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Sweetwater Jug: Hasegawa P-47D-40


Madmax

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On 6/12/2022 at 9:27 PM, MARU5137 said:

Sean,

Jou engine ons Stunning  om na te kyk.

:wub:

En jou bouwerk kom pratig aan.

Goeie werk.

:bow:

Maru, jou kommentaar is baie aanmoedigend - dankie!

 

On 6/13/2022 at 12:10 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

Excellent work, Sean!

 

Kev

Cheers Kev!

 

On 6/13/2022 at 2:22 AM, brahman104 said:

Loving your work Sean! 

 

Craig

Thanks Craig!

 

 

You may recall that when I was busy with the flaps I mentioned giving their surface some treatment - well, I've gone and worked on the horizontal stabs first. I enjoy adding some visual interest to the skin of an aircraft that is typically seen with variations caused by stresses in the aluminium between rivets. In WWII subjects, it mostly bulges slightly outwards between rivet rows, although I must add that the thin skinned Japanese aircraft showed any number of effects. Here is a freshly skinned horizontal stab during one of the big P-47 restorations.

 

Skin%20surface-L.jpg

 

My technique relies on the rivet line to create the effect, so it is important to get that right first. It is difficult to find accurate rivet patterns, and I found these otherwise lovely drawings to be a bit lacking in accuracy. It probably wouldn't be far off, but OCD me wanted a bit more.

 

IMG_5927-X2.jpg

 

If you compare the drawing to the real thing you'll see what I mean. The drawing is too uniformly spaced between ribs - so I worked off the walk-around photo's.

 

Rivets-L.jpg

 

This is how I interpreted the rib spacing etc.

 

IMG_5929-X2.jpg

 

After running the RB rivet wheel down the pencil lines (as close as possible by eyeball :blink:), I then slightly deepen the rivets where the work will occur. This plastic is pretty soft, so I only use folded sandpaper to sand along the rivet line. Not too deep now, the effect is best kept subtle!

 

IMG_5932-X2.jpg

 

Then the important bit: I sand lightly between the rivet lines to create a gentle bulge. This is refined with sanding sponges (1000 and 2000 grit) and eventually polished with micromesh cloth of varying grades. There is a lot of cleaning of the rivet holes while the work happens, otherwise the effect is lost. It is the rivets that cause the 'pillowing' after all!

 

IMG_5938-X2.jpg

 

IMG_5949-X2.jpg

 

Go on, try it...

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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17 minutes ago, Madmax said:

Maru, jou kommentaar is baie aanmoedigend - dankie!

 

Cheers Kev!

 

Thanks Craig!

 

 

You may recall that when I was busy with the flaps I mentioned giving their surface some treatment - well, I've gone and worked on the horizontal stabs first. I enjoy adding some visual interest to the skin of an aircraft that is typically seen with variations caused by stresses in the aluminium between rivets. In WWII subjects, it mostly bulges slightly outwards between rivet rows, although I must add that the thin skinned Japanese aircraft showed any number of effects. Here is a freshly skinned horizontal stab during one of the big P-47 restorations.

 

Skin%20surface-L.jpg

 

My technique relies on the rivet line to create the effect, so it is important to get that right first. It is difficult to find accurate rivet patterns, and I found these otherwise lovely drawings to be a bit lacking in accuracy. It probably wouldn't be far off, but OCD me wanted a bit more.

 

IMG_5927-X2.jpg

 

If you compare the drawing to the real thing you'll see what I mean. The drawing is too uniformly spaced between ribs - so I worked off the walk-around photo's.

 

Rivets-L.jpg

 

This is how I interpreted the rib spacing etc.

 

IMG_5929-X2.jpg

 

After running the RB rivet wheel down the pencil lines (as close as possible by eyeball :blink:), I then slightly deepen the rivets where the work will occur. This plastic is pretty soft, so I only use folded sandpaper to sand along the rivet line. Not too deep now, the effect is best kept subtle!

 

IMG_5932-X2.jpg

 

Then the important bit: I sand lightly between the rivet lines to create a gentle bulge. This is refined with sanding sponges (1000 and 2000 grit) and eventually polished with micromesh cloth of varying grades. There is a lot of cleaning of the rivet holes while the work happens, otherwise the effect is lost. It is the rivets that cause the 'pillowing' after all!

 

IMG_5938-X2.jpg

 

IMG_5949-X2.jpg

 

Go on, try it...

