Bristol Superfreighter - Airfix 1/72

[AdrianMF]

Well, touch and go for page 1... 

 

Maybe if the cars are under scale that will compensate for the thick walls.

 

Shocking kit - about five weeks pocket money and precisely zero guns, bombs or rockets. Mutter, mutter...

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

(edit) no-o-oooo... Page 1 Denied!

[TheBaron]

Ced this is the most ridiculously nostalgic piece of work already, it's fantastic.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

9 hours ago, CedB said:

Regular readers will know I'd lost my accessories so I bought a new set.

Then I found the old ones.

Par for the course  

Murphy knows and when you need the tool the most he snags it and hides it. When he see’s you’ve replaced it with something, preferably more expensive lo and behold Murphy returns said item(s). 

[CedB]

20 hours ago, Mr T said:

Just a thought about using the very nice Oxford diecasts. They are scaled to 4mm/foot (1/76th) which doesn't sound much different to 1/72nd scale, but it is more than you think. I would stick to the larger cars that Oxford do and avoid Minis. 

Thanks Mr T. I've ordered a Reliant Scimitar (had two real ones in the past) and a Rover P5b, both large so I hope they'll look OK.

 

19 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

Re the clamshell doors. Maybe plunge moulding would give you the thinner doors you need?

 

Trevor

Now Trevor, that's extra work and tools eh? I'll go with the sand and added greeblies I think. They don't actually look THAT 'too think' when compared to that photo?

 

18 hours ago, Billy54 said:

May I tag along?

 

Nice save on the decals, I mean transfers. 

 

I built my first, last and only only Superfreighter in the early 1960's and used Dinky Toy cars to up and down the ramp.

 

Isn't there a scene in one of the James Bond movies where we see a Superfreighter? Diamonds Are Forever? 

Of course Billy, welcome.

 

18 hours ago, Brandy said:

Fixed gear is no guarantee that it won't fail!

 

 

Ian

Oops. Another scary Brandy 'incident'! Were you P1?

 

15 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Gold Finger!  As for the pranged Cessna 172 in the photo, I'd say there were some, shall we say, added forces at work responsible for the gear failure.  Might poor maintenance and inspection procedures also have been at play?

That's it Alex! Added forces may have been at play but heck, these things were tough as anything. Maybe something rattled loose…

 

15 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Well, touch and go for page 1... 

 

Maybe if the cars are under scale that will compensate for the thick walls.

 

Shocking kit - about five weeks pocket money and precisely zero guns, bombs or rockets. Mutter, mutter...

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

(edit) no-o-oooo... Page 1 Denied!

Welcome Adrian. Shocking is it? Oh dear…

 

14 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Ced this is the most ridiculously nostalgic piece of work already, it's fantastic.

Thanks Tony.

 

13 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Murphy knows and when you need the tool the most he snags it and hides it. When he see’s you’ve replaced it with something, preferably more expensive lo and behold Murphy returns said item(s). 

You're not kidding Dennis. And there's a similar thing; the tool you want to use isn't working any more. My Dremel battery isn't charging:

 

 

I've had a few battery problems recently and, of course, Lithium Ion batteries don't recharge forever.

Murphy's new law of shopping is 'the original replacement will be twice the price of the Chinese equivalent'. £27 v £48

Which do I buy? I'll leave the battery on charge for a few hours in case it's the indicator light (fat chance!)

Then I think 'do I put the battery cost towards a new Dremel?'

But the new ones won't fit my bendy drive. But I won't need that with a smaller machine.

Choices, choices…

[CedB]

…and what if the charger's broken? Oh good grief… I've ordered a cheap battery.

 

Survey yesterday didn't find any major issues (phew) so just waiting to hear the buyer's response. More stress.

Three weeks to our proposed completion date so I'd better get the wardrobe sorted. Some of it is bound to have shrunk. Ahem.

 

Anyway, the model.

One of the ramp parts is warped:

 

 

See the back one is sticking up and it shouldn't be.

Quick YouTube visit - soak in hot water:

 

 

…and clamp:

 

 

The only award I've kept. Nice and heavy. No I didn't have to do anything extra for it except turn up.

 

Ta dah:

 

 

Note the different ends on the parts, one thin and the other to sit on the step:

 

 

Of course I won't glue this until I have the fuselage on its legs or the wheels might be off the ground. Just checked the video and the wheels do sit on the ground when installed, presumably to take the weight.

