AZ Models 1:72 Supermarine Attacker

[Dave Ward]

Chris,
Another tip from the vacform days - I have a sheet of emery paper on a thick glass sheet, the wing halves can be ground flat on the mating faces - use wet to reduce dust - make fingerholds from folded masking tape. You can use this on any flat mating components. Before I sourced a thick glass sheet, I used a formica drawer front - as long as it is flat (ish), and doesn't flex, anything will do - you can get large sheets of extra fine ( crocus paper ) to coarse emery paper from your local hardware store - not that expensive.
As an aside, my local hardware store is also the undertakers! - I often wonder, looking at his stock of varnishes, glues & screws etc. , whether any of his products end up being used on coffins :smiling2:
Dave

[Guest]

haha!
my ply board doubles up as the flat sanding surface.

[Guest]

Definitely learning from this short run kit.
I’ll do it again, but will apply more effort to fit next time.

[Guest]

Another short update for those still with me.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with these elevators........



Thanks to Dave I was able to employ his technique for attaching wings void of locators to a fuselage and got the corrected elevators attached. It involved steel wire and not copper because it is 1/4 of the price and a pretty decent puncture to the tip of my index finger thanks to a sheared 0.6mm drill bit, but we got there.





Part of the way through filling & sanding stage 1. There will be another round of this before scribing with my fresh Hasegawa TL-2 templates as there are some significant differences in the mating surfaces and then (hopefully) on to prime and paint!

I am reinvigorated with this now that the wings are on and I'm getting somewhere.

[Dave Ward]

Chris,
copper is easier to cut than steel! I bought a whole load of different thickness copper wire, many years ago - still got a load of it remaining. I think I got it from a hippy jewelry making shop! ( you can get some really fine chain from these places., as well ) Broken drills? can't help you there ( serial drill snapper! )
Dave

[Guest]

It’s about 0.8mm, easy to cut. With 50m of it I don’t anticipate having to replace it!

[Guest]

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with these elevators...

Two of the same rather than a left & right pair?

[Guest]

You got it!

[Guest]

Looking at the later pictures I'm guessing you corrected it :thumb2:

[colin m]

Top marks Chris. I'm sure many of these kits have ended up in the bin. But not yours.....

[Guest]

Top marks Chris. I'm sure many of these kits have ended up in the bin. But not yours.....

It very nearly did!
It’s all good practice. You don’t learn anything useful if things are easy.

[colin m]

You don’t learn anything useful if things are easy.

So very true, but after a couple of 'classic' Airfix, I am enjoying a nice Tamiya at the moment.

[Guest]

So very true, but after a couple of 'classic' Airfix, I am enjoying a nice Tamiya at the moment.

I can understand this!

[Guest]

I gave up on the build thread for this. Mainly because it was summer time and being outdoors at the beach or at the allotment was a better use of my time!

Plus this kit was totally demoralising. It is roughly 30% filler, particularly at the wing roots and fuselage joints. Nothing fitted correctly, even the arrestor hook and the undercarriage doors are totally the wrong shape. Just as well I was going for wheels down.
When I tried to mount the rear wheels I found there was just a hole in the fuselage and nothing to mount the gear to, so I had to scratch a wheel well. I ended up scratching the pitot and other sensors. They are grossly out of scale but I just wanted to get this one finished and move on.

I will be avoiding AZ kits like the plague from now on, unless I have no other option.

The results, next to the one my grandfather built (date unknown, suspect 60's).






I preshaded and washed this one, my first attempt at it. I'm pretty happy with the result.

[Dave Ward]

lChris,
you finished it! I'm afraid most of my stalled builds stay stalled. One way of looking at it is - if you can make a decent job of a rubbish model, then everything else must be easier! Don't give up on the short run kits, you can learn all sorts of things, new techniques, new swear words and new ways of reducing tension ( zen meditation/alcohol ) :thumb2:
Dave