egalliers Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) I have posted this build on a couple of other sites (ACAM and LSP) and thought that it would be appreciated here as well. I recently took delivery of the Hph 1/48th Concorde after seeing it travel across the world from the Czech Republic via Germany, France, China, Singapore then finally into Australia through Sydney and then up to Brisbane. It took 8 days and arrived in perfect condition. Being keen to get started on this project as soon as I received it, I had my workshop cleared of the 12 or so large scale planes that I am working on and a table set aside that I would be able to place the model on when I wasn't working on it. The model comes as a one piece Fiberglass body as can be seen in the following pics and is 128cm long. The instructions are on a DVD and all other parts are in resin, with water slide decal stencil data and an extensive mask set for the two liveries that one must choose from. A very nicely packed and rather large box. Here it is next to my 1/32 Mirage for size comparison. The contents. Don't be fooled by the fact that the model is mostly one piece. Most of those resin parts have to go into the fuselage from the outside through rather `expensive if you mess them up' cuts. Well I guess call it wishful thinking that it was going to fit here: Onto the build. I am still thinking of which way to depict this model and am doing only the essential cuts at this stage, meaning making space for the engine nacelles. The surface detail on the model is really nice. Now lets get stuck into it with a razor saw The first of many parts that need to be removed from the model body. The nacelle is a nice fit into the space. Here is the cockpit with the casting blocks removed and dry fitted. I will need to explore how much of this will be seen through the yet to be opened up fuselage before I go any further. There are a couple of bubbles that will need to be addressed and possible extra detail depending on what can be seen. Edited September 22, 2015 by egalliers 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eng Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Wow, now that's a kit and a half!! Eng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 And I thought my 1/72 version was big Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egalliers Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 I left my workshop for a break and came back to find my 4 year old boy had slipped in and was flying this around the room making jet noises..... gotta love it! I have been working on some of the detail parts and have found a few issues. I will present them here not as a critisism of the kit, rather as a way around the problems for other builders of the model. A few of these issues that I have identified are as a result of possible mistakes in the instructions which although are quite nicely done, are a little hard to follow. I do stand to be corrected on these points though. Here is a depiction of the diagram for the assembly of the wheels. Notice how there are two part 66's involved in the assembly of each wheel. As there are 8 main wheels, there should be 16 of these parts. There are only eight as presented in the box, plus there are only eight shown on the breakdown of parts in the instructions. I believe that the part closest to the undercarriage leg (on the right hand side of the screen) is a mistake in the instructions as the hub actually fills out the tire leaving no room for part 66. Here is the parts required to assemble each wheel. I feel that the parts could have been better done as complete halves of each wheel and would form a much more solid unit. The fit is quite sloppy for something that will ultimately share some of the weight of the model, but with some careful sanding, each part mates together well enough that by filling the voids with superglue, some strength can be obtained. Here is another issue. The way that part 76(77) (the part that holds both of the compressor turbines and is the intake ramp) as depicted in the instructions does not fit into the nacelle at all and leaves a very large gap. \ By reversing it, it fits perfectly (which is why I reckon the instructions are wrong) as it is `keyed' to fit like that and I was able to confirm the orientation through examination of a good walkaround on the net. Onto the intakes. These require a little bit of work as the forward corners of the resin parts I think have been slightly short cast. They should be very sharp, as well as the forward bottom lip. I superglued a small scrap of resin onto each corner Here you can see the difference between the intake as supplied in the kit and the modified intake(right side)notice how all edges are now sharp. I feel one of the biggest issue with the kit is the nose. I first noticed it when I pulled the model out of the box. The nose was squashed in and made the model look a bit like a `lame duck' rather than a supersonic beast. I thought that the resin nose included with the kit might have fixed the error but it is the same. Here is the resin nose. Doesn't look too bad, but something just doesn't look right. It certainly doesn't have the character of the real thing, that's for sure. Closer examination reveals that it is slightly concave from end to end. Not good. \ Lets have a quick look at how it looks compared to a pic of the real thing (yeah I know its open to interpretation, but trust me here) I just have to fix the nose, it will bug me too much if I leave it. I guess I