Hi all,
I've been wanting a model of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Woomera - one of the two big RAAF What If? designs - for YEARS and years. (I'm guessing some of you aren't familiar with this voluptuous beauty, so I'll just leave this here:
For most of that time I only knew of one kit in any scale, the rare-as-hens-teeth NKR 1/72 resin kit which only ever goes for triple digits, if it ever goes.
So I was lucky to pick up this 1984-vintage KPL vacform off eBay for US$30.
My employer gives their staff 1/2 day shopping leave in the lead-up to Christmas, so I had a little time to get started on Friday afternoon.
First thing was to outline all parts with a black felt pen and score around them, and then snap them free. I won't bother with the wheels and props included, the props especially look awful due to the moulding process.
After sanding the fuselage I cut out the various opening for transparencies and taped it together. This was so I could figure out how big the cockpit floor needed to be.
I was lucky with the interior for two reasons: I had a set of High Planes CAC Wirraway panels which look about right, and thanks to a member of Aussie Modeller International I have a printout of the NKR Woomera instructions which include great sketches of the cockpits. I ended up using a 1/48 P-40 panel with part of the Wirra panel on top for the front, and seats from I think a Frog Airspeed Oxford. Not right but the canopy is atrocious, so shapes alone would do!
The cockpit and the side transparencies were glued in today and then the fuselage put together. Before calling it for the weekend I cut the wings into four separate sections and sanded before gluing them together - x2 outer panels and x2 centre sections. Next job will be sanding and filling the fuse - a few gaps there thanks to air bubbles in the mould - and ditto for the various wing parts.
More updates in a week or so :-)