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Sea Vixen FAW.1x2


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One of those grey and rather mournful looking days outside all day since posting earlier that enforced working from home doesn't help. There's a point where you just say 'Enough!' and wander over to the bench to revive the spirits cleaning-up some the major junctions between parts on an airframe ( as wot one does).

5 hours ago, CedB said:

Babylon Berlin…

I do hope you like it Ced. It's....strange is the only word. Wonderfully so, with each episode so magnificently depraved and desperate and yet interspersed by moments of sheer visual exaltation. I bought this on vinyl when it first came out and BB is washed in that same period melancholy:

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2 hours ago, bbudde said:

Hello Tony. That looks brilliant. Impressed!. The radar nose looks also great. Keen to see this one built up.

On its way, slowly but surely Benedikt! 😁

1 hour ago, Brandy said:

I've spent the last 2 afternoons redesigning my bits (ooh err, mrs!) and hope to reprint them very soon. I will divide and conquer as you have!

Many thanks indeed!

Best of luck with your Merc stuff comrade. :fingerscrossed: Hope my flailing around here has helped. 😁

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

It would be a great pleasure to dine with you in the Gorge. I have eaten there on a few occasions. And if you were over for a while, we could nip down to Weymouth for a visit to this treasure trove that I know you have frequented!

That's a date Terry. Food and books constitute a top day out in my view! 😄

Indeed about 1/3 of the naval books on that bookshelf in the bench shot I posted earlier have been gathered from Books Afloat on various holiday jaunts over the years. It's such a magnificent nook I feel morally obliged to buy something from them each time.

(I do hope they're still afloat at the end of all this though.)

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

In fact, @CedB and @Ex-FAAWAFU and I have been holding off on a trip for some time. Boscombe and Wallop as I recall.

Boscombe and Wallop? Legal firm aren't they?

You guys taking a case against Airfix for Ced's Swift fuselage? :hmmm:

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

I'm sure our collective days will come eventually!

Amen brother.

1 hour ago, woody37 said:

Loved the photo of the workbench covered in bits and a near completed assembly

Thanks Neil: you know this CAD stuff is all very well, but you just can't beat a really satisfying messy bench at the end of a day's work can you? :laugh:

56 minutes ago, 71chally said:

Unfortunately I haven't much time of late, so catching up on such beautifully crafted creations, not to mention threads, has been difficult.

James! I was on the verge of emailing you dear fellow as we hadn't heard from you in a while. I hope all is well at your end of the line. 🤗

11 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Pleased for you fella, you have done amazingly well, you should be rightly proud of your achievements there.

Typically generous of you Chris. My thanks mate. :thumbsup2:

 

The following aren't stuck together yet but just showing the tolerances in a dry fit.

I'm not sure if you call this a mortise and tenon affair:

50926514246_de7a7deed9_b.jpg

-but it works nicely in locating the wing sections against the edges of the engine bays

50925827428_5a9201f7cf_b.jpg

Same pleasing result with with the booms hanging off the rear, giving a good strong means of bonding the two parts concerned

50925827473_156b587301_b.jpg

For eliminating the excess resin in the port intake tunnel, the de Walt with a 5mm bit was just the ticket:

50925827488_62fc5b3ba6_b.jpg

I'm a great believer in a larger tool being used as accurately and rapidly as possible in such situations as a way of minimizing any potential damage (compared to using a smaller one for longer, with all the increased danger of slippage/damage a longer duration brings). In this case 4-5 seconds tops was all that was required to clear the channel.

 

You can tell it's below zero out tonight - the cat's aren't letting anyone near their stove:

50926623996_ec758b2ab8_b.jpg

:bye:

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Now, Coral teeth. Is they just for the fish course? :fish:

Shellfish I know, but you won't catch me making any bad fish jokes, of that you can be shore.

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Is they? What is happening to my (limited) typing skills?

 

3 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

you won't catch me making any bad fish jokes, of that you can be shore.

But, this being your thread, you Cod if you wished to.

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5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

I do hope you like it Ced.

I shall report back! :)

 

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

That's a date Terry.

Can't wait :) 

 

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

I'm a great believer in a larger tool

You and me both brother, you and me both. Fnaar snurf! :D 

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The Brothers Megrim out in force on the fish jokes.  [Wasn’t that a Walter Trout album?]

 

Worry not, Terry; the South Wilts BM Massive trip to Boscombe & Wallop (purveyors of discrete personal service to Gentlemen of Quality) is still definitely going to happen... sometime.

 

Like so many others have already said, Tony, your generosity in sharing the lessons you are learning is commendable.  It will help us all in the end!

