I thought I had been cured...

[PR19_Kit]

Those ResKit 'cages' are wonders to behold, unless the cage is far larger than the item it's protecting!

While trying to 'uncage' some of the weapons for my1 Week Build candidate, the item inside pinged off into the distance, never to be seen again. Luckily it turns out it would have been invisible anyway, but I don't relish un-caging the other ResKit stuff I have planned for it.

[Gondor]

Those ResKit 'cages' are wonders to behold, unless the cage is far larger than the item it's protecting!

While trying to 'uncage' some of the weapons for my1 Week Build candidate, the item inside pinged off into the distance, never to be seen again. Luckily it turns out it would have been invisible anyway, but I don't relish un-caging the other ResKit stuff I have planned for it.

The problem I have is trying to separate parts that have been printed in brittle resin and are in 1/600. Look at some of those parts wrong and they can be in several pieces. The Redtops were very easy to separate using a long pair of very small scissors and carefully pokeing then through the cage.

Gondor

[scautomoton]

so, the intent was always for this conversion to be relatively straightforward. So in the interests of that I've just redesigned the front fuselage to incorporate the inlet duct and a cockpit identical to the Airfix one. This means the Airfix console and coaming (plus decals) would still be used, but remove the overly fiddly trimming and potential breaking of parts. When it's good enough I'll post out to those who've bought a kit already. First effort printing as we, er, speak.

[Gondor]

so, the intent was always for this conversion to be relatively straightforward. So in the interests of that I've just redesigned the front fuselage to incorporate the inlet duct and a cockpit identical to the Airfix one. This means the Airfix console and coaming (plus decals) would still be used, but remove the overly fiddly trimming and potential breaking of parts. When it's good enough I'll post out to those who've bought a kit already. First effort printing as we, er, speak.

Another possible way would be to make the existing forward fuselage into two pieces. There is a vertical panel line just in front of the cockpit, which meets a horizontal line that runs under where the front of the wing meets the fuselage. That way, the cockpit tub could be fitted inside the upper part of the fuselage while the intake trunking would fit as normal.

Gondor

[scautomoton]

Gondor

The problem then is ensuring the print is perfectly square on all the joins. I did something similar with the AW.169 kit, and I was never really happy with it, but it was the least troublesome option for such an odd cockpit.

The only reason I originally made the inlet separate was because of the radome. But I found that could be fitted last and from the front. So the inlet can be integrated into the fuselage. Plus its no easier to paint when separate, neither is the cockpit. 

[Gondor]

Gondor

The problem then is ensuring the print is perfectly square on all the joins. I did something similar with the AW.169 kit, and I was never really happy with it, but it was the least troublesome option for such an odd cockpit.

The only reason I originally made the inlet separate was because of the radome. But I found that could be fitted last and from the front. So the inlet can be integrated into the fuselage. Plus its no easier to paint when separate, neither is the cockpit.

Sorry to have caused you so much extra work on what is an amazing conversion set. It is possible that the problem is me being ham fisted.

Gondor

[scautomoton]

Gondor

The problem then is ensuring the print is perfectly square on all the joins. I did something similar with the AW.169 kit, and I was never really happy with it, but it was the least troublesome option for such an odd cockpit.

The only reason I originally made the inlet separate was because of the radome. But I found that could be fitted last and from the front. So the inlet can be integrated into the fuselage. Plus its no easier to paint when separate, neither is the cockpit.

Sorry to have caused you so much extra work on what is an amazing conversion set. It is possible that the problem is me being ham fisted.

Gondor

not at all, I had it in my mind to use as much of the Airfix kit as possible, but in hindsight this probably wasn't the best decision. And its only taken me a couple of hours to redesign anyway, so I should have done it from the get-go.

[Gondor]

As the forward fuselage is on hold at the moment, the rest of the aircraft got some attention.

Due to my trying to fit the engine exhausts incorrectly, and then messing up fitting the flame holders to their ends. I fitted some black plastic card, just to be sure the ends were blocked off.



Once the glue was fully dry, the rear and centre fuselage sections were glued together.



A little work needed on the seam, but not much, as it's on a panel line. Next up, fitting pins for the fin.



One casualty, the first I have broken for some time. I am going to have to order more as I don't have any replacements of 0.5mm size.



