Piprm Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 (edited) Wow, Good stuff Peter!... (I just stumbled upon this thread) ... no holding back here! Keep up the good work! Phil Edited July 23, 2016 by Piprm airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 thanks chaps & good evening a little step forward I hope will be of passing interest.. I have been adding to the radiator fairings - the first element were the lower baffles, these are actually bowed upwards rather than just being the outer skin panel, I guess this better feeds the air into the radiators... ..next the nose fairing - this was a complex part to fashion as it caps all three walls in one part and is fully rounded.. ..I started by taping a sheet of aluminium cut to a very wide 'U' shape to the nose of the part.. ..after some working with wooden tools, and a few cuts to make some folds, I ended up with the basic form.. ..after trimming the front and back faces I had the nose cap but it would need fixing in position before the creases in the metal can be chased out or sanded down.. ..with that in place, I moved on to the lower panel, again using masking tape burnished onto the part and marked out (like a brass rubbing) that I can peel off and use as a template... ..same principle for the side panels... ..once they were all stuck in place, I could start to get rid of any creases or imperfections with a sanding stick and then wire wool.. ..and the first and most complex shape to be skinned on these parts is under way.. ..I need to work out how to rivet the soft aluminium without causing as much 'mushrooming' as I did with these panels, so will have to do some experiments.. ..thats all for now.. TTFNPeter TorbenD, Hubert Boillot, Out2gtcha and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Wow, that looks terrific!! Question for you Peter...................Knowing nothing about this mark of Spit, is the cooler supposed to go over the wheel well opening like that? Piprm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Wow, that looks terrific!! Question for you Peter...................Knowing nothing about this mark of Spit, is the cooler supposed to go over the wheel well opening like that? Hi Brian, Yes it is - well, it goes over a bit of skin that goes over the rear wall of the well - this pic of Tony's shows it well I think.. will take some fiddling to line it all up when the time comes TTFN Peter David66, Uilleann, Shaka HI and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamj Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Geeze!! All you'll have to do is put gas in it. airscale and KUROK 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Plodding. Pfffffft!! 😊 airscale and Derek B 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Buddee Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I have long since run out of anything really intelligent to add to all the comments and replies being offered here Peter but rest assured I'm following along in utter amazement and admiration. Wow! Cheers, Wolf williamj, clarkis, Derek B and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chek Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Good progress Peter. As regards the mushrooms or dimples, it suggests to me a harder surface is required when pressing in the rivets. Some sort of extended anvil tongue perhaps, though whether that's possible at this stage of construction.... They could also be rolled out - but again a firm under surface is needed, and might still result in some surface creep. Or the ali thickness might take a harder sanding to reduce rather than eliminate. Derek B and airscale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 You bring a smile to my face with every new post. I just posted an update in my F-15C thread that I thought was pretty good, but now that I see your pics, my pics look like I used thick tube glue and I didn't sand a thing. LOL. Continue to show us the way sir! williamj, airscale and Derek B 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I have long since run out of anything really intelligent to add to all the comments and replies being offered here Peter but rest assured I'm following along in utter amazement and admiration. Wow! Cheers, Wolf My sentiments exactly! Shaka HI and airscale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) You totally nailed that leading edge Peter! If I wore a hat I would definitely take it off to you Sir You are going the hard and tedious route around which I am hoping to circumvent with the creation of "dies" in the printer. Once again you have shown that skill, ingenuity and effort can still hold their own quite convincingly. Craig Edited July 28, 2016 by brahman104 airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Oh Peter - what can I say that hasn't already been said... Astounding work - awesome inspiration and a desire to take up knitting instead of building models in equal measure! Iain David66, airscale and Derek B 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 God bless your delicate touch, Peter. Skinning a vacuform. Sincerely, Mark airscale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 evening ladies time for another rumble around a Mk XIV...... Good progress Peter. As regards the mushrooms or dimples, it suggests to me a harder surface is required when pressing in the rivets. Some sort of extended anvil tongue perhaps, though whether that's possible at this stage of construction.... They could also be rolled out - but again a firm under surface is needed, and might still result in some surface creep. Or the ali thickness might take a harder sanding to reduce rather than eliminate. that is remarkable insight Chek - you clearly have a great deal of knowledge and experience and I am so grateful you donate it so freely here I tried some of these things with some success.. do you have any WIP posts here? I don't think I have seen one and would love to see more about how you go about things ..a little more progress to report.. I find when making more than one of something (like these two rad fairings), it is always best to make them simultaneously. It takes some discipline sometimes to stop yourself getting too far on one, and stepping back to the other, but for me it must be done this way, otherwise I run out of steam in repeating something from the beginning.. ..so I skinned the leading edge and nose cap on the other side, and also sanded out some of the deformity to get nice uniform rivets and skins.. ..the next skin section is all one piece so I needed to cut out the radiator flap - a little tip when trying to cut symetrical stuff accross compound vurves is to use a template - here a rectangle of litho is used to mark and cut the door.. ..masking tape is used to find the exact shape the panel needs to be - it is also used to mark out where features and rivets are,,, ..when peeled off and laid on some aluminium it is pretty straightforward to add the detail and cut to the lines... ..you can see after riveting the metal 'blows' a bit, it is later turned over and rolled onto a sheet of glass to try and work out some of the deformity.. ..the part is then burnished to shape with wooden tools like paintbrush handles & cocktail sticks - I start by taping the straight leading edge and working backwards onto all the flat faces. After that the curves are chased out to little kinks & pinches to be filed off after glueing.. ..you can see I have cut out the door opening so the metal can move & bend freely around the curves here.. ..the mushrooming of the rivets and other deformity needs quite aggressive sanding out... one thing I did find was it is extremely hard to re-instate rivets if they are sanded out as the metal gives too much and there is a danger of creating unwelcome great big depressions.. ..added in the lower fairing panels, and still have the tailcaps and a bracing strip to go.. ...now I need to catch up on the other one TTFNPeter Uilleann, Derek B, Shawn M and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 In Burt Rutans instructions for his homebuild VeriEze, he described carefully how the wing was made from foam and fibreglass, all very new materials for the home builder at that time. Having finished the one wing, he then said he expected builders that had got that far would be thrilled with the result, and super keen to plough on with the other wing. The next page of the instructions was a form that, having finished the second wing, could be filled in and returned to the makers. To tell all of their success? No, not quite.... It was so that Rutan could put them in touch with guys in a similar position; ie that of having just discovered, in their enthusiasm, the had built two identical wings! Hopefully someone else had also done this, but the other wing, and perhaps they could arrange a swap!! Not sure if a Spitfire's radiators are handed.... But look out Peter!! Freaking awesome work, as always. Don't you ever drop a clanger, because the denizens of LSP will howl with anguish and dismay!! T David66, Shawn M, Iain and 3 others 6 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