gringe88,
The Airfix/Heller late model 109s landing gear may not be any stronger than your kits gear legs but they are probably better detailed. Some of Special Hobbys kits have poorly detailed small parts that in some cases are in need of replacement.
The new Special Hobby kits such as the BV 155 and Fw 187 are greatly improved over their early released kits of a few years ago, even the small parts are well molded.
Matrixone
Gregers, that is a truly bizarre looking bird.
I remember building the matchbox Lysander when I was about 10, lots of dark and light brown plastic, that made it look as if you’d ,made a plane out of chocolate and caramel!!!
Hope it goes well.
Karl
hey guys, has any of you built the eastern express / frog lysander?. i saw some the other day at Newark and am thinking of going back to pick a couple up if their ok, lets face it they can’t be as bad as the airfix kit…or can they???.
cheers.
Greg
No kit can be as bad as Airfix; and that’s a safe bet…
I remember trying to build a Lysander when I was about 12, probably the Matchbox because the light and dark brown sounds familiar. I say tried building because it was missing the canopy, normally a bummer but since the wings attach to the canopy it was pretty much unbuildable. The LHS wasn’t and wouldn’t even talk about replacing it. Kind of neat plane though. I’ve seen a pic of the version with a turret in a book of weird aircraft, must have been during the Boulton Paul Defiant stage of British aircraft design.
Have you tried Italeri’s rebox of the Dragon rehash of the Trimaster me262?
The detail is stunning, but the fit is truly awful, but then I have head that about many Dragon kits, and had the same experience with Revell’s rebox of their Fw190 D9.
At least with Airfix I start off with low expectations.
Karl
That’s too bad. I might be a little leery about building a Lysander anyway, with the fact I have to glue the wings to the clear canopy! Eep! Too much room for error, if you ask me.
I really can’t help you with kits of the Lysander, becuase I really don’t know what’s what about them. Sorry.
I had another thought today. I thought it might be fun to see if I could get the coolings fans of the Junkers Zwilling to spin with the props. Depending on the way the engines go together, it could be as simple as gluing them to the shaft along with the props. I’ll have to see as soon as I get a kit.
Oh, and you want to talk about bad fit, get the Testors 1:72 SBD Dauntless. None of the five pieces go together straight, and the lack of detail and interior doesn’t help any! (The whole five pieces thing was an exagguration to suggest humor. It’s really more like four.)
No, wait, DON’T get the Testors Dauntless! I already told you why. [:D]
So just to get this straight, that’s a NO on the Testor’s Dauntless[;)]
Not a problem, you don’t get many Testor’s kits in the UK.
Karl
matrixone-
so then, would it be a good idea to just use the Heller/Airfix kit gears, and just hide some wire alongside them under the aircraft??
by the way, the canopy on the AS-6 is slightly differnet from the Bf-109. the back curves dwon to meet the top of the fuselage. I was thinking of posing the canopy open, but because it’s vacuuformed, that would mean trying to cut it up, and that could be dangerous. NE ideas on what I could do to fix that?
I was thinking of using the canopy from the Heller/Airfix kit, cutting it up , or just using it the way it is if it is separate, and just using the back end of the special Hobby kit.
what do u think?? [%-)] If ne one else can help please, I would appreciate it.[;)]
Hi Gringe, to cut open a vac canopy i first fill it with plastercene (modeling clay) then carefully score along the cut lines untill the parts seperate.
hope this helps.
Greg
O ye of little faith! I actually like that little Airfix Lysander kit I just bought. The detail really is pretty impressive, except for the cowling and cockpit. But with a little tlc, I think it could become a very nice little model.
Now if you want to hear about a really BAD Airfix model, I could tell you about the (much younger!) 1/48 Buccaneer. The hull halves (horizontally split) on that thing are badly (really really badly) warped, and won’t fit together at all. I consider myself something of a Bucc fan, but I haven’t dared touch this bear of a model yet!
Their 1/48 BAE Lightning (the jet, not the Lockheed thing, for all you Americans out there[;)]) was released around the same time and is a dream to build though. Apparently, there has been some cooperation with an Asian company on the moulds… might explain some things[:I].
Anyhoo, my girlfriend and I are off on our holiday the day after tomorrow, so it’ll be a little while before you hear from me again. Probably around the 27th. Until then: have fun building. I’m having a go at building the Monogram Hustler in an aluminum foil finish as a holiday project. At least that’s the plan if I don’t chicken out. Later all.
gringe88,
Your Sack AS 6 model sounds like it is very heavy for its size, if it is a mostly plastic kit the Airfix/Heller 109 gear legs should be strong enough, if it is one of those resin kits maybe wire reinforced landing gear legs should be considered.
