1/18 Scale Blue Box F4U-1A Corsair Modification

[brahman104]

Man this is awesome to watch Jay!

 

You're a brave man, taking on this level of complexity, let alone trying to find the ultimate blend between real life and practicality. Super impressive! Certainly makes my build look like a butcher shop! 

 

The amount of effort you've put into creating not only your gorgeous 3D printed parts, but also that epic jig to line everything up is not only beyond next level, but super interesting to learn the engineering behind the original parts too!

 

Loving your work Sir!

 

Craig

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow! This stuff is way above my head.

 

Kev

[Kaeone57]

This is just Sooo F...ing Sick!!! Amazing Sh.. going on here! Brotha, my head is spinning!!! WOW

 

Alfonso

 

 

 

 

 

[JayW]

16 hours ago, brahman104 said:

Certainly makes my build look like a butcher shop! 

No sir.  Respectfully disagree.  Your ability to create greatness out of thin air is well known.

[JayW]

17 hours ago, brahman104 said:

You're a brave man, taking on this level of complexity, let alone trying to find the ultimate blend between real life and practicality.

 

This was not really that brave.  The simplest way to attach the gear strut is either to create a simple vertical "can" in which to glue the strut (like virtually all model manufacturers provide regardless of the model),  or make the top of the strut a "tee", and have it fit into twin parallel troughs (that is how 21CT did this model, so the gear could retract).  The first would not look real at all, and the second did not give me alot of freedom to make angular adjustments, and I could not figure out how to make those troughs accurate in such a complexly contoured part of the wing (the "valley", Vought called it).  So, duplicating the actual configuration provides me with a "UV" joint of sorts at the strut attach point, where a jig can get the orientation spot on (if the jig is accurate that is), and where the drag strut ultimately constrains its final position, and looks more real to boot.  We shall see if my logic pans out, shall we not?

 

Also, you may recall on my 1/18 P-47 Thunderbolt that I went to the "nth" degree to produce an accurate gear support structural box, along with an accurate "tee" shaped upper strut.  Although one must look hard to find all that detail, I was never sorry I did that.  It was a "challenge accepted" and was a hoot from start to finish. 

 

     

 

Thanks for the wonderful compliments my man.

Edited August 13, 2021 by JayW

[Ironwing]

Dude,

I see the madness and the skill quite obviously. This is just beyond reproach. A magnificent treatise on how to engineer something from nothing. The center wing section is just stunning and the gear package is magical. I'm so glad your sharing all of it. Keeper going...

Geoff

 

[Anthony in NZ]

Wow, this is such a pleasure to follow....next level brilliance!!

 

Well done is an understatement

 

Cheers Anthony

[JayW]

Oh man!  It's been a while.  Went on vacation for a long week, and then alot of painstaking detail work on the spar segments and landing gear struts.  Take a look:

 

First, the spar segments were adorned with various details (RH segment shown):

 

 

 

 

I'll repost this picture from Bell - what I am trying to duplicate:

 

 

There is alot of plumbing left to do!  

 

Finally it was time to install these spar segments into the wing center section.  And once installed, it was time to make use of the landing gear jig and make the drag strut attach fittings on the forward face of the spar.  The most critical work I have done so far.  Nerve racking too.

 

This picture shows the painstaking and exciting work making the attach fittings.  The task must be done with the wing on the jig:

 

 

On the lower right, you see dead fitting lugs, made from simple .040 thick plastic stock.  It was a trial-and-error process, to be sure!

 

A close-up of the fitting effort:

 

  

 

Once the right shape lugs were arrived at, the attach flanges were the easy part.  The finished fittings, with bolt heads (actually nuts):

 

 

 

Wow - they dominate the forward face of the spar segment.

 

The finished product:

 

 

This just could not be done accurately without that jig.  At this point the landing gear strut parts have been bonded to one another, including the pivot fitting on top.  Note the temporary pins on either ends of the drag struts.  In theory, once the time comes, I can final install the landing gear strut and drag strut, without the jig, and the gear will be perfectly oriented.  In theory.      Meanwhile, I can remove the struts and let them gather dust while working on other things.  Am glad of that!

 

OK - what you saw here is the LH side spar and gear.  Next post, the same will be done with the RH side, and maybe the LG bay ribs will be started.  Stay tuned!

 

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by JayW

[brahman104]

Well done Jay! 

 

So good to see everything come together on the jig (which is no small amount of awesome btw!). What are you using to replicate all the bolts/nuts etc?

 

Craig

[Kaeone57]

Ummmmm, duh, duh, biidihhh, duh.

 

No words, just, duuuuhhhh, F..ck!!

Soooo good, Brotha!

 

Alfonso,

Corsair Lover, who can't speak proper right now...duh, duhhhhh!

[dodgem37]

Grande!  Great problem-solving and execution.  Go Jay Go!  Your 1/18 builds are just superb.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[JayW]

3 hours ago, Kaeone57 said:

Ummmmm, duh, duh, biidihhh, duh.

 

No words, just, duuuuhhhh, F..ck!!

Soooo good, Brotha!

 

Alfonso,

Corsair Lover, who can't speak proper right now...duh, duhhhhh!

 Ha!  Corsair lover.  Ok I gotta be on my toes.  Tell ya what Alfonso, you're going to see some stuff you don't usually see.  Most Corsair builds do not use the Aircorps library for a source.  I wish I could do a wing fold for you all.  But I am not good enough for that, plus the large thicknesses just make it too much of a challenge.  But other stuff - yeah. 

[JayW]

5 hours ago, brahman104 said:

What are you using to replicate all the bolts/nuts etc?

 

Craig - I have settled on Meng Nuts.  There are two sets.  A large one and a smaller one.  Each have several sizes.  One side has bolt heads.  The other side has nut sides plus the protruding threads.  You have to cut them off, which introduces some sloppiness.  But it can be overcome.  More cost effective by far than metallic hardware.  I dunno - I am all ears for alternatives.

Edited September 7, 2021 by JayW

[brahman104]

5 hours ago, JayW said:

 

Craig - I have settled on Meng Nuts.  There are two sets.  A large one and a smaller one.  Each have several sizes.  One side has bolt heads.  The other side has nut sides plus the protruding threads.  You have to cut them off, which introduces some sloppiness.  But it can be overcome.  More cost effective by far than metallic hardware.  I dunno - I am all ears for alternatives.

 

Sounds like you've found a good product Jay! I guess the only real alternative would be if you could print a whole bunch in much the same way as the ANYZ sets? Maybe I'll try that one day...... Thanks for the idea  

 

Craig

[JayW]

About a half day's work, and the drag link fitting effort is finished.  I cannot exaggerate how stoked this modeler is!  Here - a couple of pictures of what I can only call victory (and worthy of a "huge thumbnail"):

 

 

 

So many question marks prior to this integration.  Were the struts and drag links going to fit as intended.  Could I hold their positions accurately.  Did I get the distance between the spar face and the knuckle fittings right.  Did everything line up on the center plane.  All are answered in the affirmative, or at least "close enuff".  Yahoo!!

 

I know these pics show inside structure that is far from beautiful.  MOF, very messy.  But you can be certain as the wheel wells progress, that will change.  Stay tuned.  

Edited September 7, 2021 by JayW