forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: lone modeller on January 17, 2016, 09:22:36 AM
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Evening All,
Just at the moment modelling is having to take a bit of a back seat as life is taking a lot of time and energy at the moment, so I thought that I would post a blog on a kit which hitherto has not appeared on this site to the best of my knowledge. This build log is based on a project that I carried out in 2012. At the time I had recently started modelling again after a break of over 30 years and I knew little of internet sites and writing construction blogs for other modellers: in any event I had no intention of writing anything myself so I only took a limited number of photographs. In addition to that I was having problems with my camera so that close up photos were not practical, so this will be a rather general account with more words and fewer pictures than might be desirable. At the time I built this I had made a couple of simple kits from the box and was looking for a challenge via a kit that I had long wanted to build. It happened that I had an unbuilt 0/400 in the roof left over from my former modelling days, and I remembered building this model when it was first released in the late 1960's and making a mess of it. Many years later I had managed to improve the Frog Vickers Vimy so I decided that I should be able to make a half decent job of the 0/400. Considering its age this kit stands up well against modern offerings and it is reasonably accurate when compared with the drawings in the DataFile, but it needed some attention, especially the mould marks which required cleaning up before starting. It was a big kit - both in the number of parts (over 160), many of them quite small, and its physical size. The plastic was dark green and in my old kit was of good quality and had not gone brittle. Two sets of markings were provided but because of age mine had deteriorated and in any event the register was very poor so I discarded them all except for the "lift here" signs. I decided that I could hand paint the cockades and rudder stripes as I had done on the Vimy, and the individual aircraft letter would be painted freehand: that was the theory. The serial would come from a spare sheet of transfers that I had left over from my previous modelling career. I intended to base my model on the RNAS machine illustrated in Munson's Bombers 1914-1918.
The first thing that I did was to remove the over-heavy rib detail from the flying surfaces and checked the fit of various parts as I had read that in some cases these were not good. Once again I have to report that most of the parts fitted well - better than I had expected and a tribute to the mould makers of the 1960's. It reminded me that when this kit was released it set standards for others to follow: Airfix were then at the top of their game, much as they have strived to become in more recent years.
I did not start by assembling the wings as per the instructions as I knew from other modeller's experience that this could cause problems later and I wanted to try to avoid these by using a different assembly sequence. I started with the fuselage and after cleaning the mould marks cemented strips of plastic card to the sides to represent the missing framing in the cockpit areas.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/fuselageinteriorshowingextraribbingfillercockpitdoor.jpg)
I replaced the small door between the pilot's and front gunner's cockpits, and added a small piece of card on the floor below the pilots' seat to represent a door there. I added a seat for the navigator/gunner next to the pilot (it folded up to the port - left - fuselage side), a rudder bar, a small instrument panel in the front cockpit, seat belts, other controls and ammunition holders for Lewis gun drums in the rear cockpit: these were made from small pieces of thin card and were glued to the fuselage sides: I used the mouldings in the kit as a guide for the size and shape of the drum holders. I cut a triangular aperture in the rear fuselage floor (part 63) just aft of the gunner's hatch and inserted a small piece of clear acetate to represent the window. I painted the interior clear doped linen which on reflection was probably wrong as the PC 10 dope would have made the inside of the linen seem much darker, but then everyone makes mistakes, light brown for the wood frames and dark wood for the slatted floors and gunner's hatch cover (part 64). The fuel tanks cannot be seen but they are needed because they help to keep the fuselage square - I painted them black. I replaced all the window transparencies with clear acetate sheet.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/fuselageinterior002.jpg)
I will post more later when I have got my notes and photos sorted into a better order.
Thanks for looking.
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Thanks very much for posting this build Stephen, even though it is an old kit it is still worthy of a full build log and what you have showed so far looks extremely good. Looking forward to seeing the next updates.
Des.
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Thanks for posting this, Stephen. I also have one in my stash, which I intend to build with wings folded, so I'll be paying attention to pick up on the "gotchas"....
Ian
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Stephen,
It's certainly a rarity to see this Classic Airfix kit under construction my old friend.Excellent work shown to date.I'm very much looking forward to following this certain to be Awesome Project.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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It looks like a very good start on what is a very old Kit Stephen. I hope the "back seat to real life" issue is soon resolved, there's some great modelling to be done!
Cheers,
Lance
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What a great start on a venerable kit. The interior is first class.
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Fantastic! I have this in my "To Do" pile, so knowing what you're capable of should provide enough of a masterclass to get me through the build. Look forward to seeing this one develop.
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Thanks for posting the build log, LM. I Admire what you have done so far and will follow the log with real interest.
Best wishes
Nigel
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Not much to add except another Outstanding Start! The CDL and wood look great to me! Your additions and mods to the interior are certainly paying off! I am looking forward to seeing more!
