International Scale Modeller

Going to possibly be close with the Angel Interceptor - build finishes 30th Sept and I got an e-mail this morning advising me delivery is going to be between 1st & 15th Sept. Oooerrrrr!!!!

RangerNeil wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 3:38 pm Going to possibly be close with the Angel Interceptor - build finishes 30th Sept and I got an e-mail this morning advising me delivery is going to be between 1st & 15th Sept. Oooerrrrr!!!!

Don't get too hung up on the finish date as we tend to be a bit flexible about them these days

In France we don't know this serie but this vehicles are really nice, very good build!

I'm wondering : "what on earth are the rear tracks good at?"!

ForeverPlasticKits wrote: Sat Aug 13, 2022 6:18 pm In France we don't know this serie but this vehicles are really nice, very good build!

I'm wondering : "what on earth are the rear tracks good at?"!

In the TV series they are used for x-country where the wheels cannot cope. They can be lowered to the horizontal position for this. There maybe other uses but thats the only one I remember seeing as a lad.
If you take a look at this video the tracks are explained at around the 1' 10" mark:


The other freak-out was the designers sat the occupants facing rearwards - for safety (if you ever fly military all the passenger seats face/faced rearwards). And halfway through production someone asked how the hell you drive a vehicle forwards whilst facing backwards. Which caused a few blank faces till a camera tech pointed out the driver would be looking at a video screen so all they had to do was sync the controls to the screen view - in other words turning the wheel left turned the road wheels right which at face value is confusing as hell till you realise the driver is looking at the screen showing, via cameras, the view a normal driver would see and if the road turns left he will turn the wheel left. But if viewed from where a normal driver would sit he'd actually be turning the wheel to the right. Make sense??

Thanks for the video, this serie is (badly) almost unknown in France, but not the Thunderbirds.

As the Angel Interceptor arrived today I thought I'd crack on and get the Sci-fi build finished despite the Multitudinous aches and pains from the HEMA moot this weekend past.
Went into the build room - and found disaster!! The SPV was sat there with 3 of the 4 rubber tracks at the rear snapped and either laying on the work top or dangling....



So - next question - whats the best way of repairing these rather short tracks? I have to be honest - I thought when I fitted them there would be trouble as they were hellishly tight to get on. Don't think staples will work due go the small dia. of the wheels...

Moving on though to happier things this is the content of the A.I. box:
Instruction sheet (yep - 1 page):




The sprue (again only 1):


Decal sheet + clear part:


The single page of instructions and single sprue are a guide to how long it will take to build!
First step was to give the interior the required coats of gloss black (Tamiya X1).


Then the fuselage halves were joined:


Front landing gear strut had a bad sinkage mark that needed filling:


And with the wings, tail plane etc added - 95% complete:




With canopy dry fitted:


Underside - the worst part for gaps. A lot of filler and a lot of rubbing down to do:
.

Coat of Ultimate White Primer to highlight any other sanding required:


Not shown are the pilot & pilot seat. Pilot is, to put it mildly, crude.... It bears no resemblance to the pilots in the show. I'm undecided on whether to use it right now.

Zipping along at a cracking pace......nothing like a looming deadline

digger303 wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 1:34 am Zipping along at a cracking pace......nothing like a looming deadline

Getting there Digger - any thoughts on repairing those tracks??

RangerNeil wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 7:00 pm As the Angel Interceptor arrived today I thought I'd crack on and get the Sci-fi build finished despite the Multitudinous aches and pains from the HEMA moot this weekend past.
Went into the build room - and found disaster!! The SPV was sat there with 3 of the 4 rubber tracks at the rear snapped and either laying on the work top or dangling....



So - next question - whats the best way of repairing these rather short tracks? I have to be honest - I thought when I fitted them there would be trouble as they were hellishly tight to get on. Don't think staples will work due go the small dia. of the wheels...

Perhaps you could order some more. It looks like they are just regular drive belts turned inside out. Measure the length and width and see what you can find.

Matthew

Mathew has a idea.
I can't think of anything as it looks like the whole length of track is visible. If you can hide the join staples, but you said they won't work. Maybe thread some thing wire through or glue the track to the wheels and place tape over them while they set. Going from your pic's though this is probably going to look horrible.....sorry mate I'm all out of sensible idea's.


Ps.... If you know someone with a 3d resin printer that could print you a set....

digger303 wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 3:54 pm Mathew has a idea.
I can't think of anything as it looks like the whole length of track is visible. If you can hide the join staples, but you said they won't work. Maybe thread some thing wire through or glue the track to the wheels and place tape over them while they set. Going from your pic's though this is probably going to look horrible.....sorry mate I'm all out of sensible idea's.


Ps.... If you know someone with a 3d resin printer that could print you a set....

Unfortunately not locally as regards 3D printing (can you print stretchy things on a 3D printer??).
I think I am going to try using a thin bit of plasti-card super-glued to join the tracks together and see how that works. The thin card should be able to fold around the wheels. Fingers crossed.

