Head in the clouds. Posted September 28 Posted September 28 It has been a while since I looked in on this build, I was pleasantly (but selfishly) glad to see it had not progressed to page 135, that would take me a week to read it. I think in the big scheme of things the Formbox is money well spent, the way you model means this tool can free up so much timethat you can use on other items, as they say, work smarter, not faster. 1
heloman1 Posted September 29 Posted September 29 That new vac machine is a really smart piece of kit, as you say, not cheap but then you get what you pay for... Once I have finished building my woodworking bench, the vac box is next. Colin 1
TheBaron Posted October 3 Author Posted October 3 On 28/09/2025 at 16:40, Pete in Lincs said: That's pure Lilly Savage. I need a Surgical team to delete this smile so I can eat my dinner! On 28/09/2025 at 19:47, Head in the clouds. said: It has been a while since I looked in on this build, I was pleasantly (but selfishly) glad to see it had not progressed to page 135, that would take me a week to read it. I think in the big scheme of things the Formbox is money well spent, the way you model means this tool can free up so much timethat you can use on other items, as they say, work smarter, not faster. Thanks HitC - that makes me feel even better about spending the money! On 29/09/2025 at 07:35, heloman1 said: That new vac machine is a really smart piece of kit, as you say, not cheap but then you get what you pay for... Once I have finished building my woodworking bench, the vac box is next. Best of luck with the bench Colin - are you building your own vacform box? Dug some time out of the schedule this morning to run a couple more tests; the main reason being to see how the smaller 1/32 transparency set would turn out: Happy enough with initial results. Being a firm adherent to the principle of testing like-with-like in pursuit of the best outcome, alongside epoxy resin casts of the smaller bucks I added the original 3d printed cockpit roof buck in alongside its cast counterpart and ( not for the first time with vacforming) surprised to see it perform much better in terms of avoiding any lingering visual 'haze' issues An odd outcome in this respect as for the smaller parts the epoxy casts (used above) perform slightly better than the 3d printed originals instead. Reminds you this process is as much art as science.... Still experimenting with (and enjoying) the Formbox in terms of temperature settings and heating times. In relation to the manufacturer's guidelines, as they quite fairly point out themselves, their guide values will vary according to the environmental setting. Certainly here on the kitchen table in Ireland high humidity is a factor for much of the year. Mayku do supply their own 0.5mm transparencies (as used above) which I think are PETG, so out of curiosity I'll run some further tests with that against PETG I got from as local supplier to see if there are any obvious differences in preparation and results. I'm not expecting there to be any great difference. For now though I couldn't resist a quick dry fit of the 1/32 canopy onto the cabin framework: @giemme it's not paint, but I do think that alcohol ink will do a better job than paint at tinting the roof without rendering it overly opaque when compared to the real life version: Good Lord! A test fit and some pigment showing so early in the thread? Have a great weekend all of you. Tony 11 6
Pete in Lincs Posted October 3 Posted October 3 One day there will come a cry from the West....'It's ALIVE! Have a great one yourself Professor Tony 1 1
CedB Posted October 3 Posted October 3 I love that blue canopy Tony, great stuff Alcohol ink? Something else I need? 3
giemme Posted October 3 Posted October 3 48 minutes ago, TheBaron said: Good Lord! A test fit and some pigment showing so early in the thread? Indeed! I feel dizzy already! 49 minutes ago, TheBaron said: @giemme it's not paint, but I do think that alcohol ink will do a better job than paint at tinting the roof without rendering it overly opaque when compared to the real life versio I did very little experimenting with ink, but I agree with you Ciao 1 3
Terry1954 Posted October 3 Posted October 3 21 hours ago, TheBaron said: Good Lord! A test fit and some pigment showing so early in the thread? OK, maybe transparency tinting ink isn't quite up to seeing RAF Blue Grey paint on resin, but ................. ink Giorgio @giemme, ink............!! 😂 Just had a very rewarding catch up on this one Tony, and glad to see you have not lost your touch. Thorough analysis and repeated testing of methods and solutions, set this build way apart from the rest. It is always a delight to read your updates. Enjoy your weekend! T. 1 1 1 1
