WW1 Aircraft Modeling > Vacform Kits

RAF FE8, Scaleplanes 1:72

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IanB:
Sorry to have been away for so long, but what with relocation, and getting distracted by WWII aircraft and a car or two, my WWI models have unfortunately taken a back seat for a while.
However, despite my best efforts I have caved in to the Vac form and resin kit builders new group build and I will be starting the Scaleplanes RAF FE8 kit which was one of the first vacs I added to my stash. I have some after market goodies in the form of a SmallStuff Monosoupape engine and Aeroclub prop which although slightly too large is at least the correct pitch for a pusher and can be filed down, and a Miniworld Lewis gun. Wheels and national markings/serial have been sourced from the spares stash. The only issue is how I will do the number on the nacelle as I have no decals that will do the job. I'll sort that out when I come to it, and it will be less of a problem than figuring out how to do the tail framing!

Here's what I have to be going on with:



Did I mention how tiny it is?





I spent this afternoon scaling up the plans from the Datafile (why are the profiles and plan view different sizes? They are not to any particular scale either!) and sourcing the bits I needed. The last act of today was to outline the parts to be removed.



Oh well, here we go.....



Ian

Thumbs up:
Will be tagging along :)

Borsos:
One of the most underrated and forgotten pusher planes of WWI. Great you are doing this one. I also have the WDF in my library and frequently wondered about these strange scale plans... Well, mistakes can happen everywhere I think.
Andreas

Alexis:
Now this is a type we don't see very often at all . Will be following along on this one . I built a 48 scale kit of the is using lone star models vac kit , it wasn't very good and I only ended in using the two fuselage halves - rest is scratchbuilt . Looking forward on your progress  :)


Terri

IanB:
Hi "Thumbs", please do!

Andreas and Terri, welcome aboard, good to see you here!

Just in case we have any vacform "newbies" looking in, I'll document the whole process. So here we go!

First thing then, is removing the parts from the sheet. You will have noticed in my previous post I had outlined the parts with a black marker. Next step is to break them out, literally! I usually start by using scissors to cut the sheet into sections, each containing a part. Then using a knife blade, score around each part, but not too close. The plastic can then be bent and snapped off.







leaving you with this







I then score again, carefully right along the edge of the parts. This is why I said not to go too close last time. If you left enough, you can grab the excess with a pair of pliers and bend it away, again snapping it off cleanly. If you prefer you can omit the first snapping out part, but I prefer to work with gradually smaller pieces rather than trying to bite it all off at once, it gives me better control over what I'm doing.



That left me with this







The wing undersides look like this







Don't worry, it's all going to be sanded off! That's why I drew the black lines earlier







So that I can see how far back I have to sand them! Not too important on the wings as I will just sand to the correct thickness which, on the trailing edges, will be much thinner than that line. But on other parts it's critical.


If the kit is made correctly!


Fortunately I checked the fuselage nacelle before I sanded it down...







It's actually the correct width without sanding, so that means it's going to be awkward and probably need filler!



After sanding the wings down, I checked them against the plans











Not too good! The trailing edges need extending, as do the tips, and the centre cutout on the lower wings is the wrong shape, although it's too small so could be cut back.

It looks as though I'm going to have to make a set of wings too, so this kit will basically consist of the fuselage nacelle, suitably corrected, and a bunch of scratchbuilt and aftermarket parts!



Oh well, good job I didn't pay for it!



My printer died this morning too, so I need to buy another one! I guess I'll have to use the one at work for now!



Thanks for looking in!



Ian

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