1/72 Airfix Concorde

[Back in the Saddle]

Just a placeholder for now, as I need to finish a few other builds before (re)turning my attention to this one!😁

 

Hopefully making a start before Christmas!

[Back in the Saddle]

The fog of bits on the bench is slowly clearing, so this build is nudging closer to getting some attention!

 

I'm tagging @neilg, simply as he asked me many months ago how this model was progressing - I can finally answer that one!

 

It's actually not far from completion, so I have a fighting chance of finishing it during this GB. To start, here's the box:

 

 

And to give an idea of the size of the beast, here it is showing the current build state:

 

 

You can see why the fuselage was broken into three sections - ease of packaging would be my guess! It certainly did not make the build any simpler - the fuselage cross sections do not match up very well, so plenty of filler is needed to blend the sections together... Here's the underside:

 

 

I will remove the flying controls and reattach them with some suitable droop, as per the real aircraft.

 

Next the nose - the Achilles heel of this model. Designed to be moveable, but in reality brittle transparent plastic was not the best choice of material for something requiring a degree of strength for the mechanics involved:

 

 

This will be finished in the 'up' position and glued firmly into place! You can see a cover built into the shield, which I added many years ago to hide the void underneath.

 

The undercarriage is looking moderately OK, so hopefully a bit more work will see this finished:

 

 

The engines however need much more attention, as they look rather forlorn and lacking in detail. And a bit yellowed too...

 

 

Talking of detail, I'm venturing back into the world of PE again. TBH it's my nemesis; far too fiddly for my fingers and eyes, but worth the effort this time to improve the appearance of the model. I purchased the Brengun set and will do my best with it!

 

 

Finally the decals, which still look to be pretty good after all these years:

 

I will be using most of them, but already suspect I might venture into the world of home made decals for the tail...! 

This model has many known faults, most of which will be remaining! I'm not planning on any major surgery to fix the inaccuracies but will try to make the model as presentable as I can. I still have a few other models to finish off first, but intend starting this one sometime next week!👍

 

[Snafu35]

Hello Matt,

 

Welcome, and glad to see a modeler who doesn't build a B17!
I'm smiling as I write this, of course. I'm curious to see the size of this 1/72 liner compared to another model built...
The work seems to be well advanced. Many of us will be following your tribulations.

 

Regards,
Eric-Snafu35 

[Adm Lord De Univers]

3 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

but intend starting this one sometime next week!👍

Yes! Following along for this ons, and looks close to completion.

 

David

[neilg]

I'm in!

 

I've bought another one...

 

😬

 

I'm really interested to see how much the PE set will improve it!

Edited December 13, 2022 by neilg

[Back in the Saddle]

7 hours ago, Snafu35 said:

Welcome, and glad to see a modeler who doesn't build a B17!

Thanks Eric. There are already plenty of those in this section! 😁

 

7 hours ago, Snafu35 said:

I'm curious to see the size of this 1/72 liner compared to another model built...

I’ll post a picture with something else to give a comparison.👍

 

6 hours ago, Adm Lord De Univers said:

Yes! Following along for this ons, and looks close to completion.

Welcome along - hope you enjoy the build! 🙂

 

3 hours ago, neilg said:

I've bought another one...

 

😬

You’re as bad as me and my 747 collection! 😂

 

3 hours ago, neilg said:

I'm really interested to see how much the PE set will improve it!

Me too - although my skill level with PE is at the ‘basic’ level… It will hopefully enhance it a bit!

[Back in the Saddle]

I genuinely haven’t forgotten about this one…! 😁

 

Five models finished this week and the RFI’s are done, so I can finally turn my attention to this behemoth.

 

I think I have decided not to use the PE - there are a few inaccuracies in this kit, so I’m not sure if making some areas super detailed is worth the effort. It looks a bit fiddly too! However, I reserve the right to potentially change my mind once I get stuck into it again properly - I’ll see how it looks and whether PE would be a suitable enhancement.

