Xkit Vautour IIA in 1/48th

[4scourge7]

Oh wow, that looks like real intense work, Bosse.

I commend you on your efforts

Cheers, Ian

[Marlin]

Just a quick update today.

I've was kind of interested to see how the seams on the fuselage were.

The Grand Canyon in the nose took a dose of CA, and I could close it a wee bit more.

The main seam over the bombbays wasn't that bad "just" 1-1,5mm miss aligned. (Remember this is a Xkit)

After a few minutes with a sanding stick and the first layer of Tamiya putty it looks like this.

Aft of the aft main landinggearbay the glue had not set at all. So a few brushstrokes with Tenax R7 and some bits of tape will take care of that.

This is my worktable.

It's an IKEA computertable, Mikael wallmounted unfortunally OOB now. You can fold the worksurface upwards to close it fully.

Above is a cabinet with two doors and below is an door thats slides outwards. Obviously intended for a CPU, but IKEAs mincabinets also fits great.

That's it for tonight. I have to get an early start tomorrow so now I'm off to bed to finish off the last chapters in Ken Follets "World without End" A great book.

Thanks for looking and Best regards

Bosse from Sweden

[RKic]

I'm impressed by your tenacity Bosse. That model would be sitting on my shelf, unfinished, for decades.

I like the workspace setup you have. It looks very compact

[Marlin]

I'm impressed by your tenacity Bosse. That model would be sitting on my shelf, unfinished, for decades.

I like the workspace setup you have. It looks very compact

Thanks RKic,

I bought it last year and I would not have started it for another decade, had it not been for this groupbuild.

I did want to build something that you don't see everyday, and I kind of knew that there isn't soo many of us out there crazy enough to build this one.

But it's a great kit to learn on. Especially how to fill seams

The workspace is roughly 60x60cm. Not much for multiple builds. But I manage to have at least two going.

If they were small say like an A-4 maybe there would be room for three at the same time.

But the best thing is that you can close it up fully.

And since I build in the livingroom that's quite handy when you have guests.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden.

[Marlin]

Hi,

Wednesdays update.

Or also known as The Day of Seams.

I found a new (at least to me) sanding material today in the hardware/DIY section of my local supermarket.

It's flexble and feels like a dishrag. But it worked wonders on the seams.

Heres the bombayseam after a few minutes with this "rag"

Todays mission was seamwork on the fuselage. I sanded every seam allround and I was pleased to see that my idea of not removing any flash before gluing the halves together where the right decision.

Before I quit yesterday I dosed all seams with Tenax 7R and that melted the flash-plastic into the seam and the looked a lot better today than they did yesterday.

But I still required a fair amount of Tamiya putty and Mr Surfacer 500 on every seam

As this is drying I'm continuing the work on the left hand engine nacelle and now also the wing.

The fit isn't that bad. Heres the first dryfit.

But I had to sand a lot to get the lower outer part to mate with the upper.

I have to fill some of the seams even here.

But that is a problem for another day.

All in all a good session. But I'm feeling a wee bit bored with all the sanding.

Thanks for looking and welcome back.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[Gene K]

I can't read a word in french, but the pics speek for them selves.

Marlin,

You may want to try this:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...uriia/index.htm

Here's a handy way to get translations with a one button click!

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....mp;hl=translate

Your "story" style is outstanding!

Gene K

[ForestFan]

Hi Bosse,

Just to say that I have enjoyed reading your progress on this kit, it's coming along great! Have a great weekend

Bryn

[VG 33]

I found an article on the net on a French site. This guy has done an excellent work on this kit.

I can't read a word in french, but the pics speek for them selves.

Hi Bosse

Ask me if you want I translate some sentences. Google is not always the right tool to translate as for instance I asked for "graver" it gave me "burn" instead of "engrave"

You are making a good job on this kit. I do prefer using CA glue instead of Tamiya putty for such seams, it's stronger and easier to engrave after.

Patrick

Edited November 22, 2008 by VG 33

[Marlin]

Thanks Guys for your kind remarks.

I hadn't so much time to work on the Vautour this weekend.

But I've glued the lefthand engine nacelle to the upper part of the wing.

Unfortunally the upper seam on the engine nacelle is one of the worst yet.

This is after two layers of putty.

And now i've started on the right hand engine nacelle. It too some sanding to get the engine inlet to sit right.

Maybe I can glue that in later tonight.

That's it for now.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[jeff briner]

For a gap that big I would mix up some plastic "Goop" by dissolving bits of sprue in a bottle with liquid cement. Apply with an artist's putty knife and smooth it out as much as possible. When cured, sand down and finish with some Mr Surfacer.

