Access panels

[Bantstudios77]

On my 1:48 scale sea hurricane I want to cut open one of the access panels so that you can see the mg's but I feel like I am going to break the wing using the scalpel and it is also hard to cut through the panel. Am I doing something wrong or is there a better way to cut the panel off? 

[Discostu]

Hi, I would start with a new blade on your hobby knife. Have a small piece of soft timber underneath the area to be cut to support the wing. Cut just inside the panel line, better to have a slightly smaller opening you can file up to the correct size than be too big. Hope this helps. By the way, the new tool Hurricane is a great kit, hope to see photos of yours on here when you’re done. Cheers, Stuart.

[Dark Earth]

When cutting open panels, doors, or flaps, I usually scribe over the line with an xacto blade many times, taking off a bit of depth each time.  I don't try to cut through all at once. It takes a little longer, but it is much gentler to the plastic.

 

Chris

[Peter s]

Don't use a scalpel. I'm trained as a pathologist so I'm VERY familiar with them. They're extremely high carbon steel so brittle as hell. A tiny twisting action shatters them like grenade fragments. Get a razor saw. Tamiya make good ones in all sizes. You can get small PE ones too. Use the saw to do most of the work and just tidy up with the scalpel. Worked perfectly with my 1/72 typhoon.

[Ratch]

Get an Olfa P-Cutter, I've just waterlined HMS Belfast using one

[John Symmons]

Hi Bantstudios.

I echo Peter's warning above that scaple blade's can shatter very easily. You could try drilling through at the corners with a very fine 0.5 to 0.3 mm drill and then scribing the line from the inside and cutting on that line. this way if you slip you won't damage the outside detail of the wing. Cutting out panels does take time and patience but is one of the skills that we all had to learn to improve our modelling skills usually with damaged models and bleeding fingers. hopefully with the above advice you'll for-go the painful bits. Good luck and hope to see the results of your labours.

 

Remember we do this for fun                                        John the Pom

[Peter s]

Here's some useful tools . From top to bottom

Archimedes drill with .5mm but

#22 swan morton scalpel. Nice chunky blade but a sharp point so good for modelling

Tamiya mini razor saw. Comes with several blade. You can find all these for a few quid on ebay. I used that saw to do the gun bays on the 1/72 typhoon kit so it'll do your sea hurricane easily and safely.

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[T2B]

On the new tool 1:48th scale Hurricane most of the cut lines to open up the gun bays are flashed over on the inside of the wings so the plastic is thinner, so easier to cut through! I've just completed 1 but haven't posted it yet though on this build I left the wings in tact, surgery will follow on my next, the Battle of Britain Hurricane Mk.I!

[Huber]

Would Airfix think about living hatches open with separate lid for the future model, espescially when there is smth interesting inside for large scale 1/24-32?

It could be an advantage regarding other brand.. ?

I will probably open the fuselage'hatches near the cockpit of the new Hellcat :)

[Kenneth ONeill]

I see Huber's point, but, in the case of the 1/48 Hurricane mk I, I'd only ever consider building one of multiple examples with gun bay(s) open. Similarly I've got exactly 1 Spitfire with flaps down, and 1 with camera doors open (not the same model).

[Peter s]

I see Huber's point, but, in the case of the 1/48 Hurricane mk I, I'd only ever consider building one of multiple examples with gun bay(s) open. Similarly I've got exactly 1 Spitfire with flaps down, and 1 with camera doors open (not the same model).

Generally mine are flaps down/wheels down and where possible open canopy but for open panels only my typhoon and that's because the guns included in the kit have plenty of detail. I often wonder why the larger Airfix kits (even the open cockpit 1/72 swordfish) have so much interior detail you never see. Too many options people won't use (generally) just increase kit costs and increase development time.

 

[T2B]

@ Peter s

 

I would suggest that the customer and modern modeller are getting more and more demanding? For years Airfix had been stagnant relying on old dated moulds, whilst the competition moved ahead with newer and better kits. To get back in the game and recover some lost customers Airfix had to produce much better tools with greater detail, which I think they are doing.

 

And if possible I try and reveal the hidden interior detail to challenge my modelling skills such as my Shackleton and Wellington builds!

[Kenneth ONeill]

Yes, my point in #10 is that I will expose that sort of detail, but not on every single model. In particular, a Spitfire (any model) would normally only have flaps down for take-off and landing, and would be "cleaned up" by the pilot whilst taxiing in from active to dispersal.

[Peter s]

@ Peter s

 

I would suggest that the customer and modern modeller are getting more and more demanding? For years Airfix had been stagnant relying on old dated moulds, whilst the competition moved ahead with newer and better kits. To get back in the game and recover some lost customers Airfix had to produce much better tools with greater detail, which I think they are doing.

 

And if possible I try and reveal the hidden interior detail to challenge my modelling skills such as my Shackleton and Wellington builds!

I think I saw your shackelton. If so it was amazing but if it's the same model I'm thinking of you're in the very top % of modellers. 

 

What they need to balance up is providing a challenge to experienced modellers but not making them too hard or too expensive that new builders don't catch the bug. I'm 42 and suspect I'm a young modeller. I got into the hobby aged 6 back when a spitfire would cost me about £2 in today's money.

With the new tools i think Airfix have got it about right. More or less anyway. The option of a £10 1/72 spit to a 1/24 £120 hellcat gives a pretty good choice. I can afford the hellcat but don't have the time to do it justice. (Or the shelf space) my latest purchase is another 1/72 gladiator i think I can convert to a sea gladiator with spare sea hurricane hook.