Sea Vixen FAW.1x2

[Fritag]

On 7/22/2022 at 3:50 PM, Brandy said:

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

 

Ian

 

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

 

…..

 

Save that we at the Bar always do add just one more argument and make just one more point… just in case like.

 

And my ‘just one more’ point is that I’ve found myself over the last day or so keeping returning to this thread for just another peek at the wonderful wing fold….

 

And those are my submissions…..

[TheBaron]

Apologies in advance for all the greasy thumbprints on your replies; am writing this in the middle of a big feed of afternoon tea and crumpets, albeit on the cusp of that point once faced by the eminent Steven Maturin of being 'in a state of high grease',  but just one more..... 

 

On 22/07/2022 at 15:45, hendie said:

 

Suffice to say... "                      " !

That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in ages Alan. 😁

On 22/07/2022 at 15:50, Brandy said:

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

12 hours ago, Fritag said:

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

 

Can you add nothing to nothing Ian & Steve?

@Navy Bird - there must be a quote from the original Greek or Roman to cover this philosophical emergency.....

On 22/07/2022 at 18:22, JosephLalor said:

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.

Thank you for inspiring me to go and look up in detail the difference between those two states Jospeh (h=-12° vs. h=-18°)! 

The dynamic subtleties of light and colour in the sky are an infinite fascination to me but when it comes to the raw formulae, Kaler's:

never lets you down.

On 22/07/2022 at 19:18, Pete in Lincs said:

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

His doctor has told him to avoid it due to a inflammation of the F'nar gland.

On 22/07/2022 at 21:18, Navy Bird said:

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

Indeed.

Where to start? Where to end?

On 22/07/2022 at 21:44, John Laidlaw said:

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

Sorry John:  on my honour I won't do it again.

At least not with twin booms.... 😁

On 22/07/2022 at 22:41, mark.au said:

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.

You should have seen what things were like when @hendie was building the luxuriant fixtures and fittings for his Pullman carriage Mark. Hours lost looking at cushions and lampshades....

13 hours ago, giemme said:

Just that.

 

12 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

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

 

 

13 hours ago, giemme said:

Just that.

 

That'll do for me you three..

12 hours ago, Fritag said:

Save that we at the Bar always do add just one more argument and make just one more point… just in case like.

 

And my ‘just one more’ point is that I’ve found myself over the last day or so keeping returning to this thread for just another peek at the wonderful wing fold….

 

And those are my submissions…..

 Dear friend, you have an exquisite sensibility and felicity of phrase that compels me to post just two more shots of same for your delectation ; this time with the bare chrome calmed down to more accurately resemble the general appearance of those shiny knuckles of titanium when anointed with PX-7:

The only two colour reference photographs I have showing the wingfold in this red-coloured lubricant condition both show the jack/linkage looking a lot 'cleaner' (in relative terms) than the more intense hues of surrounding regions on ribs 4 & 4a, so to retain this distinction I used some red acrylic cut with NATO brown, very heavily watered down with Galeria satin and thinner to the point it was barely pigment at all. This was then gradually built up on the linkages with the airbrush at 15psi but with minimal paint flow to produce varied reddish non-opaque tint only (I recall Alan describing PX-7 as looking 'translucent red' in appearance when applied in a thin layer on a real aircraft) through which the metal lustre was still present:

Then it  was on to methodically depleting the bits box of remaining parts for as long as patience would allow. Due to needing to handle an aircraft with an increasingly delicate array of bits being attached to it, I'd mentally rehearsed a sequence that I hoped wouldn't let any previous task cumulatively make it harder to carry out subsequent ones, so the pitots went on to start with:

Being soldered together from various diameters (I've forgotten which ones but there were three, probably 0.3/0.5/0.7mm) of brass tubing, mine aren't as nice as the Master ones.

This was followed by what I knew would be a tricky bit to fit - the port inspection hatch for the radar bay. I only just remembered to paint the remaining part of the numeral '2' on it first:

 - followed by some necessary grime accents to the interior panelling:

This door has a diagonal supporting strut fitted on the right hand side, however, my original plan of sticking the door on followed by the strut made from scrap brass tube didn't work out due to the fragility of the hinge of the door at the top, so I had to reverse this procedure and stuck the strut to on to the door first at the required angle, then used this as a support to hold the door in place whilst I zapped the hinge at the top with the laser to fix it onto the aircraft. 

Door:

Door & strut:

This was swiftly followed by the refuelling probe added on to the port wing as well.

