Marky's Musings...

[MarkyM607]

Hey everyone. After some deciding, and IronMav's prompting, I'm going to start a WW for things like my refurbishment builds. First up will be the Airfix RA-5C Vigilante, made in the 90's I think(!), it's looking tired so is currently soaking in Dettol to strip the paint off for clean up and rework. I have some new decals for it, spare ones that come in the kit seem to fall apart when they touch water!!.
(It doesn't look as tired as the Phantom did!!).
P.S. these aren't really musings, it just worked with 'Marky'!!

[wokka]

So what are you going to start with?

[iggie]

Welcome to the dark side workbench window Mark!
C'mon, hurry up and get cracking

[MarkyM607]

So what are you going to start with?

RA-5C Vigilante, Airfix. It's soaking in Dettol so should be good to strip the paint by now.

[MarkyM607]

As above, the Vigilante has had a nice bath, although I didn't put enough Dettol in to cover her, that would have needed litres to reach the top of that tail!!, and that's with the legs retracted!. I have found with this box, which unlike others I've used, has no lid, that covering it with a bin bag has helped the 'vapours' stay in the box and reach the upper surfaces (when it was right way up!). However it's now upside down as the tail was resilient and has hardly been touched!.
IMG_5315 by MD, on Flickr

IMG_5314 by MD, on Flickr

[MarkyM607]

There's still some white to get off of the wings and a little off the tail, but otherwise she's nearly stripped. So to speak!!

[gnomemeansgnome]

Great start, Mark. Love the lines of this bird a lot and will be cool to see the resto proceed.

[IronMan129]

Welcome to the Jungle Marky!

[MarkyM607]

Great start, Mark. Love the lines of this bird a lot and will be cool to see the resto proceed.

Thanks GMG. The Vigilante is without doubt one of the best looking aircraft around. I've another kit to do sometime, leaning towards a whiff!!, Royal Navy!!.

Welcome to the Jungle Marky!

Thanks, I hope you indulge my rookie nature!!

[MarkyM607]

Well, after several days of a Dettol bath the Vigi is cleaned up and ready for refurb work to commence. I've made a start, but as with the Phantom I did before, it's found a way to come to pieces!. It actually makes it easier to clean up, I just didn't want to pull apart things that seemed well fitted. However the back end has come off, the tail and the panel below it have been removed. The left wing has removed itself too!!.
IMG_5326 by MD, on Flickr

IMG_5327 by MD, on Flickr
I've noticed the right hand exhaust isn't level, something that's taken a decade or more to notice!!.
IMG_5329 by MD, on Flickr
Some more mess from the left tail and wing removal...
IMG_5330 by MD, on Flickr
A view into the wide open spaces of the interior!!....
IMG_5331 by MD, on Flickr
The bits and pieces so far!. I will have to scratch build a new arrestor hook, although it appears flat in nature so hopefully won't be too much of a challenge. Hopefully!!. I do have an unbuilt RA-5C to use the arrestor hook as a template from.
The final thing is a weird one!. The main undercarriage doors are made up of three pieces, you can see in the picture that one each side is grey plastic, it clearly isn't the original piece, I'm thinking I changed the model from wheels down to wheels up, but I don't remember doing that!. The nose wheel door is also a replacement, and it says 'Wildcat' on it!!. It's part of the plastic so I'm thinking I used the nameplate from the kit sprue as a fill in door!!.

[Markh_75]

Not too unlike TSR2! You've even got a model of a mug o' tea!

[Early Bird Fan]

will be coming along for the ride in here, it's good to see how people restore their models and find fixes/replacements they'd forgotten about. Looking forward to more progress

[MarkyM607]

Not too unlike TSR2! You've even got a model of a mug o' tea!

Yes, the two types have been compared more than once!. The mug of tea is 1:1 scale and has working features!!

will be coming along for the ride in here, it's good to see how people restore their models and find fixes/replacements they'd forgotten about. Looking forward to more progress

Welcome aboard!. It's so long ago I can't recall when I built this one. There may be the remains of the tab/plug from the main wheel legs in the holes meant for them. I seem to think that I changed from wheels down to wheels up, but following procedure, can't recall why i did it?.
I could really do with a new canopy, but there doesn't seem to be much about for 72nd Vigilante's.

[MarkyM607]

Little bit more done, no more bits coming off or coming apart!. I've braced the rear end of the fuselage so that the tail cone piece fits better. Only a mere millimetre or so but it makes a big difference.
IMG_5347 by MD, on Flickr
Although it's covered by tape (to help it bend into shape, hopefully!!), you just might be able to pick out the white plastic replacement wheel door. Went surprisingly well so finished and backed away to appease the gods!!. Didn't want to tempt the 'Things going wrong' deity!!.
IMG_5349 by MD, on Flickr
And just for completeness, the other side!!..
IMG_5348 by MD, on Flickr
Although I only planned to make a new arrestor hook assembly for this refurb, the one in the kit had a bit of flash and was difficult to clean up without bending it, and nearly breaking it. So I've made to sets of the panels that go on the hook (it's an 'a' frame sort of thing). I'll try and use thicker plastic tube to recreate the hook/frame. The blue paint was my way of getting a more precise outline. You paint the part you want to copy then press it against another bit of plastic. The paint sticks where the two touch and you just cut out the paint!.
IMG_5346 by MD, on Flickr

[Jaime]

Months after coming out of its Dettol bath, my Polikarpov i-16 still reeks of the stuff! Hoping it won't affect new paint staying on the restored kit!