1:48 TSR-2 Airfix

[cathasatail]

Good evening all,

Just been to Bruntingthorpe's cold war jets day-superb stuff! Anyway the point is, I picked up a 1:48 TSR-2 for £28 and I was wondering what sort of things I should probably look out for in terms of building the kit (fit issues, etc)? I was thinking of not painting the kit (seen as it is moulded in white plastic) mainly because whenever I have sprayed stuff white in the past, thousands of dust particles suddenly appear on my previously white model and are trapped by the paint when it dries. So, what do you think of that? Is that ok for getting a decent finish on the model?

I have also heard rumours that the landing gear can break rather easily, is this true?

Thanks, apologies for any grammatical mistakes -i'm rather tired!

Sam

[Dynamo11]

If it's anything like its little brother then it is a filler queen around the wing/fuselage join. I recall reading a tip somewhere where someone suggested attaching the lower part of the wing first before building it up. I'd say as far as the paint goes Anti-Flash white was a high gloss so leaving the plastic bare may give it an incorrect satin sheen, so I'd still paint it. That said if you are not too fussed and know the finish wouldn't be any better if you did spray it then by all means leave it as it is, with the pale roundels on it'll still look a treat

Edited August 30, 2015 by Dynamo11

[Martian]

The kit is a much better fit than it's smaller sibling although a bit of filling is required around the wing to fuselage joint. I would still paint the model as unpainted plastic always look like what it is. When I built my kit I used Halfords white primer followed by their Appliance White, both sprayed on in multiple thin coats and rubbing down in between. It may be that the issues you have had are due to too thick coats of paint being applied, thus increasing the drying time and giving dust more opportunity to settle.

I cannot comment on the strength of the undercarriage as I completely re-built mine. I did however drill into the centre of the joining peg of the main undercarriage leg to bogie and inserted a brass pin as I perceived this as a weak spot. Build here

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/40271-tsr-2-airfix-148-scale/page-1

Martin

[Albeback52]

I have built two of these kits and am currently working on a third. Compared to the awful 1/72 kit, it's larger sibling fitted together with few problems. The wing assembly was a VERY tight fit and will require a lot of scraping and filing but, I used very little filler on the model. It is a large, heavy model but the undercarriage is sturdy. However, the wheel axles are flimsy and will sag under the weight of the model. I replaced mine with short lengths of brass rod. As all of mine are in fictitious paint schemes I never bothered with the boring all white finish but, I agree with Martin in that unpainted plastic looks just like that - unpainted plastic!!

Allan

[cathasatail]

Good morning,

Thank you all for your suggestions-I'm now thinking of where I can spray it (when the time comes) which will allow for barely any dust to accumulate and thanks for the comments on the undercarriage-I will attempt to replace said axles with a length of brass rod.

I've done the 1:72 kit before and I sprayed that in white (which collected a lot of dust indeed)-making it look rather grubby. (this was back when I used to use Humbrol enamel paints!) and so I got to work trying to get rid of the layer of paint. I thought I had gotten rid of all the dust particles and so I decided to just stick with a camo colour "what if" variant and to my horror bits of dust and microscopic hairs had been caught in the previous layer that I hadn't seen, leaving a sandpaper finish. Luckily if you don't touch it, you wouldn't know it is there but I have never touched white paint since. Strange that other paint seems to work fine... (I now use Vallejo).

So, I shall be rather careful with the fuselage/wing joint, it was a bugger to hold in place while it glued-I ended up wrapping it all in masking tape (I shudder now, that I used Tamiya tape!) . On the plus side, there is a bigger canvas to scratchbuild on when it comes to detailling the cockpit!

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, have a good day!

Sam

[bentwaters81tfw]

I tend to spray outdoors, as I use rattlecans. Never yet had a problem with dust.

[cathasatail]

I tend to spray outdoors, as I use rattlecans. Never yet had a problem with dust.

That's probably the solution then, if only this flipping rain will stop some time in the next few weeks

Sam

[tc2324]

Make sure you post a WIP as I`ll be looking to start my one shortly.

I built the 1/72 version a little while ago and did not enjoy it. Hopefully the 1/48 will be better.

[Van]

Make sure you post a WIP as I`ll be looking to start my one shortly.

I built the 1/72 version a little while ago and did not enjoy it. Hopefully the 1/48 will be better.

I built a 1/72 version when it came out-it only needed a little fettling. it was fine.

[Don McIntyre]

Make sure you put a box of some sort over your kit one it's been sprayed. If necessary vacuum out the box first, then place it over your model.

[cathasatail]

Make sure you put a box of some sort over your kit one it's been sprayed. If necessary vacuum out the box first, then place it over your model.

I could use the kits box then

Thanks,

Sam

[Ronan71]

Make sure you put a box of some sort over your kit one it's been sprayed. If necessary vacuum out the box first, then place it over your model.

That has worked for me, I have a good sized IKEA clear plastic box with a lid and after spraying (especially when applying a gloss clear coat) I put the model in it for a couple of hours and to date not much issues with dust or hair.

[stever219]

Scale Aircraft Conversions do a replacement white metal undercarriage set for this kit (around £12.00 from Hannants, IIRC). It's more robust than the kit parts and reduces the splay angle on the main legs slightly (Airfix have overdone this slightly). I can't remember if it includes the auxiliary struts as fitted to XR220 (and '219 for her last few flights) but as they're not load bearing in the model the kit parts could probably be adapted off required.

[riever49]

Whatever protection technique you adopt, I think you'll have to paint the model. In my experience, decals put straight onto plastic will peel off .

[viscount806x]

Make sure you put a box of some sort over your kit one it's been sprayed. If necessary vacuum out the box first, then place it over your model.

This is my own method too. Get yourself a big enough cardboard box from the supermarket or Amazon etc. Make sure it can be closed up and is clean inside. Just pop the model into it straight after painting on a suitable support (bent wire coat hanger up the jet pipes?) and let it dry. Best in a shed or garage unless you want to be abused by other family members for the stink of cellulose.

[cathasatail]

This is my own method too. Get yourself a big enough cardboard box from the supermarket or Amazon etc. Make sure it can be closed up and is clean inside. Just pop the model into it straight after painting on a suitable support (bent wire coat hanger up the jet pipes?) and let it dry. Best in a shed or garage unless you want to be abused by other family members for the stink of cellulose.

Thanks

I use the Vallejo series of paints so there isn't really much of a smell!

Thanks,

Sam

[Harvs73]

Here are a few links on the TSR-2 build I did:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/38695-148-airfix-tsr2-questions/?hl=harvs73#entry409611

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/57046-148-airfix-tsr2-lives/?hl=harvs73

There are several different decal sheets out there for the TSR-2, all What if's. The Airfix decals are not the best but I managed to use them on my kit. There are articles on BM about the kit as well as fixing the undercarriage. The undercarriage is a big weakness as it either breaks between the main leg and the cross piece with the wheels on or the legs splay out more over time. The metal replcaement from Scale Aircraft Conversions is just a metal copy of the kit part so it doesn't do much for accuracy but it does help a great deal with the strength of the undercarriage.

[593jones]

Couple of articles on Hyperscale re correcting the undercarriage of the 1/48 version

here: http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/features/tsr2splaysn_1.htm

and here: http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/features/tsr2splaysn_1.htm

Might be usefull.