A journey from imagination to real plastic...

rickshaw · September 12, 2010, 06:40:59 AM

Well, this is what I started with:

The intention is to build one of these:

Basically I intend to use the rear fuselage from the Avon-Sabre, the front fuselage from the F-85D and the cockpit fairing from the Fuji T-1.

The Avon-Sabre is a very primitive limited-run injection moulded fuselage with a Hobbycraft F-86E to provide the wings and tailplanes and undercarriage. So, I decided that I'd use the front wheel well from the F-86E in the F-86D nose to provide extra detail:

Took a bit of jiggery and pokery to make it fit but eventually it did. The intake duct from the F-86E was to provide the floor for the cockpit as well BTW. However, it make it work with the F-86D's intake a fair bit of surgery was required.

Next I glue some plasticard "lips" along one side of the CA27's fuselage to provide a positive seat for the other half:

The two halves were then glued together. Bloody hell there was a big lip along the low fuselage join, I knew that was going to take a fair bit of PSR.

Then I sawed the front off the F-86D:

Then the rear off the Avon-Sabre. Here we have the first attempt to put them all together:

Looks like it will work! Mmm, the F-86D's fuselage is a bit deeper than the CA27's but I'll fair that back. Luckily the air-to-air rocket tray provides a convenient "shelf" that the CA27's rear fuselage can rest on.

More again later...

Draken35 · September 12, 2010, 08:11:01 AM

Excellent idea, and excellent work!!!

ChernayaAkula · September 12, 2010, 09:22:27 AM

Excellent stuff!

Looking forward to more!

Taiidantomcat · September 12, 2010, 09:49:33 PM

Excellent cutting!

rickshaw · September 13, 2010, 02:34:18 AM

Thank you all for the kind encouragement. Some more photos

First the front and rear "office". I apologise for the poor quality of the photo. Anyway, what I did was take advantage of the fuselage being in two halves and created a cockpit interior which I could slide in, before I joined the two fuselage halves. I created some side consoles and for the rear cockpit a radar screen.

Here are the two cavities which the cockpits will fill. You can see the remains of the F-86E intake tube. Interestingly, if you look at how Airfix did their original intake on the F-86D kit, basically it curves up and into the cockpit, rather than going under it as in every other version of the F-86.

You can see how thin the High Planes CA27 fuselage is. While I complain about the fit, the details are quite nice and very fine. I'm worried they'll get sanded off.

I then painted the seats. I'll add them towards the end, through the top of the cockpit simply because its easier and it will protect them from any knocks that might happen along the way with sanding, etc. I added some pull rings to their tops and painted their straps. They're Aeroclub seats BTW.

Here is the two fuselage halves assembled with the cockpit fairing and the wings attached and the cockpit, sans seats inside. I added some pieces of plasticard under the rocket tray to bring the rear fuselage up to the right height and to provide some foundation when I'm sanding it down to fair the front fuselage into the rear one.

You'll note I've cut the gun troughs off the CA27 and stuck them onto the nose of the Sea Dingo. They aren't in the same position as on Chris's excellent profile. I thought it would be too hard to put them there without a lot of major surgery.

Now, as we say, the puttying starts

To be continued...

NARSES2 · September 13, 2010, 03:28:57 AM

Great start

sequoiaranger · September 13, 2010, 08:36:44 AM

You may already know I am a "fan" man, and the only "blowtorches" I am really interested in are the early ones. The F-86 qualifies.

I **LOVE IT** when the rough model sports four or more different colors of plastic---a true indication of kitbashery!

This is a nice amalgam of similar aircraft, well-envisioned and executed (well, ALMOST executed, but judging by the start, I can't imagine rescinding my praise once it is done).

Weaver · September 13, 2010, 08:39:01 AM

It's a nice profile (caught my eye when I first saw it) and you're doing a storming job of making it plastic - nice one!

Reminds me a bit of the Mystere IVN.......

rickshaw · September 15, 2010, 04:23:22 AM

Not much more to report. Just puttying, sanding, puttying, sanding...

Got it now to the point of undercoating it.

Pablo1965 · September 15, 2010, 04:39:59 AM

I understand you idea...and is brilliant. I hope a new step.

Taiidantomcat · September 15, 2010, 08:35:47 AM

You really got it to blend perfectly, hard to believe there are four different models there

dumaniac · September 15, 2010, 02:51:11 PM

lookin' good

rickshaw · September 16, 2010, 04:03:45 AM

More putty, more sanding. No pictures to post. This plastic the rear fuselage is made of is weird. It won't take paint very easily.

NARSES2 · September 16, 2010, 08:36:01 AM

I've noticed that with High Planes plastic before. Really did need to be cleaned with plenty of soap and water before priming. If memory serves I actually used a de-greaser on it

Taiidantomcat · September 16, 2010, 09:45:39 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on September 16, 2010, 08:36:01 AM
I've noticed that with High Planes plastic before. Really did need to be cleaned with plenty of soap and water before priming. If memory serves I actually used a de-greaser on it

on some kits I have gone as far as just sanding the whole thing, to get that layer of mold release off. Just a thought (and probably not recommened by more experienced/serious modelers!! )