Hunting Percival Pembroke - Finished

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vacant
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Hunting Percival Pembroke - Finished

Post by vacant »

I bought this one at the recent Cosford model show. I fooled myself into thinking it was a bargain and since I have often fancied building a Pembroke, Satan sprang from behind me and prised my wallet open. My club table was immediately opposite a real Pembroke at Cosford, so I convinced myself that one can not fight fate.

The kit is in 1/72 scale by Airmodel. Generally, I have found Airmodel to be the kind of vacform that is to scale modelling what Julius Caesar was to international diplomacy. This kit lives up to every expectation one has of an Airmodel kit. One gets what one pays for, which in this case, is not a lot and what there is, is pretty dire.

The instruction sheet provides some guidance on how to build it, though that is stretching the definition of 'some'. So that there is no confusion, it only shows the parts that come with the kit, i.e., no props, undercarriage, seats, etc. etc.

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One is not, however, entirely left to one's imagination as to how to build it. This paragraph provides detailed instructions. I suppose they could have been a bit shorter if the sentence 'Get on with it' and nothing else had been provided.

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But not to be deterred by instructions that I would probably not have read anyway, I decided to take the plunge. The next photo shows the first step in cutting out the pieces. These are, indeed, all the pieces.

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After the first rough cut, I cut more closely using a combination of scissors and a sharp knife to etch a line around the shapes. Once the line has been etched, it is easy enough to bend the pieces until they snap apart from the sheet. There - it's looking better already.

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This is the stage where I cut off the myriad of tiny moulding bumps, cut out the windows, scribe some panel lines and give the parts a general clean up with wet and dry. I also do the critical job of sanding the edges of the parts smooth so they can be glued together. Trailing edges always take the most amount of time so that they are thin and sharp as they can be.

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So that's where it is at the moment. That's about 7 hours worth in case anyone is interested in how long a model like this might take.
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JamesPerrin
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by JamesPerrin »

Can I ask what method you use for sanding down vacforms. The old sandpaper on a board method, or freehand to a marked line by sanding and scrapping as proposed by John Adams?
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by vacant »

Don't throw all this technical stuff at me. All it does is to make me feel inadequate. I'm not even sure I understand the question since I don't know what John Adams proposed and I'm not sure if sanding and scraping is different to sanding on a board. I have a sheet of sandpaper on my work table. I sometimes tape it down as a special treat. I generally use the Pinball Wizard technique, i.e. by intuition and sense of smell, though unlike him, I often get things wrong. I sand the pieces down to the line where the moulding begins, looking at plans when I have them. It's probably safe to assume that however I do things, it is going to be 'old'.
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by K5083 »

Heh! Great answer vacant. Can I ask it this way: Do you sand from the back of the plastic sheet, or do you sand around the outline of the plastic part? My sense is that sanding from the back is the "old" way, but more people now are sanding around the shape of the part and then truing up the joining edge if necessary.

It is great when you have a vac form to the all-cleaned-up point you have it now, and it's just like having an injection kit. Except real flimsy and with no detail parts.

Is there a specific kit you're planning to raid for the engines, props, landing gear and stuff?

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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by SJPONeill »

The preparation of vac parts...draw around each part with a permanent marker. Place a knife with a sharp blade at 45 degrees where the part meets the backing sheet and scribe around it until it is free of the backing sheet. This will leave a small lip of plastic visible beneath the permanent marker. Sand until this is gone. Your part should now be good to go...

Deeper parts the interior of which will not be visible oost-build can be filled with expanding foam for strength PRIOR to curring out. Make sure the vac sheet is straight before foaming. If you foam once parts have been joined you increase the risk of distortion or the parts being ripped apart by the expanding foam...

The easiest way to get what I mean for preparing vac form parts is to acquire one and give it a go...gone on, you know you want to..!
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by vacant »

How can anyone sand from the front of the plastic sheet, i.e. the area that contains the part and all its detail (or lack of it)? I place sandpaper flat on the table. I cut out the part using a combination of scissors, knife and scoring with a sharp knife. I don't use a pencil or felt tipped pen - can't see the advantage as long as I have eyes that can see what I am doing. Then I sand the part from the undersideuntil there is ony a wafer thin lip left - that's usually about right. This ain't no rocket science operation! Go with the advice on 'give it a go' and find your own salvation.

I don't have any specific kit in mind from which to raid spare parts. I have not got that far yet. I am on a wing and a prayer that something will occur to me. I don't think I have any suitable u/c legs so I will probably have to scratch build them. Prop - no idea yet. Everything else, no idea yet. Too much planning can inhibit and might even completely deter progress. Of course if anyone has built an injection moulded Pembroke with legs up so with bits to spare, you have my full attention and can have my address if you are feeling generous. I'm not into reinventing wheels, literally.
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by lancfan »

This is one of a number of aircraft I have always wanted to build, watching with interest.

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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by JamesPerrin »

I have actually built a vacform Pembroke myself. The Welsh model's 1/144 one.
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by pkwong »

Vacant,
I've been wishing you did something like an in-progress build of one of your many vac kits so I can see how you go about building them. Looks like the wish has been granted. It is very informative. Thanks for taking the time to do so.

