Thorvics'Blog

[Thorvic]

Yeah  Progress

Fuselage fixes done and the seams tidied up. Cleaned up and filled in the gaps at the rear of the fuselage so its now neat and merges with the doors during the week so now that's all done it left me the weekend to get on with sorting out the wing position and cutting the fuselage roof to accept this.
Did this and got a sort of loose fit so extended the wing roots forward now I know where the wing meet the fuselage and this sorted out the gaps on the underside of the wing.
Next it was to start building up the forward upper fuselage to blend into the wing as the final HS-681 design has a very humpback look at the wing join. So built up steps on the fuselage and put the milliput on to blend it in, fitted the wing to fine tune it and its now cured over night in the warmth of our warm room. Now comes the fun part in getting it all sanded down and flush but its now getting there when the wing slots on it now starts to look 681 ish  . Note I will still need to fill in the gaps when the wing is finally fitted but that shouldn't be too bad.

Once the wing roots have been cleaned up I'll need get started on the wheel sponsons as I need to work out where the wheels will be and align the axles accordingly before I see what I need to do with the building the sponsons by stretching the kit undercarriage bay and lengthening it fwd and aft  !

[Thorvic]

Hmmn this could take a few days to perfect the shapes, did a sanding session last night and the shapes coming along but the sanders are now clogged up a bit  . I get the feeling I may need a 2nd session of milliput to fix some of the dimples and fine tune the flares of the wing roots. However before I get down to that I think I'll remove the cockpit masking and test the canopy for fit again as not done that since the fuselage was finally assembled. This will allow me to check the look and feel and let me see if I will need to blend in the canopy whilst I'm sorting out the upper forward fuselage. Probably a good time for another session of photos when I do.

[Thorvic]

Oh Bugger !

Well I removed the masking and tried to test fit the canopy - woefully crap fit, instrument panel touched and pushed it up, removed it and still shoddy fit. Added strip to rear edge of the cockpit, a bit better, now got fit at the back, one side but will need some shims on the front and a the other side a more serious shim of plastic to bring it true again. So no photos till I can get this sorted out and painted ready for the canopy to be re-future and attached (and blended back in again !!) 

However its one of those jobs done in short periods so I can do a bit when I get a chance in the evening rather than wait for a more concerted effort at the weekends.

On another front I'm not happy with the engine I've done so far I may try an source an alternative solution for these 

[Captain Canada]

Sounds like she's going to fight you all the way !

[Thorvic]

Ok finally managed to get the canopy fitted over the weekend and still had gaps to contend with so it really did take all weekend  . Need to replace the window masking now and the wet sanding and detritus has damaged it a bit so daren't do a primer check on the seams till I know the windows are safe again.

However in one of the many curing sessions I did start to look at the photos I have of the manufacturers model and now think I can adapt the Transalls sponsons to match the design as this HS681 design has three larger wheels in line rather than twin double bogies and they extend much further forward than the Transall.

Got the basis for the fin top pod sorted from the spares box so just need to create the rest of if and build an interface to the fin.

Also got my alternative engines sorted which match the drawings better, although I need to now work out how to create the pair of fairings for the deflected thrust for each engine 

[Captain Canada]

Wow that's a lot of work Geoff !

[Thorvic]

Wow that's a lot of work Geoff !

Aye finding the photos was great but it also led to me to review the wok so far, in fact after discussing it with Gondor on-line last night I actually had to get up again after going to bed to review the nose cone I had done, thankfully it was OK so I went back to bed and tried to get some sleep  .

Will need to get on and build up the next two engines so that I can get round to creating the deflected thrust fairings (all 8 of them !) as these will need to be scratch built before I get on with doing new engine pylons.

So with the sponsons the Fin Fairing, engines and pylons still to do before assembly can get going I still have quite a bit of work cut out for me.

To make matters worse that Sword Gannet is calling me to assemble as already had a dabble with the sub assemblies, plus the Ram decals for the F-4K/M are due anytime now so I have a real early F-4K to finish which has been at the decaling stage for the last 12 months !

The new Airfix Swift is still creeping back I notice now the 10th of July rather than the 3rd  , just glad I built mine 6 months ago so it won't be a distraction whenever its finally released over here  . The good news I suppose is that the real temptations are not due till December in the form of the Airfix Sea King HC4 and Avro Shackleton so those are winter builds lined up which will be light relief from the pair of big builds I'm doing this year.

Must admit I was sorely tempted to do my 1/72nd Poseidon whilst its still potentially a Whif as I hope later in the year the UK Govt will fill the MPA capability gap with an initial order for P-8s as part of the 2015 SDSR. However with the two build I have lined up so far and the work involved it just won't be practical, or fair on myself without rushing the jobs.

[NARSES2]

The Swift creep is probably due to the shipping centre being reorganised/moved. Opens again on the 9th I think. details/link are here on site.

The good news I suppose is that the real temptations are not due till December in the form of the Airfix Sea King HC4 and Avro Shackleton

Mine are due in the next couple of months (Beau, III, Kate and Whitley) - sounds like a country band 

[Thorvic]

The Swift creep is probably due to the shipping centre being reorganised/moved. Opens again on the 9th I think. details/link are here on site.

