The EDSG Files # 2: Fairey Barracuda 1/72

[TheBaron]

6 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looking good! The undercarriage design is yet more evidence that the Fairey design team was smokin' something strong...

 

(Too late now, but you could drill a hole into the back of each torsion box and run a brass wire through the fuselage to give the undercarriage some extra strength.)

Cheers Adrian. 'Agricultural' is a term I saw applied to the undercarriage of this aircraft, and that seems about right...

 

Good tip on that strengthening solution - that would indeed work. I'll stick that one in the files. I've a couple of other pointers too (see below) that might help others out on these regions.

 

5 hours ago, perdu said:

Wow, did you notice that Barham painting of the Auster cockpit?

Indeed! Thanks for identifying the aircraft Bill, I'm not great on those types, especially from the inside.

5 hours ago, perdu said:

That undercarriage structure, you know the one like one of the bastule arms on Tower bridge, have you considered stiffening the contact area of the joint with a thin smear of cyano glue?

 

I use it a lot for adding stiffness without obviously adding size to a piece of model, just wipe a thin splodge around with the pointed end of a cocktail stick covering it all with a thin skin

 

Usually works quite well for me

Thanks for that tip.  I'm a little more sanguine about the strength of the join now I've had a chance to look at it after it has hardened-off overnight, but I like that CA skin idea (enough to nick it later!) 

5 hours ago, perdu said:

 

I'm loving this more and disliking the Barra more as this epic unfolds, its no good pretending, its an affront to aerodynamics as I thought I knew it

 

Obviously that puts me at odds to the world again but hey, that's not for the first time either

Oh you beast. How could you?  Even Eric Brown thought it flew very well...at least, when diving it towards the ground...

 

4 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

You haven't really thought this one through, Bill, have you?  Have you thought about the aerodynamics of a Wasp recently?

Aerodynamics? Never thought to hear that word in the same sentence as 'Wasp'! 

3 hours ago, perdu said:

Aeroplanes have to force their flying surfaces around, to garner lift, always encumbered by extra odd appendages in the sad case of the Disgustacuda, whereas helicopters wisely and indeed sensibly make their primary lifting devices whizz round disencumbered

 

This allows them, as I'm sure you remember, to pop around happily with little regard for fashionable and trendy smoothness

 Any more of that and I'm changing the title of this thread to: Jeremy Kyle: Naval Aviation Breakups...

 

Don't get all over-excited and sweaty now but here's a picture of some wheels:

Two types. As near as I can make out from photographic references, pt.26 seems to be the standard wartime version. Part 27, the late and post-war. I base this surmise on the following:

1. I can't see 27 on any shots of the aircraft before 1945 (at least, those that are dated as such).

2. Shots of aircraft after 1945 with 26 on are MkIIs (presumably with the wartime wheel version still on..)

I'm likely to go for 26 therefore, but wonder why the kit gives 27, given that it has decals only for Furious and Victorius aircraft of 1944 vintage, which in the instructions it shows on both sets of painting guides using the pt.26 hubs:

Whilst I've got the instructions out, I notice the MWRH* are glazed:

Now I know what those transparency bits are for, I hadn't noticed them on the sprue until now.

 

Another shot of the elegant and graceful substantial undercarriage now, to remind you what it looks like in detail:

You can see a lot of surface structure on the triangular torsion box part that isn't included on the moulding - more pon that in a minute -  but take a look also at the underside where it meets the fuselage: notice that flap? I must confess it's another of those Barracudesque details that you see in a lot of photos but overlook. You can see in shots of the aircraft in flight that once the wheel folds up into the wing, that flap hinges up to act as a fairing against the airflow.

 

I started-out by adding detail to front and back of the torsion fairing with Microstrip. Front:

And back:

If you study photos of the underside of the torsion fairing closely you notice it isn't a flush moulding as the kit has it, but contains a stepped recess to accommodate the flap mentioned above. Had I realized this I would have ground it down before attaching it, but better late than never I suppose:

Now for the flaps. These are cut out of my thinnest plasticard - the stuff @Simmerit introduced me to over on his epic and ongoing Chinook build.

