BritJet Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 About time I built this as I suggested it to Martyn from Magna and gave him the drawings and photos! It's been waiting it's turn for about 8 years so this is a good opportunity to get it done. I'll have to tidy my desk before starting this.......... Steve 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Of cause you can and you're very welcome. WOW that is a nice looking model of a really interesting aircraft, I remember seeing photo's of this aircraft in my father's aviation books. I always found it such an interesting/unusual aircraft because of it's engine layout...not sure why they went down this path! Good luck with the build, it'll be great to follow and see the final beast, I hope you have an enjoyable build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Ugly or beautiful? I can't decide It should be impressive though, either way. Nice choice. Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Thanks for the welcome. It is an unusual aircraft and large, definitely one I've wanted in the collection for a very long time to go with the v-bombers. First task will be to cut the resin pouring stubs off the parts and give it all a good wash to remove the greasy release agent. Boring but it needs to be done as I don't want any problems with the paint peeling off........... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Cutting the stubs off took a while due to the thickness of the resin, but it's done now. I couldn't resist having a quick look at how big it's going to be - Humbrol tin for size; The suspicious looking pile of white powder is resin dust - just in case my front door was due to be kicked in at 3am by the drugs squad. I couldn't afford another expensive habit anyway....... Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 All parts washed in soapy water and a bit more progress tonight; One piece cockpit cleaned up and painted, not much will be seen anyway so I've not done much to it. There's 180g of lead in there as well to make it sit properly. This is going to be very heavy when finished. Fuselage halve superglued together and taped overnight, pretty good fit along the full length. The worst part of the kit, loads of bubbles on the inboard faces of the nacelles. Going to attack them with a sharp point to make them a bit bigger and get some filler in there, should be able to sand it down tomorrow. That's all for today. Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
825 Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Great work. It take me weeks just to open the box. And you have done this in a couple of days. And I bet sawing off the pouring stubs took forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 WOW another person who's just rocketing ahead with there build, nice to see. The main construction looks nice and simple, she's certainly big!!! I think you'll be very glad that the undercarriage is made of white metal....even plastic rod would be pushing to keep it up, hope your shelf is up to it! Arrr resin bubbles stuff of nightmares , yeap you are going the right way to sort them out. Get enough of the resin dust and you will be able to do "snow/resin" angels in it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 Took the masking tape off this morning and nothing sprung apart again so I think it's ok. The seam needs a bit of filler but not a big problem. Got some filler into the bubbles last night and it needs sanding but currently looks like this; Not as bad as it looks as most of the filler will be sanded away. I was just test fitting the nose and it and the fuselage don't quite agree! Worse from the side; Now the nose and fuselage shapes are spot-on according to the drawing I've got. The fuselage looks to be about 3mm too long at the front so I should be able to correct this without too much trouble. The fuselage and nose match each other about where the pencil marks are, but that is 4mm back so there will be a bit of blending needed here. Oh well out with the saw! Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 Still pondering the nose problem so I've been preparing the other parts. Some had a lot of resin to remove so were attacked with the razor saw first and then wet-sanded vacform style to trap the dust, also stops the wet and dry clogging. Makes a messy sludge but at least the wet and dry paper can be washed - you can't wash your lungs out very easily For anybody who hasn't done this before, it's easy enough; Rub the parts around on the wet and dry in a circular pattern using plenty of water. After about six circuits reverse direction and then check if enough has been removed. Also check it is being removed evenly as you can end up with a wonky part - reversing direction helps avoid that. Before and after in the photo above. I'm using 100 grade wet and dry here as there was a fair bit to remove but try different grades. Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 You're making nice progress. By the looks of it shortening the nose may solve your blending issues, or at least make the process a bit easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martenare Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 (edited) Looking good! I will be following this with great interest as I am building a Sperrin myself. I have a WIP here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234972169-short-sperrin-scratch-build-vacuum-3d-print/. There have been quite a few photos that have never been published posted in the thread. What drawings are you using? I am using the drawings in the book British experimental jet aircraft and have found quite a few inaccuracies with them. Cheers Edited May 5, 2015 by martenare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Lovely aircraft and tbh until I joined BM I never knew you could get a kit of one! Andy (General Melchett off here) has built one, as seen at Cosford IPMS show 2014. I look forward to seeing this finished Andy's...Cosford IPMS - Bomber Command table by Totallyrad.co.uk, on Flickr 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share Posted May 6, 2015 Thanks guys. Looking good!I will be following this with great interest as I am building a Sperrin myself. I have a WIP here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234972169-short-sperrin-scratch-build-vacuum-3d-print/. There have been quite a few photos that have never been published posted in the thread.What drawings are you using? I am using the drawings in the book British experimental jet aircraft and have found quite a few inaccuracies with them.Cheers I have been following your thread and must admit I would have chosen something smaller than the Sperrin as a first attempt! How's it going? The drawings I'm using are from the British Experimental Jets book and I've noticed the problems. I mainly wanted to get an idea of the work needed to sort out the nose-fuselage issue. I don't tend to trust drawings without other things to back them up as I've seen too many that have glaring errors. Some of the Aviation News drawings had errors deliberately put into them so piracy could be detected - doesn't help when you need to use the drawing for it's intended purpose. Lovely aircraft and tbh until I joined BM I never knew you could get a kit of one! Andy (General Melchett off here) has built one, as seen at Cosford IPMS show 2014. I look forward to seeing this finished Andy's...Cosford IPMS - Bomber Command table by Totallyrad.co.uk, on Flickr I had another read through Melchie's build before starting this and that's the scheme I'll be doing so I hope to finish mine as nicely. I spent quite a while having a close look at his model at Cosford. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martenare Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Thanks guys. I have been following your thread and must admit I would have chosen something smaller than the Sperrin as a first attempt! How's it going? The drawings I'm using are from the British Experimental Jets book and I've noticed the problems. I mainly wanted to get an idea of the work needed to sort out the nose-fuselage issue. I don't tend to trust drawings without other things to back them up as I've seen too many that have glaring errors. Some of the Aviation News drawings had errors deliberately put into them so piracy could be detected - doesn't help when you need to use the drawing for it's intended purpose. Steve Yes, I should have started with something smaller but I will get there in the end. Things were progressing nicely until last week until I realized that I had produced my wing masters in the wrong scale! I am pretty sure you will have your Serrin finished well before mine. However, once I have mine finished it would be very interesting to compare the two models - one made from resin the other from vac and one from a kit the other from scratch. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 Not been around much this week due to work so not a lot to show. Yes, I should have started with something smaller but I will get there in the end. Things were progressing nicely until last week until I realized that I had produced my wing masters in the wrong scale! I am pretty sure you will have your Serrin finished well before mine. However, once I have mine finished it would be very interesting to compare the two models - one made from resin the other from vac and one from a kit the other from scratch.Cheers I bet words were said when you noticed the wing being the wrong scale! I bet yours will be a lot lighter than mine........ I chopped the fuselage and glued the nose on, drilled into both first and used some brass rod to get everything lined up. The joint is pretty good but I've put loads of filler on it so the contours can be blended in easily. Can't really see it here but I've also rounded off the edges of the fuselage where the slab sides join the curved parts as the kit parts don't look right here. Also drilled through the wing roots and into the wings to take more brass rod to line it all up. Lots of measuring and plotting points on both sides, but well worth it. I used 5-minute epoxy for the joint rather than superglue so it should be stronger. I put a couple of supports under the wingtips at the right height and a square against the fuselage side then left it to cure. Also fitted the fin, intakes and jetpipes, filled all the joints and imperfections but I've left the tailplanes off at the moment so they don't get in the way. I think there will be a long and tedious sanding session tomorrow. Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 wow she's quite big and what a square fuselage section she has as well!! Very nice work though, she's coming along nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Rubbed the filler down and it looks ok, the nose has blended in quite well. I'll re-scribe the panel lines later. Both engine nacelles are like this, Magna really should have cast the nacelles as separate parts to avoid the air getting trapped like this. It would also have made life easier to do the Gyron testbed version........ I've cut the canopy out using a circular saw as I find this much easier and accurate than any other method. Good job I didn't need to use the spare canopy as it's not very clear. Canopy held in place while the PVA dries, looks to be a pretty good fit. Bit of filler around the canopy rubbed down and a splash of primer all over, looks pretty good here...... Not so good here and on the nacelles, but these are easily filled and sanded. Whilst re-spraying the primer I stupidly held the model by the wing and the top fuselage joint cracked open a bit. I've squirted some superglue into the joint and taped it overnight. Next will be to fill, sand, prime, repeat until everything looks ready for some gloss paint. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 And this ones coming along very nicely as well, you have been very busy, I'm quite envious of your progress. It's a beast of a plane and will look great once finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 It's looking very impressive Steve Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Primer rubbed down and problems sorted so onto the gloss coat. Just a fairly light covering to see if there are any more areas needing attention, but it's starting to look much nicer already A few pinholes to fill and panel lines to even out but nothing major. I was going to wet and dry the whole model before the next coat of gloss anyway so I'm not bothered about this small amount of extra work. I drew masks for the cockpit windows and the forward part of the cheatline in CorelDraw and then cut them out of Tamiya masking sheet on my Silhouette Cameo. Tomorrow will be back to rubbing this beast down. again! Hopefully another coat of gloss grey can go on soon after that, depends on the weather...... Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 WOW, every time I see her she just looks bigger, especially with the wee silver beasty beside her! Pin holes like those are easy to fix. Am looking forward to seeing her in her final colour scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 The pinholes don't always show up until you put some gloss paint on, so I learnt a long time ago to do it this way! Your right though they are easily dealt with. I rubbed it all down today and gave it another coat of gloss grey which looks much better. Going to leave it to harden off for a couple of days now before doing the black. The undercarriage doors are warped and quite thick so I'm going to replace them and add some detail at the same time. The wheels need a bit of work too but should be ok. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) Apologies for the lack of photos but Google have changed the way photos are shared and it's not working with Britmodeller for some reason, the links are to my GoogleDrive so hopefully they'll work.  EDIT: Photobucket now in use! EDIT2: Now Village.photos  The kit doors -   And my replacements -   Hoping to get it masked for the black this evening if the grey has fully dried.  Steve Edited September 5, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 nice job, they look much better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts