MikeMaben Posted July 29, 2024 Posted July 29, 2024 Hokey Smoke !!! quite impressive Tom levier and tomprobert 2
Christa Posted July 30, 2024 Posted July 30, 2024 One of my favourite wartime photographs shows diminutive, yet highly capable, ATA pilot Joan Hughes beside a Stirling's starboard main wheel. This is an amazing build. Derek B, Biggles87, tomprobert and 1 other 4
tomprobert Posted July 31, 2024 Author Posted July 31, 2024 On 7/28/2024 at 3:36 PM, JayW said: Wow it is indeed very large! I am very familiar with large models. They require large work areas, which I do not have. Therefore, I break things often. And also I fashion my builds such that final assembly can take place as late as possible. My 1/18 P-38 comes to mind, which was an unbelievably large model. Ridiculous. I was constantly bumping it against anything and everything. Your Stirling is probably every bit as large. Let's see: P-38 wing span and length - 52 ft and 37 ft 10 in. At 1/18 scale that is 34.67 inches by 25.22 inches. Short Stirling wing span and length - 99 ft 1 inch and 87 ft 3 in. At 1/32 that is 37.16 inches by 32.72 inches. Your Stirling is bigger! Be careful! It is indeed quite a lump of plastic - hence I work on this in the kitchen or in the garden - it’s just too big to do it anywhere else. Still, both the Sunderland and B-29 (as well as the currently stalled Shackleton) I did were bigger, so I’ve got a bit of experience previously and I can assure you the fridge gets a regular bearing from this on a regular occurrence. Good job I’ve put plenty of strength into the structure On 7/28/2024 at 4:11 PM, chrish said: Incredibly beautiful work and model! the size of this model and as a vacuform would be and, is just wildly incomprehensible as a project…..until seen sitting on the kitchen table as a frame of reference. Hats off and bow to you master Jedi I’ve built a couple of vacs and 3 large 1/32 bombers (2 B-17’s and a Lanc) but not a combination vacform and large scale bomber. keep up the great work Many thanks, Chris - I’ve said this many times before but I’m honestly not doing what any reasonably experienced modeller can do. You just have to think outside the box (not that kits like this come in one!) and just go for it. There’ll be lots of errors and muck ups along the way, but so what? It’s all part of the fun - and certainly prepares you for those trickier injection molded kits and gives a real sense of perspective when there’s a join or two to fill… Victor K2, scvrobeson, JayW and 2 others 5
tomprobert Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 I thought it was about time I dragged this out of storage and did a bit... I spent an evening over the weekend installing the gear and flaps for good - first I had to cobble together the oil tanks in the forward pat of the gear bays. I raided the spares box and found something suitable, before tarting them up a little with some extra details and installing them just behind the firewalls: The gear then slotted over some pre-made and installed metal pins in the spars, using Araldite Epoxy glue for a very strong join. The model isn't particularly heavy, but the gear being so gangly meant a strong union between airframe and gear is essential! The flaps were then added to their runners, again using Epoxy, and set in a jig to harden off and voila, everything is now rock solid and nicely in situ: I've been procrastinating with this project because the only major construction work left is the cockpit interior, which I absolute hate making. It seems I'm going to have to make a start and get on with it, especially as my aim is to get this finished in time for this year's Telford show, so I think I'm just going to have to dive on in there... Until next time, Tom Model_Monkey, scvrobeson, JayW and 35 others 37 1
geedubelyer Posted March 9 Posted March 9 Nice progress Tom. The future is CAD design and 3D printing. Once you've mastered that black art you'll never be stressed by creating a cockpit again. JayW, dennismcc and Philbucknall 3
scvrobeson Posted March 9 Posted March 9 Really happy to see this one back Tom. Another one of your monster builds. Matt
Paulpk Posted March 12 Posted March 12 Such a clean incredible build…old school! Congratulations on getting this far, you are almost there.
tomprobert Posted March 14 Author Posted March 14 On 3/9/2025 at 6:04 PM, geedubelyer said: Nice progress Tom. The future is CAD design and 3D printing. Once you've mastered that black art you'll never be stressed by creating a cockpit again. I know... I know... I have considered getting into it but I do enjoy the 'old school' approach to scratch building. For stuff like cockpit interiors it would be very beneficial, however, as making everything the old fashioned way is really time consuming and not something I particularly like... On 3/9/2025 at 6:16 PM, Derek B said: Some serious real-estate on those flaps Tom; great work! Derek They are indeed huge - each one is not far off a Spitfire wing in terms of area! On 3/9/2025 at 6:49 PM, scvrobeson said: Really happy to see this one back Tom. Another one of your monster builds. Matt Thanks, Matt - appreciated. On 3/9/2025 at 7:14 PM, dennismcc said: Fantastic, modelling at another level. Cheers Dennis I wouldn't go that far, Dennis, but thank you! On 3/12/2025 at 12:09 PM, Paulpk said: Such a clean incredible build…old school! Congratulations on getting this far, you are almost there. Yeah... just the hurdle of the cockpit and it'll be on the home straight. On 3/12/2025 at 2:38 PM, JayW said: And the Stirling starts up again! What an amazing project Tom! On 3/12/2025 at 5:11 PM, Troy Molitor said: Great to see this beast back in rotation Tom. 1 hour ago, Oldbaldguy said: Every one of your posts is like Christmas morning. Very kind, gentlemen - I'm chipping away at the flightdeck details so another update soon... Tom Derek B, geedubelyer, Philbucknall and 3 others 5 1
tomprobert Posted April 2 Author Posted April 2 My pet hate is making cockpits but I’ve made a start… all from plastic card and Evergreen: Still lots to do, so more when there’s more… Tom TankBuster, easixpedro, Troy Molitor and 31 others 32 2
Philbucknall Posted April 3 Posted April 3 @tomprobert Considering you hate doing cockpits - you don't half smash it outta the park when you do one. I believe there's a famous beer advert that could be applied here. Carlsberg don't do cockpits...but if they did. tomprobert 1
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