Trojan Thunder Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 (edited) Well I have started on washing parts and cleaning them up, I am certainly going to replace some parts, I have also found that a couple of the vortex generators for the engines are missing, no big deal I can make some out of card. I have found a couple of others with pin holes so they could also be replaced. I will be attempting to correct a lot of the shape errors of the kit as well as doing a partial interior for the cargo bay and redoing the cockpit as well. This is a fairly ambitious build and I will be stretching my skills. I really want to do this one some justice. Pictures to follow when some descent progress has occured. Edited June 14, 2009 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) OK, Here are some pictures of my progress, I started by removing the reinforcing ribbing and the cockpit floor and bulkhead (as it was in the wrong place) from inside the fuselage quarters . Then I cut the cockpit transparency down the centre and glued it into each fuselage side, this was followed by flooding the areas with epoxy to build up the insides of the cockpit as I would be sanding a lot of the resin away to correct the forward fuselage shape. This shot shows the left piece already cleaned up on the inside. Each side was sanded back to flatten the forward section. as you can see I would have sanded through had I not used the epoxy. With each side close to where I wanted them I started to remove the excess from the insides, this shot shows the inside of the left piece ground out and the outside of the right piece sanded. I test fitted the halves, this shows the change in shape of the forward section, note the sanded area forward of the tape at the bottom of the picture. I suppose I could go a little further, see how I feel when I get further along. The nose needs to be extended 2 mm so this will accentuate the slimmer nose shape ( I hope!) Before all this work the forward plan view around the glazing was more rounded. I borrowed this picture from Efrain's build to show the difference. Finally I have cut the ramp area out. I followed the panel lines on the kit only to find they are in the wrong place , Anigrand's ramp is also about 10 - 15 % too small, I will be removing more around the opening later. Finally a shot with forward and aft fuselage halves together showing how much more I will have to remove and some more details I will need to add. Next will be to cut out the windscreen panes and insert some clear plastic sheet of some type. To be continued... Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
drhornii Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Man that is a lot of work Much more brave than I am, and with resin! Keep the progress shots coming Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Beautiful so far. It will look great if you put this much effort an attention into the whole model!!! Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
juanchopancho Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I will be following this build closely. Looks like fun. :( ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Beautiful so far. It will look great if you put this much effort an attention into the whole model!!! Sean That's the idea! ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LoganTLR Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 HI WOW, good luck on your build. Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SPECR Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Watching with interest before I even open my c-17 kit! Nice work so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
acmodeler01 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Wow, that's a ton of work. I made an attempt to start on mine last year, but that was short lived. The sheer number of bubbles and pinholes on the dang thing nearly scared me off for good. What are your plans for the cockpit and windows? I've considered vac-forming a new piece since the "clear" resin is so atrocious. I'll be watching this one for updates. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) Wow, that's a ton of work. I made an attempt to start on mine last year, but that was short lived. The sheer number of bubbles and pinholes on the dang thing nearly scared me off for good. What are your plans for the cockpit and windows? I've considered vac-forming a new piece since the "clear" resin is so atrocious. I'll be watching this one for updates. I was amazed at how little bubbles I have come across sanding around the cockpit, I noticed a couple near one of the lower windows that I filled with epoxy, which is no biggy as that area is to be cut out and replaced witha clear piece anyway. I have to build up the area around the centre windscreen pillar before I do anything else around there as the shape is totally off. My plan is to cut holes into what is there and fill them with clear plastic of some type. With all the filling I am doing there I had to resort to this. If you have a look at Efrains build thread from a couple of years back you will see what I am trying to do. :D Edited January 8, 2009 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew Doppel Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Going to watch this one with interest Ray regards Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 (edited) Quick update, I have started on the revised windscreen. I used plastic strip to out line the windows and then built up the area above with superglue. I have also started on reprofiling the nose. This shot also shows where I have started to drill out the repositionedchin window as well. Hope to get this side cleaned up and a start on the pother side this weekend. Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Kev Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I've only just discovered this group build, and your contribution to it Ray. Much good work going on here. I look forward to following your progress Ray. Kev Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tony P Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Scary stuff! I wish you the best on this one. Look forward to the finished product. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) Still working on the cockpit area, I have shaved a little more off either side of the cockpit walls (didn't look flat enough, though I think when I do the nose job the flatness will be more pronounced) and have been refining the cockpit window size and location. My Revell C-17 is on the way so this will give me a better indictation of how my upsized cockpit windows are going. :D Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 That's some serious surgery there. Really makes it look a lot better. Is this going to be a RAAF C-17? Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) That's some serious surgery there. Really makes it look a lot better. Is this going to be a RAAF C-17?Chris Hi Chris, Sure is! I figured I would try and make it look more like a C-17 than what was presented OOB. Next will be the sponsons, the rest is pretty much OK, the interior will be the next hurdle. Edited February 7, 2009 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 7, 2009 Author Share Posted February 7, 2009 (edited) Update time! I finally got my Revell C-17 in the mail today, so I started to do some measuring to better accuratize the model and lo and behold I discovered a huge wammy! The Anigrand kit works out to be just about twice as long as the Revell kit (well obviously it should!) so I thought I would check to see the cockpit windows were the right size and in the correct position. It turns out the forward windscreen section was too long which pushed all the other windows back, no problem, I can reshape them and fill the holes I have made. So next I decided to mark the position of the crew entry door (you can see the pencil marks for it bottom right) relative to the rear cockpit window. Just to double check its location I also measured from the wing root and found it was too far