TeeELLs T-33 - Cuban Revolutianary Airforce

[TeeELL]

My plans to lay down the gloss black have been scuppered for 2 reasons, firstly I am unhappy with the seam lines on the rear fuselage that reappeared after the repair, so primer/filler and further rub downs required. Secondly, I had to remove the gloss and matt black from the fuel tanks and, surprise, surprise they fell apart! So a pace or so rearwards!!

[Old_Tonto]

This T-bird is possessed!

Kudos for sticking with it.

[TeeELL]

The seams are well and truly filled with a mountain range of primer/filler, I will let it harden thoroughly overnight and see what tomorrow brings. In the meantime clothes pegs are holding the fuel tanks together so I will see what needs doing to them tomorrow; they will, almost certainly need primer/filler and panel lines re-scribed, but it is essential for the cement to have hardened off fully before I do any basic scraping off of the excess. Worryingly, there are only a handful of days to go and I am away over the weekend . Hmmm, I don't really like using emoticons .......

[TeeELL]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear the saga worsens. I thought I had mastered this kit but it continues to bite back. The process of cleaning the kit seems to have had a marked detrimental effect on the plastic; not only are the seams coming apart but cracks are appearing and bits dropping off due to weakened plastic. I am persevering but it is now, very much, touch and go as to whether the model will be finished in time or even finished at all. :-(. The aircraft seems destined for the breakers yard, all on its own volition.

[MarkyM607]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear the saga worsens. I thought I had mastered this kit but it continues to bite back. The process of cleaning the kit seems to have had a marked detrimental effect on the plastic; not only are the seams coming apart but cracks are appearing and bits dropping off due to weakened plastic. I am persevering but it is now, very much, touch and go as to whether the model will be finished in time or even finished at all. :-(. The aircraft seems destined for the breakers yard, all on its own volition.

Take it around the back of the barn and shoot it!

[TeeELL]

Mary I am soooo tempted. Instead I have reattached the horizontal stabiliser (the other one this time), reattached the fuel tank fin, used primer/filler to built up enough body to remove the cracks on the fuel tank. I've erased the seam lines on the fuselage, re-primed and micro-meshed the blasted thing. I am undecided as to whether to push my luck with the black this afternoon or not, I probably will as I want to make some progress, at least I'll be back to where I was earlier this week!!

[iggie]

This is certainly putting up a fight! I hope that righteousness prevails and you win out in the end

(or as suggested by Mark, take the darn thing and put it out of it's misery )

Who is Mary btw?

[TeeELL]

Ah, hadn't spotted that; Mary is, of course the auto spell correction for Marky! Which actually didn't happen this time.

[TeeELL]

The T-bird is now gloss black once again, missing panel lines remain missing - I 've had enough! The last straw was the thing toppling over just a moment after the gloss black had been applied. It'll be good enough to display at the back of my cabinet and I shall take away the experience when I built a couple of limited run MiG 23 kits!
Monday will see the black micro-meshed and a final coat, after that is well and truly dry it will be 'polished aluminium' and all the little bits. I really thought this would be finished well within the rime frame, but it looks like I am going to the wall with this.

Thanks for the encouraging words, much appreciated.

[MarkyM607]

Ah, hadn't spotted that; Mary is, of course the auto spell correction for Marky! Which actually didn't happen this time.

Phew, I thought I was going to have to buy a new set of clothes!!

[DavidWomby]

Sorry to hear you're having such troubles with this one. I am curious, is it so fragile because the plastic is in any way unusual so the glue won't hold it properly?

David

[TeeELL]

Hi David,
The plastic is relatively brittle (certainly compared to Airfix, against whom I can only judge). I have used Revell liquid cement and is does 'melt' the plastic as one would expect. Apart from the surprise of the seams splitting I was quite astonished to find random areas failing eg: a crack developed in the side of a wing tank, a piece of plastic fell out from the nose of a wing tank and part of the split in the rear fuselage was separate to the seam. I can only surmise that the carrier fluid of the various paints, followed by the White spirit clean affected the plastic. That said, the Halfords primer should have been a effective barrier as that was not removed by the clean up?

[fredk]

My goodness, you really are having a bad time with this one.
Still just over a week left to this GB, so you have at least that time.
But at your own pace.

[iggie]

Ah, hadn't spotted that; Mary is, of course the auto spell correction for Marky! Which actually didn't happen this time.

Phew, I thought I was going to have to buy a new set of clothes!!

That's a relief!

[TeeELL]

When I returned home I was relieved to find the T-33 still in one piece. A rub down with micromesh and back into the spray booth. I am now waiting for the gloss black to dry and then it will be polished aluminium. I suppose a war weary Cuban T-33 would be less than polished but I want to try out the finish. What nearly derailed me was finding a one paragraph reference that suggested the FAR T-33s were 2 tone green at the time of Playa de Jirón! Trouble is, even the Cubans dont really have any records available for reference.