Attitude Aviation Buchon Conversion

[LSP_Kevin]

1 hour ago, dodgem37 said:

'I've already run some Mr. Surfacer 500 around the join . . . a cotton bud moistened with Mr. Color Thinner to remove the excess putty.'

 

Mr. Surfacer is a putty and not a paint?

 

It comes in a range of viscosities, and the higher the number, the thinner and finer the liquid. When fresh, the 500 variety (the thickest) is virtually a liquid putty; you can thin it for airbrushing, but if you're going to do that, it makes more sense to start with one of the thinner varieties (1000+), or just use one of their rattle cans.

 

In my case, the jar is quite old, and has thickened up considerably; I had to use some lacquer thinner to bring it back to a semi-liquid state. This made it even more effective as a liquid putty, but being solvent-based, it shrinks somewhat as it dries, which makes it a bit of a pain to use when trying to completely eliminate gaps. It's perfect for my use here, though, as it shrinks back into the gaps, and helps bring them back to looking more like panel lines, in keeping with the rest of the surface detail on the model.

 

 

Kev

[Troy Molitor]

Hey Kev,

 

i sincerely enjoy all all your efforts going on here however, this is like looking at a nice 1969 Jaguar XKE being hacked and re-engineered to fit a not so good fitting Daimler Benz.  Maybe a VW with a Triumph engine?   Just so wrong on many account man,   Lol.   Nonetheless, enjoying this build.   (Seriously I’m impressed with the determination).  

 

Looking forward to that fictitious livery she will eventually sport.

 

 I sat inside a lot of these machines in my youth.  I always remember the weight of the armored canopy pulling it down to the normal position.   Heavy, heavy, heavy!   I can’t imagine popping this open in a normal flight condition hence the jettison release handle. 

 

Thanks for posting Kev!   Looking good. 

 

Troy 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks, Troy. Believe it or not, I'm thinking of starting my GMF conversion, too!

 

Kev

[Guest Vincent]

Hi

 

The hole on top of the box where the MG151 used to be on the G version is not for an instrument, it's a lightening hole

 

And to be accurate, on a BoB Buchon, the avionic box was not installed, so that was just an empty frame basically

 

And (you will hate me) your thottle quadrant is not installed with the correct orientation

 

That central assembly looks suspiciously identical to the one i mastered for Grey Matter. Not cool 

 

V

Edited June 16, 2019 by Vincent/MDC

[LSP_Kevin]

7 hours ago, Vincent/MDC said:

Hi

 

The hole on top of the box where the MG151 used to be on the G version is not for an instrument, it's a lightening hole

 

And to be accurate, on a BoB Buchon, the avionic box was not installed, so that was just an empty frame basically

 

And (you will hate me) your thottle quadrant is not installed with the correct orientation

 

That central assembly looks suspiciously identical to the one i mastered for Grey Matter. Not cool 

 

V

 

Thanks, Vincent. Not sure if I'll be able to remove the throttle quadrant for reattachment, but I can always paint over the decal. I'm no accuracy nut, but I'm happy to fix simple mistakes like this.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Apologies for the lack of updates, but with a book deadline looming, and other mitigating factors, I just haven't been able to spend any time at the bench. I did manage to join the fuselage halves,  fix the errors that Vincent pointed out with the cockpit, and get it installed.

 

 

 

 

You'll also notice that I've installed the lap belts from the HGW set. I'm not 100% happy with my work on them, but they'll be OK under a closed canopy I think. The shoulder straps will follow once the area around the cockpit rear decking has been finished.

 

At this point, I thought I'd better test-fit the nose components in situ with the canopy, and was in for a nasty shock:

 

 

 

The resin piece in the front of the windscreen is supposed to end flush with the cut in the fuselage, but as you can see, it protrudes quite a bit - about 1.5mm on the starboard side, and about 1mm on the other. I have no idea what I've done to cause this, and no real idea how to rectify it, either! Admittedly the canopy parts have yet to be cleaned up properly, but there are no sprue burs on the front and back edges anyway, so I don't think that's the problem. And my fuselage cut point would be out by the width of a panel line at the most.

 

I also failed to heed the warning in the instructions that the forward bulkhead might need some trimming to ensure the top piece fits correctly. I installed it unaltered, and now the fuselage is slightly too wide at that point. That should be an easy fix, so it's not a major concern right now.

 

I'll be back when I can figure out a solution to the fuselage problem, which at the moment is a bit of a show-stopper. I'm guessing a bit of shim-and-trim, but we'll see. Wish me luck!

 

Kev

[DonH]

Good luck Kev!

[LSP_Kevin]

Espen seems to think that I've cut the fuselage too far back, but I'm not convinced. I certainly haven't done it to the degree suggested by the test fit! Still, it's a possible factor, and I'm certainly prepared to concede that I've screwed something up here. My plan to fix it at this stage is to start by cleaning up the canopy pieces, masking them up, and fitting them permanently into place, as they're the non-negotiable elements as far as fit goes. Then, I'll trim and shim the other parts to suit.

 

I haven't had a chance to work on it yet, but I'll post an update when I do!

 

Kev

[Fvdm]

Good luck!

[Guest Vincent]

I'm pretty sure you cut too much, given the position of the floor support pegs

[LSP_Kevin]

52 minutes ago, Vincent/MDC said:

I'm pretty sure you cut too much, given the position of the floor support pegs

 

While I'm pretty sure that has to be the only viable explanation, if you compare what I've done to the photo in the conversion instructions, the respective cuts appear to be within normal operating margins:

 

 

 

Note that in both cases, the cut is in pretty close vertical alignment with the panel line that extends through the wing root. Mine is ever so slightly to the rear of it, but only by the width of the panel line itself. So while I've clearly done something wrong, I did in fact follow the example set out in the photo above from the instruction sheet. It's all fixable, of course, but just puzzling.

 

In better news, the squared-off wing tips arrived in the post today, so I'm good to go on that front now. The package also contains some Emil-style braces for the tailplanes, but I'm having a hard time determining whether "Red 3" (my chosen subject) featured them. This is one of the few photos I could find, and it certainly suggests it did:

 

 

They seem to be simple struts to act as visual props, whereas the resin parts are much more like the real thing. And unfortunately, my DVD copy of the movie won't play in my computer's optical drive!

 

Kev

[JamesHatch]

I believe that all Buchons originally had them fitted, but they were prone to falling off in flight, so only some Buchons continued with them.

 

As for the cowl, it looks like you cut back too far. I had a very slight overhang that a sanding stick removed. The cutback line is level with the panel line on the wing root.

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by JamesHatch

[LSP_Kevin]

31 minutes ago, JamesHatch said:

As for the cowl, it looks like you cut back too far. I had a very slight overhang that a sanding stick removed. The cutback line is level with the panel line on the wing root.

 

But that's what has me so puzzled, as my cut (especially on the starboard side shown below) is exactly in the line with this panel line:

 

 

I screwed it up a bit on the port side, but I've already shimmed that back. And ironically, the overhang on the starboard side is actually the greater! I figure the top insert is probably just not completely square in this case.

 

Anyway, as I've just said to Espen, the point now is to recover the situation, not whine about it!

 

Kev

[Trak-Tor]

Hmm, the test fit of the front part on the first page looks fine...

I'm sure you can solve this!

 

Juraj

[Guest Vincent]

I also have to say that the resin upper deck seems much longer than on the real a/c. That might be the issue. The Hasegawa kit is too short in that area by the way. Maybe they used the real size and forgot that the kit is too short ?