LSP_Kevin Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Kev, I fully appreciate the issues you're having with glueing/clamping/misfitting, because I was having similar problems fitting the merlin into my 1/24 spitfire. In fact I still haven't resolved it, so you are doing a fair bit better than me! That engine and guns looks wonderful, and I'm sure it'll turn out to be a great looking model. Stick wid' it bro! Cheers Ango Thanks Ango! Sticking with it is part of my credo - too stoopid to know when to give up! You could say I'm the Rocky Balboa of LSP... Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Attaboy Kevin!!!! That's the style! I know I couldn't have juggled all that stuff into the fuselage that well. Whew, you've got a lot going on in there. Sooo...now that you've had a chance to pause and contemplate, are you going to compensate, skew, cut, pry, shim, leave it like it is, or pause and reflect more? Bummer that it didn't just grease right in, but I'm real interested in how you're going to recover. Sometimes things work out, by not working out....and there's a silver lining here.(don't ya just want to slap my optimistic a$$? ) Really though, I wonder what I'd do in a similar situation(been in recovery mode twice this week already) if I had to redo something like this. I know I would've glued the heck outta everything as most of it is structural, and I wouldn't want to be cutting it all back out. But what else can you do? Really interested in how you're going to solve this puzzle, and I want to learn how to recover from a similar situation when it happens to me. Got any ideas you're willing to share? I'm holding my breath here Kevin....the air is thick with suspense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Attaboy Kevin!!!! That's the style! I know I couldn't have juggled all that stuff into the fuselage that well. Whew, you've got a lot going on in there. Sooo...now that you've had a chance to pause and contemplate, are you going to compensate, skew, cut, pry, shim, leave it like it is, or pause and reflect more? Bummer that it didn't just grease right in, but I'm real interested in how you're going to recover. Sometimes things work out, by not working out....and there's a silver lining here.(don't ya just want to slap my optimistic a$$? ) Really though, I wonder what I'd do in a similar situation(been in recovery mode twice this week already) if I had to redo something like this. I know I would've glued the heck outta everything as most of it is structural, and I wouldn't want to be cutting it all back out. But what else can you do? Really interested in how you're going to solve this puzzle, and I want to learn how to recover from a similar situation when it happens to me. Got any ideas you're willing to share? I'm holding my breath here Kevin....the air is thick with suspense. You're right Russ, I glued the heck out of it - with epoxy no less. It's not coming out even if I wanted it to. So, I'm just going to have to work around it. I've already rebuilt the shelf at the rear of the cockpit with styrene sheet (it wasn't really practical to modify the resin part). My major task over the weekend is to free the vac canopy from its moorings so I can test the placement of the various bits in relation to it. Once that's done I'll have a proper idea about how much things are actually out of whack. I think I'll get away with it, but that could just be my optimistic a$$ talking... More soon! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 I thought I'd post a couple of photos of recent work. Here's the rear cockpit shelf: I've also added the Eduard PE hatch cover. I had a choice between that and the True Details resin version, but the PE one was much closer to scale thickness, so I went with that. I've also finished rescribing the upper wings: You can see evidence of my (many!) corrected mistakes. It's still not perfect, as I managed to put the inboard panel line in different locations on each wing... . Here's my next challenge, the canopy: Hopefully the relevant details are discernable - clear plastic is very hard to photograph! Not looking forward to cutting this one out. I need to keep it intact until I've test-fitted everything, but the instructions suggest cutting away the opening section while still on the backing sheet. I'm still planning an open cockpit, so not sure quite which way to go about things yet. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJ Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Seems like the canopy will be more rigid the longer it stays on the backing material so that may indeed be the best way to proceed. Lots of magnification, a very fine razor saw and tiny baby steps seem the order of the day! You're really producing a gem here Mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 No kidding Dave!, This is sweet little project, and has more bells 'n whistles than I've ever attempted at one time. Really learning a lot from watching you tip-toe thru the landmines Kevin. I don't recall ever cutting a vacuform canopy for opening. Multiple scoring with an exacto would be too nerve-wracking, and it'd be kinda flexible to be taking a razor saw to. Probably have to call in the heavy arty, and buy one of those fancy photo-etch saw blades to keep from taking too wide a swath with a regular razor saw blade. Pretty cool the front cowling is one-piece with the front windscreen, that'll make mounting it a lot more solid.(hmmm, I see you've detailed the gunbays up front, is the panel going to be open too?) Going thru the process of elimination in my feeble-chuckleheaded-little mind, it seems you'd want to take off the front/rear parts of clear first to be able to lay it on the fuse and check the fit fore/aft/height. Then cut the opening while there are still sides on it for support. Cut off the sides last after you've checked the height so ya don't take off too much there.(I never assume the mold lines are correct) I've used those sharp little scissors on a Swiss Army knife to pare things down a little at a time before, with a little fine sanding stick to fine fit. Don't know how I'd cut the opening tho. OK, enough of my un-solicited advise, Kevin's gonna do it how he wants anyway with the tools he has available. Can't wait to see ya pull the rabbit outta the hat sir! (nothing like an audience for a little drama and stress, eh Kevin!) Excellent job so far, I love coming back to see where you're at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Thanks guys, always nice to have some encouragement! hmmm, I see you've detailed the gunbays up front, is the panel going to be open too? Wasn't planning on it Russ, so I didn't realise at first that much of the detail in the gun bay would be hidden. Oh well. For every build that's not strictly OOB, I have a target area for skills acquisition or improvement. This build's focus is on coming to grips with resin and PE, so I'm trying to use as much of it as I can, and even if it ends up hidden, it's all valuable practise. I could always leave the forward fuselage in clear plastic! Canopy solution pending... Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Hi Kev, really looking forward how you will handle this canopy thing as I am about to deal with my first ever vac canopy as soon as it arrives from the USA (thanks again Russ!), hopefully in a few days... Come on Kev, please show me the way! Want to practice PE on this kit, here is an idea... I did build it some years ago and I had in mind to detail the wheel wells which are quite basic on the original kit. I did cut the plastic and rebuilt the walls with some tin from a coke can (well OK, sort of home made cheap PE...). This is where it comes funny... unless you are targetting for an african plane (which does have covers/protections), the wells walls consist of some sort of triangular construction with holes in everywhere which allows you to see as deep as the wing goes (on the model at least...) so I had to rebuilt a HUDGE part of the internal structure with spare coke can... It was a pain, took me days, not much visible unless you are lurking there but it was a good exercice I guess. Cheers, Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Sorry to disappoint you guys, but things really didn't go to plan. Basically, the part of the vac canopy that represents the forward fuselage just doesn't fit over the guns: As you can see, it's not even close. To confirm whether it's a poor fitting part, or a symptom of my dodgy placement of the internals, I did a test fit of the kit parts that I originally cut away from the area. This confirmed that the twisted engine/cockpit assembly has given the guns (particularly the port one) a much higher profile than they would normally have, causing most of the displacement you can see in the photo. Here's a shot from the front: I think I now have no option but to trim away the forward section of the vac part, cut away the fuselage side panels forward of the panel line, and glue them all together to represent the rear removable section. A diagram probably makes more sense: Of course, there's nowhere near enough detail behind those panels to be worth displaying this way, but I can't see any other solution. One thing's for sure - I'm not beaten yet! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Humm.... there might be an option b kev It would be a shame to slaughter your fine work on the guns but if you do not quite wish to display them anyway, you also could use your favorite Dremel tool to erase them until the top cover fits. Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 20, 2008 Author Share Posted April 20, 2008 Humm.... there might be an option b kev It would be a shame to slaughter your fine work on the guns but if you do not quite wish to display them anyway, you also could use your favorite Dremel tool to erase them until the top cover fits. Loic Thanks Loic, but the deed's already done. While fiddling with the parts, the left gun came off (it wasn't well secured anyway), so I took the opportunity to see if the vac part fitted any better. It didn't, as the kit fuselage seemed to have spread quite a bit in that area, so not only was the vac part not tall enough, it wasn't wide enough either. So, out came every sharp implement I own, and here's the result: That side looks OK, but the vast, empty space on the starboard side is now visible: Once I got the panels off, I could see the source of all the problems. There actually is a locating nubbin on each fuselage half, against which the rear side of the firewall is meant to abut. I managed to get the firewall to sit right on top of the damn things - on both sides! - which pushed the fuselage halves out by the width of the nubbins (about a mm or so on each side). It also proves I had the whole assembly too far back, but not by as much as I'd thought. I dealt with the nubbins using one of the saws in the Hasegawa PE razor saw set, which worked well. Having already cut the side panels out, it's too late to go back, so the current goal is to complete the model with all upper panels on the forward fuselage removed. Had I known where this was going to go, I would have taken a very different approach, and planned it all out. Oh well, hindsight and all that. I haven't given up yet, but this build is sure pushing my patience! Thanks everyone for your continued interest. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJ Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 There actually is a locating nubbin on each fuselage half, against which the rear side of the firewall is meant to abut. I was abut to suggest that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I dealt with the nubbins using one of the saws in the Hasegawa PE razor saw set, which worked well. Having already cut the side panels out, it's too late to go back, so the current goal is to complete the model with all upper panels on the forward fuselage removed. I admire the heck out of your determination, Kevin, and the result's certainly coming together Just in the unlikely case this has gone by you: if you leave the top cowling off I *think* you might need to separate the two small panels over the exhaust stack from the front one? They are (IIRC) hinged at the bottom to the stack mounting and not part of the main cowl. Ultimately they're straight, thin strips - so no biggie, but just in case, y'know? HTH, Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 Hi Kev, tricky build... did you try to test fit the wind screen yet as you may face the same issue as per the gun cover I am afraid. Also, did you try to aling the exaust with the engine as thetwist may create some slight problem here too. Do not give up! Those tought builds are the one you remember one completed... cheers, Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 20, 2008 Author Share Posted April 20, 2008 Thanks guys. No intention of giving up (yet), but I have to admit I've had one hand on the flush button today... Patrick, I *think* I know which panels you're talking about, so I'll check my references to make sure. I think I'm fast reaching the 'I can't take much more of this' stage though! Loic, there will definitely be issues with the exhaust alignment, but I'm hoping they won't be insurmountable. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make the canopy work though. More photos soon. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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