Blimmin’ eck Mike - thats some superb work you are putting in there mate - your vac-form canopy work is just amazing - really impressed mate
Keep up the good work on this - fantastic work !
John
Cheers Skii, chaps [;)]
[:D][:D][:D][:D] Demoulded the canopy master about an hour ago. [:D] It looks just GREAT [:D]
One slight thing I’m not THAT happy about, is that one or two of the sidewalls are a bit thin, which is why I’ve put it back in the lego mould box that I made it in, to keep the sides rigid. Here it is!
The reddish stuff in some parts of the mould? That’s modelling clay that I used to act as a plinth for the canopy master, to ensure it was proud of the vacbox, and that there was a definite cut line for the part. Looking at it in reverse, I think it works. Probably doesn’t look too great in the pic, but I can see it. I’ll clean the clay out before I even attempt casting.
I’ll let the RTV finish setting up until tomorrow, and if I get chance tomorrow night, I’ll mix up some resin & pour me a master [;)]
Stunning work Mike… you have everything to be proud of with this one.
Thanks Woodbeck. More to come over the weekend - Watch this space. [;)]
Well - Resin has been poured. The canopy master has been demoulded some 20 minutes ago, and this is what it looks like 
It turns out that proper stirring & mixing of accurate quantities is the secret of resin casting, if you can’t go to the expense of vacuuming the resin & then pressure “cooking” it while it cures. It’s come out VERY crisp and firm after only 30-40 minutes stood in the mould. To say that I’m very pleased would be the understatement of the week :lol:
Very nice work. Looks a bit sinsiter, does it not? [:D]
Can’t wait for the clear version!
Cheer bud [;)]
Didn’t get chance to do anything today unfortunately, as I was preparing the rafters for cladding the ceiling of the workshop, building a loft hatch & all that DIY sort of stuff. I’m off work Monday & Tuesday, so I’m hopeful I’ll get SOME work done on it. It would be kind of nice to have at least one clear cockpit vacformed this week.
I did order yet another book on the Stirling however, “Stirling at War”, which is supposed to have lots of good reference pics in it. I’m the second hand bookseller’s best customer at the moment [:D] Peter Howell at the Stirling Project has also promised me some pics of the front turret, the pilot’s chairs, and technical drawings of the flap assemblies. I have a sneaking suspicion that flaps could be dropped in the near future. That in itself would be quite a feat, as they form almost 50% of the lower wing surface, sliding out on rails towards the rear of the airframe.
That might be too much to ask of the vacformed wings however, and I could be forced to fabricate a completely new set of balsa wings, so watch this space. I’ll know better when I have the drawings in my hot sweaty palms…
…meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mike’s been doing stuff.
I finally got around to filling & sanding the cheek patch I glued onto the nose to correct the discrepancy in the profile of the two sides:
That’s it with a coat of Mr Surfacer (excuse the thumb print), which exposed a few blemishes. It also convinced me that the step was a little too severe, so I rolled a snake of milliput & squished it into the step to smooth it out. You can see it in the next pic:
I’ve sanded the area again, trying to even out the shape, and taken out the plastic for the nose turret. I scored round the line, then milled it out with my dremel tool, to avoid unneccesary flexing of the recently filled area. I also placed a small strengthening “horseshoe” of styrene sheet in the space, which will serve as the support for the nose turret.
here’s the first successful copy of the canopy I mastered up. It’s a little dusty from all the sanding I’ve been doing today, but you get the idea. I also made another RTV mould of the canopy, which this time has a small step in below the master, to see if that will help me get a smooth terminator to the frame.
With the nose turret area cut out, I tried the kit supplied nose glass in, and like everything else on this kit, it’s badly shaped, sized, and nowhere NEAR symmetrical! Fortunately, I have 2 pieces, so I filled one with resin & then peeled the clear plastic off once it had cured. Some frantic sanding ensued, and I got it looking much more symmetrical, and fitting the turret aperture quite nicely (the edges of which I sanded to scale). I laminated up a few pieces of thick styrene to make the back, which I tacked onto the resin piece with CA, then sanded to profile. The back still needs a little work to make it conform to the pic I got from those nice people at the Stirling Project. I’ll post the pic up later, as my scanner has just packed up, thinking the transport lock is on, when it isn’t. Typical eh?
