Twin Otter - Twin Memorial Build

[Lewis95]

Hi all, 

 

This isn't a thread for those seeking pure rivet counting, jaw-drop modelling or exquisite skills. This is a humble, couple of hours a week modelling WIP. I felt the need to share this to both motivate myself and immortalise the meaning to some extent. 

 

Earlier this year, my Uncle passed away due to complications from an existing disease caused by COVID-19. Also earlier this year, Flybe ceased operations. As my uncle lived in the Channel Islands and the rest of the family in South Wales, he regularly flew to visit and would almost always fly in on Flybe. In fact, the last time he visited, I picked him up from the airport after watching his Dash 8 land. 

 

This build will be dedicated to his memory. 

 

As this first post sets the tone, I'll start the build in a following post. 

[thorfinn]

Working on that very kit at the moment. Look forward to seeing your project develop!

[Lewis95]

Okay here we go! 

 

This is the kit! 

 

A reboxing of the Matchbox Twin Otter. Flash and pin marks all over the place. 

 

I started this quite late so only managed to get the office setup and ready for airbrushing tomorrow. Pin marks in the back of the seats will be hidden by the bulkhead. 

 

And that's it for the first steps into this journey! 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Excellent subject!  Have fun with it!  I have the kit myself and will be watching with interest.

 

Not to rivet-count, but just advise you of two things about this kit.  If you are a sticker for this sort of thing, the props should be fully feathered after the engines are shut down, rather than in the thrust-generating position they're depicted in.  The windshield pillars on the left/right fuselage halves are a little too thick for my taste, but that's just my impression based on looking at the kit and others' builds.

[Lewis95]

24 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

props should be fully feathered after the engines are shut down, rather than in the thrust-generating position they're depicted in.

Any pointers for how to alter for this bud? I've never really done anything in regards to feathering props. 

 

25 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

The windshield pillars on the left/right fuselage halves are a little too thick for my taste,

I may attempt to sand them down slightly but we'll see. I'm not overly delicate and messing up a crucial bit like this is not too far up my list of things to do! We shall have to see. 

 

Though, that does remind me that I need to clean up the fuselage halves as I will need to airbrush the sidewalls as well. 

[Lewis95]

This morning saw a little bit of activity on the Otter. 

 

The fuselage halves were released from their plastic prison and sanded. 

 

Test fit seems okay.

 

The insides and the office got primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Grey. A striking difference as you can see. 

 

The bulkhead got a spray too when I remembered that would be an essential part of the sub-assembly. 

 

 

The nose cone got some weight added. It requires 20g but I got a little too enthusiastic with the Liquid Gravity and blocked the guidance pins. A few moments of sheer terror, ingenuity with a screwdriver and some pure luck later.... 

 

https://i.imgur.com/byXe0wp.jpg

 

A slightly underweight nosecone!

 

I'll almost definitely have to add some tyre weights or liquid gravity sludge mix to the forward fuselage to compensate. 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

14 hours ago, Lewis95 said:

Any pointers for how to alter for this bud? I've never really done anything in regards to feathering props. 

I have the kit, and just cut out the appropriate parts to do some test-fitting.  It's pretty nice.  Like the windshield, it all depends on your comfort level, and if you don't feel comfortable with cutting and repositioning, that's fine.  Check photos of the real thing and see what you think.  The advantage you have is with the small size of the prop blades, which will not exert much weight against the mating surfaces.  You could build your own jig using some scrap plastic.  Use a compass to draw a circle approx 3cm diameter on the scrap plastic styrene sheet.  From the center of the circle draw three lines radiating outward exactly 120 degrees apart.  At the junction of the circle cement two vertical pieces of scrap plastic side-by-side with sufficient width just for the prop to stand with the leading-edge facing away from the scrap plastic. 

 

You would place your prop hub exactly in the center of the circle, then use the lines to align the props.  The props will be aligned neatly with the theoretical air flow.

 

In order of operations, do the props last of all so that you can think about this.  They'll be the most breakable element and should be applied last, after decals, landing gear, and antennas.

 

With the windshield, Matchbox/Revell underserves you.  Matchbox wants you to bury a portion of it behind the two thick pillars, and provides a robust mating surface that runs parallel with the windshield slope.  Keep the mating surface in place, but sand the fuselage side pillars down to that surface.  Gently sand and polish the sides of the windshield so that they "wrap around" rather than create a sudden edge.  You might also consider sanding down the windshield's center pillar, scoring/cutting the transparency in half at that point, and substituting a thin piece of styrene in its place.  This would be tricky, but it'll give you a 1mm wider windshield, which is more than you had before.   Mate the new assembly together using clear-drying Zap 560 canopy glue after you've painted the model, applied decals, and clear-coated it.  You can use a thin strip of decal, painted in the final color (gloss white) to cover the center pillar so that you don't have to tediously mask and paint it (and risk breaking the fine joins along the center pillar).

