Iconicair Supermarine Attacker 1/32 FINISHED.

[egalliers]

So I have a couple of projects on the go at the moment so another wont hurt right?

 

I wanted this kit from the time it was announced a few years back. I decided to fund the purchase of the kit with the proceeds of my resin Boomerang panels, just to make the hobby cost neutral (yeah right!). I like obscure types and of course this fits the bill nicely. I also enjoy the uniqueness of building a resin kit and not having seen an Iconicair kit before, my curiosity kicked in so I got stuck into it whilst there was a bit of downtime in the Boomerang build.

 

There have been a few in box previews of the kit here and on my Facebook page (Manscale Models), as well as others. The kit is quite exceptional right from the get go, being very nicely boxed and thoughtfully packed. Lots of zip lock bags, a stapled instruction sheet, photo etch seatbelts and nicely printed decals. I will try and keep this as out of the box as possible, with the exception of doing something about the lack of any internal structure, meaning there is no jetpipe, turbine face etc. On initial examination, it appears one may be able to see right through the model from intake to exhaust, a less than desirable feature of any jet model.

 

A quick `on the workbench' pic.

 

 

 

I got stuck into the cockpit parts. it is quite simple parts count wise, but very nicely detailed. All of the parts required minimal effort to cut from the casting block and glue in place. I have built up most of the small parts on the cockpit side walls. The throttle quadrant and side panels are very nicely detailed and will look great once painted.

 

 

 

The instrument panel calls for a decal (provided in the kit) sandwiched between the main structure and the panel faces. I prefer to use Airscale instruments, so some additional work was going to be required. 

 

 

The faces of the panel are quite deep and would easily swallow up the instruments so I assemble the parts and then punched out some thin plastic card and inserted it into each hole to bring the instrument faces closer to the front of the panel. If you have the RP Tools punches, I used the 1.9, 2 and 2.4mm punches to achieve this.

 

 

This part will look great painted and with Airscale decals.

 

 

Parts fit is great.

 

The wings come with some sturdy resin spars which almost snap into place. Alot of thought from Iconicair has gone into how this kit assembles, sometimes lacking in alot of resin manufactures. It is quite good.

 

 

Glued into place with gel superglue, they make very strong structures.

 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by egalliers
Title.

[CJP]

This Attacker should be a really interesting build - looking forward to following it

CJP

[Sabrejet]

Esoteric subject - check; nice scale - check; made of resin - double check!! What's not to like? Following with much anticipation: great work so far. I wasn't aware of this kit but it looks a beauty. There is something very tactile about resin kits that, along with the finesse seen in most, plastic kits have yet to approach.

[modelman182]

Defo one for me to follow. I first saw the test casts on Graham's stand (Iconicair) at SMW2017 and it went straight on to my shopping list. Purchased mine just after SMW2018 (as I was "cash poor" at the show from other purchases and commitments), had a quick look at it then put it away in the stash ready for when I have the time to enjoy it.

 

I agree that the main body internals need to be made up as you will be able to see right through from the intakes to the exhaust. Undecided yet as to whether to use a bit of plasticard as a bulkhead and add the turbine blades to the face of it or to master and cast the end of the intake trunks and the engine face. A simple bulkhead and plastic tube should suffice at the back (with a bit of shaping for the exhaust lip). I was very surprised at the omission of these parts given the quality of the kit overall, but then again, the price  is most probably the reason. One of the best 'value for money' 32nd scale resin kits I've come across.

 

Looking forward to following your progress with this.

Kev

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Not my scale, really, but you definitely have my attention!

[egalliers]

Thanks for the comments, glad you guys like it.

 

I purchased both of the available reference books from Viceroy books, a Queensland based online book seller. They have a very good range of books and are well worth a visit. https://viceroybooks.com.au/ . They arrived just minutes before I left home to go to work, so I packed them in my nav bag in case I got bored on the trip!

 

 

I painted the instrument panel Mr Paint Tyre Black. You can see the difference that the small mod has made to the depth of the holes that the instruments will placed compared to the earlier photo. It fits into the cockpit very nicely.

 

 

 The ejection seat parts. 

 

 

Built up, it pushes onto a peg on the cockpit floor. Once again, a lot of thought has gone into the ease of assembly of this kit.

