Gabe Q Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Hi everybody! (You respond, "Hi Dr. Nick!") Anyway, I've been inspired to start building one of my many Hasegawa VF-1s. Thank you to WM for his really great build-ups. My problem is, I want to build the valk with the landing gear doors closed. I'm having trouble because they don't fit quite right. Also, I don't think they will be supported very well. Any suggestions? I tried this so far. I just tried to glue a spare piece of sprue to the back of the door to attach them to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Q Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 How do I get the doors to fit in here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007-vf1 Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 (edited) hey dr. Nick, well you'll have to sand down part of the edges because they are slighly larger than the fit. the use of a sprue to glue them together is fine but it might be too thick..use a piece of styrene or cut the sprue piece thinner. You might have to glue small tabs on the inside landing gear 'box' edges to keep the doors from sinking into the box once you glue them. If this happens anyways, then use the point of the xacto knife to pull the doors up to the surface. the biggest problem will be the square pieces that goes atop the doors where the signal lights are placed by the 'knee'. They have to be sliced thin and sanded and trimmed on the upper edges to fit the compartment ... EDIT: did you get any of this? Edited March 5, 2004 by 007-vf1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grayson72 Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Like 007 suggests sand down the doors on until they fit well into the space. What I would do next to support the doors from underneath is fill the space with epoxy clay, it'll be so easy to hold the doors in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet-1 Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 I've done this a few times and it seems to work quite well. After ensuring the doors fit flush (roughly), I roll 2-part epoxy up into a small ball (smaller than a pea) and place one on each end of the door. The trick is to put enough on so that the door sits slightly higher than the surroundings. Then gently press down until the doors are flush, and sitiing in the spots you want. Once the epoxy dries (overnight) just do a quick sanding if needed and presto, closed doors. I try to use as little as possible just to keep the balance okay, but it can be tricky. Lonnie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Q Posted March 6, 2004 Author Share Posted March 6, 2004 Thanks for the suggestions. I'm gonna try Grayson's suggestion about the epoxy clay. I'll post some pics of my progress cuz I got nothin better to do. I just wanna mention that I still consider myself a beginning modeler and I can't stress enough how helpful the step-by-steps are. I really appreciate it as I'm sure many others do. If anyone has a different suggestion, please post it. I really want my valk to look its best. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wm cheng Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 Its too bad the old site isn't up anymore, I've done a step-by-step walk through on the VF-1 for closing the gear doors - I'll just post some pictures here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wm cheng Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 The plastic behind to hold it together... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wm cheng Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 Glued in place... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wm cheng Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 With some putty to help smooth out the contours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgethis Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 If you fill up the gaps with putty, won't the gaps showing where the bay doors be filled up as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Major Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 once you fill the gaps and shim it up. then its pretty easy to go back in and re-scribe the panel lines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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