Hawker Siddeley P.1121

Gondor · August 09, 2015, 07:01:40 AM

While the paint is drying on the undercarriage bays and legs I thought I would get on with the wire pivots for the tailplanes

After a bit of work the current result looks quite reasonable

Yes one side is longer than the other, but that's because I have yet to trim it's length to match the shorter side. It is still going to need a fair amount of adjustment to get it to fit 100% as I want it to but that can wait until I am about to glue the two fuselage half's together

The last picture looks a little like something a dentist wants to give teenagers to straighten their teeth

However, its progress and something else done towards the finishing of this build.

Gondor

Captain Canada · August 09, 2015, 12:51:54 PM

Looks rather finicky but I'd say you're going in the right direction to get it right !

Gondor · August 09, 2015, 02:54:12 PM

When I start glueing items into one of the fuselage halfs I will also glue one side of the wire into place then adjust to fit as I test fit the fuselage halfs together and add tabs etc. It's getting there which is the plan.

Gondor

DogfighterZen · August 09, 2015, 03:06:30 PM

That seems like a very good idea, nice work!

NARSES2 · August 10, 2015, 05:57:32 AM

I use softish wire when I'm making a "spar" for attaching resin wings to give them something to hang on rather then just superglue. Being softish it means I can wiggle it a bit if my measuring/drilling of the corresponding holes is not quite up to scratch. Using plastic/metal rod/tubing and then having a larger diameter female hole is also another way around my inherent inaccuracy

Gondor · August 11, 2015, 03:33:31 AM

Well I have finally decided to bite the bullet. The first part has been glued into a fuselage half. I am going to work very carefully with this part as I imagine it is very easy to make a mess of this part.

Gondor

Gondor · August 11, 2015, 01:06:56 PM

I can see how this is going to go....

Earlier today I glued the nose-wheel undercarriage bay into position then positioned the other fuselage half to it. Guess what, they didn't fit!

So I manage to remove the resin part which had fortunately not stuck as firmly as I feared it might, and started to file down the area either side of the bay thinking that the reason the intake spine would not close together was because the resin was too thick for the space between the fuselage halfs. Several minutes sanding later I decide to get out my mini drill and a milling bit and start attacking in a controlled manner the resin. I tried holding the parts together, using a dental probe to try and keep the nose-wheel bay in place at the correct angle. I then realised that the reason nothing was fitting was that the sort of circular former that is glued behind the nose-wheel bay was forcing everything to tilt as it was too large! Out with the milling bit on the drill and a short time later everything fits

I can see that this is going to be a really really fun build

Gondor

PR19_Kit · August 11, 2015, 02:36:32 PM

And Whirlybirds had the nerve to INCREASE the price of the Maintrack original?

I think a rude phone call would be in order, or a face-to-face at Telford if you can get there this year?

Gondor · August 11, 2015, 03:05:17 PM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on August 11, 2015, 02:36:32 PM
And Whirlybirds had the nerve to INCREASE the price of the Maintrack original?

I think a rude phone call would be in order, or a face-to-face at Telford if you can get there this year?

Can't get to Telford Kit as my employment situation is sill the same as it has been for the last seven or so months although I am managing to get interviews on a fairly regular basis.

Part of the problem, someone said, was that the Maintrack kit was not the best to start with. At least it fits where it touches

I am taking care over what I am doing even though I could probably do with fitting parts together with PVA to make sure they fit prior to using super-glue. Progress shots some time tomorrow with the major parts installed by the start of next week.

Gondor

trickyrich · August 11, 2015, 05:24:33 PM

I am enjoying this build, you are are a much braver man than I to tackle Vacform, have build a few...not an enjoyable experience! Give me warped resin any day!

There is some lovely work there and I do love the look of it as well...now if somebody did it in resin?

Keep up the fantastic work....looking forward to seeing the finished beasty.

Gondor · August 12, 2015, 03:38:28 AM

Quote from: trickyrich on August 11, 2015, 05:24:33 PM
I am enjoying this build, you are are a much braver man than I to tackle Vacform, have build a few...not an enjoyable experience! Give me warped resin any day!

