Sea Vixen FAW.1x2

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

As someone who has finally taken the plunge and acquired a Mars 2 Pro (& a Mercury+), but who is still in the most gentle of rolling foothills in the ascent to your level of skill, may I just say how inspiring this is?  My mind is chokka with the possibilities, but I’m still only at the set-up stage (frustratingly, the printer arrived 3 days before the resin...)

 

Hat duly doffed (with a suitably Restoration flourish of feathers and powder, obviously)

[Spookytooth]

The shift in the refinement is definitely a big plus Tony.

Looking over the bits with the comparisons it`s like chalk and cheese.

 

Looking forward to seeing them built and with a coat of paint.

 

Have you mentioned the decals yet?

 

 

Stay safe and energetic.

 

Simon. 

[Brandy]

Interesting comparison Tony. The new one is certainly sharper on the details, but good to know that the original still has its benefits. (Insofar as I can't justify a 2 just yet as I only just bought the 1!)

 

Ian

[CedB]

Stunning stuff Tony - can't wait to see it coming together  

[Andwil]

Fantastic work Tony.  While marvelling at the level of detail, a nagging thought had entered my mind.  I’m sure you are across it, but have you left enough room in the nose area for weight?  Or is all the resin enough to counter the weight of the tail booms etc. (Apologies if I’ve missed or forgotten something hidden away in the preceding 83 pages).

 

AW

[heloman1]

This be wizardry, my computer skills are all but non existent, so I take my hat off to you and others on this forum tat have the skills to generate such masterpieces.

Having been a modelmaker since the age of nine and professionally for 25 years, I'm not 74. I can manufacture a lot of what I need from drawing or photos this trickery is something else...

 

Colin

[TheBaron]

Third attempt at posting today as either the browser or forum software keep jumping back a page and losing the whole damn thing.

 

Let's take a quick squint at reports from the semaphore station on Beacon Hill first.

On 29/03/2021 at 22:21, AdrianMF said:

I’m still getting over what a nice day it was today when I snuck out for a walk with Mrs MF:

A beautiful image Adrian - is it me or does the blossom seem especially poignant this year?

On 29/03/2021 at 23:18, bigbadbadge said:

I did not understand what you started with on this post,

Me neither Chris. My account was obviously hacked. 😁

On 30/03/2021 at 07:19, Hamden said:

Still don't understand this process but the results are stunning!

Still don't understand how you can refer to this wild excursion as a process Roger!

(Thanks )

On 30/03/2021 at 07:28, Pete in Lincs said:

I can, however, see the difference in the two prints.

Glad that some of it shows through - the single eye of the camera ain't to hot at spatial things...

On 30/03/2021 at 07:28, Pete in Lincs said:

(what garden doesn't need a skull in it anyway?)

It's very important to get the feng shui balanced Pete so that the eye of the onlooker is drawn harmoniously across to where the hitchhikers are buried.

On 30/03/2021 at 08:22, giemme said:

Can't wait to see those two actually coming together

Actually started building stuff today G. Weird feelings of deja vu..... 😁

On 30/03/2021 at 09:21, keefr22 said:

Still amazing...!! 

Bits.

We're now in the sticking bits of matter together phase and I'm all giddy!

On 30/03/2021 at 09:29, perdu said:

I can see the differences between the print work from the two devices.

It really is a leap Bill - I think I said previously that it was like adjusting your binoculars ever so slightly and suddenly the detail leap into crisp delineation. For big smooth planar areas like the wings though I still prefer to use the older printer as its colour LCD screen by contrast gives a very pleasing softness to the gently changing curvature of thin and blade-like forms. 'Orses for courses!

On 30/03/2021 at 09:29, perdu said:

Tony mate try not to let work take away your freedom

On 30/03/2021 at 10:17, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

As someone who has finally taken the plunge and acquired a Mars 2 Pro (& a Mercury+),

Fantastic. I can't wait to see what you produce with it Crisp!

On 30/03/2021 at 10:17, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

but who is still in the most gentle of rolling foothills in the ascent to your level of skill,

Get away with ye. I've seen your drafting skills on those Fearless drawing you did - most of the design stage is just drawing in three dimensions that's all.

 

You'll be running up that hill.

With no problems.

