An Airfix classic - The Fairey Battle receives some TLC plus 3d printed main gear, bomb racks, and bomb doors.

[Brandy]

Well, I may have been quiet here but I have been busy.

 

First though

 

On 3/19/2022 at 5:12 PM, hendie said:

 

it's worse Ian - she's Canadian First Nation!

 

 

 

Nice racks sir.

 

 

and cheaper to boot.  

 

A ) Self induced - no sympathy.

B ) Thank you sir!

C ) It would have been if I hadn't already forked out for both!

 

On 3/20/2022 at 2:42 AM, The Spadgent said:

Sorry. Don’t  know about colours but I do know that the printing work looks amazing. Bravo that man. 👏👏👏

 Johnny.

Cheers Johnny!

On 3/22/2022 at 1:27 AM, TheBaron said:

It's really great to see how much extra you've been able to pack into this aircraft using printed parts Ian : you must feel dead chuffed at the extent to which you've improved this venerable old kit. A Battle on your hands in the best possible sense of the phrase!

I am indeed Tony, I love this style of modelling - taking a basic, even grossly incorrect "base" and, er, modelling! I find it even more rewarding than scratch building the whole thing.

 

On another note, I texted Ced last week just to make sure all is ok, and he confirmed it is. Just "life" getting in the way, and a lack of mojo. He is hoping to get to Telford too.

 

OK, so what have I been up to?

 

Basically it all boils down to throwing out lots and lots of resin parts! I couldn't get the racks to print consistently (I still can't) even though I prepared one in Lychee then copied it, so all the supports were the same. For some reason the ones with the crutch adjusters on the left side kept failing! Very frustrating, as I would get 3 out of 3 right handed, but only 1 out of 3 left handed. That even happened when I changed the orientation so they were on the plate in the same positions that the right handed ones were!

 

Anyway, I finally got 2 of each, plus a couple of spares. I test fitted them and realised then that the long support, which should be central in the bay, wasn't!

 

 

I should have seen that in the las post as it's the same pic, but I didn't notice!

 

Back to Fusion to redesign it and start all over again!

Again I found new problems once I had a complete set. I originally cured them before removing the supports, to help ensure that they didn't warp. The problem then was that when I clipped off the supports from the very fragile cradle arms, the arms snapped off. I finally resolved that by removing all the supports from fragile parts before curing, allowing the parts to bend instead of snap. 

 

Finally I was back where I started, with a full set of (now correct) bomb racks.

 

 

 

I also got a full set of bomb bay doors printed

 

 

Again that took a while to find a support set up which didn't fail, and didn't distort the very thin parts.

 

The last 2 evenings have been spent VERY carefully removing most of the remaining supports and cleaning them up ready to please @giemme

 

Today this happened....

 

 

A coat of RAF "night" over all the gear parts and outer sides of the bomb doors. I also gave the racks a shot of Tamiya black as a base for the steel colour.

 

Some other details were also taken care of, including repainting the prop hub black instead of aluminium, and I made up a pitot tube and painted that too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After letting it dry for a short while, out came the Vallejo Steel

 

 

 

I think you could say I'm pretty chuffed with that little lot, and more than a tad relieved that the printing is all done!

 

Next task is a slip of masking tape over the black side of the bomb doors and paint the other side, and the hinges, interior green.

 

I feel I'm on the home stretch now - this one will definitely be visiting Telford with my in November!

 

Thanks for looking in,

 

Ian

 

 

 

[hendie]

Nice job Ian - that covering of steel really brings out the detail in those racks. Very nice.  The bomb doors look like they have some nice details on there too.  That resin never photographs well does it?

 

Re: Supports.   I only ever use snips when they're connected to some largish or chunky part now. Even then I snip about a millimeter away from the part and then sand back. The act of snipping always flexes something and if the support is sturdier than the part, then it's the part that going to flex most - and typically break.

For those small detail parts such as the bomb racks, I wouldn't even consider snips and would head straight for the razor saw. For those very, very fine parts I won't even "saw" per se - I'll only let the saw touch the part on the pull motion and let the weight of the saw do the cutting - no pushing with the blade at all. Finicky but it works.

