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Avro 504K, 1/32, Scratchbuild


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Biplanes have a certain retro charm, which I love , the 504 looks amazing so far.
 

And as you well know half the fun of scratchbuilding is getting it monumentally wrong then figuring out how to fix it :) and having that ‘I can’t believe I made that ‘moment.

Edited by Marklo
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5 minutes ago, Marklo said:

having that ‘I can’t believe I made that ‘moment.

Yep - there are both good  and the bad I ‘I can’t believe I made that’ moments. 
 

Yesterday’s one was a shocker. 😱

 

Sanding off the old roundels is complete and I already have the first new coat of white on. 
 

Stay tuned folks.

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Recovery

 

Given everything that's going on in world in the moment it's probably a bit rich that I headed up my last post as 'Disaster'.  Upon reflection it seems unlikely that ending up with some wonky roundels on a 1/32 scale biplane constitutes such a big problem - especially since it turns out that I've already fixed it.

 

Start by sanding back the dreadful mess.

n2eUEQw.jpg

 

Re-spray the white.

pe86Wjr.jpg

 

Carefully measure off and cut out the outer limits of the roundel.

nSZhdd6.jpg

 

Mask off the full disk.

BdYBfpA.jpg

 

Spray some home-made PC10 over the disk.

V8gcDsT.jpg

 

Remove the masks to reveal this.  This looks promising.

7d7jnKv.jpg

 

Now I had to find some decal film. In this case grass green and then spray it with light-grey primer. For the next step I'm going to use some enamel paint - which is unusual for me - but this layer will need to be waterproof.

v22P9WA.jpg

 

Spray the blue enamel paint.

QMFgdtX.jpg

 

Let it dry and cut the next two discs.

2yiNaGA.jpg

 

Check their size is correct.

h4K6c2E.jpg

 

Cut a hole in the middle of each disc.  This is possibly the trickiest bit because the inner circle has to be nice and concentric with the outer disc.

PQs7zRH.jpg

 

Now just apply this as if it was a normal decal. Just make sure the paint doesn't get scratched.

2UJSxqB.jpg

 

Now do the same thing with the red. Or not...

h18lWd1.jpg

 

Oh well - just revert to identical discs to those I used in the fuselage roundels.  Too small for the wing roundels - but it'll do.  I wanna get moving.

q10sOgU.jpg

 

And now to what I call 'letraset' but is apparently called 'DECAdry' these days.

hE6KHtw.jpg

 

These are dry rub-down decals. All the way from Eckersley's Art Supplies in Adelaide.  Sent to me by my work colleague Vanessa. Thanks Vanessa! The masking is there to give me some sort of chance of getting things straight and lined up.

kwRZElm.jpg

 

Unfortunately there were no spare '7' s.  So the busted 7 will have to do. I'll tidy it up with some paint later on. 

fchkM2h.jpg

 

The other side looks OK though.   I think I might have got each numeral a bit too far apart but I can live with this.

tGDq4nA.jpg

 

Ah! Looking better I think. Situation recovered.

A5use1m.jpg

 

Yep - not perfect perhaps but I'm happy with this. That's it for markings on this job.

1UPbVPb.jpg

 

Undercarriage next.

 

Bandsaw Steve.

 

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Definitely a big improvement. I did not know that Letraset (sorry Decadry or whatever) was still available - must make a note of that.

 

This is looking very good indeed Steve.

 

P

Edited by pheonix
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Hmm decadry, would explain why the staff in my local art and hobby treated me as if I had two heads when asking for letraset.

 

Great recovery on the roundels, I’ve been having a bad day with my 262, I will take heart from your experience :) 

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3 hours ago, pheonix said:

I did not know that Letraset (sorry Decadry or whatever) was still available - must make a not of that.

 

 

Hi Phoenix,

 

Yep these Letraset-style, dry, rub-down decals seem largely forgotten by the world of modelling, but I find them very useful and have used them in each of my last three projects.

