The great 1/72 Glider build - more Air Cadet flying machines

[Terry1954]

It's been quite a while since I started a new aircraft WIP. A number of things have conspired to explain my absence, in addition to a general lack of modelling mojo during the last year. Family matters, much garden related DIY and I have been building other stuff, just no WIP's on here. Guilty as charged!

 

Obvs, there are two ongoing WIP's with my name against them elsewhere, a 1/72 Vosper, and a 1/72 Gamecock, but also behind the scenes a 1/48 Meteor, a 1/72 P-51H and a couple of 1/144 airliners are all perilously close to paint. Indeed the Meteor has paint and awaits decals. I'll RFI all those in due course, and continue with the Vosper and Gamecock WIP's. Mojo is well and truly restored I'm happy to say, so here we go............

 

Those who know me well are aware of my love of gliders, and especially those used to train Air Cadets through the ages. Apart from the two I have made, a T31 and a T21 (WIP's and RFI's can be found somewhere in my signature details), I have collected no less than five further models to be constructed, which collectively represent a decent chunk of training gliders used by the Air Cadet organisations over the years. 

 

The collection consists of these fine aircraft.............

 

A rather nice resin Mk 1 by CMR, a twin kit injection moulded Grunau Baby from AZ, a resin T53B Phoenix by scale resin and a resin Grob Viking by Heritage Aviation.

 

 

That last box is not very illustrative, so here is a shot of the "instruction sheet":

 

 

On a number of occasions in the past year or so, I have hinted to @perdu that I might add to the glider collection, so (long overdue) I'm going to follow in your footsteps Bill and use this thread to as a WIP to build as many of the above that I can cope with! I'll make sure each one gets it's own RFI.

 

I suspect @stringbag, who provided much valuable reference material for the T31 build, might enjoy this thread also.

 

Enough preamble. The chosen first subject off the blocks is the resin Grob Viking. A lovely example by Heritage Aviation:

 

 

The parts are very nicely moulded with no apparent warping or shrinkage, and only some very minor air bubbles in one or two places. Should be a breeze 

 

Had to take a bit of care removing the fuselage from it's resin plug, taking extra care not to spoil any of the wheel, underside moulding.

 

 

For now I will clean up the wheels and see how they look, but being moulded in, they may not quite look the part. On the T21 and T31, I constructed wheels from scrap spares and embedded them, which might look better here.

 

Here we have everything cleaned up and removed from the resin plugs:

 

 

I'll need to scan the web for some detailed cockpit shots as I plan to "add a bit" to enhance the very nicely moulded seats and I/P comings.

 

Wings dry fitted, and a quick size comparison with the Viking's older cousins, first the T21 then the T31.

 

 

Much to do, more soon!

 

Terry

[Lord Riot]

Superb!

 

Many, many years ago as a fresh faced air cadet, I remember being told at RAF Woodvale that I was only the second (or was it fourth) cadet in the country to fly in a Grob. I think the serial was ZE498.

 

I still preferred the old Sedberghs though. Launched by a winch attached to a Land Rover if I recall correctly. I wish these were available in 1/48.

 

Looking forward to seeing these builds!

 

 

[perdu]

Me too

 

Has to be done Terry mate, cheers.

[bigbadbadge]

If you don't mind me tagging along , I can watch quietly from the back of the room, I really enjoyed your T21 build that was absolutely amazing.  

Chris 

[Back in the Saddle]

I shall enjoy watching these come together Terry, so will follow this one!

[Ruskin Air Services]

Got my gliders wings in a Slingsby venture T2 at RAF Swanton Morley great times

[BritJet]

Hope these help - ZE606/XF Bristol 2009

 

 

 

Steve

[Terry1954]

3 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Superb!

 

Many, many years ago as a fresh faced air cadet, I remember being told at RAF Woodvale that I was only the second (or was it fourth) cadet in the country to fly in a Grob. I think the serial was ZE498.

 

I still preferred the old Sedberghs though. Launched by a winch attached to a Land Rover if I recall correctly. I wish these were available in 1/48.

 

Looking forward to seeing these builds!

 

 

 

Thanks. So you are young enough to have flown a Grob!  All my gliding training was in T21's or T31's

 

 

2 hours ago, perdu said:

Me too

 

Has to be done Terry mate, cheers.

 

Indeed Bill, has to be done. I will try not to disappoint!

 

2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

If you don't mind me tagging along , I can watch quietly from the back of the room, I really enjoyed your T21 build that was absolutely amazing.  

