Sanger 1/48th vac'form whitley kit

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

heres a build thread of my next project ! This model isn't for the faint hearted and shouldn't really be tackled by a beginner in true Sanger form there is no cockpit detail so some research is needed here to get it fairly correct, alot of strengthing will be needed in the wings and the fuselage.

This kit can only be made into a MK1 as the are no other nacelles supplied.

First port of call is to mark all around the parts the carefully with a fine permanant marker, then re-move them leaving about 2mm waste near the edges of the parts and not forgeting not to throw away the scrap plastic, this comes in handy later on.

Is there anyone who has the frog 1/72 version in their stash who is willing share a few secrets on any interior detail !

One thing i did find out about Whitley's is that the early MK1's has no dihedral.

I've put the pictures of the whitley which where on another thread to help me on my way.

A few links....

þÅÒÔÅÖÉ

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley - Improving the Old Frog Kit (Part 1)

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley - Improving the Old Frog Kit (Part 2)

drawings

Now time to start it.... as i gulp in despair



There are very few panel lines on the fuselage, so i'll have to re-scribe alot here the crew door is shown though, i might have this open to show detail.



Nacelles have a neat touch if you want to display it wheels up theres no needs to add the wheels as they are built into the nacelles, shame i'm doing mine wheels down !



I asked Gerald who makes these model kits to do an extra set of clear parts just in case the knife slips. he did gladly for free !



Metal parts are detailed OK, infact better than FM stuff



Decals seem to be OK, i hope !





These are the only instructions you get so basically its all out of my head and a lot of scratch building.







thanks for looking

[Guest]

That looks like quite a challenge to me!! I'll be interested to see it go together though!!

[Guest]

That looks like quite a challenge to me!! I'll be interested to see it go together though!!

I thought you might want to see more Richard so here you go.

i'd marked out the outside of the parts with a fine marker and roughly cut them all out, the last time i did this i slipped with the knife and ended up in hospital

http://imageshack.us"]

marked out

http://imageshack.us"]

then cut out !

Alot of people out there know how to build vac form models but there are alot who have never even attempted one, so these few shots are to show you how to strengthen the wings and sanding the proper way etc

I might have to leave this for a few days as i will be making a vac' form valiant for someone who had a go and couldn't make it, so i'll be seeing if i can reclaim it back to life

http://imageshack.us"]

Many people do fancy ribbing, but i find the best way is to put strips of styrene 1mm to 2mm in thickness along the length of the wings, This also keeps the wings nice and flat when you start rubbing them down. To hold the wings nice and true wood dowl will be placed through the wings into the fuselage then into the other side of the wings.

Gluing these strips in also stops the wings from bowing out when you

press down to sand them.

http://imageshack.us"]

The strengthening strips are put on before you do any sanding, if you don't when you come to sand the part it will flex and you will get uneven sanding, this is when everything goes all bannana shapes

http://imageshack.us"]

For small parts its best to hold it with a good lump of 'blu tac', This stops it from slipping out of your hand, also sand in even directions taking care to look at the part you are sanding, the idea with the black marker pen outline is that you can start to see it appear on the sanded side and your getting ready to stop sanding.

http://imageshack.us"]

When you sand the parts down you want to evenly press all over and to know if your doing it right the entire marked strip should all come off in one go, well usually in one go !

Don't go mad when your sanding it, take your time and keep looking its far better to undersand than to oversand and don't press hard .

http://imageshack.us"]

http://imageshack.us"]

The finished tailplanes and stablelizers, not glued together yet but they fit very squarely.

[Guest]

A few more !

http://imageshack.us"]

http://imageshack.us"]

Both nacelles worked on today and they fit OK

[Guest]

Now that is interesting stuff. I've never seen a detailed vac form build thread and always shied away from them. Someone once gave me a small vac formed fighter and I have still not plucked up courage to have a go at it for fear of making a mess of it. (Or ending up in hospital!)

Thanks for the post, keep them coming, this is really interesting.

[jspitza]

After a long summer break from the forum....This is sure to be one of the best threads to watch!!!!

[Guest]

After a long summer break from the forum....This is sure to be one of the best threads to watch!!!!

Some parts of the model has been racking my brain so i put it down for a bit, done a little the past week......

Heres a few more pictures todate





Cut off the engine fairing and cut out the wheel covers.



Engine fairing glued together, these where a pain to align up squarely :evil: and i think i'll have to put some plasticard around the inside of the fairings as they seem very weak.



Wheel covers neatly removed.... phew !



Spent another 3hrs cleaning up the metal parts again.



Tail planes glued together and nice and level.



Both Stablelizers also glued together

thanks for looking

[Guest]

Well guys i've started it again after being put away while i built other very important models.

Been cutting up the rears of the engine nacelles to fit the wings now let me tell you thats quite hard to do neatly.

Engine nacelles reamed out nicely, i used a JUMBO marker pen to do this job nice to make it perfectly round, i also wrapped sand paper around the marker pen and i kept rotating it until i got the desired diameter i wanted.

Opened up the rear access crew door so i could add a bit of detail to this bland thingy.

I cut fine strips of plastcard to replicate ribs/strengthers, this can be seen through the access door.

Fuselage has been sanded back on its edges and all fits nice and i'm now test fitting the cockpit canopy, so far everything seems to be aligned up.

Rear wings/tail planes fitted, again its guess work again Sangers drawings are in 1/72.

Main wings are all glued together, i normally tape large parts together then pour loads of super glue inside the wings to make a very strong joint.

Thanks for looking.