AIRCRAFT - Concorde/SST Group Build

it's scratch. It's like a "T" shaped piece of plastic card glued onto the 'donut' through which the axle of the front wheel of each leg go.

So, did you scratch-build the anti-FOD device or is there an AM for that?

The kit's undercarriage were a bit on the skinny side for me. I would not normally bother on 'normal' airliners because much opf the leg is hidden under the wing, but Concorde sits pretty high on its wheels, so I replaced them and added a bit of wiring on each side of each leg. But it's not really necessary at that scale. The only major thing missing from the kit's undercarriage are the anti-FOD devices, which are quite visible...

Man, I don't think I could detail mine as much as you did, DJ. But maybe I'll just try.

It's coming along nice, Dwight. I'm hoping to get started on the pinting over the Xmas season... I still have to figure out a few things about my eventual livery though...

I could never get over all of the pics on those links, DJ. Hundreds of 'em there.

Thanks for the links. Looks like you are halfway done with your bird.

Another couple of pics of my build...

First is the work I've done so far to 'detail' the main undercarriage legs. Replaced the compass, added wires and the anti-FOD device. Next pic shows the re-worked cockpit area, with the re-shaped strake and a new Milliput windshield. The windows on the side were filled in. All windows will be replicated with black decals cut to shape.

Some fine pictures in there, Dwight. Thanks! Here's another 1,000+ pictures of Concorde! I haven't been through all of them yet!

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=Aerospatiale-BAC%20Concorde&distinct_entry=true

Other links:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/concorde/pics01.shtml

This page looks familiar:
http://www.vampireparrot.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Concorde

Check this page:

You might find this helpful.

thanks Domi, i asked at my LHS and he said it was £19.99. guess i won't be buying one from him . Greg

Greg, Airfix Concorde sells at £12.99 at Hannants while the Revell is a pound more expensive.

thanks Domi and woody, if i can't locate one over here i'll get in touch with squadron and order one (btw why is a british kit cheaper in the US? £19.99 here $19.99 there. exhange rate at roughly £1 = $1.75. something don't add up right there.....) Greg

Thanks for the pix, Domi! And good luck wrasslin' that Revell kit into shape!

Squadron has Concord kits. http://www.squadron.com/SearchResults.asp?ScaleList=everything&TypeList=1&ManuList=everything&Key=Concord&Submit=Go

Keeping fingers crossed for you, Greg..!

Hi Guys, i still havn't found a concorde so i can't join in (yet) but i'll keep looking plus i have a mate of mine that owns a model shop that'll get me on from the warehouse if they have one. cheers. Greg

Brian - about those pics, I can't find them... Blast! I know there're here somewhere, but you know how it is, when you need something..! Sorry...

Here are a few extra pics to show you what the landing gear should look like, as well as the modified fuselage with the new 'spine'.... From that pic of the landing gear in the French website, you'll notice the extra bit that's before the front wheel of the main landing gear. It must be something to prevent FOD..? It's missing on the Revell kit. There's another FOD device around the front wheels, also missing in the kit...

Dwight, wonderful news..!

Tango, the easy way would be to build it with the supersonic windows up but if you need the nose and the supersonic windows down, and want to ba accurate, I'm afraid what Revell proposes is not very good... The two front windows are angled at about 150 to 160 degrees (or something close to that) from each other. Revell flat panel is definitely wrong... Each of the two windows is not square nor rectangular but has the shape of an irregular pentagon. I'll have pics here later today to show you.

I removed the dorsal 'bump' and replaced it with another one slightly to the left, according to the pics I have. I'm going to replace the strakes on the side of the fuselage near the cockpit too, as they are too thick and are wrong in shape. On the real thing, the front part of each strake has more of a radii, giving it a longer, softer curve. Again, I'll illustrate that later today. I'll also replace the little strakes at the top of the fin, 'cause there're too thick. My major concern now is the exhaust of the Olympus engines as there's simply nothing there! Even with the clamshells of the thrust-reversing units hiding most of the business end of the engines, there's some exhaust nozzle visible...

Revell kit s indeed more work than t seems to be... It looks great in the box but during assembly, I see more and more inaccurate little things that are annoying..!

Yes, indeed great shots of the plane and of its main leg, but there are a couple of bits missing as this was a prototype aircraft. Not certain about that green colour inside the wheel well door either! My pics of operational birds show a dirty looking white inside... I'll post pics of the landing gear later too!

