Airfix 1:72 Tiger Moth (G-ACDC)

Airfix 1:72 Tiger Moth (G-ACDC)

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sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Hi all, my next model is the crimson Tiger Moth from Headcorn Aerodrome. I've got Vallejo 70.908 Carmine Red for the fuselage that I think will look good when finished with a gloss glaze but not sure what to use for the wings as photos don't show metallic shades well. Airfix's colour callout just says 'Silver', but there's a lot of different silvers out there and daubing on Humbrol's silver custard doesn't appeal. I was wondering if anyone had seen the aircraft; is it a really hard metallic, or more of a gloss/pearl grey?

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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I've not seen that particular aircraft, but most silver Tiger Moths I've seen are what I'd describe as the "high speed silver" commonly seen on many older RAF aircraft.

Be careful which silver you use - most have large grain sizes which look terrible at small scales. I use Vallejo Air Aluminium or silver, which has the finest grain I can find without resorting to the lottery of Alclad II lacquers. Even the Vallejo Model Colour (as opposed to Model Air) Aluminium has a slightly more speckled appearance. A coat of matt varnish reduces the grain further.

There's a BM thread I started on it here in case you want to see examples:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topi...

Eric Mc

121,769 posts

264 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Good luck with the rigging smile

perdu

4,884 posts

198 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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That BM thread has been very useful doc

The conclusions noted and due to be acted on, cheers

4321go

638 posts

186 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Don't know if these are any help? A younger version of me, twenty years ago. Gosh!!! (I had eight or nine hundred hours back then. Now, I'm pushing twelve thousand!)







The colour scheme is that of the De Haviland Flying School, her original operator. She was the third civilian Tigermoth built (as opposed to the DH 82a, the military trainer). Think oxidised (rather than polished) aluminium. Much more grey than the RAF training scheme silver. We've just had our Chippie repainted in the latter:


4321go

638 posts

186 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Oh! And for what it's worth, eighteen years later, the "Jez" who took the second photo (and declared that I resemble Toad) has just relinquished command of II (AC) Squadron (Tornados). Git!

sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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Thanks for the feedback - I'll get some Aluminium for trials along with the various silvers I've already got and see which looks better. Might even try a light grey with the pearl medium I found in the back of the drawer.

Already managed to break a strut just pulling the sprues out of the pack. frown

As my sprue stretching skills are pretty poor, I got some 0.4mm elasticated thread for the rigging; should be feasible with some cyano glue and a lot of patience. If I type up the final reveal with my toes, you'll know the plane is still wrapped around my fingers.

4321go

638 posts

186 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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I don't know if it's a possibility in 1/72nd (I last made an Airfix Tiger in yellow plastic, aged four in early 1975!) but the interplane rigging is aerodynamically streamlined (flat!) wire about 1/2" in depth, painted the same Crimson as the fuselage. I think it's discernable in one of those snaps. Don't know how you'd replicate it (although I'm sure that dr-gn would find a way!!).

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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You can get photo-etch RAF flat rigging wire, but I think that 1:32 scale, or 1:48 at the smallest, is probably the limit. I've heard it's incredibly difficult to get it aligned correctly even at 1:32, which is why I used EZLine on my WnW SE5a.

I built the new Airfix Gladiator a while ago, and used EZLine on that too. The technique I used (which is very simple) is described in post #3 here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topi...

Someone did mention that EZline is degraded by u.v. light over a few years of exposure, but there you go. That's probably its only downside.

Incidentaly, that model illustrates quite well how not to get a decent finish in silver on a small model. That was done in Alclad. If I was doing it again, I'd definitely use Vallejo Air paints.

4321go

638 posts

186 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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Told you so ;-) ;-) ;-)

And in one of those very small world events, the Mystère in the background was actually in the Torygraph yesterday. Apparently it, and the Hun beside it that you can't see, are owned by the USAF museum. They're both derelict now, the Hum especially so as it was crashed into (fatally) by a parachute dropping aeroplane, and can't be approached because of a fear of pyros/live shells/radiation (yes, really!!). There's been an ongoing argument between the Lashenden museum and the USAF about what to do with them and it now seems that they'll finally be going back stateside. Hadn't thought of them in years, then this!

sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
@4321go: Is that the same oxidised aluminium as G-ANRX (at the de Havilland Museum)?

I ask as the museum is reachable for a day trip.

Off-topic, but where's the Chipmunk hiding?

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
sad61t said:
@4321go: Is that the same oxidised aluminium as G-ANRX (at the de Havilland Museum)?

I ask as the museum is reachable for a day trip.

Off-topic, but where's the Chipmunk hiding?
If you're looking for absolute authenticity in your model (i.e. paint matches), you might find that there are bigger issues with the Airfix kit: Others disagree, but to my eyes it doesn't look right in the area of the forward fuselage/nose. As built without modification, the slope of the top of the engine cover looks too steep, and is stepped rather than having an unbroken line (TBH I don't usually notice geometrical errors in kits unless they are obvious).

I did ask about this on Britmodeller. If you look at post #14 here, you'll see what I mean:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topi...

Interesting thread...people disagreeing with me about the fact that the kit is flawed, yet simultaneously offering solutions to the - fairly obvious - issues. I guess different folks see different things in a model?

4321go

638 posts

186 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
And kind of in the same mien......

Don't get hung-up on the exact shades. Cotton is replaced about every ten years, ceconite a little less frequently. The recovered surfaces are then doped and sprayed in "silver". That is: whatever's hanging around. Ours is the "correct" shade, but then you decide how much hardener to add. The more hardener, the glossier the finish, the easier it is to clean and the quicker the airframe can be reassembled. The less is added, the more matt and "authentic" the finish, but it's more delicate, takes much longer to dry and dirties-up more easily. More=silver, less=grey.

The hanger was the home of the now-defunct Phoenix. Ours was sharing the space with a lovely Hurricane, the completion of which delayed the work on ours somewhat! She's now back in the air. We keep her at Thruxton, which is wonderfully handy for me, being about five miles away.

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
4321go said:
And kind of in the same mien......

Don't get hung-up on the exact shades.
Amen to that - so long as you're in the colour ballpark, a good looking model is a good looking model. There are all sorts of things that can affect this: Weathering and 'scale effect' (which can make 1:1 matched colours look too dark at small scales) are just two examples.



sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Tuesday 12th May 2015
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Used Vallejo Model Air Aluminium to spray the wings; here's the base colour laid down:

sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Thursday 14th May 2015
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Fuselage assembled:

I did some detailing in the cockpit, but most of it is hidden as I went with the option for closed doors and pilots. The controls are so low that they would only be seen with the doors in the open position. So if you are thinking of using the Eduard PE kit, then I would recommend opting for open doors.

The decals for the instrument panels are oversize and need the film trimming back, particularly around the edge of the printed area where there's some transparent film. It would be a lot easier to do this before they're wetted.

I assembled the tail-plane ahead of schedule as there's no support and this allowed me to use a thumb-size lump of tack to hold the vertical stabiliser steady. (It sticks down 5mm under the horizontal stabiliser, so can be poked into the tack.) This worked well until I blobbed the glue and put on far too much which has left a very obvious join. frown

sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Friday 12th June 2015
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Quiet on here today, everyone must be at Le Mans.
Here's a vaguely related video of an XK140 and Tiger Moth: https://youtu.be/zIBGPJruNiQ

And a progress pic:


Plan for this weekend is a little more weathering on the fuselage and the bracing wires.

sad61t

Original Poster:

1,100 posts

209 months

Monday 15th June 2015
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Bracing wires not going well. Two hours and one wire fitted.
Hiow do you do this?

I'm using CA glue and plastic thread, dabbing an end in it and holding in place with tweezers. First end goes OK, but trying to get the second end to stay in place, while retaining a vaguely straight 'tensioned' wire is proving too tricky for me. I think I can't hold the thread steady enough, so the bond is weak, and when I let go it just pops off.

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Monday 15th June 2015
quotequote all
sad61t said:
Bracing wires not going well. Two hours and one wire fitted.
Hiow do you do this?

I'm using CA glue and plastic thread, dabbing an end in it and holding in place with tweezers. First end goes OK, but trying to get the second end to stay in place, while retaining a vaguely straight 'tensioned' wire is proving too tricky for me. I think I can't hold the thread steady enough, so the bond is weak, and when I let go it just pops off.
See post #9...but since you've already added the top wing you've made things a lot more difficult.