Dandiego Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 (edited) Hello again, First up, shaping and defining the vertical tail. Bondo applied at base. Nose gear well has been boxed in and glued in place. This strengthens the whole nose area and is necessary before the cockpit can be fitted. Nose gear well with extra strengthing strips added. Cockpit opening roughed out and modified F-80 cockpit added. Original F-80 cokpit was too wide and the sidewalls were too tall. Last a couple of steps backwards. It took a while but I have realized that the aft end of the fuselage is mis-shapen. The area outlined by the pencil line must be removed and lowered to get the right shape. Oh well. Oh crap. Stay tuned.... Dan Edited November 29, 2016 by Dandiego MikeMaben, Rainer Hoffmann, wunwinglow and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted December 3, 2016 Author Share Posted December 3, 2016 Ok fixing the aft fuselage. My original work produced a "chunky" rear end. I have needed to remove the skin and change the profile of the ribs in the aft fuselage area. I cut out the skin, re-contoured the ribs and re-skinned. Not pretty but it is better. Sorry about the focus. A little bondo and it should smooth out nicely. Here is a shot showing the difference between the original configuration, on the right, and the "fixed", left side. Aft starboard area too be redone. Later, Dan allthumbs, HerculesPA_2, Rainer Hoffmann and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainer Hoffmann Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 Ok fixing the aft fuselage. My original work produced a "chunky" rear end. I have needed to remove the skin and change the profile of the ribs in the aft fuselage area. I cut out the skin, re-contoured the ribs and re-skinned. Not pretty but it is better. Later, Dan Ah, the joy of scratch building. Rest assured, Dan, that's pretty normal. Been there, done that... Good to see progress (well, you are much faster than I've ever been...). I'm looking forward to the next installment. Cheers Rainer Dandiego and Harold 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 Awesome work Dan. Derek Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Inspirational stuff Dan. Didn't expect you to go up another level from the skyraider but here you are! Just love it. Jim Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprm Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 (edited) Ok fixing the aft fuselage. My original work produced a "chunky" rear end. I have needed to remove the skin and change the profile of the ribs in the aft fuselage area. I cut out the skin, re-contoured the ribs and re-skinned. Not pretty but it is better. Sorry about the focus. A little bondo and it should smooth out nicely. Here is a shot showing the difference between the original configuration, on the right, and the "fixed", left side. Aft starboard area too be redone. Later, Dan Yeah Dan, I see your problem.. the plastic strips or 'planks' - around the corner edges are too wide .. they should have been narrower at these points (maybe half or 1/3rd the size) and using these wider strips (as you used here) along the flatter sides of aircraft... my tip is that I'd be employing more thinner strips... as you move forward along the fuselage - to more tighter contours... you'd be using less effort for better results. Chamfering the edges (joining edges between strips will help too and lessen filler needs...) But in any case .. good results so far... with a bit more plastic - physical persuasion! Phil Edited December 4, 2016 by Piprm Derek B, Dandiego, sandokan and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark64 Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 great progress. really nicely done. Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 Yeah Dan, I see your problem.. the plastic strips or 'planks' - around the corner edges are too wide .. they should have been narrower at these points (maybe half or 1/3rd the size) and using these wider strips (as you used here) along the flatter sides of aircraft... my tip is that I'd be employing more thinner strips... as you move forward along the fuselage - to more tighter contours... you'd be using less effort for better results. Chamfering the edges (joining edges between strips will help too and lessen filler needs...) But in any case .. good results so far... with a bit more plastic - physical persuasion! Phil Thanks Phil,all of the points that you have made are quite valid. I used wider planks on the aft fuselage because the curve wasn't too extreme. I am hand cutting the planks from a large sheet and decided on the width as a time saving measure. As I get toward the front section I will have to modify my methods. Narrower planks for the tighter curves will be the way to go.I have been looking at the front end of the model and have really slowed down. I need to bring many different assemblies together in a small space. The wheel well the cockpit and the intakes all come together in a very small space. I believe that I will attempt to skin the lower forward fuselage around the nose gear first. Then work my way up the fuselage and enclose the cockpit. The aft fuselage was a piece of cake compared to the front. Why do you think I started there? Anyway it is fun but above all a learning experience. I now know several methods not to use in the future. Dan Lee White, Derek B and Piprm 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprm Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 (edited) Good one Dan! It's fun to tackle new things having not done them before... it opens up the mind a little - it's very easy to get into a modelling rut.. Yes, it seems you are on the right track... another option is the sandwich method... for very < tight > areas, it might be a choice for you to build up the shape of a very complex area - even small ones, with layers of thin plastic sheet glued together and sanded, ground down or even carved to shape...but it follows the contours of the tight space - easier.... yes, you have a few options - as you say.. Have fun and good luck! Phil Edited December 5, 2016 by Piprm Dandiego and Lee White 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Hello all. After about a month working on this project I am considering hitting the reset button. I am once again looking at the rear fuselage and realizing that the shape is still wrong. I dont want to rip it up again so I am considering a reboot. This seems to be the right choice for me. I have learned a lot in the last month and would like to use this new knowledge from the start. Stay tuned. Dan Lee White, Out2gtcha, Derek B and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee White Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Hello all. After about a month working on this project I am considering hitting the reset button. I am once again looking at the rear fuselage and realizing that the shape is still wrong. I dont want to rip it up again so I am considering a reboot. This seems to be the right choice for me. I have learned a lot in the last month and would like to use this new knowledge from the start. Stay tuned. Dan That's a good call. If you didn't, you would be staring at the questionable area every time you looked at it. I will also bet that it will take you half the time to get to the point where you stopped on the first attempt- That's the way it was on several of my models, covering familiar territory goes quickly. Piprm, Dandiego and Derek B 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted December 17, 2016 Author Share Posted December 17, 2016 I'm back. After a few weeks of analyzing what went wrong. I have begun work on a new and improved F-90. Several mistakes were found and with hindsight some construction techniques will be modified. Stayed tuned photos to follow. Dan Anthony in NZ and Piprm 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Excellent Dan! Such an ambitious project that only few could achieve....I know you can especially after that Skyshark! Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 Ok a few pictures and a little explanation. The first picture just to show that I did start over.What went wrong?? First I didn't transfer the size and shape of the spine correctly from the drawing and it was bigger than it should have been. What I did was to trace the shape onto a piece of thin cardboard and then use that to trace the shape onto the spine. What I did was to compound transcription errors and I ended up with a plastic spine that was about 1/8th of an inch off everywhere. Because of that I fit the ribs to match the overly large spine and it resulted in a "chunky" fuselage, especially noticeable at the extreme tail. I used a few exhaust nozzles from the spares bin and they were too large. Basically I made a mistake and continued to perpetuate it. I also decided to make the ribs as seperate halves this time and to glue them to the spine directly. None of this inaccurate slots that turned out to be weak and sloppy. And last I am framing up the cockpit area first as this was an issue with the first version. . Here are the ribs on the Port side along with the strengthing square stock. Additional glue and strengthing bits can be seen. The new aft end is much closer to the actual shape than the first. And last a cut-out shape showing where the cockpit and canopy will go. Wheel well has been installed. I am planning on cutting the nose cone off of the first version and grafting it onto the new. See ya, Dan Lee White, Rainer Hoffmann, Harold and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Awesome work Dan. Really awesome. When I grow up ... Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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