Pete Roberts Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 Nice work there Thierry - what have you used for the radiator faces? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cees Broere Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 How about a piece of stretched sprue holding one end downwards and putting a drop of superglue on. Gravity will form a ball at the end and size depends on the amount of superglue. thierry laurent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 8 hours ago, Pete Roberts said: Nice work there Thierry - what have you used for the radiator faces? Hi Pete. I used leftover sections of RB and Eduard Spitfire photoetched sets. Pete Roberts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 54 minutes ago, Cees Broere said: How about a piece of stretched sprue holding one end downwards and putting a drop of superglue on. Gravity will form a ball at the end and size depends on the amount of superglue. Hi Cees, I tried several times but was not satisfied. Either I got a drop shape, either it was oval and this is so small it is impossible to sand. I even tried starting with a round eyelet shaped at the end of the wire. If it had not to be located directly under the canopy this could be OK but not in such a case (visible from all angles). I will use a ceramic ball from a water filter or a extra small brass bearing ball. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 13 hours ago, Wackyracer said: Fishing shot? I'm sure I have some tiny lead shot that was almost impossible to squeeze on the line back in the day. I avoid using lead if I have to use CA glue. There is a bad oxydation process of the lead when used with CA. Years ago, I even saw a 1/72 Skyhawk with the nose opened as a banana because the guy used small lead balls glued with CA to weigth the nose. Because of the oxydation, white powder was produced as the result of the chemical reaction and because of the volume increase the seam cracked between the fuselage halves! Nasty! Always use epoxy glue with lead. But in this case this is not really possible as I will need a very small amount of glue. Wackyracer and MikeMaben 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scimitarf1 Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 3 hours ago, thierry laurent said: I avoid using lead if I have to use CA glue. There is a bad oxydation process of the lead when used with CA. Years ago, I even saw a 1/72 Skyhawk with the nose opened as a banana because the guy used small lead balls glued with CA to weigth the nose. Because of the oxydation, white powder was produced as the result of the chemical reaction and because of the volume increase the seam cracked between the fuselage halves! Nasty! Always use epoxy glue with lead. But in this case this is not really possible as I will need a very small amount of glue. I am not sure it would have been Cyano. I had this happen with PVA and lead and think that people are confusing the two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 Well, that is what the guy who made the Skyhawk kit told me and CA glue is activated by water humidity. So, his comments did not really surprise me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 The problem is solved thanks to the water filter contents! I just have to add a small thin wire to the ball and glue it behind the Barracuda part. Greg W, Landrotten Highlander and dennismcc 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 And here's the final ejection system with the ball. I also made the pilot oxygen hose. This is simply made out of a copper wire section with very fine solder rolled over it. Finally I added a small section of Albion tube to reproduce the mask connector. Greg W, Landrotten Highlander, Gazzas and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Roberts Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 Spoke to a Spitfire pilot many years ago who flew reconnaissance out of North Africa. He recalled the little red rubber ball for use where a quick exit was required, but he also recalled that most of them had deteriorated and were inoperable (!) thierry laurent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 11 hours ago, scimitarf1 said: I am not sure it would have been Cyano. I had this happen with PVA and lead and think that people are confusing the two No, CA is definitely an issue here, as I've had it happen too. I no longer use CA to glue lead weights into aircraft noses; it's too problematic. A brittle bond, combined with the exothermic curing action, just makes it too risky. For adding nose weight, I'm a complete convert to using good old Blu-tac! It works much better than you think it would. Kev thierry laurent and MikeMaben 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scimitarf1 Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 9 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: No, CA is definitely an issue here, as I've had it happen too. I no longer use CA to glue lead weights into aircraft noses; it's too problematic. A brittle bond, combined with the exothermic curing action, just makes it too risky. For adding nose weight, I'm a complete convert to using good old Blu-tac! It works much better than you think it would. Kev Agreed on the safety angle. I will try blu-tack next time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted August 1, 2020 Author Share Posted August 1, 2020 As I was checking the internal components for completion, I realized I had forgotten another noticeable item. It was located in the plane above the two big gas bottles. Alas, if I easily found pictures of the support to scratchbuild, I have yet to find a picture of the battery and its electrical connections. If anyone has an idea, this could help me in saving research time! Thanks. P. S. I had never realized (before this build) how cluttered was the rear fuselage of such early Spitfires! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 After additional research, I'm wondering if I'm not going in a wrong direction! If you look at some posts back you will see that I made an empty rack close to the radio one. I'm now thinking this could have been the relocated battery rack whereas the initial location was above the gas bottles! I still have to scratchbuild the battery but probably not the mount. TM contents related to the 1133 radio system mentions a battery located close to the radio. This would correspond to that empty rack I already made. I do not now if that probable battery rack relocation would be linked to the progressive move from the TR9D system to the simplified TR1133 but to me this is quite possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chek Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) On 7/30/2020 at 8:12 PM, thierry laurent said: I just have to add the ball on the rear side. However, I'm still wondering where I will find a small ball with a diameter slightly under the millimeter...? Any idea? You could try splitting open a water filter core as these usually contain thousands of tiny spheres. Or stretch a piece of sprue to quite a thin filament, then cut an end square. Gradually approach the cut end underneath a candle flame where the heat is reduced, and it will form a sphere which grows as you decrease the distance to the flame. Watch out though as if you're too quick it will flame on you. Clip the sphere as close as possible to reduce the sprue nub. Ah, I read on further and see you got there on your own. Edited August 2, 2020 by Chek update thierry laurent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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