Matchbox Mojo Restorer

[Sabrejet]

3 hours ago, invidia said:

Lovely kit and great looking model.  I built one a few years ago with that very decal sheet, a word of warning, the 'gold' decals are very thin and stick like a very sticky thing!!!! 

Aha! Many thanks for that - I was beginning to narrow down my decal choices and that was one of two: I think I'll do the "Tiger" aircraft now

[Sabrejet]

One thing about the kit which I'd like to address is the indistinct treatment of the louvres aft of the engine:

 

 

I've had a go with scraping a scalpel blade down each one, which was partially successful. I'll be coming back to these:

 

 

Another bit I want to look at is the raised rivets and panel lines: the 'raised panel lines' around the engine area are in fact embossed areas of the cowlings so they will be staying, but the rest are going, going...

 

 

GONE! Plus a guide coat of Mr Surfacer:

 

 

 

 

Quite happy that I avoided obliterating the bits I wanted to avoid: result!

[Courageous]

Things look so much better after a coat of primer 

 

Stuart

[Sabrejet]

I was hoping to make a better job of the lower wing attachment, which has a massive ejector pin mark and looks like this:

 

 

So, since on the real aircraft the centre section is going to be olive drab like the fuselage - and since it's part of the fuselage in any case, I decided to cut that bit off and attach the wings separately to ease painting. So this is the idea:

 

 

And this is how it looks on the fuselage: messy. It'll tidy up...

 

 

Blended in, with a bit of filler:

 

 

And safe under a coat of primer:

 

 

So the difficult bit: drill two 0.6mm holes in each wing spanwise, to accept some brass rod...

 

 

And then hope to transfer the locations on to the wing root:

 

 

And this photo to prove it actually did fit!!!

 

 

Fully flush and not a bad fit: will do a bit of fettling to get a better butt joint but I'm happy with this.

 

 

And underside not too bad.

 

 

[Mr T]

Some of the Matchbox kits like the P12, Fury and Siskin were really nice apart from the lack of interior detail, over the years I have built three or four Furies and still have about three in the stash. 

Never did the P12, but your build is very nice indeed, that engine is incerdible

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Love how this is looking ... I need to find one of these. Swap meet coming up in two weeks hope i can find one? 

[Courageous]

A good fix with the wings, going together quickly, a good 'mojo restorer'.

 

Stuart

[rob Lyttle]

Well worth going the extra mile on the wing/ fuselage attachment.

That's an excellent bit of modelling on a small scale!

[Sabrejet]

Thanks for the kind comments: I may well build another one of these, now I know a better way to do the engine. Plus I'll have some decals spare too. I just hope you lot haven't snaffled them all before I get back to the auction sites!

[Courageous]

1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

I just hope you lot haven't snaffled them all before I get back to the auction sites!

Always a risk when you carry out inspirational builds.

 

Stuart

[Sabrejet]

Panel line scribing then:

 

 

 

 

And then on with the cabane struts and top decking: progress!!!

 

 

 

 

Needs a tidy up and then a prime to see how rough it really is!

[Courageous]

Scribing, something I don't like doing. Moving along nicely. 

 

Stuart  

[Sabrejet]

4 hours ago, Courageous said:

Scribing, something I don't like doing. Moving along nicely. 

 

Stuart  

Me neither: it's always the wrong shape!

[JosephLalor]

On 10/27/2018 at 8:25 AM, Sabrejet said:

It's a little gem: I always think of Matchbox kits being clunky but this one has real finesse. I didn't build this one back when they came out - I think the Strikemaster was my first Matchbox, followed by a lot more. I Googled the subject and realise I made a good number but missed quite a few too: those I made are in bold but I somehow missed doing the Hawker Fury and Siskin; and I have to admit to being completely oblivious to the Fairey Seafox! I think I may look on TheBay for that as a stash candidate.

 

PK-1  Hawker Fury I
PK-2  Spitfire Mk. V
PK-3  Boeing P-12E: finally getting round to this one!!!
PK-4  Mitsubishi Zero
PK-5  Dornier Alpha Jet

I've always thought it quite interesting that Lesney Toys led off with the Hawker Fury in their then new range of plastic kits, even if the Spitfire IX was number 2 in the catalogue.

[rob Lyttle]

I vaguely remember reading that the kit designers at Matchbox aimed the biplane kits at the "grown-up" modelling market, and treatment of the monoplanes was kept simpler and aimed to be accessible for the "toy" end of the sales.