 

You should get yourself one of those lightsabers that Tony pointed me to. It's really handy for instant cure on small parts and for things like those racks, you could hold the center beam in tweezers making sure it's straight, hit it with the lightsaber and job done.

 

 

[Terry1954]

Great work Ian, most impressive indeed. I like it all a lot but I must make a special mention of that pitot tube. I love it!

 

Terry

[TheBaron]

As Alan says, 'nude' resin never shows up well on photographs but those shots above really show how suddenly details pop into life once the colour is on: those printed sections look truly excellent Ian.

6 hours ago, hendie said:

The act of snipping always flexes something and if the support is sturdier than the part, then it's the part that going to flex most - and typically break.

For those small detail parts such as the bomb racks, I wouldn't even consider snips and would head straight for the razor saw. For those very, very fine parts I won't even "saw" per se - I'll only let the saw touch the part on the pull motion and let the weight of the saw do the cutting

Concur completely here: have found from bitter experience that  this is the only way to remove any fragile sections from their supports.

 

There's no stopping you now Ian is there? 😁

 

[perdu]

Looking forward to celebrating your win with this one at Telford Ian, hope Ced gets into gear for it too.*

 

The 3D detailing is kinda wonderful, blimey.

 

 

*and seeing a pair of unbelievably accurate Hawks would be rather fine too huh?

[Putty Animal]

Fantastic stuff.  It is wonderful to see the Battle get the love it deserves. ♥️

[Brandy]

On 4/3/2022 at 4:46 PM, hendie said:

Nice job Ian - that covering of steel really brings out the detail in those racks. Very nice.  The bomb doors look like they have some nice details on there too.  That resin never photographs well does it?

You should get yourself one of those lightsabers that Tony pointed me to

Thanks Alan, see below. The lightsabre sounds like a neat tool, I'll have to have a hunt....I have also been looking for Vanna Scissors (used in surgery) to aid in snipping the parts as they're very thin bladed.

 

On 4/3/2022 at 5:01 PM, Terry1954 said:

Great work Ian, most impressive indeed. I like it all a lot but I must make a special mention of that pitot tube. I love it!

 

Terry

Cheers Terry, I must admit I'm rather pleased with it too, and it took only a couple of minutes. A piece of 0.2mm nickel-silver rod bent over a scalpel blade, a piece of 0.5 x 1mm evergreen rod, chamfered on the edges, and a small piece removed from one end to give a recess to CA the bent rod onto and hey presto!

 

On 4/3/2022 at 11:11 PM, TheBaron said:

Concur completely here: have found from bitter experience that  this is the only way to remove any fragile sections from their supports.

 

There's no stopping you now Ian is there? 😁

Well noted, thanks Tony! I do feel I'm on a roll - but that can be a dangerous position to be in....

 

On 4/4/2022 at 12:31 PM, perdu said:

Looking forward to celebrating your win with this one at Telford Ian, hope Ced gets into gear for it too.*

 

The 3D detailing is kinda wonderful, blimey.

 

 

*and seeing a pair of unbelievably accurate Hawks would be rather fine too huh?

I don't think it's anywhere near that good Bill, but thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

Aaah, the 'awks....yes...are we still talking about THIS year?

 

On 4/4/2022 at 12:36 PM, Putty Animal said:

Fantastic stuff.  It is wonderful to see the Battle get the love it deserves. ♥️

Thanks PA!

 

Another day spent productively. Detail painting continued, and I also cut the lengths of brass rod that I will need for the undercarriage jack rams. They also needed painting as I don't have any .5mm aluminium rod, only brass. Needless to say they are cut overlength to ensure I had something to hold them by for painting, and also to enable a more accurate final cut to length in situ to make sure they match up!

I was going to add small lengths of .2mm nickel-silver rod to the bomb racks as the crutch control linkages but it's just too small and fiddly so I gave up on that idea.

 

Anyway, here is how it's looking now.

 

 

 

I had bought the tailwheel as a replacement for the Defiant but I think it's better used on this!

