TheBaron Posted April 25, 2021 Author Share Posted April 25, 2021 In Which Jack Harper Completes His Reassignment as Destiny Angel Which Jack did receive some drastic surgery: The Belvedere Belle that he started life as was so ill-formed a moulding that it was perfect as a tabula rasa in this instance. Microsaw to the left arm a wire armature added, with the rest of his carcass tidied up using a 0.3mm drill bit in the Dremel as a fine sculpting tool. In this state he looks like something out of Dr.Who & the Autons... As he's intended to be flying XJ481 out of Boscombe sometime between the late 60s and mid 70s, I felt that I had a certain amount of leeway to interpret his helmet, as some detailed cursory research at the RAF museum seemed to suggest that a number of successive helmet types were in simultaneous use during this period. In the end I plumped for Aircrew Helmet Mk2A as being close enough to the Captain Scarlet vibe of the Sea Vixen: I forgot to take a picture of the intermediate state of Jack's 'changing' with his head and arm encased in Milliput, but trust me he looked like something out of The Quatermass Experiment. After letting it dry overnight I got into carving with scalpel and 0.3mm drill bit to shape the helmet and arm. After paint, he looked a bit ore pilot-ey: The life preserver I actually cut out from layers of washi tape like a tailor cutting suit parts, whilst more out of desperation than anything, I discovered that a great way to to make an oxygen mask at this scale was to drill out the figure's mouth in order to fix a length of wire of the right diameter into it for the hose, then carefully build up the mask part over the face using liquid resin. This forms around the contours of the lower face quite handily to give a nice impression of a mask in situ once painted: Paintwise I used Tamiya acrylics for the base colours, tempera for colour modulation, W&N Galeria varnish to seal, and my favourite oil wash of Payne's Grey to finish, knocked back to decrease the contrast in places once partially dried: I then turned my attention to the various pilot an observer seats, spending a few evenings painting and fitting these out: As done previously with the various cockpit panels and fitting, the black is the raw Alclad primer drybrushed with Valejo steel. Leather work and seat padding was again Tamiya acrylics as the base colour with tempera modulation and Payne's Grey oil wash. I've never got on with bought PE seat harnesses in the past so experimented here with using various grades of washi tape, painted and textured wit hacrylics and temper before applying: Although time-consuming to make and fiddly to apply, ( I had to do about 30 mins WORK then take breaks each time to maintain concentration) they give a decent impression at 1/72 I think of draped webbing/harness. A buckle was finally added to the lap belts from old wine bottle foil that was handily already painted black: Once done with the 'arness work I went looking for a very small shire horse dipped the seats in Galeria to seal and fix everything into place. Although I still need to add the face screen handles at the top and firing handles to the fronts of the pans, that's the seats nearly done now for both aircraft. Shows you how mad the flow of time is at present as I assembled resin and PE parts of the cockpits during the week but couldn't tell you what day or how long it took: Also assembled and painted the front drums for the A!.18 array: @giemme - as you can see I took your suggestion of blue backgrounds to heart. Incredible the difference it makes - thank you so much for the suggestion! Beautiful sunshine here the last couple of days and fantastic batlighting at dusk: "Spectrum Is Green" modellers. Tony 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Excellent work on the driver Doctor Frankenstein! And the comfy chairs look great as do all the other 'pit bits! Great stuff! Keith PS cracking sky too! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Dem fine seats sir. I confess I was silently sceptical about the merits (and bother) of using brass for the seat pans. But I gladly and publicly admit to being in error. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Stunning work on the pilot and seats Tony - and those internals are looking splendid Pleased to see I'm not the only one happy to perform surgery on the pilots - although I've never drilled a mouth, yet! 