1/18 scale Jukka Tervamäki JT-9T autogyro scratchbuilt model

[Scalephantomphixer]

...1.what is 'nitro resolvent' and where do you get it ? I have filler issues at the moment...

Nitro-cellulose thinner. You'll find it at any Do-It-Yourself shop, next to the turpentine thinner, aceton, etc. Maybe you'll have to ask a sales staff to open the locker, since it is considered to be "hot" stuff.

HTH

[LSP_Kevin]

Nitro-cellulose thinner.

 

Otherwise known as lacquer thinner (though they're not all created equal).

 

Kev

[Nick_Karatzides]

Scalephantomphixer said:

Great job so far Nick When can we expect the next installment?

 

Thank you all for encouraging comments. I was quite busy the last 2 weeks and absent from the present 1/18 scale Tervamaki Engineering JT-9T autogyro thread and the 1/18 scale F-16CJ Block 52 HAF thread too! I am planning to run parallel these 2 projects and I estimate that the autogyro which is much easier, will be ready into following weeks.

 

 

henry brown said:

1.what is 'nitro resolvent' and where do you get it ? I have filler issues at the moment.

2.who is the guy off the television in red on your posts? It's eating me up, I have to know.

Henry,

 

It seems that Scalephantomphixer and LSP_Kevin both wrote your answer:

 

Nitro resolvent is actually Nitro-cellulose thinner aka as lacquer thinner

 

Lacquer thinner is a highly-flammable solvent typically containing butyl acetate and xylene or toluene. You can also use it as a thinner for enamel or Alclad II metal colors, but it is very important to avoid breathing its vapors. ALWAYS use a spray booth that evacuates overspray and minimizes the risk of combustion and ALWAYS wear a proper breathing mask - after all, it's all about our health.

 

As for your 2nd question about the guy in red, he is widely known in Greece as a person who talk too much and do less, he got opinion for anything and he knows best. As far as I remember, his name is Georgiou. Well, maybe it's all "Greek" to you, but be sure that Greek guys, got the message crystal clear.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[henry brown]

Kev, Scalehantomphixer, and Nick, thanks for the filler/thinner info, really helpful and useful, and thanks for the ID on the Man in Red Nick. :-)

 

 

Cheers, Henry

[Nick_Karatzides]

CHAPTER III - Instrument panel & cockpit construction

 

The original Jukka Tervamäki JT-9T autogyro instrument panel is not what you would call as “glass cockpit”. Actually it does only have just the basic instruments in cockpit to provide the pilot with information about the flight situation, such as height, speed and attitude. Since the JT-8T autogyro is not designed to fly in conditions of poor visibility or night, the main information is available from visual reference outside the aircraft. Of course, many pilots who are lucky enough to own an autogyro, they might add more sophisticated equipment such as CFT screens, HSI - Horizontal Situation Indicator to follow VOR signals, GPS screens, VHF/UHF radio, replace the heading indicator by a GPS-driven computer with wind and glide data etc. The basic instrument panel is consist by:

• An altimeter indicator,
• an ADI - AttituDe Indicator,
• an ASI - Air Speed Indicator,
• a VSI - Vertical Speed Indicator,
• a fuel quantity indicator,
• an engine RPM tachometer,
• an analog clock and
• a magnetic compass.

I started by cutting the main panel shape in plastic and drilled the gauges positions. Using the Corel Photo Paint, I created a coloured sketch of the instruments, copy & paste the image into a MS Word new file and print it on a simple A4 page. Meanwhile, I add some detail on the instrument panel, such as rivets made by streached sprue inserted in drilled out holes, knobs etc.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[Azgaron]

Very nice looking IP! Printing out the displays looks great!