RAGIII
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Great beginning Stephen.
Cheers
Martin
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Looks like a great start -indeed you don't see many of those built. I thought my Gotha was big, but this one just dwarfs it...! Looking forward to the next update :)
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I thought that I would post a blog on a kit which hitherto has not appeared on this site to the best of my knowledge.
Hello, Stephen. I have posted a build on here but it wasn't very throrough but the pictures of the finished arrticle are on this site.
I'm sure your build log will be far more detailed then mine. Looking forward to it.
http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3517.msg89746#msg89746
By the way, your pictures aren't showing.
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By the way, your pictures aren't showing.
Ah. Glad it's not just me then.
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My apologies about the pictures - they have been restored I hope. I moved them around in my Photobucket site and that is why they got lost. Hope all is OK in future.
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I thought that I would post a blog on a kit which hitherto has not appeared on this site to the best of my knowledge.
Hello, Stephen. I have posted a build on here but it wasn't very throrough but the pictures of the finished arrticle are on this site.
I'm sure your build log will be far more detailed then mine. Looking forward to it.
http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3517.msg89746#msg89746
By the way, your pictures aren't showing.
Thanks Squiffy for pointing out your build - it was entirely my error in not finding it. I never compare builds - each modeller has their own strengths and weaknesses and ways of interpreting the subject and I think that all of the logs and models posted on this site are of a very high quality. I will not be able to provide many photos for the reasons given - I simply did not take many at the time.
Stephen.
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Evening All,
One of the reasons for the delay in posting more is that I got into a muddle with my photos - hence the temporary loss for which I apologise again.
I assembled the front and rear cockpit parts, adding small items such as the wires on the rear gunner's seat, etc. and then glued the fuel tanks, cockpit floors, bomb rack on to the starboard (right) fuselage side and cemented the port (left) side and rear fuselage bottom plate (part 63). Here I hit problem number one. The port fuselage side had warped - probably during the long time that the kit was in the roof of my home so that when I tried to line up the sides with the bottom they did not do so. I decided to fix the top of the rear fuselage to make a box structure and cement the lot in one go and then use one of my lash-up "jigs", to hold the fuselage while it dried out. This jig consisted of some nice heavy books - and the fuselage side dutifully bent back into shape. The tail unit and wing stub were then glued into place and aligned: this was very important as it affects the alignment of the wings and tail unit later and if these were not square the whole model would look misshapen. There were some small gaps and holes to fill but these really were very small.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/tailunit003_zps431affda.jpg)
I added the protection around the pilot's cockpit but not the fuselage rails or generators at this stage because they could be easily knocked off. The holes for the struts of the tail unit in the rear fuselage were in the wrong place - they would not line up as required so I filled them and drilled new ones so that they did line up with the holes in the horizontal tail unit. The tab on the centre fin (part 72) was also too long and needed to have the front end cut off so that the fin leading edge was about 0.5mm ahead of the front struts. The lugs on the fin also needed shortening so that there was a tiny gap (about 1mm) between the fin and the upper horizontal tail surface. The kit rudders were too small so I cut new ones from 20 thou plastic card. I then glued the central fin and tail skid support (part 151) to the fuselage and filled the gaps. My model will represent an RNAS machine from early 1918 in day finish with PC10 upper surfaces and clear doped linen undersides, so I decided to paint the fuselage and tail surfaces at this stage. I also had to paint the rudder flashes, fuselage roundels and individual letter on the nose, and I also added the serial (from the spares box) and lift here signs (from the kit), as they were much easier to apply then rather than later.
I drilled the holes for the tail rigging next : on the original machines these were double wires throughout and ran across the tail unit between the forward struts, rear struts and rudders and the fuselage struts where they passed through the fin. They also ran fore-aft between the fuselage struts. The box art is of some help but I used drawings in the Datafile no 116 which has excellent sketches which are very clear. Single wires ran from left to right across the front struts, between the leading edges of the rudders through the fin and from the centres of the rudders via the rear of the fin. In all quite a birdcage. After I drilled the holes I assembled assemble the tail unit: the fuselage struts first, then the two on the lower tail surface and while those were still moveable I lowered the upper tail surface and glued it into place. When the tail was dry I rigged it. That was a time consuming process but was best done then as there was little else of the kit to get in the way or be damaged.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/0400nosemarkingshandpaintedandriggingwiresforcentrewing_zps41532772.jpg)
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/0400finflashesandtailrigging.jpg)
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
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Stephen,
Outstanding work and as always done at an amazing pace,! (At least for Me) Your added details are really making this old kit look awesome!
RAGIII
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Stephen,
Outstanding work and as always done at an amazing pace,! (At least for Me) Your added details are really making this old kit look awesome!
