chuck540z3 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 33 minutes ago, mozart said: Knowing your love of getting things right Chuck, I'm surprised you haven't addressed the fuel filler issue: The KH ones are pretty much flush with the wing and not really that representational in my opinion. Thanks Max, I missed that. As shown below, some of them have no doubt been modified, but since my subject has the type you showed above, I think I'll give it a whirl. Cheers, Chuck MikeMaben, Out2gtcha, Gazzas and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoHands Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 I am starting to think painting this model will be a crime. Love all that detail work! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) Feb 13/20 A small update, but I think an important one. Putting together the front cowl, I recall that Max (Mozart) was complaining about it in his build and now I know why. The cowl on the real deal comes in 3 roughly equal parts that are connected together with an obvious band of fasteners, with one on the top and the other two equidistant away, sort of like the Mercedes Benz symbol. Instead of utilizing these obvious joins, Kitty Hawk used none of them and made the cowl out of 4 parts, where all joins should be filled. Dumb. Even if they needed to make the cowl out of 4 parts due to curvature and size restrictions, they could have used at least two of the cowl joins instead. Also, that oval notch on the right should be cut out to accommodate the exhaust, which the instructions never mention. Here is the finished cowl, with the seam lines filled with CA glue and a band of spare brass for the top join, which the kit omitted and is close enough to the other two joins on the sides. Although the fasteners are not the correct spacing, they look the part with a fastener on each end, which was lucky. Another dumb Kitty Hawk design is that there are only 3 taps to hold the cowl in place and they aren’t evenly distributed, like the one on the lower left inside the cowl. It works OK despite this oversight, but 4 tabs would have been much better. Here you can still where the joins were filled with clear CA glue, as was the little square anchor point for a front mast, which my subject doesn’t have. Another weird feature of the cowl, but from Eduard this time, is extensive brass detail within the cowling, which you will never see with the engine installed. Even if the cowling was left off, it would naturally be in 3 parts, so I don’t know why Eduard bothered to create these PE parts, which I left off. After reviewing many reference photos, the position of the top band should be slightly offset to the starboard side, with the port side edge roughly the center line. I bet I get a deduction at a future model contest for a crooked cowl. Lol, I don’t care….. Getting the cockpit ready to be sealed up before painting, I added the windscreen and rear canopy parts, which reveals that the rear canopy is also too narrow, presumably to fit the narrow canopy parts. Even the AlleyCat replacement canopy part that Max used is narrow as well, because it needs to fit the fuselage that is made for this part. This tells me not worry about the width of the canopy parts anymore, because even if I did manage to get stretch them wider, the rear part wouldn’t fit the rear canopy, so it’s better off if left alone. As a result, I am going to place the 3 overlapping canopy parts in the middle and call it a day, just like everyone else! That will be it for progress for a while, as I head south for warmer climes for a few weeks and some much-needed R&R. When I get back, this bird will be hitting the paint barn as I finish off other small details. Cheers, Chuck Edited February 13, 2020 by chuck540z3 jimbo, williamj, mozart and 18 others 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Great work! I still have Alis corrected canopy for a T-6 Reno racer I want to make laying around somewhere I need to find............ chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZPetrP Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Good yob. I like to visit this project. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett M Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Looking great on progress! I’m sure you’ve said this somewhere before and I’ve read and not retained but, do you wash out the panel wash before painting? chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 On my last Harvard Chuck, I used the middle (AlleyCat) section at the rear, cut out a plasticard frame only on the Silhouette cutter as the middle section and positioned the front section over that one, it works very well. You can’t see that the middle section has no glazing. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 8 hours ago, Brett M said: Looking great on progress! I’m sure you’ve said this somewhere before and I’ve read and not retained but, do you wash out the panel wash before painting? A little, where it may have built up. Most of the time the wash residue is so thin it doesn't affect the paint finish at all. 5 hours ago, mozart said: On my last Harvard Chuck, I used the middle (AlleyCat) section at the rear, cut out a plasticard frame only on the Silhouette cutter as the middle section and positioned the front section over that one, it works very well. You can’t see that the middle section has no glazing. I know Max, but I want an open cockpit at the rear, where some of the best cockpit details are. Cheers, Chuck mozart and Brett M 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Masterful work as always Chuck! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Thought I'd have a look here even though Harvards are really not my thing... I'm really glad I did since the build is sensational! Cheers, Marcel chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 8, 2020 Author Share Posted March 8, 2020 (edited) March 8/20 Well I'm back from a bit of a break cruising the Caribbean in the Caribbean Princess, sister ship to the Grand Princess (California) and Diamond Princess (Japan) that have had the so-called COVID-19 virus outbreaks. My wife and I had a great time, but the thought of being stuck in quarantine makes me shudder, because it could just as easily been us. No more cruising for me until the world gets this bug under control. Scary times and yes I know the mortality rate is "only" about 3%. I just as soon not take the chance, especially at my ripe age of 65! A tiny update. On 2/9/2020 at 10:00 AM, mozart said: Knowing your love of getting things right Chuck, I'm surprised you haven't addressed the fuel filler issue: The KH ones are pretty much flush with the wing and not really that representational in my opinion. I've also be procrastinating on just how to do this, now that the wings are assembled. Before assembly, this would have been super easy, so I had to think of a different approach. Here is what the fuel caps look like on each wing, which are perfectly flush. While some Texan/Harvards have them that way, they have been modified and most are as shown by Max above. First step is to cut a nice and smooth hole in the wing. To do this, I used progressively larger drill bits, then finished off the last third with circular files to keep the hole symetrical and smooth. I then cut some sprue rod to fit, drilling a hole in the top so that I had something to grab onto when inserted the rod in place. The rod was carefully measured, then glued into place at the bottom and top of the rod, leaving a significant depression in the wing, just like the real deal. I then fashioned a fuel cap out of a few bits of spare PE brass. These are only dry fit, because I will paint them red and glue them later at the end of painting. The other side, to show the depression in the wing. Pretty good- and much better than before. That's it for now, but I really must get going on this build before the weather starts to turn nice. Once it does, my modeling Mojo goes into almost complete hibernation, which will drag this build over the summer. Cheers, Chuck Edited March 8, 2020 by chuck540z3 USMC Herc, Brett M, jimbo and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarioS Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Wow chuck very impressive that's a good solution to the problem. But looking at your pictures, can I ask the cap that you made is round and smooth the cap on the picture is somewhat corrugated, rippled do you plan on reproducing another cap similar to that one. Also good to hear that you're home safe after a good holiday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 8, 2020 Author Share Posted March 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, MarioS said: Wow chuck very impressive that's a good solution to the problem. But looking at your pictures, can I ask the cap that you made is round and smooth the cap on the picture is somewhat corrugated, rippled do you plan on reproducing another cap similar to that one. Also good to hear that you're home safe after a good holiday Yes, if you can send me one! I don’t have such a part or anything like it, so I justify what I’ve done with this: The pic above of the real deal is taken from about 18”, while my pics of the model are taken at about 5”. At 1/32 scale, that’s about 0.5” equivalent and my pics are taken at 160” or 13 feet, so you would wouldn’t detect the corrugated edges of the cap anyway. Cheers, Chuck mozart, Anthony in NZ, MarioS and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Nice update Chuck. Gotta admit when I saw the title of the update, I had to wonder just how special those fuel caps must be. Not disappointed. Great work! Gaz chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Good show, Bro'. Sincerely, Mark chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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