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Foiled HKM B-25J Strafer - 345th BG Air Apaches - Lady LiL


Out2gtcha

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Guest Peterpools

Brian

She sure looks good taped together and wearing all her feathers. Glad the Strafer just fits in the display case. Since you're on a roll, head on out and buy a few lottery tickets!

Keep 'em coming

:popcorn: :popcorn:

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Thanks all for the very kind words of encouragement. The build is progressing very steadily, and this is mainly due to the high quality nature of the kit.

 

Jerry - Your tail canvas look awesome bro-ham! The zipper is a stellar touch......I might have to see if I can add such a detail.........it really adds a little extra to it!

 

Ken - Yeah the pics are a tad deceiving. There is about 3/4 US inch (hard to see in the pic) or more behind the starboard vert fin and slightly more than that inch or so behind the fuse itself, so after taking some measurements with teh flying surfaces on, there should be enough room. With all the white its a bit tough to see. Murphy could always show up in the end thwarting my plans............ Fortunately, I also have about another 1/4 inch at the port wingtip to make up some room if things end up being REAL tight.

 

Even at the severe angle shes setting at, you can see where I make a little "T" line to where the shadow of the tailing edge of the vert fin is and the vertical fin iteslf are in relation to each other.

 

Hell, might even have to crank the rudders to get her to fit in the end! :lol:

 

DSC01203_mod.jpg

 

Cheers all and Happy Easter!

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Hey Brian. I've been tinkering with my B-25, and I'm looking for a way to make the wings removable. As of now, the wings test fit fine, but getting the wing back off is darn near impossible. I want to make the wings removable so I can transport the plane places. I was thinking magnets might be a logical idea, do you have any thoughts for the wings?

 

 

 

I'm really liking this build, the cockpit looks great.

 

 

 

Matt :party0023:

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Hey Brian, I have a shoe horn you can borrow if you need it...... :wicked:

 

That is a very tight squeeze. I know how that goes. When I had my cabinet built I measured the Su-27 but it only has a couple of millimetres to spare across the span.

If all else fails, slice it in half and mount it on a mirror against the back wall... :whistle:

 

BTW, the interior is looking extremely pretty. Good job. :speak_cool:

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Thanks again guys!

 

Pharty, as to the size of my cases, (I purchased two at the same time in anticipation of continuing to "build em big") they are 48"L 20"D 72"H.

 

I wanted to make sure I had room for my Flanker after building it. I did..........but only by a (literally) spare 1/8th inch on each wingtip, as the fuse is WAY to long to go in at an angle like the 25 will.

 

Tiz a GREAT feeling to know that whatever I build, as long as dimensionally its smaller than a 1/32nd B-25, I can fit it in my display cases.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Now then, on to a bit O progress on the Lady..........

 

There are not that many exiting pics to show of the hrs of work spent as of late. This is because it was spent doing some of the more undesirable tasks associated with producing a well built and hopefully contest ready model; SANDING AND SHAPING.

 

There's no doubt for most of us this is not one of the more pleasant tasks in our hobby. That being said, Id rather spend ALL day sanding than just a few hrs at work.

 

A lot of the sanding work has been spent on the canopy. I wanted the pilots side to reflect the sliding window open. This could only be achieved by cutting out the main window part, and later replacing it in the open position with some Squadron thermoform framed with some BMF.

 

I have removed the two offending erroneous braces on the pilots side that the Lady did not have, and have gotten a start on the open pilots window. I have cut out the hole, and have begun blending in some flat strip styrene for the frame -

 

DSC01220.jpg

 

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Next up I decided to get the wings glued together. I dont have any pics of them but it would not have been too exiting, as they look the same taped up as they do glued together. I did however get the formation lights installed prior to the wing assembly.

 

I backed them with some polished foil to get some good reflection in the lights after they are painted with some clear Tam paints.

 

Sneak preview of my foil Kung-Fu.

 

I believe my Kung-Fu is strong...........

 

First just polished it with the high speed Dremel, then by hand. Its not quite finished in the 2nd pic but you get the idea. This is NOT however the technique Ill be using on LiL since its WAY too shiny, but I have used this method ON the model in the past with great effect. -

 

DSC01216.jpg

 

DSC01222.jpg

 

 

 

 

Lastly was another milestone in the build......................like it or not............for better or worse............the two fuselage halves are now mated as one for the rest of their lives.The sanding of the fuse seems went very well and both the top and bottom seems are completely obliterated and smooth now, using a combo of super thin Tamiya glue, thick CA with micro-balloons, and some decanted Tamiya primer to finish it off -

 

DSC01217.jpg

 

DSC01219.jpg

 

All for now................more on the weekend as I tackle more of the wings and maybe even get round to doing some riveting that was lost in the seem smoothing.

 

Cheers lads!

Edited by Out2gtcha
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Nice finish on the foil!! i use the same polish you showed on you Dixie boy but i never could get it this shiny. but i always did it on the model never tough to do it before

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Guest Peterpools

Brian

The fruits of all your labor do come shining through. Super work on the pilots sliding canopy window and the fuselage is looking like the real deal.

Keep 'em coming

:popcorn: :popcorn:

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Oooooooooo Nice Derek!

