Darius’ Aircraft Collection

[Darius43]

Before I got back into railway modelling I was an avid builder of model aircraft kits - all in the scale of 1:48.  This rapidly led to a problem of where to put the finished models, but that is another story.

Many of these kits are vac-forms from the likes of Aeroclub, Sanger and ID Models - such as this 1:48 Sanger Avro Shackleton MR3.

Sanger are the company that produces 1:48 kits of RAF two and four-engined aircraft that other companies have so far avoided.  Unfortunately they are vac-formed kits of the "old school" requiring serious plastic cutting, sanding, scratch building and a big hit to the spares box.  In short they are great fun but not for the faint of heart (or sane).

I got my MR3 kit from Hannants.  It is packed in an insubstantial plastic bag with large vac-formed white styrene sheets containing the fuselage, wings. tailplanes, engine nacelles, part of the nosegear leg (unuseable) and mainwheels (also unuseable).  The cockpit, nose and tailcone transparencies are supplied in thick but well-formed clear plastic - you only get one set so care is needed when cutting.  The nosewheels (wrong tyre tread), maingear legs, engine exhausts, propeller blades, control yokes and cockpit seats (unuseable) are in white metal.  A large decal sheet provides codes that appear to be for an MR1 but does supply appropriate yellow wing walk markings.

The vac parts were cut from the backing sheets and sanded down in the usual fashion - sandpaper laid flat on a sheet of glass (an old refrigerator shelf).  The engines are supplied as left and right halves and require intake flaps to be cut in the sidewalls.  Based on photographs I sketched sideviews of the inboard and outer nacelles and marked where they were on each nacelle half.  They were then cut away to form the openings.  Pre-curved sheet was laminated and re-attached to fill the rear half of each opening and a thinner "flap" was attached to the forward half to match the photo images.  The vac-formed engine fronts were scored with a P-cutter and cemented just inside the front of each nacelle.  Offcuts from the vac backing sheet were fashioned to make the "dividers" in the engine fronts.

The outboard nacelle "tubes" are moulded parallel but the MR3 outboard nacelles have a bulged underside that is quite distinctive.  This was created by cementing curved formers to the nacelle underside and filling the gaps with offcut vac backing bits and finally Humbrol plastic filler.  Once hardened these were sanded smooth to form the bulged nacelle undersides.   The nacelles were then grafted onto the wings using super glue (cyano) and lots more filler.  Once I had removed much of this from my fingers it was ready to sand.

The tailpalnes are moulded with quite a bulbous thickness to them so these were ruthlessley sanded down to produce a more scale thickness.  The rudders were also separated to give a better effect.  Steel pins super glued into holes drilled using a pin vice secured the tail assembiles together. 

The fusleage halves have door and window locations indicated by embossed perimeters.  Unfortunately these are in the wrong positions and so they had to be filled and the windows marked, drilled and cut out in the correct locations - photo references helped a lot with this task.  The starboard rear door was re-scribed in the proper position.  The joint between the fuselage halves was reinforced with plastic strips (more vac backing offcuts) and sprue lengths from an old injection moulded kit were used to ensure the correct vertical separation - this prevents the vac fuselage halves from "squashing".  

There is no kit cockpit and so this has to be scratch built (using more vac backing sheet offcuts and plastic card stock) - a google image search helped with this. 

The main cockpit console was scratch built using laminated plastic card sheets but the kit-supplied yokes were used (hurrah!).   The seats were scratch built using thick plastic card and spare photo-etched bits.

The kit-supplied engine exhausts do not look like the ones on an MR3 so the exhaust bodies were scratch built and the white metal pipes were grafted onto these - only had to do this eight times!!! 

Once the cockpit was cemented into one fusleage half, the other half was attached superglued, taped and left overnight.  The joint was then smeared with humbrol filler and then left for another day.   After sanding - no joint line (phew).  Slots were cut in the fuleage sides for two thick plastic main wing spars (not a kit instruction requirement but vital in a model of this size).  The cockpit and tailcone transparencies were dipped in Johnson's Clear and once dry super glued to the kit (the Clear does prevent white misting) - although the super glue is applied to the joint using a pin point with the part taped in position.  Once the glue had set the clear part is masked and the joint filled with humbrol filler.  The filler having set, the joint is sanded (with the masking still in place) to result in a smooth joint - the masking protects the clear part from scratching during sanding.  The masking was replaced and the whole model primed with Halfords grey spray primer.
 

