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1/18 Hawker Fury


airscale

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3 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

I was taught years ago that a good photo can hide a multitude of sins, but there are no sins in this build to hide.  Even very close up, there just aren’t any.  The level of craftsmanship and expertise displayed in this build goes beyond the pale.  Amazing stuff, this.

 

I have given similar comments to Peter.  I'm proud of my own modelling (usually), but it doesn't hold up to magnification like Peter's efforts do.  Masterful.

 

Peter - please tell me a bit more about the little piano hinges forward of the windscreen.  How did you make them?  Are they functional?  I ask, because were I to try to do a wing fold on the 1/18 F4U, I'd need a couple of (very miniature) functioning piano hinges.

 

Also, how did you wrap that perforated sheet around the gun barrels?  It looks perfecto!   

Edited by JayW
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evening ladies :)

 

On 3/27/2021 at 4:37 PM, JayW said:

 

Peter - please tell me a bit more about the little piano hinges forward of the windscreen.  How did you make them?  Are they functional?  I ask, because were I to try to do a wing fold on the 1/18 F4U, I'd need a couple of (very miniature) functioning piano hinges.

 

Also, how did you wrap that perforated sheet around the gun barrels?  It looks perfecto!   

 

Hi Jay - the piano hinges certainly are NOT functional! they are a length of albion alloys tube, scored by rolling under a blade to look like hinges - obviously effectively if you thought for a moment they worked :)   If I had to try and make one, I guess I would try and copy a real one in PE with lots of tongues and try and roll those tongues around a rod in order to lace them together with a rod insert - likely extremely hard the smaller you go..

 

..the perforated sheet for the guns was just wrapped around some brass rod and rolled hard on a mouse mat as that has just the right amount of give :)

 

..so all the action lately has been on skinning - hard, complex skins actually..

 

..the under chin one took a couple of goes, but with lots and lots of gentle tapping with a tiny hammer, coaxing with various bits of soft and hard wood, I got it good enough to lay down and work on..

 

..the printed paper borders are acttually a false litho skin representing the engine side panels so I can lay this chin panel down and push it right up to that border - once overlapping & tight, the waste can be sanded away leaving the edge shape I want..

 

qKvsA0.jpg

 

..it might be better shown here - this time the top panel (even harder then the bottom!) again the panel around the exhausts is represented by a strip of litho along with some shields to protect them as they are very fragile..

 

..at the back of the panel where the gun troughs are I am not asking much of the metal as it's just curved in one direction, but as you close in on the nose, it needs a lot of work to get it to conform without kinking, folding, splitting or any other number of nasties..

 

..here tape is helping hold bits of it in place while the lower edges are worked..

 

Aj8iCb.jpg

 

..at this point the hard work is done and the panel is stuck down - one thing I learned is that I should have been much more careful about the openings I made - you can see here at the nose, two dips where there are two holes - I thought I would make neat shapes with the skin, but in fact it just adopts the shapes of the holes in the structure as the metal is so soft..

 

..the front of this panel will be trimmed so the kinking doesn't matter and the gun troughs will be cut out later as there is no way the metal will stretch that deep..

 

m0SYcw.jpg

 

..then its a process of various grades of sandpaper - here quite fine wet n dry used wet..

 

WqhMCL.jpg

 

...then wire wool (0000 grade)..

 

1WrCqq.jpg

 

..then it's polished..

 

..you see that hole with a brass screwlike cap in it? well I didn't see that until this panel was down so not only did I have to make a hole in it which shredded my nerves, but once I had a hole I had to fit these through the hole - there is zero access inside..

 

..I did it by making the caps, sitting them on a strip of black card and used threads tied to them to get them in place - a right little nightmare..

 

bdi3iR.jpg

 

..the metal was removed from the gun troughs and the holes in the front opened up..

 

4ul2K4.jpg

 

..the troughs themselves were annealed litho burnished into the troughs - here after sanding all the faces so it is at one with the shape of the cowling..

 

gwXcWe.jpg

 

..cleaned up & with rivets..

 

gW4OAH.jpg

 

..there is also a fairing on the upper fuselage so a buck was made from perspex and litho burnished over it..

 

BXkXg9.jpg

 

..I thought I would shoot the rund up in daylight as my desk lamps don't really show off the metalwork..

 

..also added the wing fillets with their copper stitching and the footsteps..

 

NfvEt4.jpg

 

..there are various lumps & bumps and still some to go, but this is where I am at..

 

yeC77x.jpg

 

Npboso.jpg

 

pNsqGW.jpg

 

ksTo5K.jpg

 

T0GRHb.jpg

 

bN8XFT.jpg

 

9LQ6g9.jpg

 

..got to do the panels around the exhausts next and they are NASA scientist levels of precision, so fingers crossed :)

 

TTFN

Peter

 

 

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2 hours ago, airscale said:

evening ladies :)

 

 

Hi Jay - the piano hinges certainly are NOT functional! they are a length of albion alloys tube, scored by rolling under a blade to look like hinges - obviously effectively if you thought for a moment they worked :)   If I had to try and make one, I guess I would try and copy a real one in PE with lots of tongues and try and roll those tongues around a rod in order to lace them together with a rod insert - likely extremely hard the smaller you go.

 

 

Almost completely Off-Topic

 

Another way would be to attach a tube to the edges of both the panels (solder/wrap the panel around/whatever), file out bits of tube on one half, then file out bits on the other to match the bits you left behind. I believe this is how jewellers do the job

 

Otherwise - I have nothing to say, other than WOW!

 

Richard

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As usual I smile when I see every one of your updates, because everything is so, so good as usual.  The other reason I smile is that I had a lot encouragement to use foil on my Starfighter build to get a more realistic metallic finish (easy for them to say!), but I always pushed back because I have never seen a foiled model that truly looks good when you look at them close up.  When I do make this statement, I have to point out that this opinion is for all mortal modelers like me, and not our own Peter Castle!  :P

 

Cheers Peter, you are the best.

Chuck

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So what this metal work shows me is that nothing is impossible in the world of modelling.  For my efforts the past few years, i use some already existing model on which to focus my efforts.  Why?  With 3D modelling, insane metal work skills like Peter has, and 3D print molds, one can create whatever model one wants!   Who needs Tamiya, or Airfix, or 21st Century Toys?  

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On 4/3/2021 at 7:58 AM, Rainer Hoffmann said:

I have no English words left in my limited vocabulary. So here are some German words: Wahnsinnig gut, großartig, spitzenmäßig, absolute Sahne, unglaublich realistisch ...

 

Rainer

 

I make a living working with words, in English, and I have none...nothing that would add to what's already been said by everyone else. This is another astonishing build with so much to learn and be inspired by. Not that I could do any of this, but it gives you an idea of what is possible, and things to try in our own way. I spent over an hour going through this thread and catching up, and enjoyed every second. So many "how did you do that?!" moments. Or more correctly, how did you know what to do?

 

What's more is how generous and kind you are with your time and responses to questions, and your refreshing humility and ability to laugh at yourself. Each post is like a part-works suspense novel. Exciting to open, and then there is the anticipation of the next chapter...well, except no one dies. :)

 

Richard

 

  

 

 

Edited by R Palimaka
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