1/32nd Focke-Wulf Triebflügel

[Out2gtcha]

While the primer on the pit was setting up, I decided to tackle of couple of different things.................................starting off with the wings. The OOB Models & More kit wings are close to the shape of most drawings I have seen save 1 thing; the twist. Most every single pic I have seen of the Triebflugel, show it with a "prop-like" twist to the wings, and the OOB once in this kit were DEAD flat.

 

LOL..................the one time I WANT twisted resin parts in a kit................go figure. 

 

NBD, as most anyone who has ever built any amount of resin kits knows, most any flex, bending, twisting issue can be fixed by the hot water method, and the M&M resin was no exception.

I boiled a pot of water, then took it off the stove and let it cool...................then 1 by 1, dunked the wings in with tongs for a few seconds, then hand twisted the first one to my liking.................then I just matched the other two to the first one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next task I started was the canopy. This is one area that the poor casting environment these were pulled in, or whatever caused the pock marking, really lets the kit down. I know Im going to have to do a bit of sanding polishing/Futureing to get it to even a remotely acceptable place, but for now, I just used some Dymo tape to mark the line to cut, then cut it, and sanded it flat on a piece of tile.

 

It actually doesnt fit too bad IMHO. I slipped in the IP cover, and with just a slight bit of finger pressure, got it to sit 100% flush:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The canopy fitting was what had me cutting the bottom of the seat all the way out, as there just isnt much room to play in there.................but Heinz does fit, and in the end, I think you will be able to see him and some of the pit.....................from the top at least:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last task for the weekend I tackled was the ram-jets. (There IS some speculation if they were a new design of actual jet, or ram-jets, but for the purposes of the build I will just refer to them as ram-jets) Part of the 12-15 hrs of cutting and sanding was getting each of the 6 parts of the ram-jets off each of their respective pour blocks ..............so I finished that unpleasantness and glued the 3 ram-jets together.  The OOB parts are actually nicely molded...................on the inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The outside however is a different story. Many pock parks, gouges, and M&M have portrayed the rib like structures on each of the rear, out-side of the ram-jets as 1/8th inch tall little wing-lettes.......................that promptly broke off ALL of the jets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I wanted to potray these as much shorter, I cut, then sanded them off and sanded each of the ram-jets smooth after filling each of the center joints with CA+micro-balloons. I figured it would be MUCH easier to sand the ram-jet bodies smooth in the smooth cylindrical state, rather than after I add the wing-lettes. I sanded each of the joints, and wing areas smooth, with a really rough sanding stick to give the primer a lot of bite, then sprayed the ram-jets with 3 or 4 generous coats of Mr. Surfacer 1500:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the airbrush set on super low PSI, with a very restricted nozzle, I was able to get the primer inside the intake and exhaust ends of each of the ram-jets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of the intakes of these German jets / ram-jets, does anyone know what the likely color for these jet intakes would be?  Natural metal?  

Im thinking that if Germany (in this what-if situation) had all the resources it needed would the intakes be RLM02 maybe? Or maybe still natural metal?

 

 

 

 

Any-who, thats all for this update guys. Till next time, and as always, thanks for stopping in on me!

 

Cheers,

 

 

[mywifehatesmodels]

Brian,

 

If I had to weigh in on the color of the intakes, I would think natural metal from a realistic standpoint. However, we're talking Luft '46 here, so there's probably also a case for painting them any color you want!

 

John

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks John.

 

I was kinda thinking that myself, as the inside would have taken quite a bit of abuse spinning that fast................and for ease of painting sake, probably the direction I will go.

I will finish smoothing the ram-jets out, then will scribe some panel lines in them, (should be way easier to re-scribe panel lines when the jets are smooth) and then lastly mark off each of the 3 fillets on each apposing side, and will finish them off by detailing them a bit with some rivet detail..

[shepard]

hi Brian.... awesome job so far mate...

 

a quick question for you: what do you use to work with resin, i mean mask, gloves etc....safety ones

 

it was always an issue for me here to work with them....

 

shep

[N312RB]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Edited May 25, 2014 by N312RB

[TaffyMan]

I am unworthy!!!!!! :bow:

 

Can't say more than that

 

Next please

 

Happr Days – Taff

[brahman104]

That is awesome Brian! I really love the aluminium insert for the body. And here's me winging about about a bit of sanding on the vampire, clearly I have nothing on a resin kit!

 

Craig

[shark64]

Wow. Im impressed. Very nice.