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I recently asked Airfix if they planned to re-release the 1/48 Sea Vixen, they replied that owing to some tooling issues they were hoping for a 2022 release of the new tool 1/48 Sea Vixen not sure what type etc, unless they are planning on using the FAW 2 again 

Edited by David Hadland
Grammer
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"What succeeds? , a budgie with no teeth"

 

Great to see that you have cured that problem Tony (Pun unintended).

 

Looking forward to seeing some these parts come together.

 

BTW, what primer/paints will you be using?

 

Simon.

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'kin brass monkeys out there today; wind whipping the house and snow flurries starting as the cold front audibly collides with the warm Atlantic overhead.

 

On 10/02/2021 at 00:42, CedB said:

I shall report back!

Period costume Ced! Tassels mandatory! :laugh:

On 10/02/2021 at 08:11, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Like so many others have already said, Tony, your generosity in sharing the lessons you are learning is commendable.  It will help us all in the end!

Kind of you Crisp. My thanks.

On 10/02/2021 at 11:28, giemme said:

Well Tony, I knew you were going to succeed ....

That makes one of us then Giorgio! :rofl:

 

On 10/02/2021 at 12:15, David Hadland said:

a 2022 release of the new tool 1/48 Sea Vixen not sure what type etc,

It'll be a FAW.2 again. They always do the bloody ugly one.

On 10/02/2021 at 13:31, Spookytooth said:

BTW, what primer/paints will you be using?

Primerwise I'll be using my perennial favourite Simon:

71uSJsNX9TL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

 

I know @Ex-FAAWAFU swears by it also and it's never let me down on the last few builds.

 

For colours I'll stick with the array of Tamiya acrylics that I like to mix up custom shades from, though for anything metal the Alclad is a bit out of favour with me these days and as a consequence I'm switching over to Vallejo metals for a test on this aircraft. I've always been impressed by @giemme's artistry with tempera too, so bought a set of these recently to experiment with on the build in addition.

 

The last couple of evenings then have seen my under lamplight at the bench cleaning off the print support structures and dry fitting parts in order to check the exigencies of assembly. I'll walk you through the main bits so far.

 

Exhaust fairings:

50931757993_de8673f377_b.jpg

A brief swipe of a sanding stick on either side is all that's need for these to slide into place at the rear of the engine bay. Those locating tabs down at the bottom were a good idea in helping get the piece into the correct position and won't be visible once the engines are installed.

 

Nosegear:

50932430387_4b67c354a9_b.jpg

One benfit of havin to spend the last 7-10 days solving print problems was that it gave extra time to test different orientations for printing, finally finding an optimum one that allowed this part to be printed as a single entity for strength. 0.4mm brass rod for the axle means  that with the whel installed this is robust enough to support the weight of the nose:

50932430402_f49442ef55_b.jpg

Similar issues with print/strength were resolved with respect to the main oleos:

50931621458_cc0672af0d_b.jpg

Particularly pleasing is the level of detail present on thins like those small calipers that brace the two main parts:

50931621493_2a3bd16718_b.jpg

While were down here, a quixotic feature to note with regard to the wheels themselves was that I produced two designs. Despite them both possessing the same level of detail with respect to things like the hubs and surface features on them, the version printed as a single wheel part always had far less detail visible it  than that printed separately as back and front halves. Every time, no matter what the orientation and printing them side-by-side on the build plate. I've no explanation for this phenomenon but as you can see, it makes no cosmetic difference to the end result.

 

In terms of assembling, you do have to do a bit of cleanup on the insides of the wheel halves due to 'dimpling' caused by the support structures (in relation to resin suction); these are easily sanded flat and filler used to conceal the seam between the two halves of the tyres, as shown above.

 

Fit of the oleos into their respective maingear bays were another pleasing result:

50931621548_f1c66c30bd_b.jpg

A whisker or two off with the file and the locating hole in the wing needing resin residue cleaned out and they slid in to form a good secure pillar.

 

The hinge structures for the observer's door work well also in allowing the door itself to be easily clipped into place for display in the raised position:

50931621433_cdc5741e90_b.jpg

With the disparity between the mass of the radome and it's relatively modest single hinge, I was concerned at building a mounting solution that was strong enough to bear the required wight of the part without sacrificing visual fidelity.. This combination of hinge and 0.4mm brass rod were the best compromise at this scale:

50932430257_3ae0bfabf6_b.jpg

In place:

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From face on you can see the two attachment points better (that brass will obvs. be trimmed to length when glued into place):

50932310346_9204ebb480_b.jpg

Once round the front it was time to begin work on the radar, starting with the scanner dish:

50931621573_71601fe0b1_b.jpg

That annulus shape is just made from scrap card here - the actual piece will be made from transparency for painting purposes.

 

Tha altazimuth mounting for the rear of the dish:

50932310501_30fcc7d206_b.jpg

I'd like to say it was purely by design but fluke played a large role in the fact that it fits the rear curvature of the dish almost perfectly!

