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

[general melchett]

Yes, belated salutations Terry, looks like you had a good time with the tribe. 

 

Quote

I recall one occasion when the voice in the back congratulated me on some very good straight and level flying.

 

I got that same comment from the occupant of the luggage compartment when one of my hapless colleagues lifted the wing and I shouted 'take up slack'..........set the tone for the following flight!

 

 

 

 

I recognize that 1000 yard stare....mine usually kicks in when I spot my Wet Nelly nearing the table....(I see the unmarked Penderyn Brecon Five Black is disappearing at a rate of knots, good man).

 

 

[corsaircorp]

a bit on the late side but Happy Birthday Terry !!

A great surprise indeed, I really like it !!

Sincerely.

CC

 

[Cookenbacher]

Even later Happy Birthday Terry!

[Terry1954]

Thanks for the belated birthday wishes @giemme, @Biggles87 @Hamden, @keefr22@general melchett @corsaircorp and @Cookenbacher. Always better late than never!

 

Most of my recent modelling work has been taken up producing more 1/72 Target Drones and a couple of 1/35 AFV's (for my Tank Museum display), but this week saw some progress on the two Grunau Baby kits.

 

I decided to build both as is, and not convert one to a Prefect at this stage. There will be a Prefect at some point, but that is likely to involve 3D tech and will therefore take more time when I eventually get fully kitted out for that. Meanwhile, I felt the need for some (almost) out of the box modelling.

 

All internals were airbrushed Tamiya interior green, sealed with varnish and then given a panel wash of Warhammer Nuln Oil which I have found to be a very effective but subtle dark wash.

 

 

The seats were completed and painted, one with basic harnesses from masking tape, the other using the Brengun etch. You can probably tell which is which 

 

 

 

The gliders themselves are quite small, and the cockpit opening very small, so very little will be seen, especially as the wing leading edge blocks most of the view inside.

 

Both units cemented inside respective fuselage. Those headrests need mould release pin marks removed. 

 

 

 

The Brengun set provides two lots of etch for the two gliders in the kit, but also two different types of IP for each one, along with some acetate instrument dials, again of two distinct types.

 

The two types can be seen upper right, with repeats to the left.

 

 

I decided to put one of each type in each kit, just so that there are some differences.

 

These are the two larger panels with the acetate dials glued behind them, ready to be trimmed. The picture is not great due to reflections, but you really can see the dial detail when "in the flesh". I painted the rear of the acetate white to emphasise that.

 

 

The larger panel fitted in place in one of the gliders...

 

 

And the smaller one in the other.....

 

 

And, already, I got to close up both fuselages. 

 

 

 

Both have had a small amount of Mr Surfacer 1200 applied to fuselage seams, as a fine filler.

 

Once they are fully dry tomorrow, some sanding and cleaning up to be done, then the flying surfaces will follow.

 

The twin kit gives a very decent set of decals for several immediate post WWII Czech and Slovak examples, but I'm considering a couple of different finishes for these, one RAF and one French Air Force to keep more within the theme of Cadet trainers.

 

Examples of these appear in the Fly 1/48 releases I understand, and look like this.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll obvs need to source decals for both these versions, which hopefully won't be too difficult.

 

More soon.

 

Terry

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey they are tiny cockpits Terry, schemes look lovely too.  Great work. 

Chris

[Biggles87]

Coming along nicely.

I think the Prefect cockpit opening was even smaller than the Grunau Baby with the ‘ lid ‘ in place, we used to fly with it off sometimes just for a change.

 

John.  

[giemme]

Great job on the tiny interiors, Terry!

 

Ciao 

[Courageous]

A good start on the Babies Terry, schemes look cool too.

 

Stuart

[Fritag]

Agreed; smashing interiors. That’s a pretty glider that looks well in the RAF and French colours.

[AdrianMF]

Looking good! Microscopic instrument panels, but I suppose they dont have all those dials for oil pressure etc

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

[Terry1954]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:09 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Crikey they are tiny cockpits Terry, schemes look lovely too.  Great work. 

Chris

 

Thanks, and yes they are a bit small Chris!

 

On 10/2/2022 at 6:58 AM, Biggles87 said:

Coming along nicely.

I think the Prefect cockpit opening was even smaller than the Grunau Baby with the ‘ lid ‘ in place, we used to fly with it off sometimes just for a change.