Oliver

[Tnarg]

I am impressed with the amount of energy put into this, especially the rotating center section. That is just perfect, except for inserting that small motor to spin it up.... no, I'm just messing with your head there.

 

The work on the pilot and general finish is great, and best of all is the push to finish it. This looks like a lot of fun.

Tnarg

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Awesome work - always amazed of the creativity coming from your workbench.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys!  Very gentlemanly of you to say.............not much of an update tonight, but Im preparing for an entire WEEK off upcoming this next week, so I plan on hitting this ugly duckling hard. 

 

Still LOTS to figure out, let alone actually engineer>build>complete.

 

 

Ive been slowly trying to work the stainless steel tube, with the bearings and center rotating chunk of aluminum, but alas I think the aluminum part was machined just some microns too small, and thus even after actually breaking in the bearings outside of the aluminum chunk, after installation, the bearings returned to being not-so-loose.

 

Its still a work in progress, and I will try to continue working the bearings every day, as it will be a bit before I need to install the entire unit. I may just have to say good enough is good enough as although the part does spin smoothly, it doesnt spin as freely as I would like.................but it does spin, so in the end I might just have to call it good.

 

 

In preparation for getting the center section installed an spinning, as I had to install the pit before anything, I roughed in the cockpit tub. This is just that..................very rough, but I will clean and sand this up before detailing it a bit, then paint, but most of it will be hidden by Heinz:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got an initial coat of Tam fine white on the two main fuselage parts that needed it. I was strictly attempting to get a smooth coat only here, to get ready to scribe the panel lines in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I can start scribing I had to implement part of my plan to get this thing spinning, which involves getting a couple of styrene disks the same diameter as the fuse, with a 3/8ths inch hole in the center the exact same size as the stainless steel tube. I mounted a section of brass sleeve, on the interior of each (the shorter one with the crimped top is for the front, so the tube doesn't bash the pit tub when installed) and lined up the stainless steel tube in each brass tube before gluing each on with a generous amount of JB Weld. 

 

These wont be going anywhere once mounted in the fuselage ends, as this is to not only cap them, but provide a nice flush base for the center section to spin next to.

The brass tubes will also provide more gluing surface for the stainless tube to adhere to with JB Weld as well............this will also keep the glue itself away from the outside of the spinning parts, with much less chance of it getting anywhere it shouldn't, as I will apply the glue to adhere the stainless steel tube deep inside the brass tubes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see how they will look on the ends of each of the fuse parts, so once they are mounted, I can flush them in smooth with the exterior of the body, then I will be able to slide each end of the tube in and it will not only be aligned all together, but the way I will glue them in will ensure the center section will spin as free as the bearings will let, with minimal spaces between the center section and the fore and aft fuselage parts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More updates to come soon, for as SOON as I figure out, and implement the spinning fuselage, and its all together, this one will move much faster.  I will also likely work on getting these caps placed on each of the fuse parts so I can flush them in with the rest of the body, and then I can start the re-scribe...............till later gents!

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

[Rick K]

True modelling here.  Really good stuff to watch.

[Out2gtcha]

Haha....................this is crazy.

 

Ive had this whole week off, and have been hitting the R&D on this thing SO hard I actually forgot how many iterations ago this was.....................it now seems like eons.

 

Ok, on to business then gents. This project is quite ridiculous, in and of itself, and it just got way more so. I was thinking it would be a shame after spending 75% of the cost of the kit itself on the spinning section alone, plus untold amounts of time at the hardware stores (every different one in town, multiple times usually for hrs each time) only to take this thing part way.

 

So I figured I would change tack on this one, and deck it out with a full motorized system to spin that now very stable and smooth spinning center section. I have encountered, and conquered more engineering challenges with this so far than I care to count, and have gone through so many iterations of this that it seemed to change every day..............and still is continuing to evolve.

 

Version #1 - w/proposed direct gear drive utilizing a micro R/C ring and pinion set up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then quickly came to the conclusion of how many drawbacks this method has including but not limited to, no slip in the system to allow for machining  inaccuracies on my part (im no professional machinist), large amounts of direct torque even from a micro motor like this could easily strip the gears, as well as with no play in the system, it might get the center section spinning faster than I wanted, so I moved on.

 

My next evolution was belt drive...............or more literally, O ring drive. This solved more than 1 engineering problem from the previous version. It allowed a bit of "slip" in the system to allow for my engineering accuracies on a center spinning object, but more important, is it does not transfer the torque from the motor so directly to the center section. This also allows for a more robust setup, meaning I wont have to worry about replacing breaking teeth, and having spur or pinion gears to replace.