 

 

 

 

 

That last pic showed up ridges which hadn't been visible previously. They will stay!

 

Thanks for looking all,

 

Ian

[AdrianMF]

This printing mullarkey is pretty amazing. When you can see the hairs on the corrugated cardboard in the close up shots, you know you're close!

 

Looking super, hope assembly goes well.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Fritag]

On 4/3/2022 at 1:18 PM, Brandy said:

I think you could say I'm pretty chuffed with that little lot,

I think you jolly well should be Ian.

 

Seems very advanced to me to be actually producing summat paint-worthy 

 

 

[Brandy]

On 4/5/2022 at 5:07 PM, AdrianMF said:

This printing mullarkey is pretty amazing. When you can see the hairs on the corrugated cardboard in the close up shots, you know you're close!

 

Looking super, hope assembly goes well.

Thanks Adrian!

 

On 4/5/2022 at 11:13 PM, Fritag said:

I think you jolly well should be Ian.

 

Seems very advanced to me to be actually producing summat paint-worthy 

Cheers Steve! It is a huge boon to have this technology available. What a huge step up from resin casting - I have all the necessary gubbins but used it so infrequently that it all went off, so I never used it all after that. Now I use this regularly. Although the fact I paint it is no proof that it is paint worthy!

 

A wee bit more progress here, due to the fact that I have 3 days off. I want to get this one done before I go on vacation - 2 weeks in Crete from May 1st, chilling out and looking for retirement property. I'm REALLY looking forward to that!

 

Anyway, now all the resin is done it's time to fit it all. I started with the bomb racks.

 

 

As soon  those were fitted I found a pic showing that I have completely omitted the horizontal bracing on the racks.  Needless to say, they will stay as they are! The bracing is not clear on the parts diagram I was using, but now I know it's there, I can see it on other pics too.

 

Bother.

 

So on to the landing gear. I decided it would be easier to fit the jack rams to the parts before adding them into the wheel wells so I've been doing that.

 

First off, fit the centre ram (0.5mm brass rod) to all 4

 

 

That was easy.

Then the jack actuators which are attached to the gear leg and pull it down.

0.2mm brass rod this time

 

 

 

One done....

 

 

and both done! The little end cap securing the 3 pieces together is about 2mm across. I'll clean them up a little later.

 

I am now resting my eyes.

 

Once they're cleaned up they will be fitted and the main gear legs added. Then the bomb doors, radiator flap, and pitot tube to complete the underside.

Guns, exhausts, prop, canopies, and radio wire should see it finished! All except the exhausts are already painted and ready to fit so it shouldn't take long...

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

[Heather Kay]

Looking great, Ian! I suspect (hope) the Azur kit will use a lot of PE for this sort of detail.

 

So, soon be finished. I bet you’ll be glad to see this epic completed. And then looking forward to retirement, lucky blighter! They say retirement means you never have enough time for your hobbies… 

[hendie]

wow. Landing gear is looking the business Ian.  Marvelous detailing.

[Brandy]

15 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Looking great, Ian! I suspect (hope) the Azur kit will use a lot of PE for this sort of detail.

 

So, soon be finished. I bet you’ll be glad to see this epic completed. And then looking forward to retirement, lucky blighter! They say retirement means you never have enough time for your hobbies… 

Thanks Heather, although I won't be retiring just yet. I want to buy a place and rent it out for a few years so when I do retire my house is paid for!

 

Ian

[Max Headroom]

Oh my word! I love all this 21st century stuff. This will be The Business once completed.

[Brandy]

On 4/18/2022 at 3:12 PM, hendie said:

wow. Landing gear is looking the business Ian.  Marvelous detailing.

Thanks Alan, I'm pretty pleased with it, although it doesn't bear up to close in photos!

 

A little more done today but not as much as I had hoped for. Bits are starting to get added!

 

First was the radiator cowl flap. I decided I should really do something about the gaping hole inside - the blank is too far forward to be seen from the back! Easy. I had used fine packing foam as masking in the wheel wells so I had some already painted black. Trimmed up and pushed in, it should do the job!

 

 

Then the flap was added, after I'd carefully drilled a hole for the actuator. On the wrong side! 