shouldn't really have to be modifying a kit which cost me roughly the price of 3 Tamiya Mosquito's, but thats just the way it is. I have piled on about a quarter of a tube of Plasto body filler and will let it cure for a few days and then sand it to shape. Compared to the fiber glass nose, there is already a big improvement in its semi smoothed state. I might even make a copy of the remastered nose and cast it in resin so that is it made of the one material instead of resin/filler. Here are the nicely scribed windows. Now lets start getting serious with this model and start taking it apart! First the windows, I used a small drill bit in my cordless Dremel to cut rather than chain drill each part out. I then used a whiteboard marker to colour in the engraved line so that it was easier to see. Lets take the nose off whilst we are there. I tidied up everything with a file. \ Despite the instructions showing some neatly pre-cut clear parts in the parts breakdown, The kit is provided with a collection of rough cut clear parts to play with. Should be fun! Hopefully this: Will one day look like this (without the flag and open windows) 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S5 modeller Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Nice, if expensive, kit. Bodes well for the 1/48 valkyrie they are bringing out soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 "You're gonna need a bigger boat" ! Great start and certainly an aspect of modelling I haven't seen before- looking forward to seeing this beast progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 You are a brave man - great results so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TobHol Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I will follow this with intrest and learn the main misstakes to my own build. I also found some errors in the instructions, seems HPH was in a hurry writing the instructions. Keep up the good work! /Tobias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 This is great - can't wait for the next instalment ! Dermot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Nice to see one being built..... Look forward to seeing it finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Impressive. I wouldn't be brave enough to take a saw to the nose, I would chicken out and just paint the windows black, like the models you used to see in the travel agent windows in the 70's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomjw Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Looking forward to seeing more of this incredible project. Or do I mean more of this madness? :-) Cheers, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Amazing aircraft, model and work! Looking forward to seeing more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engineer66 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 When I first saw the size of this it reminded me of those travel agent models from the 70s as well. Quite a few of them had cut out panels so you could see the seats inside. Looking forward to watching this one develop. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egalliers Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Thanks for the interest guys. Some more for you! Whilst I was perusing the instructions I came across a little hand symbol next to the pitot tube where they show it being fitted to the nose. I thought that it must have meant metal part. Upon inspecting the symbol legend at the start of the instructions, I almost choked on the nice Belgian chocolate that HpH provide in these kits when I saw that the hand symbol means `scratchbuild'. Now, I will scratch build stuff till the cows come home and usually find myself making parts for most of the kits that have passed over my bench. The thing is, this is a damned expensive kit that has left me still unable to bring myself to view my bank account balance, lest I find myself once again under my desk in the feotal position, mumbling about crappy Trumpeter kits! C'mon Hph, pull your finger out guys! there is alot lacking in this kit that I feel should be there. More of that to come. Anyway, I hunted around and came up with a very likely candidate for a pitot tube being one from the excellent Master model range. The Tornado unit in 48th being almost an exact replica of one according to the reference pics that I was viewing online. Here it is, fitted to the now modified nose. I also got a few years supply of primer, clear coat and white spray cans, which should be just the ticket to painting this beast when I ordered the pitot tube. I have started to assemble the cockpit by fitting the floor and rear bulkhead. Now I am not sure how the person who did the test assembly on the prototype of the model fitted these pieces into the fuselage, nor could I work out the way the instructions directed a series of twists and turns to get them in there. One thing is for sure, and that is that neither the rear bulkhead or the floor do not fit into the fuselage through the opened nose of the model. I had my great mate Brent over who acted as a second set of eyes on the problem and he came up with a solution of cutting copies of each part from thin plastic card that would allow each part to be bent as it passed through the opening. Great idea! After retrieving the bulkhead from the rear of the model by shaking it back out through the front one too many times, I needed to devise an even more devious plan. Using the plastic copy, I cut that part in half and worked out what could be done using the original part, and some lateral thinking did the rest. The first date was almost a disaster! It just wont fit! Lets go a bit easier on the opening with something a bit more flexible Here is the fix. Cut the rear bulkhead into two pieces, just below the shelf that the floor sits on. Shave the rear corners off the floor where they will be covered by cockpit parts. Fill the fuselage with expanding foam just behind where the rear bulkhead will sit (to stop it from falling back into the fuselage when you are trying to fit it.) Fit the two parts together once inside the fuselage Fit the floor and once glued, I used some more expanding foam under the floor to give it more support. