Looking good Bob, love the cockpit and harness.
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Thanks Joe.
I got to work on the gear bay over the weekend. This is provided in resin and involves removing a large resin block on the bay roof. It needs to be thinned enough to fit in under the cockpit, but without breaking through the roof. This involved careful filing and sanding, holding it up to the light until it was not quite opaque.
I added a couple of air lines from lead wire, and replaced some parts that I broke off. Then painted it aluminium, some detail painting, starship filth wash, epoxied to the underside panel and the whole lot glued to the airframe.
I still have to clean up the seams.
I've also started putting together the wings, more of that in a later post.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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looking good BobComment
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Cheers Ian.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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Morning guys,
Been quite a while since my last post. I had moved on to the wings which took an entire week to complete. As usual there were no locating pins, but the biggest issue is it seems that the mold halves were off by a millimetre or so when the kit was made. None of the cut-outs or panel lines matched when the wing tips were level with each other, so I had to line them up as best as possible and sand and fill the wing tips. Even then the holes for the MG's and landing lights were different sizes so had to be shaved and sanded to match. This of course then left them too big for the parts that had to be glued in.
The MG covers were not too bad, a bit of filler sorted the gap. However the clear parts for the landing lights were a joke. After fixing the wings they were obviously too narrow, but the parts were way too thick and protruded from the rest of the wing. After a couple of failed attempts at making new lenses from clear packaging plastic I eventually glued the kit parts in making sure to keep the excess even all round, filled the gaps then sanded the clear parts flush with the wings. I managed to polish them back up fairly well, there are still a few scratches that I couldnt get out but I was worried about dislodging the glue and filler and also concerned about how thin they had become after all the sanding. I'm sure that the lenses on actual BoB Hurricanes weren't pristine, so I can live with that.
The wings now look like this.
I was feeling pretty happy and this point, but it was short lived. While dry fitting one of the wings I dropped the fuselage on to my bench. It was only about 2 inches, but it was enough to shock the CA glue holding the IP, which promptly fell out. Now bear in mind the fuselage was buttoned up at this point, and I had no idea how I was going to get the IP back in. I was pretty despondent and even thought about binning the whole kit, so I did the sensible thing and walked away.
Fast forward two weeks later and I sat back down at by bench for the first time since the accident. I had found myself actively avoiding modelling but knew I had to resolve this problem or move on. I fiddled around for an hour trying to feed the IP back in through the cockpit, but due to the shape of the opening and the cockpit internals it just wouldn't go. Even if I could have located it there was no way of getting glue in without making a huge mess. So, I bit the bullet and cut the underside of the fuselage off.
I then found that the tube cockpit was also loose, as well as the seat (more CA) so the whole lot came out and was re-glued with copious amounts of Gorilla gel before reassembly. I left it to dry overnight and will get back to fixing it tonight.
So despite this severe setback, as Winston Churchill said, we shall never surrender.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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Kudos for sticking with it through all that!
These challenges make it all worthwhile and your sense of satisfaction will be greater in the end.Comment
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Bob
Well done for persevering. Hoping it will come together well in the end.
Yours
AndrewComment
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I understand how you feel about this kit, but stick with it. Because when it's completed, it really does look very nice.Comment
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Morning guys.
The wing fun continues. I now have them attached to the airframe, but as expected they were an awful fit. I managed to get them tacked on, but the cross section of the wings is smaller than that of the wing roots, so plenty of filler was needed.
There's a step either side, luckily it's worse on the bottom but this will be mostly hidden by some photoetch.
At this point I really just need to push on with the build as the end of the month (and the GB) is fast approaching.Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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Morning guys.
It's been quite a while since the last update. Without boring everyone with details, this kit has continue to be a massive PITA and I have resisted the urge to launch it across the room on numerous occasions.
Rather than continue to blog my misery I've just put my head down and got on with it. This is how she looks at the moment.
I tried to get some modulation into the paint to show wear and tear, which seemed to work with the green but no so much with the brown.
Assuming nothing else goes wrong (crosses fingers) I should be able to gloss tonight and decal tomorrow. Weathering is going to be kept minimal, I will probably just give it a clay wash and some dry brushing.
Cheers,
BSi vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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Morning guys,
Decals are now on, luckily this isn't a modern jet so there weren't too many. Surprisingly for this kit the decals were pretty good, very thin with minimal carrier film. I did mess one up and had to leave it off but overall I'm happy with the result. These have been glossed over so I'm aiming to get the clay wash on tonight.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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Looking very good Bob, finish line in sight now.Comment
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Cheers Ian, yep should hopefully finish in time.Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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Calling it done, glad it's over.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.Comment
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