Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu Type 11 Rex

[Troy Molitor]

Hi Mark,

 

i totally understand the summer time comment.  I live in full summer time mode.  Hot and humid everyday.  The motivational factor is always challenging.  

 

Have you contemplated what you’re  doing for the pontoon supports?  They look like a bit of a challenge to fabricate?  

Have you also decided how you’re going to support Rex in the end?  Stand of some sort ?  

 

Looking forward when you get around to dusting this awesome looking Rex off again.  I also found a George from a good mate of mine to purchase when I see the way forward through the dark tunnel.. All the best motivational factor heading your way my friend.

 

Cheers from Singapore.

 

Troy

[dodgem37]

'Have you contemplated what you’re  doing for the pontoon supports?  They look like a bit of a challenge to fabricate? '

The main support comes as a vac.  I have already cast that, put it together, and worked it to shape, with panel lines.  I don't recall if when I cast it I cast it as hollow or solid.  I didn't get to mold and cast last week because of one thing or another so I'll be doing that this week.  This will be cast as solid.

 

For the secondary main float supports I'll either cheat and use the outer float supports, as their sizes are not too dissimilar, or make new ones in the same manner I made the outboard float supports, as seen on page 2, I think it is.

 

What I have been thinking about since I made the strut way back in the day have been the strut-to-float/strut-to-wing and strut-to-fuselage connections.  The strut affixes to the fuselage, wing,  and float with a tongue and groove  connection and through bolt.  A fairing covers this connection.  Vac forming the fairing is on my mind.

 

The outboard struts enters the wing at a 90 degree angle on both x and y axis.  They enter the float at an angle I haven't discerned as of yet.  I'll get to that later today.  I've made a number of outboard float strut castings which I will cut to the appropriate angle and vac.  I'll clean out the cap, slide it over the strut, sand to match, and hopefully have my fairing.

 

I haven't addressed the main float secondary supports yet, but I will look into that today.

 

'Have you also decided how you’re going to support Rex in the end? '

The vac comes with a drawing of the/a wheeled cradle.  If that doesn't work I'll scale up the cradle from the Tamiya Rex kit and work it to fit

 

Is the George from your mate this George?  Are you interested in making a Rex?  If so, PM me.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

Edited August 21, 2018 by dodgem37

[Out2gtcha]

Id also be interested in any drawings or parts made for the N1K1, as I have an old Revell mid-wing George as well as the SB Rex conversion waiting for me in the stash. I know fixing the shape of the cowl on the SB conversion is just the start of things.............

[dodgem37]

Brian, I'll scan everything I have.  That way all imagery will be flat, and not angled as shown in my earlier post.  From a building standpoint, after all is said and done if you're still interested in parts, I'll do what I can for you.  I use Alumilite resin.  If anyone knows of anything better I am all ears and happy to change products for a better end result.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Out2gtcha]

20 minutes ago, dodgem37 said:

Brian, I'll scan everything I have.  That way all imagery will be flat, and not angled as shown in my earlier post.  From a building standpoint, after all is said and done if you're still interested in parts, I'll do what I can for you.  I use Alumilite resin.  If anyone knows of anything better I am all ears and happy to change products for a better end result.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

Anything you are willing to share Mark I'm appreciative of!

 

If you ever do decide to pump out some Rex parts from masters you've made Id be more than happy to compensate you for time/material/shipping.  Im not in a rush so at your convenience 

[Troy Molitor]

Such a great build going on.  Brian, Alan and I are seriously all interested in the hard earned efforts you have blazed forward with Mark.   The cowling surgery, the aft fuselage extension.  Just great seeing this one shape up.  I forgot the spinner, too!  

 

I need to check out Alumilite resin.   

 

Troy 

 

 

[dodgem37]

Thank you, Troy.  I hadn't discerned that much interest in this build.  Certainly not like the 109 or P-51.  So I didn't bother problem-solving my way thru and took a more relaxed approach.  But now that I know you, Alan, and Brian are more than casually interested in, if not the outcome, than the methodology, I guess, I will devote more energy to problem-solving.

 

Again, thank you for the compliment and the eye opener.

Sincerely,

Mark

 

[Out2gtcha]

For sure Mark!  Ive been fascinated with the Rex since my entrance into a love of aviation, and since it was only the SB conversion available for it in 32nd, I figured I never have a chance to build one in 32nd.

I ended up trading a Matterhorn Circle Atar 9C Mirage engine for some Moskit exhaust  stuff, as well as a 1/32nd Revell Mid-wing George and the SB Rex conversion. I was quite surprised what the gent would be willing to trade for the then long OOB MS Atar 9C.

