Airfix/Heller Concorde 1:72

[Darth Vader]

Does this model sit right ? Im convinced the nose wheel is too tall and the completed model sits at a nose up attitude.  Trimming a bit out of the nosewheel leg will lower the nose up attitude but how much is needed if any . Your thoughts please

 

[Pin]

Concorde's attitude IS slightly nose-up.

The other thing is that EVERYTHING in this kit is NOT RIGHT and therefore the attitude is probably the last thing to care about.

The only kit in my life that I have abandoned

[Space Ranger]

Are there no accurate scale drawings of Concorde available anywhere?

[Pin]

I have no knowledge of any

[cmatthewbacon]

This is how I did it on my in-progress Heller 1/125 version...

 

https://www.heritageconcorde.com/airframe-dimensions

 

Has key airframe dimensions listed. The interesting ones for us are in the "Production Airframe Dimensions" and are the Passenger Doors: Height to Sill, and Baggage Door (rear, starboard) height to sill. The front passenger door height to sill is 4.88m, and the rear baggage door 4.04m. These translate into 39 mm and 32 mm in 1/125 and 68mm and 56mm in 1/72.

 

I glued the gear legs into position temporarily in the completed airframe with copydex and let them set. I measured the distance from the edge of the mounting hole to the outside of the tire on the front and main gear wheels. In 1/125, it was 3mm and 5mm. So, there's 2mm more depth on the main gear wheels than the fronts. Then I stood the airframe on its legs on the bench, with the main gear legs resting on a couple of wooden stirrers/craft sticks about 1mm thick, giving the 2mm boost. That means that overall, the whole aircraft set up sits 3mm below where it will when the wheels are attached.

 

Finally, I measured the height from the benchtop to the door sills. The front leg needed to be shortened until the door sill height was 39-3=36mm, since the leg is more or less under the door. The main leg is a bit ahead of the baggage door, so you shorten it a bit less than you would if it was in the same place as the baggage door. So take the difference between the calculated an measure sill height, and shorten the leg by about 80% of it.

 

In practice, this all meant I needed to lose 3mm from the front gear leg, and 2mm from each of the main gears. The front has a clearly defined, and very long extended oleo, which just needs cutting and pinning, and the scissor links reinstating at the new length. The main gears are a bit less clear where to loose it from, but I just took a slice from a thinner bit a little above the wheel trucks...

 

It does make a difference to the "sit", and is worth doing, even in 1/125 scale. I'm sure the Airfix/Revell would benefit as well...

 

best,

M.

Edited January 15, 2019 by cmatthewbacon

[Darth Vader]

Thanks for the replies, ive now done it . I assembled the main u/c and dry assembled the nose u/c and sat the mains on a placemat on the dining table to prop the back end up. This gave me a better sit . I measured the placemat at 5mm so chopped that out the front leg.