Pleased to say that the 1.4mm diameter of the brass used for the shaft of the probe fitted perfectly into the opening in the wing.

 

The closing stage of today's session was one of the bits (along with the wingfold) that had really been an obsession of mine on this build in terms of getting better than I'd seen on other kits offerings, namely the radar.

 

This image from Wikipedia shows the main features of the scanner dish off quite comprehensively:

I had to do a little drilling with a 0.3mm bit as  the resin had shrunk just enough on the brown tip and conical base part that it wouldn't slip onto the brass central arm which I'd soldered onto the dish previously. Happy to report though that this was really just a matter of clearing out the existing channels with the bit rather than actually drilling it out per se:

Base and tip on the antennae and painted up:

With that done it was time to mount the scanner and altitude mechanism onto the azimuth arm:

I'd designed those parts with a 0.4mm vertical opening running straight down through the two sections of the  altazimuth assembly so that I could insert a metal pin which enables the scanner dish to rotate freely in azimuth. 

Which it does!

In the above shot you can also partially make out the mounting arrangement which allows mounting of this scanner unit onto its supporting arm inside the radar bay, namely a round (visible) and square (hidden by cocktail stick) opening in the rear of the altazimuth unit that matches a square and round peg sticking out the the front of the supporting arm. This was necessary as I anticipated the need to have a reliable method of attaching this rather delicate set of parts onto the front of the aircraft in the correct vertical/horizontal orientation, without faffing around having to finesse it from all sides:

Some purely gratuitous shots to follow of the dish rotating on the vertical axis:

 

 

The fit of the metal pin holding it in place is so snug that no gluing is necessary.

 

At close of play and it's getting Vixen-er:

Remaining to to do:

1. Add rear canopy.
2. Add arrestor gear.
3. Add radome.

Once those jobs are done I can look to pinning this onto the hangar floor:

The wooden base is actually salvaged from some grotty local television award I found lurking in a cupboard at work that I sanded down an repurposed into a concrete floor using paints, varnishes and dirt:

To commemorate @Pete in Lincs and @hendie clarifying the use and appearance of PX-7 on aircraft and - in doing so - giving me the confidence to colour that wingfold so forthrightly, I added two reddish streaks on the hangar floor, thus immortalizing them both:

 she'll get finished this week. 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AdrianMF]

55 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

she'll get finished this week.

Whaaaaa?? What will we do then? The news will be reporting outbreaks of delinquency among disgruntled men of a certain age whose moral support and reason for going online has been suddenly taken away…

 

Britmodeller may need to open a “counselling” subforum.

 

Looking on the bright side… At least Steve isn’t on to the paint stage with ‘is ‘awks…

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

[edit] PS nice moveable radar BTW. Quite possibly the Cherry On Top!

[giemme]

17 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Quite possibly the Cherry On Top!

You say "quite possibly", I say "no doubt!".

 

Flippin' heck, I'm in awe!  

 

BTW Tony, if you ever finalise the production of this kit, I will build it with wings extended and all closed up, bar the engine bay, probably.  There's no way I could ever match the level of detailing you put into this! 

 

Ciao 

[CJP]

Just fascinating watching the Vixen's final fit out

[philp]

So, you still aren’t done.

 

This been fun to follow and I am sure you can’t wait to get er done.

[Hamden]

 

Stunning absolutely stunning Tony, superb workmanship, detailing and painting

 

  Stay safe                Roger

[Brandy]

Blimey, it's got even better! Stunning little radar assembly there Tony, I'm really looking forward to seeing this finished and pics next to her sister!

 

Ian

[TheBaron]

17 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Whaaaaa?? What will we do then? The news will be reporting outbreaks of delinquency among disgruntled men of a certain age whose moral support and reason for going online has been suddenly taken away…

 

Britmodeller may need to open a “counselling” subforum.

I consider this whole forum to be a hugely disconcerting psychological experiment to be quite honest Adrian.

17 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looking on the bright side… At least Steve isn’t on to the paint stage with ‘is ‘awks…

Rumour has it he's scratch building his own airbrush in order to avoid rushing matters unduly.

17 hours ago, giemme said:

BTW Tony, if you ever finalise the production of this kit, I will build it with wings extended and all closed up, bar the engine bay, probably.  There's no way I could ever match the level of detailing you put into this! 

I supply the details, you supply the  incomparably sublime paint effects Giorgio.

Them's the rules.

15 hours ago, CJP said:

Just fascinating watching the Vixen's final fit out

A final after-dinner mint of an update today CJ and that's it!

