Heather Kay Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 4 minutes ago, cngaero said: on Facebook Oh, that’s a shame. I managed to escape Zuckerberg's grubby mitts a few years back. I won’t go back. Ah well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cngaero Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 The Stirling Project also have their own website if you don't want to use the Facepaint route and I can't say that I blame you on that score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 1 hour ago, cngaero said: have their own website I'll seek them out. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 Scribing. It’s a dark art, there’s no denying. I’ve fully scribed two builds in my life, most of my efforts limited to repairing lost detail on more modern kits with engraved lines. Doing a large kit like the Stirling is a challenge. Choose my weapons! In the end, the eraser shield top left, the small ruler bottom left, the Dymo tape, needle-in-a-pin-chuck and the Trumpeter scriber were used. You’ve already seen the pattern I was hoping to create. Let’s see. I started small, with the fin and stabilisers. If things didn’t work out, then I wasn’t committed to much. I worked with my optivisor firmly clamped in front of my eyeballs, and carefully scribed the lines I’d marked. Once happy, I used a medium grit sanding stick and removed the rivets and raised stuff. The plan seemed to be working. Some eight hours or so later - wibble - the bench is a mess. So is the Stirling! Actually, it’s not at all bad. What you see is most of the primer sanded away during pimple removal, followed by a quick scrub in some warm soapy water to get rid of the dust. I only slipped a few times, so there’ll be a little filler here and there in due course. I used some microrod to fill the flap crevasses. When things have dried I’ll get another light coat of primer over the wings so I can mark out the right shape for the flaps. Being up close and personal with the plastic has been encouraging. I have been able to spot areas that might need some work, some sink holes that need filler, but all in all, I’m pleased with the day's work. Now to vacuum up gazillions of little plastic spirals! 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 (edited) Everyone, It's probably me but the latest news in The Stirling Project website is dated December 2022, and refers to their move to a new, smaller facility. I searched again and found the Facebook pages. I don't have a Facebook account but what I could see about the Project via an Internet search it's apparently moved to Warrington. That seems a tad unlikely because they moved from a Cambridgshire location (Alconbury) and I thought the new location was soewhere near Peterborough. The leader of the Project used to post fairly regularly in BM (12Jaguar ? ), usually to offer good advice to peeps working an a Stirling model, so it might be worth seeking him out and clarifying the situation. I daren't do that myself 'cos I have a project of my own - 617 Squadron Lancasters including a Grand Slam conversion - which is waaaaaay behind!# Hope this might help, Jonny I've just found this .... https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/79068-stirling-project-update It's a diary by 12jaguar, and looks to date from the inception of the Project. Intereresting reading (my excuse for coming in for a rest after gardening!) Edited May 15 by Jonny Added URL of a diary about the Stirling Project, and made it clear that 'the project' as I originally put it is The Stirling Project 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinneko Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 58 minutes ago, Heather Kay said: I'll seek them out. Thank you! From Facebook The Stirling Aircraft Project aims to reconstruct a Short Stirling Forward Fuselage UK Registered Ch Page · Charity Organization Warrington, United Kingdom +44 7722 176557 [email protected] stirlingproject.org.uk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 Thanks David. I’ve popped over to the web site. There’s a contact point, so if I get stuck with something I know who to ask! Current pondering involves how and where the ventral "dustbin" turret was fitted, and what the perisher looked like when retracted. While turret trivia goes on, I decided to think about correcting the flaps and other moving parts. The compromise to make moving surfaces means there are hefty non-prototypical hinges and a fair old gap around the ailerons, elevators and rudder. These will be dealt with in due course. The flaps are different matter. I hope you can make out in this image how the now-filled line on the port wing top surface doesn’t go where the drawing and photos show it should. That’s easily remedied, which is why I filled the slot Airfix moulded. The aileron, though, is a bit wrong, too. The plastic needs adjusting, both on the wing and the flappy bit that goes in the hole. Underneath, the mould was about right for the flap shape, but again the aileron hole is all to pot. Adjustments I shall consider during the coming week. 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 You have the patience of Job Heather. Scribing is not my long suit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 7 hours ago, CedB said: You have the patience of Job Heather. Scribing is not my long suit! Thanks Ced. I didn’t realise how long it had taken me, but it was an oddly relaxing process. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuraiwarrior Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 Hi Heather, Doff my hat to you. Scribing fills me with dread. I have reinstated the odd line that has been damaged but never a whole airframe. You have done a 'Stirling' job of it (pardon the pun). Watching with interest, and learning from one of the best. Thanks for sharing Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 1 hour ago, Samuraiwarrior said: Scribing fills me with dread Likewise, and your technique of applying a primer coat first to the unassembled bits is new to me--seems most effective, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 The scribing looks great Heather, wibbletastic even. I have to ask, on behalf of the BM massive, did you wear a pair of pants on your head and a pencil up each nostril for the full eight hours of the epic operation? Curious of Mars 👽 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 8 minutes ago, Martian said: did you wear a pair of pants on your head and a pencil up each nostril for the full eight hours of the epic operation? Pants, yes, though freshly laundered. Pencils, no. There are limits. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 2 hours ago, Samuraiwarrior said: Scribing fills me with dread. The hardest part is working out how to guide the scriber safely. Once I worked out methods of holding various implements, and how to master the Dymo tape, the rest, relatively speaking, was easy. Not pressing too hard on the cutting tool, with enough pressure to guide it without wander, is the other technique that just takes practice. 