chuck540z3 Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 9 hours ago, ScoobyDoo said: Correct, the 104 used engine bleed air to lower landing speeds. This hot air was forced through bleed valves in the wings over the top rear surface of the wing towards the trailing edge flaps. This increased air flow reduced air pressure on the top of the wing and increased lift. This heat eroded the bare aluminum surface of the wings and therefore the top of the wings were finished in a hard epoxy finish (gloss white) to protect the wing. The bottom of the wing (painted gray) did not need this treatment as the heat was not directed over that surface. The system was called the boundary layer control system. Subsequent paint schemes still required the epoxy treatment with a durable paint coat (by that time paint quality had improved and a high gloss was not needed). Great looking build Chuck! You continue to amaze! Thanks Gary! Now that makes a lot more sense than anything associated with a nuke, proving it to be another urban legend. 5 hours ago, jeroen_R90S said: That looks superb, and thanks for the lots of hints, tips and information on how you go about things to reach such a result -I don't always reply or like a post, but it's really appreciated One question though, regarding the rivets, can you also apply a strip of them in a U-shape or circle (not too small), or won't the carrier film allow that and you have to do that rivet-by-rivet (say I want to rivet an oval access panel or something with positive rivets) Jeroen As IainM indicated, you can buy some rectangles and ovals, but they are made for other models which doesn't matter at all. Scale doesn't really matter as well, as long as you wind up with the rivet size and spacing you need. To look around at what's available, the HGW website is here: HGW Free Lines (and other rivets) I don't see how you can create a curve using the straight lines at all, other than cutting them out individually and doing them rivet by rivet as you suggest. The key to success with these rivets is a good positive contact with the surface (with Microset), so curving the film would compromise that as the film bunched up. One other thing I haven't mentioned is how do they compare to Archer decal rivets, which I have used a lot in the past. Other than the application, where the Archer ones keep the decal film while the film is removed from the HGW ones, the main difference is height, where the HGW ones are generally lower relief and finer and therefore more subtle. For models where you really want good relief, like Pig's Chopper or Brett M's SBD-5, the Archer rivets are the way to go and there is a much wider assortment of rivets available. Website is here: Archer Dry Transfers One comment on the Archer rivets is that I always had to use X-22 or some other paint to tone down the decal film edges, no matter how much Microsol I used on them. It appears that stronger decal solutions like Solvaset are the answer. Cheers, Chuck Landrotten Highlander, Buster99, jeroen_R90S and 2 others 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeroen_R90S Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Thanks Chuck -with decals you sometimes can make curves like they do with paper models with (is that called serrated? where you remove a triangle on the inner curve). Sometimes carrier film is also very stretchy (like Aviattic decals) so I figured I'd ask someone who actually used them! I'll have to check some radii and see what's out there. Thanks! Jeroen chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) March 11/21 As mentioned above the only ordnance on this bird will be an MN-1A bomb dispenser, which will be carried on the centerline pylon. What’s an MN-1A bomb dispenser you ask? Well, our good friend Jari (Finn) who used to work on CF-104’s among other Canadian aircraft, created this schematic for me way back in December 2013, when I was building my F-4E. Note all the versions of the SUU-21 bomb dispenser, with the MN-1A the bottom one with the blunt nose. For my F-4E I had to go with the middle ones with the tail cones cut off, or they would interfere with the landing gear and chaff/flare dispensers at the rear of the pylon. The only 1/32 bomb dispenser I could find was this one from VideoAviation, which is a lot better than the one I used on my Phantom 8 years ago. I give it an 7/10 for accuracy and an 8/10 for supplying two decal sets, which I needed! So I assembled it, cleaned it up, shaved off the nose, painted it chrome as per reference pics and added decals. Pretty close to Jari’s diagram…. Here it is next to Part 9C, which I left off the belly to allow landing gear installation later, and the centerline pylon and sway bars, using pins and holes to fit and align everything together according to reference pics. There is an error with this configuration, however, since that cover plate in the middle only exists when the pylon is not present. The reason for this as Jari pointed out to me earlier, is that the pylon does not just sit on the surface, but goes deep into the fuselage after this plate is removed. Since I need a lot of strength on this part, I wasn’t about to be cutting any holes, so I just left it as is, especially since it’s on the bottom and mostly covered by the bomb dispenser. Those nice sway bars are not from the kit ones at all, which are terrible as shown on the right with no pads whatsoever, so I sourced a couple extras from my last Kitty Hawk F-5E kit on the left. Not totally accurate, but they really work well as shown below. All dry fit together on Part 9C, which you really don’t