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CP - 140 Another of Canadas finest


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A good day to one and all,

I am kicking off another WIP today, along with all my other WIPS this one will start off nice and quick and then slow right down! I am stating that this one IS one for the long haul. I was going to do a quick OOB build but as you will see that won't happen!

So to start off with the kit, this is the Japanese boxing of Hasegawas venerable P-3 Orion. This is an old kit with raised detail and does show a bit of age. Most of the detail is acceptable so it is a good base to start. Here are the obligatory contents shots

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And the kit decals that I (obviously!) won't be using

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I got the kit from HLJ for a very reasonable CA$30 and chuck in postage it came to under 50 bucks, which is about 25 quid. AND I didn't get stung for any import charges and no Post Office 'Handling charge', a pleasant change I must say :thumbsup: although going by usual Canadian bureaucracy I can expect a bill for import 3 days after the RFI post!

So why am I going for this type, well I work in the deep maintenance facility for the CP-140 (amongst other aircraft) where we go deep and change wings and tails etc. So I walk past the real thing in bits every day and think hmmmm that would be interesting to model. So here it is. Next decision was which colour scheme? I am not a great fan of 2 tone grey (unless its a battleship of some sort) and the low vis scheme isn't too enthralling. So I opted for what is know as the symmetrical scheme, basically white and grey with go faster stripes down the side. I will be using Canuck decals for this particular build.

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So that's kicking off now, there will be a couple of quick posts to catch up[ and then it will be real time, and with the Helicopter GB starting next week it will be basically a tinkering along build.

Cheers now

Bob

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So lets get this one going, AS I said this kit is quite old, in fact it is probably older than me! So is covered with raised panel lines. For the fuselage this isn't a problem because the skin joints have a nice thick layer of sealant over them which gives a fine raised line which would probably be noticeable on a kit this size. The wings are a different matter, these are smooth with definite recessed panels which are quite noticeable. The wing planks aren't so but I decided to recess the whole of the wing anyway. If it appears too much later on then I can just fill them.

So where would be the most logical place to start? That's right on the wings so I very gently scribed the detail in. I have a tendancy to go to wide and deep (maybe I was the Phantom Matchbox detailer in a previous life?) so I just stuck with 2 passes with my fine scraper

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The raised detail was used as a guide because in general it is reasonably accurate. So gentle scribing ensued but I went alittle deep around the flap areas, sneezed and this happened!!

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:whistle:

Maybe its something to do with the plastic! Any way as it conveniently followed the flap line I thought why not do flaps deployed? Especially as I nearly walk into them everyday! One day I will make contact and I'll wager it will hurt! So that was the plan. There is a detail kit for the internal, flaps and wheel wells but this would cost the price of the kit and is rarer than rocking horse poop! So I invested heavily in plasticard and had a go at replicating some. For this side I am just experimenting to see if it is feasible, if it is I will detail my method when I build up the opposite side, if it doesn't work I shall then just delete this post and pretend it never happened :wicked:

So this is flap MK1

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and this is flap MK1 recess

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The little triangular pieces are to support the rear of the flap recess and wont be visible. I had trouble keeping that part straight so tacked it in bit by bit with a bit of reinforcing behind. Ifyou squint really hard it does look quite straight........ish!

So this is how it looks from the underside

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and this is roughly what you'll get from the top view

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I think it looks okay so far so am going to persevere a bit more, so if you see this post isn't here you'll know that has been a complete failure! :frantic:

I have been working on this for about a week now and not glued or painted any kit parts yet! I may be here for the long run on this!

Cheers now

Bob


I will be following this one Bob, as I have the same kit that I plan to finish in the modern low-viz two-tone grey scheme to replicate the Aurora that displayed at Little Gransden a few years ago.

Welcome along! Pull up a chair and get comfortable!

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I'm watching this,don't panic Mr Mainwaring !

I had to work (Electra but the same!) between the engines inside the wing,not good to say the least. Tiny shoulder width access panel and control wires,then a narrow space to the leading edge.It was a dry bay,no fuel but the fumes were evil. Once I got there found out I'd forgotten the cold chisel and parrallel pliers, oh good ! I had to remove/replace 10 ish Hi-loks for NDT and go 2nd over size on half of them as NDT found cracks in the Hi-Lok bores. Air Frantique/Channel exess, Coventry Airport or dump,pick which ever you like.Dec 1999.

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I had to remove/replace 10 ish Hi-loks for NDT and go 2nd over size on half of them as NDT found cracks in the Hi-Lok bores.

Never worked on those aircraft but during my NDT days I used to have to hang around for countless hours waiting for maintainers to pull their fingers out and get the job done, so I could spend 3 minutes doing an inspection then bugger off for a nice hard earned cuppa whilst the poor maintainer cursed away at me. :bleh:

......although before my NDT days I was in the same boat!

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Aha!

Another of Mr Lockheed's finest.

I'm in for this. :)

After they sorted out the Electra disasters it was.

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And its another welcome to everyone chipping in, pull up a chair!

Now my clumsiness knows no bounds on this build, I was just looking at the fuselage side below

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when I did the tiniest hiccup and the this happened....

