fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Baldy said: Wow Moa! This really will be a masterclass - er - I hope! Really looking forward to see you tackle this. Cheers Malcolm "...er - I hope"????? Such gall! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Aeronut said: I'll be watching this one with interest. It may even encourage me to go deep mining the stash for the one I have. Another lucky....modeler! 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Wow, now we're talking. What an awesome kit - 55cm span?? I foresee some internal engineering being necessary... Removing those moulding pips from the corrugations will be a bit of a nuisance, but that will probably be the easy bit! This will (eventually) look spectacular. Good luck! I'll certainly be watching - and learning - with great interest. Jon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldy Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 LOL! Only kidding Moa - love the emoji by the way! Cheers Malcolm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Don't listen to those Jovians, they don't know nothing. To paraphrase my old boss at HM Customs, model faster! The Screaming Martian of Mars 👽 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 51 minutes ago, Jonners said: Wow, now we're talking. What an awesome kit - 55cm span?? I foresee some internal engineering being necessary... Removing those moulding pips from the corrugations will be a bit of a nuisance, but that will probably be the easy bit! This will (eventually) look spectacular. Good luck! I'll certainly be watching - and learning - with great interest. Jon I agree with you that a clean up is needed, and surely that will not be the most difficult part as you mention. Yeap, 55 ctms. If sometimes I knock everything around (lamp, containers, drawers, my head, etc) with smaller models, I have no idea how would I need to handle this. If any of you posseses a castle in the UK countryside, and would provide board and lodging for a good cause, let me know. I will gladly move there for the extra space (and view, and royal treatment, and magnificent food, and the single-malts). Regarding engineering, I don't foresee at this point more than some spars and anchoring point reinforcements, plus the judicious substitution of some of the plastic struts for sturdier Strutz brass airfoil material. Vac models are much well-behaved than some big, heavy, resin blobs, many times cast as if all involved needed a resin bunker. Onward! Cheers 50 minutes ago, Baldy said: LOL! Only kidding Moa - love the emoji by the way! Cheers Malcolm I know 😉 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Martian Hale said: Don't listen to those Jovians, they don't know nothing. To paraphrase my old boss at HM Customs, model faster! The Screaming Martian of Mars 👽 Hold your horses (or equivalent biological, mechanical or bionic creature you may have in Mars)! It is not like all of us have your 360 visual field, many-fingered tentacles, multiple pincers and many brains (and I really hope that the multiple things you posses stop here, for the sake of sanity and this forum's decorum!) I first have to decide which cabin layout I will build (the kit offers the two that existed), the eastern (less seats) or western (more seats), that will take some involving photograph-perusing and name-choosing. Rushing things gets you nowhere, as you well know since you tried to breath twice in that 23,000-year galactic cycle of yours. Then you got dizzy in at least half your brains. There. Now seat down and twiddle your tentacles (and only those). Cheers 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 Sorry distinguished BM membership, if there is something I can't stand is a screaming Martian producing green slime from what may seem his mouth (but you are never sure with these Martians), so in order to make him stop, at least temporarily, I have cut some plastic. As explained above, the kit gives the two seating options, eastern and western, with different cockpit and cabin arrangement and seat number. Since I am not decided on which one yet, parts are separated for both: If you chose to use the kit's seats (not me), follow the kit instruction advise and fill them with something to spruce them up before you cut them loose, since some areas are definitely flimsy and very thin, and won't do, plus there are many pips and blemishes that you may need to sand, so it's good to have some support. I am not too keen on those seats, so I will make my own. If you look at photos of the real seats, you will see that the kit's is a not bad attempt -and an option if you keep things obscured and closed- but the real seats differ quite a bit in some details and general shape and proportion. And since I like to open everything that can be posed open on a scale model (I was just peeping at photos of the open cargo bay under the wing, for example), let's start by making the right seats. So, as it happens (and it is my joy) we have to produce things before even begin to start things. Blame no one but myself (and of course the Martian). 7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 2 hours ago, Martian Hale said: Don't listen to those Jovians, they don't know nothing. To paraphrase my old boss at HM Customs, model faster! The Screaming Martian of Mars 👽 How do I spoil you rotten, you little Martianito. See above. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 I know that by now, you have all climbed up or down to your respective attics, chimneys, dungeons, towers, bunkers, wells, tunnels, mines, closets, volkano lairs and the like where you have kept all this time your HP42/45 Contrail kits, and are now seating down in your comfy chair* caressing it and muttering "My preciousssss....my preciousssssssss". *"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Should I replace the kit's corrugated parts with new ones? Why, you say? Why not, say I. But let's not get carried away. Should you commit the abomination of marring a corrugated part, be known that model train and hobby stores some times carry styrene sheets with a similar pattern: 5 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 5 minutes ago, Moa said: Should I replace the kit's corrugated parts with new ones? Why, you say? Why not, say I. But let's not get carried away. Should you commit the abomination of marring a corrugated part, be known that model train and hobby stores some times carry styrene sheets with a similar pattern: I think I would were I in your shoes. I think the corrugated parts are the weakest feature of the kit and you are capable of far better. Martian 👽 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Moa said: Hold your horses (or equivalent biological, mechanical or bionic creature you may have in Mars)! It is not like all of us have your 360 visual field, many-fingered tentacles, multiple pincers and many brains (and I really hope that the multiple things you posses stop here, for the sake of sanity and this forum's decorum!) The other multiple things are a secret known only to myself and Mrs Martian! Previous relationships don't count as they happened