Gloster E28/39 Pioneer, 1/72, Clear Prop Models

[SarmaT]

Greetings, colleagues!
I started surprisingly realise how subconsciously NOVO/FROG models continue to influence my choice of models. I feel a desire to restore my airplanes collection that I assembled when I was a schoolboy, but using all my nowdays skills (as it has already been the case with the Mirage IIIE by Modelsvit).
I'd like to continue the theme of jets and possess several planes that flew at the dawn of jet aviation (such as Me-163 Komet, for example). And even though I’m not usually into project aircrafts, I can't go past this remarkable one: Britain's first experimental jet aircraft Gloster Pioneer. Moreover, these days an excellent kit is produced by the Ukrainian company Clearprop. Of course, today's copy in no way can be compared to that old Donetsk Toy Factory Gloster Whittle kit (with its memorable for me terrible cardboard packaging and a pilot figure). After tiresome struggle with F-16B Fighting Falcon, I hope this assembly will be like a piece of pie 

 

 

 

In my plans to assemble the model mostly out of the box, however, I want to use all the add-ons that Clearprop offers. Namely: photo-etching parts, vacuum canopy, resin wheels, pitot tube and masks (a very convenient and necessary thing).

 

 

As usual I set myself a specific task when working with each kit and apart from desire to learn how to assemble and paint models neatly, this time I will be experimenting with ARCUS enamels for the first time (usually I paint with acrylics).

[dogsbody]

I've got one of each kit in my stash.

 

 

Chris

[Robin-42]

I have the kit without the extras, I haven’t looked that closely at it and I am curious to see what they add.

[SarmaT]

11 hours ago, Robin-42 said:

I have the kit without the extras, I haven’t looked that closely at it and I am curious to see what they add.

We'll see during assembling. The set itself is good and self-sufficient. Here's a comparison of the wheels from the kit and the resin ones:

 

 

I would like to note that those in the box are of very decent quality. Of course, on resin ones, the inscriptions on the rubber are visible. But one has to take into consideration how small the plane is. And the question is whether I can paint it so carefully that these inscriptions can be seen even after.  Not to mention cutting them off without damaging them - but I'll try my best!

[SarmaT]

Started assembling!
Even the beginner kit includes a small but nice photo-etch plate:

 

 

This plate contains parts mainly for the air intake. So that's where I've started:

 

 

It’s amazing how Clearprops manage to achieve such a precision in fitting parts. The photo-etched elements fit perfectly into the grooves in the plastic. I barely restrain myself from assembling this airplane like in childhood - unpainted)))

[ernestf]

Thanks for sharing the progress, it looks great !

I have the kit too and can't wait to see your build as a reference before I even start !!!

 

Ernest

[Steve Coombs]

Looking good. That air intake is an elegant assembly.

[bissyboat]

Looking very good. ⚓👍

[SarmaT]

Dear colleagues, managed to work a little bit. I put aside the fuselage and cockpit for now, since I need to paint and install the air intakes first. I started assembling the landing gear niches. Since I have an additional etch board, there are some little parts on it. Replaced some plastic parts (partitions) with etched ones. For comparison, here are the instructions from the kit (on the left) and the instructions for additional photo-etching (on the right).

 

Having the walls of the landing gear wells installed, I glued the second (lower) half of the wing. Probably, either I havn’t sand off the plastic from the inside of the wing enough, or I didn’t press the wing halves down strong enough - I got small gaps between the walls of the niches and the lower half of the wing, which I successfully filled with putty. The photo-etched parts were glued with ULTRA GLUE.

 

 

Also, an element of the landing gear folding mechanism was installed in the landing gear niches at the same time. The instructions weren't entirely clear on how to install them. And I havn't set it quite right, but I'll correct that later .Here is one of the few images of the landing gear bay that I could find. It helps to understand the correct arrangement of parts:

 

[SarmaT]

Hello everyone! I assembled the landing gear, including the etching parts (which are included in the kit). I used a wire to imitate hydraulic hoses:

 

I put the wheels without glue. It’s a very interesting resin: firstly, when I started sawing off the excess, it neatly broke off on its own, and secondly, it’s quite soft when you sand it off.

 

[SarmaT]

Hello everybody!

Despite the fact that the ARCUS solvent for enamels is already on its way, I could not resist and took Tikkurila 1050 on the advice of colleagues (actually it is a white spirit).

