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BUILDING KITS
Click
here for advice on assembling white metal parts
Click
here for advice on Basic Camouflage and Insignia
Please note that all clear parts are
supplied with a blue film which needs to be carefully removed BEFORE use.
These kits are produced in matt white high impact plastic sheet at standard 1mm or 1.5mm thickness. The largest fuselages are moulded in 2mm thick sheet. Kits are supplied with the fuselage halves being moulded in a complete length to save the need for joining each length. This also ensures maximum strength and obviating the difficult job of joining each fuselage half parts together. The wing root positions are either marked or more usually moulded onto the fuselage where applicable.
Wings are usually supplied as port and starboard, upper and lower halves, the tailplane is similarly supplied, unless the prototype needs a different layout. The fins may be moulded on to the fuselage halves or supplied separately. The nacelles are normally supplied as port and starboard halves. Clear cockpit canopies, turrets, astro domes, etc., are included as necessary. Metal castings finely cast for
propeller/s; seats; undercarriage legs, control columns; guns; aerials and tailwheel as necessary. Plus in some kits wheels (other kits have plastic wheels); engines or engine fronts; floors; D/F torpedoes; radiators; louvers; rudder pedals; instrument panels , etc. Most of the kits are supplied with water slide decals (a couple of the early kits do not include decals) for several finishes. Drawings & instructions are included.
Assembly is straightforward, you simply roughly cut around each plastic component, then gently rub down the edges of the component to remove them from the sheet. Fuselages are marked or moulded to show where any cockpit, turret or window is needed. Joining of the fuselages is by laying a strip of Sellotape each side of the joint line and flooding the joint with liquid glue. Wing and tailplane surfaces are either moulded onto the fuselage or marked. If the prototype has nacelles these are cut from the sheet and joined together then trimmed to the guide lines given on the item to be a snug fit with the wing 
A
SELECTION OF TOOLS THAT WILL BE FOUND USEFUL IN ASSEMBLING OUR KITS. WE DO NOT
SUPPLY THESE PARTS, WHICH CAN BE EASILY OBTAINED FROM YOUR LOCAL MODEL/TOOL
SHOP.
To release the mouldings from their sheets, draw around the edges of each vac formed item with a sharp pencil, as a sanding guide. Use a sharp craft knife to run around the items, cutting a shallow incision into the plastic. Gently snap away the scrap plastic from the items. Sand away the unwanted plastic down to the drawn pencil lines. Waste plastic has to be removed from various openings and apertures. The use of a razor saw will be found particularly useful. Various needle files and drills are also useful. Undercarriage door openings, cockpit canopy openings, doors openings etc., are best opened by scoring around their outline, then scoring diagonal lines within the outline, where they intersect a small hole is drilled. Use the craft knife to go into this hole and cut into the diagonal lines. This plastic can then be ‘peeled’ back to the outline. Cutting out bulkheads, formers and floors, etc. is carried out by cutting roughly around the item to remove them from the surrounding sheet, then run an incision around the item with the craft knife and cut several random lines away from the incised outline. The resulting ‘triangles’ of scrap plastic can them be gently snapped away. Sand them to be a snug fit into the fuselage halves. To sand down component edges use card finger supports taped to the items outer surface with double sided adhesive tape. Holding these card supports gently rub the edges against a sheet of wet & dry paper stuck with double sided adhesive tape, to a sheet of flat board.
Wings and tail planes are best stiffened inside with strips of scrap plastic glued in place, before final sanding. Stiffening of the root end rib will also be of benefit for final assembly. Using the clear cockpit is helpful as a guide to final fuselage assembly. This is held in place on the assembled fuselage with small ‘tabs’ of clear scrap plastic being glued to the inside edges of the cockpit opening standing proud of the cockpit fuselage edge thus giving location supports for the clear canopy to slide over. Undercarriage wheel wells, bomb bays etc. can be ‘boxed’ in with strips of plastic glued to the inside of the aperture outline and ‘capped’ with a sheet of scrap plastic, before assembly. The use of wing and tail ‘tabs’ or supports strips will be found useful on many kits. The ‘tab’ are simply small rectangular pieces of plastic glued to the root end of the wing/tail whilst the wing/tail half is held onto a flat surface. These will provide a means of fixing these items onto the fuselage. Corresponding slots need to be cut into the wing root positions on the fuselage. An alternative method is to glue a one piece support rib carrier right through the assembled fuselage. This is made from a piece of plastic on earlier kits, or cut out where supplied moulded on the newer kits. It ‘sticks out’ of each side fuselage wing position and the wing has a slot cut into the end root to allow the support rib carrier to pass into the wing. Tail planes and fins can use this method or plastic ‘tab’ of plastic are glued to the assembled fuselage in the position as shown on the drawings. These pieces should be thick enough to be a snug fit inside the assembled tailplane or fin. The required tailplane or fin is slipped over these ‘tabs’ when coated in glue. Fuselage assembly requires that the fuselage joining edges are flat, further that all cutouts have been made and bulkheads, floors etc. are glued into their respective positions. To ensure a nice joint line between fuselage halves it is best to cut either ‘tabs’ or narrow lengths of plastic to be glued around the inside of one fuselage half thus giving a stepped support for the other fuselage half are the way around the outline of the fuselage. when these stepped supports are dry, place the other fuselage half in place checking for correct alignment and fit against the various internal parts and fit of cockpit canopy. Check and recheck. When all is satisfactory a combination of rubber bands, clothes pegs and masking tape is used to retain the halves in place. Run strips of masking tape along each side of the joint line, leaving just a small gap. Liquid glue is now brushed along the joint, top first then when dry, the bottom. The use of tube polystyrene glue should be reserved for applying a ‘bead’ on the edge of one fuselage side prior to final assembly. On biplanes the use of card jigs will greatly assist their assembly.