Well, after a long wait look what I got from the shop today.
Finally, I can say "I AM IN".

Can't start on this till I finish my other projects though but at least I am sure that I can join the group build.



Thanks for DJ and MadModelFactory for their generous offers to help me get my kit.

Check out that web address again! It does have detail shots of the wheel wells! Click on domi's link and hit the other links under the main image. There's some great shots there.

Domi,
Thanks for the heads up on filler technique! I'll give it a go on my day off. What you said about the front one piece window got me thinking-I recon it could be possible to split the window into two peices and build a frame around them. I've been asked to finish the model with the nose down for the taxi-way so again, thanks for the info.
I have to hold my hands up and admit that I thought this would be an easy build, oh how wrong I was! I won't have this finished for Christmas!

Also found out something quite annoying with the Revell kit... That 'spine' atop of the fuselage is at the wrong place..! The size seems right, but it should be located onto the left side of the fuselage, at approx one scale width of its present location on the kit... Blast!

Guys, you HAVE to check this...

http://www.concorde-jet.com/photos.php?ref=club_concorde2015

This is the 5th Concorde ever built, F-BTSB, the first production aircraft, that flew for the first time on 6 dec '73. It only flew for 3 years (700-800 hours of flight) before being sent to Toulouse for additional tests, and to become a display at the Airbus factory (not open to the public). In '89 for the celebrations of the bicentennial of the French revolution, it was repainted by the art students of one of Toulouse's universities... It's now back to 'normal' Air France colours..!

About the nose down thingy... Above, I meant that the angle on Revell's instruction is too steep for Taxying. The nose drops down, more so, at take-off and landing.

Thanks for the offer, MMF. I'll keep that in mind.

Again, thanks.

Dwight.

If you need to order special items let me know and also let me know how much it would cost you to order it.

On average many shops here sell Japanese Kits 10~20% below the listed price (printed on the box).
Shops like R10 & HLJ will charge you the printed price, others will char ge usually above the printed price.

J-hulk, Hasegawa kits are a bit pricey here and not many choices, too. For my A/C's, I use Academy, Italeri and Tamiya. Their 1/72 kits costs only about 5 to 8 dollars a piece. Ordering one on a special basis could mean more costs, too.

Tango, don't..! The way I did it seems to be working (can't be 100% certain until after 1st primer coat though!). Make sure the putty you use can be smoothed over with nail polish remover first. Tamiya's is. The one I use too, but it's a German make I get from a Belgian automotive shop).

Apply some putty onto the 'sunken' area, let dry then use a rag and NPR to smooth it over. Work your way from side to side across the axis of the 'sunken' area. You'll get a 'flat' wing without any need of sanding. Sanding would damage all that fine engraving over the wing, in particular the oval engine access points... You'll only need the putty outside the panel line that delimits the 'engine area'... Apply the putty in a line that's just about 1cm wide outside that panel line. The NPR technique will deposit a bit of putty into some of those recesed lines but once dried, use a Q-tip with a little more of NPR to clean them up. Over the 'sunken' area, you'll have to re-engrave with a fine blade. Not too hard.

I've just 'closed up' the wheel wells with plastic card and will 'furnish' the inside with wire and various little bits of plastic. I have good detail shots of the legs, but none of the inside of the wells, so I'll just make do with my imagination... Had been thinking about opening up and deepening the nose wheel well, but I think I'll pass on that one... The doors do not let much room for viewing what's inside anyway.. All wheel well doors could benefit from being thinned down by the way!

I noticed the instructions show you to put the nose down in an angle that's way too large... Pictures show that in the nose down position, the nose is not that low, with the bottom of the nose making an angle of about 5 to 6 degrees with the bottom of the fuselage just behind that area. If you do put the nose down, there's some work needed on the front window of the cockpit. Revell has you to put one piece of transparent plastic but the shape of the window is not right (and there's 2 windows, not just a single one... and they are not on a single flat panel but each on a panel that's angled from the other. I have pics, if you need info on that...) Also, from the pics I have, the inside of the nose under the sliding canopy appears to be painted in a kind of dark sand colour...

Brian - I have, somewhere, pics of 01 aircaft that's preserved at Duxford. I took lots of close-up pics of the wheels, legs, exhaust,.. I'll see if I can find them again...

Hi people,
I have'nt got much lately, but I did notice those sunken bits on the forward part of the wings. Thats going to be a lot of sanding! So on with the polyfiller and out with the rotary sander this weekend!