H.S. Andover E3, 115 Sqn RAF, 1/72nd scale.

[Airframes]

Thanks, Vic and Geo.

I'm hoping to join the fuselage later today (Sunday), and then, if possible, start on the wings and engine nacelles. Got a bit of a busy week though, mainly preparing for my eldest daughter's wedding next weekend, and getting stuff ready for when I get back home, ready to depart again for Norfolk on the 27th.
All being well, I aim to get most of the main construction completed before I go to Norfolk, as I'll be away for at least two weeks, then bouncing back and forth between home and Norfolk until the end of September.

 

[Airframes]

Currently test-fitting the fuselage halves, and making adjustments where needed - sanding, trimming etc.
One half was quite badly warped, with a distinct outward bow. Heating and straightening has helped, but there will still be a slight gap on the underside of the nose, just behind the wheel bay. I'm hoping that this can be filled easily enough and, all being well, should be OK.
It's going to take some time to join and then fill and sand the fuselage where needed, which will need to be done in stages, checking alignment at each stage and clamping until fully set, using CA with the most critical area being where the "canopy" attaches. Get that bit wrong, and it'll be serious b*ll*cks !
I might get it completed today, but we'll see.
Hopefully back later with some pics.

 

[A4K]

Take your time Terry, and Congratulations to your daughter! (And to her proud dad )

 

[rochie]

Very nice

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Slow and easy Terry.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Evan, going to be a strange event, as two ex-wives will be there !
Thanks Vic and Karl, and yes, it's slow and careful work, but getting there.

The fuselage has been joined along the top edge as far as the rear of the flight deck, and on the underside from the tail up to the cut-out for the centre section.
The joints have been sanded, filled with CA, and sanded again, although a little more filler will be required, once the entire fuselage is joined.
The pics show how it looks so far, with that warped area very clearly visible. However, the upper surface of the nose comes together fine when clamped, and the rear section of the forward joint seems to be aligning OK, up to a point about 25mm aft of the wheel bay, with an increasing gap from there up to the nose itself.
When its all together, the gaps under the nose will be filled, probably with plastic card and "Milliput", and sanded to shape as required.
It looks worse than it actually is, but I'm fairly confident that it'll be fine after some work.

 

[A4K]

Two ex's... have fun there!

Tricky warping there, but she's looking good so far.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Evan.
Having a break for a few hours. Supposed to be going out tonight, but if the forecast heavy rain arrives, I'll bin that and get back to work joining the fuselage.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Joining all that together is a task I do not envy you for and if the rain stays away, have a good evening.

 

[Crimea_River]

Doing good there Terry and fingers crossed for the rest of the joining.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks all.

The rain arrived, with extra bonus rain from everywhere in the World ( as if we haven't had enough over the last two weeks !) so I binned the pub idea, and did a bit more on the fuselage joints.

The two halves are now fully joined, with the seams filled with CA and sanded back. The remaining larger gaps under the nose have been filled with plastic card and CA, and again, sanded smooth. Some extra filler will possibly be needed here and there, but I'll check all the joint seams by applying a thin coat of matt white enamel, after first completing work on the joints at the extreme nose area.
These will be treated with "Milliput", but I'll wait until the canopy clear part has been attached, as it's sure to need blending-in with "Milliput" too.
I'm not too concerned with what at first sight looks to be a horrendous joint on the underside of the nose, or the plastic-filled area behind the wheel bay, as some scratch-built additions will be fitted here.

A large, powerful lamp was mounted under the nose, offset to starboard, as shown in the pic below, and I'll have to make and attach this, blending-in the fairing using "Milliput" again. The fairing extended onto the starboard wheel well door, so the kit's white metal doors need to be adapted to fit in the closed position first (why the doors are provided in white metal is a bit of a puzzle, because the kit's main gear doors are nicely produced in resin).
The nose wheel ram on the real aircraft did not retract into the wheel bay, but lay flush against the fuselage skin externally (arrowed in pic below), therefore once the doors are fitted, and the gap behind the bay finished off, the ram will be made and attached.

So, next task is to mask the canopy, before removing a rather substantial tab from the front. Experience with the previous Andover build showed that this was a real pain to remove, without damaging the canopy part, and I eventually resorted to using the power multi-tool to grind away the resin, one of the very few times I've used this for modelling purposes.
With the tab removed and the masking done, the internal window frames will be painted matt black, before very carefully aligning and attaching the canopy part, hoping that a good, clean joint can be achieved, with minimal filler.

Pics below tell the story so far and note that the dark lines of the fuselage joints are where CA was used to fill the minimal gaps, and has dried clear - the joints themselves are firm and close, but the shape of the resin edges causes a hair-line "trough".
All being well, I'll be back some time tomorrow with another up-date.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks, Wojtek and Hugh.

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking good Terry. Could use some of that rain here to douse the fires.

 

[A4K]

You can have some of ours Andy

 

[Airframes]

Had a six hour session sorting joints and the canopy, and getting there with the latter.

The windows were masked, before tackling that stubborn tab, which was removed from the front rim of the canopy, and the rim filed back, just those two tasks taking up two hours !
The internal window frames were then painted matt black, and the first test-fit of the canopy made, showing where the front rim protruded, and a small ridge all around the rear joint, with a slight ridge at the bottom joints.
Having checked this a couple of times, and lightly sanding the cockpit rim between test-fitting, the canopy was then attached, using a couple of spots of CA at first, and then, once satisfied the canopy was correctly located, running a bead of CA around all joints.
Once fully set, the joints were closely examined, in order to determine where any trimming or filing was needed.
It's evident that the front rim will need filing back and then the joint filled with "Milliput" to blend into the fuselage contours, and this will be left until last.
Consequently, the ridge around the rear joint, and the lower side joint were attended to first, starting on the port side. Using various jeweller's files, the canopy edge was slowly filed back until flush with the fuselage contours, taking care to avoid the masked windows. The first stage is now more or less complete, and I'll continue with this work until the joints are all flush.
Once that's done, the remaining gaps around the nose, and the front rim of the canopy section, will be filled and blended with "Milliput", before sanding the "worked" areas with progressively finer grits, and then polishing and applying a thin coat of matt white enamel to check the joints.
The white metal nose gear doors will then be adapted to fit (I hope !) in the closed position, before commencing work on scratch-building the large lamp beneath the nose.

Pics below show the stages described, and I'll be back with another up-date when this is all completed.
(Note that the small gaps in the windscreen masking in the first pic have since been covered).

 

[fubar57]

Worth it in the end

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Going great guns Terry and worth the effort.