Splash's XR219

[splash]

As most of the airborne photos are of XR219 I plan to build it in its original colours of dirty white.

I have both releases of the kit and will use the later Strator 4 version as I understand the decals on the later release are better.



Regards Splash

[splash]

My wife is working tomorrow night so I should get some bench time and start building.

Regards Splash

[splash]

This is not going to be a shake and bake kit test fitting confirms it will require lots of tinkering to get a good fit on the parts, my first addition will be locating strips to the upper fuselarge joins to help get a good join.

First job will be to paint the cockpit light grey and add the decals.

Photos when there is something to see.

Regards Splash

[splash]

I'm having problems uploading photos, the cockpit is simple but quite effective, the decals have gone on like a dream and do make the cockpit look busy enough for me, the seats look simple but looking at photos of the originals they look Airfix has made attempt that will only need webbing to look right.

[splash]

To aid the alignment of the fusalarge halves I have added strips of plastic along the top joins.

One thing you will need to build one of these is a fine saw to help remove the parts as the sprue gates are very thick.

The part that I think will be a problem area is the rear of the wings to body join. Dry fitting shows the wings are two thick to fit into the slot, if you dry fit the lower wing part it's flush with the rear but when you add the upper wing half it sits proud.

Regards Splash

[splash]

My ISP have sorted out my server, so I can now upload my images.

[iggie]

Looks good so far! I wish I'd gone the tab route for the upper fuselage join!

[TimJ]

Nice work so far.

I know what you mean about the fettling of parts, the fit isn't too good in places.

[splash]

It's starting to take on that classic sleek look that only the TSR2 had.



Regards Splash

[splash]

Time to add some filler, let it set then start the sanding.

[iggie]

That's taking shape nicely!

[splash]

I'm not a great lover of white plastic, trying to get joins sanded down flat is difficult as you have to do it all by feel. To help get a good seam on the top I have reverted to using a black marker, as you can see in the two images how it shows up any low points in this example the port side is still slightly lower than the starboard.





Regards Splash

[splash]

I have had a stinking head cold and not managed much bench time over the last week.

I get the feeling building this kit that Airfix have added parts just for the sake of it. for example the square panel just in front of the front wheel well, why didn't they just mould it as part of the fuselage?

Regards Splash

[iggie]

I wondered about that too; it sort of suggested that they may have considered adding some internal detail at an early stage in the tooling, then forgot about it later

Still, it helps to keep filler sales strong

[lancfan]

A number of things don't quite make sense on this kit, the detail is fine and the fit of parts is in some areas really quite bad but it can be built with care as Splash is demonstrating here. It is certainly not an unbuildable model as some would have it labelled. If you build the anime version you will find that the Stratos4 parts seem to be rushed and ill conceived and do not help at all but they too can be used with a little thought.


David.