airscale

that is incredible! love to see builds like this being shown Peter

evening folks - regular Sunday installment... Hi Craig - it is ali, but it's this strange almost thick foil like stuff - someone in the US sent me some they use in a lab for something or other & it's perfect for compound curves - I don't know what I will do when I run out of it... I want to get the tailfeathers skinned next, so I used the usual process and scaled a factory drawing to get the rivet pattern - this is the first step after sticking the drawing on litho and scoring & adding rivets.. ..after it has been burnished flat, there is an access hatch in each surface, upper and lower so I had already had these made in PE and I use a brand new scalpel blade to go around it, then drill the corners, make a hole in the middle & score into this so I can break away the waste.. ..then the rest of the waste around the panel is broken away and it's taped in position.. ..stuck down with the hatch added.. ..upper & lower.. ..the leading edge is done is softer, thick foil like ali that is taped down to a butting straight edge and worked over the leading edge - where it meets the panel on the other side it is pushed hard so there is a step where it laps over it and then stuck down & the step sanded away resulting in a perfect join.. ..guide tape is used to follow the rivet lines from the main tailplane panels to allow LE rivets to be added... ..same process for the fin - here you can see the leading edge folded back on itself ready for fixing and some rubber pipe protecting the trailing edges of the tailplanes.. ..and where the LE panel meets the main panel you can see the step that gets sanded away.. ..I actually later taped scaled drawings to the LE panel to get the rivet pattern right ..one of the two lower fuselage panels - this has a number of hatch cutouts in it and will set the datum for all panels to follow so needs to be right... ..with the hatches added - the bigger one with holes in needs domed rivets adding one by one when I can be bothered to drill all the holes.. and the rear is starting to take shape - unfortunately, again all this will be painted - in this case the whole empennage will be matt black... ..away for the week on business but hopefully have something done next weekend TTFN Peter

wonderful - those unions really look the money Peter

evening ladies Hi Mark - interesting spot - I hadn't noticed that - the factory picture shows this as being unfilled so rightly or wrongly thats how it is going to be Hi Brian - well, I cover that in a moment, but I also did a whole compound curve tutorial that shows wingtips being done too (bless that old F7F..) Hi Bryan - I use solder in 0.6 & 0.8mm and found by rolling it straight (using a steel ruler on a sheet of glass), the best way to bend it is to slide tube over the bit you want to bend up to the bend itself and then holding the 'pipe', pull the tube in whatever direction and you keep the thing straight (well straighter anyway..) seems the last few weeks has been a bit slow, but to be honest I have been hard at things, learning from a few mistakes on the way and redoing stuff I wasn't happy with.. ..the first thing was to finish skinning the leading edge of the wings at the underside wing root - I needed a smooth surface to skin onto as this had all been chopped about to add in the frames & ribs in the landing gear well.. here, at the top you can see the curved sub-skin added... ..there is a lip / ledge the gear door sits on so a jig was made and some annealed 'L' shaped litho bent to shape and painted.. ..these were then added and filled flush with the new skin so I can put soft annealed litho on top of both without it picking up the uneven surfaces below - here before filling.. ..then the panel itself was made by getting a tape template of the shape and cutting it short at the curved edge to get the lip.. .. I then forgot to take a picture of the finished panel, so onto the wingtip ..I started by cutting the straight edges where the wingtip panel meets the other panels, then this join was taped down and the shape burnished to follow the curves. Once this was done a straight edge was added at the very tip where it will meet the underside tip skin.. once I had the main shape, the fastening rivets were added and here it is seen hinged upwards before adding the impact cement to fix it.. ..before sanding smooth, the shape is pretty good anyway.. ..and the final wingtip - as it is going to be being painted, any tiny blemishes can be dealt with using primer or filler.. ..the bulk of the last couple of weeks was spent prepping for priming as I know alclad is so unforgiving.. I also replaced the landing light panel three times as I just couldn't get it to blend properly with the surrounding panels and actually found when I fitted the main skin as I rolled the leading edge skin over the edge, it was not all stuck right onto the surface so I had this hollow area that kept crushing and denting - it was all pretty frustrating.. ..to add to that, after finally etch priming both wings, I found the primer easily coming off - so after a bit of research it turns out etch primer has a best before date - if it is not fresh, the acid in it goes off and it is basically like paint rather than etching and grabbing onto the surface that all needed stripping, the rivet depressions cleaning out and the whole prep process done again... anyways, I got some proper single pack etch primer from Phoenix Precision and have just painted the first coat - I am impressed when thinned 50/50 it goes on well and preserves much more detail than my old primer.. ..you be the judge ..that stuff needs 36hrs to etch the surface so after that I can get a look at further prep for an alclad finish - though that stuff is pretty fragile so not sure what stage to paint it as I don't want to damage it and even taping up the wings is a risk as I have had it come off with masking tape.. more next time TTFN Peter

