airscale

wow she looks superb Peter - if I hadn't followed from the beginning I would say your P35 looks like a new release from Tamiya or ZM.. beautiful... can't wait to see her with paint and markings.. just goes to show, all kits are a canvas for 'modelling' to take place, some, like this one show that underneath our critical eyes are actually some superb airframes that just need application of skill and talent like yours to get the best from them bravo.. Peter

it looks like a great canvas to do great things with..I especially like the BMW801 which will get me buying a couple for my Ju188 whenever I get back to it.. the instrument panels look like they may benefit from some AM..

thanks guys - really appreciate the encouragement Thanks for the sage advice Mick - I think it might be time to drop you an IM so I can see what I need to do with these parts.. I see resin AM with detail & undercuts but to be honest have no idea how to get from master to reproducable parts enough to make an engine or two.. So, a little step (well one part anyway) forward today - I decided to try and get some of the nosewheel bay done so I can add the lower nose casting and get the fuselage shape complete. ..I wanted to get the noseleg mount sorted so made a template of the angle (it has quite a forward rake) and drilled a hole to take the brass tube that will form the mounting... ..then I wanted to make this 'V' casting that sits atop the nosewheel leg to dress the mounting tube and hide the fact the tube goes right through to the bay roof... ..so, I made a card template (bottom of pic) to get the size & shape worked out, the tube stub got another bit of plastic tube as the base and cut a couple of card shapes to start making up the casting itself.. ..glued these to make the 90 degree angle.. ..used some sheet as an infill and added the upper elements.. ..added more bits & bobs to get near to the shape.. ..tried to add the rounded inner profile of the casting with bits of card strip and added a lug that is part of the retraction mechanism.. ..after a shot of primer I can see some refinement is needed.. ..and the part in place in the bay roof.. ..and another step nearer closing up the nose... ..just one little part - now I look at it I should probably save up more progress before posting an update... TTFN Peter

why thanks all - very kind I am definately not closing up the cowlings! one engine will be 'all hanging out' and the other all tucked up - I expect I will open the panels behind the firewall too as I am just so into getting lost in detail I never know where to stop... anyways, I think I have virtually finished the cylinder master for the front row... first I set out where the exhaust ports are and added some short bits of ali tube... ..then tried to build up the structure around them with bits of card, stock and CA as filler - I also added the fins in this area with the micro-saw again... ...then shot some mr surfacer 1200 (carefully) to see the flaws that needed dealing with... I added a bit of wire temporarily for the 'U' shaped pipe that runs between the rocker covers.. ..and the rear.. ..and dry fitted together - these two parts hopefully can be cast separately after I clean them up a bit.. ..and again the rear - I blanked off the exhaust ports so when cast they just act as housings for the pipework that needs to fit to them.. ..and that's pretty much it - three weeks or so since I realised the Kinetic P47 engine I cast a copy of (thanks LSP_Ray!) wasn't really up to the shape/detail level I would be happy with, I have my first engine part... sigh - good job I'm not in a hurry, just hope folks stick around long enough to actually see an airframe come out the other end of this saga TTFN Peter

what a great idea! & what great folks we have as a management team for putting this together if sponsors are allowed I would love to take part (I never win anything so rest easy...) I would also like to throw in a prize - one of everything we do in the scale of the winners choice...(1/48, 1/32 or 1/24) ... Happy Christmas all Peter

utterly fabulous she looks superb and at 1/72 is even more compelling.. bravo, I am quite green with envy Peter

well good evening chaps Richard those pics are great - thanks for adding them.. whilst they are not of the -32W version of the P&W2800 they have many common details that I just didn't have reference for so really grateful for them ..so, life has got in the way lately and I only had a little time at the bench in the last couple of days so there is only a little progress to show for it.. ..first up, I made a mould of the rocker covers - after I added a few micro brass bolts to the corners... ..made a couple of copies to use on the cylinder head master... they look like little animal skulls... ..then a bit of a make or break moment - I tried to represent the finning on the head casting by cutting very fine saw cuts into the head.... I also cut out the two sections where the new pushrod housings will go... ...I added a dummy pushrod to help aligning the first one... ..then added the other and the little resin rocker covers on the tops... the idea is this part (when I have done the back with the exhaust ports) will be cast separately though I am a bit worried about undercuts etc so will likely call in the experts... ..and then a dry fit with a couple of dummy pushrods and the front / top of the full cylinder is just about done... ...need to get this wrapped up soon so I can get a casting to rework for the rear cylinder heads - the rocker covers there have a different layout and are canted in at an angle... ..also been looking at the nosewheel bay and cracking on with that as I need some aeroplane time as this has been pretty fiddly stuff so might need a little diversion.. so much to do... TTFN Peter

