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Drache. A Kreiger flier


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Another day, another entry. Bored yet? I'm not. I can't wait to get back to the desk!

@Tzulscha wrote "Maybe some kind of control jets at the nose, tail and wing tips like Harriers use?"

Well here we go on that sleigh ride....

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What the? You may be saying. I found these while looking for a new interior light bulb, in a car bits box in the garage.

They are for soldering onto the end of wires in an old car and they then plug into a connector. (Old school stuff). 

 

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The lower wing. The two big holes were for the outboard engine pylon. I cut down one of the above connectors and superglued it into place. So now hot air can come out of it and lift the wing as VTOL takes place. Yes, it sticks out a bit, but this is kreiger and lots of stuff does that, yet it looks all the better for it.   

The hole in front of it has a backing piece fitted and will become (I hope) a blue formation/ID light. More of these connectors will be fitted fore and aft

which should take care of all the axes of flight in the hover.

 

I glued the wing halves together today and it wasn't until later that I remembered I'd thought about fitting airbrakes to the upper surface. Ah well, never mind. I'll make do with scribing panel lines where they would be instead. The pencil lines, BTW show where I've done a light scribe to show the other panel lines.

As always, comments etc will not be held against you so feel free. Regards, Pete

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Yep, A-36 Apache (See, I know it's not a P-51) dive brakes. I was thinking Mirage upper wing surface airbrakes, but you're not far out.

We shall see what happens in the shed later today. Pete

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And, what happened in the shed, after luncheon of course, was more plastic mangling.

It took a couple of hours but I ended up with the following....

 

ctSB7IP.jpg

Our man in Kalamazoo said spoons. And other stuff. But my brain went around in a circle and I wondered why I had to have a pilot. A lot of kreiger is autonomous.

So forget the cockpit! What we have on top here, from left to right, A bit of P-38 that was on the bottom, A bf109 engine cowling in 1/32nd, and spoons!

I cut out one spoon to fit and it shattered. The second one did the same. How to make it stronger? Oh yeah, glue two together. Whatdayaknow, it works.

It is all now glued into place. So I have to wait for that to dry before I apply Gobs of filler to fair in the underside of the spoons and all the joins.

 

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A close up for the hard of hearing. (That includes me BTW. I blame 40 years working with Aircraft!) Oh, I added a hole with a grille.

 

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Looking a bit Star Trek here, Jim. There's a faint pencil line curving under the spoon. That will/may be the filler line. I also scribed an access panel on the side.

 

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And now we're in wing world. The P-38 tailplane bits got glued on and got rubbed down a bit, They almost fit too! I scribed some panels and Airbrakes.

That is your lot until sometime next weekend. I have to work Saturday morning too, so what, if anything, will happen after that, who knows?

That's all folks! Pete

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23 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

That will/may be the filler line

Though, last night as I was falling asleep I had a brainwave. Save the filler, cut down a spoon! Same curves, how hard can it be?

The answer is, as I found out after returning from work today (Darlington & back BTW) quite tricky. Compound curves, superglue, lost skin etc.

So, back to the Milliput idea. Ah well, worth a try. Pete

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There is something quite alarming about seeing these things of yours made out of half-familiar parts from various origins Pete. Not in any obvious Frankenstein sense, but like one of those mad dreams where bits of reality get re-assembled into unusual orders of things. 

 

Am beginning to suspect that your builds are in fact an elaborate Rorschach test and that in years to come half of us will get presented as case studies at some bonkers modelling psychology conference in Vienna. Presumably I'll be diagnosed with paranoia... :laugh:

 

Seriously though, your sense of invention always raises the spirits - reminds me of some of the scifi illustrators you used to see in these books from the 70s and 80s:

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I used to have all that series of Stewart Cowley volumes (only got this one and a Chris Foss book left now..), though as it's 2020 am concerned that one on the cover won't be ready for another 80 years...

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Mate, I discovered Chris Foss etc in the early seventies and haven't looked back since. Fabulous (literally) stuff.

