The Airfix Farewell GB from now until 1st Jan 2007

sidure wrote:

SD, great work on the rigging. One day I have to try it but cant get up the nerve. If you dont mind where did you get that wire and how do you put it on????.

 I got the wire from smallparts.com. So far I used stainless steel, titanium and tungsten - and I haven't rigged more than three planes yet :-). More a matter of taste, steel is bright and shiny, titanium and tungsten are darker, but all three look very nice to me. 0.008" is a bit stiffer and easier to handle, but 0.005" is more in scale. Doesn't make too much difference in the finished model, both look nice in my opinion.

Putting it on is straightforward. Cut it too the right leangth (either by carefully measuring, or by gradually shortening the wire unti it fits (ad occasionally cutting it too much and starting over...:-) )), put a tiny drop of crystal glue into the corners to which it is supposed to connect, and put it into position. Super glue gel works as well, and allows for faster work. If the wire ends on a flat surface, such as control wires. super glue or super glu gel work best, I think.

It's not difficult, but needs some concentration and a steady hand - After a few wires, I need a break... Such as right now - gotta go back and rig aileron controls next :-)

 SD

Thanks for the info Brews. I grew up making them like that and your photo brought back so many memories of when I started building them. (sob,sob,sob).

So, here is the finished Vampire. This was my first GB and I had a blast doing it. I have now turned into a GB aholic. Thanks Osher!!!. The kit was actually a nice build except for the joint at the booms which was a pain. Tons of filler and sanding. I put as much weight as I could cram into the nose but it is still a tail dragger. All paints were Humbrol and the markings were Irish Air Corps from Max Decals. I got a new Digital camera today so was having fun with it as you can see. Thanks to Osher for the idea of a worthy GB and long live Airfix however it manages to survive.

Thanks for looking and all the best with your builds lads.

Steve.

sidure wrote:

Brews,  nice work on the old Stug. I have not seen that packaging since the 70's. Is it that old or do they still make it that way.

It's that old. Unfortunately, they aren't made that way anymore, although I would say that the "blister packs" were my favourite type of packaging - you could see the contents, but they weren't easily crushed. However, this type of packaging provided better, more detailed, instructions rather than generic multi-lingual instructions that became vogue later.

As I mentioned above, the old-style black vinyl for the tracks is far superior to the more recent silver-grey offerings made in Trun, which are less flexible, and not easy to glue together.

Brews,  nice work on the old Stug. I have not seen that packaging since the 70's. Is it that old or do they still make it that way.

SD, great work on the rigging. One day I have to try it but cant get up the nerve. If you dont mind where did you get that wire and how do you put it on????.

On the Vampire front, she is finished tonight, yeaaaah. Just a few touch up silver and red and that's it. I dont have my camera today but will post some photos hopefully tomorrow.

Steve.

jeff wrote:

What color did you decide to paint it?

I haven't really made my mind up about that. I found a 4" nail at work with a knurled head on it that will work nicely for the zimmeritt pattern, though. I'm out of action for November, in Canada at the moment, and then I'll be in the UK. I might paint it in the UK, but we'll see how we go.

It was a fun, satisfying build, and it looks the part. It's a pity it didn't come with a MG, but I can always add a PE one, or a leftover from my Matchbox StuG IV (which is nowhere as nice a kit as this).

 Finally got some rigging on the Avro:

I used 0.005" straight titanium wire. More difficult to handle than my usual 0.008", but a bit more in scale. Also, I avoided superglue - I developed an allergy gainst it, and one afternoon of rigging gives me two days of sneezing. So I used crystal glue instead.Works very nicely, because it gives you time to adjust the position of the wire - but it takes also much longer to harden, and when you have to rig 32 interplane wires, that is a factor.. One wire before breakfast, one wire after breakfast, one before dinner....

No some decals, and then the control wires and the landing gear.

 SD

Brews,

In spite of all the flash, the Stug looks like a fun little weekend build.  Thats one thing I really like about the old Airfix/Heller/whatever kits.  No photoetch toilet seats or one-piece titanium gun barrels to fool with.  And if you do want to add all that stuff, you can produce a really nice representaion with some work. 

What color did you decide to paint it?  From the photo, the decals look horrendous.  Good luck with those!

Thanks guys, at least I am not the only one with painting problems!!! I tried to mask with tape, blue tack and paper, and finally masking fluid, but no joy!!!!!  I will try and do better this time, I have got a couple of hints of some club mates!! I will be offline for 2-3 weeks, as I am upgrading to adsl, about time too!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep on modelling, see you soon!!

