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28 SQN (Allegedly) Bristol F2B


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Your cockpit is a cave of leathery-woody beauty, and loving the sombre period colouring of those exteriors!

On 21/12/2020 at 22:35, hendie said:

how are you supposed to get this ring out without damaging anything? 

Don't the instructions mention anything about throwing it into the fires of Mt. Doom?

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17 hours ago, hendie said:

 

I had to cut through two other gates and razor saw off the studs before I had enough clearance on this one Giorgio.  That just let the gun attached via the handle. When all the paint was dry, a few quick swipes with the razor saw removed the rest of the runner and the bottom of the handle was touched up - in the nicest possible way of course 

Well, neat job indeed, Alan - my hat's off to you, sir :worthy: 

 

Anyway, I did check and I've been unfair to Italeri: there's only one sprue gate connected to the machine gun, and it's underneath the spent cases collector, so I should be able to paint it while still attached there ... :) 

 

Ciao

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/30/2020 at 5:51 PM, TheBaron said:

Your cockpit is a cave of leathery-woody beauty, and loving the sombre period colouring of those exteriors!

 

 

as is my chambre de torture Tony

 

On 12/31/2020 at 7:32 AM, CedB said:

Great guns hendie! :D 

 

Bang on Ced!

 

On 12/31/2020 at 10:06 AM, giemme said:

Well, neat job indeed, Alan - my hat's off to you, sir :worthy:

Anyway, I did check and I've been unfair to Italeri: there's only one sprue gate connected to the machine gun, and it's underneath the spent cases collector, so I should be able to paint it while still attached there ... :) 

Ciao

 

glad to have passed along a tip Giorgio

 

 

Not much has happened in the way of modeling in the last week or two. My hold up is entirely self inflicted as I should have known from past experience that getting custom decals made is always a long process (at least in my case).  The god news is that I have okayed the proof so I should be receiving the printed decals very shortly.

 

It was then a case of searching around for jobs that could be accomplished that would not be affected by sticking on transfers - and there's not many at this stage.

I did find that I still have to fit the windscreen though. 

Eduard provide this little piece of clear plastic for us to have fun with.

 

P1030002.jpg

 

The problem with that is the thick black printed line work.  In the above photo, I have taped the Eduard part to another piece of clear plastic and used the Eduard part as a template.

Another problem (of my own making) is that I used the PE windscreen frame that was designed for the Roden kit - so when I cut out the part using the Eduard template unsurprisingly, it did not fit.

After another iteration or two, I had this

 

P1030003.jpg

 

Now if you can remember way back, the Roden frame was made up of these components which I soldered together in a moment of madness. That windscreen is supposed to fit in the slot left after these parts are all folded up.  What are the chances of that working out for me then?

 

PA290016.jpg

 

Actually pretty good.  It slotted in very nicely indeed - so nicely in fact, that I'm not even going to add any glue.  It's not going anywhere

 

P1030007.jpg

 

In other news I started preparing for fitting the exhausts.  The kit exhausts have two locating pins, which of course did not fit into the receiving holes, so had to be drilled out.  The port side went okay but the starboard, not so much.

Can you see the problem here ?

 

P1060011.jpg

 

The engine block broke off with just the lightest touch of the drill bit.  Dammit!  

I phenargled about for an hour or so trying to get the engine block back in position and drop some glue in there, but it was impossible.

Drastic action needed I'm afraid.

 

P1090014.jpg

 

You can see the starboard side engine block teetering at an angle. That has now been rectified with the engine block now being glued in with some two part epoxy.  It ain't going anywhere ever again!

It was a bit nerve wracking cutting off the nose but it looks like I managed to accomplish it without any collateral damage.  (aside from bending over the gun sight yet again)

 

If things go well, the next post should include some transfer action, and maybe even a bit of assembly

 

 

 

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The laugh response is for your intimate confession (obvs) as I've  nowt but sincere admiration for the contents of the update. La screen de la wind for some reason looks particularly dashing and modernist in this shot.

