Rob's Meteor salvage *Finished*

The one you have all been waiting for - Vac(u)-formed kits. Any subject, any kit, so long as the basis of the kit is vac-form (no, you can't enter an injection airplane with a vac-canopy). Started kits are eligible, within reason - this is a learning GB to introduce members the variety of kits, what can be accomplished with them, and to overcome any reluctance to add them to your modeling repertoire.
This is an extended GB, running 4 April to 31 May, and your hosts are Lancfan, SJPONeill, and Splash.
Locked
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Rob's Meteor salvage *Finished*

Post by rob_van_riel »

Opening moves, the status of roughly a year ago:

2014's IPMS New Year's event at Flash Aviation was a good place for scavengers like myself who were willing to save damaged kits from the landfill; I got my grubby paws on a pair of Aeroclub Meteors. Actually, two slightly different boxes of Meteor parts. There's enough parts for about a plane and a half, and those parts were more of less randomly distributed between the boxes. First order of business then, was to sort them out and take stock. I think I have enough parts for the complete F8, while the Mk4 has some serious shortages; minor things really, after all, who needs engines and vertical stabilisors anyway.

Image

Image

Conventional wisdom would suggest building the F8 and forgetting about the excess parts, but instead of either conventional or wise, I tend to be over ambitious, so I'm going to try to squeeze both models out of this. I should be able to copy the missing bits for the Mk4 from the F8, with the exception of the cockpit canopy. Fortunately, a vacform canopy is available as an aftermarket part, intended for the Tamiya kit of the same subject. I'll probably end up spending more on materials to complete the Mk4 than the Tamiya kit would cost me, or even a pair of them, but hey, if you're going to do something daft, you might as well go all the way.


Fast forward to today.
This project and I have been circling each other for a year, and with this GB on the agenda, I decided to finally get serious about it. I've bought some decals for these planes, and have the canopy on order; it should arrive in time to be useful, if not, I have a plan B (and some bits further down the alphabet..) I've also produced copies of the vertical stabilisers in cast resin. Other than that, the status is as seen in the pictures.
I have a serious load of silicone rubber in stock, and what will hopefully turn out to be a properly cunning plan to fix the wings. I've also obtained a Tamiya Meteor Mk1, to help visualise what the completed machines should look like, and if necessary provide further parts for duplication. I hope not to have to make much use of it; if all goes well, I'll only use the pilot figure from it as a master. It is also an alternative source for a replacement canopy, as it contains two slightly different variants.


First order of business on this project is clearly going to be replacement of the missing engine nacelles. Succes or failure there deternines whether this project will produce one or two models, so instead of starting the build by building the interior, or by freeing the parts from the sheets, I'll be starting out with Lego and clay, rubber and resin.
User avatar
Old_Tonto
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 8049
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 7:41 pm
Location: Middlesbrough, Peoples Republic of Teesside.

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by Old_Tonto »

Rob you are completely BONKERS! :lol:
2023 - A:0 B:0 C:0
Current Projects:
East German Air Force (1956-90)
South African Air Force (1958-93)
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by splash »

I think OT has a point :-D

Can you show us how you go about making the resin replacement parts as most people including me think its harder than it sounds until you try it.

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

Old_Tonto wrote:Rob you are completely BONKERS! :lol:
The great ambition of my life is to become excentric, which is just a polite way of saying stinking rich but totally batshit crazy in a mostly harmless way. I take some pride in having accomplished at least half of that ambition :ha:
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

splash wrote:Can you show us how you go about making the resin replacement parts as most people including me think its harder than it sounds until you try it.
The idea was to do a blow-by-blow report of the entire process in any case, but I'll make sure to spend some extra effort on the tooling part as well.
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by splash »

rob_van_riel wrote:
splash wrote:Can you show us how you go about making the resin replacement parts as most people including me think its harder than it sounds until you try it.
The idea was to do a blow-by-blow report of the entire process in any case, but I'll make sure to spend some extra effort on the tooling part as well.
Cheers that will make good watching.

Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

rob_van_riel wrote:
splash wrote:Can you show us how you go about making the resin replacement parts as most people including me think its harder than it sounds until you try it.
The idea was to do a blow-by-blow report of the entire process in any case, but I'll make sure to spend some extra effort on the tooling part as well.
EDIT 2015-03-31:
I've moved the 'tutorial' to a more proper place here:
http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=11532
I think it would be best if any questions directly linked to the tutorial are asked and answered there. Anything related to the 'running examples' this build is certain to generate should stay here, although I might at some point summarise and add them to the tutorial thread.
User avatar
SJPONeill
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3518
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 12:01 am
Location: Near the Spiral, NZ.
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by SJPONeill »

Great tutorial, Rob!! Very comprehensive and easy to follow...

I am inspired to dash off and buy some Lego...
Please critique my posts honestly i.e. say what you think so I can learn and improve...
The World According To Me
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by splash »

That's a brilliant tutorial, cheers for sharing, I suspect a lot of visitors will book mark this page.

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

rob_van_riel wrote:and have the canopy on order; it should arrive in time to be useful
The Squadron canopy just arrived. All set and rearing to go :-D
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

rob_van_riel wrote:All set and rearing to go :-D
Not quite, apparently.. Paranoia is such a useful trait at times..
I won't be able to do much work on this tomorrow, and all the useful shops will be closed for two days after that because of Easter. I didn't really have a good idea how much plasticine clay would be needed to build a dam around those Meteor wings, so just to be safe I started building my tools a few hours early. As I'd feared, there's just no way to build a sufficiently high and long dam with the clay I've got. Urgent shopping scheduled for tomorrow, to avoid blockage later.

Image

That entire area is going to get covered in about 20mm (more at the lower parts) of silicone rubber, as part of the attempt to rebuild the engine nacelles.
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by splash »

Do you have any Lego to build a wall on top of the plasticine?

Regards Splash
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

splash wrote:Do you have any Lego to build a wall on top of the plasticine?
Of course, wouldn't know how to make moulds without it. It might have been worth a shot if my 'dirty' Lego hadn't been in use for other moulds at this time, and if I had a little more confidence in my ability to keep a Lego wall stable without a base plate, and properly joined to the plasticine. Springing a leak and getting half cured rubber all over the place is great fun, but at this point I prefer to be a coward :lol:
User avatar
splash
Senior Service Rotorhead
Posts: 13828
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 11:02 am
Location: Somerset England

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by splash »

rob_van_riel wrote:
splash wrote:Do you have any Lego to build a wall on top of the plasticine?
Of course, wouldn't know how to make moulds without it. It might have been worth a shot if my 'dirty' Lego hadn't been in use for other moulds at this time, and if I had a little more confidence in my ability to keep a Lego wall stable without a base plate, and properly joined to the plasticine. Springing a leak and getting half cured rubber all over the place is great fun, but at this point I prefer to be a coward :lol:
I have only made one silicon mould and was really surprised at how the liquid silicon managed to find every small gap in the lego and leak out, so I fully understand you plight.
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
rob_van_riel
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3317
Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Rob's Meteor salvage

Post by rob_van_riel »

splash wrote:I have only made one silicon mould and was really surprised at how the liquid silicon managed to find every small gap in the lego and leak out, so I fully understand you plight.
Of yeah, it's almost as creepy (as in likes to creep) as PU resin. I learned that the hard way, and now I clog up al those little seams with vaseline before pouring in the rubber. Some of it still gets past, but at least I don't have half the rubber leaking out of the mould anymore. This literally happened to me with the mould pictured below.

Image

Nicely on-topic, this is the mould I made earlier for the horizontal stabilisers on the Meteor.

Not all rubbers are created equal, and this was the first time I used anything other than the heat resistant material used for white metal moulds. Turns out the normal rubbers are considerably runnier.
After cleaning up the puddle of rubber next to the box, I made undercuts in the original batch of rubber, rebuild the box, and poured on a new layer of a different type of rubber (the blue parts). Despite the patchwork, the mould performs well.

This mould was made by pouring a single (well, that was the plan) lump of rubber over the subject, which was attached to a bottom plate by the pouring block. Once set, I cut open the mould to make a two-parter; the knife cuts can still be seen in the rubber. With very thin, large surface parts, this is better than pouring the mould in two passes, since in the latter case there's a fairly good change that rubber from the second half will find it's way between the first half and the part, marring the castings.
Locked

Return to “Vac-form Kits”