P-39 D1 Airacobra (G. Welch)

[Jamme]

Thank you Tomek.

Cheers,

Jamme

[Sabre F-86]

Fantastic job of using paper to model stamped aluminum panels. Those wing roots just blew me away. I can see where the use of the laser cut forms makes it a lot easier to assemble the model. Saves time and gives a stiffer skeleton to hang the forms on.

 

I did some digging and found a tutorial for making aircraft tires for paper models. I ran across it a couple of years ago and thought you might be interested.

 

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/tutorials/1581-aircraft-tire-tutorial.html

 

Actually that forum is really great for tips and ideas.

 

Sabre

[automaton]

Really amazing stuff, Tomek. Love the seatbelts, the throttle, and the instrument panel? Well, it gives me new perspective on what can be done with paper.

 

Oh, and regarding the bezels, I looked really closely, and I can't see any of the "sloppy gluing" you're referring to, even in those big digital pics. But I will offer a suggestion from the "plastic world"-experiment with using Future to glue that kind of small parts-it's much less risky. You can put on a miniscule dot of it to "tack" the part down, then with a tiny brush use capillary action to flow more under the mating surfaces. Its flow characteristics and low viscosity prevent "globs" from forming outside the join as can happen with normal adhesives, and it's more than strong enough to hold tiny parts.

 

Regards;

 

Automaton

[Tomek]

I did some digging and found a tutorial for making aircraft tires for paper models. I ran across it a couple of years ago and thought you might be interested.

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/tutorials/1581-aircraft-tire-tutorial.html

Thanks for looking and the compliments, Sabre. The tutorial you pointed to (BTW, thanks, I haven't seen it) is done by Gil, who is a memeber of LSP as well. Have you seen his Velie M5 thread?

Regarding the wheels, I'll be using a standard method of doing them (sandwiching paper disc and sanding them to appropriate shape). I hope it will be sufficient in case of the Airacobra wheels. Hopefully soon I'll get to this stage.

 

Oh, and regarding the bezels, I looked really closely, and I can't see any of the "sloppy gluing" you're referring to, even in those big digital pics. But I will offer a suggestion from the "plastic world"-experiment with using Future to glue that kind of small parts-it's much less risky. You can put on a miniscule dot of it to "tack" the part down, then with a tiny brush use capillary action to flow more under the mating surfaces. Its flow characteristics and low viscosity prevent "globs" from forming outside the join as can happen with normal adhesives, and it's more than strong enough to hold tiny parts.

That's a great tip. I'll definitely give it a try next time. Thanks a million, Automaton

Edited April 6, 2011 by Tomek

[OldTroll]

Make sure you test the floor product (Future, etc.) on a piece that can be hidden or is unneeded. Some of the inks used in printing paper models (and just about all inkjet printer inks) do not play well with such products...

[Tomek]

You right Ron to be cautious, but if I remember correctly I made some experiments with brushing Future on bare paper to work as a sealer and I haven't noticed any issues except warping of card sheets. These were pre-printed, commercial kits, I'm assuming home prints are a whole another issue. The IP in this kit was a separate part printed on photo glossy paper (you can see the difference in the pictures) and I haven't treated it with anything. How photo paper reacts to Future, I don't know. Usually, I put a coat of flat Model Master lacquer on all card sheets before I start to cut parts. Such coat gives a good protection to the print and I believe applying Future should be safe.

[OldTroll]

Sounds like you have the situation well in hand!

[Hubert Boillot]

I applied Future to my paper-coated wings for my scratch-built Aichi Hansa (another technique I lifted from Gil) without any issue whatsoever...

 

I am having more problems right now with the Evergrenn plastic sheet I am using for the struts, which is not holding any kind of mechanical stress . Project temporarily stalled (a common occurence since I started ..two years ago) whilst I am experimenting with all PE etched parts for the struts

 

Hubert.

 

PS : great and inspiring work Tomek !

Edited April 6, 2011 by MostlyRacers

[Jamme]

Hello Tomek.

I've just re read your topic from the beginnig.

Really, really nice and beautifull!

You gave me lust on trying my hands on a "paper" model, so......., I couldn't resist and ordered one!

I hope I should be able to build it, shurely not as nice as you do.

I have a question, you're talking about "O'Glue". It's unknown here in Belgium. Is it a sort of "pritt" (brand name) or is it the glue (white paste) that we used on scool, when we where kids (I'm 58), smelling nice, that we used to glue printed matters together?

Thank you for your answers.

Keep on with your incredible job!

Cheers,

Jamme

[Out2gtcha]

You right Ron to be cautious, but if I remember correctly I made some experiments with brushing Future on bare paper to work as a sealer and I haven't noticed any issues except warping of card sheets. These were pre-printed, commercial kits, I'm assuming home prints are a whole another issue. The IP in this kit was a separate part printed on photo glossy paper (you can see the difference in the pictures) and I haven't treated it with anything. How photo paper reacts to Future, I don't know. Usually, I put a coat of flat Model Master lacquer on all card sheets before I start to cut parts. Such coat gives a good protection to the print and I believe applying Future should be safe.