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Pauses at this point as wife shouting from kitchen that it's now snowing outside on Easter Monday. Expect a volcanic vent in the top field by tomorrow at this rate.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

On 30/03/2021 at 14:33, Spookytooth said:

Have you mentioned the decals yet?

In the sense that I won't really be using many at all, yes! 😁

I prefer to use masks and paint markings these days Simon so only unfeasibly tiny things like 'danger' triangles will be stick-ons.

On 30/03/2021 at 18:35, Brandy said:

(Insofar as I can't justify a 2 just yet as I only just bought the 1!)

⏱️ 

On 03/04/2021 at 06:36, CedB said:

can't wait to see it coming together

Well, I've made a small start in metal today Ced. 😄

On 04/04/2021 at 01:09, Andwil said:

I’m sure you are across it, but have you left enough room in the nose area for weight?

Right up front? No. There simply isn't enough room with all the radar parts on 708 (481 will be wheels up on a stand so not a factor) but I've left the cavity immediately behind the cockpit between the engine ducts as the place for this AW. I've (somewhat violently I'm afraid) prised the test mule apart with a chisel to show the available spaces here:

If that doesn't do the job, it'll have to be two very fat FAA aircrew cast from depleted uranium sat in the Martin Bakers eating lead sandwiches....

On 04/04/2021 at 09:32, heloman1 said:

I can manufacture a lot of what I need from drawing or photos

In my (much more limited than your own) experience Colin, a person in possession of a sufficient quantity of those two items is able to place their model satisfyingly alongside the appearances of the real thing, no matter what the medium. Being a rather faithless technique-tart I tend to like to try out new approaches on each subsequent build in order to acquire and test new skills.

 

Thanks for your kind comments!

 

 

A comedy of errors to report initially on knocking up sets of PE to use on both aircraft last week. If using sodium hydroxide as a developer for the Positiv 20 photoresist, a deccent ratio is about 1g of NaOh to 100ml of water, i.e., 10g per litre.

 

Guess what feckwit mixed up 100g per litre and wondered why his prints would tremble as fleeting ghosts upon the brass before dissolving to nothingness?

 

Twice.

 

They let me vote and drive a motor vehicle on public roads....

 

With basic numeracy re-established I did then manage to dredge a couple of sets out of the necessary out of the ferric nastiness:

The redrafted designs came out much sharper and more delicately detailed than the previous set, whilst warming and aerating/rotating the FeCl₃  over the etch period cured the residue issues that I'd initially suffered from due to inexperience. The etchant also gives you the nicotine coloured fingertips of a 60 Rothmans a day addict (though I never got beyond 40 on a good night bitd).

 

Although only '708 needs a dish, I domed a couple extra for the practice using te leftovers from previous test etches:

0.4mm tube soldered on for the central stalk:

Those will be cut to length front and back later during assembly.

 

Thence a brisk production line in folding and soldering seat pans yield pairs for each aircraft:

Little needed here in in the way of cleanup on the seats as at the right temperature you can get the solder to run along the seams on the inside of those pans/backs quite handily.

 

Due to it being a Baronial birthday last week, I received a set of the Carson magnifiers in the post earlier:

Being a spectacle wearer these are a perfect fit and a vast improvement comfort-wise over the cheap pretend-Optivor I'd used up untiil now. The removable lamp is a boon also, both when attached but also being magnetic, you can attach it to the bench to illuminate a tricky part from whatever angle you need.

 

Next steps are to continue getting the cockpit parts together and then starting with the components for XJ481, mounting those up for priming in the paint booth also. With it being a simpler build in many respects the ideas is to cut my teeth on assembling and painting XJ481 before attempting the more complex comprising XN708.

 

Thanks for looking in aas always and I sincerely hope you have not eaten as much chocolate as I did over the weekend. Think of me as a slightly less attractive looking version of Sir Les currently....

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brandy]

ooh, getting to the fun stuff now!

Since Giorgio is late, I'll say it...

 

We want PAINT!!

 

Ian

[CedB]

Nice PE and soldering Tony and those dishes look marvellous  

 

Coo, magnifiers with detachable lamp eh?

[bigbadbadge]

Great work as usual Tony, soldered seat sections look great as does the Radar dish.  The Optivisor look great too. I have a cheap one which is okay but as a birthday is approaching that will be a great idea for a replacement set.

