Seafire FR47

[thierry laurent]

Yes Hubert, you are fully right. I may send you a picture as out of my memory I cannot remember if the distance between the screws is constant because the circle is split into three sections. I'll recontact you. Thanks again for the help!

 

Thierry

[alain11]

Hi

 

Sorry if I jump on the bandwagon , but here is I fixed the problems of the windows camera on my recce Spit XIX 

cut a square on thin clear acetate ( I thing "Evergreen " provide this ) ...The frame is simulate with self adhesive aluminium . The "hole" is cut with push and die set here 7mm  , glue it on the acetate , and glue in place on the inner face of the fuselage ...easy , and I hope convincing ..Hope I have been understood

Alain

 

evergreen 9006 transparent sheet 0,25 mm thick

 

Edited April 10, 2015 by alain11

[thierry laurent]

Hi Alain,

 

I considered this approach initially but unfortunately I did not use the Tamiya kit. The Matchbox or Revell re-release have thicker parts. So, I had not this choice alas... :-(

[alain11]

Hi Alain,

 

I considered this approach initially but unfortunately I did not use the Tamiya kit. The Matchbox or Revell re-release have thicker parts. So, I had not this choice alas... :-(

Hi 

 

this is not the Tam kit , but the Pacific coast , and believe me the plastic is not that we can call "thin" . but why don't you thin out the part ??? Okay, I thing you are enough skillful ,and cunning to find your way 

Alain

[dodgem37]

Acrylic rod.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[thierry laurent]

Hi 

 

this is not the Tam kit , but the Pacific coast , and believe me the plastic is not that we can call "thin" . but why don't you thin out the part ??? Okay, I thing you are enough skillful ,and cunning to find your way 

Alain

Thanks Alain. Yes, of course you are right. I forgot you started with the Mk XIV kit. The Matchbox kit is even thicker and had strengtheners and bulkheads molded on the internal side. Moreover, the belly one is not easily accessible. So, in such a case, I have to sand all of the strenghteners, sand the internal surface of the three ports and recreate what is visible. I thought about it but this is not really a time-saving approach because of the way the kit is made. Last, the FR47 has two side windows located at the same level. This means that you can see a little bit from one side to the other one. Not so much but sufficiently to be annoying... :-(

[thierry laurent]

Acrylic rod.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

Thanks again for the tip! Unfortunately, again, the problem is the diameter. I did not succeed in finding 8mm thick diameter rod :-(

[thierry laurent]

Thanks to all the people who intervened here as I got some excellent ideas that I'll re-use for other builts!!!

 

I've an Alleycat spit reco conversion set for the Tamiya MkIX and I'll think twice before using their 2-3mm thick clear resin windows when I see the easy solution and good result got by Alain.

 

I'll contact resellers to find a sheet of clear acrylic and will see if I can use vinyl frames as proposed by Hubert.

[dodgem37]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CLEAR-ACRYLIC-PERSPEX-ROUND-ROD-PMMA-CIRCULAR-BAR-12-LONG-3MM-TO-50MM-DIAMETER-/180763096445?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item2a1651f57d

 

http://clearplastictube.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=36

 

http://www.gcip.co.uk/plastics/acrylic_rod_tube.htm

[thierry laurent]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CLEAR-ACRYLIC-PERSPEX-ROUND-ROD-PMMA-CIRCULAR-BAR-12-LONG-3MM-TO-50MM-DIAMETER-/180763096445?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item2a1651f57d

 

http://clearplastictube.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=36

 

http://www.gcip.co.uk/plastics/acrylic_rod_tube.htm

Thanks Mark!

 

I made searches on the web but oddly did not find anything on ebay. I'll order one 8mm rod from UK. I'll cut three slices and will just have to sand and polish the surface. In the worst case, I'll cut three disks from a sheet I'll buy as well.

[alain11]

Hi 

 

If you allow, I also tried the clear rod cut in slices , sanded and polished , but finally I get a bad magnifying effect , that's why I used clear sheet 

you can find thin clear sheet here

Bye Alain

http://www.oupsmodel.com/profilees-et-cartes-plastique/26564-evergreen-9006-plaques-transparentes-025mm.html

[thierry laurent]

Hi 

 

If you allow, I also tried the clear rod cut in slices , sanded and polished , but finally I get a bad magnifying effect , that's why I used clear sheet 

you can find thin clear sheet here

Bye Alain

http://www.oupsmodel.com/profilees-et-cartes-plastique/26564-evergreen-9006-plaques-transparentes-025mm.html

Ok, I will try as well as my wife just found an old thick acrylic sheet in the cellar!

[Hubert Boillot]

I can also vouch for oupsmodels : fast service and reasonable prices (for France that is)

 

Hubert

[thierry laurent]

Good to know! Another url in my bookmarks!

 

I started adding the FR47 major missing details on the cockpit sides. To say it short, early Seafire marks had rather bare upper sides whereas the later ones (mainly from the FR45) had many additional boxes. So, the sides were far more cluttered with the hydraulic wing folding mechanism, rocket fire system, bomb launching system, fuel and drop tank use, radio system, camera management, IFF, RATOG use, etc!

 

Again, I do not recommend the Mastercasters pit for this exercise!!! Indeed, as the set is underscaled, I had to use wrongly dimensioned boxes to get a visually acceptable result between the different components. The result will be acceptable but if I had started with other parts (Aires), the work would have been far easier.

 

I'll take some pictures this evening to upload and publish them tomorrow.

[thierry laurent]

OK, so, we're back on track!

 

As mentioned yesterday, I worked again in the pit.

 

The two following pictures show the difference between the raw resin part and the one with the main additional boxes added.

 

Here's the original status. You will see I also added some plastic strips to help in positioning correctly the wing root fairing on the fuselage.

 

 

The second one shows the modified port side. Note that many small connectors and other details have yet to be added besides the boxes details and all the hoses. I already mentioned the need to build the boxes to have a visually acceptable result rather than an accurate one. Indeed, I realized some odd dimension problems besides the under-scaled pit issue.

 

 

Finally, Some words of explanation about the order of operations. When you want to recreate such a cluttered environment, you must first analyze all the layers of elements to be able to re-create them and avoid damaging the first ones when you add the later ones. So, globally, I recommend this general approach:

 

STEP 1: Estimate the dimensions of all the major elements to add such as the boxes. This asks for numerous dry fit checks

STEP 2: Drill in the boxes holes to add later the hoses and wires

STEP 3: Glue the boxes on the pit side

STEP 4: Add the wires/hoses. For such a tricky job, I generally use solder rather than copper. I use a collection of various diameters from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm. The larger are not common in cockpits but more useful for landing gear bays. I generally add the connectors at this step as well as it is easier to add them on the wire and glue both on the pit side rather than glue first the connectors and then the hoses

STEP 5: Add the small fragile details on the boxes such as screw heads, rivets, labels, knobs, switches, etc.

 

Last, it is necessary to have some "details harmony" between the ones cast on the resin part and the ones you add...!

 

I sometimes modify this order because of the "multi-layer" issue but complying with this is a good way to avoid most problems.

 

Next pictures will show the side with the first layer of solder wires.

 

Cheers

 

Thierry