BritJet Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 (edited) Thought I'd pull another resin out of the stash and after the big and heavy Sperrin, this seemed ideal; It's the Whirlybird Bristol 188 and comes with a useful CD of photos of the surviving example at the RAF Museum Cosford. I've got a load of my own photos of it as well but you can never have enough. Two decal sheets are supplied the larger one is of the Pressfix type (which I've had problems with before) and the smaller one is Alps printed for the white pilot's name on the nose. Unfortunately this isn't very well printed so I'll be making my own decals for this model. The resin and white metal parts look pretty good but no doubt the dreaded air bubbles will make an appearance at some point. The wings, fin and tailplane are a bit warped but should straighten without too much trouble. The sheet under the parts is A3 if that helps to give a sense of the size. Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Well back for some more punishment then Steve, seems like the other two weren't enough to leave you a quivering mess in the corner! I LOVE THIS!! This is one super cool model and large as well, I was going to ask the scale until you mentioned the A3 paper! This will be one to watch for sure...not that the other two weren't either! Well good luck ...again, I done think I need to say I hope you enjoy the build, clearly you are and having fun as well. Am really looking forward to seeing this one completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mottlemaster Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hi Steve . This looks like a quality resin kit . i guess metal finish . looking forward to seeing it come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driver66 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Watching with interest . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 (edited) Thought it was time to get the parts for this prepared so I put the Auster down for a while and got the razor saw out. It all looks pretty much the same as in the previous photo so I won't bore you with a similar piccy. On 23/07/2015 at 01:11, trickyrich said: Well back for some more punishment then Steve, seems like the other two weren't enough to leave you a quivering mess in the corner! I LOVE THIS!! This is one super cool model and large as well, I was going to ask the scale until you mentioned the A3 paper! This will be one to watch for sure...not that the other two weren't either! Well good luck ...again, I done think I need to say I hope you enjoy the build, clearly you are and having fun as well. Am really looking forward to seeing this one completed. Yes it's another resin from me, too many in the stash to not pull (at least....) one more out. The Sperrin wasn't too bad to build but the paint job seemed to go on for too long with all the stripes It will be a large model - about 300mm long not including the nose probe, but the span is only about half that. On 23/07/2015 at 12:25, Mottlemaster said: Hi Steve . This looks like a quality resin kit . i guess metal finish . looking forward to seeing it come together. It does look very nice but see the photos below for the bad news Not just a metal finish but stainless steel so that'll be fun........ Started off by drilling into the two fuselage pieces and fitting some brass rod. When the two are brought together at the correct angle there is a gap - nothing a bit of plastic card and filler cant' cure but still annoying. Next bit of bad news - the round parts aren't very erm, round. Engine fronts And the rear parts Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 It doesn't quite look to be the nice simple build it should have been! Non-round parts...had the same issue with my Arado beasty, lots of round plastic card disks helped there. But not too sure if it would work in this case...maybe raid the spares box for something similar, or if you have a wee lathe.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 That's a shame about some of the parts. That's one kit I'd be interested in. At one point Whirlybird/Whirlykits were going to do the vacuform Maintrack line in resin. I'd still be interested in a resin Supermarine 510 (basically a tail-dragger Swift, or swept-winged Attacker depending on how you look at it). Yours should be an interesting build. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) First the good news - The two fuselage parts went together quite well. The rear part was a bit wider than the front but by the time the filler is rubbed down they will match On 24/07/2015 at 23:40, trickyrich said: It doesn't quite look to be the nice simple build it should have been! Non-round parts...had the same issue with my Arado beasty, lots of round plastic card disks helped there. But not too sure if it would work in this case...maybe raid the spares box for something similar, or if you have a wee lathe.... Stupidly I thought getting a good metal finish on this would be the worst part, but it looks like we'll be saving that for later. I can see how much "fun" you had with the Arado and have been thinking along the lines of spares box (see below), making new nacelles from plastic disks on a central core or the lathe. The kit parts are half-right!! This is one of them, the right way up and aligned with the outboard