 And that might also explain why the little Fury got Pole Position in the listing.

[Sabrejet]

Think I may have to do the Fury sometime. I have a fair number of kits lined up first though. All of which made me realise that I have a small stash building up.

 

[billn53]

On 10/30/2018 at 12:36 AM, Sabrejet said:

 I may well build another one of these, now I know a better way to do the engine. 

 Do you mean ou have a better way to do the Small Stuff engine? If so, please share! I have three of these puppies to take care of and any tips would be greatly appreciated. 

[Sabrejet]

7 hours ago, billn53 said:

 Do you mean ou have a better way to do the Small Stuff engine? If so, please share! I have three of these puppies to take care of and any tips would be greatly appreciated. 

Hah ha! Well it's simply that next time I'll paint the cylinders and crankcase before I put those parts together; it'll certainly make painting it a lot easier. I'll see how this one goes first, but that seems to be the sensible way to do it (which is obviously why I didn't do it that way).

[billn53]

6 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Hah ha! Well it's simply that next time I'll paint the cylinders and crankcase before I put those parts together; it'll certainly make painting it a lot easier. 

Yes, that’s exactly how I’ve been doing mine. I did notice that you assembled without painting and was thinking that might cause issues down the line. Painting first is definitely the way to go here. 

[Brandy]

A little late to this, but I love it. I built one as a kid, unpainted of course, so it's bringing back memories. That engine is really going to make it special though. I used one on my Donnet - Leveque, simply because it's totally exposed, and it makes a huge differance!

Ian

[Sabrejet]

And on with the landing gear: the legs are not that well located so I used the cross-brace (which the wheels attach to) as a jig to locate it all while the glue dried. The base of each leg (where it will attach to the cross-brace) was also profiled since the kit parts are convex at the ends and didn't look like they'd mate very well.

 

 

I have to say I'm happier with the panel lines after a fine sand and a coat of primer too:

 

 

 

And while I'm at it, this is the rather naive 2-dimensional portrayal of the machine guns (staggered, as on the real aircraft). Even for 1973 vintage these are a bit basic. I'm going to make some brass tube representations which will cover these embossed bits:

 

 

[Tomoshenko]

Stunning work so far. Well impressed with the improvements you've made so far.

 

On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 7:07 PM, Sabrejet said:

Think I may have to do the Fury sometime

I really think you should. Given your work on this job I'd love to see what you'd make of it. It's a lovely kit and goes together well. Here's my WIP of it I completed earlier this year.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235027219-revell-matchbox-hawker-fury-mki-172/&

 

[Terry1954]

A bit late to the party on this one @Sabrejet but have just done a catch up. This aircraft is truly a little gem! Matchbox kits often get a bad press but they can be made into stunning replica's ....... like you are doing here! That engine is simply amazing. I have an Aeroclub Gloster Gamecock, what a shame Small Stuff don't make a Bristol Jupiter!

 

Will follow this with much interest.

 

Terry

[Sabrejet]

1 hour ago, Tomoshenko said:

Stunning work so far. Well impressed with the improvements you've made so far.

 

I really think you should. Given your work on this job I'd love to see what you'd make of it. It's a lovely kit and goes together well. Here's my WIP of it I completed earlier this year.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235027219-revell-matchbox-hawker-fury-mki-172/&

 

I'll have trouble getting the same standard as yours: truly a stunner! Love these old kits made good

 

[Sabrejet]

Engine today: painted as far as I'll want to! I'm sure the plug leads weren't blue, but I had some like this on my old Humber Sceptre and I like the colour.

 

 

Lightly washed:

 

 

Next the engine face plate, which Pavla mould with a flat aft face: in reality the face plate extends aft between each cylinder and attaches to the front of the fuselage cowling. I thought I'd superglue some plastic strips on each location and hope the glue would be strong enough for me to refine the shapes later:

 

 

 

A quick check on the engine to see if it still fitted:

 

 

 

Propeller next. It's not a bad moulding but needed the shaft to be cut off and drilled-out for the engine prop shaft to fit through.

 

 

Only a few mods, but a bit better than the original:

 

 

Then a bit of paint and a trial fit:

 

 

And finally, some tidying up, a bit of paint and some decals from the Starfighter sheet:

 

 

 

Pretty happy with it. And considering how tiny it is, I'm chuffed that my eyesight is still good enough to do it!