Thunderbird 3

[Sky Seeker]

Everyone,

It's been a while since I posted here. Been a bit busy with home / work / volunteering in various community projects. Recently a friend of mine and I got into a conversation about how when he was younger he had a whole collection of the Thunderbird toys from the late 60's / early 70's. However, one day he came back home from college and found that his whole collection of toys from the era disappeared from his room! Remembering this I looked at the collection of templates and thought I'd maybe give him a gift of cardstock. The templates I had were Thunderbirds 1-4. Of the models Thunderbird 3 looked like a great candidate. However, the template that I had for that one had NO DIRECTIONS, NO NUMBERS NOTHING! I did find a couple of pics to work off of, but that's it

The template I'm working off of is Hiro's Design of Thunderbird 3.

So here we are


Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

In doing this model I'm going to have scans of the template in jpeg form then have explanations of the pieces as assembly is done.


page 1


The area circled in gold called nose cone part 1 - will be done first. Please notice the blue circle areas with arrows. The arrows indicate which parts go together.

Nose cone templates cut out.



Nose cone - note the top cone and other templates. All tabs have been cut and glued in place.



Nose cone - top cone and other templates. Note the slight curl on some of the templates. Just hold one end with one hand and trace your thumb from one side to the other to create a curl. This allows for the ends to eventually be brought together.



Nose cone - note top cone mounted on top of a mid section.



Nose cone - note top cone and other section ends joined together. Note also the areas near when the bodies joined together are penciled in to avoid the glare of the white portions. The tab on the bottom will be used to join with the next section of Thunderbird 3.



Nose cone - note the penciled in areas. Also - note the lining up of the letters to form "thunder" along one side.



Nose cone - assembled

That's it for now!

Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

Middle section


Note the holes cut out in the middle section for wings and the top having the templates for the ring.
Ring


Coloring the center strip with a silver marker. The marked portion looks brighter in strong light. Note the use of a straight piece of card stock to color the edges in the desired areas.




Note the coloring of the edges with a silver marker.



Ring - done
Sky Seeker

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

It appears that you are off to a great start with this project. I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Just an FYI, in the RESOURCE SECTION, There is a category for Thunderbirds that has all five the the Thunderbirds vehicles (made by Gary Pilsworth)

 

[mijob]

Thats a great start I loved the thunderbird series and the vehicles that time looked great and are still looking great.

 

[Sky Seeker]

It appears that you are off to a great start with this project. I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Just an FYI, in the RESOURCE SECTION, There is a category for Thunderbirds that has all five the the Thunderbirds vehicles (made by Gary Pilsworth)

Rhaven,

Thanks for the heads up! Will check it out. At least this will give future builders other options in building this great model. Good series as well. Lots of detail for a "kids show".

Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

Thats a great start I loved the thunderbird series and the vehicles that time looked great and are still looking great.

Thanks MIIJOB! BTW love your work on your models. Always a joy to see a master at work.

Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

intermediate fuselage section - circled in yellow



intermediate fuselage section with rectangles - please note that the rectangles are folded to become triangles. However, the original template was tiny. So the rectangles have been modified to make them bigger. Another reason is that I kept losing the tinier rectangles and they were very hard to work with. See below:

Template for rectangles

Tabs added to the upper and lower sections of the intermediate fuselage section.


The rectangles are folded then applied onto the vertical dashes at the top of the intermediate fuselage section. Be sure to line them up along the red line. The ring is to be positioned on top of the triangles on the white section.


Please note that the tab on the left hand side is NOT cut off. Normally tabs are cut to give a flush appearance, however in this case you want the cut sections to line up properly. Note also that the areas near the tabs are colored in pencil to remove glare. I didn't have the right color of red for this one that's why that was done.


Intermediate fuselage section rolled together and joined.

Note the placement of the triangle at the seam near the top of the intermediate fuselage section.

Intermediate fuselage section - ring is added to the top section that had the white area. Feel free to be generous with the glue to reinforce the ring.

That's it for now.

Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

Rhaven,

Thanks for the heads up! Will check it out. At least this will give future builders other options in building this great model. Good series as well. Lots of detail for a "kids show".

Sky Seeker

Rhaven,

Just looked at the resource section. I noticed that there were no copies of Thunderbird 1. I have Hiro's design template only - no directions. Do you want it?

Sky Seeker

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Rhaven,

Just looked at the resource section. I noticed that there were no copies of Thunderbird 1. I have Hiro's design template only - no directions. Do you want it?

Sky Seeker

Thank you for letting me know. I have Thunderbird 1 by Gary Pilsworth. I have uploaded it.

https://www.zealot.com/resources/thunderbird-1-by-gary-pilsworth.2610/

 

[Sky Seeker]

Intermediate section with fins

Intermediate section - tabs assembly - bottom and top tabs glued in place


Intermediate section - tabs assembly - bottom and top tabs glued in place

Intermediate section - fins - cut - there are 18 fins to cut and assemble!


Intermediate section - fins - Decided to color the fins in silver to make it more reflective and make it look like it's assembled out of aluminum or titanium


Intermediate section - on the white areas on the edges pencil was used to diminish glare


Intermediate section - fins colored - to give you an idea how shiny some of the areas are the areas that look white are actually silver.



Intermediate section - fins glued together


Intermediate section - fins glued on to Intermediate section. Note that the fins are positioned on the rectangular sections on the model.


Intermediate section - most fins glued on - please note that this is done while the main model portion is roughly flat.


Intermediate section - most fins glued on and main intermediate section has the ends together to form a cylinder. Note the tab was cut and glued back on to have a smooth outer cylindrical surface - per standard procedure on this forum. All credit goes to ZAthrAs for that.