Here’s a pic of the resin glass master in place - bear in mind that it’ll be the thickness of a sheet of styrene larger all round, when finished:
And here’s the back and front masters, together with the other kit part for reference:
Very nice work, Mr. Mike. This all seems like a lot of effort. I’m sure it’ll show once this bird is finished!
Shameless self-plug Warning!
Work still continues slowly on my big Vac project, the Goose. I’m spending most of my time simply getting the parts off of the backing sheets. Out of a total of 14 vac parts, I have a total of 4 “released”. I’ll have an opportunity to try out many various methods of getting them out, I guess. [;)]
Just curious- what does your kit provide in the ways of landing gear? (I apologize if this question has been asked before!)
Keep up the excellent work!
No worries Mike (nice name btw [;)] ),
A three part white metal undercarriage (landing gear) is provided (x2), but as with all things on this kit, it’s a vague approximation. I suspect it’ll go the way of all things on this kit & be replaced with some seriously detailed scratch built parts from brass rod - for which I’ll need to learn how to solder, methinks! The the accuracy of the cross-bracing on the legs is child-like, and doesn’t do it justice. A pair of vacformed wheels are provided in 4 halves, but again problems ensue. One of the halves is so out of shape that the other half slips inside it, so I picked the best 2 halves, cemented them together, and sanded them up so they’re nice and… well… round!
Some white metal hubs are also included, but again they’re not accurate, and I’m building a new one that I’ll cast up to create 2 copies, which I’ll glue onto the wheel. The wheel will then be subject to the hot-iron weighting process (hope that works!), and then I’ll cast up a pair of copies for the finished article. Fortunately, all Stirlings up to Mark IV had smooth tyres, and it was only the Mark V that had the blocked tread pattern, so LOTS of work saved, thank goodness…
I have been watching this thread and trying to come up with something to say that is worthy in light of all you’ve done with it.
This is really unbelievable work, Mike! I wish I had that kind of patience, skill and COURAGE to try what your’re doing here!
I’ve yet to be succesful with a vacform kit, on a good day I can cobble and extra bit of scratchbuilt detail from extra stuff on the bench for a model. I haven’t the nerve or determination to even think about what you’re attempting here.
More power to you friend. Looking forward to more updates.
Thanks Upnorth,
Sometimes I wonder whether I’ll ever finish it, as every time I start working on a part of it, I find such crazy innacuracies that I basically have to start from scratch… scratch building… I’m learning my trade as I go along, and if I’m honest, I’m enjoying every minute. So far I’ve learned vacforming & resin casting - basics only of course, and next I suspect I’ll be learning the ancient and arcane art of white metal casting, when I get around to sorting out the landing gear. It’s all good fun, but expensive, and I just wish I had more time to devote to it.
I’m hoping to get to work on the wings over the Christmas period, and that’s going to be an absolute hoot! Prepare for balsa dust all over the place [;)]
Here’s the pic of that restored nose turret I’m using as my reference for the build:
Photo Copyright the Stirling Project
Merry Christmas everyone [;)]
merry christmas to you to mike! good lookin build so far when do you expect to have here done?
Wow… 2007, the rate I’m going! [;)]
Should get some work done this next week though, as I’m off work until the new year [:D]
Compliments of the season to everyone…
So, it’s 2007, are you done yet? I was just looking this up again as I’ve started a 1:48 Stirling and was looking back at this 'cause I need all the hints I can get.
[:D] Fraid not! It stalled, mainly due to me getting tired of how long it was taking to see any progress. Having to repair/replace everything I touched just got me down in the end, and I moved on to other less taxing jobs - it was pretty much my first project back in the hobby, afterall! 2007 seemed such a long way away then, and yet here it is. All the parts are safely tucked away in my workshop, so who knows? One day it may see the light of day [:)]
http://www.britmodeler.com/forums is taking up all my time now, both posting my builds & administering it. We’ve got a Vulcan Group Build coming up soon if anyone’s interested?
Here’s the latest kit I’ve finished:
