Out2gtcha Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 Lets start off with the good shall we (at least in MHO)? I did manage to get all the bits and bobs finished on the IP, so generally the IP is now complete: We continue on with the good, as I then dry fit the fuselage together, to make sure I had the IP settled where I needed it, and actually got the IP glued in place inside the cockpit, which actually went very well. I initially used a few drops of thick slow sure CA, then after removing the fuselage halves and cockpit, I strengthened the backside of the IP with the Bondic gel. The gel cured well, and is now easily supporting the IP where it needed to be: This went along quite swimmingly actually, and I was quite pleased at the outcome. So well in fact that I added the O2 hose (NOT my best work but it is what it is) and decided to get the pit glued in the fuselage before I broke something off of it, as it was becoming quite delicate, and I didnt want to loose any of the work I had done, so on to it! I glued the whole cockpit in its final resting place, which too mostly went off without a hitch: MORE......................... Harold, TaffyMan, Hubert Boillot and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Tasty Brian, very very tasty! One damn fine looking pit there. Torben Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 That is really lovely work Richard R Palimaka, F`s are my favs, Rocat and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 Thanks gents. The worst is yet to come.............. Ok, so this is not the VERY bad (yet) , but here is where things started sliding down hill a tad. Once the cockpit was glued in place, I started to move onto the next step, which was dry fitting the nose gear pack in place with the cockpit permanently glued in. I knew from earlier dry fitting attempts, this was going to be tight. What I didnt know, is just how tight. Anyone remember fitting older school Aires wheel bays into kits? I call to example most any of the F4U wheel wells, and even my SU-30 wheel wells..................mostly you had to shave the back side of them down to within an inch of their lives (almost see through to be honest) just to get them to fit into the kit they were supposedly designed for. This is not negativity, these were just facts if you put in most any of the Aires products wheel wells, and even some cockpits. That is how you can think of the fit between the cockpit and wheel well pack here. I ended up having to take a small straight razor and scrape significant amounts of material off not only the upper side of the wheel well pack but a significant amount off the underside of the cockpit too: This made the floor of the wheel well pack and the floor of the cockpit quite flimsy. This wasn't a huge problem I thought at the time, especially on the cockpit since I had already glued that in place, it was reinforced quite a bit by the fuselage itself. Here we now come to the bad. The very VERY bad actually.................... I was so happy and pleased with my work up to this point (NEVER a good sign! ) that I decided to go ahead and bit the bullet, and get the nose wheel well pack glued in place. I carefully made sure that the starboard side was snuggled up to the fuselage wall like it should have been, and after 15 or 20 minutes of fetteling making sure it was in the right place and fit well, I glued the nose well pack in place along its upper half using some thin CA. **ANYONE THAT TELLS YOU CA DOES NOT BOND RESIN WELL IS EITHER LYING TO YOU, OR HAS NEVER USED THE RIGHT CA ON RESIN** The fit looked good from the side and I was pleased.......................until I looked at the install of the nose well from the front. The well was very solidly glued in at that point, and when I looked at the model from the front, the nose gear was canted off to the port by many many degrees. Somehow, the thinning of the well floor had put a (unknown to me at the time) twist/warp in the well pack and I didnt notice it till well after it was glued in place. CRAP. So, there was only one thing to do, and that was to try to jimmy the nose well off the starboard side toward the front and move it. I scrapped and scrapped at the joint, but it was pretty solid. No luck that way. I got out a little tool I had previously made for scrapping, and decided to pry a bit gently at the bottom of the well to try to release it from where it was glued in. Apparently I used a bit too much force, because that is when I heard a very loud *POP!*, followed by an even louder *CRACK!* closely there after followed by many tiny cockpit and wheel well parts flying past my face............ DISASTER!! The starboard side fuselage nose section had completely cracked off the and also went flying across the model room. Needless to say, my heart sank. Id seen this before; when I tried to correct the blunder I made on my Walrus fuselage. At least I know CA sticks HELLA well to HpH resin! #$%*!