airscale

Wonderful to see this Pete - you have taken to skinning in metal like a natural - looks perfect I am going to have to get me some of this adhesive & try it out Peter

Fabulous Jay - such precision, skill and ingenuity I am getting to relive my P51C build through you and loving it Peter

Thank you gents, very kind Hi OBG - the foam is pretty soft really and can be easily deformed with a fingernail for example, but it is stiff and retains it's form. As far as PPE goes, no I don't wear a mask - only when painting really - I know I should though.. Haha Geedubelyer, thats a challenge to get it done by then, though I do feel I am steaming along - I recon there is a month in the trolley & wire wheels it sits on alone, let alone the airframe Hey Matt, I have a saw toothed riveting template and just taped it to an edge and cut each 'tooth' one by one... yes I am mad.. The saga continues with skinning the floats - these are covered in symetric rivet patterns and rather than do panel by panel, I did pairs of panels for each float. I would say over the course of a few days I did ~5k rivets.. ..here are two pairs with about 1200.. ..again these were only lightly burnished to retain the oil canning seen on the real one - also any panel overlaps on the real one were copied.. ..once complete, I started the struts - I used a 3D extrusion to sheath the brass rods I set at the beginning, and then used ali foil on the floats and fuselage so I can fill to them and it will all unstick cleanly with a matching mating face.. ..it can all be seen in a jig I had to make so I can get everything aligned properly & the yellow sponges apply enough upward pressure to hold them in place without distorting the position.. ..the forward upper strut mounts have these odd tails, maybe to deflect water.. ..these were made by embedding stiff wire into the strut and filling around it.. some of the mounting stubs are a bit short for my liking, but they can't intrude into the cockpit or they are as long as they can be before they cross each other hopefully when mounted with JB weld they will be ok.. ..skinning these is going to be problematic as it won't be easy for one thing, and they would need to be a perfect fit when assembled so I haven't quite figured out how I will do it all yet.. TTFN Peter

I am enjoying it and think they have done it really well. One thing is triggering me tough and driving me bat$hit crazy and that is the battle damage - EVERY aircraft on EVERY mission is coming back with the most ridiculous damage - 2 or 3 engine cowlings blown off, car sized holes all over the airframe - it is really jarring... other than that an enjoyable ride Peter

Thank you gents, you are all very kind With the fuselage coming along, it was time to start another major sub assembly in the floats... the former structure was filled with hard foam to give it a basic profile.. ..this was then skim filled with P38 and templates used to get the chines the right shape... ..I would say there were over 30 filling/sand/prime excercises before they were in their final forms.. ..then the undersides were skinned... ..there were a few structural features of interest, one is the lapped panels where on the real aeroplane the panels are joggled into an overlap, and the other are these sort of serrated panels which I assume have something to do with disrupting water suction on the step of the float - these were cut one serration at a time so quite tiresome ..on to the top surfaces now and these are covered in spaced fittings & rivets so are going to be a challenge... TTFN Peter

brilliant! love the PE - such a cool way to enhance a kit Peter

Happy Friday my friends Hey there, thanks for dropping in so to answer your questions - I just use normal, if very tired bits of sandpaper of various grits - I rarely wet sand the metal. The finish is created by polishing after sanding with 0000 wire wool. The rivets are done one by one and on this ship there are probably 3 x a normal aircraft unfortunately as the wings were the radiators so the surface has tens of thousands of them They are done with a awl set. The panel overlaps are deliberate and copy the real airframe - that is pretty much what this update will be about The fuselage is skinned like a Spitfire, from back to front with some overlaps - the fist step was analysing pictures to work out the skinning order - I started at the rear with a tape template, using dymo tape to define borders where needed. I always mark out rivet lines on the tape template so they are right on the model as what can look a straight line rarely is... these are those panels after rivetting and making the holes for the circular hatches..the next step is to peel the tape off, wash them with a stiff brush and solvent to get all the tape discs left by the rivetting off, and then finally turn them over and burnish hard with a rod to remove the 'quilting' effect... ..with that panel down and the others that form the bottom layer, I need to fill the upper edges as with another panel to go on top if I don't a visible ridge will appear when I lay it down... ..then the next panel that wraps across the spine - you can see some rivets done with the panel in place have deformed as the foam/filler skin has given out under pressure.. nothing can be done about that.. ..the edges are also filled again.. ..with that done, the skins on the tail are marked out....this is an intersting design feature as the tail is actually the oil cooler so the surface air cools it rather than a cooler sticking into the airflow and causing drag.. ..it has a very distinct 'quilted' appearance which is exactly what you get if you don't burnish a rivetted panel, so this will be fun to make.. ..same principle applies - tape templates & dymo tape..just thsi time i only lightly burnish the panels before adding them.. ..with the fuselage skinned another distinctive feature needs doing - there are radiators running the full length of the fuselage each side (again to reduce drag by hanging them off the wing or under the chin).. ..like this.. ..I pondered how to do it and eventually tried 3D printing a male mould I could work from - I figured I could burnish the shape in one piece if I was careful.. ..it had to be in two parts to be printed though.. ..these were then superglued to a bit of perspex.. and the work started.. ..millions more damned rivets... ..and then scored & carefully broken away.. ..I was worried that I would need to fill the 'tubes' but it seemed rigid enough so I bit the bullet, took a deep breath and got ready to stick it in place.. ..quite a bit of work that, so here is a walkaround.. ..gonna be a shame to paint it TTFN Peter

just brilliant watching you work on this Craig - superb job great to see the set come to life like this Peter

amazing Jay - I made a jig at this stage too, but nothing like as sophisticated as this - this is just next level! such a pleasure watching every challenge get bested and this is going to be a true masterpiece when complete Peter

hi folks 100% correct GW - as in you are 100% correct and the instrument is canted the wrong way Oh well, it's staying like that now.. I kept thinking I will stop in a minute and take a picture of what I am doing, but then I would think, I will just finish this bit... well before I knew it the engine cowling was done.. it is a complicated structure, but shouts early aviation.. can start the fuselage proper now.. TTFN Peter

