Thanks Nigel, Ben and Zac! If you were at all anxious about me getting it finished on time, you can relax now. She is finished!
Excellent, I enjoy exhibiting at shows. Hope you get it done in time.... I was trying to get my Strutter done for a show this weekend but have failed. However, I have another show the following weekend and it WILL be done by then (he says.....).
With only a few models shows, the cost of missing a deadline is of course higher... so I suggest that you would have finished the Strutter for this weekend if you only had the one show. The abundance of model shows in your vicinity is obviously a problem here.
So, I started this build on February 21. and finished it today, April 6. That's probably one of my fastest builds in modern times. Towards the end, it's all about the lite bits and pieces and one such piece is the "acorn" suspended in mid air. I came to the conclusion that things would be easier if the lines could be tightened by pulling them through rather than looped back, so I drilled fairly large holes in the firewall so that the rigging lines could be pulled through them. That way I only had to align the acorn in the centre as I attached the top wires and then the acorn could be manouvered into position by pulling the lower wires until it looked right. Finally furnace tape was placed on top of the firewall to mask my drill holes.
One close up shot of the Gaspatch Models
RAF turnbuckles in situ. There are 104 tunrbuckles (yes, I know they aren't really turnbuckles) in a pack and I got a new one for this build. There are now only about 20 left. It's always quite fascinating how many attachement points and how much fishing line you use even with a fairly small model like this.
And a few pictures of the finished model. There's almost no weathering on this model, do you think I should add some?!
I will now try to finish three more models before next Saturday, all of them German WWII planes. And then I might possibly get back to my R.E.8 as my next WWI build.
/F