesive MDC in the same way those stickers are invariably made.

 

The adhesive never flows round the stuck item (unless the item shrinks in size and leaves a sticky film) and is usually invisible.

 

 

In an early life, as I believe I have mentioned, I was apprenticed as a silk-screen printer at a firm in Birmingham that made transfers for all sorts of applications.

"Tell the world who made it" we proclaimed.

 

Some water slide ones were used in Stoke-On-Trent for decorating expensive pottery, others were used for company logos and other applications for product images.

 

We made millions of them.

 

And we also made self-adhesive stickers, I had lots of them all over my bedroom stuck to the walls and furniture, an untidy chap then too

Lots of motor cycle stickers, Yamaha, Suzuki and BSA made for the accessory business and MILK stickers for the sides and fronts of milk floats and Milk vending machines.

 

The point of this is this.

 

The self adhesive glue used was made by Evode, yes EvoStick and was or seemed to be ordinary EvoStick which we had to thin down to put in the screen printing machine with white spirits.

 

It arrived in one gallon cans which had an inner metal seal for safety, it was stirred with white spirits until it became slightly (OK VERY) wet enough to drop into the screen reservoir.

 

Silk screened thinly onto the back of the decal after all the other things had been printed it was allowed to go away and dry in huge racks and afterwards was given an interleaving sheet to stop the prints sticking to the layer above, usually a layer of waxed paper the Evode wouldn't be able to stick to.

 

Now I am wondering if by experimentation you could make such a mix, Evostick and white spirit and after putting it on the printed MDC wet and letting it dry you might have one-shot stick on MDC.

 

It's obvious that Eduard use similar technolgy for their self adhesive kit innards and the like and I think Yorkshire Law could use it too.

 

Just a few thoughts from an overwrought brain this morning, white spirits only not turpentine substitute 'cos it might not work as well.

 

When dry you won't see a glue film.

 

Honest.

[giemme]

Bill, that sounds like a great idea. Now for Steve to test run it

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Have a good walk Steve - those Hawks are looking awesome, especially the canopies  

 

As I'm not contributing much in the way of modelling at the moment (apart from likes on other builds). I must get back to modelling. I think we're handing over 11th June; tick tock, tick tock…

[Fritag]

6 hours ago, CedB said:

I must get back to modelling

 

A view shared by the odd bod or two on BM I think you might find Ced   

 

11 hours ago, perdu said:

Now I am wondering if by experimentation you could make such a mix, Evostick and white spirit and after putting it on the printed MDC wet and letting it dry you might have one-shot stick on MDC.

 

…….

 

Just a few thoughts from an overwrought brain this morning, white spirits only not turpentine substitute 'cos it might not work as well.

 

Interesting and mucho appreciated Bill.  Food for thought.

 

11 hours ago, giemme said:

Bill, that sounds like a great idea. Now for Steve to test run it

 

Easy for you to say G 

 

After some experimenting I’ve binned the idea of using cyano. Thinned gator’s grip is my fixative of choice at the mo’.  Possibly combined with a strategically placed drop of Klear at various points on the MDC.  It’s worked in practice.  Klear used in this way does create a slight visual distortion which I would probably reject if the canopy was gonna be closed - but posed open it’s not such an issue.

 

The gator’s grip has the advantage of allowing a but of wiggle time go make sure the frame’s lined up - and it dries clear.  The only question mark might be whether thinning it weakens the bond too much.

 

Been a bu**er of a week trying to clear the decks of work to take a week’s leave.

 

I wanted to get the vac-formed windscreens and canopies attached to their respective frames before we left for the Orkneys, but all I’ve managed is a few test efforts which it’s not worth posting photo’s of.

 

Frustrating cos once the windscreens are fixed and blended into the fuselage it’s basically final assembly and paint time….

Anyways - nowt from me for a week or so - save the odd smart-ar*e comment on threads various as I chill and enjoy a morning coffee in a Stromness or Kirkwall cafe of choice…..

 

6 hours ago, CedB said:

Have a good walk Steve

 

Cheers Ced.  Looking forward to the 11th.

 

 

 

[giemme]

10 hours ago, Fritag said:

once the windscreens are fixed and blended into the fuselage it’s basically final assembly and paint time….

Hey, hey, hey! This is not something you say so lightheartedly!!!    I almost fainted when I read "paint"! 

 

     

 

Very much looking forward to that, Steve - enjoy your time off, meanwhile  

 

Ciao

[Galligraphics]

11 hours ago, Fritag said:

basically final assembly and paint time….

[HAMP man]

Bu**er 200 looks a long way off now.

Perhaps we should add the propective Jag build to this, bound to get to get the double century then!

[Gondor44]

2 hours ago, HAMP man said:

Bu**er 200 looks a long way off now.

Perhaps we should add the propective Jag build to this, bound to get to get the double century then!

 

I'm sure we can manage to pad it out a bit with some thread drift, certainly some of the assembled throng can

 

Gondor

[81-er]

I'm sure Steve can manage it on his own. Now he's discovered the joys of 3D printing, he'll invest in a colour 3D printer and re-engineer the whole kit from the ground up for total accuracy to a detail level never seen in 1/72 before, with it all printed in colour and pre-weathered. I reckon that would take it over the 1000 page mark.

 

James

[perdu]

On 13/05/2022 at 18:06, Gondor44 said:

 

I'm sure we can manage to pad it out a bit with some thread drift, certainly some of the assembled throng can

 

Gondor

I am not sure I like, appreciate or enjoy the potential insinuation here.

 

🤔

 

But I gotta admit you are right on the button with some of them what comes in here to Steve's pristine little thread.

 

Rock on boys, he's hardly using it anyways.

 

[Terry1954]

3 hours ago, perdu said:

Rock on boys, he's hardly using it anyways.

 

Well it's all quiet again Bill cos he's gone skiing in the Orkney's now, or was it cycling in the Ganges, or maybe walking on Lake Tiberias.............😁

 

Terry

[perdu]

Think it was Ganges he was walking on after scuba-ing Lake Tiberias on the bikes.

 

Or was it Ganjaing up the Orkneys avoiding Orcs knees on folded bikes.

 

With a melon...

[HAMP man]

Wasn't there an airfield in the Hawk Knees that you get sin-binned for saying?

Associated with HMS Tern I believe.

 

Box On 

 

Strickers

[Brandy]

17 minutes ago, HAMP man said:

Wasn't there an airfield in the Hawk Knees that you get sin-binned for saying?

Associated with HMS Tern I believe.

 

Box On 

 

Strickers

RAF Macbeth?

 

Ian

[HAMP man]

23 minutes ago, Brandy said:

RAF Macbeth?

Noooooo not the Scotish playne

 

Strickers

[cngaero]

On 5/12/2022 at 9:47 PM, Fritag said:

After some experimenting I’ve binned the idea of using cyano. Thinned gator’s grip is my fixative of choice at the mo’.  Possibly combined with a strategically placed drop of Klear at various points on the MDC.

Hi Steve,

Just a thought, but have you considered clear PVA? I didn't know that it even existed until the Mistress of the Blue Horizon picked one up from Asda recently by mistake. I needed some for a diorama I'm in the middle of.

It seems to work ok, but I can't vouch for its longevity.

 

Chris.