Guest Peterpools Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Eric Amazing work and not for the faint-hearted. Completely agree that fr the price, there really shouldn't be a let down with the parts in the kit. Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imatt88 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 WOW, is that thing HUGE! How about a Boeing SST, a Sukhoi T4, or a Tupolev TU144? Interesting...... Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girlscanplay2 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Eric, What amazing work you are doing, that is one huge project and I would be shaking in my boots if I had to do all of the cut outs you are doing!! This is great to watch! Fantastic job, got to watch this one to completion for sure Teresa Wurzacher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 Onto some more work. I have painted the insides of the intakes using my tried and tested Tamiya fine surface primer under 3 coats of Mr Surfacer White 1000 shot through my iwata airbrush followed by a coat of tamiya clear. I have then polished the surface with tamiya polishing compound buffed with a cloth polishing wheel in a cordless Dremel. You can see the difference the polishing makes with the shine on the intake on the right. I am still on the fence as to how I want to depict the finished model, whether in flight, parked or at the point of takeoff. I reckon it will look cool at the point of just before lift off and am hoping to achieve that look. There are a number of challenges to overcome however, and this is one of them. The undercarriage has been designed with the model parked, so the nose gear oleo will need to be extended if it is to be represented as per the above. The kit gear has brass tube embedded into the resin parts for strength. I cut the oleo from the nose gear leg and immediately ran into a problem where the tube that is in the leg is offset towards the front, so it wasn't going to be as easy as sliding in some new metal and building up from there. I was able to drill in some smaller diameter rod and then extend the oleo 4mm which I reckon will look about right for a nose gear that has no weight on it. A quick mock up of what I am aiming for. Girlscanplay2, Lars Befring, JamesHatch and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHatch Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Absolutely beautiful. The lines look great, especially with that fixed nose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seiran01 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Looking superb! I scrolled through the XB-70 instruction manual online (http://www.hphmodels.cz/images/stavebni_navody/xb-70-hphmodels.pdf) for comparison of what's included for the price, and it looks like they actually give you clear resin canopies and a metal pitot. The only scratchbuild hand icons I saw were to use wire for sticking through the axles and to hold the giant canards onto the fuselage. The gear isn't a huge surprise but for an item as large as those canards, you'd think they would have engineered something more substantial than a butt join. It's surprising to me as well that they took more shortcuts on the Concorde inclusions but you've done well working with what was provided! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Python Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 If you manage to pose it at the point of take off, it will look stunning especially with the size of the model. I don't think I'd be brave enough to buy a kit at the price of this one and have to start cutting it straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Uncle Fester Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Eric, You've really gone to town on this project. It is fascinating and educational. I may have to print out this whole thread for future reference in the years to come as it will be a long time before I get to doing mine. I have a more ambitious project in mind, to include fully articulating nose that is manipulated through rated motor-driven gear-trains, etc. Lights, all of that. Technology keeps improving so that miniaturiazation of the needed bits as well as affordability keep me watching it out of the corner of my eye. Your efforts thus far have done this kit a wonderful turn. You have cleverly dechipered each challenge and solved them well. I like the takeoff pose as such a large display model deserves a "statement" of a pose---taking off---wanting to fly. I'm not sure but I suspect that the control surfaces would require some degree of deflection for this rotating attitude, no? I cannot find much in photo references and it's probably a niggling little thing...was just wondering if you had found anything that would be of any great benefit. An awesome model of an awesome machine. I look forward to every posting. Just want to wish you good luck; We're all counting on you. (With apologies to Leslie Neilsen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Eric Incredible, simply incredible Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 I'm not sure but I suspect that the control surfaces would require some degree of deflection for this rotating attitude, no? I cannot find much in photo references and it's probably a niggling little thing...was just wondering if you had found anything that would be of any great benefit. And there is the other challenge that I have been alluding to. All of the elevons will need to be cut off and repositioned. I am leaving that until last just to keep my options open. Seiran, I also spotted that the Valkyrie comes with pre painted photo etch for the cockpit, which would have been a most useful inclusion with the Concorde. Glad that you guys are liking this build and thanks for following. Eric. Girlscanplay2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Another challenge with the kit is getting the main wheel bays into the fuselage. Having conquered the challenge of getting the fiberglass gear doors cut out of the fuselage in a neat and orderly fashion, the modeler is now faced with shoehorning the resin wheel bays, unassembled, into the resulting holes (that they don't fit through)and then re-assembling them through the open hole. Have I told you guys how much I am enjoying this project yet???? Here is the wheel bay, dry fitted together. The instructions call for foam to be fitted into the wheel bays so that there is something to push back and hold it against the inside skins whilst the glue dries. Lovely idea in theory. As can be seen in the picture, there is some grinding that I have done to the roof area of where the wheel bay will sit. The reason for this is that the bay will not fit in otherwise, so throw the foam idea out of the window! (it does however work quite nicely for the nose gear bay). Note: to get the large part of the wheel bay through the hole, some of the corners of the part need to be taken off for it to fit inside. Here can be seen the wall of the wheel bay and how much it needs to be sunk into the hole (no roam for foam here!) Once the bay fits, it is a simple matter of sliding it around and then positioning it so that the walls can be glued into place followed by moving it around so that 30 minute epoxy can be applied to the inside of the wing and then allowed to set. Its important not to mess this part up as there really isn't any turning back! The upside to getting the bays in is that the model now sits on its undercarriage and it looks quite the beast. In the following two pics you can see the effect that extending the nose oleo has had on the sit of the model. Now I can play around with refining the way the model sits..... still undecided... HELP! Menelaos, Wurzacher and Uilleann 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Eric Brilliant! I tip my hat to your uncanny abilities in resolving problem after problem. I'm 100% in the 'take off" position/display camp. Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Thanks Peter! One more update before bed. I was not quite happy with the nose gear. Hph have managed to incorporate metal rods into the resin castings which is great for strength. The struts on each side of the nose gear are round, and Hph will have you modifying each one to attach the square section onto. This is sort of OK, but I decided to go one step further. Here is the nose gear leg. I have already modified the left side strut. As can be seen the right side is still round. The instructions call for the strut to be flattened on the outer side as per the following pic, with the replacement strut being thinned down and glued to it ( I haven't thinned this one down for obvious reasons)I reckoned that with a bit of a risky move, I could do it just a bit better. I completely stripped the resin from the strut, and cut a deep trench into the replacement strut. I also ground off half the thickness of the metal rod. The completed unit. It looks alot better than the way it should have been done according to the instructions. Menelaos, Uilleann and Wurzacher 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Uncle Fester Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 (edited) Great work on the Nosegear. I've been studying photos of the machine during rotation---it seems the main bogeys remain planted straight and flat until lift-off where they then spring back to "neutral". I have often pondered posing aircraft like this but....my only solution was to anchor the model with a stiff stringer up throught the landing gear, fixed to the inside of the wing/fuselage. Any other solution would result in the model eventually coming to rest surreptitiously with possible undesireable results. For a model like this, the stout wire would have to go deeply into whatever it's sitting on, up through both main gears and into the wing. Anchored firmly at both ends. Don't know exactly how to do this without getting really busy in peripheral buffoonery to make it work....possibly taking longer than the actual kit build itself. There are other options that unfortunately have the propping up of the model in a fake-ish way with external support. Bleagh.... One possible option in the latter quantity is a piece of fishing line attached to the tailcone, pulling it downward and attached with a removable clip of some type that would be invisible ot the viewer. From 3 feet away it would be essentially invisible and less-complex than anything else I can think of. Edited September 27, 2015 by Uncle Fester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wurzacher Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Some very clever modelling here! Wow, what a build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now