Moving on - I gave the A.I a coat of gloss white today.






Unfortuately I found a flaw in the paint on one side which is going to need attention


And theres been a slight bleed on the canopy that will need sorting when dry

RangerNeil wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:58 pm

digger303 wrote: Tue Aug 23, 2022 3:54 pm Mathew has a idea.
I can't think of anything as it looks like the whole length of track is visible. If you can hide the join staples, but you said they won't work. Maybe thread some thing wire through or glue the track to the wheels and place tape over them while they set. Going from your pic's though this is probably going to look horrible.....sorry mate I'm all out of sensible idea's.


Ps.... If you know someone with a 3d resin printer that could print you a set....

Unfortunately not locally as regards 3D printing (can you print stretchy things on a 3D printer??).
I think I am going to try using a thin bit of plasti-card super-glued to join the tracks together and see how that works. The thin card should be able to fold around the wheels. Fingers crossed.

Moving on - I gave the A.I a coat of gloss white today.






Unfortuately I found a flaw in the paint on one side which is going to need attention


And theres been a slight bleed on the canopy that will need sorting when dry

I saw on facebook someone offering their services to print what ever. Including soft silcone parts.
So you can just Ca it with some plastic reinforcement without seeing it. Maybe Ca the track to the wheels too step by step.

digger303 wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 1:51 am I saw on facebook someone offering their services to print what ever. Including soft silcone parts.
So you can just Ca it with some plastic reinforcement without seeing it. Maybe Ca the track to the wheels too step by step.

Now that IS a good thought. Thanks Digger!!
If I put a spot of CA on the wheels it will take some of the stress out of the rubber. I will give that a try.

Bit more done today. The parts of the tracks that were threatening to break have been reinforced with the thinnest plasticard I have and a dollop of CA.




I've got to be honest - the results are not inspiring of confidence. The likeliest option as an end result is leaving the track as an open part and using CA on the wheels to hold them in place.

Better news is the damaged front roundel has been removed and replaced with a new one a member named Thomas of the Facebook version of the forum printed for me...




As for the Angel interceptor - finishing touches of red were applied. I had to use enamel as I have no gloss red acylic yet so its got to dry overnight. Tomorrow should see the decals going on.


I need to get some of these projects done and dusted as I'm running out of space to work and put things......

Great to see the SPV fully decaled again and I hope the track fix works out too.

The Angel has come together nice and quickly even if the detail is a little lacking in the pilot department!

Tomcat64 wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:12 pm Great to see the SPV fully decaled again and I hope the track fix works out too.

The Angel has come together nice and quickly even if the detail is a little lacking in the pilot department!

Thanks Neil. Thinking back - I could have done something a bit more with the pilot and seat. We live and learn.

Well - thought I'd get the Angel Interceptor finished before I start another 4 day, 14 hr day shift cycle at Amazon tomorrow. Only had the decals and canopy to do.

HAH!!!!

I am officially declaring myself cursed by Imai decals!! As I took them out of their bag they felt wrong - there was a kind of a sandpapery finish to them. Soaking them in the warm water saw the ink start lifting off the carrier film - which would not release from the paper.......


You can see in these what they were supposed to be like (lower of the two in each)and how they ended up:




So - an hours masking later I replaced the big "A" on the underside with paint. Needs a bit of tidying where it bled under the tape annoyingly.


I can probably do the same for the red & back lines but, yet again, the roundels are going to be a PITA. I cannot, in good conscience, keep asking peope to print decals for me so I will have to look at the vinyl ones made for the Dinky/Corgi SPV. Maybe Letraset for the A on the tailplane?
Whatever - this is not the quick and easy I was hoping for......

RangerNeil wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:14 pm Well - thought I'd get the Angel Interceptor finished before I start another 4 day, 14 hr day shift cycle at Amazon tomorrow. Only had the decals and canopy to do.

HAH!!!!

I am officially declaring myself cursed by Imai decals!! As I took them out of their bag they felt wrong - there was a kind of a sandpapery finish to them. Soaking them in the warm water saw the ink start lifting off the carrier film - which would not release from the paper.......


You can see in these what they were supposed to be like (lower of the two in each)and how they ended up:




So - an hours masking later I replaced the big "A" on the underside with paint. Needs a bit of tidying where it bled under the tape annoyingly.


I can probably do the same for the red & back lines but, yet again, the roundels are going to be a PITA. I cannot, in good conscience, keep asking peope to print decals for me so I will have to look at the vinyl ones made for the Dinky/Corgi SPV. Maybe Letraset for the A on the tailplane?
Whatever - this is not the quick and easy I was hoping for......

I feel your pain I'm sure we have all had similar experience with a build bucking us the whole way. Not had that particular experience with decals though it does sound unusual.

Oh man that sucks
Perhaps a coat of the Microscale decal film before soaking them…or Future

It really does look like IMAI have got a vendetta out for you though!

