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FINISHED: Why not? Victor 1/72


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10541-deckel.jpg

 

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done

      But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

      Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

 

(starting tomorrow)

Edited by bianfuxia
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Who hasn't looked at a big kit like this, considered a 24hr work limit and thought "ya know, if I model it in flight, don't go OTT with the interior, can paint it all with one rattle can, and all the best stars align, this just might work ok out ok"?

If you pull this off, you'll become an absolute freaking legend. You have my admiration for setting out to achieve this, and a close eye will be kept on all progress.

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1 hour ago, RevDWC said:

"ya know, if I model it in flight, don't go OTT with the interior, can paint it all with one rattle can, and all the best stars align, this just might work ok out ok"?

 

"And if it fits together ok."

 

Good luck, buddy!

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Impossible’…. (best said with a thick French accent!). 

No honestly, I wish you all the luck and if you can crack this speed build code I might be able to build up my entire stash years before my very own Expiry Date!. 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

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And so it begins! Thank you for the encouragement!

 

This is the poem, btw. I heard about it from my grandfather many years ago.

 

It couldn't be done, by Edgar A Guest.

 

Now, a few explainers:

 

1. obviously this is an OOB build of an ancient kit with many known accuracy issues. There's no way to address those in the time available and as far as I know there are more modern Victor kits that you'd use if you wanted a really good model of a Victor.

 

2. My daughter, aged 6, is helping me (it's the day after Christmas, I can't bury myself away for 24 hours). On balance she is not going to make things faster, because i basically have to supervise everything she does. So it's one person guiding another, not two building separate parts at the same time. There's no speed advantage.

 

3. I'm doing the classic RAF three tone colour scheme. 

 

IMG_20211226_095304015_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

 

We started at 2253 UTC - mid-morning on Boxing Day on the east coast of Australia. I set my MiG clock to 12:00:00 and that will record elapsed time. Everyone will know whether I get it done in 24 hours anyway.

 

IMG_20211226_095222558_HDR-1.jpg?w=1352&

 

First job is to identify and assemble sub-assemblies - those tanks, the tail, the cockpit, etc.

 

IMG_20211226_095647500_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

Here she is painting the inside of that air intake on the tail before gluing it together while the paint is still wet.

IMG_20211226_100127540_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

41 minutes in, here's where we are. Those intakes got a blast of Tamiya white from a spray can. I did the first one, she did the other three.

 

IMG_20211226_103424933.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

We've done the tail and the two big tanks, plus assembled the cockpit.

 

A loooooong way to go yet!

 

 

 

 

 

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Next instalment - photos a bit boring sorry.

 

We've done most of the obvious sub-assemblies now. Fit, as predicted, is, shall we say "sub-optimal"?

 

IMG_20211226_110600823.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

There's a glue mess kiddo made but let's be honest, you can't see it next to that perfect join!

 

IMG_20211226_120906534.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

She totally lost interest at this point so I did the sanding of all those wheels. Painting the tyres will be a chore!

 

the intakes and the wheels are Tamiya aluminium although you can't quite tell in the photo.

 

And this:

 

IMG_20211226_122944164_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

These parts I sprayed Haze Grey because I have a nearly empty can of it left over from my USS Long Beach build way back in the Interceptors group build. Again it is greyer IRL than how it shows in the photo.

 

I am thinking my victor is going to be sitting on the ground - i don't know that I'll have time to do the 5 pilots and crew. Doing a nice job of those takes a while and the canopy window is kinda thick anyway.

 

Time for a lunch break. In the meantime I have also hung out a load of laundry and made a bouncy ball with the kid out of a kit she got for Christmas. Can't wait for that thing to be bouncing around the house!

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Best of luck with your build! Ah, yes, I remember this kit from a long time ago - although I never did built it before it vanished (stealth bomber, perhaps?). Great that you have the young'un helping you!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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feels like slower progress this afternoon. Kiddo has lost interest a bit though keeps popping in to see how it's going. Turns out she most likes gluing stuff but as this kit is so HEINOUS it's mostly required superglue which she rightly doesn't like. 