before I was turned into an extra terrestrial. Martian 👽 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Martian Hale said: I think I would were I in your shoes. I think the corrugated parts are the weakest feature of the kit and you are capable of far better. Martian 👽 I know you Martians all too well, and I very much doubt you use shoes at all. That been said, yes, I am tempted to replace the bulkheads and dividers, but I won't even dream of replacing the exterior corrugated panels, which suffer the most from blemishes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tomohawk Kid Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 14 hours ago, Moa said: It is indeed a good questions, where are those molds now? Cheers I believe Sanger bought some of them, I have no idea if the HP 42 was part of the bundle they bought. Tommo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoshenko Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 I love this aircraft and never got round to tackling the Airfix 1/144 kit. Looking forward to this build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 Trials for the fabrication of the home-made seats start: 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Only just found this Moa - I will be along for the ride (flight?) too. I was never taken with vacuforms but I did have some at one time including some Contrail kits, but they were sold to others some time ago. I just hope that the buyers were more adventurous than me and made them up. Yours will be a gem when it is finished of course, but how much will be the original kit and how much your work we will have to wait and see. Great start though. P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 3 minutes ago, pheonix said: Only just found this Moa - I will be along for the ride (flight?) too. I was never taken with vacuforms but I did have some at one time including some Contrail kits, but they were sold to others some time ago. I just hope that the buyers were more adventurous than me and made them up. Yours will be a gem when it is finished of course, but how much will be the original kit and how much your work we will have to wait and see. Great start though. P My plan is not to replace anything that doesn't really need replacement. I will work on the interior of course since it gives me joyful and playful pleasure. I don't want to mess with the flying surfaces (although I am tempted to replace those tail surfaces which I can make in a snap and would look much better), and I don't want to mess with the fuselage, other than adding the many steampunk thingies protruding everywhere seen in many photos. I will replace the tail wheel and associated parts, and perhaps the main wheels which look a bit off. I am also thinking (DO NOT TELL ANYONE 😉 ) of replacing the whole two sections of the front and aft window areas for strips of some sturdy clear material (since those two areas were flat, not corrugated), and just mask the windows, adding vinyl window frames in metal color. The frames as they are in the kit leave much to be desired, and I don't have photoetching capabilities, so the vinyl will be ideal (I have used "chromed" vinyl frames from the Arctic Decals set for my DH89 to great effect). That will eliminate the need of individual windows painfully fitted, and/or the dubious prospect of a clear strip behind the fuselage sides and that cumbersome "fuselage capsule" that the kit provides as a (literally in this case) convoluted solution (which I don't quite like). So far my ebil plan. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 As I look again at references (it's amazing how much is online readily available) it's clear that apparently each plane had different decoration solutions, and some photos even show seats with no upholstery pattern at all, just plain textiles. Cabin trimmings vary too. Beware that the photo in the (otherwise very nice) "Imperial Airways, The birth of the British airline industry 1914-1940" book by Robert Bluffield, that states that the interior photo is from "Hanno" is a mistake, since those are clearly the seats of the Short S.17 Scylla / Kent, even if you can see a very deceptive tailcone structure behind the cabin. It had it too. So once more modelers and scholars are mislead by miss-captions -and I must say- some lazy research, since the seats of the HP42/45 had a very particular shape with the curvaceous double slope in the middle of the back support. So once more: once you set on which of the eight planes you want to represent, bear in mind that interior and exterior details varied from plane to plane, and not only the two marks (42/45). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Speaking of windows, the kit has a flaw in that regard, since it positions both window rows in the same baseline, which is incorrect, since photos and factory drawings clearly show the aft row "rising" a bit, to better accompany the cabin floor angle upwards towards to the tail. That reinforces, or even mandates, the use of the solution given above of replacing both window areas. (From the Library of Congress, public domain: The kit: 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 I think the window plan is a very sound one, sorry but somebody let on. Given that you seem to be going for the full Monty on the fuselage, you want to be able to see as much as possible. I love the chromed vinyl idea for the window surrounds. Martian 👽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 And the allotation of seats is completed: 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 2 hours ago, Martian Hale said: I think the window plan is a very sound one, sorry but somebody let on. Given that you seem to be going for the full Monty on the fuselage, you want to be able to see as much as possible. I love the chromed vinyl idea for the window surrounds. Martian 👽 I may have conveyed the wrong plan: The clear strip is not going to be clear all the way, but just as usual through the windows, the rest is going to be painted normally, it is just a device to simplify construction and masking. The function is to eliminate the imperfect frames on the kit, and to remove the need of making individual windows, or use the kit's "capsule" as explained. So the final impression is going to be that of a normal model, not like one of those semi-transparent or cut-away travel agency models. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Very interesting. Love the production line seats, done enough to cater for either version. Can't wait to see this 'clear strip' in action. Stuart 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Bad (but predictable) news, the protective paper of the decal sheet fused on, after almost four decades, so new ones will have to be commissioned: Not even in water the protective paper will let go of the decal, that otherwise is completely ok: Funny that the decal did not shatter or broke down, it is perfectly ok on the other side as shown, but the protective paper is firmly glued on the front: 1 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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