heloman1 Posted October 3 Posted October 3 Re vac form machines. I'm considering the dental type you have used but I'm also going to build my own. Now with a bed of ball bearings. Colin 1
Head in the clouds. Posted October 5 Posted October 5 Things are becoming clear for me now.....🤪 Superb work Tony. 2
Drunken matelot Posted October 16 Posted October 16 Hi just came across this as I am looking for a 1/24 scale Westland wasp model. Am I too late to join the list ? I see there hasn’t been an update in a while so wonder if things are still progressing. 1
Pete in Lincs Posted October 16 Posted October 16 13 minutes ago, Drunken matelot said: I see there hasn’t been an update in a while so wonder if things are still progressing. Tony is a very busy man, and this project is progressing at a steady but elongated pace due to high standards and a steep* learning curve. *For an example of steep see the white cliffs of Dover. We've learned to wait patiently for posts which arrive on an as and when basis. Every single one brings joy and Waspy gems, so are well worth the wait. Please feel free to pull up a chair. but bring your own snacks. It probably won't be all over by Christmas 1 4 2
TheBaron Posted October 24 Author Posted October 24 Morning all, No pictures this time around but good manners dictate a reply to your replies. On 03/10/2025 at 12:43, Pete in Lincs said: One day there will come a cry from the West....'It's ALIVE! Powered by AI, all will bow before it, though it will have six fingers instead of rotor blades... On 03/10/2025 at 12:48, CedB said: I love that blue canopy Tony, great stuff Alcohol ink? Something else I need? I see there's now a Wasp cabin-themed nightclub opening Ced! On 03/10/2025 at 12:58, giemme said: I did very little experimenting with ink, but I agree with you This you pal? On 03/10/2025 at 13:02, Terry1954 said: Thorough analysis and repeated testing of methods and solutions, set this build way apart from the rest. It is always a delight to read your updates. I have no hair these days Terry. Could these two things be related perhaps? On 03/10/2025 at 14:09, heloman1 said: Now with a bed of ball bearings. I see we both frequent the same type of club Colin. 🤫 On 05/10/2025 at 10:23, Head in the clouds. said: Things are becoming clear for me now Always a worrying phrase...you're...you're not a psychologist by any chance? 😁 On 16/10/2025 at 20:25, Drunken matelot said: just came across this as I am looking for a 1/24 scale Westland wasp model. Am I too late to join the list ? I see there hasn’t been an update in a while so wonder if things are still progressing. PM sent Dm. On 16/10/2025 at 20:48, Pete in Lincs said: Tony is a very busy man, Coincidentally that's what prompeted me to update here Pete: I'm having to do a lot of extra training on top of my day job so am often too tired to focus coherently on the Wasp during down time: there's no question of the enthusiasm waning, just the familiar 'spirit willing/body weak' scenario. I also had the combined covid/flu jab last weekend which resulted in 24hrs of fever/delirium, soundtracked by the old Paul Temple radio series which briefly I mistook for the evening news and recoiled from in horror at the fatality levels in Marlow. Some more extra casting sessions for the window bucks at both scales got done so have enough of those for the present. If I can pull a free day out the of the schedule next week I want to finess the temperature/time settings for the vacform side of things and actually get on to building something before I forget what everything is! Wishing you all a great weekend, Tony 5 2
Pete in Lincs Posted October 24 Posted October 24 23 minutes ago, TheBaron said: Wishing you all a great weekend And a great week for yourself after that. I think that's something like an Irish greeting. My sympathies for you with your workload, been there done that. I'm sure that everyone will be patient as they wait for more Waspness. I had My flu jab on Monday, just had a sore arm. I will probably stay away from the COVID one. Old Radio series. There's a lot of good stuff out there. Certainly better than what's produced nowadays. Cheers, and thanks for the update. 1
giemme Posted October 24 Posted October 24 4 hours ago, TheBaron said: This you pal? Sure, in my youth, when I didn't know better.... Sorry to hear that your job is interfering with modelling - what has this world come to? Looking forward to the next instalment, though Ciao 2 1
