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Back to the Mountains of Madness - Part 1 Complete!


billn53

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It's been a few months since I last posted in this forum.  To be honest, I felt a need to "switch it up" and instead work on some non-aircraft subjects:

 

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Now it's time to get back to my main love, 1/72 aircraft.

 

I've been inspired by Thorfinn's rendition of Airfix's Ford Trimotor, done up as the aircraft used in Miskatonic University's ill-fated Antarctic expedition, which is described by horror author H.P. Lovecraft in "At The Mountains of Madness".

 

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I've been a fan of Lovecraft's fiction since my teen's, so when I saw Greg's Trimotor I knew I had to have one of my own (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). I contacted Greg, and he graciously sent me files for his homemade decals. If you haven't already done so, check out Greg's RFI here:

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235043782-charter-flight-to-the-mountains-of-madness-airfix-172-ford-trimotor/&tab=comments#comment-3140418

 

Unfortunately, Greg did not do a WIP, but I found a great one by Chris "bigbadbadge" that I will use as reference:

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235040494-ford-trimotor-now-finished/&tab=comments#comment-3079475

 

Let's get started!

 

The kit I'm using is the venerable Airfix offering in 1/72 scale (boxed here by MPC):

 

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I originally planned to use this old Monogram kit:

 

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but it isn't as detailed as the Airfix kit and is slightly smaller than 1/72 (closer to 1/77), which wouldn't be a show-stopper but I also managed to find the Airfix kit at a good price on eBay. Even so, I'll probably steal a few items from the Monogram kit, namely the landing gear skis and maybe the dogsled and figures.

 

I'm a sucker for aftermarket, and since the Ford's three engines are its most memorable characteristic, I picked up these to scratch my detail itch:

 

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I also hope to build an appropriately Lovecraftian vignette for my display base, based loosely on this painting:

 

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And, I'll need plenty of snow & ice... fortunately I found this book and appropriate diorama materials from AK Interactive:

 

44437768175_9888f67146_z.jpg   30412084537_9992afba73_z.jpg 

 

To be frank, I've barely opened up the box so far. Instead, I've been experimenting with snow & ice techniques and learning how to build rocky mountain walls. Here are some examples:

 

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Finally, a couple more pics for you:

 

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I anticipate progress will be slow on this build. There are challenges with this old Airfix kit, my aspirations for the diorama base will stretch my abilities, and I have a couple of business trips coming up. But with a little luck, I should have something tangible to show in the near future. Stay tuned!

 

 

Edited by billn53
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Well, this isn't exactly a progress report, since I haven't actually painted anything or glued any bits together yet. I'm still in the "getting ready to get ready" stage.

 

I think I will be starting off by building the engines on this beast. As I mentioned, I acquired three of these aftermarket engines:

 

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Take special note of the "Consists of 103 parts" !!!! What have I gotten myself into?

 

Here's exactly what's included. First, the parts themselves, with a #11 blade for scale:

 

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The smallest parts are, I believe, the sparkplugs. Fortunately, spares are provided, as I am quite certain some of them will be lost to the carpet magnet.

 

The instructions are clear and well illustrated:

 

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And this is what it should like like when finished:

 

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A few years back, when I was finishing up my instrument rating, a Trimotor visited my local airport and I was able to take some detailed pics. I'll be referring to these when building my engines, and thought I'd share them here:

 

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For more pics, feel free to access my photo album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmrWAkYB

Let me know if the link doesn't work!

 

Also, before I forget, here's a link to an original instruction manual. Interesting reading, and some good detailed drawings:

 

http://www.historicalairtours.com/Ford Trimotor.pdf

 

Wish me luck!

 

 

Edited by billn53
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9 hours ago, Christer A said:

SPARKPLUGS!?

In 1/72? 😨

That's some scary stuff right there, and then you top it off with those pictures of the engine pods....that metal is even worse!

You're a brave brave man, and I wish you the best of luck!

Yes, the engines promise to make this build live up to its name, “mountains of madness”. 

Even worse, it looks like I’ll have to scratch the engines’ exhaust piping. 

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17 minutes ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

Definitely following this one. There really is something "Indiana Jonesy" sense of adventure with this aircraft.

 

Jeff

Definitely!

Check this out:

http://www.jbot.ca/space/laoche.shtml

 

Thinking of this in the future with my Monogram kit, since Im now using the Airfix kit in my current build. 

