Adam Poultney Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 T53 isn't a pretty glider is it.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Glad you enjoyed your trip - looks very spectacular - and got over the chest infection. That glider kit seems designed to raise your stress levels with its fragile centre section and see thru fuselage! Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted January 18, 2023 Author Share Posted January 18, 2023 On 1/16/2023 at 11:28 PM, bigbadbadge said: Nice choice of Glider kit, that joint looks delicate though, phew, glad that came out well. Thanks Chris. It was a phew moment, I can assure you! On 1/17/2023 at 3:50 AM, Cookenbacher said: Wow, Norway looks spectacular Terry! Looking forward to more glider goodness. Norway was indeed spectacular Cookie. Mrs T and I plan to go up that way again sometime soon, but this time during the summer. A very different prospect. On 1/17/2023 at 7:42 AM, Paul J said: Lovely pics of the Norwegian tour. Thanks Paul. Your introduction to gliding sounded frustrating but at least you ended up local at Tangmere. On 1/17/2023 at 9:52 AM, Hamden said: Nice looking pictures of Norway you have there Terry. An interesting glider you have on the bench there, looking forward to watching it progress to the finish line. Stay safe Roger Thanks Roger. Three left (at the moment) after this one. The collection grows. Will have to build a fast jet soon though, so we might take a break when this one is done!! 21 hours ago, giemme said: Some lovely pics from your trip to Norway, Terry! I love the one with the two of you, looks like you were really having a great time! Interesting start on this resin kit - or should I say scary? Thank you Giorgio! Scary definitely the word!! 2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: Hi Terry! I went up there (not the museum) in 1978. As I'm sure you know, a certain Gary Francis Powers tried to get there in 1960 on the infamous US spy mission, when he flew from Peshawar in Pakistan, but was shot down over the Ural mountains. An incredible flight when you look at the map. I recall hearing about the incident as a child and told myself I would one day like to visit Bodo, and hey presto, 60 years later, I made it! No longer an operational Nato base it appears, but still plenty of signs of dispersals and HAS in the distant parts just visible from the museum, which is at the Eastern end of the Runway. Plenty of civil traffic still however. Another fascinating airfield was the one at Alta in the extreme North. The ship actually had to stop before passing the end of the runway as an incoming flight was about to land. The cruise berth was right next to the end of the runway, and indeed we watched the incoming 737 fly below the upper deck of the ship, as it passed over the runup to the threshold. Too low for a picture from the upper deck (the forward structure of the ship was in the way), but this is the runway seen 5 minutes later as the ship passed the end ... 2 hours ago, Adam Poultney said: T53 isn't a pretty glider is it.... I guess that depends on your point of view Adam! To this 16 year old, back in a cold January 1971, it would have looked much more inviting than the open cockpit of the T31! Eye of the beholder and all that ...... 1 hour ago, AdrianMF said: Glad you enjoyed your trip - looks very spectacular - and got over the chest infection. That glider kit seems designed to raise your stress levels with its fragile centre section and see thru fuselage! Regards, Adrian Thanks Adrian. I definitely suffered from separation anxiety when I was cutting away those parts! The only stress now is a constant fear of breaking that join whilst cleaning things up and generally handling the wing. It would be a challenge to repair as the centre section fits into the rear of the cockpit, and will be fully visible when complete. No nice solid resin to locate any nice strong brass pins, although I am going to put some thought as to how it might be strengthened as is. Nothing spectacular to show yet other than plastic card shim (15 thou) in place along the port underside ..... Plastic shim tidied up a bit and a good dose of Mr Base White .................. It's clear that more Mr Base White will be needed, but I'll let that coat dry off overnight, even though it already feels dry. More soon. T. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 The holiday looks spectacular! The gliders aren’t bad either…!😁 Glad you’re over the chest infection, those can be nasty… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Another glider on the go then and I thought that submarine kits have a low parts count. Glad you had a great holiday, now, crack-on. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 On 1/18/2023 at 4:54 PM, Back in the Saddle said: The holiday looks spectacular! The gliders aren’t bad either…!