Steve - I bought a small blowtorch for about £11 in B&Q, refillable with butane. Put photo-etch in a pair of tweezers, hold above the flame for a few seconds till it goes blue, then remove and allow to cool. Bingo - annealed PE!
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Last night I got the cockpit "innards" done.
And zipped them up (not with that Zap-a Gap but my trusty Tamiya extra thin!),mostly never to be seen again.
I took all the tape/clamps off early this morning. The fit is superb,I haven't even tidied those seams up yet,apart from the one infront of the cockpit The sharp eyed will notice a tiny swipe of putty there which is entirely down to me not Tamiya! Fixing my own boo boo.
Planning to have a go at that Merlin soon.
Cheers
SteveComment
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There's a lot of bits to the Merlin. I've stuck some together and it makes for an impressive looking beast. Unfortunately I'm now on grass mowing and patio cleaning duties so this will be it for today.....probably!
Cheers
SteveComment
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Ha Ha I have just been weeding in the green house. Can you say HOT. Not going to do that again in a hurry!!!
Things seem to be going smothly for you Steve.
Ian MComment
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Great progress, coming on a treat....dont get to knackered doing that mowing though :-)Comment
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I've built the Merlin. This engine did as much as any other thing to win us the war and Tamiya have made a lovely job of it. Painted with a metallic silver/black and then just black followed by a bit of dry brushing with some greys. Most of this doesn't show on my piccy.The whole thing looks considerably darker to the eye. Once it's all dry it will get a nice oily wash as it seems Rolls Royce hadn't moved that far away from "total loss" lubrication in the thirties if contemporary accounts are to be believed! After that it can wait in the box for the entire firewall and engine bearer assembly which I've just made a start on.
Cheers
SteveComment
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Steve that engine is quite superb, very well done. At first glance I thought it was a real one that someone had pushed a old duvet under!
RonComment
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I can imagine what would happen if I shoved a duvet,any duvet,under an engine. I once had a mishap with a Ducati engine...in the front room.
Here is the core of the Merlin pretty much finished. I'll see how the oil wash looks in the morning (they sometimes lose something as they dry) but this is just about ready to fit.
Cheers
SteveComment
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Here's a tricky bit.
The coolant pipe (the reddish/rust coloured one) only has a locator about half way along and another tiny one towards the front. It is not self evident how it should sit. If you get it wrong it won't meet up with the coolant resevoir which is at the front of the engine. Same applies to its twin (not shown) that goes on the other side. Make sure you fit the lower end into its ill defined mark on the engine bearer (by the blu-tac) and the front locator into the tiny nipple on the same bearer,rotating around the central locator and hopefully all will be well.
I'll let you know when I fit the engine!
Incidentally the instructions would have you paint these pipes in Interior Green but that does not match up with what I've seen in various references/walk arounds.
Cheers
SteveComment
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Phew! It all fits perfectly. Here is the assembled front end.
That oil tank (the bottom one) is coming off as I can see in the picture that I missed a seam......bugger. It's Alclad too,out with the smelly stuff.
Cheers
SteveComment
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It do look impressive Steve, not sure how much longer I can hold out on getting one of these. Next thing you know, John will pop up and say I can get you one after I come back of Holiday........... temptress that he is (if you see what I mean)......... The Mosquito I have just got has two basic Merlin engines, I may use your pictures to see if they can be detailed up enough to leave the cowlings off. Great work Steve, keep it up mate.Comment
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That looks good Steve. Dont you just hate it when you put sumit on the screen X5 life size. Still better now than later.
So you will be playing silly buggers with the wires and cables soon?
Ian MComment
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Glad you like it chaps. It's a kit that is difficult to mess up as long as you take the normal precautions! The fit is,as everyone else has said,excellent.
I don't know yet. I'm working from this photo and intend to put the figure in. Obviously for the album he wanted everything "buttoned up"Originally posted by \
However, due to Tamiya's cunning magnetically attached cowling pieces I may leave one off and call it artisitic licence! It looks very busy in there already,the kit parts OOB give a wonderful impression of just how little room there was under those cowlings so we'll see. The whole front end is a push fit onto the fuselage (another brilliant idea) so I've plenty of time to decide. I'll let everything dry,sort out that oil tank, straighten the intercooler oil resevoir (little green one attached to top of firewall,it's drooping a bit),do the odd touch up and then have a good long ponder!
Cheers
SteveComment
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I have a solution to your dilemma.... Leave off the port cowling, I bet that is what they did when this picture was taken ;-)Comment
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Nice one Graham,now we're cooking with gas!
The picture was allegedly taken in July,the trees in the background would certainly support a summer period. It looks dry and the sun is high in the sky.
What do our assorted photo-interpreters think that the aircraft is standing on? My guess is short grass. It certainly doesn't look like concrete.
Cheers
Steve
PS they didn't have to keep the hood closed to keep out dust either!!Comment
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