Jim R's Airfix 1/72 De Havilland Vampire T.11

[Guest]

Hi all
I have discovered the thing I hate most!!! :sad::angry:
Some say mankind's end will come from plague and pestilence. Some cite a catastrophic meteor strike or nuclear armegeddon. All wrong!! It will come from modellers being driven mad by trying to use Humbrol Poly Cement in the little yellow tube. Said modellers will loose all sense of reason after trying to use the stuff. Driven to despair by trying to stick plastic with it their frustration will send them over the edge and having emptied the contents of their drinks cabinet they will give up the hobby and take up something easier. Perhaps bomb disposal or lion taming :rolling:
The stuff is HORRIBLE. It is thick, gloopy and just looking at it makes it go stringy. It is almost impossible to put a small amount along a join. It stays tacky for ages and worst of all it doesn't actual stick the bits together.
I shall persevere of course but if my Vampire ends up in the bin it will not be the paint, the brush, the lack of MicroSol or the kit itself it will be this b****y glue!
Jim

Sir.
Could you please refrain from publishing items as written above, I have suffered sharp words of rebuke for waking Management at 00.05 hrs this morning by frightening her with as she says, extremely LOUD laughter when reading the above mentioned post
I bid you a good night.

Yours Faithfully.

J Race

[SimonT]

I wonder what possessed some Airfix exec to think these starter kits were a good idea - crappy paint, not enough colours, crappy glue in a silly small tube (which may even have gone hard in the tube), instructions for another version and a lot of them based around ancient badly fitting kits

All designed to put a youngster off ever building another kit - opened with great excitement Christmas morning, in the bin by lunchtime and put off modelling for life :thinking:

Keep going Jim - should be interesting to see what you come up with

[rtfoe]

Hi Jim, :tears-of-joy: you're going through "labour pains" just like we did in our childhood...take deep breaths and keep pushing...:tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy: I know it's sadistic but I'm enjoying reading everyones frustrations at building with two hands tied to their backs.

I have a slight feeling your not happy with the wonderful Airfix glue Jim. :rolling:

I like Ians response.
I'd get a starter kit if the glue smelt like the original Airfix glue...I think the fumes alone kept us going at the kits which were at the time state of the art.:smiling6: Also we were happy it had wings and a tail...forget about the undercarriage...my planes were mostly wheels up anyway.

Cheers,
Richard

[colin m]

Jim, this is a really nice kit. I built one recently, although, airbrush etc was used, but hey, the plastic was good.

[rtfoe]

Jim, this is a really nice kit. I built one recently, although, airbrush etc was used, but hey, the plastic was good.

Gee whizz Colin...you're rubbing it in...painful :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy: Jim is shackled at the moment and tempted to chuck the brushes.

Cheers,
Richard

[colin m]

Gee whizz Colin...you're rubbing it in...painful :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:Jim is shackled at the moment and tempted to chuck the brushes.

Cheers,
Richard

I was trying to be as positive as possible regards Jim's situation, I thought I nearly got away with it......

[colin m]

if the glue smelt like the original Airfix glue

Now that does take me back more than a few years. It was probably full of a chemical which is banned all over the world now - happy days...

[Jim R]

Hi all
Well as Colin said the kit is actually very nice - crisp detail, no flash and the fit so far is perfect. Sorry Peter that must be difficult to read having just looked at your thread and seen the fit/ flash problems you have with your Freedom Fighter :sad:
Now about this glue. The tube in the kit had a hole in the bottom and came out of both ends with the consistency of Golden Syrup. It had half dried up :angry: I bought this kit cheap at Aldi for this GB but decided not to use it.

It had the same glue and so I decided to see if it was any better. It is! :thumb2: OK it is still horrible but at least it is useable. I will use this and bin the tube from the kit. So as a result I'm feeling much happier :tongue-out3:
Having read Dave's helicopter thread I made myself a paint pot holder - thanks Dave.

....and set to with the hairy sticks (plural) - gloat, gloat! The brushes aren't bad. So far two thin coats.

With there being no primer I hope the paint isn't too fragile.
Onwards and upwards.
Jim

[Jim R]

Hi all
Well the glue from the other starter kit is much, much better. I took a tip from Pete L and made an applicator from an old no11 blade. When done I wipe the blade and any glue remaining can be burnt off. I found an old CD to use as a glue palette.


The painting of the cockpit and seats was virtually all black - no33.




Looked very dull so used a bit of the silver and green to add interest. Clearly not accurate but ....... :thinking:



Instrument panel decal went on OK but needed the edges trimming.



I know I have said it before but the fit is truly excellent. The body halves are just placed together. I can't glue it until I can get some weight in the nose.



So far it's fun. Worried about painting the silver body but Peter has done a silver finish on his Freedom Fighter and that kit had far more problems than mine so I'm hopeful it will be OK. I also have 2 brushes :smiling:

Jim

[rtfoe]

Jim,

The cockpit interior and fitting looks good...must go get one. The all black with the minimal colour variations for the seat doesn't look too bad.

Cheers,
Richard

[BattleshipBob]

Coming along nicely Jim

Bob

[Wouter]

Using awful glue and go on with it...what a brave man...bit sadomachistic as well :tongue-out3:.

Nice work so far Jim, it's looking good I must say. Looking forward to see that Focke Wulf being built as well by the way.

Keep up the good work!

[Guest]

Good for you Jim.
No doubt you are at the show fighting the urge to buy.
John .

[SimonT]

....and losing :smiling:

[Jim R]

Hi all
Thanks for all your comments :thumb2:
A fair bit of progress and now I have the glue situation sorted I'm actually enjoying it. I bought some lead shot the fishermen use. Cut them in half and put the required 7g in the nose and added a good amount of PVA.






Cleaned up a load of parts. Painted all the undercarriage bits and pieces. Needed 5 or 6 very watery coats.





Sanded down the glue that had squeezed out of the fuselage joins. Once again I was over the moon with the fit. The hardened glue filled in any tiny gaps that there were.





Jim