Bf109K-4, I./KG (J)6, Bohemia, May 1945

[dodgem37]

Shawn, Matt, Kevin, Jerry, and last but certainly not least, Allok,

Your compliments are much appreciated. My most sincere thanks.

I am truly humbled by your compliments.

 

Matt,

Thanks for the Birthday wishes.

'Would you like me to stop putting drawings up...seem to cause you a lot of extra work'

More imagery? I shudder to think of what you will come up with next! I'm hesitant to post something new! I'm kidding of course. I am honored that you and the many others are taking enough interest in this build that you, and they, are contributing imagery. I welcome whatever you contribute, whether it be imagery or suggestions.

 

To everyone that wished me Happy Birthday on the Birthday thread, thank you as well.

 

These will be the last of the images of this fairing for awhile, so I can move back to the wheel well and canopy.

 

The idea here is to sand down the edges of the fairing for a better fit against the kit. I wasn't completely satisfied with the contour, so I located a kit fairing, traced it, aligned a mm graduated transparent ruler to the side, and drew a 90degree intersecting line. This is the location of the top of the fairing. I did the same at the bottom. Then I cut some emory board and strip, double-sided adhesive filmed the backs, laid it down on the G-14 wing, and gently sanded. The strip is located to the upper-most and bottom-most point of the fairing. This way it guided the fairing and made it easier for me to just focus on sanding right to left, and vice-versa.

 

The image Matt was kind enough to provide shows that the outer edge of the fairing has a return. The image shows that the return is a half-circle, by styrene standards. But I don't have any half-circle styrene smaller than .030 so I'm using .010 rod. Here it is not glued down, but simply placed in position. The rod will also increase the footprint a bit to allow for more gluing surface. I had been wondering ever since I noticed it in the imagery how I was going to apply the return to a flimsy piece of vac when this idea just popped up.

 

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Mark

[LSP_Kevin]

Mark, your work never ceases to amaze and impress. Your problem solving abilities are top-notch, and you execute your ideas with enviable skill and creativity. Thanks for sharing all of this with us.

 

Kev

[jeroenpeters]

During all the years I've been building models, I've gained some level of patience,

(from slapping together a model in 2 days to working on one for 3 months like I do now)

but none of that comes close to the amount of patience you portrai here.

Do continue... it keeps me sharp!

 

Cheers,

Jeroen

[dodgem37]

Kevin, thank you for your compliments. It is I that truthfully thank you for the opportunity to post and show what I do, can do, or have done. Without you, and the others, it is just basement stuff.

 

Jeroen, thank you for your compliment. I have to tell you, though, the piece of armor I was working on before I taking this airplane break, I had been working on for 5 years. I was converting a Tamiya 1/25 scale Centurion into a 1982 Israeli Defence Force Sh'ot. If you're interested in seeing it let me know and I'll post it. As builds go for me, this build is at lightening speed.

 

I pulled a vac of a second fairing and cleaned it up. It's on the G-14 build.

 

I've done some minor work on the wheel well and put some time into the outboard landing gear door.

 

A couple of structural supports.

 

I covered the door with paper tape, trimmed it, and burnished the edges to find the outline of the inner structure. Then I repeatedly scored the tape until I felt the change of material and knew I had cut all the way thru.

 

I located the stencil on some .005 sheet, outlined it with a mechanical pencil, removed it, then cut the sheet tight to the square edge and gave the curve some play. I located a couple pieces of D-S adhesive film onto the kit part,

 

and pressed the part into place, aligning the square edges.

 

After I trimmed it, and removed it,

 

I measured the ribbing on the kit part and drew the ribbing area on it. I located a lightening hole a little off center to make sure I had the space necessary to locate the hinges and trip, and cut it out using the template.

 

I'm told that I have too many photos, so I'll just divide them in half and complete the post below.

 

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Mark

[dodgem37]

In continuum,

I divided the ribbing in half, lined it, measured the rivit locations (1mm intervals), and punched the rivets,

 

(rivet side). You may notice I did not rivet the top edge. I had to think about them being in the way of the hinges and trip and had not put them in when I took the picture.

 

Glued in place. I decided to put the rivets in and remove the specific ones that may be in the way.

 

This is what I've been calling the 'trip'. It's the only term I could think of for it. In addition, I made some fastening detail. I champhered the corners and smoothed them with a sanding stick. I centerlined the trip and the door part so I would know where to locate it. I figured 5mm was a good length for the part.

 

Here it is glued it in place.

 

Other side. You can see the centerline mark.

 

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Mark

[mattlow]

Nice work.

 

Matt

[Blackcollar]

Outstanding work!

 

-Al

[Dave Pratt]

Mark just what Ron said...Outstanding!...cheers

[LSP_Ron]

Mark just what Ron said...Outstanding!...cheers

 

I didn't say that Al did but I totally agree!

[Dave Pratt]

Your Avatars looked the same with a glance...must be the allergies...

[dodgem37]

Thank you, gentlemen.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[dodgem37]

I've been messing around finishing up the outer door hinge and can say that it is finished for now. I still need to locate some micro bits, but I'll do that at a later date.

 

In the meantime. . . It may not be right, but it's DONE!

 

I drew, then rough cut some ovals and bisected them vertically prior to locating them in place. I didn't want to go thru the exercise of finishing them if they were only going to end up not fitting. Luckily the first one I made fit the bill. It is a 30degree oval, about 3.5mm deep. Here you'll notice that I have not located the small end filler strip.

 

Since the hinge is a stress point I made it out of .010 strip instead of .005.

 

I vertically bisected then glued it onto the gear door. You can see some D-S adhesive film under the door. I used this so I could move the door around to check the fit. The small end filler strip is .005. About 1mm x 12-13mm. You may note that the right hinge plate is finished, and the left is not. The hinge plate is actually two pieces of strip. I thought it necessary to capture the hinge between each and against the door for structural integrity instead of simply glueing it to the plate. I need to do the same toward the hinge bottom location as well. Where it meets the kit. I'll probably have to remove that strip. Then I'll see if I can locate some half round rod to represent the hinge pin. These are the micro bits I mentioned earlier.

 

Other side.

 

Same side but from a higher angle.

 

Other side but from a higher angle.

 

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Mark

[JRutman]

Nice!!

J

[dodgem37]

Thank you, Jerry. I hadn't forgotten.

 

Whew! It was so long ago that I posted on this thread that I could hardly find it!

Although I have been quite when it comes to this posting, especially after what seems to me to have been a torrent of posts, I have been busily, if not perfectly accurately, working away on the other wheel well and the drop tank area.

 

From the front. The completed wheel wells. I've located a strip of tape along the perimeter of the fairing as a painting mask. It needs a little adjustment.

 

From the rear, somewhat. I am still working on the outer door.

 

I removed the kits impression and located the bits Jerry kindly provided. They are on strips of double-sided adhesive film so I could move them around and into position. It looks like some adjustment is necessary.

 

I sandwiched a .010 disc betrween 2 .005 discs on a brass rod . . .

 

. . . and glued them together.

 

Then I located them in place. I had to lower the height of the stand-off legs about .5mm to accomodate the additional upward dimension of the bushing. I still need to do a little work on the rear legs. I punched out some hex bolt heads and located them in place, to represent the fairings attachment to frame points.

 

More in an additional post below

 

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Mark

[dodgem37]

in continuum,

 

Right side, front detail. Maybe I need to add to the front instead of remove from the back?

 

Right side, rear detail.

 

Left side, front detail. Same goes for here.

 

Left side, rear detail.

 

Right side, overall view.

 

Left side, overall view.

 

Thanks for looking.

Sincerely,

Mark