Great work 

Chris

 

 

[hendie]

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Guess what feckwit mixed up 100g per litre and wondered why his prints would tremble as fleeting ghosts upon the brass before dissolving to nothingness?

 

looks like you got a really nice result at the end of the day - which is all that really matters.

 

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

For big smooth planar areas like the wings though I still prefer to use the older printer as its colour LCD screen by contrast gives a very pleasing softness to the gently changing curvature of thin and blade-like forms

 

and I just ran some wings at 0.03mm compared to my previous 'test' runs at 0.05mm.  The test runs appear much smoother.  (still jealous of your new printer tho')

 

a small but delightful update Sir Baron.  Happy belated birthday to you

 

[giemme]

6 hours ago, Brandy said:

ooh, getting to the fun stuff now!

Since Giorgio is late, I'll say it...

 

We want PAINT!!

 

Ian

Alright, I'm here, been enjoying a couple of days of full festivity   

 

Anyway, give Tony @TheBaron a break, he's just started the actual building of the stuff, so paint maybe next week?  

 

Lovely progress Tony, the PE sets look the biz!    

 

Ciao

[keefr22]

7 hours ago, TheBaron said:

If that doesn't do the job, it'll have to be two very fat FAA aircrew cast from depleted uranium sat in the Martin Bakers eating lead sandwiches....

 

Or stick the thing to a base - much easier!

 

K

[71chally]

Other things have meant that I haven't been able to keep track here, there is so much progress and words that it's hard to know what to say with any gravity, but absolutely incredible stuff and scale model making at it's best. Those seat pans look exquisite, and they must be tiny!

[TheBaron]

Ah. There you are...

Rather busy still both at work and out in the garden also now that Spring is doing its green fuse stuff..

Rewilding may have gone a bit far though as there was a 'wolf lose in the garden last week and it ate a hedge:

Well, actually it ate the tops of a lot of our hedging which had been trimmed before the moratorium back in February but had taken this long to hire a chipper due to every  every other pilgrim in the county seeming to have the same idea.

Profoundly satisfying in a Thunderbirds/Crablogger vibe:

With a large pile of chippings in front and back gardens there's no excuse now for not laying out the various paths that I promised Cat she could promenade along over a decade ago.

 

You want what? 👂

On 05/04/2021 at 15:03, Brandy said:

We want PAINT!!

Sorry Ian, the line's terrible. Can't hear a thing old boy. 😁

On 05/04/2021 at 15:24, CedB said:

Coo, magnifiers with detachable lamp eh?

Dead handy when searching for those aforementioned brass bits when you inevitably drop  them into that dark crypt below the bench Ced!

On 05/04/2021 at 18:24, bigbadbadge said:

I have a cheap one which is okay but as a birthday is approaching that will be a great idea for a replacement set.

The Carson Magnivisor is a reasonable halfway house between the expense of an actual Optivisor and the cheaper end of the market Chris. Having used it for a week now I can certainly vouch for both the comfort of fit and quality of the lenses.

On 05/04/2021 at 20:24, hendie said:

I just ran some wings at 0.03mm compared to my previous 'test' runs at 0.05mm.  The test runs appear much smoother.

For finer detail the extra time involved is definitely worth it Alan - I'm sure the results your end are superb.

 

I've also got my eye on some of that new Siraya Navy Grey resin - impossible to get in this country but the results on Greg Kourakos' Utoob channel look startling good in terms of crispness. (He also did a great April Fool's recently about unboxing the new Elegoo 8k printer.... 🤣)

On 05/04/2021 at 21:35, giemme said:

he's just started the actual building of the stuff, so paint maybe next week?

Who do you think I am working at that pace Giorgio - Ced?

On 05/04/2021 at 21:35, giemme said:

the PE sets look the biz!

Thanks G: each successive version gets better as you get more chemically-confident... (Sound like a dodgy line from Breaking Bad....)

On 05/04/2021 at 22:29, keefr22 said:

Or stick the thing to a base - much easier!

Now.

I may end up doing just that Keith. Occam's Razor n'all.

On 12/04/2021 at 12:28, 71chally said:

Other things have meant that I haven't been able to keep track here, there is so much progress and words that it's hard to know what to say with any gravity, but absolutely incredible stuff and scale model making at it's best. Those seat pans look exquisite, and they must be tiny!

Most kind as always James.

 

Any spare time recently has been spoken for cleaning up various parts of XJ481 in preparation for colour work. The actual print quality itself is fine but the really time-consuming part is cutting away the print support structures without damaging any of the surrounding surfaces:

With that done, it was satisfying out of all proportion to the size and complexity involved to actually stick the first piece of PE into place:

I'd decided that it made sense initially to paint all the internal nose and cockpit fittings of both aircraft at the same time as with so many common parts, it would be less hassle than getting the same set of paints out twice.

 

Having gotten all he relevant parts mounted on cocktail sticks last night, I took a long lunch today to get them into the paint booth for priming, using my perennial favourite Alclad Black Primer/Microfiller:

I won't bore you with a load of closeups of this stuff until we get into the nittygritty of paint in detail, but just include a a few examples here of how the detail really starts to 'pop' under primer when the translucent indeterminacy of the grey resin is replaced by nice sharp opaque surfaces.

XN708s radar installation:

- and corresponding 'scrying glass' inside:

PAS and top pilot's IP for XN708 aslo ( I did actually have the wit to test fit this part prior to starting to paint it and that front pressure bulkhead did indeed need a little filing along the top):

An MB4 pan mated to its rails:

Most pleasing of all perhaps is the way that the various knobs and fixtures of the cockpit panels around the joystick are so much more sharply delineated by the black:

The IP run from lower pilot's side, doglegging back and across to the observer's panels:

I'm so pleased with the way that the Alclad black performs optically that I may actually just retain this as the base coat for black areas of the cockpit and radar, just highlighting structure a little further with dry brushing and a little tempera colour work (in homage to @giemme)....

 

I've also been experimenting further earlier with Krystal Klear on forming the convex lens at the front of the Martel trials unit:

It's still a little opaque in the centre so not sure does it just need longer to cure the core of the (rather large) blob as it were, or do I need to follow the suggestion on the bottle of making a lens separately on the surface of greaseproof paper. I'll see what it looks like in the morning.

 

Thanks for looking in as always and yay the beginnings of paint etc.

Tony

 

[bigbadbadge]

Great to see some paint going on Tony, parts looking great too.  That is a heck of a chipper too.  

Great work fella  bet this is very satisfying to see the fruits of your labour coming together. 

Chris

[hendie]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 a few moments silence there ^^ as I stepped back in awe and admiration whilst stumbling for words.  Still stumbling I'm afraid.

 

41 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

- and corresponding 'scrying glass' inside:

 

 

what a wonderful shot Tony.  Intricate detail and an ecstasy of visual treats. 

 

45 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

I've also been experimenting further earlier with Krystal Klear on forming the convex lens at the front of the Martel trials unit

 

I've always had good luck with diluted PVA for this type of thing. Even after several layers, good clarity can be achieved.  For a piece that large I maybe tempted just to glue some clear runner on the front and sand it to shape (since you mentioned Occam's razor and all that)

 

 

[Brandy]

That hedge didn't stand a chance. Neither will your "printed bits" if you don't deliver on your promise to your better half!

 

I do like the way that the black paint highlights the details on those cockpit parts. She's looking better and better with every update!

 

Ian

[giemme]

Paint.  

 

I concur with Ian @Brandy, definitely  highlighting those Crisp details

 

Ciao 

[bbudde]

Hello Tony ,marverlous under some paint!. Great work, eh did I say that before......

Cheers from an typical April weather spring here. Dunno what to wear and how to heat.

[keefr22]

7 minutes ago, giemme said:

highlighting those Crisp details

 

That Crisp fella gets everywhere....!!

 

I agree with any and all remarks above Tony!

 

Keith

[Pete in Lincs]

So,

Printed stuff with exquisite detail - check

Sea Vixen x 2 -check

Paint (primer, but hey?) - check

CRABLOGGER! - Hell yeah, check!

You Da man!

[71chally]

The detail and finish on those tiny components is absolutely mind bottling, I mean boggling!  Especially lovin' the radar scope unit!

[Fritag]

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Most pleasing of all perhaps is the way that the various knobs and fixtures of the cockpit panels around the joystick are so much more sharply delineated by the black

 

That - and all of the other myriad detail coming to life under a coat of primer - is beyond exquisite.  

[perdu]

SOP these days I regret to say

 

W O W !

 

(Colour extra as befits this magnificent foray into future model making...)