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

Time to finally make a start on this, starting with a few images of the real thing! All photos were taken by myself on 30th October 2003, less than a week after the final commercial flights which culminated on 24th October when three Concordes landed one behind the other at Heathrow. The final disposal flight was on 26th November, when G-BOAF was flown to Filton. I include these images simply as I was looking for some good references and thought others might appreciate them too.

 

G-BOAD on the apron. Note the smooth fuselage finish, without any huge panel lines - more on that later:

 

 

G-BOAE parked next to G-BOAD. I wanted to find this image to confirm the degree of droop on the flight control surfaces:

 

 

 

G-BOAC in the hangar, showing the beautiful curves and some engine detail:

 

 

With G-BOAF in the adjacent bay - some tail detail this time:

 

 

And a completely gratuitous shot from a flight I managed in September 2003, after Concorde's retirement was announced - I had to experience this before it ceased flying! Note the wing surface panel lines:

 

 

And now onto the model. The tail was already attached, but as alluded to previously it needs some more blending in the area of the red line. The orange lines show some trenches that need filling too:

 

 

The elevons are glued on, but will be removed to add some droop. The inboard controls were not a good fit, so the filler will need removing from this area once they are angled down. Talking of filler, it has been applied to the trenches:

 

 

Some dismantling and sanding is next!

[Jinxman]

Lovely photos - the most beautiful aeroplane ever in my eyes.

Good luck with the filling/priming/sanding etc - we all know how that one goes.

[neilg]

I'm looking forward to following along!

 

It's interesting to see the slightly different positions of the blue and red parts of the vertical stabilizer between the AE and AF there.  

 

On AE, the blue stripe reaches to just below the rudder actuator fairing:

 

 

Whereas on AF, it reaches slightly up the side of the fairing:

 

 

When I built the Revell 1:144 kit, it came three versions of tail markings - solid, feathered, and a different shape of stripes.

 

But I've never noticed any different versions of the Chatham livery before!

[Back in the Saddle]

16 hours ago, neilg said:

But I've never noticed any different versions of the Chatham livery before!

Hi Neil.

 

I’d heard that they varied, but never had a proper look to see what the differences were…

 

You might like this image showing G-BOAA, which was very different from the others. Not that it will matter on this build, as I’m doing a different fin!

 

Off to do some sanding now…😁

 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Back in the Saddle

[Planebuilder62]

Hi there

I built one of these back in 2020, the link below takes youthe RFI posting. If the pictures dont view then there is a long list of fixes done on my build.May this will help you.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235075116-concorde/#comment-3724562

 

regards Toby

[neilg]

On 02/02/2023 at 12:31, Back in the Saddle said:

Hi Neil.

 

I’d heard that they varied, but never had a proper look to see what the differences were…

 

You might like this image showing G-BOAA, which was very different from the others. Not that it will matter on this build, as I’m doing a different fin!

 

Off to do some sanding now…😁

 

 

 

Do you know anything about the different designs?

 

I remember the option for AA was included in the decal sheet of the Revell kit, but I never knew it was applied to an operational Concorde.

 

I always just assumed the liveries were the same.

 

What are you building yours in?  Or is that a secret for now!

[Mjwomack]

13 hours ago, neilg said:

 

Do you know anything about the different designs?

 

I remember the option for AA was included in the decal sheet of the Revell kit, but I never knew it was applied to an operational Concorde.

 

I always just assumed the liveries were the same.

 

What are you building yours in?  Or is that a secret for now!

I'd not come across the AA one, but I know one was BA on one side and Singapore on the other for a while. That would look pretty for one thing and give you two models to display for another.

[Back in the Saddle]

On 02/02/2023 at 16:46, Planebuilder62 said:

Hi there

I built one of these back in 2020, the link below takes youthe RFI posting. If the pictures dont view then there is a long list of fixes done on my build.May this will help you.

Thanks Toby - yours looks impressive! I know there are quite a few inaccuracies with this kit, but I've decided to live with some of them. For example, as the fuselage is already glued together, repositioning the nose gear will be too much hassle to fix. I will improve some of the smaller errors along the way and do a 'gentle' level of correction!

 

On 03/02/2023 at 20:16, neilg said:

Do you know anything about the different designs?