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2 hours ago, billn53 said:

Yes, the engines promise to make this build live up to its name, “mountains of madness”. 

Even worse, it looks like I’ll have to scratch the engines’ exhaust piping.  

Madness, indeed...those are some terrifyingly-detailed engines, for 1/72 scale! [Even with my Optivisor, that seems like a daunting prospect!]

But I have every confidence....:penguin:

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6 minutes ago, thorfinn said:

Madness, indeed...those are some terrifyingly-detailed engines, for 1/72 scale! [Even with my Optivisor, that seems like a daunting prospect!]

But I have every confidence....:penguin:

I’ll try building one, and if that goes okay then do the other two. If a disaster occurs, I have a backup plan:

 

https://eshop.owl-czech.eu/detail/1:72-pratt-whitney-r-1340-wasp-/

 

(which would have been my first choice if I had known about it at the time)

 

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7 minutes ago, billn53 said:

I’ll try building one, and if that goes okay then do the other two. If a disaster occurs, I have a backup plan: 

That's much more my speed!

Just picked up the Revell kit...so I may have to upgrade.

Cheers

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This project is now officially underway! Painted up some of the engine parts this evening:

 

Engine housing front (three version options):

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Engine center and aft sections:

43603116390_190e5b93b9_c.jpg   43603116290_dc9a594a9a_c.jpg

 

Piston cylinders:

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With some detail painting, dark wash, and drybrushing the details on these gems should really pop out.

 

 

Edited by billn53
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Whew! Got my first engine cylinder done.

1 down, 26 more to go (argghhh!)

 

Here's the fruit of my labors:

 

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In close up:

 

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I messed up when gluing the engine front housing to the center section. The resin parts have an alignment slot, but there's a bit of play and I ended up having everything a few degrees out of place. The net result is that I can't use the front housing's holes when installing the piston rods, otherwise everything would look twisted when done.

 

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I'm also losing or breaking the smallest parts at an alarming rate. Extras are provided, but I'll quickly run out of parts at this rate. I must find some way of keeping part from flying off to the carpet monster!

 

You can see in the pic below that I simply gave up on the rear sparkplug wire, and ended up improvising with an odd straight piece (it should instead have more curve, like the wire in front):

 

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Hopefully I'll become more skilled as I gain experience with the other cylinders.

 

If anyone's interested, these are the tools I have at hand for this detail work:

 

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From bottom to top:

 

- The micro alligator clip comes in handy for gripping parts on the casting block, so they don't fly away when cutting them off.

- Yes, that's a brass "toothpick"! It came in a pack of three from MigJimenez. A total indulgence, I admit, but they never fray or become soft, and can be ground to as sharp a tip as you might desire.

- High quality, extra fine-tip tweezers. Worth every penny!

- A 100/0 brush for detail painting (from Micromark)

- Extra fine razor saw (also from Micromark)

- "Thin Blend" Gator glue works great for getting these super small parts in place. But, I'm not sure how strong it will be, so I may need to followup with some extra thin CA.

 

Also essential are strong reading glasses (these +6 power glasses I bought off Amazon):

 

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and lots of bright light!

 

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Monday I leave for my first of three back-to-back business trips, so not much progress will occur between now and early Nov.

Edited by billn53
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Great idea for a diorama! I too have long been an aficionado of Mr. Lovecraft, and I think that 'At the Mountains of Madness' was his greatest work. Are the penguins going to be suitably gigantic? I've love to see you give a Shoggoth a shot.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
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2 minutes ago, Learstang said:

Great idea for a diorama! I too have long been an aficionado of Mr. Lovecraft, and I think that 'At the Mountains of Madness' was his greatest work. Are the penguins going to be suitably gigantic? I've love to see you give a Shoggoth a shot.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Hi Jason!

Yes, the penguins will scale out to be about 12' tall, and I have a plan in mind concerning a shoggoth.... But, all that will come much later...

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23 hours ago, billn53 said:

 

I'm also losing or breaking the smallest parts at an alarming rate. Extras are provided, but I'll quickly run out of parts at this rate. I must find some way of keeping part from flying off to the carpet monster!

Something I've done in the past is to place the fine parts sprue on a piece of tape. When it gets cut it either sticks or falls on to the tape. 

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