The stuff is almost transparent but gives a good approximation of scale thickness, plus can be bent into shape between two knife blades, just like photo-etch:

I noticed that the bend was too much since the photos were taken, so I've subsequently flattened-out those flaps somewhat to match the gentler curve of the fuselage that they retract into.

 

As you start to successively build-up the detail around the torsion fairing, some of the inaccuracies become apparent. Aside from those mentioned above, you can see that the outer ends of them are squarer than the vertical rectangle of the original. Adding surface detail as I've done actually emphasizes this flaw:

There's not a lot I can really do about that at this stage >shrug< but if I was more aware of the discrepancy before building this region, I would have narrowed the profile a lot more. I'd reccomend you do that if your building one of these yourselves. That aside, i'm rather pleased with the improvements:

It's one of the less-impressive parts of what is a good kit generally, so a little bit of time on modifying and detailing here is worth the effort IMHO.

 

Between the glue fumes and prolonged squinting through a magnifier, my minces now feel like marbles and my temples have a dull hangoverish throb, so time to stop before making any mistakes. Beside, that'll all need time to cure now. Postie had a couple of things left-in today. A Bristol Belvedere for future work, and a set of these beauts:

Or should that be Marabeauts?

 

I think I only ordered them Saturday evening after some of you suggesting the benefits: 4 days to arrive from the US is PDQ. I'm really pleased with them. I had a set of bomb racks previously from Marabu (for my Swordfish build back in the Spring) and these look equally high quality. I wish they did a wider range. 

 

It's lucky my wife was in when the postman called as he wasn't our usual postie Gerry ( a country gentleman) but a churlish relief guy we get occasionally who can never be bothered ringing the bell - she found the blighter leaving the packages out on the doorstep to get covered in snow. Why do some people's actions seem to belie such a negative and lazy attitude towards life and other people in such obvious ways? I'll never understand such foot-draggers...

 

Take care all of you and thanks as ever for your comments,

 Tony

 

*Mystery Wing Root Holes

 

[TheBaron]

Hiya Tony.

 

Yours must have come in whilst I was writing my previous...

 

Is there really a 40 page limit on threads? That's a bit worrying, especially as I noticed Simmerit up to 54 and counting on his Chinook and thought I was good for another 10 or so at least.

 

Anyone know what happens if I reach 40 then?

 

Tony

 

 

[moaning dolphin]

6 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Anyone know what happens if I reach 40 then?

 

Speak to the mods and I think they will just keep it open, happened recently with Crisps Seaking build

 

Bob

[TheBaron]

59 minutes ago, moaning dolphin said:

 

Speak to the mods and I think they will just keep it open, happened recently with Crisps Seaking build

 That's a bit more reassuring. Bob!

 

Just a couple of primer shots on the day's work to finish with:

 

Tailplanes and (deflected) rudder next I reckon...

[perdu]

From my memory, faded echo of its former self, I understand that the 'zealous modding' came about due to the new web site having a standard rules setting which was applied by the mod without referring to the owner

 

This was apparently a default setting which had been allowed to run under Custom and P but the changes highlighted it and it was reset

 

Discussion in the support section suggests that our protests at this have enabled the longer thread length (only in WIP threads) to continue

 

I hope this is so or there may be a dearth of new threads coming along soon

 

I love the new reconstructed b...ules Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

err did he just say Bristle Belvedere?

 

 

 

I need one of they to play with, hope my man at Huddy has found one in his store stock

 

Crying out for perdu-tion isnt it

Edited January 12, 2017 by perdu

[TheBaron]

13 minutes ago, perdu said:

Discussion in the support section suggests that our protests at this have enabled the longer thread length (only in WIP threads) to continue

It would seem daft not to with the likes of yourself, Hendie, Crisp and Si producing engrossing builds of a length and depth of detail that make the Old Testament seem like a novella..

 

13 minutes ago, perdu said:

bastules

You love that word - don't you Bill?  It is a great word. What's the difference between a bastule and a bascule?

13 minutes ago, perdu said:

err did he just say Bristle Belvedere?

 Ya. Mint. With the plastic wrap still sealing the box. That means it will still have air from the 1980s trapped inside it...

There's some daft-priced ones knocking about as I'm sure you're keenly aware, but still the occasional bargain to be had. Do you want me to keep an eye out for one for you?

[hendie]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Anyone know what happens if I reach 40 then?

 

first, your eyesight goes, followed quickly by the follicles on top of your head migrating in a downwards direction to your nose, your eyebrows, your ears and other miscellaneous extremities, then (I hear) you need to start taking little blue pills

 

and it's all downhill from there.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm really shocked no-one else fell for that bait !

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

 

 Mint. With the plastic wrap still sealing the box.

 

Hmmmm, Don't wish to be a doomsayer Tony, but I don't ever recall seeing an Airfix box that was shrink wrapped - hope there's actually a Belvedere inside it...

 

Anyway, that's the future, as to the present some more cracking construction on the 'Cuda going on! 

 

Snowed in yet? Not a sign of the white stuff in South Wales, but daughter has rung to say there's quite a bit in Hampshire....

 

Keith

[TheBaron]

2 hours ago, hendie said:

and it's all downhill from there.

It's the nasal hair that gets me Hendie - it's like the body is suddenly trying to grow internal eyebrows....

46 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Hmmmm, Don't wish to be a doomsayer Tony, but I don't ever recall seeing an Airfix box that was shrink wrapped - hope there's actually a Belvedere inside it...

You swine Keithski! As soon as I read that I bolted to the workroom and cut the sellophane off to check.

 

I can confirm there is a pristine Belvedere inside as fresh as the day it left the factory. Also, it really was sealed in sellophane - I'd never seen that on Airfix either. It means the box too is immaculate. I can also confirm that 1980s air smells of New Romantics, Findus Crispy Pancakes and Rothmans tabs.

46 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

Snowed in yet?

Nyet comrade. Flurries all day but not settling - I was still able to get to the banya for a good thrash of the birch twigs.

[Martian]

10 hours ago, perdu said:

I'm loving this more and disliking the Barra more as this epic unfolds, its no good pretending, its an affront to aerodynamics as I thought I knew it

 

Hi thee to Specsavers our Bill!

 

Martian

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

I can confirm there is a pristine Belvedere inside as fresh as the day it left the factory. Also, it really was sealed in sellophane - I'd never seen that on Airfix either. It means the box too is immaculate. I can also confirm that 1980s air smells of New Romantics, Findus Crispy Pancakes and Rothmans tabs.

Nyet comrade. Flurries all day but not settling - I was still able to get to the banya for a good thrash of the birch twigs.

 

Most excellent news Kommissar, it must have been one of those specially made in the glorious peoples Motherland and smuggled into the Imperialist west. Although I thought they smelled more of Cossacks, Vladivar and Caspian Sturgeon's eggs when opened. Have you found the microdot yet....

 

Good news though, you learn something new every day!

 

Bad news about the snow, but glad you enjoyed the thrashing....each to his own...!!   

 

Keefski

[AlexN]

Super cool, Tony! Sorry about the choice of approbation, brain is addled wi' t' heat. Maybe you could send some snow back down here through your proposed tunnel?

 

Oh bother, wrong thread. QED.

 

Cheers,

Alex.  <-- is also heat-stressed...

[TheBaron]

17 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Have you found the microdot yet....

Yes. I now understand why certain events in the 1980s transpired in the way that they did, but I'm not at liberty to discuss why.

1 hour ago, AlexN said:

Oh bother, wrong thread. QED.

You've created a conceptual tunnel between threads Alex. Something awful will happen in the forum-server's cache now...

 

Some early morning activity. I built the undercarriage jacks (pictures later) and after checking the undersides for 'issues', slathered the offending sections with PPP:

I also remembered not to throw away blunt scalpel blades - they're a perfect precision tool for spreading filler into the cracks (not that you'd know it from my Barbara Cartland makeup-application technique...)

 

More laters....

[TheBaron]

A Gatsby-esque extravaganza for you tonight -  I tell you, Givenchy and Coty have nothing on the glamour and sophistication that is er...sanding and filling I absolutely hate this part of the build sometimes. I mean really hate it in a Joe Pesci-with-his-gonads-in-a-mangle way. I just like building things, rather than this stuff:

Wing roots wet-sanded and looking ok all told. Some finer micromeshery later but that can suffice. Same treatment for the PPP'ed undersides:

On my kit, the port side of the fuselage underside angles down too much and doesn't meet the starboard one square-on, hence the amount of filling. After wet- followed by dry-sanding with various sanding sticks, I wasn't happy. A shot of primer just confirms how much work there is to do:

The tailwards/arrestor hook region is absolutely fine, but once you get for'ard of the flare chute the rot sets in. Not inclined to mess  around endlessly with PPP. Out with the mini-level and get  the airframe level on both axes:

Ah. The heady bouquet of Mr.Surfacer 1000:

No messing. Let gravity level that off tonight and sand/re-scribe later.

 

In and around this footering with filling solutions I got a couple of other pieces done, I finished re-building the rudder and added some wire probes to allow for mounting it at an angle onto the tail:

That will go on at the end to avoid making the painting stage any more complex than it needs to be. 

 

I mentioned previously I'd built the mainwheel jacks into the recesses that the torsion fairing retracts into:

I made them from 1mm plastic microrod for the jack and my thinnest grade of plasticard for the mounting point on the torsion box - 

apologies for the blurry pics:

 

I started reading this last night:

One of those fascinating books that trespasses across a whole host of areas in pursuit of its subject: a surprising number of connections between biology, art and warfare....

 

 Tony

[Martian]

Nice work Baroness, you will be chucking paint at this soon!

 

Martian

[TheBaron]

5 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

Nice work Baroness, you will be chucking paint at this soon!

Ta very much Chook!

[TheBaron]

Mainly just some tidying-up and fixing to report back on today. Last night's efforts with the Mr. Surfacer seem to pay-off ok, the undersides have been smoothed down now and re-scribed:

Same treatment to similar issues on the upper works:

I'm really coming round now to using the scalpel more as a precision carving tool instead of occasions in the past where I might have started sanding and caused more harm than good. The only draw back so far is a voice in my head (not unlike James Robertson Justice's baritone) that says: 'Nurse. Scalpel.' each time I reach for it...

 

Friends re-united:

I got the holes drilled for re-attaching the deflected rudder later on. You're probably eyeing-up the tailplane attachment point there and thinking the same thing I did - a bit shallow, especially when you view male and female fittings:

Note also what looks like a blob of Mr. Surfacer (at least that's what I though it was...) just below the tail on the fuselage:

Don't shave that off ( as I did!) - that is SHs guide-mark for attaching the diagonal brace for the tailplane;  although clearly shown on the drawing for the instructions they don't indicate clearly enough that this is the attachment point on the fuselage so be warned!

One the tailplane itself there are no guides at all for attachment:

I elected to build a small jig to glue the tailplanes on first, and add the diagonal bracing struts later:

Having a triangular brick under the wing let me slide it back and forth to get the vertical angle right:

Voilà! 