 

I now know from  your and a few other Rex builds that have popped up on LSP in the past, its going to be a LOT of work to get the Rex I think we all want is going to be a challenge. 

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

Pretty much the same boat as Brian.  

 

Mark, you also cast the canopy sections for me on the George I recall?   I built the George back in the late 1990’s and still have it.  Back then there wasn’t a whole lot of reference material on the mid-winged George.  I lost a mid section canopy in a move and I’m going to vac a new canopy one of these days.  

 

I also recall Brian building an awesome beaching gear set for his Rufe (MDC) build a few years back.  This would be the way to go on that topic.  

 

This Rex adventure was taken on a new following all over again.   Looking for an new progress reports when you get a chance Mark.  No rush and no pressure.  We’re all in it for the long haul.  

 

Regards,

 

Troy

[dodgem37]

Troy, I'll cast and vac you a new mid section.  I still have the mold.

 

Folks, I will do my best to work toward having an end product, rather than simply producing a one-off.

 

But first a disclaimer.

The IP is incorrect for a Rex.  It is the kit IP.

 

No such thing as a wall mounted throttle on the Rex.  There are other things but I've forgotten what they are.  Probably the entire cockpit is from a Rufe and I just got one float plane mixed up with another.

 

Onward thru the fog.  I have been doing this and that, getting nowhere fast, to re-familiarize myself and ended up focusing on the cowling.

This is where I left off.

The Rex cowling is 46 mm in length on a flat plane which necessitated added a 10 mm spacer.

 

I removed earlier spacer work and started anew.  But first, the engine:

Roughed out the engine.  It's done except for a wash.

 

Before I got to this point I combine the front and back sections and made these alignment guides so when I extended the rear section the edges would align.  I did a lot of micro spacer work to get it into this position.  The Rex cowl cooling flap layout is different from the George so I wrapped the flaps with .010 strip.

 

The back edge is .030 past the flap.  I'll get to that down the road.  Bad guide.  Didn't matter in the end.

 

Here is where I am now.  Awaiting Sculpy to dry.  Although I used a chopper with a jig to cut the spacers no two seem to be the same length.  Go figure.  So I cut and pasted same width spacers at the end of each strip.

 

Along the outside flap edge I attached an .010 x .030 strip as structural support.

 

I needed to figure out how to do the cowling as a sectional so I could put the engine in after everything is made.  Toward the top: that is a extending alignment guide.  The bottom has one too.  They are different widths so I don't get mixed up and put it together upside down.  That would be bad.

 

All together now.

 

The main reason to add a.030 extension to the end of the kit flap is to close the gap between the flap and fuselage.  It should be a panel line and not a gap.

 

Shaping up.  Not much to look at.

 

Almost symmetrical.  The engine is mounted crooked to the firewall with tac.

 

Other side.  You can see where the removable engine panel line is toward the lower front.  The gun trough needs to be moved forward so the rear is aligned with the vertical panel line.  I'll believe it when I see it.

 

This huge gap, which isn't so huge when every thing is solidly taped together, is where the front and back are glued together and sanded smooth as there is no panel line here.  Similar condition below.

 

Thank you for your continuing interest.

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2018 by dodgem37

[LSP_Kevin]

Fantastic work, Mark! Time to move this one to the WiP forum?

 

Kev

[Troy Molitor]

Didn’t realize the entire nose requires so much rework.  Wow.   I’m also Interested in how you will relocate the gun trough forward.  Fantastic to see this one moving forward again Mark.  

 

Thanks for sharing this all over again with us.  

 

Troy.  

[dodgem37]

'Time to move this one to the WiP forum'

Sounds good to me.

 

'Didn’t realize the entire nose requires so much rework.'

It depends upon which nose you want to do.  Unfortunately I chose the one requiring the most work, front to back.  But they all require work.  There are three noses.  This one, one with a scoop above the prop, and one whose nose looks like what comes in the kit: a top and bottom scoop; but whose rear looks similar to what I've done.  Somewhere in an earlier post are line drawings of the different types of cowlings.

 

'I’m also Interested in how you will relocate the gun trough forward.'

The base is intended to be flat.  If everything is square to 90 degrees, and I'm hoping it is, I'll use my drill press to drill the hole.

 

Thanks for looking and liking.

Sincerely,

Mark

 

[Rick K]

Nice to see this back in action.  your skill-sets continue to inspire me.

[LSP_Kevin]

11 hours ago, dodgem37 said:

'Time to move this one to the WiP forum'

Sounds good to me.

 

Done!

 

Kev