Borsos Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 2 hours ago, R Palimaka said: Like a true modeller, I am completely ignoring the instruction sequence and dealing with things as I work through the build. Same here… Can‘t say how many traps I build myself for me this way… Martinnfb, R Palimaka and Biggles87 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyrosjzmichos Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Excellent work on the cockpit Richard! Martinnfb and R Palimaka 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Nice save on the cowl ring Rich R Palimaka and Martinnfb 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted April 18 Author Share Posted April 18 (edited) Well, it's starting to look like an airplane...or avion. I assembled the fuselage using long tabs to make sure the mating edges will be solid. The cockpit tub was secured into the fuselage from underneath after a fight. It required some sanding and thinning of the walls to fit. And typical of some Azur kits the fuselage requires a bit of juggling in a few spots to make it all work. I placed the windscreen on the fuselage while dry-fitting and it was a bit wider than the opening and fairing it was meant to fit. I was afraid that if I forced the sides of the windscreen in later to fit it might break...it is beautifully thin and clear. In the end I left a gap on the top so that the windscreen would sit properly, while not making the gap too wide which would cause problems at the bottom where it matched up with the leading edge of the wing root and the rear of the engine "egg". In the end I think it will work and I'm happy. I added the horizontal stabilizers ( out of sequence of course ) and they required sanding and filing to thin them to match the fairing on the fuselage. In hindsight it would have been easier to sand them thinner before gluing the halves together, but... Anyway, they fit now. The tailplanes on the aircraft had a 2 degree dihedral and I had to be careful to set that properly. The structure on the back of the head armour, and the filler cap in place. I've cut the slots for the hinges into the leading edge of the elevators. Next step is to cut the hinges out of plastic card and secure them in the trough at the back of the stabilizers. Richard Edited April 18 by R Palimaka spyrosjzmichos, MikeMaben, Dpgsbody55 and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 Excellent work so far Richard! The cockpit looks great! Håkan Martinnfb and R Palimaka 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 Excellent work on the build! What did you use to open up the slots in the control surfaces? Matt Biggles87, Martinnfb and R Palimaka 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted April 20 Author Share Posted April 20 14 hours ago, scvrobeson said: Excellent work on the build! What did you use to open up the slots in the control surfaces? Matt Thank you Matt! I just used a razor saw to cut in using the engraved panel lines, and then sharpened the corners with a new knife blade. Martinnfb and scvrobeson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waroff Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 On 4/18/2024 at 10:58 PM, R Palimaka said: The tailplanes on the aircraft had a 2 degree dihedral Richard The tailplane dihedral was 4° 10' measured at the upper surface of the stabilizer spar scvrobeson, Martinnfb and R Palimaka 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted April 20 Author Share Posted April 20 40 minutes ago, waroff said: The tailplane dihedral was 4° 10' measured at the upper surface of the stabilizer spar Oops...I will try to fix it if I can. I tried to match it to the photos and drawings. I may have to live with it if it's not too far out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted April 20 Author Share Posted April 20 (edited) 2 hours ago, waroff said: The tailplane dihedral was 4° 10' measured at the upper surface of the stabilizer spar This is not very scientific, but it's close enough to 4 degrees for me. Edited April 20 by R Palimaka Jester, MikeMaben, Furie and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waroff Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 to be accurate, you can make two templates from strong paper, trapezoidal in shape, when they are on the stabilizer the upper edges must be aligned with each other. the edge is at 4° 10 or 7.19% slope. the dihedral of your model is convincing, that’s perfect. R Palimaka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 (edited) It now has wings...they're not attached to the fuselage yet, but it's progress. I dirtied up the wheel wells and glued them onto the wing undersides. The shell casing ejection slots were boxed in before gluing the wing halves together. I also added a small length of plastic tubing to the leading edge of the wing root just to add a little more contact area at that point. Dry fitting the halves together showed that there wasn't enough touching to make a secure join. I also had to file a bit of a trough on the wheel well insert so that the upper wing half would sit properly. It seems like there are a lot of little challenges to these kits, but until Tamiya offers 1940s French aircraft this is what we have to work with. And here is the assembled wing. I offered it up to the fuselage and can see there is going to be some filing, sanding and juggling to get them to mate up properly. I think in hindsight I probably should have glued the upper halves of the wing to the fuselage and then glued the bottom of the wing to that. I also have a small area to finish sanding and polishing smooth, and some rescribing...after someone put a glue fingerprint on the top... Edited May 3 by R Palimaka scvrobeson, Alain Gadbois, Furie and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) Good work on the wheel wells. Thanks for sharing the tips for getting a more secure wing join, but I’m always reluctant to join the upper wings to the fuselage first as my previous attempts have not ended well. John Edited May 3 by Biggles87 R Palimaka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Great progress! Looks like it's ready to come together now Matt R Palimaka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 R Palimaka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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