44 minutes ago, hendie said:

 

P1030007.jpg

 

Likewise the outgrowth of details around the fuselage! (Bristle F2B? :hmmm:)

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Hat's off once more, Alan - you're definitely a brave man, conducting a major surgery like that at this point of the build :worthy:   :clap: I reckon it need to be done, though

 

I agree with Tony about the windscreen, looking very posh! 

 

Ciao

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, what have I been up to over the last few weeks?  Not much to be honest.  The first load of decals I ordered got lost in the post - of course we had to wait to make sure they had actually got lost and not just delayed before my source could send out a new batch.

They arrived earlier this week!  Wahoo!  (with apologies to those who have visited the other two posts and been met with the same introduction) 

 

P1300008.jpg

 

After a few days of psyching myself up for the task, stickering began

 

P1300017.jpg

 

There's not much point in showing a sticker by sticker account so here's a finished sideframe.

 

P1300016.jpg

 

There was a slight misalignment in the printing resulting in the top half of the A being slightly offset, however, after looking at it for a while, I got to like it. - It gives the impression that the fabric was pulled tighter in one area. Or at least that's the excuse I'm going with.

If you remember back you'll recall that I also had a go at getting some strut decals printed.

This Bristol logo is 1.5 mm in diameter.

 

P1310028.jpg

 

That was the easy one. For the remainder of the struts, I had to figure out which was port and which was starboard, and which was top and which was bottom.  Actually applying the decals was easy after I had that figured out (still not convinced I got it all correct though.

 

P1310029.jpg

 

It does add a bit of interest though. A closer view shows them up nicely.

 

P1310030.jpg

 

I wasn't happy with the tail flash - the stripes were a bit wonky.  I did take a photo but the camera must have been hungry.  As it turned out, I had some spare tail flashes so I redid them, then added the serial number on top

 

P1310031.jpg

 

I was a bit concerned that I hadn't made the white border wide enough, but after applying the serials, I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

 

A full weekend  of transfers gets me this far. Three stalled builds, no longer stalled.

 

P1310026.jpg

 

Now these all need glossed and whatever final coat is required, followed by the real nerve wracking bit of sticking the wings on

 

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, hendie said:

If you remember back you'll recall that I also had a go at getting some strut decals printed.

This Bristol logo is 1.5 mm in diameter.

And I thought putting all the stencils on a Navy Phantom was a nerve wrecking task :frantic:  :frantic: KUDOS for the patience :worthy:  :worthy: 

 

Ciao

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/1/2021 at 2:20 AM, giemme said:

And I thought putting all the stencils on a Navy Phantom was a nerve wrecking task :frantic:  :frantic: KUDOS for the patience :worthy:  :worthy: 

 

Ciao

 

Ta Giorgio, I'm very pleased with the outcome.  I think it was worth the effort

 

On 2/1/2021 at 3:08 AM, CedB said:

Excellent! Well worth the wait :) 

 

Thanks Ced - it is you Ced isn't it?  you're not masquerading as Bill again are you?

 

it's been a while since there was any update on this but things have been crawling along in the background.  After the transfers were stick on it was the usual gloss coat to seal them in, then a semi matt coat over the top of that.  With that out of the way it was on to major construction again. This  time, the lower wing could get glued in place.  The Eduard system of wing mounting on the F2b is far superior to the Roden version, though overall I prefer the Roden molding for quality of detail.

 

P2130005.jpg

 

After my last botched attempt I followed Ian's advice and went for the cabane struts before any other wing struttery.  The incredible helpful and simple cabane glass roof method was used - grab a piece of clear packaging, lay it over the top wing and transfer the holes into the packaging. Guaranteed to have the holes in the right position relative to  each other, and you can actually see what you are doing

 

P2130006.jpg

 

This top view lets you move things around so you can make sure it's as symmetric as possible.

 

P2130007.jpg

 

Right, cabane struts glued in position, it's time to steel myself for the sticking on of the hairy wing 

 

P2130015.jpg

 

which for a change, went without issue, or at least none that have thrown themselves up so far.

