discussion Pete's Skyhawk

[yak face]

That should sort it Pete , it did the trick for me on the Thunderflash , although I had already glued the tanks together !

 

[colin m]

Nice work Peter. I might need one of these.

 

[minitnkr]

Coming on strong Peter. I think I've heard these referred to as "Jeeps". A very successful aircraft. PaulE

 

[Mini Me]

Peter, if you can locate where the main landing gear ride you can find the zero balance point. Then place a thin object transversely at that point and try to balance the wings an fuselage on it if it goes nose down you have enough lead. If not, you know what to do. Hope this helps. Rick H.

 

[stillp]

Nice work Peter. I might need one of these.

Thanks Colin, I suspect you do, it's really well moulded. Hardly any flash, everything seems to fit, just a couple of small sink marks that'll probably disappear under a coat of paint (but filled just in case!)

Coming on strong Peter. I think I've heard these referred to as "Jeeps". A very successful aircraft. PaulE

Thanks Paul. Aren't they 'scooters'?

Peter, if you can locate where the main landing gear ride you can find the zero balance point. Then place a thin object transversely at that point and try to balance the wings an fuselage on it if it goes nose down you have enough lead. If not, you know what to do. Hope this helps. Rick H.

Thanks Rick, I'll try that but need to fit the tail and the airbrakes.

Cheers
Pete

 

[minitnkr]

Scooters, Kiddie Cars, Bantam Bombers, & more. PaulE

 

[Lee Drennen]

Pete. Looks great so far I had one of these one of the older one I lost the canopy never could find it so I tossed it in the trash years later I found the canopy isn’t that the way it goes. They have stepped there game up with this one looks like

 

[stillp]

They certainly have Lee.

Wing and tail are on, and the balance point seems to be ahead of the main wheels even without the underwing stores, so I should be OK there. The underside and all the inner surfaces, wheel wells, inside of the airbrakes, are white, so I think I'll paint all that while I'm waiting for some Mr Color Light Gull Grey to arrive from John. Canopy will go on first of course.

There are two alternative types of bomb included in the kit - not sure what they are, so I painted them all olive green, and I'll decide later which to use.

I'm never sure how to paint drop tanks - painting them on the plane is tricky, but they're difficult to hold when not mounted. What I'm thinking is to glue them to their mountings but not to the plane, so I can use the gluing surface of the mountings to hold them to coffee stirrers with some double-sided tape. What d'you think chaps?
Whoops! I just realised there's another bomb (27 on that sheet) that I haven't painted! Luckily I have plenty of time at the moment...
EDIT: No there isn't, it's an alternative to the centre line tank (26).

Thanks for watching,
Pete

 

[yak face]

They certainly have Lee.

Wing and tail are on, and the balance point seems to be ahead of the main wheels even without the underwing stores, so I should be OK there. The underside and all the inner surfaces, wheel wells, inside of the airbrakes, are white, so I think I'll paint all that while I'm waiting for some Mr Color Light Gull Grey to arrive from John. Canopy will go on first of course.

There are two alternative types of bomb included in the kit - not sure what they are, so I painted them all olive green, and I'll decide later which to use.

I'm never sure how to paint drop tanks - painting them on the plane is tricky, but they're difficult to hold when not mounted. What I'm thinking is to glue them to their mountings but not to the plane, so I can use the gluing surface of the mountings to hold them to coffee stirrers with some double-sided tape. What d'you think chaps?
Whoops! I just realised there's another bomb (27 on that sheet) that I haven't painted! Luckily I have plenty of time at the moment...
EDIT: No there isn't, it's an alternative to the centre line tank (26).

Thanks for watching,
Pete

You could glue the drop tank to the pylon Pete then drill a small hole in the top mating face and stick a cocktail stick in to hold it with . This can be stuck into a piece of polystyrene , foam etc while being painted. Once fitted the hole will be unseen . Cheers tony

 

[stillp]

Thanks Tony, yes, ' was the word I was groping for 'pylon'. Airfix have kindly provided locating pins that I can hold in a pair of locking forceps. Unfortunately stupid here forgot to drill the holes in the wing before gluing the upper and lower wing together... :loudly-crying:
I might be able to work out where the holes should be and drill them from the outside. There's a slight change in the surface finish where the plastic is thinner so I can use that as a guide. My excuse is that the bit of the instructions that tells you to drill the holes has a large box showing where to drill the holes for the stand, which isn't included, so while ignoring that box I ignored the other drilling instructions!
Pete

 

[Gern]

Depending on the thickness of the plastic, holding the wings up to a strong light might help pinpoint where the holes are Pete.

 

[stillp]

Great idea Dave, but the plastic is too thick. :disappointed:
Pete

 

[Guest]

Sorry I'm late Pete.
Nice of the seller to offer a refund
Looks to be coming on well, love all this talk about weight and the photos of it. Never have this with a tank thank goodness :smiling2:
Do you really want your address to be public ?

 

[stillp]

Good point John, now removed.
Pete

 

[yak face]

Good point John, now removed.
Pete

Too late Pete , ransom demand in the post

 

[stillp]

Phew! I managed to work out the positions for the pylons from the decal placement drawing, which is pretty well 85% of the model size. The drill broke through quite easily, so I think I found the thin spots.

The drilling diagram shows two further sets of holes outboard of these but doesn't tell you to drill them, and there are two extra pylons on the sprue, but they aren't shown on either of the schemes Are they for a later version of the aircraft?

Now, I need to decide what loadout to fit. I have a choice of a large bomb or the buddy refuelling tank on the centre pylon, and drop tanks or either of two kinds of smaller bombs on the wing pylons. Easiest would be to fit the centre tank and the two drop tanks, since they're all white, but I'm not sure if all three tanks would ever be carried in practice.
Any thought folks?
Thanks for watching
Pete

 

[Gern]

Great idea Dave, but the plastic is too thick. :disappointed:
Pete

Oh well. Can't win 'em all. I see you've got it sorted though. Coming on nicely.

 

[stillp]

Plodding on, in between garden duties...
I've decided the loadout will be the drop tanks plus the centre bomb, which seems to be typical for the early Skyhawks. Painted the underside as well as the landing gear and inside of the bays white, then realised the ailerons should also be white, so sprayed them (Tamiya XF2) last evening. Started masking today ready to pain the upper surface Light Gull Grey, but I noticed when I trimmed the masking tape on the ailerons that the paint was flaking. Peeled back the tape to reveal:

the white over the whole aileron peeled off in one piece, leaving the trim tab in white. Same happened on the other wing. :disappointed:
Now repainted and this time I'll leave it a couple of days to dry as well as de-tacking the tape first.
Pete

 

[yak face]

Ouch ! Always gutting when that happens pete . Did you prime the kit ? I always prime with Halfords grey / white spray primer and the paint always seems to stick ok , never having problems with peeling off . The only case i had with paint peeling was when I masked over vallejo metal color varnish on the thunderflash , but this was only the top varnish coat that lifted , the underlying metal color silver stuck fine to the primer .

 

[Guest]

I'm lurking back here watching this one from the wings.

It's never a great motivator to have the paint lift when you mask, but it seems like you got over it quickly to solve it, so well done.