😁 Glad you’re over the chest infection, those can be nasty… Thanks Matt. The holiday was fantastic and some good warmer sea air has helped sort the chest infection at last. On 1/18/2023 at 7:15 PM, Courageous said: Another glider on the go then and I thought that submarine kits have a low parts count. Glad you had a great holiday, now, crack-on. Yes, another glider. Number 7 in the series. Parts count can be very misleading you know Stuart 🤫, they can fool you into thinking these things are simple builds! Cracking on at my usual pace of course ................... There have been a few distractions lately in the form of some DIY stuff around the house (even relatively new houses need TLC) and a trip across the border to Lyme Regis in Devon for some much needed R&R. T'was a beautiful morning in Lyme, looking back east towards home ...... On the way home from Lyme later in the day, we just had to call in at the Axminster Tool centre, where I picked up something I’d had my eye on for some time - a bench top, Mill/Drill for some of my recent more frequent, dabbling into model engineering. I have a stalled scale model class 59 loco build (white metal, etched brass, plus lots of scratch brass) that I need to fabricate some "innards" on which to mount a brass sprung chassis and motor. The innards will need to be built reasonably accurately and true, as the loco will be expected to run on a grandchild's model railway. No pressure there then. 🙄 The new piece of kit will assist in all that, plus some other small engineering projects. It even started to pay its way on a small DIY precision drilling job yesterday which had Mrs T wondering how we ever did without such a thing 🤸♂️ Meanwhile back in plastic and resin heaven, the T.53 is proving to be a little challenging......... That carefully preserved wing centre box has no easy means of fixing to the fuselage in a way that ensures the attached wings are aligned on all three axis. At the moment it just sits across the top of cockpit side walls. So I set about “engineering” a solution which would involve using piano wire as vertical pins between the wing box and the fuselage. The other key thing about whatever arrangement I devise, is that all of this will be visible under the rear part of the canopy, so it has to be convincing, and reasonably scale looking. First, some internal strengthening in the form of 30 thou plastic square section pillars, superglued in position and ready for some small holes to take the piano wire pins. Drilled for the piano wire pins at 5.33mm spacing (see below), each positioned the same distance from the leading edge wing point .... With piano wire test fitted.... The 5.33mm distance is the centre between the holes, replicated in the wing spars Holes with the same piano pins (which will be cut to length, obvs) in the wing spars, underside view ...... And by a remarkable piece of luck, the drilling enabled the pins to go through both sets of resin mounting points, as they might fit on the real thing - very pleased with that 🤸♂️ I’m hoping these will serve as reasonably strong alignment and fixing points when the wing is fixed on top of the fuselage sides, within the rear of the cockpit, and at the same time "look the part". The main weak points will then be the join between the wings themselves and the resin cross spars holding the wings together, but that will be a but joint of resin to resin, held in by superglue. All a bit of calculated guess work really, but a potential solution to getting those forward swept wings fixed and aligned correctly and reasonably securely. In the above picture of the inverted wing, you can see that the dihedral is already set in the resin one piece moulding, so that centre part has to sit exactly horizontal across the fuselage mating point. The final fixing won’t happen until I’ve completed the cockpit detailing and also test fitted the canopy, which has to fit over the wing, and align with everything else. Talking of the canopy, time for some buck production and some vac forming methinks as well as some fun super detailing in the cockpit area. More soon. T. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Nice progress Terry, very envious of your mini milling machine. Glider should be done for Poole Vikings Show (just NOT saying which year!). Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Clever engineering there, Terry! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 I can't believe it has been 3 months since I posted any updates on this one ......... well I can actually, given that I've had a major modelling distraction in the form of a commission build for the Tank Museum, plus one or two other AFV builds for displaying at the museum during school holidays. I also managed to contract another bout of shingles (third time in the last few years) which has distracted me a bit, and also meant I managed to miss the annual Poole Vikings Model show, a club which has the dubious honour of me being a member. I was sorry to miss that and miss the usual round of social catch ups with everyone. On 1/28/2023 at 8:38 AM, Hamden said: Nice progress Terry, very envious of your mini milling machine. Glider should be done for Poole Vikings Show (just NOT saying which year!). Thanks Roger. The milling machine is rather neat. I had a bit of a play with it a few weeks back when I had to reduce the edges of a P4 scale brass chassis for a 9F locomotive that's been on the go now for years! And as you can see above, I missed the show anyway, but no way was this build ever going to be ready for that show! On 1/28/2023 at 9:04 AM, giemme said: Clever engineering there, Terry! Thanks Giorgio. More of that is needed as you will see......... I have spent a bit of time progressing this one, in the cockpit area, which needs fabrication before the wings get attached as I have a feeling they will be a delicate affair once fitted. Cockpit area as it comes..... There are some resin seats supplied but they do not really look in scale at all, so a new rear seat back from plastic card, cross support first: Then seat back itself, together with rear I/P coming and structure At this point a quick check was needed to ensure wing and new seat all fitted nicely, and no problems with alignment: The picture illustrates another bit of "engineering" will be needed to better align the trailing edges with the cockpit sills. Still thinking through a plan for that. Better shot of the wing test fitted: I hope to progress a little more soon, once I get the beast below done and dusted in the next few weeks. For those interested it is a 1/35 MiniArt T-55 Russian MBT, and I can honestly say one of the most complex kits I have yet built. The part count is off the scale and the tracks are workable, all with seperate track pieces and connecting pins. The markings on the turret are my attempt at positioning the 15 minute brass grab handles onto the turret - the kit supplies no locating positioning for these, but photo references and a study of an actual T-55, have enabled me to locate these. Apart from the grab handles, probably around another 50 pieces of etch brass detail to fit, plus side fenders etc and of course the tracks. then paint. Once that is out of the way, the latest glider will assume some priority, although I do need to start work very soon on a 453rd Museum build, if I have any chance of getting that done by September when the group will be meeting again at Old Buckenham! More soon I hope. Terry 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Good to see you back at the bench Terry. I trust you are feeling a bit better? Concerned of Mars 👽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Crikey Shingles, hope you're feeling better now Terry, nice job on the Glider and tank, can we see photos of the locos too please. The new toy looks very nice and very handy. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Glad to see you back Terry. I am surprised that you've been spending your time on AFV builds and not that that 'shall not be named' . Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 Yikes, those be long wings. You'd think that aeroplane didn't have an engine... Cheers, Bill PS. Nice work, glad you're back. Shingles suck. I'm always first in line to get vaccinated when Doc says it's due. I think it's every 7 years or something like that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Sorry to hear about your health issues, Terry - I hope you are well on the mend, now 🤞 Lovely bit o scratch building here - top job! Also, you do like PE bits, don't you? Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted May 2, 2023 Author Share Posted May 2, 2023 On 4/30/2023 at 7:14 PM, Martian said: Good to see you back at the bench Terry. I trust you are feeling a bit better? Concerned of Mars 👽 Thanks Martian. I'm feeling much better having had a week down in Cornwall to get back on top. Nothing like some good Cornish rain and beer to sort out the soul! On 4/30/2023 at 7:39 PM, bigbadbadge said: Crikey Shingles, hope you're feeling better now Terry, nice job on the Glider and tank, can we see photos of the locos too please. The new toy looks very nice and very handy. Chris Thanks Chris. I seem to have contracted Shingles a number of times in my life, and certainly in the last 10 years, a handful of times. With me though, I never seem to get the full blown, debilitating dose, with blisters and other nasty effects. It just hits me for a couple of weeks, with heavy cold like symptoms and very tender skin in the areas affected, mostly my head and shoulders (there's a shampoo add in there somewhere). Goes as quickly as it comes. Apparently it is the Chickenpox virus, lying dormant in my body ready to come out randomly when things are not 100% health wise. Just one of those things really. The new toy is ineed handy. I'll dig out some loco pics when I next do some work on one. On 4/30/2023 at 8:52 PM, Courageous said: Glad to see you back Terry. I am surprised that you've been