@!!! I literally just sat there in silence staring at the whole mess. It was so ugly, I wasn't even mad, I just couldn't believe it even happened. I put everything down, left the modeling room and went upstairs and since I didnt have any beer or whiskey, I grabbed a Henry's Hard Grape soda (don't laugh, they are actually great, and taste like a Sweet Tart!) After finishing a single Henry's I decided "screw that Im fixing this!" and set about doing exactly that. At least I know how grand my passion is for the subject, as Im not sure I would have felt the same way about any other model in this situation. The main disastrous parts are obvious, the nose section cracking off, and the secondary nose gear link breaking off from the main nose gear itself. I bashed it pretty good when it flew from my grip when the well popped off, so Im not shocked it broke there. I set about fixing that and recovering all the small bits from the pit and well first. Amazingly enough, I found all the broken cockpit and well parts that flew off, some actually hitting me in the face, and landing on the floor. Not sure how I found them all, but I did. Its much less close to perfect than it was, and all the wires coming off the bottom of the starboard side instruments I added came off never to be found again and I didn't add them back, knowing I couldn't see them after the fuse was close anyway. The good news is the main gear, IP and cockpit parts did not get damaged. Neither did any of the additions I made to the main gear including the torque brace nor the EZ Line brake line. Miracle none of the broke off or got really damaged. I used some thick cure CA to glue the nose gear back onto the main folding brace and used the same to glue the brace back to the well floor. This seems solid, and since the steel rod supports most of the weight, Im hoping it will be enough. I also glued back all the bits, bobs and piping in the well that broke loose. So now here is where I am. I got most everything back in order as good as I could, and fixed everything except the starboard side fuselage: In the end, there is something good I can pull from this. After dry fitting the weights in after fixing things, the fact that there is now no forward starboard nose on that fuselage half, has apparently made it easier to fit the weights in. I'm going to FULLY ensure that the nose gear is straight this time around and glue it in the port half, then open the front slightly to insert the weights, which I already confirmed is very easy to do. I will then use a combo of epoxy and CA to finish closing off the fuselage. Im also not going to worry about where the nose gear pack should seat into the fuselage, and I will only be concerned about keep the nose gear straight and true, and that the fuselage closes properly with the pit, well pack and both weights in place. I may have some touch-up to do along the inside of the well at the end, and I will definitely have some re-scribing and sanding work to do to get the starboard nose section glued back on and smoothed out like it should be, but all in all I feel relatively lucky actually. Im off to see if I can get the fuselage closed and the nose section glued back on properly. Wish me luck! Cheers, LSP_Kevin, Hubert Boillot, Harold and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 I think you might need this: Richard Greg W and Out2gtcha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Or TWO ! Looks bad enough, but I know you will get it right !........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 (edited) Oh s...t ! You know what ? I'll have that whisky on your behalf, right now ! Hubert PS: and done ! Sipping it ... funny thing it's a jurassic whisky ... distilled and matured in the French Jura, aged in « vin de paille » casks Edited January 20, 2018 by MostlyRacers Harold and Out2gtcha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrov27 Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 ouch - wow that sucks - you are a better man than I - I think I probably woulda chucked it across the room if that happened after all the challenges so far.... Harold and Out2gtcha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Hang on.... We all need one Richard Out2gtcha and Harold 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Holy CRAP! I haven't had a drink in years, but after this, I sat down and had a shot of Wild Turkey (that or my wifes Tequila was all my choices).. Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 "screw that Im fixing this!" YEAH !!! Go Brian ... Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 I think you might need this: Richard Haha, thanks Richard. I actually hunted for my bottle of Makers Mark I thought I had not finished, but I did. I even have some really nice whiskey stones to go with it. Ive never wanted a drink so bad in all my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 Or TWO ! Looks bad enough, but I know you will get it right !........Harv Thanks buddy! I appreciate how bad it looks............cause it looked 10 times worse in person! I just felt horrible, but in then I think it actually may have made it easier to close the fuselage amazingly enough! Harold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 Oh s...t ! You know what ? I'll have that whisky on your behalf, right now ! Hubert PS: and done ! Sipping it ... funny thing it's a jurassic whisky ... distilled and matured in the French Jura, aged in « vin de paille » casks Thanks Hubert. Im glad someone did! Im jealous. Id given anything for some whiskey last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 ouch - wow that sucks - you are a better man than I - I think I probably woulda chucked it across the room if that happened after all the challenges so far.... Thanks Patrick. Im not sure I am, cause I went through ALL the stages of grief in about a minute and the seething anger did well up, and I knew I probably should not be anywhere near the F7F at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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