10 hours ago, philp said:

So, you still aren’t done.

As of 20 mins ago - YES! 😁

3 hours ago, Hamden said:

Stunning absolutely stunning Tony, superb workmanship, detailing and painting

Thanks Roger: I've lost track of how many new approaches I had to learn on this one!

43 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Blimey, it's got even better! Stunning little radar assembly there Tony, I'm really looking forward to seeing this finished and pics next to her sister!

Kind of you as always Ian.

 

Anyhow.

and:

Rear canopy on:

Radome on:

Hook on:

As you know , this one's a tail-sitter, so as mentioned previously I drilled out a section of the base to sink the brass tube into that had been previously fixed into the nosewheel:

I'd recently bought a glue gun for this job as I needed something strong for the task that would give a rapid 'grip'. Being a one-chance operation to get right I also took the precaution of doing a test run with some stand-ins first, and pleased to find the pin immovable within seconds:

(Actually it's impossible to pull out that pin between thumb and forefinger so confident in the Vixen staying put on the hangar floor now.)

 

Your support and presence on this endeavour has been incredible throughout so I just want to end by thanking you all so much for it.

 

I'll have an RFI up in the next few days; I want to wait for a sunny but still day in order to photograph it outside in daylight conditions. West of Ireland, it's bound to be fine...

Tony

 

 

[hendie]

On 7/24/2022 at 4:20 AM, Fritag said:

 

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

 

I'll go with what Steve says. I'm afraid my lexicon falls short of the superlatives required to do this thread justice.

 

Aaaaand you just posted while I was replying, so...

 

31 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Blimey, it's got even better!

 

I think Ian summed it up perfectly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now where's that Wasp?

 

 

[philp]

Great job getting this finally to completion.

 

So many new skills learned and learned well.

 

it would be a shame if it isn’t entered at SMW.

 

 

[Brandy]

 

...........

 

 

Ian

(it's already been said!)

[Spookytooth]

Absolutely stunning Tony.

All the above posts say it all.

It has been a pleasure to watch this project unfold and a learning curve as well, all those "Black Arts".

 

Looking forward to the next project, whatever it may be.

 

Simon.

 

 

[perdu]

Call that good?

 

It's still got sticky tape on the wing, tchah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And again:

 

Call that good?

 

I call it perfect, absolutely fabulous and just a tad magnificent.

 

A huge, ginormous TAD.

 

What a marvel this build has been, inspirational and awe inspiring in the same brilliant package.

 

Tony the doffed hat will always be doffed in thy direction chap, wow.

 

 

 

And now, we rotate in harmony with a tiny naval marvel.

 

I just cannot wait.

[AdrianMF]

Superb, supreme and sublime. And that's just adjectives beginning with "s"!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Pete in Lincs]

May I say that I feel highly honoured to be represented by a smear on the concrete below this superlative creation. 

Looking forward to the daylight pictures later this week (indoors if wet). 

 

BTW, If anyone is still in doubt about PX-7. You know that blue see through toothpaste? Imagine it red. 

 

Now, We need to swat up about wasps. (See what I did there?)

 

Oh, And I hope @CedB's inflamed bits get better soon. (Snort!)

[Fritag]

Holding post to register early awareness of completion - but I need time to find the right words to properly mark it.  Especially as Adrian has nicked a bunch of the adjectives beginning with ‘S’. 

[keefr22]

Outstanding Tony. Simply outstanding....

 

Keith

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Beautiful exquisite work on this and I am happy to have seen it from the beginning. 

[Balbir]

Been an epic journey to follow. Absolutely awesome.

 

Bal

[mark.au]

As a Jonny come lately to the thread (in a relative sense) I’m lucky to have been able to partake.  For me the narrative was as enthralling as the modelling, and that was/is superb.  
 

How do you feel, now it’s done? Is it what you envisioned when you started?

[CJP]

Bravo Tony

CJP

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I’ve been pretty quiet on here of late (I find that my enforced period on the Naughty Step for immoderate language had a very deflationary impact on my mojo)… but I have been lurking and watching in awe.

 

Your Vixen is just ridiculously good.  In any scale and from any start point it would be astonishing work, but when you factor in the fact that the entire thing is resin, a computer and your skill…

 

Deeply inspiring.  Thanks.  [And I cannot wait for the Wasp!]

[Galligraphics]

Yep. Stunning. Of course.

[Navy Bird]

Man, that's the best build of the CyberHobby kit I've ever seen.    

 

Cheers,

Bill