RAGIII
Once again, I'm in total agreement with my amigo. Awesome work, Stephen.
Cheers,
Bud
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You are doing a brilliant job with this old kit Stephen.
Des.
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Exellent work at all Stephen.
Cheers
Martin
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Stephen,
Awesome work my old friend. It's absolutely fantastic to see an old classic being built,and oh so well too.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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Fine work on the interior, it really looks the part! I quite like the overall fuselage too, it looks great.
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Evening All,
Thanks to all who have dropped by and left positive comments - I do appreciate them. Rick: please note that I am not currently building this kit - as I wrote in the intro I actually made it about three years ago - it was my third model after taking up the hobby again after a long break. I am writing up notes and including the few photos that I took at the time without ever thinking that it would one day become part of a build log. How times change!
The wing ribs are too heavy and needed rubbing down. Airfix conveniently provide holes for rigging in the wings but there is a problem as they only provide holes for flying and lift wires between the struts: there are none fore and aft between the struts. Therefore I drilled the necessary holes in the upper and lower wing halves for both top and bottom wings. I wanted to put in the double rigging wires so I had to drill the extra holes in both top and bottom wings. The bracing wires which stabilised the upper wing overhang were also double. The holes for the aileron control wires which ran above and below the top wing were also drilled. The upper parts of the inner wing units were glued to the stubs and fuselage and the gaps filled and rubbed down.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/filledlowerwingjoints.jpg)
I found that the fit of the engine parts was very good but the joints needed rubbing down and cleaning up. I left off the propellors as these only get in the way and could easily be added later. The top and bottom engine struts (parts 110, 112, 116, 118,) were put into place but the joints were poor and needed filler. The engine assemblies were painted next as they would have been difficult to paint when the model was assembled. The nacelles were PC10, the radiator fronts black and the sides were dark grey on my model, and the exhausts were painted using a mixture of copper and rust. I added the exhausts but not the engine platforms at this stage.
Now I diverged again from the kit instructions because the fit of the wings is not good and problems can arise with alignment and filling of gaps if you follow the instructions. First I checked carefully the alignment of the upper sections of the bottom wings (parts 3 and 13) and filed down and adjusted them. I then glued the upper wing sections to the inner wing stubs making sure that the dihedral was correct by supporting the wing tips while they dried out. I filled the gaps and sanded them down. Next came the fuselage cabane struts (123 and 124) to the fuselage. I had already drilled two small holes in the fuselage just in front of the cabane struts and under the centre-section of the top wing for fuel pipes: the pipes ran in front of the forward struts. I painted the upper surfaces of the bottom wing and the cabane struts and attached one engine assembly at a time to the lower wings. The forward bottom strut (109 on the port - left engine), and rear strut (111 on the same engine), was glued to the nacelle then the sub-assembly to the holes in the bottom wing. The control bar (part 114) and the inner engine strut (113) between the engine nacelle and the fuselage could then be put into place and properly aligned. This needed a little support while it dried out. The engine struts struts gave the assembly more rigidity when I put the nacelles into place and made this assembly easier. I only assembled the second engine when the first was complete and dry. Then the large wing struts (121 and 122) were put into the holes in the lower wing at the rear of the engine and finally the lower part of the upper wing centre section (125) was put into place, again making sure that everything was aligned.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/centresectionwingcomplete.jpg)
I now had a problem because the kit was supposed to have 167 parts but mine only had 166 - part number 126, the upper wing centre section, was missing! I moulded a new one from plastic card and added strips of card to the leading and trailing edges of part 125. So the strange white top to the upper wing centre section in the photo above was my first attempt at moulding a new part in about 30 years.
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
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Fantastic work Stephen! Your approach to mounting the wings and engines is brilliant! Outstanding work on replacing the center wing section!
RAGIII
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Very nicely done replacing the missing centre wing section, it's very handy having scratch building skills to do things like this.
Des.
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Great work. I think the kit is still available so would Airfix have sent you a replacement if you hadn't scratch built it.?
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What can I say it looks every time better and better, Stephen.
Cheers
Martin
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Evening All,
Thanks to all for the kind remarks. Toby: I built this about 3 1/2 years ago when the kit was not available: I did contact Airfix at the time but they were unable to supply the missing part so I had a choice - not build the kit or make my own part. As I explained at the start of this thread I am unable to do much modelling just at the moment so I am posting this history for the benefit of anyone who is thinking of building one of these: it is just taking longer to sort out my notes and photos than I had originally intended - such is life at the moment! It is an old kit but it is still a good one (or at least I think so), but it does have some issues which I have tried to address and hope this may be of benefit to others in the future.
