Jump to content

SUPERMARINE SCIMITAR **RFI posted**


Recommended Posts

Hi All - I  have spent the last week and a half working on the Scimitar fuselage studying photos and trying to work out where the various vents and holes are positioned - I came up with the following sketches tracing around the fuselage halves and showing what I decided - they are purely my guesstimates and I don't claim any authority on the  locations.

I did also look at the Scimitar Pilots  Notes (on a CD) which had a drawing of a few of these items and cockpit photos.

IMG_0526.jpg

I translated the sketch into this -

IMG_0516.jpgIMG_0537.jpg

A couple of vents were relocated with reference to photos

IMG_0509.jpgIMG_0538.jpgIMG_0539.jpgIMG_0540.jpg

I modelled the recessed catapault hooks - the gun troughs need a bit of refining

IMG-0522.jpg

I decided to beef up the intakes which were very thin shells - I raided the spares box and found what looked like an old 1/32 drop tank with an internal diameter of about 18 mm - the tank was split in two and each half fettled to fit inside the kit intake & blended in with Tamiya putty - the white metal boundary layer panel was glued inside the completed intake.

 

IMG_0531.jpgIMG_0530.jpgIMG_0528.jpgIMG_0529.jpgIMG_0533.jpgIMG_0542.jpg

3mm Evergreen rod was fitted to the tail to strengthen the joint and the fuselage parts were all dry fitted and taped together

IMG_0532.jpg

IMG-0544.jpg

Finally starting to look like a Scimitar - the next step will be a quick check to make sure nothing else needs to be added to the fuselage needing internal access before gluing it all together.

 

NB - One area I completely overlooked was modelling a representation of the bay that the main wheels retract in to that is covered by the fuselage doors - as built the wing undercarriage wheel bays have a solid side where they meet the fuselage rather than being open into the wheel bay.

cheers CJP

 

Edited by CJP
text
  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Time for another update - since the last post I have got the fuselage substantially together  and detailing started - its a bit like the Scimitar is finally emerging from a cocoon.

On the last post I had dry fitted all of the fuselage components together  so I took the plunge and started gluing - the flimsy fuselage halves ended  up as a light but surprisingly rigid structure.

IMG_0595.jpg

The tailplanes were also glued on and the small fairings where I assume the tailplane pivot  is located were also added

IMG_0577.jpgIMG_0578.jpg

A curved fillet was added where the jet pipes exit the fuselage - this was made from a plastic card triangle, CA & talc sanded to shape.

I found  that I had made the fuselage opening for the jet pipe too small so I had to split it along the join & pack it out with 60 thou strip until the jet pipe would fit nicely in the opening

IMG_0586.jpgIMG_0587.jpgIMG_0592.jpg

A bit of basic detailing of the hook bay structure added - the raised part towards the rear of the bay was cut out and filled flush with the rest of the bay in that area - I then made a representation of a bracket that sits there - some doors originally covered this area but I read they were discarded later in the Scimitars service life.

 

IMG_0616.jpgIMG_0618.jpg

A representation of the cockpit sidewall structure was added from strip so that the white metal panel just slotted underneath it

 

IMG_0620.jpgIMG_0607.jpg

tiny fillets were added where the intakes meet the fuselage & the raised section behind the cockpit was cut out and refitted flush.

IMG_0629.jpg

The nose wheel bay looks very complicated with lots of pipes & ribs so some Evergreen strip of various profiles was added to represent the basic structure

IMG_0622.jpgIMG_0626.jpg

To be continued.

CJP

 

Edited by CJP
text
  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/5/2020 at 2:24 AM, corsaircorp said:

Hello CJ !!

That's a great idea I also love the Scimitar !!

May I take a seat ?

in SMW 2017 when I asked the Airfix staff about a 1/48 Scimitar, the answer was, "I cannot say No"....

in 2019, they said that the Scimitar is in the plans...

Now you start your Vac formed one !!

That will make the Airfix one coming !! Good move !! Carry on !!

Sincerely.

CC

They told me that in 2013 too and I sold my Dynavector kit.........

 

I unfortunately do not share your optimism for Airfix but someone will do it eventually

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Scimitar F1 said:

They told me that in 2013 too and I sold my Dynavector kit.........

 

I unfortunately do not share your optimism for Airfix but someone will do it eventually

Shame you sold it because it really is a nice kit - not holding my breath for an Airfix Scimitar

 

CJP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are doing a great job with it. Particularly impressed that you are going to the effort of modifying the tail surfaces. 
 

Like some aircraft the shape of the Scimitar is hard to capture due to the complexity of the curves, particularly around the nose and canopy. It really needs to be scanned.

 

Now if I win the lottery!

