shbemo13

I'm going to jump in here to try and clarify a few things.
 
Firstly, as far as going back into manufacturing and casting, I am not planning on doing it.I don't have the tools or facility to do what I used to do before the fire, and I'm getting too old and lazy. I used to work seven days a week to maintain a big enough catalog of stuff to make a living.I can't even imagine what it would take to bring all of the stuff back to life.Much of it is not worth the effort, the kits that were and are still in demand are all pretty big and expensive to mold and cast.
 
As a few have mentioned, you can't just copy-mold a large, fairly complex model and expect it to come out OK.Shrinkage happens at a number of stages from master to finished castings and you'd end up with some undersized junk that might look OK in the box but it would make for very unhappy customers when they tried to assemble it...
That hasn't stopped a few people from doing it over the years, especially with the race cars.What a nightmare that was....
 
The best way to bring something like this back now that the technology has matured would be to 3D scan the best example  possible , build the correct shrink into the model parts on screen and then print out the parts in high resolution for masters if you planned on casting in resin.Better to just 3D print hi-res finished parts on demand and avoid the huge expense of tooling. Still a fairly slow process if you want hi-res, and still expensive.I can see it coming down to a practical level in the near future, but we ain't there yet.The progress along these lines since I got sidelined has been amazing.
 
I am indeed working with an old friend here in the US to bring back the Red Baron racer one last time but the other kits were going to be made in Europe by a company that folded up during Covid so I have no idea if or when anything will happen along those lines.I am still looking into other options here in the US.
 
I agreed to Alistair doing something with the Hunter two seaters and the Meteor conversions but nothing else.We recently talked at some length about Skyraiders, I encouraged him to do the AEW.1 since that's the missing link and saw service with the Royal Navy.That 'plane is based on the single seat fuselage, not the wide body anyway and would be a great project for someone to do in 3D print....hint hint...
 
I have no problem with someone one-offing parts for their own use but I would very much like to be in the loop if somebody wanted to do production based on my work like any craftsman. We all know that as soon as somebody invests a bunch of time and money in this a plastic kit will be announced anyway, right?
 
Many thanks for listening, 
Paul
 
 

Yes I did encounter this. I made a vacuform copy of the canopy and used that instead. The glue hasn't set yet when I took this picture. I used Gator Hobby glue. I swear by the stuff. Wish I knew where to get it now, anyone?

Four American choices:
1/32 RF-101 Voodoo
1/32 F-86H Sabre
1/32 F-111E
1/32 B-58 Hustler

Four American choices:
1/32 RF-101 Voodoo
1/32 F-86H Sabre
1/32 F-111E
1/32 B-58 Hustler

Four American choices:
1/32 RF-101 Voodoo
1/32 F-86H Sabre
1/32 F-111E
1/32 B-58 Hustler

Hi!
After looking through my stash I will be building the F-85K for my first build on LSP.
The build will be like most of my builds OOB with a few items scratch build as the fancy takes me.
 

 

 
Thanks for stopping by!

Sub-assembles coming together:-
 

 
Richard

Not really sure what happened to his F-86K.  I kit bashed the Kitty Hawk 1/32 F-86D (most of the kit) and the F-86K wing to end up with a F-86L.

While racers aren't my cup of tea, I'd be on board for a Skyraider. Best of luck to you, Shane - Paul's stuff is too nice to be lost forever.

If this manages to pan out, I have an unmolested AD-5 conversion set I could offer up for reproduction, as well as some of his 4-shot Zuni rocket pods. I've been holding out on building it for just this eventuality, with 3D printing becoming better and better and others stepping up to recreate Paul's masterpieces. I want to do anything I can to help Paul's amazing products get into more modeler's hands.
 
-Daniel S.
Arvada, CO

Hey guys thanks for all the great feedback and support. This idea originated on the FB racing aircraft models page and because of the low parts count it is considered a good candidate to test out recasting a Fisher product and to see quality of our castings. I want this to represent what Paul was producing. This kit was also one of Paul’s best sellers so that was another reason for choosing this as the first subject. I’m just waiting to meet up with the caster and give him the kit. I’m doing some behind the scenes work to see about improving some things on the kit as well. Stay tuned. There will be another update after the Nationals in Vegas next week. 
 