I held one of the upper wing bottom pieces (part 6 or 16) to the edge of the top wing centre-section and test the fit of the main wing struts. This is fiddly but by inserting the struts into the location holes it can be done and the alignment of the wing sections can be checked. In my case the rear inner strut was too long and needed to be shortened by a couple of mm or 1/16 inch. The wings are different so I had to measure both wings and sets of struts. When the wing joints were flush and I had the correct dihedral, I glued the wing struts into the top of one of the lower wings. I placed a small drop of cement into the front holes on the upper wing and placed this on on the ends of the forward struts, then placed a small drop of cement on the tops of the rear struts and eased these forward into the holes on the rear of the wing. I ran some glue along the joint between the two wing sections and brought the sections together. This assembly was supported and allowed to dry overnight.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/wingsupportwhiledrying_zpsedba0755-1_zps351829dd-1_zps62316fd6.jpg)
The photo shows one of my jigs that I construct as necessary from what is near to hand: however crude it looks I can assure you it worked and the wings are square and have the correct dihedral, although looking at photos of IanB's jig I almost feel ashamed to post this, but then I want to encourage others to have a go even if they do not have near state-of-the-art equipment. The moulded centre section shown in an earlier photo has been taken off and the white strips which I added to the front and rear of the underside of the centre section in order to increase the chord to the correct width can be clearly seen. The white pieces on top of the wing is where I had glued the ends of the rigging threads to make them completely secure when I came to tightening them.
I repeated the operation on the other wing. Then I filled and rubbed down the joints on the underside of the wings which could now be rigged before adding the top sections of the top wings and bottom sections of the lower wings. The king posts were glued to the top of the upper wing halves and rigged before the section was stuck into place. More filling was be needed on the undersides of both of the wings and on the top sides along the centre section, and the undersides of the lower wing. This was a tricky set of operations but they gave good joints and got around the alignment problem which seems to mar so many attempts with this model. I then painted the top and bottom of the upper wing and the cockades as the kit transfers were not suitable for the aircraft depicted in my model. Painting cockades is not difficult. First scribe on the outer circle of the cockades with a sharp pair of dividers and then painted the circle in with white paint. As the white appears in the cockades two coats may be needed to achieve the correct density. With care, thin paint and a fine brush the paint can be allowed to run into the groove made by the dividers and a neat outline will result. When the white paint is dry scribe on circles for the red and blue colours, again using dividers, and complete the painting as already described.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/frontviewtopwingwithcockades.jpg)
Thanks for looking.
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Looking really good Stephen, for an old kit it is shaping up beautifully.
Des.
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Outstanding work on the wings Stephen! Your process was involved but well worth the effort!
RAGIII
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Nicely done Stephen!
I can assure you that the "state-of-the-art" (Aeroclub) jig I use does have its limitations, not the least of which is sharp edges which remove paint/decals very easily. Sometimes less is definitely more! Having said that, I believe John at Aeroclub has released an improved version since. I still only use that jig when absolutely necessary!
Ian
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Ian,
You are absolutely correct. I really like my Aero Club Jig however I have learned (the hard lesson way!) to use some soft insulation to prevent damage to decals and/or paint.
Cheers,
Lance
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Hi Stephen, this step-by-step story is most inspiring. Piling up those books to push the model into shape shows us that there are a lot of ways to achieve an end goal when progressing a model along. There are a lot of modellers I know who would give up on a project that hit a difficult snag, but your build is a great example of commitment and getting the job done.
Cheers,
Gary
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Excellent work, Stephen. I can recall building this kit more years ago than I care to remember, but mine was nothing like your work. I look forward to seeing additional photos. 8)
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It looks very good Stephen.
Cheers
Martin
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Evening All,
Here is my last instalment of the construction thread for this model.
The undercarriage is the last major sub-assembly on this model and was as complicated as any other assembly. First I had to clean the bad mould joints: the tyres needed similar treatment. Assembly of the undercarriage was fiddly but having got this far it was not a major problem. Proper aligned was the key while it dried out. I added the wind pumps to the sides of the fuselage, fuel pipes, engine platforms (and their supporting wires), ailerons and all of the control surface horns after the undercarriage units wherein place as I did not fancy replacing them when they were knocked off as they would have been had I followed the assembly sequence in the instructions. The final details were then added: propellors, pitot tube, crew entry hatch, gun pillars and guns, forward gun ring, windscreens and the tail skid, etc. The tail skid had two springs, one on each side, which I simulated with a ring of stretched sprue. I added a crew ladder and two maintenance ladders to my model just for effect - they were made from thin strip.
(http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/400/DSCF4775.jpg)
I have posted more pictures in the competed models section.
Thanks for looking.
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You have build a very fine model.
Cheers
Martin
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Thank you Martin.
Stephen.
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Stephen,
Following your build and watching this old kit turn into an outstanding model has been a real pleasure!
RAGIII