lancfan's ASR mk.1 (failed brace of builds)

[lancfan]

Hi folks, to begin I will build two aircraft and think of further subjects if there is time later. The aircraft I will build are a mk II night fighter and an ASR aircraft. The box and sprue shots are below and in the sprue shot you will see the odd-looking block- that is my Defiant parts mould for the engine, radiator and fin. The Defiant is an occasional personal theme and I intend to build a number of them eventually and to make that task easier I made patterns for the worst parts and took a mould from them.


I will build the two together, progressing them as a pair. Work will begin after lunch.


David.

[Old_Tonto]

You sound like you have built this kit before, is it really that bad?

I can see the nose is naff so I bought the VW replacement before this GB was planned. The tail looks very undersized so i will throw some plastic at it. What is wrong with the radiator?

Does the fuselage seem a little skinny to you?

[lancfan]

Hi OT, It is quite bad, the main problem is its age as it falls far short of 1980s standards let alone current expectations. The worst parts are the nose and the fin, the radiator is the wrong shape and size and there are other minor faults that can be easily corrected or even ignored- this is one kit that Airfix do REALLY NEED TO RETOOL!

Having said that, you can buy it anywhere at anytime and in the right hands it can scrub up rather well and if you want to build a model that just looks like a Defiant it will do but if you want accuracy it is not by any means a shake and bake kit.

David.

[lancfan]

The parts mould is shown here along with the parts sets for both models to either side. The original patterns for the engine and radiator are displayed in the foreground of the picture.


David.

[Old_Tonto]

I thought for a minute that you had made them out of jelly (jello in Americanese)

They look very good indeed & a great idea if you are doing more than one Defiant. I won't be building another!

[Jagewa]

Those replacements look great David, a handy skill to have.

Cheers
Jim

[Dirkpitt289]

Molding your own noses. How cool is that? WOW...

[lancfan]

Both cockpits have been built up from cast resin, alluminium foil, miliput, copper wire & evergreen strip. One has been left unpainted to show the different materials.


David.

[lancfan]

Both fuselages are now assembled complete with pilots cockpits. The next step will be to remove the noses and fit the resin replacements.


David.

[lancfan]

Both noses are now in place, as I made my resin nose for the shorter mark 1 cowling this means that there is a slight step that needs to be filled when building a mark 2 aircraft. the next steps include blanking off the wheelbays, removing all the rivets from both fuselages & correcting and modifying the retractable fairings.


David.

[Dirkpitt289]

Nice work so far. The noses look great

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have got to try that molding trick someday. The fuselages look good ....

[lancfan]

This is not more work on the fuselage but is actually the start of work on the wings, the mark 1 has been reworked to eventually include a more realistic wing interior whilst the mark 2 fuselage below it shows the wheelbay area as kitted.


The main wing parts have now been assembled, the plastic card is there to reinforce the centre section after the kit radiator has been removed. Despite coming from a tool that is over 50 years old this kit is largely flash-free and still builds up very well.


David.

[JohnRatzenberger]

That's good; I'm getting some efficiency tips that might help me catch up - a bit hung up on a community project.

[lancfan]

Have been otherwise occupied but here is an update on what has happened so far, the flaps have been removed from the wings, the recess for the turret fairing has been opened up and blanked off. Card blanking plates have been made to hide the wing join inside the wheel bays. This shot is a double image showing upper and lower views of the modifications and card blank on the mark 1.


This is what the card blank looks like on the mark 2 with the wings in place.


David.