Trak-Tor

Howdy folks,
 
K2 is back with another book review for us:
 
Classic Warships Publishing P-40 Warhawk
 

 
Thanks, Kevin!
 
Kev

Lots more progress - with wings fitted and bonded with another 2 Oz of 30 min Epoxy - excellent stuff!
 

 

 

 

 
Need to adjust the mounts for the tip tanks - a little nose high at the mo - but easily fixed!
 
Have fun!
 
Iain

Great printer, good luck with it. I wish I could afford one, it's excellent for detail work. For my work though, I figured out I could order a lot of parts from shapeways for the price of one and bought my Prusa i3.
 
So, a little progress. Cleaned up the parts and taped them together. Tailplane is done as well.
 

 
I think I'll call this a proof of concept. The experience so far with PLA is quite good, but the material is hard and brittle when printing this thin. It is also quite hard to sand and a little difficult to glue. I tried CA, but maybe I didn't use the right type because I could quite easy break the parts up again. I thought maybe I should use epoxy glue to join the parts instead, but haven't tried it yet.
 
After a good deal of thinking, the obvious thing occured to me. I should print the parts with polystyrene, It's what I'm used to working with and what most model kits are made of...   
 
A roll of HIPS (High Impact PolyStyrene) filament is on order. It has the same good mechanical properties as ABS, but prints as easy as PLA. Hopefully it will turn out more usefull and a better choise for printing modelkits than the PLA I've used so far. New tests will follow and more CAD work to be done in the meantime.
 
Cheers

Thanks guys, I've been trying to post more pics but I'm having trouble for some reason.  
 
The bomb bay is a scratch builders dream but since a lot won't be seen, I just built it OOB.  I was gonna close it but I saw a lot of pics with it open while on the ground.  I was contemplating aftermarket bombs but since they won't be all that visible, I don't think it will be worth the extra expense in the end.  The kit bombs okay for the most part.
 

 

 
 
 
I'm not a fan of the color PE but I was pleasantly surprised on how it came out.  Not to mention this area will barely be visible through the rear door and small windows.
 

 

 
 
Here are a few shots of the dry fitting before I close everything up and say goodbye to all the detail.
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
I forgot the pic of the floor below the rear seat.  Figured I would post it since it will never be seen again! Such a bummer...
 

 
 
 
Oh and the seat that will never been seen again!
 

 
 
I used both Mr. Color and MRP paints for the chipped areas with Alclad Magnesium for the base.  I only chipped the rear areas since I figured there would be a lot of traffic going on.  And since much of it will never be seen, I figured I'd practice my chipping techniques since its new for me.
 
Thanks again for stopping by fellas!!!
 
Bryan

Wonderful! Great update.

 
Juraj

May I have it signed by Peter himself?

 
Juraj

I really appreciate the comments fellas and I finally have some updates.  There are so many parts for the interior that it's taking me a bit of time to sort things out.  I think I'm finally to a point where I can start putting the main fuselage together. 
 
I'm not sure about the bronze green for the front cockpit areas.  I really like MRP's bronze color itself, but almost all of the color photos I've seen of a TBF-1, looks to have been painted dark dull green.  But we are talking about old WWII era photos which everyone knows aren't exactly the best reference to go on.  Everything thing I have read however, says these areas were painted with bronze green.  I did read somewhere that dark dull green was used on occasion but it seems that was the exception rather than the rule.  Either way, I'm sticking with the bronze.
 
I used various placards from Airscale, Barracuda, and left overs to enhance the pit...
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I've been in close encounter with Beaufighter for last six years, more or less. Trying to dig out every resource available and build a 3D model as precise as possible.
And, after getting some nice results, I have also decided to ask few bigger modelling companies for some kind of cooperation.
The only response came from Revell Germany (and we know they're going to release 1:48 TFX  later this year).
So either there's no interest in big Beau model at all, or they're hidding it pretty well.
I'm not trying to tell I know everything on this subject, but if you know somebody who's willing to do it, please, let me know.
I believe I can help.
 
Meanwhile you can take a look at my Beaufighter Front Fuselage build here:
 http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=71235
I'm working hard to have another progress update out before Telford.
 
 

Well, I've been in close encounter with Beaufighter for last six years, more or less. Trying to dig out every resource available and build a 3D model as precise as possible.
And, after getting some nice results, I have also decided to ask few bigger modelling companies for some kind of cooperation.
The only response came from Revell Germany (and we know they're going to release 1:48 TFX  later this year).
So either there's no interest in big Beau model at all, or they're hidding it pretty well.
I'm not trying to tell I know everything on this subject, but if you know somebody who's willing to do it, please, let me know.
I believe I can help.
 
Meanwhile you can take a look at my Beaufighter Front Fuselage build here:
 http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=71235
I'm working hard to have another progress update out before Telford.
 
 

Ok, so "tonight" turned into today, then tonight, so without further ado, here is the little Ohka, all finished up!  These are just some "pre" RFI shots...............Ill take some actual RFI shots and make an RFI post in a few weeks when I get the lens in for my new DSLR.  
 
Its pretty far from perfect, and maybe even far from great, but its DONE. 100% OOB:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
FIN
Build Time:

3 months
2 days
          Thanks to one and all who followed along and took the time to stop in and comment or like a post.   Well, tonight will be spent cleaning up and OUT the model room in preparation for the next adventure. Its one Ive been waiting my WHOLE modeling career for....................  
Its TIGERCAT TIME!!!!!
 
Cheers until then,

Apologies for dredging this one up, but I've just replaced all the Photobucket image links with ones from ImageShack (except the one in the previous post, which I no longer seem to have). Still haven't purchased the Bandai version of the kit yet, but am tracking a few on eBay, and will pull the trigger when the time is right.
 
It's interesting looking at the photos of this model a year on - I was pretty dubious about it at the time, but now that the dust has settled and the trauma of the build forgotten, I really like it!
 
Kev

Time to set my Canberra FREE!    
 
I kept main components on the carrier sheet whilst i worked on the Canberra,  to make sure it stays straight and minimise warping while i reinforced and thickened everything.....
 
​I can assure you - the I.D  fuselage was very thin and flip-floppy,  before i started working on it...
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
The fuselage is very rigid after my extra work!
 
..Now I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!   

Evening all 
 
I've dusted this off in time for a trip to Telford and decided to tackle the rudders over the last couple of weeks. You'll have to excuse the terrible photography as I haven't had the time to get the proper camera set up so I've been snapping away with my camera phone in the dark winter evenings...
 
I carefully removed the fins from the stabilsers and using the set of plans I have, cut the shape of the rudder from plastic card. As the real thing is an aerofoil shape, I cut what would become the leading edges from sprue, and mated these to the rudder hinge line:
 

 

 
Next up was to add some thicker plastic card to the forward third of the rudders to aid with the thicker forward part of the structure:
 

 
The thicker forward sections and aerofoil shape were then made up and blended together with filler:
 

 
They were then primed with filler-primer, sanded sooth with some micromesh, and then I scribed the basic panel detail on to them. The riveting will have to wait as I can't find my riveting tool anywhere at the moment:
 

 
The rudders now fit nice and snugly to the fins themselves, which have now been reattached to the stabilisers:
 

 
And here she is sitting pretty on the kitchen table and ready for a trip to Telford next weekend:
 

 
As you can see I have also started playing around with the propellers, but more of that next time:
 

 
I'll hopefully catch some of you at the Nationals - the Shackleton will be on IPMS West Kent so do pop over and say hello!
 
Tom

evening folks
 
 
 
Hi Craig - thanks for dropping in
 
it's relatively simple to scale things like PE in this way - all I do is take the plans I have where cross-section formers are shown and scale them to 1/18. From there I take photo's etc and scale those to the former size so I can draw all the stuff in relative scale. After that it's a case of building to the shapes - I can print out the PE in real size on paper and make sure that skinning or bulkheads are exact matches so they drop in no problem..
 
 
 
Thanks Chek - I have some big brass sections running laterally so it is pretty straight & stable - including the big gap for the observers station - it seems to be very rigid even though it looks weak & fragile
 
..the bits I have been working on lately are mainly bulkheads and part of the observers station..
 
first the rearmost bulkhead - this is a sandwich of one full thickness PE, one etched layer with details and another peripheral piece carrying the rivet & bracing strap detail for that..
 

 
..similar story for the forward bulkhead, though this has some additional parts - the rear solid part has one big hole in it to allow all the little fixing holes in the detailed layer to be seen without being blanked off...
 

 
,,after assembly & detailing with structural parts - you can see all the little holes ...
 

 
..having made it I had some trouble with the skin fitting correctly to the mid-section, and also the sheet I used to skin this section was too thin & had started to settle in like fabric on stringers - so off it came & it was re-skinned.. if ever something is not quite right, it's best to just do it again
 

 

 
..the observers position itself is defined by a flat area - again layers of PE..
 