 

Dremel required to clean these up:

 

 

I guess I could use scalpels.

 

Maybe I'll put those aside and do something else.

[perdu]

18 hours ago, Brandy said:

Fixed gear is no guarantee that it won't fail!

 

 

Ian

I, however, subscribe to the school of 'put it down In the right place at the right speed and don't get poorly'   

 

Oh yes and the old parkies school of Keep Orf The Bleedin' Grass.

 

 

But think I must be over simplifying a terrifying moment for all involved.

 

 

 

 

I don't think that will buff out 

 

[81-er]

19 hours ago, Brandy said:

Fixed gear is no guarantee that it won't fail!

 

 

Ian

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. A great landing is one where the plane can be used again after the landing...

 

Regarding Goldfinger, there's a local connection from me as the airport scenes were filmed at Southend Airport. Which is about 3 miles from my flat.

 

James

[Billy54]

17 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Gold Finger!  As for the pranged Cessna 172 in the photo, I'd say there were some, shall we say, added forces at work responsible for the gear failure.  Might poor maintenance and inspection procedures also have been at play?

 

Yep Goldfinger, that's the one.

[Biggles87]

I read yesterday that they should go back to the original character for the next James Bond, which was smoking, drinking, fast cars and womanising, so the obvious choice is……… Clarkson, Jeremy Clarkson. ( original by Giles Coren )

Sorry for the thread drift but I thought you might be amused.

 

John

[Brandy]

On 9/2/2024 at 9:41 PM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Gold Finger!  As for the pranged Cessna 172 in the photo, I'd say there were some, shall we say, added forces at work responsible for the gear failure.  Might poor maintenance and inspection procedures also have been at play?

Quite possible. The leg sheared where it is bolted to the structure under the floor and even I could see a dark area on the joint surface which indicated it had been going for some time. We had 2 172s and both suffered the same problem within a week of each other!

This was in Guyana too, so very few paved runways. 

 

Ian

[perdu]

ouch

[Terry1954]

22 hours ago, CedB said:

Survey yesterday didn't find any major issues (phew) so just waiting to hear the buyer's response. More stress.

 

Well, good that there are no major issues, and it sounds like you are selling having moved out, so you've sorted the move out stress bit?

 

When we moved out of London, we had my old flat in Winchester to go to as an interim place to live (small but nice) so most of everything else (including my stash) went into Big Yellow Box storage with the aim of giving ourselves as much time as we needed to find the new "forever" home down here in Dorset.

So the plan was load up the removal lorry in Blackheath making sure all items for storage were loaded first (I should have been a loadmaster), and all items to go to the flat, loaded last. Plan then involved one offload at Flat in Winchester with short term living stuff, then the lorry continued down to offload everything else in the Poole storage depot.

Slight snag. Removal lorry broke down on M25 before first unload. Removal company sent out replacement vehicle. Crew cross loaded everything (can anyone spot the problem?), then on with the rest of the plan.

So at first drop off point everything was in the wrong order, and it was raining! Anyway, during the 6 or so months until we found our dream home, my stash was in the Big Yellow Storage depot in Poole. A very complex operation to find anything whenever I raided the stash!

And the moral of the story is that I now have two sets of many of my tools!

 

Nice work on the ramps and a very interesting video! Did you sot Officer Crabtree?

 

T.

 

 

[CedB]

On 03/09/2024 at 11:09, perdu said:

I, however, subscribe to the school of 'put it down In the right place at the right speed and don't get poorly'   

 

Oh yes and the old parkies school of Keep Orf The Bleedin' Grass.

 

 

But think I must be over simplifying a terrifying moment for all involved.

 

 

 

 

I don't think that will buff out 

 

Scary stuff I guess!

 

On 03/09/2024 at 11:17, 81-er said:

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. A great landing is one where the plane can be used again after the landing...

 

Regarding Goldfinger, there's a local connection from me as the airport scenes were filmed at Southend Airport. Which is about 3 miles from my flat.

 

James

And a good pilot is one with the same number of landings as take offs!

