Sea Vixen FAW.1x2

[bigbadbadge]

Wow Tony this is looking beautiful,  your planning and hard work has definitely paid off, this has certainly got to be the best Sea Vixen model out there.  Great work on all fronts.

Hope you had a good well earned rest in the shade.

Chris

[corsaircorp]

Now my Dear Baron....

Just tell us the truth...

You have invented a reducing machine and this an actual Sea Vixen....

Impressive, Splendid, amazing !! And so on....

The lack for Baronish superlatives is evidenced here !!

Congratulations Tony...

Sincerely.

CC

[hendie]

Mesmerizing stuff Tony. The wingfolds were worth every ounce of effort and really add to the visual extravaganza without drawing the eyes from the other vixenry going on.

 

[mark.au]

1 hour ago, hendie said:

vixenry

Is the word.  The perfect verb for what’s going on here.

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by mark.au
Realised the difference between an adjective and a verb

[giemme]

Perfect, outstanding,  marvellous job on the wingfold, Tony!   

 

Ciao 

[TheBaron]

Bit warm here this afternoon:

On 16/07/2022 at 14:21, CJP said:

That is looking pretty darn good Tony - I find getting the two wings on a folded model to align is a difficult task & invariably ends up needing to average out the differences - fabulous job.

On 16/07/2022 at 16:21, Terry1954 said:

All I see is beautiful alignment, that is so akin to the real thing, it is a wonder to behold.

On 16/07/2022 at 16:49, Brandy said:

Absolutely gorgeous, and perfectly aligned. 

TMy thanks CJ, Terry and Ian: I managed to finesse that frontal angle a little more last evening thankfully - details below.

On 16/07/2022 at 14:27, AdrianMF said:

Get in that hammock! You’ve definitely earned it…

Definitely did Adrian! 

Hammock was slept in followed by barbecue  in the cool of the evening...

On 16/07/2022 at 14:33, keefr22 said:

That's just a simply wonderful model Tony, all that work is really paying off now - stunning stuff!

Merci Keith: getting them wings on was a bigger psychological hurdle than I realized - the end is very nearly in sight now!

On 16/07/2022 at 18:14, Pete in Lincs said:

That does indeed look like a thin layer of old PX7 on there.

You taught me well O Master. 🙏

On 16/07/2022 at 19:23, bigbadbadge said:

Wow Tony this is looking beautiful,  your planning and hard work has definitely paid off, this has certainly got to be the best Sea Vixen model out there.  Great work on all fronts.

Kind of you Chris: maybe soon I  might stop seeing Vixen components in my sleep!

On 16/07/2022 at 22:23, corsaircorp said:

You have invented a reducing machine and this an actual Sea Vixen....

😁

I borrowed the Martian reducing ray that he'd been using on his Zeppelins of late CC!

On 16/07/2022 at 22:38, hendie said:

Mesmerizing stuff Tony.

If you mean in the sense that I may have gone permanently cross-eyed from prolonged staring at tiny wingfold components Alan then you wouldn't be far wrong! 😁

'Mrs B listening intently as I describe the latching mechanism':

On 16/07/2022 at 23:03, mark.au said:

Is the word.  

It is customary I believe to play Surfin' Bird at such moments on the forum:😄

21 hours ago, giemme said:

Perfect, outstanding,  marvellous job on the wingfold, Tony!

Thanking you as always for your kind comments G.

It won't surprise you to learn that the asymmetry bugged me each time I looked at it as the hours passed, so by gently snapping the rear hinge I was able to reposition that port wing to get it about as exact as i reckon you can go at this scale now:

As long as you're careful, thin sections of resin like that rear hinge can on occasion be snapped and fresh resin re-glued with the laser if you need to make an adjustment (and are prepared to gamble on not damaging any surrounding parts in the process). It was a calculated risk of course but sometimes it's better to be brave than regret not making a final attempt to get things 'just so'.

 

It also meant that whilst doing this I had the aircraft at the perfect angle for adding the port fuel tank onto the pylon - actually deigning to put some resin down the mounting holes first rather than just waving the laser at it in a vague blessing as previously....

You can see in the above shot I had the rolling rig out, as most of yesterday's session involved working with 0.4 and 0.3mm brass rod, along with some 5 amp fuse wire, to create a set of pipes and hoses for each wingfold:

Some parts were trickier than others to form at this scale; for example, the fuel vent swivel coupling had a dogleg in it as well as the main curve bridging the two wings:

Well actually, it has a dogleg at either end but don't tell anyone that this was just too small for me to be able to do both without creating an infinite loop of parts pinging out of the tweezer's grip.

