Jump to content

RYAN STA 1/18


Ironwing

Recommended Posts

25 minutes ago, brahman104 said:

Nice clean edges Geoff... Is there latches etc to add once it's all sanded and smooth?

 

Keep up the great work!

 

Craig

Hi Craig

 

All the panels on the cowling have Dzus fasters holding them on. A couple of spots have rivets, mainly the back edge of the nose cap and around the spinner. The cowling is still a good ways off. Exhaust openings, d

fastener detail, little mousear intakes on top of the nose cap,and all the openings in the front of the nose cap have to be opened. Its all largely terrifying work. It has to be zero defect first time every time and it all has to be done on curves.. still alot to do. Im glad you looked in. Hows that very large 17 doing? To quote JayW..that is a heavy lift effort and one being done in true craftsman style. Ill keep looking in as always.

Regards

Geoff

Edited by Ironwing
spell check
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hello All,

Hope everyone is well. Back from a little R&R  kiuhgfrtopklhyu7u7hu..that was a brief visit from my grand son..Anyway, once the cowling was skinned and given a real hard look at, after being sanded, I wasnt really happy with the panel separations. None got bigger but in some spots they closed. Note to me: dont make the panels fit so tightly. IMHO, scribing the lines in where they closed would work in theory. But the scribed panel line would look different and it would be obvious. Other than that, Im not disappointed. It was a great learning experience. Hence, with new found knowledge, Ive removed the litho from the top and two sides. The bottom pan was left in place for reference points. A new one will be done once the top and sides are back on. The nose cap remains intact safely put away on its buck.

 

Starting again, with the litho off. Theres a mess of clean up to do. Xylene..outside..gloves..repirator..weapons free.

 

Be safe All..

Regards

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

So are you saying the pieces of litho got bigger in places as you worked it - as in stretched?

OBG,

Glad you looked in.Aluminum does indeed stretch. However, in this case,  Im of the opinion that its more an issue of the edges deforming, kind of "mushing" over from being worked. Hopefully, not fitting the edges too tightly will eliminate the problem.

Got any suggestions?

 

Glad yu looked in...

Regards

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, brahman104 said:

Certainly is a learning experience with litho...... I'm learning a lot myself at the moment. Glad you're taking it in your stride and having another crack.

 

If mk 1 was that good, I can only imagine what mk 2 will look like! ;) 

 

Craig

Hi Craig,

Lessons learned hard are the best to learn from :) 

It will be a bunch of work to get back to where I was but Im unwilling to compromise. 

Im glad yo stopped in.

Regards

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Greetings All

 

Its been a while since last post.. but its not dead. I ended up stripping the litho from the cowling. Its a messy job, somewhat scary and time consuming trying to  get the contact adhesive off. I did run into some problems as a result of my activities. The cowling exhibited small linear cracks running front to back, especially on the back edge. They were covered with epoxy to stableize them. The big problem came when I pushed on the nose cap unknowingly and cracked it pretty bad (the litho cap wasnt in place) so much so that I had to remove it. Fortunately I had a spare... 

 

COWLING 2.0

 

This one came out better. But Im still deficient is getting down a smooth thin layer of contact adhesive. 

That said..here is number two..

y8mpPc.jpg

It can use a bit more hammer treatment to smooth it further before committing to sanding. I tried somethinga bit different, in that, I didnt rub the litho down. What you see here is hammered only.

NEJFvJ.jpg

I have to say, This was hard to do..at least for me. Working around the constant tapering curve was a challenge and ensuring all five pieces mated properly in the front required really accurately aligned panels. The cowl cap isnt permanrntly attached. Its taped on from the inside.

bqPa8A.jpg

There is still a boat load to do on the cowling. I just wanted to prove it wasnt dead :)

 

I have a date with a surgeon and a scalpel on 17 November. Ill be down for a while but Ill be back...

 

Be safe

 

Regards

Geoff

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great litho work Geoff!  A skill I must introduce myself to if I am going to take the next step.  And best wishes and a speedy recovery from your upcoming procedure! 

 

You may be interested to know - I have another 21CT P-51 in the mail (I payed too much for it - have you seen what people get for these things??).  Old Miss Velma is going to get replaced with an improved version, perhaps my uncles old "Sissy Mana" if I can just find the nose art.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...