AltcarBoB Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 (edited) I have been off work self isolating so this kit has had some serious work on it the last 3 days. Only just put a coat of matt clear on last night and its still a bit tacky. This is the AZ kit which I believe was originally a Vista kit and has been issued by several different comapnies since its debut in 1996. The sprues were nicely moulded mostly flash free but the plastic used was soft and greasy feeling, it didnt cut or sand very well and where I would normally cut with the sprue cutters and give it a few goes with an emery board I instead ended up doing a lot of careful shaving away of material with a fresh 10A scalpel blade. Dry sanding just left deep scratches no matter what grade of emery I used, wet sanding was better but I had to be careful or I think I would have had a fuselage resembling a lace curtain pretty quickly. The etches for the wing folding were from the Airwaves brand and were nicely etched but were very thin and bend prone and didnt quite fit like the etches were 1/74 scale. All paints were Vallejo Air and splashed on with Hairy sticks as I really have fallen out with my airbrush at the moment. I painted the wing fold interior parts in Interior Grey Green which might be wrong I have seen the very few colour photos of original Fulmars and its 50/50 wether it should be Grey Green or Aluminium. I had a bottle of grey Green so went with that. I glued on the canopy with Ultra Violet setting resin glue and I was very impressed with it the canopy can be manipulated removed replaced tweaked anything the resin is liquid till you apply the Ultra Violet light then it sets within about 2 minutes, I left mine on the window sill in the sun for about 3 hours. When the resin is set its hard can be scraped or sanded and takes paint very well its also opytically clear so a little bit going on the see through parts of the canopy doesnt matter I missed a little bit which can only be seen with a magnifying glass in the right light. The fuselage letter number decal is wrong for my chosen aircraft it should be black 7R not red 7R but I ballsed up the correct decal and had to scrap and start again. I made a few mistakes in the build but it was a good learning experience and I am looking forward to doing more FAA folding wing jobs maybe even a Barracuda which looks when folded like it was in an horrendous accident. P1000870 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000883 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000871 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000872 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000871 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000876 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000875 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000877 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000882 by Stuart, on Flickr Edited March 19, 2020 by AltcarBoB Spelling and changed a photo 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 I forgot to mention the aerial. It is invisible mending nylon thread smoke coloured glued on with superglue, its a bit stretchy so it didnt sag until I managed to knock the aerial mast off and couldnt get it glued back on without the aerial wire sagging a little particulay the small wire which goes from the rear cockpit position. Oh well next time I will remember to do the aerial dead last so it cant be broken whilst handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 That's a really nice rendition of the rather convoluted Fulmar wing fold. Not sure I'd be tempted to have a go but at least it saves a bit of space in the display cabinet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 By the way. Where did you get the Ultra Violet resin from? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 My ratty old laptop only seems to be able to handle 8 photos at a time so heres the other 4 P1000879 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000874 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000868 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000880 by Stuart, on Flickr 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 1 minute ago, Bangor Lad said: By the way. Where did you get the Ultra Violet resin from? Thanks Amazon I got a 20ml bottle of the resin and a cheap Ultra Violet torch for iirc £10.99. I have played around with it and its great stuff it seems quite forgiving of knocks not like superglue which can fail if you look at it with a stern expression. I dont know if it would be as strong as Epoxy Resin or Contact Adhesive but it seems to hold well if you key the surfaces your gluing pretty much what you would do with any glue. One thing to look out for it gets quite hot when curing I was playing with it and I had some on my finger I didnt notice till I shone the UV on it and YYAARRGGHH. Runs for the tap to get cold water on it. I would be a bit wary of using it on something very delicate like tissue or thin cloth just in case but on plastic kits it seems fine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Niiiice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Just gone and ordered the Airwaves etched set! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 8 hours ago, Bangor Lad said: Just gone and ordered the Airwaves etched set! Nice one I will keep an eye out for photos. I will say this was my first ever build using etch parts and I found the brass very thin and prone to warping so handle it like your defusing a bomb. The etch is also slightly undersize or the wing moulding is slightly oversized a couple of places if I was doing it again I would have taken more time and inset the brass etch into the wing. If you are using the same AZ kit or its predecessor kits be aware the lines of the wing fold are different top and bottom. I cut the top wing moulding up then used that as a template for cutting the bottom if you follow the lines of the bottom wing moulding you will be a long way out. The instructions mention this but could be better written to emphasize the point. I glued the etch parts with Gorilla Glue gel but if I was doing it again I might use some 4 minute epoxy as I cracked the joints a couple of times when fitting the wing sections to the fuselage, it needs a bit of give I reckon. Best of luck I enjoyed the build and I hope you enjoy it as well and don't end up cursing me and making a 1/72 scale voodoo doll of me and stabbing it with pins 🤣 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 Just to add the decals that came in the box are crap. I used the Xtradecal FAA early war sheet x72134. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 54 minutes ago, AltcarBoB said: Just to add the decals that came in the box are crap. I used the Xtradecal FAA early war sheet x72134. Thank you for the advice 🤣 No voodoo dolls will be harmed in the course of this build! Thanks again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Great modelling, I have the original Vesta boxing but the wings will definitely not be folded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Very nicely done. I know what falling out with your airbrush means - been there. You can get those aerial wires taught with a bit of careful heat treatment. Light a candle. Hold a pin in some pliers and heat it to red hot by holding it just above the candle flame. Then VERY CAREFULLY move the pin towards the aerial. When it gets really close the wire will magically tighten up. Obviously if you touch the wire you’re snookered! It worked on my Hurricane anyway when I had the same problem as you with the antenna mast breaking off after I had put the wire on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 1 hour ago, CT Modeller said: Very nicely done. I know what falling out with your airbrush means - been there. You can get those aerial wires taught with a bit of careful heat treatment. Light a candle. Hold a pin in some pliers and heat it to red hot by holding it just above the candle flame. Then VERY CAREFULLY move the pin towards the aerial. When it gets really close the wire will magically tighten up. Obviously if you touch the wire you’re snookered! It worked on my Hurricane anyway when I had the same problem as you with the antenna mast breaking off after I had put the wire on. Might try this the sagging wire has been bugging me and I couldnt think of how to tighten the wire without knackering the paint job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Very nice indeed, especially the fold . I did the Airfix version of the same kit and am very chuffed with it. Re the sagging aerial wire I use my daughter's hair dryer on the lowest blower setting and the thread goes taught. Just don't tell my daughter!!! Great work on your Fulmar it looks fantastic. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 Thanks to @CT Modellerand @bigbadbadge for the hint I have applied a bit of heat to the nylon aerial thread and it's tautened up. I didn't go mad as I didn't want bits to fall off or the thread to snap but it does look a lot better. The bit that goes from the rear cockpit to the main aerial is still a bit saggy but I can live with that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 No worries, glad it worked out okay. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew.S Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Interesting build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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