spacewolf Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I happened to have an oil cooler screen from an old Revell kit. Trimmed a bit on the edges and cut in half horizontally it fit in quite nicely. The other half fit the back just as well but it was a close fit to allow the tab to fit into the box formed by the two screens. I cut the flap free and repositioned it down a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 It's hard to see but it's there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 It's much easier to see the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Looking good Vaughn! It's good to have a spares box with useful stuff! Cheers, Håkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 With the oil cooler ready I test fitted it and another problem came to my attention. The way the wing is molded, it provides both the screw mounting flange that also doubles as the area for the oil cooler. Now this is a great idea as the oil cooler hides most of the seams where the flange sets into the fuselage but whoever came up with the idea failed to notice that on the 109, the entire panel under the exhaust is hinged on the right hand side so it can be unlatched and swing down for maintenance. Instead of having the scribed line for the panel edge behind it, they simply extended the ramp for the oil cooler. This was something I should have caught before I put the wings together as it would have been easy to fix then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 With the gear legs in place it was tricky to scribe and sand but only took a short time to fix. I glued the oil cooler in place, flooding the seams with tenax several times then pressing down till liquified plastic swelled out of the seam, held it for a few seconds and then as it was released it pulled the bead of plastic back in and there was no need for filler. A few brushes of Tenax over the join and it blended like there had never been a seam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Whoohoo! Lotsa nice 'finangling' you've got going on with this kit. I've never even seen one of these 21st century kits, so I've missed out on ever getting the chance to build one. Really cool following along to see how it's done. Lookin REAL good Vaughn, keep it going dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Nice work Vaughn. I must get me some of that Tenax some day. Not sure they sell it locally, but I'm sure there'll be an equivalent around. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Whoohoo! Lotsa nice 'finangling' you've got going on with this kit. I've never even seen one of these 21st century kits, so I've missed out on ever getting the chance to build one. Really cool following along to see how it's done. Lookin REAL good Vaughn, keep it going dude! Thanks, they are really good kits and for $12.00 you can't go wrong. If you want it can be put together in a weekend and looks great. I wanted to do a bit more and it's going better than I'd hoped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Nice work Vaughn. I must get me some of that Tenax some day. Not sure they sell it locally, but I'm sure there'll be an equivalent around. Kev If you have a plastics supply store around (most cities do) that deal with plexiglass, they have super thin, super 'hot' glues just for acrylic. I used a product called SC- 94 for a while till they changed it. Ask the supplier what glues they use for acrylics and use what they suggest. It literally melts the plastic and it's easy to use too much, plus the fumes (which are not very noticeable) are dangerous and you should avoid getting it on your skin. Also if it's not kept in glass bottles with a good seal it'll evaporate quickly. That being said, it's great stuff and you can literally 'weld' the kit together and it seems to be the only glue (other than super glue) that works well with this type of plastic. Cheers Vaughn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 The madness continues... the forward lip of the lower cowling is represented by a very soft change of height on the kit. While in real life there is no seam you can see from more than 10 ft. away, I felt there needed to be something for a wash to pick out, so I scribed a small seam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 The lower cowling is hinged with a piano hinge on the right hand (stbd) side just under the exhaust. On the kit they give you just a seam. I felt this wasn't good enough so using some stretched spru I made a rod and glued it into the seam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 After gluing it in, using a # 11 blade I cut notches into it. I had problems... the first time I used Tenax and it didn't stick. I was part way through cutting the notches and part of the rod popped out... :angry: So I got the rest of the rod out, made another and used super glue. It's not as clean and neat as I'd like but with a wash I think it'll be ok. Sorry about the pic, It's the best my camera will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Very nice work Vaughn! Nice mod to the hinge! Might need to do something like that myself, as I intend to cut the cowl in halves! Cheers, Håkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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