Dambusters 70th - 6 Years Late: Tornado 1/72 Airfix

[CedB]

On 09/06/2019 at 07:32, keefr22 said:

Forgot to say too Ced, that was a cracking bit of lateral thinking in making the Nav's controller - great stuff!

 

K

Thanks Keith  

On 10/06/2019 at 21:11, The Spadgent said:

Lovely scratch work Mr B. 

I’m there with Tony on that crumpled up PE. 😳 I’m not even going to look how much that was. I remember the cost of the bits for my lanc.

The bits that did fit looked great however. 🥳👌

but that’s all in the past. 💃 back to this lovely lady.

 

Carry on dear boy.🤪

 

Johnny 

Thanks Johnny  I can't remember how much the PE cost but it wasn't cheap. Made worse by my colleague suggesting I resolve my frustration with the first attempt by buying another set - sometimes I just don't know when to give in! 

18 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Cabin crew? What's that? None of that fancy stuff on anything I've ever flown!

As for coffee and sarnies, only if I brought my own, and there wasn't much time for that on the 15 minute hop from Hyannis to Nantucket!

 

Ian

Thanks Ian  

 

 

I finally got some time away from puppy sitting to try spraying the Humbrol enamels. Not a good start:

 

 

To be fair it has been in the paint rack for some time. Nothing that couldn't be sorted with some Humbrol thinners and the Badger battery stirrer. 

Internals sprayed:

 

 

 

Need to let that dry now and then some detailing.

While it's drying I'll see about the pilots' helmet stripes.

[CedB]

Some research on the internet. Is it a reliable source do you think? Whilst browsing I came across this image of 'Flt. Lt. Juliette Fleming, RAF Fast Jet pilot'. That's not Juliette, it's the actress Claire Sweeney who was treated to the special flight before opening RIAT in 2002. Hah! Worth double checking everything!

A call out to the service women in this situation though. They must be very strong to take all the media attention AND do the job. Good on you girls [insert appropriate PC term here]

 

Anyhoo, stripes on the helmets. I bought these:

 

 

…some time ago when I was worried about the stripes on the Rapide. They came in handy for this:

 

 

If they don't look to be in the right position, that's the perspective of the photo. End of.

Stuck the seats in too, just to have something to do:

 

 

…and took that photo so you can watch the paint dry  

[CedB]

OK, a bit more before I stop for lunch.

The next step is to fit the wings and their 'swing mechanism':

 

 

Looks like that was designed to have the top of the lugs melted to hold things in before Health and Safety (the two most dangerous words in the English language) stepped in and banned hot things around young people. Pussies! I shall ponder that later.

 

The fin's also been cleaned of flash and glued with liquid poly:

 

 

That's it for this morning. Cleaning up before lunch I noticed this:

 

 

Weird. Blue stuff on my thumb that even IPA won't remove. I have NO idea what I've touched this morning that's blue.

It's a mystery.

Or is it?

[CedB]

More done this afternoon (my daughter's looking after the pup - yay!)

 

The fin/rudder is inconsistent:

 

 

 

A quick check on the 'net showed that the rudder doesn't reach the top of the fin so some Humbrol filler was added:

 

 

I think the enamel on the internals is dry but, to be sure, I fixed the wings on instead. I had intended to use the old soldering iron I've had since dinosaurs roamed the earth but when I got it out of the cupboard:

 

 

Not only is the fuse missing but so is the live pin. At some point in the past I must have wanted the fuse… and forgotten to put the pin back in the plug. I have no idea when. I'll keep it of course in case they turn up.

 

Out with the 'hendie type soldering station' - 200^o seemed to work fine:

 

 

I fitted the wings and melted the wing lugs while wiggling the wings to make sure they still moved:

 

 

Will the enamel be dry enough to paint over by now? Will it Dad, will it? We're getting close to closing up when the internals are painted:

 

 

[giemme]

Wow, what a progress, Ced!  

It really looks like they were holding you back, and then suddenly set you free

 

Ciao

[TheBaron]

In total agreement with the previous correspondent. 

7 hours ago, CedB said:

Blue stuff on my thumb that even IPA won't remove. I have NO idea what I've touched this morning that's blue.

We've all painted ourselves up as an Ancient Briton at one time or another. No shame in it Chief Cedivarrius of Aquae Sulis...

[hendie]

Hot cross buns and woad!   and I even got mentioned and not in a derogatory way!

 

keep up the good work Ced

[keefr22]

6 hours ago, CedB said:

I fitted the wings and melted the wing lugs while wiggling the wings to make sure they still moved:

 

 

I've never built this thing Ced - so do the weapons pylons move as well? Just wondering.... 

 

K

 

[bbudde]

11 hours ago, CedB said:

 

If they don't look to be in the right position, that's the perspective of the photo. End of. 

