DamienB Posted January 12, 2009 Posted January 12, 2009 Well, I dunno if I'll make the deadline as I get sidetracked with work a lot but I'll weigh into this GB with a Magna Models 1/72 Attacker. I picked it up dirt cheap on eBay last year as the seller had already started building it. Once I'd seen what I was in for, I also ordered an Aeroclub canopy as the 4(!) supplied in the kit were all pretty naff. Then a few weeks later picked up the Airwaves PE set which provides a nice cockpit tub, wingfold and undercarriage detail. Despite this it looks like there shouldn't be too much work involved... famous last words no doubt. Stage 1 of the build - deconstructing what the seller had started! Fuselage halves and belly tank were all superglued together and some green stuff filler had been used, so I levered it all apart and am now busy cleaning everything up. No pics yet - nothing to see!
Spazman Posted January 12, 2009 Posted January 12, 2009 Neat subject Damian! Looking forward to seeing your build! Ted
Col. Posted January 12, 2009 Posted January 12, 2009 An Attacker? Cool! Come Damien, get some pics up to feed our addiction
kstater94 Posted January 12, 2009 Posted January 12, 2009 Yes! What Col said! I don't know what it is about the Attacker, but I've always liked this aircraft! Look forward to seeing your progress Cheers! John
Davec_24 Posted January 12, 2009 Posted January 12, 2009 I don't know what it is about the Attacker, but I've always liked this aircraft! It's British and it's a tail-dragging jet just because we felt like being conservative! Looking forward to seeing this one Damien...
DamienB Posted January 13, 2009 Author Posted January 13, 2009 Bah, you've ruined my planned quip about it being a tail-sitter no matter how much weight I put in the nose...
Stebos Posted January 13, 2009 Posted January 13, 2009 I'd never heard of the Attacker before, looks like a good subject to me.
DamienB Posted January 18, 2009 Author Posted January 18, 2009 OK some photographic evidence. Bit late as I've already begun work but there you go. The bits... The gear doors are nice and thin but of dubious accuracy and one is destroyed by a huge air bubble in the resin so they'll probably get replaced by plastic card if I don't use the doors on the etched fret. The metal parts are all a bit rough and need lots of cleanup. The tailfin is warped and I've had about five goes at straightening it so far, each time I come back a day later it's warped again! Progress so far... As you can see the fuselage is already together. I didn't bother with photos of the photo etched cockpit tub, it's all black anyway! Lots and lots and lots of fettling the resin in the cockpit area to get the etched stuff to fit in there, and also some cutting of the etched tub needed too. Once all superglued together a lick of grey paint to show up the seam better for the inevitable filler session. 1 - the tailpipe was actually a big solid plug sticking out of the end, so I hacked it off, and then dremelled out a hole in the rear fuselage. I'll insert a nice thin jetpipe in here later 2 - holes drilled in the wing roots for a spar to help keep the wings attached, as the butt joint will be vulnerable otherwise I think 3 - the gear bays as supplied are not quite the right shape, and have some fictional detail, which is ruined by air bubbles anyway, so I'm removing it all, reshaping the bays and will be adding some plastic strip 'to taste' as they say.
Davec_24 Posted January 18, 2009 Posted January 18, 2009 Looking nice Damien. It may not be perfect but it's sure better than the Frog one! I'm sure you'll knock this one into shape anyhow.
Deon Posted January 18, 2009 Posted January 18, 2009 Magna models can be a little recalcitrant sometimes , but Im sure you'll make a neat job of it. Ive got the Novo model and Ill stick with that as Ive got a ban on new kits this year, keep posting...
DamienB Posted January 18, 2009 Author Posted January 18, 2009 A little more progress. The wings fit where they touch - and that's after some work to get the mating surfaces to even vaguely match up and be at the right angles. Have also realised the arrestor hook is missing from the kit so I'll have to scratch build one. 4 - the small grilles above/below the intakes are from the Airwaves etched fret. Dig a hole in the resin until they fit in nicely, pop them in on a bed of gloopy superglue and hope they won't need too much filler and sanding to fair them in afterwards! Next job - filler - and lots of it!
Col. Posted January 18, 2009 Posted January 18, 2009 Starting to look like an Attacker Damien, you're making rapid headway there.