back by about 25mm (or an inch). So what was going on here I thought! The fuselage was the correct length but the door was in the wrong place relative to the wing root but in the right place relative to the nose. Then it dawned on me, the damn wingroot is 25mm to far forward! ;) In the picture below you can see the outlines where the windows should be, Line 1 is where the rear edge of the rear window should be measured from the nose, line 2 is where the rear edge of the rear window should be measured from the wingroot. So what to do? Well the obvious answer is to push the wing root back an inch, boy this a whole lot of fun:D I also checked the lenght of the left UC sponson, others who have started this build have been extending it forward due to its percieved shortness, well it turns out that is it about the right length, it is the position of the wing that makes it look too short, the other side is obviously short due to the lack of APU compartment and it will still need to be lengthened. So what next? Well I will be repostioning the windows and filling the holes left behind, then I will be cutting the wing root out and moving it back about an inch. What else could I do, I have gone this far already :wub: The incorrect position of the wing root also made my reshaping of the nose less pronounced than it should be, once the wing root is moved back this should be rectified. Back to the bench! :D Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) Well not to be one on procrastinating I have cut up the fuselage on the left side and moved the wing root This shows a comparison with an untouched forward fuselage half. I have yet to repostion the cockpit windows in this shot, that is next. Next one shows the model compared to the Revell C-17, as you can see with the wing root pushed back the sponson on this side is the correct length with respect to the leading edge of the wing root. It will need to be reshaped a little. The auxilliary? gear doors are outlined, the forward one is redrawn from scaled up measurements off the Revell kit and checking pictures. The rear is as it was scribed on the kit. I notice Roy (nautilas) had attacked these doors in an interesting way, so I might go down that track whe I get to attackingthe sponsons. So next step is the cut up the other side and get it together, then on to resizing the cockpit windows again. Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie_superbug Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Hi Ray, boy you have alot ahead of you. Now looking how you are going, I think im glad that i didn't buy the Anigrand kit , otherwise i think i would have thrown it ages ago, and my wife wouldn't of been happy about it. All the best with this Beast. Brendon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
richter111 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Man I came within a hairs bredth of purchasing that kit, but after seeing all the issues, and the issues of one other fellow on this board, I am glad I kept my wallet holstered Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Hornet Fan Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) Holy Crap Ray! I am both glad that you worked out what is wrong with the 1/72 Anigrand kit and also ticked off at the amount of work I am going to have to do now to my Anigrand kit. It was sooo expensive and is just sooo crap. Oh well I have bought it and when my 1/144 Revell C-17 arrives I can start to do the same comparisons you have been able to do. Do you have any pics of how you moved the wing root back? I can sort of see what you did... Please keep the pics an info coming Ray as seeing someone succeed with this kit might get me back into to mood to build it... Jase Edited February 9, 2009 by Jay Hornet Fan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) Hi Jase, Well I did the other side last night, well most of it but did not take pictures. I will try to explain it with the other picture I posted with a few lines drawn in, see below. I measured about 1cm forward of the wing root and marked a vertical line on the fuselage (first red line), I then marked another line behind the wing which was 24.5cm back from the front line (last red line). I also marking another line 2.5cm forward of the back line. This will be the section to cut off and move forward (green arrow). For the horizontal cut I used an existing panel line just below the the top of the installed sponson. I used a razor saw to make the vertical cuts and a saw and scribing tool to do the horizontal line. Note that the rear cuts will be made on the rear fuselage piece, so you will have to cut through the reinforcing pieces as well. The blue arrow shows the distance the forwad edge of the cut out section is moved back, this is filled with the section cut off from the rear. As a result the cut out sections will consist of the large section, a sliver of the rear section about 8mm wide and the 2.5cm rear piece (the section fromthe dotted blue line to the rear red line). I glued the 8mm sliver to the forward section keeping the reinforcing tab in place. I then glued the main forward and rear fuselage sections together with superglue and accelerator and then took the main cut out part minus the 2.5cm section from the back with the sliver added and lined it up on the rear of the cut out (You can see the forward/rear fuselage join just below and behind the rear part of the wheel well). I glued a few small tabs along the joins to help keep everything in place while I glued the large section in. I lay the whole lot on a large flat surface, lay the large insert into place and tacked it to the rear part of the main fuselage section. Once I was happy with its postion I added more glue to reinforce the joints. I then took the 2.5 cm section from the rear and test fit it in the resulting gap forward of the root. As this piece is a different cross section to the forward fuselage some adjusting was required. I ended up cutting about 3mm off the bottom of this piece to get it in the gap. As the resin is quite thick I installed as a best fit, glued it in and then had to sand a fair bit of it back to make it conform with the surrounding fuselage (short work with the trusty electric sander out in the garage ). Any gaps were filled iwth superglue and accelerator and sanded/filed back. There was a small step at the rear which needs filling and recontouring. I have not progress as far with the other side and can show a partially assemble picture when I get home tonight to give you a better idea. To make sure both wing root sections were aligned I taped the left and right fuselage halves together and then I glued the main section in making sure the panel lines across the top of the moved section were aligned. Hopefully I have explained it well enough. If you don't want to use the rear fuselage section you could always fill the gap with card, I just found it quicker the way I did it. EDIT: Here is a shot of the other side before I inserted the 25mm piece from behind the wing root to the position forward of the root Hope this helps ;) Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew Doppel Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 That'll keep you off the streets for awhile Ray. Looking good. Can you take a picture of the 1/144 C-17 compared to the 1/72 C-130E and email it to me please or post it so I can work out where I'm going to put mine (C-17) when it's done. Regards Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 (edited) I finished up chopping the other fuselage half and plugging the incorrect shaped and sized windows. I have also started to build up the nose with superglue to reprofile it. Again I will be comparing it with the Revell kit. At the moment I have only done one side. I think I have built up too much glue, I will have to compare it with the Revell kit profile. The other side has a template glue to the side to begin the glue build up. ....oh and Andrew Email sent! Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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