spending your time on AFV builds and not that that 'shall not be named' . Stuart Thanks Stuart. AFV builds are a large part of modelling life at the moment, given the Tank Museum Volunteer work I'm doing now - I suppose any old excuse to avoid that that 'shall not be named 🤭. You never know though, it might make an appearance at the next Telford meet 🤣🤣🤣🤣 16 hours ago, Navy Bird said: Yikes, those be long wings. You'd think that aeroplane didn't have an engine... Cheers, Bill PS. Nice work, glad you're back. Shingles suck. I'm always first in line to get vaccinated when Doc says it's due. I think it's every 7 years or something like that. Thanks Bill. They are long wings indeed and will take some very careful alignment, given the forward sweep and all. You know, I don't think it does have an engine 🤔 I'm not sure we have a vaccine for Shingles over here. As you can see above, it seems to catch me more than I'd like, but thankfully not in a very nad way. 5 hours ago, giemme said: Sorry to hear about your health issues, Terry - I hope you are well on the mend, now 🤞 Lovely bit o scratch building here - top job! Also, you do like PE bits, don't you? Ciao I'm definitely well over it now Giorgio, thank you. Much more scratch building needed in the cockpit, so hopefully you'll see more soon. As for my liking of PE bits 😱!!! More on the glider soon folks, and hopefully very soon a whole new WIP thread for the 453rd museum build Mustang ....................🤸♂️ Terry 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 1 hour ago, Terry1954 said: I'm not sure we have a vaccine for Shingles over here. The one I get is called Shingrix. According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know), it's available in the UK through NHS for folks between 70 and 79. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoster_vaccine#United_Kingdom Cheers, Bill PS. There is no vaccine, however, to prevent the building of gliders so build all you want! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted May 2, 2023 Author Share Posted May 2, 2023 10 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: The one I get is called Shingrix. According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know), it's available in the UK through NHS for folks between 70 and 79. Actually Bill, now you mention it, I was aware of that (old brain fog) but unfortunately (I guess I could say fortunately) I'm currently only 68 years old, being 69 in September, so I guess I'll have to wait a while longer! 12 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: PS. There is no vaccine, however, to prevent the building of gliders so build all you want! So there's no vaccine, and I assume no cure for that at all! 🤸♂️ Terry 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted May 3, 2023 Share Posted May 3, 2023 19 hours ago, Terry1954 said: It just hits me for a couple of weeks, with heavy cold like symptoms and very tender skin in the areas affected, mostly my head and shoulders Hmmm, I didn't know they could be symptoms of shingles - it's exactly how I've been feeling the past few weeks - the cold symptoms are familiar, but I've got really itchy, tender skin on my arms I don't recall having before - wouldn't have put the two together..... (& I've had chicken pox twice, so there's double the amount lying dormant in me!!). I'm 'only' 66 so even longer to wait for the vaccine! 🤣 Hope you're well on the mend and those lovely gliders are back under way again! Keith 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 4, 2023 Share Posted May 4, 2023 Ouch, Shingles! One of our neighbours had it a couple of years ago and said it was really unpleasant, hope you’re feeling better. I had Chickenpox as a boy so it’s probably lying in wait somewhere. Must see about a vaccination, I’m within the age range you quoted. Going back to catch up now. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted November 18, 2023 Author Share Posted November 18, 2023 Time for a quick update on Glider world............ it's been a while! Thanks for the best wishes re the Shingles virus earlier this year. All passed ok, and that seems a long time ago. Since then there has been a holiday in Cornwall, one in Brittany, multiple family visits down here during the summer, and a road trip in Norfolk, which included the great Museum build meet up, with fellow BM'ers @CedB, @perdu, @The Spadgent, @giemme and @Fritag, which was a blast, and has been reported elsewhere. The P-51 museum build itself has also taken up most of my modelling time, along with Tank Museum stuff. During the Norwich trip I acquired one more glider to join the production line for this build, from a very well stocked shop in the centre of the city...... Some colourful choices too........ That one will join the queue for now, but I'm eventually fancying either the Japanese finish, or the blue Czech example at the bottom. Modelling space continues to be an issue here amidst our building work, as the current hobby room (shared with Mrs T's Art room) is crammed full of stuff, being used as swing space while the building work happens. Small amounts of work have happened on the T53 however. Some etch detail (from the kit) has been added to the centre spar wing box. This area is completely visible under the relatively large canopy. Poor quality pics I'm afraid..... Top view Underside Leading edge The vac form canopy on this one is quite large, and had no real key for placement, so I used some microstrip to build up a small internal lip around the cockpit edge against which the canopy could fit snugly. This will need tidying up, but you get the gist I hope...... A quite test fit to show how the theory should work Something will be needed at the back there, and in fact, an alternate canopy may have to be produced to get a better cut and fit, which feels like deja vu from the Grob Viking build....... 🤔 The kit does supply two canopies, but the second one is for a different version of the T53, with a different canopy shape at the front, shown to the right of the picture. I'm planning to cast from this one, re-shape the cast at the front and vac form a few more spares to play with, but right now vac-forming is out due to lack of decent space, and the vac forming machine being in a box amongst a stack other boxes A quick look at this one overall.......... When I get more time, I plan to add more detail in the cockpit, but now some other news........ Apart from the Blanik acquired in Norfolk, I have picked up several more gliders to join this build. Three of them came from the IPMS show in Yeovil last month, and one from SMW 2023 last weekend. The Yeovil gang are these (Polish manufactured kits I think), all very old, but the quality of the plastic and finesse and surface detail, is excellent in each one. The boxes hint at their origins from behind the Iron Curtain, back in the day! An SZD-19 Zefir 2 An SZD-16 Gil An SZD-22 Mucha I'll come clean and admit I had never heard of any of these, but they should all look neat alongside the rest of the collection. Then at Telford last weekend, I picked up this Kirby Kite, a beautifully produced 3D printed kit I decided to parallel build this along with the T53, given that it could be a while before I can cast and vac form any canopies to make some progress on that. Well, that's my excuse........ This is one half of the fuselage carefully cut away from the supports. The other half is still there in the picture on the supports. After a bit of work and careful cutting and clean up, all the major parts are now off the supports. Internal cockpit detail is very neat A small IP showing what must be altimeter and airspeed indicator, plus a variometer in the centre. What more do you need! There are actually a couple of neat decals for the IP also. And a beautifully reproduced lower fuselage skid. This one will take some very careful cutting to avoid damage And a pile of debris after removing the parts! I'm really impressed with the detail on this kit. The ailerons have a very fine gap between them and the wing structure.......... And I couldn't resist taping the fuselage together Although I could use superglue, I'm awaiting delivery of some liquid resin to use as adhesive (along with a UV torch), as I'd like to give that a go. For the time being, the gliders sit behind the Museum build P-51 in the priority order, but I'll post further updates as they happen. That's all for now! T. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 An update on this thread after a day of flying gliders in.... challenging.... conditions. Couldn't ask for anything better! 1 hour ago, Terry1954 said: Then at Telford last weekend, I picked up this Kirby Kite, a beautifully produced 3D printed kit This kit looks gorgeous! I was thinking about picking up some of these, plural. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 Good to see progress. Just wondering if that shop in Norwich was Langley's? My Uncle took me there 10 years ago when I visited before SMW. I was very impressed with the selection upstairs and we also hit the WHSmiths. I could have spent hours at both locations. And the City of Norwich Aviation Museum was a great first taste for the trip. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 You bought a few more gliders, didn't you Terry? The 3D one looks spectacular! Ciao 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 The Blanik looks great. I have quite a few flights logged in those Only a few short of my commercial ticket but never quite got there. Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 Good to see these back Terry, nice bit of progresscwith the PE on your main build and that should look great under the canopy, goidcto see the new additions to your glider stash too, that last 3D printed one looks lovely. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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