Hi Jeff,

I dunno, maybe modellers worldwide have been experiencing an unfavourable astrological conjunction or something... My current SF scratchbuild has, in places, seven coats of paint, and some of that is due to cutting back the final coat with a polishing kit and going through to basecoats. Then there was the saga of the new can of Humbrol satin red that took over 100 hours to dry, and needed recoating anyway (and the twenty-year-old can of gloss red that dried just fine!) and the inevitability of final weathering being used to cover up unevenness in the paintjob... I guess nothing is exactly plain sailing at this time!

Fingers crossed for the Dora!

TB379

Currently building:

1:72 Martian Excursion Vehicle SF Scratchbuild

Tamiya 1:35 Type 74 MBT

Hobbycraft 1:72 F-86E conversion

Zvezda 1:35 T-72 with ERA

Zvezda 1:35 BTR-70

Testor 1:48 F-5A conversion

Airfix 1:72 FW 190 D-9

Geez!  What is it with this group build and paint!  I'm trying to simply spray a coat of future on the E-3s rotodome so I can decal it and can't even get that right.  First try resulted in a nasty run right across the middle of one of the black areas.  I've sprayed it down 3 times with windex trying to remove, but there are still a few shiny spots that won't come off.  I'm going to try another coat of Future and hope it evens everything out.  I REALLY don't want to paint this thing again!

Traveller, osher, keep the faith.  Good luck on the repaints.  Thunderbolt379, welcome to our nightmare!  (Just kidding, ...mostly :-)

Thunderbolt379 wrote:

My Jv 44 Dora-9 will have to wait until December, as I'm going overseas next week and won't be back till the end of the month. The kit should build a breeze and I should have my contribution to our Airfix commemoration done before Christmas

Hi all,

My Jv 44 Dora-9 will have to wait until December, as I'm going overseas next week and won't be back till the end of the month. The kit should build a breeze and I should have my contribution to our Airfix commemoration done before Christmas.

Cheers,

TB379

PS: Any further news on the future of Airfix? Is Revell-Germany still interested?

Thanks Joe,

Actually this little kit is quite nice for its age and came together well, with the exception of the booms(really bad fit). Got my paint today but ran out of time to work on it so maybee later.

Steve.

Steve,

Great looking Vampire there, certainly better than mine.  I will be posting pics tonight.  Sadly, I had to take the pics with my phone camera, misplaced the good one.  The photos are awful of course but the build is just okay.

Nice build Osher, thanks for moderating it.

Wonderful work done here to one and all.

So here are the latest updates on the Vampire. Undercoated and the top coat all Silver is done and now drying from a clear coat before decals go on. I was going to put the dayglow colours on today but found in my research that I have the wrong colour and should be Red not Orange so off to the hobby shop tomorrow. Here is where it is right now.

Getting close to finishing this one.

Steve.

Thanks Karl.  Actually, I'm sending my Iwata back to The Airbush Company, and have them do an 'MOT' on the airbush, replace the snapped head, and generally get the thing working again.

 As for the canopy, well, I painted it freehand.  Now to get a toothpick (so useful to modellers), and clean up were I painted the wrong area.  OK, it's not going to be perfect, but the worst finished model is better than the best unfinished model, no?  I'm also fed-up with this kit, and itching for something easier.  A 1/48 B-52 Vacform from Sanger might be easier than my MiG-15!  I still can't believe that Airfix have been using these old moulds until the end, and marking them as starters kits.  What a way to put kids off modelling!  At least Hobby Boss produce ideal starter kits for kids.

 Still, call me a glutton for punishment, but next up is a 1/72 Lancaster that is a fair way towards completion, but has shattered undercarriage (from when I moved).  Once that little challenge is overcome, need to join the fuselage sides, add in the instrument panels, and freak out over masking off all those windows...At least they're mostly straight sided

Osher, I had exactly the same thing happen with my Badger 100 earlier in the year.

I wedged a small round file into the portion of the head that was jammed into the body, and then just turned it, and out it popped ready for a new head assembly.

Best of luck with the canopy, I always seem to have more than my fair share of hassles with them, the Dora excepted!

Karl 

Hey Osher, hang in there man. I know you will get it sorted out soon enough. When it comes to canopys with no frames just commit to where you think they should be and go from there. Keep at it and you will get it eventually.

On the Vampire side it got its undercoat yesterday and then the silver went on today. So far so good and will let it sit for a day or so before masking for the dayglow colours. Took some photos tonight and hopefully will post some tomorrow.

Steve.

Jeff, Al is spot on about the radome. You must have the patience of a saint!

Karl