 

I remember the option for AA was included in the decal sheet of the Revell kit, but I never knew it was applied to an operational Concorde.

 

I always just assumed the liveries were the same.

Hi Neil. I believe all the Concorde tails varied to some degree but G-BOAA was a bit more different than the other six aircraft - I'll have to do some more research and let you know! 🤔

 

On 03/02/2023 at 20:16, neilg said:

What are you building yours in?  Or is that a secret for now!

It's not a secret, more of an indecision at the moment! 😁

 

On 04/02/2023 at 09:29, Mjwomack said:

I'd not come across the AA one, but I know one was BA on one side and Singapore on the other for a while. That would look pretty for one thing and give you two models to display for another.

The 'Singapore' version certainly looks good, but I'll stick to a BA version - it will fit in better with the rest of my collection.🙂

 

Back to the build, which is currently more of a renovation of work from an earlier era when my modelling skills were rather lacking...

 

The instrument panel coaming was at a very odd angle, pointing up into space:

 

 

Note too the gap behind the flight engineer's panel - I think that whole section should have been further back, butI think I'll have to live with it... Some careful cutting had the offending panel removed:

 

 

Filler around the nose cone is also required, due to a very odd step moulded into the plastic - that needs to go!

 

Talking of filler, the fuselage received some too:

 

 

The visor has a corrugated cover inside, which I had previously (badly!) replicated with masking tape cut to size and painted. Some work with scrap paper soon produced a more authentic item:

 

 

Which was painted grey and reinforced with sections of cocktail stick to hold it together:

 

 

This needs to be cut to size and fitted as a shroud inside the visor.

 

The intakes have some prominent marks that need filling:

 

 

With a reference image to show how they should look once finished:

 

 

The elevons have also been removed and the same ejector marks will have to be filled:

 

 

She's going to be a filler queen!

 

 

[Planebuilder62]

Have you thought about steepening the visor tilt angle and sortening the visor windows? Its a fairly easy fix at the stage you are at with the nose.

Regards Toby

[Back in the Saddle]

19 hours ago, Planebuilder62 said:

Have you thought about steepening the visor tilt angle and sortening the visor windows? Its a fairly easy fix at the stage you are at with the nose.

Regards Toby

Hi Toby. I hadn't, as I didn't realise the kit was so inaccurate... I've spent a while trawling the internet looking for some advice on what to do, but without any success. Do you have a link please, showing the work required to fix this?

 

Cheers!

[Planebuilder62]

Hi there

 

Reprofiling the visor is a bit difficult to explain but here goes.

1. Take a look at the last picture in my linked post. You will see the visor tlts dowm a bit.

2. Take the nose of your model and hold it up next the picture. What you will see is how much overlength there is on the visor windows, the overwidth of the visor see through plastic part and the hole to be sorted at the bottom of the visor.

 

To fix all this put some rigid support under the front visor tip to set the visor angle.

Then sand paper off the edges of the visor so it fits the fueslage profile behind it.

Mask the visor windows from the top to the correct length. This is using the Mark 1 eyeball as the masuring tool. There might be some good visor pictures of the Duxford Concorde.

Next, fill in the space between the nose and the visor. Note the the nose is overwide to allow the visor to move, remember this is a Mach 2 plane so lumps and bumps introduced by Airfix to make the gimmicks work are not on the real plane.

 

Its hard to unsee the compromises made by Airfix on this kit, stick with it. It will be worth it in the end👍😊

 

Regards Toby

[Back in the Saddle]

Thanks Toby, I’ll take a look and see what I can do!

[Back in the Saddle]

For @neilg, a couple of links showing three Concordes parked side by side, making the subtle variations in the tail design more apparent:

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Airways/Aerospatiale-BAC-Concorde-102/175699/L?qsp=eJwtjDEOwkAMBP/iGqpIFOngA6HgA8ZehYjAnWxLcIry99xF6WZnpVlI0jfwj0fJoJ4cbPKiE2U2/jj1C71Rfsm0Mo3nZ2KuryeLW6lGOXAVQQ7o4QdTWLvgsofGFu4awu7HutSpk%2BeZ9wqCp5nWdQOZui8I

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/British-Airways/Aerospatiale-BAC-Concorde-102/167271/L?qsp=eJwtjDEOwkAMBP/iGqpIFOngA6HgA8ZehYjAnWxLcIry99xF6WZnpVlI0jfwj0fJoJ4cbPKiE2U2/jj1C71Rfsm0Mo3nZ2KuryeLW6lGOXAVQQ7o4QdTWLvgsofGFu4awu7HutSpk%2BeZ9wqCp5nWdQOZui8I

 

And from my own archives, a picture of G-BOAD in Manhattan:

 

 

Back to the build...!