 

John.  

 

Thanks John. Yes, the drawings I have  of the prefect do look slightly different around the cockpit. That's one for another day though, as these two need finishing for Telford 

 

On 10/2/2022 at 9:01 AM, giemme said:

Great job on the tiny interiors, Terry!

 

Thank you Giorgio!

 

On 10/2/2022 at 7:56 PM, Courageous said:

A good start on the Babies Terry, schemes look cool too.

 

 

Thanks Stuart. What I need to accomplish now though, is to make them both achieve a great finished status!

 

On 10/2/2022 at 9:51 PM, Fritag said:

Agreed; smashing interiors. That’s a pretty glider that looks well in the RAF and French colours.

 

Thanks Steve. I like those two schemes a lot, and they should sit well with the rest of the collection ......... when I actually get them done. 

 

On 10/2/2022 at 11:39 PM, AdrianMF said:

Looking good! Microscopic instrument panels, but I suppose they dont have all those dials for oil pressure etc

 

Thanks Adrian. Very few dials in these things. If my memory serves me right, these Grunau's have a very similar basic panel to the T31, which basically had an ASI and an altimeter, with a variometer stuck in between looking like an afterthought. That one was the pure sophistication (not) being a glass tube with little coloured beads. I think the green one shot up the tube when we had lift, and the red one down when we had sink! Oh and there was an equally sophisticated instrument for indicating yaw, or side slip - a piece of string tied onto the pitot in front of us. Very important in a glider (and powered aircraft too of course) as yaw can cause drag, which is not efficient and can be dodgy close to stalling speed. You could almost believe I know what I'm talking about, but it's a very distant memory now, as that was 1970! There are others on here who could explain it all better I'm sure.

 

It's a busy time for modelling at the moment with Telford looming, and many projects racing for the finish line including no less than 7 assorted small drones all in 1/72, as well as these two gliders and one or two other bits.

 

Modelling became interrupted this week after a quick hospital visit to finally have my right leg fixed (dodgy veins lasered out). It had been scheduled for a month ago, and indeed I sat in pre-op back then ready to go, but the Op was cancelled at the very last minute after almost 5 hours in the room next to the theatre. But this week was success, so I now have two good legs again, and life can start to get back to normal. Only challenge has been the dressings and post Op activities, made sitting in the modelling den almost impossible, but the dressing came off today, and things are a bit easier now, so some progress........

 

Tailplanes on..........

 

 

Wings on.............

 

 

I'll leave those overnight to set firmly, then wing and tailplane braces will go on.

 

The workbench is being shared with numerous drones, all of which are close to paint also, although the four smallest in the front, still have some small fins and winglets to be added .........

 

 

And to show just how small the Grunau is, a comparison with the big Firebee.....

 

 

We should get to paint soon on the two babies...........

 

Terry

[Courageous]

23 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

What I need to accomplish now though, is to make them both achieve a great finished status!

It would help 

Everything is looking great, gliders and drones. Just keep going, Nationals are nearly here.

 

Stuart

[bigbadbadge]

Glad you got your legs sorted Terry,  there'll be no stopping you round Telford now  

Gliders looking good with wings and empenages on .  Drones look great too.

Great work 

Chris

[Cookenbacher]

Very interesting juxtaposition of projects Terry - if anyone's wondered about the size of a Firebee compared to a glider, it's a one stop shop! Wonderful and delicate work on these, looking forward to paint.

[giemme]

Glad to know both your legs got fixed, Terry  No one can stop you from pub touring at Telford now  

 

Busy workbench, all coming along nicely   

 

Ciao 

[Terry1954]

Well, more progress on these and various other projects with the Telford deadline approaching fast.......

 

On 10/15/2022 at 7:17 PM, Courageous said:

Everything is looking great, gliders and drones. Just keep going, Nationals are nearly here.

 

Thanks Stuart, full on here this week as Mrs T is away so I'm Billy No-mates at the mo!

 

On 10/15/2022 at 7:18 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Glad you got your legs sorted Terry,  there'll be no stopping you round Telford now  

Gliders looking good with wings and empenages on .  Drones look great too.

 

Thanks Chris. Leg fixing has been a defining moment as it means I can get back to regular walks along and around the South Coast path, which we are very close to, and as for Telford, no stopping me indeed!