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Clever stuff egalliers, looking good. Like (probably) others I looked up the kit and I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to tackle such an expensive kit... and for that money I agree they should include the pitot, or indeed send someone around to scratch build it for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egalliers Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Thanks CedB. Although I am pointing out lots of issues, I am actually enjoying this build immensely. Eric. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TobHol Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Great work! A big thank you for pointing at the hard things while building. Neat idea about the foam solution. I was thinking about reverse the instructions and start to install the tail gear well first, then the main gear and nose gear well. And last the cockpit. The main reason is that it will be easy to recover the wells if lost inside the fuselage. Do you see any advatantage/disadvatantage in which order to install the wells/cockpit? /Tobias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Wow that is a monster of a kit and much kudos to publishing it as a WIP on here. All I have heard about this kit is criticism so it will be interesting to see the view point of someone who has actually built it. I agree on the poor show on the 'scratchbuild' items, for what you paid you shouldn't have to scratchbuild anything, a bit of a cop out. Still I am really looking forward to seeing this go together. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 wow! someone finally building her! great start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace From Outer Space Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Wow! What an amazing kit! Good stuff Egalliers! Cheers Viv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 (edited) Ahhh my favourite aircraft of all time & I've never built one - mainly due to the fact that i don't believe my skills are up to the level to do her justice yet. When I was a teenager I was at boarding school in the UK & my parents lived in Bahrain. Whenever I went out to stay with them I used to insist that they take me to the airport whenever Concorde was landing, or taking off - I even got the chance to stand on the end of the runway & watch her hurtle towards us before majestically rising into the air & then deafening us as she went over our heads. Eventually they upgraded one of my flights out to Bahrain & one very excited 14 yr old broke the sound barrier Edited September 23, 2015 by andymoore 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egalliers Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Wow that is a monster of a kit and much kudos to publishing it as a WIP on here. All I have heard about this kit is criticism so it will be interesting to see the view point of someone who has actually built it. I agree on the poor show on the 'scratchbuild' items, for what you paid you shouldn't have to scratchbuild anything, a bit of a cop out. Still I am really looking forward to seeing this go together. Bob Hi Bob, I am interested to hear what other criticisms you have heard about the kit so I can keep an eye out for them. Eric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egalliers Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 Great work! A big thank you for pointing at the hard things while building. Neat idea about the foam solution. I was thinking about reverse the instructions and start to install the tail gear well first, then the main gear and nose gear well. And last the cockpit. The main reason is that it will be easy to recover the wells if lost inside the fuselage. Do you see any advatantage/disadvatantage in which order to install the wells/cockpit? /Tobias Hi Tobias, I guess that would work well and a very good idea. The thing is that the instructions call for foam (another thing that I think should have been in the box) to be pushed into the holes of each of the bay's before they are installed so as to 'push back' once they are poked through the hole and I think to stop them from falling into the abyss. I wanted to get the cockpit floor and bulkhead into the fuselage relatively early on in the build so that I could at least see how much of the cockpit would be able to be seen through the windows in order for me to determine how much or how little work to do to the parts. Eric. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 This looks like an interesting build to follow. When i first started reading the thread I was wondering how you were going to get the Cockpit in as it looked like it would be a problem and I like your solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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