airscale Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 Thanks chaps great to have such practical & helpful advice helping me along.... ..got a little bit done - I tried some expanding foam on a test piece but it is not very stable - the bubbles seem to big & uneven and it is still quite 'squishy' (technical term that is...), so I think I will drop LSP member Starfighter a note to see what he uses on his superb builds.. ..I also roughly built up the nose on the 3D card template I made so I can rough sand it and ultimately refine it into a master to cast in resin. It's been a bit of a puzzle as I will need to sort out the nosewheel bay so will likely have to cut the resin nose in half laterally so I can rout out the bay as it should be just the aircraft skin and the bay roof... ..anyways, here it is looking pretty shonky for now... ..also started on the tail section - this framework is all there is in the card model so used it as a template... ...this is the skin part and the one flimsy stabiliser spar - I marked where the spar should be and cut square holes for a brass stub replacement... ..so it will look like this... ..the skin resists being this shape so I taped it up to the formers ready to hold over a steaming kettle - the long brass tailspar is to ensure that the sternpost does not warp while I do it... ..after steaming the part I leave it in the fridge icebox to set the shape... ..now the part is pretty happily 'moulded' to it's final shape & contour.. ..I need to add more internal structure but this is roughly how it will look attached to the fuselage... ..getting there... ..also used my airmiles this weekend to book a trip for Mrs airscale and I to go to Los Angeles in April - she thinks for a nice break in the Hollywood Hills, what she doesn't know is that I plan to drag us around Chino and the Planes of Fame Museum so I can get up close & personal with a real Tigercat hehehe should get all the references I need for detailing... thats it for now.. TTFN Peter Rainer Hoffmann, whiskytngofxtrt, Lars Befring and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Peter - consider spot on the SIG stand at Telford booked As to foam - not sure which one you're using - the single part 'spray' foams are useless. If you haven't tried it yet you want a two part rigid polyurethane foam - linky to some at Alec Tiranti's - but available elsewhere. It's what we've used on the Constellation. HTH - perhaps... Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Peter Super work on the tail section. Looking mighty good Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngtiger1 Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Holy Mother of God...this is totally awesome Peter. Your amazing skills are at it again and I completely love the subject. I just got back from Reno Air Races and it looks like they had another Tigercat in the pits. It was painted sliver and talk about clean aircraft. I do hope this will cause someone to produce this as a plastic kit it in our scale. In the mean time, I'm definitely following this WIP and your doing great...started 17 days ago and main fuselage is close to done...well, almost done. I think this has to be a new record or something Rainer Hoffmann 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 evening ladies been a bit frantic with the day job, so the 'cat has taken a back seat for a few weeks... however, it has been in for a 'nose job' - if you remember I made up some card profiles and covered them in household filler - this is what it looked like... ..after rough sanding away until I could see the formers, it looked like this... ..I tacked it to the cockpit section with CA and protected that card construction with insulating tape to fill the nose shape to make the two match up... ..you can see where there are some small steps between the nose and cockpit that need fairing.. ...and after addition of green stuff - I can sand to shape and not worry as the tape protects the cocpit section... ..and after separating the parts and a first coat of primer... ..and it is ready to dry fit... ..the basic shape is starting to come together... ..I will finish this part as a master and cast a copy in resin so I can cut it in half and create the nose gear bay.. ..still got lots to do to get the basic fuselage sorted and the 'sagging' between formers, but feel like I am making a bit of progress... TTFN Peter Mal_Belford, sandokan, whiskytngofxtrt and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Nice to see you back at this one Peter, and excellent work as always! Kev airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 NOICE!!!!! A bit of inspiration for you Peter.................... Not BBM or La Patrona, but still my all time favorite airframe, all taken at Reno last year: whiskytngofxtrt, sandokan, Tomek and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 airscale and sandokan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Nice progress ! airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Peter Awesome progress as always ... you just keep spoiling us for sure. Brian Thanks for the vids ... just loved 'em Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Excellent, Peter - keep those pics coming! airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRutman Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 True model building!! J airscale and Hubert Boillot 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 wow, this is so cool. I really must try and scratchbuild a complete aircraft next airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 NOICE!!!!! A bit of inspiration for you Peter.................... Not BBM or La Patrona, but still my all time favorite airframe, all taken at Reno last year: Wow Brian! Thank you so much for posting these - I remember seeing one at Duxford many moons ago - simply took my breath away, the power and grace of the aircraft is really something special - I think that was when I got hooked! The Tiger cat I saw went back to the US and as far as I know that's where they all are now (sigh...) True model building!! J Thanks Jerry means a lot to me coming from a true model builder... wow, this is so cool. I really must try and scratchbuild a complete aircraft next Thanks Rich - go for it!! - with the Fort under your belt and all the scratching you do anyway, it's a small step from there... Thanks all for dropping in - so whats been going on.... ..I have pretty much got the nose master finished - I just haven't got enough Lego to build the box to put it in to get the mould made up - something I need to get sorted... just a bit of mr surfacer and a moulding plinth and it's done... ..I also started on the tail section - this is where the rudder & tailplane spar are skinned, again using the card model template... ..also used the template to cut out a one piece fin/rudder skin and bent it over a kettle... ..you can see how the funny tooth things help align the skins as they come together - I decided not to build up internal framework or more ribs etc, but to just experiment with skinning as is and filling with stabilising foam (thanks for the tip Iain)... ..mind you, it's all a bit 'wobbly' for now - hopefully I can correct any warpage when it is solid inside or by using heat again - at the moment it has some washout I didn't really want... ..the joins are amazing though - a testament to the original card design - I have had worse fits on Japanese kits! ..and the assembly taped to the airframe - I will cut out the rudder, make up the lower rudder skinning and build some internal strengthening but as a test it seems ok.. ..still loads to do - I want to get a primed fuselage with all the 'sagging' fixed in time for Telford (hopefully...) ..thats all for now folks - see you soon... TTFN Peter whiskytngofxtrt, Out2gtcha, Rainer Hoffmann and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 LOVE IT!!!! airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now