 

She did bring me this:

 

IMG_20211226_132639502.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

So at some point I made the cockpit look just slightly nicer than totally bare:

IMG_20211226_135002644.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

I figured out the three rear seaters can't be seen at all so I definitely won't bother with them. I painted up two of the pilots (pics when they are finished). The window is clear enough that you could see pilots in there so I may as well do them.

 

I felt like a lot of weight was needed up front so my daughter solved that one easily:

IMG_20211226_141316930.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

And then, yay for superglue:

IMG_20211226_141942371.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

At this point I was thinking people are unduly mean about this kit. i thought the fuselage went together quite well for a kit of this era.

 

That was at about 4 and a half hours in:

IMG_20211226_142105899.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

Unfortunately I forgot to hack the clock each time I took a break - in those 4.5 hours I have also done other things - eat, do the laundry, play with the kid.

 

By the time I was 7+ hours in, I was revising my assessment of the mean-ness about this kit. It really is pretty hopeless. 

 

IMG_20211226_163055647.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

I've done a first go of sanding the hull but look at that gap mid-wing. It's basically held together by a superglue join inside (where the tab goes in the slot). None of the actual wing touches and i couldn't figure out why. There isn't time in a build like this to finesse it so I superglued it and will do some putty in there to make it not quite so gappy.

 

This is officially one of the three biggest models I've ever built and assuming I get it done it'll be by far the biggest I've ever finished.

 

IMG_20211226_164046829_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

Meanwhile, the kid was pretty impressed when she saw where I am up to:

 

IMG_20211226_164003459_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

Edited by bianfuxia
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My theory was based on doing a 1/72 F-84F in last year's Christmas Blitzbuild. What do you have, at the end of the day? A fuselage, some wings, associated small parts. If you can spray paint, then in theory the size doesn't matter as long as the big kit is similarly simple.

 

Unfortunately this one needs more putty and sanding than the F-84F!

 

Here's where I am up to as I break for dinner. 

 

IMG_20211226_183440853_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

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1 hour ago, bianfuxia said:

My theory was based on doing a 1/72 F-84F in last year's Christmas Blitzbuild. What do you have, at the end of the day? A fuselage, some wings, associated small parts. If you can spray paint, then in theory the size doesn't matter as long as the big kit is similarly simple.

 

Unfortunately this one needs more putty and sanding than the F-84F!

 

Here's where I am up to as I break for dinner. 

 

IMG_20211226_183440853_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

A good non-blitzbuild of this kit will consist of more filler and resin than plastic! I think you'll be doing well to have it together without any gaps that are too obvious in the 24 hours. Well, you're already ahead of where I'd have managed in 24 so you're already doing well with this

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Signing off at the end of the first 12 hour period. I started at UTC 22:53 and am finishing just before it at UTC 10:32. That coincides with about 930 pm where I am.

 

IMG_20211226_213205323_HDR.jpg?w=1352&ss

 

Just under 11:39:05 of elapsed time.

 

I had harboured the thought of pushing through and knocking it over in the single 24 hour period, but my wife's old friend from out of town suddenly came around. I didn't want to be that husband at Christmas who ignores his family, so I made them some pizzas and we drank a bit of champagne and then I put the kid to bed. I just escaped long enough to put on the flaps on the bottom of the wing and get the sign off photo to verify the 24 hours.

 

Here's where it's at.  A lot of sanding has been done, as hard as it is to see in the photo. I've done a run with 400 on all the seams (or most) and then another with 1000 on the top seam.

 

I stuck on all the fuselage parts except a couple of air vents and the canopy and AAR probe.

 

So tomorrow I will try to spray the two camo colours first, let them dry, then the white bottom and then do all the decals. I'll need to space it out so there is time for stuff to dry. The u/c has been pre-painted earlier today.

 

It'll be a tight and tricky thing but I still think I am in with a chance to get it done inside 24 hours of building time.

 

IMG_20211226_213156985.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1

 

 

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