Pete in Lincs Posted October 24 Posted October 24 5 hours ago, giemme said: Sorry to hear that your job is interfering with modelling - what has this world come to? I know. Surely it contravenes health and safety rules? 3
TheBaron Posted October 29 Author Posted October 29 Woke up on Saturday morning and logging on to the forum over coffee was disconcerted to be presented with a large message saying that I'd been banned from BM. Doubtless to everyone's surprise it wasn't anything to do with my sense of humour but the fact that my account had been hijacked by a swinish cohort of spammers and so, quite reasonably, my account had been blocked. I must at this point pay tribute to @Mike for responding so rapidly in a) explaining what had happened, b) reinstating my account under new credentials, and c) repairing the affected threads. My respect for the workload that himself and others take on behind the scenes to keep the forum going under such cyberattacks has grown enormously. Thanks Mike. On 24/10/2025 at 14:32, giemme said: Sorry to hear that your job is interfering with modelling - what has this world come to? On 24/10/2025 at 19:38, Pete in Lincs said: I know. Surely it contravenes health and safety rules? Someone should write a song about it..... https://mrbthegentlemanrhymer.bandcamp.com/track/how-many-brilliant-minds-are-lost-to-work This morning's 'getting to know you/getting to know all about you' session with the Formbox has proven fruitful on a number of fronts: For 0.5mm transparency of the PETG variety, Mayku reccomend a heat setting of 5 for anywhere between 1 minute and 1.20 in their instructions. For large, individual objects that seems to work fine from what I've seen in various demonstration videos, but not for the range of variables involved in the transparent sections on a Wasp. With the range of shapes/scales you can see above, that heat setting turned out to be too high. Duration-wise, shapes like the roof also require a shorter (20 seconds less) heating period than that for the smaller windows (mumble mumble thermal properties mumble dimensionality): Also - and predictably if you think about it - overfilling the plate area yields poorer results. An example of this is again the large roof window section whereby a single instance and the vacform is fine, putting two or more of the same buck on and quality drops off. I'd mentioned before that there is still some minor cloudiness in one or two places (very shallow compound curve profiles) when using cast resin bucks. This is nowehere near as bad as that produced on the dental vacformer and a swab with a cotton bud dipped in white spirit is enough to remove it. I know it's been excruciating getting this far with vacforming but it has to be an easily repeatable process that gives good clarity. Not only that, but finding the right heat setting to reproduce surface detail such as the bolts around the APX site collar seen here at 1/32 scale: All that data has now been entered into the studio notebook: a final vacforming session at the weekend to produce finished parts to build with and then it's on to actually sticking bits together. Why am I nervous about starting that? I've never used Mr.Paint colours before but having read some good things about them, decided to try some out on this build: I've kept some of the old Wasp airframe test prints to use as mules to try out various visual treatments when the time comes. All the best for now, Tony 15 1 2
giemme Posted October 29 Posted October 29 Glad to hear that the hacker attack was fixed quickly - KUDOS to @Mike and the mods! Your vacforming process seems up to speed now - I'm very jealous of that machine... Ciao 2 4
Pete in Lincs Posted October 29 Posted October 29 1 hour ago, TheBaron said: Doubtless to everyone's surprise it wasn't anything to do with my sense of humour Surely you jest? Ha Ha. Welcome back then. And the progress is good to see. It must be a great relief to you. Sticking bits together? What is the world coming too? Full steam ahead Sir. And the best of British to you. 1 4
CedB Posted October 29 Posted October 29 Experiments, perfect details and results AND witty banter - he’s back! Great stuff Tony. Is it MRP that provide the new Humbrol? 3 1
heloman1 Posted October 30 Posted October 30 Re the MRP paints. I recently transitioned to Tamiya LP paints. With that in mind, I'm purchasing half liters of cellulose lacquer at around six Pounds a tine, it is cost effective for my needs. I'm using Mr Color Levelling thinners. Colin 3
Brandy Posted October 30 Posted October 30 Glad to hear all is now well, and more thanks going out to @Mike for helping get it sorted quickly! Are you going to Telford, by any chance? Ian 2
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