 

Cheers,

 

Håkan

[Nick_Karatzides]

Using styrene plastic card, I cut the basic lines to form into the two simple seats. The dimensions are based on the basic 1/18 scale JT-9T two-seat trainer blueprint line diagram as seen HERE. On the real JT-9T autogyro, these simple seats are made of hard plastic, fiberglass or even wood sheet and buckram covered home made pillows are placed to provide comfort. These seats are fixed on metal rails, running across the cockpit floor connected with main skeleton, to ensure seat's secure installation.

 

 

For many years, I was used to form aircraft seat pillows with Milliput epoxy putty, which is popular among modelers and also useful in countless household & restoration applications. But, while I was in a supermarket last week, I found the following item and I thought that it could be nice to try it and start experiment with this material. It's an air-drying modeling clay ideal for scale modeling and shaping. According to the instructions, it can be easily formed into shape, become solid rock withing few hours, re-filled or sanded if neccessary and painted or lacquered. That sound quite good to me and similar to the well known Milliput epoxy putty, with the only difference that the 500gr air-drying modeling clay pack cost only £1 GBP, instead of 100gr Milliput epoxy putty which cost £5 GBP. That makes the new found air-drying modeling clay, about 25 times cheaper than Milliput epoxy putty and that's a good reason for me to give it a chance.

 

 

Picking a small quantity with a metal spatula and applying the air-drying modeling clay on the seats, it felt too soft and very easy to spread the material nicely to simulate pillows realistic way. I didn't want to care too much and try forming and shaping the clay, because I was planning to cover the sculpted pillows with wet soft paper to simulate the buckram covered pillows. After all, I had no idea how much available time I had, before the material start becoming hard and difficult to handle.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[LSP_Kevin]

Awesome work Nick! You say you got this modelling clay from the supermarket? I've never seen anything like this at the supermarket - or anywhere else for that matter. Maybe I'd better check some craft shops and see if there's not a better alternative to Milliput right under my nose.

 

Can't wait to see where you take this one next!

 

Kev

[Nick_Karatzides]

Toilet paper is not only for the obvious purpose but can also be useful for scale modeling. I used ordinary toilet paper, cut it to shape and dress the seat pillows made by air-drying modeling clay, to look more realistic and simulate the buckram covers. Water based white glue for wood, which becomes transparent when it dries, is just the right for the job. So, I opened a 500 grams canister bought for €2 EUR only, pick a small quantity, add just few drops of water with a syringe into a small metal container to make the right mixture and finally I formed the paper on the pillows with a wet brush, into the desired shape. Because the mixture is enriched with water based glue, the soft toilet paper becomes hard when the water dries.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[Nick_Karatzides]

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[Pfuf]

Great to see your work thx for the toiletpaper seat looks great going to try it.

 

johan

[Nick_Karatzides]

CHAPTER IV - Right side fuselage construction

 

As I said at the beginning of this thread, I decide to make the JT-9T building look more interesting and show the model in a way that airframe should look like cutaway side opened and let cockpit detail be easily observed. THIS artistic diagram gave me the idea and that would be a nice opportunity to present my way to do it. To do so, I decide that a solid rock one-piece "negative image" cast of the right side fuselage should be made of plaster first and then build a right side solid replica made of polyester, epoxy or resin. This replica - virtual fuselage, would be the basic line to create a thin right-to-scale fuselage surface.

 

My local newsagent, usually wraps my newspaper and magazines into a plastic bag, which sometimes I use to collect the trash. This time, I decide to use the plastic bag in a completely different way. I cut free-hand few pieces of plastic, keeping in mind to make them longer & wider than the autogyro scale model dimensions. Using duct tape, I stretched the plastic bag across the airframe, in a way to simulate the full right side and half bottom fuselage surface, trying not to leave any visual wrinkles or marks.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[Nick_Karatzides]

