Villiers Vindicator B1A (or B2 maybe..)

[PR19_Kit]

That looks awesome!
Wish I had thought of that

I wish I had too. 

But it was KiwiZac who really put the idea up. 

[KiwiZac]

It makes me so proud to see this! Top work, Kit!

[PR19_Kit]

It makes me so proud to see this! Top work, Kit!

A LONG way to go yet Zac, but it's showing promise. 

[PR19_Kit]

The crucial step, joining the nose to the fuselage.

Note the hi-tech assembly jig, one slab of 60 thou styrene, two slabs of Blu-Tack and a length of Duct Tape...... 

I've decided not to use the Victor bits that I've already assembled as they're optimised toward an RW model, and the over-size intakes of the M'Box model will work much better on a Whiffed model.

In any case the Vindicators used the largest version of the RR Conway, the RCo 50, rated at some 22000 lbs thrust and needed the larger intakes......... 

[The Wooksta!]

P38 car body filler rather than milliput would be a better use.

[McColm]

A thought just occurred to me, if you have the Mach2 Sud  SE210 Caravelle in your stash the wings from the Valiant could be used to build something similar to the Vickers-Armstrong Type 1000 (VC7).

[zenrat]

...Note the hi-tech assembly jig, one slab of 60 thou styrene, two slabs of Blu-Tack and a length of Duct Tape......  ...

As used by Airbus...

[PR19_Kit]

I took the Vindi out of the jig this morning, after leaving it from around 9 pm last night, and I was amazed how strong the joint was! 

I'll try that technique on aircraft models again I think, but today I'll start skinning it and see how things progress.

I've started assembly of the ex-Victor wings and tailplane, and I was surprised quite how many parts are involved. I reckon M'box must have been caught up in the 'the more parts the better' craze back then, and I'm sure some of them aren't really needed.

[JayBee]

P38 car body filler rather than milliput would be a better use.

Agreed one million percent! 

I learned that tip from Lee and he was so correct.

Jim

[PR19_Kit]

I didn't say I was going to use either of them yet................ 

But P38 has a fundamental problem in that the smell reaches parts that other smells don't, and that upsets Mrs_PR19.

[Rheged]

But P38 has a fundamental problem in that the smell reaches parts that other smells don't, and that upsets Mrs_PR19.

Upsetting the domestic management  is a sure fire way of initiating a small slice of Armageddon.   Being a Whiffmeister of intelligence and discernment, Kit will be  mindful of the potential for disaster if P38 is unleashed.

[PR19_Kit]

And now it gets REALLY crazy....... 

I thought I'd try something new to fill in the gap between the nose and the fuselage of the Vindi, and used what might become known as the 'Spackman Spiral' to do it. I cut a number of lengths of 20 thou styrene into 4 mm wide strips and then wound them round the skeleton spacers, glueing as I went and holding it all in place with Duct tape while it dried. A few bits came loose but more glue and Duct Tape sorted that out, and it looks like this currently. Weird but it just may work.



I'll put another layer on later today, perhaps with a shaper plate on the top to get the taper correct, and then it'll be the MOAPSR sessions I suspect!

[That's 'Mother Of All PSR' sessions....]

[RAFF-35]

Wow, that technique has always fascinated me, I can just tell what a miserable failure it'd be if I ever attempt it  this build is looking very good, should be fantastic when it's done, good luck 

[PR19_Kit]

It certainly can get pretty messy if you over-do the glue, which I did at the first attempt. 

But the trick is attaching the root end of the strip firmly to start with. I attached it to one of the spacer strips with Duct Tape and then started the glueing at the next spacer along until I'd got to the end of the strip, then went back and glued the starting point, and that did the job.

You end up with having to make two short tapered bits to fill the gaps at the start and end, but that's not too bad if you measure accurately.

[RAFF-35]

Certainly sounds fiddly