 

The hydraulic hoses posed a formal problem of getting four rather thin hoses mounted in parallel, all following the same curvature. Doing this single for each one would have been a temporal nightmare, so firstly tacked the strands of fuse wire together with solder:

And then realized that there are four and not three hoses involved so had to do it all over again. 🤦‍♂️

By guesstimating the intervals required, the blobs of solder could then be filed down to provide a solid 'bar' at each end that keeps the strands separated at the same time as giing a robust part to glue into the corresponding  recesses in the wing ribs:

After an initial coat of LAG for the pipes and some XF-17 Sea blue (which weirdly works for me visually for rubber hoses at this scale) for the hydraulic runs, these various fitting were then glued into place using Gator's Grip (yucky close-up warning):

From left to right then, these pipe/hose fittings are respectively:

1. Fuel recirculation pipe.
2. Hydraulic hoses x4  (for the aileron control circuit).
3. Fuel vent swivel coupling.
4. Fuel feed swivel coupling.

Along with areas like the newly re-painted cable trays and rear of the winfgfold where handling had rubbed the PX-7 patina away, those new additions will get worked into the overall visuals with further red and orange mixtures. I noticed belatedly that the fuel recirculation pipe should be more vertical than the angle you see it at here due to the location of the mounting hole for it in the lower wing rib. I think I'll probably revisit this in the morning and drill a lower one a little further back to reposition this pipe as it will bother me.

 

A final 3/4 and that pipework is I think worth the effort:

 I used various metals for those but of course plastic rod could do equally as well as these are not supporting structures.

 

This was what midnight looked like to the naked eye here last night:

The residual light and colour impressively echoing astronaut photographs from low earth orbit of the planet's limb with the sun just below it. It would be nice to see some noctilucent clouds again: we used to see these not infrequently when we lived out in Connemara but closer to the Shannon where we are now I don't recall seeing them at all. 

 

Thanks for looking in and hope you're remaining at rest as much as possible in this heat.

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

30 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

It is customary I believe to play Surfin' Bird at such moments on the forum:😄

21 hours ago, giemme said:

Great song I always get a kick out of hearing it play. 

[giemme]

I think someone has already used the word "mesmerising "; that's what it is, looking at the last shots of the wingfold

 

Ciao 

[Galligraphics]

Even more stunninger… ing… um. Unbelievable detail.

[perdu]

We say exquisite to cover those mesmerising moments.

 

I am slightly aware of dem dere hinging things from my time attempting the ridiculous by using the ancient Froggery to Vixenate.

 

Never seen the hinges so spectacularly 'right'.

 

What a modeller you are Tony.

 

 

[heloman1]

Wow Tony, the wing folds are a piece of art. I would have loved to have worked on the Vixens and maybe Buccs, or Phantoms. Unfortunately, I went the Wessex Junglie route and this is where my modelling passion.

 

Colin

[Pete in Lincs]

Pretty much wot they all said, with an added layer of Cor!

[bigbadbadge]

Looks flippin awesome,  great job on those pipes and hoses Tony.

Chris

[Fritag]

On 7/18/2022 at 7:06 PM, TheBaron said:

It won't surprise you to learn that the asymmetry bugged me each time I looked at it as the hours passed, so by gently snapping the rear hinge I was able to reposition that port wing

 

 

Correct.  On interrogating my inner self I find not even a hint of surprise.....

 

On 7/18/2022 at 7:06 PM, TheBaron said:

A final 3/4 and that pipework is I think worth the effort:

 

Every extra little detail is a delight Tony.

[mark.au]

Being speechless doesn’t translate well to this media.

[TheBaron]

Good afternoon all.

Have a look at this for a bench:

I had to take Mrs. B up to Sligo for a show she's got work in earlier this week and we stopped off on the way back for lunch at a place called the King's House where that beauty was on display. It used to belong to a German jeweller called Springbrunn who - amongst other things - would source gemstones for Burton to give to Taylor. You can imagine the phone calls: 'Danny Boy calling Broadsword, Danny Boy calling Broadsword, I have the stones...'

 

They also had a 17-pounder outside in lieu of a  garden gnome. Odd place.

That trip was enough to knock me out for a whole day afterwards though as the bloody Long-C is still banjaxing the system.

On 18/07/2022 at 19:37, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Great song I always get a kick out of hearing it play. 

Clearly you have heard about the bird sir, and all credit to you. 😁

On 18/07/2022 at 20:42, giemme said:

that's what it is, looking at the last shots of the wingfold

You'll get lockjaw doing that Giorgio.

On 19/07/2022 at 09:56, Galligraphics said:

Even more stunninger… ing… um. Unbelievable detail.

'Because the Vixen's worth it...' 😄

On 19/07/2022 at 10:59, perdu said:

Never seen the hinges so spectacularly 'right'.

🫂 

That whole structure is such a Gothic mixture of analogue 1950s technology and medieval forgings Bill that quite simply it required the attempt.

On 19/07/2022 at 11:35, heloman1 said:

I would have loved to have worked on the Vixens and maybe Buccs, or Phantoms. Unfortunately, I went the Wessex Junglie route

None of us are perfect Colin.

