Valkyrie

So, this thing showed up on my porch the other day, commission build. As cool as it is, it's still going to be a handful! 

Wow, this thing is chock full of parts. Nice that HpH cast the main wing in one piece. 

Quick mock up, crazy. The F-84F is for scale. Toying with the idea of dropping the wings into cruise position, just not sure how to make them stay in place as that would make them really fragile. Brass rods? 

 

The beginning of what will no doubt be a long process... 

Not that many reference pics of The Capsule online, but here's one from a book. This may be an early iteration of The Capsule as it doesn't show the backup ejection handle in the middle but one is clearly present in photos of AV-1 in the USAF museum. 

My interpretation. The placard on the side is just orange paint with a leftover stencil decal (no idea what it says, haha) but it should be fine for the scale and the very limited amount you'll be able to see through the windows. 

I don't know where HpH did their research but the color callouts say the seat cushion is orange and the headrest is "leather" color. Pics clearly show the cushion and rest as being red, like many other USAF aircraft of the era. The belts were reddish...maybe? But the belts provided in the kit were greenish, so I touched them up with some brown panel line accent to tone it down a bit as the contrast was a little much. Again, this should be enough for what you're going to be able to view through the relatively tiny windows. 

Anyway, I'm going to ignore HpH's color callouts from now on I think. 😄 To be fair to HpH, I'm sure they didn't get access to crawl around AV-1 in the museum so they were relying on the web, just like me and some pics show what could be interpreted as orange for the seat, but being from Texas, I can tell you now, that's just sun-faded red! 

Very nice photoetch IP, too bad you're not going to see much once again. I used their epoxy they sell to hold it on and provide a "glass" effect on the instruments, though after sitting overnight it kind of crazed in a few places. Nothing a drop of X-22 can't take care of. Still, they weren't kidding about the dry time, even overnight and it was still tacky. 

Speaking of HpH callouts, this does not look promising. I get this is a limited-run kit and I've heard scary tales of folks tearing their hair out building HpH offerings before, but it would be nice to have some sort of location aid or a hint as to where these pins are supposed to go before I start drilling holes in the expensive fuselage. Other than a crude drawing that is!

Strap in I guess, because this is going to be a massive (pun intended) undertaking. 

Surgery commenced. Started with a dremel saw at the front but it was a little too rough. Switched to razor saw with nicer cuts, but it takes longer for sure. 

Basic opening and test fit of cockpit. HpH would have you assemble the side consoles, fit the bulkheads then stuff it in there. Nope, not gonna happen so had to snap the side consoles off, then fit in place piece by piece. Will require some trimming and sanding to get acceptable gaps that epoxy will fill. In a fit of optimism, I went ahead and used CA to attach the front and rear bulkheads as well as the cockpit floor since they seemed like they were fitting.  

HpH would also have you drill holes and add support pins. Instead of doing four each at the front and back bulkheads, none of which have any hint as to exact location, I drilled only two holes and used brass rods that met at the center seam using the panel lines as a reference (you can see the top of the brass pin just forward of the opening). Unfortunately the panel lines are not even so it's still a tiny bit off but the brass rod is flexible enough to bend into place. Anyway, this saves trying to line up yet more holes without a decent reference point. The rear blukhead has no support pins yet, but they may not be necessary if I can get the epoxy to fill the gaps, thinking of throwing some Tamiya epoxy putty in there for that as the HpH epoxy will just run down and pool at the bottom. 

Test fitting consoles and rear seat bulkhead. Not terrible fit actually and seems to be correct fore and aft placement but yes, more cleanup and sanding... 

Test fitting IP and center console. Got lucky as it all seems to sit in the correct position. I think I'll add some putty to the sidewalls and smooth out since you can still see some of the fiberglass texture there. 

Canopy, not so much. The good news is that the issue seems to be the front opening and looks like it will only need a mm or two of razor saw work. The rear clear piece is fitting ok with nothing some epoxy can't fill in. 

The warpage is another matter. The material they made the clear parts from is very floppy and will require tacking down with CA, then permanent epoxy setting. This may be a long process. It's annoying but I'd rather have the clear parts in all their floppiness rather than being brittle because they would have cracked ten times over by now.