HobbyBoss TA-7C - Operation Granby FINISHED!

Mossie · July 18, 2010, 06:05:24 AM

Getting my excuse in early, I might not make it as I also have a room to decorate this week, but here goes nowt with a HobbyBoss Corsair two seater. It's going to be an operational two seater rather than a trainer, hopefully weathered up to a suitibly grotty standard.

Simon.

Mossie · July 18, 2010, 06:34:00 AM

Yeah, it's only a little kit, but there's a lot of detail parts which might make it a little fiddly, plus it's not quite as shake & bake as reviews would suggest. Fortunately, eighty six of the parts are ordnance & I'm ditiching the kit option & going for something simpler.

I've been working on this since Friday night, haven't posted till now because I wanted to do the interior to a reasonable standard. Kit hasn't gone together quite as easily as I thought, some of the parts have needed a bit sanding to fit. Wee bit of weathering already done in he wheel bays & in the area around the exhaust, which you can't really see in the pic & probably won't notice with it all together. Ah well! It probably won't tial sit, but I've stuck some lead solder in to be on the cautious side.

The only concession I've made to it being a dedicated strike aircraft is to remove the MIB's stick. The eagle eyed might recognise that the bang seats aren't from the kit, this is clue to the direction I'm heading in. It took a little work to get the rear seat in, it stood a little proud & needed the bottom shaving off, hence the nav will have to be less than five foot two!

This is were I was late last night, I was then up till 4am sticking the fuse & other major parts together.

Taiidantomcat · July 18, 2010, 07:10:55 AM

Nice job with the weights

Mossie · July 18, 2010, 07:33:34 AM

I use lead solder, it's soft so it's easy to cut to size & can be worked into shape with a little persuation from pliers or a hammer to go into small nooks & crannies. It's also cheaper than the lead free stuff, much heavier & I'm not heating it so I'm not posioning myself, so that works for me all round! You can pick it up from hardware/DIY stores.

I don't leave tail sitting to chance, I put the major parts together with tape then I ballance the model on a paint brush to find the centre of gravity. Roll it gently forwards along the paintbrush until it tips on it's nose & you find your CofG. Keep putting weight into it until the Cof G is forward of the main wheels. The softness of the solder helps you shape it to get it in places where it might otherwise be difficult to add wieght. I then usually cram a bit more in just to be certain.

Shasper · July 19, 2010, 08:19:22 PM

Mossie · July 21, 2010, 04:54:57 PM

Haven't been idle, but time constraints & a number of botch ups have slowed me down. Managed to drop the putty jar lid & it found the canopy & attacked it,

tried to polish out the blemish but it's too deep. I have a cunning plan to hide it, which ties in with some of my original plans. The horizontal stabs are thin & the location peg is tiny, I've lost count of the amount of times I've broken them off. The seam on the underside cracked too, so I've had to re-glue & PSR it. I could do to re-scribe some lines I've lost during PSR, not sure if I have the time or skill to pull it off.

I hacked out the old RWR & replaced it with one of a different style, actually a pylon from a Harrier GR.5 that was perfect. This is another clue to where I'm going....

Major parts together, PSR done:

D'oh!!!

Putty damage on the canopy:

New RWR:

Getting to grips with the new camera so aplogies that the pics are less than great.

Taiidantomcat · July 22, 2010, 07:57:25 AM

This is going to be great! sorry for the rotten luck. almost there!

Weaver · July 22, 2010, 08:45:58 AM

Oh bad luck! Still a nice idea though, assuming I've guessed correctly....

Ed S · July 22, 2010, 08:56:34 AM

Good luck on recovering from the canopy blotch. Looking good. But then it's an A-7 so it's bound to look good.

Ed

Mossie · July 22, 2010, 01:58:54 PM

Quote from: Weaver on July 22, 2010, 08:45:58 AM
Oh bad luck! Still a nice idea though, assuming I've guessed correctly....

It's still carrying on.... Snapped the re-worked RWR off, knocked the canopy off (fixed on with PVA, never strong enough for my cack-handedness), realised I hadn't drilled out the locations for the refuelling probe, had to find the locations, did, but drilled a hole in the wrong place anyway, snapped a drill bit, snapped a new scribe I'd just bought today. All within an hour and a half.

I'm stuggling to meet the deadline, I was hoping to have it paitned tonight as I've found I'm going to be busy Saturday evening & Sunday.

Still, you've got laugh, or else you'd cry!

Quote from: Ed S on July 22, 2010, 08:56:34 AM
Good luck on recovering from the canopy blotch. Looking good. But then it's an A-7 so it's bound to look good.

Ed

Thanks Ed, I was hoping you'd look in with your background. I plan to drape a tarp over part of the canopy, as if it's in the process of being removed & someones called the fitter over for a cuppa. A tarp covering the canopy will be very useful where it's going! I'm hoping to get some various bits on it, Remove Before Flight tags, tarp, covers for the intake & tailpipe.

I do like the A-7, may not be pretty, but still looks good.

NARSES2 · July 23, 2010, 01:15:11 PM

Quote from: Overkiller on July 22, 2010, 02:07:45 PM

Cackhandedness? I know the feeling, sometimes I'm sure I have three left hands....

Duncan

If thats the case Dunc then you are obviously left handed

Keep at it Simon she'll come right in the end. I'm not a jet man but I do like the A-7. Purposefull aircraft

Green Dragon · July 23, 2010, 06:47:14 PM

I'll have to steal the tarp over the canopy idea Simon, I'm always knackering clear parts! Hope you manage to get time to finish.

Paul Harrison

Mossie · July 24, 2010, 07:23:56 PM

Thanks guys!

I'm not going to finish this for tomorrow evening. I probably could, but now I've got through those problems I seem to be coasting along pretty well. I might have tried to finish it if I had all day tomorrow, but I'm under orders to decorate a room & I don't want to rush it & cock it up. I'm actually rather enjoying it & I'm not worried that I won't meet the deadline. I do like the A-7 & this is a nice kit of it, I'd sooner make a reasonable job of it.

Request to mods to put this in the Aircraft section of the Current & Finished Builds forum please? Ta!

nev · July 25, 2010, 12:43:15 AM

Sorry to hear that Simon. Real Life sucks eh?

srkirad · July 25, 2010, 01:49:24 AM

Huh, how did I miss this one?

Simon, you're doing great job and pretty speedy one

My suggestion was maybe to put some solder lead to the nose cone area too, but you'va already "packed up" the fuselage halves, so, hopefully it will be no tail-sitter

Regarding to canopy problem, maybe you could try sanding with various gradations of sanding paper: 600 > 800 > 1000 > 1500 > 2000 and then polishing with some polishing compound (Gunze Polishing Compounds, Fine & Superfine work just great, but ordinary toothpaste would do the work too!) and something like Gunze Micromesh - I used this method to fix the Fw190 canopy that had ejector pinmarks on it and now remains of "surgery" are almost invisible! It's worthwile trying

And of course, I really admire your choice - I also really like this plane, and two-seater is a real beauty too

Hobby Boss A-7 series is worthwile buying, and I think, comparing it to the Italeri (ex-ESCI) A-7, only main landing gear wheels look better in Italeri's kit - front wheels are better in HobbyBoss package! Also, Hobby Boss A-7 is a real must have kit - in few examples!

Can't wait to see the camouflage on this one

Cheers,
Srdjan