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Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 10:10 am
by lancfan
The inside of the fuselage and the cockpit area of the wing have been thinly smeared with washing up liquid and the cockpit area is filled with miliput, the wing is pressed in position to complete the shaped plug and the whole thing is now set aside to dry, this will take a few hours so nothing further can be done until sometime this afternoon.
Image

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 1:52 pm
by lancfan
With the miliput now hardened to the texture of a pencil eraser the plug has been trimmed back ready for final shaping when it has properly cured.
Image

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 3:07 pm
by jssel
Now this is interesting. What next?

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 4:06 pm
by lancfan
This is what comes next, The plug has now had a base added from more Miliput to form a pattern for a vac formed cockpit tub.
the fuselage has been filled with more miliput to form a second plug with which to make the bulkheads/seats to fit inside the new cockpit moulding.
Image

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 5:11 pm
by ShaunW
Now that is very interesting and ingenious David, I've never seen anyone make a mould for a replacement cockpit tub. This is shaping up into a very nice looking build.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 6:34 pm
by MerlinJones
By 'eck...the lad's moving!
I bet there's a market for Chippy interiors, although I'm content, after my last Chipmunk, to 'leave it aht!'
Lancashire and Cockney, in the same two lines...I blame my busy day.

Staring mine, I put the wings together and lost the rivets and re-arranged the control surfaces. Half done;

The last time, I made up some instrument panels and crewed the aircraft with two of PJ's finest. I reasoned that, with the Canadian bubble canopy, all would be worth it and visible.
It wasn't, really.
So this time, the internals will remain as is and I'm using the two supplied crewmen. That said, I did alter their heads and gave each something to hold onto, (behave, at the back!);

As with the wings, I lost the rivets on the fuselage and removed the rudder;

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 6:39 pm
by MerlinJones
There should be a gap, between fuselage and front cowling, at the back. Last time, I tried to replicate this with paint, but it was a bad idea. This time, I'm sticking with Plan A and refining the trailing edge of the cowling, having cut it off from the fuselage;

I drilled out those little intakes;

...And drilled out the large-ish hole in the front;

I also cut away at the exhaust, to make it more akin to the real thing;

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 6:58 pm
by lancfan
Whilst removing the rivets I noticed that the raised fabric detail made the D box look shallow so to correct this I masked off the fabric area and stick painted the front half of the wing with one of the gloppier varieties of Revell Aqua to raise this to the level of the raised detail, the result looks much better to my eyes now and will have a better effect when the model is painted. I am now waiting for the Miliput to dry off so that I can finish the moulds, until then I will detail the cowlings as Bruce is doing.
Image

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 8:20 pm
by MerlinJones
It's a nice little kit, isn't it?
I appreciate that it's a product of its time and that it's far from perfect, but any accurising work isn't beyond the most basic of modellers.
I'm also drawn to subjects that invite themselves to become a collection.

It surprises me that, given the many liveries the Chippy appeared in, there aren't more Chipmunk-orientated decal sheets.
That said, I note that S&M Decals offer a sheet that includes items to decorate 18 different Chippies, this being their Post War British Trainer Collection;
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SSM72005;

There's an RAF Decals sheet, with one Chippy as an option;
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/RAF7206;

...and a Modeldecal set with a Chippy based in West germany, in the 70's;
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ML72187;

Of more interest, perhaps, is that AZ Models will be releasing a series of 4 different Chipmunk kits, covering many different options and countries.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 9:42 pm
by lancfan
MerlinJones wrote:It's a nice little kit, isn't it?
I agree Bruce it really is a great little kit and considering its age it still fits together perfectly. There are a large number of civil and military colours for this and hopefully Airfix will realise this and change the decal options periodically as they seem to be doing with the DH88 Comet Racer.


David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 10:21 pm
by lancfan
The cowlings of the BBMF aircraft have a different internal manifold to the external unit depicted in the kit, modifications to include this along with the detailing are now finished.
Image

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 13th, 2012, 10:49 pm
by MerlinJones
Aaaarrgh! Ta for the heads up... :oops:

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 14th, 2012, 1:05 pm
by lancfan
The moulds are finished and in position in the Mattel as it warms up.

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - 13th October

Posted: October 14th, 2012, 4:32 pm
by lancfan
Here are the fuselage sides along with the Vac formed parts after rough trimming, the tub has turned out perfect but the seats lack the the definition I had hoped for- my Mattel Vac-U-Form is now quite old and just does not have the suction it had when new. I have given serious thought to converting this to use my vacuum cleaner instead of the manual suction pump but to do this now would hold up the build so for now I will make the new seats the old fashioned way.
Here the sides are laid out with the new tub that will be used and the seats that will now be discarded.
Image Lost.

David.

Re: Airfix 1/72 DHC Chipmunk T.10 - Building

Posted: October 14th, 2012, 5:34 pm
by jssel
Great stuff, David.