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therapy build

D

dollar19

Active member
I'm sure that this will be news to everyone here. But due to a work related accident I've had to have part of my left index finger amputated. I spare you the ugly details and photos of that just to keep this a family friendly site.

I'm still in the bandaging from the surgery so I have no idea how much of the finger is gone but I suspect it's gone to the first knuckle. I'll get to see it tomorrow at my first follow up exam.

Ok enough of that!

Anyway I've got the itch to do something simple with not too many small pieces. And this kit is calling my name. I'm going to attempt to build it if for no other reason than to try to occupy my mind and keep busy.

Trust me when I say it will not be a contest competitor.... I will be more than thrilled just to get it together and resembling an aircraft. So bear with me.

Here are some piccys of the box and sprues. I had considered a NMF but I wasn't sure if i could pull that off. Once I got the sprues out of the bags i noticed the surface texture was a bit rough. The engraving is very nice a subtle, but the fuselage is very grainy. The wings though smoother have some of the same grainyness. I really dont think I'll have the dexteriy to polish this out in the near future so i guess I'll be going for the green topside and NMF on the belly. Hopefully the texture won't be so noticeable.
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Can we call you "Shorty" from now on? :evil:

Glad your alright mate looking forward to this build :drinks :popcorn
 
Really sorry to hear about your injury. Too bad you think that the Titanic needs to be set aside for now. Will be watching this one!

:drinks
 
Very sorry to hear about the injury ans "cure". I hope the recovery goes well. Looking forward to the build. The lightning is such a neat looking bird.
James
 
I'd like to take a moment to thank each one of you for the encouragement you've given me. I am truly touched.
I had a follow up with the surgeon yesterday and saw it for the time..... not what I expected to say the least. But it could have been worse.

On to the model. I have finished the cockpit,not the best I've ever done but given the cicumstances I'm ok with the result. Everything being black was a bonus. I did give it a drybrush with Some RLM 66 just to break it up some. Once closed up in the fuselage it'll be fine
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Believe it or not this is my first Trumpeter kit, and with all the accolades about Trumpy I've read I was expecting a little better effort on their part. Obviously the surface texture was a surprise but some of the sprue attachments caught me off guard too
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This seems to be random at least on this kit. So if you have one give it a good looking over when you get to cleaning up the mating surfaces.

This afternoon just saw me filling in the open panels for the gun ports and speed brakes. Pictures to follow.

Greg
 
A lot of the makers are now using surface mounts for the sprue gates. Less chance of detail loss unless you are like Takom who put the surface mounts on the detail side rather than the side that is hidden way too often.
James
 
I am finding that the fit on Trumpy parts seems to be decent, though the accuracy on the detail is a fail in many aspects. If your a little OCD like me it can ruin the build if it is really off.

Get or make yourself a nice set of SHARP side cutters to nip off parts and it makes short work of any kind of weird sprue attachments.
 
Heavens Eagle said:
Really sorry to hear about your injury. Too bad you think that the Titanic needs to be set aside for now. Will be watching this one!

:drinks
Click to expand...

Never fear..... it's only a temporary set back. There are multitudes of tiny pieces that make up the winches and ventilators and bitts and chocks and bollards and all the other deck hardware. And then there is the PE benches and ladders and life boat davits and coaling cranes
and cargo cranes ect. My hope is that by tackling a few kits and slowly working up the chain of complexity with them I will be able to re-train my left hand and stump of the missing finger. I'll have to relearn how to grasp things and hold them in a new way.

I've already surprised myself on this build. I have struggled with a few pieces that were small and difficult to hold onto but i found a way to do it.

I dont think the Titanic will be on hold for too long.
 
When I sliced my left thumb real good a few months back I found new and creative ways to hold things in my small hobby vice until it healed enough to start using it again, although I still have some issues with one area I no longer have feeling in, I sometimes think I have a good grip and don't. Our ability to adapt to injuries and continue on is pretty amazing, I'm sure you'll be back at it in no time. :zen
 
Just a little update. The intake and splitter plate are assembled and painted. I drilled out the backing plate on the radome and CAed some lead shot from a shotgun shell that i opened up.
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This will get covered up by the cone shaped cover that extends out from the intake.

Now the intake trunk with the radome were glued into place in the fuselage half. Next came the cockpit tub and here the fun started.The tub was a bit too wide. So out comes the sanding stick. I've read reviews on this kit that state the tub falls into place with no fit issues at all. This may just be a quirk with my kit or maybe something I did. But as always dry fitting is a good idea.
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It didnt take a lot of sanding and now its a perfect fit, and the fuselage is ready to button up. You'll also notice i stuck a 1/4-20 hex nut to the back of the tub to be just to be sure i wont have a tail sitter.

Thats all for now, please feel free to comment. I've got plenty of time right now so keep me busy :yipee
 
Old Dog said:
When I sliced my left thumb real good a few months back I found new and creative ways to hold things in my small hobby vice until it healed enough to start using it again, although I still have some issues with one area I no longer have feeling in, I sometimes think I have a good grip and don't. Our ability to adapt to injuries and continue on is pretty amazing, I'm sure you'll be back at it in no time. :zen
Click to expand...

That's so true Gary. I used some blue tac to help hold things as i aligned them. Then lightly tack glued to hold them together, when i was satisfied with that i'd then commit to a full glueing.

On some of the really small pieces I went for the masking tape. I'd stick the tape to the sprue under the piece I wanted to cut free, and using my cutters or knife make the cut. The tape would hold the piece and then i could pick it up with tweezers or with my good hand. Hey if it works for PE it will work for styrene! :dance
 
therapy build TRUMPETER 1/72 F.2A LIGTHNING

Thanks Dave.

Moving right along.... fuselage is now sealed up. Had a bit of a struggle with the lower side though. There are 2 options for the external fuel tank. One with guns and one without. I'm building the F.2 version with the guns. Trumpeter molds these as two pieces to glue together, and then glue to the fuselage. Well try as i might, I could not get them to fit into place with out splitting on the seam. I eventually took a piece of paper towel that i keep at the bench clean up minor spills and wipe a brush on or whatever, and glued it across the seam with CA to give it some reinforcement. worked like a charm.

There's a gap or two fore and aft that needs some filler, and of course a swipe along the fuselage seams with a sanding stick, but on the whole it glued up very well. I just stuck the wings on so to pretty her up for the pictures. Im thinking I may do the paint work with the wings off to simplify masking, and the attach them afterward.

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Since my last update, I spent some time at the bench tinkering with the landing gear. They are not difficult to assemble, but with my stump finger still thinking like its still there at times I had to step back and regroup and start over. Here they are dry fitted to the wing.
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That got me inspired to go on ahead and start shooting some paint. This paint scheme is one of the two options covered by Trumpy's decal sheet. So now we have some color
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I'll let this get good and cured, then hit it with some clear gloss.

Thanks for looking......
 
Love this, the old Lighting may have had just 45mins endurance, but as a point-defence interceptor in the 1960's, there was none better.

If the decals do give you any trouble, let me know, I've got some spare 19 & 92 Sqn ones you could have.

Ian.
 
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