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The other Walrus – Esoteric 1/72 vacform - restored links


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Very nice indeed. I plead ignorance here but I didn't know of the existance of this, although looking at the uglyness of it I can see why it may have been hidden away. I do love these interwar aircraft where practicality seems to have the overriding priority over asthetics and aerodynamics.

Must have been designed by aircrew! :evil_laugh:

Looking forward to more progress on this beaut!

Bob

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  • 1 month later...

With the heat wave and vacation time definitely over, it is high time to go back to the workbench. The fuselage halves were joined and the construction of the ventral washtub has been started. It is really touching how much the Admiralty cared for the sanitary installations on board of their (heavier than air) airships … :)

The fuselage halves went together really well with a touch of putty here and there. The top of the pilot’s cockpit rear bulkhead was the only problem as it would have ended buttocks shaped if left unattended. Some violence was therefore needed to force it into the right curve and the ensuing gap was then filled with a piece of plastic.

 

P8230161.jpg

 

P8230155.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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Excellent work! Esoteric came out with some interesting subjects. Although I'm not a particularly big fan of vacuform, I built their Overstrand without too much trouble, and I'd probably have a go at their Walrus if I could find one. It would look good (I don't know if that's the appropriate word) next to my Blackburn Blackburn, whenever I get around to that.

Regards,

Jason

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The washtub still under construction. The remaining parts will be cut from transparent sheet and properly masked. Anyway such is the plan now.

 

P8300155.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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  • 2 months later...

Finally some progress to show after significant pause. The ventral bathtub is in its v2 disguise. v1 was plagued by my own hamfistedness. I paned all the windows, masked them carefully and then filled and wet-sanded the assembly to my satisfaction. When I unmasked the transparent parts I found they were dirty – from the inside, as I had not sealed them carefully enough. After some contemplation and with breaking heart I “unpaned” one of the side windows and cleaned the interior using extremely “ingenious” combination of copper wire, cotton wool and lukewarm water. Afterwards I paned the broken window once again, resealed the transparent parts with cyanoacrylate and finished the sanding – this time without incident.

Then I added the lower wings and the empennage after which the airplane – which was until that time looking just interesting – started definitely showing certain inclination toward ugliness.

 

PB060166.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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Thanks a lot! The tailskid and the rudder adjustment gear guard in place, working on the landing gear. I am going to built an airplane without the hydrovane and the arrestor gear, but the struts are complicated anyway.

 

PB150200.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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The undercarriage sans wheels. The construction is based on the available photos, rather than on the kit's instructions or scale drawings. The scratch-built ventral radiator is just dry fitted for the purpose of the photo. It will not be installed before the kit is fully painted.

 

PB220198.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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  • 3 weeks later...

The Lion II engine detailed and painted.

 

PC120215.jpg

 

Because of the marked wing dihedral and the complex structure in between the centre-plane and the engine compartment I decided to fit the centre-plane first and add the upper mainplanes later - so quite probably similar approach as during the plane manufacturing in the 20's.

 

PC120221.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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Thank you.

And no, I will not be adding the ignition leads. The engine will - in my opinion - look busy enough after I add all the pipes and struts that are still missing. The engine is in fact just some 1.5 cm long in 1/72, this super macro imagery can be quite misleading in this matter. Though I try not to zoom too much when posting, sometimes it is unavoidable and for example the picture in the evening post is (on my screen) about 2.5 times bigger than the reality - so close to 1/32 scale.

Patrik

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ready for the first painting round. The masking of the tiny (and partly triangular) fuselage windows took me half an evening and cost me for sure quite a bit more of my lifetime.

 

PC270222.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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This is looking very nice indeed! I still have trouble figuring out how guys like you can assemble everything and then paint it...I'd make a horrible mess if I did that!

Ian

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  • 4 weeks later...
On ‎2015‎-‎12‎-‎28 at 3:06 AM, limeypilot said:

This is looking very nice indeed! I still have trouble figuring out how guys like you can assemble everything and then paint it...I'd make a horrible mess if I did that!

Ian

And who said I would not mess it up? :winkgrin:

The first round of painting finished, time for upgrade from monoplane to biplane configuration.

 

P1200223.jpg

Edited by Patrik
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