 

On 10/15/2022 at 8:09 PM, Cookenbacher said:

Very interesting juxtaposition of projects Terry - if anyone's wondered about the size of a Firebee compared to a glider, it's a one stop shop! Wonderful and delicate work on these, looking forward to paint.

 

Thanks Cookie, paint is coming......

 

On 10/16/2022 at 9:14 AM, giemme said:

Glad to know both your legs got fixed, Terry  No one can stop you from pub touring at Telford now  

 

Busy workbench, all coming along nicely   

 

 

Thanks Giorgio. There will no doubt be some pub touring around the TIC, looking forward to that very much. And the workbench is still busy........

 

The Babys needed wing and tailplane supports adding thus:

 

 

The Brengun etch set provides some minute aileron control horns, as you can see...

 

 

My concern about using these was that being etch onto plastic, they would have needed a minute amount of superglue, and given the size and the locating challenge of 4 per glider. there was no room for error, so I decided on a different solution in the form of tiny 5 thou plastic card horns .........

 

 

I was much more comfortable holding these in place with tweezers, and applying a small dab of TET, quick set.

 

End result lower port wing ...

 

 

Upper starboard wing.....

 

 

OK, not as good as the etch, and maybe not 100% accurate, but for the size of these, I get a pretty reasonable effect. Happy.

 

Airbrush prep was interesting, as there are not many holes to poke sticks 

 

The little white plugs are plastic rod fettled to a snug fit into the small vision ports, either side of the IP.

 

 

So a couple of light coats of MRP Fine Surface Primer on each, the French one having a white base, and the British example having flesh coloured primer which is darker than the beige top coat I'm planning for that one. 

 

 

Top coats next on both, and some careful masking then on the French machine, for all that lovely dayglo! And for the British machine, having seen the superb results that Steve @Fritag recently achieved with Revell 330 albeit somewhat thick (understatement), I intend to use this one, extensively suitably thinned...............

 

 

Hopefully tomorrow, we can see some results. 

 

And for those interested, the drones are progressing on the same workbench, with all seven having had a couple of light coats of primer.........

 

 

And some tricky work on the two KDA-1's in the form of etched tail fins. Guess who forgot to add them before priming  ......

 

 

And those interested (maybe @Courageous) that remember the recent recent US Army QF-86E I finished (in an RFI somewhere), another Sabre drone is taking shape in the form of a US Navy QF-86F...........

 

 

The law of massed modelling must surely dictate, that at least some of these drones will make it to Telford and appear on the Target Facilities SIG stand 

 

More soon

 

Terry

[AdrianMF]

Diverse doesn’t even start to cover it! All looking super.

 

When I opened my pot of Revell beige I thought “who needs Mr Surfacer now?”

 

Regards,

Adrian

[bigbadbadge]

Nice progress Terry, glad you were able to get some holding sticks in those gliders otherwise could have been interesting.

Drones look interesting too. 

Greatcwork  hope you can get as many ready for Telford as possible. 

Chris

[Courageous]

2 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

another Sabre drone

Maybe I'll do one one day but not just yet.

Well, you being 'Billy' this week should enable you to get everything done then. But then, some movement is better than none, ask Vosper 

 

Stuart

[giemme]

Wow, some progress there, Terry!  

 

Ciao

[Fritag]

Good progress Terry.  Looking forward to hear how the Revell Beige behaves, whilst expressing a lawyerly disclaimer as to responsibility for any adverse effects (which disclaimer, to be  even more lawyerly, was already implied) 

 

In a pre-lawyer existence I had a run in with a drone as it ‘appens.  Chucking a sidewinder at a jindivik; or a flare towed by a jindivik anyways.  I claim one jindivik badly frightened.  I’ve got a sidewinder connection cable somewhere in the ‘ouse as a memento.

[TheBaron]

I think you made the right decision for the control horn Terry: much better to have a reliably attached expression of a part than a PE replica that detatches to become a memory only.

 

That's one hell of an squadron you have forming for Telford. Kudos to you!

 

Can't match @Fritag Sidewinder story for drama, but I did manage to back into the very pointy nose of a Shorts Bros. drone in the hangar at Ulster Aviation whilst bent over photographing the underside of their Canberra.  Knowing Norn Iron humour they probably painted an a**e on the side of it after I left as a confirmed interception.

