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DamienB

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About DamienB

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    Canopy Polisher

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    http://www.handmadebymachine.com/shop/
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  • Location
    Northants, UK
  • Interests
    Aviation!

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  1. Well, I kinda lost the mojo on this one as the shape issues became more and more apparent whilst building, so it ended up going back in its box and being forgotten about for nearly 8 years. Until today - finally finished the beast off. New water deflectors scratch built from clear plastic sheet (the kit ones being not even remotely accurate), radio aerial and pitot from metal wire. Decals a mish-mash of good and bad but life has moved on and I'll live with them! From these angles the shape problems don't look too bad but basically the nose is too thin
  2. (late 2011) Finally got time to do some sanding and give the thing a coat of blue paint (Tamiya XF-8 as it was the nearest acrylic blue I could find to the correct RAL 5009 - I think I'll try X4 with a dab of green for the final coat)... unfortunately wearing a 'near enough' shade of blue reveals that there are some shape issues which at this point I'm just going to live with. 11 - the cooling intake is scribed as a panel, and in the wrong place - I've drilled a hole a little further aft, squared it off with a file and will fill the panel line in due course. 12 - shap
  3. A little more progress. Primer, filler, sanding and more primer and sanding... The various gubbins on the back unfortunately all turned out to be incorrectly sized: 6 - rudder. This is too tall, and would extend above the transom deck and below the hull if just stuck on blindly. I cut out a good proportion of the cylindrical bit in the middle, and also lopped a bit off the bottom of the rudder itself. 7 - water brake housing. This is too small, and the housing should extend up higher. I'll fix this later with a chunk of plastic. 8 - stabilising fin. This is too large; I've attempted to
  4. Sorry chaps, life intruded... Back on the workbench... The main parts just fly together, though I found the forward spars very fragile and one snapped while being held in place waiting for the ever-useless superglue to dry. 1 - scrape scrape scrape on the transom top and undersides to better match the shape of the real thing 2 - I wasn't happy with the fairing running along the fin base either so scraped that out of existence - it was a little too small, went too far forward and was wrongly angled with respect to the fuselage/hull 3 - after failing to find any semi-circular section pl
  5. Right, after a few weeks in which work and another Sea Vixen project have taken up all my spare time, a little more progress on this kit... 20 - coaming - made up from thin plastic card superglued in place around the front of the instrument panel with foil and PVA glue making up the majority of the coaming forward of that 21 - you can't see it too well on this photo but I've added various wires to busy up this area 22 - I know I said it was too late, but that vent was just driving me mad. So, I filled it in and smoothed it off, then cut out an appropriately sized hole in the right place
  6. Ordered this the other day from A2Zee and it arrived today. This is a primarily resin kit of Donald Campbell's ill-fated Bluebird K7 in its final configuration as of January 1967. It's a small kit - think how big an Airfix Gnat is - and the resin parts make up the main hull, sponsons, planing shoes, jetpipe and the various gubbins that attach to the rear of the hull (rudder, stabilising fin, water brake), canopy (in clear resin) and a stand. All finely cast with restrained recessed panel lines. The spray deflectors either side of the cockpit are supplied in clear plastic card, and the spons
  7. Bonkers aeroplane, bonkers model! What a monster it was: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/peo...000/8313848.stm
  8. Does the Isle of Wight have a 100% import tax, or are your serving staff ripping you off?! Like Mike I think 150 loaves of bread is certainly a premium price for a 1/72 kit, and Anigrand products certainly haven't been premium quality so far.
  9. Right, I have been building more than snapping so have caught up with a quick photo session! 1 - this fairing covers a tube tapped into the engine's compressor which directs heated air to the windscreen for rain clearance purposes. The length, for the first time on any Sea Vixen kit, is correct, though the shape is a tiny bit off (should be a little bit wider). It's near enough that I'm leaving it. It's also a fragile part and snapped in two when I was cutting it off the sprue - happily just where there is a break on the real thing! 2 - this semi-circular exhaust grille is a fairly good re
  10. Lower fuselage with all the gubbins added. I like the spars for attaching the wings - great idea. And suddenly we have an airframe! ...and a problem. With the intake surround test fitted it is evident that there is a large gap between the surround and the interior (outlined in red). On the real thing there is a gap here too, but it is a very thin slot to divert boundary layer air to the spills on the upper fuselage. Before continuing I need to modify the intake surround with some plastic card to close off most of this gap. For any future build I think I'd modify the intake interior inste
  11. Haven't done any kit building for several months so with the arrival of one of these beasts in time for Christmas I've been busy getting back into the swing of things. I don't have the time or inclination to go into any super detailing so I've chosen wings spread, hook and airbrake retracted, and will probably do flaps retracted too. Just aiming to correct any obvious errors enroute rather than try and produce something that is totally spot-on! Overall I'm really impressed with the kit, I think it's up there with the 1/48 Lightnings in most areas. Starting with the cockpit, which is a good r
  12. Yes Bun, got it, building it. I've got a thread over on another forum, I'll stick it up here too. Here you go: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....howtopic=223072
  13. The 1/48 Airfix offering is superb. Just buy it. Some minor flaws but basically fits together well and is nice and accurate. In 1/72 the Xtrakit/MPM kit only looks good in the box. Fit is horrible, nose is all wrong, resin is pointless (ejector seats far too small for instance), it's a real dog's breakfast. The High Planes kit is the same amount of work but much more accurate.
  14. The Franks book is excellent and well worth getting hold of. However, the best Sea Vixen book by far is Tony Buttler's huge tome, available from Air Britain. https://www.air-britain.co.uk/actbooks/acat...New_Books_.html
  15. Actual box contents... http://nmpnis.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/soko-g-2-galeb/
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