 

 

Tailwheel

 

 

and finally the main gear structure

 

 

The gear legs will be done later. I may even cut off the brace and add it separately after the gear leg is attached to ensure it is exactly the right angle and length.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

[Heather Kay]

[Brandy]

This will probably not be done before hols in Crete as I noticed there are still visible  printing marks on the front of all the gear doors and when I went to repaint I discovered my bottle of gloopy Misterkit Night Black was no longer gloopy.

It was solid.

I have ordered Xtracrilyx night black along with Dark Earth and Dark Green.

Anyone have any feedback on these? I have never used them before. Will Tamiya thinner work with them?

 

Ian

[Heather Kay]

I have used them, but I used their own thinners. Apparently, it’s just a concoction of water and isopropyl alcohol. In theory, you could used distilled water in its own, with a drop of IPA to break surface tension or something. I have no experience of Tamiya thinners, so can’t comment on whether it’ll work with Xtracrylix.

I painted my Whitley with Xtracrylix. I found it was okay, but liable to lifting with tape. Whether that was down to poor surface prep on my part, or being a bit enthusiastic, I don’t know. Like all acrylics I’ve found they tend to be a little prone to damage, where good old enamels can take all kinds of abuse once dried properly. I’ve now switched allegiance to ColourCoats.

 

 

[Terry1954]

Really superb work happening here Ian, most impressive.

 

On 4/18/2022 at 10:39 AM, Brandy said:

I go on vacation - 2 weeks in Crete from May 1st, chilling out and looking for retirement property. I'm REALLY looking forward to that!

 

I love Crete, can't wait to get back there. To retire there seems quite a neat idea I have to say. I have an idea ............. we could all come and visit you there!

 

On 4/18/2022 at 11:59 AM, Heather Kay said:

They say retirement means you never have enough time for your hobbies… 

 

So I'm well retired and yet my modelling output doesn't seem to have increased that much, so whoever said that Heather seem to have a point! But for all that, I will say retirement is definitely better than the long bit that comes before retirement! 😜

 

Terry

[Malc2]

On 3/11/2022 at 4:59 PM, Terry1954 said:

 

Chickenhawk! One of the best books I ever read, and I too was convinced I could fly a Huey by the end of it Bill! 😜

 

Terry

Thanks for this, I went and got it from my local(ish) Library and found it absolutely fascinating.

[Brandy]

Well folks, I'm back from hols. Had a great time, and chilled out for two whole weeks. Although I had a great time, I don't think Crete is somewhere I'd want to retire to., so I'll continue looking. Maybe Costa Brava, south of Valencia....that will be my next focus!

 

Anyway, I have a day off today so got a chance to get back to the Battle. Mostly small jobs - I painted and fitted the exhausts, and got the main gear repaired & fitted too. If you recall, the gear doors had marks on them from the printing process, so I sanded them down a little and resprayed with the Xtraclylics RAF Night that I received just prior to heading off to Crete.

 

That is all done, gear and exhausts on. One of the support struts broke off so I'll wait until the gear leg is properly hardened (I used Gator Grip to fix them, as well as the exhausts, to give me some wiggle time before it started to go off) before supergooing that in place.

 

The exhausts were painted with XTreme Metals Burnt Metal which I found a little too bronze in colour, so I gave them a very light and patchy coat of black to tone them down a bit.

 

 

 

They are the SBS Model resin Hurricane round exhaust set. Not the easiest to work with as they are separate pieces and also needed to be reduced in height slightly, but I'm happy with the look.

 

 

 

 

 

I think I even managed to get them straight!

 

 

 

That's enough for today, both tasks I had nit been looking forward to, and both worked out ok.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

[Terry1954]

Welcome back Ian!

 

All great stuff but I especially like those shots into the bomb bays assuming that is what they were called on the Battle - they seem more like very efficient places to store bombs to me!

 

Terry

[CedB]

Nice work Ian - those details are rewarding all your hard work!

[AdrianMF]

It’s looking fantastic. Glad your hol worked out too!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[perdu]

Looking very good Ian, very very good