GuildAero Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Haha, I feel like I should do like the last entrant in the famous Monty Python Yorkshire sketch and start with the word..."Right"... Here goes.. Over here, Fred, the term "the lad" is merely a term of affection for any male twixt toddlerhood (my 5 year old Grandson, who came R/C flying with me on Sunday) and any age above, so sorry for the linguistic confusion. As Richard has noticed in "another place", I mentioned that Bazz is 30, in warding off confusion there. He is my younger son and lives fairly locally to me. We have increasingly shared interests over recent years. Model boats, slot racing, old cars and static model aircraft. In fact when he bought me two second hand R/C trainers last year he kept the third of the package for himself. It tends to be a cyclical and seasonal thing as to which topic we do anything with. When he bought his GT6 (I've had four over the years) it was my birthday and so my "present" was to drive it home, give it some stick and report back! My other son is away up North 5 hours away, but is the one with the home made and now, professional, vac-forming machines and with whom I am going to be doing the vac-formed kits mentioned here and on Britmodeller, when I can fit in the finishing of the Waco patterns. Younger son, Bazz, has been collecting kits to build a stash of 1/32nd scale racer aircraft, including Williams kits of "real" racers and any affordable kits of military out of uniform as Richard calls them. Obviously 1/32nd scale fits as that is also the scale of the very accurate slot racing shells I have made over 30 patterns for over the last couple of years. In fact my preference with model aircraft is for 1/48th scale, as it is for any "collection" of models, the other one being an embryonic set of inshore fishing craft of these islands. Whilst Bazz has a slightly larger disposable income than I, he is still careful to buy wisely. Like all of us he has other calls upon his budget and time. Hence no splurging out on resin kits and Tamigawa offerings. Whilst he may not yet be able to put "The Old Man" out of business, he is a very capable fellow and won't be satisfied with any errors. It would appear, I admit, that Dad will be building the Cleveland Racer, and I might yet do so, but he would be capable of giving it a good shot. He is happy to put the two kits in the stash, whereas I am the sort that likes to get all the info, advice, reference together as soon as the topic occurs to me. Hence my old signature..."A man needs a plan". Anyone who can rebuild a very complex classic racing car for a living and make new parts for his GT6 is capable of hacking away at a plastic kit, I'm sure. He's seen what I do for most of his life after all, although in those earlier, heady days it was all either fine woods, when model boats made any money, or brass, when 1/43rd scale white metal was all the rage. Now it's Ureol and plastic as that's what makes patterns of the kinds of items I now get asked to make. Soon it'll be all 3D printed stuff and I will disappear back to boats and model furniture, from whence I came! As I will never be the sanding boy for the end stage of any computerised product, making those little touches that even Pixar couldn't put into a model. It's all or nowt. So, there you are...all confusion, I hope, cleared up. I am lucky in that both my sons are very capable with their hands. Both know a lot more than me about computers, photography, tropical fish, geckos and Maserati 250Fs between them than I do, too! I can only hope that some influence has come from my direction and that I haven't just created monsters. Fred, I understand and agree with your words about coming home with the ribbons. I have artwork and little bits of craftwork from my three kids and my grandchildren from way back. And, like you, I would save those right after the wife and the dogs if we had a fire, along with my 53 year old Kielkraft Aerokits Sea Urchin, which was given to me when I was 7 by my Dad's friend just before he died very young and which I restored only last year. I have made Rivas that took over 700 hours and sold for thousands, but they could all go to Hell before my Sea Urchin and Crash Tender. What a sentimental old Hector I am. I appreciate all the advice and interest, gents. It's why I posted the topic, for a bit of discussion. The models will get done and maybe Dad will do the Cleveland racer, but no, there won't be any errors, chaps, from either of us! Cheers, Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee White Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Maserati 250Fs !!!!!! Perhaps a thread in the non-LSP section is in order........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOTR Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 !!!!!! Perhaps a thread in the non-LSP section is in order........ Indeed... ...one of my coolest breakfasts ever happened in the old Nürburgring paddock. A croissant, a cup of coffee, and 5 meters away from some folks tuning the carburators of their 250F... Lee White 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildAero Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 The paddock's always the best place to be. I used to go very early to VSCC meetings and sit in the greasy spoon caff in the paddock watching Invictas towing other Invictas and an old Riley tow starting an ERA. Marvellous. Get there early enough and you get in for nuttn! Sorry for the ot. KOTR....J.A.P. V-twin fan by any chance? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOTR Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 KOTR....J.A.P. V-twin fan by any chance? Martin Personally, I'm more in the field of 'the more cylinders, the better'. If you know a 1950s BRM V16, you know what I mean... ...though I can imagine the JAP offers a lot of fun hanging on the front of a Morgan cyclecar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F2G_lover Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 If you want one for your own collection in 1/48, Academy's "Special Edition" Spitfire XIVe includes decals for the Cleveland racer. They can be found on eBay for a pretty reasonable price, and I got one on sale at my LHS also. The kit has been widely criticized for shape issues, but nothing you can't handle I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildAero Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 KOTR,....that's the code of a particular J.A.P. engine, I'm sure. F2Glover, now you have me interested!! I'll check that one out, thanks. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 That Academy model was clearly modelled from some large flying model plans. All the 'errors' are exactly the sort of thing the fly-boys have to do to make their smaller than real models fly. Nose too big (to hide the engine) 3 times the normal wash-out to help with stalling characteristics. And so on... Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildAero Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 Ah, that all sounds very plausible, Tim. It certainly looks a bit chunky, doesn't it? Especially at the nose. So I could do a 1/24th scale model of a bad model R/C Spitfire, complete with a transmitter, can of fuel, field box?????...... Actually I kind a like that as a dio idea! Cheers, Martin Lee White 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildAero Posted July 11, 2013 Author Share Posted July 11, 2013 Well, this is what turned up at last, today, chaps! Not two as I'd thought, that was a misunderstanding with ebay with the seller's other advert apparently. Nonetheless, it's all there and I've just removed the cockpit canopy which is excellent nick. Very strangely the pilot figure has been expertly painted compared with the tar brush and whiskers job on the rest of the model! I removed the undercarriage, pitots and guns as I don't need them. I'll be re-making them, without the guns of course. I have a drawing now and can immediately see the main differences around the tail, of course. The nose? Well, you can see it has been glued on so that it all touches, but it's 2mm low at the back! i think the underside is a little less svelte than it should be too, but generally the top shape seems to comply well with side view photos, drawing being less than completely reliable. Clearly the bulges are wrong and will need some serious reshaping, but essentially, with some replacement of the thickness of disc cutter and the 2mm that the lower edge is missing by design, it will soon be up to scratch. So, now the top cowling has been disc cut off, the spinner removed, which proved too long and the exhausts removed from the engine. I also took the disc cutter to the humps over the wheel wells and canons, then discovered that the canons are covered with a separate moulding, so I just peeled them off! Also filed down the canon stubs and smoothed off the leading edge thereabouts then filed down the panels out board of the canons that seemed a bit too proud of the surface. I got that pilot out with his seat all intact and took off the radiator housings. While I was Milliputting a couple of F1 masters I used what was left over to start filling gaps and unwanted digs and apparent meltings on the surface. Sorry for the rubbish photo, but it was a quickly grabbed shot earlier, before I started the hacking. The yellow green is the Milliput. I never use the white one. Well pushed in with a wet thumb it will fill anything and file or sand to a finish like glass. What more could you want? Next, the wings. All good fun. Meanwhile my son is looking for another one! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildAero Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 The gun/cannon hatches have been covered with 30 thou styrene and the wheel blisters have been replaced with irregular bits of styrene sheet, reinforced underneath and filled over with Milliput. Engine cowling removed and the cutting disc thickness replaced with styrene sheet front and back and 2mm-ish pieces put on its bottom edges to bring it up to align with the fuselage. Wings clipped back to the right place, awaiting new tips and, of course, those nasty weapons removed! The wing root fairing on this side is actually below the fuselage surface, so needs packing out with Milliput bit by bit. It's easier to do this in layers as the stuff gets left over from other jobs. I get through a LOT of Milliput! Also started filing the trailing edges down to something like a scale thickness. I use files and scrapers far more than sandpaper. Life's just too short otherwise! I need to make the so-called "gull wing" effect, which is not evident on this wing, so I will cut the wings, angle the joint and re-attach with tongues of styrene for strength. Cheers, Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuildAero Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 The fin has been clipped down in size and the rudder shortened according to the drawing. A new rudder top has been made in 2 layers of styrene and attached and the new trim tab opening cut. The kit part was falling off anyway. More styrene added to broaden the chord of the fin and Milliput going in to help fair it all in, ready for the big shape up. Now I really must get those F1 patterns finished and the Dragon Rapide advanced some more! Cheers, Martin Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Nice work Martin! Love watching people bash away on old kits. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Looks like you CAN make a silk purse of of a sows ear!! I've got a load of surplus 8o grit sandpaper if you could make good use of it!! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Brooks Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 (edited) That Academy model was clearly modelled from some large flying model plans. All the 'errors' are exactly the sort of thing the fly-boys have to do to make their smaller than real models fly. Nose too big (to hide the engine) 3 times the normal wash-out to help with stalling characteristics. And so on... Sorry, Tim, but no, it was actually not one of IPMS(UK)'s finest moments; asked for drawings, by Academy's then owner, a small set of tiny "thumbnail" (the sort you see in aircraft magazines) drawings was supplied, and the distortion presumably resulted from the huge amount of enlargement that became necessary. When the same thing happened with the Hunter "drawings," the Academy boss swore that never again would he ask the IPMS for help. Ironically, Peter Cooke's drawings were available, and, even though MAP/Nexus distorted them with their photocopiers, they would have made a better starting-point. Edgar Edited July 15, 2013 by Edgar Brooks Alburymodeler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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