HELLDIVER!

[miamiangler]

Matt

Nice choice for the paint scheme - always nice to see a Marines landing on the forum.

Florida - Too hot and too humid for the Old Northern Boy. I was soaking wet from the humidity. To tell you the truth, I'm looking forward to th cold and snow for a while and the change of seasons. I guess when you a true Floridian as Wili is, the local weather is what you know.

Peter

Hi Peter ,

 

Nope I`m not a true Floridian , grew up in Clifton ,NJ. move down To Florida in 1971.It was really nice at that time plus fishing was a whole lot better also!

 

Willi

[Guest]

Brilliant!

 

Somebody from the staff should pin this topic as a tutorial how to make paper planes in plastic

 

Regards!

- dutik

 

Very good idea !!I second it....Harv

[Guest Peterpools]

Willi

40 plus years is long enough to be considered a Floridian in my book. Growing up in Clifton, NJ; the Tri State area, sure is close enough to Long Island to share the joys of the Northeast. How long did it take you yo get use to the Florida summers ?

Peter

[Guest]

 

S

That's all for now.

[/quot

 

Looks like a Vulcan Bird of Pray....Harv

[miamiangler]

Willi

40 plus years is long enough to be considered a Floridian in my book. Growing up in Clifton, NJ; the Tri State area, sure is close enough to Long Island to share the joys of the Northeast. How long did it take you yo get use to the Florida summers ?

Peter

 

 

You never get used to the heat . this year has been hot . First day of Fall and it is 91 degrees.I learned to go boating early and get in before it gets really hot .Even the fish dont bite after 11:00AM . So long you say out of the Sun from noon to 3:00pm it`s not too bad .Cant wait for the days when it will be 75 degrees .

Willi

[Tomek]

Strait and true to my eyes, Matt .

I also like the scheme, nice choice.

[big matt]

Christian, I think I might try some different methods for the panel lines. The very thin skin will not hold up to standard scribing and the way the skin is applied makes prescribing impossible for me. I have been experimenting with some ideas and hope the work out. Time will tell.

 

Dutik, I think my build might serve as a "what not to do" thread as well. I have made a lot of mistakes that did not quite reach public view. Next time I would do things a bit differently but this is a "proof of concept" experiment for me. Luckily it is progressing well. I can only credit the Halinski kit as a guide.

 

Harv, don't get me started on Star Trek! Did you, by chance, mean Klingon??? I see what you mean, I saw it more as some kind of flying dinosaur myself.

 

I am glad the scheme meets with approval. I like it and the more weathering I get to do, the better!

 

More step by step on the tail skin. I was worried about the stabilizer to fuselage junction. There are gussets on the transitions on the real deal and thought they might provide trouble. They did not but they do need some more work so I won't post that now.

 

Stab skin roughed out. The one sheet approach allows me to build a nice leading edge. 0.010" Plastruct.

 

 

I apply glue to the leading edge of the stab and work from the fuselage out, smoothing as I go.

 

 

The extra plastic ribs serve as supports for the skin. They are flush with the original curve of the stabilizer.

 

 

I pulled the skin over the structure repeatedly to get a "set" in the plastic. This reduces the risk of creasing or splitting the skin. Unfortunately you do get some wrinkling with the cement.

 

 

You get a nice scale looking trailing edge. It needs to be cleaned up but looks the part already.

 

 

Skin on. One side at least. Gussets and the other side to go. Hopefully I will be able to post a mostly done tail this weekend.

 

 

Thanks for all the interest and support guys. It makes the process easier.

 

Cheers!

[Guest Peterpools]

Matt

Just enjoying and learning with each new post. So far, your 'skinning' procedure works perfectly. I was also wondering about how your plan on doing the panel lines and scribing , since the skin is o thin. Keep 'em coming.

Peter

 

[Christian]

Christian, I think I might try some different methods for the panel lines. The very thin skin will not hold up to standard scribing and the way the skin is applied makes prescribing impossible for me. I have been experimenting with some ideas and hope the work out. Time will tell.

The extra plastic ribs serve as supports for the skin. They are flush with the original curve of the stabilizer.

 

 

Hi Matt,

 

Just a suggestion with the re scribing (I am no expert in this topic), however my vac kit is very thin plastic; may ¼ of a mm in some places. You could drill a 5 mm holes and you a syringe to inject model resin. The resin I use do not heat up, hence no wrapping of the plastic. You could then re scribe. It does not matter if you cut through the plastic skin.

 

The model resin also adds strength and stiffens the structure and connection points, however it adds weight.

 

This just a suggestion, you are doing a great job.

 

Look forward to more updates.

