radial

Looks like your floats would be perfect to vac-form especially for one off parts. A lot easier with not as many variables.

Been xperimenting with bare metal foil and cheap alum foil sprayed with foil glue. I like the sprayed foil better . However, your bare MF looks very good. To me Alclad looks like silver paint.

Since most interwar rigging was adjusted inside the wing thru access panels, no adjustment hardware is visible. My preferred method pre drilling all rigging holes at the beginning of the build. All wires are installed on the completed model. About the last thing I do. I use .015 steel wire that I flatten on grinder. The wire is fairly stiff and CA'd it is structural. See the thread I did in the tips section "Rigging Biplanes".

I have thought about converting a desktop into a scale model in the past since many of the subjects are not available in kit form. I also have scratchbuilt 3 models in the past 5 years. Some of the desktops look pretty good and actually scale out accurately while others look like what they are; lumps of painted wood. So,I would say it would probably be better to build your own. Having said that the 1/32 resin Cessna Skyhawk on the Scalecraft site intrigues me.

Very elegant and classy build. Great job!

Since Archer and Micromark rivets are resin dots on clear transfer,both would likely be too raised for 1/48. However, they are perfect for 1/32 AC for use in areas that need raised rivets.

Very nice gloss finish and a gutsy move to take a dremel to it!

Very happy to see a 30's a/c being modeled!

What dodgem said. Except I put triple layers of masking tape on both sides of the plexi. It acts as a heat sink and prevents the plexi from cracking. Also use this method for cutting on a scroll saw. Having said this I haven't found any small dia bits that won't break in plexi. Slow and vertical is it. Good luck!

Your pragmatism and direct approach to building is very refreshing. Keep it up!

Really love the clean unweathered finish!

Very very nice result. I did something similar using cut off chromed acorn nuts and shaped bar stock alum to get a kinda generic prop and spinner

Dave, forgive me for asking but did you remove the backing on the Dymo tape? Sorry to be off subject. Resin scribing is like all scribing. Start with a needle and then your preferred scribing tool. Always apply light pressure. If you meet resistance STOP.

I assume by support that you need photos? I would definitely help out with that. I could also get measurements to confirm the documentation you already have. The photos I have now were taken 4 mos. ago when I was planning to scratchbuild the a/c. So, anything I could do to push forward your kit release would be a pleasure. At the moment, the a/c has been hangered for the winter and won't be accessible until April. Feel free to PM me.

Dave,never had a problem with dymo sticking. It does only stick once and looses the adhesive. I won't scribe w/o dymo.

Lucky enough to have this Stearman based 10 minutes from my house. Talk about great documentation!

Not silly. I reduce my plans by 1-2% to make up for skin thickness. But,make sure you clearly mark your 100% plans and reduced plans. Can be confusing. BTW balsa is a good choice.

Excellent and beautiful build. Sure glad this one didn't end up on the shelf of woom!

Brian , Be careful of clearing over Ian's decals. I had problems with them crinkling when cleared with laquer. Recommend you do a test on extra decals. Multiple misted clear coats worked for me.

Fantastico! You wouldn't paint it. Would you?!?

Brian, thanks for the heads up on the resin issue. I was vaguely aware that Ken had foil probs with resin wings. I thought it was due to wing movement. In any case, I will be experimenting with scrap resin and primer and post the results.

I have built several fuse molds for vac projects. The plan you've laid out is rife with problems. I know because it did it albeit without filling the fuse with resin. It was a complete failure. It would help to know what a/c your doing. First pic shows stick built fuse that failed under vac pressure. Second pic shows shaped balsa fuse laminated with.010 rod and sheet plastic to represent stringers and metal panels.

Brian, Thank you so much for the extensive and concise explanation. I've been practicing on a mule model with decent results. My hope is to convert the Fisher PT22 (when received) to a Ryan Ranger. It screams highly polished alum.finish.

Thanks for the link Kev. I'll give that a try.

I've been experimenting with airbrushing Microscale foil adhesive in an attempt to eliminate brush strokes and pooling which show up in the application. The results have been mixed. There still is some pooling but some areas are smooth as paint. The mix is 1 to 1 distilled water and glue. Wonder if there is loss of adhesion with this mix. Anybody try this method? Is there a better way?