 
..it needs structural rigidity so some brass square stock was CA'd to keep it flat & rigid - also some plastic cross members to give something for the edging strip to bond to..
 

 
..then the strip running around the inside to look like the real one.. this is just a strip of litho I have started to put bends in...
 

 
..and the finished section with a small seat belt fixing added at the rear....
 

 
..and all these parts start to give some definition to the crew areas..
 

 

 

 

 

 
Telford soon so hope to see everyone there - I think I will put this on the 32SIG/LSP stand on the WIP bit as is tradition with my projects Please drop by my stand in Hall 2 to say hello
 
TTFN
Peter

Wow, another gem going to Telford!
Excellent work!
 
Juraj

Great pictures. It's really some piece of plastic...
Nice progress.
 
Juraj

Here's some things I have acquired recently. There is loads of AM in various boxes and I won't bore you with it. Basically I have AM for everything now.
 
I have become very fond of MRP paints. (the RLM 02 is not in the RLM photo)
 
RAF colours.
 

 
RLM colours. (02 in the next photo)
 


 
Various...
 

 
Tama work station. (NOTE: Item sold without cutting pad or V volt power pack. Each must be purchased separately. I did not know this.)
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

RUDDER & FIN - Details
 
For the rudder I added the hinge components and the leading edge fairing, which is shown cut out of thin aluminum and shaped in this image:

 
I also added the rudder wire connection tabs to the rudder horn, I did round the ends off later, this image shows the base construction:

 
A test fit of the rudder and fin hinge connections:

 
For the fin I added the support wire bracing lugs (just beneath the top rib) and the leading edge fairing.. note that the fin leading edge fairing in this image is not the final, I was dissatisfied with it, ripped it off and remade the fairing.. second try was MUCH better.

 
Finally a coat of gray primer was given to both the fin and the rudder and they were joined together, for no other reason than I was curious as to how they would look.    Note that this will not be the final color, that will be chromium oxide green.   I do still need to add the tail light with wire conduit and the trim tab to the rudder.   The hinge rod is only held in by friction, I want to be able to remove the rudder for additional painting/detail work later.   The real thing:   Bil

evening folks
 
been a bit slow around here lately after such a blazing start as life & day job got in the way a bit, and I also spent some time (& money) tyrying to get a better set up for photography as the model is so big it can't just sit easily on my bench for a WIP shot - I still have a crappy little £50 digital camera, but I needed a booth & some lighting.....
 
.. so, al little more progress..
 
..after so much large scale assembly, I thought I would switch it up a bit and work on something with a bit of finesse..
 
..I started by laminating the three layers of the main pilot's bulkhead - there is a base plain layer, a half etched detail layer carrying rivets & openings and then a framing layer..
 

 
..then started to add some framing & bracing that is seen in references...
 

 
..and then more, there is a sill around the seat that needs to be fabricated..
 

 

 
..and then the bulkhead will go about here...
 

 
..started to think about the seat - I found this pic when I was doing the HpH Hornet and now I look again at it I am 100% convinced it is from a Firefly - I have a few views of it..
 

 
so it proved useful in making some balsa moulds to vacform some of the shapes seen..
 

 
..still loads to do, but it made a nice change from sanding & shaping...
 

 
..hopefully the photos are ok - I quite liked the blue background I used to use so will see how I can improve it
 
TTFN

Peter

Well, if it's not a problem, that would be great. 
I expect it to be almost finished by then, anyway... 

 
Stunning update, again!

In case anyone is wondering what I'm doing?
 
