Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Sorry for my absence, I've been crazy busy lately and my 12 year old Windows Vista model shop confuser decided to release its smoke, which didn't help matters. The good news is that I am building a new machine that will be 1000 times better.
Looks like lots has been happening here and I've got some catching up to do. :doh:

 

After watching the videos and reading comments about how difficult it is getting the nose to properly mate I decided to have a look. The nose didn't fit great when empty, but not nearly as bad as when stuffed.
The single cockpit part seemed to slide in nicely by itself. It's when I started fitting the gear bay parts that things got bad. After lots of trial and error I got things to fit without bulging the nose section.

First thing was getting the nose gear floor to sit flat on the bottom of the cockpit tub. This required shaving down the two raised ribs as shown. Next I filed and block sanded the round bosses relatively flat  until the floor mated properly.

Fitting_1_zpsugbqrtmt.jpg

 

When I tried fitting the bay walls to the floor the rear piece wasn't even close to fitting. I removed a lot of material from the mating area and filed a little off the front until it sat flat on the floor.

Note that the forward bay doesn't sit flat against the floor along the outer edge. This is because the walls overlap the molded in roof detail on the floor piece. Fortunately there is no big gap to be seen when looking inside the bay because removing the overlap would be a huge undertaking.

Fitting_2_zpsychxiwww.jpg

 

Next I began test fitting each of the walls of the forward bay and trying to slide the assembly into the nose. No joy. I removed a lot of material from each wall part until the assembly fit but was very tight. I then taped together the entire assembly and fine tuned it until it slid into the nose with only a little tension.
The pic below shows the areas I removed more or less material. Note that I beveled all of the edges to reduce the interference.

Fitting_3_zpswhrmd63l.jpg

 

In the end I got the gear bay to fit very nicely and the whole cockpit/gear bay assembly to slide in with minimal interference. I haven't tried adding any of the additional cockpit parts so don't know if they will add further problems, but would advise test fitting before committing, just to be sure.


I've started but not finished test fitting and making adjustments to the nose fuselage attachment area. I'll post an update if/when I can get it to fit properly. I still need to post about the hip fix but am debating whether to just use drawings and words or to actually cut and putty plastic. Time...:bandhead2:

 

:cheers:

Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Sio said:

Zactoman, I don't know him! I just know the one developing OV-10 and the one sold our design to some other manufacturer without our authorization.

Can you elaborate on this? Terry (and the HazMAT team) developed the Bronco but what design of yours was sold and to who?

 

Quote

Also, LAU-3 and LAU-68 rocket pods in our ordnance set.

AFAIK these were developed entirely by HazMAT for the Bronco kit. http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/296183-148-ov-10a-bronco/&do=findComment&comment=2859169

Bronco_36_sm_zpsewahfcrk.jpg

Bronco_37_sm_zpsciy8960o.jpg

My involvement was in research and CAD validation. I received the initial CAD drawings and suggested some improvements that were made.


Did AMK get permission from HazMAT to use these parts in your ordinance set?

I have assumed that Terry gave you permission but now I am wondering. I haven't communicated with him since quitting HazMAT almost 2 years ago.

 

:cheers:

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Zactoman said:

Sorry for my absence, I've been crazy busy lately and my 12 year old Windows Vista model shop confuser decided to release its smoke, which didn't help matters. The good news is that I am building a new machine that will be 1000 times better.
Looks like lots has been happening here and I've got some catching up to do. :doh:

 

After watching the videos and reading comments about how difficult it is getting the nose to properly mate I decided to have a look. The nose didn't fit great when empty, but not nearly as bad as when stuffed.
The single cockpit part seemed to slide in nicely by itself. It's when I started fitting the gear bay parts that things got bad. After lots of trial and error I got things to fit without bulging the nose section.

First thing was getting the nose gear floor to sit flat on the bottom of the cockpit tub. This required shaving down the two raised ribs as shown. Next I filed and block sanded the round bosses relatively flat  until the floor mated properly.

Fitting_1_zpsugbqrtmt.jpg

 

When I tried fitting the bay walls to the floor the rear piece wasn't even close to fitting. I removed a lot of material from the mating area and filed a little off the front until it sat flat on the floor.

Note that the forward bay doesn't sit flat against the floor along the outer edge. This is because the walls overlap the molded in roof detail on the floor piece. Fortunately there is no big gap to be seen when looking inside the bay because removing the overlap would be a huge undertaking.

Fitting_2_zpsychxiwww.jpg

 

Next I began test fitting each of the walls of the forward bay and trying to slide the assembly into the nose. No joy. I removed a lot of material from each wall part until the assembly fit but was very tight. I then taped together the entire assembly and fine tuned it until it slid into the nose with only a little tension.
The pic below shows the areas I removed more or less material. Note that I beveled all of the edges to reduce the interference.

Fitting_3_zpswhrmd63l.jpg

 

In the end I got the gear bay to fit very nicely and the whole cockpit/gear bay assembly to slide in with minimal interference. I haven't tried adding any of the additional cockpit parts so don't know if they will add further problems, but would advise test fitting before committing, just to be sure.


I've started but not finished test fitting and making adjustments to the nose fuselage attachment area. I'll post an update if/when I can get it to fit properly. I still need to post about the hip fix but am debating whether to just use drawings and words or to actually cut and putty plastic. Time...:bandhead2:

 

:cheers:

Thanks very much for some really useful information I can refer to when building. 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, Sio said:

Hi, Mark,

 

Thank you for your support!

 

I never said, our kits are without mistakes. We could be making mistakes as everyone does.

 

Hi Sio,

This is good to hear, that your kits are not without mistakes, but you need to admit to the problems with the F-14 kit.

 

7 hours ago, Sio said:

Sure, we are not designing only with pictures, but also drawings. Drawings, I know big T has license from Grumman, but any one can confirm they had drawings from Grumman? and even the drawings from Grumman are exactly the same the real F-14? I had been saying a thousand times in public, big T is a company I respect very much and I had been learning a lot from them. I don't want to compare with them. We were just trying to show some ideas in our design.

 

Yes, drawings are a two edge sword and unless you know the provenance of the drawings, you could be compounding errors. As far as the drawings that Grumman ostensibly provided to Tamiya. We can only take it on trust that they had such drawings. I can see no reason that Tamiya would lie about such things. As to the accuracy of the drawings provided by Grumman, again I take it on trust that Tamiya would not go through all the trouble of getting these drawings if they were not accurate. Now, I don't understand what you mean by "We were just trying to show some ideas in our design." If you mean ideas regarding the way the kit is constructed and how details were added, then that is laudable. If you are indicating that you changed details of the design, perhaps using some creative license in the details, well, I certainly hope not. But that wouldn't make sense, so I doubt that is what you mean.

 

7 hours ago, Sio said:

Zactoman, I don't know him! I just know the one developing OV-10 and the one sold our design to some other manufacturer without our authorization. Also, LAU-3 and LAU-68 rocket pods in our ordnance set.

 

Zactoman is a well known and respected member of the modeling community and an aftermarket parts maker of extraordinary talent. I find it curious that you would claim not to know him but in the same paragraph accuse him of stealing your designs. If there is some history between you and him, it would be best to take it offline. Airing this type of stuff in an open forum is entirely inappropriate, IMHO.

Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, delide said:

Sorry I meant more cautiously optimistic about the sale, LM is no more the only dealer that dropped AMK, I live in Germany, from what I've seen the major dealers here dropped the  brand totally too, so for example I can not buy their Mig-31 kit from the dealer I brought the kit before, or ANY AMK product for that matter. So if one dealer would have the F-14 kit, he would sell it very quickly because he would basically have the market all for himself. This is just my observation, I do not totally understand why this is happening, the situation could be similar elsewhere, it's probably AMK business tactics or whatever, but I would thought that it would rather hurt their sales

 

So did the italian distributor few years ago.

So did the french distributor last month.

The former explained why, in a nutshell they tried to pull an Indiegogo with him too, and of course, if customers themselves see the flaw, pro would see easier.

Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, Zactoman said:

Can you elaborate on this? Terry (and the HazMAT team) developed the Bronco but what design of yours was sold and to who?

 

AFAIK these were developed entirely by HazMAT for the Bronco kit. http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/296183-148-ov-10a-bronco/&do=findComment&comment=2859169

Bronco_36_sm_zpsewahfcrk.jpg

 

My involvement was in research and CAD validation. I received the initial CAD drawings and suggested some improvements that were made.


Did AMK get permission from HazMAT to use these parts in your ordinance set?

I have assumed that Terry gave you permission but now I am wondering. I haven't communicated with him since quitting HazMAT almost 2 years ago.

 

:cheers:

 

The LAU-68's in the AMK set are wrong anyway as they're over a scale foot too short. If they did in fact use the CAD info above, those are wrong as well. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Dave Roof said:

 

The LAU-68's in the AMK set are wrong anyway as they're over a scale foot too short. If they did in fact use the CAD info above, those are wrong as well. 

There you go bashing AMK again! Geesh Dave.

 

Sorry, couldn't resist. Just messing with ya! :cheers:

Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, madmanrick said:

 Gee, I find THAT hard to believe.

 

That's quite understandable, Ricky, as my manners just come to prove how much of a nice guy I am. Everybody will tell you so.

 

15 hours ago, punder said:

If I got this mad every time a product I bought didn't live up to the vendor's hype... I'd be off the grid by now, living in the woods and writing creepy manifestos.  😱

 

Point taken, but if so, please tell me how many or what other manfacturers have ever sworn to you how accurate their future release was going to be that the kit would come with working heat-seeking missiles in 1/48 scale that you just HAD to commit in a pre-order scam and all of the lame drama which ensued after reality finally hit home to you...?

See, that's why you're not off the grid, living in the boondocks and writing creepy manifestos, I'm sure.

Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, Sio said:

 

Hi, Mark,

 

Thank you for your support!

 

I never said, our kits are without mistakes. We could be making mistakes as everyone does. Sure, we are not designing only with pictures, but also drawings. Drawings, I know big T has license from Grumman, but any one can confirm they had drawings from Grumman? and even the drawings from Grumman are exactly the same the real F-14? I had been saying a thousand times in public, big T is a company I respect very much and I had been learning a lot from them. I don't want to compare with them. We were just trying to show some ideas in our design.

 

Zactoman, I don't know him! I just know the one developing OV-10 and the one sold our design to some other manufacturer without our authorization. Also, LAU-3 and LAU-68 rocket pods in our ordnance set.

 

Cheers!

 

Sio

 

 

Haha.. Now, things in this topic make more sense. 😄 

Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Dave Roof said:

 

The LAU-68's in the AMK set are wrong anyway as they're over a scale foot too short. If they did in fact use the CAD info above, those are wrong as well. 

 

Maybe, but those weapon set is full of the best plastic bombs and missiles I have ever seen. Only Eduard's, maybe some Advanced Modeling weapons are better then AMK's ones.I am not big fan of their F-14D, but they made absolutely perfect looking weapons for many modern jets and that is a fact.

Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, Mstor said:

Zactoman is a well known and respected member of the modeling community and an aftermarket parts maker of extraordinary talent. I find it curious that you would claim not to know him but in the same paragraph accuse him of stealing your designs. If there is some history between you and him, it would be best to take it offline. Airing this type of stuff in an open forum is entirely inappropriate, IMHO.

 

I fully agree. And I find it curious, AMK always announced their kits years in advance: Mig-25, SuE, F-106, F-104... yet the allegedly stole design is for the OV-10, which was never announced  by AMK? Either I understand it wrong or there is a welcomed change of strategy going on?

Edited by delide
Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Solo said:

 

Maybe, but those weapon set is full of the best plastic bombs and missiles I have ever seen. Only Eduard's, maybe some Advanced Modeling weapons are better then AMK's ones.I am not big fan of their F-14D, but they made absolutely perfect looking weapons for many modern jets and that is a fact.

I would disagree.

 

The end of the Mk 82's doesn't look right to my Mk 1 Mod 0 eyeball, the other stuff looks ok.

 

Of course everyone know about the TARPS Pod issue but here's a new one, the nose of the pod looks off also, the top sloops down too much IMO.

 

But what do I know, I only stayed in a Holiday Express a few times...………………………….

Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, shion said:

 

So did the italian distributor few years ago.

So did the french distributor last month.

The former explained why, in a nutshell they tried to pull an Indiegogo with him too, and of course, if customers themselves see the flaw, pro would see easier.

Thanks, I see. I will not further comment, except the fact that more has gone wrong than I knew.

 

I think it doesn't matter whether people care about this kit's issues or not, international distributors dropping the AMK brand totally is a bigger issue I'd guess, I for one simply can not buy any AMK product from my trusted shops, even if I wanted to, and I don't normally want to import myself, so I pass. Anyway, the way I see is that the issues go way beyond this kit itself, if the sale of AMK's kits hurts, people shall not blame it on the negative reactions from some of us modellers on the forum(it's not undeserved IMO, some will disagree strongly, but that is fine by me).

Edited by delide
Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, madmanrick said:

Wow, just when I thought this dumpster fire of a thread couldn't get any worse...

 

 

As an Ordnanceman, I was beginning to feel bad for the ordnance in the set......it needed some hate/love too!

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, GW8345 said:

I would disagree.

 

The end of the Mk 82's doesn't look right to my Mk 1 Mod 0 eyeball, the other stuff looks ok.

