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Chance-Vought XF5U-1 'Flying Pancake'


ruzlkampf

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Hey Russ,

 

it is looking good to say the less.

My 2 cents advices based on my own experience:

- before you apply the second layer, try to lightly sand the first layer and especially around the areas where you have a rib in order to eventually smooth the "turttle scale" effect that you may have. The most important thing is to have a good preparation stage for the surface of your initial layer.

- second layer does not need to be "thick"

- when you will glue the second layer of styren try to avoid any air bubble to get trapped inbetween the 2 layers

Hope this could help.

Can not wait to see more of it!

Cheers,

 

Loic

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Well alright! Thanks for the encouragment guys. :lol: Came home a little early tonight, cause I'm all pumped up about getting the 'base skin' applied and out of the way. Slowly changing from a waffle-looking thing, into a pancake! :P (actually, it looks more like a soft shelled mud turtle now, til I get some panel lines on it.)

Top gets a different 'segmentation' of panels than the bottom, cuz it doesn't have wheel well openings and such. Really tough getting the seams as imperceptable as possible, and lots of careful sanding on the framework so I don't get any 'bumps' or a 'serrated' look going across the top. EVERY little imperfection shows! :lol:

Here are some shots before I started finishing the top sheeting. I set a paper cut-out of what the panel lines will look like top/bottom next to the model so ya'll can see what they'll look like (hopefully) when I do the top layer. It's going to be nice to scribe FLAT pieces of styrene before applying to the model! ;) Uhhh, in theory anyway. :huh:

 

post-4413-1224653165.jpg

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Nothing really exciting,...just had to take a last pic of my engine compartments going bye-bye. Because I'm not installing motors now, I've decided to spend more time on the cockpit, and arrester-gear. It's pretty unique looking, and 'pops' up outta the TOP of the shape. :lol:

 

post-4413-1224653320.jpg

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Getting a lot better at getting my seams almost invisible. Bet ya'll couldn't even see this one in the pics above, eh?! :lol: This thing is gonna be smooth, baby. Realized that I will have to apply the scribed top skin before finishing off the leading edge, and outside edges for various convoluted reasons. BLAST! Wanted to put it off as long as possible to avoid any damage or mistakes. Hoping to have the fuse/wing/shape skinned and done by this weekend. Next week is going to be a "How Russ bumbles thru 'blowing a canopy' and casting his own props outta resin." Should be a hoot. :lol:

 

post-4413-1224654305.jpg

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Whoakay. Blasted thru the 'base skin', and got my two sumthin hours of building in for the night. Whoohoo! :lol: Last pics of the 'dung beetle' as a 'mud turtle', it's time to start skinning this punkin. Because I've been using as many factory-cut edges of the styrene sheets as possible to keep my seams flush, it was critical to keep this darn thing as square as possible thru-out the framing of the structure.(those cad-drawing paper airplane plans helped a LOT) Was wildly surprised to find it was less than an exacto-knife blade width from being outta square thruout the entire shape. :lol: I'll buy THAT for a dollar! Don't know how I pulled that off, but I'll take all the breaks life gives me. Whew.

 

post-4413-1224663094.jpg

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Russ,

Lookin' good man.I want to thank you for putting the bug in my ear concerning using a paper model as a pattern for scratchbuilding.I've a Ansaldo A.1 Balilla and a Fiat CR.42 paper kits in hand,both will in up as new scratch projects.A coin toss will decide which is first . Now all I have to do is fit yet another project into my time schedule.Anyway your's is an excellent project,I'll be following closely hoping to borrow a few tip or just down right steal them.Keep the progress.

Hightest Regards,

Gregory Jouette

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow Chris, you are dah Man!!!!! I managed to scrounge all the other pics on that site at one point or another, except for that SEAT!!! :rolleyes: Whoohoo. Last piece of the jigsaw puzzle I was missing. This project is far from dead. I've already got the skin panels all scribed and laid out top/bottom for installation, and I've been building a 'contraption' for vacuforming canopies and large 'shapes'. Got some huge builds planned for this coming new year, and I'm practicing with new techniques and materials this build will 'pioneer' for me. Got a propellor 'master' made up ready for resin casting, and the landing gear is ready for paint/installation on this thing.

Gotta 'jet bug' up my tail-feathers right now, so I've got to scratch that itch first. Lotsa holiday free time coming up to be knocking this project out. Thanks for the seat pic!!! Muchos gracias Muchacho. Russ

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  • 1 month later...

Well, as Gen. 'Dugout' Douglas McArthur lisped as he came ashore the Phillipines, "I have returned"! :P After a couple of short sojourns into 'other things', I have decided to work on this critter again. As I was puttying up the Bearcat, this was looking at me with big brown puppy eyes, it's lower lip quivering, mewling, "finish me, before I bite your ankle off". Whoakay.

I've started off by placing my usual totally useless 'strategically placed lines' (hey, it makes me feel like I'm DOING something), and putting my first lateral 'strengthening strap' on. This will have recessed rivets, and stand slightly proud of the skinning. I'm going to be using the paper airplane 'skins' as a template for scribing, making this as much of a no-brainer as I can. Also, I get to scribe the skins flat,...before I put them on. Yipppeee! :) Ooooh, I crack myself up sometimes. heh heh!

Here's the paper templates cut to compensate for the strap, and a test fit. Whew, glad it's still the correct size/profile. Starting at the rear, cuz I want a knife-edge trailing edge and this will require some careful trimming. Yeah, right.

 

post-4413-1230024444.jpg

 

Pieces put into position to ensure I have everything(especially that strap) still square and all lined up. Ready to go! More pics as things progress, Russ

 

post-4413-1230024454.jpg

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Hey Russ,

 

I am glad to see that this cow pie is still warm.... :)

 

Reminds me of a few good words I heard from a movie:

 

"a new born baby bird just fall off its nest. He is alone in the field/grass bellow, it can not yet fly and as it is winter it gets cold quickly and call for its mumy... yipee! yipee!

The mum hears nothing but a cow does, comes to it and ask why shooting. I am cold.... so the cow has an idea and drops a big pie on it.

The bird is now well warm and feel very happy, it shoots even more YIPEE!! YIPEE! ... and a fox hear him... come, get the bird off the pie and eat it...."

 

This is why one should always remember that those who put you into the sh..t do not always do it to arm you and those who get you off it do not always do it for the best! :P

 

Cheers,

 

Loic

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Russ,...this is AMAZING, was following your build from time to time, and it is a joy to see how this "pancake" is coming to a beautifull finished model.

Can't wait to see it in full colour.....

 

congrats,

 

Jack :)

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