edge. Hopefully you can see here the "waisted" shape - pity they're not just parallel sided tubes as they would've been replaced by now! The gap between the parts is nearly 4mm, easy enough to bridge and fill but again, annoying....... And this is the same parts rotated 90 degrees So, I could just build it as it is and it will look ok from the side. From above or the front it will look odd. The front part of the engine, apart from not being very round, is also quite shallow and the upper blow-in doors ideally need to be open like a Harrier. Not sure I can build it like that as I'll never be happy with it. I had a trip to the spares box and found a very old and unloved Matchbox Mig-21 which quite happily gave up it's nose section. This is very close to the size and shape I need and with a bit of work could do the job. I'll have to either carefully extract the kit intake cones or find/make new ones, but it's a start. Looks like a plan is coming together add filler to the sides of the nacelles and then make them round, on the lathe; shape the Mig nose again on the lathe; make a vacform mould from one half of the Mig nose and then; vacform the 4 halves; adapt/find/make the intake cones. I can then have the blow-in doors open, far more depth to the intakes and be much happier with the end result! On 25/07/2015 at 05:45, Learstang said: That's a shame about some of the parts. That's one kit I'd be interested in. At one point Whirlybird/Whirlykits were going to do the vacuform Maintrack line in resin. I'd still be interested in a resin Supermarine 510 (basically a tail-dragger Swift, or swept-winged Attacker depending on how you look at it). Yours should be an interesting build. Regards, Jason Apart from the nacelles and nasty Pressfix decals it is a nice kit. I'm used to resin kits needing a bit of work but really wasn't expecting to have to do these changes. But as TamiFujiGawa kits don't do anything for me, I'll stick with it, I've had kits that've needed far more work than this. The only other Whirlybird resin kits I've got are one of the Avro 707s and a couple of the Javelin back end conversions, hopefully they won't have problems like this one. The Bristol 188 was one of the few Maintrack vacforms I didn't get or didn't need - the Supermarine 510 and Handley Page 88 I'd already converted from Novo Attackers with scratchbuilt wings. "Interesting" that's one word for it - I can think of others........but won't use any of them here Thanks for the comments, they really do help. Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viscount806x Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 The Bristol 188 was one of the few Maintrack vacforms I didn't get or didn't need - "Interesting" that's one word for it - I can think of others........but won't use any of them here Steve I often wonder if we aren't a bit better off by just sticking with the original vacforms rather than the rehashed resin versions which seem often to be a bit iffy. If you want a vacform one, I have a couple of spare sets, PM me if so. Nige B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) On 25/07/2015 at 15:46, viscount806x said: I often wonder if we aren't a bit better off by just sticking with the original vacforms rather than the rehashed resin versions which seem often to be a bit iffy. If you want a vacform one, I have a couple of spare sets, PM me if so. Nige B I totally agree with you and problems like I'm having with this kit would be a lot easier to fix on a vacform. Thanks for the offer but I'm determined to fix this thing now I've got this far. Some progress towards the right shape; The fuselage join has blended in well but the airbrake positions differ from one side to the other so I've filled the scribed lines in and will sort them out again later. The Mig nose and the nacelles have been covered in filler and are going on the lathe tomorrow. The plastic disks at the ends are for getting things centred and the brass rod superglued in the jetpipe is to go in the lathe chuck. Hopefully it won't take long just to skim the excess off these and get something closer to round. Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I think you may have used a bit more filler than I did!! That MiG nose will work perfectly...gee I wish I had a lathe, would make life sooo much easier! Plastic disks have become my friends! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Good luck Steve Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwinism Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) I've recently started using Mr Metal Color MC213 Stainless for various shades around jet pipes. It comes up great after a quick polish - may be worth a try for the exterior? Andy Edited July 26, 2015 by Darwinism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) On 26/07/2015 at 01:16, trickyrich said: I think you may have used a bit more filler than I did!! That MiG nose will work perfectly...gee I wish I had a lathe, would make life sooo much easier! Plastic disks have become my friends! It looks worse than it actually is, I thought I'd put plenty on and then stop skimming it when the resin starts to show through. My lathe was given to me about 15 years ago, in bits, covered in muck and not working. Got it cleaned up, figured out what all the bits were and fixed the electrical fault easily so