The next one I build, I won't name the source kits and you'll have to guess it all! :evil_laugh:

Actually the next one may be another Falke. I have a large P-38 in the post somewhere winging it's way to me 🛩️

It always amazes me how all the disparate parts fit so well together, like it was meant to be. See, the plastic God loves Kreiger!

Thanks for dropping by, sorry I was out (to lunch).

 

 

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The book covers Chris Foss did for a lot of the Asimov novels really did influence my interests in sci-fi and love of all things spaceshippy.  You only had to look at one of those books compared to all the others in the store and the rest just looked plain dull and you knew what you wanted then and there!

 

 

Good work so far, i think it works as an autonomous design! will you look to add some form of cameras/rotating lidar/sensors to reinforce this 'unmanned' look? 

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Yep, totally agree re the book covers.

 

The nose section should/will be full of sensors etc when I get around to sorting around in the spares boxes for suitable stuff. Something like an Apache nose.

I'm in two minds whether to keep the windows in the nose as camera windows or not. 

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I finished work early this afternoon so got an hour at the desk. Time to fair in the bottom of the spoons.

Well, I looked at them and a picture of a droptank popped into my mind. Opened the droptank box (yes, there is one. Without order there is chaos, my Son)

and the top one was ideal.

I simply sliced it down the middle and it was a near perfect fit and stronger than those cut down spoon parts. Glue was applied and all was good. 

Milliput time! except it was cold in there and it was rock hard. (RUDE!) Luckily I had a cup of tea handy.

Cut a lump of Milliput & place under mug for 5 minutes & it becomes pliant!

So I mixed up a batch and set to on some seams. Now it can harden for 24 hours. I'm working tomorrow morning (Damn those drinkers!)

so maybe in the afternoon.... Pete

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Ah, the ever resourceful British modeler.

I would NEVER have thought to use a cuppa to warm my epoxy.

On the other hand, my shop is in the basement near the furnace so there is that.

 

(If I could just get  SWMBO to let me out on occasion...)

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I got home from work this afternoon intending to rub down the filler. But it hasn't cured. Must be too cold in there. So I've brought it into the house.

I'll give it another lookover tomorrow. I did have a butchers at some landing gear and the fit of the underwing tanks, but then it got too cold for me!

So now I'm sitting here with coffee and biscuits in the warm. Bliss!

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On 06/02/2020 at 18:53, Pete in Lincs said:

Yep, totally agree re the book covers.

 

The nose section should/will be full of sensors etc when I get around to sorting around in the spares boxes for suitable stuff. Something like an Apache nose.

I'm in two minds whether to keep the windows in the nose as camera windows or not. 

my favourite artist for book and album covers was Tim White...

 

spacer.png

 

coming along nicely

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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John, I'd not heard of him before, So I just did a Google and looked at his work. Impressive stuff. Even a couple of Terry Pratchett books!

Another artist that just lit up in my brain is Roger Dean. The Yes album sleeves were incredible at the time.

 

BTW, the Milliput seems to be drying nicely in the kitchen.

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Great work, Pete. The spoons were a great idea. Curious to see how the drop tank looks. I still am anxious to try the MaK style myself, but first I’ve got a few things to finish. 🥶 

I often look to Japanese sci-fi modelers for inspiration and the technique of glueing lots of disparate bits together and then blending with putty is really cool and effective.

 

yeah, 70s/80’s sci-fi paperback covers rule. I really dig Chris Foss. Also check out John Berkey and Peter Elson. While their names may not be immediately familiar, the paintings will be. Very Awesome.

 

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8 hours ago, Photon said:

Also check out John Berkey and Peter Elson.

Thanks for the suggestion. John Berkey, Fish! that was the overriding impression there. But all in a good way, the ships look great. And I really like this one of Asimov by Elson.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQRxWSQQTaQAbEEEoACQxJ5vzYPgN8v0cbMk_fv6-sM-VIyuyjA&s

 

8 hours ago, Photon said:

the technique of glueing lots of disparate bits together and then blending with putty is really cool and effective.

No instructions,rules or deadlines. So relaxing!

