general melchett Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 I'm still here Martin............. whirlygig thingy sorted ...problem is being a General, other than Lady M I don't have anyone to report to but myself, and that's not always very reliable as I'mvery rarely at home!!!!...great work fella, the lens fix looks nice, though I just polished the clear plastic with Micro mesh then sprayed the back Alclad chrome, sealed with NATO black........effects the same... The bays are looking very nice, look forward to seeing what you put in 'em... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 (edited) Thanks for the kind comments guys. The encouragement helps keep me going when some of it seems hard slog. I thought about going down the road you did for the landing lights General but wanted a more in depth effect. Unfortunately Mrs Martin was away over the weekend and my feeble photographic skills don't convey the improved effect of my fix very well. Close up it does actually look like a separate lens behind the glass and from the far side of the room they really do stand out. Common sense finally prevailed and I carefully separated the lights from the leg and stored them in the box I keep for completed sub-assemblies. It was going to be a bitch of a job to try and repaint them in situ. No modelling today as I have picked up some horrendous stomach bug and feel too washed out to even try modelling. Hope I'm OK for Yeovilton as a friend is bringing some extra reference material for me, including the pics of the proposed swing wing variant I promised you General, and it occurs to me that the Concorde prototype there has an open engine bay which should give me a good idea what the engine accessories of an early Olympus looked like. I,m told that nearly all the differences between the Concorde and TSR 2 enginses were internal mostly extra bearings apparantly. Anyway having opened they bay up in a rash of bravado I have to put something in there. All that is of course, if the "firing squad interview" at work dosn't get me first for daring to be ill! Martin PS: Cheer up General! Mrs Martin says that I'm seldom ever at home even if my body is there. There's love for you! Edited February 8, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 All that is of course, if the "firing squad interview" at work dosn't get me first for daring to be ill! shoot.gif Ah you have that system as well do you!!! I've been warned on several occasions that I risk being shot as a deserter if I dare let any illness take me away from the grindstone !! damn communists!! Cheer up General! Mrs Martin says that I'm seldom ever at home even if my body is there. Same here old chap..................only my body is very seldom where I am these days, and very rarely where it should be... including the pics of the proposed swing wing variant I promised you general,....now that sounds more like it, ....hmmm particularly with this Aifix Manga rejigged TSR thingy coming out!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 Just a small update tonight as I'm feeling a little better today. Whilst lying in bed feeling sorry for myself I was flicking throgh the pages of the CMK book on TSR 2 and noticed a picture taken down the pot exhaust of XR222 whilst she was undergoing restoration. This shows that the is an opening in the roof of the accessory bay. So the accessories were attached directly to the engine after all! Can't think why I thought otherwise. Anyway this makes life a lot easier from the point of view of working out what the interior of the bay looked like. It was therefore, out plastic card and scalple, cut away the relevant part of the bay roof and fabricate a section of engine. This will be tarted up later. I also added some structure to the outer wall of the bay. Thanks for lookikng Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 11, 2010 Author Share Posted February 11, 2010 (edited) I decided to get the wings ready for fitting to the fuselage tonight. I have finished fettling the wing to fuselage joint and now have a good fit. Prior to glueing the wing in place the issue of the flaps needs to be tackled. The separate flaps as supplied in the kit cannot be drooped and I think on a model that will be a single colour that drooped flaps help to break things up a bit as well as adding a bit more interest to the completed model. So far I have thinned down the trailing edge of the wing where the flaps go, hollowed out the flap fairings on the wing and chamferred then as they are on the real aircraft. Thinning the leading edge of the flaps results in the flaps being able to be set at the desied angle although this will require the flap section of the fairings to be either reshaped or replaced and their angle to the forward part of the fairings changed. Thanks for looking Martin Edited February 11, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 11, 2010 Author Share Posted February 11, 2010 Well the title of the post just about says it all. Today I finally joined wings to fuselage. To my refief my fettling seems to have paid dividends as not much filling and sanding will be necessary. Its great to have the thing finally looking like a TSR2. No further posts today as we have some French friends comimg for the Yeovilton show tomorrow, great! and I have been told I have to tidy my modelling area, poo! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 (edited) Well Yeovilton was very productive regarding information on the TSR2. A friend gave me a CDrom with a load of detail photos I had not seen before and Mrs Martin did me some good pictures of the Olympus engine in Concorde. This did make me realise that the way I had done the opening in the accessory bay had to be wrong. By leaving the frames in place there would be no way anything other than very small items could be revoved from the engine. I also felt that the opening was too small. So it was out scalpel and, following a small diversion when I cut my thumb instead of the model, the frames were removed and the hole was enlarged. The opportunity was also taken to replace ther engine section with on of a more realistic diameter. I called it a day at that as having got over a nasty stomach bug from the previous weekend, I seem to have picked up one of the nastiest colds I can remember for a very long time. :shithappens: The motivation is there to do more tonight but I have finally had to conceed that dripping snot into the model will not help things along. Thanks for looking Martin Edited February 15, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Hi Martin, I've been following this build for a while now and I hope the following is of some use. Your new CD-ROM might show the trial installation of one of the engines in XR219. THe engine was installed and removed through the rear of the airframe, the tail fairing being removed for this purpose. The engine tunnels, as I'm sure you're aware, are circular in section from just ahead of the engine face aft. The engine could not be installed with the accessories attached. There's a longitudinal cutaway in Derek Wood's "Project Cancelled" that shows the accessories below the engine tunnel. Thee's also a cutaway in Air Enthusiast 24 (I think) also (just) showing the accessories. I hope that onen of the members here might be able to find an old Air Pictorial of about 1980 that gave a technical description of the aircraft which, IIRC, describes the engine tunnels as fireproof zones, which suggests that there would be few openings between them and the accessory bay. I'm sorrry if this is going to cause you more work, and more damaged digits. Keep up the good work: I'll be pinching some of your ideas for my build. Hope the lurgy's better soon, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 (edited) Thanks for that Steve. I'm OK about the opening in the accessory bay now as I have a photo that confirms what I have done so far. Along with this opening there seems to be only one other opening in the trunking which seems to be in the vicinity of the afterburner units. I wonder.... I don't' I'm afraid, have any of the pictures or documents of which you speak so I'll suspend work on this area of a short while and wait and see what if anything materialises. Can't do much with this flipping cold anyway. I do know there were some hydraulic resevoirs attached to the outer walls of the bays as they show in a cutaway I do have and the engine gear box was accessible via the opening in the roof of the bay. Hence my decision to get pictures of the engine in the Concorde prototype. A friend who spent his working life at Boscombe Down told me that the main differences between the Olympus on TSR2 and Concorde were extra bearings. So I'm working on the assumption that the engines in situ, or at least the area around the gear box, would have looked broadly similar. Martin von dribbly nose Edited February 16, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Martin, I didn't know about the hole near trhe afterburner section, or the extra bearings, although I should have known about those. There used to be a slice of TSR 2 rear fuselage at Duxford which I've been told came from XR222. The bit had the fin and tailplane spigots attached and the engine tunnel wall. I wonder if it's still there somewhere..... Keep taking the Lemsips (or whatever works best for you), Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 I am very aware that quite a few people have been following this thread and feel the need to explain the lack of posts this last week. As you may be aware I picked up what I thought was a very nasty cold the week before last. It now seems that it may be a bit more than a cold. I thought I was feeling a bit better this morning until I tried to get stuck into the model. Within half an hour I was feeling very dizzy and washed out and had to retire to bed again. All I managed to do was to start shaping some hydraulic resevoirs that go in the equpiment bay before things got the better of me. All very frustrating as I have recieved some great reference material over the last week and want to get working with it. Still if the body won't play ball there's not a lot one can do. So appologies for the interuption in service and I hope to be back with some more posts over the next few days. Martin von Totally wee weed Off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 Take it easy on yourself Martin, we can wait for continued quality of this level and there's no point forcing the build to the detriment of your health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Have been feeling a little better today and managed to get the hydraulic resevoirs that apparantly live on the outer wall of the equipment bay finished. Thanks to that all round good guy DamianB I now have a much better idea of what the bay looks like. I'm not sure of how much will be seen of these as, as Damian says, it is a right can of worms in there. I will probably have to simplify all the wiring and piping to avoid the thing looking overdone and to be able to show the principal features. At the moment though I'm taking things slowly as after about an hours work the dizzy and washed out feeling started to come back. Still its an improvement on this time last week. Thanks for looking in Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Looking good Martin, take it easy and get well. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davec_24 Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Looking great Martin, just don't kill yourself over her - she'll still be there when you're recovered. Take care of yourself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 Thanks guys, I know there's no point in rushing things but its all so frustrating. You feel OK and the motivation to get cracking is there but shortly after starting work the symptoms return and you have to stop. The harder you have to concentrate the quicker the symptoms return. I don't want to bother the doctor as there is a lot of this bug about; every mermber of my familly has had it and complained of the same problem. I have managed to get the basic shape of what I think the accessories gear box looked like knocked together this week but its far from complete and not really worth a picture yet. I'm going to have another bash this weekend and see how far I can get. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 I've just played catch-up with this, and it's coming along very nicely - lots of scratch building going on Get well soon Martin - sounds like a PITA illness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 Having decided that fine detailing was pointless until I felt a bit better, So, taking numerous rests, I spent yesterday rebuilding the accessory gearbox. I had decided that my original was far too small and aneamic. I only built the basic unit, the detailing of it can wait to later. By now heartilly sick of this bug I took my frustration out on the forward fuselage to wing joint. As those following this thread will be aware I had already done some work in this area but, with the wings now glued in place I felt the transition was still a bit too stark. So it was out large flat file and sandpaper and the boot was well and truly stuck into this problem area. I will have to do a bit more re-scribing but it will be worth it as, in my opinion, this part of the model now looks much nearer the real thing. Thanks for looking in and I'll try and get another post done this evening. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 Touch wood, it seems like the bug might finally be on the way out. Tonight I felt like I was modelling well for the first time in about a month. That splendid chap DamianB sent me some more stuff on the AAPP and the open bay on XR220. It seems that XR220 is fitted for, but not with the AAPP, the space being filled with test equipment. So do I do it as it is now or as intended with the AAPP in place? A nice problem to have as I have the required information for both. After some deliberation I have decided to go with the AAPP as this is one of the detail features I was really taken with when I was planning this build. I suspect XR220 would have had it fitted eventually anyway and, of course may have had it test fitted at sometime. Anyway I made a start by constructing the air hose and Its bracket (three attempts and much swearing involved) and started to make a more accurate mount for the AAPP. I still have some changes to make to the AAPP but that can wait untill I have got the basic layout of the bay sorted. Thanks for looking Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 4, 2010 Author Share Posted March 4, 2010 (edited) I was at model club last night and, getting a bit bored with our chairman droning on during the business part of the meeting, I started looking at the TSR2 which I had taken along. It occured to me that from certain angles something looked wrong with the forward fuselage. Apart from the slight bulging that we all know about that is. After a while the penny dropped. A pannel line on the turn of the upper fuselage turns up and curves inwards thus exagerating the bulged effect of the fuselage from certain angles. Thus: Futher examination showed that if this line was expunged and perhaps re-scribed to be parralel with the others on the fuselage the visual effect of the bulging appeared much reduced. Here is a fix that anybody can do, even if one is building OOB. What I did was to stretch some sprue from the kit to fill the hole and glue firmly into place with MekPak. Using the kit sprue is best as it will blend into the rest of the kit plastic better. This morning I sanded it smooth and filled any remaining hairline cracks with a smear of Mr Putty. Although I have not yet re-scribed the line the effect of the operation is evident. Sorry about the starboard side final shot but for some reason the putty is not quite set on the port side yet. Thanks for looking. Martin Edited March 4, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 That does go a long way to fixing the look, doesn't it? Good spot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamienB Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Has to be said... that line's there on the real thing... PM inbound! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 4, 2010 Author Share Posted March 4, 2010 (edited) Indeed it is and I should, of course, have pointed this out to folks in my last post. The reason I am getting rid of the line altogether or re-scribing it in a different position is that I feel it accentuates and draws the eye to what is in my opinion the worst flaw in the kit. I feel that the loss or repositioning of the line is a fair exchange for making the bulge in the fuselage less obvious without resorting to drastic surgery on the kit and a fix that almost anybody can carry out if so inclined. Thanks for pointing it out though as folks can decide for themselves as to how they feel about this idea. Martin Edited March 4, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 (edited) Just a brief update to let you know that I'm still alive. I spent most of today getting the wing and fuselage filled and blended together as I wanted something simple and relaxing that I could do whilst watching the footie on the box. As a result there is not a great deal to photograph. I did add the joining strip down the centre of the wing and the mounts for the navigation beacons, but today it has mostly been alternate rounds of sanding, filling and micromeshing. See you soon Martin Edited March 7, 2010 by martin hale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) Nice job integrating the wing and fuselage. Sort of hard to tell from the lighting, but did you give the Marty Feldman Hump the treatment? Watching with close interest. Cheers, david Just a brief update to let you know that I'm still alive. I spent most of today getting the wing and fuselage filled and blended together as I wanted something simple and relaxing that I could do whilst watching the footie on the box. As a result there is not a great deal to photograph. I did add the joining strip down the centre of the wing and the mounts for the navigation beacons, but today it has mostly been alternate rounds of sanding, filling and micromeshing.See you soon Martin Edited March 8, 2010 by David H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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