airscale Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 afternoon all, thanks for stopping by been busy on some of the sidewall components, starting with this steampunk contraption that does nothing more complicated than control the cowl flaps.. ..I am really not sure why the design needed to be quite so agricultural, but there we are - I build little aeroplanes, not big ones so what do I know.. ..I cheated considerably by disecting the drawings at aircorps library and prepped most of the bits in PE, so it was like assembling a little kit.. ..painted.. and dry fitted on the sidewall.. ..then it was on to the other side, with an electrical control box (with all the switches), a fuse box below it, and a junction box to the right of it.. ..I had also made this in PE but as I couldn't find any drawings of these parts (only the later P40's which were different), so I made what I could from photo's - unfortunately I scaled them badly so they were all too small.. ..so I had to make them from scratch - not as clean as I would like, and the decals won't fit either so tried doing those by hand too - not the best but it will do.. ..the bits.. ..painted and assembled.. ..I did have decals for the floor fuel gauges so I did those too.. ..as a little montage.. ..the final part was the throttle & prop controls - again, the early type and made from PE with the exception of the front face which had to be litho as it has a dome in it.. it is less than 1cm square, so very fiddly and required a jig to assemble it.. ..the control handles are balls of solder, i found for every 10 I made, one was not only round enough, but the right size, the rest become spares... ..there are tiny pins on each of the handles, and I can tell you, drilling a 0.2mm hole in a 1mm ball is an excercise in concentration.. ..again, this will be hugely enhanced by the decals when they arrive.. ..it goes about here.. slowly, but surely, one bit at a time.. TTFN Peter Model_Monkey, Marcin_Matejko, Landrotten Highlander and 30 others 33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 I envy your skills!! Just awesome!!!!! John airscale and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Tremendous airscale and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Can't call it cheating when it still requires tons of intricate work. Just maybe working smarter, not harder. Matt airscale and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chukw Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 airscale, D.B. Andrus, Derek B and 6 others 2 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayW Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Peter - your micro-engineering is typical you. Just magical. I guess my main question is how did you sculpt the teeth on that curved part there? Squizzy 78, Daywalker, airscale and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywalker Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Good grief... Hypothetically, is it possible for a builder to be TOO good? This is almost beyond comprehension - AMAZINGLY good stuff Peter! airscale and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Great show, Peter. Sincerely, Mark airscale and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamj Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 Martinnfb and airscale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiZac Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Dumbstruck. No words. Martinnfb and airscale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Good Gawd. Cheers Chuck Martinnfb and airscale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 evening all On 2/6/2022 at 7:33 PM, JayW said: Peter - your micro-engineering is typical you. Just magical. I guess my main question is how did you sculpt the teeth on that curved part there? Hi Jay - no sculrpting involved here, other than on a computer the toothed part is a photo-etch facsimile of the part on the aircorps curtis drawing - I could never hope to be that accurate in cutting & filing! been a bit fraught in the day job, so not much bench time - but did a few bits.. first the rudder pedals, seen here - note the raised writing and toe treadplate - another opportunity to cheat with PE ..I used brass tube for the support frame and assembled more PE parts to make up the pedals and brake cams.. ..times 2.. ..these were then primed, painted and assembled - the beam at the top is hidden by the panel, so didn't bother making up the true parts and just used some plastic channel.. ..next up my favourite part - the instrument panel - for me, this has always defined the quality of a model, I sort of look at the exterior, but evry time I look at models at shows, I go straight for the interior ..I made the panel from a few laminates - the rear backplate that holds the decal, a thin mid panel that has some of the dial interior bits & shapes on it (on the left) and the face panel on the right.. ..obviously with PE, the detail can be as good as you are as an artist.. ..the panels were painted - MRP supermatt blach for the face and rear, and NATO black for the mid-panel. Also seen here is the 'glass' which is cut from OHP acetate just like we supply in airscale sets and the decal.. ..the decal is an interesting one as I am still waiting on the ones I am having printed, but Ray at Fantasy Printshop sent me a test sample from a new computer printer he has (vs silk screen printing) - while some of the stuff is a bit blobby for me, curiously the panel dials came out really well so I thought I would try them - I can always change them later.. ..and with the laminates assembled and a few details added - when the proper decals for all the placards & labels arrive it will really pop.. ..still some tidying up to do, but you get the idea.. ..and thats it for a while - I am chancing some travel and going to the Carribean for a couple of weeks to get out of this damn $hitty weather TTFN Peter KiwiZac, scvrobeson, Paulpk and 31 others 34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayW Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 Peter - you are actually improving, when we all thought your past work was perfect already. Bravo, enjoy vacation. Martinnfb, TAG, Anthony in NZ and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 I am speechless.... John Martinnfb and airscale 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 I'll never get sick of watching those instrument panels come to life! Spectacular as always Peter! Enjoy your well deserved break Craig airscale, IainM and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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