19 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: technique of applying a primer coat first I knew I wanted to make changes to the plastic. Trying to make and then see pencil marks on hard shiny plastic is never easy, so I though a light coat of grey primer would be helpful. It was, because the matt finish takes pencil marks nicely. Modern plastic kits are almost universally moulded in light grey plastic, so the primer step isn’t needed. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 Having further reviewed various details I need to figure out, I decided to tackle filling the mid-upper turret position. I don’t get on well with Milliput. I can tell, because my current pack has been opened and used once. It’s been stored next to my workbench, but one part had developed a crust. I ploughed on and mixed it as best I could anyway. If it wasn’t going to work, then fair enough, but I’d have to try anyway. I scored all round the area I wanted the putty to adhere to, and got stuck in. Some hours later… It had appeared to work. However, after a session with my SIHRSC's much bigger brother, the plug fell out. It hadn’t managed to stick to the styrene at all. Well, at least the turret fairing is gone. I’m going to resort to plugging the hole with styrene sheet and filler. The problem is I’ll need to plug each half separately, and fill things properly once the fuselage halves are joined up. I’ll leave this until I’ve done some other stuff with the wings. Oh, and welcome back. The forum outage made me realise just how much I have come to rely on my online life. 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Lucas Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 @Heather Kay, long experience with Milliput has tought me that even if you don't open it, the darker of the two parts develops a crust. I always slice the stick like salami on a pizza and then cut the crust from around the edge before mixing slightly more of the darker colour with the lighter coloured part. If you don't remove the crust, you will find that this is what leads to the dark speckles that can be seen in your photo and that these remain 'soft' when the rest of the Milliput cures. These speckles will show through any paint that you subsequently apply and totally ruin any finish that you might subsequently apply. The solution where this happens is to dig the dark speckles out with a scalpel and then fill the resulting hole with some 'pure', crust free Milliput. With regard to its failure to adhere to the plastic as it did in this case, just stick it back into place with Superglue. Try to get the glue to seep out slightly between the Milliput and plastic on the external surface so you know that the joint is completely filled with glue. This will allow you to sand the joint down without a gap remaining and a joint line showing. Just make sure that you get it correctly positioned the first time . . . 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 I had mentally planned to achieve a lot today. Unfortunately, the mood isn’t there. Best Beloved is quite poorly, needing quite a bit of close support one way and another, and that’s eating into my time and mojo resources. So, the best I’ve managed is knuckle down and mark out and scribe the flaps. Port upper and lower. Starboard upper and lower. The work has been to realign the flap areas, which are different on upper and lower surfaces because of the way the things operated. I’ve also realigned the inner end of the aileron slots. A quick witness coat of primer has revealed quite a bit of remedial work required, so that’s probably next on the list. Some naughty sink holes have appeared that I missed earlier, too. I’ve also noticed there are no ghostly rivets left, which is a pity. Ah well. There's no real reason not to join the halves together. The undercarriage is inserted from below, and the wing bomb cells can be closed up. The landing lights on the early Series 1 Stirlings were in the leading edge. This was swapped to the flip-down version later in Series 2, I believe. I’ll think on how to improve the kit in that area. I had a brain wave about fuselage windows last night. I'm unhappy that they’re the wrong shape, and as I need to make some new windows I’d like to correct that error while I’m about it. I need to experiment, but it might just work. You’ll find all about it if it does! Steps forward, slow but sure. The next post really ought to add a bit more historical information about the B.12/36 designs, and the Stirling's development. I’m off to my references for a bit. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 I don't think you'll ever get milliput to fill a hole like that, no matter how fresh it is. You'll have to resort to good old fashioned plastic card and then add milliput over the top if needed to get the shape. Nice work on the scribing though. Ian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 5 minutes ago, Brandy said: I don't think you'll ever get milliput to fill a hole like that I know you’re right. I was more hoping the moulded void under the fairing would be filled. As it turned out, it all fell out anyway, so plastic sheet ahoy! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Heather, what about gluing a thin sheet of styrene on the inside, under the turret hole. Then, after gluing the fuselage halves together, you fill the shallow hole with whatever filler you like best? Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 8 hours ago, dogsbody said: what about gluing a thin sheet of styrene on the inside, under the turret hole. The nice thing about the Stirling is the fuselage is basically rectangular in section. No need to form complex curves. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 The re-scribe and de-rivet was worth all of that time and effort. The wings now look like a brand new kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 11 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said: The re-scribe and de-rivet was worth all of that time and effort. The wings now look like a brand new kit. One wonders if it is worth the effort when one begins the process. My aim was always to try and lift this venerable kit to something better. I might get there. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuraiwarrior Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Hi Heather, The answer is definitely it is going to be worth it. To see a old kit getting the TLC it needs and your building techniques shows us, me especially what can be done. You will succeed, I am very sure. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Definitely worth the describe Heather, it's cracking. Milliput not sticking? It always sticks if you wet it on application. Water of any style does it nicely but as Ian so correctly puts it even freshly mined Milliput needs a support over that big a space so you'll have to panel underneath before it can be smoothed over. As you might realise I have a love hate relationship with Dolgellau's finest. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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