The Wooksta!: Not a Spitfire Blog - comments thread.

[TallEng]

I know it's a few posts back now, but if you are still considering adding a conformal tank to the Hunter,
(I believe a Lightning F.3 tank was mentioned) you'll have to leave access for the starter/starter cartridge stowage
Panel. It's a long time since I had to duck under a Hunter fuselage to check that the Avpin wasn't burning in the starter bay
Before closing the panel, but I believe it's either located in between, or slightly aft of the main wheel bays on the fuselage center line, which might make fitting a conformal tank a bit difficult.

Regards
Keith

[NARSES2]

Assuming the XF-8 you are building is the Vallom kit Lee, what's your views on the kit ? It's sat in my stash, but I'm a bit wary of their earlier kits after my attempts to grapple with their Airacuda.

[The Wooksta!]

It's buildable, although you need experience with older Czech MPM or Special Hobby kits.  One thing I will say is carve out/sand a 1mm deep a groove the whole width of the fuselage in the top wing surface, otherwise the wing/fuselage won't close up properly, which leaves nasty gaps round the radiator intake.  I'd also sand the trailing edges of the wings inside the wings before assembly as they're a bit thick.  Apart from that, it's a typical limited run build.

On reflection, having just put the fuselage and wing together, it's actually easier to simply cut out the section of the wing the fuselage sits on.  Tape the wing up before assembly but after you've sanded down the trailing edges.  Doesn't matter if the fuselage is assembled or just taped up.  Place said fuselage over the wing and run a pencil over the wing where the fuselage meets it, then cut out the area under the fuselage inside the pencil marks.  Just assemble then as normal.  You've still got gaps to fill, but not quite so bad.

Tailplanes are a tad snug but will go in with a bit of extreme violence after plastic weld is used.

Leave the engine till the main airframe is together - the join of the injection section isn't too crash hot and it could get knocked off.  The resin cowling is stunning.

TBH, it's nothing that I know you can't build.

[PR19_Kit]

Tailplanes are a tad snug but will go in with a bit of extreme violence after plastic weld is used.

Visions of Lee wielding a LARGE hammer to bash the tailplanes into position. 

[The Wooksta!]

I may have exaggerated a bit...

[NARSES2]

Cheers for the vote of confidence Lee  I've printed your comments out and put them in the box 

It's buildable, although you need experience with older Czech MPM or Special Hobby kits.

Right, I know exactly what you mean and that's not a problem as long as I know beforehand. they've been on quite a learning curve as a company. Some of their more recent kits are quite nice.

[The Wooksta!]

I have never used a hammer whilst assembling kits.  Flattening lead with one to use as noseweights, yes.

[PR19_Kit]

I did once, to try and get the wings of an Airfix 747 in position.

Just a few light taps on the tips with a toffee hammer, but even that didn't work. Eventually I resorted to a Dremel cutting disc to enlarge the wing tag holes in the fuselage! 

[NARSES2]

What aircraft is the brick you keep mentioning? Not heard of that nickname before, but I also had not heard of the Javelin being called a Flat Iron before reading it in Kit's thread, and that one make's sense, but a brick could be dozens if not more type's. 

"The Brick" was the Blackburn (latter Hawker Siddeley etc) Buccaneer. Called so because it was built like a "brick outhouse", or so I've always been told.

[Rheged]

The Buccaneer was also known as the Banana Jet.  Some wise guy in the Blackburn works pointed out that it was an Advanced  Royal  Naval Aircraft, abbreviated to ARNA  and thus giving you the Blackburnarna.   Anti-flash white one were known as PEELED 'NANA's and camo green ones as UNRIPE 'NANAS.  There was also a rumour circulating that the Brick wasn't built like other aeroplanes, it was in fact machined out of a single solid lump.......or possibly quarried!!

[Nick]

There was also a rumour circulating that the Brick wasn't built like other aeroplanes, it was in fact machined out of a single solid lump.......or possibly quarried!!

Not entirely wrong that! The main wing spars were milled out of a solid cast block of metal. In the Haynes book there's a photo of a wing outer panel which was machined from solid metal. Blackburn didn't want to wait 3 years for a suitable machine to be delivered from the USA so they built their own in under a year!

Also of potential interest if you can work out how to open the files  https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/eb034605/full/html

[PR19_Kit]

I'm sure they FORGED some bits of the Brick, the landing gear legs looks just like that!

[rickshaw]

There was also a rumour circulating that the Brick wasn't built like other aeroplanes, it was in fact machined out of a single solid lump.......or possibly quarried!!

Not entirely wrong that! The main wing spars were milled out of a solid cast block of metal.

Not all that unusual. Mirage IIIs used to chemically mill from a solid piece of metal, their wings.   I've seen the process on film in a time lapse sequence and it was quite interesting.  Loads of acid and a lot of liquid aluminium is the outcome from inside the wing skin.   

[PR19_Kit]

Blackburn did it with a monster 3-axis milling machine, about the size of a large house! I saw the thing on a visit to Brough in the 80s and it's HUGE!

[PR19_Kit]

located the remains of an unbuilt Merlin TSR2 (don't snigger at the back there, Spackman!)

Who, me? Laugh about a Merlin kit? I'm more likely to burst into tears, of frustration. 

In any case, are there any built ones anywhere?