Christmas Group Build?

[dr_gn]

Anyone fancy having a go at building a kit over the holidays? I’ve almost completely lost motivation for modelling, but have a huge stash which has grown once again recently.

So I’m going to have a go at this:





With some trepidation (given the ongoing Airfix Vulcan disaster) I’ll be making a start this evening, aiming to complete it by the time the holidays are over.

Anyone else in? Just thinking if there’s a thread with other folks contributing, motivation might be increased by actually seeing a completed model. Either way - Happy holidays all.

[Volant]

I have this in my stash, and would like to build - could pause my other builds.

However between work and family, absolutely no chance of any modelling until the new year.

I will watch and see how you get on though!

[dr_gn]

Volant said:

I have this in my stash, and would like to build - could pause my other builds.

However between work and family, absolutely no chance of any modelling until the new year.

I will watch and see how you get on though!

Fine by me!

[Eric Mc]

Would love to get involved but model building is always out for me between mid November and the beginning of February.

[robemcdonald]

I’ve been a pretty good boy this year.
I have one of these:

And one of these:

On my Christmas list

I’ll build whichever looks easiest (tamiya obs)

Can’t start till the big man has visited though

[CanAm]

dr_gn said:

Anyone fancy having a go at building a kit over the holidays? I’ve almost completely lost motivation for modelling, but have a huge stash which has grown once again recently.
>
>

Anyone else in? Just thinking if there’s a thread with other folks contributing, motivation might be increased by actually seeing a completed model. Either way - Happy holidays all.

Let's hope Airfix quality control is up to scratch this time.

[gruffgriff]

Great idea....but I have too many projects paused waiting for progress during this holiday......so yes, great time to pick up another!
I'll join in spirit and for fun but not competitive scrutiny.
Has the starting pistol sounded?

[dr_gn]

gruffgriff said:

Great idea....but I have too many projects paused waiting for progress during this holiday......so yes, great time to pick up another!
I'll join in spirit and for fun but not competitive scrutiny.
Has the starting pistol sounded?

Wasn’t meant to be competitive, just a way of reducing stash when most folks have time off. So go for it.

[dr_gn]

robemcdonald said:

I’ve been a pretty good boy this year.
I have one of these:

And one of these:

On my Christmas list

I’ll build whichever looks easiest (tamiya obs)

Can’t start till the big man has visited though

Yep - definitely the F-35!

[dr_gn]

CanAm said:

dr_gn said:

Anyone fancy having a go at building a kit over the holidays? I’ve almost completely lost motivation for modelling, but have a huge stash which has grown once again recently.
>
>

Anyone else in? Just thinking if there’s a thread with other folks contributing, motivation might be increased by actually seeing a completed model. Either way - Happy holidays all.

Let's hope Airfix quality control is up to scratch this time.

Short version - turns out it isn’t up to scratch by any means.

I think this was a new tool in 2012, new decals this year. I cleaned most of the parts up without much issue:



The mouldings aren’t great, quite a bit of flash, mould lines, wide sprue gates and ‘fits where it touches” features, but nothing terrible:



Ejector pin marks in the wheel well detail is poor, and will be tricky to remove:



But then we come to the nose, which is a moulding disaster. Pretty poor fit and clunky detail on top:



But the real issue is that they’ve tried to mould the exhaust bulges in-situ, and have ended up needing a separate mould piece. This has resulted in horrible raised mould lines and lost surface detail right where you don’t want it:





Just awful quality. After cleaning up, and a guide coat of primer, things improved, but there were still depressions that needed filling, and will need carefully flatting back (Looking at that intake, that will have to go as well, and a much more refined one made):





Since the missing rivet detail has a central pip, I’ve currently got no way of reinstating them. At least the partially missing (and mis-matched) upper panel line should be fairly easy to scribe.

I wanted a simple kit to build OOB, but after one session it’s apparent it’s just another load of grief to get right. Unless I can figure out a way of matching the pipped rivets, I might bin this one now and return to the Vulcan TBH.

I should have taken my own advice and read a review first before being seduced by the box art (same scheme and code as my Matchbox 1:32 model, plus I wanted a 5-blade propeller Spitfire).

You guys feel free to continue in my absence!

[Spottedlaurel]

A shame if you're going to give up on it. Why not just throw it together and relive the fun and sense of completion that a kid would have had in the quiet days after Christmas? That's how I was going to approach this.

I am tempted to give something a go, perhaps a 1:43 Heller car kit that's on its way as I can probably get away with brush painting that, or at least not worrying about polishing if I can get it sprayed.

Otherwise I hope to spend a some time finishing off at least one current build and making useful progress on others.

[dr_gn]

Spottedlaurel said:

A shame if you're going to give up on it. Why not just throw it together and relive the fun and sense of completion that a kid would have had in the quiet days after Christmas? That's how I was going to approach this.

I am tempted to give something a go, perhaps a 1:43 Heller car kit that's on its way as I can probably get away with brush painting that, or at least not worrying about polishing if I can get it sprayed.

Otherwise I hope to spend a some time finishing off at least one current build and making useful progress on others.

Thanks, I might do that. I was thinking I could try sharpening some brass rod to make a hollow rivet punch. Might see how that goes and carry on.

[dr_gn]

I made this hollow rivet tool out of some sharpened 0.5 mm brass tube. Seems to kind of work:



I’ve mixed some dissolved plastic sprue to try and fill the flaws with something that can be scribed when set:





I also sanded off the amorphous blob that’s meant to be an air intake. I drilled a hole where it was so I can place its replacement in the right place:



Also punched some Tamiya Pla-paper to try and fill the ejector pin marks in the wheel bays. Not sure how I’m going to flat these back, I’m kind of making it up as I’m going along with this one:



I think I’ll leave it a day or so now for the dissolved sprue to harden, and see if it can be salvaged.

[Spottedlaurel]

Good to see you've decided to persevere with it.

This arrived in the post yesterday so I should be set for getting it done over the holiday period:


1:43 Heller Renault Alpine A310 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

After building the 1:43 Heller Princess a couple of years ago I swore I wouldn't do another at that scale, but this was cheap, appealing in the older box and now I have varifocals the detail work shouldn't be as much of a challenge....

[mcdjl]

I've got enough part built sets on the go and an going away visiting so doubt I'll finish anything!

[dr_gn]

Spottedlaurel said:

Good to see you've decided to persevere with it.

This arrived in the post yesterday so I should be set for getting it done over the holiday period:


1:43 Heller Renault Alpine A310 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

After building the 1:43 Heller Princess a couple of years ago I swore I wouldn't do another at that scale, but this was cheap, appealing in the older box and now I have varifocals the detail work shouldn't be as much of a challenge....

I had a go at the Heller SD1 in the 80’s. Not a bad little model IIRC, but I messed up the paint so it never got finished.

You could use Halfords aerosol on it if you use plastic primer?

[Geoff391]

Hi All ,
finally dug out My PH login and thought it was time contribute after so long just absorbing the wisdom ( mostly ) on PH.
I have just got this in the post so will be starting to get back into model making over the next couples of weeks.
Cheers
Geoff

[robemcdonald]

I decided on this rather than wait two days to start..




Loads of PE in the kit, which probably means it will end with the bin.

[dr_gn]

robemcdonald said:

I decided on this rather than wait two days to start..




Loads of PE in the kit, which probably means it will end with the bin.

Good choice - I built the F6F-3 version a few years ago - one of the nicest kits you'll find (and you don't have to use the photo-etch if you don't like it).

[dr_gn]

Geoff391 said:

Hi All ,
finally dug out My PH login and thought it was time contribute after so long just absorbing the wisdom ( mostly ) on PH.
I have just got this in the post so will be starting to get back into model making over the next couples of weeks.
Cheers
Geoff

Looks like a good choice - decent size too.