THE SHARK HAS LANDED! Curtiss Tomahawk 112sqn RAF

[quang]

@mozartThank you Max. The main reason I’m on this forum is the pleasure I get from sharing with members. So glad that it could help 
 

I just discovered this photo on my endless roving in Internetland. Wish I’ve found this when I was doing the oil leaks on my model.
One can see some of the nine tiny holes described by @waroff in an earlier post. Cracking is it?

 

[Tolga ULGUR]

2 hours ago, quang said:

@mozartThank you Max. The main reason I’m on this forum is the pleasure I get from sharing with members. So glad that it could help 
 

I just discovered this photo on my endless roving in Internetland. Wish I’ve found this when I was doing the oil leaks on my model.
One can see some of the nine tiny holes described by @waroff in an earlier post. Cracking is it?

 

 

Oh so dirty. If I was the commander, I would punish the responsible ground crew.

By the way this is very usefull reference picture for my future Ex RAF Turkish Tomahawk.

Great picture for gunsigth application inside the cockpit

Thanks Quang

[quang]

5 minutes ago, Tolga ULGUR said:

Oh so dirty. If I was the commander, I would punish the responsible ground crew.

If I remember correctly, the oil spillage was not due to the ground crew but to the pilot doing extreme maneuvers with the aeroplane.

Likewise, 8th AF ground crews could tell if their Mustangs had seen action, just by looking at the oil leaks on the side of the returning aircraft.

[quang]

Our next step is one I dread the most: WHEELS and LANDING GEAR.

Most of all I hate manufacturing et positioning the brake lines. Add to that those squishy squeezy vinyl tyres that every modeller loves to hate.

On the other hand, we’re chest deep in the gully. All we’ve got left is.. to wade. 

BUT… the modelling gods are watching.
The rubber tyres worked admirably at my attempt to make them look worn and beat-up, in fact much better and easier than what I ever tried before with the regular styrene and resin wheels.

What I did was use salt weathering in conjunction with AK ‘rubber black’ followed with random spots of AK ‘USMC Sand’.

 

Furthermore GWH did provided the brake lines, neatly moulded and in the correct length ready to be positioned on the legs.

All I did was add the tie-down rings made from fuse wire and painted red.

 

The seemingly simple looking landing gear is delicately detailed and comprises quite a few parts. I hope these close-ups will help you locating them.

The build is coming to its end… lest we forget that one last important facet: THE RADIO AERIALS  

I don’t know much about them. Hopefuly some will come to the rescue with their expertise.

See ya all next time.

Keep well,

Quang

[waroff]

12 hours ago, quang said:

If I remember correctly, the oil spillage was not due to the ground crew but to the pilot doing extreme maneuvers with the aeroplane.

Likewise, 8th AF ground crews could tell if their Mustangs had seen action, just by looking at the oil leaks on the side of the returning aircraft.

traces of oil are due to overflow when filling or spilling liquid. All traces go downwards, sense of gravity. In the event of a maneuver under negative G, the leaks escape by vent tube. There are not leaks in case of positive G.
the vent of hydraulic come out below the fuselage after frame 11.
the vents of the fuel tanks are under the port rear wing fillet.

the vents of oil are behind oil cooler flaps

outlet of pilot's relief tube is under fuselage after frame 7.
it's not like the engine breather spill you're referring to

 

about aerial, the TR9D use "V" antenna, wire aerial.
TR 1133 use mast antenna and a feeder between the mast and the lead-in base;
On your pic, we can see on of two wire of IFF R3002 or SCR 515 which go from fuselage top to stabilizer tips

Edited May 17, 2022 by waroff

[quang]

Thank you @warofffor your ever so precise input. You know now why I keep on modelling: i learn something (many things) new everyday.

 

 

As for the vent outlets, to recap, we should have:

1- oil vent behind radiator shutters (red arrow)

2- pilot’s relief tube vent @station7 (green arrow). To be added

3- fuel vents both sides (blue arrow). Included 

4- hydraulic vent @station11 (yellow arrow) which GWH gives as a clear light.

 

As for the aerials, my Tomahawk will just have two wires to the horizontal stabs. No wire near the position lights at the wingtips?

It would also have a mast antenna just like in the photo below. Can you tell me where should the hanging wire go?

