Hawker Siddeley P.1121

[Gondor]

A bit more progress and to show that I have made some I am including a couple of pictures





That's the second lot of filler I have applied. The majority of the filler on the underside is simply to hide the seam line as there was next to no step between the parts, just a slight gap left to right. Far more problems on the upper surfaces though. the part of the fin that was moulded with the fuselage half's is a little thin compared to the actual fin half's and the upper surface of the nose is slightly lower to one side while behind the cockpit the fuselage is higher on the same side 
I am definitely going to not look with absolute horror at another vac-form though I will be cautious and take a lot more planning and tons of dry fitting, testing and fettling.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Due to the very tight time table to finish this build I am not going to add the under wing fuel tanks.

Shortish range Nuclear strike would have been practical for an aircraft operating from Germany so no point in making work for myself. The operating squadron is well known to everyone on the forum.

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Really coming together now ! I agree with the sentiment regarding the tanks.

[Gondor]

This does look like the last of the previous pictures but I assure you that it is not. Progress is a little slower than I would like but that is due to having to perform several sessions of PSR so having to redo what I had hoped would be done in one go cuts into the time I want to take over this build.



The wings are built so they could be added right now, however I want to get the air intake fitted and faired in prior to fitting the wings as I know I will have to PSR the h£11 out of the wing roots so its a case or trying to make sure that each step is as easy to work on as possible.

Gondor

[Gondor]

The main air intake is in place now and work has started on the "load" which is to be carried semi-submerged below the fuselage. I found an easy way to achieve this. To start of I used a cross sectional drawing, that's a slice through the fuselage for those who didn't know, made measurements for the diameter of the "load" and drew that onto a piece of thin card drawing a line through its centre to help with the next part. The second part of the method was to draw a centre line through the cross section then to use a straight edge to draw a line across the "load" from point to point on each side where the "load" met the fuselage. I then measured the distance from the bottom of the "load" to where the horizontal line of the "load" to fuselage crossed the vertical line. This measurement and line were then transferred to the drawing on the card as the small piece of card is far easier to handle than a sheet of paper larger than A2 size is.

After careful selecting of a suitable point to start I have started to sand a flat surface along the long axis of the "load" which I am checking with a vernier scaled from the small drawing to ensure that I do not produce too large a flat surface on the side of the "load". Once the correct depth has been reached I will use either a semicircular or circular file to dish the inside of the flat surface of the "load" to match the underside of the aircraft. One or two small diameter holes will be drilled into both the "load" and the aircraft for locating pins to help secure the "load" in position and they will also provide a useful handle while painting the "load".

I have also decided to buy the Humbrol Acrylic versions of the paint for this aircraft in an attempt to reduce the amount of time required to finish this build.

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Interesting. I think I know what you're talking about 

[Gondor]

The "load" has reached its final shape and the area on the underside of the aircraft found and checked for compatibility. A slight modification was made but it looks good enough for me so I will make a pair of locating pin holes in the "load" and them make appropriate holes in the underside of the aircraft to accept the pins.

Lots of PSR work on the intake. The left side of the intake is not a nice joint, in fact it is decidedly off hence the amount of PSR I am having to do, partly reducing the thickness of the resin intake and partly to build up the fuselage to reduce any visible bulge or similar non conformance to a smooth appearance. I should have the wings attached tomorrow, even if it is late at night when that happens.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Photo update for today



The main item in the picture is the P.1121 itself. The drawing on the underside of the fuselage is where the "load" will go so I intend to leave most of that area free of paint to help bond the airframe and "load" together when the "load" is fitted permanently in place.

Bottom of the picture is the "load" waiting for me to paint it which will be done later tonight.

On the right side of the picture is the drawing I made and used as a guide for shaping the "load".

Gondor

[Gondor]

The "load" has now been given it's first coat of paint.



Looks like the weapon will be ready before it's delivery system 

Gondor

[Gondor]

Found out today that what I  thought was a lump on the side of the main  air intake was actually a slight hollow which with my attempts to reduce the size of the imagined lump were actually making hollow greater because I was feeling the rise coming  out of the hollow.

The wings are now in place although  I am not happy with how things have gone despite  my attempts to test fit time and time again almost nothing matched up and I ended up discarding the plastic spar in favour of my own rods.



You can see the discarded parts of the spar in front of the model.



This is a near vertical view of the model, as can be seen there are gaps the size of the Valles Marineris!! 

Not giving up on the build yet and it's nothing that can't be filled though I am wondering if I have enough A4 sheets of plastic card to do the job 

Hoping to have the Ejector seat in later and the canopy on as well, but maybe not as I may just try to fill the gaps in the wing/fuselage joins. At least they are better now than they were with the kit's spar in place "shudder"

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Keep going you're almost there ! Besides, this aeroplane is too cool/ rare to give up on  Thanks for the visuals on the load, that's a good way to get it sorted !

[Gondor]

Keep going you're almost there ! Besides, this aeroplane is too cool/ rare to give up on  Thanks for the visuals on the load, that's a good way to get it sorted !

Not a problem. This build is testing and I am glad it has some resin parts to help keep it solid and to be a base for me to hang everything from. Maybe I should change the topic's name to "Making a Silk Purse from a Sow's ear" 

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

P38 car body filler is your friend!

[Gondor]

Managed to buy the Acrylic paint for this build. Hope that it will cut down the time for getting it finished. I have also used part of the redundant plastic spar from the kit to help fill part of the gap between the wing root and the wing. The rest has been filled with my normal filler and will be sanded to shape tomorrow.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Some progress but its a case of one step forward and probably two steps back though. The ejector seat is now installed, step forward. The canopy needs work to get it to fit, step backwards. Decided to look at adjusting the cockpit/fuselage area to get the canopy to fit. Partly successful but the right hand side of the cockpit is a little low near the combing so I am bulking that up with filler which is working but is taking time as it needs to dry solid prior to doing any work on it. Just as well there is lots of other work to keep me busy on this build. Almost feel like giving up though.





The above pictures show the work that is being carried out on the cockpit side. I may have to build up the fuselage in front of the canopy to flair it into the fuselage which will obviously put the work back a little bit further yet. At least the colour scheme should be reasonably easy and stress free 

Gondor