 

 

[Lewis95]

36 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

have the kit, and just cut out the appropriate parts to do some test-fitting

I'll have a think about the windscreen and how I approach the props. I'm not a fan of attacking the clear parts or altering when they go in usually. 

 

On a side note, some painting to be had tonight! The Child Monsters have stolen the stencil decals though.... 

[Lewis95]

Small update. 

 

Got the cockpit airbrushed. Apparently the cockpit is hardly visible so I've gone for a black overcoat with grey to pick out the raised areas. 

 

 

The cabin was painted with Dark Sea Grey mixed with white. I applied some black preshade to add a bit of subtle variation. 

 

 

The cockpit will get a little bit of brush painting tonight to pick out some details. 

 

 

More soon! 

 

[davecov]

I am enjoying this build (although I can't see any pictures) as I have had a soft spot for Flybe/Logan Air Twin Otters ever since I saw one land on the beach at Barra. I went to Barra four years running a few years ago and would always spend time at the airport. Three years ago I did a similar build of the Matchbox kit although it was OOB as I don't know THAT much about wingy things:

 

 

Dave

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Nice going!

What civil registrations are you going to use?

 

[Lewis95]

10 hours ago, davecov said:

I am enjoying this build (although I can't see any pictures) as I have had a soft spot for Flybe/Logan Air Twin Otters ever since I saw one land on the beach at Barra. I went to Barra four years running a few years ago and would always spend time at the airport. Three years ago I did a similar build of the Matchbox kit although it was OOB as I don't know THAT much about wingy things:

 

 

Dave

Bit odd that you can't see any pictures. Not sure if it might be my host of choice playing up. 

 

Barra is such a unique airport with the beach runway. I may visit it one day just for the 2 or 3 daily flights. The Matchbox kit is this one actually. Revell just reboxed it. 

1 hour ago, Moa said:

Nice going!

What civil registrations are you going to use?

 

 Not entirely sure of the registration I'll be using. The set from 26 Decals contains a few so no hurry yet

[davecov]

14 minutes ago, Lewis95 said:

Bit odd that you can't see any pictures. Not sure if it might be my host of choice playing up. 

 

Barra is such a unique airport with the beach runway. I may visit it one day just for the 2 or 3 daily flights. The Matchbox kit is this one actually. Revell just reboxed it. 

 Not entirely sure of the registration I'll be using. The set from 26 Decals contains a few so no hurry yet

 

I think it was your host as other Imgur pictures in other posts weren't showing either at the time I posted that. I can see them fine now.

 

Dave

[825]

I built one of these as a TMA floatplane that I'd actually flown in, and although it was a challenging build it looks good in the end. I didn't bother about the windscreen or props to be honest. One thing I did do is the aircraft has a fairly pronounced dihedral on the main planes but the kit is flat. I got the dihedral by pulling up the wings to the desired angle and holding at that with Tamiya tape until the cement set. This left a small groove underneath that was filled with some filler. Here's the real thing. 

 

 

and the finished model,from the front. 

 

 

And completely off topic a view of the cockpit from my seat. 

 

 

Keep up the good work and enjoy the build. 

[Lewis95]

Well tonight got off to a slightly rocky start. The kids have almost certainly eaten the decals or fed them to the cats. As I'm all but ready to progress at this stage, I've decided to leave them off. 

 

The rear bulkhead, which is not highly visible at all, became a test bed for painting with a toothpick. Done in such a manner to represent a few circuit breakers. 

 

The IP on an Otter is not actually black. The central "steam gauges" have a black surround but the pilot sides are actually a light grey. The top of the yoke is also light grey. So this happened. 

 

 

The almost hidden throttle quadrant got some attention too. The throttle got a silver coating and the prop rpm was painted red. This adds a nice little spot colour to the interior. Again, barely visible. 

 

And now installed in the fuselage half. Gives a slightly better view of the light grey dusting I applied. I actually quite like the effect. It gives quite a worn feeling that the camera doesn't quite pull through. Oh, and windows. They became a thing. Applied with sparing amounts of TET after PVA proved a nightmare. Fiddly little things. 

 

And now she's all closed up! Otter become hedgehog for the night. I also added an additional 10g of weight with self adhesive tyre weights. Tomorrow, if I remember, I may just do my patented Liquid Gravity Sludge to gain a few grams more of weight. 

