big matt Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Outstanding work James! I wish I could have figured a way to make a split fuselage. I like the putty approach as well. My 0.010" skin is really tough to sand without going through it and your fuse looks really smooth. It is great to see another approach and am looking forward to more progress. Awesome! Matt (super ham-fisted plastic manipulator) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 I always love to see Lightnings being made by modellers, as it is an aircraft I like enormously (having worked on them in the RAF) - I am awed by your work Butler, so please keep posting photographs of this most inspiring project. Regards Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Thanks guys The surface still has a few bumps that aren't really visible but can be felt by touch, but i'm not going to worry about these too much. The plane will have so many little intakes and other bits and bobs added to the fuselage that i doubt the eye will be drawn to a few small bumps here and there! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Great show, James. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomek Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 (edited) I've almost missed your thread. I won't lie, I've ignored it because of the subject . I'm glad though to look at it finally. I was wondering what happened to your Mosquito. I'm glad you didn't give up on her. It's very interesting to see you experimenting with your approach. I like a lot the idea of adding strips of plastic over the ribs. It's actually called in card modelers community, a joining strip. It goes under the skin between sections and it's glued to formers. I understand you glued strips not only between sections to get better support. Clever idea. So far your results are very promising. I'll be rooting for you!!!! Edited October 17, 2011 by Tomek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Outstanding work James! I wish I could have figured a way to make a split fuselage. I like the putty approach as well. My 0.010" skin is really tough to sand without going through it and your fuse looks really smooth. It is great to see another approach and am looking forward to more progress. Awesome! Matt (super ham-fisted plastic manipulator) ...horozontal split would probably have worked OK on your Helldiver Matt...In fact, it still would now if you run into problems!... Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Gobsmacked! Phil :clap2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 I've almost missed your thread. I won't lie, I've ignored it because of the subject . I'm glad though to look at it finally. I was wondering what happened to your Mosquito. I'm glad you didn't give up on her. It's very interesting to see you experimenting with your approach. I like a lot the idea of adding strips of plastic over the ribs. It's actually called in card modelers community, a joining strip. It goes under the skin between sections and it's glued to formers. I understand you glued strips not only between sections to get better support. Clever idea. So far your results are very promising. I'll be rooting for you!!!! Cheers Tomek The Lightning's not everyone's cup of tea and the shape is a grower rather than an immediate beauty! I think lots of people in the UK like the Lightning because of the frequent airshow appearances, although i was too young to witness one myself That method certainly sounds sensible for the paper kits, i did indeed add extra strips even between sections. I found that using the cement on a really thin edge would melt and distort the thin skin styrene, the strips take this punishment and then provide a larger surface for the final skin to stick too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks Mark and Phil I'm taking inspiration from a build by John Wolstenholme. In the unlikely event someone hasn't seen this, check out the link below. In my opinion this is the best built thread i've every seen and the end result is flawless - the thread is also a wealth of reference material and i'm not ashamed to say i'll be checking this frequently! John W build thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Hi Back again ,and i've got a few more bits done over the last couple of weeks. The next job was to build up the wings. The top and bottom skins are separate as you can't fold a single piece of styrene in half and still get the correct leading edge shape (i.e. It's not a straight line). In the photo you can see the frame and bottom wing skin. To attach the wings there's a reinforced tube to pass all the way through the fuselage and into a socket in the other wing. Each wing has one tube and one socket. It will all make sense later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Here's the fuselage with a coat of the excellent Halfords grey primer. You can see the holes for the wing-fixing tubes the pass through. I've made a decision not to attempt scribing this plane in the usual way. Much of the skin is stressed on the model and scribing into it could cause the skin to snap in two. I'll have to come up with some alternatives! One technique i'm going for is to add some of the removable panels from very thin styrene sheet and glue them on. One tacked on with CA glue i then splash over some Klear to hold it on rock solid. Once dry i then sand the panel back quite hard so the edges are not so prominent. I'm quite pleased so far I've another idea for the remaining panel join lines but i won't mention this yet in case it doesn't work! (Note: i noticed the cable duct wasn't quite straight and have since straightened it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Over-enthusiastic progress from this point meant i didn't take any photos. Anyway, the end result was these wings below! The wheel wells were walled-off with styrene strip and skinned over. I'll detail these up later, maybe once the main paintwork is finished. The separate top and bottom skins meant there was no aerofoil shape to the wing leading edge. To solve this i added another layer of sheet styrene, this time wrapping around top-to-bottom with the famous 'kink' as the join between two sheets. This left a small triangle to double-skin and blend in. That doesn't make much sense but hopefully the photo shows the result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Wings glued on and there's the inevitable cracks between wing and fuselage. Luckily there's a plan ready! More panels added with paper-thin styrene over the wing joins. Here's a tip i've discovered - don't waste money on expensive Mr Surfacer or similar, just get hold of some Tippex and brush over in the same way. It sands back easily and it can be primered over. It does stay fairly chalky though. To fix this, just brush over some Klear which it will soak up nicely and dry rock hard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Here's where i've got to date, sitting on her temporary prosthetic legs. Comments welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Stunning work ace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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