AlexM

Hi Francis,
 
check out this thread about 3d printing:
 
https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/70571-3d-printing/
 
Cheers
Alex

Do-17 for me, please. I find the He-177 has a rather unattractive appearance. I also have the fear that the thing could suddenly go up in flames, and I am not particularly keen on an apartment fire. Probably wouldn't stop me from buying it, though

Do-17 for me, please. I find the He-177 has a rather unattractive appearance. I also have the fear that the thing could suddenly go up in flames, and I am not particularly keen on an apartment fire. Probably wouldn't stop me from buying it, though

Do-17 for me, please. I find the He-177 has a rather unattractive appearance. I also have the fear that the thing could suddenly go up in flames, and I am not particularly keen on an apartment fire. Probably wouldn't stop me from buying it, though

NMUSAF was particularly inaccurate in their older "restorations."  Not a good source.  If you look at pics in various cockpit publications, the have indiscrimiately sprayed interiors (eveything) with green chromate color.
 
More recent work there may be better.

Alex,  Hope the connection with Leighton proved fruitful.  Have you seen these pics:
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196275/martin-b-26g-marauder/
Not Flak-Bait but another B-26.
 
Good luck!
Chris

Very interesting! There will be some heavy surgery, but I can understand that after all the work so far, you really want to get it right
 
Cheers
Alex

Many thanks Gentlemen, it is indeed good to be able to start moving again with this build!
 
Here's where we stand with the new nose mockup....
 

 

 

 

 
It's hard to portray in the photos, but I think you can see the difference. The cockpit/roof relationship on my original is just too "boxy" compared to the new effort. I like the sharpness the brass gave, but at the end of the day if it's wrong it's wrong. I always put things like this down not as wasted time, but valuable R&D so I hopefully don't make the same mistake twice!
 
The next step is to produce each side in resin, then set about removing the existing fuselage. Funny, I was helping a mate renovate his house today and spent a few hours demolishing an old shower recess...... that's exactly what this feels like! Before anyone panics though, I will NOT be using a crowbar on my model .
 
See you in a bit.
 
Craig
 
 
 
 

Wow, almost 6 months to the day since my last post!
 
What's been happening? Unfortunately not much on the fort,  but we'll get to that in a minute.
 
In the last 6 months I have:
 
Left the Australian Army after 20 years of service,
Done a stack of work to the house to get it ready to sell,
Uprooted our life and everything we own and moved to New Zealand,
Set up a new life,
Sold the house,
Joined the Air Force to do the same job!
Squeezed everything we own 3 bedroom and 1 large workshop's worth of stuff into a very small 2 bedroom single garage house.
 
It doesn't really seem like much to write it, but it's been hectic, which is why I've only just been getting some much needed modelling time in in the last few days. I was terrified of all my carefully packed up modelling gear getting destroyed in the move (we all know how careful moving companies aren't) but luckily the huge amount of prep work I'd done paid off. The really annoying part is that as a lot of my supplies were considered dangerous cargo, I had to ditch them and buy again once in the country.
 
I've been living vicariously through the rest of you making progress on your various projects and always inspired, especially by Peter's stunning Mustang, I decided to explore the possibility of modifying my work on the E/F nose correction to see if I could use it as the basis for a better C/D nose. I know Terry had warned me not to do this but after looking at the comparison photos with all 3 lined up beside each other, I just wasn't happy with the shape of the C and it's rather oversized nose. After all, my main goal in this whole project was to achieve "the look!"
 
Additionally, I found a heap of errors in my E/F drawings that would cause issues in the printing, so I'll be going back to fix them in time. Anyway, on with the pics!
 

 
As I'd lost the lower part of the original nose at some point (and it was a G anyway) I had to add the lower part, modify the length of the E/F and add the extra cockpit window.
 

 
Adding the cutout for the observer's dome (which I'll be able to use from my previous work so that's a bonus!)
 
Onto the print. These are rough for checking my work. I'll do them in resin on the photo once I'm happy.
 

 
Here you can see the existing E/F and then the new C/D below. 
 

 
Laid over the top of my previous work. Looks like everything will line up as far as grafting onto the HK fuselage. The new nose is more correctly shorter than my previous effort too!
 

 
This was what really kicked off the redesign. Have a look at the size difference between my part and the kit (surprisingly HK got this pretty close to correct). I know it would've bothered me later, so there was really nothing for it but to redo it.
 

 
Please excuse the F nose cone, just taped on here to show that everything lines up so much better than my previous work!
 

 
The next step will be to start trying to separate the outer shell from the cockpit "tub." I am hoping that I can reuse that without too much effort as that and the instrument panel do look good and have been a huge amount of work that I really don't want to do again, so here's hoping I can pull it off.
 
Wish me luck!
 