On 19/07/2022 at 16:32, Pete in Lincs said:

Pretty much wot they all said, with an added layer of Cor!

Most appropriate considering how Vixen pilots were carried to their aircraft:

On 19/07/2022 at 17:00, bigbadbadge said:

Looks flippin awesome,  great job on those pipes and hoses Tony.

Gracious of your Chris and thanks.

4 hours ago, Fritag said:

On interrogating my inner self I find not even a hint of surprise.....

 

4 hours ago, Fritag said:

Every extra little detail is a delight Tony.

Thanks Steve: there's a few more bits to come but the parts box is looking refreshingly bare these days. which means that we're either getting to the final stages of the build or else I've misplaced a heck of a lot of the aircraft...

 

The trick is now I think to avoid looking at any further photographs of the real thing in order to minimize the the risk of noticing any further details which have been overlooked.. 🤪

 

Time to start finishing off the cockpit innards in the form of the Pilot Attack Sight (PAS), in the form of some scrap PETG for the reflector glass:

Having done this once already on XJ481 I was a little more savvy this time around in terms of making the part a little longer than necessary in order to be able to bend a small section of it at right angles in the PE folding rig to create a 'foot' that would have sufficient gluing area to mount it onto the sight immediately in front of the projector lens:

There are a couple of slender brackets holding that glass in place at an angle which at this scale are simply too miniscule to create as separate parts, however painting the edges of the glass with Sea Blue is more than enough to generate the required visuals in this instance

I've started using resin and laser for sticking transparencies on these days, so as well as the above sight, the windshield was also mounted using the same procedure, along with the brass PE for the demisting duct up the centre frame:

Particularly in a case like this with lots of compound curvature involved in mating those two parts, the fluid nature of the resin works very well indeed in terms of wicking around the joins whilst allowing you as much time as you need to wiggle the pieces into the correct position prior to flashing with the laser to make the bond permanent:

With the resin out it made sense to keep a head of steam up and add the Observer's door as well:

You can also see in these shots that I finally realized after a year what the elastic bands that came with the stand were for....

 

In terms of wear and tear on the door itself, I think those edges catch the light just enough to give a sense of operational use:

Inspired by @Terry1954's advice I took on board the need to let the Molotow stuff cure for a long time (several days) and then subsequently coat with Aqua Clear:

These wingfold jacks and lift linkages are so delicate that I left them on the supports for painting:

The Molotow makes them look fantastically vibrant but of course these actual parts the aircraft are titanium forgings so I'll be doing some work later to reduce the chrome to something more titanium-esque with a soupçon of PX-7 overlaying it.

 

For now though let's stick them on and see  them glitter:

 

 

 

-and a swing round to port:

 

Again, resin and laser were eminently suited to wiggling into position prior to bonding these fragile bits. I'll come back to those in the next session for a spot of alchemical transmutation in turning chrome into titanium...

Speaks soon and take care,

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

[hendie]

Speechless, truly speechless.

Anything I can think of saying just doesn't do justice to the craftsmanship going on here Tony.

Suffice to say... "                      " !

 

 

 

[Brandy]

I think Alan just summed it up perfectly. Nothing I can add to that!

 

Ian

[JosephLalor]

On 7/18/2022 at 7:06 PM, TheBaron said:

This was what midnight looked like to the naked eye here last night:

The residual light and colour impressively echoing astronaut photographs from low earth orbit of the planet's limb with the sun just below it. It would be nice to see some noctilucent clouds again: we used to see these not infrequently when we lived out in Connemara but closer to the Shannon where we are now I don't recall seeing them at all. 

 

Thanks for looking in and hope you're remaining at rest as much as possible in this heat.

Tony

Galway's far enough north that there's a period from mid May to the end of July where the darkest it gets at night is Astronomical Twilight.  For a few weeks around the solstice it's Nautical Twilight across midnight.

 

That's magnificent work on the Sea Vixen.

Edited July 22, 2022 by JosephLalor

[Pete in Lincs]

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

They also had a 17-pounder outside in lieu of a  garden gnome. Odd place.

They could at least have stuck a fishing rod down the barrel. Tsk!

Love that workbench though.  

Also love being sent for this update. The sight, wingfold jacks etc etc etc. Marvelous.

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

as much time as you need to wiggle the pieces into the correct position prior to flashing

There's a f'nar in there somewhere. Do you think @CedB even knows about this thread?

[Navy Bird]

Alchemical transmutation is a wonderful thing. As above, so below.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[John Laidlaw]

Blimey... I turn my back for five minutes, and *pop!*, there's a masterpiece.

[mark.au]

It’s a testament to the quality of the work, as well as its story, that a post [almost] entirely focused on a 5mm long unfinished jack can be so enthralling.

[giemme]

 

Just that.

 

Ciao 

[bigbadbadge]

It's a Wow from me too Tony.   Looks wonderful.  Great work as usual.

Chris