1/48 EE Canberra T17 - Airfix with Alleycat conversion

[71chally]

82.5, is that the angle between the fin and the tailplanes?

I don't know why none of the kit manufacturers made the tailplane as a one piece item (with top and bottom moldings) like the original aircraft.  It would be far easier for building, accuracy and locating properly, and you would think for molding.

 

Looking forward to you next steps!

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 hour ago, 71chally said:

82.5, is that the angle between the fin and the tailplanes?

I don't know why none of the kit manufacturers made the tailplane as a one piece item (with top and bottom moldings) like the original aircraft.  It would be far easier for building, accuracy and locating properly, and you would think for molding.

 

Looking forward to you next steps!

 

Richard C, who made the masters, has been quietly reading and sent me a message this morning about this to get me moving again, but the parts then turned up. 82.5 degrees is the angle between the centreline of the fin and the top surface of the tailplane, so essentially with the two halves of the fuselage still separate, you place it flat on the table, place the jig on the table by the rudder post, and lay the resin tailplane against it.

 

If anyone's nautically minded, I've also embarked upon a scratchbuild of a Royal Navy cruiser in 1/200 and intend to use our Cricut Maker to cut me the major plastic parts. I thought this jig could be a good experiment, so I quickly drew my jig in Adobe Illustrator complete with mousehole to fit around the tail end of the fuselage.

 

 

It was copied to Cricut Design Space.

 

This is the first time I've had the big blade in and the first time I've cut plastic. The mistake learning opportunity is that including that text has driven this from a 1 minute job to 4 and a half hours. The machine is going to make 14 passes but each letter is formed from a large number of stabs with the blade. In future I'll just write on the plastic with a pencil what the bits are...

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

How about this then? I stopped the machine after 4 passes, and to improve the clarity of the image I rubbed a dab of dark grey paint over the plastic with a kitchen towel to ensure you can see what I can see. 4 passes was sufficient for it to break away cleanly. A Cricut Maker doesn't have a "plasticard" material option, but I used the basswood setting here and got what I wanted.

 

 

[CedB]

Sorry Jamie but I had a chuckle at that video  

Another Douglas Adams 'learning experience' - “A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.’”

 

Looks like the Cricut did a good job though… what model cutter did you get and what thickness of plastic is it please?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

4 minutes ago, CedB said:

Sorry Jamie but I had a chuckle at that video  

Another Douglas Adams 'learning experience' - “A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.’”

 

Looks like the Cricut did a good job though… what model cutter did you get and what thickness of plastic is it please?

 

Absolutely! I'm glad I learned this on one jig and not a whole sheet of plasticard nested with hull formers. It would be there for a week.

 

This is 1mm plasticard, and the machine is the Cricut Maker (which we chose because it claimed it could cut plywood on the marking material, so I figured it could probably manage plasticard just as well)

[CedB]

Thanks Jamie  

A bit more expensive (!!) than my Portrait but, if it cuts 1mm plastic, I bet you’ll get good value from it. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I've chiseled and sanded away the moulded on dihedral-less root end of the kit tailplane from one side of the fuselage

 

 

But as those who know me well will attest, I have the patience of a toddler so once I became uncomfortable removing plastic by chisel and had to switch to sanding, I used the thermo-nuclear option to assure Airfix's older style harder plastic that I had no intention of lavishing lots of time on this. As always Infini Zebra sanding sticks remove material faster than a road surface removes skin from a motorcyclist wearing speedos.

 

 

The Phase Hangar tailplanes are moulded in a fairly heavy and very solid feeling resin with a glassy finish. They needed a round chisel and a round needle file to clean up the casting blocks from inside the elevator shrouds but this was quick and easy providing you have the right tools. I have to doff my hat to Richard who made these masters - I had thought my Beaufighter tails were especially good fits for resin parts, so I was mentally prepared to have to spend a bit of effort getting these to fit nicely but infact these are lovely. I'm delighted and assuming the elevators and rudder fits as well, I'll be buying more of these for the other Canberra in due course. Well done Richard and Phase Hangar for a great correction set!