bexwh773 Posted January 18, 2009 Posted January 18, 2009 Oh youve got your hands full with this Damien But, Im looking forwards to seeing the end product Bex
DamienB Posted January 24, 2009 Author Posted January 24, 2009 The Attacker continues... 5 - intake splitter plate added from plastic card 6 - hole drilled in the nose tip 7 - some basic u/c bay detailing from plastic strip. Undercoat shows up a lot of cleaning up needed! 8 - the resin seems to be of rather poor quality in places, flaking off in some areas when being sanded and collapsing into a crater here on the belly tank - you can just see the edges though the depression itself isn't very visible in this pic. Lots more filler needed... 9 - added wingtip light fairings from milliput - still a bit oversize and needing futher sculpting at this point 10 - had to give up trying to reshape the warped tail and cut the dorsal fillet off. The starboard side of the fin needed a lot of carving and sanding to get rid of a bulge, and then bags of filler to fair the whole assembly into the fuselage. Also removed the two intakes either side of the fillet as they were in the wrong place and the wrong shape anyway. They weren't fitted to all aircraft anyway so I may not need to put them back depending on which one I choose. 11 - added the small rear light fairing on top of the rear fuselage from Milliput. Further developments - the white metal wheels are useless, being anything but round and pitted all over. I have found some replacements - 1/144 Harrier mainwheels are about right for the tailwheels, and 1/72 Harrier mainwheels are about right for the mainwheels with the Airwaves etched hubs glued on to them. One of the tailwheel doors is missing too. To top things off the white metal cannons are very poor as well and I can see me replacing them too.
AnonymousFO98 Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 while you are about replacing the metal bits Damien, Aeroclub have a metal arrestor hook available lotta work going on there- will be worth it
Seamus Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 looking good there Damien, you certainly pick interesting if challenging kits It's a shame there isn't a decent tooling of the Attacker as it's a lovely little aircraft
DamienB Posted January 25, 2009 Author Posted January 25, 2009 Walrus - thanks, but an a-frame hook is easy enough to scratch! After some further filling and sanding, just enough time tonight to spray on some undercoat. Has revealed a few panel lines that need some tidying up and a few small holes in the resin but other than that, looks good. The Aeroclub canopy is a big disappointment, being basically exactly the same quality-wise as the awful ones supplied with the kit - no frame lines visible, various little raised spots and distinctly vaseline-like optical quality. A polish with micro-mesh and a dunking in Klear later and... it's still pretty crap. Ah well, most of it will get painted over if I choose to do an FB.2!
Stebos Posted January 26, 2009 Posted January 26, 2009 Looking fine under the primer coat. Shame about the resin quality though, I've been tempted by a few Magna kits myself. Is this typical of them?
DamienB Posted January 26, 2009 Author Posted January 26, 2009 Not sure. I have their Sea Vixen FAW.2 and it seems similar though. I've binned the Aeroclub canopy, having remembered I had the Falcon Clearvax FAA set, which includes a beautiful Attacker FB.1 canopy. Makes up my mind as to which mark to finish her as anyway! Unlike the Magna and Aeroclub attempts, this one has the correct curved windscreen and some neat frame lines, and is perfectly clear with no imperfections.
DamienB Posted February 6, 2009 Author Posted February 6, 2009 This may not seem like much progress... but it is! The crater in the belly tank (8, above) has taken a lot of filler and sanding sessions to get rid off - any pressure (as when sanding) seemed to push the new filler deeper into the crater, which seemed to be collapsing from within. It's not perfect now, but I've had enough of it, and the real things got dented up a fair bit anyway. 12 - The white metal gun barrels have gone in the bin - they were oval in cross section and badly pitted, and couldn't be rescued. I've made some up from plastic rod, not a fun job, far too fiddly and the results aren't great but they'll have to do as my fingers can only take so much abuse from sanding sticks! 13 - Falcon canopy is on, and fits fairly well, a smidgin of filler may be needed to fair it in though. Also scribed a few missing panels here and there, picked more or less at random... more filler to fair in the gun barrels and canopy, then time for some painting I think.
DamienB Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 Well we here with the EDSG topside sprayed, masking tape off (I do enjoy that bit) and some touching up where the tape lifted the Sky off (grrr). I thought it would be such a shame to convert the Falcon canopy into the Mk.2 version (flat windscreen, much more framing), that I've decided on a Mk.1. After much deliberation, I've chosen FB.1 WA533 of 736 NAS of RNAS Lossiemouth prior to her final cruise onboard HMS Illustrious. This aircraft also lacked the little intakes on the upper fuselage and as I didn't replace those of my kit that matches up nicely! She also has a red flash on the nose which should help lift the colour scheme a bit. Unfortunately... it seems the only 3rd party decals for the Attacker were those by Modeldecal, and they only cover a selection of FB.2s. The stencils and roundels could be used but I'm on my own for serials and codes. So I guess it's time to widen the old skillset a bit and try some home-made decals. So, after a couple of hours work I've drawn up the things I need, plus all the stencils and roundels for good luck (might as well leave that old Modeldecal sheet intact eh!). Decal paper has been ordered so now just need to wait for it to arrive.
gengriz Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Looks good Damien, and I will be very interested to see how the decals go. Whose paper are you using and what type of printer? FredT
DamienB Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 Trying this paper first in combination with a Canon MP980 photo inkjet jobby. Will also give this paper a go with our Brother HL-2700CN colour laser - the colour repro on that isn't very accurate but for stencils it should be OK.
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