No much changed on this topic.
I tried using CA glue to bond the tracks to the rollers on the SPV so the broken ends are out of sight. The CA I have would not hold the rubber to the plastic.... Did a nice job of holding my fingers together though....
So I've looked on line and a firm called motion.co.uk do miniature drive belts for, amongst other things, model making. Having a look through their catalogue there was one part number - BMXL040 that looked a good match. 80mm long, 6.35mm wide, 40 teeth. Existing broken ones are 70mm long, 7mm wide and 36 teeth. I measured it up and there is just over a 10mm gap between the broken ends so - hopefully and with everything crossed - the 4 I've ordered @ £15 the 4 will fit neatly and not too much tension.
Whilst the upper hull of the SPV was off I took the chance to give it a coat of gloss acrylic varnish to protect the decals. It seems to have dried as a matt finish though. I checked the tim against the cap label - both say A6035 which is Humbrol gloss acrylic. Hope to god its not reacting with the lacquer!!


For the interceptor I did some digging on the web and You Tube coming up with a product called "Microscale MS Film". Apparently you paint it over defunct decals (like mine), let dry for about 24hours then decals can be applied as normally - £8 a bottle inc shipping so I've ordered one and we'll see how it goes. Watch this space

As the decals are, at the moment, FUBAR I thought I'd have a gonat masking up before moving on to the Hind. After so considerable masking I started to think I wanted my head tested.....


However once it was done and stripped back to paint its not too bad I think.






Doesn't look too bad I think - a bit of bleed-through mainly on the tail plane but that will polish off with a bit of polishing compound.

The decal solution (Microscale Decal Film) and the little drive belts arrived whilst I was at work today. I have coated the Interceptor decals tonight as its says to give it 24 hours before trying to use them. I'll probably try them on Monday morning just to be safe.

Tried test fitting the drive belts and SUCCESS!!




They look loose because the lower axle isn't tensioned at the moment. The lower axle would not come apart so I had to remove the tensioning block each side to lift the axle out and slip the inner tracks over their respective wheels. The upper axle does come apart so tomorrow I will strip that down, use CA to replace the tensioning blocks and, when that is set, refit the upper axle.
The bts are an excellent match to the old ones in width & number of teeth but are a few mm longer so they will not be under the same strain asthe d ones obviously were......

Having a win.

digger303 wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 2:13 am Having a win.

Indeed yes!!
The SPV is back together again with complete tracks. Not only are the new belts a fraction longer but they are also a fraction thicker so - fingers crossed - I won't get a repeat performance






Tomorrow is crunch time for the Interceptors decals. The Microscale liquid has had its 24 hours so tomorrow I get to try applying them.....

The tracks fit like a glove...
I've got my fingers crossed for the decal solution. I didn't let mine dry long enough and it came off, so I'm hoping you have better fortunes. I didn't realize you had to leave it 24hrs and only let mine dry for a hr.

Awesome result on the tracks - I think they look better than the originals so that's definitely a win

Fingers crossed here for the decals on the Angel too

I'm glad the belt suggestion worked out! They look great.

Well - the Microscale decal film didn't work!!
Tried applying the decals today and whilst the brushed on film came away nicely the actual decals would NOT leave the carrier paper! In the end the only solution was to make sure the carrier was soaked and then slide a really sharp blade under. Even then parts of some decals stayed attached and others just disintegrated. I have NEVER had decals this bad!!
Got to be honest this one has really drained the building mojo right now....

Anyways - this is where we at at today:








I didn't bother trying to get the other stabiliser "A" off the sheet. Instead I used it to create templates in masking tape and then used the airbrush again:




The "A"s don't look bad in the photos but are actually quite ragged and need refinishing.
So I think the next step is to let the decals dry off and then apply a coat of gloss varnish to seal them. Then look at reworking the tail fin "A"s and perhaps trying to repair the damaged Spectrum roundels before refinishing the red spine stripe.

Man these little kits with not many parts are fighting all the way.

Not having much luck on the iInterceptor - gave it a coat of gloss to seal the rather fragile remnants of the decals, came back a couple of hours later to find this:


Seems the Humbrol varnish doesn't like Tamiya paint all of a sudden. Where I had nice sharp lines between red and white the red had started bleeding onto the white whilst the blue on the underside "A" had lifted in places. And where there was no ill effect the gloss varnish looked decidedly matt, not shiny. It did the same on the SPV. Is it possible for acrylic varnish to go off???

I've never had any luck with Humbrol at all and avoid it like the plague, except for the little tins of oil paint.

Man, that's just plain nasty

I used to use the Humbrol spray can varnishes when I first got back into building but moved away from them as I couldn't get consistent results.

Hope you can rescue this latest twist

OK - I am calling this build finished - see the reveal thread for the final images folks...
Thanks to all for the kind & upbuilding comments through out - much needed towards the end!!