[Marlin]

For a gap that big I would mix up some plastic "Goop" by dissolving bits of sprue in a bottle with liquid cement. Apply with an artist's putty knife and smooth it out as much as possible. When cured, sand down and finish with some Mr Surfacer.

Thanks for the tip Jeff.

I'll be sure to remember it for the right wing.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[4scourge7]

Nice tip Jeff!

I`m glad to see you`re still winning with the build Bosse :P

Cheers, Ian

[Marlin]

Hi, Time for another update.

I've sanded the putty to form. I'm quite satisfied with the result.

But it's not complete yet, a few spots with Mr Surfacer 500 is still required.

The back of the engine nacelle also required a fair amount of Mr Surfacer.

And when this is drying. I'm continuing with the right hand engine nacelle.

This is the turbineface prior to painting.

So this endeavour continues.

Please visit again for more updates.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[ThunderGrunt]

Bosse, Great work my friend!!!!!

[Marlin]

Bosse, Great work my friend!!!!!

Thanks Thundergrunt.

Bosse from Sweden

[Marlin]

Hi Gang,

It's time for a new update.

I've been doing a lot of work on the the Vautour tonight.

First I started out with the trailing edge of the left hand engine nacelle.

It was kind of rough here so another hit with Mr Surfacer 500 was in order.

The front end wasn't in the same bad kind of order. But a few spot here and there with Mr S500 was needed.

And then the left hand wing is almost finished for mounting to the fuselage.

So what to do?

Yes, You guessed right, the right hand wing.

Since last update I've glued the engine nacelle halfes together, sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded, sanded and sanded again. ;)

Here's a few pic's what's it's looks like mounted with the upper part of the wing.

Now I've put a lot more glue to it to set it too the wing.

You can really see the Great Wall of China here in the HUGE step between the nacelle halfes.

A lot of Tamiya putty were required to get that Chinese Wall out of the way :) .

For the last few days I've been grinding my mind of how to mount the wings to the fuselage.

But today I had a revelation. A thick piece of plasticard. In my stash, I had a piece I bought ages ago, that is 2mm thick.

So I traced out a line/box for the insertion of the said piece on the fuselage and the start drilling it out.

Roughly 50 holes later it looks like this.

And repeat for the other side.

All in all this took me about four hour complete.

A great session I would like to say. If it wasn't soo late and that I had to get up for work tomorrow I would really like to continue working on the Vautour

But that's it for tonight and a pleasent Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there. (Actually I'm having myself an American Turkey Dinner friday night, I'm yeallous of your Holliday so I'm importing IT!, again!!)

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

PS

Please feel absolutly free free to correct my English. I hope that I get my spelling right but... I really want you to correct it.

I work at Nordea Bank here in Sweden and I have to speak english at least a few times a week, but this it THE place for me to practice my english in wrighting, so please do.

And please remember that this particular Swede prefers the Queen's English.

DS

Edited November 27, 2008 by Marlin

[RKic]

Bose, your English is better than that of many native speakers that I know! The only thing I noticed is that you sometimes replace J with Y. I understand that in Scandinavian languages, the j sound is pronounced like a long i, much like the y in English. The J in English sounds much closer to a "g". Nevevrtheless, I wish I could master Swedish, the way you have English. Keep up the good work :(

....language and model.:)

[4scourge7]

You talk better English than me Bosse, just ask anyone in my local pub

You are doing a stunning job with the Vatour, You have more patience than I could ever have and the results are superb, great work

Cheers, Ian

[Marlin]

Thanks Guys for the peptalk on my English.

And now for a quick update.

You all should know the procedure by now.

It's about sanding, sanding and puttying and more sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding and then repeat.......

But I did managed to glue the lower righthand wing to the upper.

And since pics with more blobs of Mr Surface isn't that interesting I did start to, Yes you guess right.

Sand the droptanks to form!!.

I've acutally had to start with 180 grit paper on these. :blink:

I've glued one of the stabilizer wing to it. Even them one has to sand !

Thankfully I have a sanatiy project going on at the same time.

Hasegawa F-4 E Kurnass Yom Kippur style.

This is after the last of the green coat.

It was far to gone before the start of this GB, so I've kind of sidelined it for now, but when I need a sanity check I bring out.

It's going to be from The Orange Tail Sqn and armed with Mk117 X 10, one AIM-9D and an ALQ-87 pod and outer wingtanks.

That's it for now.

Now I'm off to have some (more ) Glögg ( moulded wine/glühwine) and some pepparkaka (gingerbread) with my wife.

