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1/18 Fairey Firefly VX376


airscale

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You make it look so easy Peter.

It's very difficult to line up the bulkheads and to insert the brass rods, but you did it perfectly.

 

The thing for me about your projects, is that it motivates me to take my modelling to a higher level.

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

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evening folks :)

 

 

Peter, You make it look so easy -- I might give this "scratch" building a try.

 

Nah...who am I kidding..

 

 

You must try it Shaka - it is pretty straightforward but you need to 'break the ice' and give it a go to find that out.. it opens up a new world where you are only bound by imagination & problem solving rather than kit manufacturer, price and never ending wishlists !

 

 

Great progress already, Peter!

Just a word of warning from something I experienced with my Shackleton project... when you sand the P38 the friction heats the surface up enough to cause the plastic below to expand. When cooled, it then retracts but leaves 'ghost' outlines of the plastic strips which become visible after a day or two.

You then have to refill and the process starts all over again... The solution is to use gallons of cold water whilst you're sanding, and this then keeps the heat from any friction to an absolute minimum.

The smaller blemishes can easily be filled with Halfords' filler primer too - this has worked wonders for me in the past.

Looking forward to more.

Tom

 

 

That is a great tip Tom, and if I was painting the surface I would definately do that - as it is the structure is just a base for the metal skinning so it just needs to be pretty smooth rather than flawless :)

 

 

Peter, do you intend to lay thin sheet plastic over the rest of the fuselage, and then the litho on top of that, or is the litho going directly onto the plastic bulkhead/former/P38 amalgam?

 

-d-

 

 

Hi David - all will be revealed in about 20 seconds..... :)

 

 

You make it look so easy Peter.
It's very difficult to line up the bulkheads and to insert the brass rods, but you did it perfectly.

The thing for me about your projects, is that it motivates me to take my modelling to a higher level.

Sincerely

Pascal

 

 

Thanks Pascal - it is your kind of post about being inspired that makes the whole process of presenting how to do it so rewarding for me - thank you :)

 

so, a few steps forward in recent days...

 

starting the skinning process - first a rough panel in plastic card..made by taking one straight edge and matching it to the airframe, then marking & cutting to get the rough shape involved

 

WIP50_zpsrkgqz01k.jpg

 

as they are generally curved and fortunately only curving in one direction I can get away with just heat shaping the panel over a boiling kettle - I tape it so it is in the loose shape I want, hold it over the kettle's steam and then pop in the freezer for a minute or two..

 

WIP51_zpsijw8hkst.jpg

 

..this forces the plastic molecules to move & reset to a new shape...

 

WIP52_zpsghs39vpc.jpg

 

.. I then put liquid cement over all the stringers on the fuselage and spot CA'd the panels into position - it wasn't too neat so a bit of P38 filler evens out the form.....

 

WIP54_zpsyujonukk.jpg

 

WIP55_zpsxtn7xbhv.jpg

 

WIP53_zpswyv1wqqz.jpg

 

..the engine cowling is proving tricky - the 'double bubble' of the big air scoop under the cowling just could not be done in one go, so I decided to shape the top part, which is very Spitfire like, so that it curves down and inwards at the lower parts where it intersects with the air scoop..

 

..also the bit of fuselage directly under the spinner needs making & skinning so it would be easier to do this if there were no air scoop yet..

 

WIP61_zpsn9wsvjxg.jpg

 

..then I will probably add a plunge moulded part for the lower element...

 

..also the 'ear' air intakes on the top of the cowl were not as per the plan or formers I made, so quite a bit of shaping & reshaping has gone on up to now & I am still not quite happy with it..

 

WIP56_zpsgboemdgu.jpg

 

..then shot some high build primer to unify the surface and see whats what..

 

WIP57_zps4fpeblrv.jpg

 

WIP58_zps2hgmpicy.jpg

 

WIP60_zpsts8il6rc.jpg

 

WIP59_zpsa05yncak.jpg

 

coming together...

 

while I am here, and I hope this is allowed - if anyone has the Firefly from the Cockpit book seen here that doesn't want silly money for it, please PM me - an old ebay listing has it for £10, today its £70 + £30 postage!

 

TTFN

Peter

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OUTRAGEOUS that you're already at this stage Peter.... looks awesome

 

 

 

while I am here, and I hope this is allowed - if anyone has the Firefly from the Cockpit book seen here that doesn't want silly money for it, please PM me - an old ebay listing has it for £10, today its £70 + £30 postage!

 

TTFN

Peter

 

 

you might be in luck, I'm pretty sure I've got a copy you can have, will confirm tomorrow

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You might want to check out abebooks for the Firefly from the Cockpit, I often find used books at a good price there.

 

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22524989231&searchurl=tn%3DFirefly%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2BCockpit%26sortby%3D17

 

Amazing and impressive work you are doing with your models Peter, You have inspired me to start building again after being away for 20 years. Thanks!

 

Cheers

Edited by GunnarO
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Those vents are just the edge of the fairing lifted up! There isn't any ducting or anything, the air just rushes in across the top of the engine. I seem to remember they are to help cool the ignition coils which are mounted up there. We asked about them when we researched the PP Models kit....

These two inlets are for magneto cooling, the mags sit in a common housing just underneath these vents.

The air then just makes its way around the engine compartment before exiting through a grill on the aft lower cowl.

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