 

It looks like the more we know, the more we still have to learn. 
 

Cheers,

Quang

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by quang

[quang]

8 hours ago, waroff said:

about aerial, the TR9D use "V" antenna, wire aerial.
TR 1133 use mast antenna and a feeder between the mast and the lead-in base;
On your pic, we can see on of two wire of IFF R3002 or SCR 515 which go from fuselage top to stabilizer tips

With your notes in mind, I watched the British Pathé video again and noticed the following:

 

1- you can easily see the wire going to the wing tip wobbling (notice the insulator at mid-length). Is that the TR9D V antenna?

 

2- we can see where the wing wire starts (red) and where it goes (blue=insulator).

3- the wire from the antenna mast (TR1133?) goes to the front insulator (green) on the fuselage spine.

4- I cannot see the two wires (IFF SCR) going to the stabs.

5- I cannot make out what this dark spot (yellow) is.

 

This is how I represented the insulators (green) on the model. The dark spot is depicted (wrongly?) as a hole (yellow).

 

The end is (not quite) in sight! 
Thank you all for your insights and comments.

Cheers,

Quang

Edited May 18, 2022 by quang

[Tolga ULGUR]

Hi Quang

Great progress despite setbacks

For the number 4, here is my application. 

Although this piece looks a bit overscale, I finished it with the addition of two small antenna tips.

[Tolga ULGUR]

Turkish Tomahawks were Ex RAF from Mediteranean stocks.

In this picture it looks like antenna wire goes to the point in the front of antenna mast.

This place seems that the black point/hole in your previous picture.

 

 

 

[quang]

29 minutes ago, Tolga ULGUR said:

For the number 4, here is my application. 

Although this piece looks a bit overscale, I finished it with the addition of two small antenna tips.

As I understand it, they’re not antenna tips but hydraulic vent outlets (should be small tubes). The H75 /P-36 also had them. I had the doc somewhere (but where?) 

 

On your second pic, it would appear like this:

… definitively not what I see for my model (wrong shape and location).

 

Hopefully, the encyclopedic Waroff will chime in and come to the rescue 

Cheers,

Quang

 

 

[dennismcc]

This is all fantastic stuff, it's very entertaining to read about this magnificent build, the added bonus is all the photos and information that is packed into it, I don't for one moment imagine that I can emulate the skills and techniques shown but it will help me build a better model.

Keep up the great work

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[quang]

I don’t know about you all but to me the main point about this scale modelling bidness is not to have a finished model taking dust on the shelf but rather the long process leading to it. 
When you’re travelling, some roads are straight and uneventful, some have bends and pigeonholes, some even take you backwards.
But like they say, the goal is not the destination, it’s the journey. 
 

Cheers,

Quang

[waroff]

on this pic (  

we can see two IFF(R3003) wire aerial "cheese cutter" and the fairlead made in insulator material .
when IFF was'nt fitted, there are cover plate instead of fairlead.
The lugs on stab are  on the leading edge at 7" from tip.

 

on this drawing the lead-in TR9D aerial is not connected, because TR 1133 is in place. May be airplane are delivered with provision of wire aerial as loose parts but only one of aerial is connected.

 

On this airplane(  wire aerial were not removed despite TR 1133 installation. Dark dot may be the fairlead IFF aerial or outlet for recognition device.

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by waroff

[quang]

@waroff I’m by no means technologically-savvy and can’t tell a TR 1133 from a fairlead  but your drawing of the mast antenna (and your explanations) are priceless. I have no doubt that many P-40 builders (and lovers) on LSP will find them instructive and helpful. Thank you!

Cheers,

Quang

[quang]

Soooo… the antenna wires were added much as I understood Waroff’s description. 
1. The antenna mast was erected and TR 1133 installed

2. IFF wire cutter aerials installed between tip of stab and fairlead on the fuselage top

3. As TR 1133 was installed, TR9D was unused but the aerial wire running from fin top and wing tips was not removed.

 

The wires were made from Pym elastic thread graciously provided by @mozart. Insulators on TR9D wire from aluminium micro-tubes.

It’s the end of our journey. The ship’s coming in. Time for the pics 

 

 

 

 

It was a long but pleasant journey. I hope y’all enjoyed it. Thank you for keeping me company.

Until next time,

Vaya con dios!

Quang