Cheers, Pete

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Today's update. The Milliput was dry by this morning, so it got a good rubbing down with wet 'n' dry. A few other jobs and it was landing gear time. 

I'd collected bits from various spares boxes and I'm happy with the end result. I was interrupted when I had to brave the weather and replace and repair

a fence panel that had been folded and blown next door. As I recovered it a small tornado made it act like a sail and it knocked me over!

It's now tied down, strengthened with old pallet staves and anchored with paving slabs until it can be replaced.

More landing gear stuff followed and I added Humbrol filler over the Milliput as that can sometimes have bubbles in it. 

We then had to go out on Family business for a few hours, so no pictures today I'm afraid.

Tomorrow, I'm off work so I'll take pictures, rub down the filler and fit the wings at last. But maybe not in that order. We shall see.

Cheers, Pete

 

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I promised pictures so here we go.....

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This morning, the back end went all Sukhoi! And we've gained a Horizontal stabilizer courtesy of a 1/32nd MBB BO105 Helichopper.

 

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The Undercarriage sponsons are from the original kit but will be fitted the other way around. Various Panzer bits were added from the spares boxes.

 

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So here we have a searchlight and a flare rack. On the left end I've added 1mm card to make it stronger where it connects to the fuselage.

 

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Now I'm going for desert or snow operations here, still undecided. The curved bit is ex Airfix Vulcan, an aerial I think. On top, various Panzer bits re-purposed.

 

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So, left gear, inside view. And obviously (to me at least) the bit at the top fits into the end of the sponson.

 

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This one didn't come out so well. The outer side of the gear,

 

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And underneath. Stealth plane bomb bay doors. To give a bit of grip to the ski's. A perfect fit onto the Vulcan bits! (VTOL, so no need for a take off/landing run)

This morning the second layer of filler has had a rub down and I added greeblies to the engines. Partly to disguise their original scale.

I've put filler on the wings where the rounded winglets join, and I did the Sukhoi thing at the rear. Wing fitting will be soon.

I find I need to build this thing in stages to get access to the bits that need fettling. Almost like a real model!

Thanks for dropping by, Pete

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It's really starting to take shape here!  

It looks...dangerous.

The tail stinger and the heli stabilizer look just the thing for the sticky-out end of your machine.

The stabilizer is just screaming for some endplates though.

 

So, which side is this thing fighting on anyway?

Strahl or Independents?

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1 hour ago, Tzulscha said:

The stabilizer is just screaming for some endplates though.

So, which side is this thing fighting on anyway?

Strahl or Independents?

I'll be using the endplates from the chopper. I never choose sides. TBH I just enjoy making the things, who they fight for is up to them.

I've read up the background to the kreiger idea (years ago) but have forgotten most of it. So it'll just be whatever markings I can find.

1 hour ago, Kushan_Farsight said:

What rough scale is this going to be

Probably 1/20th to go with my Gulf Falke. I'll pose a standing 1/20th figure with it next time.

 

Thanks Guys, Pete

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On 2/10/2020 at 2:53 PM, Kushan_Farsight said:

What rough scale is this going to be Pete?

I promised a size check with a figure, so here is Helmut from my Gulf Falke build. Helmut is 1/20th scale.

vqOUayz.jpg

It's not going to be huge, but will be fairly lightweight, so will only need the one anti gravity generator. And the big wing will provide plenty of lift.

This weekend I've not had a lot of time in the manshed. I have fitted the tailfeathers and rubbed down and refilled various areas.

 

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The external tanks got fitted along with the antigrav unit. Due to the curvature of the wing I had to cut and fill the tanks. It all needs yet another rub down.

Then I can fit the undercarriage sponsons and the fairings for the front and rear of the AG unit. We may then be heading towards paintsville at last!

 

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I got into the manshed after an earlyish finish today. Did some rubbing down of filler and added some more in a couple of places.

The anti grav unit on the belly got it's front and rear fairings fitted. I also put a 1/35th figure next to it. Hmmm. I will take a picture for you.

It makes the machine look a lot bigger and somehow, more brutal. I'll stick the gear sponsons on and await responses as to the change in scale.

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