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Tamiya's big Spit


Wolf Buddee

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Thanks Wolf. Rick said that he talked to you the other day. We were talking at the last IPMS meeting and he mentioned he knew you. I asked if he had seen your spit build and when he said no, I said that he HAD to have a look. He thought the same thing I did after seeing your build, world class!

 

Anyway, thanks for the offer of showing me first hand. I'm honored! I am actually in the process of casting some resin copies of the spitfire panel so I can try out various detail painting techniques on it before attempting the real thing. I do have some good brushes and am researching how the miniature figure painters do detail painting to try some of thier techniques out on the panel. I need to get some Vallejo paints to use for this and then I'll be ready to go.

 

Thanks again, Chuck.

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Forgot to mention that I have been in touch with Ralph Riese too. I would say that the combo of your detailing and detail painting and his exterior painting and weathering method (like your doing) has to be some of the best in the world right now!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Links, lengths, and actuator arms are slowly being scratch-built to busy up the back end of the Merlin. I hadn't planned on doing this much but when dry fitting the engine in place it definitely looked too empty on the port side.. The stbd side of the engine has a lot of plumbing hiding the carb intake and engine accessories so I won't add all the linkages there. These things are freakin' tiny and I can see a couple of things I need to refine on the scratch-built actuator arms. They're hard to see with the naked eye and only became apparent when I saw the photo with everything enlarged. I also have to refine some of the wash that I used to enhance the details on the magnetos. Again this is not near as apparent as when it's enlarged by the photo. Maybe I should take smaller photos eh? The white actuator arms are scratch-built from stretched sprue flattened with flat nosed pliers and details added with styrene discs punched out with the ol' Waldron sub-miniature set. The pe actuator arms and the linkage rod ends come from a Model Car Garage throttle linkage set. The linkage rods themselves were made from copper wire that was straightened by rolling the wire between the flat side of my tweezers and the glass surface of my work bench. There's two more linkage rods that need to be made but the ends are far simpler and I need to scratch-build the details they attach to at the bottom of the carb intake.

 

I managed to leave my camera at work this afternoon so just the one pic for now.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

Merlin-linkage.jpg

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I gotta tell ya Wolfee, this is marvelous stuff. Your spark plug wires have a round metal disc at their beginning. Did you punch and drill for that? Your fittings look to be plastic. Did you make those or source them?

 

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Mark

Hi Mark, the hexagonal pe ends where the spark plug leads exit the ignition conduit came from a Model Car Garage pe set. If I recall correctly the product number is MCG-609. It gives you lots of nut, bolt, screw heads, and washers of various different sizes. A lot of the fittings are indeed injection moulded styrene fastener details. The tan are ones from Model Kasten and the grey ones came from a company in Germany but there wasn't enough information on the packaging for me to order more and my LHS couldn't remember where they got them from.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

 

 

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I managed to leave my camera at work this afternoon so just the one pic for now.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

Merlin-linkage.jpg

 

"Just one pic for now" he says but what a pic. Wolf this has been a true adventure watching your work unfold. Thank you so much!

 

Regards

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Merlin-linkage.jpg

Nice magneto linkage system. I particularly like the lock bolt located on the intermediate link set. Just below the 90degree link. What happened to the intercooler hose?

 

Wolf, I probably don't have to tell you this, as you may well already have figured this out. When I made my styrene links, after I punched the discs I cut a (microscopically small) section from its circumference to make a flat face. To this I attached the arm. The flat face gave more surface area with which to attach the arm, and was more sturdy than attaching a circle against a flat edge.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

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Merlin-linkage.jpg

Nice magneto linkage system. I particularly like the lock bolt located on the intermediate link set. Just below the 90degree link. What happened to the intercooler hose?

 

Wolf, I probably don't have to tell you this, as you may well already have figured this out. When I made my styrene links, after I punched the discs I cut a (microscopically small) section from its circumference to make a flat face. To this I attached the arm. The flat face gave more surface area with which to attach the arm, and was more sturdy than attaching a circle against a flat edge.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

Thanks Mark, yeah I do the same thing when possible with making the linkage arms. And because these things are sooo small I also go through a lot of X-Acto blades because they have to be very sharp to make the precise cuts I need. I lay the individual pieces down on on a strip of Tamiya masking tape looped sticky side out as well. That way they don't flit off in to nirvana like a tidally wink when I make the cut. The individual bits are then brought together, still on the masking tape, and an old 10/0 brush is used to apply Tamiya's extra thin glue to fuse the bits together. As soon as possible I'll remove them from the tape, set them on a fresh piece of tape, and let the piece thoroughly dry. If I have to do some fine sanding, sanding them while attached to the tape still makes the process a whole lot easier. I have a funny feeling you probably have all this figured out as well but I thought I'd share in case you did yours differently. One thing I'm learning.........I need a bigger magnifying lamp!!!!! Oh, the pinch-bolt end of the intermediate linkage arm was two separate pieces,............NUTS! The intercooler pipe was only tacked in place for the previous photos. I figured it would be easier to paint as a separate piece. Also it would make slipping on the clamps much easier.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

Edited by Wolf Buddee
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