Another Hasegawa T bolt Bubbletop, my first LSP. November 12, 2022, It is DONE at last!!!!!!!!

[Landrotten Highlander]

Have you considered art masking fluid?  Normally works for waterbased colours, but I used it with Mr colour with success.  You just add a drop onto the protected area, and when paint has dried completely it just pulls off (only thing to watch out for is the edges, keep them neat and tidy, and perhaps score the coveringpaint with a sharp knife before pulling it off - it remains flexible, so just grab with some tweezers carefully)

[Woody V]

This is the way I've done since the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth:

 

~ Punch out a disc of chrome mylar tape* (LINK) stuck to .005 styrene that fits in the bottom of the hole - glue in place.
~ Use 5-minute epoxy with just tad extra hardener** tinted with Tamiya clear color of your choice.

~ Gradually add the epoxy mix with a fine wire until it forms a slight dome. Being thick, it is easy to keep within the hole. Just add it to the center of the hole and it will flow out.

 

* Also great for wrapping LG oleos.

** When epoxy is mixed exactly 50/50 it is maximized for strength, but the surface may be a little soft and pick up dust. Adding extra hardener results in less than maximum adhesion, but results in a glass-like hard surface. 

 

Here's how it looks on my Wildcat gun sight

 

Here's my P-40 (late 80s build) wrapped oleo:

[JayW]

Kinda like Woody says - I use 5-minute two part epoxy for lights like that.  First paint the way you want, then add in however much epoxy till it makes a very slight dome.

 

[Citadelgrad]

27 minutes ago, JayW said:

Kinda like Woody says - I use 5-minute two part epoxy for lights like that.  First paint the way you want, then add in however much epoxy till it makes a very slight dome.

 

Is all epoxy clear?  This gel stuff is about the consistency of white glue, not hard to work with and dries crystal clear.  I have some epoxy, I will compare the results. 

[JayW]

1 hour ago, Citadelgrad said:

Is all epoxy clear? 

 

I dunno - but the "Quik-Cure" stuff I get is probably standard stuff in any hobby shop, and it's clear for sure.

 

[Citadelgrad]

i know I am not the only one of us who struggles with a messy workstation. Mine got pretty far out of control as this build drags on.  It was past time to tackle this issue, and the New Year provides a handy, if artificial, excuse to take control of this eyesore. A tidy workspace gives me peace of mind.  Of course, despite my OCD, i cant have it too tidy.  
 

Anyway, my Workshop is tidied up for the new year.    I didn’t take any photos of the area before the tidying, suffice to say i have more than doubled the available work area, so now i can start the new year and finish this build in an orderly fashion. 
 

 

i also found a spare shop light that i will hang over the area 

 

[JayW]

Dude - I can relate!  With time, my available work space shrinks, and shrinks.  Until I knock something over, or something, get fed up and clean it up.  Drive on!  

[Citadelgrad]

1 hour ago, JayW said:

Dude - I can relate!  With time, my available work space shrinks, and shrinks.  Until I knock something over, or something, get fed up and clean it up.  Drive on!  

Exactly.  It started out a huge area, but slowly shrank until I found myself with an available space less than the wingspan of the t bolt, and shrinking.  Now i could work on two at once with room to spare. 

[MikeMaben]

Go Bill !!!

[Vince Blackburn]

On 12/12/2021 at 3:39 AM, Citadelgrad said:

Onwards. Tonight i stole a little bench time and started to deal with replacing the missing canopy brace with added jettison mechanism.   
 

i first had to decide what to make the brwce proper out of.  Card stock?  PE?   

 

I settled on this piece of sprue from an engine part or similar.

 

Seems just the right curve and size

A little sanding, carefully sneaking up on the width and size.  I then added an actuator plate, some punched discs to represent the attachment, and drilled holes for the actuator rods. 
 

 

with the mitts to show the scale of the new part

 

 

 

I’ll let the glue set up, then hit it with some paint, and install it in the sliding part.  
 

more later.  

Nicely painted the rubber seal around the bubble canopy, don't see that do often enough.

[Citadelgrad]

Tonight i was all set to move forward with the canopy, finishing up my take on the jettison mechanism.  
 

But.

 

There’s frequently a but.  When i put the canopy in the open position, my scratchbuilt arch and jettison mechanism was sitting on ghe track for the chain drive, and it would not sit properly. 