Chris 

 

Thanks Chris. Glad you liked the T21 build, seems a long time ago now. Hopefully I can get some of these together a bit faster!

 

2 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I shall enjoy watching these come together Terry, so will follow this one!

 

Thanks Matt. Glad to have you along.

 

47 minutes ago, Ruskin Air Services said:

Got my gliders wings in a Slingsby venture T2 at RAF Swanton Morley great times

 

Now that I would like to have done! My wings were gained on the T31, but would loved to have flown a Venture. I have the Aeroclub 1/72 Venture, so will one day do a WIP on that one .............. or maybe I should tag that one onto the end!

 

48 minutes ago, BritJet said:

Hope these help - ZE606/XF Bristol 2009

 

Thanks so much for those pictures Steve. They will be really helpful. I can already see some area I need to refine!

 

Great to have you all along for these builds. Could be a long one, I hop you have staying power!

 

Terry

 

 

 

 

[stringbag]

5 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

I suspect @stringbag, who provided much valuable reference material for the T31 build, might enjoy this thread also.

 

Terry

I certainly will Terry. 

[Terry1954]

16 hours ago, BritJet said:

 

Steve's incredible pictures above are extremely helpful. Together with a search on the net, it is clear that this small cockpit could be made to look something special. So I decided to give it a go, potentially with open canopy/canopies, although we'll worry about that much later on!

To get to anything that resembles this, even in 1/72 will need much hollowing out, thinning of sidewalls and scratch building of various items.

 

So we have this to start with:

 

 

My thinking is that if I'm to make it look anything like the pictures above, the big bulkhead between front and rear aviators needs removing, and also the nose needs hollowing out.

 

So out came my trusty mini "dremel" and off we went with some grinding bits, using I hasten to add, plenty of water and this years model of Covid mask....

 

After 5 minutes we got this. I'm aiming to remove most of this bulkhead but retain the lower part of the front edge, as that supports the lower rear of the front seat and sets it at what looks like the correct angle

 

 

A few more minutes and we got this (shown before rinsing)

 

 

Happy with that bulkhead so far, attention went to the nose, where a drill then a round grinding bit gave us this:

 

 

Then some refinement of the nose with the grinding bits

 

 

Ideally I want the front part ground out to floor level (as per prototype) but this next shot shows how perilously thin the bottom corner edges of the cockpit floor are, so some thought and certainly care needed to get that next part out. You can see the light either side of the front cockpit floor!

 

 

Test fitting the seats, which themselves are not bad, so will probably use these with some refinement and detail

 

 

Then a test fit of the I/P supplied. I'm undecided whether to use these as they need to be refined more, or replaced by more delicately detailed scratch items.

 

 

 

More grinding and refining needed in the cockpit, but you get the idea I hope.

 

More soon.

 

Terry

[BritJet]

Good to see one of these being built, I did the artwork for the decals and painting instructions. Glad the photos are useful, with your extra work on the cockpit I hope you're going to add the pinstripes on the seats as well....

 

Steve

[Terry1954]

2 hours ago, BritJet said:

I hope you're going to add the pinstripes on the seats as well....

Hmmm, tempted!

 

Terry

[Fritag]

I’ll tag along too, if I might, Terry.  Nice start on the cockpits.  Fine (and brave) dremeling Sir.

 

I’ve a soft spot for gliding; fair few sites not far from home, Sutton Bank, Rufforth and Pocklington to name the first few that come to mind.  We were cycling out near Pocklington today and saw several gliders glinting in the sunlight, quite high.  Always makes me want to join a club.  I did a (very) little bit of gliding donkey’s years ago.  maybe in retirement……

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Great job with the dremel, that was close.  Looks good with ghe seats in 

 

[Hamden]

 

Room for one more?

Really enjoy your builds Terry and looking forward to watching you take these to the next level!

 

  Stay safe          Roger

[Martian]

More please!

 

Impatient of Mars 

[Terry1954]

22 hours ago, Fritag said:

I’ll tag along too, if I might, Terry.  Nice start on the cockpits.  Fine (and brave) dremeling Sir.