Edited by Scimitar F1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, Scimitar F1 said:

You are doing a great job with it. Particularly impressed that you are going to the effort of modifying the tail surfaces. 
 

Like some aircraft the shape of the Scimitar is hard to capture due to the complexity of the curves, particularly around the nose and canopy. It really needs to be scanned.

 

Now if I win the lottery!

Agreed the tail and the canopy curves are elusive and I don't think they have been really captured by kit

manufacturers

CJP

Edited by CJP
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Superb work, you really are adding nice detail and capturing the lines well, I think the kit does do a good job with this aswel.

One of my big regrets is not buying this at the time, it seems to be the hardest Dynavector kit to find secondhand, I guess people hang on to them as there isn't an alternative.

Edited by 71chally
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 71chally said:

uperb work, and you really are  adding nice detail capturing the lines well, I think the kit does do a good job with this aswel.

One of my big regrets is not buying this at the time, it seems to be the hardest Dynavector kit to find secondhand, I guess people hang on to them as there isn't an alternative.

Thanks James - it really is a nice kit and once I got over my reservations about cutting it out and sanding the parts I really started to enjoy building it - toss in a bit of scratch building & its back to basic modelling again - I wonder how many are out there in modellers stashes? - you might snag one in due course!

 

CJP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good work with the vents :) I found the only way to get 'em done was the hard way, and I hadn't noticed them until after I'd closed up the fuselage :frantic: so I had to feed in backing strips through the intakes, which was fun ^_^

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Mike said:

Good work with the vents :) I found the only way to get 'em done was the hard way, and I hadn't noticed them until after I'd closed up the fuselage :frantic: so I had to feed in backing strips through the intakes, which was fun ^_^

Thanks Mike - it was your  build of the Scimitar that inspired me to tackle the vents - I'm still referring to your build for tips as I go.

 

CJP

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, crobinsonh said:

Lovely work

Thank you - your comment reminded me of the three CMR Scimitar builds you posted here on BM so I found them and had a good look at the builds - found it very informative as I have one of those to do too - the CMR Scimitar is a good reference for detailing my Dynavector one - unfortunately some of the photos in the post are fuzzy & you have to go into Photobucket to see them clearly -  is that part of their policy now?

 

CJP

Edited by CJP
text
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Somehow I had missed this one, too - despite being an obvious FAA fanatic and (like many, it seems) having the Dynavector Scimitar in my stash.  Is there any way you could be persuaded to share your plans of the tail?  Having seen the difference, I strongly suspect I won't be satisfied with building it OOB now.  [Who am I kidding?  When did I ever build anything OOB?!?]

 

Definitely got my attention, though I am largely staying away from building aircraft at the moment while I concentrate on 1/350 carriers.  Get the behind me, temptation!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Somehow I had missed this one, too - despite being an obvious FAA fanatic and (like many, it seems) having the Dynavector Scimitar in my stash.  Is there any way you could be persuaded to share your plans of the tail?  Having seen the difference, I strongly suspect I won't be satisfied with building it OOB now.  [Who am I kidding?  When did I ever build anything OOB?!?]

 

Definitely got my attention, though I am largely staying away from building aircraft at the moment while I concentrate on 1/350 carriers.  Get the behind me, temptation!

Sure if you PM me with your email I will attach a Word doc which should print out  the correct size

CJP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Derek B said:

CJ, as a starting point, which Scimitar drawings would you consider to be the most accurate at the moment?

 

Cheers

 

Derek

To be honest I have looked at old plans from Aviation News from decades ago and some from Scale Aircraft Modelling which I lean towards but neither are 100% - I trace around the kit parts and refer to photos and average it all out - photos can be deceptive though depending on the angles & some distortion of the photos - one of my favourite photos is a underside plan view which captures the subtle shapes for me & included it in my post earlier - some accurate Scimitar plans are well overdue that's for sure.

 

CJP

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, CJP said:

To be honest I have looked at old plans from Aviation News from decades ago and some from Scale Aircraft Modelling which I lean towards but neither are 100% - I trace around the kit parts and refer to photos and average it all out - photos can be deceptive though depending on the angles & some distortion of the photos - one of my favourite photos is a underside plan view which captures the subtle shapes for me & included it in my post earlier - some accurate Scimitar plans are well overdue that's for sure.

 

CJP

I feared that this was so, and yes, from my general experience, I have to do the same as you for the majority of kits I make which require correction. Still, awesome work CJ! :)

 

Derek

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Derek B said:

I feared that this was so, and yes, from my general experience, I have to do the same as you for the majority of kits I make which require correction. Still, awesome work CJ! :)

 

Derek

Hi Derek - if you want my plan for the tail just PM me with your email - they are in 1/48 but you can resize if needed to 1/72

 

CJP

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...