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Chance-Vought XF5U-1 'Flying Pancake'


ruzlkampf

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WHOAAAAAAA Nellie!!!! CAUTION: MAD SCIENTIST AT WORK...PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK :lol: :unsure:

Coming from you Russ, BOOM is a good thing or atleast you'll make it fun one way or the other. I've always considered resin casting to be a black art but you're shedding some good light on the subject. Once you get this new creatu..I mean new formula working, just think about it. You'll be able to cast resin copies of your 1947 beetle!!!! :lol: :lol: I want a copy myself :P :P Too much fun dude. I hope you enjoyed your day of fun in the sun, no tellin' which model had to pay the ultimate price by finding its way to the bottom of the pond via BB gun attack. :P Have a Jello pudding cup on me and keep up the good work.

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Bwhahahah! I've moved on from pudding cups to the hard stuff Wingman,.....home-made chocolate chip cookies. :) Breakfast of champions! (or some-such nonsense) Yea, for even tho I was told that there was no possibility of cramming that many chocolate chips into a cookie,....I deem them structurally sound. Mmmmmm. :)

Whoakay, as much as I like being idle and swinging in my hammock....scratching my belly....I have achieved a modicum of success whacking on the resin casting. I usually only play with this witches-brew of gloppy chemicals when creating VERY large 1/6th scale armor. Ooooh, you haven't lived until you've cast 138 individual Panther track-links, mantlet,commanders cupola, ect. ect. But I digress. I've bumbled my way thru getting my molds made up, and have taken the measure of these new (to me) casting products. I like em. It went much easier after I read the directions.(Garn,...they're for the weak and easily intimidated :) ) Yeah, some almost illegible fine print on the bottle of catalyst about 'shaking well before use'. Hmmmm.

Time for an update on what I've been playing around with. Here's the 1st 1/2 of the molds completed, and ready to pour the final layer. Couldn't believe I hadn't glued (or maybe 'solvent welded) myself to the carpet yet by this stage. Whoohoo, I'm goin somewhere! Pragmatic pin-head that I am,....I ended up using the modeling clay for my pour-holes. Cheap, effective, and within reach. Uuuuhmm, also appears to be completely inert to any of the chemicals I'm mixing up here. ;)

The molds; Stage 1

 

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Molds after pouring the 'top layer', and separating the masters. Wasn't sure how to, or where to place the vents and pour holes for something this thin and strangely shaped for the props, so I just made a huge spout to dump the resin into. Whoooo,..life on the edge. We'll see how it turns out. Nothing like a good experiment to keep things interesting?

 

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Whoohoo! Time to cast some resin!!! :) This is the fun, easy part. In theory. I buy this stuff by the gallon cuz it's WAY cheaper by volumn than those casting kits,...and I mess up and experiment a lot. We won't go there in this thread. :) This stuff mixes 50-50, so even I can't mess it up. Uhhhh, wait a minute.....it's a good idea to mark all the mixing bowls and sticks 'n stuff somehow so ya don't put the A into the B unintentionally when mixing and moving things around. Stuff dries like a rock in about 5 minutes as soon as they touch,....or when you're mixing it. :) Let's move on without more elaboration.

 

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Here we go!! Pulling the first casting out of the mold. I've found that by pouring the resin from a height of about 12 inches, and pouring in a very tin stream,....it eliminates most all air bubbles. I pour resin onto the side of the 'spout' or 'funnel' that I made out of clay when making the mold, and let it dribble into the cavity slowly allows a nice even distribution of resin into all the fine cavities. Pros use a vacuum device to get the bubbles out, but I'm in a hurry/lazy and got fast setting resin. Everybody has their own style.

 

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Now that everythings out, and I'm on a roll....it only took me about 10 minutes apiece to cast my wheels. I made an extra cuz it was fun. :)

 

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First prop outta the mold. I was afraid of bubbles, but it looks like the huge gaping hole I put into the prop-boss did okay. Won't bore ya'll with more pics of this process, but I've got all 8 props cast and ready for cleanup. Now that I know how to work this stuff, I'll lay around with it a bit to refine my technique. Heck, might even make a 'slush-mold' of the pancake itself outta RTV and make copies? Hmmm. Anyway, this is good practice for the SR-71 and B-70 I want to start soon. Weekend is coming up,....so I'll have more progress pics of all these bits installed on this project rolling in. I've just got some cockpit detailing to do, and this project is ready for paint and wrappng up. Whoopee! More pics tomorrow night, e?! Later, Russ

 

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Impressive Russ! I'm still struggling to get my head around the practicalities of this resin casting caper, but I'm definitely interested. Those wheels look great. Nearly done, eh? This must be your longest build yet, Russ!

 

Kev

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Oh man, Russ...let me know whey your modeling classes at Russville begin and I'll fly out there. With this kind of knowledge / technology we could all make our own resin models. Whatever we wanted in whatever scale....DANG!!

You said: might even make a 'slush-mold' of the pancake itself outta RTV and make copies? If you make any copies I'd be interested in buying one....heck, I still owe you one for those Ho-229 drawings.

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Bwhahahah! ;) Howdy ya'll,...hey, nobody was more surprised than me that I'm actually pulling 1/2 this crap off!! Just got thru putting the props and wheels on for a trial-fit,...and I just sat there with a 'flange-faced, bovine cud-chewing stare' in amazement. When I do my next project(s), I'll be sure to go into more detail on how I popped the canopy and did the resin-casting thing if there's enough interest. Kinda intimidated about doing that, cuz there's guys on this forum that are MUCH better at this stuff than I'll ever be, :rolleyes:

According to my fingers and toes, I've got just about 2 months actual working time on this lump Kevin,....sure feels like a lot longer though with all the pauses. I'm ready to slam this sucker out!!

Blast!, Ya know wingman...if I didn't have the gear and rudders on this pile, I WOULD make you a copy! Heck, now that I've got all the masters for everything I could make a few dozen. Hmmm, I think I might make molds for all the SR-71 stuff as I go along just to do something like that? ;) Hey dude, ya don't owe me ANYTHING for those enlarged plans,.....the best things in life are free, and besides that's what friends are for! ;)

Ahem,...but I digress, and flap my gums once again. I'm already working on the cockpit, but I wanted to show ya'll where I was yesterday before calling it a night. Check it out;

 

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Here's some shots of the pancake at what be 'eye level' in real life. Just mocked up,...nothing glued yet. I'm hoping to get the cockpit and landing gear doors done by this weekend. Getting REAL close to finishing up on making all the parts. Should have more pics soon! Later, Russ

 

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