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TinkerBell X-1


PietvWdV

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I messed up a bit with preshading the Macchi kit and now I just had to put it down for a bit.

 

The 1/32 Revel X1 has been in my stash for a while, but only in the boring orange scheme. I will see if I can find any other decals for it, as I was hoping to do a Vietnam scheme, or at least a Suez crisis example. This will of course mean I will have to modify the kit in the box, which seems to be some test bird. But I have some leftover 109 cannon gondolas and I think I can do something with them.

 

The X-1 was incredibly fast for it's time, easily outpacing propeller driven planes. That is why no provision was made for rearward visibility, as the plane could not be caught in flight. It was only vulnerable when landing or when exploding.

 

As a rocket powered interceptor type, it was clearly a copy of the German WW2 Me 163 concept, but stylistically more influenced by the mustang (swept wings were too un-american) and the glass sections of the B-29. Like the Superfortres, it was also pressurized, especially out the rear end. It was launched operationally from a bomber, but was also sometimes fitted with a jettisonable sled. This was however later abandoned, as it interfered with the landing gear mechanism.

 

I built the cockpit basically straight from the box, according to the instructions. I added Verlinden seatbelts and some wires. The cockpit fit into the fuselage very well, apart from a tiny gap in the bulkhead which goes away if you ignore it.

 

The fit of this kit is very good, but on the downside it has raised panellines, which need to be re-scribed. I made a hash of the wing scribing, so I sanded everything down and re-did them. I made a hash of the other scribings as well, but I will hide those with paint and clever photography.

 

I also added rivets, because I have Rosie and will use her. But I made them very very slight. In any event, they make my panel-lines look straighter.

 

The seatbelts were, as always, made from paper and painted with boiling coffee. I make half a cup of coffee with about 6 heaped teaspoons of coffee in. After dipping your belts you can use it to wash the cockpit, like I did. You can also drink it afterwards it but I don’t because it makes me walk funny and hurts my face muscles.

 

I would have matted the cockpit, which would have enhanced the leather effect on the chair, but decided not too because I am lazy.

 

As you can see this fighter had no ejection seat, since the fuselage roof is in the way. As you can see I did the headrest in red paint, and the rest of the interior not.

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The hairdryer section I centered using prestick, and the glued in place. It was very popular because deployed marines used it to fry marshmallows. Marshmallow frying was introduced by the pentagon during the Korean war, to cut down on the amount of marines getting sniped on guard duty because the smoked cigarettes. But this did not work out because the fires they used to fry the marshmallows could also be seen at night.

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The white goo on the dial is drying clear glue. When it is dry it will be clear. The cables leading from the panel to the nose lead nowhere, just like UN resolutions. Yes, they are just dummies.

 

Beside the chair, you can see my broomstick. It was made using a Saso Knez Lathe and a toothpick. I improved the shape and size of the pick, as it was slightly over scale out of the packet. I then rubbed it against our gardener, to give it that realistic “used by the help” smudginess .

 

These interceptors were all issued with sawed off broomsticks for self defense of the pilot behind enemy lines. It was not very effective against automatic weapons, but worked well enough against unarmed peasants. A downed pilot once survived for hours by eating such peasants felled with his broomstick.

 

It was also used to beat the control boards with if the rocket would not go. Boeing still today issues airline pilots with broomsticks for the same purpouse.

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I used the opportunity while the fuselage was open to add some ballast, thereby avoiding my traditional method of finishing the entire model, and then ripping it open again, or gluing the front wheel to the ground.

 

My preferred ballast is superglued airgun pellets, as you can see. To achieve this I use superglue to attach airgun pellets to the kit. The pellets themselves are unpainted ( I have added instructions for those who are colourblind), and the come this way straight out of the box (although I have used some of them on targets and dogs) That thus makes this a bonafide multimedia kit in my book.

 

Tune in again for when I attach the fuselage and wings, and begin preshading this warrior. I hope you enjoyed it so far and I welcome all comments and advice.

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Guest LSP_Jay L

:blink: You were just checking to see if I actually look at the pic's eh mate?! :D Nice one!

 

Very interesting choice in subject mate. I must admit, I dont remember anyone having a go at this kit in the last while. Looking really good so far mate. I like the cup of coffee and the seatbelts technique. It is true what every Saffer I have ever met has said, that they have to "adapt, improvise, and overcome" as there is not a plethera of hobby stuff lying around SA.

 

Sad to hear about the pre-shading disaster with the Macchi, but a good call to leave it for a while. Mine is safely boxed up and I will have a go at it again if I can my hands on some more of the etchy bits. Oh and resiny bits as well. I'd like to have a go at grinding the sidewalls back each side and thinning the resin as well.

 

I'm intrigued by the idea of a Vietnam scheme for this model. Also very entertained by the fascinating and little known history surrounding the engines of this plane. If you keep telling everyone secrets like that Piet, you are going to have a knock at your door, and it wont be Winnie and the boys. :lol:

 

Cheers mate,

 

Jay

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Ya kill me Peit.

