Question for those who have built the 1/32 Tamiya Corsairs

[ringleheim]

I am working on the F4u-1a corsair.

I just finished building the outer wing sections for both sides, and already have the central inner wing section built.

 

I'm going to build it wings extended, not folded.

 

Both of the outer wing sections, on both sides, slide down the big spars on the center section and then STOP.  They get stuck on something inside the wing and are at least 1/4" away from being tightly connected.

 

Did anyone else run into this?  I can't really tell where the interference is coming from.

 

It may be solved by simply giving them a really good push, but I feel like that will either break the spar or result in them never coming back off again, and I'm only test fitting at this stage, so I have not given them "the big shove."

 

I did run a needle file down into the slot that the spar slides into and it really feels like there is nothing in there causing a blockage.  Nothing is painted inside the wing and I just used Tamiya extra thin cement around the edges.  Seems like a fit issue, which is weird, as this has been one of the best fitting models I've ever made.  

 

Thanks,

Jim

[monthebiff]

Ah yes, I had exactly the same problem which is self inflicted by not reading the instructions correctly. The spar section in the outer wing sandwich needs to be fitted with no glue so its loose and then the wing will slide on correctly. My only option was to carefully sand the main spar down until the wing fitted. Hope that helps.

 

Regards. Andy 

[Scotsman]

First rule of Tamiya.. if it doesn't fit , you've done  something wrong.. a little tongue in cheek , but there is an element of truth  there 

 

cr

[cbk57]

Per the above that slot the spar goes in within the wing is not supposed to be glued, I know the first build I glued it by mistake, I think for me it went on just with some extra pressure, maybe I did not glue it well.  The last build I don’t recall if I glued it or not, like the poster above said just sand the spar a bit, and it should go.  

[FunkyZeit]

Sanded the spars, worked a treat.

 

Justin

[1to1scale]

That’s funny, because I I did glue it on mine, but I didn’t have any problems, I must have gotten really lucky from the sound of it.

[chrish]

I’ll add these notes to my files! The great thing about this site is the thoughtful help a question receives....and standing on the shoulders of those before me, I can hopefully avoid this problem when I build mine...a grateful modeller here! 

[Out2gtcha]

Indeed good tips!  I've got two of these beauties in the stash (-1A and a -1D) to build, and gluing the spar down solid sounds exactly like something Id do..................as dad always said, "If all else fails, read the instructions!"

 

I tend not to do that sometimes..............thanks for the heads up! 

[ringleheim]

I know just the part in the directions referenced with the "do not glue" warning....and I saw that and did not glue anything! 

 

So the plot thickens.

 

I am going to lightly sand what I can so as to increase tolerances and report back, and maybe push and shove on the spar a bit to loosen it up.  Or something like that.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[monthebiff]

Ah ok, that's interesting!! Will be interesting on what you find.

 

Regards.Andy 

[ringleheim]

So I have my Tamiya instruction booklet in hand. 

 

The "spar tunnels" buried inside the outer wing sections are parts N58 and N51.  They form a "T" in shape with the bar on the "T" forming in the inner face of the wing itself.  That section is shaded dark gray in the instructions with a line going to it and the big "DO NOT CEMENT" warning in 3 languages, also in a shaded box.  

 

The remainder of the "spar tunnels" are depicted in normal ink with no shading, suggesting the inner part of the tunnels should be glued, but that outer facade should NOT be glued.

 

That's how I did mine at least.  

 

This makes sense, too, b/c the actual hidden "tunnel" part of the spar tunnels that goes inside the wing has 4 ring-shaped locators that slot pretty tightly over protrusions inside the wing.  I.E, the tunnel part of the spar tunnel isn't going to move very much anyway even if you didn't glue the entire piece.

 

I'm going into all this detail b/c I just want to know what happened.  Are you guys suggesting I should have glued NONE of the "spar tunnel" parts?  If so, shame on Tamiya for designing their instructions as they did.

 

I think I did it right to be honest and that their instructions clearly expressed their intent....but haven't played around with it enough to get a good fit yet.

 

I saw it wouldn't go easily on yesterday and just stopped, came here, and wrote my post.  I don't want to screw this up! 

 

I am going to go play with it some more now and will report back.

 

 

[monthebiff]

Correct, NONE of the spar tunnel parts should be glued......seems a fairly common error for use to glue them in place and if I remember took me a while to get a good fit of the wings after that.

 

Regards.Andy 

[ringleheim]

So, after about an hour of fiddling later, it's all done.

 

I gently ran a half-round needle file into the slots both fore and aft sides, and helped open them up that way.  Also sanded top, bottom, front, and rear sides of the spars quite a bit.  Once enough gentle sanding was done, they slid home.  

 

Now I'm curious: are you guys glueing the outer wings onto the spars in some way, or just sliding them on and allowing for friction to keep them on?

 

Right now I have them just slid on with no glue and I think that's good enough, but might take them off again and throw some glue on the spars.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

 

[ringleheim]

Just now, monthebiff said:

Correct, NONE of the spar tunnel parts should be glued......seems a fairly common error for use to glue them in place and if I remember took me a while to get a good fit of the wings after that.

 

Regards.Andy 

If that's true, I can see why I and others have gone down the path of trouble here.  The directions really aren't clear on that.  In fact, they go out of their way to suggest you should not glue only a portion of the spar piece that contacts the fuselage.  If the whole thing should "float" in space, they could have indicated that much more clearly in the instructions.

Normally Tamiya is very good at that sort of thing.

 

 

[cbk57]

I applied glue to the spar and at the wing joint.  My experience was that the wing would not align properly unless glued in place.  If left to it’s own devices it would separate too much or have a little step so I glued it all together.