The top of the fuselage was painted with Halfords white spray primer and sealed with a couple of coats of Clear.  Xtracolour dark sea grey was then brush applied to the rest of the kit.  I used spitfire mainwheels for the nosewheels and true details 1:72 B52 wheels for the mains - with scratch built hub inserts.  Xtradecal roundels and Carpena white letter codes were used along with home-made decals for the red serial and code inlays to the white decals (to give a red code with a white outline).  The octopus motif on the fins was scanned in and transferred to clear decal film.   The finished model depicts a Shackleton MR Mk 3 Phase 2 of 206 Squadron RAF based at St Mawgan in Cornwall circa February 1965 - the month of my birth!!!
 

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Keeping with the Avro theme…

Whilst surfing the 1:48 model kits on eBay one weekend I spotted an incomplete Tamiya Avro Lancaster for sale - just the wings, engines, props and tailplane - no fuselage or transparencies. The possibility of making an Avro York sprung to mind - all I needed to do was scratch build a York fuselage; how difficult could that be?

I bid for the parts and won the auction. The easy part was over.

My plan was as follows:-

1. Carve a fuselage in balsa wood.
2. Skin this with plastic card and filler.
3. Cut off the front end just before the cockpit and use the balsa masters to vac-form two halves in clear plastic.
4. Cut off the tail cone and use it to vac-form a plastic tailcone.
5. Scratch build a cockpit interior.
6. Graft the vac-formed bits onto the fuselage.
7. Use clear plastic to skin the glazed part of the fuselage (surface painted black beneath).
8. Scribe fuselage panel lines.
9. Use those self adhesive circles that you get in stationary stores to mask the fuselage windows.
10. Make the wings etc. using the Tamiya parts.
11. Connect the wings etc. to the fuselage.
12. Mask and paint as per a normal kit (I will probably paint the wings and fuselage separately).
13. Vac-form the central tail using another balsa master.
14. Make some home-made decals for the Dan Air York G-ANTK.
15. Apply the decals and finish off.
16. Make myself a really a long drink and relax for a while.

 

 

Step 1 was completed using a surform to profile the solid balsa fuselage. I used enlarged plans from the Profile Publications Avro York booklet as a guide to mark the fuselage profiles on the balsa.  It took a day to get the balsa to shape and to "tweak" it in a few areas but using the surform and a sanding block made "relatively" light work of it - although my upper arms ached for about a day afterwards!!! I then jumped ahead to step 15 and made the decals using my inkjet printer. Steps 3 and 4 were completed by cutting off the front end just behind the cockpit area using a razor saw and spit it horizontally in order to vac-form the top in clear plastic and the bottom in plain white. Before the vac-forming process I glued pieces of 2mm thick cardboard to the balsa masters to provide some oversail.  This gave me a margin to trim the parts to fit.  I had considered splitting the cockpit vertically but the main windscreen does not have a central pillar so it had to be a horizontal split. I use a Mattell vac-forming machine to do the necessary and it worked reasonably well.  The tailcone was vac-formed in one go.

I made progress in the cockpit using photos and drawings provided by fellow modellers Edgar and Miduppergunner.  I scratch built the seats and yokes and used the balsa vac-form masters for the floor and front console as they strengthen the rather thin vac-formed outer skins. I was going to cheat and use an Eduard zoom Lancaster instrument panel but the York is much different - having both a pilot and copilot. I therefore scratch built the panel in the same fashion as I did for the Sanger Shackleton. Mike Grant's instrument decals made this a much less daunting prospect. 
 