Intermediate section - most fins glued on and main intermediate section has the ends together to form a cylinder. Note that the final fin is NOT added yet. After the ends are joined then the final fin can be added.


Intermediate section - all fins glued on. The final fin covers the seam of the intermediate section.


Intermediate section - edges of the fins have glare removed by the silver marker. Stray fibers in previous pictures were smoothed over with the marker.

That's it for now!

Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

Intermediate section - skirt

Intermediate section - skirt


Intermediate section - skirt - tab cut and reassembled on skirt and with ends joined together


Intermediate section - skirt - vertical seams lined up with other vertical seam on finned portion. Note that when the skirt is lined up with the vertical seam seam the skirt is on the edge where the tabs of the intermediate section form a horizontal seam and provide a "shelf" for the skirt to line up on the horizontal portion.


Intermediate section - skirt - seams lined up - internal view - partial gluing. Start gluing with some tabs inside to get the skirt in position then glue in segments, about 5 tabs at a time, around the internal circumference of the skirt until done.


Intermediate section - skirt - internal view all tabs glued in place. This is NOT very easy and the tabs sometimes fold up where you DON'T want them. The tolerances are pretty tight internally so it does take some time, but as you can see it's possible.


Intermediate section - skirt - DONE!

Intermediate section - Note that in real life you can't see stray fibers on the edge of the fins. These are all magnified due to the position of the camera taking the shots. I might have to take a nail file and run it on the edges later. If anyone has some suggestions I'm certainly open to them.

Sky Seeker

 

[mijob]

This is looking awesome.

 

[DanBKing]

FAB!

 

[Sky Seeker]

FAB!

Yep F.A.B. -

 

[Sky Seeker]

Intermediate fuselage section - wings



Intermediate fuselage section - wings - score tabs

Intermediate fuselage section - wings - folded wing and rolled side strut

Intermediate fuselage section - wings - cut stripes - cut the stripes only part way to allow the strips to be properly aligned on the wing

Intermediate fuselage section - wings - left to right - Rolled and glued strut -
center - wing glued and square tabs added to area with triangular tabs
right side - strips - edges colored with black marker to remove glare


Intermediate fuselage section - wings - close up of tab section on wing - try to form a rectangular section instead of cutting along the triangles for better attachment later on


Intermediate fuselage section - wings - stripes added to wings. Note the alignment of the stripes. Black mark on the far lower right side made to allow for the white section of the struts to be attached later on after the lower rocket nacelles are added later (much later). Also this determines the placement of the stripes.

Intermediate fuselage section - wings - Extraneous card stock (in white) cut away from the stripes. Glare removed by coloring with a black marker.


Intermediate fuselage section - wings - back side of the stripes prior to folding over


Intermediate fuselage section - wings - stripes to folder over - Note if the strips don't extend all the way to the edge of the wing just color them in with marker or make longer stripes. Note also the top edge of the wing has the rectangular sections known on the Thunderbird 3. There's no need to make another piece to form the rectangular edges.


Intermediate fuselage section - wings - stripes to folder over - back side. Note the black mark on the right side. Any stripes extending over the side are cut flush with the edge of the wing.


Intermediate fuselage section - wings - all wings and struts cut formed and assembled. Note the top of the struts which are white. They form a pocket to receive the lower edge of the wing. Also note areas colored in red to minimize glare. In real life you can barely tell where the wings are colored. The flash on the camera brings out the color more.

That's it for now!

Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

Intermediate fuselage section - skirt / ring section
Sometimes you have to go back before you go forward.
skirt - removed tab and joined again

skirt - joined ends together

Intermediate fuselage section - ring section. As can be seen the top of the ring became slightly warped. Also, it looked like the tabs jutting out from the top are not high enough to receive the nosecone and maintain it in place. It is recommended for future builders that the internal tabs of the top rings are removed for ease of attachment of the nosecone.


Intermediate fuselage section - ring section - To overcome the above problem a solution was found where a new ring was cut out and colored by a silver marker. All tabs were removed. Four tabs were made with scrap card-stock. These tabs will be used to join the nose cone with the intermediate fuselage section.


Intermediate fuselage section - ring section
First tab installed

Intermediate fuselage section - ring section
All tabs installed

Intermediate fuselage section - ring section - Skirt colored in silver, ring, and intermediate section with tabs to be joined to the nosecone.

Intermediate fuselage section - skirt section - Skirt seam is lined up with the main seam on the intermediate section.

Intermediate fuselage section - skirt section - bottom view - some tabs are glued and allowed to set in place. Sometimes you have to press in portions of the model in place due to a tight fit with the skirt and the intermediate section.

Intermediate fuselage section - skirt section - bottom view - the remaining tabs are glued usually five at a time and allowed to dry and set in place until all tabs are glued.

Intermediate fuselage section - skirt section - assembled!


Intermediate fuselage section - all ready to put on the wings and THEN the nose cone.


Sky Seeker

 

[Sky Seeker]

Intermediate fuselage section - wing assembly
Note the overgluing on the joined section.

Intermediate fuselage section - wing assembly - Second wing added


Intermediate fuselage section - wing assembly - Note the tabs folded inside of the main fuselage of the intermediate fuselage and glued in place. Recommend that a stylus or a pencil is used to fold the tabs as big fat fingers can't get inside that space.

Intermediate fuselage section - wing assembly - Final wing added


That's it for now!

Sky Seeker

 

[mijob]

I like all the different shapes that this model has it makes it very intresting to build.

 

[Sky Seeker]

I like all the different shapes that this model has it makes it very intresting to build.

Yes I'm getting to know cones, cylinders, and circular skirts quite well. All a bit more challenging than one would think.