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Tubeway Air Force


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With a bit of a pause between my current GB and my looming next GB, I thought I'd go for a quick build  of this..
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Acquired sans decals and with instructions in French, despite which it should be a straight forward job....still how often has that been said before! The white plastic hinted at an unusual and simple scheme.

Edited by alancmlaird
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13 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

I take it you will be building Gary Numan's T-6 which was painted as a Zero then. 

Naturalement mon petit Minnionette!  (Please excuse the furrin reply, MM, I'm focussing my schoolboy French for the task ahead 😁)

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6 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Gary Numan's T-6

Right.  Tubeway Army.  This is a different Gary Numan though, right?

 

"Here in my T-6, I feel safest of all..."  

 

So it'll be a Faux-Zero?  Or is that a 'Zereaux'?

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1 hour ago, John Masters said:

Right.  Tubeway Army.  This is a different Gary Numan though, right?

Nope, same man. See the response above.

 

He was always willing to talk to spectators in the crowd after a performance (in his T-6), came across as a genuinely nice guy.

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Got on with the kit quite well - corners cut by painting the interior and assembling while the paint is still tacky! Seems like 15 years of progress wasn't wasted since Airfix's Harvard was released - have models shown such an increase in quality in the subsequent 40 years?

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I'll let the glue set a bit before the (small amount) of filler is applied. One odd thing is that the radio aerial and pitot tube are moulded into a fuselage and wing half respectively. What's the chances of those staying attached while the rest of the assembling goes on.

 

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1 hour ago, John Masters said:

So it'll be a Faux-Zero?  Or is that a 'Zereaux'?

Well, since its an American airframe carrying Japanese roundels, the correct response would be 'Halt! Friend or faux" :facepalm:

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8 minutes ago, BIG X said:

Hannants used to do the decals for Gary's "zero" - don't know if they still do though...

That's good to know, although I'll have a go at printing my own. I'm going to try and reproduce one of his sponsors' logos by the cockpit - perhaps the Budget Rentacar is the most amusing, and easy to get artwork too!

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On 4/9/2021 at 6:25 PM, modelling minion said:

He was always willing to talk to spectators in the crowd after a performance (in his T-6), came across as a genuinely nice guy.

Very cool indeed.  I wonder if he and Bruce Dickinson get along?  I imagine not...

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1 hour ago, John Masters said:

Very cool indeed.  I wonder if he and Bruce Dickinson get along?  I imagine not...

I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

I have had the pleasure of meeting both at air shows and they were  both very friendly and willing to talk which was great, unlike some celebrities that are firmly inserted in their own back ends.

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Just a quick progress report....
Curse this fine weather detracting me from important modelling stuff (only managing the occasional hour at a time)

f723772e-fab1-4a61-add5-624873e50a71.jpg

 

Most painting done. Should really have had three coats of white gloss, but two was very nearly enough, just filler slightly showing through in a couple of places underneath.

Home-produced transfers went on without a hitch, though still haven't decided on sponsorship logos or not.

Various kit parts were left off or removed - all armament and their moulded in pegs under the wings, also small intake (part no.39) above main intake on port side, spinner, radio mast and teardrop fairing behind canopy. I bent the moulded-in pitot tube so often I removed it for its own safety!

Texan canopy framing has fewer elements than Harvard, so the tedious job (much worse than rigging a biplane!) of cutting white masking tape to shape is started - but only just.

 

Next photo will see it finished.

Edited by alancmlaird
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On 4/17/2021 at 11:06 AM, alancmlaird said:

Just a quick progress report....
Curse this fine weather detracting me from important modelling stuff (only managing the occasional hour at a time)

f723772e-fab1-4a61-add5-624873e50a71.jpg

 

Most painting done. Should really have had three coats of white gloss, but two was very nearly enough, just filler slightly showing through in a couple of places underneath.

Home-produced transfers went on without a hitch, though still haven't decided on sponsorship logos or not.

Various kit parts were left off or removed - all armament and their moulded in pegs under the wings, also small intake (part no.39) above main intake on port side, spinner, radio mast and teardrop fairing behind canopy. I bent the moulded-in pitot tube so often I removed it for its own safety!

Texan canopy framing has fewer elements than Harvard, so the tedious job (much worse than rigging a biplane!) of cutting white masking tape to shape is started - but only just.

 

Next photo will see it finished.

Looking nice! I was literally sat in G-AZSC a few days ago. If you're interested, the interior colour is US Interior Green.

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8 hours ago, John Masters said:

That went from the box to the shelf in record time!  Nicely done on the decals.

Ta! Not my usual pace, i can assure you.

7 hours ago, 85sqn said:

Looking nice! I was literally sat in G-AZSC a few days ago. If you're interested, the interior colour is US Interior Green.

Thanks for the confirmation of my guess! In all the photos I could find of 'SZC, not one gave a hint of the interior colour, so I made a guess at int. green - though it nearly ended up 'default' matt black. I've held off glueing on  the canopy in case definitive evidence turned up.....it just did!!!

The range of knowledge of BM members is astonishing.

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4 hours ago, alancmlaird said:

Ta! Not my usual pace, i can assure you.

Thanks for the confirmation of my guess! In all the photos I could find of 'SZC, not one gave a hint of the interior colour, so I made a guess at int. green - though it nearly ended up 'default' matt black. I've held off glueing on  the canopy in case definitive evidence turned up.....it just did!!!

The range of knowledge of BM members is astonishing.

I believe it originally started as British Interior green as that is what is in the baggage hold but at some point looks like it had the US colour painted within the cockpit and they must have missed it out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finals...

121bdb06-d98d-48e3-ac9d-60235dabb942.jpg

 

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And last but not least, 'ZSC posed alongside a civvie Harvard I built about 50 years ago! 

Registration letters by Letraset dry transfer (remember those?) and dayglo paint 'borrowed' from a fellow modeler!

 

0a0175cd-f6da-4369-b0e4-b38594ccb0a5.jpg

 

Edited by alancmlaird
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Ha! Just putting the pair of them on my 'Shelf of Done' and noticed.....'ZBN, has black walkways, 'ZSC hasn't.

But it should have! Not finished yet, dashitall.

 

Meant to mention the new extended exhaust pipe on 'ZSC, just like 'ZBN. Made from a piece of sprue from the kit, the short pipe must be a Texan thing.

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