CrankyCrafstman

Well I stopped in to the local HS to pick up some paint, and there on the shelf was the 1/24 Airfix Typhoon 1b (bubble top). I looked at the wife and she said go ahead and get it. $139.95 US what a steel! She's the absolute best!!! Ron G

Sweet!!!

Yup...printing them is varily easy, it's designing them that's the hard part. How do I know you ask, 35 years as a design engineer the last 15 years designing on Unigraphics NX. Ron G

Hey Mike What wojld really be nice is some 1/32 scale support vehicles. Tow tractor, trucks, jeep mavbe a staff car. All the little support carts and trolleys etc. ...etc.

Great job on the engine Trigger. Just a few pointers...the pipes or tubes that you have painted blue with silver tops on the rear should be semi-gloss black like the front ones, these are the push rod tubes. The ring that you have painted silver on the rear of the engine should be the same color as the rest of the engine crankcase/supercharger a Grumman engine gray. The little copper colored pipes on the top of the cylinders should be painted silver like the rest of the cylinders. Not trying to be critical, just some observations to help improve your modeling skills. Everything else likes spot on. Ron G

This is my idea of a float plane.

Hey Jeff Yeah I really only need the 1/32 and 1/24 scale ones. I would probably just resell the other scales on Ebay. He is sending me a partial portion of the last one he has in stock at the moment, the 1/24 & 1/18 ones. Not what I really wanted, but better than nothing for now. Ron G

Hey Jeff The name of the place is "fundekals" maybe if we all ask him for them he will start printing them again. They went for $9.00 US. Ron G

Hey Jeff I am using Detail Master fittings, but you have to put them on the braided wire, which is a royal PITA...lol

Hey all Small update, a couple of pictures of the front gear case with the magneto and port distributor and the braided wire with hex fittings that I made.

Super duper cool Ernie!!!

What for Eduard to put them out, or for me to gobble em up...lol

I'm in contact with someone that is going to be doing the logo decals in 1/72, 1/48, 1/32, 1/24 and 1/18 scales all on 1 sheet, keep your fingers crossed he comes through.

Hey all Eduard has some sets out for the new Airfix f6f-5 Hellcat. Instrument panels and interior (photo etch) Rear radios (photo etch) Seat (photo etch) Engine cowl flaps (photo etch) Seat belts (photo etch) no photo Canopy masks one for outer and one that is inner and outer with wing tip light and rear wheel masks Here are some pics.

Ok here are some more teaser photos. Front view Front side view Rear view These are just temporarily put together, they still need to be finish painted and detailed. Here are some more photos of whats available from Eduard for this kit. This is Eduards instrument panel and interior. This is Eduards rear radio components. Not sure why Eduard did these silver. I'm pretty sure they should be black. This is Eduards F6F-3/5 seat. This is Eduards engine Flaps and duct parts. This will really spruce up the Ol' engine bay...what. (little British hummer there...lol) This is Eduards inner & outer canopy masks. This is the second half of Eduards mask set with masks for the tail wheel and wing tip lights. I still like Airscales instrument panel set better and I have it, but I do like the rear radios and the seat. I have the masks and engine ones on order waiting for them to come in the mail. I received my braided wire from Detail Masters that I plan on using for the ignition leads and wires from distributors to magnetos. Here are some pictures of them. This is the larger wire for the wires from the distributors to the magnetos. There is way more then you need, but extras are always nice. these are the ones for the ignition leads (2) packs required to do the whole engine with some left over. I have scale spark plugs and some AN fttings on order, waiting for them to come in the mail. Well thats it for now. I'm going to do some modeling. See you later with the next installment. Ron G

Hey Grunhertz Don't forget to check out my post #2 on how to build that big P&W R-2800-10W that comes in this kit. You can find out what colors to use for painting it because Airfix got it wrong. Also some custom detailing options. Post #1 explains what all the different parts of the P&W R-2800-10W are and I coordinated it with the kit parts. It seems like this kit is selling pretty good I see builds everywhere. Ron G

Ok final set of pages This page shows assemblies 210 and 212 from page 50 being added. It also shows parts K25, K27,K28 and K29 that make up the main oil tank. It also shows part K26 which is a armor plate for the oil tank. This page shows parts M14, M15, M16 and M17 that make up the lower intake duct from the cowl nose to the supercharger and the oil cooler. It then shows parts M9, M10, M11 and M12 that make up the cowl nose piece. This page shows parts K33, K34, K35, K36 and K37 that make up part of the oil collection system. It also shows parts F7 and F8 which are cabin air intake tubes and various hydraulic lines. Ok that pretty much covers this fantastic engine. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask I'm always up to helping. Thanks Ron G

