Christer A Posted January 13, 2023 Author Share Posted January 13, 2023 On 11/01/2023 at 21:36, 2996 Victor said: I'd love a Firebrand TF.5, but I'm not sure I have the cojones for this kit! You're making a great job of this build, looking forward to seeing your next instalment. Cheers, Mark Thanks a lot! Valom do a TF.5 as well, which bears little to no resemblance to this kit. It's almost like they've learned something during the 15 years that separate them! 15 hours ago, Tentacles said: I'm watching this thread in a combination of awe and sick horror. Thanks buddy! This kits holds all the joys of a Czech short run for sure 😇 I did a Valom Bristol Brigand a few years ago. A much better kit actually... I expect the pace to slow down quite a lot from here on, since I'm expected to work and not have a nice winter vacation 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 6 minutes ago, Christer A said: Thanks a lot! Valom do a TF.5 as well, which bears little to no resemblance to this kit. It's almost like they've learned something during the 15 years that separate them! Well, in that case I'll definitely be doing one of those! I'd presumed they were variations on a theme rather than differently aged toolings (where is Scalemates when you need it!). Looks like a good candidate for Here Comes the Fleet Air Arm Cheers, Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Following with great interest. As I said I don’t remember my build being that challenging, but it’s a long time ago! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 I've always fancied building one of these, delighted to be able to watch this one come to life Good luck Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tentacles Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/13/2023 at 1:33 PM, 2996 Victor said: I'd presumed they were variations on a theme rather than differently aged toolings (where is Scalemates when you need it!). Ditto! It's the TF5 I've got, phew 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 I took a somewhat different approach to the wings, which was to assemble the centre section and the outer wing panels after considerable sanding/filing/scraping to reduce the trailing edge thickness and make a good join top and bottom. Then I used a sheet of wet-and-dry on a flat surface, sanding the mating joints until a good join was formed at the correct dihedral angle. Doing it this way means no filler, or at worst only a small mount. I hadn't bothered adding detail to the wheel well or any wing spar (which doesn't seem necessary for wing stiffness), so adding this may complicate matters. Generally, time spent sanding and dry fitting should reduce any assembly fit problems and allow a tube of filler to last many more models. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 A good sheet of wet & dry would've helped for sure. Too bad that I got bad ones for my Gannet project (when you end up removing more sand than plastic, you know you have a substandard product) and didn't feel like it was need to do that once more. Oh well. I got some nice turned brass Hispanos for this one: Perhaps not 100% match since they're intended for a Firefly, but a lot nicer than the plastic ones! With an extra resin lump attached, the wing is now complete! Some panel lines have been rescribed , and I plan to shoot some primer on it quite soon, but other than that, I call Stage 1 complete! Onwards to the fuselage! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 This is looking great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 Thanks Tony! Let's get cracking on the cockpit and fuselage then. Valom gives a decent amount of plastic and photoetch to work with: Decent might be pushing it, but at least there is a control column, etched rudder pedals, belts and a sandwich instrument panel (etch, film and plastic). Dryfit revealed quite quickly that the cockpit tub itself had nothing to secure it in place, just a thin groove to show where it was supposed to go. Well, that didn't do so I added some plastic pieces to secure it in place. The turtledeck (I think it's called?) had to be widen a bit, and a small wedge of plastic solved that. It does appear as it has a step to it now and that is correct! There is a similar step in the fuselage though so it all pans out in the end. There is a little roof for the rear weel well, but nothing else, so I decided to box it in a bit. This will be painted after the fuselage has been joined, since the opening in the fuselage are somewhat irregular... After the fitting problems I started to prime, and paint the cockpit and also gave it a little wash: Installing the instrument panel also required a few more support bits ad hopefully the IP will stay in the fuselage now. The finished cockpit: Valom also includes about a gazillion tiny etched levers to sprinkle around the cockpit but I decided that life is too short to try to fit those, especially since it's almost impossible to ascertain where they should go. So without further ado, I closed the fuselage. So far, stage 2 is progressing quite smoothly! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Famous last words! I hope the sea gods weren't listening when you said progressing smoothly! 😄 Otherwise prepare for some drama! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 Oh, there will be drama for sure! Most of the proper plastic are behaving quite well, but the biggest challenge is the vacu clear parts. Ooooh boy. They have drawn these from the thinnest of sheet they could find, using the most leaky vacu equipment possible (I'd say that it sucks, but apparently not enough) The end result is a flimsy shapeless block that bends and flexes as soon as you look at it. Cellophane is probably thicker than this, and more distortion free as well. Off course, it didn't help that I dropped both canopies on the floor and stepped on them... 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Ouch . Good luck with the challenge Martin H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 What will you do for a canopy? 😱 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 Yeah, that canopy is really bothersome! I do have two vacu formed ones, but they're equally bad. It sort of looks lite a Spitfire hood in places (but not at all, if you see what I mean) so maybe I can raid the spares box for some leftover bits and see if I can adapt something. If that does not work, then I'll do the best with what I have. Don't have the skills nor the equipment to do my own vacu forming, so that goes out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Oops, what a pity about the canopy. Would displaying the canopy open help? It would certainly give a better view of the gorgeous cockpit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 What about plunge moulding a new canopy? You could use the kit one as a basis, pack it with filler and get it to the correct shape. Then make a copy of the cockpit opening in thin wood or something heat resistant. Warm up some clear acetate over the wood opening and push the filled canopy through. You should get a new acetate canopy of the right shape, although it'll probably take a few goes to get it spot-on. HTH, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 That canopy looks a little like a Fulmar to me . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 6 hours ago, Christer A said: I'll do the best with what I have. If all else fails, display it with the moveable part 'removed for maintenance'.🙂 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 I decided to leave the canopy aside for a bit, and focus on the fun bits instead. Fuselage didn't require that much putty to be nice and neat A dry fit showed that some work was required to close the gap between wing and fuselage. The right side is a little bit wors though: However, After the glue had set, I saw that the wing was not horizontal so I had to pry it off and redo the whole thing... This time it came out all right! Time for some more filler. But after this, I need to get back to the canopy again... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Nice seam work; what a shame about the wing but you've sorted that out without much trouble Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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