 

 

The wheels are a simple two part affair, and fit together very well using minimal glue. There is the slightest evidence of 3D printing in most of the parts as can be seen here but they will clean up easily.

 

 

I wicked Mr Surfacer into the join between hub and tire and wiped the excess of with Mr Thinner to tidy things up a bit.

 

[egalliers]

6 hours ago, modelman182 said:

Defo one for me to follow. I first saw the test casts on Graham's stand (Iconicair) at SMW2017 and it went straight on to my shopping list. Purchased mine just after SMW2018 (as I was "cash poor" at the show from other purchases and commitments), had a quick look at it then put it away in the stash ready for when I have the time to enjoy it.

 

I agree that the main body internals need to be made up as you will be able to see right through from the intakes to the exhaust. Undecided yet as to whether to use a bit of plasticard as a bulkhead and add the turbine blades to the face of it or to master and cast the end of the intake trunks and the engine face. A simple bulkhead and plastic tube should suffice at the back (with a bit of shaping for the exhaust lip). I was very surprised at the omission of these parts given the quality of the kit overall, but then again, the price  is most probably the reason. One of the best 'value for money' 32nd scale resin kits I've come across.

 

Looking forward to following your progress with this.

Kev

A possible solution Kev.

 

Thinking about the lack of fuselage internals, I came up with a possible solution. Not to say I will go with it but it might work. The Mig-17 had a Russian copy of a Nene, the Trumpeter Mig-17 has a reasonable depiction of one and it would be better than nothing. Here it is test fitted into the fuselage roughly aligned according to my references. The jet pipe is considerably longer than the Mig-17 so I have found some thin brass tube that is the correct diameter and length to suit.

 

 

At least there will be something to see up the rear end!

 

 

Whilst the kit instrument decals are OK, I felt the Airscale stuff just makes the panel pop. I used various decals from the RAF WW2 and early allied jets sheets.

 

 

I will put on some placards and also clear instrument faces but I am pretty happy with how this part is progressing.

 

 

 

 

[neil5208]

Much larger than I would build myself but an intresting project none the less, will follow. I think the engine solution would work weel and give the option to open a panel or two if you wished.

[egalliers]

Thanks Neil,

 

i am am not a huge fan of popping open panels on my model but you never know!

[modelman182]

Thanks for the tip re the Nene engine. I may look at using that trick myself.

 

The IP looks very good with the Airscale decals and your clever little mod. You're saving me a lot of thinking time here, sir! 🙂

 

Kev

 

[modelman182]

It must have been fate - I scored a second hand Frog Mig-15 in 32nd scale, which also contains a Nene, this afternoon.

 

Well pleased and thanks again for your advice.

 

Kev

[Navy Bird]

Having just finished an Attacker in 1:72 scale, I have to follow this build! I love what you've done with the instrument panel, and I'm pleased to see the methodology that Iconicair have used in designing and casting this kit. Clever stuff.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[egalliers]

A small update. 

 

You hear lots of modellers complain about weak undercarriage but never try to do anything about it, or just hope that an aftermarket company comes to the rescue with brass replacement.  The tail wheel on this model is reasonably strong but I felt that it needed some extra strength, espescially the oleo as a lot of weight will go through it.

 

Built up out of the box

 

 

I cut off the oleo, and drilled a hole right through the length of the part and then drilled a smaller hole through the bottom with the aim of having these two brass parts meeting in the middle.

 

 

The brass parts inserted.

 

 

I milled a flat spot on each of the tail wheels (my pet hate is seeing nicely done models without any weight simulated on the tires)

 

 

The built up assembly which is now considerably stronger

 

 

[Martian]

A very sensible and practical solution with that rear undercarriage.

 

Martian 👽

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Love what you are doing with this.  

[Terry1954]

Way bigger scale than I am used to building, but I must follow this as I love the attacker (well, anything supermarine really), and I know I will one day build at least one thing in this scale as some while back I was bought an MDC models resin Typhoon in 1/32. Following with much interest.

 

Terry

[egalliers]

The Instructions are a little bit ambiguous with regard to the next step so some thought was required as to how everything was going to work. It took a few goes at test fitting and comparing the assembly to walk around pics to get it right but doing it this way makes it easier that the instructions call for. I glued the splitter plates onto the intake halves first before sticking them into the fuselage.

