Back from the Dead

[kwaterous]

Well; I’ve returned from the abyss.

 

More than 2 years since I did any real modelling, and now I’ve got a month or so to play with before it’s back to school.

 

I figured that I could do with a real KUTA to get he mojo going again; once that was decided it was just a matter of which build to resurrect. 

 

Looking around the workbench i came to the rather alarming realization that i have more started builds than thinstarted kits in the stash 😮 (time for a shopping trip methinks

 

I eventually settled on the one build that I have absolutely no chance of completing before I go on my next hiatus: the Big Beau.

aka. The old Revell 1:32 Beaufighter being built as a nightfighter.  

 

State of play as of today; 

That is to say; cockpit put together with some PE thrown at it, bulkheads cut down (but not replaced) engines base painted, one exhaust collector painted the wrong colour, one resin exhaust painted and fettled and the canopy has been masked.

 

This was all done almost a year before I left (that’s 3 years ago now) and much of it will be re-done.

 

First up: that one painted exhaust collector ring.

Now there are 2 in the same state. Consistency is key after all.

 

A brief look at photos shows that these need to be much thicker. 

Challenge accepted.

The filler used for rounghing out the shape started life as a tubed wood filler: it has found a new purpose as my cheap green stuff alternative. 

 

Challenges to overcome in the next few weeks will include: 

- my previous ham fisted re-scribing attempts

- the fact that this kit comes from the 1970s (it’s 20 years older than I am... 😬)

 

Anyhow; I’m not likely to finish this one this time around, since I’m on the other side of the country as of January 3rd but I’ll do as much as possible, and enjoy myself as I go along. 

 

As always, any advice or commentary is appreciated - especially links to, or photos of builds where others have done similar work with this old kit. 

 

Cheers,

 

K

 

p.s. KUTA XII anyone?

Edited December 20, 2018 by kwaterous
I can’t spell to save my life...

[dogsbody]

The inside of a Hercules collector ring:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Rob G]

3 hours ago, dogsbody said:

The inside of a Hercules collector ring:

 

Chris

 

You don't get out much, do you.

Seriously, those are useful images and need in some way to be added to a walk around or reference thread for the aircraft and/or engine.

[dogsbody]

3 hours ago, Rob G said:

 

You don't get out much, do you.

Seriously, those are useful images and need in some way to be added to a walk around or reference thread for the aircraft and/or engine.

Actually, no. I don't. I'm retired now and would prefer to avoid the general public. The overall gene pool is getting quite shallow.

 

I've always had an interest in Bristol aircraft and engines.

 

 

 

Chris

[Rob G]

28 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

The overall gene pool is getting quite shallow.

 

I can but agree with that.

 

Lucky you being retired, I doubt that I'll ever be in a position to do so.

[kwaterous]

Wow fantastic references Chris - those will be quite useful, although I’ll have to debate on how much detail I actually want to add.

 

As for general society; I don’t have the luxury of avoiding people most days, and haven’t even really entered the workforce so retirement is but a distant dream. 😦

 

Cheers,

 

K 

[Drift]

4 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Actually, no. I don't. I'm retired now and would prefer to avoid the general public. The overall gene pool is getting quite shallow.

 

I've always had an interest in Bristol aircraft and engines.

 

 

 

Chris

Never has a truer word been spoken. 

[kwaterous]

Another day, another bit of work done on this beastie.

 

Started by trimming/cutting the filler I’d applied to the inside of the cowlings until it was generally the shape I wanted - since I’d done such an awful job of applying it the first time, more filler was needed.

Exhibit A. 

I used real green stuff this time...

 

After doing this I realized I needed the space near where the exhaust exits the ring to be filled too, so I glued a couple chunks of sprue in there then added a smear of my special formula filler (in grey this time 😮) 

Step 1:

Happy accident; the tail ends of the sprue will work a locating features later on.

 

Step 2:

 

Next order of business was to figure out how in the world I can make all of those exhaust tubes. 

 

For this I had a couple of options:

1. Stretched sprue, which doesn’t work because I’m cr*p and can’t get the thickness consistent

2. A weird  flexible material I’ve got in the bin - it’s the right thickness but I’ve never worked with it before (I think it comes from a ski pass..?)

 

This calls for some testing 😊

Namely, how the heck do I glue it to anything?

And, can it be sanded? (it had mould lines) 

 

The glue answer is, quite predictably, superglue, as nothing else will touch it

Even with superglue this bond isn’t particularly strong 😒

 

As for sanding, the answer is no. But it can be melted a bit over a candle to get rid of the seam lines. This has the added effect of making it even more flexible; I can’t decide if this is a good thing or not.

Next test will be painting it 😬

 

With those tests figured I thought I should put some though into how they attach to the cylinders. I’m going to have to pin them to make sure they stick so an ungodly amount of holes were in order

This is 1/4 of the cylinders banks and it has 14 tiny holes 🤯

 

Last bit of work was the cowlings. And here is where I really regretted picking a 1970s Kit. These cowlings really made me appreciate the 3 piece ones normal in short run kits. There are 5 bliddy pieces per side. And none of them fit. And they’re all covered in mould imperfections and flash 😪

This is after 20 minutes of fettling and swearing. And the fit is still rather awful.

 

Anyhow, reference photos (thanks Chris) advice or just good old banter are all appreciated and enjoyed 😜

 

Cheers,

 

K

 

p.s. Is it just me or is glossy black plastic really hard to get good pictures of...

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by kwaterous

[dogsbody]

This may help:

 

 

 

Chris

[kwaterous]

It’s back (in black 🎸)

 

This Kit comes with what I believe is supposed to represent the exhaust system, but it’s 100% wrong and gets in the way of putting a more accurate version in place. So it had to go 

Original on left, new on right (obviously)

 

That leaves space for the exhaust pipes to come through 

Although it is still a rather tight squeeze.

 

14 pinned and superglued exhaust pipes later.... my eyes and fingers are both sore

But it does look promising 😁

 

Even more so when I test fitted the front cylinder bank

(And I only broke one of the tubes off to get this picture 😒) 

 

Next step: The collectors ring

 

Drilling 14 evenly spaced holes is remarkably difficult

Why couldn’t designers be nice and make it an even 16... 

 

Also among things remarkably difficult: getting 14 little bits of sprue to sit at the same angle. Seen here just started 

and here completed,

This showed me that the spacing on several of my holes was off. But I’m not in a mood to do this part again 🤷‍♂️

(Too bad I’ve only done one engine so far)

 

I also threw a base coat on it to see where needed work, answer: pretty much everywhere

I will be concentrating on how it looks from the front though, (not opening the cowlings) so I’m not going to any extremes with this.

 

Also looked at the cowl flaps and decided they were far too thick. So now they aren’t 😁

This is made so much easier by the use of a Dremel....

 

Anyhow - I’m quite enjoying this fiddling about with the engines... we shall have to see if I’m as enthusiastic about the cockpits when that time rolls around.

 

Cheers,

 

K

[Rob G]

It couldn't be 16 because radial engines need to have banks of cylinders with uneven numbers, otherwise they won't turn.

Also, PM inbound.

[Julien]

On ‎21‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 07:40, kwaterous said:

 

There are 5 f**cking pieces per side. And none of them fit. And they’re all covered in mould imperfections and flash 😪

 

 

Please do not use *** to circumvent the swearword filter.