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.....the door recess just fell away, now I could have just fitted the door and had it all closed up, but I didn't think of that so went about trying to make that hole in the side a bit more interesting. So being a round cross section this makes making bulkheads very easy. You can see where I have fitted disks above, so then it was just working out where the floor should sit, so with a bit of calculation and squinting of the Mk1 eyeball (OK not so much of the calculating bit!) I got a floor secured in, using some square section plastic rod to secure it, I then removed the middle third to give the impression of a walk through bulkhead.

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You can see originally I didn't extend beyond the two bulkheads. The forward one is fine as you wont see nuffin past that through the door opening. For the aft view there was an obvious black hole of nothing, so I extended the floor. Behind this are a couple of cupboards and a dining area (these crews don't know how lucky they are, poor Naval Seaking aircrew had to eat on their laps!). As beyond this bulkhead are only a couple of windows I only needed to give the impression of a dining area looking from the door (If I can make the small windows clear enough that you can clearly see the detail then I really do need to give up my day job!)

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It does look a little sparse from this view but don't forget this will be the only angle you will see anything

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So I think that will be sufficient. I am not going to do the whole inside. Around the window areas I will do enough to give the impression of a full interior, as for the cockpit that will be quite basic as well, I wont waste too much time on what can't be seen. So more to do around the door, I need more cupboards, 2 seats, some chutes for the sonobouys and day to day stuff kicking around.

Update on the flaps, just need to make up 13 frame sections and 5 runners and then I think I could think about gluing the wings down. Having said that I still haven't painted or glued any kit parts yet, wonder how long I can hold that off? Although I am thinking maybe I should make up a bomb bay recess just incase I should accidently break something else off. :hmmm:

Just trying to get as much of this done, as well as my Cormorant, HMS Renown, Fulmar oh and my Sea Fury done before the Helicopter GB starts ......... now when is that??

Laters! :banghead:

Bob

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How unfortunate, same sort of thing happened to my P-3B build, though it was in the weapons bay area and fortunately a resin piece fell in to fill the void.

Nice work in the crew entry area Bob. Looks like you are building you own version of the CMR update set :D

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Nice work in the crew entry area Bob. Looks like you are building you own version of the CMR update set :D

Having been unsuccessful in securing a set without the need of sacrificing a limb, it was the only option! Although I am now pondering on how to display it as a lot of the interest will be on the underside, I do wish aircraft designers would put things like bomb bays, undercarriage bays and flap recesses on the top of aircraft to make it easier for us model makers to display our work! :banghead:

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...

Although I am now pondering on how to display it as a lot of the interest will be on the underside, I do wish aircraft designers would put things like bomb bays, undercarriage bays and flap recesses on the top of aircraft to make it easier for us model makers to display our work! :banghead:

I have an AP-3C build planned with everything hanging out and was going to display it on a stand in this sort of attitude

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So I have been tinkering with this a little over the weekend. I am mainly concentrating on the internal fuselage area by the door for now and filling in this area. This is quite an open area, forward are a couple of cabinets, I think these may be electronic cabinets as they have a grill on the front of them but I could be wrong. Nect on the floor are a couple of sono bouy chutes. There are a cople of dozen recesses underneath which are loaded from the ground but 4 of them can be manually loaded from inside. One of these is much larger (I think this may be a gash chute!) and you can see in Trojans photo above which shows it quite nicely, this is a unique feature for Canadian P-3's and will need adjusting on the kits parts. The internal chutes were replicated with a few bits of suitably sized rod cut at an angle. To stop the aircrew tripping over these chutes they put a guard rail infront, which conveniently is about ankle height and a perfect tripping hazard! There is still a lot more to go into there but its a start

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and also to be fair to the aircrew I fitted a table for their canteen area, although from the door opening you probably wont be able to tell!

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Next up there is a crew seat infront of the window opposite the door which will be very visible, probably the most visible item, so I thought I would put in a bit of effort for it. I used the old a kit seat as a very rough guide and knocked one up out of plastic card. I have 7 of these on the go as there are 7 seats in the plane. 3 in the cockpit (in 2 minds as to whether I will replace them or use the kit ones) and 4 in the rear fuselage. One of these will be very visible, one partially but behind the main door area, 3 in the cockpit vaguely visible and 2 in the fuselage where I just need an impression of a seat. So they will be done with a varying amount of detail. This is attempt number one, the square at the bottom of the supports is not part of the seat and only a rough guide for the 4 legs that protrude out.

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And compared to the kit offering, I just need to find a varying array of oranges and browns to paint it up.

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And finally I would like to introduce my mate Dave, a very useful fella that provides me with guidance on scale, he used to be an islander pilot but I find him more useful as a general dogsbody. Here he is modeling the seat for me

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A bit of a snug fit but Dave has been on the donuts lately so has a bit of extra girth to him, otherwise the seat seems acceptably in proportion. I prefer to go by eye when scratch building and I can use Dave as a nice scale reference, if something is about the width of my hand I can easily judge against him.

Well that's it for this update, I will drip feed over the next couple of weeks whilst the Helo GB is on, mean whilst I still haven't painted or assembled any of the kit yet!

Cheers now

Bob

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Good stuff there Bob. I like your mate ,the Chairman Dave too. Your own little R&D man !

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