GazzaS

Looking beautiful, Kai! Nice start to decalling!

When it comes to Trumpeter.... just say "no".

In Australian parlance, the kitchen countertops... are the kitchen "bench". A couple weeks ago, my 12 + year-old pool-sucker started spinning in circles. Closer investigation revealed that one of the four axles was broken. So I ordered a new part. For 62$ it was cheaper than buying an 800$brand new pool-sucker. So, I diligently disassemble the contraption in a linear fashion and laid it out neatly. It's constructed by a clever use of snaps and stainless steel screws. Marine quality of course. The replacement part is actually the center/frame of the machine. But since I bought my machine (years ago) some of the parts have changed. The four pins that hold the wheels in place... now have a key slot that matches a key in the axle.... And, there are four new screws in the motor housing where the outer motor bearings are housed. It was just a pressure joint before. BTW... when I say motor... it's not really a motor. The contraption is operated by the flow of water through a chamber with paddles. As the paddles cause a shaft to rotate, the rotating shaft engage the two gear boxes which make it operate in a crazy series of maunevers designed to cover your whole pool. Ir's called a Zodiac MX-8. The gear boxes and sometimes the tracks have to be replaced every year for about $100. My wife says: "That thing has saved me so much time." Because before we got it, I let her clean the pool. But because it is now a mechanical thing... it's become my responsibility. But anyway... here it is now... I have to order more parts. Please refer to the "House with pool four sale" add I posted earlier.

Thank you, John!

Last time I looked, this was OOP.

Thank you!

But your jig needs to be more than 4 holes in a piece of wood. It needs to replicate enough of the wing to enable you to get all of the alignments right.

Yes... soldering would be better. But you would want a jig made of non-melting material to hold the parts. I'd hate to see a wing that became a huge heat sink.

Very nice, John!

Nice looking cockpit details, Mark!

What a stunning result, Kai! Absolutely perfect painting!

Thank you, Peter. I can assure you... I won't be rushing to make more.

Thank you, Rob. Everything is still flexible. The brass - aluminum joint isn't strong and it just seems like the glue won't make a firm joint. I think the best ting would be to use brass tube if you can find it in 8mm. I got my angles, lengths, and drilling positions from other pics supplied in this thread.

Thank you, Kai. Do you guys think I didn't drill holes in the tubes? I did... other wise it would be impossible to assemble. I set my Dremel to 30K RPMs and used my Dremel drill press. I was surprised how quickly the drill bit in. I'll prime them this week, most likely.

Heh... here I am again! Well... all of my modelling time this weekend was spent on two small assemblies. The angles are imperfect, but it is an area which you won;t see unless you're looking real hard. I would never take it to a show. I'm too fearful that It'll get to the venue in pieces. I still have to do the wiring and a little PE. This little bit of AM by Profimodeller is only 4 tubes, four rockets, a length of copper wire. Some of the PE you're supposed to stack to form 3d shapes. The rockets are solid aluminum making the whole thing quite heavy. I drilled out the rockets to save weight. I also modified the outside of the rockets to get past the brass rods that have pierced the tube. Nobody will see it when I put the end cap on, anyway. Main thing I have to do is paint the rocket before I is permanently fixed in the tube. There are two small hooks on the wings that most likely bore most of the weight since they are right on the spar. I made them out of card. I added arrows to make up for the crappy photos. I was gonna take another pic of everything in place. But trying to align all of the pins and get everything straight is a bit like trying to coax a preying mantis into a sandwich bag, I reckon. Happy modelling!!

Nice looking airbrush work, Kai! I paint outside... so I rarely wear a mask.

Still struggling with these mortars. Why didn't somebody at the RLM just come up with a fin-stabilized rail-mounted system like everyone else?? Oh well... no point in speculating. But now I know why nobody models these...lol Here are the mounting pins. there is .5mm rod encased in .7mm tube. The longer roads are 13mm long, and the short rods 9.5mm +/- cut accuracy. Nope... I didn't measure twice. Nothing glued, yet. With the tubes now glued to the rods, but only dry fitted to the wings, I used the photo editing program to compare angles. Of course... I can't certain that the camera is square to the subject.... but it only has to be close. They are situated far enough apart on the plane that checking their alignment would be a serious issue for the would be rivet counter. Speaking of rivets... there are a bunch of rivets that go the length of the tube. I will use paint and effects to simulate this when finished with all of the mounting pieces. I still have to add wiring, photo-etch, and the hook assembly that will finally enable me to call this painful part of the build complete. Happy modelling! Think I need to make some lunch!

Thank you, Peter.

Thanks for the great pics, Kai. They make me think I need to extend the struts a bit.

Holy Schmokes, John! What a beautiful job!

Love this scheme... enjoying you putting it all together, Kai.

Okay Friends, It occurred to me that I prepare the wing for the WfGr.21 Rocket launchers. So I stopped working on the upper wing and started taking measurements (from the materials supplied by friends here) and converting them to dimensions usable on the model. Then of course I had to make marks on the model and on the rocket tube for drilling. Intersections of the tape show me where to drill. Hopefully the next series of photos won't be too disorienting. I put them this way to show how they would look underwing. What do you think of my angles and alignment? Everything is held in place with blutack at the moment. When I am happy with the alignment, I will cover the .5mm rod with .7mm tube. Here is one upside down photo.... if that helps.

Steve, You are a life saver! I actually have a detail book about black 6 and this angle is probably the only one not covered in the book! Thank you very much! I guess if I accidentally sand any off, I will replace them with a positive bolt head and try to smooth it down and make it look like a screw head.

Peter, Glad to see them coming together so nicely. your painting of the cockpit looks great! Kinda sad that the Tamiya Stabilators are at a fixed angle.

Last night I discovered that my earlier plan required modification. Instead of attaching the shims to the wing root and outer wing, topography on the plastic dictated that I put the shims on the inserts. This evening: After repeatedly attaching, removing, and sanding the shims to a proper thickness, some dry-fit photos: Tomorrow I'll backfill behind the shims with black CA and sand it all smooth. Here is one for an expert: On every large scale 109 model there is 8 raised screw heads right next to the wing root. However, there aren't a lot of picsw of the area and none that I have show them to stick up above the metal skin. I found this one today: Obviously this is an Eduard kit. Anyone got a picture of the real thing?