need to glue. Now another moment of truth: How will all this fit together with the main landing gear parts? With a few small adjustments, everything just clicks together with a nice tight fit, although I will be adding glue upon final installation that should make it look even tighter. This also shows why the MN-1A dispenser is lower at the rear than the front (when right side up), to not interfere with landing gear and doors. I’m pretty happy with this outcome and that everything still fits. Whew! Meanwhile, individual panel painting begins on the top. The darker panels at the rear are titanium, which I will make much duller with dullcoat after I’ve finished with decals, which brings up another discovery: That middle engine panel looks much brighter than it did before (love those decal rivets!), not because I repainted it, but because it is now is next to panels that are now duller, making the "metallic look" come back somewhat. Cool! I see the home stretch coming soon with more painting, the big decals and many tiny final additions.! Cheers, Chuck Edited March 11, 2021 by chuck540z3 F`s are my favs, chukw, Starfighter and 25 others 27 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finn Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Chuck don't forget about the electrical connection of the pod to the aircraft, it's barely visible so a couple little pins would do. Here is one showing how snug it fit at the front : http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wC732.htm Jari Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 The main gear of the 104 retracts forwards, so should be mounted at the rear of the wheel well - the pictures above have the legs fitted at the front. Hope it's just dryfitted for the benefit of the camera? Derek B and chuck540z3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 34 minutes ago, jenshb said: The main gear of the 104 retracts forwards, so should be mounted at the rear of the wheel well - the pictures above have the legs fitted at the front. Hope it's just dryfitted for the benefit of the camera? I couldn't work out why something looked distinctly odd?...good spot Jens. Derek chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thammond65 Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 1 hour ago, Derek B said: I couldn't work out why something looked distinctly odd?...good spot Jens. Derek I think the middle bar is backwards too? It was the other way around in the dry fitting stage on page 18? chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) Well that was a lot embarrassing! Good eyes and thank you for pointing out what a dumb installation I had made. I was so worried about getting the gear lower detail in the forward position that I wasn't paying attention. All better now- although it makes me shudder to think I might have glued it that way upon final installation! I have edited the above post accordingly to not steer anyone in the wrong direction. Also, Jari has pointed out to me that the VideoAviation dispenser I used should have a line straight down the middle of the bottom of the dispenser, because there are two doors on either side and not just one big one. Check the pic of my F-4E above for placement. With this line on the very bottom, I'm not going to worry about it since it's already painted, but you might want to add this detail to yours if you use the same part. Cheers, Chuck Edited March 11, 2021 by chuck540z3 chukw, Rocat, Daniel460 and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Phew! I was so nervous to say anything, Chuck, that I think I peed a little.....glad the gear was not harmed in the making of yet another excellent post.....Keep them coming! THOR Derek B, chuck540z3, Madmax and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 18 minutes ago, bdthoresen said: Phew! I was so nervous to say anything, Chuck, that I think I peed a little.....glad the gear was not harmed in the making of yet another excellent post.....Keep them coming! THOR Haha, . I was wondering why the landing gear parts were not fitting as well as I remembered a few months ago! I'm surprised they fit at all and thankfully, not a scratch on the finish of anything. Like I've said many times, this is one of the many reasons I do on-line WIP threads: Others help me stay out of trouble! Cheers, Chuck Daniel460, Derek B and Lucio Martino 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Thank God it wasn't glued!:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoobyDoo Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 And here I was looking at the first picture of the gear trying to figure out how it was backwards, then I scroll down and see Chuck edited the image I was staring at. I stared at it for some time. RLWP, Derek B, chuck540z3 and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 I've been decaling all day boys and as usual with decals, there was some highs and a few lows. I'll do a full write up tomorrow of how I picked my subject (yes, the roundels and "RCAF" are correct), which decals I used and why I did it this way. I am generally quite happy with the results, so here's 2 teaser pics... Cheers, Chuck Piero, KiwiZac, Grunticus and 37 others 40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockie Yarwood Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Looking sharp! Great Job Chuck. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Looking forward to the summary of your decal work, Chuck. Looking very nice thus far. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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