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New tool Revell Spitfire. 16th Aug, 2015. All done


geedubelyer

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Hi guys,

 

Loic, Kev, Tom, many thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated and I'm glad you like things so far.

 

Hi Dan , I appreciate the encouragement, cheers. For the panel work I'm pretty much doing just what you described. I've used a blade to scrape away some plastic along lines of rivets or panel lines and also randomly in the centre of one or two panels. These are sanded using say 200 grit sandpaper then buffed using gradually finer and finer grades of sanding sticks and buffing pads.

I do own some Micromesh pads but I prefer to save these for cockpit glazing where necessary. In this instance I've managed with a couple of buffing sticks from the ladies beauty department of a local store. The nail buffing packs are cheaper than modelling supplies and work ok for this process.

I only managed a short time at the bench today because I was out this morning. Nothing worth photographing but more soon I hope.

 

Thanks again for the kind words.

 

Cheers.

Edited by geedubelyer
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Thanks Derek. Not quite in your league regarding accuracy but I'm having fun all the same.

 

The holidays are giving me the opportunity to sit at the bench for a while which makes a pleasant change. I seem to be getting back into the minute details that I used to enjoy so much in the past.

I've spent more time on the cockpit, this time the other side. This is definitely more comlex than the port sidewall. To give Revell credit, they have made suggestions of alot of this stuff. What I've done is to add further depth.

 

tn-Cockpit-014.jpg

 

tn-Cockpit-015.jpg

 

I've been employing many of the weapons that I've accrued. One or two small pieces of Airscale detail parts and stencils, wire, micro-tubing etc. I think I got a bit carried away though. When the pilot's in place, much of this is no longer visible.....

 

tn-Cockpit-010.jpg

:doh:

 

I think the next job is either to finish off the fuselage sidewalls or begin adding the pilot with all of his 'chute and seat straps.

 

Thanks for taking a peek. See you all next time.

 

Cheers.

Edited by geedubelyer
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All a bit boring I know but more stuff in the cockpit.

 

Cylinders behind the seat....

 

Port side:

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-002.jpg

These are low on the fuselage side so the rough hand written stencilling is mostly obscured.

 

Starboard side:

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-003.jpg

The retaining band is metal foil. I added the tighteners using wire and punched discs of foil again.

 

I added a structure to this bulkhead to eventually hold the wire connections for the seat straps.

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-004.jpg

There's also a suggestion of the base of the aeriel mast too.

 

Finally for this update I've begun work on the pilot. I need to fit him in the seat so that I can make a parachute and the seat straps before I can button the fuselage up.

 

One thing that I wanted to try was to give the little bloke a more contemporary look. Keeping in mind that this aircraft is supposed to represent a restored warbird I'm planning on having a modern pilot on board.

to that end, I've tried to bring him bang up to date by giving him a pair of Oakleys. :innocent:

 

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-018.jpg

The cool thing about this stuff is that it changes the way it looks depending on which angle it's viewed from.

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-021.jpg

I'l probably add arms to the shades when I've finished painting the little dude.

 

While I was thinking about the sunnies I carved out the glass in his flying googles too. I'm hoping to shape some thin acetate to fit the holes and represent the glass better.

 

Thanks for taking a look.

 

Cheers.

Edited by geedubelyer
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Hi guys, many thanks for stopping by to have a look and add your thoughts. Much appreciated.

 

Hi Peter, I'm pleased that you like the office but just to avoid any confusion, this is the new tool that was released in 2014. Revell have done most of the leg work for the builder so I just chose to embellish the kit detail a bit.

 

Hi Kev, thanks for the generous words, I'm glad you are enjoying things up to now. This is not the first time I've had a go at making sun glasses. I put a folded pair on top of the coaming in the front office of my languishing F-14 build.

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/geedubelyer/media/Tomcat%20pics/tn_F-14HUDwindshield056.jpg.html

 

For that pair I used photo film negative (remember that stuff) because it gave a glossy black look like a pair of RayBan aviators. This time I wanted the lenses to be translucent so I could n't use the film negative as it's opaque. In the end I used some irridescent fusible film from a company fairly local to me.

http://www.craftynotions.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Fusible_Film_26.html This is "Eastern sky" but at the time I bought a large selection of shades just in case. The Cirtonella might give a more golden look for example which could look like a different style of Oakley lenses.

 

To cut the shape of the lens out I sharpened the end of a suitable diameter of brass tube and shaped the opening using a tapered file. I tried to get something similar to a generic sun-glasses lens. I used the sharpened brass like a cookie cutter and pressed it into my cutting mat through the film. The slightly soft surface of the cutting mat creates the dished effect to the cut out film "lens". If you shaped the brass symetrically you'd be able to just turn a cut out shape through 180degrees. Unfortunately the shape I made was n't symetrical so to get a pair I pressed the bowl shape into my palm with the rounded end of a paintbrush handle and turned it inside out. Finally, I cut a tiny length of thin copper wire and glued it between the two lenses to make the bridge. Eventually I'll probably go with more wire for the arms of the sunglasses.

 

Bit of a long winded explanation but I did n't take any photos along the way, sorry.

 

HTH

 

Cheers.

Edited by geedubelyer
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I love what you are doing to this kit. You've made some very nice and interesting additions.

 

 

I added a structure to this bulkhead to eventually hold the wire connections for the seat straps.

 

That looks like a complex structure. May I ask for some more pictures and how you made this structure ?

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

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Hi Kev, you're very welcome, glad you like the idea.

 

Hello Pascal, apologies for the late response.

I did n't take any photos of the construction stage of the bits behind the aluminium coloured bulkhead, sorry. Here's another view of the item though.

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-041.jpg

It was probably not as complex as it appears. I punched out holes in a suitable strip of plastic extrusion then glued them together to make a square behind the fuselage former. I used more strip to span diagonally from corner to corner one way then bridged the gap the other way with two shorter lengths to make the cross shape in the middle.

 

Other bits of plastic extrusion were used to make the base of the aeriel mast and the retainer for the shoulder strap wires. Some small bits of folded metal foil were fashioned to create some bracing. I hope that explains the construction method.

 

Work continues on the pilot.

The choice to represent a modern warbird raised a few issues. Most reference photos show the pilots on flying suits rather than full WWII style garb. Most (if not all) aftermarket pilots depict wartime pilots so I had to make my own little dude.

I took a 1/35th scale German tanker and filed off the base of his tunic, filed in a suggestion of a flying suit and tee-shirt before adding a parachute made from wine bottle foil and some etched buckles by HGW.

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-025.jpg

 

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-024.jpg

 

I can't be sure how accurate all of the straps are but I tried to copy reference images as closely as possible.

I also finished up the pilot's head and fixed it at a jaunty angle.

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-031.jpg

 

tn-Cockpit-and-pilot-029.jpg

I gouged out the lenses of the goggles and replaced them with clear acetate. That was a tough job and I'm not convinced how successful it was. In hindsight I should have probably left them as they were and painted them glossy. I also added a mike on an arm from the helmet. Probably not perfectly accurate but I feel it gives a more civilain rather than military feel to the figure.

The next stage will be to fix him in the seat and plan the harness straps. There's a bit of jiggery pokery required because I hope to have the figure posed with his arm out of the cockpit which is taking a bit of planning.

 

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

Edited by geedubelyer
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