 

 

Version #2 - Utilizing small diameter O rings, on a pulley drive system. Iteration #1 of the belt drive system using nylon washers, with aluminum spacers and a plastic center pulley:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see here, the nylon pushing now installed as the future pinion pulley on the micro motor (of which I will later show how I carved it out in a pulley shape):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I completely changed tack again, figuring that the center section would have to be drilled so much to accept the backbone unit holding the whole thing together, that using a plastic pulley (from the Tamiya pulley set) would have been impractical, if not impossible. I gathered all of my resources, and started in on the NEW configuration.

 

Iteration #2 of the belt drive system utilizing hardened steel washers, saw bushings all brazed together to create my own pulley, directly screwed to the center section, but with a large enough hole to accept the stainless steel and brass backbone:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I switched to using all steel and brass parts, cutting a larger whole in the center to accept the backbone tubing, as well as making my own center pulley out of machine/saw bushings from the hardware store. This also allowed me to screw, then braze everything together to make the whole assembly MUCH stronger:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then figured out quickly the hardened steel bushings I used for the outer section of the pulleys, were too thick the back of the new pulley would have been hitting the front of the motor mount. They needed to be replaced. I just so happened to find the same bushing, but 1/2 the thickness at a different hardware way across town. WAY Worth it though!

I started with a base of one of the super thin saw bushings, brazing it on first to get it nice and secure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I got the thinner versions of the saw bushings/outer pulley sides, and clamped everything together, and brazed it all up. After heating the thing up with a torch, I used a high end soldering iron to keep the heat up, and make sure all items were fluxed enough so the solder ran in between everything, creating a single solid pulley (if not 100% perfectly straight/round but acceptable). Once that set up and cooled, I took a slab sided needle file, with rounded and knurled sides to the newly created pulley using my "homada-lathe" (AKA a Dremel tool zip tied to my vice with a rubber insert to spin the center section) and smoothed out the interior of the pulley as best I could to make sure the O ring didnt get hung up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While that set up, and cooled down I worked on the "squid tail" of this thing, as I intend to make it removable, to access a hidden screw that will keep the model together while working/spinning, but will allow easy access to disassemble it for shows and contests. First though, I needed to get the joint between the fuselage and the squid tail cone 100% smooth and gap free, so it would not be noticeable that it was removable. So I used two pieces of sheet styrene on either side to later be smoothed out. In this case the joint in now 100% flush:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

My idea for the removable tail cone is this...................There will be an outer brass tube around the center tube, that will be permanently mounted in the model to accept the stand tube, as well as the stainless steel backbone tube the whole thing turns on. I cut a small cap out of 1 size larger brass tubing than the brass tubing surrounding the center stainless tube. I then drilled and tapped the whole thing, with the cap on, then cut a notch to accept the head of and 4-40 hex head screw, that will align the whole thing.

Once the middle tube is where I needed it so that the center section spins evenly, I will make sure the interior brass tubing sticks out just a little less than 1/2 inch, so the cap can be press fit. With the cap nice and snugly press fit, I will fill just a very specific limited area inside the tail cone, letting it dry at an angle so the glue only touches the cap and the tail cone.

 

I brazed a cap of brass on the end of the interior brass tube and created the cap. You can see here the interior stainless steel tube, the brass tube that goes around that, and then the tail cap:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see here the whole thing assembled, screw in place that will align and hold the whole model together, as well as the now notched tail cap:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may have noticed the score line in the brass tubing about an inch or so before the pulley..............this is the score mark for the motor mount. That small front section will become the removable motor mount (more on that later). I had to carefully measure that score line, as it will dictate how the motor pinion and center section pulley align in the end, and if off, may contribute to hang ups or throwing belts. Once I drill and tap this little forward section, I will disassemble everything and use a tubing cutter on this area to free the motor mount from the rest of the tube. You can also see the now smooth solder/brazing work in the center of the pulley as well. I also had to gently file down the heads  4-40 bolts holding the  pulley plate on as well; they interfered with the motor pinion pulley:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see here how things will alighn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got a very basic start on the motor mount tonight as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I used that same slab sided profiled needle file, and carved out the motor pinion pulley:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHEW!  This was much more work than it looked like..............................On to finishing the motor mount, then a test run hopefully!

 

Cheers till ur older fella!   

[mywifehatesmodels]

Wow, Brian!

 

Such creativity and improvisation are what makes this site so great. That is VERY cool!

 

John