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 See Tony, you did a splendid job painting the interiors (those seats are amazing, BTW ) and now it all shows up beautifully! Ciao 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 9 hours ago, CedB said: Pleased to see I'm not the only one happy to perform surgery on the pilots - although I've never drilled a mouth, yet! Yes Ced, but I must admit that I feel a bit scared to see you work as a dentist. Especically when you get the right elan for a proper job during your work. Cheers 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 If you ever search out those small white shire horses... In other thoughts Destiny Angel looks awesome, as do the places where the Angels could sit. Beautiful paintwork atop some brilliant modelling, charge on Vixens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 17 hours ago, TheBaron said: I took your suggestion of blue backgrounds to heart. Incredible the difference it makes it really lets the parts jump to the fore and bring out detail that was previously hidden. Excellent progress Tony. Not quite sure what Reg would have thought of Jack's gender reassignment though.... and Blakey didn't strike me as the liberal PC type 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted April 28, 2021 Author Share Posted April 28, 2021 A quick midweek update as work is going to keep me busy enough on a day-to-day basis that headspace for Vixenry will be limited for a while. On 25/04/2021 at 22:21, keefr22 said: PS cracking sky too! Thanks Keith: self and Cat sat outside beside a fire watching this beauty rise a couple of evenings back and it defined 'heavenly': On 25/04/2021 at 22:41, Fritag said: Dem fine seats sir. If I couldn't smuggle them contraptions past your scrutiny Steve it would have been (actually and metaphorically) back to the drawing-board! On 25/04/2021 at 22:41, Fritag said: I confess I was silently sceptical about the merits (and bother) of using brass for the seat pans Not an unwarranted skepticism; having an old RAF/RN set of Reheat PE seats and fittings for WWII aircraft that are such magnificently detailed creations (too beautiful to ever use on a build of course, might frame them...), I was convinced my pale imitations of more modern fittings would be worth it for the extra sharpness that they'd bring to proceedings at this scale. I know nothing of Reheat or the people/persons behind the company but by God their etch is the best I've ever seen. Their 'soldiers on mescaline' range I'm less sure about however... Is that one of @corsaircorp's ancestors?? On 25/04/2021 at 22:49, CedB said: Pleased to see I'm not the only one happy to perform surgery on the pilots - although I've never drilled a mouth, yet! 'Memoirs of a Flight Surgeon'.... 🤣 On 25/04/2021 at 22:52, giemme said: and now it all shows up beautifully! You Italians, it's like you invented style.... 😁 On 26/04/2021 at 08:36, bbudde said: Yes Ced, but I must admit that I feel a bit scared to see you work as a dentist. Especially with all the extracted teeth that he'd doubtless have hanging from his ceiling Benedikt... On 26/04/2021 at 11:24, perdu said: charge on Vixens. ✊ Ta Bill. On 26/04/2021 at 15:04, hendie said: and Blakey didn't strike me as the liberal PC type Not until starring in Olive Does Dallas. That film changed him utterly... With the cockpit interiors now fully assembled, some valedictory shots of 'bits that will never see the light of day again'.... Followed by some gratuitous cheesecake of Destiny Harper trying out the seats: I've shoved the cockpit innards of XJ481 up the nose section now and fixed it into place, XN708 I'll come to later after completing the Martel aircraft in full first. As the next step will be installing the LAB gear and canopy fittings around the pilot's opening prior to adding the closed canopy, it was time also to get the vacformer to hold it's breath: Natch I managed to slam the plate down a bit hard and knock one of the bucks over, but the other three did Ok. Top left is obvs the version with the older fairing to go onto '481, whilst a test fit of the later canopy earlier showed that it tucks nicely into the more pronounced rain-shedding fairing moulded into the nose of '708. Prudence (dear Prudence...) dictates that more time will be eaten working up some Oramasking for painting inside and out of those canopies - I tremble before them compound curves. That's all folks, have to get back to work now as a queue of calls waiting. Best to all of you from all here, Tony 21 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Looking splendid, and the canopies look super too! You aren't going to add an observer? You could probably get away with a helmet on a stick down there... Regards, Adrian 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Who know ?? My grand'Ma, father side was flemish.... Now, my ancestor would surely have a pint of beer instead of a fish.... More seriously, I'll be curious to know the weight of this thing.... Then watching for doors or bridges.... CC 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Lovely interiors, Tony So the resin bucks do hold up well to vacfoming and heat, uh? Good to know Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 2 hours ago, TheBaron said: self and Cat sat outside beside a fire watching this beauty rise a couple of evenings back and it defined 'heavenly': Was that this week's supermoon Tony? If so I also sat outside looking