There is some lovely work there and I do love the look of it as well...now if somebody did it in resin?

Keep up the fantastic work....looking forward to seeing the finished beasty.

Actually someone does this in resin although the price is a bit steep https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SMK7206

As for being brave, I'm scared about building this kit. My only previous experience was a vac-form conversion set which I followed all the reviews and guidance I had on building vac-form kits and one half was sanded way past the point of decent recovery. I usually stay way clear of the stuff but I thought I would give this one a go as I have the time at the moment to take care over the build.

Gondor

Gondor · August 12, 2015, 10:48:02 AM

So late yesterday evening I decided to glue the main undercarriage to the fuselage half I am fitting everything into

However when I test fitted the other fuselage half against the glued in parts I found that I had glued the undercarriage bay too far into the fuselage so it had to be removed

Super-glue and the parts having been left overnight and I thought I was not going to remove this without a major struggle which actually was not as bad at first though as I managed to get the parts separated with only moderate hassle and no damage to the plastic :releif:

So I checked and rechecked, fettled the hole for the undercarriage bay and applied glue again. This time I used a different method for holding the parts in place so that they were not forced to move by the very means employed to keep them in place.

Once the glue was dry I decided to fit the fuselages half's together to see how the model looked. Apart from a little work to the nose undercarriage bay to help keep both half's aligned length ways it looked rather good so I decided to dry fit a few more parts together with the help of some Tamiya tape and to take some beauty shots of the work so far.

Don't worry about the variable incidence wing, that's due to the wings being held in place by one slightly flimsy spar. I am thinking of making some pegs and holes to help align and strengthen the wing to reduce droop. Just to let people realise the size of the model I placed my F-4E(M)

Once everything was put away from the photo shoot I stuck another couple of parts into the fuselage. They are just formers but will help keep the fuselage roughly right. Both vertical parts, although one leans forward as an angle, are glued to the main undercarriage bay thus providing quite a bit of strength for the fuselage and they needed reducing in places to make sure they fitted correctly.

Later today I plan to either fit the cockpit or to start work modifying the engine exhaust and rear of the fuselage. The reason being that I am not happy with the way the rear fuselage looks so I will want to work on it once the fuselage parts are together. However, the exhaust is fitted to a former that fits inside the rear fuselage meaning that it can't get fitted once the fuselage it together and the exhaust had to be almost up to but not flush with the rear of the fuselage.

That's more work for me to come up with a resolution to the problem but, I have a cunning plan.......

Gondor

Thorvic · August 12, 2015, 01:27:39 PM

Getting there, but i would advise a few more tabs alond the seams and look to strengthen the spine to give plenty of strength for when you join the fuselage or you end up in the never ending battle with seams popping

Gondor · August 12, 2015, 01:33:57 PM

Quote from: Thorvic on August 12, 2015, 01:27:39 PM
Getting there, but i would advise a few more tabs alond the seams and look to strengthen the spine to give plenty of strength for when you join the fuselage or you end up in the never ending battle with seams popping

Just getting the major part in at the moment to see what's left that will need tabs etc. The tabs will be mainly on the side with the resin in it though a few will be on the other side too.

Gondor

Gondor · August 14, 2015, 01:44:04 PM

The last resin parts to go inside the fuselage were installed today. Now I am placing tabs in various strategic places and am about to add nose weight to make sure it sits on its own three wheels. Still worried about the nose leg which separated into two parts again today while I was filing down the locating pin to fin inside the largest hole I dared make for the nose undercarriage leg. The hole was tiny in comparison to the size of what was supposed to go inside.
I have had to trim back part of the fairing behind the cockpit so that the fuselage half's will fit together, the plastic would have overlapped otherwise. I am starting to get the hang of this kit, I think. I am not as scared of it as I was when I started but I don't want to end up just throwing it together now. I was quite careful to start with over thinning edges and the like for the wings as well as making sure that the parts were cut and sanded back to the edge as they were moulded from the sheet.

Might be brave over the weekend and glue the whole thing together, well the fuselage at least

Gondor