 

How's this for a dry fit join of an aftermarket resin part?

 

 

There are big brand "obvious choice" stuff that dominates the resin aftermarket which are vastly inferior in terms of fit and how much remedial work they take to use (if they're usable at all...)

 

 

[Peter W]

Looking good Jamie. I had ordered a couple of sets of these too, for future builds, and it's pleasing to know that they are a stress free fit.

 

I'm stuck waiting for the Japanese postal system to return to normal and my Hypersonic canopy set to arrive before I can progress any further with my build, but good to see one of us getting on.

 

Pete

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

9 minutes ago, Peter W said:

Looking good Jamie. I had ordered a couple of sets of these too, for future builds, and it's pleasing to know that they are a stress free fit.

 

I'm stuck waiting for the Japanese postal system to return to normal and my Hypersonic canopy set to arrive before I can progress any further with my build, but good to see one of us getting on.

 

Pete

 

Hi Peter,

 

So far so good with this set so assuming the quality is consistent I think you'll be pleased with them when they arrive. I have both sides done now and thought I'd share what needs done to the tail to accept them. In essence, nothing you need the set there for. You simply have to take the fuselage back to its natural conical shape.

 

I chiseled back to this point and stopped:

 

To here using the 220 grit Infini zebra stick

 

Then changed to Infini's 400 and 800 grit sanding sponges, made good the panel lines I'd held off on, then glued the tailplanes on using medium CA.

 

Since one half of the fuselage still has locating pins, I glued a strip of plasticard to the jig such that I could find the inside mating surface of the fin using it.

 

Next up I cut out the small fin fillet, which on the kit isn't nearly small enough.

 

The Phase Hangar set has a replacement insert

 

... which looks like this, although I'm going to permanently join the fuselage halves first and make good the top of the fuselage where extra fillet used to be. I have glued in a small piece of backing plastic inside the top of the fuselage just incase it needs some Milliput or something. It'll stop any filler breaking loose and falling into the fuselage.

 

[canberra kid]

Good work Jamie. I like the jig. 

John

[northernphotography]

full of admiration for the build and your patience Jamie, top work. 👍

Edited July 5, 2020 by northernphotography

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Thank you chaps. I was ambushed and handed a paint roller, so have only just got the fuselage halves joined. I glued the wings on too. It's a big heavy lump so I've propped it up to dry over night. I haven't fixed the engines yet but will do so.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

As of this morning:

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

After a rough sanding (grit only), it doesn't look too shabby. Of course, some more panel line work will be needed but that was entirely predictable!

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

In the previous post, it can be seen that there was a depression where the new resin fuselage top met the parent plastic. The resin conversion set is fine - this is an artifact of my man-handling it to closely fit the fuselage sides. Still, at certain angles such as the above (in fact, posting the above highlighted the flaw to me) the depression could be seen as a dent in the fuselage's otherwise cylindrical form so it needed sorted. I'm happier with it now so have reinstated most of the panel lines and have set about what I hope is the last of the filling. Some of my previous filling showed the odd low-spot which would be plainly visible under the paint.

 

 

I like this new lid. It somehow better captures the Canberra feel than the kit parts did.

 

 

 

I'm deliberating my next move now (after tidying up the latest filler, of course). I'll either:

 

1) Mask the canopy and prime it now to see what sort of a mess I've made generally, then accept weaker bonds for remaining big resin bits such as the replacement tail cone, the strakes below and behind the nose, and the numerous scoops and vents under the T17's replacement bomb bay;

 

OR

 

2) Add the resin bits now then prime, but if I really have made a mess of the basics it will be much harder to rectify with lots of sticky-outy bits;

 

OR

 

3) Prime it now then sand it all off if the model appears to be acceptable at this point.

 

Option 3 is the safest strategy, but also the most time and effort. Still, it's not that hard to sand off a proper solvent based primer I suppose.