I add some grams of plaster powder and few drops of water with a syringe into a soft rubber cup to make the right mixture. Materials like plaster, start as a dry powder that is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after drying and this characteristic make plaster suitable for the job. Keep in mind that adding salt into wet plaster mixture, reduce the plaster's hardening time and adding vinegar into wet plaster mixture, extend the plaster's hardening time. When the first layer of thinned plaster applied on the plastic bag was dry and hard enough, a second thin layer of plaster was applied to form a basic strong cast. The basic idea, is to let the plaster follow the airframe details, accurate on scale and as thin as possible trying not to apply extra stuff where is no needed.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[Nick_Karatzides]

Found at my local supermarket and got for only €0.5 EUR, the following modeling clay for kids. Some scale modelers, use this material to border camouflage patterns while airbrushing. I pick a piece, mold it into snake alike formation and placed it across the airframe to border the wet plaster flow - yellow color for up and purple color for bottom airframe side.

 

 

When I finally enclosed the right half JT-9T scale model into plaster, I left it few hours to get harden in order to be sure that the cast wouldn't break when I would try to remove the scale model from inside. Meanwhile, I took the soft rubber cup which I used to make the plaster mixture, squized it to break the last hardened plaster left inside, so it would be easier for me to clean it afterwards and prepare it for any future mix. That's the reason this soft rubber cup were used for.

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides

[Nick_Karatzides]

As soon as the plaster cast was dry and hardened, I removed the the modeling clay I used for bordering the plaster flow and pull the enclosed JT-9T scale model airframe away, gently. Brushing the area with an old tooth brush, I removed unwanted dust or small broken plaster pieces.

 

 

Johnson's baby oil or similar is well know to anybody who have children in house. If you don't have children yet, ask your girlfriend - all girlfriends have a tiny bottle in their cosmetics drawer. If you don't have a girlfriend, close this web page, shut down your PC/laptop and get your feet out of house to meet one! Scale modeling is nice, but feeling a nice female next to you is much better. Continuing with the project, thin layers of vaseline based mixtures can be also used instead of baby oil to apply with a soft brush as a segregative material between the plaster cast and generous quantities of polyester filler applied on the plaster cast.

 

 

The specific polyester filler I used, comes with the proper catalyst which provides a solid rock build and approximately 3 to 5 minutes time window to form it into shape. I prefer to use epoxy putty or polyester filler with fiberglass grains for special purposes, because:

• It becomes solid rock within only few minutes or seconds,
• it does not shrink and does not crack after months or years,
• you can pour to any shape that you want but you need to work fast because as soon as you mix it with catalyst cream approx 5%, you have limited time before becoming solid rock,
• you can also put additional layers of epoxy or polyester filler to build up,
• you can sand it, you can drill it, you can use any type of scale modeling glue, any type of primer or enamel / acrylic paint on it with no problem,
• can be purchased at any good crafts store into 250ml, 500ml, 1lt (comes with a tube of catalyst hardener) or bigger canisters and if you can't find it, fear not and try your local decent hardware store and finally...
• it is cheaper than dirt - estimated prices are £3 to £10 depending the canister size, the quality, if contains fiberglass grains for maximum strength etc.

Keep in mind that the chemical reaction after mixing the polyester filler with the catalyst hardener, produces some heat that possibly effect on thin plastic parts, so test it first before try it on your scale model. I don’t think that the produced heat is more than Fahrenheit 110, but better watchout. Remember that epoxy materials are dangerous when breath or shallow and could result skin, eyes or lungs problems or even cancer when used for long period with no precaution measures. Always keep in mind, that a powerful vacuum system to suck away the epoxy dust should be used all time to keep the workbench area clean while sanding or milling epoxy or resin materials. Using an issued breathing mask and a pair of surgery latex gloves to prevent dust contact with lungs and fingers while sanding or milling epoxy, is also an important matter that you should seriously take care of! My recommendation is to also wear an overall working suit (as I do) to keep your clothes dust free while sanding epoxy. Some people might find it too much, but I wouldn't like to bring epoxy dust & grains from my work bench into living room and my beloved.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Nick_Karatzides