I started this build almost three years ago and it sat on the bench for a long time with about 90% of the construction completed. I finally gathered the mojo to finish it and it was a lot of fun - my first 1/32 109 and definitely not my last!
I added the following aftermarket:
* Synthetic Ordnance Works main gear legs
* Eagle Editions drop tank
* Barracuda Studios prop and spinner, exhausts, intake, oil cooler scoop, wheels
* Quickboost Revi 16B gunsight
* HGW fabric seatbelts
* Master barrels and pitot tube
Painted with Mr. Color lacquers. With the exception of the smaller stencils which are decals, all markings were painted using masks cut on a Silhouette Cameo 4 craft cutter.
The -3 windscreens had a armored glass behind it and appeared to be rounded in front and no upper brace. The -5s had armored glass glass Incorporated in the windscreen and appears flatter on the front with an upper brace
The top drawing is a -3 and the middle and bottom are -5 Canopies. However there may difference among productions runs
The early F^F-5. had side windows like the -3. The difference is in the cowlings the -3's had an exhaust fairing in front of the upper exhausts, the -5's didn't have any. Hope that helps
The -3 windscreens had a armored glass behind it and appeared to be rounded in front and no upper brace. The -5s had armored glass glass Incorporated in the windscreen and appears flatter on the front with an upper brace
The top drawing is a -3 and the middle and bottom are -5 Canopies. However there may difference among productions runs
The -3 windscreens had a armored glass behind it and appeared to be rounded in front and no upper brace. The -5s had armored glass glass Incorporated in the windscreen and appears flatter on the front with an upper brace
The top drawing is a -3 and the middle and bottom are -5 Canopies. However there may difference among productions runs
The early F^F-5. had side windows like the -3. The difference is in the cowlings the -3's had an exhaust fairing in front of the upper exhausts, the -5's didn't have any. Hope that helps
The -3 windscreens had a armored glass behind it and appeared to be rounded in front and no upper brace. The -5s had armored glass glass Incorporated in the windscreen and appears flatter on the front with an upper brace
The top drawing is a -3 and the middle and bottom are -5 Canopies. However there may difference among productions runs
The -3 windscreens had a armored glass behind it and appeared to be rounded in front and no upper brace. The -5s had armored glass glass Incorporated in the windscreen and appears flatter on the front with an upper brace
The top drawing is a -3 and the middle and bottom are -5 Canopies. However there may difference among productions runs
The early F^F-5. had side windows like the -3. The difference is in the cowlings the -3's had an exhaust fairing in front of the upper exhausts, the -5's didn't have any. Hope that helps
At one point, to avoid rubbing the paint off the engine during handling, I started wearing latex surgical gloves. They work great. I found they caused small children and most household pets concern but they kept the painted engine much cleaner.
I just finished the assembly of the right side gear well, which went twice as fast as the left side now that I had a plan and knew what the heck I was doing. Well, sort of....
The gear wells have a lot of photo-etch and I used lots of CA glue on the outside of the gear wells, to ensure a strong bond without any glue marks or mess on the inside. This got me to thinking…..It's time for another Tutorial! As with my other tutorials, I am no expert, but I have learned a few things along the way and pass on my own personal observations.
CA Gluing Made Easy
When I first used CA glue (Cyanoacrylate) for the first time on Eduard photo-etch, it was a very frustrating experience. I got my fingers stuck together, the brass parts were covered in glue and the parts were crooked on the plastic. I dreaded using photo-etch parts for this reason, but over time, I figured out how to do it cleanly and quickly. I now love photo-etch parts and you'll always find a lot of them in my builds. Eduard photo-etch brass really “kicks up your model a notch†with super fine detail you can't mold with just plastic and resin alone.
First some basics. Generally speaking, CA glue comes in three viscosities of thin, medium and thick and each viscosity has its own uses and drying times. The thin glue usually dries very fast while the thicker the glue, the slower the drying time due to less surface area of the glue being exposed to air. I never buy medium or thick glue, because over time, thin CA glue will be of medium viscosity in about a year and almost too thick for anything after a year and half. I buy thin glue only and rotate the bottles according to age, so I always have all three viscosities on hand. I've read that keeping CA glue in the refrigerator will increase its shelf life, but I go through it so much that it doesn't matter.
Besides the glue itself, you will need CA glue “Accelerator†and a “Debonder†to “dry†the glue immediately or remove the glue from places you don't want it. The accelerators all work about the same. After you glue the parts, apply a bit of accelerator to the glued area with a microbrush and the glue will cure instantly. From what I've read, CA glue dries or “polymerizes†due to the attraction of water molecules in the air, which is totally the opposite of other glues where solvents within the glue evaporate. Since thinners or solvents aren't leaving the glue, it doesn't shrink, which makes it perfect for using as a filler. More on that later.
The biggest discovery I have made about CA glue is that not all debonders work the same. With many debonders, the application of the solvent will make a gooey mess and doesn't quite remove all of the glue. “Great Planes Pro CA Debonder†is super strong and really dissolves the CA glue completely, but only where it is applied. Once I found this debonder, almost all of my CA gluing problems went away. It's that much better than the other debonders, including the ones made specifically for certain brands of CA glue.
Before I get into gluing PE brass, you really should have two other tools to help you cut and bend the parts. The “Hold And Fold†is a great little tool to hold and bend the brass parts and the Xuron cutters are super accurate and do a much better job of cutting brass than any other tool, including scissors.
