John Adams Building Vacformed Models

[malpaso]

On 6/22/2022 at 5:48 PM, Noel Smith said:

Don't see many vacformx these days even being sold off under the tables at shows. Remember the box loads that someone always seemed to be selling off on the show circuit.

 

There were some remarkable kits back in the day like Echelon's Lightning, and kits from Dynavector, Aero club and Rereplanes, but there were an awful lot of kits that to be honest it would have been easier to do a scratch build instead of all the rework involved.

 

 

.

 

There's usually a good selection available on eBay.  Also KingKit (and presumably other second hand kit dealers) have them.

Not as cheap as they were, especially the more comprehensive ones, rightly or wrongly I suspect the nicer makes with decent artwork, metal parts and decals particularly are sought for the collector market.

I too haven't seen so many vacs for sale at shows, not that I've been to many since the great plague!  No doubt those dealers that do attend prefer to schlep around ye olde anciente kittes that may have a slim chance of selling, rather than bags of fragile mouldings that will 99.99% remain at the end of the day...

[Noel Smith]

Strong Country!      Reminds me of when I was a lad growing up in Reading. Simonds was the local brew at the time with their red hop leaf trade mark.

But I can remember many trips down to the South Coast and seeing the brewery signs 'You Are Now In The Strong Country'

[Biggles87]

Hi everyone. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for thinning Mr Surfacer, other than Mr Color thinners. I have half a pot of Mr Surfacer 500 which I haven’t used for a year or so and it’s thickened up quite a lot.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

John. 🇺🇦

[Troy Smith]

49 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Does anyone have any suggestions for thinning Mr Surfacer, other than Mr Color thinners. I have half a pot of Mr Surfacer 500 which I haven’t used for a year or so and it’s thickened up quite a lot.

Same thing, half full gloopy pot, add a good splosh of  Isopropyl Alcohol, stir a lot and off you go works very well, but I think it will have a bit less 'bite' afterwards.   I have IPA mine a few times now though. 

 

Humbrol liquid poly as also worked, but was a considerably more expensive option.   

.  Maybe add a little liquid glue if you need more bite.

 

note the chemicals listed here would also likely work,  acetone is likely the easiest to find.

Not tried it, but some cellulose thinners possibly?    If you try that, let us know.... 

 

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Question: How does one cut gun turret slits in a clear vacform turret?  I am working on a Martin A3 upper turret for a B-24 and need to cut the vertical slits.  They are not marked on the Falcon/Squadron turret transparency.

[Chris B]

I've cut and trimmed vacuform canopies but never tried cutting unmarked gun slits.

Thinking about how I'd do it -

1.  fill the inside of the transparency with something like Blu-tack or stuff hard with damp tissue, the aim being to keep it from deforming under pressure

2.  use something like Tamiya masking tape to outline the slit

3.  use a drill as near as possible to the width of the slit to drill 3 or 4 holes down the slit. 

4. trim up to the tape  up with a new sharp modelling knife blade or small sharp scissors

 

 

 

[Pigpen]

On 02/11/2022 at 12:22, Biggles87 said:

Hi everyone. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for thinning Mr Surfacer, other than Mr Color thinners. I have half a pot of Mr Surfacer 500 which I haven’t used for a year or so and it’s thickened up quite a lot.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

John. 🇺🇦

 

I keep mine going by adding cellulose thinners which I buy in a 125ml bottle from Wilkinsons. It retains its "bite" which is useful.

 

I know you can buy cellulose thinners much cheaper in larger quantities but it is something I'd rather pay more for and store less of ! 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

3 hours ago, Chris B said:

fill the inside of the transparency with something like Blu-tack or stuff hard with damp tissue, the aim being to keep it from deforming under pressure

2.  use something like Tamiya masking tape to outline the slit

3.  use a drill as near as possible to the width of the slit to drill 3 or 4 holes down the slit. 

4. trim up to the tape  up with a new sharp modelling knife blade or small sharp scissors

Thank you!  I was thinking exactly along the same lines, but had neglected the part about filling the inside of the transparency to prevent its being distorted under pressure.  That's an excellent tip.

[UberDaveToo]

There are quite a number of old vac kits from the 70s showing up on eBay in the US, one guy has a whole stack of them:

 

 

The thing is, except for a few oddball WWI types, every one has since been reproduced in injection molded kits. Unless you just want to do a nostalgia build fer funsies, they're sort of obsolete. Of the kits I saw out there, the F-105G, XF5U Flying Pancake, XF-107, B-66, A-3 Skywarrior, and many others have made it to injection.

 

I bought the old Rareplanes YB-17 kit because it's still the only game in town for a preproduction B-17.

 

 

So, I'll be using a few of these techniques, I've also gotten some of the old Falcon vac conversion kits for vac training.

 

 

Along with a couple of others.

 

 

 

Long ago, a friend bought a 1/72 C5 Galaxy kit from the UK who had a couple of tips I might try. The C-5 kit was enormous, he suggested using a sanding drum chucked into a rotary tool to whittle off the excess plastic and a can of insulation foam to fill large pieces like the C-5 fuselage. 

 

 

The foam will expand out through gaps and holes but give rigidity to the parts when dry, and is easily cut, scraped or sanded away. It can also aid in building up landing gear bays and such 

 

 

[Malc2]

Hi @UberDaveToo, you have a good collection of vacs there!

Be careful with the expanding foam, last time I used some it melted the styrene sheet. Try a bit on some scrap first!

Another tip is to fill the fuz halves before cutting the parts from the sheet, otherwise it will push the sides apart.

 

Malc.