 

 

 

It's worth noting that even with the substantial slabs of dense resin added to the tail, the plethora of self adhesive iron car wheel balance weights I stuck in behind the cockpit as well as that big resin T17 which is hollow cast and filled with Ripmax lead shot is more than enough to ensure the model sits on its nosewheel. Like the old B(I)8 I was never happy with, I expect the kit undercarriage may struggle so I'm tempted to drill the legs to accept brass rod inserts now rather than be forever gluing broken-off wheels back on.

[CedB]

Not wishing to fall for the 'He made me do it' critique in the future I'd go for option 2 as…

27 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

if I really have made a mess of the basics

…this is unlikely.

 

Would you really have to sand off all the primer? Can't you feather it in? Asking for a friend…

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

2 minutes ago, CedB said:

Not wishing to fall for the 'He made me do it' critique in the future I'd go for option 2 as…

…this is unlikely.

 

Would you really have to sand off all the primer? Can't you feather it in? Asking for a friend…

 

You misoverestimate me, to misquote a previous US president once touted to have been the most stupid in history.

 

I wouldn't need to sand it all off, but I'd need to feather it out on most of the belly at least which is where most of the as-yet not fitted resin bits go. The key thing would be getting a good solid bond to the underlying plastic and not through a relatively weak intermediary such as a paint!

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Over lunch I chopped off the B2 tailcone

 

 

And CA'd on the resin T17 tailcone

 

The canopy seal was painted by brush - it's over the lower line but I now intend to mask the canopy complete with its seal and that should be that

 

And lastly I used my newest modelling chisel to add the Mk.1 Avon nacelle vents on top

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Before priming I need to sort the trailing edge of the wing roots. I could blame this on the kit, but it could be more an artifact of my strengthening plate mistake. Either way, I'm not quite getting the result I wanted so I have glued in small pieces of styrene to help bridge the filler. This area is very small, but annoying. There's a big difference in stiffness between the fuselage and the thin wing trailing edges, so it's fine until you pick the model up by the leading and trailing edges and the wing flexes slightly cracking the filler. 

 

Hopefully this does the trick

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

The nose area felt quite fair to the touch, so I dived in and added the strakes and side blisters. I hope I don't regret this...

 

The strakes have a locating pin which fits into holes in the nose casting. The holes were there but I cleaned them out a bit with a 1mm drill bit to make sure the pins fitted and went fully home.

 

 

Then this happened.

 

 

 

 

I think I'm ready to prime it now. I'll definitely leave the aerials and bomb bay scoops and vents off til after an initial prime as the bomb door fit hasn't been the best and I can't rule out more heavy duty sanding and scribing work, for which all the resin bits will both make a nuisance of themselves and will likely be damaged in the ensuing...

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

So who wants to see what the primer coat reveals?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CedB]

There you go! 

I can't see anything worrying from here…

Nice job Jamie  

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

There you go! 

I can't see anything worrying from here…

Nice job Jamie  

 

Thanks Ced. There's nothing major, but plenty little dabs of Mr Surfacer have been dotted on before work this morning, and there are a couple of contours to improve upon. The belly isn't as bad as I feared, yet not as good as possible. Some of the filled panel lines show signs of slight shrinkage of the filler manifested as ever-so-slight depressions, so I'm going to buff this coat right back and will repeat as necessary until it's good. I've got a whole bunch of this light grey paint from then WEM takeover days. It isn't what it claimed to be and I've no idea what it really is - possibly just a poor match for something - but it means I can afford to use almost a whole 14ml tin per priming coat as this one here gobbled up!

 

 

By the way the crew access door is just held in place with latex canopy mask. The fit is a little clunky and I'd have sorted that if I was going to have the door shut permanently but I'll probably have it open in the end.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

We are now here. The seams of the little scoops need a bit of Mr Surfacer, but it doesn't look too shabby overall.

 

 

[Peter W]

That's looking really good Jamie. I know what you mean about using a lot of primer, I used a lot of primer getting my one a simple shade of grey too.

 

Pete