I had been interested in some of Planet Models kits of those Luft 46 airplanes but since they are resin kits they are heavy and have read where after a short time the landing gear legs start to bend and distort because of the weight of the model and weak landing gear legs, for that reason I prefer plastic kits.
Matrixone
gringe88, if you’re AS6 is resin, have you tried looking for whitemetal gear legs from one of the aftermarket manufacturers? These would be a lot stronger.
Well the weekend is almost upon us, well mine is, as I’ve got tomorrow off. My wife is away, leaving just me and the kinderlach…I feel a spot of modelling coming on!!!
And what’s more my digital camera should turn up today, so I can even take pictures of my work, and prove I actually make models!
I’ll try and get started, and possibly finnished on the DFS194 and post some pictures.
Karl
matrixone & KJ200-
no, my AS 6 is not that heavy and it is not mad eof resin. I’ve had experiences, where when I’m building or installng my models on a base, the struts have broken, and of course that weakened them for further breakage. So I’ve thought that just as a safeguard, it would be a good idea to include wire into the landing gear. but if you believe that the plastic struts should hold, if properly installed of course[;)] will hold, then I’d be OK with it. thx much for the help and advice.
-Matt
Yeah, gringe88 (or Matt- whatever), I’ve never had a problem with thin kit struts on a heavy model, especially one that small. (I once again refer to the Testors Dauntless; cringe in disgust.) Hope the build goes fine, apart (or including. You pick.) from that. Hope to see pics!
KJ200- Good to see some pics from you in the future. I also have a digital camera, so for me that shouldn’t be a problem. What is a problem might be that my successes with transferring said pictures has been less than stellar. Hopefully the problem will correct itself by the time I need it.
Now just a quick question from me- now, I’m no electrician (Yet I’m trying to motorize an eight-engined airplane. Figure that one out.), and my question was could you get away with a 9 volt battery and two AA batteries in the same series curcuit? Or will it make one or more of them catastrophicly explode at one time or another? Could this be done? It would solve a LOT of problems if I could.
Thank you.
(By the time I get back from vacation, I just might have one or more kits to start on. [tup] Very good.)
hiya, folks !
i’m still working on the Ho 229, just uploaded the latest batch of WIP pix &
will try & link them now.
this is the plane w/ panel lines pencilled in
(this pic is file #0229 on my digicam, an odd coincidence !)
this is a closeup of the cockpit w/ scratchbuilt additions.
this is the cockpit area opened up…there’s an oxygen tank behind the pilot’s seat
made w/ a bit of sprue & scrap styrene rod. i painted it yellow, but i just read somewhere that the German ones were blue…
oh, well…i hope u like it so far !
frosty[:)]
frosty,
Great job on the cockpit so far, are you going to have the canopy open or closed?
On my old Ho 229 kit the canopy was pretty thick, I have not dug my Ho 229 V7 out of the bottom of my kit stash yet to see if PM improved the canopy any compared with the day fighter version, hope they did.
Right now I am working on the Monogram Do 335 for the group build, the cockpit(s) will be done sometime today.
Matrixone
Good job on the cockpit, frosty! I especially like the seat harnesses. What did you use? I find thin masking tape works pretty well…I am working on the cockpit for my Dornier Do 335. I haven’t done much to it this week, because I’m building a rocket powered flying balsa wood model of the Me 163 Komet in 1/23 scale (40cm wing span) [}:)]
Norite, you really are going to have to post some pics of that 163, now you’ve got out attention!!!
Frostygirl, nice job on the cockpit of the 229, like the radar set.
I’ve actually started work on the DFS194, not that there is a lot to work on!!!
I’m doing an OOB on this kit, as there is not a great deal of info out there, and will try and post pics, when I have sussed how to load the software for my new digicam on the PC[banghead]
Karl
The Me 163 Komet kit is made by Aerographics; they’re based here in blighty, in Hertfordshire. galaxymodels.co.uk sell them, along with the rockets! This free flight kit is actually designed for a jetex 50 engine, slung underneath, but I want to see if I can mod it and install a proper solid rocket motor in the back, just like the real thing. I’m also thinking of modding it to accept radio; I think it can accept the micro servos and receivers…
It’ll be a while before It’s all finished, but i will defintely post piccies!!!
On the subject of the Dornier 335, I came across a site where someone had buillt a r/c version, installed two four stroke engines in it - it sounded quite realistic!! If I find the site, I’ll post the links…
Lucien, on the subject of you wanting to motorise your giant build, phew…that’s quite ambitious of you! The motors might well run of a 9v - but they will turn over quite slowly…all combined, they will all draw a lot of current, which will make the batteries go flat quickly. You could use less engines, and run the props using gears…now that will make it even more involved! Or use those tiny tiny engines from those micro r/c cars…