LSP_Kevin Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Nice work, Thierry. Looking forward to seeing your spars in action! Kev thierry laurent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Lovely work Thierry - well done! thierry laurent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 6, 2022 Author Share Posted October 6, 2022 On 10/4/2022 at 11:00 PM, LSP_Kevin said: Nice work, Thierry. Looking forward to seeing your spars in action! Kev Actually it is done! The challenge was to be sure to glue the brass parts in the wing without any slight error of location. Otherwise, this would create tensions inside the wing and fuselage and possibly prevent the correct positioning of the wings. So, I decided to work step by step. 1. I positioned the spar against the wing 2. I used a pencil to mark the correct location: 3. I put some slow-setting black CA glue at the edge and located the spar correctly. I secured it with a rubber band. Then I used quick setting superglue to be sure it will not move. See close to the middle of the spar part. CA has not a good resistance to torsion. So, I just used some spots before actually securing the spar. 4. To get a really strong and resistant bond, nothing can beat epoxy glue. As I had my HpH epoxy resin glue bottles close to me I used them. However, if I had to do that again, I would use a higher viscosity and quicker setting epoxy glue. Never mind as this cured during the full evening. I covered the spar with glue as well. 5. And here's the result when I'm dry fitting the wings: And this also ensures a zero dihedral wing! I will end the process with the assembly of the wing halves. As previously mentioned some small plastic shims will still be required at the wing root level to suppress the wing elasticity but this is really a minor issue. Hopefully, the main job to solve the wing issues is now behind me! Tony T, patricksparks, dutik and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 7, 2022 Author Share Posted October 7, 2022 Hi guys, I went on solving the wing issues. The final one was the elasticity. I decided to do that in three steps. 1. I added plastic strips and sanded them. This solves the issue at the wing root level. However, this does not solve it further. 2. So, in spite of the possible weigth issue, I added another section of brass. This time I did not add another one inside as the part was rigid enough for such a purpose. I used the same approach than before: small spots of CA glue followed by a thick coat of epoxy. I used a toothpick section to avoid filling with epoxy glue the pylon hole close to the brass square tube. 3. When both wing halves will be glued I will add two rods in the holes intended for each tank pylon. I will remove the pegs out of the pylons and drill holes to replace them. This will solve that elasticity issue in the middle of the wing and result in a stronger pylon bond. This will also ease adding the pylons after painting. Finally, note that the rectangular slot in the fuselage half that is intended to receive the strip on the lower wing edge is...too small! I had to file its height and length. Otherwise I could not correctly locate the wing root against the fuselage. All these steps asked for some hours of work but this should result in a rock solid assembly. I should also have a look at the pitot tubes. More Albion metal tubes to use! Citadelgrad, Paul in Napier, Landrotten Highlander and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 Hi guys, The wing halves have finally been assembled! I still had to allocate quite a lot of time to be able to position the wings correctly against the fuselage. This asked for slightly enlarging the slots here and there and filing the wing tab perimeter. Otherwise, it is impossible to mate them properly. For whatever reason the port wing had a larger seam between its top and the fuselage. I do not know if I sanded a little bit more the edge when I did the cleaning of the top part or if it is a kit issue. However, I seriously doubt I removed half-a-millimeter without seeing it... Anyways, this needs a little bit of work to avoid the canyon syndrom! In that case, the easiest solution was relying a Slater's strip of plastic. I just sanded it and this noticeably improves the fit. Fortunately, the seams are smaller on the wing lower edge. This is actually a good thing as the access to the seam is more difficult even if less visible. The result is not perfect but manageable. I will probably have to end the seam work with a little bit of epoxy putty when the wings will be finally added but this is finally a quite common issue with large scale kits. R Palimaka, johncrow, LSP_Kevin and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 Then I had a look at the stabilators. Fly instructions are very optimistic: simply add them on the tail! However, the wings were not giving me a very positive feeling about the fit and I was quite right.If you just assemble the part halves and clean them correctly, I'm afraid I must testify this is far from sufficient to be able to add them on the tail. Just look at that: Are we sure the stabs do come from the same kit...? The stabilator tab is quite small. However, the slot in the tail is still too shallow and the molding inside is so-so... I quickly concluded it is easier to open them fully. Hopefully, this can be quickly done with a cutter blade and thin flat files. This noticeably improves the fit! Moreover, the instructions also ask for simply adding the elevator behind the stabs. Well, the front of the full scale part does not have a vertical flat front edge. And the problem is logically the same for the rear edge of the stabs. So, I used a round file to sand cautiously their rear edge. The next step will ask for sanding the front edges of the elevator. This should also improve the fit. scvrobeson, Tony T, Landrotten Highlander and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 By the way, I'm still hesitating regarding the correction of the landing gear doors height... If you want to do it, you have to cheat at two levels: the vertical depth of the main landing gear bay and the internal details of the well door! Indeed, both were designed to distribute correctly the details on the parts as they are, with a too long height. For the bay, this is not that terrible as even if a 1.5mm thick strip of plastic is added on the well top edge, the fact the bay ceiling will be a little bit too high will be very difficult to see. For the door, this is different. It is actually complicated to remove the