Hello Ced, looks good so far, but could you do it a bit more filigree?

 

Ok,  nature makes this 1:1 (10mm) and scaled down to your model somewhat 0,0416667 mm for the body. 

Cheers and a nice evening.

 

[Biggles87]

Does the undercarriage go up and down when the wings sweep?

[CedB]

17 hours ago, giemme said:

Wow, what a progress, Ced!  

It really looks like they were holding you back, and then suddenly set you free

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio - yes, I'm free, FREE I TELL YOU! At least until next week when she may be back under my care  

16 hours ago, TheBaron said:

In total agreement with the previous correspondent. 

We've all painted ourselves up as an Ancient Briton at one time or another. No shame in it Chief Cedivarrius of Aquae Sulis...

 

Great photo Tony, could be my brother  

13 hours ago, hendie said:

Hot cross buns and woad!   and I even got mentioned and not in a derogatory way!

 

keep up the good work Ced

Mention you in a derogatory way? As if  

13 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

I've never built this thing Ced - so do the weapons pylons move as well? Just wondering.... 

 

K

 

Good point Keith. Assuming you mean do the pylons swing away so that it doesn't shoot itself down when the wings are forward, the answer is no. They should have thought of that shouldn't they? I'll watch out for it when assembling the payload  

12 hours ago, bbudde said:

Hello Ced, looks good so far, but could you do it a bit more filigree?

 

Ok,  nature makes this 1:1 (10mm) and scaled down to your model somewhat 0,0416667 mm for the body. 

Cheers and a nice evening.

 

Thanks Ben. Nice spider  

6 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Does the undercarriage go up and down when the wings sweep?

No. Should it?  

 

The boys are in with their gloves. Pathetic little boxes and i/p blobbed (not worth big photos, see below)

 

 

 

With that done I could close up and check that horrid front seam:

 

 

 

Improved by some pressure and glueing one side at a time. 

The good-enough-for-the-ceiling internals are barely visible:

 

 

That shot leads me to the thought that the crosses on the rear of the bone domes are there so that the crew can check if their heads are on straight after a trip around the Mach loop. Is that why? Is it Dad?

 

The tailplanes can be moved. Independently of each other. They can flap as well as swivel. Glue them in then:

 

 

I'll close the rest of the back seams later.

 

Now then, this is going to be hung next to T-Tommy as if they're flying in formation.

Question: air brakes open or closed?

[giemme]

11 minutes ago, CedB said:

Question: air brakes open or closed?

Like this?

 

Nice pose, ain't it?  

 

I'd have  left the tail planes out, for ease of painting - but I guess it's too late now, Ced 🤷🏻‍♂️ Nonetheless, great progress  Although I reckon you're up to a lot of sanding now ...  

 

Ciao

[Biggles87]

I believe that the tailplanes acted as ailerons and elevators ( tailerons? ) so I suppose they could be seen at different angles rolling into a tight turn. I have seen photos of the airbrakes and the thrust reverser buckets open on the ground, although as yours will be posed inflight  this won’t apply. 

 

John

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

 

That shot leads me to the thought that the crosses on the rear of the bone domes are there so that the crew can check if their heads are on straight after a trip around the Mach loop. Is that why? Is it Dad?

 

Of course it is son, you got it in one!

 

(Although we were fibbed to as we were told it was for the SAR Seaking to be able to spot you easier if you were bobbing up and down in the oggin after carelessly parking your aeroplane in 50 fathoms of water! They were actually a sort of reflective tape kind of stuff IIRC) 

 

Coming together nicely now Ced!

 

 I like the shot Giorgio posted, would look good like that up on the wild blue ceiling!

 

K

[CedB]

3 hours ago, giemme said:

Like this?

 

Nice pose, ain't it?  

 

I'd have  left the tail planes out, for ease of painting - but I guess it's too late now, Ced 🤷🏻‍♂️ Nonetheless, great progress  Although I reckon you're up to a lot of sanding now ...  

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio - great pose  

2 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I believe that the tailplanes acted as ailerons and elevators ( tailerons? ) so I suppose they could be seen at different angles rolling into a tight turn. I have seen photos of the airbrakes and the thrust reverser buckets open on the ground, although as yours will be posed inflight  this won’t apply. 

 

John

Thanks John - weird eh?  

2 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

Of course it is son, you got it in one!

 

(Although we were fibbed to as we were told it was for the SAR Seaking to be able to spot you easier if you were bobbing up and down in the oggin after carelessly parking your aeroplane in 50 fathoms of water! They were actually a sort of reflective tape kind of stuff IIRC) 

 

Coming together nicely now Ced!

 

 I like the shot Giorgio posted, would look good like that up on the wild blue ceiling!

