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Airfix BoB Ready for Battle set
Topic Started: Jun 29 2015, 06:47 AM (464 Views)
DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
Expecting good things from this set, as everything in it is new tooling, and Airfix have been at the top of their game recently...

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I have started, naturally, with the Hurricane. I, and many others, have been waiting for a new tool Airfix Hurricane for many years. The old one builds up fine, but is showing it's age. Whereas I did like the finished result of Italeri's offering, I found it too "fiddly" and over complicated.

So, construction starts as usual, with the cockpit.....And that's where the trouble starts.....
Whereas I appreciate a nice bit of cockpit detail, sometimes less is more.....

The idea is to place the wing spars parallel, then fit one side of the cockpit framing to it (at exactly 90 deg) and fit everything to that half, before fitting the other side. A recipe for disaster! And it almost was.....
I didn't really have time (or free hands) to take pictures of the partial build, but this is how it ends up....

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While I am complaining (and it doesn't stop yet!), I'm not 100% sure about Airfix's colour callouts for the cockpit. The state everything except the seat and armour plate is aluminium. Every picture I have seen of a Hurricane cockpit is interior green......
Next niggle.....detail. Do we really need the framing behind the seat, that will never be seen again? Do we really need the entire joystick linkage under the seat? In doing the latter, they have had to make the joystick spade handle a separate item....a tiny, separate item, that has to be stuck, via a tiny tiny butt joint to the joystick top!!

Anyway, moving on.
The option is given to have the gun bays open. Great. But......to do so you have to remove the bay panels from the wings. Sounds simple enough. Surely Airfix have provided thinned plastic on the insides of the wings to aid removal? Have they heck!!!! No, it's out with the scriber and very careful scoring......

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It makes for a lot of cleaning up! COME ON AIRFIX! Get it together!!

Needless to say, I have opted to only open up one bay....

The cockpit then attaches to the lower wing.....

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And the guns etc are fitted

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The topside has been test fitted.

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And guess what....I'm not too impressed with the fit!

Apart from running out of time, I have had to step away from it for a while. More to follow....
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Olde Farte
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Lt. Derek 'Smurfy' Reeve
Calm down dear, this is what modelling is all about, just think how boring it would be if everything just dropped into place perfectly.

All looks fine to me so more work less whinging. :grin:
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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
Olde Farte
Jun 29 2015, 08:09 AM
Calm down dear, this is what modelling is all about, just think how boring it would be if everything just dropped into place perfectly.

All looks fine to me so more work less whinging. :grin:
Del, you know me, never one to shy away from a good fight with a model. I think my biggest complaint isn't particularly with this kit, but the way models are going in general. It's like the manufacturers have a "lets shove every single detail in no matter what" attitude. Whereas this can be good sometimes, sometimes it can actually hinder the build process, making life difficult, all for the sake of the odd bit of detail that can't even be seen....
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Olde Farte
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Lt. Derek 'Smurfy' Reeve
We have the Japanese and the Chinese plus CAD to blame for all this.
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Johni044
Lt John "bullet" Irwing
Good work, hear what you're saying but would still like this set.

I used to always pre-paint parts on the sprue before assembly but experience with these new ones has taught me to build first as much as I can as even a layer of paint can throw alignment and fit out, the tolerances are that tight.

After your comment about the cockpit color I had a quick look on the inter web and came across both metal and green finishes on aircraft.
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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
Johni044
Jun 29 2015, 11:35 AM
Good work, hear what you're saying but would still like this set.

I used to always pre-paint parts on the sprue before assembly but experience with these new ones has taught me to build first as much as I can as even a layer of paint can throw alignment and fit out, the tolerances are that tight.

After your comment about the cockpit color I had a quick look on the inter web and came across both metal and green finishes on aircraft.
Oh, I dare say it won't be the last new tool Hurricane I build, seeing as there are parts for a Sea Hurri and a Vokes filter for a desert one. I guess, after recent Airfix builds, I'm just a little disappointed. However, final judgement will be reserved until it is finished
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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
I have got the wings glued together and the fuselage on. It all took a bit of squeezing of parts to get everything to meet up properly, but in the end it did, and looks fine.

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Of course, all that cockpit detail that they so faithfully replicated in almost complete and minute detail, will never be seen again. But "I know it's there!" (I hate that saying!)


For some reason, I haven't figured out yet, despite everything else lining up, I have this step at the forward wing/fuselage join.

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It's nothing major, and probably my fault. It's just annoying
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Simon G
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heavy weatherer
Shame you are having issues, I was going to have a go at one of these in the near future, was looking forward to a smooth built but a little worried now!
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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
Simon G
Jul 2 2015, 07:49 AM
Shame you are having issues, I was going to have a go at one of these in the near future, was looking forward to a smooth built but a little worried now!
I think if you fit the spars to the wings first, then build the cockpit onto that, it might alleviate some of the problems. Trying to keep it all square while it's flapping around and having to add bits is nigh on impossible....well, to me it is. :bang:
I think a lot of my problems have arisen from the fact that things haven't gone completely square to each other. As has been mentioned, tolerances are extremely tight on modern kits.

Having learnt from this one, I do intend to build another.
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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
A bit of a jump, due to other projects, but it has paint now.

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