The balsa fuselage was "skinned" with plastic card, the cockpit area was attached and the skinning joints filled. The central fin was carved from balsa and then port and starboard halves vac-formed.  Plastic card was also used to form the main wing and tailplane to fuselage attachment points.  The main cabin windows were fabricated from a strip of clear acetate with circular self-adhesive labels of the correct diameter used to mask each "porthole".  The vac-formed cockpit glazing was attached with cyano glue and the joints filled. sanded, re-filled, re-sanded etc. until I was happy with the joint. There was a newar disaster when the circular labels didn't want to come off.   Fortunately applying whte spirit broke down the adhesive without affecting the clear acetate beneath and so the windows survived!!

I surrendered to the aftermarket and applied the Eduard Lancaster Flaps set to the Tamiya wings.  These were finally installed after much swearing and attaching of etched parts to fingers with cyano glue.   The red cheat line was masked and brush painted with Humbrol enamel and the black borders were added courtesy of Xtradecal's black decal stripes.  I made the cockpit sliding side windows with angle frames fabricated from plastic card and the sliding light from clear acetate sheet. This was then glued to the cockpit side. I also added the astrodome (spare vac-formed part from the Sanger Shackleton kit) and the starboard side clear blister (from the Tamiya kit).   The wings were painted and then the home-made decals applied to complete the kit. 

Piece of cake...

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Darius43

[Darius43]

B-47 Stratojet built from the 1:48 scale Sanger vacform kit.

Cheers

Darius

Saturn V built for a friend of mine from the 1:48 scale Revell kit.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Albatross!!!

The first is from the 1:48 Trumpeter kit and the second from the 1:48 RVHP resin kit.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

C-133 Cargomaster built from the 1:48 scale ID Models vacform kit.

How it was made

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

1:48 scale aircraft hangar - modified cardboard kit.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Some more completed vacform kits.

Cheers

Darius

Civil line up.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Some Spitfies and Seafires.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Some silvered wings.

Cheers

Darius

 

SA Bulldog and some RAF and RN piston trainers.

Cheers

Darius

Edited January 15, 2022 by Darius43

[Darius43]

Restored 1:48 resin Leopard Moth.

Cheers

Darius

1:48 scale Dh88 Comet Racer built from the Heritage Aviation resin and white metal kit.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Auster Autocars built from the very old Lincoln International kits.

Cheers

Darius

[popeye]

Looks very nice sitting on the grass, ready to fly.  ============

[Darius43]

1:48 scale Avro Vulcan B2 built from the Aeroclub mixed media kit.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

1:48 F-86 Sabres

Esci F-86E

Hasegawa F86-F

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Bedford RL & Queen Mary trailer

1:48 ASAM white metal kit

Cheers

Darius

[leslie10646]

With an air force like that, your namesake could have conquered the entire world of his time!

After those vac-form kits, my spoil wagons must have been a dawdle!

[popeye]

Very nice models and the paint work is perfect.

[leslie10646]

Seeing your B47, which is a weird enough looking bomber - when are you going to try a B36?

I couldn't believe my eyes when James Stewart flew them in the film Strategic Air Command.

Of course, Jimmy Stewart was the perfect star for the film, having piloted Superfortresses in WW2.

In 1 in 48, the wingspan of a B36 would challenge the width of any room in your house?

For those not in the know, have a look for the film on the internet - there's a pic of the B36 bomber there - SIX props and two jet engines - a a crew of a mere FIFTEEN - even had six sleeping berths .........

On the other hand, maybe, don't try, otherwise you'll not finish your Spoil Train!

Edited January 15, 2022 by leslie10646

[Darius43]

Strategic Air Command is one of my favourite films - regularly gets played on dvd.

The B36 Peacemaker is an amazing aircraft - six turning and four burning.

There was a 1:48 resin kit of the B36 produced a few years ago.  I have a 1:48 Concorde kit from the same manufacturer - as yet unbuilt…

Cheers

Darius

[DB JOE]

1 hour ago, Darius43 said:

Bedford RL & Queen Mary trailer

1:48 ASAM white metal kit

Cheers

Darius

WOW!!! What a body of work that is!!!!