I do it because I think it makes me attractive to women...

wow, looks fabulous - it is really rewarding to see this come to life I am so pleased you are taking it on and showing how to integrate the parts bravo Peter

Hi folks, Happy New Year Thanks Jay - there is no real secret other than making sure the compound panels are super tight to the form as most times the distortion is because there is still some 'give' in the metal/glue layer - really heavy burnishing will prevent this. The other thing is the pressure applied to make the rivet is 1/10th of the pressure on the hard sheet cockpit is pretty much done.. all the best for 2024 TTFN Peter

Seasons Greetings I figured before I finish the cockpit, I better start skinning some of the nose as there would be some hammering involved to get the metal to conform to the very curvy rocker cover blisters.. ..it all starts like this - a bit of ali sheet taped along one edge and worked & beaten to follow the shape.... it creases and buckles and really doesn't like it, but I will have my way in the end.. ..by now it's pretty much there, always working the creases away with thousands of taps of a tiny ball pein hammer.. ..then the surface is abraded to get it smooth (sorry for the crap pictures..).. ..and finally cut to shape allowing the bottom edges to flare under the panels that will sit on top of them.... ..and with those panels added and the exhaust ports.. lots more panels to go, and I need to complete the cockpit before I can do the rear of the blisters and add the cooling vents.. Happy Christmas everyone Peter

that just beggars belief... outstanding work - I could sit here for hours just soaking up all the components in any one picture... truly a masterpiece Peter

thank you ladies, you are all too kind so, this is one of the few pics I have of the cockpit... ..tons of info there - all I have to do now is make it.. ..started with control yoke, forward bulkhead & rudder pedals, all from plastic or brasss.. ...then it was a few more bobbins including the seat and time for paint.. I have tried to start a bit of weathering as I suspect open cockpit, seawater and an oliy monster 18 inches away would mean it would get a bit grubby.. ..also starting to get the fuel tank seen in the photo ready for fitting, though lots more pipes to go.. ..and thats it - I want to get it closed up so I can start skinning the fuselage - the instrument panel is next as soon as the decals arrive later this week have a wonderful Xmas everyone TTFN Peter

my neighbour's dog just farted..

Thank you Gentlemen, very kind there is plenty of rework, thats for sure, but thats all part of the fun In fact, this post is littered with it... time to make the fuselage sides, so made a plug using the same bulkhead drawings and vacformed form sheet.. ,,these were then tack CA'd into place so the sanding & filling could start.. you can see additional strip plugs added as I screwed up the measure / cutting.. ..and once refined, the structural elements of the fuselage are complete.. ..a jig was fixed to the sides while they were in place to keep everything where it should be (if they flex, the detail breaks free inside later - tell me how I know), and then they were cut & prised off and interior detail started.. ..in the next screw up, I should have made the sides run right to the last bulkhead, but I had cut them at the headrest bulkhead - the fuselage is hollow in real life so actually there is no bulkhead at all, but I ran it to one behind the seat in the hope it won't be seen.. ..so the sides were refitted and the last section cut out.. ..this meant the sides needed sorting out to integrate the additional walls, so out with the filler again.. ..the missing detail was added.. ..and cleaned up & primed you would never know on the inside.. ..however, on the outside it is Frankenstein's monster.. ...the structural beams were made from litho, but will have to be fitted to the fuselage rails, rather than the walls as there is no way to add the sides over the brass beams once they are in place.. onwards & upwards TTFN Peter

man that cockpit is sweet as is the whole build & love the backstory / inspiration Peter

thank you all, very kind time to build out the fuselage of this curvy girl.. started by black outlining all formers with a sharpie so when I sand I can see when I hit the outline, then it was filled out with hard foam blocks in between all the formers .. then those were cut and sanded to the base profile - litho cockpit sides were added to keep shape integrity while filling / sanding.. ..then the structure was given a thin skim of P38 filler.. ..and sanded to shape.. this is the 'rough cut'.. ..lots of sanding and re-filling & re-priming and the base fuselage is complete for skinning in metal later.. ..the big definitive rocker cover fairings were a challange and I pondered how to do them. Eventually, I made up a basic 3D version which my skills in no way allow me to get all the subtle shapes so these just serve as something to start with - though the exhaust port blocks will be separate as they will ultimately be scale.. ..I started the refinement by getting the position and relationship to the fuselage right. This is done by covering the fuselage with aluminium plumbers tape that pretty much defies anything sticking to it for long and the fairings spot CA'd in place followed by filler so they become a close fit... they can then be easily broken off for final shaping.. .. then after they were permanently fixed, a definition needed to be made to start to represent the fuselage break where the fuselage and engine fairings meet.. ..this was done with lining tape and filler added and sanded until the tape can be seen.. ,,and the all important nose profile starts to take shape.. ..and thats it for now TTFN Peter

Seasons Greetings Please add £100 of airscale stuff of the winners choosing Kev Peter

Love this kit and think it benefits from some additional parts, so have created a new Prop set and a highly detailed Seat & mount Seat available here Prop available here Hope you like them TTFN Peter

test was ok - production one would be better..

quite possibly - i just need a kit to work from and I am too tight to keep dropping £80 on base kits I will never build as above running a test print of a prop & spinner set.... will see how that goes.. Peter

Howdy, I have been asked a few times for these as the kit has absolutely nothing, so after Spencer Pollard lent me a kit after Telford, knock yourselves out Available here TTFN Peter