 

I’ve a soft spot for gliding; fair few sites not far from home, Sutton Bank, Rufforth and Pocklington to name the first few that come to mind.  We were cycling out near Pocklington today and saw several gliders glinting in the sunlight, quite high.  Always makes me want to join a club.  I did a (very) little bit of gliding donkey’s years ago.  maybe in retirement……

 

 

 

 

Welcome Steve, and thanks. The dremeling is definitely nerve wracking. I loved gliding in my younger days, and I can see myself joining our local club near Bovington, now I have more time. I had a significant birthday the year before last and a good friend bought me a gliding experience for use at the club. Couldn't use it that winter 2019/20 due to weather, then in the spring of last year Covid came, so I am hoping I'll be able to go over the next couple of months. Can't wait. Definitely think you should give it a go again, if of course you can cope with top speeds that I suspect are considerably slower than the fully flapped stall in a Jaguar!

 

 

22 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great job with the dremel, that was close.  Looks good with ghe seats in 

 

 

Yes, a bit close. You'll see below I've beefed it up a bit with cyno and the seats aren't staying as they are!

 

13 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Room for one more?

Really enjoy your builds Terry and looking forward to watching you take these to the next level!

 

  Stay safe          Roger

 

Always room for you Roger, and glad you enjoy my builds. I've not shared many lately as you know!

 

8 hours ago, Martian said:

More please!

 

Impatient of Mars 

 

Of course dear sir, but you do know I'm not that fast!

 

So today saw a little more work done in the cockpit, but the weather was too good to be in doors most of the day, so we took ourselves off to Wareham for lunch and a long stroll along the Frome out towards the back of Poole Harbour. This shot was taken looking west, back up the river. I need a boat!

 

 

As for the Grob. Steve's reference pictures and numerous others on the web have enabled me to see some immense detail in my quest for accuracy in the cockpit in this scale. Unfortunately, I have to rely on pictures, to judge the size of things.

 

For example, I have concluded the seats are completely wrong, and need reshaping and cutting down at the back

 

 

Both will go this way, as it's clear in photo references that they recline quite a bit and have low backs, pinched in seat pans and a completely separate head rest.

 

The cockpit itself has been further dremeled out, but as a safety measure I ran some cyno down the lower edges either side of the floor pan.

 

Also you can just make out the central "slots where I plan to site the I/P's. You can also see the nose is now very cavernous! Well on the real machine, the front guy needs his feet right down in the nose to work the rudder pedals. Rear guys pedals are are almost underneath the front seat pan.

 

 

It's all very tight in this space, as it is in the real deal, and you can see the slightly re-shaped and reduced seats positioned to test the fit. I still need to get the seat base/pan lower I think.

 

 

I'm modifying the supplied I/P's to look more like the real thing. 

 

 

This is an initial attempt to see if the coming (to shade against glare?) can be semi replicated. The idea being it gets trimmed and faired in as appropriate.

 

 

A quick shot seeing how it all fits. Front coming yet to be added, once I'm convinced the rear coming idea works.

 

 

I'm planning to add a lot more detail in here, but it's all a matter of trial and error for size and looks. I'm also not convinced about that rear coming. Even when its properly faired in I think it will make the whole panel too large. Might need to scratch smaller ones.

 

Unlike my T21 and T31 builds, each with open (to the air) cockpits, this one will be much more visible, even with canopy closed. No real way of seeing inside these, but I know the detail is there!

 

 

More soon

 

Terry

 

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

Nerve-wracking Dremelling! Those seats and IP’s are already looking much better.

[Martian]

2 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

I need a boat!

I do keep offering you the opportunity!

 

Captain Flog 'Em von Martian 

[Martian]

You do walk into these things Terry!

 

Martian 

[Terry1954]

12 minutes ago, Martian said:

You do walk into these things Terry!

 

Martian 

Yes, i tend to forget that members of HM press gang frequent these pages!

 

Terry

[Martian]

4 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Yes, i tend to forget that members of HM press gang frequent these pages!

 

Terry

Just read this to Mrs Martian. She is now laughing in a somewhat, for you anyway, disturbing and maniacal manner.

 

Martian 

[bigbadbadge]

Those seats and instrument  binnacle look fantastic. 

Great job

Chris

[Brandy]

On 6/12/2021 at 2:21 AM, Ruskin Air Services said:

Got my gliders wings in a Slingsby venture T2 at RAF Swanton Morley great times

I got mine in a Venture at RAF Newton. I think my instructor's name was Mike Throstle.

Great memories.

 

Lovely work so far on improving the cockpit Terry. Are you going to thin the sides too?

 

Ian

[junglierating]

This is interesting....got to be honest as an ex matelot and AE branch I was an air cadet and earnt my gliding wings on a motorised glider with a vw engine.....what were they called....Venture????