50931621623_0d9074abf2_b.jpg

With the brass rod of the stalk sticking back out from the rear of the dish this gives another good strong connection between parts.

 

If this next bit didn't work the whole thing was going in the bin.

 

The radar rotates! 😁

50932430522_e4abe4499e_b.jpg

With another section of 0.4mm rod coming down through the top of the drive mechanism, that altazimuth piece is held securely into place now as a movable/posable feature for display purposes.

 

Yes I am grinning a bit at that as all the time I was planning to do a Vixen, it was at the back of my mind 'I want the dish to be movable' but never quite believed it would be possible to achieve at this scale  until comparatively recently when I'd gained a bit more experiential data about that fundamental relationship between what you can design in Fusion and what can be produced in strong enough form in resin at the end.

 

Post earlier and a new reactor core for the resin printer arrived:

50932430317_38ef5fedfd_b.jpg

The last ten days of test printing nearly gobbled up a full 1000g bottle.

 

Also unburdened Robbie the Post of this superb tome which I'd had on the wish list for ages:

50931621628_ce5971a36f_b.jpg

I've checked and although Mr. Gage does not weigh-in on the vexed EDSG debate, his writing is always a revelation on colour in the world (and mind!).

 

Hands and feet went numb looking at the Milky Way down the end of the garden last night but my God your mind can get drunk on starlight:

50931631383_1909e897ee_b.jpg

(That wasn't the ISS in top right, I checked.)

 

:bye:

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fabulous update yet again Tony, topped off by a wonderful photo. One question: how brittle/flexible are the landing gear legs? I was a little worried about my wheel rims possibly snapping while trying to fit the tyres, but they are flexible enough to hold their shape and still bend enough to fit them. (Cured for 2 minutes). Just wondering about possible sag on those gear legs if they have the same kind of flex. Presumably that can be taken care of by lengthening the cure time?

 

Ian

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Ye Olde trusty Tony, I have all three of their primers plus their gloss black base.

Of the  three the white seems to be the fragile one but that could be down to user application ie Me...

 

All looking great from here.

 

Simon.

 

Nice shot of the stars sir.

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3 hours ago, bbudde said:

Again and again.

Thanks again Benedikt. 😁

2 hours ago, Brandy said:

One question: how brittle/flexible are the landing gear legs? I was a little worried about my wheel rims possibly snapping while trying to fit the tyres, but they are flexible enough to hold their shape and still bend enough to fit them. (Cured for 2 minutes). Just wondering about possible sag on those gear legs if they have the same kind of flex. Presumably that can be taken care of by lengthening the cure time?

Having looked at your screenshot of the rims in your thread Ian, I'd be inclined to cure for a little longer, though you're wise not to have gone longer in the first instance as the heat build up in the curing station can soon rise once you get past the 4 minute-mark. I'd be tempted to bung one of them in for another 90 seconds and then compare it to the ones that haven't had longer. On the Vixen, here, the closest comparable part I can think of  would be you look at the hollow nose from the front, it's about 0.8mm thick and was cured for about  five minutes total: once for three minutes, then another two after it had had ten minutes to cool down between. My benchnmark for such curved parts is that it should flex *slightly* and readily return to it's actual shape without feeling rubbery. I can't be more explicit as it's not an exact science and I tend to go by feel from part to part in terms of curing times!

2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Ye Olde trusty

I know people swear by other brands too but we all have our favourites. 😁

 

2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Nice shot of the stars sir.

About a 20 second exposure with a 14mm lens  - too much residual light from the. dusk line to go for longer.

1 hour ago, CedB said:

More stunning stuff Tony - amazing details coming together into what is going to be an amazing model :) 

Once the test fit of XN708 is all assembled I've got the fun of printing both aircraft out all over again for the actual build! :rofl:

And err.. dammit,. I'd forgotten I need to learn photoetching before doing that....

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Superb modelling and a fantastic shot of the winter Milky Way. I had my new 16" Dob out t'other night when it was 9 degrees (Fahrenheit - I'm a Yank remember) and it was indeed bone numbing. But the views! The whole M42/Trapezium complex just blew me away.    🔭 

 

Not sure what's in the upper right of your star field. The intensity of the trail looks pretty consistent - unlike a typical shooting star.   🌠  Maybe an Iridium satellite?

 

Cheers,

Bill

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8 hours ago, TheBaron said:

n place:

50932430282_2526c15fc4_b.jpg

 

Having once spent hours trying to sand an Xtrakit Sea Vixen radome into a shape resembling reality, seeing such a wonderfully shaped piece as that both gladdens and saddens my heart - gladdens in that you've shown it can be done, saddens in that 'major' kit manufacturers can't manage it (Dragon's effort being almost as bad)

 

Marvellous shot of that starry, starry night Tony, Vincent would love it.... :)

 

Keith

 

 

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