wingman777 Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 This nice drawing featured in the book taught me that the George had a small oval shaped window right behind the canopy on the starboard-top portion of the fuselage. It was to let light in so the groundcrew could see inside the fuselage when working on the radio, cabling or for whatever reason. Haven't seen that in any other source so far or on any George kits. Well, I'll fix that. I've compared several drawings like these to the kit and I'm extremely impressed with the accuracy of the kit, more like blown away!! Oh, did you notice? I replaced the malfunctioning keyboard and now...I can spell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 Finally got a chance to work on the landing gear. This image is something I printed off the website showing the landing gear bays of the George. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 I added a few scratch built parts to try and bring the kit parts up to speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 That previous image shows the white metal landing gear as it connects to the model, just to the right of that is a hole for the kit landing gear. There is an L shaped arm that branches off the main strut thathelps support the LG but isn't accurate. I filled that hole in with CA and will paint over it. I used steel tubing and aluminum tubing to make the actuating rod. It help s support the LG and gives the right look. The spring is the smallest one I could find at the tool repair shop, its still a bit too large but helps make it look closer to the real deal. This image shows the "mysterious black cable" being used as a brake line. It's also larger (thicker) than it should be but I had no other choice...it connects to the electric motor that will spin the prop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 The electric cable runs down the landing gear strut and through hold drilled in the hub of the wheel and it comes out of the bottom of the tire. It will lead to the battery pack under the base. Once the landing gear doors are installed it shouldn't be very obvious (hopefully). I'm sure it would've looked better "more to scale" if I had used the molded in brake lines on the white metal landing gear but I wanted this kit to have the animated prop and this is the only way I knew to make it work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Good work mate! I don't recall reading that you were planning to motorise the prop - did I miss that? The LG is looking good, and that spring adds an impressive sense of detail, even if it is out of scale. Â Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Superb work on that landing gear, and the whole aircraft overall. A very interesting thread to follow. Â Hubert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 Thanks for the encouragement Hubert, Kevin..I let the cat out of the bag about the electric motor back on page #8 and post #118. It will come into play with another feature of the project once its completed. I applied the landing gear covers so aside from weathering and a few minor details this part is done. As metioned before, these are cut from aluminum sheet because the kit parts were too thick and I just like using metal parts when possible to a sense of realism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 These images should explain why I went through the trouble and expense to replace the kit landing gear parts. This is the completed N1K2 landing gear using the replacement parts.....now compare it to what it would have looked like with the kit parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 I borrowed my Ki-84 from the shelf to demonstrate. These two kits were produced by the same manufacturer and the kit landing gear parts are identical as far as I can tell. This is what tipped me off that the aftermarket LG for the Frank should work on the George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 One more time for good measure.....Ki-84 using the kit parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 now the new and improved George, much bettah rooking to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Whoohoo, looking SWEET Wingman!!! Man, it's been awhile since I've checked in on your progress....(I finally ran out of gunpowder, ships, and pudding cups ),and I had to read a few pages to catch up. Dadgummit, I thought you were going to "take it easy", and "not sweat the details" or some-such nonsense?! Meh heh heh, glad to see you enjoying yourself, and doing things up in style. Attaboy! Always cool to see a build with an individual unique flair. Can't wait to see the next set of progress pics! Later Buddy, Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 The oversized spring kept eating at me so I took a single strand of copper wire and made my own springs that are smaller and seem more in scale. I wrapped the wire around a styrene rod and then crunched it down to make it compact. Now these smaller units are installed in the landing gear bays as you'll see in a minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingman777 Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 To finish things out I still had to install the inner landing gear doors and fabricate the connecting rod that the kit didn't supply. This drawing from the book I showed earlier "Genda's Blade" shows that the inner doors hang about vertical when extended. If you use only the kit parts it will have them about half way closed. (you guys with the kit can study the parts and will see what I mean). dodgem37 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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