Southend? On my visit list, mainly for the pier 

 

9 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I read yesterday that they should go back to the original character for the next James Bond, which was smoking, drinking, fast cars and womanising, so the obvious choice is……… Clarkson, Jeremy Clarkson. ( original by Giles Coren )

Sorry for the thread drift but I thought you might be amused.

 

John

Thread drifts encouraged John!

Clarkson as Bond though is going a bit far…

 

7 hours ago, Brandy said:

Quite possible. The leg sheared where it is bolted to the structure under the floor and even I could see a dark area on the joint surface which indicated it had been going for some time. We had 2 172s and both suffered the same problem within a week of each other!

This was in Guyana too, so very few paved runways. 

 

Ian

Ah, those hidden bolts eh? I remember pre-flight on the Cessnas was very much a stroll around with most of the 'could fail' stuff hidden.

Trust the mechanics they said.

 

6 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

 

Well, good that there are no major issues, and it sounds like you are selling having moved out, so you've sorted the move out stress bit?

 

When we moved out of London, we had my old flat in Winchester to go to as an interim place to live (small but nice) so most of everything else (including my stash) went into Big Yellow Box storage with the aim of giving ourselves as much time as we needed to find the new "forever" home down here in Dorset.

So the plan was load up the removal lorry in Blackheath making sure all items for storage were loaded first (I should have been a loadmaster), and all items to go to the flat, loaded last. Plan then involved one offload at Flat in Winchester with short term living stuff, then the lorry continued down to offload everything else in the Poole storage depot.

Slight snag. Removal lorry broke down on M25 before first unload. Removal company sent out replacement vehicle. Crew cross loaded everything (can anyone spot the problem?), then on with the rest of the plan.

So at first drop off point everything was in the wrong order, and it was raining! Anyway, during the 6 or so months until we found our dream home, my stash was in the Big Yellow Storage depot in Poole. A very complex operation to find anything whenever I raided the stash!

And the moral of the story is that I now have two sets of many of my tools!

 

Nice work on the ramps and a very interesting video! Did you sot Officer Crabtree?

 

T.

 

 

Thanks Terry. Hopefully our two stop move (daughters and storage) will go more smoothly!

Officer Crabtree? Still primed and ready!

[CedB]

Today was a bit of a waiting game for deliveries.

 

The new battery arrived:

 

 

Result

 

These two arrived:

 

 

 

Very nice. Each in their own little cases wrapped in cardboard with a surprise on the opening tab:

 

 

What the…? Glasses on. Oh, it's a 5! Mrs B identified the Scimitar even though it's the wrong colour. Here are mine:

 

 

 

The white one was bought when I got divorced and the brown one when I moved in with the current (keep 'em on their toes) Mrs B. Much more reliable than the original, thankfully. I spent a lot of weekends fixing things on the white one and no time on the brown. Nice cars though. Ford 3litre V6. Broom broom!

 

The models are screwed into their cases so obviously designed for collectors. I think I'll use the screws to attach them to the ramp:

 

 

Looking good to me. Thanks for the recommendation although I can't now find the post!

 

Bit of work done on this:

 

 

Any ideas for the paint guys?

[Heather Kay]

3 minutes ago, CedB said:

Any ideas for the paint guys?

Hi-vis yellow, I think.

 

I'm sure I’ve seen a film of a Freighter being loaded using a scissor lift rather than a ramp. I’d not be keen on my pride and joy being reversed out of the plane and down a ramp… 🫣

[CedB]

Thanks Heather, yellow it is:

 

 

Now the Dremel battery is sorted, thinned the edges of the doors:

 

 

Having assembled the cockpit (such as it is):

 

 

What paint? Having looked for some references I found this great thread:

 

 

Didn't help me on cockpit colours but hey, a great source and very little is going to be seen through the window anyway.

[giemme]

Ced going BIG! I'm in (albeit very late)  

 

Ciao

[perdu]

16 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

'm sure I’ve seen a film of a Freighter being loaded using a scissor lift rather than a ramp. I’d not be keen on my pride and joy being reversed out of the plane and down a ramp… 🫣

I think they used the scissor lift when loading the Carvairs didn't they?

 

Heather having ramp loaded and unloaded countless numbers of recovery trucks the actual difficulties are almost always in the eye of the beholder.

 

Practice makes perfection you know...

