FROG Barracuda - Martin R, Splash and Lancfan

[Martin R]

PS you are going to slow down your build by a factor of 10 to let me keep up, aren't you?

[AndrewR]

There's a mention in this thread of using Aeroclub wheels

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.o ... t7463.html;

I have Airfix Firefly wheels going spare, as I'll be doing mine wheels up, if that helps any ,Martin?

[Martin R]

There's a mention in this thread of using Aeroclub wheels

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.o ... t7463.html;

I have Airfix Firefly wheels going spare, as I'll be doing mine wheels up, if that helps any ,Martin?

Andrew,

Thank you for both the tip on Aeroclub and the offer of the wheels. Re the latter, my view from looking at Warpaint is that Firefly wheels would look wrong on a Barra II (which is what I'm going to do). However, looking at some of the builds on the thread, I think that the wheels from the Academy Typhoon (of which I now have, thanks to the Airfix new tool, a couple of 'stash queens') may look good enough at a pinch.

I may give John Adams of Aeroclub a call.

regards,

Martin

[Martin R]

Some good interior details on this 1/48th Classic Airframes build of a Barra Mk III.

regards,

Martin

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/inde ... -fuselage/

[Martin R]

Chaps,

I said "early June" and I meant it, but I plan to start this Friday to give myself some "chore time" this week as I have been working hard on my P-51 GB builds (but not as hard as you, David!).

Would this suit you both - or are you dying to crack on?

regards,

Martin

[lancfan]

Friday is OK by me Martin, my refs are all in place and I have decided which aircraft to build, so I can start whenever you both are ready.


David.

[splash]

I'm ready whenever you are.

Regards Splash

[Martin R]

Right chaps,

I'm planning to start after tea tonight!

Some destruction to start with, I think.

regards,

Martin

[AndrewR]

Right chaps,

I'm planning to start after tea tonight!

Some destruction to start with, I think.

regards,

Martin

I say, steady on! Tea first, then destruction!

[Martin R]

Tea consumed; kids put to bed; destruction commenced!

Well, first, some shots of what we're doing.

Kit and prime reference:



Lots of bits:



Gotta love those old FROG instruction sheets:



Decals (yellowed but useable) and etched brass (some useable):



regards,

Martin

[Martin R]

Only a short stint at the modelling bench tonight, doing some sanding, cutting and dremeling. First off, the prop. The kit rendition looks a fair shape, but there is no propeller backplate and it just looks a bit small to me:



And, after a bit of fettling of an Airfix Mk IX prop:



I have jammed some Milliput inside the tip of the spinner, as I will blunt the tip to better represent the Barra spinner shape.

[Martin R]

Then, the fin. The major outline shape issue (if you can actually call it major) is that the rear fuselage is a bit too long (say 3 - 4mm). This results in the fin being in the wrong place:



So, out with the Trumpeter scribing tool, like so:



Scribe completely through the base of the fin, et voila:



I have now added a tab for the base of the fin using sheet styrene, and this will hopefully locate further forward in the hole left in the fuselage halves. Some filler will be needed around the base, but it should look OK with a bit of care. Must remember to drill holes for the tailplane support struts further forward and fill the current ones.

regards,

Martin

[Martin R]

Last thing I started tonight was to reshape the bottom edge of the undercarriage bays on each fuselage side. Basically, I used a Dremel to make the bottom edge parallel to the fuselage underside instead of at an angle as it is now (see the pics above). The angle of the FROG front and rear edges also looks wrong, but I'm not going to do anything about that. I have some blanking plates on my etched sheets for in here, so we'll see if they fit when I'm done. No more pics tonight, as PB is squirrelly.

Tomorrow, fuselage bay sides and then I'll have a think about how I'm going to blank off the nose intake which at present is just a gaping hole.

regards,

Martin

[AndrewR]

Very good Martin. The scribing tool method for cutting the tail off looks good.

Hmm, the iPod tried to word replace "scribing" with "acrimony", the little scamp


Cheers

Andrew

[splash]

I had intended to just build my kit straight out of the box, but having looked at it I feel it will need extra work.

I don't have any scale drawings so I'm not too worried about accuracy, Martin I like your attention to detail and the way you have moved the tail, but I'm taking a slightly different approach and will attempt to fold the wings. The Barracuda's wing fold was so strange looking it will take your eyes away from all the other errors.

Regards Splash