 

Thanks for the nice comments and encouragement guys……….its really nice to hear and great motivation. Which is needed these days……………….progress is still fairly steady, but has slowed slightly due to (semi)warm weather and spring yard/house duties.

 

I’ve been busy on the Lady with mundane things like sanding seams and dry fitting engine nacelles.

Besides that, the main thing I was concentrating on were 2 fold; getting the inside of the wheel wells painted as well as getting the main gear painted. This needed to happen to proceed on fitting up the engine nacelles, as the main gear gets glued in first, then the nacelles. Secondly, I wanted to get the nose weight situation figured out. This also tied in to being able to get the gear installed as well.

First up was a dry run/fit of the gear to the wings, and consequently, a dry run at finding out just how much weight is going to be needed to keep the Lady on here nose.

 

As I posted earlier, I purchased the Terry Dean nose weight set for the HK B-25. As it was sent to me, the combined weight of the two lead pieces from the set is 6.50 Oz -

 

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The two pieces are designed to go in the gunners/bombers tunnel and in the wheel well. I really didn’t fancy that, and thought I could put some lead shot to better use further forward of the nose gear, using less weight overall.

 

The Terry Dean weight set was only 6 USD so was worth it to me to have an idea of how much weight I would need to use, so it was still worth while.

If anyone needs a weight set for the HK B-25 unused, let me know!

 

I basically utilized every available cm of empty space in the nose compartment without disturbing the area right behind where the .50s will go as I wanted this to be free to put alignment tubes in for the MM .50s.

 

Before assembling the .50 cal gun rack center piece I filled it with lead shot, then glued the seams back to together –

 

DSC01225.jpg

 

I also filled the underside of the .50 mag boxes with a paste made of JB Weld and the same lead shot –

 

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Surprisingly enough, putting lead in these otherwise unused spaces proved worthwhile, as this center section now weighs almost 1 and ½ Oz –

 

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I filled the lower area below the gun floor with #9 lead shot. I then traced the outline of the gun compartment floor, and made a new secondary floor out of thin card stock and CA’d this in place.

Then I removed this specific amount, and mixed up some good ol JB Weld and made a past of JB weld and lead, then smeared this lead shot paste back in the floor area and cleaned up the excess around the glue joint to the fuselage with 90% alcohol.

 

You can see the end result here, which now that it is dry is EXCEPTIONALLY solid, almost like a solid chunk of lead now. Things still slide together well too, NEAT!

 

 

DSC01228.jpg

 

 

With what ended up being almost 3 Oz under the gun floor, plus the center section I ended up at this stage with only 4.35 Oz, quite a bit under what Terry gives you in his weight set. You can also see my card stock false floor keeping the lead at bay –

 

DSC01231.jpg

 

Sooooooooooo, as an experiment I decided to dry fit the gear/wheels/nose on. I have not gotten around to assembling the Brassin wheels yet, so they are just loosely thrown on the gear, which is just press/dry fit atm. I also temporarily installed both the horizontal and vertical fins to get the weight closer to what it will be in the end.

 

 

 

 

SUCCESS!!!

 

And with 2.15 less ounces of weight than one would have installed with the TD set –

 

DSC01223.jpg

 

You will notice here I have also begun spraying the gloss black for the alclad inside of the wing cooler intakes.

 

 

MORE...............................

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However, the Lady did just barely set on her nose at this point. I have not added the rear glass, rudders or elevators, and with the CG at this stage being such that I could just ever so slightly lift up on the nose, and she became a tail sitter again, I decided it would be best to add some “insurance” weight to the nose.

 

NO WAY I wanted to get things all done and take a chance on the Lady sitting on her rear!

SO, out came the lead again……………….however this time, I needed something with some shape, so I turned to the sticky lead squares used in R/C planes for nose weight. I didn’t trust the pre-made sticky tape on the back of the squares, so I impregnated the tape with thin CA to make sure none of the lead squares came off after installation.

 

Now the question was where to put another 1 – 2 Oz? It was a tight fit but I managed it, and without invading the space that will be used to glue in the .50s either.

 

I fit 1 full Oz on the front side of the dash firewall. Tight squeeze here –

 

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I also managed to fit another 1/4th Oz on each of the gun doors. Also a tight fit –

 

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MIRICLE if all this stuff still fits together as it should with all this extra wieight……….

 

Well I guess they really do never cease…………..and right at 6.0 Oz. Even with this extra weight, there is still ½ - ¾ Oz less than the TD set -

 

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I opened up the nacelle intakes and backed the landing lights with some polished foil while I worked on the weight sitch –

 

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I got things to the point right before I had to glue in the mains, and wanted to do a test. I had the nose taped on very securely and filled with all 6 Oz of lead………….so I wanted to see just how much of a chance shed sit on her tail…………..turns out there is 0 chance of that happening.

 

I may have slightly overdone it on the needed amount of weight (which is still ½ oz less than the Terry Dean set) –

 

DSC01239_mod.jpg

 

Guess it just goes to show how important leverage can be! Oh well, at least I know for SURE there is no chance shell be on her arese......

 

I used less weight, & put it farther forward and got a great result.

Lastly before quitting for the night, I permanently installed the main gear with (you guessed it) JB Weld.

 

That’s all for me for now lads, Im off to bed……..

 

Cheers!

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