Miles Aerovan

[b29r]

Wow, Kit!  Sorry to see that, what a shame.  Hope there is some recovery potential    Not familiar with the type, at first blush I thought I was seeing a condensed Arado 232    Good luck, and
Best regards, Kem

[AS.12]

Oh boy 

Could you recover the tailboom and combine it with a 1:76 pillbox...?

https://mediaprocessor.websimages.com/width/930/crop/0,0,930x557/www.ww2ni.com/ards%20airfield%20small.jpg

It used to have a windsock flying from it.

[PR19_Kit]

I've managed to separate the various bits OK, but the tailplane looks terrible, it'll be a major file/sand/PSR job on there I reckon. The fuselage half is well warped where the boom attaches, and I may have to scratchbuild a new half to the boom. The two sprues look OK, just a few small parts melted out of all recognition.

The glue is headed direct for the waste bin................

[Nick]

Oh boy 

Could you recover the tailboom and combine it with a 1:76 pillbox...?

https://mediaprocessor.websimages.com/width/930/crop/0,0,930x557/www.ww2ni.com/ards%20airfield%20small.jpg

It used to have a windsock flying from it.

A couple of shots from back in the days when a windsock did fly there....
Scroll through for more modern views.

https://billhaggan.smugmug.com/Airfields/Ards-Airfield-Newtownards-1/i-j7R5VwF
https://billhaggan.smugmug.com/Airfields/Ards-Airfield-Newtownards-1/i-d7GDnfX

[Weaver]

Ouch! Makes me remember the time I spilled a bottle of glue over a pair of newly-built Skyvan wings...

Hope you can recover it Kit.

[AS.12]

A couple of shots from back in the days when a windsock did fly there....

Those brought back memories of Ards, thanks!

I was down in that part of the World recently and saw that the Miles factory buildings to the north of the airfield have now been demolished for yet more housing.  What a pity.

[ericr]

I'm likely to do it myself with another Aerovan kit.

With 2 Aerovan kits, you could build a twin-boom Aerovan, lovely I am sure!

I was SURE you would say that Tophe. 

[ericr]

This disaster may be an opportunity to invent Something incredible! Remember that you are a what-if modeller!

[JayBee]

OUCH!
That must hurt somewhat.
Even if you can get the bits apart OK there will surely be a significant loss of surface detail. Not to mention any possiblr distortion of some parts. Although, having read a number of reviews of this kit, that might be a blessing. 
Out of interest what particular bottle of liquid glue was involved in this incident?

[PR19_Kit]

OUCH!
That must hurt somewhat.
Even if you can get the bits apart OK there will surely be a significant loss of surface detail. Not to mention any possiblr distortion of some parts. Although, having read a number of reviews of this kit, that might be a blessing. 
Out of interest what particular bottle of liquid glue was involved in this incident?

I don't think 'surface detail' comes into it Jim, the real thing was made from bonded plywood so effectively there isn't any detail to be lost, thank goodness.

It was Humbrol Liquid Poly, smells awful and dries faster than I can assemble the bits.

[PR19_Kit]

I've started 'recovery' of the Aerovan, as well as I can anyway. The tailplane is a disaster, and I've filed a lot of the melted plastic away, but some of the trailing edge has vanished entirely and will need some styrene replacement. Then a large PSR session no doubt, and some re-scribing.

The starboard fuselage half is WELL warped but may come back in line when it's glued to its opposite number. One of the revues suggests that the two halves can be glued together and the interior slid in afterwards, so I'm trying that. One big issue is that the forward bulkhead, the thing that maintains the shape of it, is about 2-3 mm too narrow! 

Don't these guys ever test build their kits? 

[PR19_Kit]

Two and a bit years after any progress on the Aerovan, I decided to carry on with it while self-isolating.

I'm wondering why I did now............ 

I've mentioned that the various complex cabin bits don't seem to fit before, but now I KNOW they don't!



Here's the forward bulkhead glued in place, or some of it anyway. See the vast gap (arrowed) down one side. And of course with a goldfish bowl for a canopy it'll be all too visible, so some remedial action will be called for.

The aft bulkhead is almost as bad too!



And just to fit the aft bulkhead I had to cut about 2mm off the length of the floor, or the bulkhead would have been suspended in mid-air!

As I said earlier in the thread, don't these guys ever test build their own  kits? 

[63cpe]

I got one in the stash. Thanks for the pictures. The fit is abysmal Thanks for the fair warning.

David aka 63cpe

[PR19_Kit]

I've assembled much of the fuselage of the Aerovan, as well as it can be assembled anyway, but I haven't found any parts that actually match the parts they're meant to be glued to so far..........

The funny looking box thing I mentioned in the very first post in the thread has nothing to support it inside the top of the fuselage, as the instructions would have you believe, so it would be suspended in mid-air while you glue the wing in place. I'm not actually sure what it does, but I glued it under the wing centre section anyway, and I'll lever the whole shebang into place once the glue has dried in the morning



Slightly more worrying is that the tailboom has a considerable tail up angle to it, and the real aeroplane certainly didn't, so I'll have to saw the boom off and re-glue it at some stage. As it's so thin it'll need some re-enforcement for sure.

It'll also need a lot of noseweight, some hidden under the cockpit floor I reckon.

NOT the most straightforward model I've attempted....

[chrisonord]

I was going to get one of these  too, I  am glad I didn't.  I  hope the Armstrong whitworth  aircraft they are  releasing is going to be  a buildable.
Sterling work on it as per Kit.