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Attitude Aviation Buchon Conversion


LSP_Kevin

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On 5/27/2019 at 5:46 PM, ade rowlands said:

Do you get rockets for the Spanish Air Force version? That’s the one I’m interested in getting. 

I understand those bits will be ready shortly, it's the one I'd like to do as well, having seen a real one in Madrid a few years ago...

 

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Here is today's progress - again, slow but steady. Most of my bench time is constrained to the weekends at the moment, so I'll be posting more those days, and less during the week.

 

Anyway, with the fuselage halves suitably modified, it was time to work on the new resin cockpit piece. There's a substantial casting base that needs removing from below and behind the part:

 

4n5UDo.jpg

 

Happily, there are some pretty obviously cut lines moulded in to most of the casting blocks in this set, so the job was merely tedious, rather than fraught. Here's the final part, all cleaned up and being test-fitted to the fuselage:

 

KB7xGf.jpg

 

It actually fits even better than it appears to in the photo, as the tape isn't holding it in place all that successfully. Note that when screwing up the forward mating edge on the starboard side, I also removed the kit's locating lug for the cockpit floor on that side, but you can see that the one on the port side is still in place, and lines up perfectly. I hope the missing one doesn't cause alignment issues later on!

 

The next area that needs to be dealt with is the new lower front portion of the wing centre section. This is supplied as a replacement resin piece, which again required careful removal from its casting block:

 

2pPhl6.jpg

 

pdwy1J.jpg

 

Here it is, taped into place with all the other components worked on so far:

 

21BwYW.jpg

 

The kit piece itself still needs to be modified so that it can mate to the new resin forward section. This build is turning into quite the jigsaw puzzle!

 

Finally, here's a photo of the assembly above on its belly:

 

RMqgtH.jpg

 

It's important to get all these components fitting together comfortably before we start committing anything to glue. But it's amazing how often something looks great when you dry-fit it, only to get all screwy when the glue comes out!

 

More soon. Thanks for checking in!

 

Kev

 

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35 minutes ago, chrish said:

She’ll be a unique jigsaw puzzle when done!

looking great for fit right now. 

Great work!

 

Thanks, Chris. It'll definitely need some filler to patch up all the gaps and holes I'm creating, but nothing too serious.

 

Kev

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3 minutes ago, mozart said:

You've certainly chosen quite a challenge Kev but conversions like this are always fun to do. 

 

Thanks, Max. I suspect it might actually be a bit too much of a challenge for me right now, given how much else is competing for my attention. Let's hope I don't screw it up too badly as a result!

 

Kev

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3 hours ago, ScanmanDan said:

Good solid progress, Kevin.  Just keep chipping away at it and do have fun. You will end up with a wonderfully unique bird.  I'm enjoying your build immensely.

 

 

 

Thanks, Dan. Hopefully I'll get some more time to work on it tomorrow.

 

Kev

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Thanks, Anthony! I made some small progress today, but nothing worth photographing. I also discovered that the aircraft I intend to model ("Red 3" from the Battle of Britain movie) has squared-off wing tips, but they're not included as standard in the conversion set. They'll be included in the forthcoming Spanish Air Force version of the kit, however, so I've asked Espen if he could send me just the wing tip parts for this build. No definitive answer yet, so I'll have to work out a Plan B, just in case!

 

Kev

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OK, time for another update! Progress has been slower than I'd hoped, but I've had word from Espen that he's sending me the missing wingtip parts, along with some other minor bits that come as a separate pack to build the military service version. I'd also stalled on the cockpit, as I didn't have the required size of styrene rod to form an axle for the trim wheels. I've ordered some, and they should arrive by mid-week.

 

Instead, I've been pushing forward with getting all the nose parts prepared. The new resin nose actually comprises several pieces, and it's important to pay attention to the assembly sequence, lest you leave something out that you can longer put in! The first task is to add the radiator exit ramp to the lower nose piece:

 

FbuFPk.jpg

 

osZ20g.jpg

 

In the process of gluing it in place, I've discovered that my go-to bottles of CA are past their best, and I should have ordered some more when I ordered the styrene rod. Oops! I did eventually find a new tube of ZAP CA gel hidden away in one of my drawers, so that will suffice in the interim. I'm off to a show tomorrow, so hopefully I can pick up some fresh CA there.

 

Another thing you must attend to before closing everything up is to fit the new exhaust stacks. The resin units are wonderfully detailed and superbly cast, and my photos don't do them justice:

 

iPPHz7.jpg

 

D24nz5.jpg

 

There's a bit of resin flash to clean up between each pipe, but it's otherwise a simple matter of sawing off the casting blocks, and you're good to go. Each stack has the lower portion of its associated external fairing moulded into place, and this mates with the upper half of the fairing moulded into the nose piece:

 

4XO7NZ.jpg

 

Q5M0NG.jpg

 

There's a bit of a gap there, but the angle of the photo above is hiding it. As far as I can tell, it should be a panel line, so I'll fill it enough to leave an impression of a line, rather than attempt to eliminate it completely.

 

tGHUSe.jpg

 

I used to be a paint-then-glue guy, but in recent years I've evolved a more nuanced approach, and I'm quite happy these days taking a glue-then-paint approach, so these exhausts will be painted and weathered once all the main painting is done (I like to do well bays this way too these days).

 

With the exhausts out of the way, I could test-fit the rest of the nose components:

 

4sBZNf.jpg

 

For a loose, unglued fit, I think that's pretty good. There'll be some gaps, but a lick of Mr. Surfacer or similar will take care of them nicely. They should mostly be panel lines anyway, so you'll want to leave some indication of such.

 

OK, that's it for now! Thanks for checking in.

 

Kev

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