[Rush and Lusk]

Fabulous model making skills Darius - congratulations 

[Darius43]

 

This is an old Esci 1:48 kit of the Saab Viggen that I purchased second hand from a model shop in South London.  It resided in the pending stack until in a spurt of enthusiasm I decided I needed a splinter camouflaged Viggen in my collection.  On opening the box to check out the parts I discovered that there were two right hand side fuselage sprues and no left hand side!! 

What to do? - cannot take it back and no chance of getting replacement parts from the manufacturer.  In a major lapse of sanity I decided upon the following:

Slice up one half of the fuselage with a razor saw into 4mm wide sections and re-assemble them in reverse using plenty of liquid cement, filler and wet-n-dry paper.

I duly garrotted the fuselage and reassembled it on the intact right hand moulding.  The resultant object was worthy of display in the Tate Modern [Art Museum] but after much sanding and filling (and vice versa) it resembled the undulating curves of the Viggen.  

The cockpit area required a bit of care and attention, however some plastic card stock and more filler resolved this area of construction.  The remaining kit parts were all present and correct and were assembled as per the instructions.

The splinter paint scheme was brush applied with extensive use of Tamiya masking tape but after the fuselage saga this operation was quite therapeutic.

The kit decals were applied with extra details added as shown in a 3-view illustration of the aircraft published in the Encyclopaedia of Military Aircraft (Aerospace Publications).

The moral of this story - check the contents when buying second hand kits...

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Dassault Super Etendard - 1:48 scale Heller kit.

Cheers

Darius

 

[murrayec]

All the above is stunning.

Eoin

[Darius43]

Sea Mosquito TR33 made from a much bashed about 1:48 scale Monogram FBVI kit and a Paragon Designs conversion set.

 

Sea Vixen FAW2 built from the 1:48 scale Dynavector vacform kit.

 

Supermarine Scimitar built from the 1:48 scale Contrail vacform kit.

Cheers

Darius

Edited January 16, 2022 by Darius43

[Darius43]

Blackburn Firebrand built from the 1:48 scale Magna Models resin kit.

Westland Wyvern S4 built from the 1:48 scale Dynavector vacform kit.

 

Cheers

Darius

Edited January 16, 2022 by Darius43

[Darius43]

Hawker Seahawk FGA-4 built from the 1:48:scale Falcon vacform kit.
 

 

De Haviland Sea Venom FAW-21 built from the 1:48 scale Aeroclub mixed media kit.

 

Another vacform kit - a Fairey Gannet AS Mk1 built from the 1:48 scale Dynavector kit with a scratch built wing fold.  In the short time they were in production, Dynavector produced some superb kits.
 

Cheers

Darius

Edited January 16, 2022 by Darius43

[popeye]

They did come up with some crazy designs.

You could try taking a picture outside in daylight, it would look more natural, I know it's cold out

there but it would be nice to see the difference.

[Darius43]

1:48 Blackburn Buccaneers built from the Airfix kits.

RN Buccaneer S1 using a Maintrack Models resin conversion.

RN Buccaneer S2

RAF Buccaneer S2

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

RN Skyraider AEW4 built from the 1:48 scale ERTL kit

Fairey Firefly FR5 built from the PP Aeroparts mixed media kit.

RN Hawker Hunter T8 built from the 1:48 scale Aeroclub mixed media kit.

Cheers

Darius

Edited January 18, 2022 by Darius43

[Darius43]

Three Gypsy Moths - 1:48 scale A Model kits.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

I “repacked” the cabinet in the dining room having had the doors replaced and these were left over - there’s always some bits left over that you can’t get back in…

 

Cheers

Darius

[Georgeconna]

Nice, The Grob is a kit I take it, Never seen one advertised.

Is there some connection here with the Aircraft?

[Darius43]

The Grob Tutor is a 1:48 scale resin kit produced some years ago by Heritage Aviation Models.  They still have a website but it looks like it hasn’t been updated in a while…

Cheers

Darius

[Galteemore]

Great work. Very impressive little aircraft in real life too, very capable aerobatically. I was quite surprised to see what they can do!