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


Brandy

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On 5/22/2022 at 8:47 AM, perdu said:

Looking very good Ian, very very good

 

Wot my elder and better said.  All them printed details are super additions.

 

Particularly like the painting on the exhausts too.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well folks, I haven't been away but I have been on hold on this one on account of I'm waiting for a new regulator for the airbrush. It has a tank so it's supposed to turn itself off when pressure is reached, but it doesn't. I looked at the regulator and found it is rusty inside. I've had this problem since I moved here but I've been lazy and only just now decided I needed to do something about it. I think the rust came from the long time it spent in a container in Dubai! Hopefully the new one will resolve the problem.

 

Anyway, the mail bag. (Sorry the postie's late!)

 

On 5/21/2022 at 3:40 PM, Terry1954 said:

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

Thanks Terry. They are indeed bomb bays, but I think because they only held one bomb each they were actually referred to as bomb cells.

 

On 5/21/2022 at 9:47 PM, CedB said:

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

Thanks Ced!

 

On 5/21/2022 at 10:14 PM, AdrianMF said:

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

 

Regards,

Adrian

Cheers Adrian, it was indeed very relaxing, and not a few good Cretan beers were sampled!

 

On 5/22/2022 at 11:47 AM, perdu said:

Looking very good Ian, very very good

 

 

Cheers Bill!

 

On 5/22/2022 at 4:58 PM, hendie said:

wot they all said. Nice finish on the exhausts too

Thanks Alan, I must admit to being very happy about the way they look.

 

On 5/24/2022 at 11:38 AM, Fritag said:

 

Wot my elder and better said.  All them printed details are super additions.

 

Particularly like the painting on the exhausts too.

Thanks Steve, praise indeed!

 

Anyway, the reason I need to wait for the airbrush is that the bomb bay doors didn't fit so i had to reprint them. I added and extra 1° slope to each end, and lengthened the hinges by 0.2mm. Not huge adjustments but hopefully enough to enable all the hinges to meet the wing undersides correctly. I managed to fit 2 of the originals before I realised they needed tweaking, Noticeable because they fell off very easily and would not have stayed put!

I have dry fitted the new ones and they appear to fit much better, the truth of course will be discovered when I try to glue them on!

 

On the subject of printing...

 

This is the first attempt after tweaking them, what on earth is going on here?

 

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I reloaded Chitubox and used that for the first time in a while. I couldn't find the anti-aliasing (I did find it later, hidden all the way at the end of the 4 settings pages!) but that shouldn't give me a jagged edge surely?

 

I also found out I have been using anti-aliasing entirely wrong! I had assumed that the higher the number the better it would be. Apparently that is not so! A setting of 8 is basically turning it off again, and generally a setting of 2 or 4 is best. That is what I used this time, and this looks much better.

 

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Here is the article I read explaining what's going on. I don't think the Mars has blur, at least I couldn't find it, so that may only apply to the 3.

 

Anyway, since I wanted to at least do some plastic worrying over the last weekend, I decided to start a "quick" build.

 

Here's the link to the build - a 1917 Model T Ford Ambulance by RPM Models in 1:72 scale.

 

We know where this is going don't we, boys and girls! (yes, there's 3d printing done already)

 

See you soon, and thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

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On 6/16/2022 at 12:15 PM, Brandy said:

Here is the article I read explaining what's going on. I don't think the Mars has blur, at least I couldn't find it, so that may only apply to the 3

 

Fascinating read Ian.  Thanks; I’ve a 3 so it’s highly relevant to me.  I knew from some reading of my own that anti-aliasing settings were a bit counter intuitive 🤣

 

But in truth I’ve been so happy with the results I’ve been getting that I haven’t bothered to check the settings since my early test pieces and I’ve quite forgotten what they are/should be!

 

Also I’ve generally only been printing small items and had the luxury of printing several copies of each at a time, and I generally orientate them all slightly differently on the build plate and get to choose the best one to use.

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Just caught up with your progress on the racks and undercarriage Ian and it all looks magnificent. You must feel mightily pleased at how rich the underside of that aircraft looks now with all your additions, compared to how it was fresh out of the box.

 

Great to see this particular aircraft getting such detailed attention.

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  • 1 month later...

Right then, where were we?

 

Oh yes, bomb doors.

 

Today, this happened....

 

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yes, I had been putting that job off! I really haven't had the mojo for doing that, and I didn't today either, but once I sat at the bench and got on with it t went fairly easily. I'm glad to have that fiddly job done though, and that is the last of the major work completed. I now have to fit the guns, canopies, prop, pitot tube, and radio aerial and she's finished!

I may get it done this week, we'll see......

 

Thanks for lookin in!

 

Ian

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9 hours ago, Brandy said:

yes, I had been putting that job off! I really haven't had the mojo for doing that, and I didn't today either, but once I sat at the bench and got on with it t went fairly easily.

Looking very nice to me……. 😉

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On 8/14/2022 at 2:03 AM, amos brierley said:

Looking very nice to me……. 😉

Many thanks!

 

On 8/14/2022 at 2:08 AM, AdrianMF said:

Mind bogglingly tiny and detailed, and another thing off the todo list!

 

Regards,

Adrian

It's a little cross-eye inducing at times, I must admit!

 

On 8/14/2022 at 4:31 AM, stevehnz said:

Stunning work on those bomb bay doors Ian, could almost be a photo of the real thing.

Steve.

Thanks Steve!

 

Well, I had an unexpected day off today due to a colleague testing positive, the downside is that I have to work a double on Weds to cover!

 

Anyway, she's now armed, if not particularly dangerous!

 

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So tomorrow, hopefully, I'll get the rest done as the list is short:

Canopies

Prop

gun sight

pitot tube

radio aerial

All the required holes for the above are already drilled so it should be just gluing it all in place!

 

I don't think I've forgotten anything...

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

 

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1 minute ago, Terry1954 said:

Looking great Ian. I love the green/dark earth colouring whose paints did you use?

 

Terry

They were Misterkit, now defunct unfortunately.

 

Ian

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21 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Looking fantastic, Ian. At this rate, you’ll still beat Azur to the finishing line! 

Thanks Heather, the wait is over!

 

21 hours ago, Fritag said:

Lovely delicate details Ian.

 

Now you’ll have to think of a clever excuse for displaying a Battle with u/c down upside down! :D

I have a mirror, much easier!

 

Well folks, the final steps on this rather long, drawn out road have been completed!

 

I always find it's far easier to use gravity when it's working with you, not against you. Why try to balance a thin piece of fishing line on the end of a thin piece of plastic rod?

 

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and when the CA hardened, the end was simply snipped off at the mast with a pair of fine scissors.

The last of the last pieces...

 

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and that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to the end of this little epic!

It's hard to believe this has been just over 4 years on the bench - well, on and off the bench, including a couple of rather long breaks (the relocation alone meant I was without modelling supplies for over 4 months), but I have to say, I think it's been well worth the effort. It's by no means perfect (the scribing for one issue!) but I'm "well chuffed" as they say, with the result.

 

It's a little windy today so I'm not going to risk outside shots just yet but here's a taster to be going on with.

 

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Many thanks to all who have followed along and provided much needed incentive and encouragement. This one will be at Telford this year, see you there!

 

Ian

 

 

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What a fantastic result Ian, Azur will really need to up their game to better that little gem!

 

Top job, and a great build thread to have followed! 

 

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be going to Telford again, so I'll just have to enjoy seeing her in the RFI pics.

 

21 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Why try to balance a thin piece of fishing line on the end of a thin piece of plastic rod?

 

 

That's a great idea....!! 

 

Keith

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