Airfix 1/350 HMS Illustrious

[John]

I've finally got it, I'm looking forward to building this, will be starting next week as I'm off work, first thoughts on the kit is, it's big, it comes in a box that could house a small family :wink:

It seems to be lacking a bit in detail, the flight deck is a bit smooth, I would have liked to have seem a few rivets or something like that but there's nothing, also the aircraft are missing clear parts, does anyone have an idea what would be best to make the glass look like glass, Graham came up with painting it a dark grey, which makes sense, as that's what it would look like from a distance.

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[Guest]

That is a beast of a kit John, ganna enjoy watching this one being built, regards Martin :-)

[yak face]

Hi john , this is going to be very nice when its done, it looks a good kit. You should have guessed i was drawn to the tiny little seakings,merlins and harriers .You never know you might get a taste for tiddlers and then next thing you know youll be making a 1/144 sweet kit LOL!!!! Looking forward to seeing how this progresses , cheers tony

[Ian M]

LOL! A one inch rivet in 1/350 scale would be 0.0028" in diameter, so I think you might be aiming a bit high there John! Canopies? As said dark grey, or as I prefer gloss black. Some even use silver or blue, in my humble opinion, not a good chioce.

I am awaiting a mail from my plastic pusher to tell me mine has arrived, so I will be watching this build with baited breath.

Ian M

[Guest]

It looks good to me John. I have heard a lot of good reports on it. I would have thought the flight deck on a modern warship would be quite smooth but I have never been on one. Really looking forward to seeing this one grow.

[John]

Well ok a rivet might be a bit small I just expected it not to be so smooth

[John]

Made a start, so far no problems apart from the slits in the deck they just wasn't big enough I had to use a flat needle file to make them big enough for the bits to slot in, and I found adding the side of the ship to the deck very awkward, it might have been the size but I didn't seem to have enough hands to hold it together and glue at the same time, I managed to find another couple of hands (my son) to help with the gluing, I'm going to leave it a while before trying to do the other half.

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[Guest]

Looking good John. It must be a bit tricky trying to hold it all together, maybe time to invest in a big bag of rubber bands.....

[John]

Thanks Graham, I have got some but because there's no where to rest one side while I picked up the other it was even worse trying to use them, I've put the other side on but noticed there's a major gap which fortunately you won't see

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I put what I had done so far together and I think I may have fitting problems with the top deck as well, for a kit of this price I would have expected it to be tooled better.

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[Ian M]

Seems like a good old Airfix boat problem. They have a habit of doing the hull in three, four or even more parts. I expect its to keep the tool cost down. Even the little rescue boat, the hull is built up the same way. It does give problems, as you have found out. However, with way too much patience, loads of tea and a good glossary of swear words, you can get them to fit quite well. I agree that on a tub that big with a proportionatly big price tag they could of done better.

Are you going to keep her as a waterline model or are you going to put the bottom on to and stick her in a stand? A word of warning: With regard to the above do not embark on that one untill you have made certain that you have a good tube of filler at hand. Take it real easy and "spot weld" it until you get the best fit you can. Then zap it with the liquid glue.

I am quiet looking forwards to getting my one and finding out just how bad things are.

You are doing a great job thus far. Dont let it get you down John. It will be worth the effort.

(it will also put you in good standing for trumpeters next offering in the battleship range). ;-)

Ian M

[Guest]

The bigger the kit, the more important it is to put it together without glue. If you rubber band it up dry they when it all lines up, put a few drops of liquid cement onto the joins well away from the rubber bands (important as the rubber band could draw the liquid glue along itself an etch lines into the surface). Once this dries, take off the rubber bands and run glue along the rest of the joints, capillary action will draw the liquid cement along the joins and Bobs your Uncle

[John]

Graham I should have explained a little better, like Ian said it's in several parts, 2 sides, back and bottom so if I had tried to put rubber bands round it would have just pulled in at the bottom, I do dry fix everything, where ever possible then put in a drop of glue but this wasn't a place I could do it.

Ian I am going to put the bottom on but I will see how well it fits first.

I've not done an Airfix kit for ages just never been happier with the fit, much prefer Tamyia, I thought this might change my mind, so far I'm still on the fence with it, as I get further in to the build it might just push me over it

[Guest]

Ahhh, more complex than I thought, just ignore me lol

[Ian M]

Just been reading a build on an other forum. The guy doing it said things where a good fit!!!

Past experiance makes me belive you more than him :-)

Glad you are doing the full hull and not a waterline.

Ian M

[John]

Now that I'm back I can get on with Lusty, before I went away I painted the deck and give it a coat of Klear

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Today I've done all the decals for it, some of them wasn't the right size or just didn't fit right, they were slightly over sized, also on the middle section I had a bit of a mishap (No.3), I got distracted and left some decals in the water a bit too long, they lifted and ended up in a little ball, it took me ages but I managed to get them 95% right, it won't be noticeable when it's finished I will put a plane on top.

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