Super Stretch DC8

[NARSES2]

I was in the £ Store this morning Kit so I picked one up just in case. Can always be added to my pile.

[PR19_Kit]

Good man, thanks. 

Zero luck here so far, but I've yet to try Gloucester itself.

[b29r]

Lovely paint and decal work, Kit!  Looking forward to the grande finale 

Best regards,
Kem

[PR19_Kit]

I'm getting there Kem, just all those STUPIDLY small wheels are driving me nuts.

It's the 'single bristle brush' syndrome again. 

[PR19_Kit]

I just found something I'd forgotten before. 

The inboard CFM-56 engines have long, 15 mm, thin extensions leading back from their pylons right up to the flap hinge lines, but they are so fragile they both snapped off early in the build. I had one of them but the other went into orbit, and now I've had to replace them.

Filing a half round shape onto a piece of styrene that's only 1mm square is not one of my strong points, but as it now is good enough for Government work........

Meanwhile the wheel painting goes on, and on, and on, and on...........

[PR19_Kit]

I'm all for scale fidelity, but in some cases the manufacturers can go to far, especially in 1/144 scale!

My particular gripe at this time is landing gear axle sizes, they really should be thick enough to support the weight of the model, including the nose weight, which is quite hefty in some cases. Almost every Canberra suffers because it needs LOTS of nose weight and the wheels are cantilevered off some quite flimsy axles, ditto the 1/72 TSR2  and that damned 1/72 Revell A-400M that I built last year.

And now this DC8, the axles of which are around 1mm in dia. and once you've applied the glue to hold the wheels on the action of the glue softens the axles and they go all floppy! They really should be glued with superglue, but even then they'd be pretty small.

Right now the main and nose gears of the Super Stretch are drying while supported by BluTak jigs to ensure the wheels are actually perpendicular to the ground! This will be my second attempt at this assembly. 

[Tophe]

to ensure the wheels are actually perpendicular to the ground!

No need! Wheels on a whif plane may be oblique to the ground, this is more dreamy!

[TheChronicOne]

 

[PR19_Kit]

No need! Wheels on a whif plane may be oblique to the ground, this is more dreamy!

Yeah, right, but I have my limits.............

[Rheged]

I use oodles of clothes pegs to hold stuff that's being painted.

I got some really small ones from a trendy ideas shop type place for small bits and bobs.

The Paperchase chain (they've a shop in Worcester Madame R dragged me into last week) has packs of 30 tiny clothes pegs for £2.  Madame R hangs up ribbons over the living room door at Christmas and cards are clothes pegged to them..........but guess where some of the pegs will end up by mid January!

[PR19_Kit]

  Madame R hangs up ribbons over the living room door at Christmas and cards are clothes pegged to them..........but guess where some of the pegs will end up by mid January!

Well of course, they'd be much better performing a useful function rather than cluttering up the 'Useful Things' box for almost a whole year. 

The 2nd cementing of the landing gear didn't work either, so the wheels are still wobbling. 

Fed up with this never ending task I dripped superglue over the assembled joints from above, and that should be that.

I'll be able to keep a close eye on progress as one of the main gear legs is now superglued to my trouser leg.......... 

[PR19_Kit]

The landing gear is on the Super Stretch at last, but inly the basic bits. There's some struts and doors and the landing lights to go on the nose wheel too, but they'll wait till the glue has dried.



The more observant of you will notice that one of the wheels is missing, yes, the blasted thing just snapped off while I was gluing the leg in place! 

It'll be superglued on later on but I think the Calder 8 will be treated to some SAC while metal legs and they're bound to be stronger.

[Tophe]

No need! Wheels on a whif plane may be oblique to the ground, this is more dreamy!

Yeah, right, but I have my limits.............

I thought of an asymmetric craziness:

But I love your 4+3 asymmetry too!

[Hobbes]

I was going to paint the engines this evening, but...............

Looking through the RW pics of the -70s Series aircraft reminded me that the CFM-56 engines have these socking great strakes, two per engine, which are not supplied with the kit. Or indeed on any CFM-56 engine kits AFAIK.

The strakes are included with the Revell Airbus 321. Smaller than the ones you found though.

[PR19_Kit]

I was going to paint the engines this evening, but...............

Looking through the RW pics of the -70s Series aircraft reminded me that the CFM-56 engines have these socking great strakes, two per engine, which are not supplied with the kit. Or indeed on any CFM-56 engine kits AFAIK.

The strakes are included with the Revell Airbus 321. Smaller than the ones you found though.

I suspect the size of the strakes has something to do with the rest of the airframe, and how well they produce the required vortices. The ones on that DC8-73 in the pic I posted are pretty huge, and agree with most other pics of them on DC8s that I could find.

Interestingly the CFM-56 fitted Boeing 707s seem to have much smaller and tri-angular strakes on their engines and the USAF's KC-135Rs don't have strakes at all!