General Discussion

[Spino]

I'm trying to remember if I have anything in the stash that I could reasonably finish in a week.  Most of what I do have has been started on already, save a Hasegawa AV-8B Plus kit, and that kit has a LOT of parts for its size (at least for my level of skill).  I'm considering getting a KP SF-260 kit, but I've never built a KP kit so I'm not sure how complicated those are.  Then there's an Italeri JAS-39C, but I started painting some of the interior areas a while back  so I suppose that wouldn't qualify.  I suppose I could 3D print something, maybe do the other Super Crusader I want to get to at some point.  I also have a 3D-printed F-107, but I couldn't help myself and started on it too before I started looking at the GB section!  It was printed in two sections and has had some post-processing, along with both sections being glued together.  Unless a moderator says otherwise, I imagine that doesn't qualify either!

[NARSES2]

Chris, IIRC you've build an Airfix (recent mould) Wildcat.  What was the fit like?  Need much PSR?

Back in July 2017. From memory it went together reasonably well, it's definately not in the "memory banks" as a never to be visited again kit. Like all Wildcats the undercarriage takes a little care and attention.

[Spino]

Well thanks to my 3D printer I now have my intended entry for this GB...

It'll be my first time participating in a group build, and given that this model is going to be almost entirely 3D printed I'll have to get busy making up custom decals and such, but I think this is doable.  Still need to 3D print the exhaust nozzle, cockpit, and weapons stations, but that shouldn't take too long.

[zenrat]

Chris, IIRC you've build an Airfix (recent mould) Wildcat.  What was the fit like?  Need much PSR?

Back in July 2017. From memory it went together reasonably well, it's definately not in the "memory banks" as a never to be visited again kit. Like all Wildcats the undercarriage takes a little care and attention.

   Thanks mate.

[kitbasher]

Well thanks to my 3D printer I now have my intended entry for this GB...

It'll be my first time participating in a group build, and given that this model is going to be almost entirely 3D printed I'll have to get busy making up custom decals and such, but I think this is doable.  Still need to 3D print the exhaust nozzle, cockpit, and weapons stations, but that shouldn't take too long.

X-31 or Lampyridae?

Anyway, only a few days until 1WGB25 kicks off.  I'll unlock the 'completed builds' thread on Saturday morning.

[Spino]

Well thanks to my 3D printer I now have my intended entry for this GB...

It'll be my first time participating in a group build, and given that this model is going to be almost entirely 3D printed I'll have to get busy making up custom decals and such, but I think this is doable.  Still need to 3D print the exhaust nozzle, cockpit, and weapons stations, but that shouldn't take too long.

X-31 or Lampyridae?

The former.  Sort of.

[Weaver]

Chris, IIRC you've build an Airfix (recent mould) Wildcat.  What was the fit like?  Need much PSR?

Back in July 2017. From memory it went together reasonably well, it's definately not in the "memory banks" as a never to be visited again kit. Like all Wildcats the undercarriage takes a little care and attention.

There's a historian on Twitter ("X" ) called Dr Sarah-Louise Miller ( @SarahLouMiller ) who's just started building models and she attempted the Airfix Wildcat as one of her first. She had much the same experience, which I'd suggest means it must be a good model, if people from newbies to old hands like it. As you say, she found the undercarriage a bit mind-boggling, but she got there okay in the end.

[PR19_Kit]

Even the RW Wildcat undercarriage is mind-boggling! 

[NARSES2]

Even the RW Wildcat undercarriage is mind-boggling! 

Exactly 

[Weaver]

I've had two ideas, both inspired by a tin of spray paint I found. One is a whiff-in-a-box and the other just a paint job, so construction-wise, they're not difficult. I might do both. The envelope pushing element is that one is a resin kit, and I've never built a full resin kit before.

Freightdog 1/72nd MUSTARD Glider, from the British space programme you probably don't remember....

S&M 1/72nd FV432 astronaut escape vehicle, from the same space programme. Basically the UK equivalent to NASA's real life M113s, one of which sat at the bottom of the zip-line escape system from the rockets/shuttles for the astronauts to drive to safety in, presumably through something of a blaze...
(Yes, the astronauts all got taught to drive it, and yes, they all have ear-to-ear grins on their faces.)

Both painted yellow, of course.

I'll start both so that if one hits problems (likely me messing up the resin MUSTARD glider), the other will finish.

I've just had a long, hard look at the FV432, and a combination of the design of the real vehicle and the design of the kit means I think I'm going to pass on it for the 1WkGB.

It has sloping lower hull sides, which means they probably couldn't mould the running gear in one piece if they wanted to, so in the kit it's moulded in about 40 pieces, some so small that I can barely see them. It also has a distinct lack of alignment pegs and slots, so I have zero confidence that if you made it in two parts (upper = yellow, lower = black) it'd all go together just fine after spraying on the last Sunday afternoon. I'd also forgotten that, being a "modern" vehicle, it has rubber-tyred roadwheels: I can imagine the Space Agency not painting the sides of the lower hull yellow, but they'd be pretty much certain to paint the wheels, so that's 32 fiddly paint jobs to do (10 road wheels, 2 idlers (same design as the roadwheels) and 4 return rollers, all two-piece). There's also 10 seperate rubber trailing arm bumpers, each moulded in one piece with it's bracket, and all of 2mm long.

None of this is to suggest it's "unbuildable", just that it needs more time and fiddly multiple paint passes than suites a 1WkGB.

[buzzbomb]

Takes me a week to decide what to build, after I have decided what kit to build. So not for me either.

[McColm]

Here's the primary bits of my One Week Build entry.



That's a Sword U-125A with one of Colin Freightdog's Armament trainer conversions for the HS125 Dominie added to it, plus a couple of Harpoons and maybe a couple of 'winders for self defence. That's assuming there'll be enough ground clearance under the wings for the 'poons that is!

It'll be an RAF replacement for the ill-fated Nimrod MR2s and MRA4s, and most of it will be British, unlike the RW P-8 Poseidons.

I've always wanted to build one of these as an AEW version. I will be watching with interest.