Tallyho Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 The radiator tunnel exhaust door: This is the fourth one. Working with the aluminum, while not hard, takes good planning and being able to visualize things as if they were flattened out. Careful measuring is also needed when things need to go together or need to fit inside something else. There are four pieces to the assembly, two sides, the exterior pan and the bottom of the ramp. The ramp has a shallow radius at the aft. That radius becomes less as you go toward the front of the ramp. I dont know what the curve numbers are. This was an eyeball job. This makes fitting the inside ramp a bit dicey since it has to curve to match the outer shell while at the same time bending convexly fore to aft. The inside ramp also has two stiffening beads which also run fore to aft. The side walls are flat. Geoff, You forgot to mention; "anybody can do it" even if I had your phenominal patience, my hands function like 'a bull in a china shop'. Soon as the economy pick's up, I'm going to sell off my entire modeling room and try to forget I ever heard of this hobby. Fred Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcauchi Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Geoff, modelling is all about making mistakes especially when you are scratchbuilding. You start getting good when you do something after five tries instead of 10. I also normally do things many times and when i try out something and it comes right first go, wow that makes my day. You are doing brilliant work and have mastered the use of aluminium. Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCote Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Geoff, you are a colossus bestriding the world of modelling. You know, of course, what your logical next step is: a totally scratch-built Mustang! This build is a practise run. Jean P.S. don't mention the "S" word please. Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K'Tesh Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Geoff, I wonder, perhaps if you've been faking it... disassembling a full sized aircraft in the presence of scaled up Xacto knives, plans, etc. My Goodness, this build is BEAUTIFUL!!! I'm not worthy!!! I'm not worthy!!! K'Tesh Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Jean, Im glad you looked in..thank you, although I dont think I qualify as a colossus bestriding anything unless we are talking about waist size . Just the same, it's always good to hear from you...and no S word As always... Best, Geoff K'T, I can see you appreciate the difficulties of creating giant xacto knives! Im glad you looked in...thanks Best, Geoff OK, now for my reason for being here. In one of my last posts I put up pic of the dog house exit door sitting in the tunnel. If you look closely at it, you can see a couple of problems. One: there is a random rivet below the rivet line along the bottom edge of the tunnel lining. Two: The verticle rivet lines dont line up properly with the bottom line. Hence, I replaced both iner linings with new pieces. Pics follow The upper shot is the original. The lower is after replacing the tunnel walls. I know it doesnt seem like much, But it was just buggin me. It's fixed...work continues Hope everyone is well. Best, Geoff Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRutman Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 That dump door sure is pur-teee! See what you mean about the side wall rivits though. Why didn't you use the punches that you shared with me? Are they supposed to be round head or flush riivts? JR Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 1, 2009 Author Share Posted November 1, 2009 That dump door sure is pur-teee! See what you mean about the side wall rivits though. Why didn't you use the punches that you shared with me? Are they supposed to be round head or flush riivts?JR Hey Bubba, To answer your question, the riveting in the tunnel is flush. The back end of the tunnel is held in place with Dzus fasteners. Ill use the twist beaders (punches) for them. Anyway, there are three verticle lines of rivets on each side. Glenn put some nice shots of the tunnel on the SIG along with three view shots of the door. Check it out. Best, Geoff Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Greetings All, Some small bit of progress has been made. Im still checking into the details of the aft tunnel assembly but its pretty close at this point. Ive also redone the inside of the outlet door since new photos have become available of the surface detail. Have a look... the ramp surface (bottom) has been replaced with a new one which has better surface detail. The "dog house " has been an ongoing discussion over on the 51 SIG. One of the members, who works on Mustangs regularly, supplies tons of pics and information regarding the Mustang and its structure. Most pics you see in available material show a transverse bar that supports the side panels of the door. This is a post war/ ANG addition and not found on 44-45 production Mustangs. The reinforcing bar was added later when it was found that the side walls began to crack. Again, this bar was not found on original production machines. Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 This is the beginning of the upper tunnel surface. This is one of the things Im still looking into. Im comfident that the three reinforcing beads are correct. Im just not sure of the back end. Ive penciled in what I believe are the correct surface details. There would be two rivet lines which run transversely above and below the square panel. The panel is held in place with Dezus fasteners. The upper surface also neds to be bent so it goes up to the top of the downstream side of the Glycol radiator. Im pretty sure this should be made of two pieces but havent decided if i should do it as one piece or two. The hole is the openingfor the door actuating arm. Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 The begining of the upper tunnel surface fitted into the tunnel. The upper surface is a continuation of the lower aft fuselage which goes into the tunnel itself. If you look at the aft end you can see how it flows from the fuselage undersurface into the tunnel. It's important that it fit right. You cant use putty to make it fit. The edges of the lower fuselage sides still need to be cleaned upp before the tunnel upper surface can go in permanently. The aft end of the upper surface also has to curve to match the lower fuselage curve. Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Work on the carb air inlet plates has also begun. I found this sheet in the local hobby shop. The holes were a bit small and had to be drilled out. A pain... The sheets are available from : Special Shapes...www.specialshapes.com...part number:0641 Thats it for me guys. See ya next trip... Hope everyone is well,, Best, Geoff Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kem Chisholm Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Dude, (Sigh) Please send me your address so that I can ship you my kits and hopefully watch you create more masterpieces. . .(Sniff). . . or maybe I'll just toss them into the dumpster. (Sigh) Should have been born talented instead of handsome . . . wait a sec. . . Crap! Fabulous work you're doing there Geoff, love your updates. Chiz Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share Posted November 4, 2009 Dude, (Sigh) Please send me your address so that I can ship you my kits and hopefully watch you create more masterpieces. . .(Sniff). . . or maybe I'll just toss them into the dumpster. (Sigh) Should have been born talented instead of handsome . . . wait a sec. . . Crap! Fabulous work you're doing there Geoff, love your updates. Chiz Kem, Gee, Ive always wished I was handsome. Girls dont much care about airplanes...idiots that they are . Thanks for looking in, always good to know someone enjoys whats going on here. Best, Geoff Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRutman Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 On the roof of the dog house I saw a small scoop in a pic on the sig. Is that another post war addition? JR Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share Posted November 4, 2009 On the roof of the dog house I saw a small scoop in a pic on the sig. Is that another post war addition?JR JR, Really? Where is it? Ill call you later... Geoff Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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