Now to gluing. Depending on the application, I will use thin glue on tiny parts and thicker glues on larger parts that I might need to move around and therefore need a few more seconds to do so. The best way of applying the glue is to use a toothpick or the end of a microbrush with the brush pulled off. These brushes have a second life when the brush head is contaminated or dried with glue, they become CA glue applicators. By pulling the brush head off in an outward direction, the plastic stretches, creating a nice fine plastic tip for gluing. They are very cheap when you buy them in bulk, so you can throw them away after they are no longer usable.
I also like to put a few drops of the glue into a shallow plastic cup, like the one below. While not air tight, the rim of the cup restricts the air circulation over the glue and I can sometimes keep the glue from drying for 24 hours this way, even uncovered. When I'm not gluing, I cover the cup to keep the glue thin for even longer.
I like to apply the glue to area where the part is to be placed and not the part itself. That way you can control where the glue stays and place the part with tweezers without fear of the part sticking to the tweezers. Once the part is placed, give it a gentle push to distribute the glue under the part and decrease the drying time. If some glue oozes out, no worries, assuming you're dealing with just plastic and brass and not any paint. Apply some of the Great Planes debonder to a fresh microbrush and apply it to the area you want the glue removed. Wipe the area, then wipe the brush on a cloth to remove the glue from the brush, then reapply debonder and repeat until the area is glue free. If debonder gets under the part and is in contact with the glue you want to stay there, again no worries. Just let the debonder evaporate and give the glue more time to dry. The glue bond will not be compromised
Depending on the application, you may need to use an accelerator to set the glue quicker than ordinary drying times. To do this, I just load another microbrush with accelerator and let the solution touch the glue by capillary action underneath the brass part. For some very small parts, I might hold the part in place without any glue, then apply super thin CA glue to a microbrush and let it wick underneath the part from the sides. Cleanup is the same as above, using debonder.
Another tip. If you're moving a part around with glue on it and it suddenly gets stuck before you're ready, you need to pull the part off and try again. The bond will never be strong, even though the glue might not be totally dry. Carefully scrape off the glue on the plastic and the brass with a #11 knife and glue it all over again.
While accelerator is a great aid when using CA glue, it can also cause the glue to cure too quickly and unevenly, which creates a rough surface and air bubbles. For most applications this is not a problem and is only cosmetic, but sometimes you want the glue to stay as smooth and clear as possible, especially if it's visible. For these situations I recommend no accelerator or, at the very least, the application of accelerator nearby the glue and not directly in contact with it.
You can also use CA glue to makes parts! When I was building my P-51D Mustang, I broke off the wing tip next to the aileron (almost impossible not to do at least once because it catches on everything!) as shown below:
To fix it, I cut the thin part back to provide a stronger base and inserted a pin, which in this case was a strong drill bit base.
I then applied a bit of CA glue to the base of the pin and let it dry with a small amount of accelerator placed on the pin.
Building up the part, I applied more CA glue to the tip of the pin which dried fairly quickly with the remnants of the accelerator, then sanded the new tip to shape and added the missing rivet detail while the CA glue remained relatively soft.
After re-painting, voila, the wing is as good as new! Ignore that outer panel line, which I rescribed later.
I also use CA glue a LOT to fill seams, panel lines and as a general filler instead of putty. Putty has its uses, but if want to fill something quickly, without shrinkage and you want to re-scribe panel lines or reapply rivet detail, you can't beat it. Putty shrinks, takes quite a while to dry and re-scribed lines across its surface are often ragged and torn looking. The key to using CA glue as a filler, is to sand it within one hour of application while it remains relatively soft and easy to deal with. After it dries for a day or so it becomes very hard and is difficult to sand.
Well, that's about it on CA glue that I can think of, but if you have any questions, fire away or maybe even offer your own experiences. We all learn from others!
Nice tutorial Chuck! I still hate using PE though, and have a mild allergy to CA glues, so I don't use PE very often. I still use a lot of CA though, so my allergy is always lurking in the background.
A couple of extra points if I may. Firstly, it's always worth being aware of the fact that using an accelerator to speed up CA curing times will make the CA, and therefore its bond, more brittle. This is not usually a problem, as most PE is not structural or weight-bearing. But if you're using it to attach the wings of your resin kit, you're better off not using an accelerator, and allowing it to cure to full strength normally.
Secondly, I've had great success using a mixture of CA and talcum power as a filler (other folks using micro balloons instead). It thickens the CA nicely, and reduces its fully-cured hardness to about that of styrene plastic, so differential sanding is much less likely. The added talc will slow cure time a little, but it's much quicker than traditional fillers.
Oh, and I heartily second your recommendation of the Xuron PE shears - they're not cheap, but are far and away the best solution I've ever come across for cleanly removing photo-etched parts from their frets. They're also fantastic for cleaning-up any burs still left on the part after removal. Previously I was using the method of laying the fret on a sheet of glass, and cutting the part free with a sharp, curved blade, but the Xuron shears work much better.
Jim E got a reaction from sandokan in 1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat
Jim E got a reaction from rafju in 1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat
Jim E got a reaction from coogrfan in 1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat
Jim E got a reaction from D Bellis in 1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat
Jim E got a reaction from Out2gtcha in 1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat