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


JayW

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10 hours ago, JayW said:

Y'all really liked that last post judging by the comments.  Is it transparencies? 

 

OK, last post showed newly installed transparencies for a scratch built windshield.  Still to go was the exterior framing.  But, the exterior framing, at least some of it,  is basically installed on top of the fuselage skin.  And the existing skin surface needs work.  I have decided, rather than putty over panel lines and rescribe, that I am going to skin this beast with aluminum.  You saw the mule I purchased to practice on - here is some practice:

 

oHEpNk4h.jpg

 

The Imgur "huge thumbnail" reveals much.  The larger painted one was my first try.  From it I learned what glue not to use (some Revell Germany contact glue).  I also learned that annealed aluminum sheet is a little soft for this application; it's a little lumpy, and the awl-pressed rivet heads deform a bit too much.  And importantly I learned that paint doesn't adhere very well to the aluminum panels.  That's going to have to be addressed for sure.  I am open to suggestions.  The large blank panel to the left was an experiment with a different contact cement - better stick, but still a bit lumpy.  And the third panel (the smaller one with all the rivet heads) turned out pretty good.  Good enough for me to try my luck on the Corsair. 

 

Here we go - small panels surrounding the windshield:

 

 i1UmDlLl.jpg

 

I am pretty happy with these.  Even though they are soft (annealed), they laid down pretty smooth, and the rivet and Dzus patterns are pretty good (required a good bit of burnishing with balsa block, brass roller, and toothpick).  I didn't have to worry too much about the boundary between the aluminum and the "glass" - it would be covered by the framing.

 

These panels are the tip of the iceberg.  I am now waiting for some heat treated litho plate (in the mail from my BFF Peter Castle, who is helping me with this skinning effort).  What a pro - I could not ask for a better instructor.  Once obtained, I will be ready to attack the acreage.  I am not sure whether or not to wait until the wing center section is joined to the fuselage - must hand-wring over that some.  

 

Anyway - I continued on with the rest of the skinning around the windshield:

 

gpTC9EZl.jpg

 

 

I am pretty certain many of you watching this build are happy that I am doing something with the pock marks and trenches on this toy.  In the past I have ignored this stuff, happy enough with a well shaped and realistic modification of a toy.  No longer - gonna dive into the world of exterior finishing where I can do something worthy of the rest of the effort.  Not my strong suite, so wish me luck.

 

Once I got the rest of the small alum sheet panels glued on, I could do the exterior framing.  Here it is:

 

rAWaNLAh.jpg

 

hsHqUa1l.jpg

 

QGBUOV9l.jpg

 

VERY stressful work - must not put a glue smudge on the glass.  And I didn't!  The effort isn't quite ready for prime time - I have a bit of smoothing to do.  Note there is less transparency there - it looks kinda like a Corsair.  

 

The customary comparison shot with the old part:

 

laYCBYtl.jpg

 

Makes me glad I went ahead with the scratch built version.  What ugly screw marks!

 

My list of things to do before joining wing to fuselage says it's time for the firewall, by God.  So that is what you will see next I think.  Stay with me, and keep those suggestions rolling in!  

 

 

Looking great Jay!!! FYI, I just bought a roll of aluminum "shim" stock on ebay, it's hardened and it's offered in different thickness, it comes as 6" X 100" roll, cost about $40.00 US , I got some .005, they do have it thinner but I also have some annealed aluminum for doing compound shapes that is .005 so I bought to match thickness.

Looking forward to your progress !!!

Pat

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Brilliant. Looks every bit the part.

 

As for paint sticking to bare metal,  you'll need an etching primer. Plenty of rattle cans of it in the automotive stores (there'seven some in zinc green). And she's big enough you'll need the whole can. After that, you'll be able to paint what you want.

-Peter

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1 hour ago, Out2gtcha said:

Just lovely!! Even that small area around the pit looks awesome by itself.

 

Thanks Brian.  The genie is out of the bottle; the toothpaste out of the tube.  My hand is now forced.  I should have made this decision before I did all that wing work - now the lower surface of the center wing is dominated by the landing gear and the gear doors.  They obstruct the wing skin a good bit, and pose a breakage threat if I try to skin the lower wing.  So I am almost certain I am not going to do it.  And if I don't do the lower wing skin, I won't do the upper either.  That would look very mismatched.  I will do the flaps though.

 

So I think I am going to limit skinning to the center and aft fuselage, tail surfaces, and maybe the wings outboard of the fold.  The cowls forward of the firewall will be scratch built and removable - I do not think they will need skinning; I will provide the necessary detail on the .02 plastic sheet instead.  At least that's the current plan.  Were this a NMF airplane, I'd have a different plan. 

 

Gonna be an adventure!  Thanks for looking in.       

Edited by JayW
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20 hours ago, JayW said:

Y'all really liked that last post judging by the comments.  Is it transparencies? 

 

OK, last post showed newly installed transparencies for a scratch built windshield.  Still to go was the exterior framing.  But, the exterior framing, at least some of it,  is basically installed on top of the fuselage skin.  And the existing skin surface needs work.  I have decided, rather than putty over panel lines and rescribe, that I am going to skin this beast with aluminum.  You saw the mule I purchased to practice on - here is some practice:

 

oHEpNk4h.jpg

 

The Imgur "huge thumbnail" reveals much.  The larger painted one was my first try.  From it I learned what glue not to use (some Revell Germany contact glue).  I also learned that annealed aluminum sheet is a little soft for this application; it's a little lumpy, and the awl-pressed rivet heads deform a bit too much.  And importantly I learned that paint doesn't adhere very well to the aluminum panels.  That's going to have to be addressed for sure.  I am open to suggestions.  The large blank panel to the left was an experiment with a different contact cement - better stick, but still a bit lumpy.  And the third panel (the smaller one with all the rivet heads) turned out pretty good.  Good enough for me to try my luck on the Corsair. 

 

Here we go - small panels surrounding the windshield:

 

 i1UmDlLl.jpg

 

I am pretty happy with these.  Even though they are soft (annealed), they laid down pretty smooth, and the rivet and Dzus patterns are pretty good (required a good bit of burnishing with balsa block, brass roller, and toothpick).  I didn't have to worry too much about the boundary between the aluminum and the "glass" - it would be covered by the framing.

 

These panels are the tip of the iceberg.  I am now waiting for some heat treated litho plate (in the mail from my BFF Peter Castle, who is helping me with this skinning effort).  What a pro - I could not ask for a better instructor.  Once obtained, I will be ready to attack the acreage.  I am not sure whether or not to wait until the wing center section is joined to the fuselage - must hand-wring over that some.  

 

Anyway - I continued on with the rest of the skinning around the windshield:

 

gpTC9EZl.jpg

 

 

I am pretty certain many of you watching this build are happy that I am doing something with the pock marks and trenches on this toy.  In the past I have ignored this stuff, happy enough with a well shaped and realistic modification of a toy.  No longer - gonna dive into the world of exterior finishing where I can do something worthy of the rest of the effort.  Not my strong suite, so wish me luck.

 

Once I got the rest of the small alum sheet panels glued on, I could do the exterior framing.  Here it is:

 

rAWaNLAh.jpg

 

hsHqUa1l.jpg

 

QGBUOV9l.jpg

 

VERY stressful work - must not put a glue smudge on the glass.  And I didn't!  The effort isn't quite ready for prime time - I have a bit of smoothing to do.  Note there is less transparency there - it looks kinda like a Corsair.  

 

The customary comparison shot with the old part:

 

laYCBYtl.jpg

 

Makes me glad I went ahead with the scratch built version.  What ugly screw marks!

 

My list of things to do before joining wing to fuselage says it's time for the firewall, by God.  So that is what you will see next I think.  Stay with me, and keep those suggestions rolling in!  

 

 

 

NOW we're talking Jay!!!! Actually that's never been the case..... every one of your posts has been truely epic :). But I'm very very glad you've taken the plunge and gone with the skinning. From the looks of it you've already started at the pro level!:coolio:

 

Did you end up being able to find any thinner for your contact cement?

 

Craig

 

 

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30 minutes ago, brahman104 said:

Did you end up being able to find any thinner for your contact cement?

 

No I don't think I did Craig.  So far I have used Weldwood contact cement, and it seems to work well.  It isn't real thick, yet.  A brush applies it pretty smoothly and as thin as I want.  So far - I expect it to thicken the more I use it.  The container says to use mineral spirits for clean up.  Often, as I understand it, a thinner is also the clean-up.  But mineral spirits does NOT clean this stuff up well at all despite what it says on the container.  I have not tried yet to thin it with mineral spirits.  Before I declare defeat, I guess I ought to do that.   

 

So it's an open issue.

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Jay, I've just done a real quick search and they suggest Toluene as the correct thinner for Weldwood contact cement. I guess the next question is can you get that?

 

Maybe give that a try?

 

I'm not sure what's in the one I showed you in the photo, but hopefully that helps!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig 

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14 hours ago, brahman104 said:

I'm not sure what's in the one I showed you in the photo, but hopefully that helps!

You mean the Glu Guru?  A down unda product!  :)

 

Toluene, I will go shopping for something with toluene and see if I can get it.  Thanks for that info Craig.  Stay tuned.

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8 hours ago, JayW said:

Toluene, I will go shopping for something with toluene and see if I can get it.  Thanks for that info Craig.  Stay tuned.

 

Closest thing I could easily find to Toluene was some pretty ill smelling brush cleaning compound from Home Depot that claimed to include toluene as a component.  Just what percentage was not stated.  I tried mixing about a 50-50 mix with the Weldwood contact cement, and there was no mix at all!  The two components just stayed separated.  Oh well, a good try.  I'll bet it cleans brushes great though.

 

Then, I did what I should have done in the first place, and tried mixing the mineral spirits already purchased with the contact cement, and it seemed to mix very well!  Go figure. 

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