 

 

[RidgeRunner]

17 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

And those interested (maybe @Courageous) that remember the recent recent US Army QF-86E I finished (in an RFI somewhere), another Sabre drone is taking shape in the form of a US Navy QF-86F...........

Definetly interested, Terry :). I will look forward to that. I like your glider family too  (not sure about the drones yet ......  )

 

Martin

[Terry1954]

17 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Diverse doesn’t even start to cover it! All looking super.

 

When I opened my pot of Revell beige I thought “who needs Mr Surfacer now?”

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

Thanks Adrian. I always like to be a bit diverse!

 

I can fully understand the comment re Mr Surfacer. That Revell paint is THICK, but as you will see below, it works well when heavily thinned, so it's very good value for money!

 

15 hours ago, Courageous said:

Well, you being 'Billy' this week should enable you to get everything done then. But then, some movement is better than none, ask Vosper 

 

 

I asked the Vosper and she just turned her back on me and sulked .......... 

 

8 hours ago, giemme said:

Wow, some progress there, Terry!

 

Thanks Giorgio, I'm getting there!

 

8 hours ago, Fritag said:

Good progress Terry.  Looking forward to hear how the Revell Beige behaves, whilst expressing a lawyerly disclaimer as to responsibility for any adverse effects (which disclaimer, to be  even more lawyerly, was already implied) 

 

Thank you Steve. The Revell Beige has behaved extremely well it seems, so I can stand my own lawyer down (step son-in-law as it happens).

 

As you suggested, I used plenty of X20A at around the 66% recurring mark, and (I hope you will agree) it sprayed really well .....

 

 

That's after a couple of very light passes all over, and I think I'll leave it at that.

 

I have a dozen or so of those square Revell colours, and have always been dubious about using them. Turns out they are excellent paint, and they will go a long way!

 

8 hours ago, Fritag said:

In a pre-lawyer existence I had a run in with a drone as it ‘appens.  Chucking a sidewinder at a jindivik; or a flare towed by a jindivik anyways.  I claim one jindivik badly frightened.  I’ve got a sidewinder connection cable somewhere in the ‘ouse as a memento.

 

5 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Can't match @Fritag Sidewinder story for drama, but I did manage to back into the very pointy nose of a Shorts Bros. drone in the hangar at Ulster Aviation whilst bent over photographing the underside of their Canberra.  Knowing Norn Iron humour they probably painted an a**e on the side of it after I left as a confirmed interception.

 

Well judging by those two "tales of drones" it seems you both managed to scare a Jindivik each in your own sweet way ...........!

 

I happen to know that @Martian has a tail piece from a real Jindivik, and if he and I can get our act together before Telford, it should make its way to the TF SIG stand, in the back of my car. Perhaps Steve will be able to inspect it closely and tell us if it was the one he scared off?

 

6 hours ago, TheBaron said:

I think you made the right decision for the control horn Terry: much better to have a reliably attached expression of a part than a PE replica that detatches to become a memory only.

 

Thanks Tony, that was my thinking too!

 

34 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:

Definetly interested, Terry :). I will look forward to that. I like your glider family too  (not sure about the drones yet ......  )

 

 

Well, it'll have it's own RFI when done, and there is a slim chance it will be finished by Telford, but that's VERY slim! As for the drones, they can grow on you........... 

 

So as shown above, the British Baby had a nice coat of Beige which covered the darker flesh coloured primer pretty well, even a bit of pre shading showing when close up.

 

The French Baby has had a dusting of semi gloss white (mixed matt and gloss Tamiya).....

 

 

 

All will rest nicely overnight, and tomorrow the French Baby will get some dayglo.

 

And now a public health warning, or rather something I discovered when airbrushing the QF-86F internals in chromate green..............

 

I decided on this stuff as I'd used the green before on a number of interiors

 

 

The Mission Models paint is quite thick (nothing like Revell's though) so I mixed a little of their own brand thinners with the paint.

Result....

 

 

A gunky mess.

 

I recall the last time I used the green, I diluted it with water, so I tried that instead and hey presto, water mix on left, Mission Models "special" thinner on right

 

 

The water mixture airbrushed beautifully. Now there's a thing. 

 

Draw your own conclusions, but I would like to know if anyone else has used MM thinners?

 

More soon

 

Terry

[giemme]

54 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Draw your own conclusions, but I would like to know if anyone else has used MM thinners?

I haven't, but I can confirm that they work just fine with water  

 

Ciao