Slingsby Cadet mk 1 - Mog goes resin

[Robomog]

Hi all

Theres a story for this one, many moons ago I was minding my business in Milton Keynes when a strange yellow aircraft cruised over my head, it came as a bit of a shock as the first I was aware of its presence was when it flew into my line of site, it was that quiet ! ( ok it was probably throttled back but amazingly quiet all the same). With a little investigation I found out it was the new Edgley Optica and fell in love with the plane. Sadly it did not last long, one was lost in a  air crash and the factory was burnt down ending the career of a very promising aircraft. The same fire also destroyed the Lockspeiser LDA-1.

Wind forward too many years and I discovered the Optica was available as a resin kit from Sharkit and promptly brought one. From that point on things went downhill, please don’t get me wrong it is a good resin kit, but I looked at all the parts and just “lost my bottle". Since then I have pulled the box out a number of times, opened the lid, observed the parts, sighed, closed the lid and put it back on the shelf.

To try and alleviate some of the anxiety I decided to buy a simpler resin kit, some might say a bit too simple, but I needed to start somewhere

So here it is, the Slingsby Cadet mk1 by Czech Master Resin, all twelve parts of it !

Here’s the starting point with everything on their casting blocks

by Robomog, on Flickr

Except the fuselage which is in one piece, it will need some sanding down.

by Robomog, on Flickr

I brought some Blue Rider aftermarket decals, curiously the drawing layouts from the kit are not to scale but the three view drawings that came with the decals are.

by Robomog, on Flickr

Unfortunately the after market decals are a bit out of register, something I missed when I brought them, but I should be able to create a working set out of what I have, just have to decide which aircraft to model.

More when it happens..........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[apophenia]

Cool subject choice, 'Mog 

... just have to decide which aircraft to model...

If you're taking votes, I rather like the scheme on RA930 

[Buzzbomb]

If you have not tackled a resin kit before.. this is probably a great starting point.
I would caution using the resin struts if at all possible, unless they are dead straight. Long bits of resin quite often have some sort of bend or deviation in them that is frustratingly difficult to remove at times.

Go you good thing !

[Robomog]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Apophenia - I am leaning towards RA930 but  PD628 is also interesting

Buzz  - as you can see from the  pics the struts do have a bit of a curve on them, thanks for the warning

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Frank3k]

Even straight resin struts can snap on you, and of course, trying to glue them back together won't work and they'll get stuck to your fingers...

You can use stretched sprue or sand an appropriate rod to shape (half round would cut the work...). Aeroclub used to make strut rods, but they're long gone.

[apophenia]

... Aeroclub used to make strut rods, but they're long gone.

I'm surprised that none of the injection-moulding firms has jumped up re-creating Contrail struts. They wouldn't be as strong as those Aeroclub Strutz but probably would be much cheaper.

[Robomog]

Hi all

Apophenia your absolutly right, someone has missed a trick there, a pack of injection moulded struts in various sizes/scales like Slater's assorted strip would be really useful and i dare  say popular with the modelling community.

In the meantime I have had a  productive night separating all the parts from their casting blocks, it wasn't too bad, the resin was quite brittle so a couple of passes with a sharp knife separated the components without problems.

Sanding (with a mask) was straight forward and I filled a few depressions in the fuselage with superglue, a little trimming of flash and I am ready for construction.

by Robomog, on Flickr

Does anybody know if there are any uses for the redundant casting blocks ?

Thanks for looking.........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Buzzbomb]

Does anybody know if there are any uses for the redundant casting blocks ?

I tend to bin them rather than the "that might come in handy sometime" approach which has left me with two big 50 litre tubs of left over kit bits.
However,  inventive uses are out there.
One modelling buddy uses them as filler when he is casting resin so he does not use as much liquid stuff.
They may come in handy as mounts for stuff as some of the casting blocks are very square.

