The Monkey House

[flakmonkey]

It feels like it sometimes.

I have just spent a pleasant 45 minutes joining various things together and unwarping warped bits. My spell checker tells me that unwarping is not a word. The main problem is that the plastic is of the same thickness that you would normally expect to find in a 1/72 kit, which results in floppy part syndrome stop sniggering at the back. The other side benefit is very weak joints so they have to be strapped up, 20 thou plastic card is sufficient for this.



The forward fuselage parts are not too badly out of shape, and the cockpit tub and nose gear bay help square things up a great deal. The flat bottom that is so characteristic of the Tornado though is more like the V-hull of a boat, so a piece of square section brass tube was used to reinforce things.



Round at the pointy end, nothing fits until the back plate for the radar is snapped in place. Without this the round cross section is distinctly elliptical. I've seen this kit built where the radar backplate has been left out as the builder has no intention of showing the radar off, with the result that a lot of work is needed to fit the radome.

I'm sooooo glad I like 1/144!

He's not wrong. The 1/48 Spitfire gives an idea of the size.



The rear sections of the fuselage are badly warped and the top was S shaped. Good if you're building an SU-27, bad if you want a Tornado. The two halves were dunked in boiling water and the worst of the twist was taken out, and the S shaped top was treated to some brass strip. The model now contains more metal than Barry Sheene.



From dry fitting it looks as if the way forward is to start by joining the wing gloves and then working back. The straightening out means that the mis-match between the parts is now small enough enough to be laughed at in its face. Ha ha.



That might look bad but at least now both parts are in the same room. The Buccaneer is currently ahead by a nose.

[AndrewR]

I am left-handed. Does that mean I have two right hands when it comes to modelling?

Cheers

Andrew

[Stamford]

It´s big innit!

[malepo]

That pit looks great! - Will come back to this when I start mine.

[flakmonkey]

Big isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when it comes to solving some of the kit's problems. The fin on the 1/32 Tornado kits is a notoriously bad fit, mine at first refused to click into its recess on the upper fuselage and when it did there were gaps everywhere and it wouldn't stand upright. Rather than reaching for the files and filler, I went for the weapons of mass construction and stole an idea from Tamiya's 1/32 F-16 kit.



It's not often you take your socket set to a kit but it didn't take long to beat the fin into submission.



The gaps are much more manageable now, and there is the added bonus of the fin having a decent chance of surviving encounters with dusters later on.



As soon as I solve the problem of the intakes the fuselage can be joined up. Revell have provided fan faces that sit half way down the fuselage but there is no intake trunking which is a real head scratcher. Did they forget? Was it too difficult so they did a Friday afternoon on it? I have no idea but I'm sure I will think of something.

[Softscience]

And when its done you'll put it where?

[flakmonkey]

And when its done you'll put it where?

Out the front of the house on a pole as a gate guardian

[Mikeew]

Cracking work Steve.
In case you're interested, I built this many years ago and had it published on Cybermodeler.com
http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/build ... 4705.shtml;

[Stamford]

You can´t even screw things up without improving them. I´d forgotten about Barry Sheene. He was keen - raced up the highway like Barry Sheene - till he met Anne on her new machine! Nice work on the dewarpisation btw.

[AndrewR]

The X-rays of his reconstructed legs are here

http://www.barrysheene.nl/uploads/image ... sheene.jpg;

[flakmonkey]

I have returned to my workbench. There is, without a doubt, a phenomenon that shall be known as the curse of the large scale models - CLSM. The way it works is that every time you drag anything 1/32 or larger out of the stash, somebody finds you something to do that takes up all of your time for months on end. Being self employed, my days usually consist of avoiding anything meaningful to do and delegating whatever I am unable to avoid to the nearest available person. It has even been said that things run much more smoothly this way, which I think is a compliment of some sort. Unfortunately, having been struck by CLSM I have been finding myself actually working, sometimes for periods of hours at a time. I did not sign up for this.

When CLSM strikes, not only are you unable to reach your workbench, but all sorts of mishaps can and will befall you. For my part I picked up an eye infection, which is entirely the fault of the Revell Tornado and in no way anything to do with motocrossing without sufficient eye protection. Were I a vengeful man, there is little doubt in my mind that I could sue Revell and retire comfortably on the settlement.

This is digressing, even by the relaxed standards I have set myself, and so I should perhaps build a model. The fuselage halves of the Tornado have been wrestled together, with the aid of every clamp in my toolbox. About the only thing I didn't use was my sash cramps. I would have in fact used them but have lent them to a cousin of mine and so they were unavailable. Cue gratuitous shot of the Tornado receiving some attention from the proctologist.



There was some um-ing and ah-ing concerning the intakes and their lack of anything approaching trunking. In the end I decided it was too much trouble to scratchbuild anything, and Revell haven't really made a great job of the intake internals anyway (actually they're bloody rubbish) so the whole venture is more effort than it's worth. Intake covers are going to be the order of the day.



The parts aren't a great fit by any stretch of the imagination, and the worst area is the centre of the fuselage spine which sits much too low. I think I have a dodgy moulding here.



Rather than try to make up the difference with filler, I have resorted to radical surgery and cut out the low section.



The removed section was cleaned up and given a base of plastic card.



Once it was stuffed back in the hole carefully replaced, things were much improved. There is a gap at the bottom edge, but these sorts of gaps in tight corners are easily filled with milliput. Smoothing the milliput out and shaping it before it sets avoids having to do any heavy sanding.



I win this round.

[JamesPerrin]

I have so missed the weekly missives from the house of Flak describing the crazy adventures this fictional modeller.

[Stamford]

The first pic looks like a skutter from Red Dwarf getting busy with a Tornado. Nice to see you back Flak - this looks interesting. Not perhaps Bucc standards but a fair effort nonetheless. I too have been away from the bench after getting a pup, (non Sopwith), but did actually get a bit done this weekend too.

[Softscience]

Woohoo! I missed watching you work your magic!

[bromo]

Oh how i have missed the ramblings of Mr Flak, glad your back Steve and always use the proper health and safety gear when using something naughty like a motorbike!