In at the deep end- My first Vac-Form

[Spellbinder99]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm also deeply impressed by the stash behind

That is most (but not all ) of my Hasegawa 1/72 Macross kit stash.

The other real benefit of the added bracing is tha it gives the model the "heft" of an injection molded kit. The real giveaway to me of a vacform has allways been its relatively light weight when picked up and their perceived fragility.

Cheers

Tony

[Ollie]

Looks like I found the place where to get a VF-1 Valkyrie!

     

[Spellbinder99]

Ollie, I have about 65 of the kits, most of them from HLJ but a few from E-bay. I actually intend to build a few in real world squadron markings.....

For those following along, most of todays work has been inside the front fuselage adding supports for the cockpits and tweaking them to make them fit properly. Thinking hard about adding side wall detail as well.



Visual progress has not been great therefore, but they are starting to fit nice and snug. Good detail supplied on the white metal side consoles but I feel the walls above them need some interest.....



Cheers

Tony

[Spellbinder99]

A small update. I have finished adding internal strengthening to the front fuselage halves, they now just click together like an injection molded kit and the cockpits sit nicely in place for trial fitting and detailing.



The other side.



This closer picture shows my first attempts at adding scratchbuilt side wall detail to the cockpits. This is the only area a little bare in the DV kit.



Though the white metal seats are nice and would probably detail up nicely, I have ordered a couple of pairs of the Airwaves resin ones as they look very good on the finer details.

I have also cut out the main wing halves, but I cannot join them untill I join the front and rear fusleage if I follow the Dynavector instructions and I intend to.

Cheers

Tony

[gooberliberation]

Like I said, I tend to overengineer....



And that isn't finished yet! The only parts in the picture supplied in the kit are the outside shell and the nosewheel well.

Cheers

Tony

Hey, you can NEVER have a beefy enough model.... that is, unless your landing gear breaks off from all the weight.

But then again, I tend to use massive amounts of nuts, bolts, and elmers glue for noseweight, no matter now minor the need, so i shouldnt talk.

And DAMN youve got more macross kits than ive ever seen in one place!

[cthulhu77]

Coming along nicely...that is going to be great !  Aside, thanks for the pic, my wife no longer thinks that my kit stash is too big.

         greg

[nev]

I love watching modellers who do this kind of plasticard engineering

[Spellbinder99]

And DAMN youve got more macross kits than ive ever seen in one place!

What can I say, I like Hasegawa Macross kits!

There is probably another 10 you can't see in that picture....

Cheers

Tony

[Ollie]

Awesome stuff Spellbinder.

I do want a Macross kit meself!

   

[Geoff_B]

Whoops Tony

Forgot to mention this  


TSR-2 Avionics bay

G

[Spellbinder99]

Thanks Thorvic. I did seriously think about scratchbuilding a toy cupboard for this model, but decided to build it closed up apart from the cockpits. I have ordered another two Dynavector TSR.2s from HLJ so I may pick up that as well.
The undercarriage doors sound interesting as well.

Even if someone does an injection molded 1/48 TSR.2, the Dynavector kit will still not be a second best. Quality all through.

Cheers

Tony

[K5054NZ]

Thought I'd posted here but apparently not.

 

For a first vacform you certainly picked one hell of a subject. A 1/48 TSR.2 would be fairly big I imagine...you're either very brave or very foolish.

I'm picking it's the former.

Looking forward to seeing more progress pics Tony. Now after seeing that I'm slightly sceptical that my Polikarpov I-153 would be tricky as a first subject...hell, someone get me a credit card and a computer with Hannants' webpage up!

[Allan]

Great going, Tony.

I'm cheering from the sidelines here in OZ.

Never had much courage to pick up a vac form

.........no, I'm wrong because once many years ago I did try to make a Bachem Natter and failed.

Turfed the whole thing out.

so you're enjoying the success I never had.

Great stuff!!!!!

Allan in Canberra

[John Howling Mouse]

This is a great tutorial, Tony: thanks!

Am keeping all the text and pics for my own Dynavector TSR.2 build someday.

 

[Spellbinder99]

Thanks for the comments guys. I have been reading about making vac-form kits for years and had many of the same concerns, but as I really wanted a larger scale TSR-2 this was the sole viable choice.

Scoring the parts for removal normally has you leaving a 1/16 inch waste strip (2mm) for sanding off during cleanup, but I read about a technique where you mark the part edge with a pencil or permanent marker then cut at a 45 degree angle directly into the interface between the part and the backing sheet.

This then leaves a minium amount of waste plastic to sand off, or in the case of this model to scrape off with a knife blade untill the only the part remains. It requires constant checking that you have a straight mating surface resulting AND I cannot stress enough that if making a component that has two matching halves you must do them both at the same time so that you remove equal amounts from both.

The DV instructions give you very specific instructions on how to reinforce the components before joining, I merely added to that to ensure no post build movement of items like wheel wells and cockpits would occur. Where they have you adding small angled braces, I went for complete fuselage spanning cross braces and smaller blocks allowing no movement. The flat front fuselage sides are a prominent part of the TSR.2 look, so I was particularly carefull to ensure they were flat braced so that handling the model would not flex or cave them in.

You don't have to spend heaps on Evergreen plastic like I have as sturdy sprue offcuts from kits like the Airfix 1/72 Concorde will work as well.

Looking at the kit, it is important to finish the front and rear fuselage sections and join them before attempting any final fitting or trimming of the wing halves, especially if you want to be gap free in the wing "armpit" area. I am actually planning to trim and fettle both upper and lower wings and glue the lower wing to the fusleage saddle before adding its internal bracing so that the lower surface can fully conform to the fuselage cutout.

A test fit of the undercarriage components shows that they have intelligent design that means that they will glue securely into the vacform wheel wells with epoxy and support the aircraft weight. This again was the reason the wheel wells have much support unseen from the outside as when first cut out they are pretty flimsy vac-form moldings.

Cheers

Tony