Airscale PRO Boulton Paul Defiant Mk 1 Night-Fighter - 410 Sqn RCAF

[LSP_Ray]

3 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Great attention to detail, it looks amazing.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Seconded!

[Iain]

Thanks both - all down to Peter's excellent design skills and eye for detail.

 

I've just done the 'colouring in'... 😁

 

You could add a bit more plumbing if you really wanted to - but you wouldn't really see it.

 

Fuselage halves now bonded - so another update tomorrow, perhaps.

 

Iain

[LSP_Kevin]

Great stuff, Iain!

 

Kev

[monthebiff]

Very nice Iain, looking very good indeed.  Need to dig out my pictures I took from a cockpits close up evening at Telford a few years ago in readiness to build mine.

 

Regards. Andy

[dennismcc]

9 hours ago, monthebiff said:

Very nice Iain, looking very good indeed.  Need to dig out my pictures I took from a cockpits close up evening at Telford a few years ago in readiness to build mine.

 

Regards. Andy

Can we have a peep at them ?

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Iain]

Today's episode is brought to you by the letters Z, A and P - my weapon of choice when it comes to bonding resin parts...

 

 

The two central fuselage halves have gone together beautifully: I very carefully aligned the two components under a magnifier to ensure everything was in alignment and held together by hand whilst applying 'spot welds' of Thin CA at the corners - so I could re-check alignment before permanently bonding.

 

The Thin CA was then flooded into the joints and allowed to wick through - done in several stages to get the CA proud of the surface and give something to file/sand back into, and ensure smooth joints.

 

A collection of small files, 600, 800 and 1200 grit wet and dry have brought it to this stage:

 

 

 

 

 

And an important test fit of the cowling and rear fuselage sections - not bonded at this stage - but should be happening shortly...

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun!

 

Iain

 

 

[geedubelyer]

Excellent progress Iain. 

 

Every time I see one of these being built I have to remind myself that this was the creation of one man and not a multi-national company. 

 

You're doing Peter's baby full justice.

Well done. 

[Gazzas]

Interesting, for sure.

[dennismcc]

Looking good Iain, please tell how did you apply the thin CA to get the complete filling you described.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Iain]

2 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Looking good Iain, please tell how did you apply the thin CA to get the complete filling you described.

 

I have a bulk box of bamboo cocktail sticks (3500 in a box) - cut the end to give a chisel point so it holds more of the thin CA - and dip into a plastic shot 'glass' containing some decanted superglue.

 

Then apply into the crack bit by bit until flooded...

 

Then leave for a few hours.  😁

 

Anything proud of the surface can be filed/sanded back - any CA where it shouldn't be is removed with de-bonder (Propylene Carbonate) and some cotton buds.

 

Iain

[Iain]

A bit of progress today - after a bit of a disaster last night...

 

Now, I happened to mention de-bonder earlier - really useful stuff if you make a bit of a numpty 'error'. 😉

 

Well, I added the tail section - having carefully aligned averything - and bonded in place with thin CA. All good.

 

Because of the way the cowling fits over a ridge at the front of the fuselage mid-section - and the fact that you want there to be a visible seam - I elected to use some thick superglue on the inside of the cowling - before pressing home...

 

Within seconds a check from the front indicated that the cowling was now a few degrees 'twisted' when viewed from the front.

 

I won't repeat the language as this is a family show!

 

So - joint  flooded with de-bonder overnight - and the cowl came off. Unfortunately the de-bonder hadn't penetrated all the way around the joint and I had some collateral damage to the port side of the cowling section when removing from the rest of the fuselage - about 7 separate pieces worth! 

 

🥵

 

All had to be carefully repaired this morning and resulting joints sanded back to remove any evidence.

 

This afternoon I've re-fitted the cowling - this time using what I *should* have used first time around: 5 minute Epoxy so I had some 'wiggle' time if alignment slightly out.

 

That'll teach me to not be at the bench when I'm tired/feeling lazy - mea culpa!!

 

Anyhoo - this is where we are now - nose and tail bonded in position - a few battle scars on show - and the joint between the fuselage mid and tail sections filed and sanded:

 

 

 

 

And this is the mid/rear joint - the dark line to the left of the panel line.

 

I've used a small, flat, diamond file to get the surface of the joint flush (works brilliantly with the resin/superglue), followed by wet sanding with 600 - 800 - 1200 Wet and Dry paper. Another quick blast with some 1200 grit to remove those fine scratches and then I'll re-scribe the relevant details.

 

 

So - some re-scribing work on the fuselage and I can move onto the wings. That's the plan, anyway!!

 

Iain

[geedubelyer]

That's an important lesson for us all to learn Iain. 

Thanks for the heads up. 

5min epoxy it is 👍

 

The end result of your trials is looking fine now though. 

Nice recovery. 

[scvrobeson]

Great save Iain, it's looking really great.

 

 

Matt 

[dennismcc]

Great save Iain, it is looking pretty good, and thank you for the CA information, it's something that I will use in future.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice recovery, Iain, and I'm glad to hear that this sort of thing doesn't just happen to me!

 

Kev