Brigbeale Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 (edited) I purchased this model off eBay from my usual seller along with a Meteor and a Vampire all requiring restoration. It arrived with the port main gear broken off but, with what I had planned for it, didn’t make any difference. A good dusting was in order and it looked a bit better - not a lot - but a bit. I re-glued the part gear back in position and put it in the cabinet where it would be safe. That’s where it’s been since March 2020. Having just completed the Fairey Swordfish and photographing it with my built carrier-borne Phantom, Sea Venom and Sea Vixen, I decided it was about time I got round to restoring the Sea Vixen. I took some photos of the Sea Vixen as it was before the start of the restoration. It clearly was built by a novice. The panel alignment was terrible (mainly because the sprue gates hadn’t been cut off) - still visible through the thick layer of paint. The folding part of each wing wasn’t straight but angled up slightly. It was a tail sitter and the white paint applied underneath was awful. Also, the underwing stores weren’t straight. At some point the ‘coal bunker’ radar operator position had lost its canopy and a flat piece of clear plastic had been put ‘in’ to replace it. Being flat, it didn’t clear the crew-person’s head and sat up on one side. Also the small side window was also missing. Edited March 5, 2021 by Brigbeale 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 4, 2021 Author Share Posted March 4, 2021 (edited) I started the disassembly process last night I using a knife blade to score through the paint at the joints to allow the TET to get in and help soften the glue. This worked for most parts. However I couldn’t get the nose cone off which meant I couldn’t get the fuselage upper and lower halves apart. I decided it would be beneficial to give it a Dettol bath to remove the paint. All parts were soaked overnight and this morning, it looked like it had the desired affect. The white paint underneath was a strange thing, It was kind of rubbery, which made the EDSG underneath it gooey which then smeared as it was being removed. Some spots didn’t come off, so I’ll deal with them later. Another soak and a brush got the remainder off apart from the aforementioned spots. I also found the radar operator was sat facing the pilot as opposed to facing front where his radar equipment would be. However, the R/O’s face (flesh) has been painted in the side of his helmet🤔😆 Here’s where it’s at with the paint stripped using Dettol. Edited March 4, 2021 by Brigbeale 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Excellent, looking forward to this one, would a spell in the freezer be in order to help split the fuselage? Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 wow, that looks better already 😀 ...you don't say which kit this is (Frog ?) is it not easier to build one from a kit ? anyway, good luck and watching with interest! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 4, 2021 Author Share Posted March 4, 2021 (edited) Chris, I decided to see if the fuselage would split with the use of a flat scraper blade in my craft knife. Happy to say it did. An attempt was made to add nose weight as the nose cone is stuffed with soft plasticine or blue tac. Either way, there’s not much weight to it. i’v just spent the last two hours separating the fuselage and cleaning off the remaining spots from the surfaces. That paint is a right PITA to get off. In the end, I had to scrape away at the larger spots and then resort to my home-brew airbrush cleaner to get the remaining paint off. Thats when i noticed the strip of plastic between the cockpit and radar positions was broken and glued in at an angle. I’ll fix that later. Once the fuselage was split I found a third crew member (or a stowaway) under the flight deck. He was held in place with some errant glue. I have already decided on the subject aircraft. XJ580 of 899 Sqn Fleet Air Arm. I remember it being on permanent display outside a shopping complex in Christchurch (very near to me as I’m in Bournemouth). After years sitting there and getting vandalised by mindless idiots, it was removed and now has a home where it can be respected at Tangmere. The complex has been re-built but as far as I’m aware, the concrete plinths are still there. Edited March 4, 2021 by Brigbeale 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 4, 2021 Author Share Posted March 4, 2021 2 hours ago, FalkeEins said: wow, that looks better already 😀 ...you don't say which kit this is (Frog ?) is it not easier to build one from a kit ? anyway, good luck and watching with interest! First thanks. It probably would be easier but I get more af a sense of achievement restoring an older built model and giving it a fresh lease of life. I think it’s a Frog kit, I’ll have to verify the part numbers on the inside of the fuselage halves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Glad it separated okay, crikey the bit between the cockpit and coal hole is very twisted. Wow I never saw that I take it had gone by the mid 90s!!! Typical. I have family in Bournemouth and never really ventured to Christchurch until I stayed up the road one year with a previous SWMBO and had a lovely day and a pleasant evening in the Queens head Pub down the road towards Ringwood, I discovered Tanglefoot and was converted to beers. Great job on Separating the fuselage bits. Chris 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 5, 2021 Author Share Posted March 5, 2021 (edited) 15 hours ago, FalkeEins said: ...you don't say which kit this is (Frog ?) I did a bit of research this morning and the part numbers on the upper and lower halves of the fuselage (4 & 7) match with the Frog instructions. I also suspected it to be a Frog kit due to the wildly off centre red dots on the roundels. Edited March 5, 2021 by Brigbeale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmas Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 Those crew figures look nicely detailed considering they're moulded from styrene and, I assume, at 1/72 scale. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 5, 2021 Author Share Posted March 5, 2021 (edited) 48 minutes ago, Timmas said: Those crew figures look nicely detailed considering they're moulded from styrene and, I assume, at 1/72 scale. I’m thinking the crew figures are a later moulding than the original kit - they look like Airfix to me but I could be wrong - shockingly, it has been known!!😆. I know Revell did a re-pop of the Frog kit, and as this kit is light grey, I suspect it’s one of those. I can’t find a set of Revell instructions to confirm this though. Edited March 5, 2021 by Brigbeale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 You've got your work cut out for you on this one. Wow. Those off-register roundels are amazing too... 😱 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 5, 2021 Author Share Posted March 5, 2021 The tail booms came apart almost without incident - as my little finger can testify! On the plus side though, they cleaned up well and I removed the sprue gates tabs, which allows the two halves to sit as they should. I also need to fill the sink marks. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Excellent to see parts going back together now they have cleaned up very well too. Hope the finger recovers quickly. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmas Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 20 hours ago, Brigbeale said: I’m thinking the crew figures are a later moulding than the original kit - they look like Airfix to me but I could be wrong - shockingly, it has been known!!😆. I know Revell did a re-pop of the Frog kit, and as this kit is light grey, I suspect it’s one of those. I can’t find a set of Revell instructions to confirm this though. If they are Airfix, they're a lot more detailed than their newer figures! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 (edited) There’s not much to report on last nights progress. I found the cockpit assembly had been glued into the lower half of the fuselage where it should have been in the upper half - hence the pilot sitting too low. Once that’s remedied, it should help to push the top of the cockpit area back up. There’s been something happening in that area (maybe it got trodden on), as there’s a crack alongside the navigator/radar operator position, the aforementioned strip between the pilot and navigator’s position and the top i, as mentioned needs attention and the radius of the whole area is squashed which pushes the sides (where it meets the lower half) out. A bit of time and patience is needed to remedy that little lot. It will get there though. The tail booms were left to sit while the sprue-goo sets on the deep sink mark on one and a minor blemish on the other, both in the same spot. The main outer wings were disassembled. I don’t know if it was the Dettol or what, but mostly the glue seemed just tacky and not cured. It made getting the wing halves apart easier (without injury this time). It was just the outer corners which needed some persuasion. The edges were cleaned up and the rear of the lower halves sanded down a bit to alleviate the big step near the flap/aeleron area. I’ll post some pictures later. I also had a delivery of another eBay win. I sniped it in the closing few seconds - as I tell my wife, it doesn’t matter how long the listing is on for, it’s always the last 30 seconds or so where the ‘action’ happens on eBay. Handled with gloves on of course! It seems my collection of Naval aircraft is getting larger. I really must get to Yeovil to visit the Air Museum (conditions permitting of course). I’d also like to visit XJ580 at Tangmere. They’ve also got a Meteor, Phantom, Lightning and a couple of Harriers😍 Edited March 7, 2021 by Brigbeale 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Excellent to hear of your progress, and great little Ebay win too, you are getting a growing FAA collection there. I am the same always bidding in the last few seconds. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Alrighty then! The damaged upper fuselage half around the navigator/pilot area is putting up a bit of fight. The front of the two? openings is/are squashed down by a mm or so. I push it up (with a bit of force) and it immediately returns to where it was. The only way it would stay where I wanted it was to fix the cockpit assembly into the top half of the fuselage and use wire ties (which have a rubberised coating) to hold it while the TET dried (I tried cable ties, but due to the taper towards the nose, they kept slipping forward, and tape wouldn’t apply the pressure needed). Prior to fitting the cockpit assembly, I also did a bit more cleaning up of the soft paint goop on around that area and removed some excess dried glue from the surfaces. It definitely wasn’t built by a proficient model maker. I also finished cleaning off the outer wings and reattached a small protrusion on the lower half of one wing which broke off when separating the two halves. The tail wing/elevator was also cleaned of smeared paint and excess glue as well as the two external fuel tanks which were badly misaligned. I checked in the upper fuselage half this morning and it appears ok. I fished the cockpit surround out it the parts bag and offered it up to its original position. It fits - kind of, as the pilots seat is too far inboard and needs either moving or filing down a smidge to allow the surround to sit naturally in its original spot. Filing will be the easier option but would it look right?