dmthamade Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 Waiting on the pit, started to "canadianize" the build. There's a small exhaust port on the left rear upper fuselage unique to the canadian birds, as well as a couple of vents on the nose. The exhaust port meant drilling an appropriate hole, the vents i had to fill the existing louvers with super glue, then make up new ones and apply to each side of the nose. The kit had some moulded in detail on the fuselage that needed to be removed, taped/scraped/sanded. The louvers on the bottom of the intakes should have two rows, kit has one. Decal sheet includes some, i'll probably go with them. Don jgrease and Harold 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 5, 2016 Author Share Posted June 5, 2016 (edited) A little bit of progress, still waiting for the pit before i can close up the fuselage. I have cleaned up and painted the landing gear and wheels and the inside of the gear bay doors. There are landing lights on the nose gear, instead of using the kit parts for the lenses i used Bondic ultraviolet curing glue for the lens. Worked OK, will hit it once more to get a convex lens. I did get the upper and lower wing surfaces assembled. Went together ok, but needed sanding a proper shape to the leading edge. Very little fill needed, just a little Mr.Surfacer. Wing tanks i finally had to use a bit of fill, i used LePage gel super glue as i would have to scribe through the fill. The surface of the wing parts are smooth except around the scribing, had to give all surfaces a sanding with #600 to clean them up. I'm going to experiment with the Bondic glue to see if i can mix with paint so i can make the colored lights. Don Edited June 5, 2016 by dmthamade Viking73 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowbird3a Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Waiting on the pit, started to "canadianize" the build. There's a small exhaust port on the left rear upper fuselage unique to the canadian birds, Don Don, you may want to reposition,enlarge and orient the vent hole on the aft section, it looks like it points down to some degree. The louvres in front of it should be filled in too. Cheers, Tony dmthamade and Harold 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowbird3a Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Those wheels from Harold in post #1 look fine to me. Cheers, Tony dmthamade 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Finally back to the build, back at work now, was off recovering from hernia operation, really had a lot of time at the bench. That's over now, so normal slow speed. Hello Tony, thanks for the pics and critque. Filled the louvers on both sides with super glue, and opened up the vent a bit. I think i might have to make the vent a little more " pointy " at the front. The wheels were shown in Carls thread, and yes they do look right. They look a little like F-15 wheels a bit. Looking at your pics i can also see a couple of details that are missing and one that needs to be filled....dang. Somewhere i'll have to draw a line... Still waiting for the pit, should be here this week. I was looking through the decal stash and found remnants of a Canadian bird decals for a NMF AETE bird with the red X on the tail...tempting... Don jgrease and LSP_Paul 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amurray Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Hernia operation - been there , done that last year. Keep an eye on it and don't hesitate to return to your surgeon if "something' doesn't strike you as being right. The only good thing is it focuses one on doing less strenuous activities such as model building. dmthamade 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 Hernia operation - been there , done that last year. Keep an eye on it and don't hesitate to return to your surgeon if "something' doesn't strike you as being right. The only good thing is it focuses one on doing less strenuous activities such as model building. Yup!! Recovery time was 3 months, but I was able to get 3 builds done, more that I've done in a year sometimes. Lotsa fun the operation was, what a place to have that kind of pain!! I have to say, everything went right with no complications, it's just one of those things that take time!! Don Harold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamj Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Looking good so far...really like the upper intake doors and detailed fasteners you did. dmthamade 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 11, 2016 Author Share Posted June 11, 2016 The AMS pit arrived yesterday, raining today, so it's bench time!! Did a dry fit, and at first glance it looks like the pit will be a bit of a battle to do. Looking deeper and reading the instructions i redid the dry fit and can see how ( i think ) the pit should fit. The front dash,coaming/defroster tube should fit tight with the fuselage so the defroster tube sits level or higher than the surrounding fuselage. The rear should fit tight against the fuselage with the rectangular part fitting into the cutout described. It'll do one or the other, fuselage needs to be expanded outwards by the backseat dash so the pit will go up all the way. Dryfitting shows there will be a LOT of pressure on the joints of the upper fuselage in front of the nose, less so after the pit. When i dryfit and expand the fuselage, the fit is pretty good, with what appears to be very little work needed. The front of the pit should be able to rest right on the nose well after a little sanding of the bottom front of the pit, this should help a LOT. The rear should be relatively easy to make support braces. I'm going to assemble fuselage halves, install nose well, then fit pit in through bottom. I put a lot of aligning tabs into the fuselage halves, the joints HAVE TO BE STRONG to take the expanding the fuselage with the rear dash. I'll assemble and let harden . BTW my fuselage halves are twisted and different lengths....of course they are..... Don Harold and LSP_Paul 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 11, 2016 Author Share Posted June 11, 2016 Pics that i should have added. If back fits OK, Front is off Arrow points to where fuselage needs a push Once that is done, fit is pretty good. Have dash fitted with a bar. There is a lot of pressure, a compromise may be needed to fit pit. Don LSP_Paul, Zero77 and Harold 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Hi Don, Mine looks about the same. I haven't glued the 'pit in yet, it's just held in by friction and pressure. Zero77, dmthamade, Harold and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 Hello Carl!! Yup, the pit has been the easiest part of the build so far!! I had to sand the sides a bit to fit, but it all went in pretty easily. One thing that is bugging me is the lack of cockpit sills. They are prominent, painted red so not hard to miss. The kit includes these as PE but not enough, missing the horizontal parts... i'll have to see what i can add. Did manage to assemble fuselage halves, took a lot of clamping/taping but fit turned out ok, fill will be minimal. I don't know how your kit or others are, but mine had the fuselage halves twisted and one side moulded thicker than the other, really obvious at the rudder. Trailing edge needed a LOT of work to thin, when i thinned it out, it broke through on one side, have to compromise on thickness. I guess if it bothered me too much a scratch build part would be made up. Seems to be a part an aftermarket resin manufacturer would be easily able to do...No pics tonite, nite off from the bench. Went out for dinner for my Bday, watching the NHRA Summer Nats now. Don Harold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amurray Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 To this point I have resisted saying "I did this" or "I did that" because I like to see the creative solutions other builders come up with. But I have to address the canopy sills. I scratchbuilt them because they are a distinguishing feature of the T-33, especially since they were usually painted in red making them so visible. But be warned that if you do scratchbuild them as I did the AMS resin instrument panels will not fit without MAJOR surgery and the kit PE pieces that fit against the sills vertically will also require major surgery as will the kit's resin canopy release mechanism. All doable but a real pain in the butt. You are already on to the solution that I wish I had used - spreader bars. The actual T-33 had a bulged cockpit tub, not straight-sided as depicted in the kit. However, spreader bars present their own problems as you've discovered. I'll watch this phase of your build with perverted interest! dmthamade and Harold 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 No progress now, back at work so bench time is a lot less. Those sills have been a bit of a stalling point for me. For it to be right, a major amount of work is needed. Intakes might have been difficult to assemble, but the inaccurate cockpit stuff is really annoying. I have a few ideas, nothing tried yet but anything I do will be a compromise. You are right, the pit opening should be bulged, but not a simple thing to do. That spreader bar I put across the opening is just to help position the pit. Can't really put a lot of pressure here, the top seams could pop, especially with the amount the opening has to be spread. Will have time this weekend to get back. Funny, stuff like this never bothered me much before.... Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 Understood Don. Looking forward to your fix on the sills....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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