Hi all.
While Im not quite a beginner,,Im almost at the crawling stage now
I need some of you short run specialists advice on basic assembly of a short run kit. Hopefully this will also act as an instructional thread for those who are tempted to attempt a short run kit but put off by the harder aspects of assembly.
Ive had my eye on the AZ Models Avro Tutor since it was announced, and jumped at the chance to buy it today with the intention of building it for the between the wars campaign.
A nice quick biplane build............................WRONG!
I wasnt too surprised to see that there were no locating pins on the fusalage halves, but its the wings that are going to give me the biggest headache.
The top wing is in one piece,,no problem there. Shallow locating holes for the struts are moulded in ( I can get around this quite easily), but the bottom wing is another story.
Its in two parts,,left and right, and locates onto the fusalage,,,,,but.................
.........................
There are no locating lugs, no holes, no outline of where it should attach to the fusalage "tube",,,nothing,,zip,,,zilch,,,,gar nicht.........sweet ef ay..lol
Any suggestions as to how I can get the wings aligned and securely attached ?
Im thinking wire pins or something,,but any advice from someone whos tackled one of these kits would be very much appreciated. How can I line up the pins etc,,if indeed pins are the way to go.
Nige

Well, I am by no means an expert on the limited run kit, but I think I have an idea of what you can do to solve this problem. The main obstacle, I think, is finding a good three way diagram so you can get an accurate determination of where the lower wing is located on the fuselage. With a three way diagram, one way to tackle the problem would be to use it to mark on the fuselage halves the position of the leading edge of the lower wings. Then you could mark out and drill a hole a set distance aft of that mark, and drill a hole in the root of the lower wings the same distance from the leading edge, to ensure that the wings line up where they are supposed to be on the fuselage.

Here is a badly drawn picture to illustrate what I mean:



The green line is the leading edge marker, and the red line is the drill marker. With one pin you should have enough flexibility to position your wings at the right angle and dihedral. In fact, if the upper wing has the same dihedral as the lower, you could probably get away with using the upper wing as a jig to align the lower. Just take care not to get glue on the upper wing in the process...

Hope that gives you some ideas to tackle this problem.

Hi Lampie!

Welcome to the wonderful world of short-run kits!

Due to the type of kits, It´s hard to give any general advice as every kit is very much an idividual in itself.

Lack of locating pins are no big issue, If you need you can make small tabs of plasticard and glue on the inside of the seam.

Worst and hardest part is aligning butt-jointed wings, as you just have stated here!

If the join is large and flat, the old thick tube-glue can be enough to give a good and strong joint.

But, mostly you have to reinforce the join somehow, and this Is how I use to do.

1) Drill a hole (or two) from the OUTSIDE of the fuselage, one hole should be at the thickest part of the wing and make the hole as large as you want (diameter of the spar).
Here you don´t have to measure anything at all, just be sure the holes will be within the wing profile (Can be a pain with very thin wings).

2) Tack the wing to the fuselage with VERY LITTLE superglue, you just want it to stick temporarely where it will be later.

3) Mark the location of the holes on the wingbutt by using a pen or needle, trough the holes from the INSIDE.

4) Now CAREFULLY break/cut/pry loose the wing from the fuselage, and drill the corresponding holes in the wingbutt (Or you can drill the holes before you remove the wings).
Insert spars of your choice (I often use some steel or brass rod for strength) in the wingbutt, and now you have a wing that will fit perfectly (if you have done It correctly) and it will have a very strong join.

I wrote this some time ago, another aircraft, different wing join, but I´m sure you´ll find some tips you can use!

https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net//features/1088

My best advice I can give for short runs are;

1) READ the instructions CAREFULLY, from start to end!
You should feel that you already have built the kit in your head and have identified every part and where it will go.
Then you´re ready to get building!

2) PLAN AHEAD, sometimes It´s easier to plan your own route trough the build.

3) DRY FIT, DRY FIT, DRY FIT and NEVER take anything for granted!

4) Use your imagination and intuition to solve problems!

Sounds difficult?

No, It ain´t so hard, just take your time and be careful and you´ll have a great time, and you´ll find that the reward for a finished model is immensly greater then for a "shake-n-bake"!
I promise that you will get hooked on these kits too!

If you have any questions, I´m happy to help!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Stefan, you hit it right on with that one! In any of the model genres, that is the necessity that we all seem to have trouble doing! We sometimes get in a hurry, and apply the glue before dry fitting enough to only find that we've got a problem, and we have made it worse by not dry fitting enough!

DC

So True, and I have learnt that the hard way too!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Thanks for the help guys!
I was thinking that pinning the bottom wings was going to be the way to go, but was unsure of the method.
Not any more!
Everything else,,( no locating lugs etc), shouldnt pose much of an issue, and hopefully neither will the bottom wings now!
Using your method Stefan I should still be able to assemble and paint the sub sections seperately as I had originally planned.
I may even start a build blog as its a lovely little kit.
Nige

Hi Lampie!

I discoverd a faulty note in the description above, you drill the holes from the OUTside and mark from the INside! (have edited the post)
Logical, eh?

The trick is to make your own "tabs", so you can build it "as usual".
This is one of the very first tasks i do when i start a short run.

My current Short runs are the HiPM Arado 196 and the Azur Loire 130M, both in 1/48.

Yes, please show us the kit, I don´t even know what a Tutor is or how it looks!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Hi Stefan.
Heres the boxart.


A very nice looking biplane.
Designed by Roy Chadwick, who later designed the Lancaster bomber.

Generally the kit is excellent, although the RAF roundel decals are going straight into the bin, as the red centres are ,,well,,,nowhere near the centre

I have some in the spares box that will do the job, and I'll probably spray the red stripes on instead of using the decals. Nothing wrong with the decals, I just think that sort of thing looks lots better sprayed on.
Nige

Lampie, this is just the kind of build that would be great as a blog or feature!!! Bring on the pics!!!

DC

I blog most of my builds, and I'll definately blog this one.
Exactly when I get around to it is another matter!
Nige