Silver Wings P-6E Hawk

[LSP_Ron]

Very cool

[scvrobeson]

Excellent prop!  I bet a light clear coat would make sure you can never see the carrier film, not sure if you'd want to cover the metal paint up.

 

 

Absolutely love that paint scheme, something about the owl/cow/? scheme just screams 1930s to me.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Zero77]

Thanks Matt. I dont think i would add a clear coat, as i think it may ruin the polished aluminium effect. Anyway, the film is really not very noticeable when you look at it at a reasonnable distance.

 

Later last night, i finished the main antenna, intended to be mounted on the tail fin. There are 2 extra antennas on the upper wing tips. These antennas are not included in the kit, and are to be made on your own. But they have to be strong enough to bear the antenna wire tension.

According the reference pictures i have, ony a few P-6E were fitted with antennas, so one may consider it only as an option. However, Silver Wing supply a scale 1:1 drawing in the instructions to help.

 

I thought about which material would fit this purpose. Styrene sheet or profiles are too flexible. Copper or steel wires or rod would be more difficult to put in shape, and they are too easy to bend (by accident).

So i had the idea to use a brass tube (0.6mm X 0.4mm) as an inside frame, so i have a hole in the upper end to put the antenna wire, and tubes are quite stiff by nature. On the other end i can put a small 0.33mm rod to pin the antenna on the tail fin and make the assembly stronger. To get the correct shape i applied a very thick coat of CA glue on 2 sides of the tube, and then sanded it to get the correct shape. It was not perfect at the first time, so i finished with an extra thick coat of Mr Surfacer. On the lower part, i added a small bit of plastic sheet, the 0.33mm rod passing though. So i have a perfectly flat bottom (which would be impossible to get only with the CA built up frame).

I now have to build the wingtips ones. But the concept works.

 

Sorry, it may not be very interesting, but it may give some ideas for other builds. And it's not difficult to do at all. The only difficulty is to wait for the CA (or Mr Surfacer) to cure.

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Zero77

[Zero77]

And of course, brass tube frame + CA body = solid as a rock.