The impressions are twofold, but mostly positive. The “aluminum” paint is very bright and looks more like “silver” (maybe the labels on the jar were mixed up?). To be honest, I really enjoyed Vallejo’s “aluminum” in color (and quality). But overall, I really like it: it goes on in a thin layer, one can clearly see all the small details, although the flaws can be seen too))) (I need to learn how to prepare the plastic and glue it more carefully).

It’s unusual to wait for the paint to dry after getting used to acrylics. The manufacturer suggests giving it six hours. The next day I continue to work (although in this case I don’t need to process the surface - just to glue the air intakes to the fuselage half to continue working on the cockpit. Photo in natural and artificial light:

 

 

[SarmaT]

My friend presented to me a pilot figure from the NOVO Gloster Wittle kit. I will assume it as a little monument to Pioneer's first test pilot, Jerry Sawyer.

Dry fitted the fuselage to the wing.

 

I've found the half of the fuselage of the Novo Pioneer among my stack of spare parts and compared it to Clearprop's. Hmmm, the drawings clearly let the Frog company down. By the way, I read somewhere that this mistake only affects the fuselage - the wings match the drawings.

I glued the ailerons. I want to show that, unfortunately, they did not fit straight as they should be. I don’t even know what angel gave me the idea not to sand off the edge of the aileron (as I was going to do at first), but to grind it down at its base. The picture shows what the left aileron looks like before processing, and the right one is already installed correctly:

 

[CarLos]

I will follow your build with interest. I also built the Frog kit in my childhood and for years I looked for the Pavla one. I finally get one short before Clear Prop issued his... It is also a nice kit, not with the crisp moulding of CP but with nice resin bits. 

 

Carlos

[SarmaT]

On 15/11/2023 at 20:28, CarLos said:

I will follow your build with interest. I also built the Frog kit in my childhood and for years I looked for the Pavla one. I finally get one short before Clear Prop issued his... It is also a nice kit, not with the crisp moulding of CP but with nice resin bits. 

 

Carlos

Cheers, Carlos! I'be glad to follow your build and to be helpful if necessary.

Now the time has come for Interior Green. The paint is almost glossy. Not bad for washes and decals, but for dry brushing I'll have to cover it with a matte varnish.

One lever near the chair and straps are photo-etch plate, the rest are wire. The rods on the starboard side are extruded sprue. Compass - decal.

 

 

[SarmaT]

Carry on with Pioneer!

What came as a surprise to me was that the instrument panel had to be adjusted (practically grinding down the sides up to the instruments) in order the fuselage halves to fit together. I had to scrape out quite a large amount of plastic from the fuselage halves (fortunately the thickness allowed). It is difficult to imagine what exactly I did “wrong”, since the air intakes fitted tightly into place and adhered to the fuselage. And all this I had to do on a model painted inside - carefully, being limited in movements and methods. These fittings should have been done earlier, but I did not expect this at all. The halves of the fuselage in the upper part (where the instrument panel is installed) initially did not converge by 1mm. At last this stage is completed and the fuselage is successfully closed.

 

 

[Johnson]

Thank you for your posts! The work is going very well, apart from the poor fitting i/p - noted for when I build my Pioneer in next year's early jets group build.

 

Cheers,

[SarmaT]

On 29/11/2023 at 17:20, Johnson said:

Thank you for your posts! The work is going very well, apart from the poor fitting i/p - noted for when I build my Pioneer in next year's early jets group build.

Thanks for support - I'm really glad if it helps!

So gentlemen, this is not the end of the story. When dry-fitting the fuselage to the wing, I decided to glue one half of the fuselage (the starboard side) to the wing first, and then the left half of the fuselage to the right and to the wing. What we get: the connection of the fuselage to the wing is ideal. However, the center section forms a step with the fuselage, both front and rear. Also, the engine access panel on top of the fuselage does not close perfectly (there is a step).

 

 

 

In any way, the airframe is glued together. The next stage: careful adjustment of the panels to maintain a delicate panel lines and, if necessary, restore them.

 

 

 

 

P.S. The landing gear wells are completed, even with a wash. After painting the entire plane, the only thing will be left is to insert the main landing gear.

[Johnson]

Noted!

 

Even with these fitting problems it still looks like a great little kit (and plane).