But the engine hot side is actually a fake - and since it was originally out of styrofoam you should paint it so.

Remember that anything can fly when dropped from a B-29 at 30 000ft - it doesn't need any friggin motor.

Gunmetal styrofoam - I say!

Great job on the rest by the way. I see a lot of Piet and only traces of Revell there.

Keep at it!

Saso

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Started with the layered preshading effort. This will take a few days because you have to wait for paint to dry. I recommend watching movies while you wait for your paint to dry.

If you can’t get any good movies, you can try watching some Hollywood films. If you are not into movies, try some TV. I enjoy BBC, because of it’s entertainment value. The BBC was founded on the principles of fairness and impartiality, just like North Korea was founded on the principles of peace, tolerance and freedom.

 

Personally I enjoy Indian films, but it might just be a faze.

 

I am doing this preshading with white and black and grey. The grey I don’t actually paint, because the plastic is already helpfully cast in grey. Thank the lords Revell had not started their pop-colored casting at that stage, otherwise this kit would have been in Day-Glo orange.

 

Additionally I have finished the wheels and the cannon pods. I have given up on scratching the gunsight because in the canopy there is no room for it. I suppose the combat models had a blown canopy. But I am not going to go through the trouble of learning vac-forming to get one.

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The wings went on well enough, but some grunting and hissing was required. I sealed the joins with superglue and re-rescribed the rescribings. They now look worse than ever, but I have perfected the technique of adding skewed rivet lines to create the optical illusion of straight scribing lines. One of these day’s I’ll start using rulers and stuff for scribing, but for now I use Indian movies to calm my hands and make me scribe straight. The results are very entertaining.

 

Any suggestions yet as to camo scheme? I am trying to find out if there were a navalized version, because I think this kite would look sexy with and arrestor hook. Any profiles would be helpful.

Jay: I am happy that you look at my pictures, but can you identify the picture below your name?

Jens: Thanks for the kind words, but I am still only a demi-god. My reign is only scheduled for three lives down.

 

Saso: Yes, I am aware of the aerodynamic principles of gravity, but they had to fit the X-1 with a firecracker to make it go horizontally as well. One reason was that the place where they dropped him was very far from the runway, and the other reason was that the vertical sound barrier had already been broken in 1943 by a French prisoner dropped from a FW200 at 10,000ft attached to his nation’s ego.

 

Chris : Thanx mate! Yes they did make this kit. I found this one behind another kit at the bottom shelf of an obscure hobby shop secretly owned by Jim Carey, and run by elves. I think this is one of their better kits, made when Revell was still a great company employing talented people and being managed by the Huns.

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Guest LSP_Jay L

Jay: I am happy that you look at my pictures, but can you identify the picture below your name?

 

 

;) beaufighter, and yes I can take a hint! :) I've had alot of rubbish going on but I will get them sorted mate. Promise!

 

Cheers mate,

 

Jay

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Piet,

 

Very good (I am so enjoying this build). There is a little known reference to these aircraft employing gum, chewing, Mk.1 gun sight apperatus in some Vietnam theatres...it may be worth checking out? (it was apparently a very flexible system, and could be incorperated anywhere within the cockpit windscreen environment). Keep watching those Indian films.

 

Cheers

 

Derek

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Piet,

 

Very good (I am so enjoying this build). There is a little known reference to these aircraft employing gum, chewing, Mk.1 gun sight apperatus in some Vietnam theatres...it may be worth checking out? (it was apparently a very flexible system, and could be incorperated anywhere within the cockpit windscreen environment). Keep watching those Indian films.

 

Cheers

 

Derek

Yes, of course! The famous Korean Gum-sight. It was invented by the "Chuck it out" brigade (of which Chuck Yeager was strangely not a member). These guys thought the way to overcome the vastly superior Mig 15 with the cumbersome lumbering Sabre was the remove all the stuff the Pentagon had paid billions developing but was not actually helping the plane fly or fight. This was a substantial amount of gear, and included the horrid radar gunsight (I include a picture of my doorstop). Later all of this useless leftover stuff was put together with sticky tape and superglue and called Mercury 1.

 

This gunsight was heavy and difficult to operate. It broke down frequently and weighed a ton. It was invented by Willian Gates, whose son, continuing in the family's engineering traditions, later became rather rich developing software that worked just like his daddy's gunsight.

 

The Chuck it out brigade replaced this sight with a piece of gum stuck to the windscreen. Hence the name "Gum-sight"

 

The pentagon noticed the deficiency of their gunsight after spending some more billions of commitee mettings and researchers from San Francisco. The solution they came up with in a brilliant stroke of American Logic was to remove the guns from the next generation of fighters.

 

Thank heavens the soviets never actually invaded.

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Ahhh Piet,

 

Your going to start up that whole "Who broke the sound barrier first?" debate again...

 

What a massive chunk of bull hooey that gunsight was...

 

At least our hotstuff Avon Sabres didnt have them :)

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