Thanks Ernie coming from you that means alot. Ron G

Ok, so here we go. Some more pictures of the painted parts. I had to go back and retouch up most of the parts, the paint didn't take too well, probably because I didn't wash the parts, my bad. This photo shows the crankcase and the rear of the crankcase. After watching Nige's video on YouTube I realized I needed to remove the rear portion of the crankcase, so that I would be able to assemble the engine the way he did, although this is not the same way as the instruction manual calls for. This is a better way to do it. This photo shows the front gear case and the port and starboard Scintilla distributors. The dark silver/steel colored part at the bottom is the front oil scavenger pump, which is part of J13. This photo shows the rear gear case. The part on top that is painted black is a control valve to direct oil to the appropriate supercharger clutch. I believe that the other black part is an electrical box. This photo shows the front and rear push rod tubes. This photo shows part J26 on the left which is a oil line from the front oil scavenger pump to the tank on the baffles part J2. The white piece of tube is a part I made from 0.056" plastic rod. It is to be an oil line from the part I scratch built onto J20 back through the cylinders to the rear of the engine. Airfix forgot to include this part. They both need to be painted silver. Another view of the supercharger housing area of the crankcase. This photo shows one of 9 intake tubes that go from the cylinder heads to the supercharger housing. These need to be cleaned up before you paint them alot of seam lines. This photo shows the baffles part J2, and you can see where I painted the tank Grumman gray. The ring of this part needs to be painted interior green, but in my case since I'm doing mine as a F6F-3 mine will be nonspecular light grey. This photo shows part J24/J23 the propeller governor. This is part J15 the electrical starter. This is part J27 the Bendix-scintilla magneto. Another view showing the front gear case you can clearly see the area painted siver/steel this is the front scavenger pump and you can also see the part I scratch built on to the front gear case. Remember the little circular pad just above the front scavenger pump is for the P&W emblem. I have to source one because I don't believe that Airfix supplied a decal for this. This is part J16 which I believe is the hydraulic pump for the landing gear and other hydraulic stuff. These are the Scintilla distributors port and starboard. This shows the front cylinder bank. And this shows the rear cylinder bank. The upper half of the cylinders still need to be painted silver and the rocker covers need to be painted matte black, all 18 of em...OH! and all the little hose clamps I scratch built need to be painted silver. So that's it for know I'll be back with more in awhile. As soon as all the paint has a good couple of days to dry. That way I can start assembling some of this so I can move on to the rear area. So long for now. Ron G

Hey Jeff you are so right. The ones that learn do and the ones that don't won't.

Thanks Jeff, I do have a passion for the big radials, although I've never worked on them. I read a lot and have an engineers mind. I get a lot of my information from the Pratt and Whitney book on the R-2800. (See photo below) It is about two inches thick and goes into extreme detail, but is a Vvveerrryyy technical read. Also did work as an auto and truck mechanic in my early years. As soon as I get some more done I will post it. Ron G

Happy birthday Martinfb, your still younger than me...lol

Ok here are some more updates. I have some of the parts painted. This photo of the front of the engine showing some of the parts temporarily assembled. In the Squadron Walk Around F6F Hellcat on page 45 lower right corner, they state there are two magnetos and the propeller governor mounted on the front gear case. THIS IS WRONG!!! In the above photo you can see two unpainted grey parts the rear one, part J27 is the Bendix-Scintilla DF18LN or DF18RN magneto. The front one, part J24 & J23 is the Hamilton propeller governor. On either side of the magneto are the Scintilla distributors parts J29 & J31 make up the starboard distributor and parts J28 & J32 make up the port distributor. You can also see the baffles with the lower oil collection tank just out of the picture. Parts J27 and J24 get painted semi-gloss black and part J23 gets painted silver. There is a cable linkage that attaches to the peg on J23 and goes back through the cylinders and eventually to the cockpit. This photo shows the rear of the engine supercharger housing and rear gear case. The little blue/gray cylinder on top of the rear gear case is a control valve to direct oil to the appropriate supercharger clutch. Center circular pad with the slot is for the electrical starter part J15 which gets painted semi-gloss black. The circular pad next to the center one is for what I think is the hydraulic pump it could be something else the P&W book isn't clear on this. The black part on top of the supercharger housing is the Bendix PT-13 carburetor. This all needs to have detail painting done to it.Another photo of the magneto, distributors and the propeller governor. Straight on view of the front. You can see the push rod tubes and were I have masked off the little tubes between the cylinders. The cylinders need to be painted steel on the bottom half and silver on the top. I will be adding spark plugs and braided plug wires as soon as they come in the mail. In in this photo you can see the rear bank of cylinders and on top of each one are the rocker covers they need to be painted matte black. You can see where the intake tubes mount and were the engine mounts to the engine support. The other side of the rear of the engine. There is alot of stuff that still has to mount to this to make up a complete engine. I'll be back later after I fuel up on some food and recharge the old battery, so to speak. Ron G

Ok here are some more updates. This photo shows part J20 from page 40 and J13 from page 42 joined together. You need to do this before you glue it to the crankcase parts J3 and J4 from page 39. This has to be done because you have to fill and sand the joints between them before you mount them and paint them. You can see a white part glued to part J20 just behind J13 and to the side. This is a cast in port for an oil pipe that you can see in the previous P&W R-2800 photo. It is made from plastic card stock. And on each end there is a piece of 0.025" (0.64mm) plastic rod to simulate bolt heads. I need to add a piece of 0.06" (1.5mm) long plastic tube to it to simulate a fitting for the oil line that goes from it down and back through the cylinders. It's the larger silver tube from the same previous photo. This photo shows the joint between parts J13 and J20 that needs to be filled and sanded all the way around. The small cast in circle on part J13 is for the P&W emblem. I will be back with more as soon as I recharge this old battery...lol RonG

Here is a bit more on the engine. The build sequence that Airfix has used is not 100% the right way to do it. If you go through the instructions you will see parts K13 &K14 these are part of the supercharger housing and need to be put on in <SEC. 152> on page 39. The reason for this is there are some good size gaps on them and they need to be filled and sanded. as you can see this is the second application of Perfect Plastic Putty it my even need a third. The area that is visible in this photo needs to be painted Grumman gray. Look below for a spray out I did of my custom mixed Vallejo Grumman gray. I think I need to make it a little more blue. The instructions call for it to be painted 125 US dark grey, thats not correct. Here is a photo of a P&W R- 2800.As you can see it is a blueish gray, and yes I do need to blue my mix up a bit. Ron G I blued it up a bit, what do you think. I'm still not satisfied. I may make up a new batch. Ron G