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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by vacant »

James, please feel free to put some photos of your 1/144 Pembroke in this thread and feeding in better or alternative ways of doing things. Apart from giving everyone something interesting to look at, it will divert attention and reduce the Spanish Inquisition I feel under. There are many web sites with step by step accounts on building vacforms so my build will add nothing to the sum total of human knowledge on the topic. As said above, once the parts have been cut out and sanded, it becomes little different from building an injection kit - apart from the idea of parts that 'fit' is one you have to resolve for yourself and the need to either find spares of do a bit of scratch building (as one often needs to do with an injection kit).

Job for this morning will probably be to make some semblance of a flight deck. While doing that, I will be asking myself whether it will be worth making a floor and some seats for the cabin since I doubt if anything inside will be visible. It's a much a matter of 'I know it's there, or not' because nobody else will ever see inside or care.

At least the main part of the build should be fairly straightforward. A problem area with twins can be where the engine nacelles extend both above and below the wing so the wings have to slot in the middle, but in this case, there is nothing above the wing so the nacelles only have one side to worry about in terms of fit.


The rudder needs to be ribbed with short lengths of stretched sprue but otherwise, the main parts need little else done to them apart from a thorough rub down and cleaning.
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by splash »

It's a shame the main stream manufactures have ignored the Percival / Sea Prince, I recall back in the 70's every Naval Air-station had a Sea Prince as part of the Station Flight, I think they were also used as trainers for Observers until they were replaced buy Jet Streams.

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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by vacant »

If any of the mainstream brings one out within the next twelve months, I will not be a happy bunny.

Anyway, I plod on. Add in another 4 hours play and a bit more progress has been made as shown in the rather poor photo. Sorry about that. I am no good at indoor photos.

The wing halves have been gued together and tidied up.
I have found some fairly poor quality 9 cylinder engines that fit. They can be tidied up but will be largely hidden behind the props and spinners.
I have built a flight deck floor, added two seats and a block for levers. An instrument panel with cowhorn shaped 'wheels' has also been made. These are all from odds and ends that more or less match photos of a Pembroke's flight deck.
The engine nacelles have been cut for the wheel wells and to fit around the wings. I can use the cut out bits for the u/c/ doors.
I am adding stretched sprue to the fin and control surfaces (not done the ailerons yet) to give a bit of extra surface detail.
I have started to make a set of seats for the cabin, but I'm still not sure how much time and effort it is worth putting into building them. It is hard to see inside a real Pembroke, never mind inside a 1/72 model.
I have made and fitted a bulkhead for the flight deck and put some panels on the side walls of the flight deck to help make it look a bit busy.
I have boxed in the front wheel well, though you can't see that in the photo.

Next step will be to complete the stretched sprue work on the fin and control surfaces. I will also be thinking about packing the front with lead and filler.

I have no thoughts yet on the u/c legs and wheels. Something will occur to me.

So all pretty mundane stuff with no particular techniques on show. It's just plain basic building with plastic card and bits.

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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by JamesPerrin »

vacant wrote:James, please feel free to put some photos of your 1/144 Pembroke in this thread and feeding in better or alternative ways of doing things. Apart from giving everyone something interesting to look at, it will divert attention and reduce the Spanish Inquisition I feel under.
Here you go. I built this for a CBK newsletter - ah those were the days when I had time to write newsletters! For this one I sanded mine down on a flat board until the fringe of plastic fell off in much the same way as you.

Converted to a Sea Prince by chopping off the tips of the wings:

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just because I like dayglo finishes!

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Linky to John Adam's article.
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by vacant »

That's a cute little chap. I have not given colour shemes much thought as yet. The standard grey and white is quite attractive, but I see mention of an emerald one in the colour schemes with the 1/144 scale kit. I will be doing a bit more research before I make a decision on that.

The link to the John Adams guide is interesting. I'm fairly sure I have read it before, or at least, as much of it as my attention span could cope with before just plodding on. It is certainly a well written and comprehensive guide and would be invaluable for anyone who wanted to be guided 'by the book'. For others, reading it might have the opposite effect, i.e. they could be put off by the seeming complexity of how to do it, e.g. making sure that the cutting is done with a particular kind of knife and blade at an angle of 45 degrees following an ink marked line. That would be a shame because most of building a vacform involves fairly basic skills in working with plastic (cutting at 40 or 50 degrees might also work), together with a fair amount of common sense, e.g. in ensuring that one's fingertips are not sanded away.

After another 2 hours, more of the control surface ribbing is now done, but there is more to do, followed by a lot of light sanding with wet and dry. I have also built a cabin floor and attached the crudely built seats to it.
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Re: Hunting Percival Pembroke

Post by vacant »

Meanwhile, back in the world of 1/72, I am still plodding on with the Pembroke.

I have done the following.
Sprayed the interior with a grey primer.
Added an instrument panel, control wheels and painted it (it will not be possible to see).
Fitted the windows - clamped until the PVA sets.
Painted the flight deck and added some belts to the seats.
Painted the cabin seats and added seat belts (a very basic attempt at seats)
Completed adding the flying surface ribbing and begun to sand them down.
Painted the engines - also pretty basic but will be acceptable as they are buried deep behind the big spinners.

This is all basic scratch building stuff involving no particular techniques. Most of this work will be completely hidden when the fuselage halves are attached and the canopy is fitted.

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Next step will be to glue some tabs along the seam lines of the fuselage halves to help match them when they are glued together.
I am now also having to think about u/c legs, wheels and a box for the u/c bay.
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