 

Cheers,

[SarmaT]

On 30/11/2023 at 23:18, Johnson said:

Even with these fitting problems it still looks like a great little kit (and plane)

It really is - cute little sparrow 

Sorry, friends, for the delay - I ran into an absolutely uninteresting, unspectacular and exhausting stage of sanding the fuselage and restoring the panel lines. I failed to save the original ones. Or rather, my new deep and wide cut did not fit in with the delicate and thin factory one. After using all kinds of putties, I returned to cyacrine - it's the only thing that does not crumble when applying a new cut. It’s like if you got sick and tried all the folk remedies before starting to use antibiotics. It would be better to start with cyacrine right away)). The main issue was that the panel covering the engine didn't fit to the fuselage. The gap was too wide sometimes. To restore the panel lines I used a sharp conical tool, such as an awl and little saws. Then I went through it with extra thin glue. Unfortunately, it took several passes to get a more or less satisfactory result.

 

[SarmaT]

I dry fitted both canopies I have (transperent plastic one out of the kit on the left, and an additional vacuum one on the right). I should note that the plastic canopy is of very decent quality: transparent, fits well. The vacuum one, of course, is thinner and can be seen better through it. However, I would like to note for beginners that you don’t have to strive to install a vacuum canopy: experience is required to cut it out carefully and not damage it (scratch or break it during processing). I’m just learning - I need to get better at it and gain experience, so I'll struggle for the vacuum one.

 

Before gluing it, I decided to dip it in Future. Gluing didn’t work out well right away: ULTRA GLUE dries quickly, and construction PVA glue, it seems to me, holds it weaker. After several approaches I glued it with ULTRA GLUE. I also glued the gargrot, fin and stabilizers.

 

 

Masks are always a very useful thing that saves time and nerves. These are very good. I applied at the canopy binding the first layer of ARCUS enamel in interior green.

[marvinneko]

Nice work dealing with all the fit problems. I recently did a lot of sanding and filling and rescribing so I get your pain. You got nice results. And that vacform canopy looks good. Very clear!

[Johnson]

7 hours ago, SarmaT said:

the plastic canopy is of very decent quality: transparent, fits well.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I have the expert kit which has most of the extras but not, for some reason, the vacuum one.

 

Both look good. Vacuum canopies need a brand new blade, good eyesight (I now use an Optivisor), lots of light and... patience!

 

Looks good Sarma.

 

Cheers,

 

Charlie

[Steve Coombs]

Excellent work there.

I had to look up the word gargrot; I hadn't come across it before. It's the fairing on top of the fuselage, isn't it?

[Gondor44]

13 hours ago, Steve Coombs said:

Excellent work there.

I had to look up the word gargrot; I hadn't come across it before. It's the fairing on top of the fuselage, isn't it?

I just had to do that as well. A better visual idea of what it is would be the half round duct on the lower fuselage sides of an English Electric Lightning. The spine of the Lightning would also be a gargot as it is on some other aitcraft as well.

 

Gondor

[SarmaT]

@marvinneko, @Johnson, @Steve Coombs, @Gondor44 thank you, gentlemen, for attention to the build and support!

On 15/12/2023 at 17:53, marvinneko said:

I recently did a lot of sanding and filling and rescribing so I get your pain

I didn't expect it with this model - thought it'd be easier and hoped to finish it before the New Year Eve))

On 15/12/2023 at 23:20, Johnson said:

Vacuum canopies need a brand new blade, good eyesight (I now use an Optivisor), lots of light and... patience!

Cheers, Charlie! I think the vacform canopy first of all is effective when you do the open cockpit. The one can see how thin it is.

On 16/12/2023 at 23:36, Steve Coombs said:

I had to look up the word gargrot; I hadn't come across it before. It's the fairing on top of the fuselage, isn't it?

 

22 hours ago, Gondor44 said:

I just had to do that as well.

Sorry, guys, may be in English there is a proper word for it but the translater gives me only this option. I would assume that this word is of French origin. Starting already from WWI aircrafts constructors used that addition on the top of the fuselage straight behind the head of the pilot with the only purpose to improve aerodynamic characteristics of the a/c by reduction of air resistance. The disadvantage of gargrot is reduced visibility for the pilot. There are no gargrots when the aircrafts have buble type of canopy. Hopefuly I managed to explain and hope it's right.