 

They make a really tidy job of lettering.

 

Steve

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On 1/2/2020 at 10:22 PM, Bandsaw Steve said:

and some bad, bad, awful language was used.  I'm ashamed to say that words like 'gosh' and 'jolly cobblers' emanated from my factory.

Gidday Steve, 'gosh' I could accept but 'jolly cobblers'? From a gentleman like you? I'm deeply shocked, 😲 and a little disappointed. 😥 At least you didn't say 'Oh, bother!' 

 

Oh, and by the way, the model's looking quite good. OK, very good. Alright, superb. Regards, Jeff.

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Undercarriage and Engine

 

The last time I built a model of an aeroplane it was a jet and it was modelled with the undercarriage up. That way is sensible! In such a case the engine is buried deep inside the fuselage and the wheels and legs and other sticky out things are nicely tucked away.  No such luck with this Avro though! It's got bits sticking out everywhere. 

 

Fortunately though I have already completed most of the engine and undercarriage work.  I did that months ago and all the bits have been sitting waiting in a jar.  Now it's just a matter of sticking everything together.

 

Here's where we started. The front end looks a bit bare.

1UPbVPb.jpg

 

So on goes my home-made rotary engine.  No oil stains on this yet - probably should have put them on about now before covering it up with a ...

sbHk5Oi.jpg

 

vac-formed cowling.

 

The manufacturer of this kit has done a dreadful job; no locating pins and there's a noticeable difference between the diameter of the cowling and the fuselage so there's always going to be a small step there. I'm never going to build one of this company's kits again!

4G2OJ1K.jpg

 

Undercarriage went together OK though. It's mostly carbon fibre so it has plenty of strength.

KbSIFpe.jpg

 

The little cone shaped inserts inside the wheels went on nice and tight too.

g8Pp1NO.jpg

 

Here the undercarriage is taking the weight of the whole model no sweat at all. Just friction fitted really - only the smallest dabs of two part epoxy was needed to hold this assembly in place.

5MwlpZW.jpg

 

Then it's on to the somewhat more spindly and fiddly undercarriage skid. Here painted with a coat of Tamiya dark yellow with an overcoat of burnt-sienna oil paint to make that nice rich polished wood shade.

nCPnjz9.jpg

 

On with the tail-skid.

fyvy8fu.jpg

 

A quick touch-up of that number 7 that partly came to grief...and... 

BoGtzZN.jpg

 

Here she is from behind... but more excitingly...

4KQs8jB.jpg

 

From the front! 

Q1IM0PE.jpg

 

Starting to look quite complete now. All the major bits except the propeller are now in place.

 

A quick spray of varnish next and then it's some rigging action! Wish me luck.

 

Bandsaw Steve

 

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Brilliant. Aircraft with exposed engines and undercarriages are certainly the best. Ones with holes in the back are just plain boring. Never mind about the cowling - nobody will notice. Good luck with the rigging. Pusher next....????

 

P.

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Hi Phoenix,

 

Now that I’m getting close to the end of this project I can confirm that my next build will definitely be a pusher and will have its propeller at the rear...

 


 

 

After all, most ships are like that!

 

Steve.

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18 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Hi Phoenix,

 

Now that I’m getting close to the end of this project I can confirm that my next build will definitely be a pusher and will have its propeller at the rear...

 


 

 

After all, most ships are like that!

 

Steve.

🤣

 

P

Edited by pheonix
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Steve,

 

Very nice results so fare, I like to see your way of solving all the difficulties !   Which is scratch building all about.....😄

 

Also thanks for mention Decary, I still have some sheets of Letraset, but are slowly running out of them. 

 

I wonder, was printing the wing roundels on your PC not an easier solution. I had to print some large American  roundels for my Atlantic C-2A , they were quite large but it worked out well.

 

Good luck with the rigging..!

 

With regards,

JohnHaa

Edited by JohnHaa
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