 

Only problem was that the fuselage slipped ever so slightly. The tailplane lines up nicely but there's a slight dip over the fuselage on one side. Hopefully some loving sanding will bring her level again. 

 

A quick test fit shows that I may need something slightly stronger than TET for the nosecone however. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lewis95]

1 hour ago, davecov said:

 

I think it was your host as other Imgur pictures in other posts weren't showing either at the time I posted that. I can see them fine now.

 

Dave

Glad to see that you're now able to see them bud not that you missed much to be honest. I royally FUBAR'd the cockpit. 

 

10 minutes ago, 825 said:

And completely off topic a view of the cockpit from my seat. 

Absolutely cracking build there buddy. I almost went for the float plane version and it's what I had planned when I first got the kit. That cockpit shot is a stunner too! 

[thorfinn]

In addition to the other recommended fixes, I would seriously recommend replacing the delicate and very spindly main gear strut axles with something more robust -- a small section of paper clip is ideal. At the same time, from an accuracy standpoint, one might add some representation of the main wheel brake mechanisms, which are entirely absent. Even a simple disc would be a noticeable improvement.

BTW...I just finished adding a bit of dihedral to the wings on my build, and it really makes a difference appearance-wise. (Oddly, I had to extend the strut-length on one side...but not the other!)

[The Spadgent]

Sorry to hear about your Grandad. 😞 A lovely tribute. Looks like you are doing a great job so far. I know what you mean about the kids running off with your decals. Mine are much the same, well they were, getting a bit older now.  The only thing making me twitch is using TET for the clear parts. I used to use it but the fear of fogging has forced my hand to use gators grip. If you can find any I’d deffo invest in a pot. It’s invaluable for clear parts.

I’ll tag along if I may.

 

Johnny

[Lewis95]

On 09/12/2020 at 22:01, The Spadgent said:

Sorry to hear about your Grandad. 😞 A lovely tribute. Looks like you are doing a great job so far. I know what you mean about the kids running off with your decals. Mine are much the same, well they were, getting a bit older now.  The only thing making me twitch is using TET for the clear parts. I used to use it but the fear of fogging has forced my hand to use gators grip. If you can find any I’d deffo invest in a pot. It’s invaluable for clear parts.

I’ll tag along if I may.

 

Johnny

 

I've actually found TET to not be too bad if applied extremely sparingly. It also offers a much better bond vs PVA. PVA on the Otter would of resulted in about 5 windows residing inside the airframe itself. 

 

This build is not dead. But it has been postponed. A lot of the parts are ill fitting and after the faff with the mismatched fuselage, my will to build it has died off. 

 

I do have another project on the bench but again, it's not a fantastic build worthy of BM. 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

4 hours ago, Lewis95 said:

it's not a fantastic build worthy of BM. 

There's no such thing!  But I understand if you need a break from this.

[Marklo]

I agree, no build is too small. And it must be said that sometimes the modelling is secondary to the interaction.

[Lewis95]

29 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

There's no such thing!  But I understand if you need a break from this.

Its more of a lack of skill with the larger scales to be honest. 

 

18 minutes ago, Marklo said:

I agree, no build is too small. And it must be said that sometimes the modelling is secondary to the interaction.

 

It's not a "small" build by any means but I see what you mean about the interaction. Its more of the floundering with fillers which is embarrassing at times. 

[Marklo]

1 minute ago, Lewis95 said:

Its more of the floundering with fillers which is embarrassing at times. 

This is what I like about britmodeller we’re not all consummate modellers showing off; it’s a great place to get tips and advice and (occasionally) to show off  eg I consider myself a bodger, but I enjoy it and sometimes surprise myself with the results. I’m gravitating towards better model engineering but not always. And I do find that the disasters are where you learn and that sometimes even the simplest build just doesn’t go to plan.

[Lewis95]

56 minutes ago, Marklo said:

This is what I like about britmodeller we’re not all consummate modellers showing off; it’s a great place to get tips and advice and (occasionally) to show off  eg I consider myself a bodger, but I enjoy it and sometimes surprise myself with the results. I’m gravitating towards better model engineering but not always. And I do find that the disasters are where you learn and that sometimes even the simplest build just doesn’t go to plan.

True. I may well just start a WIP. Even though most of the assembly is done. Might provide a bit of entertainment to the more experienced modellers. Or make them cringe. 

[Marklo]

8 minutes ago, Lewis95 said:

. Or make them cringe. 

That’s the spirit.