The kit is Airfix’s recently released 1:48 TSR-2. The kit is molded in a soft white plastic with thick walls – typical Airfix. The detail is fair and the fit appears to be good. This build will be OOB with the exception of a couple of add on parts from the spares bin and some unique markings from the decal stash.
The cockpit, weapon / landing gear bay, intake and wing assemblies went together rather easily. I left them unpainted for now; I will go back and paint them later. This is a demonstration model for the application of my Talon Series Acrylic NMF paints, so what’s on the inside isn’t really that important.
This will also serve as a plastic modeling tips tutorial on basic building techniques. The soft plastic found in this kit makes assembly very easy with solvents and a little patience. During the mock up and test fitting I did discover a couple of alignment issues which are easily overcome. I will show these and how to handle / correct them. This is going to be a fast build, I want to get to the painting process as soon as I can so anything not visible on the outside will be left as is.
After assembling the intake assemblies I discovered a gap that needs filling. Some would use a dab of CA but because of the softness of this plastic I would recommend against it. Instead I will use a little stretched sprue and solvent to create a patch. More on that later. With the cockpit and nose gear assemblies in place, I put the two fuselage halves together. As you can see in the image above, there is some Good Oozing from the seam. This assures you of a good solid bond without seam filling issues.
Here’s a TIP: When you can, inspect the seam by holding it up to the light to see if the seam has sealed completely. This kit allows you to do so for most of the upper fuselage seam. In this case you can inspect the quality of the “weld.” Here you can see the dot dash dot dash of places where the solvent didn’t bond the two halves solidly. Add more solvent and pressure to seal this up.
I apply masking tape to hold the two fuselage halves together once the solvent has been applied and pinched together. Don’t skip on the width, length and use of tape! Use what is needed to securely hold the alignment and pressure. Too little tape means insufficient grasp on the surface to hold the parts securely.
Once the parts have had time to dry and cure it is time to start the clean up. After I peel the tape away, I start to sand and polish the seam. Work slowly, rushing this process will only result in more effort to correct a major blemish which will be revealed after priming or worse yet, painting.
To do this one, I laid an old towel across my lap to keep the good clothes protected and collect the dust. Using a sanding and polishing stick, I work the seams until they are smooth. Once I am satisfied they are smooth and require no further clean-up, I use my micro razor saw to rescribe the panel lines intersecting the centerline seam.
While I was assembling the wings, I noticed the gap between the upper and lower wing section between the droop tips. This area can be left and filled with putty or even better yet, pulled into place with a length of masking tape to hold it closed while solvent is applied and allowed to cure.
Once it it has cured any oozing can be cleaned up with a few light passes using a file and then touched up with a sanding stick followed by a polishing stick, leaving a nice clean seam with no fillers to deal with.
As I started to test fit assemblies, I found a seam that will require some help in lining up. Here the lower aft fuselage section doesn’t uniformly match up with the upper.
To correct this I will use a clothes pin to act as both a wedge and clamp. This way I can apply the solvent along the seam without the need for several extra pairs of hands to hold everything in place. This is a pretty fun project…stay tuned for the next installment.