morning folks Hi Jay - the wheels & tyres are 3D modelled already, just tweaking the design with some help as the treads and the flat spot are a bit too complex for my limited knowledge ..thanks KUROK - the Awl set I have has about 25 sizes from a pinprick to about 1.5mm in diameter - the slot for the screw is then added with a scalpel blade point ground down to a tiny flat blade.. ..I set myself a target of getting the wings skinned before I go back to work tomorrow, and it is pretty much done.. ..I went by this factory photo of where the filler was used on the leading edge (posted under fair use) and as can be seen, it does not extend to the wingtip so that panel was left detailed.. ..a tape template for the main panel.. ..and after annealing the leading edge and some fine fettling to fit all the rear panels the skin is added... ..a piano hinge was added to the forward gun door by scoring lines on a sheet of litho and bending it double so the edge is upright - this was let into a slot in the wing.. ..the gear leg mount access panel & gun ports.. ..and the basis of the wings is done.. ..getting there... TTFN Peter

wow they look fabulous - I am really enjoying reliving my Spit by watching you ace it in 1/32 Peter

evening folks ..still plugging away on the wing skinning - the goal is to replicate what you see below on everything behind the mainspar as all forward of it is filled and smooth on the real airframe.. ..some useful shots from aircorps restoration of Lopes Hope.. ..there is litle point showing panel by panel, so here is one panel's story.... I start by making a tape template from household masking tape and burnishing it down to the edges of any adjacent panels with a cocktail stick followed by a pencil mark capturing the face edge of them.. ..this is the forward gun access hatch.. ..then the tape is stuck on a sheet of litho and all the edges scored with one swipe with a scalpel.. the original drawing is scaled to fit this panel and cut out.. ..with the scaled printout stuck to the panel, any rivet detail, or openings are added - rivets one, by one with an awl of different sizes.. any swarf is cleaned up, both surfaces made scrupulously clean and the panel is burnished face side down on hard acrylic sheet with a large metal rod - this gets all the 'pillowing' out where the metal deforms under pressure - afterall all we want is a nice round flat indent representing a flush rivet.. ..the waste is simply broken away by using a hold & fold tool - where I can holding the part, not the waste - a couple of wobbles & it breaks away with a surgical edge.. ..the panel is then positioned and one edge taped down so it folds back on itself but returns to exactly the right position once the contact cement is added to both the panel and the wing.. ..I mask around it to avoid having to clean up every time - the masking must be removed immediately or the glue starts to go off and if the tape is pulled, it pulls big rubbery sheets of adhesive with it.. ..same process repeated on every panel.. ..and now both wings are complete behind the spar - there are some slots added to the wing in front of the gun panels where I will let in a piano hinge.. ..I have been thinking about how to skin the forward part and have decided not to do panel by panel with all the rivets like I did under the wing. I am just going to skin it in two big sheets rolling around the leading edge with zero detail... the idea being that the original was filled smooth and the detailed panels will be almost impossible to do that to so why bother - there are two detailed panels on the leading edge - a panel to get to the gear leg mounts and the landing light so I will leave openings to add those (I stripped the old landing light panel off as I wasn't happy with it).. ..thats all for next time though.. TTFN Peter

Available now! right here Thanks Peter

thanks chaps Gordon at Sprue Bros has them on back order so I will likely ship this week, same for Hannants in the UK Peter

Thanks all, Yes Mark, this is just the kit, or the set: ..the T handles for the Gun controls in the centre console are in the kit, the big round pointed switches below them were removed from the kit part and added back, and the T handle to the left of the instrument panel is in the PE set ..the red buttons on the big panel under the R/H console are the kit moulding with a decal added - with Micro Sol added and left to settle, the decal conforms to the button shapes to a pleasing result ..there are also holes wherever there are throw switches, but these need to have the plastic kit parts drilled and added from sprue / wire HTH Peter

just to say the cockpit set is finished & will be available by the end of the week ..more here Airfix have May 2019 as the release date for the kit TTFN Peter

thanks folks the decals just arrived, so the test shot was remade and this is the final production version - I think it is our best set ever & I am quite proud of it can't wait for the kit to come out now.. ..they will be available on our website and with retailers by the end of the week @ £18.95 TTFN Peter

fantastic! a truly inspirational build, and a really interesting airframe to boot - one I had never even heard of! fully tuned in to this one Peter

afternoon ladies just a quick update on the panel skinning on the P51 - not much to show panel by panel, as the process is pretty much the same but the lower wing is almost complete so time for a few pics.. ..the C model has quite a large outlet for spent cartridges and a chute assembly that can be seen through the hole, so first up is the panel and the chute.. ..I don't really know what the little slots are for - venting maybe.. ..the two were assembled and a hole routed into the wing to make room for it.. ..the panels that define the shape of the gear door opening were done next, with some structure along the edges the doors sit on when closed.. ..and this is where it's at... ..the panel behind the gear opening will be left until all the filling of the leading edge is done as it has domed screws and is left natural metal as seen below and if I add it now these will likely get damaged by the sanding / prepping process.. ..lower wing done otherwise.. ..will do the upper wing next and I am on leave all this week so hope to get lots of it done.. TTFN Peter

wow! If ever there was a perfect answer Antonio, that is it! Thank you so much - now I know what I need to do Just found a big hole under each wing that are spent cartidge ejection chutes (not the little slots on the D model above) so having to make that structure and embed it in the wing before the panel I have made can go on top of it... Peter