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

Fascinating approach here.    Are you going to do the wings as well?

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This just keeps getting better and better, some outstanding craftsmanship, Sean, that side by side comparison of the horizontal stabs speaks for itself!

 

Here's a P-51 build I saw recently on YT where the modeler used a slightly different technique to achieve equally impressive results, except he creates the pillowing and oil canning effect before actually doing the rivet lines. Having never tried this myself, I'm not sure if his way cuts some corners (no more cleaning debris out of the rivets?) or adds to the workload, but he manages to mimic stressed aluminum in an uncanny way, much like yourself. In any case, worth a gander, it all starts around the 10-minute mark.

 

Can't wait for the next installment of this epic build!

 

-Thomaz

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On 6/17/2022 at 7:42 PM, John1 said:

Fascinating approach here.    Are you going to do the wings as well?

Yup!

 

Only some parts of it though John. In this photo you can see where it is most noticeable. There are some other facets that I'll point out when I get there...

 

Flap%20skin-XL.jpg

 

On 6/17/2022 at 7:44 PM, Cheetah11 said:

 

 

Great work again Sean:clap2::clap2::clap2:

Thanks Nick!

 

I will be needing some masks for this, so ignore what I said in John1's F-4 build. :whistle:

 

On 6/17/2022 at 10:08 PM, brahman104 said:

Your attention to detail is incredible Sean! I know what you mean about rivet line references.... they're almost never correct or at best, contradictory. 

 

Craig

Thanks Craig, I can imagine that B-17 rivet pattern inaccuracies are worthy of a book in itself!

 

19 hours ago, TAG said:

This just keeps getting better and better, some outstanding craftsmanship, Sean, that side by side comparison of the horizontal stabs speaks for itself!

 

Here's a P-51 build I saw recently on YT where the modeler used a slightly different technique to achieve equally impressive results, except he creates the pillowing and oil canning effect before actually doing the rivet lines. Having never tried this myself, I'm not sure if his way cuts some corners (no more cleaning debris out of the rivets?) or adds to the workload, but he manages to mimic stressed aluminum in an uncanny way, much like yourself. In any case, worth a gander, it all starts around the 10-minute mark.

 

Can't wait for the next installment of this epic build!

 

-Thomaz

Hey Thomaz, kind of you to check in on the progress. I enjoyed watching the technique on that P-51 build - probably a quicker way of doing it. I was particularly impressed with the modeller's (Josef Choreñ's) confidence when working the plastic. Good hands!

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  • 4 months later...

Been a while. Had to get a back-actor to dig up the thread!

 

Let's see, where was I? Oh yes... the fin fillet, that didn't go so well. Should you be planning on doing a -40, you might want to sand very carefully when thinning it out. I had to resort to filling it with two part epoxy putty.

 

 IMG_5952-X2.jpg

 

Then I took a careful look at how my modified tail wheel looked in its opening. A bit lost would be an understatement. It actually has quite a contraption above the steering shaft, that I assume is some hydraulic steering piston. I made a crude replica of it just to fill the void...

 

03-032019-L.jpg

 

IMG_6421-X2.jpg

 

Then it was time to rivet and landscape the fuselage skin. I have accentuated a lovely photograph from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (by Ty Greenlees), so that you can see the bulged portions of the skin around the sides of the cockpit leading up to the firewall. This is a heavily riveted area, and takes a lot of careful riveting to replicate. No wonder the Jug was so tough!

 

P-47%20Fwd%20Fuse-X2.jpg

 

IMG_6275-X2.jpg

 

IMG_6414-X2.jpg

 

IMG_6418-X2.jpg

 

The flaps are finally done too.

 

IMG_6432-X2.jpg

 

And the next challenge awaits - the wings. I have added all the clear portions: nav lights and underwing lights, as well as the gun-port fairing. Then I scraped the raised portions around a well known sink mark on top of the wing, and sanded the surroundings flat. It is now ready for riveting.

 

IMG_6442-X2.jpg

 

As you can see, this may take a while!

 

12828457_505035706371648_803843805533665

 

:blink:

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

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2 minutes ago, brahman104 said:

Incredible Sean! I love the in progress pics but they definitely belie the amount of work you've invested to achieve that subtle effect. :) 

 

Craig

Hey Craig, been away for a while, but still watching your epic build! It does take a lot of time to achieve less, and that's the key. On that note - 101 pages of B-17 - you are getting things just right... :bow:

 

 

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