The good news I suppose is that the real temptations are not due till December in the form of the Airfix Sea King HC4 and Avro Shackleton

Mine are due in the next couple of months (Beau, III, Kate and Whitley) - sounds like a country band 

Oh yes I knew you would have fun with the WW2 stuff that's all due out before winter (The new Wildcat should tempt you too as its to the same standard as the Kate, but for some daft reason none of the boxing's have FAA option !!  ).

I don't actually mind the WW2 focus and that the Cold War types are due the end of the year as it means I don't have too many distractions till after SMW or for that matter for SMW  (we used to have models that they would try and get out for the show, but now it only seems to be a window for the smaller manufacturers to release a kit there - Freightdog, S&M, Coastal Kits, Whirlybird etc).
Hopefully next year we may see Airfix do some more Cold War types and try and spread them out through the year.

Build wise, like most its been way to warm for modelling but I did manage to replace the damaged window masking and give it a coat of primer. Still a visible seam between fuselage and canopy  so that needs further work 

[NARSES2]

(The new Wildcat should tempt you too as its to the same standard as the Kate, but for some daft reason none of the boxing's have FAA option !!  ).

I was wondering that as well I must admit. Probably come out latter, hopefully

[Thorvic]

Not a great deal of visible progress to report, although I have made some, I now have four engines, one with the deflected thrust bulges, one awaiting them fitting and the other pair awaiting them to be shaped. Still to sort out the wing pylons for all four engines but I have ideas in hand for that.

I have started on the sponsons for the main landing gear and those are starting to take shape based on modified kit parts, once I have the sponson shape sorted I need to work out how to sort out the undercarriage before fitting the sponsons to the fuselage as the model being built has an unusual three large wheels in line rather than twined pairs.

Finally got the tail sorted out and have built the bullet and fin top, now I need to work out how to best fit the tail planes which is what I'm currently working on.

I did manage to check through my photos of the manufacturers models and had a DOH !!! moment when I realised that one of the models at MAM is the later HS version with most of the feature's I'm modelling, so plenty of cross referencing the photos, with the drawings and the build.

Must admit to being sorely tempted last week to have a go at something else, as got another Airfix Swift, and a Sword Gannet, together with the F-4K/M markings to taunt me. I had also been at Yeovilton and Bovington the week previous so had plenty of real hardware to have a go at.

Thankfully although I did look and fondle the plastic of various kits and shelf queens, I did resist  : thumbsup:, so I can carry on plugging away at the Aldershot.

[Thorvic]

Well some progress made, I managed to create a stencil of the engine pylon on Saturday and used it to cut out 2 similar shapes in slightly thicker plastic card. I was then able to attach this around the existing engine pylon to get the right width and shape and contoured to fit the wing. Marked up another 6 shapes using the template for the other three engines but I need to finish the other two pairs of defected thrust fairings and blend those into the engine pods before I can do those pylons.

I also managed to get the tail planes cut to shape and have sorted out their mountings. I have also sorted the mounts to attach the fin to the fuselage so for the first time I was able to see the model with wing and tail in place and matched with a engine to get the look and feel of the Aldershot. I will get the engines finished off this week so I can see about their mountings so I can get a shot with them in place 

Got the other Transall Sponson sides cut to length and joined so I now have the start of my sponsons. I still need to work out the wheel locations, to establish the actual undercarriage bay and then I can build up the rest of the pylon around it, so still some work to go before I get the model basics complete  . However its still progress and now starting to look the part and will do once those sponsons are done.

So fighting the same old curse of getting ideas and build inspiration, the trouble is if I get distracted the HS-681 will become a shelf queen so must focus energies to get that assembled at least before playing with something else.

[Thorvic]

Well managed to get another engine fitted with the deflected thrust fairings last night, but needs to be blended in now the fillers dried. Was hoping to get the last set of fairing shaped so I could get all the engines sorted this week but got distracted 

I took the plunge and installed Windows 10 onto my Windows 7 PC as discovered you can revert back within 30 days if you don't like it. I was going to wait and see but my fathers Laptop came with Windows 8.1 and we both don't like it, so he's was hoping that Windows 10 would make it easier for him to use, so I needed to try it out and get familiar with it to see if he can cope with it. Looking OK from what I can see of it so far but it did suck up the rest of the evening, the good news is that the old stuff on PC is still available, I can still use Firefox, and now its a case of getting used to the rest of it.

Also had a snoot at the new Sword Jet Provost & Strikemaster kits I got from Hannants, they appear to be the same with 3 different instrument panels, so should be OK builds.

[Captain Canada]

Good stuff Geoff. We were just having a debate the other day with our IT guy about 8.1 vs 10. He made it sound like personal preference as either can do pretty much the same.

Sounds like lots of progress on the build. Looking forward to some pics.

[Hobbes]

For Windows 8 and up, Classic Shell is a must-have. http://www.classicshell.net/