After trying keyhole surgery to fix the problems in the cockpit, I decided that finesse was not for me and used brute force instead to open up the front fuselage:

 

 

The poor location of the flight engineer's panel can be seen, along with the huge ejector pin marking in the back of the seat:

 

 

These problems were rectified and some other shades of grey used to add some colour variation:

 

 

Before gluing the nose back together again:

 

 

I have kept the nose cone and visor separate for now, as they need some work!

 

The next job was to source a side profile image of the nose, to help with the re-shaping of the visor:

 

 

Some more filling and plastic fettling next! Thanks to @Planebuilder62 for pointing out this error, along with the fix required - cheers Toby!

[neilg]

Oh wow, there were a lot more variations than I realized!  It looks like they were all painted freehand!

 

That position of the engineer's console has caught me out before.

I had to remove part of the flight deck floor locating tabs to be able to slide the whole thing back.

 

Otherwise, the instrument panel will interfere with the front windows also:

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

1 hour ago, neilg said:

Otherwise, the instrument panel will interfere with the front windows also:

I realised that after my first rebuild - I had to rearrange the floor as you described to make it all fit…!

[Back in the Saddle]

Time to look at re-profiling the nose, to correct the errors as best I can...!

 

The droop section is made up from three parts - two sides forming the rear and a tip at the front. The tip had a particularly poor fit and requires both building up the low points with filler whilst simultaneously removing a prominent ridge that does not exist on the real aircraft.

 

I also printed out the side profile from my previous post, having adjusted the scale to match the model. I used this as a comparison, to see where adjustments were required. The masking tape shows the section of visor which is surplus to requirements:

 

 

Once assembled, you get a rough idea of how it should look. The area above the masking tape needs to be built up and blended into the droop section, leaving the shortened visor at a slightly steeper angle:

 

 

The area marked in red on the nose tip appears to be short shot, so will need building up too...

 

In other news, I took advantage of the school holidays and dragged my family to East Fortune to visit the museum there. It was a great day out and everybody enjoyed it - best of all, I took loads of photos of G-BOAA which is now an exhibit at this venue:

 

 

Various reference photo will appear here later!

[Back in the Saddle]

I made an initial attempt at blending in the windscreen by sanding the filler around the edges but inadvertently scratched one of the window panes in the process... Some polishing cloths soon fixed this and I need to put tape over the transparencies to prevent a future recurrence:

 

 

Another reference shot, showing the nose and forward fuselage of G-BOAD in Manhattan. The flat panels by the cockpit windows look more rounded around the edges than on the kit:

 

 

And an entirely gratuitous shot, just to show the gorgeous curvature of the wing:

 

 

A more relevant shot this time, showing the front of the visor in the 'up' position:

 

 

And back to the model!

 

The droop section has had filler applied to rectify the short shot issue near the tip:

 

 

The visor had a strip of plastic applied, which shows just how over-sized this piece actually is. I also added a small amount of filler to reduce the depth of the ridge:

 

 

The visor was then glued with into the droop. There was a degree of trepidation at this stage, trying to ensure it was in exactly the right position and not allowing it to slip whilst the superglue set. I think it worked out OK:

 

 

The area on the visor between the green pen marks and the plastic strip were then filled with Milliput:

 

 

And the joint was reinforced under the visor too - I don't want this to move when I begin sanding it! This area looks like an ideal place for adding some lead later, to prevent tail-sitting.

 

 

I will let everything harden then begin the blending process.

[Planebuilder62]

Cracking job on the nose correction👍

 

regards Toby