Bandai Thunderbird 2

[Pete in Lincs]

Hood,

Chocolate will make you fat.

Then your strings will break.

Just settle for the milky way.

[avro683]

Depends what you mean by "blinkin' big" Aoshima do a 13" version:

(the cockpit windows are too high up in the nose however )

Then there is the Imai 9" version which is the one I used in my launch dio last year

(which has some shape issues, ie under the nose should be flat rather than curving upwards)

Then there is another Aoshima which is often branded as Carlton nowadays which is 8" long - this is distinguishable as it is open cockpit windows and a nicely detailed cockpit OOB. This has a good shape and also comes with an optional grab arm that can be attached to the pod! It also has some detailing on the inner faces of the Pod storage bay.

Then there is the kit Nigel is using which is about 6-7" long and comes with the 3 Elevator cars. (It suffers from the same shape issues at the 9" Imai)

Here are the 13" 9" and 8" next to each other

Now of course if you want a REALLY big model, there is the Imai 22" kit of which there are currently 3 available on eBay at prices for $350, $380 and ahem $1100

There is also a large garage kit in fibreglass that is "studio scale", ie about 3 feet long...

I saw one of those in the flesh. It's magnificent.

[Kallisti]

When and where? If it was recently it might have been mine

[avro683]

At the set tour in Slough I went to on 12 March. I was a backer for the Thunderbirds 1965 project; there was an invitation for people to visit the set before the complete industrial estate is raised to the ground for redevelopment. Shades of Terror in New York City!

[Martian]

Hood,

Chocolate will make you fat.

Then your strings will break.

Just settle for the milky way.

Too late it has but luckily my strings are 800lb fishing line so Galactic domination is still a goer! Did I mention that I plan to control the galaxy's chocolate supplies as well? I didn't? Never mind, I do though.

The Hood (figuring out how much chocolate he can force into one of TB2's pods)

[Nigel Heath]

Today, before applying the primer I thought it prudent to apply the green around all the masked areas:

Shortly after that on went the grey Alclad primer:

I also got the rocket nozzles painted and unmasked:

I am now busy sorting out all the defects the primer has highlighted, plenty on the pod but less than I was expecting on the main craft.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Martian]

Make sure you give her a good interior valet as well, you never know where that Virgil Tracy has been!

The Hood

[Nigel Heath]

Today I have sorted out all the defects with a bit of filler here and there and plenty of sanding:

I think this model lends itself to a bit of preshading so after a second coat of primer I got that done:

That was soon followed by the green top coat:

I think I have got the preshading about right, particularly on the pod:

I'm not sure whether to attempt more weathering effects or proceed to the painting of the silver engine inlets - thoughts?

Bye for now,

Nigel

[CedB]

Very nice Nigel If it as me I'd do the silver next and see what I thought of the 'complete beast' before weathering, but that's just me...

[keefr22]

Very nice Nigel If it as me I'd do the silver next and see what I thought of the 'complete beast' before weathering, but that's just me...

Not just you Ced, I'd do that too.

Looking very nice Nigel, top choice on the shade of green, lovely!

keith

[AlexN]

Yes, the green looks very accurate - er, for "a given degree of accuracy" .

[Yorki 1960]

FAB Nigel

[hendie]

late to the party as always - nice looking TB2 for sure.

[Nigel Heath]

Despite leaving the gloss red for several days before masking it there has been an adverse reaction with the tape:

No bother, I polished it back to a uniform appearance with a soft cotton bud and some T-Cut:

I also unmasked the other engines:

Next the masking for the engine intakes:

I'm not sure it was strictly necessary to reapply primer but it probably saved some Alclad:

Here they are finished with more "White Aluminium":

Now I just have to mask the the black areas - the rocket nozzles and leg mounting points on the underside.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[CedB]

Very nice Nigel, good save on the tape marks (good tip) - I like those intakes a lot

[Hunter Rose]

Its looking really cool Nigel!

[roymattblack]

When and where? If it was recently it might have been mine

(referring to the giant TB2)

The models in the 3 new episodes were made by this guy:

http://bensmodelworld.jouwweb.nl/thunderbird-2-40-inch-1

He sells kits of the 24" TB1, 36" TB3 and in production, a 40" TB2

Roy.

[Nigel Heath]

For the masking round the leg mountings I made some custom shapes using one of my punch sets:

That went on like so along with some masking with 3mm punched holes round the rocket nozzles:

This is what the finished masking looked like:

I used the time while the tyre black was drying to have a much needed workbench tidy up (this is before it happened):

Here's how it looked with the masking removed:

I think the next step is gloss coat and decals.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Kallisti]

Why not just use a brush?

[Nigel Heath]

Neater finish with masking and airbrush me thinks.

[Martian]

Neater finish with masking and airbrush me thinks.

Plus, seeing as how I am going to be nicking the thing, I prefer the sprayed finish.

The Hood

[Max Headroom]

It's looking great Nigel. Are you going to be 'flying' this around your den afterwards whilst making TB2 noises?! I know I would

Trevor

[Nigel Heath]

Are you going to be 'flying' this around your den afterwards whilst making TB2 noises?!

That goes without saying.

[Martian]

It's looking great Nigel. Are you going to be 'flying' this around your den afterwards whilst making TB2 noises?! I know I would

Trevor

No he won't, it will be flying round my den with me making TB2 noises! Nothing can stop the Hood!

The Hood

[Nigel Heath]

Before getting the gloss coat on I spotted a few more jobs that needed doing - like painting the back of the rocket nozzle mountings with some matt black:

I had also spotted that the green finish on the nose and wing edges was a bit thin so I masked up for them and there was also a slight chip by the pod aperture that I could deal with at the same time:

Here is that done:

After unmasking I got a coat of Aqua Gloss applied to all the parts to receive decals:

The decals aren't numbered and the placement guide is of limited use but with the help of reference photos I got it all worked out:

I thought that these double stripes that go at the top of the fins were best separated as the contoured surface on which they sit would most likely throw them out of kilter:

The decals responded well enough to Microscale solutions but had the notable downside of having way too much adhesive including the front, not just the back which made them tricky to work with, they also tended to grab the surface and were hard to move around:

Nearing the end I managed to trash the number two on the underside but I selected the best one from my old sheet and applied that - its a slightly different style than the others but I think it's fine:

OK, here are all the kit decals applied, some are still settling down:

Next job is to add some detailing ones of my own devising.

Bye for now,

Nigel