Still 'trapped' in the interior, but slowly the bulkheads are getting there, with some additional detailing...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RUDDER   After completing the vertical stabilizer I wanted to build the rudder so I will have constructed a complete assembly, something I thought would be a landmark for me on this journey.   This drawing shows the framework pretty well: Laying out the basic components and building one half of the structure was pretty straight forward.  I am getting more comfortable with this manner of building and starting to get cleaner and better looking results.   Note the ends of each rib have been flattened against a curved form (the shaft of a screw driver to be exact) in order to give me a curved surface where the rib meets the front spar.  Note also the different sized rods and tubes used in this construction... I tried to make them as close to scale as I could get.   Unfortunately what I found is that the fin I built previously needed some modifications as it was not really square when aligned with the new rudder.  I think the rear spar is not aligned correctly.   FIN - Rebuild   In order to match the rudder, I decided to totally rebuild the vertical stab.  The only parts that have been salvaged from the original fin are the front spar and the internal bracing parts (not yet added to this new build).. the rest has been trashed.    With this rebuild I am matching the build quality of the rudder, and am also being very careful to ensure perfect alignment.   RUDDER - Continued   I have completed the ribs on the opposite side of the rudder.  I still have some details to add to this part: Internal bracing (top front section) Rib cross supports pieces Hinge support details (will match with the vertical stab) Rudder horns Light and wire Trim tab  
I have found this next task to be very difficult due to the size of the parts and how fiddly it is to assemble them... in the following image I have circled all of the rib cross support pieces.  Those in red were completed earlier, and they took me a long time.  These small pieces of brass rod are between 1mm and 3mm in length, they need to be test fit prior to fixing in place.    Carefully moving these pieces into position with a pair of tweezers, they have the tendency to snap out of the tweezers' grip and fly across the room, never to be seen again... believe me this happened several times.   I needed to come up with a more efficient and faster way to assemble these very small parts. After thinking about it I experimented with placing the part on a small piece of tape (degummed a bit with my finger so it wouldn't be too sticky) and was able to do my test fits over and over again without the risk of losing the part.   Next I used the tape to attach them to the rib, here is the sequence:   1. After the test fit is complete and the part is scaled correctly, I file the inside of the rib where the cross support will attach:   2.  I then apply a little epoxy to the area:   3.  Pushing it into position from below I place the support piece into position.  Still on the tape I can rotate it gently and move it back and forth until it is perfectly aligned with the sharpie mark I made on the rib to ensure correct placement:   4.  I let it sit for a few minutes to give the epoxy some time to set (it only takes two or three minutes to get firm enough so I can continue work), I then remove the tape, being gentle so as to not pull the support piece off with the tape:   The completed rudder structure is shown in the images below (sans some of the details outlined earlier).  All that is left to do is to clean up my work with an x-acto knife to remove extra epoxy and make it prettier.. then I need to hit some of the edges with a file to improve the fit and form.   The larger cross supports at the front of each rib were 2mm in length, the ones in the rear of each rib were 1mm or smaller.. these in particular were fiddly and more difficult to size, test fit, and attach correctly.  Couldn't have done these small pieces without using the tape method.  Maybe you guys have smaller hands than I do, but I struggled with them.      Rudder (before clean up work) - drawing comparison:  
Enjoy!
 
Bil

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, I really appreciate it.  
 
 
Thank you, I had, of course, already found Peter's amazing thread on the Spitfire.. I am half way through reading it.. what a master class that one is.
 
FIN - A Swing and  Miss
 
I decided to work on this assembly first as it had only a few parts and I thought it should assemble fairly quickly.  Well I was right about the number of parts but it wasn't as straight forward as it seemed at first.
 
Below are the main structural components: Front Spar - 1/16" aluminum tube Rear Spar - 3/16" aluminum tube Root Rib - aluminum sheet Two Structural Ribs - 1/32" brass rod This mix of metals is because i could not find aluminum rod in the smaller diameters that I could in brass.  It's going to be painted anyway, so I wasn't too worried about it.
 
The ruler in this image gives you a scale for these parts:

 
The basic structure assembled:   The root rib was a fiddly bit of aluminum sheet that I created over a wooden form, then cut out the hole for the rear spar.    The brass rod ribs were bent by hand over the plan until the curve was correct, then I added the little support pieces in the center of each.  Note that the ends were flattened, this is in accordance with the plan, as a strip of aluminum will be glued to them (it was riveted in the real aircraft).   The front and rear spars were cut to size, and the front spar was angled at the top to match the drawing.   All of the parts were epoxied together, the only trouble spots being the split ribs on the front spar, I reworked them several times until they were correct.   Looking at the plan above you can see that I am still missing some parts, the internal bracing for example.  The image below shows the (mostly) complete fin on the plan, and then with the plan shown next to it for reference.   The problem with this assembly was that it was a failure, it was too sloppy for my tastes as well... but more on that as I explain it in context with the rudder construction coming up next.  I do promise to show my dead ends, my failures etc. as I go along.. remember I am learning as I go so expect a lot of failures.   By the way I am using Poxipol epoxy to assemble these components, as when I discussed this with Guillermo Rojas Bazan that is what he uses... and if its good enough for him, well then, it should work for me too.  Problem is that at times the joins are weak or brittle and I have started hitting all my joins with a little CA as an extra safety measure... but I am going to start experimenting with JB Weld epoxy and the JB Weld SteelStik to see if I get better more reliable performance.   More anon.. Bil    

Wow! Nice subject and great progress so far!
I'll be following this for sure.
 
Juraj