was happy with that. It's one of those tools that is very useful but is probably not going to get a huge amount of use. It can only work something about 120mm long so these parts at 105mm were close to the limit. On 26/07/2015 at 07:28, CliffB said: Good luck Steve Cliff Thanks, I've got a feeling there's plenty more work ahead...... On 26/07/2015 at 07:54, Darwinism said: I've recently started using Mr Metal Color MC213 Stainless for various shades around jet pipes. It comes up great after a quick polish - may be worth a try for the exterior? Andy Thanks for that, I'll give it a try. I've got all sorts of Alclad shades that I was going to test so might as well add another one! Apart from the lathe throwing the belt a couple of times everything went well and the parts now look like this; Bit more work to do, but the nacelles will now roll very nicely on a level surface, rather than rotating 90 degrees and stopping as before! Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 They're looking better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) I had to leave this for a while as I was getting annoyed with the problems, so I got the Auster finished. On 27/07/2015 at 23:57, trickyrich said: They're looking better. Thanks, not too sure if I could've made them much worse........ Only took a couple of minutes to remove the excess filler, they'll need some more work yet but the shape is much better. Made a bit of progress, but it feels like I'm running on the spot all the time. Drilled into all the mating surfaces and inserted brass rod to help line it all up and hold it together. Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 WOW there is no holding you back now at all! Those engine pods do have a very distinctive shape which looks like they are based on the Transonic Area rule. I have to start following your lead and adding more pins to some of my builds...and a resin Ju488 that just keep dropping its wings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natter Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Good grief, there is some serious modelling going on there. I thought the old Airfix kits too work, but this is i a totally new dimension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 (edited) Doesn't look like I'm much further along with this but there has been a lot of fill, sand and repeat going on as well as working out what else needs doing. My original plan was to attach the wings to the engines to make sure everything was in the right place etc. but I'm glad I didn't. As the masters for this resin kit were obviously taken from the Project-X vacform there is an issue with the wings fitting into slots cut into the fuselage and wings as not enough allowance has been made for this. So I've added strips of plastic to the edges to put the parts in the correct positions. The trailing edge of the inner wings should follow the angle of the outer wing but the kit has it at right angles to the fuselage. A strip of plastic and some filler will sort that out. On my kit at least the left inner wing is thicker than it should be so that needs sorting. The forward section of the Mig-21 nose is now nicely round and the correct diameter so I can make a mould from that soon. I found a couple of Matchbox Sea Harrier radomes that will be used for the intake shock cones Once I get past the having to correct everything stage. I might actually start to enjoy this one. This kit really needs new masters to be made, ideally with a one piece wing and round parts that are actually 'round' Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselweasel Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Steve A quick question if I may, the plans you show on the bench where did they come from, would like a copy, please advise Regards Jim P.S. great work so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 They come with the kit but are based on the Barry Hygate British Experimental Jets book. I'll scan it for you. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 PM sent Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselweasel Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Steve Have replied to your PM, again many thanks for the plans and info Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Glad to be able to help! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 (edited) I had to leave this alone for a while due to work commitments but also as it would have gone for a very short first flight out of the window! It's starting to come together now but there is still a lot to do. I made the mould for the new intakes and got a set vacformed, the first one is together and needs a bit of sanding but at least it is ROUND! The second one won't be far behind. The disks are to strengthen the moulding and give a location for the intake cones, the tube will be cut short of the intake lip and then blended in to keep the intake round - there's that word again...... The two bits of paper are for marking the blow-in door positions - That will be a fun job to do but I think the model needs them to be open. I should have quite a bit of time this week to beat this into submission Steve Edited September 8, 2017 by BritJet Re-link photos - thanks PhotoMuppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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