corresponding strip out of the door top without being forced to recreate all the internal features. Last, that correction will also ask for refilling some panel lines and to recreate new ones on the fuselage... The more I'm looking at that, the less I'm convinced what will be visible will deserve such an amount of work! What do you think? Landrotten Highlander, Greg W, Archimedes and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_C Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 1 hour ago, thierry laurent said: The more I'm looking at that, the less I'm convinced what will be visible will deserve such an amount of work! What do you think? I have to agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 1 hour ago, thierry laurent said: The more I'm looking at that, the less I'm convinced what will be visible will deserve such an amount of work! What do you think? If you can find an equidistant position on the outside of door (curvature-wise, so that you have a straight line horizontal cut), it would enable you to remove a length-wise section from somewhere near the middle of the door - this may save you having to having to remove the upper section and recreate it again lower down? Derek blackbetty, Rockie Yarwood, D.B. Andrus and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 1 minute ago, Derek B said: If you can find an equidistant position on the outside of door (curvature-wise, so that you have a straight line horizontal cut), it would enable you to remove a length-wise section from somewhere near the middle of the door - this may save you having to having to remove the upper section and recreate it again lower down? Derek Thanks Derek. I considered different strategies including that one. Unfortunately, there are two issues. First, if I cut in the middle, the halves of the oval recessed area will not be re-aligned when both sections of the door will be glued together. Actually, it is possible to do that but not with a single cut. However, if I'm doing multiple cuts, I will have problems because of another feature. Indeed, if you look closely the picture, you will see that the internal side has a second wall. It is thick at the bottom of the door with close to zero thickness at the top. So, if I cut the door in the middle to remove a strip in the center, I will get a step when I will reassemble it. I'm convinced if I'm going for that correction the easiest approach asks for modifying the top. However, the easiest does not mean this will be quick... D.B. Andrus, Paul in Napier and Derek B 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 24 minutes ago, thierry laurent said: Thanks Derek. I considered different strategies including that one. Unfortunately, there are two issues. First, if I cut in the middle, the halves of the oval recessed area will not be re-aligned when both sections of the door will be glued together. Actually, it is possible to do that but not with a single cut. However, if I'm doing multiple cuts, I will have problems because of another feature. Indeed, if you look closely the picture, you will see that the internal side has a second wall. It is thick at the bottom of the door with close to zero thickness at the top. So, if I cut the door in the middle to remove a strip in the center, I will get a step when I will reassemble it. I'm convinced if I'm going for that correction the easiest approach asks for modifying the top. However, the easiest does not mean this will be quick... Understood Thierry. my thought was not to cut straight across the middle of the door, but rather at an angle (the best median angle for the door curvature). The sides appear to be parallel (vertical), so, in theory, should not present and alignment issues. The thickness of the inner door moulding may be the only consideration? However, it looks like you have considered all of these factors already. I am enjoying your build and look forward to seeing the completed model - good luck with the rest of your build. Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 I quickly doublechecked some dozens of side pictures of the Tunnan in my books and it looks correcting that discrepancy is going to be quite difficult whereas, visually, at least to my eyes, the kit looks OK. So, I will leave that as it is. I think the effort to go through that kit as it is will be sufficient! npb748r, R Palimaka, Derek B and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 10 hours ago, thierry laurent said: I quickly doublechecked some dozens of side pictures of the Tunnan in my books and it looks correcting that discrepancy is going to be quite difficult whereas, visually, at least to my eyes, the kit looks OK. So, I will leave that as it is. I think the effort to go through that kit as it is will be sufficient! Wise decision, Thierry. I really don't think any perceived dimensional issues with the wheel bays and doors will be noticeable on the final model, and certainly not worth the considerable effort to address. By the way, how did you come to the conclusion that the wheel bay openings are too large in height? Kev Rockie Yarwood and Derek B 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted October 12, 2022 Author Share Posted October 12, 2022 7 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: Wise decision, Thierry. I really don't think any perceived dimensional issues with the wheel bays and doors will be noticeable on the final model, and certainly not worth the considerable effort to address. By the way, how did you come to the conclusion that the wheel bay openings are too large in height? Kev Hi Kevin. I got that information from a modeller who measured the full scale airframe. However, I'm suspecting this is actually more complicated than this height question. Now I think there are other slight differences in the other dimensions and this probably explains why this is not visually disturbing when you look at the side fuselage. This is why I reached the conclusion that correcting the issue would not be so 'simple'. Finally, this was going against my golden rule: if you do not see it, do not fix it! LSP_Kevin, MikeMaben and Derek B 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted October 12, 2022 Share Posted October 12, 2022 2 hours ago, thierry laurent said: my golden rule: if you do not see it, do not fix it! Yet you also know that things we don’t see can affect other things that we would see. Aah we’re definitely a sorry lot. Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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