Cheers,
 
Craig
 

Hi all,
The last few models I've built, including the Macchi M.5 I'm currently working on, have all proved to be a challenge in one way or another.
So while I'm waiting for decals to arrive, I thought I'd start on what will effectively be an 'out of the box' (OOB) build, mainly due to there being no information available on this one-off prototype.
 
The aircraft is the very small Port Victoria P.V.7 'Grain Kitten', a resin kit from 'Planet Models'.
In an attempt to break the stalemate on the Western Front, the German Imperial Navy commenced air raids on England, first against military then later civilian targets.
The first attack came on the night of 19th January 1915 when the German Zeppelin L3 attacked and bombed Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast, resulting in the death of two civilians.
That same night another Zeppelin attacked Kings Lynn and two more people died.
Public outrage provoked the government to introduce measures to counter the Zeppelin air raids, however anti-aircraft guns proved ineffective, as the airships flew too high and were able to shut down their engines and glide, making detection from the ground extremely difficult.
The Admiralty put forward the idea that aircraft, launched from decks on ships or from floating and towed pontoons, could intercept and destroy the airships over the sea, preventing the wreckage falling over land and causing more damage and casualties.
This prompted designs for lightweight fighters that were capable of being ‘sea’ launched.
The Port Victoria P.V.7 ‘Grain Kitten’ was a prototype fighter designed and built by the Port Victoria Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot on the Isle of Grain.
The aircraft was a very small and light weight tractor biplane, intended to fulfil the Admiralty requirements and was designed by W.H. Sayers.
The wings were of the ‘sesquiplane’ configuration, the lower wing being much smaller than the upper wing.
The wings featured the same high-lift section as used in previous Port Victoria aircraft and were fitted with ailerons only on the upper wing.
It was intended to use a 45 hp (34 kW) geared ABC Gnat two-cylinder air-cooled engine and the armament was a single Lewis gun mounted above the upper wing.
The P.V.7 first flew on 22 June 1917, powered by a 35 hp (26 kW) ABC Gnat engine, as the intended engine was not available.
The official trials took place on the 6th of October 1917 but the P.V.7 proved to be tail heavy in the air and difficult to handle on the ground and the sesquiplane layout and high lift wings were c onsidered not to be suitable for such a small aircraft.
In addition, the Gnat engine proved to be extremely unreliable, with test flights being forced to remain within gliding distance of an airfield, in case of engine failure.
The P.V.7 was rebuilt with new wings of conventional aerofoil section, a modified tail and a new undercarriage to eliminate some of the problems found in testing.
However, the low power and unreliability of the Gnat engine prevented the P.V.7 being suitable for its intended use and the P.V.7 was never flown again after it was rebuilt.
In June 1917 the German military stopped using Zeppelins for bombing raids over Britain. 
Although a tremendous psychological weapon, they had actually caused little damage to the war effort.
Of  115 Zeppelins built, 77 had either been shot down or otherwise totally disabled.
Instead, air raids continued but using aircraft, such as the Gotha.
 
Crew: One
Length: 14 ft 11 in (4.55 m)
Upper wingspan: 18 ft 0 in (5.49 m)
Lower wingspan: 12 ft 7 in (3.84 m)
Height: 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Wing area: 85 sq ft (7.9 m2)
Empty weight: 284 lb (129 kg)
Gross weight: 491 lb (223 kg)
Engine:  ABC ‘Gnat’ air cooled two-cylinder horizontally-opposed piston engine, 35 hp (26 kW)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 85 mph (137 km/h, 74 kn) at 6,500 ft (2,000 m)
Service ceiling: 11,900 ft (3,600 m)
Time to altitude: 22 min to 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Armament:
A  single .303 inch Lewis machine gun, located above upper wing.
 
Mike 
 

 

Some parts will be in 3D resin printing,
example the propeller blades Ratier, clockwise and counterclockwise
 
still wet, just after printing and before wash



 
 
 
 
dry and after post curing
 

Thanks Maru,
 
 
 
I duplicate the master of the canopy to have a homogeneous piece, the work will be easier to get a better result. I drill several holes that will receive brass rods.

 
 
These rods(0,3 mm dia) removed from the future mold give vaccum vent holes.
It's the same work as for the 1/48 FM  canopy(below)
.

I try several material to made vacuformed canopies, the best is plexiglas sheet but it's more expensive than petg and styrene sheets.
Tomorow,  I will make the mold, the frame is ready.
 
....
 

Very nice printed details
 
Cheers
Alex

That's just unreal how real your model looks. Mindblowing
 
Alex

It's probably getting a bit boring but it's all I can show at the moment... I have finished the basic structure of the A_LORAN console behind the Plane Captain's seat. New side consoles for Pilot and Navigator are ready as well. Next, I will draw and print the fron IP before I can get back to some 'real modelling. 
 

 

 
And the one with a ruler requested by Mark. 
 