🤷🏻 Time will tell. I’ve decided to cut out and replace the section around the navigators position as it’s probably easier than trying to just make a square piece and curve it rather than try to match the odd shape. I did think about simply adding the later bulged hatch to the ‘coal hole’ but I can’t find a decent picture of XJ580 to confirm if the shape of the hatch. I might ring Tangmere Museum later and just ask. The cleaned up parts and the upper fuselage half. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmas Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 On 3/7/2021 at 9:21 AM, Brigbeale said: I’d also like to visit XJ580 at Tangmere. They’ve also got a Meteor, Phantom, Lightning and a couple of Harriers😍 Of all the aircraft museums, Tangmere is the one I love the best. Whenever Mrs T and I are in that part of the world we pay a visit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Good to see more bits going back on. Great work. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 Hello viewers! I found a pretty decent looking set of decals for the Sea Vixen covering XJ580. I can replicate the crossed panel decals later. Last night, I cut away at the broken area around the two cockpits to square them up. I decided to just replace the strip between them with styrene card. I’ll trim it back again once it’s dry. I found a video on YouTube of a Sea Vixen (I think it was about the ejection seat removal) and took a still from it showing the navigator hatch, I’ll have to try and find it again. I also sanded back the now cured sprue-goo in the sink marks on the tail booms. One needed a second application and the other looks 100% better. The upper and lower halves of the outer wings were TET’d together, pegged and left to dry. One badly misaligned rocket pod was also taken apart, sanded and the two casing halves fitted together properly. I’m not sure about the front cone as there’s no detail to it whatsoever. I’ll try 3D printing a replacement. I also improved my stash storage. I bought 3 more shelves for my IKEA Detolf cabinets. Later the same person offered me six more glass shelves and two doors from another IKEA cabinet. I bought some ‘London’ brackets (I like them as they’re painted, strong and have an industrial look to them) and used the doors as shelves - they’re about 100mm short but good enough for kit storage. I said to SWMBO ‘Looks like it needs more kits to fill it’. I won’t type her reply!😆 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Excellent shot of the top of the Coal hole. The model is coming on now too, great job, love the extra shelving too. You could get a book of raffle tickets and buy a load of kits to fill your shelf space and tell the domestic authorities that you are the lucky winner of an amazing prize!!! Chris 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 The kit is coming along nicely! I was amazed at what terrible shape it was in, but it's really cleaning up! You have the same Ikea cabinets I do. You are also adding in extra shelves like I do too! I buy really cheap picture frames and cut the glass down to size. It's a lot cheaper than going to a glass shop to buy glass. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Good afternoon all. This is just a quick one to show what I’ve been up to today, what with the state of the weather. As said earlier, I wasn’t happy with the Matra rocket pods on this model. The nose cone is devoid of any detail - so it must be a dummy pod??. The nose cone is larger in diameter than the body as well. I recently purchased rocket pod/fuel tank sprue off eBay. The body length is the same but it’s 7.2mm in diameter as opposed to the 5.4mm of the Frog offering. I measured the replacements and jotted down the sizes on a sketch. (The replacements are intended for a BAE Hawk restoration I have planned - and no it’s not an armed Red Arrow😆). I then used Onshape to design it, transferred it to Cura (3D printing slicer) and took a photo of the image. It’ll take an hour to print each one on a 0.8mm layer height using a 0.2mm nozzle. The original Matra rocket pod The replacements for the Hawk restoration The screen image from Cura 3D slicer We’ll have to wait and see how it turns out🤞 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Blimey this 3D printing mullarkey is popping up everywhere! Nice mix of techniques in this restoration. Regards, Adrian 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 18 minutes ago, AdrianMF said: Blimey this 3D printing mullarkey is popping up everywhere It is isn't it, it is great to think you can print a part you need, although its a long way from my door . Fingers crossed the pods turn out okay. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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