 

P2130016.jpg

 

I did have one small missed heartbeat moment as the wing went on - the telescope tube thingy fouled with the windscreen, but I managed to get it plopped in front of the windscreen without damage.

The window and frame is from the Roden kit but to be honest, I think it's the Eduard part that is slightly oversized.  

There's not a lot of room in there.  Ideally, I would have removed the telescope and trimmed a bit off the mounting brackets to have it closer to the top wing, but glue was in action and I was afraid of messing things up further. Sue me.

 

P2130017.jpg

 

Once that all settled in it was time for the main struts. These were quite problematic.  There was a mold mismatch in the struts resulting in the 'pegs' being larger than designed.  I tried to shave back the pages a tad but ended up opening up all the wing mounting holes. - By the time I had shaved a couple of the pegs to fit there was nothing left of them, and the larger wing mounting holes were a lesser evil.

The fun of trying to remember which rigging cable went through which rigging hole has begun.

 

P2140018.jpg

 

Then I remembered I should have rigged the cabane struts BEFORE I went and stuck the darned top wing on.  Too late now buggrit.

Thankfully I had used EZ line for the inter-cabane rigging but it was still a pigs ear of a job to get the rigging lines in the holes, not helped by the fact that my supply of superglue had aged and was now a bit treacle like and didn't grab as quickly as it should.

You can just make out the inter-cabane rigging here if you squint hard enough. 

Oh look - you can also see the Bristol logo on the struts too.  yes, I did manage to get all the logos on the right face of each strut so they do all face outwards.

 

P2140039.jpg

 

If anyone tells me that Bristol also put their logo on the inwards facing side of the struts too, they can go and take a hike!

 

That my friends is the current state of play with the F2b. 

I'm taking my time with the rigging this time around and will take a couple of sessions to get this all taut and not end up all askew like the last one. (which I am still considering revisiting to try again)

Now where did I put that Audax?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 16/02/2021 at 22:52, hendie said:

The incredible helpful and simple cabane glass roof method was used - grab a piece of clear packaging, lay it over the top wing and transfer the holes into the packaging. Guaranteed to have the holes in the right position relative to  each other, and you can actually see what you are doing

What a beautifully elegant solution to an often intractable problem - I felt like applauding.

On 16/02/2021 at 22:52, hendie said:

The fun of trying to remember which rigging cable went through which rigging hole has begun.

 

P2140018.jpg

 

Based on a rigging diagram by Gerald Scarfe? :laugh:

 

A superb update Alan with labour and precision shining out from every photograph.

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Nice to see the wing on, she's looking great. Pegs are very useful here aren't they! I sometimes clip 2 or 3 together to get a little more weight for tensioning.

 

Ian

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On 2/17/2021 at 2:42 AM, Hamden said:

 

Nice to see this one progressing.

It will look great alongside your Camel when finished!

  Stay safe                Roger

 

Thanks Roger

 

On 2/17/2021 at 5:37 AM, Quiet Mike said:

Thanks for the methodical step by step breakdown @hendie , I'm taking a lot of notes!

 

Thanks Mike. 

 

On 2/18/2021 at 2:34 AM, giemme said:

Boy, what a hairy mess! :frantic:This sure is a great patience test, I even more admire you, Alan :worthy:

 

Ciao

 

I'd prefer money Giorgio

 

On 2/18/2021 at 4:39 AM, TheBaron said:

What a beautifully elegant solution to an often intractable problem - I felt like applauding.

Based on a rigging diagram by Gerald Scarfe? :laugh:

 

A superb update Alan with labour and precision shining out from every photograph.

 

even more elegant as I stole the idea from someone (again)

 

On 2/18/2021 at 8:40 AM, Brandy said:

Nice to see the wing on, she's looking great. Pegs are very useful here aren't they! I sometimes clip 2 or 3 together to get a little more weight for tensioning.

Ian

 

I think that's part of my largest issue and where I went wrong withe my last attempt Ian.  I'm using 0.2 and 0.3mm (I think) nylon fishing line and it really doesn't want to bend as it comes out of the rigging holes I drilled.  In my last attempt I pulled the line taut to remove that curve that made it look like the lines were loose and I believe all that tension helped to misalign the wings.  It would have been a lot easier just using EZ line.