Thanks
Shane

If it's a way in for further Fisher kits I'd be good for an RB-51.
I was about to pull the trigger on the Cutlass and the Skyray when disaster struck. I hope Paul is recovering the best he can and benefits from this venture in a major way.

Couple of thoughts.
I personally have no interest in the RB-51, and don't see it being the best choice to restart the line. I could be totally wrong.I would think another run of Panthers, Cougars or Sea Fury would be a better choice. But that's just my opinion as someone that has no interest in racers.  I would love to get my hands on the Skyray
.Another things is this. You have to get this right. Fishers kits were, to many people, the "Tamiya" of resin kits. If you put out anything other than that, not only will you be doing a disservice to the people who buy them ( and incurring their wrath), but to Paul and the reputation his original kits have built. If you can accomplish that, and get the buyers on board, I say good luck and hope its successful. 

Evening all...
 
I've got the outer wing sections finished off and attached to the inner wing sections this week. 
 
My first job after the last update was to finish off rectifying a few blemishes on the new wing tip extensions I'd made, as well as completing the shaping of the wing tips with various shades of sandpaper:
 

 
With this completed it was then time to attach the outer wing sections - this was done by cutting slits in the inner wing ends and allowing the spar stubs from the outer wings to slide through and interlock with the inner wing spars I'd made earlier in the build. The outer sections are quite chunky, and I wasn't confident that normal poly cement or superglue would be strong enough in the longer term, so instead I've used this stuff:
 

 
It's actually are two-part exposy-resin glue that dries so hard it's like concrete. It can be sanded/sculpted and with a workable drying time of 20 minutes, it allowed me to set the wings level and then they could be left overnight to harden. The join is now absolutely solid, and there's very little flex across the entire length of the wing which is rather pleasing for a model of this span.
 
It was important to get the correct dihedral, and because the Shackleton's outer wing sections have a less pronounced upward lift than the Lancaster, the fact I was using Lancaster wings meant I needed to modify the join - you can see in the picture below the plastic card spacers I added to each wing to get the correct angle:
 

 
I then set about blending the inner and outer sections together, and applied a liberal coating of my trusty P38. This was then sanded back over a couple of evenings. Building a model this size requires thinking out of the box, and sanding it over the sink was the only option because 1) it keeps the amount of dust to a minimum and 2) it's one of the only spaces big enough to maneuver it properly! The wife wasn't best pleased, but I explained this was a better option than coating the rest of the house in an inch or two of sanding dust...
 

 
And here we are - it's suddenly become a lot bigger... about three-and-half-feet-across-the-wings-bigger!
 

 

 
You may have noticed that the fins are missing - this was because one was broken off when it had a too-closer encounter with the wall adjacent to my workbench, and thus I removed the other one as well before that took some irreparable damage, too. They will be reattached when the main filling and sanding is complete.
 
In the photo you can see the amount of filler needed to correct the warping on the left wing - it's more or less corrected now but it will be clearer to see if further work is needed when it's been primed:
 

 
So the next step will be to have a bash at the outboard engine nacelles... should be fun 
 
Until next time,
 
Tom

Evening everyone 
 
Not a lot of progress to report on the big Shackleton project, but work has been going on, albeit at a glacial pace...
 
I've been getting the wing surfaces sorted, as after the outer wings were attached a coat of filler-primer revealed a multitude of sins to be sorted. The original plastic of the Lancaster kit was quite bumpy from the start, and the rather rudimentary panel detailing needed to go, too. So, the pictures you see below are the results of three coats of filler-primer that have now been sanded back and polished, to leave me with a lovely and smooth surface for the final priming:
 

 

 

 

 

 
I've also begun the process of marking out the position of the outboard nacelles in preparation to make those:
 

 
Have I said before that this model is rather large? Here's a 1/32nd Spitfire snuggled up and shows the massive span of this thing - it's not far short of the 1/32nd B-29 I did a few years back:
 

 
Not the most enthralling of updates, but I wanted to assure you that this project is still ticking along slowly...
 
