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My first entry in this GB, the 1/72 Alley Cat kit of the Boulton Paul Sea Balliol T.21.

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I will be building this totally OOB. To be honest, there is nothing needed which isn't in the box! My choice of markings will represent WP328 of MTPS Abbotsinch in 1962. This aircraft has trainer yellow bands and dayglo areas on the nose and tail, so it should be pretty colourful.

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Here are the parts.

The main airframe components:

B002.jpg

Detail components:

B003.jpg

And other stuff. Front row, left to right are: Canopy masks, white metal components and PE.

B004.jpg

The panel lines and detailing on the resin parts are superb - easily up to the standard of some injection moulded kits.

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Welcome Enzo, was wondering where you had gotten too, but you have made a grand entrance with a really lovely model!!

I had been wondering if we would see an Alley Cat model in this build! And you've brought a very nice one along, the moulding and detail looks amazing in the photo's. Plus the colour scheme does sound nice!

Well good luck with the build, we're all looking forward to seeing this one.....no pressure mate!! :P I hope it's a pleasurable and enjoyable build.

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The first thing to look at is the fuselage halves. Here is one as it comes in the box.

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The mating surfaces are very rough indeed and the cockpit opening is flashed over. Don't worry... all resin kits are like that. :D The best way to deal with the mating surfaces is to treat it as though it's a vacform. Put some wet and dry flat on the workbench and sand the mating surfaces so they are nice and flat. Make sure you work wet so there is none of that nasty resin dust flying about.

The flash over the cockpit opening can be carved away with the tip of a craft knife - make sure the blade is new. The edges were then cleaned up with a sanding stick.

Fifteen minutes work leaves this.

B006.jpg

B007.jpg

As you can see, the cockpit framework is cast nicely onto the fuselage interior.

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Great choice Enzo, built mine a while back but it took me an age to complete. The canopy fits well once you've figured out what is what. Make sure you sand/file the bullet tail down to accept the tail light. As mentioned above nothing else is needed it's all in the box. I'll watch with interest.

Colin

Edited by heloman1
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  • 3 weeks later...

Very nice choice, and very colourful to boot! Like has been mentioned before and from my past experience (Ali's Gannet AEW) the kits are very well engineered and should fit together like a dream. Looking forward to seeing this one proceed.

Bob

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  • 2 months later...

You thought I'd forgotten about this one, dintcha? Well... I haven't. :lol:

The cockpit has at least seven parts. The roll strut assembly is in white metal. It's just a bit difficult to photograph, what with everything being black!

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A quick close up of the radiator assembly. This is a single resin piece which fits snugly into some deep groves in the fuselage halves.

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Main assembly complete. It didn't need much cleaning up - just shows the quality of the kit.

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Canopies added. These are transparent resin and care will need to be taken separating them from the casting blocks. Put a new blade into the craft knife and score the edges gently and carefully. Don't be tempted to rush.

Masks are included for both the interior and exterior of the canopy. I must admit I didn't bother with the interior ones. Having applied the masks, many of them lifted along the edges so I sealed them with Copydex.

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Primed with Alclad2 black primer and microfiller. I always have problems spraying yellow hobby paint so I avoided the hassles and used car paint from a rattle can. This is Fiat Broom Yellow.

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The yellow bits are masked off using Tamiya tape. Don't get me started on that... not the smartest idea masking yellow areas with yellow tape! :fool: The dayglo was sprayed on using Lifecolor LC23 Fluorsecent Orange. Wot a mess!

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A coat of aluminium from a rattle can to represent High speed Silver paint. Bright, isn't it? :coolio:

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  • 4 weeks later...
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