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


Citadelgrad

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I put it off long enough.  Time to plumb the belly tank.  The area of the top of the tank and the bottom of the fuselage are devoid of any clue about where anything should go.  There are a handful of not great photos, including one thats above of this very plane.  Theres something there, but exactly what and exactly where it goes on the tank or where it enters the fuselage is open to some interpretation. 
 

i had ordered a bunch of assorted model car fittings for times like this.  I selected a 90 elbow and drilled it to accept a length of brass rod so i am not left with a weak butt joint. 
HudAr9.jpg

then i sleeved some not terribly out of scale brass tube over the rod, and got this. 
4OG6At.jpg

 

ZRcR76.jpg

compared to the photo, its ok in overall shape, but there is a thicker portion before it bends down to enter the tank.

rRmXG2.jpg

 

. I brainstormed a bit and settled on some aluminum tape. It might be a bit too much, i would like your thoughts, i can always remove some.  
RXNSHJ.jpg

akavSY.jpg

 

ill ponder it a while and see if anyone weighs in on the thickness of that upper part. 
 

thanks for looking. 
 

Bill

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  • Citadelgrad changed the title to Another Hasegawa T bolt Bubbletop, my first LSP. April 24, plumbing the belly tank, please check my work

I conducted a limited search of the drawings on Aircorps Library and could find nothing on external tank installation.  Seems like it must be there, I just couldn't find it.  I could have found exactly where the fuselage penetration is, but I sure will not do it now!  You are too far along.

 

CUuae60.jpg

 

Wham Bam thank you m'aam.  What a picture.  BTW - totally unrelated - stars and bars on the underside of the LH wing?   

Edited by JayW
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50 minutes ago, JayW said:

I conducted a limited search of the drawings on Aircorps Library and could find nothing on external tank installation.  Seems like it must be there, I just couldn't find it.  I could have found exactly where the fuselage penetration is, but I sure will not do it now!  You are too far along.

 

CUuae60.jpg

 

Wham Bam thank you m'aam.  What a picture.  BTW - totally unrelated - stars and bars on the underside of the LH wing?   

Gabby got a twofer at the paint shop 

rg69mh.jpg

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6 hours ago, JayW said:

I conducted a limited search of the drawings on Aircorps Library and could find nothing on external tank installation.  Seems like it must be there, I just couldn't find it.  I could have found exactly where the fuselage penetration is, but I sure will not do it now!  You are too far along.

 

CUuae60.jpg

 

Wham Bam thank you m'aam.  What a picture.  BTW - totally unrelated - stars and bars on the underside of the LH wing?   

Hi, Jay

 

We had a thread a couple months back discussing this, here's the link: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/92155-anyone-have-any-decent-photos-of-p47-flat-belly-tank-plumbing

 

Re: the second underside star-and-bars, that was for ground recognition purposes, as lots of AA gunners were mistaking P-47's for Focke Wulf 190's in the heat of combat, so they added a second national marking to help avoid any friendly fire incidents.

 

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12 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

f1R6V4H.jpg

 

CUuae60.jpg

 

 

 

The top photo, Karen Lee, the blast tubes look to be blocked by something, maybe tape to keep debris out?  I know some British fighters had doped fabric placed over the gun ports.

 

Anyone know anything about what this is, why, and how widely it was used?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

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Tonight, armed with a new understanding of what the plumbing is, specifically, a metal line at the tank end, connected to a glass elbow with a rubber clamp, then, at the fuselage side, another rubber clamp and a metal line into the fuselage, i mocked this up.

sICMC5.jpg

 

the tubing is, well, tubing, the glass is stretched, formed clear sprue (my arch nemesis), and standing in for rubber clamps is aluminum tape. 
 

i plan to paint the brass with alclad aluminum, the aluminum tape will get a rubber color, then more aluminum tape for the hose clamps, and the clear will hopefully stay clear. 
 

i will stretch some more sprue and try to get a slightly thicker diameter, my problems here are legion, for they are many.  I cant stretch sprue to save my life.  I need both a smooth gradual elbow and an appropriate diameter, easier written than done. 
 

lastly for tonight, i intentionally drilled a hole in the belly to glue a brass rod so i have a positive attachment point for the tube.  
 

ADkBlK.jpg

 

yes, i will trim it once the epoxy dries.  I needed to tape it to keep it vertical. 
 

chugging along. 

 

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  • Citadelgrad changed the title to Another Hasegawa T bolt Bubbletop, my first LSP. April 27, more and better plumbing for the belly tank, please check my work

Bill - I would love to "check your work", however I am in unfamiliar territory.  My big jug has nothing hanging from its belly, so I did no thorough research.  MOF, I fouled up what I did, which was to install the four braces on the outside of the belly fairing, rather than through it, attaching to firm sub-structure like it is supposed to (not sure how I would have done that....)  Anyway I like what you are doing though!   

Edited by JayW
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Looky what I found.  There is a drawing 93X10101 "General Arrangement Combat Fuel Tanks and Bombs", whihc shows two kinds of belly tanks - the common 75 gallon and the British 108 gallon "paper tank".   Unfortunately it doesn't show the tank you have, but it appears the installation of the British tank looks similar:

 

 5zHs8DTh.jpg

 

That shows two glass tubes, but the forward one isn't glass according to its drawing.  The tube drawings:

 

zKjpObMh.jpg

 

5bFYzeyh.jpg

 

The aft tube (glass) is 1.0 inch OD.  The forward tube (alum) is .5 inch OD.

 

There is also a drawing 93F65228 "Permanent Installation Fuel & Pressurized System External Tanks" which shows the belly penetrations.  Some pictures:

 

  8QXoTnJh.jpg

 

N9EaReth.jpg

 

BQRzYxnh.jpg

 

Hope the station values mean something to you.  I just happened on this info while looking for those gun plugs (unsuccessfully).  Do with it what you will....

Edited by JayW
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Im going to try a change, instead of metal tape, i think tamiya masking tape will take the “rubber” paint better, and i will keep it to one or two turns to try to keep a scale appearance.  Then i can hit it with impossibly thin strips of aluminum tape for the clamps. 
 

thats the plan, anyway. 

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