Just a small amount of cleaning up to do. The fin will be fitted later in the build.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Another case of two steps forward and one step back.
The undersides of the wings have been sanded and primed, only the primer shows a slight change between the edge of the filler and the plastic of the wing, so more sanding is needed. I also found that I had got the cockpit tub slightly off vertical, which probably didn't help with my attempts at getting the interior to fit into the forward fuselage. I have removed the cockpit tub and attempted to see how well it fits into the upper part of the fuselage, only to drop everything onto the floor. The forward fuselage is now sitting with a section of the nose ring glued back into place     
I have just realised that I can't glue the cockpit tub into place and then fit the intake trunking, as the trunking is too large in front of and behind the tub, so they have to be fitted at the same time!   
This is going to be fun to get right.   

Gondor

[Gondor]

More PSR required on, or rather under the wings 



The above has the easiest to see defect, while below still has a defect or two, but to a lesser extent.



The vast majority of these defects are from fitting and filling in the undercarriage bays, and as this build will have a NMF, and to do justice to the parts, it has to be perfect.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Today had a slight surprise, a package from @scautomoton with two new forward fuselages inside.





The difference from the previous forward fuselages is that the air intake trunking and the cockpit are supplied as one piece. So now all that is needed for this area is the instrument panel, control stick, cockpit combing and an ejector seat. There is now no need to supply your own cockpit tub or the little box that goes behind the seat. There is also far less work to get all the parts in place, as it's all one piece now.





This makes life so much easier and quicker. I am still going to complete the cockpit I have started, but I will make a stand for it to display it, just like you see cockpits of aircraft being displayed at some shows and museums.

Gondor

[Gondor]

The next thing was to make sure that the front of the engine would fit between the end of the forward fuselage and just inside the front of the central fuselage section. This is the shape I came up with.



I cut a similar shape for my second build as well. I also stuck the other two fuselage sections together, nearly sticking the rear section on upside down. 

The previous PSR on the wing undersides was sanded back and then given another shot of primer.



Three places that needed yet more PSR. As the wings are plastic, I first brushed on some Liquid Poly, other brands of liquid adhesive are available. Then I applied my favourite filler. The combination ensured that the filler was going to bend very well with the wing surface. I will deal with the sanding part tomorrow.

As I said earlier, I fitted the middle and rear sections of the fuselage together.



Guess who forgot to add a detail to the second build like they did in the first one? Moi 

However, I realised my mistake and drilled out a reasonable hole.



The tube that is to be fitted can be seen below the fuselage. This time I fitted a short length of plastic rod rather than adding a plate to the end of the tube, this made it easier to fit the tube into the hole. Pictures, etc, later.

I have also painted the inside of the intake duct for both builds, however, I am not happy with the result, so I will be applying a different colour by Humbrol than the one I have used, probably tomorrow.

Gondor

[Gondor]

I am trying to get the engine intake trunking painted. It's not going well. I have tried my third type of paint and found that I like the colour, however, there is a slight problem.....



The paint has gone all crinkly in the front section of the intake. The second nose section has the same problem as well.

The only thing I can think of is to remove the paint by sanding the inside of the trunking, then wash with a mild soapy water and leave to dry before trying again.

The paint is Halfords Aluminium spray paint. As you can see, the overspray on the outside has come out very well indeed. In fact, for the RAF machine, this is what I will be using for the outside.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Right, I have sanded away the wrinkled paint from the intake ducting. Some of the paint inside the ducting hadn't fully dried, so I am leaving the forward fuselages alone until tomorrow evening before cleaning them. The day after that, should be Wednesday, I will decant some of the paint from the rattle can and brush paint it into the intakes. I am hoping that will work as I will be in control of how much paint goes where. In the meantime, I shall work on the wings and cockpit area. Plenty to do there.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Early this evening, I sprayed some Halfords Aluminium into a container and brushed it into the air intake of one forward fuselage. It started to crinkle up again     

So, I have decided to see if paint sprayed directly into an intake works, and seeing that I have not used the intake from the second set I bought, I used that.

I have also used a couple of different GreenStuff paints on the other original intake to see how they react with the primer. I have also remembered that I have Xtracolur paints of Duralimum, Silver and High Speed Silver that I can try as well. So it looks like a lot of this weekend will be spent testing paint combinations for reactions and look.

Gondor