 

Of course everyone know about the TARPS Pod issue but here's a new one, the nose of the pod looks off also, the top sloops down too much IMO.

 

But what do I know, I only stayed in a Holiday Express a few times...………………………….

 

 

There are three issues with the Mk-82's that throw them off. Each one by itself isn't too bad, but all together really does them in.

 

The nose should be 4.75 inch in diameter, but scales out to 6 inches. The bomb body is a constant curve throughout its length and the fin is 3 scale inches too short. 

 

For what it's worth, I never take calipers or a scale ruler to ordnance or kits unless something "sticks" out and I'm trying to identify what "it" is. In the case of the Mk-82 and LAU-68, they just didn't look right, so I checked and that is what I found to be the issue. For the LAU-68, it should be 60 inches long (+/-), but scales out to 45 inches.

 

There may in fact be scale issues with the rest of the ordnance, but I am not inclined to check (or care to check) because they "look" right.

Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, Hubbie Marsten said:

 

That's quite understandable, Ricky, as my manners just come to prove how much of a nice guy I am. Everybody will tell you so.

 

 

Point taken, but if so, please tell me how many or what other manfacturers have ever sworn to you how accurate their future release was going to be that the kit would come with working heat-seeking missiles in 1/48 scale that you just HAD to commit in a pre-order scam and all of the lame drama which ensued after reality finally hit home to you...?

See, that's why you're not off the grid, living in the boondocks and writing creepy manifestos, I'm sure.

Oh come on, this crap needs to get real. Publicly naming someone a scammer is a serious accusation. There is no scam. From what it sounds like, it was just a funding/marketing plan gone wrong at a company that's working with a very small staff, a limited budget and too little time. Happens every day, in every industry, and it doesn't make business people criminals. Neither does misinterpreting a complex curved area on an aircraft the designer probably can't afford to examine and measure personally.

 

Full disclosure, I know Martin and can guarantee you he would never try to take advantage of anyone. I also have talked to Sio and, in my opinion, some of the problems come down to nuances of language. He can come off a little harsh at times. But he is not a scammer, and if he was, Martin would not be working with him. He is also a heck of a designer as proven by AMK's previous kits.

 

Just my opinion. You can of course just assume I'm biased or naive or lying or whatever, and move on. Enjoy your modeling.

 

Edit, thanks madmanrick! Ha.

Edited by punder
Link to post
Share on other sites
19 minutes ago, punder said:

From what it sounds like, it was just a funding/marketing plan gone wrong at a company that's working with a very small staff, a limited budget and too little time. Happens every day, in every industry, and it doesn't make business people criminals. Neither does misinterpreting a complex curved area on an aircraft the designer probably can't afford to examine and measure personally.

 

OH MY GOD...! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

21 minutes ago, punder said:

Enjoy your modeling.

 

I certainly am! Right now I'm converting the HIGHLY ACCURATE Airfix 1/48 Hawker Hunter F.6 kit into a two-seat T.7 version, using the excellent Aerocraft Models conversion set.

Incidentally; Aerocraft is a one-man venture who never asked modellers to commit economically first in order to release this beautiful set. And he released in due time and proper course.  

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, punder said:

Oh come on, this crap needs to get real. Publicly naming someone a scammer is a serious accusation. There is no scam. From what it sounds like, it was just a funding/marketing plan gone wrong at a company that's working with a very small staff, a limited budget and too little time. Happens every day, in every industry, and it doesn't make business people criminals. Neither does misinterpreting a complex curved area on an aircraft the designer probably can't afford to examine and measure personally.

 

Full disclosure, I know Martin and can guarantee you he would never try to take advantage of anyone. I also have talked to Sio and, in my opinion, some of the problems come down to nuances of language. He can come off a little harsh at times. But he is not a scammer, and if he was, Martin would not be working with him. He is also a heck of a designer as proven by AMK's previous kits.

 

Just my opinion. You can of course just assume I'm biased or naive or lying or whatever, and move on. Enjoy your modeling.

 

Edit, thanks madmanrick! Ha.

 

Thank you. Truer words ne'er spoken 🙂
In actual fact we have only tried to be open and active online and with potential customers.
We all make mistakes, maybe I have made more than I should so I will be more careful what I post in future.

I guess I got carried away in my excitement for the project. Live an learn.

Hi by the way Punder 🙂

Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Martin @ AMK Models said:

 

Thank you kindly.

Just to let you know that Italy and France both have distributors still 👍

Hello Martin

 

Who would that be, please? I do not know what happend in Germany but MBK, where I bought my Kfir, does not seem to carry AMK any longer...

 

thanks

Uwe

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...