at it for a good while too - we'd had some lovely thin cirrus up in the heavens just before dusk and as I'd hoped they formed an absolutely wonderful halo around the moon just before midnight - I'd certainly agree with the heavenly descriptor. Fully agree about the reheat brass bits too, sad day when they stopped production and I regret not having stockpiled even more of their eternally useful generic cockpit and canopy detail sets. Those cockpits and the driver do look really very good! Is the lack of 'talking baggage' in that jet due to the instrumentation in the observers 'pit?! Keith 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 You've put Ced to shame with your pilot surgery. "Cut 'is feet orf? Nah, I can do better'n that" Wonderful detail on the innerds too, and it shows up beautifully the way you've painted it all. At least it does on the blue background. I'd never noticed the background rainbow colours on the Angels' badge before. I knew Captain Scarlet was ahead of his time but...... Ian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 5 hours ago, TheBaron said: Especially with all the extracted teeth that he'd doubtless have hanging from his ceiling Benedikt... Yep indeed, but I fear more the completely missing lower jaws flying around, if their heads don't fit to their helmets. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Lovely internals and those canopies are Looking splendid. A spot of on the busses too. Phwoooooaaarrr. 😍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Impressive moulding My Dear baron !! And splendid interiors !! Congrats Man !! CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 The cockpit interior looks fantastic Tony and the Canopies look fab too. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Luverly - and no need for the pilot to get Footloose (ear worm warning) Nice Moonshot too. I woke very early that morning to see it lit by the rising sun. Impressive. I would have run out and taken some photos but the neighbours don't like me running around in my dressing gown. Ask me how I know… 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) 19 hours ago, TheBaron said: Natch I managed to slam the plate down a bit hard and knock one of the bucks over, but the other three did Ok. Gamechanger? If printed resin is durable enough to work as a buck for canopies then you’ll never have to put up with over-thick kit canopies ever again! Knocking up a CAD canopy is probably but a few moments work for you after all this practise Tony? ....... (PS. I’d like the following canopies please...(1)...(2) ....(3).... etc. (but don’t tell anyone as they’ll all pester you for canopies..... ) Continues to inspire and flabbergast in equal measure. Edited April 29, 2021 by Fritag 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 19 hours ago, corsaircorp said: Who know ?? My grand'Ma, father side was flemish.... Now, my ancestor would surely have a pint of beer instead of a fish.... I bet that was something he came up with after a night on the Trippels! Ian 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 8 hours ago, CedB said: I would have run out and taken some photos but the neighbours don't like me running around in my dressing gown. Ask me how I know… So take it off! They won't complain about the dressing gown again! Ian 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 2 hours ago, Fritag said: but don’t tell anyone as they’ll all pester you for canopies..... Why do you think I asked him, in the first place? Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Well @Brandy that vision has just ruined my Breakfast! Meanwhile, all praise to the latest Vixen updates from Resin Central. Seats, pilot AND an Anderson refererence. Well played, Sir! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJP Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 22 hours ago, TheBaron said: As the next step will be installing the LAB gear and canopy fittings around the pilot's opening prior to adding the closed canopy, it was time also to get the vacformer to hold it's breath: Natch I managed to slam the plate down a bit hard and knock one of the bucks over, but the other three did Ok. Top left is obvs the version with the older fairing to go onto '481, whilst a test fit of the later canopy earlier showed that it tucks nicely into the more pronounced rain-shedding fairing moulded into the nose of '708. Prudence (dear Prudence...) dictates that more time will be eaten working up some Oramasking for painting inside and out of those canopies - I tremble before them compound curves. That's all folks, have to get back to work now as a queue of calls waiting. Best to all of you from all here, Tony Nice work on the canopies - I have a similar vacform machine - any problems with clouding of the canopies - do you use ABS or PETG? CJP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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