yey - the master is back in the saddle :popcorn: I am really looking forward to seeing what you get up to with this one Wolf - brilliant stuff so far... your work is so clean and perfect it really sets the bar I aspire to.. Peter

scribing looks great Peter - it is a tough skill to master! is the missing part handed? I could cast you a copy of the one you have if it would help.. Peter

wow - they are great pictures, thanks for sharing I bet the nose-over one taken from the rear is an angle not captured very often so will be invaluable reference think this bird may be from the same unit, coded W-F5 and the nacelles look like they are just a darker metal shade and maybe the intake fronts are black? I am sure more knowledgable folk that me will be along shortly to help.. Peter

evening all.... ..thanks for stopping by! a few more tiny steps forward getting the engine parts built up into masters.. ..first I just oriented myself a little by sticking some blank card shapes that are the outer dimensions of the rocker covers and are the angle & position of the top face where the actual cover pressing goes... ..then got some square stock and let in some tube at the right angle to take the pushrods... lots of bits & bobs & shaping still needed... ..after adding some of the shapes / parts I can see from references, I also cut the cylinder head part down to shape to let in the new bit... ..now to the rocker covers themselves - I started by getting some references - these pics came from ebay! useful though as they show the subtleties of the casting and the shape / proportions from the gasket.. ..started with a bit of rod & rounded the top, then ground out the rebates for the rear & mid fixings, then let in some rod stock to try and capture the round recesses for the mid fixings and finally mad a card sandwich to try & get the shapes of the front right.... this really was an excercise in decomposing a shape into parts that could be arrived at through invention... ..and finally had the part nearly complete - I still need to add the bolt heads & think about whether to cast these caps as a separate part... ..and tacked with the cylinder head part... ..and finally, dry fitted with the cylinder... ..so, getting there slowly but I do feel like this could be a rabbit warren I could be down a long time by the time I finish up the cylinder, (I still have the other rocker cover and the exhaust ports at the back to do...) try casting it, and then repeating the whole process for the rear cylinders which are different again.. ..oh well, as we detail freaks say - I will know it's there... TTFN Peter

what a refreshing approach and idea Peter - can't wait to see where this takes you! I certainly have a soft spot for the airframe - I think I saw one in the resto shop at Kermit Weeks place in Polk City last year popcorn at the ready..... Peter

more..

I got every pic I could find while researching our decal set for the airframe - pretty much all of which are the Duxford cockpit One thing to note is the yellowing of some of the instrument features - this is from age, not because they looked that way when the aircraft was produced, the luminous material degrades over time and goes a coffee colour.. anyways - this is what I have, many may be repeats but hopefully its as near to a panorama as you might find... ..more

evening all... ..and so it proved to be GD - impossible to do properly - I did toy with getting some PE made up for each of the fin shapes and then about an hour into the artwork thought 'what am I doing...' - it was waaaay to much effort... wow - thanks Mick - I will be in touch about that! a very kind offer indeed - I will try and make the parts modular and see where it ends up.. ..I have also found the P47 engine is underscale - the scale diameter of the 2800 is 55.9mm and as you can see here it is under and would look a little small in the cowling... ..I will be using parts of it though and will most likely just make new cylinders, so to start I scaled a photo to get some bearings... ..I was looking for some rod or something of the right diameter and struggling to find an appropriate start point when I figured out the mouthpiece on my old electronic cigarette looked a reasonable double, so I got a couple and put them in the chuck of my drill to try and shape & add some fins... ..glued them together and cut out the centre section - usefully there was also a bit of metal thread that looked like fins too so I left that on there.. ..CA'd some hard plastic stock together to get a basis for shaping the contours of the cylinder head... ..and started shaping... ..I still have a lot to do to get the shape right and I have to figure out how to represent the fins but at least I have a basic shape to work with.. ..I will make up the 'ears' that sit either side of the top of the head next and figure out how to 'let' them into these parts and hopefully end up with a master for the front row cylinder bank - then do it all again to make the heads for the back row.... I must be mad... TTFN Peter so, onto making some parts..

wow - thats exactly what I was looking for a couple of years ago maybe now I could make a Japanese instrument & placard set... Peter