 

My solution this time around is to use some flat tweezers and press down on the lines as it exits the hole which induces a sharper bend to the line and reduces the amount of tension needed to make it look taut. It's not perfect by any means but works a lot better than my previous attempts. I really need to hunt down some better rigging material.

 

After a few hours it looks like we are getting somewhere.

 

P2200005.jpg

 

Only a few mishaps to deal with and the biggest problem was aged superglue. Damn stuff never goes off when you want it to does it?

 

Eventually I got all the outer rigging done and I even manged to keep the wings pointing in the right direction and somewhat aligned.

 

P2200006.jpg

 

There was still some inboard rigging to be done and in order to finish that off, the undercarriage had to be fitted as some of the lines were rigged to the undercarriage stays

 

P2200007.jpg

 

Even the undercarriage got rigged.

 

P2200008.jpg

 

I'm not quite sure why I took this shot but there's something pleasing about it.

 

P2200009.jpg

 

Port side rigging. You can see what I mean about the nylon line not wanting to bend sharply as it enters/exits mounting holes but I think unless you look closely it is not too noticeable. 

 

P2200012.jpg

 

Starboard side rigging.

 

P2200013.jpg

 

Front'ish view.

 

P2200011.jpg

 

You may have noticed that there are still two lines remaining to be rigged. Those two lines mount to the vent visible at the engine cowling.  I'm leaving those til last as I handle the aircraft mostly by the nose and if I add those lines now they will get mashed by my maulers (even though in a rare outbreak of sense, I used EZ line for those two particular lines).  Tail rigging will also be done by EZ line which I have just run out of.

 

To celebrate the momentous occasion I added the exhausts. Once the manifold glue cures I can glue the rest of the exhaust to the appropriate bracketry. 

 

P2200014.jpg

 

Then I realised what an idiot I was. (more confirmation really, I had already realized that some time ago) as I should have done the final coat of cream on the underside before adding the undercarriage.

That resulted in a lovely little masking exercise 

 

 

P2210041.jpg

 

Oops, forgot to mention, I trimmed the underside nylon tendrils by using a 1mm chisel, freshly sharpened to cut the line as close as possible to the skin. It appears to have worked but I'll know better once another coat of paint is on and that will let me know just how much remedial work is required on the underside.

 

At this point I am quietly confident that this F2b will actually get finished and still look like an F2b

 

 

Then I've still got an Audax to rig.

 

Then a Wapiti

 

I don't know how you do it Ian, I really don't

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5 minutes ago, hendie said:

Then I realised what an idiot I was. (more confirmation really, I had already realized that some time ago)

Welcome to the club!!!

 

Rigging to me is one of those things... but you did a fantastic job!!!

Well done!!!

 

And I've seen somewhere else you're experiencing the 3D printing stuff with great results too!!!!

Chapeau!!!

Massimo

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9 hours ago, hendie said:

I'd prefer money Giorgio

Well, who wouldn't... :rofl: 

 

Impeccable rigging, Alan :worthy:  :worthy: 

 

Ciao

 

PS. and some acrobatic masking, too :D 

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Giorgio used the word 'impeccable' for your rigging Alan and he's dead right. :thumbsup2:

That should have you all limbered up now for work on the pilot's moustache.

9 hours ago, hendie said:

I don't know how you do it Ian, I really don't

'Spider - Ian

Spider - Ian,

Does whatever a...' ahhhh that's not going to work...

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The rigging looks excellent Alan. I've found the best way to reduce the bend at the end of each wire is simply to go to finer line - as fine as you can! I use 0.06mm which is in scale for 1:72 but a bugger to see without running it across a permanent marker. That would mean 0.09mm would be correct for scale in 1:48. At about half the thickness of what you're using that should help a lot!

 

Ian

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Looks really well.

 

I find that different monofilament behaves differently depending on the material as well as the thickness,  I have a .4mm line that flexes really well and doesn’t bend but a similar thickness line in grey that does. 
 

 

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