 

Christian

[Ripaman]

Very nice workmanship Matt, are you using the paper pieces for all templates? or are you having to adjust for the .010" plastic? what ever you are doing it is working out very nice.

 

Regards

Richard

[big matt]

Hi Peter, though far, far from perfect, it is working out acceptably.

 

Christian, what resin do you use? I have some 60# stuff that gets quite warm so I would not consider it for this application. It is an excellent idea. The skin, even at 0.010" is really tough and the structure is extremely sound. The paper kit actually takes the original gussets into consideration. I am very pleased at the rigidity of the airframe thus far. Your suggestion would allow me to scribe normally though.

 

Richard, I am using the paper templates exclusively. I have modified them a bit after learning what works and what does not but they are basically transferred from the paper kit. Compensating for the difference in the card stock is minimal as it is so close. I have been making the sections just slightly larger. The finished surface is very similar to a real skin.

 

My plan for the replication of the panels is pretty simple. The diver is covered with access panels and doors. I intend to replicate those with 0.005" sheet. That will busy up the surface significantly and a lot of those areas appear slightly raised anyway. The 5 thou sheet can also serve to replicate selected panels in other areas as well. This gives the illusion of more lines. Looking at photos of real aircraft and seeing them in person has shown me that the all out duplication of every panel line is inaccurate. You can see some but not all lines and rivets from any given angle. My intention is to create the illusion of reality. Not the reality itself. Paint is a wonderful medium and can very accurately reproduce raised rivets and panels. The Helldiver was a fairly lumpy plane even though large sections were flush riveted.

 

Long story short, I do not plan on doing a conventional scribe job. It is impractical on this project as it has taken shape, and would damage what I have so far. A second skin is also impractical as it would be very difficult to control the joints. Since this is a fairly steep learning curve for me, keeping it simple is a good way to go. I feel confident that my plan of attack will succeed.

 

The work continues on the diver but has slowed a bit so I can work out some problems with the tougher curves of the skin in the tail. Hopefully an update soon.

[fozzy]

Keep at it Matt...you will get there and it will look great!

[Derek B]

My plan for the replication of the panels is pretty simple. The diver is covered with access panels and doors. I intend to replicate those with 0.005" sheet. That will busy up the surface significantly and a lot of those areas appear slightly raised anyway. The 5 thou sheet can also serve to replicate selected panels in other areas as well. This gives the illusion of more lines. Looking at photos of real aircraft and seeing them in person has shown me that the all out duplication of every panel line is inaccurate. You can see some but not all lines and rivets from any given angle. My intention is to create the illusion of reality. Not the reality itself. Paint is a wonderful medium and can very accurately reproduce raised rivets and panels. The Helldiver was a fairly lumpy plane even though large sections were flush riveted.

 

Long story short, I do not plan on doing a conventional scribe job. It is impractical on this project as it has taken shape, and would damage what I have so far. A second skin is also impractical as it would be very difficult to control the joints. Since this is a fairly steep learning curve for me, keeping it simple is a good way to go. I feel confident that my plan of attack will succeed.

 

Hi Matt,

 

They say the best plans are the simplest...May I suggest (in this particular case) that you simply add the panel lines (and rivets if you wish) using pencils?

 

(1/72 Extra kit EE Canberra PR.9 - Aircraft kit panel lines added using pencil)

 

Cheers

 

Derek

Edited September 28, 2011 by Derek B

[scvrobeson]

Wow.... That's really all there is. Geez, I have enough problems getting plastic parts to go together, and here you are turning paper into plastic, and then putting it together.... Insanity. Keep up the great work, maybe if you finish this, we'll be gifted with a 1/32 Helldiver in the mainstream.

 

 

 

Matt

[big matt]

Thanks Martin! I am doing my best.

 

Derek, that was what I was thinking. I have a hge collection of drafting pencils of various grade and was planning on putting them to work. It is surprising how good it can look. I like it a lot better than a groove. Just makes weathering a bit more tricky. Thanks for the pic, now if we can get a Canberra in our scale!

 

Smoke and mirrors Matt, smoke and mirrors. I waited for that to happen after Loic finished his Kate. Three years later, no Kate.

 

Ok, got a little time to shoot some pics of the weekends work on the Beast. Nevermind the primer spots and other imperfections. Things are just fine.

 

 

The gussets are in and actually stiffen up the stabilizers significantly. I can pic the plane up by them alone. Just not for long as she is gaining weight.

 

 

 

This is the area I worried about. The turtledeck will be down on my plane so I needed this area to look right. A lot of curves and angles but I think it looks alright.

 

 

The next step is getting the front cockpit accessories in place so I can finish skinning the fuselage. Then it's on to the wheel wells and skinning the wings. Then those scary dive flaps.

 

Cheers!