 

Great work here Tomek! I think that some techniques definitely "cross pollinate" between paper and plastic. I know I use the MM enamel system lacquer on all of my stuff too. It really is amazing stuff, and seem cool enough to not react with plastic, paper, nor (so far anyway) any paints I have used including acrylics, oils and enamels.

 

Cheers,

Brian

[Tomek]

I applied Future to my paper-coated wings for my scratch-built Aichi Hansa (another technique I lifted from Gil) without any issue whatsoever...

I hope that you'll return to your Hansa, because you're making a beautiful aircraft (some time after the Multi-Wing GB of course ). So much details in your thread that I'm not able to absorb everything. Great stuff, Hubert.

 

You gave me lust on trying my hands on a "paper" model, so......., I couldn't resist and ordered one!

I hope I should be able to build it, shurely not as nice as you do.

I have a question, you're talking about "O'Glue". It's unknown here in Belgium. Is it a sort of "pritt" (brand name) or is it the glue (white paste) that we used on scool, when we where kids (I'm 58), smelling nice, that we used to glue printed matters together?

Jamme, please don't tell anyone about your paper model plans. You know, the powers that be on LSP may ban me from the site for converting members to my religion

But seriously, I'm flattered that my build push you to explores other venues of modeling. A paper kit will give you some idea what's involved in it, and some are quite beautiful to browse through. I hope you keep building plastic models though, because your skills are exceptional and that would be a loss to plastic modelers community.

I think, to keep the balance I need to build a plastic model myself. Give me some time to learn and I promise to do it one day .

 

Now, regarding adhesives. I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with "pritt" brand. Googling returned results showing a glue stick, which may not be suitable for our purposes (paste form). O'glue is a Japanese brand, commonly available here in the US. In Europe you could try to find Brand Clear Glue or BCG (Chinese product). They both pretty much the same, liquid like, transparent without any smell. O'glue is a bit thicker than BCG. I got BCG on ebay from UK, so you may try it as well. Price was 1.5 GBP for two 50 ml tubes.

Picture may help you identify these adhesives (color of a cap may vary and it's irrelevant, same stuff inside):

 

 

 

Great work here Tomek! I think that some techniques definitely "cross pollinate" between paper and plastic. I know I use the MM enamel system lacquer on all of my stuff too. It really is amazing stuff, and seem cool enough to not react with plastic, paper, nor (so far anyway) any paints I have used including acrylics, oils and enamels.

Thanks Brian! I learn a lot from you guys, and I hope to incorporate in my modeling some of your techniques (EZline is for starters ). My long time dream is to be able to weather models like you guys, but that's a long way to go, I'm afraid.

I'm still planing to test some other ways of protecting print on a card model. The card in this kit is on the soft side, very absorbent, so MM lacquer worked great. Rutek, who recently joined the forums, is bugging me to try Nitrate Dope, which is very popular among Polish card modelers. Probably in one of the next builds I'll give it a try.

 

Now back to the build report. In the meantime I was able to glue all the cockpit elements. I must say it was pure pleasure to see how the pit got filled with all the details. What a fun! For a moment I was tempted to scratch build and add more, but I like to make small steps in advancing my models (I'm lazy too..). This cockpit was the most detailed to the date for me.

 

 

Thanks for looking

[Jamme]

Hello Tomek.

First of all thank you for the precisions about the glue.

Will try to find it. I will go to an artist accessories shop today or tomorrow.

Concerning the plastic kits, I will not change my religion but I think there are many faces in modelism and papermodels are one of those. As I'm a curious person, I will have a try at it.

There is also the fact that, as I'm modelling in my garage (it's really cold in the winter), I can "papermodelling" in that period inside the house.

Now.....your work on the Pit is tremendous!

.

Waiting for the next UP impatientely!

Thank you for sharing your "magic" build!

Cheers,

Jamme

[big matt]

Awesome!

 

Wow Tomek, it just keeps getting better. I think you need to stay away from plastic.

 

Great work. I look forward to every update, thanks.

[Loic]

I find your work so impressive I can not find words to describe what I feel mate !

Mind blowing work to me...

[Tomek]

Thank you guys for kind words!

 

I'm slowly moving forward. At this point it was good idea to take care of the tail.

First, using laser cut parts the structure for the tail was assembled. I tried to pay attention to proper symmetry, but I'm not that confident everything is fine with it. When I was about to skin the tail, I realized that the fin has also navigational lights and since I replaced printed lights on the wings I should do the same here. Again I used a sanded to proper shape toothpick and relatively thick plastic foil from a toy package to replicate them. All the fairings parts (on horizontal stabilizers and fin) where thinned by peeling off some of the card layers.

Forming the rudder was a bit challenge, but somehow I managed, I think.

 

I apologize for screwed up colors on some of the pictures. My camera got really dumb because of the green background. I tried to massage the pictures in some software, but I wasn't able to do much good. Next time will try better, promise .

 

 

 

 

The engine air intake was quite troublesome. It consists of only three parts, but they rather small and difficult to form. I'm not quite satisfied with it, but I don't think I can do any better.

 

 

 

And two general shots:

 

 

 

 

I managed to put together the gun sight (looks bit lousy unfortunately) and started working on the canopy.

 

 

 

Next step: undercarriage.