 

 

 

[Biggles87]

They definitely used scissor lifts on Carvairs. Aer Lingus used to keep us awake at Liverpool on Saturday nights shuttling newspapers to Dublin in them.

 

John

[81-er]

22 hours ago, CedB said:

And a good pilot is one with the same number of landings as take offs!

Southend? On my visit list, mainly for the pier 

Well we do indeed have the longest pleasure pier in the world (all 1 & 1/3rd miles of it), and many good chippies. There's also a couple of preserved anti-tank obstacles now built into the sea wall, as well as a Mulberry Harbour that sprung a leak, being towed into the estuary to sink safely out of the way of major shipping lanes. You can walk out to that at low tide. We also occasionally have a visit from a wild @Fritag, whose dad coincidentally lives in the same road my parents have just moved to.

 

22 hours ago, CedB said:

Much more reliable than the original, thankfully.

The car, or the current Mrs B? 

 

James

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Coming along nicely Ced.  One of my old flying instructors was fond of saying "A good landing is one you can walk away from- unless it's a seaplane"

[CedB]

On 05/09/2024 at 09:58, giemme said:

Ced going BIG! I'm in (albeit very late)  

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio. You're right, big. IF I'd thought I'd realise I now need to pack the thing and I'm out of peanuts!

 

On 05/09/2024 at 10:06, perdu said:

I think they used the scissor lift when loading the Carvairs didn't they?

 

Heather having ramp loaded and unloaded countless numbers of recovery trucks the actual difficulties are almost always in the eye of the beholder.

 

Practice makes perfection you know...

 

 

 

On 05/09/2024 at 11:08, Biggles87 said:

They definitely used scissor lifts on Carvairs. Aer Lingus used to keep us awake at Liverpool on Saturday nights shuttling newspapers to Dublin in them.

 

John

There you go chaps  

 

On 05/09/2024 at 15:13, 81-er said:

Well we do indeed have the longest pleasure pier in the world (all 1 & 1/3rd miles of it), and many good chippies. There's also a couple of preserved anti-tank obstacles now built into the sea wall, as well as a Mulberry Harbour that sprung a leak, being towed into the estuary to sink safely out of the way of major shipping lanes. You can walk out to that at low tide. We also occasionally have a visit from a wild @Fritag, whose dad coincidentally lives in the same road my parents have just moved to.

Thanks James. Nice coincidence!

 

On 05/09/2024 at 15:13, 81-er said:

The car, or the current Mrs B? 

 

James

Both!

 

18 hours ago, ColinChipmunkfan said:

Coming along nicely Ced.  One of my old flying instructors was fond of saying "A good landing is one you can walk away from- unless it's a seaplane"

 

Not much done yesterday as I was doing tours of the Old Theatre all day and over the next few days I'm sorting and packing. Optimistic!

 

I did pop in to Hobbycraft for some blue paint for uniforms. Danger awaited:

 

 

I managed to avoid any of their limited range of kits (couldn't find three) but did get these:

 

 

When did they change to droppers?

What are you supposed to drop them into? Airbrushes? Is this 'Gen 2' better?

I bet they're doing what Mr Colman did with his mustard; made millions from the stuff left on the plate.

 

Quick search… 2022! I'm badly out of date.

Nice review here:

Including the comment that "It is manufactured at HMG paints in Manchester." Hooray! I shall be trying them out then!

 

By the way, a tip I picked up from SMW; 'hard' dropper bottles have a soft spot for squeezing. I didn't know either.

 

Trouble is, what to do with this:

 

 

Who said 'buy another rack'!

Brenda from Bristol would have something to say about that!  

[CedB]

Trying out the Gen 2 Humbrol. Bottle says shake for 45secs. Hah!

 

 

Now I know I'm out of date with my modelling and an old man (ahem) but why did I forget that the 'F' in Tamiya (you said it) means 'flat'?

 

 

Glossy. Rats.

I also forgot that this paint doesn't like overcoats; it pulls itself off (behave).

 

The H15 is also glossy but I like the way it brushes:

 

 

I'll matt those down later.

 

I'd also forgotten that yellow is a pain:

 

 

More coats required, of course.

[Pete in Lincs]

There's an F in Tamiya? All these years and I've been spelling it wrong. I like faded yellow BTW.

Pete behaving & not sniggering!

[giemme]

I think Ced is back at full steam...

 

Ciao