On the Contrail struts business.. I am now into my last bag. Don't use as much now as when I was doing a lot of Vacform aircraft.
As a scratch build option, some evergreen strip with a very careful swipe of sandpaper, rubbing one way only,  will do the trick

Still moving ahead nicely
 

[Robomog]

Hi all

Well, with the low part count and the properties of CA glue I've put it together in one night wooooo!

I have to admit it wasn't all plain sailing,  as predicted I broke one of the larger struts while trying to straighten it out and had to revert to Mr Slaters rod to create the stuts. It was at this point I grew to hate Gel CA glue whilst it isn't runny it has no grab and I got into a bit of a mess, the  big parts went together ok.

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

After all that I've just realised I should have left the struts off until the painting was done aargh!

<--- sigh --- > more when it happens ........


Mog
>^-.-^<

[finsrin]

Good for you to do resin build.  A learning experience.  Is looking just fine too.
After doing one resin build of RS Models Blohm & Voss Ae 607, not as concerned about doing another.

[apophenia]

... As a scratch build option, some evergreen strip with a very careful swipe of sandpaper, rubbing one way only,  will do the trick...

Nice trick 'buzz!

Another possibility just occurred to me, with all of his 'one-wing biplanes', robunos must be up to his ankles in redundant struts! Maybe shoot Robin a PM and offer to relieve him of some of those surplus struts?

[Robomog]

Hi all.

The Kadet is in the paint shop now and has received its primer coat.

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

I've decided to go with the colour scheme for RA930  I like the yellow nose and minimalist green colour scheme

Thanks for looking......

Mog
>^-.-^<

[apophenia]

Looking good, 'Mog    Did you end up going with the kit's resin struts?

[Robomog]

Thanks alophenia, The rear struts are the kit  resin ones, I managed to break one of the main win struts so I had to replace them with plastic rod

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi all
 
Finally got this one finished  but with a bit of a fight. I pointed out above that the after market  transfers were out of register so the model was completed using a mix of the original decals and spares box for the roundels and after market for the serial numbers.  It did not help that the kit decals were reluctant to detach from the backing paper and were extremely brittle and easy to break thank goodness I had a healthy spares box.

The spray painting went ok (rattle cans) and after the decals were complete the application of Alt Clear left it just too shiny. So to finish off I gave it a coat of Matt varnish, big mistake.

,<rant on> Why are Humbrol still allowed to sell that rubbish they call Matt varnish!!!! occasionally you get a good one but generally you get left with a powdery white finish which is a bugger to get rid of, go back to the 1970's formula or work something else out Humbrol 'cos it doesn't do what it says on the tin !!!! <rant off> ........sorry about that chaps had to let it out somewhere

After all that work it was damn near ruined at the last hurdle, if you catch it early enough  a second coat may get rid of it. Fortunately the rattle can green dried very Matt, so I squirted some into a pot and eradicated the remaining white bits that way. You have to work very quickly because it dries very fast and none of the thinners I had would work with it.

I think I got away with it, here's the pics

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr


And a money shot

by Robomog, on Flickr

Followed by scale shot

by Robomog, on Flickr


Well despite the tribulations it has not put me off resin kits as most of the hassle had nothing to do with the kit, I dont feel confident enough to tackle the Optica yet but I will have another go at a resin kit something a bit more complicated than the Kirby.

All comments of criticisms gratefully accepted, as always........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Buzzbomb]

Ahhh the terrors of Flat finishes. Surely there is a Doctorate Thesis in there somewhere.

Mog... very neat. Pretty sure it will look great on the shelf

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Robomog]

Thanks chaps, much appreciated

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Frank3k]

The glider came out great! The picture with the Landy and potential crew is good. The rigging looks good as well!

Matt finishes are tough - I ruined the decals and paint job on an F-117 by spraying Tamiya flat *base* on it. It looked like it had been left out in the snow.

[Robomog]

Thanks Frank, 

Had the same thing happen to the underneath black of a Lancaster, fortunately multiple applications got rid of most of it  the remainder I passed off as "weathering"  even tho the top half was pristine . I think I went into rant mode because this model went together particularly well including the painting.

Mog
>^-.-^<