Nice!
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Revell 1/72 TL Flitzer
- Thread starter MichelC
- Start date
Thanks MP!
Nothing very exciting happening. Some rescribing and stuff like that. Here are some pics of the work done on the gun ports.
The kit's ports are off: the troughs are nowhere deep enough and there are some suspicious looking fairings I thought should be gotten rid of.
The fairings were sanded off and the troughs deepened with the Dremel tool. Holes were drilled for the hypo needles that'll stand in for the gun barrels.
Revell offers black rectangle decals for the gun ejection ports. I ignored those and made some real holes instead.
Before and after:
To be continued...
M
Nothing very exciting happening. Some rescribing and stuff like that. Here are some pics of the work done on the gun ports.
The kit's ports are off: the troughs are nowhere deep enough and there are some suspicious looking fairings I thought should be gotten rid of.
The fairings were sanded off and the troughs deepened with the Dremel tool. Holes were drilled for the hypo needles that'll stand in for the gun barrels.
Revell offers black rectangle decals for the gun ejection ports. I ignored those and made some real holes instead.
Before and after:
To be continued...
M
The previous updates were all about the work done so far. With this one the thread will be in present time. From now on it's live!
With the fuselage buttoned up, it was time to have a look at the canopy. The Revell part is one-piece and on the thick side.
Can't see much of what's inside, can you? I decided to give a shot at separating the windshield. I used my thread-saw: a simple sewing thread mounted in a frame. It is slow going as there is much less bite as with a razor saw. So why use it at all then? Because you can slip as many times as you want and you won't ever scratch the canopy! LOL
I wasn't happy with the result, though. It just shows how thick this canopy really is!
No good at all. Only one solution: crash mold my own canopy.
I used the kit part to make a positive mold, mounting it onto a blob of epoxy filler fixed to a nail. The latter makes it possible to secure the mold in a vise.
Next I heated a piece of acetate over a candle flame and once it had softened I pulled it down over the mold.
I had never done it before and incredibly enough, it worked for the sliding canopy part on the first trial! On the other hand the windshield required many attempts before I could come up with a part I was not too dissatisfied with. It only worked when I finally used the canopy from the second kit, which was still in one piece.
The tape is for protection against the epoxy which tends to go all over the place.
Here is the final result:
The parts are not only thinner but much more transparent.
There is still work to do on the new canopy and windshield but the toughest part is done. After a dip in Future the parts will be set aside while I get on with the rest of the build.
Thanks for watching.
M
With the fuselage buttoned up, it was time to have a look at the canopy. The Revell part is one-piece and on the thick side.
Can't see much of what's inside, can you? I decided to give a shot at separating the windshield. I used my thread-saw: a simple sewing thread mounted in a frame. It is slow going as there is much less bite as with a razor saw. So why use it at all then? Because you can slip as many times as you want and you won't ever scratch the canopy! LOL
I wasn't happy with the result, though. It just shows how thick this canopy really is!
No good at all. Only one solution: crash mold my own canopy.
I used the kit part to make a positive mold, mounting it onto a blob of epoxy filler fixed to a nail. The latter makes it possible to secure the mold in a vise.
Next I heated a piece of acetate over a candle flame and once it had softened I pulled it down over the mold.
I had never done it before and incredibly enough, it worked for the sliding canopy part on the first trial! On the other hand the windshield required many attempts before I could come up with a part I was not too dissatisfied with. It only worked when I finally used the canopy from the second kit, which was still in one piece.
The tape is for protection against the epoxy which tends to go all over the place.
Here is the final result:
The parts are not only thinner but much more transparent.
There is still work to do on the new canopy and windshield but the toughest part is done. After a dip in Future the parts will be set aside while I get on with the rest of the build.
Thanks for watching.
M
I know this is an old and tested method but I have to ask a question out of total ignorance.
When you use the kit part to make a positive mold. Does the resulting part end up slightly larger? Since you're molding over the external shape of the part that, one would hope, was sized to fit the location it's intended to mate with. Then the resulting part would be just a little oversized...or am I putting too much thought into it? (been known to do that in the past)
When you use the kit part to make a positive mold. Does the resulting part end up slightly larger? Since you're molding over the external shape of the part that, one would hope, was sized to fit the location it's intended to mate with. Then the resulting part would be just a little oversized...or am I putting too much thought into it? (been known to do that in the past)
Thank you Terry.
MP, your question is very much the point. I was wondering about the same thing before I started. I read in a tutorial that the difference in size (because there is a difference indeed) is minor and not worth bothering with. Personally, after this first experience, I'd put a qualifier on this: the problem might be negligible in 32 scale or even in 48. But in 72 scale the difference in size becomes more apparent, although not an insurmountable problem and only as far as the windshield is concerned. For the sliding canopy, being posed in the open position, the problem is nonexistent. The windshield was slightly oversized though and this took some fixing. What I did is, I sanded off the frame on the outside of the kit part. This reduced the size of the mold one notch and did help. After that it was a matter of adjusting a fit that was slightly off, same as you encounter anywhere in a build. Some shifting of the position of the windshield, some sanding of the fuse, no big deal. All in all, the matter of oversize is a very small price to pay for a canopy that's light-years ahead of the kit's part and shouldn't deter one from using this technique. I would recommend it to any intermediate modeler.
I hope this answers your question.
M
MP, your question is very much the point. I was wondering about the same thing before I started. I read in a tutorial that the difference in size (because there is a difference indeed) is minor and not worth bothering with. Personally, after this first experience, I'd put a qualifier on this: the problem might be negligible in 32 scale or even in 48. But in 72 scale the difference in size becomes more apparent, although not an insurmountable problem and only as far as the windshield is concerned. For the sliding canopy, being posed in the open position, the problem is nonexistent. The windshield was slightly oversized though and this took some fixing. What I did is, I sanded off the frame on the outside of the kit part. This reduced the size of the mold one notch and did help. After that it was a matter of adjusting a fit that was slightly off, same as you encounter anywhere in a build. Some shifting of the position of the windshield, some sanding of the fuse, no big deal. All in all, the matter of oversize is a very small price to pay for a canopy that's light-years ahead of the kit's part and shouldn't deter one from using this technique. I would recommend it to any intermediate modeler.
I hope this answers your question.
M
Dave The Chef
Member
Nice job on the canopy! B)
Sherman 18
Master at Arms
Some AWESOME work going on here! 
looks way better than that thick blob of plastic that was in the kit!
OK Mike, ready when you are.
OK, so here we are, back to the Flitzer, getting it done this time, yes we will!
These molds are at least 20 years old and you can feel it: all panel lines need re-scribing... Fortunately no fit problems with the wings and boom/tail assembly.
Work on the wings included: re-scribing, thinning trailing edges, attaching LG doors in the closed position, drilling out the gun ejections ports and enlarging the intakes.
Not much to show for the moment. But I thought I'd let all the Flitzer fans know that this build is back on the front burner! ... What? ... There are no Flitzer fans? ... Ah, OK.
M
These molds are at least 20 years old and you can feel it: all panel lines need re-scribing... Fortunately no fit problems with the wings and boom/tail assembly.
Work on the wings included: re-scribing, thinning trailing edges, attaching LG doors in the closed position, drilling out the gun ejections ports and enlarging the intakes.
Not much to show for the moment. But I thought I'd let all the Flitzer fans know that this build is back on the front burner! ... What? ... There are no Flitzer fans? ... Ah, OK.
M
