Bandai Thunderbird 2

[AlexN]

indeed .

Lights and palms as suggested by picard above sound good, too. And lots of sand.

Are you going to scratch a cockpit complete with Virgil? At 1/430 it might be a bit hard to see him (recognisably, that is, apart from being a tiny blue blob) - and anything else for that matter.

Looks like fun.

Cheers,

Alex.

[Kallisti]

Lights and palms like this you mean

Thats the slightly larger (9") Imai kit and the Airfix Pontoon bridge...

[Nigel Heath]

I don't think a cockpit is worth adding as without lighting it would be invisible. Today I shaped the added card on the fins to more of an aerofoil shape and drilled out the holes at the back of the engines:

There are sink marks on the engines which I sorted with some filler:

I built up one of the little elevator cars, very toy like and I don't think worth using:

These are the polythene parts, the legs are inaccurate as there should only be three telescopic sections and the feet are wrong. I don't think I'll be using them anyway and have the pod closed up:

The polythene on the nozzles proved hard to work with so I have decided to cast resin replacements, first I established the volume of silicon required for the mould flask:

The nozzles were prepared with some white tack:

Here they are ready for casting along with some locator pins:

I have been having a think about the underside of the pod which needs a bit of work, I am thinking of using the 5.2mm tube as the basis for the rollers which should be here:

I'm off to the Perth show tomorrow so not sure how much I'll get done now until next week.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Kallisti]

I closed up the holes in the pod floor and didn't bother with the rollers. The sink marks in the tail are pretty awful

Will be interested to see how the engine castings come out...

[Max Headroom]

How have I missed this one?! What an iconic shape.

Popcorn ready.

Trevor

[infofrog]

WOW Nigel in the stash since 1988 .. WHats the oldest kit you have in that stash ?

I took little break . My Ch 53 kind of burnt me out .. I almost ready to start back up .

Rick

Also , Its a great start

[Nigel Heath]

I've probably got some kits that were acquired in the mid 1970's, not sure which is actually the oldest though.

I didn't buy much at the Perth show, just restocking on a few consumables and a new tip for my airbrush which had gone missing:

More relevant to this build I did get some corrugated plasticard to replace the moulded intake vents as trying to clean up the recessed joint would be pretty impossible:

I'm not sure how I'm going to display this model and toyed with the idea of actually using the clockwork parts. I assembled it to take a look:

From the side it looked completely naff though so abandoned that idea:

Disassembled these parts can go in the spares box:

Next I cleaned up the filler on the engines mainly using wet and dry in wet mode:

This is how they looked after further clean up:

I'm tempted to see how they look under a coat of primer before any further assembly.

Unmoulded this is how the rocket nozzles looked:

Back in the flask the next job was to apply release agent to the silicone rubber areas:

Then I did another pour of rubber:

We shall see how it looks in the morning.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Pete in Lincs]

Still with you, Nigel.

Details are hazy but I think I did paint the kit engine nozzles.

Halfords primer and then probably Humbrol and Tamiya smoke.

I too filled in the holes for those wheels under the pod.

I mounted it on a piece of dowel in a wooden block.

[Kallisti]

That clockwork motor looks right naff Corrugated plastic card is just what the Doctor ordered...

[Martian]

Nice subject! I shall wait until it is finished and then steal it!

Martin, aka Martian, aka The Hood

[Nigel Heath]

Just you try Mr Hood, the forces of good are waiting for you!

[Martian]

Just you try Mr Hood, the forces of good are waiting for you!

Just wait and see!

I think you should do the pod open, it has almost endless scope for a mad scene inside it

Lots of love

The Hood

PS: You do realise that this thread is bound to get very silly, don't you Nigel?

[Kallisti]

Ah ah g-gee Mr Tracy, you ah don't say...

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I think I built this kit OOB as a kid. There was no clockwork motor in mine, but I recognise the rest of it. If memory serves, it was Brian Sherriff models on John Street, Aberdeen who sourced it for me.

I'm watching this with great interest!

[Martian]

Right! who is going to be first with a suggestion as to what Nigel could put in his pod? Ooo err Mrs! Preferably something worth nicking along with TD2 herself.

The Hood

[Kallisti]

Land rover with a fold down windscreen - anyone remember those?

[Bigdave22014]

but surely when he's built it, he won't be able to take and pictures of it because the alarm will go off?

[picard]

"but surely when he's built it, he won't be able to take and pictures of it because the alarm will go off?"

Nice one, Bigdave, and then of course TB1 and FAB1 would have to there, poised to give chase...............

[moaning dolphin]

Greetings Nigel, nice to see a new project underway but Wot no rotors? Looking forward to seeing something different, should be entertaining to follow!

Bob

[HL-10]

I'd be really.really impressed if you get all four elevator cars in there, just like in "Trapped in the Sky".

Great work, can't wait to see it finished.

[Nigel Heath]

This is what the exhaust moulds looked like removed from the flask:

The fidelity of the mould was better than I had expected:

Then I started on the rollers, cutting some tube and steel rod for the axle and sanding down some 4mm punched discs until they were a snug fit:

As well a casting the exhaust parts my plan was to use some of the resin to partially fill the rollers and hence glue in the axles using this set up:

Here it is just after pouring in the resin and popping the end caps on the rollers:

While that was hardening up I started on opening up the windows by first drilling some holes in the middle of each pane:

I then used a burr to start thinning the plastic around the windows:

With constant checking against the light I was able to get them as thin as I thought prudent:

Then it was a fairly simple matter of filing away the remaining material:

Here are the finished apertures:

My plan is to glue some clear sheet behind them, hopefully it will look OK.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[CedB]

Resin moulding... Hmmm... No, I shall resist (for a bit longer)!!

Great work Nigel - those windows look good. I like my burrs too but what a mess they make eh? Shavings all over the place.

[Pete in Lincs]

In the pod.....

Thunderbird 6 - The Tiger Moth!

There's a challenge for you.

I bet you can solder the wings on.

[Martian]

In the pod.....

Thunderbird 6 - The Tiger Moth!

There's a challenge for you.

I bet you can solder the wings on.

That suggestion will take some beating!

Looks like some sort of cockpit interior might be needed Nigel given the size of those windows. Something tasteful for me to chill out in when I nick the thing please.

The Hood

[Martian]

You could do pod ?, Alan and Tintin's secret love nest ! I will leave how sordid up to you.

The Hood