 

 

I ended up deciding against putting the engine in, as hardly any of it will be seen through the intakes when the fuselage is closed up. I painted the inside of the fuselage black. Still yet to work out a fix for the lack of jet pipe.

 

 

Once the fuselage was together, the test fitting of the cockpit/nose section began. A fair bit of work is required here to get the parts to fit well. As can be seen on the right side, a fair bit of material has been removed from the intake half. The cockpit fits in between the splitter plates and the intake, so it is critical that the parts will fit together without too much force.

 

 

The corresponding nose section. As can be seen, I have had to thin this part as well.

 

[egalliers]

The completed cockpit (minus the throttle) just before close up.

 

 

There is a large gap which will be visible in the rear of the cockpit that will require some attention.

 

 

i made up a small bulkhead with plastic card.

 

 

With the ejection seat in it may be possible to see behind it, hence the fix.

 

 

It was apparent fairly early on that the nose section was going to be a poor fit to the rest of the fuselage, especially around the intakes. There is a reasonable size difference between the mating parts here and it could be a difficult fix. Here is the problem:

 

 

It would be easy to dump a stack of filler behind the intake lip and blend it back toward the rear of the aircraft, but there would be no way of saving the prominent vents in the top and bottom of the fuselage.

 

 

 

I decided to approach this from two ways, to shift the area that needed to be blended to a different part of the model where there wasn’t so much detail to be lost.

 

Firstly, I split the fuselage join a fair way down the line. I haven’t actually glued the intake lips to the fuselage here, as I had anticipated this issue and fix. Rather, the area behind the splitter plates has been glued allowing me to align the two parts but keep the intake lips free.

 

 

I drove some thick plastic card into the cut to expand the radius of the fuselage, fixing up approximately half of the mismatch in the parts. I will probably pour some very hot water over the rear of the fuselage to relieve the stress in the join further back.

 

 

I filled the rest of the gap with plastic card.

 

 

This still left me with a fair bit to fix up.

 

 

I made a cut straight through the intake lip (this is why I didn’t glue this part together), allowing me to tighten up the top part of the lip against the fuselage.

 

 

Next up I cut the bottom fairing of the intake lip off aiming for the corner of where it joins the fuselage on the outside and the corner where it meets the splitter plate

 

 

Glued back in place and blended in, it is 1000 times better now and I haven’t had to use any filler apart from the bottom part of the intake lip.

 

 

 

Some extensive work to get it to fit but it didn’t take too long and is fairly easy to do if you are comfortable with a razor saw.

 

 

Whilst I was dealing with the intakes I noticed that the leading edge of the lips are very blunt and could do with some work.

 

 

A few minutes with a sanding stick and they were fixed.

 

 

The state of play on my workbench at the moment. No idea how I ended up with two resin kits of fairly obscure types at relatively the same stage of construction on my workbench at the same time!

 

[neil5208]

good solutions, works well

[Sabrejet]

Oh my word that looks nice: good work!

[Calum]

Well done on all that surgery Eric.  Some great solutions there

[CJP]

Really impressed with your neat solution to the intake join 

CJP

[Navy Bird]

Nicely done with the razor saw.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[pacificmustang]

Excellent problem solving Eric 

 

Bruce

[egalliers]

Thanks for the comments gents.

 

Onto the tail. In my opinion, I felt that it appeared a little too short and that the rudder angled too far forward. Here it is as presented in the kit.

 

 

 

i sanded two flat areas on top of the rudder

 

 

I grafted on two scraps of resin to give me something to work with.

 

 

I then glued on a shim to the trailing edge of the rudder using plastic card to slightly modify the angle of the trailing edge and blended the top of the rudder into the taller shape.

 

 

The bottom of the tail under the rudder of the real aircraft blends into the fuselage with a nice curved fairing. A small detail missed by Iconicair, but easy enough to add. Also notice that I have modified the size of the rudder trim tab, it is much thinner on the real thing.

 

 

Due to the sanding and blending required, the old trim tab actuator needed to go and I replaced it with a new one carved from a scrap of resin.

 

 

Fitted to the fuselage and primed.  I have also added a very thin strip of plastic card to the trailing edge of the rudder from the trim tab and above present on pics of the real aircraft. The same type of strip is also on the outer edges of the elevators  these will be added later.

 

 

Starting to come together. This has to be my favourite build of the year.