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Airfix Stirling III


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Thanks for your interest.  Got a bit more done tonight:

 

I finished shaping the flak curtain / bulkhead behind the front turret position:

 

2020-04-16_10-36-33

 

Had a bit of a play with plastic sheet and rod to add the back armour and cover the massive sink mark in the pilot's seat cushion:

 

2020-04-16_10-35-48

 

Then added some seat runners to the flight deck, some structure to the other cockpit wall, and blanked off the superfluous cockpit windows:

 

2020-04-16_10-36-07

 

And finally with the seat in place:

 

2020-04-16_10-35-24

 

I'm going to see what else I can do to start up the cockpit, but there's going to be no attempt to add any interior, as nowt will be seen.  May have a play with the tail wheel bay.

 

Really enjoying just mucking around, but you know what they say about these old kits: "it's all fun and games until you get to the glazing." - and there's quite a lot of it on this beast.

 

Reds

 

Martin

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Look at the price on the box £1:19! 

 

Bloody and indeed Hell!

 

Watching from afar, loved this kit back in the day....

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12 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great start, I have one in the stash too. I will tag along if alright with you.

All the best

Chris

Thanks, Chris.

 

And do indeed pull up a chair.

 

Regards

 

Martin

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8 hours ago, rob said:

Look at the price on the box £1:19! 

 

Bloody and indeed Hell!

 

Watching from afar, loved this kit back in the day....

Ah yes, the ravages of inflation.  I seem to remember, that looked pretty expensive to me at the time, tho' 

 

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Great work so far.

You look at the prices back in the day, but I still couldn't afford much, even when working what with kids, mortgage/rent et al, so one pound would have still been tricky to justify!

 

Davey.

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23/10d - my limit for an aeroplane kit was five bob!

 

Nice to see this getting an upgrade, old school. Looking at the step on the tape above the front turret in the photo above, I wonder how many rivets you will have left at the end...

 

Regards,

Adrian

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If you need any cockpit photos, send me your email and I'll ping some to you.

 

If you go to the weblink below my signature, you'll find some pics of our flightdeck rebuild

 

I'm currently building a MkIII as BK716, an aircraft which was due to be recoverd by the RNLAF in March but unfortunately postponed by CV-19. We have a significant number of parts from that aircraft in our reconstruction and parts that have been reverse engineered from parts that have been loaned by a Dutch museum. 

 

cheers

 

John

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50 minutes ago, 12jaguar said:

If you need any cockpit photos, send me your email and I'll ping some to you.

 

If you go to the weblink below my signature, you'll find some pics of our flightdeck rebuild

 

I'm currently building a MkIII as BK716, an aircraft which was due to be recoverd by the RNLAF in March but unfortunately postponed by CV-19. We have a significant number of parts from that aircraft in our reconstruction and parts that have been reverse engineered from parts that have been loaned by a Dutch museum. 

 

cheers

 

John

TVM, John.  

 

I'll ping you a PM this evening.

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52 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

23/10d - my limit for an aeroplane kit was five bob!

 

Nice to see this getting an upgrade, old school. Looking at the step on the tape above the front turret in the photo above, I wonder how many rivets you will have left at the end...

 

Regards,

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

 

Yep, it looked pretty bad when I taped it together.  The fuse halves are warped vertically and laterally (and probably in x-rotation, too).  Joint gluing will be done in stages, to try to minimise any steps.

 

I am also planning a general sand and rescribe (at least for major joints) so, hopefully the mullering of rivets won't detract too much . . .

 

Reds,

 

Martin

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2 hours ago, DaveyGair said:

Great work so far.

You look at the prices back in the day, but I still couldn't afford much, even when working what with kids, mortgage/rent et al, so one pound would have still been tricky to justify!

 

Davey.

Indeed!  I was just a kid at the time, and this size of kit was Christmas / birthday present territory.

 

Rgds,

 

Martin

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1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

23/10d - my limit for an aeroplane kit was five bob!

My pocket money was 2/6d. Exactly the amount for an Airfix series 1 kit. Built and painted in a day and then six days to wait for the next one!!!

 

Love the Stirling, enjoying following this.

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16 minutes ago, mike romeo said:

Indeed!  I was just a kid at the time, and this size of kit was Christmas / birthday present territory.

 

Rgds,

 

Martin

Same here. All I could do was gaze forlornly at it in the shop. Way out of my pocket money pay grade. 

 

Indeed these days some of the desirable modern kits fall into the same category due to my current state of impecunity. 

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1 hour ago, mike romeo said:

Hi Adrian,

 

Yep, it looked pretty bad when I taped it together.  The fuse halves are warped vertically and laterally (and probably in x-rotation, too).  Joint gluing will be done in stages, to try to minimise any steps.

 

I am also planning a general sand and rescribe (at least for major joints) so, hopefully the mullering of rivets won't detract too much . . .

 

Reds,

 

Martin

Am in the process off rebuilding an old stripped down kit into a MK V,The fuselage seems very flimsy but am hopeing that with the bomb bay and cockpit assemblies in place it will stiffen up.All the rivets on mine are being removed and going to attempt some sort of rescribe.

Am loving what you are doing to yours in the cockpit department and am looking forward to seeing more.

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10 minutes ago, fatalbert said:

Am in the process off rebuilding an old stripped down kit into a MK V,The fuselage seems very flimsy but am hopeing that with the bomb bay and cockpit assemblies in place it will stiffen up.All the rivets on mine are being removed and going to attempt some sort of rescribe.

Am loving what you are doing to yours in the cockpit department and am looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks, FA.

 

I can confirm that the bomb bay does indeed substantially improve  fuse torsional stiffness.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

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3 minutes ago, mike romeo said:

Thanks, FA.

 

I can confirm that the bomb bay does indeed substantially improve  fuse torsional stiffness.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

Thats good to know,thanks Martin 🙂👍

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19 hours ago, Simon Williams said:

This brings back memories. My Uncle Albert bought this for me when I was 8 or 9. My dad built it for me and it was pride of place in my bedroom for years. 

Same for me too.... built this kit in the late seventies/early eighties and it had pride of place in my bedroom. In fact... I think it is still there.

 

I'll be following along with interest. Good start so far.

:yes:

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Thanks for all the comments, folks.  Looks like this kit has good memories for a lot of us.

 

I've been otherwise engaged recently, but there is a bit more progress to report.

 

I painted the engine parts.  Steel, gunmetal and semi-gloss black with a dry-brush of aluminium.  

 

2020-04-18_10-41-33

 

Here's how they look when dry-fit l in the cowlings:

2020-04-18_10-42-02

 

Not going to install them yet as I need to do some scribing on the cowlings.  I may add the centring struts at the cowling fronts in future.

 

I have assembled the wheels and primed them.  I have some am wheels, but I think these ones are fine - although I may file flats on them.

 

2020-04-18_10-42-29

 

As for the cockpit, I added some legs to the nav's table:

 

2020-04-18_10-41-50

 

And I've primed the ip and fashioned a heating tube, which needs some more work.  

 

2020-04-18_10-42-18

 

The mid-upper turret structure has been assembled and will be installed as the old Airfix Lanc glasswork appears as if it will to sit nicely atop this.

 

Much more to do . . .

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Set scriber on table at the desired height.  Place the cowling face down and turn it around, scribing the line as you go?

 

Tape around cowling and scribe line freehand?  Or just a thick paint for the plate so a ridge remains when you lift the tape? 

 

Vacform a new slightly over-size cowling and trim away all but the front?

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