 

Coming back to this later on revealed a siginificant problem with the kit. Dry-fitting the diagonal brace between the tailplance and fuselage reveals the part to be too long:

The point where the top of the part meets the tailplane is too far out! A giveaway is if you look at it fro mthe front view:

That triangle should be much more acute rather than equilateral as you see here. I laboured on this matter for a while, checking my visual references, and as far as I can see, the brace is simply too long to give the correct diagonal. Using some sacrificial plastic rod as a template, this is what it should look more like:

Apologies for the blur (trying to shoot one-handed whilst holding tweezers is not something I've mastered!) but even so you can see that the brace should attch on the inboard side of that panel line, rather than outboard of it as the kit part does. The instructions are also clear on this point:

Some surgery on the kit part ('Nurse. Scalpel!) is called for at this stage of the proceedings. Having cut the brace, the overlap shows by what amount the part is too long:

BTW, I haven't done a search on other builds of this new SH Barra but I presume others have noticed the same issue? Some CA and another use for the Lego jig as a brace-station:

They remind me of something in that state - not bones - but I can't think what it is...eye stalks for Cedipede?

 

Either way, I've left those to harden for now - I'll carve the joints back and mount 'em on the aircraft tomorrow. The last job today was simply to apply some Mr.S 1000 to the tailplane joints, prior to a rub-down with cellulose thinner in the morning:

 

We seem to be in  non-dramatic adding of final structures and tidying-up at present. There's a lot of small and spiky parts to add yet but I need to prioritize what goes on before and after paint - certainly the radar antennae will be a post-paint addition, whilst I can't put the canopy masking off for too much longer. I'll mull over the 'to-dos' for the night and see if I can fit an hours or so tomorrow afternoon.

 

I hope you all have good days/evenings, depending on your location.

Night all,

 Tony

[CedB]

Eye stalks

Good work on the tailplanes there Tony. I like the black Lego, kinky!

I've bought this kit and now I think I'll gently move it down the build list...

[Martian]

2 hours ago, CedB said:

 I like the black Lego, kinky!

Ced's back on form!

 

Martian

[The Spadgent]

Nurse, paint brush. 

 

Great work on those panels and stalks.  looking forward to this girl coming together for a good old colouring in.

 

Jont.

 

btw Those Airfix Helicopters I bought a while ago were all wrapped in plastic too.  mmmmm 80s air.

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by The Spadgent

[keefr22]

5 hours ago, CedB said:

I've bought this kit and now I think I'll gently move it down the build list...

 

Funny you should say that Ced, same thing happened to mine earlier this week...!!

 

More nice work Tony, glad you at least didn't chicken out on building this beauty...!! 

 

Keith

[Phil Lewis]

We're well into silk purse territory now. Your determination and skill are an inspiration.

The only problem I have now is that I keep hearing James Robertson Justice barking instructions at me whilst becoming ever more impatient at my ineptitude.

I feel a panic attack coming on

Keep up the fantastic work Tony

[CedB]

"Eye of a hawk, heart of a Lion and the hands of a laydee". Same requirements for modellers (??) For those not in the know:

 

 

Cut it out man, cut it out!

And the all time classic "What's the bleeding time?"

 

Great stuff Tony and good to see the Barra succumbing to your skilled hands Sah! 

[Tomoshenko]

 

"What's the bleeding time?" Classic, still chuckling as I type.

 

Galloping along now Tony. Looking back over all the reference phots on the thread, amazes me how intricate and complicated it is, how it ended up being designed and realised as such too.

 

Having to take frequent cold showers whil reaing this thread though, all this leg work and kinky Lego 'aint doing my blood pressure any good...

[rob85]

That's a great clip Ced.

 

lovely work Tony, I have been loitering in the background trying to take it all in... i think I need some mr surfacer.... hmmm. 

 

Anyway, she is really coming together now with most of the surfaces on and her UC coming on, very nice detailed work.

 

if feel differently to the others about this kit, I want to buy it and build it! Not push it down the list! It's a great kit, just unfortunate that it's being built by a fantastic modeller

 

Rob