Always check and recheck fits and alignment during assembly. Wings, tail planes and fin are very important for alignment as is the clear cockpit canopy. Remember to paint any interior areas before assembly.
Decals are water slide and are thinly printed so handle with care, especially when wet. Soak in tepid water for approx 30 seconds. Slide decal off its backing sheet onto the required surface (if it will not slide easily soak some more), position the decal and when correctly in place blot with lint free cloth of tissue. Its best to seal the decal in place.
This information is given in good faith but we do not accept liability for any problems arising from its use. E&O.E.
We shall not be held liable for any injury, direct or consequential, arising
from the use of, handling of or inability to use, any of our products. 1. 
2. 
PHOTOGRAPHS NUMBERS 1 and 2
PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING THE WAY THAT THE INTERNAL PARTS OF A NACELLE ARE BUILT UP. NOTE THE USE OF ‘TABS’ TO FIX THE UNDERCARRIAGE DOOR IN PLACE AND THEIR USE ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM EDGES OF THE NACELLE, SO THAT THE CORRESPONDING SIDE WILL FIT OVER THESE ‘TABS’ TO ENABLE ITS CORRECT LOCATING.
IF PREFERRED, INSTEAD OF THE TABS, LONGER LENGTHS OF PLASTIC MAY BE RUN ALONG THE TOP AND BOTTOM EDGES OF THE NACELLE. THE UNDERCARRIAGE WELL IS ALSO SHOWN WITH THE FRONT AND REAR ENDS IN PLACE. THESE ARE SHOWN IN HALF, BUT THE COMPONENTS ARE NORMALLY SUPPLIED FULL WIDTH WHICH ENSURES A MORE RIGID AND EASIER CONSTRUCTION.
3. 
4. 
PHOTOGRAPHS NUMBERS 3 and 4
Please note that there are NO
‘bubbles’ in these mouldings. It
is only the digital photograph.
THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS OF FITTING COCKPIT CANOPIES TO A FUSELAGE.
1/. CUT-OUT THE WINDOW POSITIONS AS MARKED ON THE FUSELAGE AND/OR DRAWINGS. THIS LEAVES ‘FRAMES’. THE CLEAR CANOPY SIDE IS THEN TRIMMED TO FIT INSIDE THE FUSELAGE HALF. THIS METHOD WILL NOT PRODUCE THIN ENOUGH COCKPIT ‘FRAMES’ , SO IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO SAND DOWN THE INNER SURFACE OF THE FUSELAGE TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED THICKNESS. THIS DOES NOT REQUIRE TOO MUCH RUBBING DOWN OR THE ‘FRAMES’ WILL APPEAR TOO
THIN. GLUE THE CANOPIES IN PLACE AFTER PAINTING INSIDE THE COCKPIT AREA, INCLUDING THE ‘FRAMES’.
2/. CUT AWAY THE WHOLE OF THE TOP AND BOTTOM FUSELAGE COCKPIT AREAS AND GLUE THE TRANSPARENCY TO THE FUSELAGE EDGES USING SMALL PIECES OF PLASTIC TO FORM SUPPORTS TO HOLD THE CANOPY IN PLACE. SEE PHOTOGRAPH No 4
PHOTOGRAPH No 4 SHOWS PLASTIC TABS GLUED INSIDE A FUSELAGE HALF, READY TO HOLD THE TRANSPARENCY IN PLACE. THEY ARE SHOWN HERE AT AN EXAGGERATED SIZE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES. IN FACT THEY NEED TO BE THIN, NARROW AND SHORT. WHEN THE COCKPIT ‘FRAMES’ ARE EITHER PAINTED IN PLACE OR REPRESENTED BY ADHESIVE STRIPS, THESE WILL COVER THE TABS.
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