 

i seek this stance

 

 

all of the photos of open canopies show the canopy flush or very nearly sitting on the skin of the spine.  But not mine.  My clever replacement part and jettison mechanism made it sit probably 5 scale inches high.  
 

no go.  I tore it out and started over.  The obvious issue is, the sprue gate that i tried to use didnt have a tight enough diameter, and didnt rise high enough to clear the mechanism. 
 

so out came my first instinct before i got cute with the sprue, good old plastic card stock.  

i used a circle template to ensure the curve was a good deal more severe than the former sprue part.

 

out came the punch and die, and a few simple parts make a good representation of something that looks like it turns.  Later i will add some fine brass rod to represent the linkages and actuators, whatever they are called. 

here you can see the new part is indeed much higher of an arch to give the clearance needed.  

i even improved my old design by putting a styrene disc under the “arms“ to give it more depth.  

Thats all i got finished tonight.  I am happy with the new part and will carefully check to make certain the canopy fits correctly before proceeding. 

[JayW]

Having to do that canopy arch over again is no surprise at all.  Here, the overly thick gages come into play big time, making it tough to shape such a detail right the first time, that is without a layout of some kind.  For my 1/18 effort, I actually did a 4x size layout the old fashioned way (no computer aided design).  If memory serves, even that didn't stop me from having to do it more than once.  Glad you did this - because in real life that canopy slides along the surface either making contact, or with just a bit of clearance.

[Vince Blackburn]

On 1/3/2022 at 2:23 AM, Citadelgrad said:

i know I am not the only one of us who struggles with a messy workstation. Mine got pretty far out of control as this build drags on.  It was past time to tackle this issue, and the New Year provides a handy, if artificial, excuse to take control of this eyesore. A tidy workspace gives me peace of mind.  Of course, despite my OCD, i cant have it too tidy.  
 

Anyway, my Workshop is tidied up for the new year.    I didn’t take any photos of the area before the tidying, suffice to say i have more than doubled the available work area, so now i can start the new year and finish this build in an orderly fashion. 
 

 

i also found a spare shop light that i will hang over the area 

 

Love the messy workspace I never trust people who can model and keep tidy.

[Citadelgrad]

3 hours ago, Vince Blackburn said:

Love the messy workspace I never trust people who can model and keep tidy.

Uh, that IS the tidy bench. That's what I call clean, after I did my year end clean. That's as good as it gets.  Well, when I first set it up, before I started any model on it, it was clear, but after that, entropy does its thing.  

[Citadelgrad]

Sometimes, as we all know, non model tasks pull is away.  This one is close enough to modeling that i figured id post it. 
 

i was moving something in our garage and found an LED light that i picked up as a pair and never used the second one.  As i get older, i have discovered how much light i need to see small stuff.  I figured i could hang it directly over the modeling bench, but, ideally, i would need two for my L shaped workspace.  I could not find a matching light, but did discover that these new low power LEDs can be daisy chained together so they all work off a single switch.  I did a bunch of research, and learned that most of these are kade in China, and have a maddening mix of about 60% 4 and 5 star reviews and the rest 1 or 2 star reviews.  I finally decided to read a bunch of non sponsored “best shoplights for 2022” type articles in established websites like popular mechanics.  I settled on this set from Amazon, they were embarrassingly cheap.  They are also ridiculously light, consisting only of two light plastic tubes that look like florescent tubes, and small housings at each end. 
 

light is difficult to photograph, and i am no photographer, but here are some shots showing the old setup and light level. 
 

the old setup, conventional two tube, four foot floros.   Probably 20 years old.  Plenty of light over the counter, almost none over the model work area to the right.  
 

heres one trying to show the lack of usable light at the model bench isnt really helped by the overheads, as its the same with them off. 

 

heres mid replacement, one new next to one old in that “did i just screw up?” Question that occurs to me during such projects. 
 

the new fixtures seem much whiter and subjectively brighter than the old ones.  They sit higher than the other ones, but the light at work level seems as bright as before.  
 

here are a few showing the full install.  Im not wild about the loose cords, i will tack them up this weekend. 
 

 

nice, bright area with no noticeable shadows, lots of light in the work area. 
 

Back to the T bolt.  Sharp eyed viewers will note that big blue box in the right foreground, thats a Christmas present—HK’s DO 335B, patiently waiting in the growing cue.  

Edited January 27, 2022 by Citadelgrad