Thanks all Hi Mick - yes I can see the crank case is different from the 2800 used in the P47 and was going to scratch that later on - in fact the only kit parts I am going to use are the cylinders.. ..now I have started to look closely at what a P&W 2800 looks like, I can see that the kit parts from the Kinetic P47 are really only a rough approximation of the real thing.. bits I have noticed are the cylinder shape is wrong, the real one has a narrow base, the heads are wrong as they are curved when the real one is a sort of lop-sided vee shape, the exhaust ports at the back are a fiction compared to their location on the real thing... so a few things to think about.. I have decided I will use casts of the kit cylinders up the the mid-point and scratch build new heads - basically the part in the yellow box below... ..I am going to try laminating brass sheet and plastic card and then shape it and make new detailed parts for the two housings... then I can just cast all the heads and graft them onto the kit cast cylinders - thats the plan anyway back soon Peter

thanks chaps - Peter you are right... seams... what seams.. the real engines are a mess of gubbins and shrouds so I figure use these casts for the cylinders and make up some new bits for the tops and only you and I will ever know... ..I have a cunning plan...

that looks amazing - superb surface finish eric I really enjoy watching you making these refinements and they make such a huge difference - thanks for the tutorial Peter

howdy folks & happy holidays to those across the pond.. I have been very fortunate to have been helped out by Ray Peterson (LSP_Ray) who in an act of great kindness sent me the engine parts from his 1/24 Kinetic P47 so I can have a bash at casting a couple of copies to hang on the wings of my Tigercat. ..these are one-piece mouldings of each cylinder bank and are a perfect basis for what I have planned - I just want to make sure I am very careful so I can return them in flawless condition. I spent a while thinking about how best to do it and decided on open moulds I can pour into and create 'halves' of each bank. The problem with this approach is that there will be seam lines on the very fine cylinder finning detail but to be honest I can't think of another way... so lets see how it went.. ..first bank was set in shallow plasticine... ...poured that mould & turned it over to capture the back face... ..same for the other bank of cylinders.. ..over a couple of days I got the four mould sections completed... ..the Sylmasta stuff I use captures detail perfectly.. (I took the precaution of adding locating pins to the mould in case I have to fallback on putting the moulds together and casting the cylinder blocks as a one part casting..)... ..the first couple of pours looked ok - a few bubbles but its really all about the cylinders & they look fine... ..cleaned up the mating faces.. ..now I have to say the jury is out on whether I do it this way - there are seams, and I am not too happy with how they dry fit as it is impossible to get the mating faces the same as the way the parts were split in the mould.. ..maybe I might do it a cylinder at a time, maybe I will try casting half the complete part across it's lateral mid-point - I really don't know.. ..that said, I did say at the start of this build that it was a bit of an experiment so I should not get too hung up on perfection & just press on or I will never get it finished... thats it for now & thanks again to Ray for the parts loan :thumbsup: TTFN Peter

time for my first biplane... ..beautiful...

that is outstanding! don't see many of these and yours is easily the nicest I have come across great job Peter

Happy Birthday John Lovely to see you and Mrs Tigger last weekend! Have a great day old chap Peter

Thanks Iain - it's always a pleasure to show my humble efforts on your stand at Telford - in fact if I didn't only my family and I would ever see what I was up to! thanks for the comment about inspiring you to get back in the saddle on the Connie - it works both ways - I watched that come together and how you used kit parts re-cast in resin and thought 'I could try that' ..as for Tom's Halifax - he was kind enough to give me a personal tour for 20 minutes and all I can say is it was pretty much the most awe inspiring model I have had the pleasure to drool all over - simply superb and with such presence...more inspiration... haha - you noticed Rich! the stand next to me had it right there - I kept looking at it and holding myself back from trying some bewitching spiel to try & get it at trade price! anyways, on to todays little postette - today was about the nosewheel bay... I have very few clear references for this (hint..plea for help...) but this one gives me an idea of what is needed first up, getting a basic roof panel to work on... I put a bit of card in place and drew the outline of the casting that sits on top of it... ..then I drew out the main details on the part - where the wheel retracts there is a pressed aluminium panel with a depression in it - the shape doesn't seem to relate to the wheel / tyre size but nonetheless it's there.. I made a plunge mould (top right) and taped a bit of card sheet to a thicker sheet with a long slot cut out of it (top left) - I held it over the stove and pressed the two together... ..it worked first time which was a bonus - I cut the part shape from the sheet and added some decal rivets... ..fitted the pressing part and started to build up some of the details from card, brass & rivets... ...also routed out a little slot in the nose so it all sits flat on the nose casting - I have some tube/rod on order to start building the noseleg and will set a tube at the right angle at the front where the brass part ends so the leg can just slot into it.. ..and checking it still all fits within the lower casting... ..until next time, thats it for now TTFN Peter