Saunders-Roe SR.53 "Rocketeer" F.Mk.1 - FINISHED

[nimrod54]

Since the last update I goy on with painting the anti-glare panel on the nose and the engine exhaust outlets., then after a couple of gloss coats I made a start on the decals.

 

The roundels and warning stencils for the ejector seat are from the kit, and the serials are made up from a Modeldecal sheet of post war codes. The kit decals are a little fragile and one of the roundels lost a small piece which I will have to touch in, the warning triangles also started to break up as I was adding them, so I will have a look through the spares box to see if I have some suitable replacements. There are a few stencils to go on and I am going to give those a couple of thin coats of Microscale's Liquid Decal Film, which should reduce any further issues with the kit markings, I also have to sort out the underwing codes and as I don't any D's of the right type I will have to print a set, which I can tag on when I am printing the airbrake perfs.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Col.]

That's looking good John. White is an unforgiving colour but your work looks flawless.

[nimrod54]

On 23/01/2021 at 08:19, Col. said:

That's looking good John. White is an unforgiving colour but your work looks flawless.

 

Thanks for your comment Col.

 

I have printed off the decals for the airbrakes with a mix of plain and shaded options. Most of the stencils are on, but there are a couple where the position is not shown on the painting instructions, though having looked at a few more photos I think that they may be for the nosewheel door.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I resolved the issue with the squarer type D's on the under wing codes by using a letter E and half of a Zero, I just have to tidy up the corners now.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Col.]

That's smart work John and I love your solution the the Ds.

[nimrod54]

The airbrake decals went on today and I was able to track down the positions for the stencils that I had left. Three of them were located on or close to the nosewheel door and the last one was for the ladder location on the port side. The undercarriage doors have been cut into their respective sections and glued in place and the nose pitot has been replaced with something finer. With just a few more things to do I should have this wrapped up in the week.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[BIG X]

WOW!!!

[nimrod54]

28 minutes ago, BIG X said:

WOW!!!

 

Thanks Steve. I hope that you are keeping well mate.

[BIG X]

2 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Thanks Steve. I hope that you are keeping well mate.

As it happens I'm back in the saddle - after a year away (no I wasn't prison - just a loss of mojo - honestly)

 

I hope you can pop in for a look.

[nimrod54]

I finished the last few jobs on this one earlier today, tidying up the codes on the underside followed by a couple of coats of a acrylic satin varnish and then addition of the aerials.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

This is my first completion for this year and it has been a fun build of a subject that I may not have considered had it not been for this group build. Thanks to all those who have followed along and have found time to pass comment, a final thanks to @Col. for another great suggestion for a GB and for hosting.

 

Cheers

John

 

 

[modelling minion]

That is an excellent result John.

It looks really smart in its white scheme and the markings and stencils stand out really well against it.

[Col.]

You've created a lovely model of a little-known type John, well done and thank you for taking the time to share your work with us along the way, glad to hear you've enjoyed the GB; for the small effort required to run a GB these rewards are an immeasurable return  

[Mr T]

An excellent result on an interesting aircraft, really looks the part. I liked the use of decals on the Air brake. Can I ask what paper you use? I have used Crafty Computer inkjet paper with good results, but the company has gone and my stock won't last forever. 

[nimrod54]

4 hours ago, Mr T said:

An excellent result on an interesting aircraft, really looks the part. I liked the use of decals on the Air brake. Can I ask what paper you use? I have used Crafty Computer inkjet paper with good results, but the company has gone and my stock won't last forever. 

 

Thanks buddy. I used Experts Choice Clear Decal Paper for inkjet printers for the home made decals, which comes from the same company that make Bare Metal Foil. They were quite translucent, which I would imagine to be the case for most clear papers, but that was not an issue for me going on a white background. I have also used the same companies white decal paper with good results, the nose markings on this Ju88 are printed on white. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I am not sure how cost effective it would be if you printed a lot, but I only print the odd set which is fine for my needs. HTH

 

John

[Mr T]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. From my experience all inkjet printed decals tend to be a bit translucent. I usually use it to print serials and the odd badge where I can often find a backing if I don't want to print on white paper. 

[Cookenbacher]

Classy build of a fascinating subject John.

[Retired Bob]

That looks superb John   While the kit is rather basic compared to recent mainstream releases it is much better than the old Airfix offering.  Are you going to fit those nice bright data pods? 

[nimrod54]

On 10/02/2021 at 18:45, modelling minion said:

That is an excellent result John.

It looks really smart in its white scheme and the markings and stencils stand out really well against it.

 

Thanks Craig. The white has definitely helped create an eye catching model.

 

2 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Classy build of a fascinating subject John.

 

Cheers Cookie, not easily seen in the final photos are the three whip aerials under the fuselage. I think that I will have to paint them in a dark colour before Mrs N knocks them off when she moves it for dusting.

 

1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

That looks superb John   While the kit is rather basic compared to recent mainstream releases it is much better than the old Airfix offering.  Are you going to fit those nice bright data pods? 

 

Thanks a lot Bob. I do have the data pods but they still need to be painted up, they could put in an appearance soon.  

 

Thanks again for providing the photos earlier on in the build.

 

John

[Retired Bob]

10 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

Thanks a lot Bob. I do have the data pods but they still need to be painted up, they could put in an appearance soon.  

That will be nice to see. 

 

12 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

Thanks again for providing the photos earlier on in the build.

You are most welcome, that's what this site is for. 

[Hockeyboy76]

Another cracker here good buddy. Great work dude. 

[nimrod54]

6 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Another cracker here good buddy. Great work dude. 

 

Cheers matey. Not many parts to it, but the end result doesn't look too shabby at all. 

[Hockeyboy76]

1 hour ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Cheers matey. Not many parts to it, but the end result doesn't look too shabby at all. 

If you look at the latest edition of Tamiya Model Magazine International, there’s an appearance by a certain type of primer!!

 

just saying. 

[nimrod54]

2 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

If you look at the latest edition of Tamiya Model Magazine International, there’s an appearance by a certain type of primer!!

 

just saying. 

 

 

 

What! What! Not their White Superfine Surface Primer? Rumour has it that it goes really well under red.

[nimrod54]

Having previously promised @Retired Bob a couple of images of the model with the pods fixed in place, I decided that I would put that right today. Several fellow modeller's had kindly supplied photos of the Cosford example early on in the planning stages, and Bob included a couple of the Data Link pods fitted to the SR.53. 

Looking at the profile of the slots in the parts, they are fitted the opposite way around to that shown in the images Bob supplied, so I haven't attempted to represent any of the openings for cameras and instrumentation on the pods for the moment - I will add those at a later date when I can confirm their correct location/orientation.  

 

With the GB scheduled to finish, the pods have been pushed into place simply to give some idea of how they may have looked.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

[Retired Bob]

That looks really good, John.  As I said earlier, a vast improvement on the old Airfix kit.  Looking back at the photos of the data pods, I think they have been just positioned on that stand to show the camera windows rather than their position on the aircraft.  The other option would of course be the dummy Firestreak missiles, red with light blue wings like in the photo Pete @PeterB posted from 15 or so years ago, very colourful, and the option I would choose.  Lovely finished model in time for the GB, a win, win situation.