On a final note, does anyone know of a good source of plans for the radome set-up on the AEW2? I'm going to redo my earlier one and need a lower, side, front and rear profile of the 'dome itself is anyone knows of a good set of drawings?
 
Until next time,
 
Tom
 
 

Part II
 
I then primed and polished up the 3D printed 'power-eggs' and test fitted them to the firewalls - thankfully my careful measuring and planning paid off, and although they're not quite a Tamiya fit, they fitted pretty well:
 

 
After the power-eggs were glued to the firewalls, it was a simple job to blend them in with filler and then give the wings a primer coat of grey - here the engine fronts are just taped in place as I still need to make the radiators and oil coolers before the fronts can be permanently attached:
 

 

 
And so now a major milestone has been reached, about 18 months after starting this build, and the airframe is now complete:
 

 
Underside:
 

 
And here she is with a 1/72nd scale Revell Shackleton as a useful size comparison:
 

 
So now I can concentrate on the detailing of the model - the cockpit and flightdeck may well be the next task as the upper fuselage still needs blending in. The extreme rear of the fuselage needs some tweaks too, but the main construction is now over and I'm pleased to have reached this point in the project - it's all down hill from now on!
 
All the best,
 
Tom
 

Just thought this was worth sharing - here's the design for the tail wheels that friend is 3D printing for me. This man has some serious talent!
 

 
Saves on some serious scratch-building time 
 
Tom

I haven't had any time at the bench to work on this project, but thought I'd share some 3D printing that's been helping with this build...
 
I'm indebted to Kev67 for his help here - he's done some beautiful prints of the main wheels:
 

 
And the engine nacelles, exhausts and spinners:
 

 
And after a gentle sand and priming:
 

 

 
In sort, this'll save a whole lot of complex scratch-building 
 
Tom

Evening all,
 
Time for another update for you - it's the last day of my Easter holidays and I return to work tomorrow so things may well slow a little for a while, but I've made the most of the few days of freedom...
 
I've been working on the stabilisers and after the last update I sparred them internally and glued them together. The area where I'd increased the chord was filled with plastic card to bring the gap up to the level of the rest of the aerofoil, and this was then filled and sanded smooth to blend everything in. Lastly, I made some hinges for the elevators from Evergreen plastic strip.
 
It was then a case of consulting the plans carefully to establish where the stabilisers are situated, and this was a case of measure thrice, cut once, before I inserted a spar from thick left over sprue:
 

 
The completed stabilisers were then test-fitted:
 

 
And with some careful trimming the fit is quite satisfactory - only a quick lick of filler will be required:
 

 
On the underside you can also see where I've done a little re-shaping of the underside as I wasn't happy with the shape:
 

 
I've also started adding the upper escape hatches on the top of the fuselage:
 

 
As well as making the lower radome aperture on the lower fuselage behind the bomb bay:
 

 
Speaking of radomes - this chunk of resin has arrived:
 

 
Yup... I'm going to complete this project as an AEW.2, my favourite of the breed.
 
So, with the elevators added it's certainly starting to look like a Shackleton... which is a bonus I suppose
 

 
I'm off to fill the stabiliser to fuselage join now, so cheerio for now.
 
Tom

Awesome!

1/24 F-86F

thanks Harv!
 
as you know, George put up a damn solid fight at the end.
 
let me catch you up, we left off with the gear going on.
 
Tires and gear linkage we're next

 

 
you may have also noticed the canon barrels are on now
 

 
inner gear doors were next
 

 
and their closing linkages
 

 
then the inner wheel faces
 

 
my work stand still worked!
 

 
 
hold on, more to come

thanks guys, starting to face burn out on this one
 
got the gear bays all boxed in and started to build up some of the detail. Sadly I had to remove the ammo feeds from the cannons as they interfered with the upper wing halves.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
going to go back and attend to the fuse for a bit and finish off bits like the gear and wheels

got so much done this weekend!
I was able to work outside on saturday and sand seams and other parts in my backyard.
It was wonderful.
 
First here are some pics of the now completed cockpit (minus gunsight)
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
I also sat down friday night to attack another project on this build, the gear doors.
 
Pics to come, need to upload them.