 

K

Thanks Keith  Reflective tape eh? Always comes in handy…

 

 

Pretty painless so far:

 

 

…until you dry fit the canopy:

 

 

Looks like the pilot needs to wind his seat down a bit.

[Martian]

An interesting thread Ced. Strangely enough I have been thinking about building the original MRCA kit as one of the prototypes as my next nostalgia build.

 

Martian 👽

[Harry_the_Spider]

Wow! I remember that canopy issue from when I was a kid. Happy days, although not on this occasion.

[Procopius]

I ran into the same issue when trying to build the Revell Eurofighter a few years ago. Maddening.

[CedB]

16 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

An interesting thread Ced. Strangely enough I have been thinking about building the original MRCA kit as one of the prototypes as my next nostalgia build.

 

Martian 👽

Thanks Martian  MRCA next? Sounds good.

15 hours ago, Harry_the_Spider said:

Wow! I remember that canopy issue from when I was a kid. Happy days, although not on this occasion.

Thanks Harry  It's probably the same molding!

15 hours ago, Procopius said:

I ran into the same issue when trying to build the Revell Eurofighter a few years ago. Maddening.

Thanks PC  I think it may be my fault not cleaning off the bottom of the seat so that it fits into the square locating position. Came back to bite me  

 

 

21 hours ago, CedB said:

Question: air brakes open or closed?

 

Closed then. If you've noticed that he's got his flaps down, please keep it to yourself… 🤫

[CedB]

The pilot was removed by wiggling the seat around, much like removing a tooth 😲

Some plastic sanded off the bottom of the seat.

Better:

 

on Flickr

 

Top aerial thingies. One pinged off (gaaaah!) Out with the desktop vacuum:

 

 

Found it! Well, not with the vacuum per se, but when I moved the glue pots there it was. Phew.

 

Intakes next. I hate intakes. The instructions didn't help much but, with a bit of fiddling, realised that the parts go together so that the 'plate' on the back holds the intake away from the body. Shown here assembled from the rear:

 

 

These fit against the rear body, locating with some lugs that, when the moulds were new, might have located them nicely: 

 

 

Now they just get in the way and push the intakes out of line:

 

 

Off they come then:

 

 

I also took the opportunity to chisel some of the worse excess plastic off the seams.

 

Next job is a seam tidy up.

I'm out for lunch today so it'll probably be tomorrow  

[giemme]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

Now they just get in the way and push the intakes out of line:

Not sure if this is what you are referring to, but keep in mind that the Tornado intakes aren't flush with the fuselage on the top side:

 

Nice progress, BTW  

 

Ciao

[The Spadgent]

7 hours ago, giemme said:

 

That upside down grinnnn and worried eye is amazing. This and your build Ced are adding another kit to my list of kits. 

Great progress kid. Love the wings btw. 👍 

 

Johnny

[Martian]

9 hours ago, CedB said:

I'm out for lunch today 

Mrs Martian says that I am always out to lunch!

 

Martian 👽

[CedB]

On 14/06/2019 at 13:06, giemme said:

Not sure if this is what you are referring to, but keep in mind that the Tornado intakes aren't flush with the fuselage on the top side:

 

[snip picture]

 

Nice progress, BTW  

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio, great photo  I get what you mean about the intakes being 'away' from the fuselage - my point was that the locating things pushed the intakes up too far.

18 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

That upside down grinnnn and worried eye is amazing. This and your build Ced are adding another kit to my list of kits. 

Great progress kid. Love the wings btw. 👍 

 

Johnny

Oooh, that'd be worth watching Johnny  

18 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Mrs Martian says that I am always out to lunch!

 

Martian 👽

 

 

As @Fritag told me some time ago, riffler files are your friend:

 

 

I've riffled the nasty side seams down as far as I can and now I need to fill the gaps. Before I do that I'd better fit other things that may need filling. Like the u/c doors. Not too bad at the back:

 

 

But the front ones, if fitted as per the instructions, don't look too good until you turn them over:

 

 

 

Needs filler, but not too bad. Oh, and that twisty bit that I was worried about earlier:

 

 

… is actually meant to be like that as it fits across the top of the fuselage:

 

 

Filler next. Or should I say fillers - I think this is going to need a variety  

[giemme]

5 hours ago, CedB said:

Thanks Giorgio, great photo  I get what you mean about the intakes being 'away' from the fuselage - my point was that the locating things pushed the intakes up too far.

Err... no, I really mean they should be up. I can't edit that pic right now, but the top flat side of the intakes stands proud of the aft truncking, forming an aperture (or vent, if you like) facing backwards.

In the pic I posted, it is visible right on top of the swinging wing root fairing.

 

HTH

 

Ciao

Edited June 15, 2019 by giemme