Tomorrow we celebrate the 1st of Advent here in Sweden.

Soo cheers everyone out there, Christmas is Coming.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[Marlin]

Hi and Welcome to the 1st of Advent Update.

Since it's Sunday, I could get in quite a few hours on the Vautour today.

I started out with the droptanks.

Just adding a wing at a time.

As the glue were drying on the droptanks. I continued on the right hand wing.

As you can see, I hade to use plasticard strips to fill nearly all seams.

Now both the droptanks and the right wing is drying.

I started on mounting the left wing to the fuselage.

I had to add two strips of plasticard to the "wingbox" to get it up to hight with the inside of the upper wing half.

Then I added a hefty amount of CA gel glue to all surfaces where the wing meets the fuselage.

I put a clamp to it,

and waited half an hour before removing the clamp. I did manage to glue my thumb to the wing

I then started on the same buildup of the "wingbox" on the righthand side.

By now the CA had set on the left side. So I dosed all seams again with CA to get a strong and solid bond.

And here I've put the right wing to the fuselage, just to see things to come.

The wing to fuselage seam on the left wing was also dosed with lightflowing CA glue on the upper side.

If I can keep up this speed up, I reckon I can begin painting in about a fortnight.

It's still a lot of seamwork that needs to be done. And of course I have to glue in the remaing part of the lower wings.

But I think that mouting the wings this way is one of the better approches. I was orignally planing of mounting the wing prior to closing the fuselage.

But I trashed that idea when all the sanding began.

I would like to rate this the best session yet with the Vautour.

Now I'm off to finish of the bottle of Glögg from yesterday. It's still the 1st of Advent you know :o .

Thanks for watching and Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[Marlin]

Hi again, and welcome back.

This is more and more coming to be a daily update.

I've managed to get some work done tonight.

I really wanted the Vautour to have its wings.

For some kind of reason I had to build up more with plasticard on the right "wingbox" than on the left.

After that I had to sand quite a lot on the but end of the wing and on the fuselage to get a close fit.

So back to the familiar routine of sanding, sanding, sanding and more sanding.

My trusty four-sided nailpolisher is all worn out now. :)

And then I could mount the right wing to the fuselage.

As yesterday, I did manage to get some CA on my finger again and, Yes I did glue a finger to the fuselage this time also

I wonder why it's soo hard not to get sticky finger when glueing large pieces with CA?

After the wingjoint had set I dosed the underside of the "wingbox" with a large amount of CA gel, and the upper side with light flowing CA.

I did have a bit of miss alignment on the upper side, so I brushed light flowing CA on that rigde until it was gone.

After that, The Vautour has its wings !

I then proceeded with the tailplanes. These also had that orangepeel texture that the fuselage had.

So out with the sandpaper once more. Start with 400 proceed with 600, 1200, 1500 and finally 2000. After about 15 minutes of sanding the left tailplane looked like a brand new Tamiya piece.

The one not on the sprue is the polished one.

The tailplanes are a two-piece structure. The "thing" between the tailplane and the fin also had to be sanded. It's made with some weird kind of plastic with a very peebly surface.

So some sanding with a 400-grit sanding paper was in order. They also has to be thinned down a bit since they way to rough.

That's all that I managed to do to night.

Not so much progress but, The Vautour has its wings now !

Thanks for looking and Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[Marlin]

Hi, Today's my wifes birthday so I'll be very quick here since she's on the phone right now.

I've painted the turbine faces with duraluminium paint.

After that I put one of the two remaining parts of the lower part of the wing to the upper.

As usual a lot of sanding, sanding and more sanding was required here as well.

More in the next update. Now it's best for me to get back to the Birthdaygirl.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

Edited December 3, 2008 by Marlin

[4scourge7]

I know that I`ve said it before, but that is an incredible amount of work you`re having there Bosse, but all worth it!

We can really get a sense of how it`s coming together, it is going to be an imposing beastie in 48th scale.

Keep it up Bosse :D

Cheers, Ian

[Marlin]

Hi, Here's an apetizer on what I'm doing tonight.

I've closed the underside of the wings now.

I had to close the gap on the fuselage side with some plasticard strips.

And I've put the wingfences on.

Now the glue has to set for a little while.

So here's a size comparison pic for you.

The Vautour is as large as The Phantom II

That's it for now, but I start painting the enginepods later this evening.

Soo there will be another update around midnight.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[Marlin]

Hi I'm back again as promised.

I had more sanding left to do than I anticipated.

So I've only had time to paint the engines with interior green.

And after that some natural steel.

Now on to the intakes and exhausts.

Thanks for looking and welcome back

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden