CrankyCrafstman

Hey Bir All my best, from a 6 year out liver transplant patient Ron G

Hey Ernie In the imortal words of Winston Churchill " keep buggering on old man" Ron G

Well guess what showed up today in the mail. That's right the two sets of landing gear, doors and tires from Alistair at Aerocraft. These are real works of art the doors are very thin, so be careful, they are very delicate I broke a piece off of one, but recovered it and it is now fixed. The landing gear legs have the brake line cast on, but they are real done well. Well here are some pictures. view showing scissor links here is one complete set. This is the diamond tread pattern that will be used on this (F6F-3) build. I have another set for my F6F-5 FAA bird with the straight tread pattern. view showing brake line, see how it's attached to the lower part of the leg (on the left). You need to detach it (I used a fine saw) then when you assemble the leg to the wheel you can bend it and glue it to the wheel. closer view showing brake line detail running up the leg. closer view showing scissor link and attachment plug. one of the landing gear extention and retraction supports. another view of the support. rear axle for rear wheel this will need to be trimed after installation. rear landing gear showing holes for the axle. another view of the rear landing gear. view showing landing gear temporarily attached to the wing center section. Also you can see the support part and how it attaches. another view of the landing gear on the wing center section. diamond tread pattern tires for the F6F-3. Straight tread pattern tires for the F6F-5 FAA. this view shows Alistairs tire with ResKits wheel. rear view, see the descolored nut on the lower right, thats were the brake line from the landing gear attaches, so you have to be carful when you glue the wheel to the tire to make sure you get the flat on the tire in the correct position. So what do think, I think they are fantastic and will really add to the authenticity of the finished model. So what are you waiting for go order a set, I highly recommend them. Ron G

Just in fro Alistair at Aerocraft Brass Landing gear, tires and wheel well doors for the 1/24 F6f-5 Hellcat. Here they are this is the complete set, two main landing gear, rear landing gear with axle, two doors and two tires, these are the diamond tread. these are the straight tread. Going to use theses on my FAA F6F-5 bird. these are the diamond tread. These will be on used on my F6F-3 conversion bird. So give him a buzz and order up a set tgey are really nice. Go to my F6F-3 build for a more in depth review. Ron G

Thanks CP Here are the finished doors, they still need the hinges added and a coat of primer then interior grey/green. port doors. starboard doors. Theres more detail that could be add, but I think this is just right. So I'm done for the day and its off to dinner. Ron G

Thanks guys, this thing is definitely not an easy plane to build, because you have to do every thing twice! I'm just glad its only a twin engine bird and not a four engine one...oh..damn, I have two of those in the stash...yikes! Ron G

Hey all Another update on the big Mossie. I was thinking of getting the Eduard set for the undercarriage, but I really only need the undercarriage door parts, so I looked at the pdf of this set and decided I would scratch build my own using the Eduard ones as a guide. I have started, but still have a long way to go. Here are some pics, so take a look and let me know what you think. these are the port doors still have some details to add and some grinding in order to relieve the large squarish area between the bigger circular piece on the left and the long square piece. this is the other set of doors. I have cut enough pieces to do both sets of doors. Ron G

Sounds good Bir, and thanks, if theres anything you need let me know. Ron G

Here here!

Cool, thanks Bir, PM on the way. Ron G

Hey all anyone have this and are willing to part with it, or make a color copy for me, I'll pay for it and postage. I want to buy the kit but money is a little bit tight right now. Thanks Ron G

OUCH! that sucks, but kids will be kids, still have to love em though. Ron G

If we do a group build can I use my 1/24 Mossie? Please Ron G

Yep, mine are in the mail as we speak. Ron G

Small update Made a wing spar out of 0.06" thick black plastic. Put the dihedra at 1.40 deg. Or 1°24'10" inside of upper wing showing spar installed. inside of starboard upper wing. inside of port upper wing. I had to modify the nacelles to accept the spar, fairly easy. More later, waiting on some mister surfacer to dry so I can sand it smooth. Ron G

No problem Jeff all comments welcome

Cool, thanks Anthony. I'm going to use 0.005" thick plastic card and sand it almost away. Ron G

So Anthony should I leave it off? Ron G

Yeah Ernie, but they both have arthritis

Thanks Jeff, good to know

The preliminary report is in and it sounds like you maybe right Ernie. They found the #4 engine on top of the de-icing building with all three blades feathered and the #3 engine was found in the building with one blade feathered and missing part of the end from when it hit. Thats both engines out on the starboard comming in at three hundred feet and into a righthand wind. Not good! Ron G

Hey all A little update on what I've been working on. I started working on the wings, rudder and elevators. I went through everything and altered them so that they work. I had a few mishaps, but everything worked out. Here are some pictures. I added the reinforcement strip cut from .015" plastic sheet. On the left you can see one of the rocket rails sitting in place. Everything is just sitting in place, nothing is glued yet. I still need to add the strip to the top of the wing. underside of port wing showing landing light, flaps (they need some filling on the rear edge) and the ailerons. At the right you can see were I drilled through the outer surface... but I managed to fix it. underside of starboard wing with one of the rocket rails. port aileron and the hinge pins made from plastic rod. 06" on the left and .04" on the right. port aileron with pins inserted in the drilled out holes. this picture shows the holes drilled in the hinges that the pins go in when you install the ailerons. wing tips with covers added and bilbs made from 1/16" colored acrylic rods cut to size and coat with a light coat of Tamiya clear red and green. top of tail planes assembled. bottom of tail planes showing the tail wheel guard drilled and cut out and rear of guard extended, thanks to Anthony in NZ's build. view showing parts apart. bottom view of port elevator and tail plane. You can see the cutouts made to clear the hinges that I made from plastic rods. view showing plastic rod hinges. view showing rudder in place. view showing rudder to the right. view showing rudder to the left. view showing the bottom of the rudder hinge pin. view showing hole for hinge pin. view showing holes for hinge pin. I had to reolace the upper hinge cause it broke off when I was test fitting the rudder. port side of rudder, you can see were I f'd up on the center slot. Hinge pin shown installed. view of starboard side of rudder. view showing rudder and hinge pin made from steel rod and aluminum tube. Well that's as far as I have gotten on this beast up to now. I've test fit all of the wing, fuselage, rudder and nacelles and everything seams to fit pretty good. But we'll see how it goes when it gets to gluing it all together...knock on wood Ron G

You are correct, they were a braided wire, similar to what was used on automotive engines of the time, but of a much better quality, better noise/ static suppression. Ron G

7 dead...there were 13 on board, the Pilot, Co-pilot, flight Engineer and 10 passengers plus one person on the ground. I think Ernie my prove to be right, because it sounds like he touched down and tge veered off the runway to the right into the de-icing shed. Ron G

Hey all Sad news today. The Collings Foundation B-17 has crashed in Connecticut. this happened October 2, 2019 at approximately 9:00 am. There were 7 people killed. There were three crew members on board with I believe 10 paying passengers, plus one person on the ground involved. They had just taken off when they experienced engine problems and turned around to land and check out what was wrong when they crashed into a building on the runway area by the de-icing facility. From the videos it's hard to believe how anyone could have survived. I hope they don't stop these flights because of this, because there is already talk about how safe these old WW2 planes are, sad very sad Ron G