Gondor's Grumblings

[Gondor]

A little search on the web enabled me to find that the Telford show next year will be the 13^th and 14^th of November

Gondor

That's right. It's Remembrance Weekend for the next couple of years at least.

Yes I remembered about that hence the search on the web and the awful joke 

Gondor

[Gondor]

I was booked with Travellodge for Telford this year, just cancelled my booking and although normally the saver booking would mean no refund, however as I booked befor June 23rd of this year I am getting an electronic voucher to use. Unfortunatly Travellodge only alow bookings eleven months in advance so I could not rebook for next years show.

Gondor

[Gondor]

I won't say this only once, I hate doing cockpits. I hate them because I always get the detail to look flat no matter what I do, well either that or too weathered. This is mainly why I hate coctpits. Usually you can;t get very far with an aircraft model without painting or whatever your doing to the cockput which is why I start so many kits but never get very far as they are usually held up by the cocpit in some shpae or form. Did I say I hate cocpits?

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

Bearing in mind you generally do them with the lid down and usually 72nd, you can't see much in there anyway, especially at the distance most people display them at.  You can't see it in a photo either, so really, you've got nothing to worry about.

[PR19_Kit]

I went to some trouble to get the seats, panel and sticks looking good in the Leeds.

I glued the canopy in place, PSR'd it and painted it, and you can't see a THING inside! 

[Old Wombat]

You really don't like cockpits, do you, mate!

I won't say this only once, I hate doing cockpits. I hate them because I always get the detail to look flat no matter what I do, well either that or too weathered. This is mainly why I hate coctpits. Usually you can;t get very far with an aircraft model without painting or whatever your doing to the cockput which is why I start so many kits but never get very far as they are usually held up by the cocpit in some shpae or form. Did I say I hate cocpits?

Gondor

[TheChronicOne]

 

[kerick]

 
It's getting to be much the same for me!

[Gondor]

Modelling for me is actually moveing forward, however for my other half its come to a head with the Airfix Mini she has been building. It's the modern Mini and she has got as far as putting the body shell onto the chassis, except that no matter what she or I try it won't fit!
Any help and usefull sudgestions would be most welcome.

Gondor

[zenrat]

Always a tricky stage fitting the body to the chassis.  I've come a cropper more than once at this point.

Study the instructions.  Sometimes they detail how to do it.  Slide the front of the chassis in first for example.
Sometimes you need to spread the body sides in order to get them over the interior tub (I am assuming the interior is attached to the chassis).  This process can be aided by using flat flexible things (pieces of styrene sheet, thin metal, butter knives) between the body and the interior to aid the slide.
I don't know what else to suggest without having experience of the specific kit.  Could parts be slightly misaligned?  Could paint thickness be affecting fit?
Clear parts not quite pushed far enough into the body shell can prevent the chassis from mounting far enough up inside.

[PR19_Kit]

...and sometimes they don't fit at all, no matter how much you try.

I'm reminded of the AMT 1/24 slot car kits like the Hussein, Chaparral and Lola T70, all of which were designed for slot racing, but supplied as kerb side models, all with the same basic 'chassis'. That chassis didn't actually fit ANY of them! 

The only answer then is to chop bits off until it does fit.

[Gondor]

The instructions show the interior has to be fitted to the chassis befor the body goes over everything. Unfortunatly the botom of the passenger compartment was well glued to the chassis so it can't be easily removed.

What I think I will do is buy her another kit and rob as much from this one while assembeling the interior seperatly then fitting that into the body and lastly fitting the chassis to everything else. I can then use what's left over to kitbash into some kind of dune buggy or something 

Gondor

[Gondor]

Been off with a cold that has affected my sinuses, specifically the right one. This has however allowed me between attempting to stop my nose from running like the proverbial dripping tap to procede with some modelling.
Now I have an A3 sized cutting matt, no laughing at the back! The modelling area, that where parts I am actually painted or glued, always seams to end up the around A5 or even A6 in size 
Inevitably something falls onto towards the carpet monster. I can hear in my head [i/]"El prometido"[/i] asking if it's important? Of course it's important! That's why its on the floor blending in with the carpet! In this case a main undercarriage leg for a Defiant painted in Hu 53 with a Grey carpet and hiding between the wheels in one of the chair's casters! So glad I decided not to move the chair.

Gondor

[NARSES2]

Now I have an A3 sized cutting matt, no laughing at the back! The modelling area, that where parts I am actually painted or glued, always seams to end up the around A5 or even A6 in size 

I know the feeling, why do you think the sight of that A1 excited me so much ? 

[Gondor]

Just finding out that I need smaller drill bits. 0.3mm isn't good enough for the Albion Alloys tubing I have so my Defiant, and any other kit that I am replacing the pittot tube with brass rod, will not be as near to scale as they should. The problem all stems from the cutting of the tube. Side cutters are right out as they will crush the brass tube which has walls of roughly 0.1mm thickness. The only other method that I can think of is to roll the tube under a sharp knife to score then cut through the tubing. This works to an extent, however the interior of the tube requires to be cleaned out as cutting the tube deforms it but nowhere as badly as using cutters does so it still requires to be cleaned out and at the moment the smallest sized tube I can do that with has an outside diameter (o.d.) of 0.5mm which equates to a whopping 35mm when scaled up from 1/72 scale.
I do have smaller o.d. tubing but as the smallest drill bit is a whopping 0.3mm any tubing I have that has in internal diameter smaller than that will have to for now be the smallest outer part of a two part or more set of tubes. 
Ordering smaller drill bits tomorrow which should go down to 0.1mm. This sounds small but I did get a sample pack from Albion Alloys a few years ago when I was last at Telford which contains a tube with an i.d. of 0.2mm and this is the smallest I have at the moment and I'm not touching it until I get those new drill bits!
The Defiant will just have to make do with a cannon sized tittot tube.

Gondor