I forgot the mm ruler for Mark, sorry for that... here comes the other side of the cockpit. I am still looking for photos of a fully equipped rack behind the navigator's seat and the rear portion of the side console which in my opinion was covered with a fabric. If anyone has photos of it, I would highly appreciate if you would share them!  
 

 

More scribing.
 

 

 

 
Dont know what these are but....here they are.
 

 
Have worked on the transparencies. Round starboard window, overhead window and nose camera window.
 

 

 
Dan
 
 

Working on the rudder and elevators.
 
Lots of fiddling to get these things close to right.Stay tuned.
 

 

 
Dan

Ok a little work on the fin top bullet fairing.
 
This has been harder than it looks. I at first thought that I could just carve it out of wood, create a slot that would fit over the tail and be done with it. Ah....no. Too many variables, it just would not fit right or straight. So I decided to create the part on my 3D printer. I designed the middle section in 2 halves. This allowed me to easily define the fairing/ tail interface by simple sanding. I then glued on the wooden ends that I had already completed. Still lots of fine tuning to do.
 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking.
 
Dan

Adding vents and scoops to the engine nacelles. I have used manila folder card stock to bend the shapes. They are then glued to the nacelle with super glue.
 

 

 
Dan

The antenna mast - part 2
Well it's done and glued onto the canopy but its predecessor hasn't submerged.
Here it is:

 
The wire is made from elastic thread (Uschi's fine rigging thread). The insulators were done with a drop of superglue followed by a blob of white glue, which didn't adhere to the thread on its own. The cone was made from 0.2mm sheet smash moulded over a sharpened tooth pick.
That's it from me - the next post will (finally) be in the RFI section.
 
Cheers
Joachim

It's all about scale isn't it Woody? Like trying to punch out 1:48 instrument decals... 
 
Thanks to Ryan's paint input, I got down to finding what worked for me in Tamiya "acrylic" paint, since it is tough and readily available over here. I liked the idea of using XF-76 Grey Green (IJN) as a base since it is after all what Tamiya's researchers thought was the right colour. It isn't, but with a bit of help comes quite close. Ryan tried a mix with XF-49 Khaki, and I took a look at that - too brown to my eye. Then I looked at other options for a mix, and liked the warm tone of XF-60 Dark Yellow. At a mix of 2 parts 76 to 1 part 60 and half a part of white I found what I was looking for. Simple. The grey for the fabric covered surfaces is 1 part 76 to one part white - even more simple. Here with tungsten and natural light for comparison... 
 

 

 
Normally I would do the wheel wells first, but this seemed a better solution for the zero.
 
 
 
This is the colour of the aircraft primer, which I only used on the spinner hoping to do some light chipping. Doesn't seem to work with Alclad by the way!
 

 
And this is what the greys look like more or less - difficult to capture the real colours on camera. Looking at the second picture, a question for the experts: Would the electrical cables and pitot air lines in the wheel well be overpainted in Aotake? If not, what colours would they be?
 

 

 
I was also wondering about the red paint. Would it be painted straight onto the grey, or under-painted to make the red brighter?
 

 

 
Finally got down to the Hōkoku, and realised that Ryan had provided the perfect picture to make a tracing from!
 

 
In doing the tracing, I discovered an interesting thing about the lettering. It would appear that it is painted on by brush, and therefore by hand - like a signwriter would do! I had pictured stencils and spray paint, but the way it has faded shows the brushstrokes as well as what I think were taped lines to get the edges straight. The characters are not totally uniform or symmetrical either. I have tried to straighten it all up a bit to make it easier to cut a stencil and or produce a decal. Methinks it is going to be rather tricky to do!
 
 
 

assembled the videoaviation 750lb Bombs with (trumpy) fuse extenders and unfinned BLU 27s. havent found a pic with a Hun loaded with capless napalm canisters, only F-4s, but i like them better that way

 
main gear has been shortened 2mm to make the bird sit right

tried a little metal effect paint on the back end of the fuselage. on a lot of pics i have this is pretty dark, so i tried to capture the effect accordingly

Another update:
1) I assembled and wired the engine, painted with a wash of Jet Exhaust Vallejo Metal Color. I wired with EZ-line, and the exhausts were painted with a mix of Tamiya red-brown and hull red, with a little black.
2) I painted the airframe with a mix of Tamiya Yellow, Red, and Earth, using the Aviation of Japan's blog as a reference.
3) I articulated the tail wheel by separating the base from the axle, drilling holes in each exposed section, then using a brass wire to reattach.
4) Next: landing gear and markings. I am using the Silhouette Portrait to make appropriate masks.
 
Cheers,  Tom
 

 

 

 

A quick update: I've riveted the airframe, using a straight edge, Dymo labeling tape, Tamiya tape, a riveting wheel, and a sharp pointed tool to add definition. Glad that's done!
 
Cheers,  Tom