Jump to content

1/16 scale scratch built AT-38B Talon-The Smurf jet is back!


Recommended Posts

Hello Everyone! This is my first post, so I thought I'd show you my current project. This is a scratch built
AT-38B Talon in 1/16th scale. Here I'm building up the master pattern to vac form fuselage shells from.
I've got the left and right sides built-up with the bulkheads and longerons. Here I've got both halves clipped together just to get a warm fuzzy on the whole deal.
SDC11439.jpg
SDC11440.jpg
SDC11442.jpg
SDC11443.jpg

The next step is to true-up this shape with a sanding block. First, I've highlighted some obvious spots to address with a sharpie. These will be sanded to shape..blending the transistions with a large, T-shaped sanding block..SDC11445.jpg

SDC11444.jpg
Then the entire assembly will be lightly block sanded back to reference marks on the bulkheads and longerons. Once it's all cleaned up and true- I'll fill the voids with balsa and Bondo to get ready to finish-out the surface of the master pattern..

More to follow
Pig

Edited by Pete Fleischmann
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to LSP Pete! I've moved your thread here to Works in Progress, and updated your member status so that you can continue this thread here. This is amazing work after all, and we really want to see it unfold!

 

Kev

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is interesting to see how the shape of the entire fuselage (first photo) gives the impression of some kind of prehistoric fish as seen in a museum.

Beautiful work. :shrug:

I look forward to seeing how you progress on this plane and would like to see your other work.

Thank you for showing it to us.

Stephen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to LSP Pete! I've moved your thread here to Works in Progress, and updated your member status so that you can continue this thread here. This is amazing work after all, and we really want to see it unfold!

 

Kev

Thanks Kev for that. It's great to be aboard! I've lurked for some time, but thought that since this model is so big, the folks at LSP might be interested. Some of you may have seen this one coming together on another site or two..I'll do my best to keep this thread up to date! I really appreciate the warm welcome-It's great to see names I recognize!

 

More to follow-

 

Warm regards,

 

Pete "Pig" Fleischmann

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello again!

 

First, a big thank you for such a warm welcome. Modelers are awesome folks.

 

I got a bit farther down the road. Here you can see both halves of the master pattern have been filled with sections of balsa sheet. This is in place simply to take up space, as the whole assembly will be covered with Bondo and sanded smooth to the bulkheads and longerons. I've kept the fuselage halves tack-glued to the glass to keep it flat and true:

SDC11449.jpg

SDC11450.jpg

 

With the balsa in place, the whole assembly becomes pretty rigid. Good I suppose because I anticipate this will get a fair amount of handling as I sand it back, and then during the vac forming process-

SDC11452.jpg

 

I'll spread Bondo on the section that is still glued to the glass. Keeping it tacked down is important, as there is a bit of heat produced as the Bondo sets up. When the first side is covered in Bondo, I'll pop it off, attach the second side to the glass, and do the same.

 

Then comes a week or two of sanding, filling, sanding, filling....

 

Thanks for looking-

 

Pig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey guys,

 

I realized that there is a whole lot more to this story than I've told you so far! For those of you who've seen it other places on the web, this will be a bit of a review!

 

Timmy!, You remember his incredible scratch built OV-10 Bronco from the NATS? Yes-That Timmy! has done a tremendous amount of work on my behalf to get this stalled project started again. He created a complete set of working drawing for me for this model, including all the CAD work that you need to see to believe..All of the bulkheads and longerons were drawn by Timmy!, and he hooked me up with an individual to laser-cut them for me. Timmy! has been, and continues to be, a source of inspiration, mentoring, and practical help for this project. I'm asking him to jump in here and fill in some huge blanks on how we got to this point. So Timmy! if you are out there, I turn the floor over to you-

 

Regards,

 

Pig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK so here's the bread that Pig has buttered up!

 

My work started with a 3d model created from 2d drawings that pig provided.

 

snapshot20100121193239.jpg

 

snapshot20100121192814.jpg

 

snapshot20100121192741.jpg

 

From this model a shell 0.030" smaller was created. This allows for the width of the vacumformed shell. This makes sure the model is dimentionally accurate.

 

At key areas and regular intervals cross-sections were "cut" from the shell. It is a simple matter of drawing a plane through the shell and the program draws a line where the shell and the plane intersect - viola instant cross section.

 

snapshot20100122094621.png

 

snapshot20100122112159.png

 

And now the parts ready for printing and cutting from plastic.

 

snapshot20100123113431.png

 

Also some CP artwork - the actual seed of my involvement.

 

snapshot20091219142411.jpg

 

As of now I am "Timmyneering" the rest of the structural elements for the model. see next post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...